The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1916-01-05
CABINET UPHEAVAL
CONSCRIPTION CAUSES CRISIS In
ENGLISH POLITICS

CONSCRIPTION CAUSES CRISIS In
ENGLISH POLITICS
ASQUITH Under FIRE
Earl Grey Also Attacked-Lords Cur
zon and Northcliffe Lead Dissatis-
fed Forces-Viscount Haldane
Mentioned Successor, Although
Impetuous Loyd-George Has Big
Following.
Although Monday was a holiday in
England, the members of the British
| cabinet returned hastily from the
scenes of their Christmas festivities
| for an important meeting at which
were discussed the Derby recruiting g
scheme and conscription and other
matters which must be thrashed out
when parliament reconyenes.
That the proceedings Of the cabi-
net have not been going smoothly is
seen in the fact that after a two
hours sitting the council was obliged
to adjourn, no decision having been
reached and the discussion having
revealed grave difference Of opinion.
The Times parliamentary CORE
| spondent asserts that the position is
undeniably delicate and may become
critical unless handled with firmnesS
and decision.
The Daily Mail asserts that Andrew
Bonar Law, secretary for the Colo
MES, and Lord Kitchener, the war
minister, have not yet made their
position clear, while A. J. Balfour,
first lord of the admiralty, resolutely
opposes compulsion, in which he is
supported by majority Of the min
listers.
David Lloyd-George, the Marquis
of Lansdowne, Earl Curzon, Sir Fred
erick Smith, J. Austen Chamberlain,
Walter Hume Long, and the Earl of
Selborne advocate immediate compul-
sion.
Loyd-George, The Mail adds, be-
fore the sitting of the council, made
his position clear to Premier Asquith
in message intimating that unless
Mr.. Asquith's pledge to married men
be kept in the strictest sense he could
not continue as member of the gov
ernment.
The Morning Post, equally with
The Times and The Daily Mail-all
conscriptionist papers-sees the pos
sibility of several cabinet resigna-
tions, or the other alternative, a gen.
eral election.
The Morning Telegraph and The
Chronicle, anti-compulsion organs,
are also apprehensive of crisis Or a
general election. The Chronicle edi-
torially protests against "intrigues
and wire-pullers, who contemplate
the desperate and mad expedient of
a general election-a gamblers
plunge, which might entail disas-
trous consequences and points out
how, by merely Withholding its assent
to the parliament and registration
bills, the House Of Lords can make
elections unavoidable next month,
since, in the absence of the parlia-
ment bill, which prolongs its life for
eight months, the present parliament
would expire by the effluxion of time
at the end Of January.
Concerning the people who make a
comparison with America during the
civil war, The Chronicle argues that
Lincoln's action is not a precedent
because conditions were different.
Lincoln was distracted by wholesale
desertions, while recruiting was stim-
ulated by extravagant bounties.
The Chronicle adds: "Our volun-
tary army in one year exceeded in
number all the men recruited by the
federal government in the four years
of the war, and that without drafts
to force them or bounties to bribe
them"
Lloyd-George received a great ova-
tion from the holiday crowd when he
arrived at Downing Street for the
cabinet meeting.
Winston Spencer Churchill return
ed 10 Franco to rejoin his regiment.
His presence in London had been
commented on in connection with the
cabinet crisis.
There is steady growth of the
newspaper attacks on the govern
ment, the general burden of which is
| the slowness, the lack of foresight
and decision, and tho mismanage-
ment of the Dardanelles enterprises.
| While all newspapers disclaim parti-
san motives. all the more prominent
journals participating in the opposi-
ton belong to the Conservative party,
with the exception Of the Manchester
Guardian.
The newspapers generally hold
Premier Asquith responsible for the
conduct Of affairs. The Lord North
cliffe group headed by The Times
and The Daily Mail, now as hereto
fore the most bitter critics Of the
As:uith government, with the sup
port of the Morning Post, was Joined
by the Observer, which is the fore
most Sunday paper of London, and
the Referee, which has a large fol-
lowing among the masses.
David Lloyd-George is the leading
candidate advanced for succession,
but other prominent BritonS, such as
Viscount Haldane, former secretary
of state for war; Lord Curzon, for
mer viceroy Of India, were also men
toned. In the pictures No. is Lord
Northcliffe; No. 2, Lord Haldane;
No. 8, Lord Curzon; No. 4, Lloyd
George; No. 5, Asquith.
The following copy of a private
letter received from London has been
supplied to The New York Times by
it's recipient:
London, December 13.
"In its parliamentary notes this
morning The London Times said,
apropos of the topics that are likely
to come before the House of Com
mons this week: Finally there is the
prospect of the surging up of that
undercurrent of dissatisfaction with
the conduct of the war which formed
the chief head Of private discussion
last week