The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1918-03-21

The Government may or may not emerge intact from its immediate diff culties. It may or may not have acted upon sound principles in the series of events which have led to the ejectment of Sir William Robertson from the post of Chief of the Imper- ial Staff. On the surface Sir William Robertson's original line of conduct seems to me to have been less logical than that of the Government; but then, where this Government is con- cerned, I have every reason to dis trust superficial appearances Hence I have come to no conclusion about the affair. I am, however, firmly of the opinion that the affair has done nothing to rehabilitate the Govern ment, in the esteem of honest and sa- gacious men, that the fatal and pro- found defectS of the Government re- main in full disastrous energy, and that the very best non-military thing that could happen to Britain and to the Allied cause would be the fall of the Government.
 Two charges lie against the Gov ernment, and they are of the gravest kind. The first is that it is not trust ed I do not mean that some mem- bers of it are not trustworthy. But I do mean that certain attributes ot the Prime MiniNter make general con- fidence entirely impossible. The Prime Minister has fine and rare qualities. For myself, I think that his view of Allied military necessities cn the Western Front is valuab1y free from the bias of insularity. I have little doubt that he is sincerely anxi- GUS to do his best for the country. do not think for a moment that he puts personal ambition before every. thing else. But unhappily the meth ods by which he tries to achieve hi: perhaps admirable aims can arouse and have aroused, nothing but disgus in the minds of men with ordinary notions of propriety.
 The Dominant Figure.
 His tendency towards chicane ha! gradually delivered him bound int the hands of individuals whose char acters offer the most dangerous of al combinations, the combination of stu pidity and ignorance with unscrupu lousness. He is virtually prisone in the hands of these individuals H. cannot survive without them. AnC this fact is proved, not merely by thu appointments which he is forced t. make, but also by the utterl, scandalous honors, which he is forced to bestow. Nobody defends tn Prime Ministers methods, nobody a all. have heard Joseph Caillau hotly defended; but although I hay met a fair number of personalities il all political camps, have never ono heard the Prime Ministers method defended, even by his associates an friends.
 His other faults-his facile optim isms and pessimisms, his inaccuracie: his lack of constancy, his impression ability, even his occasion frightfu mistakes in tactics-these might condoned for the sake of the remark ale qualities which he possesses; bu his ethics cannot be condoned, an they are bound to end in calamit! This is the man who stands for Brit ain today. He dominates and color the Cabinet The Government ac
 
 ment which accepts him for leade can continue to command the conf dence of the country.
 The Moral Factor.
 The second charge against the Gov ernment is that it is not represents tive. It was not chose from the Hous of Commons or by the House of Con mns, and it consistently ignores, flout and insults Parliament. What
 worse, if flouts the democracy of u whole world. It appears to be Ill aware of the fact that the democrat idea has made tremendous progress the course of the war, and that tI very spirit of things has changed, al even that we are fighting for dem cracy.
 Worst of all, from the immediate practical point of view, it steadily r fuses to see that there are two diffe ent ways of destroying Prussian mi tary autocracy-by beating it in u field, and by setting it's own proletari and its own less militaristic al against it-and that both these wa should be pursued simultaneous The Government seemingly cannot a preciate the importance of the nor factor in the war.
 The antagonism between the Ge man proletariat and Prussian mi tarism is notorious. It has recent shown itself in huge strikes al 1srocfous repression. The foremC demand of the strikers was for peace on the basis of no annexatio