" TO OBLIGE MR. CHURCHILL."
WE suppose that the heading of this article explains the recent changes in the Ministry ; at any rate it gives a reasonable version of a performance which has puzzled most of us. Why should the Government play the game of " General Post" at this of all seasons ?
The majority of Ministers have not been very long at their departments—certainly not long enough to grow stale. After two years or so an intelligent man is only beginning to know his way about. Why should. he be suddenly made to begin to learn the whole business again from the start ? The natural explanation is Mr. Churchill's restlessness. Within a matter of three years he has now honoured three departments with his presence. He was not much of a success in the first two, for Mr. Churchill's gifts are not for administration. He has not the loyalty, the dignity, the steadfastness, and the good sense which make a man an efficient head of a great office. He must always be living in the limelight, and there is no fault more damning in an administrator. His office duties were only themes for newspaper advertisement and pegs on which to hang his turgid speeches. He has been probably the worst Home Secretary since the office was created—at once weak and violent, noisy of speech, and slack of action. The fact that he more or less did his plain duty during the August troubles should not blind us to the enormous ill effects of incidents like Tonypandy and, indeed, the whole spirit of his administration. The country has long realized this, and Mr. Churchill has begun to realize it too. He has done enough at the Home Office pour chauffer la gloire, as Napoleon said : if he were to stay too long the country might get as tired as himself of his connexion with it. So while there is yet time his restlessness urges him to seek fresh fields. It is the penalty which we pay for our craze about platform oratory. A man who has never showed any serious administrative talent can have a new portfolio when he asks for it, because, forsooth, he is a useful speaker.
We have no doubt that Mr. McKenna at the Home Office will be a welcome change. In the first place he is a trained lawyer : a most desirable thing in that depart- ment ; in the second place he is a capable adminis- trator ; and in the third place he has shown a commendable freedom from that itch for sentimental popularity which besets some of his colleagues. He has had the courage to take his own line, even when it was not the popular one with his party. It is the position of the Admiralty about which we are anxious. Mr. McKenna has left the Navy in a sound position, and he has shown an unceasing interest in the smaller matters of organization. He has been loyal to his trust, and has earned, if not always the liking, at any rate the confidence of the British Navy. Mr. Churchill has chosen to identify himself in the past with the faction of the " Little Navy," the faction which Mr. McKenna has successfully resisted. He is credited, further, with the belief that great " economies " could be effected by a skilful administrator without weakening our strength at sea. There is no rhetorician living who is not in his own eyes a master of economy if only he were placed in full command. Frankly Mr. Churchill's record does not convince us that he knows what either the word " economy " or the word " efficiency " means. He may spend less money and appeal for applause on the ground of his thrift ; but we have no confidence that any saving he effects will not be at the cost of needful strength. Mr. Churchill may be flattered by our suspicion as a tribute to his power. But we do not suspect him because he is Strong. A vigorous Little Navy man would be far less of a danger, because he would know what he wanted and give the country a fair chance of judging. We are afraid of Mr. Churchill because he is weak and rhetorical.
It is possible, of course, that he may show himself a zealous upholder of British sea-power and what we regard as the irreducible minimum of national safety. His recent speeches have shown some perception of the gravity of the international situation, and his experiences in August may have given him a new interest in discipline and a slight distaste for the emotions of the platform. He is a widely read student of military history and an admirable writer of it ; we have little doubt that his strongest interest is in the fighting services, and that the most congenial office of State would be the War Office or the Admiralty. He may acquire that professional zeal which makes a man exalt the importance of his department. This is all likely enough ; but the trouble about Mr. Churchill is that his moods are not to be depended upon. We cannot detect in his career any principles or even any consistent outlook upon public affairs. His ear is always to the ground ; he is the true demagogue, sworn to give the people what they want, or rather, and that is infinitely worse, what he fancies they want. No doubt he will give the people an adequate Navy if they insist upon it. We wish we could think that the Navy would. be adequate, whether they insisted or not.
Mr. Runciman's transference from the Board of Educa- tion to the Board of Agriculture is another curious per- formance. Are we wrong in detecting in it a consequence of the Holmes Circular P Mr. Runciman was popular enough so long as he lent his aid to that strange system under which the Board of Education attempted by executive action to override the law of the land. But the Holmes Circular, in which he did not play any too dignified a part, set in motion against him the furious Radicalism and class jealousy of the National Union of Teachers. A new office then was required for Mr. Runciman, for the present Ministry never fail to yield to " pressure." Lord Carrington retires to the dignified unemployment of Lord Privy Seal, and Mr. Runciman takes his place. Mr. Runciman is an old-fashioned Radical of the type that has no objection to wealth unless it comes from land, and he may be trusted to deal not too leniently with those who oppose the march of the Radical Millennium. He knows nothing about agriculture, but that is beside the point ; knowledge of agriculture is the last thing wanted in the land policy of Radicalism. His departure from the Board of Education will be a sop to those in whose honest hearts the arrows of the Holmes Circular still rankle.
We have little admiration for the recent appointments, but we must make one exception to our criticism. We welcome the attainment by Mr. C. E. Hobhouse of Cabinet rank. Mr. Hobhouse has held for seine time what is probably the most laborious office in the whole Government. Moreover, Mr. Lloyd George's absence through ill-health placed on him the chief burden of defending the financial policy of the Government. He performed his difficult task with great courage and ability, though he received little mercy from the Opposi- tion and no very loyal support from his friends. The Government have not a more useful soldier in their ranks, and his admission to the Cabinet is no more than his due. Further, he is a man of resolution, honesty, and good sense —qualities the more to be valued when found on a side where tactics have of late been identified with statesman- ship and sentiment with reason.
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