PEACE AND WAR.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 250, 22 October 1928, Page 6

PEACE AND WAR.

A book just published in London is said to contain a "dramatic revelation" as to the attitude of certain leading Liberal statesmen on the eve of the Great War. This is a posthumous work by Lord Morley—"Memorandum on My Resignation"—and though the public eminence and high personal reputation of the author naturally lend it interest, it does not seem to throw much light on the inner realities of the situation. Everybody has known for the last 14 years that in 1914 Lord Morley, Mr. John Burns and other members of the Ministry had conscientious objections to war, and that several of them resigned rather than agree to Britain's entry into the struggle. But what the world still wants to learn is, what Morley and Burns and their followers expected Britain to do if she did not fight.

So far as Lord Morley is concerned, now that he is dead, the difficulty of interpreting his motives must remain insuperable. But as to the most interesting point at issue—what was Britain to do if she did not fight—this latest "revelation" leaves us still completely in the dark. Happily the leaders of the "war party" had a clearer view of the situation than their opponents. Sir Edward Grey and Mr. Asquith, in their speeches and in their published records of these momentous events, dwelt on the certainty that if Britain held aloof Russia and France would be overwhelmed, that Britain's turn would then come, and that she would have to face the inevitable conflict "without a friend in *he world." These arguments were urged before the and their force and truth was amply confirmed by the sequel. It would thus appear that in opposing Britain's entry into the war Lord Morley and his followers were guilty of an error of judgment too gross and grievous to be excused even by their cosmopolitan benevolence or their good intentions.