New-York tribune., 1909-07-11
POLITICS In BRITAIN
NAVAL INTEREST WAVES.
Fate of Budget-Coloniol Confer
ence-Armament Reduction.
Especial BY French Gable to The Tribune

rsr..,s1 hv French Cable to The Tribune
Io,don T,,Ix 10-Apart from the budge' lhei7
is no public question Of dominating
Even Lord Charles Beresford mas no. :
in concentrating attention upon the nav! a.
;s 4o-ce5 To make 2 second speech IN oroer U
revive interest in a programme OF Co-iS'i 49,
which is so moderate that 1t is now CoIlN
with fine irony as a Little Englander scAoiI-1
7-1,a r-oIoniaI conference, for which delegates
are now arriving. may bring the naval QUeS'ioi
again to the front. There is no organized mo.
roar+ for forming a representative council lot
the empire. but there is q general 1eehhs N
ENGLAND that the colonies ought 70 help IN pay
ing for British bettleships
Meanwhile there is a wearisone deoale over
the budget with occasional CONCESSIONS WHICH
irritate the Radical followers Of the govern
r,ent and no attempt to meet the fundamental
objection that the land section Is an aFtlilclsi
device for bringing on revolution N Ihe y s'7'i
of land holding rather than a genuine HScaI
measure If the land section were dropped 'he
budget would go through without material loss
of re,,en,,e and with the certainty Of a consid-
erahle s,,rnlus AZ the end Of tbs financial year.
b,,+ II cannot he abandoned without Radical
and Tabor revolt which will upset the govern
ment
There IS much talk outside Of Parliament
about constitutional crisis which Is likely TO
arise when the budget reaches the Lords. 1he
SpAc+ator" holds that the Lords can strike out
the entire land section, but ''The Times" makes
out q stronger case for the necessity Of reject
ing the budget as 2 whole, since any other pro
cedure would be virtually process Of amending
# The Radical commentators do not deny that
the Lords have summary rights in rejecting the
entire budget. but assert that the late Lord
SaIisburys dicturn on the budget Of 1894 will be
held nv Mr. Balfour and that no deadlock viii
h. created They are not overconfdent about it,
however. since they are gravely discussing Mr.
Asouith's probable tactics if a crisis arises.
Meanwhile, Mr. Balfour is leading the Opposi-
block the complex bill by dilatory methods in
the hope that the Liberal factions will become
unrnanageable out OF the welter Of dull financial
controversy.
One issue rises like high peak This is the
necessity for international agreements for re
ducing the burdens Of arnaments and averting
the dangers of war. The Declaration OF Lon
don, in which ten maritime nations united, has
not been debated in Parliament nor taken UP by
Sir Edward Grey with resolUte purpose, vet it is
a genuine peace measure, which will reduce the
cost Of the current methods of insuring at ex-
orbtent rates against war.
The majority for Herbert Louis Samuel the
new Cabinet Minister. in the Yorkshire by-elec-
ton, while not half so large as II was at the
last contest, is accepted by the Liberals as
highly satisfactory. A local constituency always
backs q rising man, and Mr.. Samuel has come
on more rapidly in the Commons than any other
public man except Winston Spencer Churchill
/ y. F.