MRS. ASQUITH AGAIN.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 15467, 11 March 1921, Page 4

MRS. ASQUITH AGAIN.

WlUT'sftE THINKS DF Ml LLO'YD 1 C H V '. ' GEORGE. s AN# THE "THIEVES' KITCHEN." f Sir.!.W.illiajn Robertson Nicoll writes ( in'"the" British Weekly : . ■' Mrs. Asquith .has evidently written <• more memoirs that have been published ' in the' 'British newspapers. Through * the Dundee Advertiser I hear of an J article, she has: contributed to the cur- ' number of a Canadian publication ' called Macleans Magazine. In this she j refers "to 'what, she calls "the stupid ' peace of 1919," and denounces tho Versailles'Coufuruuco as a "thieves' kitchen." .Mho'has a good deal to say about her husband: ''lt' his speaking is. somewhat wanting . iii lire, it never lacks light and weight, ' and' when he leaves the ground lus» ; ; strength of. wing takes his audience with ; hiiri. lie.speaks.with equal ease whether he is prepared or not, and throughout I the whole of his Paisley campaign early this year I hardly ever observed him use a note. Ho .has form .without flummery, and his character seems to illuminate the background of everything he says." MRS.; ASQUITH AND MR. LLO'YD GEORGE. Mrs. Asquith", if' I 'remember rightly, promised to, say nothing about tho Prime Minister. Bu.t slio breaks tho silence to seine extent .in .this papof. Who * says: "1 .think Lord Buekmaster arid Mr. ; Lloyd George are probably tho ; best platform speakers in this country, but I.have ; not heard tho Prime Minister'.for so 'liiany years thai 1 do not kiug.iv < if .he fills fJie gaps between his. oVvn'and his audiences demonstrations. Perorated. opinions expressed with ■ lire arid.'gesture, however intimately they! niay'Jink you to your listeners, will not carry Conviction unless, they are backed by something [else;, and tho momentary magic .which fills people .with excitement arid emotion'does hot 'go home with you. j I have come to the definite conclusion,! after hearing every famous orator since j 1880, that, liowever wonderfully a man may speak, unless eloquence conveys character and is accompanied by action, itviV as 'sounding brass and'a tinkling j cymbal.' ".-;>. .- ', MRS. ASQUITH AND VERSAILLES. •Mrs., Asquith speaks with unmeasured ognteinpfc : of the; Versailles Conference. "Christening the four 'Big' was fantastic!" If, any one of them had had any size, or"even a little ,' greatness, the! stupid, peace of 1919 would never have beed-perpetrated; .The Paris pea«e was] wfeak&neel, firsj, by . the . unconscientious'] delay], ol an Insensate ' geueral . election | bvpughb'.ahout by ,tlie personal ambition i of British Prime Minister; secondly, ; by^aibreathless,.though natural; desire for.:'revenge, in : France; later,. by the coinplet'6 ■ eolitipse ".' of> America ..through its,,President on one side and its people on"„tho ; other—and /ultimately by a yenecifl- policy, of .greed, grab, and intrigue Vfiiich .reduced .Versailles to a thieves kitchen: r The. worst, qualities of every nation, instead of the best, were as violently visible as the flags .flown .from ships* \•.;;■..• -jl > I ' . .--2 ■ ■ • - ' , sincerities, who say •we Liberals were criminal not to .keep a.-standing' army of 4;O0O,C06 men arc (he men who called themselves Loyalists then and who, if they had been listened to, would have lost us not" only South Africa, but our

good name all over the world. If these critics are teachable, Prussia's pcrtcction of military preparation should be an object-lesson of the most formidable kind." I am confirmed in the conviction that a hundred years hence there will be an innotatcd edition of all that Mrs Asq'uith has written and of much that she will' yet write. The volcano is not quiescent by any means.