SECRETS OUT

Evening Post, Volume XCVIII, Issue 130, 29 November 1919, Page 8

SECRETS OUT

HENDERSON IN RUSSIA

REFUSAL OF AN EMBASSY

REVELATIONS AT WIDNES.

During the by-election campaign in tho Widnes electorate, where Mr. Arthur Henderson defeated Mr. F M. B. Fisher recently, the successful candidate made an interesting statement respecting his much-discussed mission to Russia in 1917> At- that' period Mr. Henderson was a member of the War Cabinet of five, and he informed his audience that the Cabinet unanimously decided in his absence to send him on a mission to Russia, and that "I w-ent possessing the power to send the then Ambassador home at the end of a fortnight, and to take his job at £8000 a year." Mr. Henderson said he thought the decision wrong, and he returned home instead of the Ambassador. Mr. Henderson also explained his attitude on tho Stockholm Conference. These explanations of the Labour candidate arose out of charges of being a pacifist, which Mr. Fisher, the Conservative candidate, had made against him, and which Mr. Henderson characterised ns "this damned lie." He pointed to his work in tho two Cabinets, and said that I no.man had received such expressions of gratitude as he had received from Lord Derby for his help in the Derby scheme. He also denied emphatically the statement that- when he returned from Petrograd his resignation was asked lor. "It was tendered voluntarily," he said, "becanso of the difference between my colleagues and myself on this question of a conference. - "CAMPAIGN OF MISREPRESENTATION " •■ - . - Mr, Henderson said that his opponents, instead of proceeding on a high plane of educative propaganda, wore engaged in. a campaign of malicious and calumnious .misrepresentation and abuse. The stigma, sought to' be attached to him was that he was a pacifist. He was prepared to face that issue and to test it. He hoped to be pardoned if he used an unparliamentary phrase about the statement, and to call .it "this damned lie that is being circulated." Early in the war, on the personal initiation of Mr. Asquith, he joined the Cabinet, and one of the things he helped 'to do, was to build.up tho armies. If Lord Derby were on that platform they would soon know whether the Labour candidate before them was a pacifist or not. From no man in the country had he received such expressions of gratitude as he had received from Lord Derby for help in making the Derby scheme the success it was. (Hear, hear.) He did his best to save this colin- ! try from Prussian militarism. They would remember that at this period some ! of his advanced friends in the Labour movement were against him. When Mr. Lloyd George became Prime Minister he w-as personally invited to become the representative ,of Labour in the War Cabinet of five, and during the early months of that Cabinet he assisted- to the best of his ability in trying to win the war.

In the middle of .1917 that Cabinet unanimously decided in his absence to ask him to go on an important mission to Russia, and he went to Russia. The people who least liked his going to Russia were the They had tho most to say against his going to Russia, .and-they, had had most to .say against him since. 'It was a curious thing that' the Unionists in this and other parts of • the country wished: to throw him.body; and ; soul to, those who disowned him. "When I went to Russia (said Mr. Henderson) I, was opposed to the Stockholm Conference, and my chief. Mr. Lloyd George, was not in favour of it. I went to Russia, and I got converted. I came to two conclusions. First, that we must revise the secret treaties. The Russians who met me said thoy must have the treaties revised. I asked them to explain, and they asked me, "When you handed over Constantinople to the Tsar, what did you get; and what did France and England get for going into the war?" I said, 'I will not have anything.to do ed the Stockholm Conference, and they jvanted it to be a negotiating conference. >it^a nego-iat^conSe^l!l^'to da ■•m PETROGRAD EMBASSY. „ J* - Vr m leJ ■ y6}L iuto another secret. Whea I went to Russia I went possessing the power to send the then Ambas--sador-horne afthe end of a fortnight and to take his job at £8000 a year. . I made up my mind that this decision had been taken on altogether wrong grounds, and that it was unfair for me to ask the Ambassador to return home. So I wired to London to .say that I should return, and that he should remain at his post. (Cheers.) If: I had been the mean, despicable politician that they are trying to make me out to be, I could have remained there at £3000 a year, or I'! could have returned, and, instead of saying anything about Stockholm and revising the treaties, I could have- gone on with my work in the Cabinet and be Bn^ -r_nooo *1™ "ntil »OW. Rut,that £5000, would have been cover--\eu -up, with a napkin' containing my principles. I refused to do anything of 1 t „|Cli ee?'' The National ExeZL _°i -c. Lab°Ur paHy unanimously Iff .£ f° take Pf rt « a conference in Stockholm, provided that everyone concerned was prepared to make it a confer- j ence for the purpose of consultation onlyY When I found that the Government could ! not agree to this position, I tendered my resignation, and my resignation was ac ccpted.

"I want in the most emphatic way to challenge the statement that when I returned from Petrograd my resignation was asked for. I deny that absolutely My resignation was never asked for It was tendered voluntarily, because I found that the difference between mv colleagues and myself on this question of a conference, even a consultative conference, was so great that I could not remain secretary of the Labour Party and a member of the War Cabinet holding the views I did. Therefore. I determined to sacrifice my £5000 a year and. stand by my party and my principles."