TRAITOR TWEEDMOUTH.

NZ Truth, Issue 145, 28 March 1908, Page 1

TRAITOR TWEEDMOUTH.

Perniaious " Private and Personal "Politics.

You cannot i rust a trimmer or a I time-server, for m both there is that lack of good principle , that characterises the? -thorough- self-seeker— the man that cares nothing about what comes of any other person as long as ,his own personal ambitions are served by whatever course of action he may adopt. Thus it is that Whigs, 1 or Liberals^ when m power m any country, have invariably ended by exciting wthe disgust of the people. Whigs, or, as they are called now,, Liberals, are neither "fish, flesh, nor gpod red herring:" ;. they are devoid of. the straightforwardness of the Tory, who tells, you plainly that he approves the present condition of. things 1 political, and will do his. utmost, to maintain that . condition^ .anil they lack the logical adherence to principle of the Radical or the So-r cialist, who, ' believing that' certain growths m the body politic are bad a,nd pernicious, would pluck them out by the roots. No, vbur Liberal believes m pottering around, tinker-:' me with this and paltering with ■fchat, and 'in all things except the pursuit of his ? own '.self-Interest,, making a ' pretence. ■■ • • . • .-■•.-.''' -. The turpitude of trimmers is exhibited m one of the most repulsive forms bv- the recently-revealed -'conduct of Lord.Tweedmouth, the Whir t^at occupies position of First 1 T.prd of the Admiralty m the present British Liberal "Ministry of all the Tnlents." Tikis fellow has just, been foozled put— through , the * patriotic vigilance of the London "Times" ar>piirentlv—in, an act of treachery to the people of England that not onW nnffht to result m his being hurled ■ from the office, but ought also to .cause him to oe impeached as a traitor to the people of Great Britain. Australasia, as. part ofthp.Brit--I«=h. Empire, cannot avoid observing with astonishment, and some alarm, not only that siich a man is able to pp% into power m England, but . that his own <$plleae;ues. when they discover what he has been dom<r. do .not sTisist immediately unon his resisna- ' tion ; for jthis man, Tweedmouth. actually entered upon a secret correspondence with a foreign -despot 1 upttn. *he state of the defences - cf' his own coufttrv. -' ,~; 1 - ■••»'• : ' ■ AS far as can be ascertained ''■ ! at 1 J> < r'e i iv sent, the initiative appears-tp have' been taken by the ' foreign de^pb-t,. the Kaiser William. The" Kaiser does., many things, that are iiriexpect-' ed, and dangerous to the peace of Europg. _: There was his telegram to Kru#eij' for instance, for Avhich- •he recently seemed -to be seeking 'to : atone by his imposing visit to England; Tlje latest revelation, ...howt; ever, causes us to^ suspect- that :; - 'on-' his . visit' he may have .started intrigues with statesmen of the Tweedmouth type that boded no i*ood to the British Empire- When the Kruger teleeram had almost been forgot^ ten, William broke out m a new place, He paid a visit to the castle of PrinCe Eulenburg, the leader of a group of . men with "homosexual" tendencies- Such men have a-great-er likin£.vfor members of their own «ex than -they have for women. In fact, they dislike women"! 'and some of them, there is- good reason to believe, feel, and ac,t. y towards each other m the horribiej'iTtia.fl'ner mentioned by .the Apostle Jfaul m some of his epistles. The Kaiser is alleged by his apologists to 'have frequented -the society of "Prince, Eulenburg merely because he was enamored of the "artistic tastes"' of the leader of the l 'homosexuA.lJsts." Perhaps he-was ; but one of the most able of the Kaiser's apologists. \ Dr. Fralrich Dernbure;, admits that it was "surprising that the robust nature of the Kaiser, found pleasure m all this." Not only did the Kaiser "find pleasure" at, f.he castle :'b\itjhe also found there a Prenqh ' diplomatist, Councillor Le-; enmte, to whom he opened his mouth '• about Morocco matters m. such, a way. as. to cause a sensation m France' and m other countries, and,, sov.s Dr. Defnburp,Vt« ''put German idipjomacy m a fal^e^osltloii." * ; :^ •<■%■-. . •■•■- '■ The latest ,iic| r ofetW,' kaiser; puts altogether in>the shade what -he did concerning either Kruger or Morocco. He wrote to Lord Tweedmbuth "a. ■private letter concerning iiaval matr ters,rn which hfe said various things about the fleets of both Britain .and Germany. ■ The Kaiser's own story t$ that he merely, '.'(Corrected cfptoln

erroneous views current m England concerning the German navy." ■ The London "Daily Mail" says the Kaiser's letter was a , reply to r-emarks that had been made by Lord Esher, m which the latter said that the, German Emperor w6md welcome the possible downfall of Sir John Fisher, the First Sea Lord of the Admiralty. Whatever the letter was, its contents 1 : were treated" as private by , Lord Tweedmouth, and although admittedly upon an affair of State— a matter, indeed, affecting . the safety of England— it was .not comniunicated to the other members of "the British Government. He also says-. that the letter d;id not contain any reference to the British ' Naval Estimates. : '..: ■'..'■■.', : ■ '.■"' '• , ' '•. -. . •■ • . So says. Loi'd Tweedmouth ; but English pressmen are not confident that he is telling the whole. truth, that he is not concealing something either m the; lettei: or m the events preceding it that may, account for certain peculiar conduct on the part of Lord , /Tweedmouth as .First Lord of the Admiiralty. ; Lo r ok at the facts. Before/the Receipt of the letter from the Kaiser, on the' 18th of Februaxv. Lord, Tweedmouth pfesehted' to the Cabinet, certain estimates, as to what would be necessary, fpc the xiiaintenancd of national^ sectifity. He was 'most emphatic that not one penny less than the amount estimated by him should be spent on the "na.val . defences of Great Britain. After! however, Tweedmouth had received the "private (Kid personal" letter from the despot >of Germany, he . actually, without a protest, allowed the Cabinet, m deference to an outcry, from certain penny-pinching bourgeois, lucre-loving Liberals, to assent to the reduction of the naval vote by £500,000. Does not this. look very much as if he h^d been induced by what had been 'written to him m the "private and personal" letter to accept £500,008 less than he had previously informed his colleagues was compatible With the mainteiianc* of the naval defences of England ? If, m the days of Walpole or William Pitt, a foreign statesman had changed his tune after the recpint of, a'?latter from .Walpole' or, Pitt, with , tie: : .' suddenness with ' ' which £we£dmQUth .^hanj&a 'Ms . ■ 'what would jthVw^oria' '^VeVsaid,? : .Whiv "that the ,- ; f/ore^gjn .. ".stafeman ■ had ' handled soime' .:Eriglish VgMd; ' They Wpul'cVprobably , have /been right ; for Walpole beUi^edf^hat eVery man ha.d his; .'"price, '' and' iyas'-nrt't backward m tendering what he 'believed to be that, 'price":;, and William Pitt'nbtoripu'siy'expekded iar.e;e' ' : .amounts' of jnoiiey fii'pm ' the. Secret Service Fund the cofruptJH.e;' of persoiisx 'abroad .whose corruption could be ma&e ser•viceable to England/ In former days, "*.w hen; Kings wished to corrupt ' the .Governments of other States, they sought to corrupt the ; Sovereigns of otlve? States. : When Charles" the, Secpnd; was King' of Eng- : laftd, . he wis? the 'pensioner of the ' French ' King, f v/hp, f ? u^ I* a .prpfitabie; thiyg ; 'tp .''.shiili put", to Charles the Second, arid eyen provide him H.tK-'^isti'e.ss.e§i r ,r> t tljer than to have trouble, .wil^hjim; ; in^' Ijis.'- position as the? ,Ehglish' ." I^'ingi' " Times have changed I,'1 ,' however ; the English King no longer has t^ie power of a Stuaj't. 1 He is entirely ; ih tlieMnils } of ' : his cpnstitutionar advisers, who are, themselves; /xespprisible to the duly-e.lect-ed, repfesfentatives; of tlie people. Consequently, if a' fbreign potentate Wished to cprrup.t 'the Government of Eriglahd, be would find it useless to attempt to do anything with the King ; he would, therefore, make his attempt; to .corrupt, riot the Kin^, but one of the King's Ministetrs. There is at present, no proof that the Kaiser has actually attempted the corruption of Lord Tweedmouth, but the whole of the circumstances look exceedingly suspicious. - '■'■-, ■»■.■,.•. » •*■•.. .• "The queer .conduct of Tweedmouth may be .the putcotne of mere snobbishness or flunkeyism on his part— or it riiay not. In either case, a man that will act .as he has done, b- his pwn /admiss.ion and ?the statements of other members ' of the Cabinet. is not the sort of. man that should any longer be: trusted to p-uide the ship of State m . Great Britain.- He should be "oiited" at the first opportunity 1 ;' The Welfare of every part of the British Empire is imperilled by, :tbe conduct of a man that, appar-.

ently m response to representations made by the ruler of another country; '-a country with which Britain may one day be , at . war— completely changes, his, attitude as an 'administrator; and ..when, his je'ornmuiiic{i; : bio.A§ : ,-37dt'h.'-a. potentate"'" 'are i"* "■discovered, pleads that what he received was ]'?priVai;e;::i ; ,. personal. •'•: L Lord lyeetiimouth is evidently much -better: fit for "private and personal" affairs than for public life, and. the sooner, therefore, he is deprived of his positiQn as a> Minister of the Crown, the. safer it will be' for the British Empire. As we saM at the beßinning of this article, the proper thing to do with Lord Tw^e&mouth is to impeach him, to put him on trial, for conduct* that is "prima facie'? that of a traitor to his country..