THE COALITION IN BRITAIN

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2504, 3 July 1915, Page 14

THE COALITION IN BRITAIN

ITS RECEPTION PRESS' VIEWS OF NEW OUTLOOK A BOLT PROM THE BLUE ' The absorbing topic of .the hour in 'Britain when tho last mail left London was the formation of the CWlition . Ministry; The announcement of .the Government's intentions came as,a.bolt from •fcho blue. On Wednesday,. May 12,-Mr. Asquith declared 1 in the House that the formation of a coalitioit . Cabinet was not in contemplation, and that be was not : ' aware that such a- change, would meet with general assent. On Wednesday, May 19, speaking, in, the same place, he niado; a' statement of steps that- wero actually being taken for this purpose. • '. - , • . 1 How little, a political crisis was expected may be -understood from the fact; that one of the most expert "lobby ; correspondents" in London 'journalism—A';" P. Nicholson, formerly of tho "Times" and now of ths : "I)aily .News"—had thought it qiiito. safe tb;.take a holiday, from Westminster,' and. was away, for .tbe;.;Week-endin' Glasgow looking into the .question of :3lacki|ess in' tlic Clyde 'fillip, yards, That .the editors themselves were- taken bysurprise;, .is ,clear from' the muddlod : character of their first comments. .'. / yi ; v '' ; v THE CAUSES OF THE CRISIS. ■ According , to tho "Daily News," a representative 'Liberal organ, there were at least four causes' which contributed to bring 'about the Coalition .Ministry,-, oi\,War Government. • ; ; \ ... Tho Admiralty Quarrel. - "(1) Tho , quarrel between Mr. Churchill and' Lord ■ jb'isLer; at the Admiralty,'; a. confiictwliich.began with tho ' of .'the Dardanelles Expedition .' , Mr. ChiitcliilK. carried the; War Council on this, and: it was.,undertaken before the Cabinet, were informed. The Cabinet; were .committed to, it' by the movement of: shijK before .they had any formal notification. Lord 1 Fisher, for his, part,; considered' thit the enterprise should not have been- begun unless it was; supported by - land forces, but hb also' was committed to it. Mr'. Churchill was counting' oil the support of Greek forces on ' land, a calculation which was not justified by tho event. ' "Later the quarrel between, . Lord Fisher and Mr. Churchill proved; to be irreconcilable, and Lord Fisher sent in his resignation. ~ .V' : C\'. Facts. About tha shells. _." (2) . The Cabinet have' not : been kept informed by; Lord Kitchener as to the j supplies'of high explosive shells sent out to our troops at the front. 'It is the fact that lingo supplies of shells have, been.'and are being .■ sent. out, but the. proportion, of shrapnel is greater than the proportion of Jiigli explosive shell, • and the , Army . Command -require that tho. proportion;of. high explosive .shells should be greater.. The tact that the Cabinet have been to some 'extent in the dark of late oh this matter accounts for; sora<a _ apparent discrepancies. ill recent Ministerial statements. | Opposition's Threat. • "(3);Tlie Opposition leaders were in possession of the facts as; to the high explosive'vshells, arid threatened-. a' debate in the House of Commons, in which their '. statements : should be .proved.;:Sueli a. debate would \liave gravely undermined tho authority of. the Government; : and, coupled with the: tendered resignation' of ■ Lord Fisher, and the consequent, disappearance either < of the First Sea Lord "or; Mr. ChurchiU, would, ill.all human probability have led to the disastrous downfall of .the King's Government in the midst of the national peril of this war, with consequences most , lamentable. ■ " ; Avorting a Downfall. 1 ;"(4)'.Thero have'been 'on. both- sides I'Soiiio leading statesmen, in favour. of a Coalition.Ministry-'for the-prosecution of the war. They aro few, but influential. . They-jierceivcd ;that. tlie: curious circumstances; that':'had arisen offered a brilliant to,' achie-e • a Coalition,; anil they seized the opportunity. It' should certainly/ be assumed that they were. actuated by. national motives, sincß, their action may have averted tho downfall of one of, the 'greatest Governments of niodeon times' in a time of national peril.'' ' The opinions of the newspapers on ■the new departure are naturally ■ di-. verse. 'Tho Libdral Press at the outset' showed concern l at tho sacrifices the party was. called upon, to make, and some doubt.as to..tho..gain, iii-national efficiency to be secured by coalition. The newspaper campaign against the ' Government .originated with the attacks on Mr. Churchill by thq. "Morning rost," followed by the criticisms of Lord Kitchener: for having ordered the wrong -kind of shells by "The Times,'' the' "Daily Mail," and others of the ■■ journals controlled by Lord Northcliffe's newspaper trust. .- ThoV ctiticisnr of ■Lonl Kitchener was mainly, but' exclu.siveljy confined to' the Northcliffe ; organs: The "Manchester", Guardian,'.' one of the stauncbest Liberal newspapers in Britain, concurred in it. VIEWS OF LEADINC POLITICAL' WEEKLIES.; The views of the two leading political' weeklies—the "Spectator" on the Conservative, and the "Nation" on the Liberal side—may bo taken as more representative of the general trend of "opinion in the two : parties than, the . more hunrad.comment of tho daily ...papers. The "Spectator"-said:— ". ' 1 •''We have readied what .'we may hope will be tho first stage iii that national concentration'which" alone can- give us* victory. The late Government, the Opposition, and the, Labour Party have acted with the patriotism and -, good sense which British politicians, in spite of personal feelings and party ties, always show at a moment of imminent peril. They have come together to serve and save the State. Each body of • politicians has had to mako - great sacrifices. . < . We have .followed the Roman, example; wo .have named''" -a' dictator; but wo have put the dictatorship in a commission. Until-tho war is over there must be and will ■ be no thought of who is a Liberal and who 'a Unionist, or what the Liberal or Unionist elements iu the Cabinet, desire." ;Thd Administration _ will havo but one thought, one aim—the : ; saving of tho nation and the, destruction of. our enemies." " Of Mr. Lloyd "George, the "Spectator," in bygone days had many hard things to say. '• It says of him in his new post: "Mr. Lloyd Georgo has shown, that lie has tho;true fighting spirit and tho true spirit of' l natural self-sacrifico. He has got courage; moral, and physical, and the sense of leadership arid power.•■ Ho is at the moment ono of the greatest of our national assets." - - - . The "Nation" expressed serious doubt as to the efficiency, of'the new combination. "Politicians are not bits of machinery. They are human like, tho rest of us, and if members of Cabinets fly asunder after long association, thiiy. are also united by strong common tics of servico, or affection, or principle. If these are lightly severed wo do not aupjnr well from the. compulsory . and sudden formation of now ones." Refer-irig-to tbo origin of the crisis, tho ••"Nation 1 1 says;-~AWo .shall feci happier as '»* >">- •• '"••«'*•;

to the moral strength of tho new combination if wo' did not feel that it owed its origin, not to tho best kind of public criticism, but to tho worst, and that the men who pulled down the Liberal Government will havo just as little consideration for its successor. . . . For these reasons the best wish we can form for tho new Administration when it sees tho light is that its career will develop in tho widest possible contrast with the manner of its birth. This -is 110 hour for faction. We say -with all our heart' —'Tho country above all and beyond all!' In comparison nothing else matters —errors, disappointments, follies, embarrassments." . AN IRRESPONSIBLE OPPOSITION. The; "Daily Chronicle," 0116 of tho leading Liberal journals, points out that the jßritish system of Parliamentary government.depends on there being notonly a definite and collectively responsible body of inen in office, but on there being also a similar body of men outside ready to take their place. "The criticism of an Opposition front bench is "responsible' criticism, just because the men who-utter it will have to make.it-! good in the last resort by forming an alternative Government." But with a coalition Ministry there will be no alteniativo: Government. "It would "• be quite possible, and not very improbable, for. such a .Ministry to become a target for irresponsible attacks from all sides, and yet to be_ irremovable (save by a most demoralising process of fission anddissolution) long after it had oufcstayedv its welcome, because there was no organised body to take its place." "Tho .need, for a reconstruction-of the Ministry," in the vio\v of. the "Manchester Guardian," "arose ' primarily from one,cause—the failure in the adequate supply of munitions. This failure may justly have excited grave uneasiness among the leaders of the Opposition, and they had ,a,right to say, .'Wo can no longer stand aside and simply support ;tlie Government; the matter is so grave that we must eitherdirectly share their responsibility or else- the whole matte- must be thrashed out on the floor of the House of Commons and the iiation must judge.'( The first alternative was accepted, and no doubt wisely, in the public interest. But what is, the moral? . Tho main object of the changes now made is 1 to set this matter 'right and to see to it that no such, failure shall recur in the future. ■~ . . There is by general admission no man in public life who possesses tho various qualitis needed lim \ tho discharge . of the duties^of this; difficult and all-important office in 1 tho same degree as Mr; Lloyd George." - ' ' ' '-, 1 . "THE POWERS OF EVIL." : The "Observer," the Unionist weekly paper conducted by Mr! J. L. Garvin, who is also editor of tho "Pall Mall Gazette," is particularly outspoken with regard to the campaign against' certain of the Minister in tho late Cabinet. ,It says:— , "There is no Minister .whose ruin might not be accomplished if there is to be impunity for . such methods : as have ,been , used against Mr. Churchill, with teniporary success and havo been then attempted against Lord Kitchener, only to meet with an overwhelming ignominy of; failure. v We must stamp on, this thing. . Even if-a Dictatorship has _to be set-up to do it, we must crush the organisation -of anarchy and vendetta.- 'It is quite certain that at need the method of Dictatorship would be employed. Wo think' there will be no need, that other measures' will be effective, /but the public situation will b:< misjudged by anyone who does not reokon henceforth with' tho serious : possibility of the ultimate resort. The country does not mean-to bo baulked of _ its purpose to proseoute the war with mightier efforts tb l a _ victorious issue. liiG . country will eliminate ' without compunction*' every- influence whatever which in its effect, no matter what .its intention, weakens , and discredits the nation, but lends aid and comfort to the enemy. Wo refrain from names because ■;tho warning applies to than one quarter. • , ■ ] _ VWd must -bo prepared by the most .drastic action to-break the powers-of evil in this respect_ and to stop the spread of moral pestilence and political disorganisation. . The country expects' the_ Coalition to bo stronger and more decisive than tho Administration which has so suddenly disappeared. Above all things, .the country demands , that the new Government shall 'govern. Under present conditions the Ministry of tho day possesses 'unlimited .powers;- Everything will bo forgiven except a weak uso of tnese powers." . LORD FISHER AND LORD V KITCHENcR. : TJIO Dardanelles* bombardment is also ' touelied' on by tho -';Observerf'"Part of this tragedy lay in tho strange fact that somo, of those who wore now using Lord Fisher's nam© to drive .out Mr. Churchill-had long been amongst Lord J' ishor s deadliest cueollo3 The breach was bound to-be more tragic, the longer postponed. It .came over the Dardanelles questions. Two views -were-pos-sible. Lord. Fisher disbelief ed' in the employment of ships alone-against forts. Correspondents have since been, allowed to explain that the sailors 011 the spot thought the job might bo done aiid was (veil worth tackling. -Our judgment is that Lord Fisher was by no means overborne by Mr. Churchill's personal opinion. Still, if Lord Fisher had then put his foot down -he could undoubtedly: have stopped the wholis thing. It was-his. duty either,to have resigned then .or lo accept to the full the collective.'responsibility of tho whole board ami to; sustain' that responsibility to the end." - '■ ; A tribute to Lord Kitchener is also paid by'the samp journal:—"lt is pernicious and futile to,'the last degree to heap the blamo 011 the shoulders of Lord Kitchener. He,', like other men, has been made finally wise _by experience. The novel and gigantic neeui of this war havo far/outrun the system he found. Tho imperative necessity for a total, change of "system has been finally demonstrated Lord -Kitchener, in -his steady, deliberate way, has done a Titan's work. Ha could not reform the War ' Office itself from top to'bottom and'at the same time grapple with tho double emergency of a sustained, and unparalleled ■' campaign -, against the mightiest military enemy the world has ■] known, while creating now armies by the million at home. Ho has had to keep the "War Office going at'-full pressure from the day-ho entered its -doors until now. You cannot remodel !a machine while you' are -driving it, 1o stop tho War Office * machine in order that. it might bo entirely rebuilt was impossible. Yet tho'problem'of'creat-. ,ing a new system- to deal 'with munitions oiid to register the whole nation for the industrial' and militpy. purposes, of war was urgent with 1 tho urgency tof iifo and death.'