The daily sentinel., 1912-12-13
European Notes.
Sentinel Special Service.

Sentinel Special Service.
London, Dee l3.-At the autumn
conference of the National Unionist
Association, when the platform of
the unionist party was confirmed. it
was made very clear that, should
there be change of government in
the United Kingdom, the task of
forming the cabinet would fall upon
the shoulders of Lord Lansdowne
and not upon BOnar Law.
During the past few months, as
all the fighting has been in the
house of commons, and attention has
been attracted to that house more
than to the house Of lords, uuionists
as well as liberals have come to re-
gard Bonar Law as actually, if not
technically, leader of his party. as
well as of that part of it which sits
in the house of lords. At the con
ference, however, it was Lord Lans-
downe, not Mr. Law, who was chosen
to make the important announce
ments in regard to the policy of the
party, a duty which invariably falls
to the leader of the party.
Mr.. Law, it will be remembered,
was chosen leader of the unionists
in the commons when Mr.. Balfour
retired; but, unlike his predecessor,
Mr.. Law was not chosen leader of
the party. In the American sense.
he is simply the floor leader in the
lower house, and he obtained that
position because the conservative and
liberal-unionist elements of what is
now known officially as the uuionist
party could not compose their diff
ferences and elect either of their
leaders, Austen Chamberlain or Wal
ter Long, to the place.
Bonar Law has not been 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 country
Mr.. Laws direct manner plcases and
arouses the younger element in his
party. The great bulk of the old
line conservatives. however. prefer
the old quiet style, of which Mr..
Balfour was the eXemplar; and while
they do not openly oppose, they pri-
yately object to the somewhat eXag-
gerated views expressed by MIR. Law
on what will happen in Ulster if
home rule is passed, for example, or
his support OF the noisy interrupters
in parliament who the other evening
pelted the prime minister with paper
and in other ways acted in a man
ner unbecoming members of parlia-
ment
The assumption by Loord Lans-
downe of the leadership Of the party
also indicates that his health, which
last summer it was 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 pre-
cede the Introduction of tariff reform
or tariff for revenue only, should the
unionists be returned. During the
last election, Mr.. Balfour, who is not
. very ardent tariff reformer, was in
duced by what is known as the adj
visory committee OF the party, con-
sisting of three London editors, to
say that, should the uniouists sue
ceed in the election, the question Of
tariff reform would be referred to
a vote of the people. Bonar Law,
who at the time was running for a
Manchester constituency, where tar
iff reform is not popular, and gener-
ally all the leaders and active mem
bers of the party, took up the idea,
and in this way brought many un-
ionist ree-tradors back into the fold.
Joseph Chamberlain, the chief apUs-
tie of tariff reform, and his son, Aus
ten Chamberlain. were the only
unionists who repudiated
the idea ORA Referendum, and de-
rlared so far as theirinfluence went,
the return OF the unionists would
mean the immediate Introduction of
4 measure embodying the policy for
which they had fought. Now the
party in convention has adopted their
view of the matter
The other planks OF the party plat
form were thus outlined by Lord