We wish to make it quite clear that in our
opinion those who promoted the dinner desire to oust Lord Lansdowne and Mr. Balfour from the leadership. It is idle to pretend other- wise. There is, of course, nothing morally wrong in this. If a body of men think the leaders of a party have adopted a course of action which is utterly destructive of all they care for and all they believe makes for the welfare of the party they will naturally attempt to turn out those leaders. We' should be the last people in the world to defend the opposite conclusion. The question whether they can succeed is quite another matter. In this case they will not succeed unless— which we hold to be unthinkable—Lord Lansdowne and Mr. Balfour are prepared to will the end but not prepared to will the means. In the last resort the reason why the revolters will fail is that they are building upon a foundation of paradoxes. In order to save the House of Lords they are loudly demanding its immediate destruction.
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