[Illustration: Our racing correspondent writes that Mr. LLOYD GEORGE
is having some difficulty with his string (Sinn Fein's Beauty GINNELL,
All and More for Ireland REDMOND, and Ulster CARSON) for the Irish
Grand National.]
_Monday, May 14th_.--No longer will the FIRST SEA LORD be distracted
from his primary duty of strafing the Hun by the necessity of looking
after supplies. That function will now be discharged by an hon. and
temp. Vice-Admiral, in the person of Sir ERIC GEDDES, late hon. and
temp. Major-General and Director of Transportation to the Army in
France, and now Shipbuilder-in-Chief to the nation. Everyone
seemed pleased, with the notable exception of Mr. HOGGE, who cannot
understand why all these appointments should be showered upon Sir ERIC
GEDDES, when there are other able Scotsmen still unemployed. A late
hon. Admiral of the Fleet, now residing at Potsdam, is believed to
share Mr. HOGGE'S objections.
The hardships endured by the criminal classes when they are so
unfortunate as to get into prison always strikes a sympathetic chord
in the gentle breast of Mr. EDMUND HARVEY. His latest discovery is
that they are allowed the use of writing-paper not more than once a
month; and for the rest of the time have to entrust their literary
compositions to the unsympathetic surface of a slate, with the aid of
a probably squeaky slate-pencil. Could JOHN BUNYAN have written _The
Pilgrim's Progress_ under such conditions? The question opens up
a vista of speculation as to the influence of environment upon the
creative faculty; and it is not surprising that Mr. BRACE was unable
to answer it offhand.
In ordinary times the Financial Secretary of the Treasury is the most
important Member of the Government outside the Cabinet. Under the
present _régime_ he is not a member of the House at all. It is true
that Mr. BALDWIN takes his place as Parliamentary whipping-boy to the
CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER with much grace and good humour; but that
does not satisfy hon. Members, who want a more substantial object for
their daily castigation. The debate on this subject revealed a sharp
division of opinion between Mr. EDWIN MONTAGU and Mr. HERBERT SAMUEL.
COUSIN EDWIN, as an ex-Secretary of the Treasury, did not think
the House had suffered any serious loss through being unable to
cross-examine that official direct. COUSIN HERBERT was shocked at this
revolutionary sentiment coming from his kinsman. If it were accepted
there was no logical reason why even the Chancellor of the Exchequer
should have a seat in the House. Why, indeed, have Ministers at all? A
row of gramophones, ranged along the Treasury Bench and supplied with
officially prepared records, would satisfy all legitimate curiosity.
_Tuesday, May 15th_.--I forget how many weeks ago it is since Mr.
BONAR LAW announced that the Government were going to make one more
effort to settle the Irish Question, and that in due course the
PRIME MINISTER would announce their proposals. Since then events have
conspired to produce successive postponements. Mr. LLOYD GEORGE had to
go to France--for the War refuses to stop even though Irishmen decline
to encourage it--Mr. REDMOND fell ill, Archbishop WALSH indited a
postscript, and an election in South Longford suggested doubts as to
whether Nationalist M.P.'s were really the Irish nation after all.
Nevertheless there is a plan; and it is to be communicated, but in the
first instance to the leaders of Irish parties only, and then, if they
please, to the Press, and finally, perhaps, to the House of Commons.
_Wednesday, May 16th_.--We all want to help the new Russian Government
in its difficult task, but I doubt if Mr. SNOWDEN and his pacifist
friends have contributed to that end by inviting the House of Commons
to endorse forthwith the "no annexation, no indemnities" declaration
of a section of the Revolutionaries, and by supporting their proposal
in a series of speeches which might be summed up in the words "Peace
at any Price." Even the German CHANCELLOR will not be wholly pleased,
for the debate revealed that, apart from the seven or eight gentlemen
who follow the white flag of the Member for Blackburn, the House is
absolutely fixed in its determination to defeat German militarism
before talking of peace.
After the searching analysis to which the hon. Member's confident
statements were subjected by Lord ROBERT CECIL and Mr. A.F. WHYTE
there was nothing left of them but a trace of acid.
So far as I am aware the Member for Blackburn has never endangered the
integrity of his principles by helping his country in any way to win
the War. In this respect Mr. LEES SMITH, who seconded the motion, has
a less consistent record, for he has worn khaki as an orderly of the
R.A.M.C. But in his case service abroad seems only to have confirmed
his peculiar principles, for he thinks that we ought to return the
German colonies, and enable the natives to enjoy once again the
blessings of _Kultur_. If he ever saw the Hun while he was in France
it must have been through a pair of rose-tinted binoculars.
_Thursday, May 17th_.--We are all agog to know whether the PRIME
MINISTER'S offer of immediate Home Rule to twenty-six Counties of
Ireland is to be blessed or banned by the Nationalists. This is the
day when Irish Questions have priority, and the House hears such
important inquiries as whether Hibernian holiday-makers will have
their excursion-trains restored to them; what became of a side of
bacon captured by the police during the Easter Monday rebellion, and
why a certain magistrate should have been struck off the Commission of
the Peace for a trifling refusal to take the oath of allegiance. Are
we to go without this entertainment in the future, or will Mr. REDMOND
refuse to rob Westminster of its gaiety even for the sake of College
Green?
If, as I ventured to suggest last week, the CHANCELLOR OF THE
EXCHEQUER had laid in a stock of tobacco before the Budget he has
evidently exhausted it by now, for, on his attention again being
called to the exorbitant charge of the tobacconists, he no longer
pooh-poohed the matter, but sternly declared that the situation was
being closely watched.
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