We deeply regret the resignation of Mr. CHURCHILL. His absence from the counsels of the Government is a great national loss, for in our opinion - though we dare say that there are few now who share it - Mr. CHURCHILL had the best strategic eye in the Government.

That he has not been included in the new War Committee of the Cabinet is the occasion rather than the cause of his resignation. No doubt, even after all that has been said by members of the Government, he feels that his exclusion is a censure on the Dardanelles expedition, with which his name is associated in the popular mind.

Our own view, frequently expressed, is that though the expedition has been so mismanaged the strategical idea has been proved by what has happened since to have been not only sound but brilliantly prescient. There have been two opportunities of winning the war. One was last October, before the fall of Antwerp. The other was this spring, when a great effort by land and sea would have won through to Constantinople and saved us all our troubles in the East now. Mr. CHURCHILL saw them both at the time, and though his ideas were adopted, neither in Flanders nor in the East did they have anything like a fair chance.

Perhaps this thought is in his mind when he says in his letter that even when decisions of policy are rightly taken the speed and method of execution may determine their success. But bitterly though he must feel the attacks on his war policy, he would not have left the Government had he felt that he could do effectual service in it. He leaves it because he refuses to be responsible for a war policy over which as a mere member of the Cabinet not on the War Committee he has no control.



And if we are right in our estimate of the bent of Mr. CHURCHILL’s abilities, his resignation, deeply though it is to be regretted, is perfectly intelligible and very natural. In the North of England we think we understand Mr. CHURCHILL. His faults are known to us, but even if they were greater than they are they would be hidden by the occasional flash of his genius. And such illumination is not so common in the conduct of our affairs that we can afford its eclipse. Of the personal tragedy of Mr. CHURCHILL’s decision this is not the time to speak. For the whole air is heavy with such tragedies.

