The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-08-10
THE BRITTsH VIZ.

In this land of Wanted liberty, free
speech and a free press, the editor
who would criticize prominent gov
eminent official in the violent Ian
guage that is used for such pur-
pose by his editorial brethren in
Great Britain, would find himself in
durance vile before the ink on his pa
per had dried This fact impressed
itself on Mr.. Justice Porter of the
Kansas supreme court. who Is passing
his vacation in a European tour. He
happened to be in London during the
recent fracas in the House of Com
mons when Premier Asquith, who is
endeavoring to put the jinx on the
House of Lords, was howled down.
Mr. Asquith had proposed to tell the
Commons that he had already OBJ
tanned the assurance of King George
that enough new peers would be
created, if necessary. to pass the ia
nous bill which seeks to take from
the House of Lords any veto power
over any action that may be taken by
the Commons.
The maneuvering of Asquith to ae-
complish what will practically be
the notification of the House of
LOTQS, 10 lnACLSCly uhPOPAAcA NAN--
the conservative element in Great
Britain. which is not, by any means,
inconsequential in numbers. And the
editors of the newspapers who are
in sympathy with the conservative.
cause have had Asquith on the grid
die for long time. This griddle has
been heated with editorial fuel of the
hottest sort. Asquith has been called
by the conservative newspapers al
most every opprobrious name that is.
to be found in the English language,
from skalawag to traitor. He has
been charged with wishing to assume
q practical dictatorship of the Brit
ish empire, not for the good he be-
lieves his plans will do for the whole
people, but as a means for the per-
sonal and material profit that he and
his friends can acquire. In other
words his motives are likened to be
as sordid as a boss of Tammany Hall.
But no Tammany chieftain was ever
drilled by the fearless papers of
New York city as Mr.. Asquith has
been by many of the prominent
newspapers of London and other cit
les in the British domain
Justice Porter marvelled at the
liberty that the English press takes in
matters of this sort He was kind
enough to send to the State Journal
sample of it. 1t is an editorial in
the London Daily Mail of July 25.
concerning the disturbances in the
House of Commons of the day before.
An excerpt from it follows:
Mr.. Asquith has trodden under
foot all the decencies of British public
life. He has dragged the Crown into
the dust and mire of political con-
flict in order to serve his ends. He
has destroyed at a blow two-chamber
government and the balance of forces
which made the British constitution
the admiration of the world. He has
sunk to a demagogy which has ex-
plotted the worst instincts of the
worst section of the nation, and he
has used them to set up a dictator
ship. What adds to the unparalleled
ignomy of his action is that he is the
whipped helot of Mr. Redmond $500.
In fragment of sentence yesterday
Mr.. Asquith declared that he would
not degrade himself He has de-
graded himself"
Pretty warm stuff, Ell? Would an.
American newspaper dare to criticize
a federal secretary of state. or a pres
ident, in such language? Well hardly
Still this is rather tame compared to
some of the editorial comment on Mr..
Asquith and his endeavors.
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