BRITAIN’S POLICY,

Taranaki Daily News, 16 October 1922, Page 5

BRITAIN’S POLICY,

LLOYD GEORGE’S SPEECH. FACING BIG PROBLEMS. OFFERS TO RETIRE. I FUTURE LEFT TO PEOPLE. By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright. Received Oct. 15, 11.50 p.m. London, Oct. 14. Mr. Lloyd George was the guest of the Reform Club at Manchester, at a luncheon, to-day. He was rouaingly received when he rose to speak. He said: “Since coming north I have not noticed any symptoms of the indignation and execration with which the present Government is supposed to be regarded everywhere. On the contrary. I have been received with unusual cordiality and enthusiasm. The people of Britain did not believe the Gov- - ernmenc had endeavored to rush the country into war. We have been not warmongers, but peace-mongers. Nevertheless, the Government has been assailed with misrepresentation the like of which no other Government has had to face in this country. There are queer people let loose in the Press to-day. “The Government’s aims in the Nar East crisis have been threefold: The freedom of the Straits, the prevention of the war spreading to Europe, and the prevention of a repetition in Europe of the unutterable horrors in Asia Minor. The Great War practically began in the Balkans, and the Government had had to act promptly and firmly. Since 1914, according to official testimony, the Turks in cold blood had slaughtered one and a-half million Armenians and half-a-million Greeks. The Government had pursued a policy in accordance with the highest interests and traditions of this land. General Harington warned us that there were 15 to 20 thousand armed Turks inside Constantinople. France sent a message stating that if either the Greeks or Turks invaded the neutral zone, they must be resisted with force by the Allies. We accepted that and we thought France meant it. It is useless trying to bluff a first-rate fighting animal. You can decide not to threaten, but you must not threaten unless you mean it. It was because Britain threatened and meant it, and the Turks knew we meant it, that we had peace. “A BLOODLESS PEACE.” “Mr. Asquith said we should show the patient and forbearing policy that Viscount Grey showed the Germans in 1914, and that we should not have departed from the old diplomacy; but the old diplomacy resulted in the most disastrous war the world had ever known. Ido not desire to blame anyone for it, but Mr. Asquith and Viscount • Grey, knowing their own past difficutlies and failures, despite the best intentions, ought not to have thrown stones at people doing their utmost to face enormous difficulties. “I did not improvise a policy regarding : Turkey, but I inherited it. There was a series of agreements with Russia, France, Italy and Greece to leave Turkey only a strip of Anatolia before I became Prime Minister. Viscount Grey and Mr. Asquith did that. I approved as a member of the Government, and so did Lord Belfour, Mr. 80-ar Law. Mr. Chamberlain and the Laborites. That policy failed through circumstances none of us could control. There was the Russian revolution, the United States’ failure to undertake the mandate over Armenia, and the fall of M. Venizelos. We had to recast our policy and make the best of it, and we have secured a bloodless peace, of which Britain need not be ashamed —securing the freedom of the Straits and of the Arabs, and protecting the minorities of Southern Europe. WOULD WELCOME FREEDOM. “Now I must obtrude personal matters, because they have become matters of controversy. Sir Donald Mac Lean (deputyleader of the Liberal Party), a friend whom I like and respect highly, has finally kicked the Coalition-Liberals out of the Liberal Party. There are ‘Die Hards’ in both camps. If there is to be a change, no man will welcome it more than I. I have had a pretty long and hard spell, and would love freedom. Office is a great shackle. I never sought the Premiership. I offered to serve in any capacity in any Min istry prepared to conduct the war efficiently. I offered to serve under Lord Balfour and Mr. Bonar Law, and again, in 1919, I begged Mr. Bonar Law to take charge, but he refused. Again, at the beginning of this year, I suggested to Mr. Chamberlain that, as leader of the strongest party, he should take charge, offering to serve under him in any capacity provided a policy of peace was followed, no refractionary legislation was introduced, and the contract with Ireland was carried out. Mr. Chamberlain refused the Ministry, and asked me to carry on. “I should regret severance from men who served me faithfully and helped along in the country’s interests policies which their supporters opposed, but I would welcome freedom. It would be interesting to watch others in the midst of difficulties they think so easily soluble. I shall watch, for instance, how they forgive Germany her reparations and yet make France love us more; how we can pay the United States, yet forgive other countries everything they owe us. I shall watch how they work the educational system, and how they give more to the unemployed and yet reduce taxation. These are joys in store. A PERPLEXED FUTURE.' “I understand a motion will be submitted to the Conservative convention favoring dispensing with my services, but it would have been more honorable and courageous to have moved it in 1918. On the other hand, the Wee Frees gay they will not have anything to do with me, or any of my associates. Despite these things I have many friend* among the Conservatives and Liberals and those not attached to any party, and I am not afraid of the future. I shall cast myself upon the people, whose cause I have never betrayed in thirtytwo years of puftrlic life. My course is clear. I will support with all my might any Government which devotes all its energies, fearlessly and resolutely, to the supreme task of giving the people enough to devote themselves to peaceful vocations of life, always provided they don’t embark on measures, whether reactionary or revolutionary, which would inflict parmanent injury on this country. The future is perplexed. The situation erf the world and Britain is doo grave for any man to play party pr personal manoeuvres. The Wee Frees brought the Liberal Party to the brink of destruction by that kind pf twaddle, apd those who are

now engaging in the same game with the Conservative Party wilil live to reap disappointment and disillusionment. The nation will not forgive parties which sacrificed national interests in a great emergency for party gain.

“I shall play no party or personal game. I place national security and prosperity above party gain, and if, as a consequence of this, I drift into the wilderness I shall always recall with pride that I have been able, through the loyalty of my colleagues, during the dark hours of our history, to render my country no mean service. I shall be proud of having attempted things which still have not reached complete success. Above all, I shall be proudest to have held the Premiership at a time when the might of this great Empire has acted to protect from indescribable horrors men, women and children by hundreds of thousands who trusted the plighted word of France, Italy and ourselves for shelter and defence.”

Mr. Lloyd George spoke for seventyfive minutes and closed amidst thunderous and continued applause.—Aus.N.Z. Cable Abbb«