Oh, Jehoshaphat!

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXXI, Issue 70, 11 October 1920, Page 5

Oh, Jehoshaphat!

PROBLEM OF GOVERNMENT, BRITISH POLITICAL SPEECH. Press Association—Copyright, Australian and N.Z. Cable Association. London, October 8. Mr Lloyd George, opening the autumn political campaign at Llandudno, had a rousing reception iron) a typical Welsh audience. He put up a vigorous >,defence of the Coalition Government. The Premier said that if the Coalition was a sin against Parliament, “then Mr Asquith, who was the author, was a Jehoshaphat.” (In II Chronicles, chapter 20, verse 37 reads: “Then Eliezer the son of Dodavah of Mareshah prophesied against Jehoshaphat, saying, because thou hast joined thyself with Ahaziah, the Lord hath broken thy works.”) Proceeding, he said: “Every country that engaged in the war, except America., had adopted the coalition system in order to save the State. America came in late, her assistance was crucial and determining, but her loss of life was only equal to that of the plucky Commonwealth of Australia. We are still in the zone of hurricanes,” proceeded the Premier, “and that ■is why lamin no hurry to get back to party wrangles. I would not tai;r the responsibility before God of quitting the helm of the ship of State. My .advice to my countrymen is put on your sou’-westers. We want peace on earth, goodwill toward men, not merely in Russia and Poland, hut -here in our own factories workshops, and mines. The world cannot be rebuilt on rocking foundations.”

The Premier said that before the war the number of strikers in Britain in a year was 800,000, and the number bad swelled to 2,500,000 in 1919. Whatever happened, Mr Lloyd George said he was determined never to surrender the rights of the community to the minority. This would mean the end of democratic government and the beginning of Soviet government. There were signs ol reason and commonsense prevailing in the coal crisis, but e very boa > must resolve to produce to the utmost. He was glad Mr Smillia (the miners’ leader.) had courage to tell the miners what their duty was. The Premier asked his Liberal friends to realise the difficulty of making peace with Russia, whence <> poisonous atmosphere was emanating. In' view of the unsettled position, the middle .co«|:SO was the only safe one