The platform out of sight, and the voice of "
the wizard " out of earshot, Mr. Lloyd George's speeches often make rather poor reading. That, at least, is what many must have felt who were not at the Oxford Union on Thursday, June 21st, or at the University New Reform Club on the next day. The motion at the Union was " That the Treaty of Versailles is devoid of the principles of wisdom and justice." Mr. Lloyd George, naturally, being in part responsible for it, main- tained that it was not so devoid. He pointed to the clauses which brought into being the League of Nations, the International Labour organization, and the freedom of oppressed States. Thus he gained his point, for the word " devoid " was too sweeping. But, had he been pressed a little harder, he might have found his position less easy. He spoke of the Fourteen Points, and stated that the observance- of them was simply not one of the conditions upon which Germany laid down her arms,. This apparently was accepted by his audience. A letter from Mr. Harold Temperley in the Times of Wednesday, stating the exact events at the time of the Armistice, definitely shows the opposite to have been the case. So that even on facts, apart from theories about justice, Mr. Lloyd George appears to have been wrong.
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