New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1905-03-20
ENGLISH PUBLIC MEN.
Lord Miners Work and Worry
Lord Selborne'$ Training.
London. NIarch 4

He slept, and that was the main thing as q
matter IF hygienics The most laborious man
in public life. working always with feverish In
tensity, he was never anxious about methods
or results. and could enjoy refreshing rest. Mr.
Chamberlain, when he was in the Colonial Of
fee. was Overweighed with responsibilities. and
when he returned from an exhausting tour in
South Africa he flung himself into a revolution
airy tariff reform agitation. but It Is doubtful
If he has ever lost nights sleep from anxist-
over his public acts. Lord Miner has worried
as much as he has worked. and while he is
barely fifty. he is retiring from South Africa
under stress OF falling health When he received
HIS appointment as High COMMISSIONS ths-e
was not a line on his face nor a tinge OF grsv
I'm his hair. He had been a Flooding student A.
Ballol; he had been called to the bar and had
been a successful journalist; he had entered TIE
public serviee at the Treasury, and spent three
years in the financial administration Of Egypt,
he had been chairman Of the Board OF Inland
Revenue. and had written an important book
but all these labors OF a busy life had been
done mechanically and without solicitude. When
he returned from South Africa for his first ho-
day his face was careworn and deeply lined, and
he had grown prematurely old. His friends
were startled by the change in his appearance
and when they talked with him they under
stood the cause. He was worrying over his
work. He was preoccupied with a sense Of re-
sponsibility; he was harassed with anxiety and
irritated because the country was not so deeply
exercised he thought it ought to be. and he
found it impossible to relax and To take any
pleasure during his holiday. The old gag was
that when Mr.. Gladstone, with head on pillow
thought of a fresh amendment to the Home
Rule bill. he tied knot in his nightcap string
to remind him of it in the morning. turned over
In
worried
While Lord Miner is paying the penalty for
being an anxious worker. his career In Souta
Africa entities him TO be ranked with the great
est colonial administrators in English history
While he has been High COMMISSIONS a terri
tory not less than 10000 square miles fri ex-
tent has been colOred All red, a war which he
made strenuous efforts 70 avert has been
fought: the conditions Of peace have been honor
ably carried out: administrative order has been
brought out of chaos. and two new colonies ars
about TO be invested with constitutional func-
tions and the privilege Of f-governnent
The flames of race feud may not have been
extinguished, and certainly industrial prosperity
has not been restored. but there has been more
substantial progress than the sturdiest optiuist
could have hoped for when peace was made
with the fighting Roe-s about the time Of the
maligned by detractors and partisans but it is
already clear that the verdict Of posJerity viii
be that he has accomplished Il greau work with
steadiness Of purpose. He has always taken a.
line Of his own and has persevered in his policy
without wabbling from side 10 side or looking
backward. or showing any signs of vacillaIion-
South Africa has ceased to be a graveyard OF
regulations. Lord Miner will return to Eng
land with honor unsullied. and Il is not unlikely
that he win have great part TO play I'm bring
ing about Imperial Federation. Mr.. Chamber
lain's friends have suspected that the tariff
campaign began under the stars ON the veldt in
South Africa. where Lord Miner con-
genial Imperialist ready to discuss with him
tariffs, revenues and Colonial preferences
1t is interesting to observe how public men
In England are trained for great tasks Lord
Miners talents were developed in the Civil Ser
vice and in Egypt, and so great impression
had he made by his force Of character tnat when
a successor was needed for Lord Rossmead. tho
late Lord Salisbury and Mr.. Chamberlain men
toned him almost in the same breath Lord
SeIborne has been trained in political life and
in administrative work for the post OF High
Commissioner The sons OF peers ordinarily
serve an apprenticeship as private secretaries
Lord SeIhorne began in this way as the Lord
Chancellor's secretary and subsequently, ne was
the secretary OF the Chancellor OF the Exchequer
the post which Lord Miner also filed. He was
elected to the Commons and acted as Liberal
Unionist whip and ne was Under Secretary for
the Colonial Office during the critical period
opening with the Jameson raid and ending with
Lord ROherts's occupation of Pretoria. As
First Lord of the Admiralty he has been the
most practical reformer, and perhaps the most
efficient member Of the government Sir John
details Of the reorganization scheme; but that is
hardly more than d proof that Lord Selborne,
like other experienced men in administrative
work gets the best advice from experts and acts
upon it. South Africa needs a High ComInis-
siOner of genuine force as an organizer and
that is what Lord SeIborne has shown himself
at the Admiralty. He also knows in advance
the problems which he Will have 70 work cut
at his new post. for he studied -hem year BY
year. with Mr.. Chamberlain as his colleague an
coach.
Lord Selborne is indeed a fine type Of the
privileged class which takes So large a part III
the government OF the British Empire. hard
student at oxford. he has not spared himself
either in office or In public life. He now shc"S
a spirit of self-sacrifee In leaving the Admiralty
where he has made a fine reputation and N
taking a thankless post in South Africa, where
he will have arduous work. unceesing criticism
and not much credit for doing IL, and where
he is likely to be interfered with and enbas-
raised by an incoming Liberal admiuistratior-
A sincere and conscientious public servant he :
simple and unaffected in manner. without
trace of arrogance or snObbishness. His suaFe
courtesy and dignity OF character Win he mos
useful In South Africa. where two States are %
be established constitutional foundations
two races reconciled and the ground cleared Tor
confederation. He can be easily approached, be
- =