Evening star., 1921-09-04


encouragements in the important
years of boyhood.
The story was the story of his
widowed mother and of her heroic
/ struggle. keeping house for her shoe
making brother-in law on the little
money earned by the old bachelors 8
village cobbling, to save sixpence a
week--sixpence to be gratefully re-
! turned to him on Saturday night.
That is the life Of the poor" he ex-
with bitterness. And when L try to
give them five shilling a week in
| their old age l am called the cad of
I! the cabinet"
Nothing in his life is finer than the
struggle he waged with the liberal
cabinet during his days as chancellor
! of the excheQuer. The private oppo-
| sition he encountered in Downing
| street. the hatred and contempt Of
some of his liberal colleagues. was
exceeded on the other side of politics
only in the violent mind of Sir Ed
| ward Carson Even the gentle John
i Morley was troubled by his hot in
sfstences. Il had better CO." he SAID
! to Lloyd George. Il am getting old
| have nothing now for you but criti-
cisrn."
To which the other replied. Lord
Morley. l would sooner have your
| criticism than the praise of any man
living perfectly sincere remark,
sincere. 1 mean. with the emotional
ism of the moment. His schemes
were disordered and crude; neverthe-
less. the spirit that informed them
twas like a new birth in the politics
i,of tho. who'll world. A friend Of mine
| told mo that. he had seen pictures of
Lloyd George on the walls of peas
ants houses in the remoteSt villa ages
of Russia.
But those days have departed and
taken with them the fire of Lloyd
: Georges passion. The labored perora-
repeated to the piont of the ridiculous.
is all now left to that fervid period
: He has ceased to be a prophet. Sur
rounded by second-rate people. choos-
,, ing for his intimate friends mainly
i the new rich. and now thoroughly
liking the game of politics for its
j amusing adventure. he has retained
little of his original genius except its
quickness.
HIS intuitions are amazing. He as
tonished great soldiers in the wal
by his DEMONSTRATIONS. Lord Miner, a
cool critic. would sit by the sofa Of the
dying DR.. Jameson telling how Lloyd
George was right again and again when
all the Scldiers were wrong Lord
Rhondda. who disliked him greatly and
rather despised him. told me how often
Lloyd George put heart into cabinet
that was really trembling on the edge
of despair: 1t seems true that he never
once doubted ultimate victory, and,
what Is more remarkable, never once
failed to read the Germans mind
l think that the doom that has fallen
upon him comes in some measure from
the amusement he takes in his mental
quickness. and the reliance he is some-
times apt to place in it. A quick mind
may easily be q disorderly mind. More
over. Quickness is not one of the great
qualities. 1t is. indeed. seldom a part
Eer with virtue. Morality appears on
the whole to get along better with
out it.
When we consider what Lloyd George
might have done with the fortunes Of
humanity We are able to see how great Is
his distance from the heights of moral
grandeur.
He entered the war with genuine pas
sion. He swept thousands of hestitat-
ing minds into those dreadful furnaces
by the force Of that passion. From the
first no man in the world sounded so
ringing trumpet note moral indig-
nation and moral aspiration. Examine
his earlier speeches and in all Of them
you will nnd that his passion to de-
stroy Prussian militarfsm was his pas
sion to recreate civilization on the foun-
dations Of morality and religion. He
not SO much attempted to drag mankind
back to barbarism as opened a gate
through which mankind might march
to the promised land.
This was in 1914. But soon after
the great struggle had begun the note
| NJ nj
fear for our allies steadfastness oc-
cupied the foremost place in his mind.
Victory was the objective and his
definition of victory was borrowed
from the prize ring. A better world
had to wait He became more and
when his Indignation against Lord
Kitchener was almost uncomfortable.
For Mr.. Asquith he never entertained
this violent feeling. but gradually lost
patience with him. and only decided
that he must go when procrastinatfon
blow"
Any one who questioned the cost Of
the war was a timid soul. What did
it matter what the war cost 80 long
as victory was won? Any one who
which characterized the ministry Of mu-
ritions was a mere fault finder.
And the end of 1t was the hum1lia-
tional Of the general election Of 1918.
Where was the new world ehen? He
was conscious only Of Lord North
cli1fe's menace. Germany must pay
and the kaiser must be tried! There
was no trumpet note since.
The truth IL that Lloyd George has
gradually lost in the world Of polft-
ical makeshift his original enthust.
asm for righteousness. He 10 not q
bad man to the exclusion OF good
ness; but he 10 not good man to the
exclusion Of badness. A woman who
knows him well once described him
to me In these words: HE 10 clever