A SUPREME CAUSE AT STAKE

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2523, 31 July 1915, Page 2

A SUPREME CAUSE AT STAKE

MR, ASQUITH'S GREAT SPEECH SET -WORK FOR EVERY MAN Mr. 'Asquitli, speaking in. tho House of Commons ou June 15, gave some interesting explanations with regard to the cliango of Government, and also outlined tho greatness and gravity of the task before it. "I liavo during tho last three weeks, with tlie approval of tlie King, reconstructed the personnel of tlie Government," said slr. Asquitli. "Let me say at once, in the plainest possible terms, that I should not liavo been justified in doing what I have dono under tho pressure of any outside influence, of any temporary embarrassment, or of any transient Parliamentary exigency. "Tho task, which I am sure tho Houso will realise, was an unwelcome—l would go furthei—was as repugnant a task as could fall to the lot of any man. I have a. deep, an abiding, and an ineffaoeablo sense of gratitudo to the colleagues who, under the stress of new and unforeseen responsibility, for the best part of ten months discharged with undeviating loyalty and in my judgment with -unexampled efficiency the heaviest load which has ever fallen upon tha shoulders of British statesmen.

"I ask not only my old colleagues, but my friends and supporters, to accept my assurance, if indeed any assurance is needed, that there is not a man anion" them who is more faithful than I to tho great principles of public policy which during the best part of thirty yc-ars have been to me tho aim, the inspiration, tho moulding, and governing power of such, services as I have been able to render to the State. I recede from nothing. I abandon nothing. I sacrifice nothing. What I liavo held in tho past I hold to-day as strongly and tenaciously as I have ever done; what ill tho future, if I have any future, I shall work for and fight for, with whatever remains to me, I need not say, of conviction, of faith, of hope, of energy, and of .vital force.

Why a Coalition? ' "Why, then, it may. be asked, and I am sure the question is in the mind if not on tho lips of all good party men in. every quarter—why have I—for, after all, 1 am tho person mainly and directly responsible—brought about for the time being this upheaval, this transformation of tho normal convention, the inveterate tradition, the '' well-settled practice of oar political life. "My answer to the question is, after all, so far as X am concerned, very simple. It may or may not carry conviction to others. I can only speak for myself, and I will make to the House the fullest and freest admission that up to the last moment, apart from the almost invincible consideration to which I have referred, I was not without doubt as to how I should best respond to the c'all of public duty. "The situation is without a parallel in our national history. The demand which it makes and whioh it will continue to make upon the energy and the patriotism of the nation, and, in a wholly exceptional degree, upon the patience and the foresight of.those who are responsible for its government, and I will add—a most vital consideration—upon the confidence felt by the one in tho other, cannot be measured by' any precedent. -Thero was not, and there is not in my opinion any call for any change in-our national policy. That.,remains.what it has,been since the first week,v iii; August-rto] pursue this war at any, cost to a victorious issuo.

Was Anything Gained? . '"Now, was anything substantial or worth consideration to bo gained by. the mere substitution of A for B in this office or that? . What I came to think was needed—and here I come to tho root of tho whole matter—what I came to think, slowly, reluctantly, but in the end without doubt or hesitation—what I came to think was needed was such a broadening of the basis of government as would take away from it evon tho semblance of a one-sided or party character. which would demonstrate beyond the possibility of doubt, not only to our people at homo and to our fellow-sub-jects across the sea ; hut to tho whole world—Allies, enemies, neutrals—that that after nearly'a year of war, with allits fluctuations and vicissitudes, the British, people were more resolute than over with one heart and with one purpose to obliterate all distinctions and to unite every, personal and political as well as every moral and material force to the prosecution of their cause.

,"It appeared to me, and I believe with equal clearness to those with whom I have been before, and probably shall be again, in sharp antagonism on the main issues of domestic policy, that a •unique national exigency demanded from all of us actual 'and visiblo cooperation, unreserved and whole-hearted concentration upon a single purpose, shared and pursued by men of every section,'of every party, of every political creed.

A Personal Word. "It is a great, and as many people consider a hazardous, experiment that none of us would have chosen. I , suppose there is enough of the old political Adam in the whole of our bosoms that will enable me to say that nono of us very much like it, and our friends in the country on both sides are, as everybody knows, doubtful, suspicious, bewildered, perhaps pained. "For a moment, if I may say a word about my own personal position, if thero •be those who think that, having had the privilege of- serving, in confidential and responsible relations, three successive British Sovereigns, I have any unsatisfied personal ambitious, they are welcomo to that opinion. They ITttle know the truth. Like other people— for I repel as tho most wicked of calumnies and the most unfounded the suggestion that the people of this country have shown or aro showing themselves lethargic—like other people, not more than other people, I have done, or I have tried to do, niy best. But, like other people, wlieu we think of tho gravity of the trust which lias been cast upon us we may think that wo are all unprofitable servants.; What is the personality of this man or of that? What doe's it mean? What does it come to? A supreme causo is at stake. We have each and all of us, I do not care who we are or ivhat we are, we have each and all of us to respond with whatever wo hrfve, with whatever wo can give, and, what is harder still, with whatever we can sacrifice to the dominating and inexorable call.

How Do We Stand. "How do we stand to-day? It would bo a tempting but in my opinion not a profitable theme to compare tho military and international situation as it stands to-day with what it was when.-at tho beginning of March, I asked for the last Vote of Credit. There is one new ■fact indeed of immense importance—the accession of Italy to the cause of the Aliios. It is impossible to over-estimate either the moral or the material value of her co-operation. But for the rest I do not think it is well to say much at the moment". "Tho actual fortunes of the campaign fluctuate from veels to week, and almost from day to day. It is not a war of dramatic surprises or of quick decisions. The theatre is so vast, the scale of operations is so far beyond wliat the eye can take in. at a glance, that, lit up though the scene i constantly is by splendid acts_ of; heroic adventure, perhaps the' impression at this mojpnt .in the. minds both of' oombatanti

and of onlooker is that of a gigantio struggle of endurance. If tliat be 60, let it be said of us at any rate that we endured to the end. "For my part, in every speech I have made to my countrymen since the first day of. tlio war I have tried to strika two notes, a note of warning a 6 to ; tlje gravity of our task and a note of ca?y, iidence as to the ultimate issue. Tlicro is no discord between the two. We shall do well to continuo to pay uo heed to the blind counsels of hysteria and panic. We liavo, for the moment one plain and paramount duty to perform, to bring to the service of the State the willing and organisod help of every clasg in the community."