IT IS almost pathetic to see how we are all clinging to Mr
Winston Churchill as our protector against the dangerous doctrines
of Mr Lloyd George. . . Mr Lloyd George does not always mean so
much as he says, but it is a pity he cannot remember that he is a
Minister of the Crown, whose published utterances, however silly
they may be, are apt to be taken as having official sanction. In
France, for instance, his Criccieth deliverance has been taken on
its face-meaning. M. Clemenceau severely condemns him for
recommending the reduction of armaments just at the moment when,
owing to the latest action of the parties to the Triple Entente,
there is a renewal of international discord. France is not
unnaturally nervous at being led to believe that the English
foreign policy as regards Germany is undergoing change. It is true
that there is a Little Navyite faction among us, stronger, however
- at least, we hope this is the case - in lungs than in numbers.
But Mr Churchill is in a strong position if he chooses to stick to
his guns, for, if he insists on carrying out his minimum programme,
or even if he has the courage to go as far as the Two Keels to One
standard, he will have the support of the whole Unionist party
besides that of a considerable number of Liberals who have sense
enough left to distinguish between scaremongering and con-
sideration for the national safety. That safety may not, at the
moment, be in peril, but when other navies are creeping up to the
strength of our navy, which is our first and only real defence, we
dare not even stand still, much less dare we go backward, unless we
contemplate committing national suicide.
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