LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.
UNIONIST REUNION.
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SescreToa.1 SIR,—I have watched with great interest your endeavour to unite the Free-trade and Protectionist wings of the Unionist Party. I fear, however, that the transaction is one which passes the wit of man. A Royal Commission will certainly not do it. for ever since Mr. Chamberlain appointed a Com- mission of his own followers to report upon his own side of Tariff Reform, that remedy has been exploded. The difficulty, of course, is that the Protectionists, having captured the machine and the. Unionist Press, do not see why they should treat with those whom they regard as a tiny knot of tiresome precisians. Some Unionist Free-traders, too, have their reasons' for not moving at present. One of the most dis- tinguished of them said to me the other day : " Free-trade is doing so well, and the Conservative Party is doing so badly, that it seems unnecessary to defend the one, and inexpedient to attack the other." It is a smart saying, but its truth rests upon the assumption that the assertion of their principles by Free-trade Unionists would damage the Unionist Party, which I do not admit. More particularly, my friend meant that if Free-trade Unionist candidates were to be brought forwg.rd at the next Election, they would be opposed in every caw. by a Tariff Reformer, and so the seat would be given the Radicals. But would that be so ? I suggest that if a Unionist candidate, who is either a Free-trader or at least epposed to new taxes on food, can get himself accepted by a constituency, it should be an understanding that he will not be opposed by a Tariff Reformer. It is to this practical point, Sir, that I venture to suggest your great influence should be directed, rather than to the reconciliation of the views of people whose mental methods differ toto ccelo. Can you extract from the Whips and the Central Office an honourable understanding, such as was observed in 1886 between Conservatives and Liberal Unionists, that if a Unionist Free-trader has sufficient brains or influence or money to get selected for a constituency at the next Election, he will be left alone by the agents of the Tariff Reform League ? That is an object worth trying for, and in my opinion it would save from the Radicals a certain number of seats, where the electors will not vote for food-taxes, but are, as to the majority, Conservative. But I am not sanguine that even you, Sir, would succeed in obtaining any such under- taking. The flag of truce is not respected when it droops from the crutch of a beggar.—I am, Sir, &c.,
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