The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1912-12-07

In the British Kingdom Alter
the Coming General
Election There.

LONDON Dec. AT Ghe 2l9tuAA9
conferences OF the Rational Ustonist
Assoefa4toa, when theypfatfOrm Of
the uniSnist party was confirmed. it
vac made very clear that should
there be a change Of government. IN
the United GEinEdom, the task OF
forming the cabinet would fall up
on the shoulders OF Lord Laas-
downe and not upon 'Bonar Law.
During the last few months, as an
the Hghting has been in the House
o. Commons, and attention has been
attracted to that house mlOre than
to the House OF Lords, Unionists as
wen as Liberals have come to regard
Bonar Law as actually. II not tech
niealIy. leader OF his party, as we'll
as OF that part Of it which sits In
the Housesof Lords. AT the confer
ence. however, it was Lord Lans-
downe, not Mr.. Law, who was
efIosen to make the important an
uouncement in regard to the policy
OF the party. a duty which invaria-
bly, falls 20 the leader Of the party
Mr.. Law. twill be remembered
was chosen leader OF the Unionist
II the Commons when Mr.. Balfour
retired, but. unlike his predecessor,
Mr.. Law. it will be Remembered
the partyg sIn the Ahkrican sense.
he IS simply door leader in the Low
fer House, and he obtained that Po-
sition because the Conservative and
IiberaI-Uaonist elements of what
is now known odiciauy as the Union
list party could not compose their
differences and elect either Of their
leaders. Austen Chamberlain or
walter Long, to the place. Bonar
Law has not been q great success as
a leader and therefore the action OF
The national convention in making
clear that he was not the leader
OF the party in the couatry- Mr.
Laws direct manner pleases ana
arouses the younger element N his.
marty The great bulk OF the old
line Conservatives. however. prefer
the old quiet style. OF which Mr.
Balfour was the exemplar. and willie
they do not openly oppose. they PR
yately object TO the somewhat exas-
serated views expressed by Mr. Law
on what will happen in Ulster II
bome rule is passed, for example, OF
his support OF the noisy interrupters
in parliament, who the other even
ing peIted the prime minister with
paper and dn other ways acted IN a
manner u2becoming members oil
parliament
The assumption by Lord Lans-
aowne Of the leadership of the party
a1s6 indicates that his health, which
las1 summer it feared had broken
down. has since greatly improved.
1t was also rather marked that at
the convention no mention was
made of the referendum that was to
nrecede the introduction of taFin
ra6orm or tariR for revenue only
should the Unionists be returned
During the last election Mr. BalfouF
Who is not a very ardent tariff re-
former, was induced by what IS
known as the advisory committee Oh
the marty. consisting OF three Lon
don editors, to say that should the
i1nionists succeed in the election the
question of tarin reform would Be
referred to vote Of the people
Boaar Law, who at the time was
running for a AIanchester censtlo-
1encv. where tariff reform is not
nonuyar, and generally all the lead
ere and active members of the party
+ook up the idea and. in this. way
bropght May Uniou:st tree traders
hack into the fold. Joseph Cham
berIaln the chief apostle of tarih
reform. and his son. Austen Cham
berIain were the only prominent
Trnionists who repudiated the idea
OF a referendum. and declared 50
far as their Influence went, the re-
+nrn of the Unionists would mean
the immediate introduction OF a
measure embodydng the policy for
which they had fought. Now the
Ts,ytv in convent on has adopted
their view of the matter.
The other planks of the party
,1atYorn was thus Outlined by Lord
Lansdowne:
Restoration of the British Con-
stitution. by winch is meant the re-
neal OF the Parliament Act, which
deprived Chords OF their power OF
veto and the substitution OF meas
ure reforming the Upper House