The Washington herald., 1917-01-28
BY JOHN l. BALDERSTON.
Copyright, l9ls, By the Mcclure Newspaper

days OF the war in the black August of
1914 have so many conflicting and excit-
ing rumors buzzed through London; the
downfall of the Asquith cabinet. the radi-
cal program involving tremendous social
upheavals in preparation by the Lloyd
George government, the German proposal
for peace and President Wilson's note
with all its train of consequences, have
provided sensations daily and almost
hourly in the last weeks of the old year.
An explanation of the situation in Eng
land at this critical period must take into
account all Of these factors, and it Is
possible that some Of them are more
closely related than appears on the sur
lace. The inside OF the political crisis
which swept the Indispensable coali-
tion government in the dust-bin almost
overnight has never been revealed,
though great bitterness exists between
the followers of Lloyd George and the
Liberals who remain faithful to Asquith.
information reached members of the
government early in December that Ger
many Austria. Turkey and Bulgaria
were comforting concerning a peace pro-
posal, and it was known for some time
that President Wilson had been discus
sing with his advisers the advisability of
peace note. Perhaps the Asquith cabi-
net was doomed in any event, but the ap-
pearance on the horizon of the peace
cloud drove it from office. That expIana-
ton have received from such reliable
sources that believe it to be correct.
Sense of Injustice.
And the ranking sense Of injustice
among the Liberal ra TX and file is due to
the fact that neither Asquith nor Vis-
count Grey. were they in office. would
dream of accepting the peace proposals
OF the central powers. A relentless press
campaign carried on by the Northcliffe
organs. the Morning Post. and a few lesser
dailies and weeklies. had implanted in
the public mind distrust of the premier
and the foreign secretary, however. The
hidden hand" was supposed to have its
grip upon them.
This hidden hand" or unseen hand. d"
probably as mythical as the Jersey
devil" is supposed to be the German in
tluenCe which still exists in England, and
Is blamed by the unthinking for every
misfortune or disappointment that befalIs
the entente, for every failure of some
body to do something. the successes OF
German submarines. the fall of Bucha-
rest, or the nOninternment of a German
grocer around the corner. The hidden
hand was thought to have an especially
strong hold on Lord Haldane whose un-
lucky pre-war remark that Germany was
his spiritual home" has made him the
scaPegOat for every sin of omission and
ernment for ten years past. The hints
and innuendoes of the gutter press re-
suited in a widespread belief that Lord
Haldane is the hidden hand" and even
though popular camOr drove him from
the WoOlsack in May, 1915, he was repre-
sented until two weeks ago as the con-
trolling influence over the cabinet, as the
master Of Asquith and Grey.
Intelligent people. and above all Lloyd
lgeOFgp
enough that all this talk was utter rot
out the unchecked ISLANDERS and Hbels
mad gone so far that when the imminence
OF serious peace move become known
In inside circles the danger of a popular
upheaVel was at once recognized if As
qulth and Grey were to handle the deli
cate, prOtraCted and secret process of
rejecting the peace overturcs in a way to
avoid alternating neutral sympathy or
making statements of terms that would
cause friction among the allies The
negotiations with France Russia and
Italy would have been carried on amid
talk of the unseen hand" shrieks that
Haldane was working to patch up a ia
vorable peace for his friend the Kaiser,
and the whole situation would have been
fraught with the utmost peril, foreign
and domestic
No Alternative Left.
o A member of the last government in
explaining this to me. said, when the
peace notes came Asquith would have
been compelled to leave office or to SUD-
press the Northcliffe press. There wouId
have been no alternative. for to enter
into delicate conversation with our allies
while his own newspapers were accusing
him of faint-hearted1ess, or worse. would
have been impossible. The effect pro-
duced abroad must have been disastrous
But the government had allowed these
innuendoes to go so far that whether it
could suppress them was doubtful, for
unfortunately a large section Of the
public had come to believe them, people
would have believed them still more
hrmly If the men against whom they
were directed suppressed the attacking
newspapers, and after all this is a
democracy"
The result was that Lloyd George and
his followers formed a plot against the
coalition which they carried through ir
few days to complete success. LLOYD
George demanded a war council, to have
almost complete control of war affairs
and on which neither Asquith nor Grey
were to sit This council, it was ex-
planned, would deal not only with carry
ing on the war but with the peace notes
when they came, and the premier was
told by Bonar Law and other Tories
troll Of war and peace in the hands of
stalwarts like Lloyd George and Carson,
there would be no hidden hand uproar
and the government could be saved.
The next move in the game is at this
writing still obscure, both Lloyd George
and Asquith declining in the national in
terest to have the disagreement out in
public until after the war, but Asquitn
broadly hinted in a farewell speech to his
party at the National Liberal Club that
some agent Of Mr.. Lloyd George had
conveyed to Northcliffe the untrue sta le-
ment that Lloyd George had made tlis
demand and that Asquith had accep ed.
The Times made the announcement nat
Asquith had yielded. which involved, as
Asquith said, a breach of cabinet secrecy
somewhere and Asquith then informed
his enemies that he could not delegate his
supreme responsih lity to other hands.
Lloyd George at zee resigned, claiming
that Asquith ha' gone back on his
agreement, and. Il Tory. party support
ing Lloyd George, there was no alterna-
tive for Asquith but to lay down his
Office. The Liberals claim that AsquitlI
was tricked by his ambitious colleague,
and they use even stronger words.
Lloyd George in Saddle.