The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1914-10-06

1HN oOiCd sections and AC- |
qultn assume all blame and resnon-
slpiilty, which might we'll have nre-
JuuiCeu MS chances of still higher nro-
,lolion IN a party depending SO large
ny upon labor votes. 1t is onIy WITHIN
me iast two years that, by the pub
iishuhs OF some papers after the death
OF the officer responsible. il becama
publicly known thai not merely had
Asqulth not ordered the troops 70
IRE put had given express Instructions
70 the contrary. But, like all strong
men, Asqulth can endure in uuietness,
me ministry which Asquith had
resigned MS practice at the bar to
JOIN was short lived, and then Ascuith
dld something that is splendidly illus
tratlve Of the simplicity and manli-
ness or his character. When he re-
turned the seals of his office to his
sovereign he went back to his cham
pers In the Temple, and, donning his
wig ana gown, resume his practice
In the courts. 1t was entirely with
out precedent for a Cabinet Minister
10 DO this, and particularly one who
mad held the high office of Home
secretary, during which he was call
cd upon to make decisions overriding
tine Judges in cases where appeals
were made for the exercise Of the
rOyal p~rerOgatlve of mercy. The mat
ter was brought up in the House of
and in a few straightfor-
WARD sentences Asquith explained that
ms own private fortune was not suf-
hclent provision for his family, and
tnat In the circumstances he did not
1eel 1t to be d~erOgatory either to his
personal dignity or to the dignity of
an ex-Secretary of State to resume his
Work. n fact that he had married
put the year before one of the wealth.
lest heiresses in England made this
statement the more revealing Of his
sternly upright character.
When he became Prime Minister, in
ISeS, having served two years as
Chancellor of the Excheouer. the
forces Of the party he led were al
most entirely depleted of morale and
strength by reason OF the persistence
of the House of Lords in the arbitra-
ry exercise of it's control over Parlia-
ment by maintaining their hereditary
rights to refuse to pass liberal legisla-
ton through their chamber, however
large the Liberal majority might be
that a passed it in the Commons
The year after he took office he gave
the Lords battle on the issue Of The
, budget, declaring to the country tina
the whole representative system was
in peril unless the supreme control O.
the House of Commons over finance
was secured. His fight with The
Lords, in which he thoroughly over
, threw them, leaving them no contro
, whatsoever over finance and only {
: power of delay and revision over do
nestle legislation, raised him from {
party leader to a national leader.
| His firmness in dealing with the lit
+ tie pinchbeck revolutions that Sir Ed
: ward Carson tried to work up through
the agency of some officers in Cur
+ ragh camp when he assumed the port
: folio of Minister Of War made hin
f perhaps for the first time a worlt
figure. Today he appears as one o
: the strongest statesmen England ha
ever known, and it was his recen
, speech in the House Of Commons i
= which he referred to the "infamou
o proposals. Of Germany during the ne
gotiatiOnS that, even more than Tn
Ispeeches Of Sir Edward Grey, rallie'
the British people as one man IN 1t
determination to prosecute the war t
n the end.
s.. He is a model speaker in lucidity
IS t~erseness, p~hraseolOgy and feeling. II
g seems to possess an eX~traOrdinar
and effOftless command of the rlgh
" word, a remarkable gift of lucidit
and compression, and with his reson
n ant voice he produces an overpoWe1
ing effect Of parliamentary and foI
ensic strength. Never are these tal
n ents Of concise and flaWlesS expires
sion better shown than on the occa
is sion of his tributes to the illustrlou
- dead. Last summer an old frien
! and parliamentary opponent died, an
90 the tribute which he paid to his men
DRY, the finer, perhaps, because 1t VIZ
% to an opponent, will live long in tn
is memory of those who heard it. TIL
40. sentence, particularly: Perhaps
~ all men of this generation Alfred Ly
N Teton came nearest to the mould an
- ideal of manhood to which every Eng
lish father would like to see his Sc
~ aspire. and, if possible. attain
in He has abolished the tradition tn
IN the speeches of leaders in full Ore
f. debates must run from TWO 70 lhI'
on hours. 1t is very seldom that he r
IS. orires more than forty or fifty NIL
We ltes on the most important occasion
lie and when he sits down there does n
seem to be a single material POI
IL untouched. His leadership IS pop
nc lar for although one of the busiest
ay men he is urbane and CONSISTENT
iii courteous. He does not ENJOY u
NJ