Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-05-27

TN THE reconstructed British Cabinet Sir
i Edward Grey remains in the post which
he has occupied ever since 1906. Every other
Power but Great Britain in that period has
changed it's Foreign Minister at least once,
and some of them two or three times. With
the exception of Premier Asquith Sir Ed
ward Is the only one of the real directors
of the Liberal Government to pass through
the recent Cabinet crisis without any effect
his official position and authority. Though
Lord Lansdowne Is expected to give him con-
siderable relief from his arduous duties, Grey
Is still Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs
both In name and in fact. Some of the
changes of office brought about by coalition
do not, of course signify loss of prestige, but
Sir Edwards continued tenure, though not
surprising, Is fresh and striking evidence of
the remarkable confidence which he COM
mands throughout the country. In this re-
spect he is exceptional Foreign Minister
among those who have figured in recent
English and Continental history. Sir Edward
Grey has always had the confidence of the
British nation as a whole.
The editor of the London Daily News writ
ing in the Atlantic Monthly, sizes him up
as follows "If Mr. Asquth's intellectual
mastery of the House is supreme, Sir Ed
ward Greys influence Is not less remarkable
as a triumph of character. In many respects
his equipment is undistinguished. He has
Travelled little: it Is Jocularly said that he
made his first visit to Paris when he accom-
panied the King there a short time ago. He
is not a linguist; he is wholly insular in his
tastes, almost unknown in society, much
more devoted to fishing than to politics;
speaks little, and then in the plainest and
most unadorned fashion; is Indifferent to the
currents of modern life, and turns for his
literature to the quietism of Wordsworth,
Walton and Whites 'Selborne; is rarely seen
in the House, and then seems to stray in, as
It were, like visitor from another planet.
"And in spite of all this he exercises an al
most hypnotic influence on Parliament The
detachment of his mind the olympian aloof-
ness and serenity of his manner. the trans
parent honesty of his aims his entire free
dom from artihce and from appeals to the
gallery all combine to give him certain
isolation and authority that are unique. His
speech has the quality of finality. Mr.. AS
quith wins by sheer mental superiority;
Lloyd George wins by the swiftness and sup
pleness of his evolutions; Sir Edward Grey
wins by his mere presence, and the sense of
high purpose and hrmness OF mind which
that presence conveys. 1t is a favorite Jest
of his enemies that no man can be quite SO
wise as Sir Edward Grey looks"
A Man of Fourteen Titles
Lord Lansdowne, who joins the Cabinet as
Minister Without Portfolio" was Foreign
Secretary in the last Tory administration,
In that Office he redeemed himself, at least
in the eyes Of his friends, for the catas-
trophies and bunglngs of which he was ac-
cused when he was War Secretary at the
time of the Boer War. His handling of the
Boxer situation was far inferior in humanity.
foresight and practically to that OF John
Hay. and he steered Great Britain into the
Venezuelan mess of 1903, but he contributed
effectively to the making of an Anglo-French
entente. Confronted in 1901 with the alterna-
tive of a Russo-Japanese or an Anglo-Jap-
anese alliance he boldly elected to cut loose
from tradition and to execute the most mo-
mentous curve in British policy of the pre-
vious half century. AS Governor General of
Canada, his first ofice OF real Importance
he scored a great hit with the French-Ca-
nadians by frequently addressing them In
their native tongue
Lansdowne led the Unionists in their fight
against the program of Lloyd -George-"the
Demagogue Of the Cabinet" as they call
him-for the solution of England's land prob
lem He accused the Little Welshman of
"waging a predatory campaign against prop
erty in land" The two are decidedly unlike
II Mr.. Lloyd George may be taken as repre-
sentative OF the newer England-the England
that judges men by what they are and do.
and not by the non-essentials OF birth or po-
sition or wealth-Lord Lansdowne may
stand equally well for a type OF the older
and more arlstocratie England. His whole
career, as Sydney Brooks has said. Is "a
picture in little OF the British system" It
Is a part Of that system that men OF ancient
lineage and great possessions should look
upon once as a birthFight, should md the
path 10 public activity and distinction thrown
inyitingly open to their footsteps, and should
gradually have Il recognized As something