New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1893-10-30
MR.. ASQUITH.
A MINISTER WHO KNOWS HIS OWN MIND
AND SAYS WHAT HE MEANS.

pos Of Lord Elgin's appointment as yiceroy of
India, that Scotland now governed the Empire.
He cited In proof Mr.. Gladstone who is Prime
| Minister, Lord Rosebery, who is FOREIGN
Minister, Mr.. Campbell Bannerman Minister Of
| War, Lord Aberdeen, who is Gcyernor-General
| of Canada. He might also have cited Lord Kin.
| tore, who is Governor of South Australia; Sir
R. W. Duff, Governor Of New South Wales;
| Lord HOpetoun, who is Governor Of Victoria;
Lord Glasgow. who Is Governor Of New-Zea-
land; Sir Robert Hamilton, Governor Of Tas.
mania; Sir Henry Loeb. Governor Of the Cape
and High Commissioner Of South Africa and
| many more.
Our patriotic Scot cited however, Mr.. AS
quith, Home Secretary, and there he made a
mistake Mr. Asquith is not a Scotchman, but
an Englishman. He was born in Yorkshire,
educated In London and at Balol College OK.
ford; is member of the English Bar and has
always practised at the English bar. He has
nothing in common with Scotland except cam
niness and force Of character, and that very re-
markable power of getting on in the world
which Englishmen are wont to admire in
| Scotchmen; rather regretfully sometimes and
perhaps sometimes jealousy.
Mr. Asquiths speech at Glasgow yesterday has
once more made him a topic Of the hour.
| speech-one speech more or less in this speech.
ridden country is ordinarily great matter,
| A great many speeches are made to be reported,
| to be read or not read, the case may be- and
straightway to be forgotten Even the party
leaders are not always sure Of attention. Mr..
Goschen has spoken twice or thrce-I really for.
get which-within the last ten days; no man. or
few men, regarding. They were good speeches.
| timely, pointed, readable, and no doubt inter.
esting to those who heard them But they died
| with the day of their delivery, or next day at
latest Lord Randolph Churchill has spoken
| twice, and is to speak, believe, some twenty
times more during the autumn and winter The
two speeches already delivered were excellent,
but it would be rash to describe the eff.
| feet of them as permanent or as indi-
eating sny new departure in politics. or
any measurable detection Of public opin-
ion Lord Salisbury himself spoke yes
terday at Preston, while Mr.. Asquith was speak
ing at Glasgow. His address to the people Of
! that important Lancashire town was one OF his
best and deserves more consideration than 1t
will get in America. But neither in England
nor in America will it be supposed to announce
a new policy or a new programme.
Mr.. AsIuith happens to be in a position where
| his deverances are certain to be scanned and
! scrutinized from another motive than mere curl
osity, pleasure in oratorical or literary merit
| both OF which he possesses. He has. TO great
extent. created this position for himself. He Is
| one Of the chief members Of an administration
| presided over by an eminent statesman who has
! carried the art of ambiguous speech to
| lengths never before attained One eff
| feet Of Mr.. Gladstone's proficiency In
| the art of mystifcation is to make people
| turn to his colleagues for light on the
! dark places which their chief declines TO Humi-
/ ffyhf io IN
| be had They are too timd. too docile, too sub
| mssive to their leader, or too ignorant of his
! purpose and OF their own to make cleaI state
| ment on any doubtful point. Mr.. Asquith 10
| none Of these things He is neither timid nor
ignorant and he proves his loyalty to his leader
by loyalty to his principles, and by that frank
ness Of speech which the people value none the
less highly because in Mr.. Gladstone they seek
for it in vain. This is no reflection on MI. Giao-
stone 1t is but sketch OF the method ne -
| known to prefer, and avows that ne PREFERS.
| 1t has often served his purpose well, ana never
so well as when his Delphic utterances are ex.
pounded by a more outspoken colleague, and by
| Mr.. Asquith most of all
At least three times this year has this junction
Of interpreter fallen upon Mr. Asquith-more
than three in truth, but in three instances more
conspicuously than in others; OF which the latest
| was Yesterday. The other two were recent
enough and remarkable enough to be in every.
| bodys memory. Seldom has the House OF COM
mons known a more veritable sensation than
, when Mr. Asquith speaking as Minister OF the
Crown. and in words binding upon the whole
| Government declared that the Irish dynamiters
| should not be released so long as this Govern.
ment was in power.
If the interest of that moment was not par
alleled. il was approached when he defended his
action as Home Secretary in the Featherstone
and Ackton riots The police and military had
been called out, men had been killed. and, as
said yesterday in considering the Miners ar
the Home Secretary had been accused OF sizing
with the employers against the miners. lie
| smoke then as he had spoken before, with dig
nifty and authority which delighted the House
and COMPOUNDED his accusers or ought to nave
| confounded them. Denying that he had sided
| with the employers. he asserted his right ana
his duty to side with law and order; to enforce
| the one and preserve the other lie said again
| yesterday:
| :, long as I am responsible, not only to the
| Sovereign but to the people OF the country LOT
| the proper use of the executive forces which the
! law places at the disposal OF the administration
| riot and disorder shall not be allowed TO pre-
vail
| In America where, though sometimes rather
| late in the day. the executive forces are used
| freely such q declaration may not seem extraor.
| binary or even notable. But how do you sup
| pose it Is received here? / quote sentence
from the journal which. ably and widely
circulated as 1t is. has to be described as tho
organ OF Socialistic anarchy in England The
Chronicle"
What we want to know is rot On sonorous
| COMMONPLACE that lawlessness and disorder cam
] not be permitted in the abstract, but "hether
| A considers.
q disorderly crowd Of half starved miners should
| be shot at by sodiery.
| can imagine that Mr.. Asquith would like
nothing better than to reply to that question.
He would say--it is deducible from what he has
said already-that il miners, whether half
! starved or not try to destroy life and property
| and do this in such numbers as defy the police
then they should be shot at BY soldiery. They
are not the true friends of labor" said Mr. AS
LILA