The telegrams evidently take a serious view of it, although they have a reassuring note which is welcome. Mr. Lloyd George, for all his eccentricities and difficulties in keeping his party together, is still the most pictures que of the three party leaders. He is credited with a driving force which Conservatives would to. see more actively directing Mr. Baldwin's activities. He has 'a charm of manner, a power of witty invective and a share of human frailty which combine to mai him a popular member of the House of Commons and give him a magnetism unpossessed by Mr. MacDonald. Nor is he less astute than the Prime Minister in sonsing public opinion. Important and able Liberals publicly disapprove of him; " they carry. their disapproval to the extent, perhaps, of rejecting his wup, Then Mr. Ljoyd George gives them a parting benediction of sarcasm and uncomfortable reminiscence with to.overlook the shrinkage liberal ranks and to think more of-the rueful countenances of the victims. It is very. magnifi cent but it fs not war; in other words it does not help Mr. Lloyd George to get rid of the rapidly growing notion that the Liberal Papty, 80 long a-dying, is: likely soon to be dead. He may be accused of having killed it. It possesses or did possess a number of men endowed beyon¢ their fellows with parliamentary gifts and brain power. At any time it would seem possible to create a Cabinet of the all the talents: from the liberal ranks. Yet, for some reason or other cohesion carried out has never been a marked characteristic of the party. Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman was the! Fast Liberal leader who could really be said to command solid loyalty, Now Mr. Lloyd George, with all the prestige acquired from his long sup) unable to win his way the right of the Speaker's chair.
His illness comes at a most critical time. The echoes of gossip from Westminster suggest that the general reluctance to precipitate a dissolution may persist for a few weeks longer. At any time it may weaken, The dear all the odium of the present serious financial situation They have they have had to see defection in their ranks, They have had. to make a sort of pact with Mr. Lloyd George but, fortunately arity of Liberal polities has deprived the instrument of much of its ignominious significance. They have exposed themselves to the severe disapproval of economists in their handling of the Unemployment Insurance Fund profligacy. They have awakened the vehement protest tions of important interests, by their new taxes on land. They cannot be said to have won the affection of industries which see only in protection a source of salvation. Their Indian policy has been endorsed by their Political opponents but it is not without a strong volume criticism to which impetus is given by each fresh outrage reported from India. That is on the debit side. To their credit must be put their handling of Foreign Policy in which observers detect adorning Downing Street. Nor is it certain that the City would willingly exchange Mr, Philip Snowden for a Liberal or Conservative Chancellor. Better the devil you know: that might be the verdict of the bankers. Mr. Winston Churchill presumably would not go to the Treasury under Mr. Baldwin. Mr. Lloyd George would find it difficult to select a Chancellor of the Extlehequer. The unknown quantity not always to be despised even in finance as the achievements of Lord Goshen showed the Victorians, Still Mr. Phil Snowden has established for lmselt a reputation of some George will be widely regretted. The idea that a General' Election is not far distant arises! from various revelations of late. Yet can it be said that either of the Opposition parties are ready for it? The Liberals have again suffered yet another split which has reduced them to the proportions of a taxicab load. The Conservatives have hardly re~ covered from the shock of Lord Beaverbrook's filibustering. They fare still exposed to the con-tamely of the Rothermere Press which is. keeping many conservatives tied to its erratic because of its fulminaon India. Moreover Sir it Oswald Mosley, in his era-dual development of his revolt against the party to which he recently belonged, is extending in the direction of poaching ther on Conservative than on Labour preserves. He is appealing to the feeling that the old leaders are ineffective, that old shibboleths are played out and that no harm can accrue from' trying the new gospel for it cannot produce anything much worse than the conditions now existing. Not that the Mosley party is likely to count for much. Tt is more a disturbing element than a rival faction. Its activi~ ties are part of the general malaise affecting the Conservatives for Labour, probably, cap shed Sir Oswald and his pictures-
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.