We feel that we can no longer keep silence about
the attacks which have been made in a certain section of the Unionist Press upon Lord Haldane. In our opinion, these attacks are most unfair. We have plenty of criticisms to make on the want of preparation for which the Government are responsible, and we mean when the proper time comes to press them home. It is, however, monstrously unjust to single out Lord Haldane for attack, and to talk as if he were specially responsible either for our want of military strength or for the way in which the Government—though they knew the facts and ought to have drawn the necessary inferences from them—encouraged the notion that Germany was not preparing to attack us, and that we ought not to irritate her by assuming that she cherished any designs against us. The Cabinet acted in the belief that if you only talk to a tiger in a sufficiently pleasant and winning tone, and say " Poor pussy !" often enough, the dangerens beast that was preparing to spring will turn into a harmless cat, arch its back, and rub itself against your legs.
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