[Sidenote: Disappointed Office-seekers.]

I tread on somewhat delicate ground when I tell the story of the manner
in which some members of the Liberal party utilised this situation. It
is no secret that there are in this, as in every House of Commons, a
number of gentlemen who do not think that their services have been
sufficiently appreciated by the Minister to whom the unhappy task was
given of selecting his colleagues in office. This is the case with every
Government, and with every House of Commons--with every party and with
every Ministry. You do not think that the favourite of fortune whom you
envy has reached a period of undisturbed happiness when he sits on the
Treasury Bench--even when he speaks amid a triumphant chorus of cheers,
or drives through long lines of enthusiastically cheering crowds. He has
to fight for his life every moment of its existence. He is climbing not
a secure ladder on solid earth, but up a glacier with slipping steps,
the abyss beneath, the avalanche above--watchful enemies all round--even
among the guides he ought to be able to trust. Do you suppose that every
member of the Liberal party loves Mr. Asquith, and is delighted when he
displays his great talents? Do you think that none of the gentlemen
below the gangway do not believe that in their mute and inglorious
breasts, there are no streams of eloquence more copious and resistless?
No, my friend, take this as an axiom of political careers, that you hold
your life as long as you are able to kill anybody who tries to kill you,
and not one hour longer.

[Sidenote: Powerful malcontents.]

It will be seen at once that a party of malcontents is especially
powerful in a Parliament which has in hand the greatest task of our