MRS ASQUITH’S DIARY

Otago Witness, Issue 3590, 2 January 1923, Page 28

MRS ASQUITH’S DIARY

THE SHELLS CONTROVERSY. MARGOT'S VIVID IMAGINATION (From Our Own Correspondent.) LONDON, November 10. In the instalm.nt of her autobiography appearing in the latest number of The Sunday Times, Mrs Asquith details some incidents occurring at lha time of the “shells” campaingn, and subsequently. “This,” she says, “is a matter of such delicacy that for obvious reasons I shall not always be to give the names of those chiefly concerned, nor shall I deal in any great detail with the matter. In the year 1915 the recurring failures of our offensive, and want of proper co-ordination in the General Staff, provoked adverse criticism of ths conduct of the war. The silence so conspicuous ia 1914 had disappeared, and the patience of the public was ebbing. It was at this moment that the lie that sinketh -was spread. ‘Wait and see’—a phrase originally uttered as a threat by my husband .in the House of Commons—was ■taken up by a group of influential newspapers,and quoted upon every occasion as meaning apthy and delay. It is not difficult to j"iceive the prejudice this created in the minds of men and women whose brothers, sons, and lovers were being killed in a conflict that touched our shores; and it gave a great opening to ambitious men who fancied that if they were in the position of Prime Minister things would be very different. . . . “A certain air of authority was -given to this abuse, as these papers, having received private information of Cabinet decisions before the decisions could reach any of the Allies, were able to announce that they had forestalled the Frime Minister, and to congratulate themselves on hastening up his ‘wait and see’ methods. So persistently was this campaign pursued that several donkeys wrote signed letters to The Times praising it for its god-like prescience.” Mis Asquith quotes from her diary the following passage relative to the stories alleged to be circulated at the time: “Elizabeth is in turn engaged to a German admiral or a German general; Henry has shares in Krupps; I 'feed Prussian prisoners with every dainty and comestible,’ and play lawn tennis with them at Donnington Hall—a place whose very whereabouts is unknown to me. These private fabrications are not only circulated, but believed, and had it not been for my receiving £IOOO for a libel action which I took in the law courts against The Globe newspaper, the whole of our thoughtful press would have published them. As it is, they mutter incantations about the ‘Hidden Hand,’ ‘Apathy in high places,’ etc, and, like Pilate, ‘willing to content the people,' Barrabbas is released. I am told Tey J ohn Morley and other students of history that no greater campaign of calumny was ever conducted against one man than that which has been, and is being, conducted against my husband to-day. "When I point out with indignation that some one in the Cabinet is betraying secrets, I am counselled to keep calm. Henry is as indifferent to the press as St. Paul’s Cathedral is to midges, but I confess that I am not; and I only hope the man responsible for giving information to Lord N will be heavily punished; God may forgive him; I never can.” SIR JOSEPH ROBINSON’S DENIAL. Sir J. B. Robinson has cabled to London from Wynberg to correct some of Mrs Asquith’s statements. In the first chapter of her second volume of her autobiography she gave recollections of the Jameson Raid She said that she and her husband were dining with Lord and Lady Beay, when they met Sir John Robinson (then Mr Robinson), the famous South African mil lionaire. Sir Joseph, according to Mrs Asquith, asked questions about, her wealth and on being told that her father was a rich man, remarked. ‘’‘l’ll tell you how I made my money if you’ll tell me afterwards how he made his.” A discussion arose regarding the Jameson cablegram, which alleged atrocities by the Boer troops, and how t Sir Joseph declared that “the telegram came from Lopdon.” “On bearing this,” continues Mrs Asquith, “Sir Donald Wallace (of The Times) leant across the table and said that he was the only person in the world who was in a position to contradict this, as the telegram had passed through his hands before being published in The Times. Not hearing what he said, Mr Robinson interrupted by giving me a poke with his elbow-. “What is he talking about?” said he. “Does he say I’m a liar?” To which I answered firmly, ‘Yes, Mr Robinson.’ ” AN ABSURD FABRICATION. Sir Joseph Robinson, w'ho, it will be remembered, came into prominence -recently through declining a peerage after questions had been Risked in Parliament, ha»- telegraphed as follows: “My attention has been drawn to that portion of Mrs Asquith’s memoirs in which she refers to meeting me at dinner at Lord Reay’s. J- wish to state in reply that her acoount c i wlrat occurred there is an absurd fabrication emanating from her vivid imagination. That I should have expressed an interest as to whether she or her friend Arthur or her father were rich is too ludicrous. I would not have given. a brass button to know what their financial standing was; as if a man in my position w’ould ask such preposterous questions. As regards the foreign editor of The Times, we discussed the Jameson cablegram before dinner, and after dinner had a further conversation about it, and Mr Ajsquith was present. He was a gentleman, and we both discussed matters in a quiet and amiable fashion. I stated to him that the Boer 3 were a very kind-hearted race, and would scorn the idea of shooting down women and child ren. and therefoe the cablegram was nothing but wicked propaganda for the purpose of maliciously influencing public opinion, and was a dire insult to the Boer element. Please publish this denial.”