The Press Friday, January 18, 1918. Mr Lloyd George's Strategy.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16113, 18 January 1918, Page 6

The Press Friday, January 18, 1918. Mr Lloyd George's Strategy.

The mail has brought us the full report af the famous speech which Mr Lloyd George delivered in Paris on November: 12th, together with the comments it provoked, and the Primo Minister's • successful defonce in the House of Commons. It was rather tho tono of the speech, and tho "rutlilessness"— he used tho word himself —with which ho arraigned the mistakes of Allied strategy, that caused the excitement and the resentment in Britain. It was not really strategy that was his complaint. Tho Allies, in order to make "tho appearance of a strategic whole," had simply put down and sewed together a collection of completely independent plans. "Stitching," he saad. "is not 'strategy." Beroirting j tpncific, ho described tho effect of this •'make believe unity" : Whilst we were hammering with the whole of our might at the impene--1 trablo barrier in tho West, the Central Powers, feeling confident that wo, could not break through, threw their weight on that little country [Roumania], crushed her resistance, opened ■ the gate to the East, unlocked great stores of corn, cattle, and minerals, Yes, unlocked the door of hope;, all essential to enable Germany to ! sustain her struggle. Without these additional stores Germany ' might have failed to support her armies at their full strength. Hundreds of thousands of splendid lighting material were added to the armies'which Germany can control, added unto her, lost unto us. i *-™-

the Allies unchanged and unprepared. In 1917 there was "no variety in tho "character of tho tragedy.'' ''There " lias been the same disorder, due to " tho same cause." "When," he went on, "we advance a kilometre into the " enemy's lines, snatch a small, shat- " tored village out of his cruel grip, " and capture a few hundred of his " soldiers, wo shout with unfeigned joy. "And rightly so; for it is the symbol "of our superiority over a boastful " foe and a suro guarantee that in the "end we can and shall win. But what "if we had advanced 50 kilometres

" beyond his lines, made 200,000 of "his soldiers prisoners, and taken 2500 "of his best guns, with enormous "quantities of munitions and stores? •' Have you any idea how long it would ' ; take the arsenals of France and Bri- " tain to manufacture 2500 guns?

What print would we have for our '•head-lines! At this moment the ex- " tent to which we can prevent the ''defeat from developing into a catas- " tropho depends upon the prompti•'tiulo and completeness with which " we break with our past, and for the

first timo realise in action the essen- " tial unity of all the Allied fronts."

This extraordinarily plain speaking could not but cause excitcmcnt and some anger. But in the House subsequently the Prime Minister explained that ho deliberately set out to make a "disagreeable" speech, for his acquaintance with political strategy had persuaded him that only bo could he provoke tho discussion that would fuse into tho desired action. One result of tho speech was that while some of tho newspapers rejoiced that there was at least an assertion of tho statesman against tho soldief, others sharply cried out against what was interpreted as a hint that tho politicians were going to take matters out of the hands of Robertson and Haig. How violently public opinion was agitated can best be understood, however, from the fact that for onco the '"Spectator" and the "Nation'' —journals whoso ideas

aro poles apart—united in an unrestrained indictment of the Prime -Minister. The "Nation" has long been bitterly hostile to. Mr Lloyd Georgo, whom it regards as tho assassin of Liberalism, and who, it declares, is doing his best to lose tho war. It asked to what our successes were due if our failures were due to want of unity, and it urged that Mr Lloyd Goorgo had himself for a year endorsed tho policy he condemned. Tho "Spectator's" criticism was a moro serious thing. Mr Lloyd George, it said, had far too great a belief in machinery, and was given to rushing off, whenever things went badly for the moment, to set up some new oommittee or council. But tho worst of his speech was that it was a mischievous one, an apple of discord. The battle of tho Somme was a' refutation of his ,charge of "make- " believe unity." His reference to the heavy casualties—"when I look at the i " appalling casualty lists, I sometimes " wish it had not been necessary to

" win so many victories" —was a charge against our genorals of unnecessary butchery, and a yielding to a fatal temptation. He oven disregarded tho facts, the "Spectator" said, for in 1915 we were not hammering "with the "whole of our might 1 ' at the "impene- " trable" barrier in tho "West, and, generally, the reverses which ho ascribed to want of unity were really due, in the last analysis, to the superiority of Germany in men and position at that time. Its final conclusion was an unqualified demand for the Prime Minister's dismissal: "Unless the " House of Commons marks its con- " demnation of tho speech, and so dis- " misses Mr Lloyd George, we shall bo "in hourly peril of national sliip- " wreck. All parties must join to put " the vessel and lier priceless cargo '' beyond the reach of Mr Lloyd "Goorgo's frantic egoism. ... It "is indeed not too much to say that " there are few truly responsible men " who would not feel relieved of a load "of profound anxiety if tho Lloyd " George regime were to come to an " end." Mr Lloyd George easily weathered the storm, and perhaps tho explanation is that there was enough truth in his speech to justify it, and that tho feeling grows that speeches, except where they are purely informative, explanatory, or declaratory, aro not of as much importance now as they were —that, in fact, action and facts count more than anything. There have undoubtedly been signs in the British. newspapers of a certain impatience 'with the Prime Minister, and there is a possibility that tho "Spectator" may sooner or later have its wish gratified. The shrewdest criticism of all that we have read came from a newspaper correspondent who pointed out the peril of Sir Lloyd George's confession that ho set out to make a "disagreeable'! speech. If such speeches can bo kept on tap, "agreeable" speeches can equally ho provided, and there may develop a suspicion, when the "agreeablo" tap is on, that it was turned on by the hand of "political " strategy." What cannot fail to strike anyone "who goes through the controversy, wo may add, in conclusion, is the British firmness with which the necessity for a conclusive peace, based on victory, remains unshaken by

speeches or events. ;