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    "source_title": "Encyclopaedia Britannica (1911)",
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    "chunk_id": "1911:balfour:e6f44ab8577a",
    "title": "BALFOUR",
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    "verified_text": "balfour, a.j.) which admitted the necessity of making fiscal reform the first plank in the unionist platform, and accepted a general tariff on manufactured goods and a small duty on foreign corn as \"not in principle objectionable.\" it may be left to future historians to attempt a considered judgment on the english tariff reform movement, and on mr chamberlain's responsibility for the unionist _debacle_ of 1906. but while his enemies taunted him with having twice wrecked his party--first the radical party under mr gladstone, and secondly the unionist party under mr balfour--no well-informed critic doubted his sincerity, or failed to recognize that in leaving the cabinet and embarking on his fiscal campaign he showed real devotion to an idea. in championing the cause of imperial fiscal union, by means involving the abandonment of a system of taxation which had become part of british orthodoxy, he followed the guidance of a profound conviction that the stability of the empire and the very existence of the hegemony of the united kingdom depended upon the conversion of public opinion to a revision of the current economic doctrine. there were doubtless miscalculations at the outset as to the resistance to be encountered. but from the purely party point of view he was entitled to say that he followed the path of loyalty to mr balfour which he had marked out from the moment of his resignation, and that he persistently, refused to be put in competition with him as leader. even in the absence of the new issue, defeat was foredoomed for mr balfour's administration by the ordinary course of political events; and it might fairly be claimed that \"chinese slavery,\" \"passive resistance,\" and labour irritation at the taff vale judgment (see trade unions) were mainly responsible for the unionist collapse. time alone would show whether the system of free imports could be permanently reconciled with british imperial policy or commercial prosperity. it remained the fact that mr chamberlain staked an already established position on his refusal to compromise with his convictions on a question which appeared to him of vital and immediate importance. mr chamberlain's own activity in the political field was cut short in the middle of the session of 1906 by a serious attack of gout, which was at first minimized by his friends, but which, it was gradually discovered, had completely crippled him. though encouragement was given to the idea that he might return to the house of commons, where he continued to retain his seat for birmingham, he was quite incapacitated for any public work; and this invalid condition was protracted throughout 1907, 1908 and 1909. but he remained in the background as the inspirer and adviser of the tariff reformers. the cause made continuous headway at by-elections, and though the general election of january 1910 gave the unionists no majority it saw them returned in much increased strength, which was chiefly due to the support obtained for tariff reform principles. mr chamberlain himself was returned unopposed for west birmingham again. (h. ch.)",
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