15 JANUARY 1916, Page 2

After touching on the danger of an inconclusive peace, Mr.

Henderson dealt faithfully with Mr. Snowden's ridiculous allegation that the Bill was the outcome of a conspiracy by a certain section of the Cabinet. In the course of his remarks he pointed out that it was at his suggestion that the group system was reopened. When he made this suggestion, he tells uq, every member of the Cabinet, including those who

had entirely different views from his, most enthusiastically agreed to it. He only came forward on behalf of compulsion because compulsion was now a military necessity. Mn Hender- son ended a remarkable speech by a passage which will make the whole country feel proud of the noble-minded working man whom we are proud to number among our rulers :—

"We had not, like our enemy, spent forty years in organizing our people for aggression. We had chosen to be a free people, but our very freedom laid on us special responsibilities. Our just pride in the voluntary system might be a snare if it led us to imagine that we had done enough. We had never done enough while there was one thing more to be done."