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THE GENERAL ELECTION.

WHEN the Tories shook off the burden of the Coalition at the Carlton Club, Mr Chamberlain's defeat was cheerfully ascribed to Belgravia's love of reaction and to the envy of Mayfair. Since that day of good omen the General Election has come, and has left the Conservatives in full possession of the field. A clear majority over all parties is all parties is all that Mr Bonar Law can want, and it seems as though we have done with Coalitions and all the evils which they beget for many a long day. The campaign which preceded the Election was not conducted with much enthusiasm. Mr Lloyd George and his friends were fighting for no principle, except for the principle of high and comfortable offices for themselves. They pushed to They pushed to the furthest possible point the doctrine of indispensability. We are the brains of the country, they said in effect: make room for us and our brains or the Empire will perish. It was a pitiful spectacle to see Lord Birkenhead stumping the country on the brains, so to say, of himself and his late colleagues. In eulogy he was tireless of himself and of them, and perhaps when it comes to praising brains, it is more prudent to listen to applause than to lead it. The retorts of the other side are easy and destructive. Second-rate brains,

it was hinted, are better than second-rate character; and of what use is it to possess brains if they will do no more for you than they did for Mr Lloyd George and Lord Birkenhead ?

However, we have witnessed something new in the world's experience. We have seen a retired Lord Chancellor running up and down the constituencies, extolling his own talents and the talents of Messrs Chamberlain and Churchill. These heroes, we take it, are endowed with first-class brains, and we gladly dispense with them. Their characters have been drawn in changing colours and with various emphasis by Lord Birkenhead, eager to destroy the precedent of the dignity of the Woolsack. Of course, said he, Mr Chamberlain and himself could have got out of one camp into the other if they had wished. "But they happened to be men ❞—these are Lord Birkenhead's ipsissima verba-" who took the view of loyalty that the word they passed on Monday must not, and could not, be broken on Tuesday." Why not? Mr Chamberlain and Lord Birkenhead are artists in the quick change. How shall he boast his loyalty who, once Galloper Smith, went over in an instant and took Mike Collins by the hand? Or how shall he assert that he would not break Monday's word on Tuesday who,

being returned to Parliament Government which follows the to uphold the doctrine of Government of Messrs Lloyd Unionism, which he had always George and Chamberlain is professed, suddenly repudiated laid the irksome duty of clearthe doctrine, and persisted in ing up their mess. It is they clinging obstinately to the name who approved the Treaty, not of Unionist, which he had out- the Die-hards. It is none the raged? less the Die-hards' business to see that it is properly executed. What would Mr Chamberlain have the Die-hard do? Would he prefer that he should repudiate the signature of his predecessors, even though he believes those predecessors have betrayed their country? Of course he does not, and when he twits the Die-hards with doing what honour and custom compel him to do, he uses a poor mean argument, so poor and so mean that it was presently borrowed by Mr Churchill and Lord Birkenhead.

The speeches of the remnant of Mr Lloyd George's party were from first to last personal and acrimonious, though we may except from the charge of acrimony Mr Lloyd George's tender description of "the little place" in Surrey to which he hoped to retire, where he had planted a rose-tree or two, and where the snowdrops would raise their heads to greet him when he sought the repose of his own garden. For the rest, Lord Birkenhead informed us that he was the captain of his soul-a captaincy that none is likely to dispute with him; and Mr Chamberlain proved, in a reference to the Irish Treaty, that he is ignorant alike of parliamentary usage and constitutional practice. "It is well," said he, speaking of Ireland, "that the great Treaty of Peace should be signed by the very men who opposed its execution, and that the Irish race race should have the assurance that the last and bitterest Die-hard of them all has surrendered in his ditch." This sally was greeted by "laughter and cheers," which suggests that Mr Chamberlain's audience had no better understanding than he had. There is no surrender of the bitterest Die-hard. Upon the

As Mr Bonar Law and his colleagues bore themselves during the Election with dignity and restraint, so they face the duty of government with a useful majority and with a simple desire for good administration. The country asks for firm government and not wild experiment, and the Government of Mr Bonar Law is strong enough to do what it deems right, without bribing the electorate, as Mr Lloyd George bribed it, out of the public funds, and with promises to do a dozen things which were out of his reach. Above all, we shall return to the straight paths of constitutional government. In getting rid of Mr Lloyd George we have rid ourselves of a tyrant. No

for not having a showy policy, such as delighted his followers in the good old days, when he and his friends believed that they were there for life. But we have no need of a showy policy. There is nothing that clamours for reform at home except expenditure, and abroad we ask nothing else than a continuous policy, which may ensure a good understanding and a tranquil agreement, in France and the United States.

longer will that adroit prac- to ridicule the Conservatives titioner take charge of every Department in the State. The responsibility for the proper conduct of home or foreign affairs, let us say, will once more be laid upon the shoulders of the Secretary of State. Instead of having one brain (first or second-class), which meddles with everything, we shall have many brains, as of old, each of them modestly accountable to the House of Commons for what it devises. Thus there will be restored to us not only the Cabinet, which had degenerated into a roomful of clerks, but also the effective control of the House of Commons, which existed, in the days of Mr Lloyd George, merely to register the decrees of a powerful Minister. And there is a good prospect that government by scandal is at an end, that we shall no longer be shocked by the acting of cheap melodramas in foreign capitals, or the settling of grave international questions by itinerant circuses.

We shall, indeed, be content with Mr Bonar Law's Government if it call as little attention to itself as possible. Now that it is the Government's aim no longer to keep a well-advertised leader before the people, we can do without the limelight man. We ask no more of our governors than that they should look after their own Departments, and substitute economy for the reckless extravagance which has been our bane. It is easy for Mr Lloyd George

It was in his wayward management of foreign affairs that Mr Lloyd George did us the greatest injury. greatest injury. Nobody on the Continent knew for more than a day or two whether he was on the side of Germany or of France. And our friends the French were always in a difficulty. They were compelled to take sides for or against Mr Lloyd George, according as he seemed to lean to their side of the question or to recede from it. And finally, despairing of his consistency or intelligence, they separated the English from their Prime Minister, and showed themselves at once pro English and antiLloyd George. Mr Lloyd George's disappearance has put an end to this ambiguity, and henceforth, if we only show a fair measure of candour and sympathy, nothing shall impair the friendship which binds us to France, and which is the best warrant for the peace of Europe.

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is to hold its place, it must keep itself free from all entanglements. It must not threaten us with a new Coalition. When Messrs Lloyd George and Chamberlain explain that they are ready to sacrifice themselves in the service of the country, no chance of sacrifice must be given them. We have not forgotten the view which they take, that no matter of principle has ever divided them. You may be sure, when there is no dividing principle, that there is no principle at all. And assuredly those "Unionists" were not sensitive who gave Ireland over to the wild Sinn Feiners. In the new Government, then, there must be no place made for Mr Lloyd George or Mr Chamberlain, for Lord Birkenhead or Mr Churchill. These gentlemen may all be the captains of their own souls; they may all be in the happy possession of first-class brains. But they have failed lamentably in the task of government, they have been disloyal, in one way or another, to their constituents and to the country, and they will exercise their first-class brains, henceforth, more suitably in the busy task of opposition.

If the new House of Commons lacks some old familiar faces, it is asked to admit within its doors some who never should have been permitted to enter there. Truly, the House will be a safer place now that Mr Churchill is excluded from its domination, and we cannot but feel a solid satisfaction that Mr Henderson will no longer be allowed to inflict his dangerous platitudes upon an unwilling House. But what of Mr S. Webb and Mr E. D. Morel? The one is the best specimen of the prig known to man, and it is strange that the other, whose hatred of Britain has not been concealed, should care to find a place in our British House of Commons. But they are likely to have less opportunity of doing harm in the House than out of it. In conclusion, the incredible has happened. Mr Lloyd George has lost 57 out of the 101 candidates who were to form the Central Party and govern England for life; Mr Bonar Law has a majority over all possible opponents; and we may at last look forward to some years of quiet government, reduced taxation, and a return to the life that was led before the war.

INDEX TO VOL. CCXII.

ABADEH, THE Defence of, 492.
ABBEY CLOCK, THE RETARDATION OF
THE, 49.

American people, intelligence of the,

560.

AMERY, Right Hon. L. S.: HENRY
WILSON, 272.

Anarchy and Futurism, 557.
ASSET, AN UNREALISED, 665.
AUTHOR OF TALES OF THE R.I.C.':-
ULSTER IN 1921, 425. I. From South
to North, ib.-II. Outlook in the
North, 428-III. Impressions of
Ulster, 431-IV. I.R.A. in Belfast,
436-V. Sinn Fein Propaganda, 443
-VI. The Truth about the Ship-
yards, 448.

ULSTER IN 1922, 738. I. Some Prob-
lems, ib.-II. Position in 1922, 741
-III. The Ulster Specials, 746—
IV. A Comparison with the South,
750-V. The Future, 755.

Democracy, the handmaidens of, 131.
Diplomacy, old and new, 690, 693.
"Direct action," when beneficial, 830.
DUBLIN CASTLE, THE LAST DAYS OF,
137.

EGYPT-MARCH-APRIL 1919, 623.
EGYPT, THE TOP OF, 531.
ESTORE: A TRAGEDY, 281.
EYTON, JOHN: A RED TUNIC, 408.

Fascisti, revolt of the, 828,
Fethi Bey, the ignoring of, 692.
Fit, the submerging of the, 555.
FOURTEEN RIVERS, AN ODYSSEY OF, 1.
FRANCE, Two VALLEYS IN, 191.
FROM THE OUTPOSTS:-

IN NIGERIA, 353.
IN KORDOFAN, 357.

EGYPT-MARCH-APRIL 1919, 623.

Galton, Francis, the centenary of,
553.

BARNARD, LESLIE GORDON: VANITY GANDY, G. H.: THE VOYAGE OF "THE

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LAND OF COorg, 671.

BUDDHA, THE IVORY, 729.

MAID," 452, 565.

GENERAL ELECTION, THE, 835.
GENOESE TUNE, To A, 114.

Germany's industrious propaganda, 415.
"GOOD GOD, CAROLINE," 581.

GORDON, JAN: UNTEMPERED STEEL,
239.

BUXTON, EVELYNE: "Good GoD, CAR- GRAHAM, ALAN: MURDER DISQUALI-

OLINE," 581.

CANDLER, EDMUND: UNDER THE PYR-
ENEES, 479.

Capital levy, objections to a, 832.
CARRACK, THE GREAT, 395.
CASTLEREAGH, LORD, 205.

CLEMENTI, Mrs CECIL: AN ODYSSEY

OF FOURTEEN RIVERS, 1.

Coalition, end of the, 700.

Common herd, the voice of the, 563.
CONSUL IN THE MAKING, A, 639, 773.
COORG, THE ASTONISHING LAND OF,
671.

Councils which cannot consult, 476.
CUMING, E. W. D.: AN ITALIAN
"SUDATORIO," 539.

DAILY ROUND, THE, 471. The Khilafat
Agitator, ib -The Village Pond, 473
-Councils which cannot Consult, 476.

FIES, 62, 218, 362.

GRANT, Sir A. HAMILTON: PESHAWUR,

A CITY OF THE PLAIN, 546.

GREEKS IN ASIA MINOR, WITH THE,

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