New-York tribune., 1915-11-04
Muddlers Defiant.

scene in the House of Commons VIII h"''
. chilling effect upon every American
rr;end If the English. What was hoped
for what .yas expected, was a FRANK
statesmanlike explanation of a tangled anu
obscure situation. What was had, so far
as is possible to judge at this distance was
a piece Of political oratory, the famiiiar
and ever repelling phrase-makng oi de-
fant and still powerful party leader
There were questions which America IN
o curious but far from censorious MOOD
locked 70 see answered. There is no mis-
taking in this country the weakness OF
al democracies under the strain Of great
war. We on our part have in recent
months been suffering from a political ad-
rinistration lacking in courage, IN fore
sight in any straightforward policy.
But it is because Americans have SUI
fered and continue to suffer from the
"watchful waiting" impolicy which pre-
walls in Washington that, so far as they
svmpathize with England, they hoped 70
coo British administration emerge from
the wholly comparable fog of wait ana
soc" attitude into something approaching
frank confession Of past failure as an IN
cident to the appreciation of present ana
future needs.
All of this is precisely what Mr.. AS
nuith's speech lacks, for Americans 1t Is
well known to us all how great have
been the tasks faced and surmounted py
the British. We have lived through a
great Civil War, which put upon our gov
ernment strains far greater in proportion
70 its resources and previous establish
ment than the Great War has yet imposed
on the British Empire. The work OF the
british fleet is understood and admired.
These are not the things, however, that
one expected Mr.. Asquith to discuss, to
anpeal 10 with pride. The essential fact
;s that there have been blunders, costly
stupid. far-reaching mistakes, mistakes
as to munitions, as TO the Balkan sltua-
ton. conceivably as TO the Dardanelles
campaign as a whole, certainly as 10 de-
tails in it. These mistakes and failures
have provoked comment and criticism ano
this comment and criticism have been IN
creased by utterly stupid, mendacious
nress censorship, which has gravely In
iured Great Britain in American eyes.
To meet this comment and criticism with
cheap political phrases about "whimper'
ii no
assumption of scorn and the use OF con-
temptuous adjectves is the obvious polti'
cal device Campaign orators frequently
resort TO it. No one denies its effectiveness
when the criticism is foolish or the crltic
foehle but the fact is that much OF the
criticism in this case is known to be Jus'
and events have proven the critic is right.
The result is we in America are thrown
back upon the recollection of the still re-
cent past Of the Asquith leadership. Inc
same superior, contemptuous, utterly neg
lectful tone marked the ministerial an
swers TO the warnings of German purpose
that preceded the war. Men who told the
truth were annihilated by phrase or helC
IN TO scorn by an adjective IN all th'
wears that separate Tangier from Arma
geddon.
Unpleasantly but unmistakably Mr. AS
quith's speech and manner in his lates
speech recall score of other similar pro
ceedings. There is the same mastery o.
parliamentary weapons, the same sell
assurance, approximating arrogance, ant
4 -. 81 cglf fae
show words and transform difficultie
into achievements or else destroy then
by few we'll chosen words which char
acterizes all Liberal craftsmanship in IT
dealing with foreign affairs for decade
No American who knows England fan
cies that the weakest ministry in the worlC
could permanently stand between the Brit
! ish people and the work that is befor
them if the empire is TO be preserved
Nor is there any wide misapprehension o
what is taking place in Great Britain. o.
the contrary. at this distance it seems a
if great nation was at last waking Il
the true meaning TO the individual Eng
lishman Of the war that is about him.
But at the same time, from shis remot
point of view, it seems equally plain tha
il is the present British ministry, or rathe
its chief and his associates, who were
the preceding government, who are re
sponsible for the fact that it has taken tn
British months where IL took the Frencl
minutes to realize that all that their ma
tons means in history and in civilization
was at stake
Nothing in the world is at once NOR
tragic and more ridiculous than the fac
that world war came 10 England, th'
greatest, most terrible struggle in her ex
istence. almost in the night, and found I
-. ioriA, q Nasf aiorltY. Of tne BrltIsI