DORSET COUNTY ELECTION.
(To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR.") SIB,—In your last number you suggested that it would be unwise on the part of the Liberal electors of Dorset to support the tenant-farmer, Mr. Fowler, at the coming election. Your argu- ment may not unfairly be paraphrased thus :—" The tenant- farmers should be taught that the Liberals are their true friends ; the proper method of teaching them this lesson is to leave them in the lurch." To my mind, such a policy appears to be selfish and suicidal.
True, Mr. Fowler's platform is not distinctively Liberal, in the sense of party politics. But it includes the equalisation of local rating, representative county boards, amendment of the game laws, gratuitous education in the three " R's " without compul- sion, and a reasonable Burials Bill. None of these can be said to be distinctively Conservative or Liberal, as things now go. But are they not worth the support of all true Liberals, when the only choice is between them and the one sentence of adhesion to the Tories which constitutes Captain Digby's position ?
But there is a still stronger reason which, in my opinion, should induce all Liberals to give their support to Mr. Fowler. Whether he be Conservative or Liberal, his candidature is at least the result of a spontaneous movement on the part of a large portion of the constituency, both agricultural and commercial, which resents the imposition of a representative by the county families, including several peers. Is it not the duty of Liberals anywhere and everywhere to support an honest representation, as opposed to a mere sham ? Or is the government of the country by itself only acceptable to Liberal editors when it results in the return of Liberal partisans?
It seems to me that your advice is ungenerous, and therefore unwise. Let the Liberals join heartily in sending a few tenant- farmers—even though professedly Conservative—to the House of Commons. There they will learn soon enough how they are treated by the country-gentleman party, as you so aptly call it. They will remember that Liberals helped their immediate friends to send them to the House, and that Liberal Members are their chief supporters. This is a more practical way, as I think, of teaching them Liberalism than the " cruel love " at which you have hinted as advisable.
I have troubled you at some length, because I fear that your remarks may damage not only the cause of Mr. Fowler, but the reputation of the Liberal party for generosity and helpfulness.—
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