h the House had objected.
Members were, I think, hardly prepared for the vigour with which the
PRIME MINISTER turned upon his critics, reminding them that just the
same denunciation of "vacillating statesmen" was current in the days of
PITT. No doubt there had been blunders both in policy and strategy, but
nevertheless the contribution of this Kingdom and this Empire to the
common cause was growing steadily, and the military situation of the
Allies was never so good as it was to-day. If the Government no longer
had the confidence of the people, he thundered out, "let the House say
so."

While the immediate answer to this challenge was a volley of cheers,
most of the speakers in the subsequent debate disguised their confidence
in the Government so successfully that it almost appeared to be
non-existent. From Sir EDWARD CARSON, who acidly remarked that it was
unnecessary for him to praise the Government, as "they always do that
for themselves," down to Sir JOHN SIMON, who declared that compulsion
was being introduced from considerations of political expediency rather
than military necessity, no one seemed to be convinced that the
Government even now quite knew its own mind.

The House of Lords, after listening to a moving tribute to the memory of
Lord ST. ALDWYN from his old colleague, Lord LANSDOWNE, settled down to
a debate on the new Order in Council prohibiting references to Cabinet
secrets. It met with equal condemnation from Lord PARMOOR as a
constitutional lawyer and from Lord BURNHAM as a practical journalist.
The Ministers who "blabbed" were the real criminals. Lord BURNHAM
recommended to them the example of the gentleman in the French
Revolution, who always wore a gag in order to retain his self-control.

Lord BUCKMASTER, that "most susceptible Chancellor," made a very
ingenuous defence of his colleagues. They were the unconscious victims
of adroit interviewers, who obtained information from them by a process
of extraction so painless that they did not know the value of what they
were giving away.

It is time that these innocents were protected against themselves. A gag
must in future be issued to every Minister with his Windsor uniform. The
discarded G.R. armlets of the V.T.C. might very well serve the purpose.

_Wednesday, May 3rd_.--When, some nine years ago, Mr. AUGUSTINE BIRRELL
was appointed Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant a friend who had
some knowledge of Irish affairs wrote to him: "I do not