Great Britain Position. THE BRITISH EMPIRE IN THE WAR During this year the British Empire faced periods of success and war-hope, of failure and war-pessimism. Vimy and Cambrai, United States accession and Russian chaos, German retreat in France and Italian reversals, the Submarine and the Aeroplane, were phases of this situation. Through it all Great Britain maintained a fairly even keel of action and policy, a splendid process of internal development along war-lines, an unique and continuous supremacy in war finance. At the close of 1917 the United Kingdom was to the Entente Allies what Germany was to the Teutons-the head and front of war-work and effort, the binding and unifying element in the Alliance, the pivot upon which finance, shipping, food supplies, munitions and armies turned. It was all done so silently, the censorship was so tight, the fundamental objection of the English character to anything even distantly resembling boastfulness was so effective, that public recognition of British achievements often was below the line of just appreciation in Canada and other Empire or Allied countries. On the other hand political controversies, occasional strikes, all the essential faults of a non-military nation facing stupendous technical odds, were well-known and discussed. Some of them still were in operation. To have swept the seas of enemy ships, kept the Submarine in partial subjection, and carried on a world-trade in war supplies and transport; to have raised 6,000,000 men for war service and turned Great Britain into a great hive of war industry-technical, inventive, resourceful, efficient; to have maintained vast war operations for 32 years and in 1917 to have won supremacy in the field and in the air of France, conquered Mesopotamia and part of Palestine and Persia and the last of the German African Colonies; to have maintained a sweeping blockade of Germany and her Allies and kept the German fleet bottled up while holding 15,000,000 tons of shipping in the teeth of the Submarine; to have buttressed the financial credit of the world behind British money and advanced 5,000 million dollars to her Allies and Dominions; to have beaten the ablest constructive operator in war chemistry, industry and engineering in the world at his own prepared game-in heavy artillery, in trench-mortar effectiveness, in forms and use of deadly gases, in such gas protection as the box-respirator, in aeroplane efficiency, in submarine defence and the creation of the Tank; to have organized Food supplies, production, military resources and Labour capacity at home; to have transported across various seas in 3 years of war 13,000,000 men and over 200,000,000 tons of munitions, supplies, food, etc.; to have strengthened industry by notable discoveries and especially by a process for obtaining potash and by an increase of 50% in steel manufacture; to have helped production by such patriotic sacrifices of tradition, beauty, pleasure, as the slaughter of ornamental deer and the turning of the parks of noblemen's seats into sheep-walks or cultivated fields; all these and many more were remarkable war-products for a peaceloving and commercial nation of not more than 47,000,000 people. In January, 1917, the Boston News-Bureau issued a review in which it was stated that "all the seven wonders of the world fade on history's page when compared with the spectacle Great Britain presents to-day-a gigantic physical power and a trade and warpower combined never before dreamed of." Mr. Bonar Law, Chancellor of the Exchequer, stated certain details in a speech at Manchester on Nov. 7: In 1914 we lost 13,000 or 14,000 more prisoners than we took. In 1915 we lost 2,800 more. In 1916 we took 30,000 more than the enemy took from us, and this year already we have taken 45,000 more than they took from us. In the first year of war we lost 80 guns and took 25. The next year the position improved, and last year we took 169 and the Germans took none. This year we have taken 380 and lost none. Now we have an artillery service far better than that of any other belligerent. In aeroplanes we have made immense advances. The number of aeroplane engines turned out last month was exactly three times more than in October last year. We have secured air supremacy on the front. Last September we dropped 1,700 bombs upon places in the West from which enemy aeroplanes come. We did more damage to the enemy in that month than he has done in all the raids he has made upon England since the beginning of the War. Up to the end of 1916 Mr. Asquith's Government had been responsible for much of good in a record of great national achievements; during 1917 that of Mr. Lloyd George had its testing time and, despite enemies and critics, did remarkable work. Its permanent War Cabinet, or inner circle of control, was composed of the Premier, Lord Milner and Lord Curzon, with two other members who changed in personnel and were not such outstanding figures. In a new and vital change this Cabinet was stretched to include Dominion Premiers or statesmen visiting England. The Premier was criticized by Pacifists and irreconcilable Radicals, by the Daily News and The Nation, for having such men as Milner, Curzon, Balfour, Carson and Cecil in his Government; he was denounced by the Morning Post, Austin Harrison, the English Review, and old-time Tories, for subservience to Lord Northcliffe and his press; from time to time he was keenly criticized by The Times and other Northcliffe papers for having kept some weak-kneed, Pacifist persons in posts of importance. Yet there could be no real doubt as to Mr. Lloyd George's democracy-it was fundamental and innate; if he utilized arbitrary methods and the services of men of a military type of organized mentality it was for necessary war objects and was essential to national success. His own driving force, personal energy and magnetism, his cheerful spirit and manner, were remarkable points in his administration of what was at this time the greatest position in the world. The plans with which the Government commenced the year included (1) the maintenance and strengthening of British armies, (2) the keeping and obtaining of men and women sufficient for an ever-increasing production of food, munitions, shipping and the essential national industries, (3) the organization of national material and money for war-work, (4) closer co-operation and co-ordination with Allied nations and their armies and Governments. This mobilization of the nation was carried out during 1917 as earnestly and faithfully-in the face of many obstacles and occasionally perverted politics-as it was possible for one man to do. As the months passed certain forces developed strength. One was an under-current, an under-ground movement of Socialism and anarchy which was nurtured by such influences as prevailed under Bernstorff in the States, Caillaux and Bolo in France, Lenine in Russia and Giolitti in Italy. It was seemingly headless except where Pacifists like Snowden, Socialists like Ramsay Macdonald or discontented Party men like Henderson appeared above the surface; it showed itself in Labour troubles, in class agitation and appeals, in Peace or Socialist movements of the Bolsheviki type; it had intellectual supporters, such as H. W. Massingham and The Nation, who were absolutely disloyal and it had mob adherents of Hyde Park anarchy; it appeared in the Commons led by men like Ponsonby and Trevelyan, as well as in attempts to establish Workmen's and Soldiers' Councils of the, Russian type; it hinted, for the first time in many years, at a revolution which would reach up to the Crown itself and H. G. Wells urged the organization of a Republic in The Times of Apr. 21. The same journal in September had a series of articles on "The Revolutionary Ferment" which were unique in their plainspoken language. The Government did nothing definite in this connection; it apparently believed, and correctly so, that the movement was not anti-war in itself and that only at times did it infringe upon war activities; it was obvious that the vast majority of the workers wanted strong war-action and the Stockholm Conference incident, the resolutions of Labour bodies, the attitude of Parliamentary labour, proved this even while undoubted unrest caused fitful strikes and ever-present disputes. The Pacifist movement was taken more seriously by the public and toward the close of the year it was stated that there were over 50 Peace Societies actively at work in Britain and that their output of pamphlets weekly ran up to a million. They had sufficient funds at their disposal to take space in practically every newspaper in the Kingdom when they wished to advertise their meetings, to spend enormous sums on the hire of halls, and their printing bill during the year was not less than $100,000 for pamphlets alone. There was strong and natural suspicion as to German money behind this propaganda and the Government was urged to take action. The Macdonald group of Pacifists were in 1917 working as the United Socialistic Council along Bolsheviki lines, while J. A. Seddon and Will Crooks led the loyal Labour ranks and were the popular men of the moment. In the Commons on July 26 a Ramsay Macdonald Pacifist motion was rejected by 148 to 19. Mr. Lloyd George, during the year, made a number of speeches and each of them was forceful, significant, or effective. On Jan. 11 he made an eloquent appeal for the War Loan-to save the blood of berces in what was essentially a war of equipment: "We are engaged in a War in which the stability of British finance is as essential for final victory as the superiority of the Allied forces by land and sea." He was impressed by the increasing extent to which the Allied peoples were looking to Great Britain: "They are trusting to her rugged strength, to her great resources, more and more. To them she looks like a great tower in the deep. She is becoming more and more the hope of the oppressed and the despair of the oppressor, and I feel more and more confident that we shall not fail the people who put their trust in us." At Carnarvon on Feb. 3 the Premier was explicit upon one vital point: "The great task in front of us is the mobilization of all the resources of the Allies and their vitalization to the best purpose. Most of the misfortunes that have come upon the Allied cause have been due to the lack of cohesion, or of concerted action among the Allies. We have acted too much as if we were engaged in four different wars instead of one great common struggle. Оп the 23rd he dealt with the serious issue of shipping shortages, food supplies and essential production-the inevitable conditions of the increasing Submarine campaign. He stated that before the War British tonnage was just adequate; since that time there had been an enormous increase in the demand for tonnage. More than 1,000,000 tons of British shipping had been allocated to France alone, and a very considerable amount had been set aside for Russia and Italy, while a considerable amount, also, had been sunk. As to the Submarine menace there were four sets of measures to be taken: (1) by the Navy; (2) the building of merchant ships; (3) dispensing with unnecessary imports and (4) production of more food. He stated that the Government proposed to guarantee a price for oats, potatoes, and wheat during several years and announced a minimum wage for farm labour representing an increase of 50% in prevailing rates. Brewing was to be cut down to 10,000,000 barrels annually with a similar reduction in the output of spiritsthus effecting a saving of 600,000 tons of foodstuffs. The importation of apples, tomatoes and fruits would be prohibited. The only exceptions made in fruit importations were oranges and bananas, though the amount brought in would be restricted 25 per cent. The same restriction applied to nuts. Canned salmon importations were reduced 50%. The importation of foreign tea, coffee and cocoa was prohibited, and even the amount of India tea was reduced. The importation of aerated, mineral and table waters was prohibited and that of paper curtailed by a further 640,000 tons annually. These drastic proposals were cheerfully accepted by Parliament and the public as being necessary and it was stated that the reduction in manufacture of malt and spirituous liquors had been already made from 36,000,000 barrels in 1914 to 26,000,000 in 1916; that the new food restrictions alone would save 900,000 tons of shipping; that the guaranteed prices of wheat would work out at $1.85 per bushel for the first year and grade down to $1.70 for the next two years and $1.40 for the last three years, with oats running at $9.65 per quarter, $8.15 and $6.10 respectively, and potatoes at about $1.25 per bag of 90-lbs. The barred or restricted goods included rum, wine, linen, all fancy articles, books, and nearly all luxuries. Lord Devonport as Food Controller was to have full authority over supply and prices; the Board of Agriculture was given power to enfore production and control the raising of rents. Speaking to an American Club in London (Apr. 12) Mr. Lloyd George welcomed the United States into the War with great optimism-especially as to the announced effort to build a thousand 3000-ton wooden vessels for the Atlantic! "The road to victory,' he declared, "the guarantee of victory, the absolute assurance of victory, is to be found in one word-ships. In a second wordships. In a third word-ships." At the Guildhall on Apr. 27 the Premier made the yearly historical and policy speech of the Government; at the same time he was honoured with the Freedom of the City of London. The speech was optimistic in tone and victory was declared to be "increasingly assured"; he would not say the War would last through 1918 but "we are taking no chances"; Allied equipment was superior-hence the black piracy of the Submarine unrestricted warfare; Empire unity was the policy of the future and Ireland was still a menacing prospect which must be "converted from a suspicious, surly, dangerous neighbour, to a cheerful, loyal comrade." Increased cultivation, decreased imports, additional shipbuilding, were essential. In Glasgow on June 29 he received the Freedom of the City and delivered one of his greater speeches. Despite the Russian trouble he was still optimistic: "I am steeped every day-morning, noon and night-in the perplexities and difficulties and the anxieties. of this grim business, but all the same I feel confident." As to the Submarine issue he was hopeful; it would become in due course "as great a failure as the German Zeppelin." To the King he paid high tribute as one of the hardest-worked men in the country; as to peace "this War will come to an end when the Allied Powers have reached the aims which they set out to attain when they accepted the challenge thrown down by Germany to civilization. These aims were defined recently by President Wilson." A word was said to the Pacifists: "You can have peace at the German price, but do you know what it would be? The old policy of buying out the Goth, which eventually destroyed the Roman Empire, and threw Europe into the ages of barbarous cruelties." At London on July 21 the Premier described Belgium as: "The gatekeeper of European liberty; the highest, most onerous and most dangerous trust ever imposed on a people. Faithfully and loyally have the Belgian people discharged their trust to Europe. It is our business to restore Belgium to a free and independent people and not to a protectorate. The sceptre, the sword, the scabbard and the soul must be Belgian." To a London patriotic meeting (Aug. 4) Mr. Lloyd George was significant in his reference to peace: "The Kaiser and his new Chancellor talk glibly of peace but they stammer, they stutter, when they talk about |