One sign of firmness and clear thinking on the part
of the Prima Minister is to be heartily welcomed. The papers of Wednesday published a letter from Mr. Lloyd George to a correspondent in which he defended Sir George Cave in right good style. "I cannot understand," wrote Mr. Lloyd George, "the personal attacks upon Sir George Cave to which you refer. The policy with regard to the treatment of enemy aliens is the policy of the Government, for which the Government as a whole, and I as its head, accept the fullest responsibility." That is the way to talk. If Mr. Lloyd George had acted in this way in the past towards his colleagues and his experts, we should have had no occasion for a considerable part of our criticism. Unhappily he broke down the old rule that the responsibility of the Cabinet is a collective responsibility, and that a Minister or important official must be either defended or called upon to resign. The unpractical and wholly indefensible method of procedure was to allow a Minister or military adviser to be grossly and bitterly attactvd by the Press, and then to accept the results of the Press campaign as though they had been quite inevitable.
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