Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-05-10
Will Ask to Be Relieved of the
Chief Secretaryship.
BRITISH CABINET WORRIES
The Career of John Morley and Con-
temporary Politics.
LONDON IN THE SPRINGTIME
Parisians and the Prince and Prin-
cess of Wales-Sale of the Fin
est Collection of Old Masters.
Special Correspondence Of The Star.

| Special Correspondence Of The Star
LONDON. April %. 1908.
/ hear that Mr.. Birrell will ask to be
relieved of the chief secretaryship after
the passing of the Irish university bill.
AS he informed the house. he was induced
to accept this most arduous Office in or
der to settle the university question. and
he has no desire to remain to face the
abuse Of national and unionist which is
generally heaped on the head of a chief
secretary.
Mr.. Birrell' is sick of administering a
| system of government for which he has
the greatest contempt. He is also bit
terly disappointed at the shelving OF
| home rule to a back place in the program
of the liberal party. His own sentiments
and considerations of health induce him
TO ask for relief from his present office
at the end of the session. Mr. T. W.
Russell will probably succeed him. Mr..
Blrfell Will seek the repose of the Duchv
or Lancaster when he retires from the
irish office. and I understand that Sir
Henry Fowler is only remaining in this
office to keep it warm for him.
MI Asqulth has succeeded in complet-
ing his cabinet but not without causing
a great deal of irritation and heart
burning. Lord Elgin and Lord Tweed
mouth had received no intimation of the
changes In their positions until they read
OF II In the newspapers. Lord Elgin has
not taken his dismissal with the best of
grace, and he has signified his disgust by
peerage which was offered him. But Lord
Loreburn Is even more indignant than
Lord Elgin himself at the slight put ,,pon
his brother Scot. and he is not sparing
VII. Asqu1th III his wrathful private de-
nunciatonS.
MI Burns is another of the people who
are very angry at changes that have not
pettered their own positions But I I'M
derstand that Mr.. Burns may congratu-
h ia'n himself INNS that he is not in the same
capped, but though spared on this oc-
cas'on he may not be so lucky next time.
he may save himself by better guidance
IN future. but If he has hopes of pro-
ldo.ioh ne is, l am afraid. likely to be
severely disappointed.
Premier Asquith's Start in Life.
1t Is noteworthy that Mr. Asquith start
ing life with no family prestige, should
be premier before he is fifty-six-an event
which will not occur till September. Lord
faimerston was over seventy when he
flrst obtained this honor, and Mr.. Glad
stone fifty-nine. Lord Salisbury became
prime minister In 1885, when ffty-five
tne same age as was Lord Melbourne
y Wneh ne &c: formed his administration in
1914: Sir Robert Peel was forty-six
Lord John Russell fifty-four, Lord Aher
deen sixty-seven, the Earl of Derby fifty-
three and Lord Beaconsfield sixty-three
"he1, each OF them became the head of
cabinet.
Lord Rosebery holds pride of place
next to Sir Robert Peel, who was forty
SIX, as the Youngest premier for three
generations since he was but forty-seven
when he succeeded MIR. Gladstone Mr.
Balfour runs him somewhat close how.
ever, with his mere fifty-two when he
caught up the mantle fallen from the
shoulders of Lord Salisbury It is not
easy IN these days to imagine any one
l he tne second William Pitt, who fought
himself into the premiership when
mere boy of twenty-five
INC new cabinet will contain an IN
usually strong force of non-members of
me me established church. Mr.. Asquith is
the son of non-conformist, and used to
attend the services in DR.. Horizons tir
chapel at Hampstead Mr. BirreIl is the
Soh OF a Baptist minister; Sir Henry
fowler' who may still be attached to
the government, though elevated to tho
lords. is allied to the Wesleyans and
there 49, of course, Mr.. Lloyd George
who is pronounced non-conformist and
perhaps the only member of the min
ls,rE VINO carries his non-conformity into
actual practice.
Mr.. Lloyd George will always nut him
self to the greatest Inconvenience to sneak
at any big non-conformist gathering His
mother was the daughter of a Welsh
i Iap.lst minister. and he has always
On Sundays. when in town, he frequently
attends the services at the Welsh Baptist
chapel. ana one evening a few months
ago he took Winston Churchill with him
to lectuye to the Mutual Improvement So
ciety.
John Mor1ey's Consistency.
For many years the figure Of John Nor.
ley stood beyond all others In English
public life for consistency. Many of his
contemporaries changed sides, and with
the change Of party underwent an inward
and spiritual conversion. Mr.. Morley was
always by temperament and conviction q
radical, an individualist an anti-itnpe
rialist. If he stood for a principle he
stood by it at all times and in all wealth
ers. No opposition had any effect upon
his opinion or even on the form in which
he declared it. The majority in. his own
constituency might be for or against
home rule, or war in South Africa, or an
eight-hour bill; 1t made no difference to
him. His faith was philosophic radical
ism. and latterly he seemed to be almost
it's only surviving adherent.
But henceforward shall we not be driven
to think of his career as embodyine the
irony of political life only less strikingIv
than does the career of Disraeli, or Glad
stone. or Chamberlain? Mr. Gladstone.
after all, was a monarchst, and very
much of an aristocrat: he would have
been foolish. but not altogether self-con-
Trajectory, had he gone to the lords. Mr.
Morley is a lifelong democrat born
citizen of the republic of letters He must
have pondered long and suffered much
before deciding to relinquish his birth
right-though, possibly the example of
Lord Courtney, his fellow worshiper at
the shrine of John Stuart MIL may have
helped to smooth the way. It has been
rightly said that a career like Mr. Nor
ley's is much less unusual in France than
in England. Strictly speaking, he is our
only journalist statesman. He had
quarter of a century of literary labor be-
hind him when, at the age of forty-five
he left the editorial chair Of the Pail Mali
Gazette for the house of commons He
knew nothing of the political cockpit: he
could not speak. Yet in three years he
was in the cabinet. Mr. Gladstones right
hand man, and had mastered the art of
making speeches that We're no less
weighty in thought than they were fine
In expression.
When all is said. however. his admirers
will continue to think of John Morley as
the man of letters and will look back To
the work he did before going to West
minister as his real title to fame It Is
very nearly fifty years since he left Lin
coin College. Oxford No one could saw
~ John Morley was horn ont of a.