ABSTRACT
Perhaps, this filling-in of the background may explain why the Cabinet, already in trouble owing to German successes in Flanders achieved by surprise “poison gas” attacks, was quite unable to stand up to the series of dangerous shocks it received between May 7th and 17th. It is quite plain that “advanced opinion” in the shape of the Radical Wing of the Liberal Party and its organ The Nation, had little love for the Coalition and feared the speedy raising of the Conscription and Protection issues by the Conservative politicians who had been admitted into the Government in replacement of the less-securely seated of the Asquithians. Of course, the Radical anti-Conscriptionists tried to assert that so decisive and “unanimous” a pronouncement from all the skilled and organized workers of the country definitely disposed of the Conscription “peril”.
