The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1892-07-16


anything else He was as un-English il
all his ideas as he was in appearance
Lord Salisbury is exactly the opposite
He is perhaps the most English English
man in England. He is wealthy land
owner and the inheritor of titles and es
tates 800 years old, essentially family
man, and the very pink Of social grandeur
and high style. Yet the two mon got or
J. excellently together, because they hao
brains. Lord Salisbury was wise enough
to discern that Dieraeli, with all his film
1siness and all his charlatanisnl, had really
big ideas and big enough heart to carry
them out. He was bold enough, too, to
trust Disraeli, and nobody who ever
trusted him found him false. Disraeli
had that strange insight into mems char
acters which enabled him to find out
sooner than anybody else, not excepting
themselves, what they were best fit for.
Lord Salisbury had devoted himself
mainly to home affairs and especially to
church questions, but Disrael1 discerned
in him great foreign minister. By way
of testing him in this respect he sent him
to the conference of the powers at Con-
stantinople, without any previous train
| ing, as minister plenipotentiary at an ex-
tremely critical period. He acquitted
himself so we'll that he acquired at one
stroke almost equal rank with Dlsraell
as a master of foreign politics-a position
which he has never forfeited since.
From that time until Disraeli's death in
| 1881 the two statesmen were as David
and Jonathan; and when the author OF
the policy of "peace with honor was
laid to his rest under tho pyramid OF
primroses at Hughenden, Lord Salisbury
was unanimously acclaimed his successor
in the leadership OF the conservative
party. How we'll he has succeeded in
| that position is attested by the fact that
out of the eleven years elapsed since
Disraeli's death the conservatives have
been in Office seven; they have never
been defeated on government question
in the house of commons nor on any
question in the house of lords, and they
h ave lost fewer seats than either party
ever lost before in an equal length OF
time.
The contrast between their condition
today and their condition under Lord
Derby is one of the most remarkable
things in the modern history Of English
politics, Undoubtedly Disraeli had
great deal to do with that. He galvan-
lied the prestige Of the; conservative
party into brilliant semblance Of re-
| newed vitality, but Lord Salisbury really
inspired it with fresh life and maintained
it over long period of years in ever-in-
creasin;, vigor. Practically he controls
all the outside affairs of the empire, and
the minister of war, the secretary of
state for the colonies, and even the first
lord of the admiralty are only coadlutors
of his. That is why Lord Salisbury has
always contended that the office OF ruln-
lister for foreign affairs ought to be held
by the head of the government. Before
his time it was customary for the first
premier to be first lord of the treasury,
on the theory that he ought to hold the
purse strings. But Lord Salisbury has
always taken the ground that the
most important Office in the cabinet, in
the modern position of the British en-
pire. is that of foreign minister, and that
he is quite as we'll able to control the
purse string through trusted colleague
as he would be if he himself admins
tered the treasury. All through Mr..
Gladstones long administration the en-
pire was involved in costly and disastrous
little wars, and in angry alterations
with the colonies, simply because the
premier gave all his attention to the treas
ury, while the foreign minister, the war
minister, the first lord of the admiralty
and the secretary for the colonies each
pulled his own way. There has been
nothing of that kind during the past
seven years, and it is safe to say there
never will be as long as Lord Salisbury
remains where he is. The rule OF his
foreign policy is, to use his own words,
'sto treat all other powers as gentleman
would treat his neighbors; that is to say,
like gentlemen" and in every case, if
possible, to come to friendly settle
ment, beneficial to all concerned; and
the underlying principle of it all is to
keep good faith, promising nothing
which he does not fulfill, and threaten
ing nothing which he does not mean to
infict.
At home, while Lord Salisbury's great
merits as foreign minister are very
generally acknowledged, he has never
gained popularity in the ordinary sense.
The aristocracy swear by him and the
great mass Of workingmen have genu-.
inc admiration of him. But the lower
,n;ddla claaa the small tradesmen. and