Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-03-27

| others ccnterS for the mo
Unsatisfactory ment in England. The re
| -,4 cent elections are unsatis
11AootionS' factory to all parties. Tn
two historic parties. once termed whis
and tory. now known as liberal and con-
sentative. are asking one another: Which
Is the victor, which Is the vanquishedi
For a fact, both have been vanduished
and until q new election Ireland governs
England. since England may not govern
| without Ireland.
Besides. It il incontestable there Is
| need there OF reform. as there Is need OF
| reform in India. The coming Of Lloyd
George. for example, provokes the phan-
| tom Of socialism. Then there Is an I'M
| doubted war scare rendered all the more
| oninous by the imitation Of the army and
navy budgets.
A cablegram from London OF the a4th
instant announced that Sir Reginald Nc
Kenna, first lord Of the admiralty, ex-
pressed regret in the house of commons
that he was unable to hold out any hope
| for the future of reduction OF the estt-
mates. He defended the present large IN
creases. which had been rendered neces-
sary by the building program Of foreign
nations. An expenditure of $2OO,OOO.OOO
was imperative
Another cablegram of same date re-
ports Sir Edward Grey, the foreign sec
retary.~ as declaring at liberal banquet
in London that the upper house should
be radically reformed A single chamber
would result. politically speaking, "ir
disaster. death and damnation." Lord
Rosebery is likewise reported as having
presented in he house of lords q resolu-
tion to consider the best means Of re-
forming the house Of lords. He declared
that the suggestion of a single chamber
was "a proposal to dig the grave of the
empire" In America. he said. the -eto
of the Senate was stronger than was ever
the veto of sovereign. He trembied at
the scorn Of the United States when con-
templating Great Britain's one-eyed, one
legged constitution.
England until recent years kept herself
in voluntary isolation and aloof from en-
tangling alliances. But
Foreign she has felt the necessity
a,,. of doing as others have
A11laAceS. done. and she has created
friendly understandings and alliances.
some OF which have been startling in
their character.
On the other hand, these rapproche-
ments with other nations diminished In a
measure the dangers she feared. but they
created duties and obligations, for. if she
would count upon friends in q moment OF
peril, 1t was only just that she should be
prepared to aid them In turn. Great Brit
ain fears not only for her commerce and
her industry, but for her very existence
She Is haunted by the nightmare OF inva-
sion. and sees an armed enemy ready to
dictate its laws to the conquered at Lon
don.
In the year 1905 Mr. Balfour in a bril-
liant discourse thought to reassure public
opinion in showing the fear Of invasion to
be unfounded. But in 1903. as we know
Lord Roberts said: An invasion of this
country is not only possible. but probable
And upon a greater scale than is gener-
ally supposed. If we do not take neces-
sary measures we risk to find ourselves
at the mercy of the invaders and obliged
to accept the most humiliating condi-
tons" And, referring to Mr.. Balfour's
discourse, Lord Roberts added: "These
opinions may be exact for France of 1905
but they are not 80 for Germany in 1909. .
It is therefore Germany which preoccu-
uation. 1t is condition, not theory
1t is a fact. and facts. like tastes and col
ors. are not to be disputed. 81
What does England propose to do to
meet this new condition which imposes
upon her a new policy? Until now Eng
shelter her from any possible attack; her
program in effect proposed to maintain
her naval power in state Of superiority
over the united fleets Of the two greatest
maritime powers of the world; 1t Is the
principle OF the "two-power standard
which the United Kingdom does not seem
capable Of maintaining.