MR. LLOYD GEORGE'S ADMINISTRATION.
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTriOR."]
suppose you will not accept any remonstrance. I am a regular reader of the Nation. There is always a market for malevolence, and the spleen of that journal provides one with weekly entertainment. But I cannot understand why you join the gang which is much more anxious to defeat the Prime Minister than the Germans. They have impeded every effort to win the war, but they see that the war will be won yet unless they can get rid of the man who is determined to secure victory rather than peace by negotiation. Hence their cheerful alternatives of a go-slow Asquith, or a talk-much Henderson, or a democratic- diplomacy Lansdowne. To their amazement, I imagine, they pick up an ally in the Spectator. Whatever is the matter ? The Premier is not rapid or drastic enough with Irish Conscription, or the Army Comb, or Shipping! Possibly not, but these are evil legacies, the result of temporizing by "general consent," and there is no swift way. Or are you angry about the Drink question ? Sir, your enthusiasm in that matter has been quite a recent novelty, and even if Mr. Lloyd George has not taken your advice you may remember that he has been a whole-hearted opponent of intemperance long before you discovered the urgency of the problem. I am no Lloyd-Georgian. As a Churchman, I resent his trusade against the Church in Wales, but, also as a Churchman, I am ashamed of Lord Hugh Cecil's remarks the other day in the House. I recognize that the Premier has not made the progress that we all hoped. But he has been badly let down by some of his subordinates. And what has been going on behind the soenes in the way of political intrigue ? What help has been given by the Simonites, the Halclaneites, and all the /test of the disgruntled politicians ? Sir, you are fully entitled to your attitude of denun- ciation and opposition. But when you say that Mr. Lloyd George " has forfeited the confidence of the people of this country," you may be reflecting London opinion, but it is all moonshine so far as the provinces are concerned. And I, for one, regret that you are playing into the hands of the Massinghamites and Gardiner- cues, who are no use to Great Britain.—I am, Sir, &c.,
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