We have written of the new Prime Minister and the
new Government elsewhere, and will here only express our satisfaction that Mr. Asquith should be given the chance to show his powers of government. We are sure that he is a man who most earnestly and sincerely desires the welfare of his country. Further, he has a just and honest mind, and above all he will, we are convinced, prove as loyal to those who serve under him as he has always proved loyal to his chiefs and his colleagues. Mr. Asquith's friends may indeed make the proud boast for him that his political honour has never been tarnished in the slightest degree. He has never intrigued to push himself forward or to push others back, and no mean or narrow personal animosities and ambitions have ever defaced his career. Those who are ignorant of the realities of political life may think that to say this is not to say very much, but as a matter of fact it is to say a great deal. Stevenson makes one of his characters exclaim : "You seem to think that honesty is as easy as blind man's buff." Certainly the maintenance of political honesty is not so easy, and a politician of whom it can be said at the end of his life that be did not know the meaning of the word " betrayal " would deserve the respect of all. We are confident that it will be possible to say it of Mr. Asquith in the future as in the past. Whether Mr. Asquith will be able to show those qualities of strength and hardness which are often attributed to him remains to be seen. We most sincerely trust that he may.
