LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.
UNIONIST POLICY.
MO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR:]
Sin,—Lancashire and Yorkshire are not the only districts in the kingdom where Lord Lansdowne's Albert Hall pronouncement
has given a knockdown blow to Unionist hopes and prospects. These in Scotland, until that speech, were never brighter; now they are dashed, because the Scottish elector has also the wisdom to be determinedly opposed to Tariff Reform. On the face of it, the pronouncement was so timed as to look like a piece of inept folly on the part of the leaders, because it was just what the supporters of the Government desired to enable them to pull themselves together after their mishap in the lobbies of the House of Commons. But the leaders are not fools, and there must be something behind which is not at present apparent to the rank and file of the party. It is said that the Government intends to resign after the Home Rule Bill is passed, but before it comes into operation. Is it the object of the Unionist leaders to lose the election on pur- pose, so as to compel the present Cabinet to face and not shirk the effects of their own policy in Ulster ? If that is the explanation the policy is at least intelligible, but hardly straightforward or likely to commend itself to the Conserva-
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