The cool fit has, in fact, succeeded the hot, now
that it is remembered, what need never have been forgotten, that the Prime Minister gave the most explicit pledge that the whole Treaty would depend upon the sanction of the House of Commons. Mr. MacDonald said : " We will not do what was done in the case of the Treaty of Lausanne. We shall not put a clause into this suggested Treaty of ours that every word of it must be taken en bloc or rejected altogether. The -House can consider it, can amend it, can pass it or reject it after all has been done." In view of such words it is hardly credible that the Prime Minister intends to regard a vote on the Treaty as a vote of confidence, though no doubt his extremists are trying to force him in that direction. Mr. Lloyd George has stated that Mr. Asquith approved of his action in criticising the Russian Treaty. That statement leaves plenty of room for belief that Mr. Asquith did not at all like Mr. Lloyd George's recklessness. When Mr. Lloyd George is everywhere being toned down and explained away, it is not unfair to say that his reputation for leadership is in serious jeopardy. The hurried publication of the pamphlet called A Sham Treaty by the Liberal Publication Department was a result of Mr. Lloyd George's speeches. Now Liberals are looking to a forthcoming speech by Lord Grey of Fallodon to restore sobriety to criticisms of the Treaty.
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