Of the speeches delivered since our last issue, that of
Mr. Balfour at the Manchester Conservative Club after the declaration of the poll naturally claims first attention. They had suffered the common lot, and would suffer the common lot in the future,—to have to go back to office and to correct, as far as they could, the blunders of their predecessors. The course of the Unionist party was clear. They had been defeated in Manchester "with the utmost severity and completeness," and their business was, first, to analyse the causes of defeat ; second, to do all they could to remove those causes, in so far as they were removable; and, above all, to wait with their great organisation ready and prepared until the inevitable move- ment of the clock brought repentance to the constituencies of that great district, and, as its practical outcome, a return to the political faith to which they had so long been wedded. By the calm and dignified tone of his speech, and his abstention &on:Call recriminations, even in the very moment of defeat, Mr. Balfour commands the respect of opponents and supporters alike. As Mr. Haldane observed on Monday, it was no pleasure to have to think of Mr. Balfour, with his attractive personality and commanding intelligence; being absent from the House of Commons.
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