"Zollverein." in Monday's Times contributes an interesting letter on the
present condition of the Unionist Party. The writer points out that Lord Cromer cannot be fairly blamed for identifying Tariff Reform with Protection in view of the resolutions passed at Birmingham—none of which reflected Mr. Balfour's advice—and the attitude of the Unionist Press. " Zollverein" quotes an illuminative passage from one of the. most influential of these organs scouting the policy of tolera- tion, and urging that only by opposing every Free-trade candidate at the General Election by a Tariff Reformer can a Tariff Reform majority be secured, and adds: " Please note, a Tariff Reform majority—not a Unionist majority. Truly this is a case of Tariff Reform everywhere and the rest—that is, the Union, the struggle against Socialism, predatory or eleemosynary, the maintenance of a Second Chamber, the defence of Conservative principles—nowhere." In the opinion of " Zollverein," it is high time to recognise that the Unionist Party contains, not two wings, but three sections the old Free-traders, the Fiscal Reformers (i.e., the Balfourites), and the extreme Tariff Reformers. Unless a vigorous stand is made against this last section—the noisiest, if not the most influential—he fears that it will either drag the whole party into a common defeat, or "purchase a Pyrrhic victory in its name by pledging the party to Socialistic schemes Which can neither be repudiated without discredit nor be fulfilled without disastrous consequences."
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