Evening Post. MONDAY, DECEMBER 30, 1918, COALITION AVALANCHE

Evening Post, Volume XCVI, Issue 156, 30 December 1918, Page 6

Evening Post. MONDAY, DECEMBER 30, 1918, COALITION AVALANCHE

Public opinion is not an exact system of measurement, but it seldom, in a big issue, takes the wrong sid«. And in the electoral contest lately fought out in the Mother Country, public opinion has certainly taken the right side, and has bestowed the banner upon the only party ■ capable of bearing it. Id re-electing the Coalition Government it has chosen a course which is, in the circumstances, the best for the United Kingdom, for the Empire, and for the world at large. But, because representative government by popular poll is not an exact science, the Mother Country is now perhaps in some danger of suffering through having too much of a good thing. We w«re prepared to see the Opposition defeated, but not decimated. The swing of the pendulum from Asquithism to the Coalition is quite what was expected, and what was needed, but the pendulum has swung somewh?i far, and the dangei of reaction is mcii.. :d proportionately. The Lloyd George personal magnetism and the Coalition mana are rightly in the ascendant; let it be hoped not so much in the ascendant as to turn anybody's head. Foi, after all, neither victory on the battlefield, nor victory at the ballotbox, is an affair of men alone. Supreme destiny has had a hand in both, and it is above all things essential that, when the work of reconstruction is over, the British nation shall be able to give a good account of its stewardship, and to show that it stood as staunch in the hour of success as in the hour of trial. The responsibility of the peace, in no degree less exacting than that of the war, is now placed on the shoulders of the Lloyd George Government. Let us hope that the result will be a shining record of power rightly used; of wisdom, moderation, and statesmanship. What policy and principles are affirmed by the return of the Lloyd George Government' in the Coalition platform stands "punishment of the Kaiser," with which few, outside the Kaiser, will disagree. " Germany must be made to pay " is a formula something like " freedom of the seas"; it depends on what is meant. As we pointed out on 23rd December, in dealing with American aspects of the indemnity question', there are considerations not only of justice but of expediency; for there is some undefined point of financial pressure beyond [ which Germany cannot go without providing new scope for Bolshevism. All that can be said is that the case for reimbursement of war cost, out of available German assets, is materially strengthened by the Coalition's sweeping 1 victory. In the matter of repatriation, housing, and social-industrial improvement, the Coalition programme ,is probably not greatly different from that of Asquithian Liberalism, but there is a distinct line of cleavage in the Lloyd GeorgeBonar Law plan of "Imperial preference (without food taxes), protection of key I industries, and prevention of dumping." On this fiscal issue Mr. Asquith appeaas to have stood much where he did, and he "condemns any aggressive boycott." It would be quite wrong to regard this election as a mandate for Protection, but it is safe to assume that Britons a-re tired of a fiscal system that allowed Germany to monopolise industries vital to Britain's defence 'and to her national existence. Concerning Home Rule, neither the Coalitionists nor the Asquith following have proposed any real escape hem fch* TM*t imp*ttt.. Th«r fnilure to. ii^ t^rJß^Kw-tbMwn. tosknd into tit;

hands of the\ Sinn Feiners. who have almost wiped out the Nationalists. The cabled defeat of the Sinn Fein leader, De Valera, does not signify very much. Even if he failed to oust Mr. Dillon, De Valera has a safe seat elsewhere. So far as this election is concerned, Ireland has made no advance towards a Parliamentary solution; but, fired by Sinn, Feinijan, the problem may now work itself out in its own wicked way. As may be inferred from the foregoing | remarks, we . regret the fall of Mr. Asquith. Our high opinion of his political gifts has been frequently expressed; and we do not think that a certain lawyer-like evasiveness, occasionally in evidence, was sufficient to merit defeat not only throughout the country but in his own Scottish electorate. The old type of Liberalism, a sort of conservative Liberalism, full of doctrine and dogma, has received a severe blow in the fall of Mr. Ascfuith and his lieutenants, Messrs. M'-Kenria «nd Runciman. Over the two last-named, who represented the defects of their creed as much as its virtues, it ia impossible to shed a great many tears, even if tears wera useful, which they are not. The fact is that all over the world now blood must enter governing bodies, and it is inevitable that a good deal of the'old blood must escape in order to provide the necesssary room. Othei of the Old Liberal casualties are Sir John Simon—whose meteorlike self-assertion, at a certain stage of the war. is now almost forgotten—Mr. Herbert Samuel, and Sir C. E. Hobhouse. Messrs.. Ramsay Macdonald and Philip Snowden, on account of their -war record, will not be greatly missed; but Mr. Arthur Henderson is a loss. Labour would do well to find him a seat "elsewhere. Sir Leo Chiozza Money is a brain which democracy can ill afford to part with, and Mr. Trevelyan also leaves a blank which it will be difficult to fill. The Coalition can pride itself on the return of its Labour representatives, Messrs. Barnes and Hodge, and business representatives (" push-and-go" men) like Sir Eric Geddes and 'Sir Albert Stanley. The net result of the election is that the Coalition, if it retains cohesion, is overwhelmingly—perhaps dangerously—master of the House. Labour and Liberalism combined are only a fraction of the Government following, and Sinn Fein may attempt to dictate in Ireland but certainly not at Westminster Mr Lloyd George is now faced with great opportunities and great temptations. If he succeeds he will finally qualify in the highest test of statesmanship.