It would not be difficult to frame an answer to all these questions.  Mr. Chamberlain, for instance, was quite ready with his answers to all of them.  At Glasgow in 1903 he stated what his Budget would have been, and he explained precisely what he meant by Tariff Reform.  At Birmingham last month he was equally clear in urging the Lords to reject the Budget.  There is no doubt whatever where Mr. Chamberlain and those who agree with him stand to-day.  They would raise the extra taxation which is required, by protective import duties on bread, on meat, on butter, cheese, and eggs, and upon foreign imported manufactured articles; and in order to substitute their plan for ours they are prepared to urge the House of Lords to smash up the Budget and to smash up as much of the British Constitution and the British financial system as may be necessary for the purpose.

That is their policy; but, after all, it is Mr. Balfour who is the leader of the Conservative Party.  He is the statesman who would have to form and carry on any administration which might be formed from that Party, and he will not state his policy upon any of the dominant questions of the day.  Why will he not answer these simple questions?  He is the leader, and it is because he wishes to remain the leader that he observes this discreet silence.  He tells us he is in favour of Tariff Reform, he loves Tariff Reform, he worships Tariff Reform.  He feels that it is by Tariff Reform alone that the civilisation of Great Britain can be secured, and the unity of the Empire achieved; but nothing will induce him to say what he means by Tariff Reform.  That is a secret which remains locked in his own breast.  He condemns our Budget, he clamours for greater expenditure, and yet he puts forward no alternative proposals by which the void in the public finances may be made good.  And as for his opinion about the House of Lords, he dare not state his true opinion to-day upon that subject.  I do not say that there are not good reasons for Mr. Balfour’s caution.  It sometimes happens that the politics of a Party become involved in such a queer and awkward tangle that only a choice of evils is at the disposal of its leader; and when the leader has to choose between sliding into a bog on the one hand and jumping over a precipice on the other, some measure of indulgence may be extended to him if he prefers to go on marking time, and indicating the direction in which his followers are to advance by a vague general gesture towards the distant horizon.

Whatever you may think about politics, you must at least, in justice to his Majesty’s Government, recognise that their position is perfectly plain and clear.  Some of you may say to me, “Your course, your policy may be clear enough, but you are burdening wealth too heavily by your taxes and by your speeches.”  Those shocking speeches!  “You are driving capital out of the country.”  Let us look at these points one at a time.  The capital wealth of Britain is increasing rapidly.