MODERATE LIBERALS AND THE NEXT ELECTION.
[To THE EDITOR OP THE " SPECTATOR."1 SER,—It is said that the quiet men in the middle determine a General Election. What one of them (who has always sup- ported the Liberal Party) feels at the present crisis may be both typical and instructive. He cannot possibly tell whether the Budget will work more good than harm, but he can be sure that it will work more harm than good in heedless bands. He is convinced that Mr. Lloyd George (as the author of the Limehouse and Newcastle speeches), Mr. Churchill, and Mr. Urn are not to be trusted. Mr. Asquith is, but he is not master in his Cabinet. On the other hand, the Conservative Party do not seem in earnest in their support of small holdings, or of a radical reform of the House of Lords. They would obtain the support of many quiet Liberals if they would help to break up the large estates and mend the House of Lords. On the whole, it seems that the party of the Budget are likely to do more permanent harm than that of a judicious Tariff Reform, and ought not, therefore, to get our votes. That they will not is due entirely to the hysteria of Mr. Lloyd George and Mr. Churchill and the tactics of Mr. Ure.
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