MR BONAR LAW is confirmed in office as a result of the elections, and the Conservatives have a good working majority over all other parties combined, though they have a net loss of twenty-three seats. The heavy reverses in the boroughs, which caused the Morning Post to lose confidence for a moment, were made good in the counties. But the victory was won in great measure by the chance of triangular contests, and the Government will have to remember that its majority in the House is not a majority in the country, where it gained but 5,465,000 votes against 8,241,000 cast for the two varieties of Liberalism and for Labour. The Government has a heavy and delicate task before it, and it deserves the assistance of all good citizens, who can at least refrain from a criticism captious rather than constructive. Mr Bonar Law will, we think, be mindful of two things. The late Government fell at last upon the one point of Near Eastern policy in which events have proved it to be right. We see to-day that it would have been fatal to allow English policy to be dictated by the Quai d’Orsay, and though we desire a complete accord with France we may pay too high a price for it. He will also remember that the last two Prime Ministers have fallen from power not from defeat of their measures in Parliament, but from dissension and intrigue among their supporters. It is not good that a Prime Minister should continually be haunted by that kind of fear which beset the priest of Nemi,
The priest who slew the slayer,
And shall himself be slain.
The Church Times digital archive is available free to subscribers