Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-09-29
HERO OR MURDERER /?
A Pen Picture Of the Right Hon.
Arthur James BaIfour, the
CHIEF SECRETARY FOR IRELAND.
Called Hero in England, Murderer in
Ireland and the
BEST HATED MAN IN GREAT BRITAIN
b lcoRREspoxDENcr OF THE DISPATCH. ,

a CORRESPONDENCE OF THE DIsPArcH.i
LONDON, September 19.-I have just had
the honor of meeting the best hated man in
the three Kingdoms of England, Ireland
and Scotland. He is not an impressive man
to look at, but just now he is attracting
more interest and attention than any other
man in England except Mr.. Gladstone, and
good judges say that accidents barred, he
will be Prime Minister of England yet.
This man is none other than the Right Hon.
Arthur James Balfour. Chief Secretary for
Ireland. more familiarly known as "Bloody
Baltour," the title given him by the Home
Rulers.
There is no disputing Balfour's promi-
nence over here just now, no matter what
you may think of his methods. He is the
one active central figure in the Conservative
party. Even Lord Salisbury makes less
noise, or at least seems to, while the saturn
inc Goschen and the cumbersome party
leader Smith are simply nowhere when
compared with the bette noir of the Irish
party.
There is no other politician over here who
can be said to resemble the rather remarka-
BILE man. He is not built upon the same
plan as Gladstone, he is not even SO at
tractive as Salisbury. He is not as con-
scientious as Harrington, as nimble a politi-
cal change artist as Chamberlain, or as en-
terprising as Lord Randolph Churchill. But
in his own way he is succeeding. He is
making for himself place in the hearts OF
the Conservative squires such as no other
man now holds. 1t is somewhat peculiar
that this man is now pursuing somewhat the
same course that was held BY Gladstone
half a century ago, when that now great
Liberal was young and had much to learn,
but when he was looked upon as the "rising
hope of the stern and unbending Tories"
That is what Balfour is to-day. He is the
man to whom the old line Tories are pinning
their every hope. Just at present they are
especially pleased with him, Tor Just as Par
lament was going quietly out with honors
easy between the parties, Balfour bv his
strategy with regard to the endowment of a
Catholic university in Ireland has split the
Liberal party, and the Irish party, too, has
set Parnell and Davitt quarreling again, and
has filled the breasts of Tories generally
with glee. 1t is not certain that all the
credit for the move belongs to Balfour.
However willing be will get it, and he need
not care for the jealous wrath that he has
stirred up in the breasts of those other en-
enterprising statesmen, Joseph Chamber
lain and Lord Randolph Churchill.
The Conservative party is not overbur-
dened with coming men. consequently they
appreciate Baliour, who seems full of
promise.
The rise of Balfour has been rather
queer one, and it has been one that it is
hard to understand, when one considers the
apparent qualities of the man. It is true
that Balfour happens to be the nephew of
the Prime Minister of England, which hap
pens to account for good deal over here.
But this does not wholly account for the
fact that he has succeeded, at least in the
eyes of large number OF Englishmen, in q
position where pretty much every one be-
fore him tailed. 1t is true that he has not
been hampered as other secretaries for Ire
land have been. Lord Salisbury has seen to
it that his nephew should have his own wav.
and a sweet way it has been. His rel gn has
been a reign OF terror in Ireland, and ih that
once happy country no other name is Is de-
tested as that of Balfour.
A NURSERY OGRE.
Young children are taught to shaketheir
little fists at mention of it, and it would be
impossible to compute the number of curses
that have been showered upon it. But
Balfour has not been at all moved BY this.
He has gone steadily ahead with his policy,
such as it is. He has imprisoned melibers
of Parliament, priests, men and women of
high and low degree. Nothing has beei too
big or too little for his drag net. Hdhas
been assailed as no man has been before,
but he has never budged. A majoriti of
the Tory party look upon this as an exiibi-
tion of strength. They like strong pofcy.
When they read that regiment of soldiers,
with the assistance of "Baliour's maideAs,"
have succeeded after fierce struggle in
evicting dozen families somewhere in Ire
land, or when they receive intelligence that
William OBrien has been arrested again,
or that some unfortunate Home Ruler has
died in prison, or something else of that
sort, they rub their hands and congratulate
themselves that il this sort of thing is kept
up the rebellion must soon be crushed. and
so they support Balfour's policy and they
swear BY Baliour.
So it is that Balfour is held as a herp in
England and as a murderer in Ireland. In
Ireland he is held directly responsible for
all the deaths OF the Home Rulers whom he
has sent to prison. just now they are com
bining for one great cry OF "Murderr"
should William O'Brien die in prison, as it
now seems he may. William O'Brien's
death in prison might mean political revo-
luton or worse, and Balfour knows it. 1t
might, too, put his lie in greater danger
than that OF any other man in Europe, and
it is probable that he knows this, too. 1t
does not move him. He stands by his policy
even to the extent OF refusing to allow
OBrien's physician, who is familiar with
the constitutional disease from which
O'Brien has all his life suffered, to attend
him, and has allowed him to be attended by
the prison doctor and none other.
A STERN POLICY.
Strange things might grow out of o 'Brien's
death in prison. The chances are about
even that he will die there, and it is my
impression that he would rather have IL so.
He is said to believe that his death under
such circumstances would lead even En-
glishmen to JOIN in the movement for the