Sir Edward Grey reviewed the situation in an effective speech
at Salisbury on Monday. Mr. Balfour, he said, "had retaliation on his lips, Protection in his thoughts, and taxes on food up his sleeve." In evidence of the confusion brought about by the Premier's attitude, Sir Edward Grey pointed out that the Duke of Devonshire, a Free-trader, had resigned because of Mr. Balfour's Sheffield speech, while Sir Michael Hicks Beach, a Free-trader, was now supporting Mr. Balfour because of that same speech. They were told that Mr. Balfour was playing whist. "Well, he thought that, if the Premier was playing whist, his was the dummy hand, with this difference: that the dummy hand was to be played with cards face down upon the table, and to be played by the active partner, Mr. Chamberlain, who alone knew all that was in that hand." Dummy whist could be played indefinitely; but not dummy politics. The only way to clear up the confusion was a General Election, and to postpone it was neither good business nor good politics.
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