Mr. Lloyd George replied in a private letter in which
he accepted the proposed arrangement subject to the satisfactory selection of the personnel of the War Committee. But Mr. Asquith, after a con- sultation with some of his colleagues, decided that the new position invented for him as Prime Minister would be an impossible one. He wrote to Mr. Lloyd George that he must remain Chairman of the War Committee as Prime Minister, and that though the Committee ought to be reduced in size it must be left to him to choose the personnel. In the rest of his speech Mr. Asquith promised unreserved support for the new Administration. Ho will sit on the Opposition Front Bench as " Leader of the Liberal Party." Those of his Liberal colleagues who were asked to join the new Government but refused did not act under any pressure or even suggestion from him. His words about the national duty of avoiding recrimination were finely generous and patriotic, as we should have expected. Lord Grey of Falloden spoke in the same sense. Incidentally he mentioned his resentment at the personal attacks that had been made. Mr. Lloyd George had never made them, but they had come from those who worked "openly and avowedly" for Mr. Lloyd George.
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