Tuesday, March 7th.—The House of Commons to-day devoted itself to the process curiously known as "getting the Speaker out of the Chair." The phrase suggests reluctance on the part of the occupant to leave his seat; though I cannot recall any occasion when the employment of force has been necessary to persuade Mr. Lowther to resign to the Chairman of Committees the duty of listening to dull speeches. But this afternoon I can imagine that the Speaker would have been well content to remain. For there was fun brewing. Mr. Balfour was to introduce the Naval Estimates, and his dear friend and ex-colleague, Colonel Winston Churchill, was announced to follow him. The conjunction of these highly-electrified bodies is always apt to produce sparks. The House was well filled, and over the clock could be seen Lord Fisher, like "a sweet little cherub that sits up aloft to keep watch for the life of poor Jacky." The last time Mr. Churchill spoke of Naval affairs in the House he was not quite nice to Lord Fisher. Would he be nicer this time?
WINSTON ON LEAVE.
Bluejacket. "A party coming aboard, Sir, to see if the Fleet's all right."
Admiral Balfour. "What sort of party?"
Bluejacket. "Well, Sir, he's got spurs on."
I think Mr. Balfour must be something of a thought-reader. Intermingled with his narration of the varied and wonderful achievements of the Fleet, past and present, his description of the constant efforts to increase it both in ships and men, and his quietly confident prophecy that with this sure shield we might face the future in cheerful serenity, there were little sidethrusts at an imaginary critic. Some people had been silly enough to suggest that the new Board of Admiralty was so content with what had been done by "my right hon. and learned—I beg his pardon—gallant friend" that it had adopted a policy of "rest and be thankful". But there was no justification for "a certain kind of sub-acid pessimism that sometimes reaches my ears", and he must be a poor-spirited creature who, having been happy about the Navy in August, 1914, could be depressed about in March, 1916.
Then Colonel Churchill proceeded to put the cap on. He has been studying the problems of sea-power in the trenches of Flanders, and the process has led him to gloomy conclusions. Suppose the Germans have been building more ships than we have: suppose they have put into them bigger guns than we wot of; suppose they were to come out at their selected moment and found us at our average moment.... The House was beginning to be a little weary of these depressing hypotheses when it was suddenly brought up all standing by the discovery that the orator was delivering a eulogy on Lord Fisher. He was the man who got things done in a hurry. He was the man who had the driving power. They had "parted brass-rags" over Gallipoli, it was true; but by-gones were by-gones. Having been away for some months, his mind was now clear (irreverent laughter), and he had come to recognise that his former foe was the only possible First Sea Lord.
It must have been a little embarrassing for Lord Fisher to sit still and hear his praises thus chanted. But it is difficult to escape from the seat over the Clock without treading upon other people's toes, and this Lord Fisher is notoriously averse from doing. The moment, however, that Colonel Churchill had finished he left the Gallery; but before he could wholly emerge he had to suffer the further shock of being cheered by some over-enthusiastic admirers behind him. It was a pity he left so soon, for later Sir Hedworth Meux, fresh from Portsmouth, had some things to say which would not have compelled his blushes.
Wednesday, March 8th.—Members wondered yesterday why no reply to Colonel Churchill was forthcoming from the Treasury Bench. Mr. Balfour made ample amends to-day for the omission. There is something in the personality of his critic—memories of Lord Randolph, perhaps—that seems to put on extra polish on Mr. Balfour's rapier when he deals with him. Who that heard it will ever forget his inimitable description of the then Home Secretary superintending—"with a photographer"—the historic Siege of Sidney Street? This afternoon his sword-play was equally brilliant; and there was even more force behind the thrusts. If there had been delay in the progress of the new Dreadnoughts why was it? Because his right hon. predecessor had diverted the guns and gun-mountings intended for them into his new-fangled monitors. He had boasted of his own rapid shipbuilding. It had indeed been rapid—so much so that some of the vessels thus hastily constructed had now been remodelled. Coming to the proposed "remedy"—the recall of Lord Fisher to the Board of Admiralty—Mr. Balfour assumed a sterner tone. He reminded the house that Lord Fisher had been accused by his present champion of not having given him clear guidance or firm support over the Gallipoli Expedition. Colonel Churchill's present opinion of Lord Fisher was totally inconsistent with that which he had expressed a few months ago: possibly they were both remote from the truth. But it was an amazing proposition that the Government should be asked to dismiss Sir Henry Jackson, an officer who was everything that Lord Fisher according to Colonel Churchill was not. He himself would not yield an inch to such a demand.