The Irish standard., 1910-10-01

Lloyd-George is persona grata at the
royal palace. 1t is another example
of that suppleness and adroitness
which are part of the mau's essential
ly Celtic makeup.
r Carried Civil List.
Ii was the. business OF Lloyd George,
as chancellor of the eXchequer, 10
carry the civil, list bill--in other words,
the salary and allowances of royalty
through the House of Commons. and
that was by no means an easy task.
The Labor party were watchful critics,
there was a certain group of militant
radicals, and there might easily have
been some risks. This was especially
the case with one new and rather
startling proposal of the new civil list,
namely, that the king should be ex-
empted from the payment OF income
tax.
The proposal, / think myself. could
be defended, for it does seem ridicu-
lOuS IoI lllC SldlS W 6i>t Il WI luiil III
come to it's chief and then to take I
portion of it away with another hand.
but anyhow it was a novel PROPOSE
ton and it was only the daring collr-
age, the adrotncss and the strong 90
sition as a radical leader which LloNl-
George holds that enabled such a pro-
vision to be carried through with 1p-
parently no serious opposition. The
king would have been a very foolish
valuable service which Lloyd George
did to him in this transaction.
1t is the unexpected success of Lloyd
George in winning favor in quarters
where he was expected TO be hated
and distrusted that brings into more
relief his great difference in charac
ter from one of his colleagues who
alone among the cabinet ministers has
been making much Of ii show during
the recess.
| Sir Edward Gray takes almost as
much pains to excite Indifference, If
not hostility, among the ranks of his
own party as Loyd-George takes to
make himself beloved. Grey might
well be taken by painter, sculptor or
novelist as the embodiment, both ply
sically and morally of what may be
called the typical E11glshman"-at
least as he. appears to. those who are
not English. -
The long, thin. hatched shaped face
almost without any eSpressfon-the
cold, shy blue eyes that seem to evade
any notice, the frigidly self restrained
voice and language when he speaks,
the coldly correct impression he II
ways suggests. the appearance Of PEI
feet equanimity. and phlegm under
which there is often strong feeling
all these things about the man would
met him among scores Of other mn1
in any part of the world.
AS Il llldlleI vi Idtt, JcilSR' tol'
Edward Grey is a very modest. simple
and rather shy man. He is also by
temperament IL very lonely man. He
had only one close companion in his
whole life. and that was his wife
She was taken away from him sud.
denly, trlgicnlly, without any warn
ing, being thrown out of a train .lnt
dying from the injuries Il few hour.
afterward.
Since then he has been lonelier thai
ever With Lady Grey he used to 81
down to a zinc hut by the side Of {
little stream in Hampshire. They dit
their own cooking, bringing with Their
boxes OF sardines and other portabl'
forms of food that did not requlr
much preparation, and they used thu
to spend the week end together nshin.
for trout
Now that she is gone Grey retain
his love of solitude, goes down witt
his rod and his sardine box to tn
zinc hut, and spends the week er,
between the stream and the innumer
able dispatch boxes which come to tfl
foreign secretary every moment, from
all parts of the scattered British EN-
pire.
In the House of Commons Grey new
err appears unless when he has to All
!. swer question or to make speecl
7 You might be months in the House Z
Commons and not know him, even h.
sight. He has, of course, to figure Il
, the division lobby, whenever a divi
sion is called. there being a specia
obligation on ministers to attend di
visions.
t When Asquith disappears, which q
. these two different men will get to tn
t top-the supple, pleasant mannere
plebian from Wales, or this COLI