New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-10-20
The Sham.

p4sure Of q sham and in the ultimate col
'apsc of lie. For ten years the Liberal
party. with its various radical fringes,
governed England. In those years there
was rising in Germany fact patent to al
clear-visioned men. That fact was re.
vealed when the Kaiser landed at Tangier;
il was disclosed in the Bosnian episode; 1t
was made unmistakable at Agadir.
From Tangier 70 Armageddon there was
mo- excuse for any British statesman to
mistake the German purpose. There was
mo- pretext which could disguise a refusal
to recognize that 100000 Germans were
resolved 70 make for their nation better
place in the sun and for their race fairer
role in world affairs.
For British craftsmanship there were
two possible courses-it could reach a set
Element. an arrangement with Germany as
70 had with France; it could agree 10 re
sign certain British possessions, 10 sur
render 20 German purposes some Of its
friends like Portugal. whose colonial pos
sessions England had guaranteed. On the
other hand it could accept the German
fact and face IT, It could begin to prepare
for a war that was inevitable, unless the
British were prepared to make compro-
misses and concessions.
Instead the British Ministry resolutely
shut its eyes TO the German phenomenon.
When every statesman on the Continent
perceived the fact. when France, Russia,
Italy, all the great powers and some Of the
small were making such preparations as
they could against the coming storm. those
who were responsible for British policy
and British safety were busily engaged
in deceiving their own people, in abusing
men ike Lord Roberts, who were telling
the truth, in explaining away, through the
medium Of men like Lord Haldane, the
truth about the German menace.
While Germany was feverishly pushing
her naval programme, calling upon her
nationals for an enormous special tax and
increasing her army to new magnitude
Liberal and Radical ministers and politi-
clans were prating about naval holidays
and turning their backs resolutely to any
proposition for the increase Of the insig-
nifcant army. Read the Liberal press, the
Liberal magazines for the past ten years
and the whole campaign Of false speaking
is clear. The Lberal-Radical press and
public men told the people what they
thought the people wanted 10 hear, with
out regard 10 the truth, and at one time
convinced their own people that there was
no danger and their enemies that the Brit
ish people were afraid to fight.
Thus it was that the greatest crisis In
modern history found England unprepared
in arms or in mind. In the hours when
the Kaiser's forces were approaching
Iiege. when the great battle for world
power was opening, Britain was not only
unready. her people were utterly without
knowledge Of what the phenomenon, which
was ten years old, actually meant The
Cabinet hesitated and debated. the Liberal
press continued TO talk about peace and
non-partcipation- and then, facing at last
what was incscapable, the Asquith govern
ment declared war
Following that declaration Of war the
insignificant British field army was sent
TO the Continent and wellnigh destroyed.
Chance, which had made the German nc
ton coincide with the trial mobilization
Of the British fleet, spared England the
peril Of a naval raid by Germany. but how
near the margin Of safety was remains
unknown. When the field army had dis
appeared, then came the long work of
building new army, the work which had
been neglected over the fateful years be-
tween Tangier and Sarajevo.
More fatal than the weakness Of the
army was the weakness Of the public senti-
ment. For ten years the British public
had been deceived; in the opening montl. q
Of the war it had no clear notion of the
truth that had been SO long withheld from
/ H. There was only In a narrow section
| Of the people any proper appreciation o.
what the war meant TO the nation and tn,
empire. The Asquith government had no.
merely arrested the military preparation,
Of Great Britain it had destroyed a popu
lar realization Of national interests, OF
which the task Of raising a volunteer arm,
must rest.
All the strikes, labor unrest, Irish dis
satisfaction, these are but incidents anc
consequences of the Asquith government
folly and worse than folly. In France tive
decades before the same process had end
ed in the decentralization Of the army anC
the navy and the nearly complete destruc
ton Of French national and international
influence. In 1905 France had been com.
PEELED 20 dismiss its Foreign Minister At
German command because France was
incapable Of defending herself, thanks 10
criminal follies on the part Of politicians,
wholly comparable with the follies Of the
Liberal-Labor ministry in England.
R,,t Evavca kad ealItaJ u,d a.