We have dealt at length elsewhere with Mr. Asquith's statement
in the Commons on Tuesday in answer to the attempt to make him disclose his plans for amending the Home Rule Bill in such a way as to avoid civil war. In the Parliamentary sense, Mr. Asquith is always at his beet when people try to pat him in a tight place. In his refusal to be drawn he managed to tread the razor edge without making admissions on either side. We can only say here, as we have said elsewhere, that if be has made up his mind against Exclusion, then he is assuming a most appalling responsibility by not at once undeceiving those who are building upon his words. Remember, it cannot be said that he has not made up his mind, but is waiting to do that, for ho told us at the beginning of the Session in emphatic terms that he had made up his mind. In our opinion, he has made up his mind on Exclusion, and the only thing that will induce him to alter it is the failure of the Unionists to push him sufficiently hard in the right direction. In that case he might, no doubt, be induced to say : What is the use of being more Unionist than the Unionists ?
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