rTo THE EDITOR Or THE "SPECTATOR. "] SIR,—The long letter from
a former resident in Blackburn, printed in the Spectator of July 20th, surely confirms a con- tention which has been consistently urged in your columns, namely, that the advocacy of Tariff Reform by the leaders of the Unionist Party has weakened and diminished the support of this party by the electorate at the polls. The figures given by your correspondent of the elections at Blackburn during the last twelve years show that this cry has been responsible for a falling-off in that important centre of something between eight and ten per cent. of the 1900 Unionist vote, and I venture to say that a short ex- amination of the comparative pollings during the period under review will show that what is true of Blackburn is, to a greater or less degree, applicable to every constituency in this country. The broad fact is that battalions of voters who gave their support to Lord Salisbury's Government are unwilling to aid the party while the taxation of meat and corn for protective purposes remains a possible item in its
programme.—I am, Sir, &c., J. L. L. Hindhead.
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