The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1909-07-31
INDIAN SECRETARY.
Interesting Sketch Of John Morley by
r, p, O'Connor.

Wyllie, in his Sunday letter to the Chi
cago Tribune, Mr.. T.. P. O'Connof
says: ~
A pathetic figure in the midst of all
these fearsome debates and episodes
on the new India is Lord Morley CT
blackburn as he is officially called
John Morley as he is popularity called.
Few men could be more unsuited
Tor the difficult part he has to play. A
student, he has to display the readiness,
promptitude, and decision of a great
man Of action. A Liberal and an
enemy of coercion in Ireland, he has to
resort to some of the same methods
for dealing with disorder in India.
Finally, man Of peace and good will
and full Of sympathy for the progress
of popular liberty In India, he has to
pass through the streets to his home
in the suburbs guarded by detectives
from the pistol and the dagger of the
people he wants to serve.
The story of his suburban home IS
one of the ironies Of life. 1t is built
IN Wimbledon, one of the suburbs Of
London, which still retains good deal
of it's rural character. Big trees shield
it. Birds sing in loud chorus around
it. You might amid it's silence and de.
tachment imagine you were a. hundred
miles from London while only four or
five miles from the city's center.
Out OF the profits of his great
biography of Gladstone, Morley re-
solved to build himself il not a lord
iy pleasure house, at least one lordly
call, and that naturally was the
library. His library accordingly is a
vast hall, more like a great artists
studio than students retreat ami
around its white halls run big shelves
containing all the gems of the worlds
literature.
l discussed this house with Morley
a few months ago as we walked up and
down Westminster hall together and
he wound up the conversation with a
characteristic observation. He said:
There are two things wanting; first,
there is no water, and then there /.
no mountain in the distance, and, as
Gu: friend Goethe remarks, mountain
is always welcome, because beyond the
mountain there is hope"
And then he gave his pleasantly sad
smile at his own bit Of self satire,
for he is one of the most Respondent
Of men.
This tendency is partly tempera.
mental and hereditary. He comes from
the home of hard worked Lancashire
| pressing surroundings of the cotton
} SHINING country. Morley, too, had a
| hard struggle for existence in his early
: days. He got his university education
at Oxford by a Observation-Disclosures
curiously enough by medieval bish-
op-and had to seek livelihood in the
his life he has had to work hard, livs
modestly, and make ends meet by care.
, tul living. He has been disappointed
. in politics. He is one Of those mer
who are at once enormously ambitious
and yet not self-assertive. His am.
bit:on always breaks down when tn,
: not backed by strong temperament
1t is palsied over by the bleak shadow
of self distrust.
He wanted to be prime minister ant
he might have been prime ministei
When the Boer war began he repre-
j, scented the horror and hatred of tina
! stupid crime more eloquently than all.
p other man, though, of course, it wa
q left for nimble, daring. reckless yount
:. I!oyd-George to do the, real fighting
r by going to Birmingham and othe
places at the risk of his life.
n The mantle of Campbell Bannerma
It was bound to have fallen upon Morle
e if he only had worked hard enough t,
y get it. But in the moments of des
a pondency and perhaps because h
: wanted the money he settled down !;
J. writing the biography Of Gladstone
= a task the gigantic labor of which .fe,
l. people even realize.
e This meant Morley's. practical exil
u from politics for several years an
If when the years came to amend he fa
l. allowed Asquith to rush to the from
ID ard stand between him and the high
st est prize in the, British empire. H
IL lad to be satisfied with the India
secretaryship-an Office of great dignlt
l. and great power, but one. beset wit
Lii immense difficulties. :, ,. s.. :
e, Domestic grief came to aggravat
s. the sadness of the evening of Morley
III days. His stepson began speculatin
er with the money Of the firm of. publish