CHIEF CONSPIRATOR.

New Zealand Tablet, 30 January 1919, Page 19

CHIEF CONSPIRATOR.

MR. ASQUITH'S SPIRITED REPLY TO MR. LLOYD GEORGE. Speaking at Huddersfield, London, in support of the candidature of Mr. E. Woodhead, Mr. Asquith, as reported in our recent exchanges, asked why that gentleman was being opposed, and said it was because he would not pledge himself to run in blinkers. He regretted to say this was not an isolated case. Some of the best Liberals whom he had known—some members of Parliament who had been fighting for their country— being proscribed in the name of what were called a coalition, though since the withdrawal of Labor that had ceased to be its appropriate title. (Hear, hear.) * ' What was the offence of those members of the Liberal —what had they done to deserve ostracism, and to have Tories preferred before them ? Their sole offence was that they had refused to bind themselves by a blind pledge in advance to be the docile items which were needed to make what was called a reliable majority. The Irish Members. The Coalition said they must have a reliable majority, and by way of illustration of its necessity the Prime Minister at Wolverhampton selected one example from the history of the last Parliament. The Prime Minister said that during the last two years they had experienced difficulties, and in particular a difficulty about securing unity of command, and that the Irish members were begged to come over to help to overthrow the Government. "I cannot," said the Prime • Minister, "trust that sort of business." "Though," continued Mr. Asquith, "I regret that a statement historically so baseless should have been made, I am rather glad to have the opportunity of referring to this matter. If there was a conspiracy to overthrow the Government, I suppose I must have been the chief conspirator (laughter), for it was my motion to which reference is being made. It w*>s a motion made by me, and I will say at once that there is no act in the whole of my Parliamentary life, now extending over more than 30 years, for which I am less repentant or ashamed. Conspiracy to overthrow the Government, forsooth. Why, as a matter of fact, I have been doing, as my countrymen know, everything in my power to assist and support the Government in what was undoubtedly the most perilous and critical military situation of the war. The Conscription Proposals. This happened in May. In the preceding month of April, when matters were even worse "the Government, on the very morrow of the report of the Irish Convention, introduced their ill-advised and inopportune proposal, from which such disastrous consequences have flown, to apply conscription to Ireland." I pointed out to them in the House of Commons more than once the folly of what they were about. I predicted the consequences." Explaining why he would not vote against them on that issue, Mr. Asquith quoted from his speech in the House on April 12, and humorously observed that some of his friends were very much alarmed. He dared say some of the stalwarts thought he. was degenerating into a mealy-mouthed dotard, but he had to take the risk of that. (Loud cheers.) The Prime Minister said the "crisis" had to do with unity of command, but it had nothing whatever to do with unity of command. The history of the unity of command would have to be written one of these days. Unity of command

came into existence under stress : of battle a few days after the German offensive began. At the time of General Maurice's letter it was an accomplished fact, and had been in operation, without criticism from anybody, for nearly six weeks. It was a complete travesty, he would venture to say a grotesque and inexcusable travesty, to eay that the debate and division had anything in the world to do with unity of command. "The Coalition Label." If an occasion of the kind were to recur, anybody who accepted the Coalition label would be told that he was bound to suppress his judgment and his instinct of fairness and justice at the risk of being told that he was a mutineer and had broken faith with the constituency that returned him. (Hear, hear.) "I would," exclaimed Mr. Asquith with great emphasis, "rather never sit in the House of Commons again, much as I prize and value a seat thereand every Liberal must feel the same in his heart of hearts —than sit in it under conditions so humiliating as to reduce members to practical impotence." (Loud cheers.)