eir supporters. Still, they
acted as if they were confident that in the long run they could ward
off the final blow. They were persuaded that the Liberal Government
would neither have the courage nor the power to accomplish their
purpose. "Why waste time over abstract resolutions?" asked Mr.
Balfour. "The Liberal party," he said, "has a perfect passion for
abstract resolutions"--and again, "it is quite obvious they do not mean
business." Even when the Bill itself was introduced, they still did not
believe that its passage through the House of Lords could be forced.
The opposition to the Bill was not so much due to hatred of the actual
provisions as fear of its consequences. The prospect of a Liberal
Government being able to pass measures which for long have been part of
their program, such as Home Rule, Welsh Disestablishment, or Electoral
Reform, exasperated the party who had hitherto been secured against the
passage of measures of capital importance introduced by their
opponents. The anti-Home Rule cry and the supposed dictatorship of the
Irish Nationalist leader were utilized to the full, and were useful
when constitutional and reasoned argument failed. At the same time as
much as possible was made of the composite character of the majority
supporting the Government.

Throughout the latter part of the controversy there is little doubt
that the Conservatives would have been in a far stronger position had
they acted as a united party with a definite policy and a strong leader
ready at a moment's notice to form an alternative Government. But they
were deplorably led, they could agree on no policy, and their warmest
supporters in the Press and in the country were the first to admit that
the formation of an alternative Conservative Administration was
unthinkable. Nevertheless, there could be no rival for the leadership.
Mr. Balfour, aloof, indifferent, without enthusiasm, and without
convictions, although discredited in the country and harassed in his
attempts to save his party from Protection, remains in ability,
Parliamentary knowledge, experience and skill, head and shoulders above
his very mediocre band of colleagues in the House of Commons.

The Bill went up to the House of Lords, where Lord Morley, with the
tact and skill of an experienced statesman and the unflinching firmness
of a lifelong Liberal, conducted it through a very rough career. The
Lords' amendments were destructive of the principle, and therefore
eq