A Book

Ex-Premier Herbert H. Asquith, in a new book*, relates the part played by Great Britain in Europe during the fateful decade which preceded the spark of war which set fire to the world. He is not concerned with a philosophical disputation of cause nor with the false logic of effect; his book is a narrative of events, events which Mr. Asquith tried to control. He does not defend his actions and rarely resorts to criticizing the actions of others. His book is a record of events, the facts of which are marshaled in orderly array; it is history written like a superb piece of precis writing; no verbosity, no propaganda, no distortion, just the truth and facts. It is just the sort of book that unromantic, academic Mr. Asquith might have been expected to write.

The field of the book is that on which Mr. Asquith as Chancellor of the Exchequer and Prime Minister of Great Britain played with the World Powers; it is concerned solely with international politics from 1905 to 1914. He claims that " the officially published diplomatic correspondence " is in itself enough to settle the question of the ultimate responsibility for the War, and he proves conclusively that Wilhelm and his advisers were responsible. Nothing new in that. M. Rene Vivani has done it, M. Sasonoff has done it, many others have done it, but none so succinctly and with more authority than Mr. Asquith.

Mrs. Margot (Tennant) Asquith in the second volume of her auto-biography says: " I was tremendously impressed by his conversation and his clean Cromwellian face. He was different from the others and, although abominably dressed, had so much personality that I made up my mind. . . ."

Herbert Henry Asquith is Britain's Scholar-Statesman. His early schooling was done in London. In 1871 he became a classical scholar of Balliol College, Oxford, and subsequently got a " first " in Litterae Humaniores (1874). After that he went in for the Law, joined Lincoln's Inn in 1876 and "took silk " in 1890. His political career started four years earlier. In 1886 he became M. P. for East Fife, a constituency he represented continuously until the general election of 1918, when he was defeated. For two years Mr. Asquith remained out of the House and then came back on a bye-election in Paisley. The principal Cabinet posts he has held: Secretary of State for Home Affairs under Gladstone and Roseberry, 1892-5; Chancellor of the Exchequer under Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman 1905-08; Prime Minister (and First Lord of the Treasury), 1908-1916; and in 1914 for a brief period he held the additional portfolio of Secretary of State for War.

Mr. Asquith, now in his 72nd year, is still a power in the House and the leader of the old Liberal Party. His hostility with Lloyd George is political and not personal. Mr. George has a warm personal regard for his ex-chief which is cordially reciprocated by Mr. Asquith. It is considered deplorable that two such eminent statesmen cannot agree to a working arrangement which would unify and consolidate the Liberal Party.

*THE GENESIS OP THE WAR--Cassell (250).