ned Parliament to-day for
what we all hope will be the Victory Session. But it will not be
victory without effort. That was the burden of nearly all the speeches
made to-day, from the KING'S downwards. HIS MAJESTY, who had left his
crown and robes behind, wore the workmanlike uniform of an Admiral
of the Fleet; and the Peers had forgone their scarlet and ermine in
favour of khaki and sable. When Lord STANHOPE, who moved the Address,
ventured, in the course of an oration otherwise sufficiently sedate,
to remark that "the great crisis of the War had passed," Lord CURZON
was swift to rebuke this deviation into cheerfulness. On the contrary,
he declared, we were now approaching "the supreme and terrible climax
of the War." He permitted himself, however, to impart one or two
comforting items of information with regard to the arming of existing
merchant-ships, the construction of new tonnage and the development of
inventions for the discovery and deletion of submarines. For excellent
reasons, no doubt, it was all a little vague, but in one respect his
statement left nothing to be desired in the way of precision. "The
present Government, in its seven weeks of office, had taken but two
large and one small hotels," and is, I gather, marvelling at its own
moderation.

I was a little disappointed with the speeches of the Mover and
Seconder of the Address in the Commons, for of recent years there has
been a great improvement in this difficult branch of oratory. Sir
HEDWORTH MEUX must, I think, have been dazzled by the effulgence of
his epaulettes, which were certainly more highly polished than his
periods. When in mufti he is much briefer and brighter. As Mr. ASQUITH
however found both speeches "admirable," no more need be said.

The LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION, as one must for convenience style
him--though in truth there is no Opposition, in the strict sense of
the word--just said what he ought to have said. For one brief moment
he seemed to be straying on to dangerous ground, when he put some
questions regarding the scope of the coming Imperial Conference; but
the rest of his speech was wholly in keeping with the peroration, in
which he pleaded that in the prosecution of the Nation's aim there
should be "no jarring voices, no party cross-currents, no personal or
sectional distractions."

Unfortunately there is a section of the Commons over which he
exercises no control. When Mr. BONAR LAW, as Leader of the House, rose
to reply,