The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1911-08-26
Wyndham a Candidate.

apparently the 1aVOflLe candidate Tor
the Bafour succession. But he has
also had his chance and lost it. 1t is
a pity for he is q very brilliant fell
low. He can write excellent, though
somewhat namboyant, prose: he has
produced more than one volume of
good literature; and his speeches have
always distinct literary flavor. He
is also a strikingly handsome man. He
is the grandson Of Lord Edward FitZ-
gerald the Irish aristocrat who died
for the Irish people in the old days
and who remained the most romantic
figure except Robert Emmett in the
Irish martyrology. George Wyndham
has something of the characteristics
you would attribute to chivalrous
and heroic figure like that Of his
grandfather. Some years ago, he had
y abundant hair as black as the ravens
wing: he had dark eyebrows and long
dark eyelashes; and those yelled, bril-
liant grey blue eyes of the Irish type.
fectly shaped figure of the young
guardsman; he began life as a soldier
and has something Of the elegant
swagger OF the beau chevalier even to
this day.
And when he was appointed chief
secretary in Ireland he seemed to have
all the favors and chances that for
tune could give. Though he was OPP
posed to Home Rule, he had enough of
Irish blood and imagination to sympa-
thize with many of the national as
pirations of Ireland. He favored the
Z Gaelic revival quite openly and gener-
ously; he was civil to all Irshmcn;
above all he passed the gigantic land
act Of 1903 which, though it has i'm
posed heavy burden on the future of
Ireland by excessive prices has trans
ferred immense quantities Of Irish
land from the landlords to the people.
This measure he conducted through
81 parliament with consunHnate skill. He
immense scheme, whether technical or
legal or social or agrarian, as though
he had swallowed encyclopedias ON all
these great problems, and when the
bill passed into law the whole world,
z except the Irish extremists like John
Dillon and Thomas Sexton, who FORE
saw the disastrous consequences of
..some of its provisions, received him
with laurel crowns.
Condemned by Oranqennen.
sH' But he fell foul Of that narrow and
irreconcilable section of Irish repre-
sentatives who stand for Orangeism
Anxious to settle the Irish university
question, which had puzzled success
1 .sive Irish ministries for nearly half q
century, he entered into negotiations
with the Irish hierarchy for a national
university; the Orangemen took
u alarm, they started a campaign against
him, and one day, hesitating in speech
s'and partly broken in spirit, he got u1
and announced that he had resigned
\ the chief secretaryship. He had made
many attempts to rehabilitate himself
y since that fatal day, but he has not
ssssucceeded, and there seems little
Sschance of his ever again holding q
Y high place in tory counsels.
s 4 F. e. Smith is held by some to be
the predestined leader of the tory
u party, and he himself sometimes gives
the impression that he also aspires te
S3$s the dizzy eminence. At the presen,
moment he is a working lawyer
There is curious rule in English poll.
ssStics,s different from that of most othe,
scountries, that law officers, such as at.
torney general or solicitor general, car
a never hold, at the same time, cabinet
rank. The positions are splendidly
Ss Lucrative. The attorney general has
81 s II least an income Of $4,000 a year