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

the work Of national defence. At the time
Of the Agadir crisis weak politician had
endeavored TO preserve peace with Ger
many by ceding French colonies, and the
French people had risen in their own
right. They had demanded and obtained
the dismissal Of Caillaux. they had mads
face 10 Germany as their Cabinet mad
feared TO do. No such thing had happened
in England. When the Great War came
it found France not ready in the German
sense, but not helpless, as II had been at
the time OF the first Moroccan incident.
Above all It found the nation, the people,
morally and intellectually ready, intellect
ually alert TO the real situation. France
had faced the truth, England had run
away from it, refused 70 recognize it, and
the truth had none the less prevailed.
From the outset Of the war TO the re-
making Of the Cabinet there was still the
same inability Of the British Cabinet 70
face the truth. 1t had lied TO the people
when it could have told them the truth
as a matter Of preparation in peace time.
II would not tell the people the truth In
wer time, when knowledge Of the truth was
the single condition that insured the enlist
ment not merely Of soldiers, but Of the ma
ton. of the people, the mobilization Of the
intellect as well as Of the Kitchener mill
ions So, when the munitions scandal eT-
posed one more stupid futile, hateful lie,
the Cabinet was remade and few Of the
Asouith government went out and few
Of the opposition came in.
Yet from the very start It was the old
element that prevailed. There never was
fusion. there never was any capacity for
facing the fact. The cheap, tawdry poll
ticians, who were admirable platform ora
tors and splendid parliamentary generals,
could not deal with the fact or the nation
British bulletins OF battles became tho
scorn Of all the world. What the American
public knew, what the people Of Germany,
France and even Russia were permitted >
know was withheld from the British pub
lie. Alternate guarantees that all was well
and passionate appeals for new recruits
served 70 show the British public how fu-
tile and insincere were the men who gov
erned them.
The British nation had gone into an
unexpected war believing that it would
last few months at most. 1t had been
taught that with the coming of the spring
the new British army would take the Of
fensive and drive the Germans out Of
France and Belgium. But when spring
came the Germans took the offensive and
penetrated the British lines, disclosing
the utter inability of Sir John French not
alone to advance but to hold his own front
without French help. Then Germany went
East. and Russia, after tremendous victo-
res and great sacrifices, endured terrific
disaster because British unreadiness had
made German concentration in the East
possible while the French offensive in Ar
tots was checked because the British could
not support the operation, lacking, as they
did, the necessary ammunition.
Now comes the failure of British d.
plomacy in the Near East, the probable
destruction of Serbia, the probable failure
Of the Dardanelles venture and the pos
sible extension of Teutonic activity to the
frontiers of Egypt. Yet it is only few
weeks ago that Winston Churchill told the
British people that their army at the Oar
danelles was on the edge Of a tremendous
victory. Can there be any surprise that
the British people lre tired of politicians
who lack courage to tell the truth, who
have deceived their fellow countrymen for
a decade because they believed that their
fellow countrymen did not want 10 know
the truth, and are continuing to deceive
Mt time when the nation demands the
truth and only the knowledge of the truth
can save the nation?
1t Is inconceivable that the American
people will not see in the collapse Of
democracy in Great Britain the lesson
that lies there for American democracy.
The same folly, the same blindness, the
same inveracity which let England arrive
without the smallest public knowledge Of
the truth is operating in this country and
has been for some years. The patter Of the
pacifsts and the lies Of the politician
eager to gain applause by speaking words
that he believes will satisfy and crafty
the people are heard on all sides now.
II is a grotesque thing 10 compare Lord
Haldane with William Jennings Bryan; in
many ways it is like comparing a justice
Of the Supreme Court of the United States
with a vaudeville performer. Thus far in
tellectually is Haldane removed from
Bryan; but the same method, the same in
veracity underlies the course of both.
What is happening in England to-day,
so far as il can be judged at this distance,
Is that the nation is beginning to take
charge Of It's own affairs. II is tired o.