New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-02-15
TWO CROWN MINISTER'S.
MIR. BALFouR's AWKWARD INTRODUCE
TON OF THE EDUCATION BILI-MR
CHAMBERLAIN's FRESH TRIUMPHs.
London. February 3.


for sententious and brilliant phrasing. and an
undertone OF genuine conviction and sincerity.
His most serious faults are lack OF lucidity III
exposition sIovenliness OF preparation and hesi-
fancy Of manner playful wit enables MIN 10
meet the thrusts Of Opposition lances, ana
vibrating ring OF deep conviction serves the
purpose OF appealing powerfully to the sympa
thies of his supporters He Is not master OF
pIattudes nor OF tactics but a man OF real
force and earnestness; yet his hating manner
OF speaking his habit of correcting hlmseiI ana
refashioning his phrases. and his neglect u
| master details by careful, painstaking prepara-
ton are signs Of weakness. No pubic man j"
England can rival Mr. Chamberlain IN huehc!'
clearness Of style and readiness OF resource
and 1t is not necessary for the leaoer Oh TIC
Commons to do this; but when Mr. bailoui
takes charge Of Government measure anu
introduces II In the presence or iuii f1ouse
he ought at least to be able to explain IL inter
ligently. and this he has failed to do this week.
Mr. Balfour started off well In his speech on
the Education resolutions for he was on MS
own ground. with a CULVER filled with arrows
pointed with satire to shoot at the opposi'ioh.
The Education bill Of the previous session hao
been comprehensive measure dealing win
every branch Of the subject, and Minister'S nad
been tainted with their ambition and lack oi
forethought and censured for not producing a
small and clearly defined relief bill for the
voluntary schools. They had profted by this
expert advice and the manifold blessings Snow
cred upon them by the Opposition. They had
framed a small. unambitlous, simple RELIEF meas
ure and could now count upon the assistance
and sympathy of their opponents in securing
It's rapid passage Mr.. Bafour was In his most
genial mood and with gayety Of spirits twitted
Sir William Harcourt upon his series OF MS
torical speeches on the subject Of education.
| He congratulated the Opposition benches upon
their opportunity for mracuously reversing the
laws of political economy and their own atti-
| tude toward the new measure. Not even Lord
Palmerston in his palmiest days was lighter
| hearted or more artlessly jovia! than Mr. Bal
four in his opening passages.
GETTING DOWN TO BUSINESS.
This pleasantly could not go on a great while.
Sooner or later 1t became necessary for the leader
| to explain the new measure, and when he at
! tempted to do so he hesitated, spoke vaguely
! and seemed to be cropping about for light. IL
| ought not to have been difficult undertaking.
for the three essential features of the BILL name
ly the relief of schools from local taxation. the
| repeal Of the lis I'd. limit and the grant or os
per scholar to the voluntary schools had been
/ previously announced and were well understood
| There were. indeed. only two novelties. the ex-
| clusion OF the grant from the present financial
| year and the ultimate distribution Of the relief
| fund, aggregatng about $3WO00o through
declarations to be promoted by the Education De-
| partment But somehow Mr. BalfOur foundered
and became confused. Questions were showered
! upon him. and he seemed incapable of answer
| ing them clearly The exclusion of the grant
| from the current year rendered both the pre-
| mature assembling Of Parliament and the dep
rivation Of aid greatly needed by many Board
| schools wholly inexplicable. AS for the method
| by which the relief fund was to be doied out by
| federations-a new bit of machinery-every one
| was puzzled; and Mr.. BalfOur appeared TO DE
| more in the dark about it than anybody else.
| After this exhibition of lack of careful prepara-
tion Mr. Balfour's earnest and stirring perora-
| ton fell on listless ears. The Governments sup
| porters were disprited, critical and insubordi-
| nate. The Liberal benches were juhilant and
| contemptuous One Of the most docile support
| ers of the ministry gave warning of the UNI
| wisdom Of carrying such vote for the relief OF
| one class OF the community and protest after
| protest heard against the unexpected post
| ponement OF the grant to another financial year,
| against neglect OF the needy Board schools and
| agains. the expenditure of over S3.O00,OOO from
| the Treasury for the denominatonal schools OF
| England and Wales without adequate compen-
sation for Scotland and Ireland
| LITTLE CREDIT TO MIR. BALFOUR.
| 1t was a gloomy opening Of the real legislative
| business OF the session. and Mr.. BaIfour got
| little credit for the evenings work His most
I faithful friends admitted reluctantly that he
| was not in good form. Harsher critics despaired
| Of his ever leading the Commons with energy
| and success. Never was he more careless with
| regard to details nor less sef-pcssessed in an
| emergency He had his brief, but he had neg
| lected to work up his case.
| Mr. Balfours failure was rendered more con-
| spicuous by the displacement Of Sir John Gorst.
| the responsible Minister Of Education. who in
| troduced last years bill. This was emphasized
| by curious bit Of byplay Before the debate
| opened Sir John Gorst had asked leave to intro
| duce a petty bill relating to obscure nsttu-
! ton known as Berriew School According TO
custom, he descended to the floor OF the House.
| advanced TO the Speaker. bowed to him and pre-
scented a copy Of the bill 10 the clerk at the
| table 1t was a commonplace incident. but Com
| moners have keen eyes for dramatic effects AS
he filed past the Liberal benches he was received
| with tumultuous applause. while the Unionists
| opposite, with Mr.. Balfour and Mr. chamberlain
| i'm front looked on In awkward silence. The real
| Minister of Education, who had been less re-
| dictionary and more progressive than his party
| had been left to present an insignificant school
| bill embracing some petty techncality, while the
| First Lord Of the Treasury had usurped his place
| and was soon to prove that he had rot learned
| how to play the part.
The Education bill itself has degenerated into
a clumsy contrivance for relieving the subscrib-
| ers to the funds Of UNCONVENTIONAL schools In
England and Wales. The abolition OF the Us.
| Cd limit and the exemption OF schools from the
| rates are reasonable demands which do not ex-
cite criticism 1t is the financial grant from the
| Imperial Treasury which Is the core or the meas
| ure Patrons OF the voluntary schools under
| the leadership Of Archbishop Benson and Car