At the annual meeting of the Unionist Free-Trade Club on
Tuesday Lord Cromer was elected to succeed the Duke of Devonshire as president. The fact that statesmen so eminent as Lord James of Hereford, Lord George Hamilton, and Lord Balfour of Burleigh should have combined to press upon Lord Cromer the duty of succeeding the Duke of Devonshire is proof of the place which Lord Cromer has won in our political system since his return from Egypt. In his speech Lord Cromer dealt incidentally with the Budget. No doubt it was a Free- trade triumph in the sense that under a Free-trade system there had been a large reduction of Debt and the Sugar-duties had been partly repealed. "Whether it will be possible to claim that triumph when, in addition to the naval expenditure which Will certainly be required, it becomes necessary to provide the money for the execution of the old-age pensions scheme to which the country has been committed, remains to be seen." Lord Cromer at the end of his speech boldly faced the difficulties before Unionist Free-traders. There was no cause for despair, but they had to remember that for the future they must fight under greater difficulties than before. "We have to do our utmost to save Free trade, in spite of the policy—the unwise policy, as I think it—to which the country has been rashly committed of granting old-age pensions on a non-contributory basis." We have dealt elsewhere with the rest of the advice tendered by Lord Cromer to the party of which he is now the acknowledged leader.
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