THE LORDS THE BULWARK OF THE UNION.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 801, 26 April 1910, Page 5

THE LORDS THE BULWARK OF THE UNION.

FEAR OP HOME RULE IS WORKING AGAINaT TARIFF. The Marquis of Salisbury hae been classed, as "fiscally . . . probably a Heuliatiomst, not a Tariff Reformer." Retaliation is the half-way house. Mr. Balfour tarried there a while. Some Unionists tarry longer. The proposal that the Unionists should drop tariff reform in the impending election and concentrate on the defence of the House of Lords appears to appeal specially to Conservative members of the Unionist party, whcifci' fiscal conversion has been slow or incomplete. Lord St. Aldiryh, who in the first place strongly l opposed Mr. Chamberlain s tariff proposals, endorses tho proposal. So does the powerful Irish Peer the Marquis of Londondeny, whose dominating sentiment is dislike of Home Rule. The Unionist Tariff Reformers, on the other hand, refused to drop the tariff, alleging that it was responsible for moat 'of the gains in the January election. The present position serves to emphasise tho fact that thero exist all the time in the Unionist party elements which might give rise to a serious split Those Unionists who are more devoted to tho Union than to a tariff , have not hesitated, to suggest a possible future cooperation of tho Irish Nationalists not (as now) with the Liberals, but with the Tariff Reformers.' Lord Cromer, it will be recalled, in a* speech before the Unionist Free-trade Club, warned his hearers of the danger of "the more ardent Tariff Reformers seeking to capture, the Irish vote by concessions which, if not fatal, would be very damaging to the cause of the Union." : Moreover, the Marquis cf Londonderry himself, in a speech at Belfast, w. rned the -Unionists thit if extremists placed their fiscal views in the forefront, overlooking the danger of Home i Rule, the result would be Borious to the party and full of danger to Ireland. Hence the desire in such quarters to preserve above all things the power of House of Lords, the great'bulwark of the Union.