NOTES 153 



of their own interests to the interests of the country was so 

 undoubtedly a factor in provoking the great disaster. The 

 captain of a ship who persists in a certain course in spite of the 

 advice of his pilot and consequently runs his vessel upon the 

 rocks is deprived of his certificate and dismissed from his 

 appointment ; but politicians who run their country and the 

 world upon the rocks of war are still allowed to govern, to 

 advise, to talk platitudes, and to draw their salaries ! We want 

 new captains for our political navy. 



Party Impolitics 



In the Press of May 29, a letter appeared from Mr. Asquith 

 to Mr. J. W. Gulland, Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury, 

 in which he announces the formation of the present Coalition 

 Government. In this he says that "The transformation implies 

 a temporary abandonment of the system of party government, 

 which has ever since 1832 dominated our political arrangements 

 and which I hold to be, under normal conditions, the best 

 adapted to our national requirements." He continues to say 

 that " It was only because the conviction was forced upon me 

 that a non-party Government would prove the most efficient 

 instrument for the successful prosecution of the war that I have 

 taken a step which has caused me infinite personal pain." 

 Surely there is something very extraordinary in this point of 

 view. If Coalition Government is the best for times of stress, 

 surely it is likely to be always the best. On the other hand, if 

 Party Government is ever a good system for enabling the nation 

 to come to a conclusion regarding any vexed question, it should 

 also be a good one for enabling a nation to decide between issues 

 in war-time. But now we find that Mr. Asquith has suddenly 

 abandoned it in emergency. If there is a better form of govern- 

 ment, why is it not always used, and not only in war-time ? If 

 the horse is so lame that Mr. Asquith must ride another in 

 order to cross the torrent, why does he not ride this other one 

 always ? 



The country is doubtless grateful to Mr. Asquith and our 

 numerous other politicians for the undoubted work which they 

 have individually put into the matter of the war ; but this does 

 not mean that the country any longer approves of the system of 

 government which Mr. Asquith still favours — and abandons. 

 The fact is that throughout the country, among all educated men 



