WAR MEMOIRS OF DAVID LLOYD GEORGE 1917

20 WAR MEMOIRS OF DAVID LLOYD GEORGE
at which the representatives of the Dominions and of India
joined with the British Cabinet to handle the daily administrative
Cabinet problems, and also to decide on executive
measures for the Imperial conduct of the War; and on the
other hand, there were the meetings of an Imperial War
Conference at the Colonial Office, presided over by the Secretary
of State for the Colonies, to discuss a number of problems
which either arose out of the War or had been accentuated
by it. The two series of meetings, in both of which the
same representatives of the Empire overseas were taking
part, were mainly held on alternate days.
I opened the Conference with a general exposition as to
the progress of the War and the aims for which it was undertaken
— aims which would have to be realised before a
stable peace could be secured. I reproduce that statement in
an appendix 1 as it indicates the view taken by the War Cabinet
at that time of the military position and of the allied objectives.
It was delivered in secret session and therefore the
situation and prospect could be reviewed without the reticence
necessarily imposed on public utterances in a state
of war.
Altogether there were fourteen sessions of the Imperial
War Cabinet, the first being on March 20th, 1917, and the
last on May 2nd. There were fifteen sessions of the Imperial
War Conference, the first on March 21st, and the last on
April 27th.
At the meetings of the Imperial War Cabinet, those present
in full session were:
THE PRIME MINISTER OF THE UNITED KINGDOM (in
Chair)
The Rt. Hon. A. BONAR LAW, M.P., Chancellor of the Exchequer
1 See Appendix A.
the