Mar. 15, Recent by-elections in Britain have gone against the Government and those to whelm the present Coalition is anathema are preening themselves and getting ready for the day of battle that is "'to sweep out of existence the system of government by compromise and restore to the House of Commons a lusty opposition that will scrutinize with unfriendly eyes every proposal put forward by the favoured of fortune," who are the party in power.
In itself the Coalition shows no signs of disintegration. The Conservative leader of the house and the Radical Premier work together in what is evidently the most complete harmony and it seems likely that whatever party succeeds to power when the present Coalition is dissolved, it will not be able to muster a cabinet with anything like the same number of able men in its number. Whatever verdict history may write of the achievements or failures of the present Government, it must record that it held office in the most momentous period of the nation's existence and those who most dislike the name and the methods of Mr. Lloyd George must admit that, more than any other man, he contributed the fierce spirit of determination that carried the country through the darkest days of the terrible world war. When the army was in danger of annihilation for lack of shells he infused much needed energy into the Ministry of Munitions and when the nation was stunned by the tragic death of Lord Kitchener, he stepped into the breach as Minister of War.
As peace hath its victories no less renowned than war so also it has its difficulties which are, as we are finding, no easier of solution. Those who oppose the Coalition base their objections less on what it has done than on what it has failed to do and it is, perhaps, the greatest tribute to the "'little Welsh wizard" that his fiercest detractors are hard put to it to name a man who could step into his place.
Those who are not yet old can remember the time when Dieraeli was at the height of his power and Gladstone toured the country with fiery eloquence pouring contempt on his pretensions to greatness. And later, when Gladstone himself was grappling with the Trish question, Chamberlain opposed logic to his rhetoric and was chiefly responsible fur the "grand old man's'' failure to solve the insoluble problem. Looking back on the debates of those giants one is tempted to wish that ''Joe'' had been a little less able; we might then have been spared the necessity of dealing with the same question now when its solution is beset with greater difficulty than it was then, Ireland was then unanimous—
Ulster excepted—in accepting the offer of Home Rule; England was not ready to go far enough. Now when England is ready, Ireland—again Ulster excepted—is as unanimous in refusing the olive branch. The positions are exactly reversed.
Those who are anxious to pull the Coalition down find their chief argument in the campaign
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.