Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman addressed a meeting of his constituents at
Dunfermline on Tuesday night. With that portion of his speech in which he discussed our foreign relations we deal elsewhere. Turning to the Government's fiscal and home policy, Sir Henry denounced it as wholly mischievous. The Education Bill, instead of being founded on the Scotch model, was likely to be used as a precedent for tampering with it. He trusted, therefore, that there would be no cessation of protest, no slackening in the resolve to shake off, at whatever cost, a system so thoroughly reactionary, and so injurious to the educational interests of the country. "The Act was carried by the unscrupulous election of 1900, by the election of the false peace. They would reverse it as soon as they could." Sir Henry went on to say that the Government's audacity had not been confined to doles, snubbing the repre- sentatives of the people, and restricting their opportunities of protest. "They had used even the Throne, and the affectionate loyalty towards the Throne, which was universal among them, as an instrument for exalting the executive power." Here Sir Henry was, we suppose, harking back to Venezuela, but his language is so vague that he cannot be acquitted of wishing to create an atmosphere of suspicion without committing himself to a definite charge.
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