New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1893-08-20
ENGLISH DEBATERS.
BRIEF NOTES ON MR.. Chamberlain, MI
GLADSTONE, MR. BALFOUR, SIR
WILLIAM liARCOURT, AND MR..
JOHN MORLEY.
London. August s.

JOHN MORLEY.
London, August s.
Mr. Chamberlain's allusion to lerod gave, az
Won know great offence TO the good "ifus'o-
MANS II has been explained that he ana hoo
iken Mr. Gladstone TO llcrod but OF wha' use
are explanations when people are bent on ciihs
inc IN their own pervcrsitics? He mentioned
the two personages in the same scntence-ls not
that enough ? He hlcncd the followers of Mr.
Gladstone 70 the followers OF IIcrod-do you sup
roso the followers of Mr.. Gladstone Wall LOT
give him or will ever cease to repeat the fals'
accusation they think they have fastened on
An opponent whom they detcst? In" same nir"
were indignant because it was saId tha' MI
Gladstone had compared the Frccmasons 70 th'
Liberstor Building Society. He mentioned ti'e'h
i'm the same sentence, and he certainly used inc
BANKRUPT and fraudulent society as an llius'ra-
ton to explain his attitude Of contempt towaru "o
Frcemasons. But Mr.. Gladstone may s'eai
horse. while Mr. Chamberlain may not LOOK over
a hedge / use so homey an adage with inuo',
difidehce and / dare say shall be toid 1
have accused Mr. Gladstone Of horscstcaiing.
IL is the less wonderful that Mr. Chamberlain
alIusion should have given offence since any
form or expression of intellectual dissent from
any view held by their great leader LOT ',o
moment gives offence When Mr.. Gladstone thoush'
the Irish members ought to be eXciuueu io-"
Westminster, it was held an offence to thlhK 'iiey
ought to be retained. When, little la'er, nc
thought they ought 10 be retained, it was he'"
an offence TO think say that they ought 10 "e
excluded. 1t was, in the view OF the ldoi"'er'
"insolence" to differ from the IDOL or 70 argue
the other side. Their attitude to him was Ills 10
the Irish Natonalists; entirely governed by 'hc
spirit of perfect trust. 1t was the angeic theory
in a different and more strictly personal FORM
lon his goodness
feet wisdom?
The attitude IL distinctly feminine. 1t IL
characteristics of the feminine politician to regard
political criticism as personal If you expose
fallacy you impute moral derelction. III you
point out an Inconsistency you abuse Mr.. 'lad-
stone" If you prove that particular clause ol
the Home Rule bill is unworkable, you have no
respect for age and past services. If you hint a
doubt whether it is worth while to break up an
empire to crafty an old mans whim, you accuse
him of immortality, and you suggest that he ought
to be lynched when you regret to see him coerclng
the House Of Commons by the gag and the gull
lotine. Such are some of the results of applying
the intuitiye methods Of the superior to
practical politics. / 10 not doubt that the
methods as we'll as the sex superior, but they
do quite suit the prevailing forms Of political
activity; probably because the prevailing forms
were settled by mere men, who never thought
of looking for personal af1ront in an argument
alive treatment Of questions which are entirely
impersonal and Of public import
Mr. Chamberlain's offences have been, from this
point of view, innpnerabe. He has led the Op-
position during this brief Parliamentary contest
over the Home Rule bi-bref when you con-
slider the magnitude of the constitutional changes
involved. lie has in him more of the spirit of
continual combat than Mr.. Balfour has. When
Mr.. Bafour is reused nobody is moro belligerent,
no one has more courage, no one leads better or
speaks better, or is more damaging TO the enemy.
But it must be admitted he often requires to be
foused Mr.. Chamberlain wants no spur.
He delights in battle for the sake of the
battle as well as of the cause. He is always
ready, always armed, always at his best. No
man excels him in debate except Mr.. Gladstone
himself, and Mr. Gladstones superiority includes
other things than debate.
For Mr. Gladstone's range of vision and eeva-
ton of tone arc what they have ever been. No
one who has heard him this session, one who
has read him, no one who has but so much as
seen him and noted his still unchanged stateli-
ness of demeanor, would suspect the existence
Of that moral deterioration which, as l have
before said, some of his most ardent followers
now discover in their revered leader. His
authority over the House is what il was,-I mean
not over his own party merely, but over the
whole House. Neither opponents nor friends can
resist the spell he lays upon them. He is often
sophistical-perhaps always-and sometimes insin-
cere, for how is it possible to take in such quick
succession such a vast variety of views absolutely
irreconcable? Yet he advances sophistries with
the air of st. Paul bent converting the world,
and his insincerities never seem such at the
moment; perhaps never to himself any more than
10 others.
Nor is this the contradiction in terms it may
appear The logician and the moraist are alike
agreed in admitting that the constitution of the
human mind is sufficiently complex TO enable il
to hold in solution at one and the same time two
contrary opinions, each of which logically ex.
cludes the other. If either the logican or tho
moralist had any doubt the subject, he would
have none after he had listened awhile to Mr.
Gladstone, expounding yesterday with unanswers
bic force and cogency and the fervor of an en-.
tirey religious faith the proposition that black
Is black; and to-day proving with equal assurance
OF absolute infallibiity that black is white. Tx
Front Bench becomes pulpit while these intel
lectual gymnastics are performed; the great Leg.
islative Assembly is but congregation of wor-
shippers, and the great preacher not only scars
into the empyrean but carries all his hearers with
him.
Mr.. Chamberlain has none Of this spiritual or
emotional power. He applies himself strictly to
the business in hand. lie is above and before
all things, a debater. His horizon does not ex.
tend beyond the strict limits of the subject with
which he has to deal, but within those limits lie
in the equal of anybody. lie has mastered il
and he has mastered the secret of making hi.
audience master it. He states his case with the
most lucid precision He demonstrates with geo
metrical accuracy! the inaccuracy of his oppo-
nent His sentences models Of luminous
statement The whole framework of his speech is
nut together with the solidity of an accomplished
engineer 1t is all iron and steel. There is not
q weak spot in it, The parts fit perfectly to-