The Irish standard., 1908-05-16


srsform the criticisms it received from
! the member for Oldham were as dam
aging as my that came from the op-
position benches. 1t was Mr.. Cham
berlain's ssca' proposals that strained
HIS party allegiance to the utmost and
finally broke it down. At this time.
too. he was engaged on the most inn
pcrtant literary work he had so far
undertaken. the biography of his
father, Lord Randolph Churchill.
1t Is hardly possible to read this
book without feeling that the close
and detailed study of his fathers ca
reer must have done much to prepare
him for his conversion to Liberalism.
However he may have supposed at
be made an effective instrument OF
democratic ard social progress, he
could scarcely have pondered the sig
nihoance Of Lord Randolph's strug
coming convinced of the utter i'm
practicabi!.ty Of such hope. The
very warnings OF the Tory press that
in criticising his leaders he was In
danger o. repeating again the most
disastrous mistake of his fathers ca
reer" must have helped to convince
him that he would have to seek diff
ferent allies Every fresh heresy made
it clearer to him that he was really
out Of sympathy with those among
whom he sat. Perhaps the most
striking instance was one occasion, be-
fore he had left the Unionist party.
when as he rose to speak two hum
dred and ffty Conservative members
ostentatinLsly left their places and
walked out of the house. 1t was in
1904 that the break was definitely
made.
At the general election of 1906 Mr.
Winston Churchill had been in Paria-
ment only month or two over five
years. But within that period his
personality had made distinct i'm
preston .'por the whole country. In
outward appearance he had changed
little since. on his entry to Parliament,
MIR. Shan Bullock had described him as
looking like boy grown up.
His insignificant height was anus
ingly illustrated a few days ago at
one of his Manchester meetings, where
he gave his speech standing on the
chalrman's table, that every one might
See him Mr.. Church.ll's practice as
writer contributed largely to the fin
ish of his public utterances. On spe-
cial occas ions he has not trusted to
his native qu:ckness, but has prepared
carefully sometimes writing out be-
forehand as many as six times what
he intended to say. \ parliamentary
journalist has described him as per-
haps unequal!ed at debate when at his
best.
1t was lot surprising then that his
attack upon a Conservative seat In
Northwest Manchester was one of the
most piGusnt incidents in the 1906 gen.
L..
is in escaping from an enemy's strong.
holds, he g much more at home in at
tackng them 1t was therefore char
acteristic of him that at that cleo
tion instead of seeking to represent
some constituency which might be
counted on IT, return Liberal he set
himself % capture a Parliamentary di-
vision ir. which the Conservative SUI
prelnacy rad been so strong that al
the 1900 election it was not even chal-
lenged. The seat was won by plur-
ality of l,241 votes out of a total poll
of 1O,o37 MI. Churchill returned to
the Hous of Commons as Under Sec
reatry 70 the Colonies. a subordinate
post of this nature gives little oppor-
tunity for initiative, but he has at any
rate shown in it competent powers of
administration which give good prom
Use Of s:lcresa in the high Office to
which he has been appointed
During these two sessions, as the
Colonia! Secretary himself has been a
peer, Mr.. Churchill has had the duty
Of representing the Colonial Office in
the Commons and his services to the
Government as the exponent and de-
fender of its colonial policy in that
House have been of great value. His
record IN this capacity has been one.
az a competent judge has expressed it.
'of self restraint in expression and
at the same time of steadily ex-
panding craftsmanship, growing pow
er and more confident grasp in debate
a widening outlook on affairs and
d above all. marked advance in the
ii regard OF the House of Commons
II Nowadays not even the most irrecon-
cilable OF his opponents would delib-
a - 81,