Evening Post. FRIDAY, AUGUST 17, 1917. MR HENDERSON'S POSITION

Evening Post, Volume XCIV, Issue 41, 17 August 1917, Page 6

Evening Post. FRIDAY, AUGUST 17, 1917. MR HENDERSON'S POSITION

"If circumstances should arise which, make it necessary for me to seek reelection," wrote a member of the Asquith Coalition Government, " I shall confidently appeal to my constituents to support the Government, because I believe that they, like myself, are convinced that to-day there is only one task for all of us, and that is to win the war." The writer was Mr. Arthur Henderson, the date was the 20th January, 1916, and the occasion was his support of the Military Service Bill then before the House of Commons. The value of the services rendered to the Empire at that time by Mr. Henderson and his colleagues in the Labour Party could hardly be exaggerated. They had consented to the suspension of trade union rules for the purpose of winning the war, and become recruiting sergeants in th_e great campaign which added 2,000,000 volunteers to the British Army; and as soon as the voluntary system was proved to have outlived its usefulness, they did not shrink from the much more revolutionary violation of the traditions of the party which was involved in the support of conscription. Is it possible that the broad-mindedness and the patriotic enthusiasm which carried the Labour Party and the Empire safely through those drastic changes are now going to fail in the presence of what a few days ago seemed to be a much milder ordeal? Is British Labour, which has hitherto set a shining example of unselfish devotion to the national •cause, going to falter in its high purpose, to narrow its aims, to revive old lines of cleavage and old party cries, and to forget that, even more urgently than when Mr. Henderson used the words at the beginning of last year, " there is only one task, for all of us, and that is to win the war?"

As to the motives of Mr. Henderson and his colleagues there is not the slightest ground for doubt or misgiving, but the same cannot be said of the hopes and fears which their action is exciting on the Continent. The Executive of the Labour Party has resolved " that it is "desirable to attend the Stockholm Conference to prevent the British Labour Party's views being misrepresented and misunderstood." But could any misrepresentations or misunderstandings be mora dangerous than those to which the present attitude of the party's leaders has exposed it? " Recent events in London," wrote the Paris correspondent of The Times a few days ago, "have bewildered and disappointed the French—• even the Socialists—who had largely hoped for a strong British lead, which would result on their part in a decision against the Stockholm Conference." The satisfaction of Berlin is proportionate to the chagrin of Paris. The Vorwaerts, whose rampant Social Democracy of a few years ago is now restrained by the strong hand of State control, expresses the delight of both' the German. Socialists and the German. Government in the action of British Labour. "It is the first step, and cannot l^emain the only step," says the Vorwaerts. "The British: delegates will learn that it is impossible to preach the continuation of the war by giving the German Minority Socialists additional evidence against the German Government. A single discussion with | the German delegates will show-'the Brii tish how naive they ape."

It is indeed a naive idea that anything said at Stockholm can conceivably exercise any good effect comparable with the mischief that the mere presence of British delegates at Stockholm must produce. The strongest things that can possibly be addressed to the deaf ears of enemy subjects in conference could be just as well spoken from the other side of the North Sea, and without conveying to both friend and foe the impression that Britain, who is still the pillar of the world's hopes, is wearying in her great task. The latest word of the Vorwaerts is .that Mr. Henderson's resignation is the prelude to the downfall of ■ Mr. Lloyd George's Cabinet, proving it to be in, tlie same peril as the Cabinets of Russia and France., A few weeks ago Mr. Bonar Law referred to a General '■'Election as a disaster not- to be contemplated, but the British Government may 'well consider even such a disaster as that preferable to the fatal effect that might bo produced upon the cause of the Allies by the belief that Britain's inflexible (•(.■ioluUon hag Mlready begun-<£q-bend* . _