LLOYD GEORGE

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 16 October 1922, Page 5

LLOYD GEORGE

k MANCHESTER SPEECH,

jSTEAR EAST POLICY,

THE COALITION,

S&I CABLE—PRESS ASSOCIATION—COPYRIOHT

LONDON, Oct. 14,

"Mr Lloyd George was the guest of "the Reform Club at Manchester at a luncheon to-day. He was rousingly received when he rose to speak. He said:

'' Since coming north I have . not noticed any symptoms of the indignation and execration with which the present Government is supposed to be regarded everywhere. On the contrary, I have been received with unusual cordiality and enthusiasm. The people of Britain did not believe the ■Government* had endeavoured to Tush

tthe country into war,

We have been

3iot warmongers, but peaeemongers. the Government has been assailed with misrepresentation the like of which no other Government has had to face in this; country. There are people let loose in the Press to--day. ..

"The Government's aims in the USTear East crisis have been, threefold: "The freedom of the Straits, the prevention of the war spreading to Europe, -"and the prevention of a repetition in Europe of the unutterable horrors in -Asia Minor. The Great War practic--ally began in the Balkans, and the •-Government had had to act promptly ,?and firmly. Since 1914, according to -official testimony, the Turks in cold Iblood had slaughtered one and a-half million Armenians and half-a-million The Government had pursued •a policy in accordance witlr the highest interests and traditions of this land. General Harington warned us "tfhat there were fifteen to twenty thousand armed Turks inside Constantinople. France sent a message stating that if either the Greeks or Turks invaded the neutral zone they must be resisted with force by the Allies. We ■.•.accepted that and we thought France meant it. It is useless trying to bluff a first-rate fighting animal. You can decide not to threaten, but you must iiot - threaten unless you mean it. It ;was because Britain threatened and meant it, and the Turks knew we meant it, that we. had peace. "Mr Asquith said we should show the patient and forbearing policy that Viscount Grey showed the Germans in 1914^ and 'that we should not have departed from the old diplomacy; but the old diplomacy resulted in the most disastrous war the world had ever mown. I do not desire to blame anyone for it, but Mr Asquith and Viscount Grey, knowing their own past difficulties and failures, despite the "best intentions, ought not to have thrown stones at people doing their utmost to face enormous difficulties. "I did not improvise a policy regarding Turkey, but I inherited it. There was a series of agreements with "Russia, France, Italy and Greece to leave Turkey only a strip of Anatolia "before I became Prime Minister. Viscount Grey and Mr Asquith^ did that. I approved as a member of the Government, and sordid Lord Balfour, Mr Bonar Law, Mr Chamberlain and the labourites. That policy failed through circumstances none of us could control. •There..was the Russian revolution, the .United^States' failure to undertake ; ,the: mandate over Armenia, and the fall of M.\ Venizelos. We had to recast our -policy and make the best of, it, and ■ Tve have-secured a bloodless peace, of ;which^Britain need not be ashamed— .ijseeuring the freedom of the Straits and of the Arabs, and protecting the ..minorities of Southern Europe. "Now:I. must obtrude personal mat- - ters, because they, have become matters •.. of controversy. Sir Donald MaeLean Xdeputy-leader of the Liberal Party), - /a friend whom I like and respect highv ly, has finally kicked the Coalition- . Liberals out of the Liberal Party. " .There are 'Die Hards' in both camp's. If there is to be a change, no man ~'will welcome it more than I. I have ' had a pretty long and hard spell, and would love freedom. . Office is a great - shackle. I never sought the Premier- , ship. I offered to serve in any capacity in any Ministry prepared to conduct the war. efficiently. I offered to serve ■under Lord Balfour and Mr Bonar Law, and again, in 1919, I begged Mr . Bonar Law to take charge, but he refused. Again, at the beginning of this ; year, I suggested to Mr Chamberlain that, as leader of the strongest party, " le should take charge, offering to serve finder,him in, any capacity provided a policy of peace was followed, no reactionary _ legislation was introduced, and the contract with Ireland was carried out. Mr Chamberlain refused the Ministry, and asked me to" carry on. "I should regret severance from men who served me faithfully and lelped along in the country's inter;«sts policies which their supporters opposed, but I would welcome freedom. It would be -interesting to watch • others in the-midst of difficulties they think so easily soluble. I shall watch, for instance, how they forgive Germany her reparations and yet make IFranee love us more; how we can pay the United States, yet forgive other countries everything they owe us. I shall watch how they work the educational system, and how they give more to the unemployed and yet reduce taxation. These are joys in store. "I understand a motion will be submitted to the Conservative convention favouring dispensing with my services, "tout it would have been more honourable and courageous to have moved it in 1918. On the other hand, the Wee Trees say they will not have anything "to do with me, or any of my associates. -Despite these things I have many friends among the Conservatives and liberals and those not attached to any party, and I am not afraid of the future. I shall cast myself upon the people, whose cause I have never betrayed in thirty-two years of public life. My course is clear. I will support with all my might any Government which devotes all its energies, -fearlessly and resolutely, to the supreme task of giving the people enough -to devote themselves to peaceful vocations of life, always provided they -don't embark on measures, whether reactionary or revolutionary, which vvould inflict permanent injury on this Country.- The future is perplexed. The of the world and Britain is too grave for any man to play party or personal manoeuvres. The Wee Trees brought the Liberal Party to the t>rink of destruction by that kind of twaddle, and those who are now engaging in the same game with the Conservative Party will live to reap disappointment -and disillusionment. The nation will not forgive parties which sacrificed national interests in a great .emergency for party gain.

"I shall play no party or personal % game. I place national security and prosperity above party gain, and if, as a consequence of this, I drift into the -wilderness, I snail always recall with pride that I ~have been* able, through the loyalty of my colleagues, during the dark hours of. our. history, to renjder my country no mean service. I