The San Francisco call., 1910-04-24
Mrs William B. Leeds beautiful American wih large fortune who
travels NTH Lady Paget

come to him they find that he has
studied all the precedents on such
crises and is quite ready to act the
part of the constitutional sovereign.
And therefore the general impression
is that he will not refuse the condi-
tionaI guarantees.
But, of course, he may refuse them.
and in that case there is nothing open
to the government but to resign. In
that event the king would send for
BalfOur. I hear from all sides that
there is nothing which Balfour breads
so much at this moment rs taking
Office. OF course, he would have to
dissolve the present house of commons
Immediately. Neither the liberals nor
the Irish would allow him to get a
single vote; they would fling him out
of office on any pretext, and this would
be position too humiliating for him
to accept. He would then have to dis
solve parliament and see what the
chances of the ballot box would do
for him. But IL he should not get a
( decisive majority his path would be
just as difficult in the next parliament
as in this. The Irish would show him
no mercy, and they would put him out
unless he Immediately offered them a
measure of home rule. This he would
find 1t difficult, If not impossible. to
do after his recent declarations against
home rule and on account of the state
Of feeling in his own ranks.
HAS OTHER TROUBLES
On the other hand, he is beset by
difficulties just as great over the ques-
tion OF protection. He is not a pro-
tectionist himself, but his party is
violently and almost unanimously pro-
tectionist. If he had a majority they
would insist that he at once use it to
bring in a protectionist measure, and
there is nothing which he so much
breads and so much hates. Besides, 1T
is difficult to understand what kind of
a protectionist measure he could bring
in which would not be riddled in de-
bate and which would not raise such a
storm among the great industrial CEN
ters Of the country as to make his
government impossible.
All the same. the liberals are anxious
that the dissolution should be left in
their hands with the conditional guar
] antees rather than that it should be
carried out by conservative govern
ment The conservatives are in a
somewhat different position when most
Of their members are simply private
| individuals whose names do not carry
prestige in the country so long as they
remain private individuals. But make
these men holders of great offices and
Balfour can find plenty Of imposing
names for the mob. Lord Curzon was
1 though extremely arrogant and strong
/ headed man. Lord Milner still is the
! idol of some sections of English opin-
| ion as a rank and defiant imperialist
And there are other men whose names
would look well in a ministerial list.
ELECTION SEEMS LIKELY
And the liberals want to rush the
election because they are at the mo-
ment better prepared for it than the
stories. The tories spent money like
water at the last election and their
funds are not yet replenished sufi-
ciently TO go with confidence into a
general election. The liberals didn't
squander their money at the last cleo
ton; indeed, there were complaints
from many constituencies that they did
not spend enough money and lost some
seats for want of few hundred dol
lars spent in hiring motor cars. II
looks to me, then, as though il would
/ be difficult TO avoid a general election
in June and that this general election
will be brought about by the liberals
The king is very nervous and anx-
/ ious about the whole business. He
used all his persuasion to try and get
the lords not to reject the budget. They
paid no heed to his advice and they
/ thereby very much exasperated him
He foresees that 1T will be difficult to
/ keep his name out of the struggle, and
that does not promise well for the
dynasty The prince of Wales also is
taking a keen interest in all that is
/ going on. He attends the sittings OF
the house of lords frequently and he is
often in the gallery of the house OF
| commons. He also is frequently in
consultation with several of the polfti-
clans Altogether royalty knows that
| IL is face to face with a serious crisis
in which it's own fortunes are involved
These considerations make the lib