In April 1919 Asquith gave a weak speech to Liberal candidates , his first public speech since the election . In Newcastle ( 15 May ) he gave a slightly stronger speech , encouraged by his audience to " Hit Out ! " Asquith was also disappointed by the " terms and spirit " of the Treaty of Versailles in May , but did not oppose it very strongly in public . On 31 July 1919 , after a lunch in honour of former Supreme Allied Commander Ferdinand Foch , Asquith wrote " he talked a lot of nonsense about Germany sinking never to rise again . " In August 1919 Asquith was asked to preside over a Royal Commission into the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge , although the report when it came was , in line with Asquith 's own academic views , somewhat conservative . The commission began hearings in January 1920 ; many dons would have preferred Haldane as chair . Asquith 's public rehabilitation continued with the receipt in late 1919 of the 1914 Star , the British War Medal and the Victory Medal , honours which the War Office , under Churchill , had originally intended only to be awarded to Lloyd George , until the King insisted Asquith receive them also
1914 Star
1914 Star
H. H. Asquith