OXFORD AND ASQUITH, HERBERT HENRY ASQUITH, ist EARL OF

the opening of the session of 1911 may be taken as the crowning moment in mr. asquith’s public career. the issue of the constitutional struggle with the lords was not yet decided, but it was no longer in doubt. it had been practically settled by the events of the previous autumn. the round table conference, which had been called in the hope of reaching an agreed settlement, had broken down, and mr. asquith had de- cided to appeal once more to the country. the election took place in december and the govt. returned with a commanding majority of 126. the decisive mandate which the country had given in decem- ber dictated the issue that immediately occupied the new parlia- ment. a bill abolishing the veto of the house of lords was introduced into the house of commons and, despite energetic opposition, passed all its stages by the beginning of the summer. but the real crisis had yet to come. the battle had still to be won in the lords and there the opposition were entrenched in overwhelming power. there was only one way to victory. ever since the emergence of the struggle it had been evident that the attainment of mr. asquith’s goal depended on whether he could in the last resort invoke the authority of the crown to dilute the house of lords with new peers sufficient to change its complex- ion. it had been assumed that he had armed himself with this authority after the first election in 1910; but the assumption was unfounded. what was the position now? the question was answered on july 20. the parliament bill, now in the house of lords undergoing its second reading, was so amended as to deprive it of any utility for the purpose for which it was framed. mr. asquith therefore addressed to mr. balfour, the leader of the opposition, a letter stating that the govt. had decided, if the bill in its essential form could be passed in no other way, the crown would be advised to create a sufficient number of peers to ensure its passage, and that the crown had signified its willing- ness to accept such advice. the publication of this letter aroused an unprecedented storm, and on july 24, on rising in the house of commons to make a statement, mr. asquith was greeted with 2 demonstration with- out parallel in living memory. for the best part of an hour he stood speechless before the roar of anger that issued from the opposition benches, and at last resumed his seat without having uttered a continuous sentence. what became known as “ the 1139 pothouse brawl” inaugurated the last stage of the struggle. the govt. was accused of ‘‘ dragging in the king,” and the opposition organised an uncompromising resistance in the belief that the govt. would not dare to carry its threat into execution. the issue, however, was determined on aug. 10, when the final debate was taking place in the house of lords, by a statement of lord morley confirming the government’s previous intima- tion of his majesty’s intention. up to this point the “‘ die- hards ” seemed to be assured of a majority, but in the division they were defeated. the bill was passed. on aug. 18 the parlia- ment act received the royal assent, and the house of lords stood shorn of its historic privileges. from this victory mr. asquith proceeded to his next great task, with the ground sensibly cleared for action. gladstone’s successive hhome rule adventures had broken on the rock of the lords’ veto. mr. asquith now approached the subject with the advantage that that rock no longer obstructed the channel. but before the irish issue was fully launched another contro- versy absorbed the prime minister’s activities. from that con- troversy the country has not yet emerged.. discontent had long been growing prevalent in the mining industry, and at the end of feb. 1912, having failed to secure the concessions and advances they demanded, the miners’ union declared a strike. vast dis- location followed and unemployment became widespread. from the outset the govt. endeavoured to bring the conflicting parties to agreement and mr. asquith took on himself the personal charge of the negotiations. a month’s fruitless efforts left the country on the brink of paralysis, and the govt. thereupon in- troduced the miners’ minimum wage bill, which, by providing a half-way solution, forced the hands of both sides and brought the immediate struggle to an end, although the issue incidentally raisel—that of the reorganisation and control of the coal indus- try—was to perplex parliament and the country for many years to come. meanwhile, the home rule bill had been introduced and with the government majority behind it there was little difficulty in securing its passage through the house of commons, while the parliament act provided adequately against the resistance of the house of lords. that house fought the delaying action, which was all the opposition now in its power. on jan. 30 1913 it rejected the iiome rule bill at the second reading. under the parliament act the lords’ power of rejection is limited to two successive sessions. the bill was introduced again and in july 1913 it was again rejected by the lords. after its next passage through the commons it would have overridden opposition and automatically become law. by this time, however, the political atmosphere was heavy with forebodings from other quarters. the opposition to the measure took an extra-parliamentary shape. the notorious ulster covenant had been promulgated in the previous sept. and talk of open rebellion, should hfome rule be passed, was already current. in june arms had been discovered both at belfast and dublin. as the year wore on the outlook became still more serious and a speech by mr. bonar law, the leader of the conservative party, at blenheim, seemed to give encouragement to the idea of resistance by force. on sept. 25 the ulster unionist council appointed a provisional govt. and prominent conservatives openly preached armed re- sistance, sir edward carson, the leader of the ulster unionists, left no doubt that in the last resort ulster would fight. with the close of the session of 1913 there came a brief lull, and during the recess conversations with the opposition leaders were opened by mr. asquith, who throughout preserved an atti- tude of patience and forbearance. it will always be matter for controversy whether, when the policy of violent resistance had been adopted, he was justified in ignoring so direct a chal- lenge to constitutional government. his natural disposition was to allow the utmost scope for the play of discussion and the in- fluence of the time element; but it is an open secret that he would have taken up the challenge but for the persuasions of mr. john redmond, the leader of the irish nationalists, who believed that the prosecution of the ulster leaders would prejudice the prospects of friendly relations with ulster when home rule was 1140 actually on the statute book. in any case, the conversations of the autumn were futile, and on march 9 1914 the govt. an- nounced the provisions of their amending bill, their last word of compromise. the chief provision of this bill was that any county in the north of ireland was to be allowed to vote itself out of the operation of home rule for a period of five years. the offer was rejected by the opposition and now events rushed forward to an apparently unavoidable catastrophe. sir edward carson was hastening to and fro, reviewing the rebel army of ulster which had now assumed alarming proportions. on the night of april 24-5, 55,000 rifles were landed at larne from a german port for the use of the ulster army. on the other side of the border the nationalists were beginning to enrol a volunteer army and to make counter-preparations. meanwhile a more sinister menace appeared. in the debate on the vote of censure on the govt. on march 19 mr. bonar law, speaking on the home rule issue, had used the ominous phrase “ soldiers are citizens like the rest of us.”” there had been much talk of disaffection in the army in regard to the coercion of ulster, and on march 20 it took shape in the curragh incident (see ireland) which led to the resignation of col. seely, the secretary for war. for a moment it seemed that the loyalty of the army was im- perilled and the situation that confronted the govt. looked des- perate. but the announcement by mr. asquith next day that he would assume the secretaryship for war created a profound impression in parliament and stopped for the time being at all events what had seemed like a riot in the army. following the mutilation of the amending bill by the house of lords and sir edward carson’s challenge to the govt..to “ give us a clean cut or come and fight us,” the king, on mr. asquith’s advice, sum- moned a conference at buckingham palace on july 20 to see if some agreement was still not possible. it broke down four days later and the last hope of avoiding a violent issue seemed gone. what mr. asquith would have done to avert a civil war while maintaining the authority of the constitution was not to be revealed, for on the day that the buckingham conference broke up austria sent her ultimatum to serbia, and within ro days the british army was embarking not for ulster but for flanders. in the feverish struggle within the cabinet that preceded the entry of great britain into the world war mr. asquith’s position was never in doubt. he had throughout been a party to the ambiguous military understandings and conversations which had been in progress with france since before the fall of the balfour govt. in 1905, and when the war came he did not waver in his conviction that both the duty and the interest of this country lay in throwing the country’s whole weight into the scales against what he considered to be the calculated design of the central powers to establish a military despotism over europe. the invasion of belgium by germany saved his govt. from disruption, and he addressed himself, free from domestic dis- quietudes, to the heaviest task ever imposed on a british prime minister. for the moment even the irish trouble subsided, all political differences were shelved and mr. asquith became the voice of a united nation in a measure unequalled in modern parliamentary history. the speeches he delivered in the early days of the war have taken their place beside the classic orations of pitt during the napoleonic wars, and his constancy of mind and freedom from all personal ambition played a dominating part during the next two years in laying the foundations of the ultimate victory. it was not to be expected that in the pres- ence of so vast a convulsion discontents would not develop. they became clamant as the true character of the struggle emerged and as the popular idea of a swift decision gave place to the certainty of a long war of attrition. mr. asquith had made no change in the political constitution of his cabinet at the out- break of war, although he had taken the leaders of the opposi- tion into his confidence and private counsels, but by the spring of r9t5 it became clear that this informal relation would have to yield to a formal coalition. in feb. mr. bonar law and lord lansdowne intimated that they could accept no responsibility for the way in which the war was being conducted, and in the popular press—which mr. oxford and asquith, earl of asquith had no talent for flattering—a powerful and ceaseless agitation arose, directed mainly against mr. asquith, sir edward grey and lord haldane and inspired by the inevitable shortage of munitions which the progress of the war had revealed. coin- cidentally, a violent disagreement as to the employment of the navy inthe gallipoli adventure had arisen between mr. churchill, the first lord of the admiralty, and lord fisher, the first sea lord, and on may 26 mr. asquith reformed his cabinet on a coalition basis, bringing in the leaders of the opposition and excluding lord haldane. to meet the growing need for muni- tions, a special ministry of munitions was set up with mr. lloyd george at its head. the reconstruction of the ministry did not allay dissatisfac- tion. within the cabinet friction developed, and, outside, the press agitation grew in violence. there was a persistent leakage of cabinet secrets, certain newspapers betraying a knowledge of most confidential government business with such regularity as to suggest inspiration. a phrase, ‘‘ wait and see,” which mr. asquith had used tn reply to a question in the hlouse of commons years before, became the daily gibe of the malcontent press, and sir edward grey, then in the midst of the most delicate situation with the united states, was accused of “ feeding germany ” because of his attitude on the subject of contraband from amer- ica. the war-weariness that had overtaken the country pro- vided an atmosphere in which this propaganda of discontent flourished, and the head of the govt. was the easier target for attack because he neither ‘‘ squared ”’ the press nor hit back at his critics. the inevitable rupture came in the autumn of 1916, when the german raid into rumania—now seen in its true proportions—served to drive home the attack, and at a time when mr. asquith was severely stricken by the loss of his eldest son in the war. it arose over a question of cabinet reorganisation. for some time the formation of an inner cabinet had been under discus- sion. at the beginning of dec. 1916 mr. lloyd george, who upon the death of lord kitchener had become secretary for war and whose prestige with the press had long been in the ascendant, submitted a definite scheme for the formation of such a body. from this body the prime minister was to be excluded. lis right to control policy was not challenged, but he would not direct the deliberations of the inner cabinet. the coup burst upon the country with the announcement of the popular newspapers that mr. lloyd george was “ packing up ”’ in sheer despair at the inefficient conduct of the war. his highly con- fidential challenge to the position of mr. asquith was under consideration when an article appeared in the times (then owned by lord northcliffe) giving full details of the supposed arrangements and suggesting that mr. asquith had already agreed. mr. lloyd george denied any knowledge of this article; but mr. asquith, after consulting with his friends, decided to reject the proposal. upon this mr. lloyd george resigned, and his resignation being followed by that of other influential mem- bers of the cabinet—including some who hoped that their action would give the prime minister the opportunity of reforming his cabinet on a new basis—mr. asquith informed the king that he could no longer be responsible for carrying on the business of the govt.; and within a few days the second coalition govt. was formed with mr. llovd george as prime minister. thus ended mr. asquith’s long and memorable tenure of the premiership. this is not the place to pass judgment upon his career or upon his conduct of the war, but it may be pointed out that the hopes of an early victory as the result of a change of govt. were not realised, and the subsequent disclosures have thrown an entirely different light on the military position at the end of 1916 from that which prevailed at the time. for the remainder of the war he occupied a seat in the front opposi- tion bench, speaking rarely and only on occasions when the interest of the nation seemed to demand his intervention. at the election of 1918, when mr. lloyd george swept the country with an appeal for the maintenance of the coalition, he did not escape the general wreck of the liberal party, losing the seat of east fife which he had held throughout his parliamentary oxford and asquith, margot—oyama career. in 1920 he returned to the house of commons as mem- ber for paisley and resumed his position as head of the remnant of the liberal party in that house. this position he occupied during two succeeding parliaments. in 1924, after an election fought on the issue of protection, he, as the head of a pivotal majority, was responsible for the accession to power of the first labour govt., and later in the vear for the government’s over- throw on a question of alleged governmental interference with the prosecution of a communist. at the election which followed he was defeated at paisley, and he retired to the house of lords as the earl of oxford and asquith.! (a..g.g;*) 1on may 26 1926, consequent on the general strike, correspond- ence was published between lord oxford and mr. i.loyd george with reference to the failure of the latter to consult his colleagues. this jed to a breach in the party. (see liberal party.) (ed. £.8.) ti4i oxford and asquith, marcortr, countess of, the sixth daughter of sir charles tennant, rst bart., married, in 1894, as his second wife, herbert henry asquith, later the earl of oxford and asquith. previous to her marriage she was well known as a member of the coterie known as the “ souls,” and afterwards continued to be one of the wittiest and most brilliant women in london society. in rg22 she published the autobiography of margot asquith (2 vol.), which attracted considerable attention and a certain amount of criticism owing to the writer’s frankness of expression. it is generally acknowledged to be, however, one of the most valuable chronicles of the time. after its publication she undertook a lecture tour in america, and in 1925 published places and persons. oyama, iwao, prince (1842-1916), japanese soldier (see 20.424), died on dec. 12 1916. end of thirtieth volume printed in u.s.a,