To sum up. The integrity of the United Kingdom is
un- questionably at this moment in far greater peril than it has ever been before, owing to the fact that if the Liberal Party carry the present Election, the barrier which has hitherto prevented the dissolution of the Union will be swept away. In our opinion, the danger to the Union is alone sufficient to oblige Unionist Free-traders to vote against supporters of the present Government, in spite of the fact that those supporters call themselves Free-traders. Yet even if the danger to the Union did not exist, we are bound to state that we should still, though possibly with less emphasis, urge those who share the Spectator's views to oppose Government candidates. The injustice of the Budget, which taxes men not because they are rich, but because they own a particular form of property ; the proposal to sweep away the only check on the House of Commons, and leave us with nothing but a phantom Second Chamber, deprived of all real right to influence legislation, or even to secure an appeal to the country from the vagaries of accidental majorities in the House of Commons and the trafficking of political groups; the risks in regard to national defence ; and finally the dangers of Socialistic legislation, including such proposals as the nationalisation of the rail- ways and the land, would by themselves be quite sufficient to make Unionist Free-traders choose the lesser evil involved in the risk of Tariff Reform.
