Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman addressed a meeting convened by the local
Liberal Association at Newport on Monday. After declaring that what was wanted above all was a clear exposition of the actual policy of the Government, and that a speedy appeal to the country was desirable in the interests of trade and the national credit, Sir Henry proceeded to reply to Mr. Balfour's charge that he had as War Minister pursued a deliberate policy of starving the Army. As regards the cordite incident, he had inserted in the Estimates the full amount asked for by his military advisers. As for the charge of unpreparedness, it could be disproved out of the month of Mr. Balfour himself, who in 1896 had attributed the efficiency of the Army to the efforts of the Liberal Government of 1892-95. Sir Henry defended his opposition to the main- tenance of a large expeditionary force, and met the objection, "Where should we have been in the South African War if we had had only an expeditionary force of twenty thousand men?" by asserting that under a Liberal Government there would have been no Jameson Raid and no occasion for war. Speaking at an overflow meeting, Sir Henry Campbell- Bannerman observed that "there were people who had a perfect passion for attending funerals, and Mr. Chamberlain had been conducting a series of wakes all over the country over expiring British trade."
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