At the Reform Club. on Monday Mr. Asquith addressed the
Liberal Members of Parliament on the future of their party. He derided the idea that because the party was in temporary eclipse it would not revive. Its fortunes. had fallen low before, but it had always returned _ with renewed strength. In his view the Liberal Party was necessary because nothing could be " more fatal " than to let British• politics degenerate into a perpetual: duel. between Conservatism and Socialism. The party ought to learn from Labour. Labour had profited by an enormous amount of voluntary work in the constituencies. The faith of many members of the Labour Party was like a religion, or perhaps like a fanaticism, but whatever it might be called, it was able to move mountains. Next- he urged that the party machinery should be democratized. He recognized what had been done by the Central Office, the National Liberal•Federation, the District Federations, and.so on, but he still thought that the whole organization needed " overhauling from top to bottom." Oddly enough,.Mr. Asquith made no mention of the convention which has been summoned expressly to discuss the future of the party.
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