Herbert Henry Asquith

The extract Beerbohm has selected is the battle cry of James Fitz-James from The Lady of the Lake by Walter Scott (Canto 5: 234). Fitz-James has been ambushed by his rival, Roderick Dhu and his army, he bravely vows he will hold fast, face his enemy and not flee in fear. Beerbohm uses this quotation as a metaphor for the series of domestic and international crises that marked the Liberal prime minister Herbert Henry Asquith's tenure around 1913. The suffragette represents Asquith's opposition to the increasingly miltant campaign for the enfranchisement of women. Sir Edward Carter stands arguing against Asquith's Irish Home Rule Act of 1912, resentment was increasing and the threat of armed rebellion was pressing. The militant worker refers to the Coal Mines (minimum wage) Bill, a liberal objective which was defeated in the Commons. The shackled peer epitomises the Parliament Act of 1911 that abolished the power of veto of Britain's nonelective upper house. Lastly the German soldier refers to the mobilisation of the German army on the continent and Asquith's impending decision to take Britain to war in 1914.