The Bridgeport times and evening farmer. (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1918-1924, 1918-05-10
COMMONS NOT
IN FAVOR OF
ANY CHANGES
Vote of 293 to LOG Shows
That Cabinet is Satisfied
For the Present.
BURNING SPEECH
BY LLOYD-GEORGE
Premier Shows Himself To
Be the Same Keen Poll
tical Strategist.

London, May 10-The quick and
successful manner in which the Lloyd
George ministry in the House of
Commons yesterday dealt with an un-
pleasant incident which had caused
more political bitterness than any
preceding chapter of this troubled
administration was brought about by
a sudden change of tactics on the part
of the cabinet.
Premier Lloyd George again show
ed himself a keen political strategist
and a strong pleader for his own
cause. He withdrew the cabinets
plan for a court of honor to deal with
the charges of Major-General Maurice
which Andrew Bonar Law on Tuesday
said concerned the honor of the min
listers. The premier made it clear that
adoption of former Premier Aisquith s
motion for a select committee to in
vestigate the matter would be re-
garded as a vote of censure which
would Def ollowed by theg overn-
would be followed by the govern
Mr.. Lloyd George detailed in a
burning speech his version of the con-
troversy which Major-General Maui
rice began. The debate was short
and the premier's explanation was its
dominating feature.
The cabinet rode safely over the
crisis by vote of 293 to 100. The
majority was even larger than news
papers had predicted and shows that
the House of Commons at least is not
for a change of government which
would have been the result of adop-
ton Of Mr.. Asquith's proposal.
Former Premier Asquith's speech
was short He expressed surprise that
the government would take his mo
ton for investigation by a committee
as a vote of censure, and had the
house with him when he rebuked
Chancellor Bonar Law for asserting
that members could not be found who
would give a non-partisan judgment
The principal point of the premier's
defense was that the disputed state
ments had been based on information
furnished by Maj. Gen. Maurice's de-
partment in the war office and that
Mai. Gen. Maurice never had ques-
toned them while he was in daily
conferences with the cabinet. He
said that Gen. Maurice had ceased to
hold office '%for good or bad reasons"
Personal feeling between the former
prime minister and his successor was
evident and it appears to increase
progressively with each of the clashes
incident to their positions as head OF
the government leader of the opposi-
ton.
The status of the controversy as 1t
now stands is virtually that the de-
Tense has been heard, but the accuseT
has not. Whether he ever will be is
doubtful
The case of Maj. Cen Maurice is IN
the hands of the army council anc
there seems little doubt that his dis
tinguished military career has beer
ended by his own action
Premier 11oyd-George was cheerec
loudly when he made his perorat1or
appealing to the conmoners to cease
attacks which divert the energies o:
the government from the work of the
war. HE was cheered again when ht
left the house.
Judging from the newspapers, tht
country is tired of parliamentary
strife and while the present govern
rnent is much criticised, no alterna
tive suggested finds strong support