The Sun SATURDAY, MAY 6, 19l6. TURNING DEFEAT INTO VICTORY.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume III, Issue 698, 6 May 1916, Page 8

The Sun SATURDAY, MAY 6, 1916. TURNING DEFEAT INTO VICTORY.

After a lengthy and significant silence Mr Lloyd George took the opportunity of making an impressive appeal for the speedy passage of the i Compulsion Bill. The speech of the Minister of Munitions in support of | the measure showed him to be in I something like his old fighting form, and his sentiments and conclusions were as-iorceful as the occasion demanded. It was only natural thaf he should have spoken so warmly on the Bill for universal service in England, since it was driven home on him months ago that nothing but conscription of all able-bodied men would save the country from disaster at the hands of the Prussian. The unyielding attitude of Mr Lloyd George on this point almost resulted in a political crisis at Home, but the demands of the Minister of Munilions were so stoutly backed up by the War Council that Mr Asquith was forced to give way, and agreed to institute universal service. In the circumstances it.would have come as a surprise had Mr Lloyd George been other than-whole-hearted in his advocacy of the Compulsion Bill. It was becoming more and more evident of late that under the old system of enlistment the military authorities were not obtaining all the men required, nor as speedily as required. The tribunals set up to deal with exemptions were exercising a restraining influence on recruiting, and the uneasiness of the War Council was riot disguised. The military experts declared that coml pulsion made the difference between victory and defeat, and the only people Svho will view the new measure with disapproving eyes will be our friend the enemy. Mr Lloyd George's justification of the Bill is incontrovertible. If every man is needed (and there can be no doubt that that is the position) then every man must be on hand when the War Office calls for him. The military situation has become so serious, and is so nearly approaching the climax that to talk of Liberal or democratic principles, of the rights of individuals to fight or not, is, as one journal put it aptly, akin to stopping to admire the landscape on the Day of Judgment. To have rights and liberties one must have a country, and every Britisher knows that if Prussianism triumphed the result would be for him and his fellows the grinding domination of the Prussian jack boot. As Mr Lloyd George pictured it, victory for Germany would impose an unendurable yoke on humanity. In the face of such a terrible contingency, it would be madness, for the sake of principles, to do anything that would interfere with the maximum effort being put forth to prevent such a cataclysm. The performance of the Minister of Munitions on the Compulsion Bill debate is in striking contrast to that of the peevish Sir Edward Carson, who, at a luncheon given in his honour by the Unionist War Committee, made a grossly offensive and unprovoked attack on the Prime Minister. One would have thought that a sense of decency, if not of patriotism, would have made Sir Edward Carson anxious not to court the limelight at the present time, and in such a manner, but apparently the old rancorous spirit still remains with him, and is powerful enough to overcome ethical considerations. If ever there was a time for Sir Edward Carson, as a critic, to keep his mouth closed, it is now.