2 SEPTEMBER 1905, Page 15

[To THE EDITOR OP THE " SPECTATOB.." . 1 SIB,. — Your article on

"Mr. Balfour's Responsibility " in the Spectator of August 19th recalls the time when the Rump attempted to "postpone a Dissolution until it had itself decreed one," and was sent flying by Oliver. There was an eloquent, hair-splitting individual in that case too, who was denounced in plain language. "At their going out some say the Lord. General said to young Sir Harry Vane, calling him by his name, That he might have prevented this; but that he was a juggler and had not common honesty." That is the practical man's comment on speeches "full of adroit evasions of the facts," even though it may be "an intellectual delight"

to read them.—I am, Sir, &c., W. K. GILL. Eversly, Poole.