WAR SITUATION REVIEWED.

Otago Witness, Issue 3327, 19 December 1917, Page 24

WAR SITUATION REVIEWED.

A SPEECH BY THE EX-PRIME MINISTER. (By Cable.) Mr Asquith, speaking at Birmingham, said history asked : Was it worth Britain's while to enter the war? Pie answered un■doubtingly and unhesitatingly " Yes," provided only that the war ended in a peace securing tho attainment of Britain's original purposes containing in itself safeguards for its own permanence. Such a peace was the world's supreme need. There was no greater enemy to humanity than anyone who, by word or act, made it more difficult to achieve. Referring to Lord Lansdowne's letter, Mr Asquith paid a tribute to Lord Lansdowne's patriotism. He (Mr Asquith) had no knowledge of the letter till it was published and no responsibility as to its terms. Much criticism had arisen owing to the reading into the letter of meanings and intentions he did not understand it to convey. He thought' Lord Lansdowne's main argument was that the Allies, while warring vigorously and purposefully, should make it increasingly clear to the world that their own war aims were rational and unselfish; that by the attainment ,of them we*were convinced that we might look for a durable peace, safeguarded by the conjoint authority of an international league. Even now there was abundance of evidence that the enemy peoples were kept in the dark regarding our real purposes both for' war and for .peace. He would continue to" do what he could to raise the veil and let in light. Mr Asauith proceeded to point out. that nobody threatened the existence, independence, or peaceful enterprise of What we were concerned Avith was the system which enthroned force as the sovereign authority and held itself free in pursuit of its supposed interests to falsify, deride, or supersede, according to exigencies, our most solemn pacts. This system must end. Germany must learn that it does not pay. If it is to be a real and enduring pact, it must be something more than a paper document. Mr Asquith added: Another misconception is that the Allies— especially Britain —are aiming at the destruction of what -is vaguely called the "freedom of the seas." In peace time the seas are open to the.marine of all nations. What stipulations wouM Great Britain propose in peace terms to curtail or fetter? "This immemorial right" is a formula that can only be. used to indicate views of the limitation during war time upon the belligerent rights of the Power which happens to command the sea. Where existing conventions of the most solemn character have been systematically violated by the enemy it is, worth while considering whether something might not be done to secure the freedom of the seas from the prosecution of the lawless and infamous submarine campaign.

SPEECH BY MR LLOYD GEORGE. Mr Lloyd George, speaking at a dinner to the heads of the air service, after emphasising the importance of the operations of the air service as a determining factor in the war, referred to Lord Lansdowne's letter. He now understood that Lord Lansdowne did not intend in the least to convey the meaning which his words might reasonably bear, and only intended to say exactly the same thing as President Wilson had said in his recent speech. The whole British nation fully agreed with that speech, and he therefore concluded that the interpretation pla-ced on Lord Lansdowne's letter by our allies and enemies in no way represented what Lord Lansdowne intended. He referred to a very active minority of people who thought mistakenly that they had found a leader .in Lord Lansdowne. The danger was not the extreme pacifist. The speaker added : " I warn the nation to watch the man who thinks that there is a halfway house between victory and defeat. No such house exists. These are the men who think you end the war with some sort of peace by setting up a league of nations with attendant conditions. That is the right policy after victory, but without victory it would be a farce to end the war, which was entered upon in order to "enforce a treaty. Without reparation for the infringement of that treaty, which was treated as a scrap of paper, merely by entering into a new and more sweeping 1 and comprehensive treaty it would be a farce in the setting of a tragedy." There was nothing 'so fatal to character as half-finished tasks. Though it was a mean attitude to assume- he could understand a man who opposed the war from the start, but he could not comprehend a man who helped to commit the nation to a career of honour and now before the task was nearly accomplished wished to shake hands with the malefactor. To trade to the mutual advantage of the enemy was simply to be invited to enter a bargain to join with yon in punching the head of the next man who dared to imitate his villanyi The enemy desired such peace terms. It would be idle to talk of security won by such feeble means. Let there be no doubt regarding the alternatives with which we were confronted. One was to make easy terms with a triumphant outlaw, which meant abasing ourselves before lawlessness. It meant that ultimately the world would be intimidated by successful ' bandits. The other was to go through the task of vindicating justice so as to establish a righteous ancfe everlasting peace for ourselves and our children. No nation with any regard for self-respect or honour could hesitate a moment in its choice.

Intensely as they realised that victory was an essential condition of a free world, there would not merely be no object in prolonging the war, but it would be infamous to do so if they thought tilings would get no better the longer jthey fought. It was because he was firmly

convinced, despite .some untoward events and discouraging appearances, that we were making steady progress towards our goal that lie would regard peace overtures at present as a betrayal of the great trust with which he and his colleagues were charged. The was having its effect, and the valour of the troops was making an impression. The bridge which, when complete, would carry us to -a...new world, was for the moment in the state that some of the scaffolding was carried away. Much of the progress we had made seemed submerged and hidden, and some men said : "Let us abandon the enterprise altogether; it is too costly; it is impracticable of achievement; let us rather build a pontoon bridge of now treaties and a league of nations understandings." It might last for sbme time, but it would always be shaky and uncertain, and the first flood would sweep it away. Let us go along with the pile-driving and make a real, solid, permanent structure. . The speaker referred to the added difficulties owing to Russia's threatened withdrawal and the serious addition to our task, which was already formidable enough. It would be follv to under-rate the danger, and equal folly to exaggerate it, but the greatest folly of all would be not to face it.

He' enlarged upon the entry of America into the struggle. She was stepping in in Russia's place. America was not yet prepared, but soon would be, hence the enemy's desperate efforts to force an issue before she was ready. They would not succeed.

Mr Lloyd George urged the need ftfr greater efforts and sacrifices. This was not the time to cower and falter, but to place our feet firmer than ever and to square our shoulders to bear the increased weight. He never doubted that we would bear it all right to the end. It was absolutely necessary to make a further drain on our man power in order to sustain us until the American army arrived. There was no ground- for panic. Even after sending troops to Italy's assistance the Allies had a marked numex*ical superiority in France and Flanders, and we had considerable reserves at Home. Much greater progress had been made in regard to man power, especially during the last few months, than the people realised, but it was necessary to increase our trained reserves in order to face the new contingencies without anxiety. The Cabinet had prepared recommenadtions for raising more man power and also for investigating the best methods 1 of husbanding the existing man power. The provision of men for the armies was not the most urgent part of the problem. Men were especially needed to solve the problem of tonnage. The problem of victory was now the problem of tonnage. Nothing else could defeat us but a shortage of tonriage. The advent of America into the war had greatly increased the demand. Germany gambled on America's failure to transport colossal numbers of men and aeroplanes to Europe, and promised her own peoples and their allies that these formidable masses would never find a way into the battle line. Mr Lloyd George foreshadowed a further, withdrawal of men from non-essential war trades and occupations in order to He urged, a further saving of tonnage not only by economising consumption but by increasing home production. We had increased our home food production by from 2,000,000 to 3,000,000 tons this year, and were the only belligerent nation which 'had increased the food output during the war. It was essential that we should have another 3,000,000 tons of food imports in!9lß. He appealed to agriculturists to assist the Government. . Another way to help was to discourage "grousers." "Grousing" undermined the morale, jxnd the* national morale was vital in the question of holding out. The peace propaganda was fed with grumblers. Let us beware of playing these propagandists' games. We had challenged a sinister power menacing the world with enslavement, but it would have been better never to have challenged unless we meant to carry it through. The people who thought we could begin a new era of peace while Prussian military power was unbeaten were labouring under a strange delusion. LORD LANSDOWNE. Lord Lansdowne, replying to a correspondent, declares that he is ready to defend the statements in his much-discussed letter. He denies that he suggested an ignominious surrender, or that he desired to see the abandonment of our naval supremacy, or that he would be content with an international compact in which the only security would be the -word or signature of a German Minister.