Mr. Asquith spoke at Birmingham on Tuesday for the National
War Alms Committee. He recalled the anxious days of 1914 when he, as Prime Minister, had to decide between war and a shameful neutrality, and declared that he did not regret his choice. "With all the knowledge we now have of the then unimagined horrors of a world-wide war, if I had to live the time over again
I should take the same decision." Was it worth while ? Yes, replied Mr. Asquith, if, and only if, peace secured the ends for which we went to war, sad promised security for the future. Referring to Lord Lansdowne's letter, of which i he knew nothing until it was published, Mr. Asquith expressed the belief that Lord Lansdowne's main object was tic encourage the Allies to make still clearer the rational and unselfish nature of their aims. The primary aim was, in President Wilson's words, to bring into effective existence a partnership not merely of Governments but of peoples to guarantee the world's peace.
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