Lord George Hamilton made one of the admirable short speeches
which have been the special feature of his contribu- tion to the Fiscal controversy,—his point being that unless Mr. Balfour spoke out plainly as to his policy the result must be "a smashing to pieces of the party of which he is the head." For obvious reasons, Mr. Balfour, who followed, did not take this sound and friendly advice. We have explained why else- where. He did not speak out plainly because he is a Chamber- lainite at heart, and means when the time comes to join Mr. Chamberlain in his Fiscal policy. Meantime, and till the time comes, he desires to keep his Government in power. But to declare himself a Cha,mberlainite now would be certain to cause the defeat of the Ministry. Therefore for the present he will not proclaim his approval of Mr. Chamberlain.
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