The Birmingham age-herald., 1902-10-13
oNpoN. oolober I1.-Klne Ed.

ORDOR, OcIoDef 4.-hih8 Ho
 ward is the most popular man in k England. Those who know him best predicted this long before he reach ed the throne, and their judgment has been vindieated His popularity In fact, borders on affection. and he has won 1t all in a simple, manly way, doing his whole duty without. in the slightest re- spect, bending to the popular breeze, or seeking to attract attention to himself
 He is if I may use the expression, a thoroughly democratic king, and there Is no other one like him in all Europe. His position Is so supreme that he can afford with all the ostentation of power, yet he possesses a dignity which the very high est of his subjects may not infringe upon. By him their rights are vigorously ob- served. and the most polished aristocracy in Europe are quick to see that Edward VII would not have the smallest of his own invaded with impunity. But what is particularly pleasing to the people E thet he has given them court up to the high est and best standards of royalty. not a puritan institution. putting assumed vir- tues on parade, and yet utterly free from the slightest suspicion of dissoluteness. With his ministers he is strict, where his prerogatives are involved. His name goes to no paper until he has learned all about 1t, and as he knows the whole bus iness 1t would be Idle as well as perilous to attempt to get his signature to an im- proper document. The turning down of Lord Salisbury, when he asked title for LNfI1fopa No Aet0r ro- huke to the old statesman, but 1t was right and the certainty is now absolute that MT. Astor will remain a plain Brit ish subject so long as King Edward wield the sceptre.
 The king will be slxty-one on Novem- Der 3, and as that is Sunday, his birth day will be celebrated on Saturday. the sth. It is probable that His Majesty will confer the Order of Merit on that occa- sion on some distinguished men who were, for no obvious reasons, Ignored when the order was founded. Lord Sails bury will assuredly be one of them, for an order of the Kind in Great Britain without the inclusion of his name would be a farce. Whether his policy was right or wrong, and whether he has been a sucr cessful or unsuccessful minister for for eign affairs, are matters of opinion; but to have been prime minister on so many occasions and for such long periods, makes him necessarily a great figure in contemporary history. It Is curious that no colonial has had the distinction con ferred upon him, and it Is difficult to be- lieve that all our colonies clubbed togeth- CT do not possess one man whose ability and achievements entitle him to become a member of the order.
 Lord Avebury-formerly Sir John Lub- boek-is another peer whose name should certainly be added to the list. It might be suggested that Lord Cromer, Mir All gernon Swinburne and Miss Florence Nightingale should have their claims for membership carefully considered Lord Cromer is admittedly one of the finest ad- ministrators the race has ever produced, and MT. Swinburne is a British poet who has no equal at this moment.
 . ns
 It Is full time that the Liberal party should pull itself together, If 1t is to hope to win the next general election, The swing of the pendulum will not win it,
 for though the frying-pan may be less warm than the fire, the frying-pan Is not so very like the fire that the alternative is not sufficient to produce the rebound. Those who are for change want to es- cape from both The withdrawal of Sir Michael Hicks-Beach and of Lord Salis- bury from the cabinet has weakened the government. They were it's most trusted members. MT. Balfour Is regarded as an amateur Gallo, without any very fixed political convictions in regard to issues of domestic policy and by no means an expert on foreign politics. As premier he accepts the opinion of his party but in defending them he remains the advocate of that philosophic doubt that he has af- ready recommended so eloquentIy in A treatise as the fitting attitude with which all questions should be approached He probably is a conservative, not because he shares in its entirety that phase of thought, but because he regards it as one degree less foolish than that of the liberals. Whilst such a pococurante phil osopher has few political friends, he has no personal enemies But he never can rally to himself the confidence which MT Gladstone and others of his predecessors managed to inspire.
 Mir chamberlain-wlth his push. his ab- sence of all principle which conflicts with his personal aggrandisement his reck- lessness, his uneeasing energy, and his ability in debate-is far more influential in the cabinet than his nominal chief; but the country is-beginning to perceive that what passes with him as statesman ship Is little more than the methods of a clever company promoter applied to poll tics. Lord Salisbury and Sir Michael Hicks-Beaeh were thought 70 exercise some sort of control over him, and the withdrawal of that control has not tend ed to increase confidence in a cabinet in which he is now the predominant mem Der. Apart from MT Balfour and MT. Chamberlain, some of the cabinet are fairly good administrators. while others are mere flies in official amber, and sev- eral of them owe their position entirely to a nepotism that has excited the in- dignation alike of unionists and liberals The selection of Lord Selborne as first lord of the admiralty and of Mir. Gerald Balfour as president of the board of trade was-even in the opinion of most union- ists-that of the unf1ttest rather than of the Attest.
 The reconstruction of the cabinet by MT. Balfour has not increased its strength. It remains what 1t was with it's best elements eliminated The policy that 1t seeks to give effect to, and on which 1t depends for support is no long CT accepted as necessarily sound. Little by little, many of those who shouted for war are beginning to suspect that they were fooled and hoodwinked into assent, and that the WAT with it's vast expendi- ture of blood and money might have been avoided had wiser counseis prevailed Whilst they still believe that our expend- iture on armaments must be heavy in or der to insure our safety, they perceive that the panic expenditure on them that has not been going on for the last few