The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1903-08-27
Lord Salisbury.
Charlotte News.

England'S statesman and former
premier had passed from public view
for while before passing from the
world itself. Men are soon forgotten
when they cease to live, even though
there may be a period OF existence
after active life has ceased. But Lord
Salisbury was a great man and it is
always worth while to consider the
elements of greatness in IL career that
has closed and draw such lessons as
may be contained in the character
and history of the man.
He died Saturday night at five
minutes after nine O'Clock, at Hat
field House, the ancestral home of
the family. 1t was his wish that he
be buried-a at Hatfield beside the body
of his wife, instead of in Westminster
Abbey, where the nation wishes his
body to lie. Lord Salisbury has seen
enough of greatness in life. And his
devotion to his wife, Il devotion
repaid by the utmost of love and
loyalty that it lies in wOman's heart
to give, was one of the most beauti-
His love for the woman of his
choice was really the turning point
in his career He was driven from
his ancestral home because he had
determined to marry her against the
command of an angry father He
was compelled to earn his own living;
became IL newspaper man, then Il
| digger for gold; then as Il scientist
Won distinction in the world of let
tiers. Thus he touched life at many
points. He entered Parliament in
| 1868 and from that time to the date
of his recent retirement he was a
commanding figure in world-politics
Though Il younger son of the Second
| Marquis of Salisbury he Outlived his
older brother and succeeded to the
title, on the death of his father, in
1868. His evident ability i'll public
| life had reconciled his father to him.
self and his wife, who was herself of
noble blood but of an impoverished
family.
He was twice Secretary for India
and special ambassador to Constan-
tinople in 1876. These experiences
with foreign politics led to his
appointment to the office of Secretary
of State for Foreign Affairs in 1878.
From 1881 he was the acknowledged
leader OF the Conservative party
But Salisbury was unfortunate in
being the contemporary of the two
greatest European statesmen of the
Nineteenth Century, Gladstone and
Bismark. Bismark referred to him
cOntemptuOusly, once as a lath
painted to look like iron. Neyerthe-
less, he proved invincible in many a
diplomatic contest. Upon the defeat
of the Gladstone ministry in 1885 he
was made Prime Minister, and again
in 1895, upon the defeat of the Lib
eral party under Lord Rosebery.
During his premiership he was worst
ed by Grover Cleveland in the Vene-
zuelan affair, yet his graceful yielding
of the point did much to bring about
the present amicahle relations be-
tween the two countries. He was
always friendly to America, spite OF
a very general impression to the
contrary on this side. He foresaw
what an AnglO-American alliance
would mean to the world. He iii
turn worsted Lii Hung Chang, the
great Chinese diplomat, and check
mated Russia in China as he did
France in North Africa and Kruger
in South Africa. After the death OF
Queen Victoria he soon found that
he was persona non grata with the
King, whom he had once rebuked fol-
hobnObbing with brainless profit
gates. But a member of the celebra-
ted Cecil family succeeded him us
Prime Minister. He was hardly the
same man after the death of his wife
in 1901. Let us believe that theil
love for each other, which was one OF
the heartening and sweetening in
fluences of the Briton to his wife. was
| a devotion repaid by the union Of
Immortality.
Salisbury possessed none of the
arts OF the politician, could not re
member faces, was ditfident and re-
firing, expressed himself with bruta
frankness and plainness of speech, il
Parliament and official utterances
generally. He gained his place anC
power by his ability and integrity
He raised storm of criticism during
the Spanish-American war by his
reference to the dying nations.
France bitterly resented it. But he
left the British Empire stronger anG
greater and with greater promise o
enduring life than he found it.
Peace to his ashes. While not the
peer of the two great men of England
and of Germany, he was SO far above
the Others of his day that his name
shines by contrast and there is i;
painful feeling that in his departure
he left no real successor worthy o
filling his place.