Empire, explaining that they would for the purpose of these meetings be members of the War Cabinet, and so directly re- sponsible for the conduct of hostilities. The enormous share which the colonial forces had taken in military action by land and sea fully justified this development.
The public were gratified by the evidences of energy and resolution shown by the new Government. Mr. Asquith, though he took his seat on the front Opposition bench, pro- Oer- ^ tested that he did not appear as leader of an Oppo-
- Peace * sition, or even of the Liberal party, but would give
otter. his successors the benefit of his experience. The Gov- ernment had to deal immediately with a peace offer from Germany, based on the assumption that the Central Powers had won considerable successes 'and could not be defeated. If the Allies would negotiate on these assumptions, Germany would bring forward peace propositions; if not, the Central Powers were resolved to carry on the war to an end, " while solemnly disclaiming any responsibility for this before humanity and his- tory." Mr. Lloyd George at once in Parliament said that it was necessary to know whether Germany was prepared to accept the only possible terms which the Allies could offer namely res- titution, reparation and guarantee against repetition. The formal reply to the Central Powers Was based on this idea, and treated the German offer as empty and insincere.
Before this reply had been drafted, Mr. Woodrow Wilson, who had been reelected President of the United States in the previous month as the man who had kept his country President out of the war, addressed a Note to the belligerent aad S War P wers suggesting that they should issue a statement Alms. of their war aims which, he somewhat strangely as- serted, seemed to be much alike on both sides. Though this intervention was not welcomed in England any more than on the continent of Europe, the Allies sent in Jan. 1917 a courteous answer, explaining in some detail their objects of restoration and liberation, while the Central Powers merely expressed their readiness to enter a peace conference.
It soon became evident that the peace manoeuvres of the German Government were put forward in order to obtain an excuse for entering upon that indiscriminate subma- Uniimited r j ne war fare on which their most active naval and Warfare, military leaders were coming to base their main hope of success. The new system was put in force at the beginning of February. The German Government notified that they would regard all the waters surrounding the British Isles and the whole of the northern and western coasts of France, as well as the eastern Mediterranean, as barred zones within which German submarines would sink all ships at sight; save only that one passenger steamer would be allowed each way weekly between America and Fal mouth, and one paddle-steamer daily between Flushing and Southwold. While this policy of desperation brought the United States within a couple of months into the war, it undoubtedly created a very serious situation for the Allies especially for Great Britain, though it never deterred British ships or British sailors from sailing. The Prime Minister spoke early in February at Carnarvon of the " great and growing menace of German piratical devices "; at the opening of Parlia- ment on Feb. 7, Mr. Asquith denounced the new warfare as " a declaration of war against humanity," and Mr. Bonar Law warned the House of Commons that the country had reached the very crisis of its fate.
The note of sacrifice, which Mr. Lloyd George said had hitherto been confined too much to the trenches, was sounded loudly in Great Britain from the very beginning of the !f"sacri- vear - From Jan. i train services became much slow- fice. er and less frequent than before, while the fares were
raised 50%; and from the same date it became com- pulsory to bake standard bread in which the proportion of wheat-flour was comparatively small. Prices were fixed at once for wheat, oats and potatoes, and a little later for tea, coffee, bacon, butter, cheese and lard; the amount of beer to be brewed was considerably reduced, so as to economize barley, sugar, tonnage, transport, labour and fuel. Lord Devonport, in view
of the urgent necessity for some curtailment of the nation's food consumption, issued on Feb. 2 a scheme for voluntary rationing; he called upon heads of families to limit their weekly purchases to the following quantities for each person comprising the household: bread 4 lb., meat 2\ lb., sugar f Ib. The King at once put himself and the Royal family and household on rations; and his example was widely, but far from universally, followed in the country. The attempt to limit consumption by prescribing the number of courses at meals in public eating-places proved a failure, and a new order was issued in April, providing for a weekly meatless day, for five days without potatoes, for rationing bread and meat by bulk on a scale which allowed 2 oz. of bread for each meal, 2 oz. of meat at breakfast, and 5 oz. at lunch or dinner; but the order did not apply to any public eating-place where the charge for a meal, exclusive of drinks, did not exceed is. 3d. Orders were issued restraining food hoarding, the making of rich pastry, and the undue consumption of food at afternoon tea. Apart from the submarine depredations, the harvest of two essential crops, wheat and potatoes, had failed in a greater or less degree, this year throughout the world. With regard to potatoes, Lord Devonport asked people who could afford substitutes, such as rice or swedes, to use them, so as to prolong the supply of potatoes for the poor; and Mr. Prothero urged that every village and small town should make itself self-supporting with regard to potatoes. With regard to wheat and flour, it was ordered that bread should be sold only by weight and must be at least 12 hours old; maxi- mum prices were fixed for home-grown wheat, barley and oats; the use of wheat, rye and rice for any other purpose except for human food was prohibited: importation of feeding-stuffs for cattle was limited; and power was given to the Food Controller to take over the flour-mills and issue regulations for their manage- ment. Mr. Prothero, in order to stimulate food production at home, made arrangements for turning German prisoners and a large supply of women on to the land.
But the main contribution of the Minister of Agriculture to native food supply was a Corn Production bill, which was calculated to turn pasture into arable land on a large
scale. It provided for the payment of a bounty to the Corn Pro-
c , . / , auction
occupier of any land on which wheat or oats were pro- BUI.
duced, if the average price of wheat or oats should fall below a -certain minimum. A minimum wage of 255. was also to be secured for agricultural labourers, landlords were restrained from raising rents in consequence of the measure, and powers were given to the Board of Agriculture to enforce proper cultivation and to take possession of untenanted land. In introducing the bill Mr. Prothero said that, with three-fifths of the total cultivated area under the plough, the nation would be free of the nightmare of the submarine menace. Under the bill the State would go into partnership with the agricultural interest, and stand security against loss. So complete a breach with the Victorian 'attitude of lUissef fdire to wards agriculture could not, of course, pass without challenge from rigid free traders like Mr. Runciman. But the second reading was carried by 288 to 27 ; and in committee an attempt by the Labour party to raise the minimum agricultural wage from 253. to 303. was rejected by 301 to 102. When the bill reached the House of Lords, it met with the approval of Lord Lincolnshire, both an eminent free trader and an expert agriculturist, and duly became law. At the begin- ning of the session of 1518 Mr. Prothero testified to the patriotic way in which landowners and farmers were ploughing up grass- lands and taking advantage of the Act. Besides these measures of Lord Devonport and Mr. Prothero, steps were taken to save tonnage by prohibiting or restricting the import of non-essen- tial articles, notably alcoholic liquors, timber and paper.
Such were the precautions taken to economise food and ton- nage, and to stimulate production. The measures employed by the Admiralty to meet the menace included the estab- lishment of a large new minefield in the North Sea, the arming of merchantmen as rapidly as possible and the appropriation of the shipbuilding programme mainly to making good the losses in the mercantile marine. An anti-
