Letter from [Joseph] Austen Chamberlain (9 Egerton Place [London]) to WSC, asking what he thinks of a speech [on Home Rule] by Herbert Asquith [Prime Minister, later 1st Lord Oxford and Asquith], given in Leeds [Yorkshire]. Chamberlain comments that WSC had thought Asquith would say nothing, which would have been dangerous, but what he actually said was worse. He recalls a previous offer by Asquith which the Conservatives thought had been made in good faith, but which Asquith withdrew as soon as the Conservatives went forward to meet him. He also says that Asquith had slammed the door in their faces, and that it was impossible to believe that he meant business, as he had "blown conciliation to the winds". Chamberlain also remarks that if he had foreseen Asquith's speech he would have talked naval shop with WSC, or indeed anything apart from the Irish question. He ends by saying that Asquith would hardly have spoken differently if he was deliberately trying to provoke strike, and presumes that he knew what he was doing.