The Dominion. THURSDAY, APRIL 20, 1916. A FATEFUL CRISIS

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2751, 20 April 1916, Page 4

The Dominion. THURSDAY, APRIL 20, 1916. A FATEFUL CRISIS

The political crisis in Britain has now "reached an extremely acute stage, and tho whole Empire is waiting anxiously for Mr. Asquith's promised statement regarding tho demand for goneral compulsion. The Military Service Act, which bccamo law in January, only applies to single men and widowers, without children dependent upon them, who were between .18 and 41 years of age on August 15, 1915. The passing of this Act is worthy to be included among tHe great evenfci of' British history. It placed the power of, the law behind the moral obligation which lies upon every citizen to fight for his country when the need arises. But; the measure of compulsion authorised by the Act was so limited that it was almost impossible to believe that it would prove a final solution of the more-men problem. It certainly did not satisfy tho conscriptioni6ts, and the agitation for universal service was continued as vigorously as ever. It now seems certain that the hew compulsory system is not comprehensive enough to meet the requirements of the Army. It appears that the military advisers of the Govcrnnient have stated that, a certain number of men must be found, and the Army Council now demands the compulsion of married men. This demand clashes with the decision of a Cabinet sub-committee that it is not accessary to enlist the unattested married men. This conflict of opinion has" resulted in the present Cabinet crisis. Mr. Lloyd George appears to have taken up a very strong attitude. We are told that he believes that the compulsion of married men, by bringing in those who have not attested, would add d00,d()0 men to the Army, and that the requirements of the military authorities cannot be met in other' way. Mr. Lloyd George is no lover of militarism, but ho recognises that the war must be won at all. costs. .Compulsion may be bad, but defeat would be infinitely' worse. He feels that if general compulsion is jjatt of the price of victoryj then general compulsion must be adopted. If it is true that Lobd\ Kitchener

takes the same view of the situation as that attributed to .Me. Lloyd Georg£, tho Government would take a very heavy load of responsibility on its shoulders if it persisted in its adherence to the existing recruiting system. It is riot at all surprising that the crisis became acute when it

was' announced that Lord .Kitchener, the whole of the Army Council, and all the' General Staff had signed the memorandum to the Government regarding the needs of the Army. No Government lias ever had a more momentous problem to solve. . It is to be hoped that Mr. Asquilh and his colleagues ? will prove equal to the occasion, and will have the wisdom to see the • right toursej and the courage to take it. ,

The nation' is now waiting to see whether, the Cabinet can settle its differences on this vital question or whether it'will have to be reconstructed. How can a divided Government give, the country a clear 'and resolute lead? A Government

fchii does nbt know. its own mind, and is rent by discordant opinions on matters of fundamental importance, is unfitted to manage tho affairs of a great nation in time ofwar. ' One' cif the Labour members (Mr. Hodge), has declared that if the Government wiil say plainly

that the war cannot be won without general conscription he believes that tho unions would not offer any ob-

jection to the proposed extension ■ cif the, compulsory system. The trouble is that > the Goferntheht speaks with two vbices— one in favour of voluntaryism and the' other iii fiivour .of compulsion. The natioh is bewildered, and does not know what to think. A definite statement from Lord Kitchener would be ; welcomed _ by the British public, who are quite ready to. do all that is ' really necessary to win .the war, but strongly, object to being hustled iritis cdriscription bv the Northcliffe Press. During the discussion in the House of Lords in January-last on the Military Service Bill; Lord-Kitchener stated that while he had always hoped that we would be able to finish the war without departing from the voluntary system, which had done so well, ho admitted that "in the special circumstarifces of an' utterly unprecedented struggle" the existing system, without modification was not equal to maintairiitig the Army needed to secure tictory. The system . was modified by the introduction of an instalment of compulsion. A further .extension now, seems to be inevitable. Unless this is agreed to, we are tblcl that the National Government will be broken yp by the resignation of its Unionist members; and also of Mr. Lloyd George. No orie can contemplate the loss of the Ministerial services .of these men without serious misgivings. They are the strong men of the Oabihet. arid never was there greater iiecd for strong meii. The latest information available at time of' writing indicates the possibility of aft agreement being arrived at on the Tines of a proposal made' by Mr. Lloyd George,- .to the, effect that the new Compulsion. Bill will contain a proviso that the extended /compulsory powers siiail only be exercised if the 3'iekl of Unattested married men under' the new voluntary recruiting schcme falls below 50.000 a month. This would be equivalent to a definite declaration by Parliament that the additional men demanded by tho Army authorities must be found either b,v tho voluntary system or by compulsion, or by |a combination of both luetliods. If the voluntary effort fails, then the' next instalment of conscription would come automatically into operation. Another suggestion is that the Compulsion Bill be held over for the present, on the Understanding that ii the existing system, supplemented by new voluntary fcfforfcs, cannot provide suffibie'nt Irion; there will be .no further opposition to the compulsion of married men.