The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1897-08-03
LORD SALISBURY.
A CONDENSED DESCRIPTION OF THE
GREAT TORY LEADER.

He Is Not an Orator, Though Brilliant
Audiences Gather to Hear Him-A Lit
erary Man by Instinct-His Work on the
Once Famous Saturday Review.
The Marquis of Salisbury is very
interesting parliamentary figure, as
much from his weaknesses as from his
strength l have heard it said by elder
ly men i'll the house of commons that at
one time the present leader of the Tory
party in the peers was as slender and
fragile a looking man as his nephew
Mr.. Balfour, but it is rather hard to re-
alize that fact now. He is extremely
heavy, approaching, / should say, $50
pounds, and all his frame is ON large
and awkward scale. The head is very
large and the brows equally so. He
wears a full beard. The eyes are rather
small, though bright, and underneath
they have the baggy appearance which
used to be so remarkable a feature III
the face of the late Mr.. Blaine. When
he stands up to speak, he has curious
| farof manner. He never consults
hOlCy uO hCNtI iHdhOo EtSbulN,
never looks at anybody, either before
him or behind him or around him, and
his voice scarcely ever has any modifi-
cation of tone. In Short he seems to be
delivering a monologue, with entire I'M
consciousness of the presence of any of
the brilliant audience which so often
gathers to hear him. The voice is strong
and penetrating, and yet there is GER
tain mincingness about it, as Of an I'M
dergraduate that had not got quite over
the Alterations of his first youth. And
his speeches., accordingly, are not very
effective when delivered. They are too
monotonous, too lifeless, too spectral,
in fact, to touch those chords Of emotion
which are reached by the real orator.
On the other hand, the speeches of Lord
Salisbury read better than those of any
other politician of his time except Mr..
John Morley's. The truth is that Lord
Salisbury is literary man by instinct
and to a certain extent by training, and
he has all the excellences and all the
defects Of the literary man turned poll
tician.
Marrying all against his father S
will, and q younger son, he had but a
small income i'll the early days of his
married life. The late Mr.. Beresford
Hope fortunately conceived at this crit
ical period the idea of starting the once
famous Saturday Review. Mr.. Beres-
ford Hope was brother-in-law OF Lord
Robert Cecil as the Marquis of Sails
bury then was called, and Lord Robert
Cecil Immediately became one of the
foremost contributors of the new jour.
nal. He wrote in very goodly company.
1t is indeed hard to mention any man
of eminence of that period who was
starting life in London who did MOI
; contribute to The Saturday. The late
Lord Justice Bovine, one of the Creates
of our modern Judges Sir Fitzjame'
Stephen, Mr.. Leslie Stephen, Sir Will
liam Harcourt and Mr.. John Morley arr
among those who at one time or anothe
contributed to the columns of the new
e journal. In those days it had an enor
nous reputation, mainly because of TIT
, cynical boldness of its comments.
To q certain extent Lord Salisbur.
/; has never altogether ceased to be tn
Saturday Reviewer. His state papers
=: written often in periods of great excite
= ment and of great peril. have all tn
}; lucidity, sharpness and sometimes tn
4 acrimony of the articles he used to con
d tribute 70 the great satirical journal Il
his early days. His wit continues to b
somewhat sardonic, and to be literar.
i rather than political is to say, b
= thinks more Of the turn OF the phras
:; than of the living flesh and blood, tn
mighty network of emotions, passion
I and susceptibilities, into which tn
phrase may sometimes drop like molte
lead on living flesh. He, too, has cal
ried to a certain extent into public LII
the intellectual arrogance Of the schola
!. and the writer.
t. Since he left the house Of common
IS he has lived life of almost entire sc
y y clusion, except for his daily and brle
a appearances in the house of lords dun
30 ing the parliamentary session and fo
l. his occasional appearances Oh the plat
v form at great gatherings OF his party
y He lives in Hatfield House. which ]
&c not far from London, and one sees tn
n announcement, even in exciting times
il almost every day that he has left tow
for Hatfield One of the consequence
Y, of this isolation is that he sometime
II makes curious plumbers in fact and sti
70 greater plumbers in tactics, and often
t, speech of his creates dismay in his ow
a party. But he remains a very pictu
y esque and very worthy figure in OF
political life. His home is model
affection and the best traditions of piet
n and honor. He is sincerely patriotic, an'
2, whatever be the limitations or marrow
40 ness of his creed, his is essentially q
=, - intellectual and distinguished natur
so 1.-The Celebrities of the House
to Commons, by T. p. O'Connor, M. +
"a in Harper's Magazine.
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