The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-10-22

! has been emphatically an opportunfst;
he looks out for the main chance. He
/ distinguishes resolute between what is
j possible and what is impossible. He
I Is a practical statesman without a
shade of the doctrinaire and is glad to
get a half-loaf where a whole one is
1 impossible. Yet while so ninble, 50
adaptable. so superficially Inconsistent,
| this man, who is q radical aft heart and
! sits in a tory ministry. who is the au-
/ thor of so-called socialistic legislation
ard yet nurses imperialistic dreams,
has convictions Notwithstanding. The
convictions he puts into practice
wherever and to whatever degree he
is able, but he foregoes them tempo
| rarily when their advocacy would EN-
barrass him without forwarding them.
a party he regards as a. mere instru-
ment; the actual results are what he
| takes account OF. In this he is more
practical than the average politician.
who will cling to party names even
when the spirit is departed from
him. Mr.. Chamberlain probably
believes that he can vet COM
pei Disraeli's tory democracy to-
pass more or as much radical legisla-
ton as the liberal party itself would,
while the former retains the Immense
advantage of being aggressiyeIy i'm
peflaliSLlc, whereas Itle I&Itef Is nope
lessdy parochial.
Mr.. Chamberlain is a born fighter.
He is compared in looks to fuX-terrier.
He is a hard, bitter, Ilerciiess opponent.
and his tongue is the bitteFest in all
England. 1t is said he never forglveS,
that he never reients, that he has no
magnanimity and little sympathy, His.
style of debate Is direct, acrimonious,
clear. convincing, the personifieation of
Loo 49, Fn1 ~. - -, a. Ta.4t x-
as he smashes an antagonist. He has
few personal friends and but little per-
sonal magnetism. But to have Joe"
Chamberlain after them unnerves
most politicians, and to have him eX-
plain q matter is to see to the depth of
it. He has made hosts of enemies: it
seems as il he We're past master in the
gentle art" Hating an error in logic,
a nlisstaternent of fact, he extends his
hatred to the maker CT them. But this
practical politician. this clear exposition,
this able and clean legislator, has cap
tured the business confidence OF Eng
land, as Mr.. Gladstone by his fervor
and his moral sublimity captured the
conscience of England. They don't love
him, but business men believe in his
capacity. He is English TO the core,
and so able that he seems master of
every question.
And yet he develops beyond the
hopes of his friends. This non univer-
Sity, unl1terary, commercials traveller
politician of a municipality has in turn
shown himself able to unravel the prob
lens of the board of trade, to frame
wise and liberal legislation, to debate
on par with Mr.. Gladstone himself, to
seize the meaning of home rule and
repudiate it and yet come forward with
a substitute measure. And now he has
brought the colonies to the front. He
exhibits himself as a statesman broad
enough to consider the interests of 100
various parts of a worldwide empire.
He has realized what Lord Rosebery
posed as; he has become the statesman
of an empire. He has gone even be-
yond that; he has sounded the trumpet
for the union of the English-s speaking
races; he stands as the champion of
Anglo-Saxon freedom and trade against
continental militarism and Slavic des-
potisnh What height may he not
reach; to what depth / e may fall. The
same penetration and energy Of mind
that graSped and solved the problem of
municipal government, that criticised
and destroyed MIR. Gladstone's scheme
of home rule, now attacks the world
problems of the day, foresees the final
alignment of the nations, divines that
the peril is not to England alone, but
to Anglo-SaXonia at large The same
self confident. sure-footed and aggres-
sive nature that has made him the
foremost political fighter of his time
now presses forward to grapple with
these mighty difficulties.
His enemies trust that, as acknowl
edged chief of neither great party, it
may be his fate to fall between two
stools. And it is true that portion of
the liberals whom he deserted hate
him, While the old-fashioned tory
heartily dislikes him. But friend and
foe recognize his capacity his courage,
his cunning, his sure vision and his
tenacious aggression. If England
shows weakness in Asia it is aseribed
to the vacillations of Salisbury, while
in Africa where she has held her own,
is Chamberlain's domain. Probably the
antagon1Sm between a strong and a
weak policy does not divide the cab
met into two hostile factions, but the
antagonisTn exists. and the day that
Chamberlain gains the upper hand will
see a stiffening Of the backbone of
England all over the world. 1t is a
unique position he occupies. The head
of a faction, neither party calls him her
own. Yet he is Indispensable to one
and may become the chief of the other |
At any rate, he has the ear of the peo-
pie and the confidence even of those
who personally detest him. And with !
the old-fogy mobiles in one party and |
dialogues in the other !
England, in the hour of peril APP
her. may instinctively turn
TO the one man who has grasped power |
and confidently Yields it. PHI. p.
xxfT