Before we go further we cannot refrain from saluting Mr.
Asquith and congratulating him on his great courage. The British people happily have a strong sense of justice, and, if we are not misreading.the signs, we see in the result of the election a reaction against the unjust persecution to which Mr. Asquith was subjected during part of the war. No doubt he had not the knack of glowing rhetoric such as makes men's souls burn within them. He was not the man to work up a popular audience into a white-heat of enthusiasm, and as a consequence he was supposed by many people to be lethargic and wanting. in determination. The groundlings wbo allowed their feelings to be whipped by interested newspapers into a frothy state of susnicion. and even of cruelty, talked of Mr. Asquith as though ho were a traitor, or at all events a half-sympathizer with Germany. Those who worked with Mr. Asquith knew, of course, that no man's word was more trustworthy and that no statesman was ever a more loyal ally to his colleagues. That knowledge possessed by the few has now spread to the many, and justice comes into its own again. Even the interested papers which have now turned against the Coalition make as great a convenience of Mr. Asquith for their new purpose as they made a guy of him previously for quite another purpose !
