Mr. Winston Churchill addressed a meeting of the electors of
Dundee on Saturday last. The task which had been laid upon hirn was one of the utmost urgency, and he had felt it unquestionably his duty to comply with the Prime Minister's request. He did not resent opposition or criticism. That was inevitable, in view of the tremendous weight and load of respon- sibility put upon him from the year 1911, "when the Agadir crisis brought me to the Admiralty." Indeed, scarcely any one, except Mr. Asquith and Lord Grey of Fallodon, had a heavier task to bear. To hear people talk who dwelt only on what went wrong, we might suppose that England and the Empire had been governed since the war began by a series of incompetent and unworthy persons. That was not what our Allies thought, nor what our enemies thought. Mr. Churchill gave a picturesque account of the transformation of the country, the whole nation rushing to the field, the Zeppelins clawed out of the sky, and submarines strangled by the long arm of the Navy. Now that he had become responsible for the supply of munitions to the fighting forces of the country he had a right to the whole-hearted aid of every loyal citizen. As for his alleged unfamiliarity with Labour questions, he maintained that while at the Home Office and Board of Trade be was responsible for possibly a larger volume of legislation on Labour subjects than almost any other living man.
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