El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-07-22
Prime Minister Asquith a
Leading Spirit In England
XVII-THE BRITISH CRISIS.

nothing and about which Winston knew
! a great deal.
Mr. Asqufth. even in battling for the
| cause OF essential democracy, even in
/ attacking the privileges of the land
| lords. the clergy and the brewers, even
( in insisting upon the practical abOli-
/ ton Of the house of lords, wiz not by
! directness of phrase or holiness of
adjective wound the sensitive respect
/ ability which Is the mental cuticle of
/ every Briton of the upper/elasses.
/ It is to Mr.. Asquith that the Radicals
must credit the fact that the OBJECTIONS
! of moderate Liberals and aristOcratic
democrats have been so few during the
/ two tempestous years of his premier
/ ship. And yet. when the Asquith
| speeches are analysed, they are found
to be quite as radical and equally as
sOcialistic as any of those utterances
which are ''biIlingsgate" from Lloyd
George and anarchy from Winston
Churchill.
Close Friend of ROseberry.
That Asquith is so radical is cause for
surprise. for in the days when Lord
Roseberry was the leader of the Liberal
party and the head of the government.
Asquith was his closest friend Even
then ROseoerry was wavering in his
faith in the cause of democracy and
there was a popular impression that As
quith was but the echo Of his chief In
deed, ROseberry in retiring sought to
drop his mantle upon the shoulders OF
Asquith, but the distrustfuI party would
not have 1T so. The worthy but mediocre
Campbell annerman assumed the lead
ership because there was no natural
leader, and Asquith continued to work
in the ranks But long before Camp
bell-Bannerman's retirement was an
nOunced everybody knew that Asquith
would be his successor.
The prime minister was born in viii
lage of Yorkshire in 1852. When he was
u years old his father died, leaving
nothing, and young Asquith came to
London to live with an uncle. He en-
tered the city of London school, and
there won two scholarships which en-
abled him TO go TO Oxford where he en-
tere6A Balliol college His career at Ok
ford was a. brilliant one, and after he
left the university he was called to the
bar at LincOln's Inn in 1875. 1t is in
teresting to Americans to recall the
fact that there was but one other per-
son called to the bar at Lincolns Inn
that day-Wu Ting Fang, the Chinese
diplomat so long a popular resident Of
Washington
To exc out the meager income derived
from the law, Mr.. AsQuith was a con-
trtbutOr TO the newspaper and periodi-
cal press. In 1883 he published a trea-
tise on the newly enacted corrupt prac-
tees act, which brought him into favor-
able notice of politicians all over the
country II 1886 he was elected to par
lament as the member for the constit-
uency Of East Fife in Scotland, which
he has represented ever since
First Prominence I'm 1887.
HIS first prominence was gained IN |
1887 when he defended one of the men |
being tried for completely in the famous |
Ira falgar Square riots In the next
year he was junior TO Sir Charles Rus |
sell. afterward Lord RusseK of KilIo- |
Wen, in the Parnel1 commission. That /
commission was summoned to inquire !
into the genuineness of a certain letter 7
which Parnell. the Irish leader. was sup
posed 10 have written. cOndOning the |
famous Phoenix Park murders, and |
which had been published in The Times.
1t was Mr. Asquith's cross-examina-
ton of Macdonald. manager OF The |
Times. which overthrow the case for ]
that paper and which convinced the pub
lie that the letter was a forgery even |
before the adventurer Piggott had con-
fessed the crime and had committed |
suicide But il was not until within the
last few months that the public found |
out that the forgery of the ParneII let
ter was a deliberate conspiracy en-
tered into by the Conservative govern
ment and The Times.
HOnored by Gladstone
In 1892 Mr.. Gladstone called AsOuith |
into the cabinet and gave him the post
Of home secretary. This was so sur
prising, in view of the fact that Asoufth |
1id not spring from the governing class,
That even ". T. Stead referred to the
as "audacious." He retired !
from office when the Liberal party was
overthrOwn in 1895, and was a promo
lent worker In the opposition untik the
Liberals returned to power in 1906. when /
lie was given the post of chancellor of
he exchequer. He was responsible for
he production of three budgets. those
IF 1906, 1907 and 1908 The first two
we're not Temarkable, but the third pos
'eSsed the salient feature of the grant
If old age pensions. which was the lore-
'unner of the present campaign for Sc
.ial reform.
When Mr.. Asquith become premier |
Lloyd George succeeded him at The ex-
,hequer and the great constitutional
rfSis was precipitated. The Asuufth |
government has had a stormy career
tut 1t has battled for a great princinIs
md II 1t wins ii viii permanently en-
hrone the democracy in absolute power
n Great Britain. The prime minister
a man who appeals but little 10 the !
popular imagination. but If he is s11c-
essful in his present fight his ma ne
VIII be writ large in the annals of The |
ge-long British struggle for liberty.
w-XVIII-BalfOur, Leader Of
he Opposition. |