• [To THE EDITOR OP THE " SPECTATOR.1 SIR, — In the
Spectator of December 26th, 1903, " Barrister" inquires : "How am I to vote for the present-day Radicals, who would give Home-rule to Ireland ? " &c., and " Sigma" inquires if Home-rule is dead. In common with your two corre- spondents, the two chief points in my political creed have been, and are : .(1) opposition to Protection in any shape, and (2) opposition to Home-rule. But I would urge on your correspondents that the pressing danger at present is Pro- tection, with its accursed but inevitable accompaniment of corruption in our public life. Home-rule, if not dead, is at present asleep ; and the duty of every Free-trader during the next year or two is to do his utmost to oppose Protectionist candidates. A very important point, which has been over- looked by your correspondents, is that if Home-rule awakes from its present sleep and becomes a living question, we Unionists can with confidence trust the House of Lords, in the last resort, to refer the matter to the nation, as they did ten years ago ; whereas if a Protectionist vote ever passed the Commons, there would be no such reference to the nation.
—I am, Sir, &c., S.
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