New-York tribune., 1918-06-01
London Vice Cult Scandal
Called Poison Las

eo evidence all that is meant by lead
ership in England-fo- the names must
lnclude all part1es-z-is held up to
slander.
], do not prejudge these matters, but
It looks to ME on the face of it like
herman poison gas! If it is possible
TO dlscredit Great Britain in the eyes
OF Americans, or to dscredit the Unit
"a States in the eyes of the British
Germany will have achieved a tre-
mendous triumph. l do not believe for
one moment that in Great Britain there
are are; today $4,000 men and women of
influence and position who are under
cloud which forces them to deal
ienlently with the enemy. But do see
that Germany will have immensely as
sisted her cause if she can overwhelm
the great moral issues of this war with
a flood of vague, but none the less
! deadly, scandal.
Asks America to Await Facts
This case will continue to he re-
ported. | ask Americans to put them
selves in the position Of an impartial
jury and to ask themselves on every
point how much of this is mere gossip
and how much of this is substantial
evidence. In every country every pub
, lie man is apt to be thus assaled.
wish to be perfectly fair, and there
fore I will say at once that according
to persistent rumor, which personally
believe to be we'll founded, the Asouith
family did entertain Miss Maud
Allan, as they were in the habit of
entertaining other actors like the Irv-
1ngs, the Beerbohm Trees and the
Forbes s-Robertsons. Downing Street
was a centre for artistic and literary,
and, perhaps | may add, for ecclesi-
ast1cal dignitaries, and it may very
will be that Miss Maud Allan was in
cluded
| will make the further admission
that Mrs. Asquith possesses a gener-
Gus and some would say an impetuous
temperament, which leads her to do
kindnesses without considering in the
least what construction malicious peo-
pie may put upon her actions So far
as my knowledge goes-and it is
! pretty intimate-that is the very worst
that can be said about her.
About Mrs. George Keppel and her
trips to Holland, as alleged, I know
nothing whatever. But if it be true, as
stated, that she was an intimate friend
of King Edward VII-and have never
heard it ontradicted-then | should
have thought that she was very un-
likely to be friend of the Kaiser's.
What we always understood was that
the quarrel between an illustrious
uncle and the now Infamous nepheyG
arose out of a desire of the Infamous
nephew to rebuke the illustrious uncle.
Mr.. Pemberton Billing may have
special informaton, but history rather
suggests that King Edward VII was a
friend of France rather than Germany
indeed, that he had some hand in
framing the Entente Cordale. More
over, l should have imagined that the
British Court, as at present constituted,
would have selected any emissary-
even Mr.. Pemberton- Billing himself
IN preference to Mrs. George Keppel
for any mission whatsoever
The truth about Britain is quite
simple. We are no better than other
people-but we are no worse. Belong
, ing, as | do myself, 60 the upper Al
O00-and | do not doubt that Germany
has big grievance against me-and I
regard it rather as a complilaent-I
would ask Americans to suspend their
judgment. There are people in Eng
land who think that something might
have been made out of the negotiation
of which the letters to prince Sixtus
is that Mr.. Lloyd George himself was
at least interested in that amusing
correspondence. and some of President
Wilson's references to Austria Hungary
have been couched in conciliatory
CeIilS. uc DIcdk-up OF LNe Dual
Monarchy, however achieved, would
assist the Allies. That, however, is the
extent Of our dark conspiracies, and
your labor deputation comes back to
tell you what have myself repeatedly
| asserted in your columns, that Great
Britain is substantially united on the
| war.
Political crises have arisen more
than once, and no one has attacked
Mr.. Lloyd Georges government more
bitterly than Mr.. Pemberton- Billing.
who on one occasion, at least, to nv
| knowledge ran . candidate against t.,e
Prime Minister'S nominee. These
/ crises arise out of issues like Ireland.
strategy ff1 France and the almost in
evitable unpopularity of any govern
ment which conducts long and ardu.
s0us war. There are rich men, doubt
less, who put their wealth before the
cause. 1t will always be So But the
British people could not stand this
strain for a month if they had not
got on the whole clean conscience,
and a general attack on our public
men--an attack which was made
equally on the honor of our women
is just the kind of thing we would
expect from Germany. By this do
not imply that Mr.. Pemberton- Billing
is consciously playing Germanys game.
he is just clever, persistent ad-
venturer whose career must collapse
unless he can feed 1t up with continual
sensations. In the present ease /
doubt very much whether England will
he GREATLY sfirred hv ;p.;oyo+;or,