LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.
THE POLITICAL CRISIS IN ENGLAND.
[To THE EDITOR OP THE "SPECTATOR.") Sir,—The great impression made on the mind of a political neutral by the turn which this party conflict over the Budget has taken, and which seems to be leading you to a political deadlock, is that the party system of government, if a system of government in the true sense of the term it ever was, has had its day. You have five distinct combinations—Liberals, Radicals, Labourites, Socialists, and Home-rulers—formally united on the Government side, but each of them playing its own game. Under a rational system of government finance surely would be a distinct subject, to be dealt with on its own grounds. In this case it forms the cover for an attack on a hated class and order. This appears clearly enough in the speeches of Mr. Lloyd George. The party system in England was set up by the struggle for the Crown between the Hanoverians and the partisans of the Stuarts with their respective political creeds. It has now no rational foundation, and is leading to confusion not unlikely to end in disaster. It is not to be supposed that you can at once spring into a new system. But surely it is time that statesmen, if any can release themselves from party trammels, should lay their heads together for a calm consideration of the subject. Lord Rose- bery's position seems to indicate the need and the true line of action, if he could only get other statesmen, with open minds, to think and act with him.—I am, Sir, &c.,
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