Mr. Churchill's speech was still more an error of judge
merit from his point of view because it was delivered on the eve of the Indian debate, in which he and his group wanted all the sympathetic atmosphere they could get. The debate on the whole was uneventful but on a high level. Sir Samuel Hoare polished the awkward knobs in the White Paper with impressive deliberation. Lord Wolmer attacked the policy and the persons associated with it in what he clearly believed to be heroic fashion. Sir Robert Horne was by far the most effective critic, because he made his criticisms as a friendly inquirer after the truth, and his speech let loose a flood of doubts and detailed criticisms from other members. Mr. Churchill reserved himself for the last day. Some of those who heard him may have cast their mind back to the Amritsar debate, which was really the beginning of the disintegration of the first Coalition and might well have been both the beginning and the end, bUt for the defence of the Government's attitude towards General Dyer by Mr. Churchill himself.
Previous page
