The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1896-03-14
mate Of Mr.. Chamberlain without empba-

| III VII . SAIaAuDCl WiLuOuL
sizing the combative side of his nature.
III private conference or conversation he is
willing and anxious to hear everything
THAT can esurged from any point OF view
Ito listen as well as to speak-eyen to
admit that there is some justification for
opinions opposed to his own; but as soon
as he gets upon his legs upon platform
or in parliament he seems to be deserted
by that sweet reasonableness. Curiousy
enough, Mr. Chamberlain, who is now
such very easy speaker, was very poor
one when he first turned his attention to
political life He was obliged to write
out all his speeches and commit them to
memory before he could deliver them.
Today he is cne of the readiest speakers
in England According to his biographer,
It would be difficult in politics to enjoy
a greater intellectual treat than to hear
Mr. Chamberlain deliver one of his more
elaborate speeches in parliament His
voice is clear, penetrating and musical. it
It lacks some Of the deeper notes of the
very greatest orators and actors. The
sentences are always neatly constructed,
generally short, and they are hardly ever
thrown out of order by the loudest Or
most nnmannerly interruption. No speak
er is less disconnected by sudden ques-
ton or interjection; Mr.. Chamberlain
stops, replies, and then goes on as if moth
ing had happened. He is probably one
OF the very few :mpromptu speakers who
sit down without having forgotten some
of the very points they have been anxious
to urge. Although his range of reading
is tolerably wide, his public references
aud quotations are drawn from easily ac-
cessible sources-the Bible, Shakespeare
and Dickens Rejected Addresses, the
Bigelow Papers; these do not exhaust, but
they fairly represent, the books which he
lays under tribute. On the other hand,
his speeches have merit very rare in
these slipshod days; they can be printed
almost as they are spoken, and they are,
in form at least, as literary as those Of
any of England's public speakers, with
perhaps one or two exceptions. Mr.. Jeyes
style in Mr. Chamberlaia's speeches than
in the magazine articles that he composes
at his leisure.
In regard to Mr.. Chamberlain and the
situation in the Transvaal, Mr.. Jeyes
thinks that any statesman merely pos
sessed of a cool head would have event
ually reached the judgment that Mr.
Chamberlain reached at a moments no.
tice, and he believes that he has supplied
the best possible answer to the hasty
sneers and malicious insinuations of Eng
lands continental critics. eff, he says,
'sthe worst comes to the worst, England
can no doubt rely upon her own right
hand, but it is also we'll to have a good
case; any pretext for quarrel which
might have been set up has been re-
moved beforehand by the perfectly cor
rect and absolutely straightforward con-
duct of the colonial secretary
Mr.. Chamberlain, it is admitted, no
sooner took command in Downing street
than he began to "make things hum" a
result that has throughout his life ensued
in every sphere of activity in which he
has entered @He makes Mistakes = says
his biographer, he does injustice, like
other men; but they are the mistakes
or the injustices of an alert brain and a
driving energy that cannot rest while
anything remains unaccon1plished. 1t
should be a matter of national content
ment," he adds, "that the quick judgment
and bold initiative of Mr. Chamberlain
are both strengthened and controlled by
the mature experience and unillusioned
wisdom of Lord Salisbury, who exercises
even in chancelleries not friendly to Brit
ish policy the personal authority accord
ed to the one still active survivor of the
great school of statesmen who may be
called the makers of modern Europe.
just now,'' says Mr.. Jeyes. with admira-
BILE patriotism, "it is true there seems to
be dead set against England. We are
isolated, it is said. We have been isolated
before, but we have in our hands to
use when we please the power of making
such bargain as no power or combina-
tion OF powers could decline