The San Francisco call., 1903-09-18
TEXT OF CORRESPONDENTS.
Exchange of Views Between Cham
berlain and Balfour.

LONDON. Sept 1.-THE official an
nouncement of the designations of Cham
berlain and two other members of the
Cabinet was made tonight at Downing
street in the following COMMUNICATION;
The following Ministers have rendered their
designations, which have been aeeepteu oy tle
King: Right Hon. Joseph Chamberlain, Secre-
tary for the Colonies; Right Hon. G l. hltenie.
Chancellor of the Exchequer, and LORD george
Hamilton Secretary for India.
The RECOMMENDING correspondence passed be-
tween the Premier, Right Hon. A J. Bal1our'
and Mr.. Chamberlain
Then follows Chamberlain's letter, dat
ed birmingham, September 3, commenc-
ing 'My Dear BaIfour." in which he
sets forth his reason for resignation An
extremely interesting feature of the let
ter is the following statement concern
ing a preferential tariff:
For the present, at any rate. preferential
tariff agreement with our colonies, involving
food hitherto untaxed. even II accompanied Dy
a reduction OF taxation other articles Of
would not be acceptable to the majority OF the
constituencies. However much we may regret
the decision however mistaken we may thlnk IL
good government in democratic country
can ignore it, l feel, therefore, that as an i'm
mediate practical policy the question or pref
erence to the colonies cannot be pressed with
any hope of success at the present time, al
though there is very strong feeling IN favor
o,ld give fIIer discretion to the Government
in negotiating with foreign countries Tor a
freer exchange Of commodities and which would
enable our REPRESENTATIVES to retaliate II no
concession was made to our just demands
If. as 1 believe. you share these views. it
' fled in adopting them as the policy Of your
Government, although 1t VIII necessarily IN
volve some changes in the constitution. : ,sl As
years / have been in a special sense the repre-
sentative Of the policy Of closer union. which
/ firmly believe to be equally necessary IN the
interests of the colonies and ourselves
believe it is possible to-day and may be i'm
possible t3-orrPT have W had unexamnled oppoP eq
tunities Of watching events and appreeiating
the feelings Of our kinsmen beyond the seas
/of my colleagues, and think that should
justly be blamed If l remained in office and
TINS formally accepted the exclusion from my
political programme of so important a part
thereof. , -,
Government and with no fear of embarrassing
IL in any way / can best promote the cause I
have laid aside and I cannot but hope that in
a perfectly independent position my arguments
NAV be received with less prejudice than when
they attach to those OF party leader. Ac-
present policy of the Government to an asser-
tion Of our freedom in the case of all CONNER
cial relations with foreign countries and that
Won should agree to my rendering my resigna-
tion Of my present office to his ajesty and de-
Voting myself to the work OF explaining and
, No..ls ;y.r - tbese nrfnctnles ~ i-lne-si ,,t 80
which experience has convinced me are essen
The first portion of this letter refers to
Chamberlain's first speech on the subject
at Birmingham and Balfour's reply to the
corn deputation- Chamberlain says that
neither Of them was intended to provoke
a purely party controversy. He points
out the unyielding opposition of the Lib
eral party, which secuted the idea that a
system generally accepted in 1876 could
possibly require modification in 1903
Meanwhile the advocates of reconsidera-
ton were at great disadvantage, owing
to the admitted differences of opinion in
side the party. The political organization
of the party was paralyzed. Chamberlain
declares that unscrupulous use has been
made of the old cry of the dear Loaf
and that serious prejudice has been
created. In the rest of the letter he goes
briefly over the same ground regarding
protection as did Balfour in his recent
statements
Balfour. in letter to Chamberlain dat
ed September 16, explains that he did not
reply earlier because he knew he would
soon have an opportunity Of talking over