Lastly, the country has begun to realize that there has
been a low tone in the work of government since Mr. Lloyd George has been Grand Vizier, for that, in effect, is what he has been, and not a constitu- tional Prime Minister. The Honours Scandals have done him immense harm in public estimation. Beyond that, there have been very uneasy feelings at the spectacle of dim and mysterious financial figures flitting in the background of our public life and taking far too much interest in, and having far too much influence over, our foreign policy. People have descried, or fancied they have descried—we make no pretence of precise know- ledge—such men of mystery and finance crossing the stage as Sir Basil Zaharoff with his tremendous schemes for a Grecian hegemony in the Levant, • great Jewish financiers directing our damizosa .hereditas in Palestine,- and oil magnates interested in Persia and Mesopotamia. Very possibly many of these suspicions have been groundless,. but for such suspicions Mr. Lloyd George has only himself to blame.
