Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-04-19

TNGLAND is sending on a secret
~ mission to Washington the man
that England has confessed time
and again it does not understand. Ar
thur ]. Balfour has been the riddle of
English politics for a generation.
Many men have spoken of him, many
others have written of him and rarely
have any two of them agreed. He has
been declared brilliant and slothful.
consistent and inconsistent, forceful
and vacillating, kindly and hard
hearted, able and incompetent
Balfour has been in English politics
forty-three years-he is SO now. He
has held many positions, from that
of mere under secretary to prime
minister. He always has been figure
to be reckoned with; defeats never
have lessened his prestige, though he
has tasted many of them. This man,
a conservative of the conservatives. to-
day is foreign secretary in the effici-
ency cabinet headed by the rankest
liberal of them all.
A member of the family of Cecils,
Balfour of course was born to a po-
litical career. A man could not be q
Cecil and do otherwise than take up
politics. He went into the House of
Commons at the age of 26 and car
ried with him the name Miss Nancy"
mates at Elton who found little to ad-
mire in the anemic, studious and none
too friendly youth. In the House of
Commons he showed an aptitude for
nothing but leisure. He became presi-
dent of the local government board
and later secretary for Scotland. In
both these positions he missed every
chance of doing anything remarkable.
He was clever enough, but he did not
care to work. He seldom arose before
noon and for several days at a time
he did not go near his offices.
He Arose to the Occasion
This was the man the Marquis of
Salisbury-Balfour's uncle and then
the greatest of the Cecils-appointed
for Ireland. The always turbulent
island was in a worse state than usual
at that time, which was 1884. Men
were being shot down almost every
day; 1t was openly stated the next
chief secretary would not live many
! days after setting foot upon Irish soil.
| 1t was into this seething welter that
| the studious, Indifferent young Bal
| four was sent. The Irish Nationalists
had a good laugh at the appointment.
| They did not laugh long.
Balfour. the lazy and pampered,
soon became Balfour the iron listed.
He brooked no opposition, he arrested
| IIleI IlBnl anu leIL. ne Stamped out all
| violence. The man completely altered
his habits. Instead of arising at noon
he arose at daybreak, he learned the
I intficate details of Irish politics and
he never quailed before the fiercest
| opposition of Parnell, Redmond Dill
Ion. Morley and other able and deter
mined Irishmen.
But after completing that task Bal
four came back to England and fell
into his former easy going habits. He
golfed and played tennis and read
much, but worked little. Then ole
Lord Salisbury called the young mar
to his side as a lieutenant. 1t wa!
the signal for Balfour to change again
In the House of Commons he becam,
the supreme debater, the Incompatible
fighter. If bill came up over which
there was decisive party war Bal
4 four could be depended upon to learI
every detail of 1t. master every phase
of its effect and lead the argument fol
or against 1t.
Languorous, slow In movement, ex
tremely courteous, the man appeared
far from formidable. Yet few dared t
face him in debate.
Saw the German Menace
Before he became prime minister IL
1902 he had started a movement Il
increase England's naval strength. T,
Balfour must be given the credit TO
perceiving the danger that lay in Ger
many. He warned against 1t in q da,
when few Englishmen believed ther
was such a thing as a Teutoni
/ menace.
AS a prime minister Balfour wa
| not successful simply because he op
, posed reforms that the people wer
, determined to have. His administra
tion brought him into sharp confiic
with Lloyd George and Asquith and Il
the end he was beaten by the force
, they led. Balfour fought always wit
! the conservatives; he sought to retail
lfor the upper classes the privileges tn