The Washington herald., 1914-04-12
Militant and Strike Leader Dog Premier Asquith
GEN. nRunMoxD AND jim lARk1N AR REGARD HIN AS Arch FOE
Man of Iron, He Guides Government Through Crisis
\ Era in English History
May Dawn with Return Of
Prime Minister Reelected
by District of East Fife.

Prime Minister Herbert H. Asquith has
two foes who hang about his heels in
his great battle for home rule in Ireland.
Mrs. Flora CGeneraD Drummond. now
the most prominent leader of the mill
tants, and Jim Larkin. chief of the pro-
Ietariat. are raising their voices to pro-
test that Irelands government is the
most important issue before the British
people.
Mr.. Asquith has Just been returned un-
opposed to the Commons by East Fife.
When he took the secretaryship for war
in addition to his duties as premier, he
was compelled to seek the approval Of
his constituents. But he had scarcely
announced in Parliament his decision to
assume the secretaryship for war in ad-
dition to his place at the head of the cab
met and resigned his Commons seat to
put himself before the peoples tribunal
again, when James Larkin, the famous
labor leader, long a thorn In Mr.. AS
quith's side announced he would oppose
the premier at the polls. Larkin, contrary
to the general impression, is not an Irish
man. He went over to Dublin from Man.
chester to head the dissatisfied transport
workers.
Militants Oppose Him.
The militant suffragettes did not take
the trouble of an announcement, but pro-
ceeded post haste to the scene. Led by
General" Mrs. Flora Drummond, they
began a continuation of their long cam
paign against the man whom they be-
lieve to be the worst enemy of their
cause.
new era of English constitutional his
tory may begin when Mr.. Asquith returns
to London after this election. His friends
are sure he will come strengthened and
fortified. The final outcome may be
federation, like the United States; it may
be further socialist measures along the
line OF national insurance and old age
pensions: 1t may be the final downfall of
the House of Lords and the Crown; at
the worst it may be armed civil war,
aristocrat against commoner, army
against people, Catholic against Protes-
tant. the renewal of the old conflict of
Roundhead and Cavalier.
1t is a critical period Of English devel-
opment. The United Kingdom is seeth-
ing with discordant elements, while Ber-
lin looks on and smiles.
In this strait. the English government
has a strong man at its head. Recent
events, the apparent tottering of the cab
met. have only served to show the great
ness Of Asquith. For eight years he has
guided the destines of the empire. He
has weathered dozens of storms which
would have sent most premiers to the
bottom.
Just eight years ago last Wednesday.
Sir Herbert kissed the hand of King Ed
ward to Biarritz. the Spanish summer re-
sort. and thereby became prime minister
and first lord of the treasury. A few days
before Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman
had resigned. Mr.. Asquith had been
chancellor Of the exchequer IN the Camp
hell-Bannerman cabinet since December
10. 1905. when that cabinet was formed.
Is Man of Iron.
II was generally remarked that Mr.. As
Guith was a sounder and more able
statesman than Sir Henry, but lacked
the personal qualities of his predecessor.
Time has not served to change this judg-
ment. Sir Herbert is the cold man of
steel. the immovable. the rock amid the
tempest. But the attack Of the poet
William Watson. for instance. will illus
trate his lack of personal attraction.
Mr.. Asquith is now sixty-four years old.
a stalwart Yorkshireman, with a crown
of snow white hair. He was a protege
Of William q. Gladstone. whose atten-
ton was attracted to him by a speech
made at a dinner. Mr.. Gladstone saw the
great political future of young Asquith.
It will probably prove. indeed, that the
protege will put through the very meas
ure, home rule which split the patrons
party asunder and proved his undoing.
When East Fife first sent Mr.. Asquith
to Parliament Mr.. Gladstone Immediately
took him of the benches and made him
secretary OF state for home affairs. Here
his talents showed clearly. He is a re-
markably able lawyer. with a fondness
for epigram. He is considered the keen
est debater since Gladstone
There is, the greatest contrast between
the premier and Jim Larkin. Where
Mr.. AsGuith is the prince Of logic. Lar
kin hurls his arguments at his audience
without any sequence or cohesion. The
latter is prophet crying in the wilder
ness, full of rough. uncouth force. His
sincerity is undoubted.
Led Riotous Strike.
Larkin's strike of the Dublin transport
workers came near to wrecking home
rule. He was a figure in the labor world
which eclipsed all other leaders. While
Sir Edward Carson was quietly drilling
his men, Larkin was leading in a real
civic strife. with a long casualty list
The Liberal government which was
and is Asquith, imprisoned Larkin. But
the result was not pleasing. The LIBERAL
majorities in a couple of by-eIections
were seriously cut. At the end of three
NFehS u "HdN was u nave Deen SIX
months sentence Larkin was liberated.
He then carried his Fiery Cross" to
England. where he won many by his
furious eloquence.
Larkin's position is a curious one He
says he is a Nationalist believing in home
rule: but he scorns the Roman Catholic
Church and the Ancient Order OF Hiber-
mans. He refused to speak at a meeting
where the chairman was a Socialist who
- IL ,r-fF
Larkin's position is scarcely more curl |
Gus than that Of the Laborites as a whole.
II there is a parliament at Dublin, the
Irish cabinet may find its chiefest prob |
lem not Ulster. but the great mass Of
impoverished irish rallying around the
standard of this rough workman.