The week has been fall of the noise of manifestoes
and of great speeches by party leaders, but we can only deal with two of the most important manifestoes. Lord Salisbury's address to the electors, a most able document, is practically an appeal against abstention. He insists that the one object of the elector should be to use his vote to bring about the result he desires to obtain. That sounds like a truism, but if the elections "fail to produce a Parliament fitted to deal with the emergency of the time, it can only be because the truism is neglected." Competent prophets believe the Unionists to be threatened with many abstentions, but if these take place the elector will only have stultified himself and his special views. Lord Salisbury, after dwelling on the need for obtain- ing a Unionist majority in order that the South African policy of the nation may be firm and continuous, points out that in order to carry effective Army reform a strong Unionist Government is also essential. On Chinese affairs, owing to the co-operation with other Powers, he is obliged to be reticent, but the matter is one of great com- plexity. Lord Salisbury ends with the declaration that
unless the Government rests upon a strong majority in the Commons, "it will lack the authority at home and abroad which is essential to the performance of its task." That is perfectly sound, but how infinitely more effective would havo been Lord Salisbury's appeal against abstention if he had pledged himself to reconstruction and had indicated the lines on which it would proceed.
