There has been a good deal of talk about the
Censorship during the past week owing to an attack on the Censor made by Lord Selborne in a public speech; a letter, which we can only describe as a form of counter-attack, 'written by the Home Secretary, who presides over the Press Bureau, explaining the position ; and finally, an explanation by Lord Selborne in the House of Lords. We are no friends of the Censorship, and think the whole thing has not only been founded upon wrong lines, but has often been very Much mismanaged. At the same time, we are bound to say two things in regard to this incident. In the first place, we think Lord Selborne set a very unfortunate precedent in criticizing in public the action of a Government Department. We hold solidarity to be an essential need of Government, and this cannot be preserved if Ministers turn into critics. While Ministers remain in a Ministry all its acts are their own acts. If they dislike any of those acts so much that they feel they must protest against them, they should do so by resigning. The Censors are respectively under the Home Secretary, the Secretary of State for War, and the Admiralty. Therefore every Censor of every sort has a Cabinet Minister who is responsible for his (the Censor's) acts.
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