SPECIAL EDITION. COMPULSION.

Evening Star, Issue 15913, 20 September 1915, Page 4

SPECIAL EDITION. COMPULSION.

LLOYD GEORGE SUPPORTS IT. PROCLAIMS HIS BELIEFS AND DEPRECATES WRANGLING. Press Assc elation—By Telegraph—Copyright. LONDON, September 19. (Received September 20, at noon.) The Press Bureau announces that Mr Lloyd George, replying to a constituent's letter, says: "You say rightly that the Government ought to give ■the nation a lead upon the question of: whether the moral obligation resting on every able-bodied man to defend his country ought to be converted into a legal obligation. I can assure you that the Government are fully alive to the necessity of giving a definite lead, and are now examining the subject with a view to rightly deciding without undue delay. Undue precipitation might be equally disastrous. Let us avoid both, and decide the issue on the facts, and nob on mere principle. If the figures demonstrate that wo can win through with voluntaryism, then it would be. folly to provoke controversy in the middle of a world war by attempts to substitute a totally different method. On tho other hand, if the figures demonstrate to everyone who is unprejudiced that voluntaryism has exhausted its utility, and that nothing but legal pressure can give us the armies necessary to defend the honor of Britain and save Europe from the triumph of military despotism, I liave heard of no man who would in those circumstances resist compulsion. (Received September 20, at 12.30 p.m.) " The men who say they will resign if this expedient proved necessary to save tho country and the freedom of the world have not yet appeared in the arena. If they do appear I predict that they will not *be found among the working" classes. The question is wholly one of ascertainable fact. Why, then, all this premature anger? The determining facts have not yet been published. When the facts aro sifted and are made known the advocates of either view will surely find that tho whole of this cyclonic fervor and ferocity has been wasted in attacking positions which they will then discover they ought to defend. Let the Government have a fair chance to decide. All this clatter and racket outside the Council Chamber is fatal to deliberation. I especially beg the public to pay no heed to paragraphs ascribing certain attitudes to different Ministers. /These are invariably inspired by hostile intent, and the task of contradiction would be endless.

"When the time comes these Ministers will be quite capable, and will not hesitate to define their own views. Meanwhile let personal recrimination drop. It poisons all good counsel. In every controversy there are- mean little persons who assume that their own motives for taking up any particular line are of the most exalted and noblest character, but that those daring to differ are animated by the basest personal aims. They are a small faction, but they are mischief-makers, and have often perverted discussion into dissension, seemingly aiming to spread distrust and disunion among the men whose co-operation is essential to national success. These creatures ought to be stamped out relentlessly as soon as they are seen crawling along the floor. The opinions I formed regarding essential action are prompted by a sincere persuasion that nothing ~but the exertion of our whole strength can obtain >the victory upon which so much depends. Having come to that conclusion, I am bound to do my best to secure that effort without the least regard to tho effect my appeals may have on political fortunes. The issue is the gravest any country was ever called on to decide. Let it be settled in a spirit worthy of its gravity. I withdraw nothing I said regarding the seriousness of the position. Naturally I take a hopeful view of the prospects of the cause wherein we -tare concerned, but I know too well that to ignore the dangers which I can see with the naked eye is the most fruitful source of disaster in all affairs. Events alone will prove whether I have been unduly alarmed. I have been pointing out for months the dangers of the present war, and I would indeed be a traitor if I did not hope fervently that the course of the war would prove I had overestimated the worst evils.

(Received September 20, at 2 p.m.) " I have not written without having a warrant in facts, known both to the enemy and to us—facts which I thought would already have sobered the most fatuous optimist. Therefore I felt driven by the jeopardy of my native land to sound a note of alarm. I have dono so confident in the belief that if it succeeds in rousing us in time to put forth all our strength we shall win. If for any reason I fail, it. will be sorry comfort to be able later to taunt with their mistake those- who I know are abusing me because of my daring to call attention to the coming storm before it overwhelms the land, and because of my striving to induce my fellow-countrymen to prepare in time for its onslaught."