Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-05-20
MEN OF ENGLAND'S
COALITION CABINET
Balfour Is of the Old School of
British Statesmen, Law of the
New-Characteristics of Premier
Asouith and Lloyd-George.
Bv ELLIS RANDALL

~ always destroys the Government which
wages it. From England comes the newt
that a coalition Cabinet is in process o
formation While the changes which are
said TO he in contemplation do not OF neces.
sity mean the downfall of Liberal power and
] prestige-a political overturn is not to be
expected until the day of national peril has
passed and this is not an overturn-they are
doubtless dictated in large part by considera-
tions of political expediency.
month ago Conservative members openly
acknowledged their satisfaction that their
party was not in power today their partisan
ship Is no more obtrusive than It was then
| Though n Cabinet crisis exists, 1t is a crisis
very different from a crisis of the piping
| times of peace. Its very existence may in
| crease the confidence of the country in its
| Government
Bring the Sledge Hammer"
| 1t is not the least among the merits OF
| Premier Asquith that he has always been
able to attach to himself and to retain the
! loyalty of men of startlingly different habits
of mind from his own He does not care
who gets the popular applause long as
the work Ia done These qualities have been
manifested in his career as a plain politician;
but quite possibly they are capable of extern
sion beyond partisan lines. They may find n
new field of exercise in body composed OF
men so unlike as the strong personalities of
coalition Cabinet.
Mr. Asquith will remain the brain of the
Cabinet, He is, indeed. intellectual rather
than imaginative The editor OF the London
Daily News speaks Of the way In which his
mind works: "All the resources of the most
capacious intellect that has been placed at
the service of Parliament since Gladstone
n nj w n n
economy of method, startling clearness of
thought and a passioness detachment of
spirit that give him unrivaed mastery
of the House Bring me the sedge ham
mer, whispered Campbell -Bannerman on
one occasion to his neighbor on the Govern
ment bench: and Mr. Asquith was brought.
His approach to the diaectcal battle is like
the massive advance of army corps. just
as Mr.. Loyd-George's approach is like the
swift onset of cavalry brigade"
Among the many German miscaculations
in regard to England there was none more
disastrous than the misunderstanding of Mr.
Asquith. His reputation for patience deceived
the Kaiser. His reverence for doing things in
the right way is revealed by an incident
which occurred at Albert Hall. Mr.. Balfour
had made some airy remark to the effect that
a certain question of taxation was only a
play of the fire which burns beneath his
drilled and disciplined exterior: "a trifle! But
It was for trifes like these that Pym fought
and Hampden died" His impeachment of
Germany in the House of Commons on the
day after the declaration of war showed that
he is not lacking in fierceness of passion
In spirit and method Premier Asquth lies
between the old and the new type of British
statesman. Mr. Balfour represents the
Victorian age of craftsmanship. Mr.. Law
and Mr.. Lloyd George, far apart as the poles
In many respects, are nevertheless very
much alike examples of the modern spirit
which will manage the affairs of the great
empire. There is no abstract speculation or
philosophic detachment about either one of
them. They are both men of tweed suits
and cloth caps. The statesmen of the old
race were distinguished by broadcloth and
stocks, erudition and formality of speech.
Lloyd-George has a very different way
from that of Law-''just business man
of acquiring the information he wants
The Chancellor of the Exchequer, like
the leader of the Opposition, leaves political
doctrine TO the schoolmen, but he lives by
vision and not statistics and technical re-
ports, If he wants to introduce a shipping
BILL he>takes n voyage to discover the life
OF the sailor at first hand II he wants to
know about coal mining, he goes down into a
coal mine If he wants to know what is
wrong with casual labor he mixes with the
crowd at the dock gates in the early morn
ing to hear with his own ears and see with
his own eyes.
miss Nancy" in Ireland
Arthur James Bafour, unlike Lloyd George
and Law, sprang from the governing classes,
with whom politics is a profession. At Eton
he was given the uncomplimentary sobriquet
OF Miss Nancy" When he entered the
House of Commons he was still Miss
Nancy" but the power of the Cecil family
gave him preferment. People smiled, But
finally Balfour's uncle, Lord Salisbury, sent
him to Ireland as Secretary. Ireland, in a
turmoil that was almost revolution called
for strong hand Into a welter of agita-
ton, turmoil and bloodshed went Miss
Nancy" II seemed to England like sending
an infant into den of feroclous thieves
But apparently Salisbury knew his man.
With his accession TO power as Prime Min
lister he displayed the rpened qualities OF
the Balfour made in Ireland. Complexity
brilliancy. consistency and inconsistency
force, mildness, charm of manner, personal
magnetism and hard hearted domination
were all rolled tightly together. In the House
of Commons, in the first debating society in
the world Balfour was the Incompatible
fighter. The dilettante disappeared, the linn
pid eye flashed, the serenity OF a passionless
mind gave place to the perfervid swordsman
twisting and turning with diabolical skill
When 1t was bruited about that BaIfour was
on his bench the chamber would MI in a few
minutes. Such was the magic of his debating
power
In 1911 Mr.. Balfour's part in the House OF
7 ords pamnafRn hired reVolt Attach