New-York tribune., 1911-11-26
Anglo-American Memories
CXLVII.
Mr.. BALFOUR.
Copyright. 1911. George W. smalley)

as ever a House Of Commons man.
What he meant the House to understand
was that in opposing the Bill designed
to convert the House Of Commons into
a Single Chamber he was not acting as
partisan or champion of the House of
Lords. He put the Commons and their
rights first. AS far as IT went. that is a
true account, but it is very far. indeed.
from being complete. nor can you under
stand Mr.. Balfour if you regard him
wholly, or even mainly, as a Parliamen-
tartan. He will go down in history as
great member of Parliament. as Prime
Minister, and much else which is purely
political. But there is a Balfour behind
all that, of whom the public sees little
and knows little; yet for all that, the
real Balfour. If you meet him you will
have glimpses of the real man, or Of one
o. more sides Of him. A single sentence
will show how wide and deep is the gulf
which divides him from politics / used
once, in a group Of men which included
Mr.. Balfour, an impatient expression
about the Psychical Society and its So
called Investigations into the nature Of
psychical phenomena. He broke in at
once:
Il think your skepticism carries you
too far There is nothing in political life
as know it which can be compared TO
the interest, the profound interest and
significance, Of psychical research"
Yet 1 am not aware that he has ever
given in his adhesion to the beliefs which
that society was founded to establish. 1t
was simply that on all subjects, or on
most, he has an open mind; and that to
present TO him a problem Of any kind is
TO challenge his attention. And that Of
itself is almost enough to explain his de-
fects as leader of a great political party.
He shares with Pascal the distinction of
being devout believer, yet possessed
with an invincible longing to apply
scientific methods Of inquiry to matters
, Of faith. He is a saint in the skin Of an
agnostc. There is an intellectual and
spiritual kinship between him and the
gr at Frenchman. Of the Provincial
Letters he might have written the first
four. To the imaginative height, the
spiritual splendor of the rest, he could
never have attained. Nor has be that
genius for condensing long periods of
thought into the compactness Of an cpl
gram which makes the Pens6es not
merely immortal but the most fertilizing
Of all such collections.
Yet in a way and to a certain extent.
he is a child of Pascal all the same If
he has not PascaPs genius-and who
has?-he has the Port Royalist's habit
Of seeing both sides: and Of stating both
1t is a useful habit in the realms of
speculation. II is almost fatal in party
politics. on a party platform or in a
House Of Commons debate, as in a legal
trial, there is always some one else to
present the other side A Minister or a
leader Of the Opposition who states both
only perplexes and dispirits his follow
ers. Let him think what he likes Of the
other side Of a question; he has no busi-
L 8 TO think aloud But Mr.. Balfour
was always thinking aloud on his legs.
At times he rivalled Mr.. Gladstone him
self in the art Of applying metaphysics
to politics and Of qualifying his state
ments till they ceased to be statements
and became hypothetical suggestions.
During the debate on the Parliament
Bill Mr.. Asquith asked him across the
table whether If or when the Conserva-
tives came back into power, they would
repeal the Parliament Bill Peel would
have said. 1T is my purpose" Pal
merston would have answered in a word
Yes" Disraeli would have uttered a
flashing sentence: we exist only for
that" Even Mr.. Gladstone might have
declared that the logic Of circumstances
would impose on him that high duty.
But Mr.. Balfour began to distinguish
There were clauses which would have 10
he modified. Others no doubt. must he
expunged. If any part Of the act re-
mained on the statute book il would not
be the most mschievOus part And
so on. His followers sat aghast. The
ground on which they were fighting the
Bill as a measure Of Revolution was slip
ping from under them as Mr.. Balfour
went on refining If he had met the
challenge with a Yes. certainly we
will" he might have remained leader Of
the party, and the blue sky that bends
over England would have been a good
deal bluer than it is to-day. G. w. S.