New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1911-08-06
AnglO-American Memories
CXXXI.
MR.. CHAMe ERLAtN.
Copyright. 1911. Georr. W smalley,

MS lace there ls no sign or the nerce .ue-
light you see in the faces Of those for
whose pleasure he impales their COM
mon enemy. His attitude is scientific.
These processes Of vivisection are not
primarily 10 give pain, but TO increase
knowledge.
in portraits and caricatures you see
him always with an eyeglass and IN
orchid. The straw which Punch" put
into Palmerstons mouth. and the legs OF
Lord John Russell on the Front Bench,
too short 10 reach the floor, were alike
effLrts of the imagination. Mr.. char.
bcrlain's single eyeglass and orchid are
real. You never see him without both,
anG YOU never notice either. What vi
see is a man. He does not strike you
as big, nor yet as little. He is Just
man: and man tremendously alive.
The measurement YOU take Of him is not
an outward measurement. What YOU
would like 10 measure and cannot, is the
mans soul. Your unconscious effort is 20
give 70 yourself an account or the nature
of this extraordinary being. nd of the
contents of the skull: which IS " no eX-
traordinary size. When Gamhetta died
they weighed his brain and found the
weight Of II under the average; some
thing less than twenty-five ounces. TIE
doctors were astonished They had OK
pected the weight of the brain to ar
swer 10 the weight of Character and tC
the capacity Of a mind wdlch haa at
that time in France no second. Then
they reflected that il was just as easy
to explain his superiority by quality as
by quantity, and were content l i'm
agine IL is so with Mr. Chamberlain.
The osseous structure is not ample
enough for an unusual mass of BRAN,
but the thinking power is there. and the
will power; or. If not there. hidden away
somewhere in the man. and the two to-
gether have been enough to enable him
TO work fifteen hours a day, full steam
ahead. If he had not also smoked if
teen cigars day I might not have 70
use the past tense now in writing II his
place in the life OF England.
As his speech proceeds you become
aware that the power Of it proceeds also;
grows more and not less with this pro-
dgious expenditure Of mental and physi-
cal force. II is a crescendo throughout.
You cannot afford 10 relax your atten-
ton for an instant. There is no mark
ing time If he thinks on his legs. as
he certainly does, the thinking never
binders the expression The stream
flows on. like Matthew ArnOld's Oxus'
trimming and bright and large. To say
that as he proceeds he does not lose his
hold on his hearers Is nothing. He rivets
their attention. moment by moment his
grip tightens; the logic is pitiless; the
invective more pitiless still: you bend TO
his passion; you are the captive 10 an
unrelenting. argumentative sequence.
II is the Chamberlain I first saw and
first heard in Birmingham that am try
ing not 10 describe but TO outline; with
a touch Of color II I could manage II.
heard him later IN ST James's Hall in
London and elsewhere; a fairer test be-
cause his London audience vas under
no such spell as that Of Birmingham
and stood 70 him in no purely personal
relation. But the effect, or my memory
Of II. is much the same a test more
searching still was the House Of Com
mons where he measured himself
against the giants Of those days.
The business of the House Of Com
mons is. or once was. debate. II was in
the days Of Mr.. Disraeli and Of Mr.
Gladstone a deliberative assembly.
Neither Of those great leaders feared
discussion or resorted 70 the systematic
use Of gag and guillotine TO carry their
bills They had other resources; nor had
either adopted the theory Of Grenville
the author If the Stamp Act. or Of Mr.
Asquith. the author Of the Parliament
bill that 70 Parliament the whole power
of the people had been delegated
Neither cared. as Grenville cared and
Mr. Asouith now cares. to see Parla-
nert despotic over the nation. Macau-
Law states the case against Grenville
In the case against Mr.. Asquith YOU
have but 10 read his own speeches. Not
in Disraeli and not in Gladstone VIII you
find q trace IF either.
Mr.. Chamberlain had therefore IN
those DAYS a free course 70 run ana ne
clarified. To-day he would be closured.
He could be silenced If he could not be
answered. But I was fortunate enough
sometimes to hear him in a great de-
hate. when the great men stood MP m
each other in fair combat. Perhaps as
debate- no one of them was Mr..
chamberlain : superior. n other things
tbev NAV have surpassed him Mr.
Gladstone certainly did in his amazing
power of creating his own atmosphere
in the House OF Commons, Of hitting de-
hate 70 a level II never otherwise
reached. But debate is a thing by itself
and has rules Of IT'S own; as contest
with the sword has. which you neglect
AZ YOUR peril. In such a contest do not
know that either Of the two was more
than a match for Mr.. Chamberlain.
q. w. s.