Lord Lansdowne's answer to the Duke of Devonshire was we
regret to say, extremely unsatisfactory. It was not incumbent upon him, be said, to make premature statements as to the date of the Dissolution, or as to the action which the Conference might take. But of course it was perfectly possible that the Conference might meet while the present Government were in power. "I say that there is to my mind nothing abhorrent in the idea, supposing his Majesty's Government to be still in power next year, of a Colonial Conference being held in such circumstances. I go further, and I say that its conclusions4, whatever they might be, would in our view be entitled to the utmost respect; and we do not for an instant believe that, even if we desired to do so, we could withhold those conclusions from the knowledge and consideration of the people of this country." At the same time, such a Conference, if it were held, could not supersede or take the place of that- special Conference to which the
Prime Minister referred. Dealing with Mr. Chamberlain's speech of Saturday last, Lord Lansdowne declared that he bad not collated that speech with Mr. Balfour's very carefully, but he confessed it seemed to him that Mr. Chamberlain had taken what he said almost textually from Mr. Balfour's speech. When the Dissolution came they would certainly put in the forefront of their programme, first the policy of Retaliation, and next the policy of a Colonial Conference at which the question of Preference would be examined.
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