We fear that it is impossible todeny Mr. Thomas's account
of the situation. The trouble is that Cabinet government, as we used to know it, has disappeared, and few Ministers feel that they owe any loyalty to their brother-Ministers. In the absence of proper Cabinet government they are never encouraged to maintain the sense of cohesion which is of the very essence of the British administrative tradition No doubt Mr. Asquith's Cabinet was too large for the direct sod immediate conduct of affairs which might strictly be described as military, but side by side with his large Cabinet he had an Executive Committee for the direct conduct of military affairs. We are sure that that was right in principle. The system failed chiefly through a want of alertness and vigour, and only partly through the excessive size of the Cabinet. At all evente, we did not then see the confusion and contradictions which we now witness daily. At present Ministers who are outside the War Cabinet have no regular opportunities for meeting, and the results are notorious.
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