13 DECEMBER 1913, Page 2

We deal in our leading columns with the speech delivered

by Mr. Asquith at the National Liberal Club dinner, in which he set the seal of Cabinet approval on the "land-bursting" campaign. Mr. Lloyd George, who also spoke, paid a glowing tribute to Mr. Illingworth—whom be described as "a most competent chauffeur," a high compliment coming from so ardent a motorist—and spoke with enthusiasm of Mr. Asquith's speech as a triumph of condensation. " It took me fire speeches, each of an hour and a half's duration, to say much less than the Prime Minister has said this evening." Mr. Lloyd George compared himself to a scout who had drawn the fire of the enemy, adding that now his task was done. The army was advancing under its great chief—one of the greatest chieftains the Liberal Party has had the oppor- tunity of serving under, and he would always count it one of the greatest privileges of his life that he had been one of the humblest and perhaps one of the most troublesome of Mr. Asquith's colleagues. Mr. Lloyd George, we may add, is still suffering from the strange hallucination that the Unionist Party raised the Ulster issue simply in order to distract attention from Mr. Lloyd George and his land policy. " They are trying to ignore us, to ignore the land question."