15 JANUARY 1916, Page 2

Mr. Asquith ended a very able speech by an appeal

for unity. That was a very natural position for a Prime Minister at such a crisis. We venture to differ from him, however. We cannot help thinking that this is just a case in which the exception usefully enforces the rule. If the second reading had been carried unanimously, it would have been said that there Were hundreds of men anxious to vote against it who had been over-persuaded not to challenge a division, and so forth. As it is, we know exactly what the opposition was worth—no more, no less, than thirty-nine. That is a hard fact which cannot be got over.