[To TM& EDITOR Or THE "SHECTATOR."3 should like, as a
Conservative working man, to be allowed an opportunity of discussing in your valued journal the point Mr. Rowland Hunt has raised respecting the attitude of working people generally towards Mr. Balfour in his capacity as leader of the Unionist Party. Mr. Hunt, it appears, seeks to spread the delusion that working people do not believe in Mr. Balfour, and therefore will neither work nor vote for the party. I think those of your readers who have noticed, like myself, the attacks which for some time past Mr. Hunt has made in letters to the Press upon Mr. Balfour must feel that statements coming from such a source demand careful investigation. I would respectfully ask Mr. Hunt if he claims to represent a working-class constituency.
I may not enjoy the opportunities within his reach of visit- ing different industrial centres, but, all the same, speaking for myself, I emphatically repudiate the assertion that "the working people do not believe in Mr. Balfour." Mr. Hunt does the average working man an injustice in thinking that he is unable to appreciate the high intellectual power, talents, and administrative ability which clearly mark Mr. Balfour as pre- eminently fitted for the position of leader. As to the policy of Tariff Reform, there is, in my humble opinion, no cause for the criticisms directed against Mr. Balfour. I have yet to learn that a prudent caution in any course of procedure on the part of a statesman is deserving of censure. Both Palmerston and Disraeli were called upon (in 1852) to exercise this virtue by reason of the proposed action of the then Lord Derby with regard to the question of Free Trade. The present movement is, in my opinion, developing satisfactorily, and I have observed with satisfaction of late signs of in- creasing interest shown by the workers generally in the question of Tariff Reform.
It is not for me to enter on an encomium upon Mr. Balfour. The country knows his life and splendid public work by heart. His magnificent past is at least secure. As to the future, who is better qualified than he to grapple with the important problem of Home Rule P Can anyone else claim such practical knowledge and unique experience of Irish affairs as he possesses P Britain's foes are about to deliver a fell blow at the pillar which sustains the strength of the British Empire ! Is this an occasion on which dissension over the leadership should exhibit itself amongst those whose only care should be to rally to the support of their chief upon whom the burden of the impending conflict will lie P—I am, [There is nothing more absurd than to pretend that work- ing men dislike Mr. Balfour and his leadership. Working men are uncommonly like those who happen to draw higher pay. Some support Mr. Balfour, while others do not. To represent them as all taking one view on this or any other matter is to show utter ignorance of the people of this country. One might as well say working men or millionaires or bank clerks as a class like or dislike roast mutton.—En. Spectator.]
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