Public opinion was diverted from the one thing that really mattered--had Englishmen been able to realise it--from an Imperial standpoint, no less than from the standpoint of Irish Loyalists.

On the 8th of November, 1911, mainly in consequence of these dissensions, Mr.Balfour resigned the leadership of the Unionist Party.

This event was regarded in Ulster as a calamity.

Mr.
Balfour was the ablest and most zealous living defender of the Union, and the great services he had rendered to the country during his memorable Chief Secretaryship were not forgotten.

Ulstermen, in whose eyes the tariff question was of very subordinate importance, feared that no one could be found to take command of the Unionist forces comparable with the Achilles who, as they supposed, was now retiring to his tent.
What happened in regard to the vacant leadership is well known--how Mr.
Walter Long and Mr.Austen Chamberlain, after presenting themselves for a day or two as rival candidates, patriotically agreed to stand aside and give united support to Mr.Bonar Law in order to avoid a division in the ranks of the party.