_Tuesday, May 2nd._--The House of Commons was unusually well attended
this afternoon. Members filled the benches and overflowed into the
galleries, and many Peers looked down upon the scene, among them Lord
GRENFELL, formerly Commander-in-Chief in Ireland, and Lord MACDONNELL,
once Under-Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant. All were curious to learn
what the PRIME MINISTER would have to say about the painful events of
the past week. Would he announce that the Government, conscious of
failure, had decided to resign _en bloc_? Or would it be merely pruned
and strengthened by the lopping of a few of the obviously weaker
branches?
Nothing of the sort. Mr. ASQUITH made the barest allusion to the
surrender of Kut--an incident which was "not one of serious military
significance." As for the insurrection in Dublin, there would be a
debate upon it as soon as the Government had completed its enquiries.
The main purpose of his speech was to announce that the Government had
decided to introduce a Bill for general compulsion, and to get rid of
the piece-meal treatment of recruiting to which the House had objected.
Members were, I think, hardly prepared for the vigour with which the
PRIME MINISTER turned upon his critics, reminding them that just the
same denunciation of "vacillating statesmen" was current in the days of
PITT. No doubt there had been blunders both in policy and strategy, but
nevertheless the contribution of this Kingdom and this Empire to the
common cause was growing steadily, and the military situation of the
Allies was never so good as it was to-day. If the Government no longer
had the confidence of the people, he thundered out, "let the House say
so."
While the immediate answer to this challenge was a volley of cheers,
most of the speakers in the subsequent debate disguised their confidence
in the Government so successfully that it almost appeared to be
non-existent. From Sir EDWARD CARSON, who acidly remarked that it was
unnecessary for him to praise the Government, as "they always do that
for themselves," down to Sir JOHN SIMON, who declared that compulsion
was being introduced from considerations of political expediency rather
than military necessity, no one seemed to be convinced that the
Government even now quite knew its own mind.
The House of Lords, after listening to a moving tribute to the memory of
Lord ST. ALDWYN from his old colleague, Lord LANSDOWNE, settled down to
a debate on the new Order in Council prohibiting references to Cabinet
secrets. It met with equal condemnation from Lord PARMOOR as a
constitutional lawyer and from Lord BURNHAM as a practical journalist.
The Ministers who "blabbed" were the real criminals. Lord BURNHAM
recommended to them the example of the gentleman in the French
Revolution, who always wore a gag in order to retain his self-control.
Lord BUCKMASTER, that "most susceptible Chancellor," made a very
ingenuous defence of his colleagues. They were the unconscious victims
of adroit interviewers, who obtained information from them by a process
of extraction so painless that they did not know the value of what they
were giving away.
It is time that these innocents were protected against themselves. A gag
must in future be issued to every Minister with his Windsor uniform. The
discarded G.R. armlets of the V.T.C. might very well serve the purpose.
_Wednesday, May 3rd_.--When, some nine years ago, Mr. AUGUSTINE BIRRELL
was appointed Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant a friend who had
some knowledge of Irish affairs wrote to him: "I do not know whether to
congratulate you or condole with you, but I think it is the latter."
It was an easy guess, but its confirmation took an unusually long time.
Indeed, at one moment it looked as if Mr. BIRRELL would escape the
almost invariable fate of Irish Secretaries, and leave Dublin with his
political reputation enhanced. When he had placed the National
University Act on the Statute-book, thus solving a problem that had
baffled his predecessors since the Union, he might have sung his _Nunc
Dimittis_ in a halo.
Perhaps he was not sufficiently ambitious to demand release; perhaps
none of his colleagues was anxious to take his job; perhaps the
Nationalist leader insisted on keeping him in the silken fetters of
office as a hostage for Home Rule. Anyhow, the opportunity was missed;
and thenceforward Nemesis dogged his track.
Two years ago it seemed that Ulster would be his stumbling-block. The
War saved him from that, but only to bring him down through more
sinister instruments. In his pathetic apology this afternoon he
confessed that he had failed to estimate accurately the strength of the
Sinn Fein movement. He might have been wrong in not suppressing it
before, but his omission to do so was due to a consuming desire to keep
Ireland's front united in face of the common foe.
This frank admission of error would in any case have disarmed hostile
criticism; but its effect was strengthened by the unseemly interjections
with which Mr. GINNELL accompanied it. If the Member for Westmeath is a
sample of the sort of persons with whom the CHIEF SECRETARY had to deal,
no wonder that he failed to understand the lengths to which they would
go.
Mr. REDMOND, obviously disgusted by the pranks of his nominal supporter,
chivalrously shouldered part of the blame that Mr. BIRRELL had taken
upon himself; and even Sir EDWARD CARSON, though a life-long and bitter
opponent of his policy, was ready to admit that he had been
well-intentioned and had done his best.
Later on, when the PRIME MINISTER had introduced the new Military
Service Bill, establishing compulsion for all men married or single,
Colonel CRAIG made a vain appeal to Mr. REDMOND to get the measure
extended to Ireland. Nothing would do more to show the world that the
recent rebellion was only the work of an insignificant section of the
Irish people.
[Illustration: HIS MASTER'S VOICE.
(With acknowledgments to the well-known poster.)