The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-10-07
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WEDNESDAY, OCT. z, 1903.
A MERE MAkESHIFT.

The So-called reconstruction of the
British cabinet shows the desperate
straits to which the prime minister
has been reduced by his unwillingness
to make an immediate appeal to the
country. Pretty nearly every man of
the first mark among his constitutional
advisers has retired, and the resigna-
ton of the Duke of Devonshire is the
heaviest blow that the party has yet
received. The vacancies made have
been filed by second or third rate
men, some of them unknown to public
life and unfamiliar with the arts OF
political leadership. There has not
been such rag-tag cabinet in Great
Britain within the memory Of man.
1t will be strange if even the COM
placent majority in the house of COM
mons accepts this sort of government
without murmur. Strictly speaking,
it is unconstitutional The unwritten
law of the British empire, contained
in precedents and traditions that have
been handed down for years, pre-
scribes 1t as the duty Of a party to
make an appeal to the country when
ever it puts forward an issue on which
public opinion has not been taken, and
on which its own feeling is divided.
There is no statute to compel this, but
it is as well established by custom as
is the duty of minister to resign
when confronted by hostile majority
in parliament. Everybody knows, and
Mr.. Balfour and Mr.. Chamberlain have
confessed, that nothing more can be
done in the way of legislation until an
appeal to the country has been made
on the tariff issue. They explained in
their original addresses that they must
wait for a mandate" The only way
to get that mandate is through a gem
eral election, and the only road to a
general election lies through the resig-
nation of the cabinet.
The cabinet ministers do not resign.
not so much because they are longing
to hold on to their present Offices. for
they know that the evil day cannot be
long deferred, but rather to give time
for their novel and unpopular ideas to
make some Roadway. Mr. Chamber
lain left the cabinet solely in order
that he might be free to preach tariff
doctrine and give impulse to the new
movement by series of popular meet
lngs and continuous agitation of pop
lar opinion. Mr.. Balfour remains to
hold the odds and ends Of the cabinet
together until some progress in. this
direction shall have been made. sThe
principle of free trade is so firmly set
tied in the British mind as a part of
its economic gospel, and the idea of
duties on imports is so unfamiliar and
30 abhorrent, that an immediate election
would pretty nearly wipe the Conserv-
ative party out of existence. They
hope within year not to convert the
country, but to have given their
thick and-thin followers time to re-
cover from the shock, and so to make
a better showing than they could at
this moment.
This may be good political maneu-
vering. 1t is not in accordance with
the expectations of the British people
or the requirements Of the British con-
stitution. According to all the prece-
dents, the Balfour ministry should go
out of Office and general election be
held. The probability Is that it will
be forced to that course presently by
failure to receive the support of the
commons. No such patched-up cab
met as that Which now holds office can
very long retain the support of a ma
jority of the house; and the same
sense of duty which has driven one
man after another from the ministry