The New York herald., 1921-11-11
MIR. Balfour at Washington.

Mr.. ARrHUR J. BALFoUE, acting head
Of the British delegation to the Con-
ference for the Limitation OF Arma-
ment. arrived at Washington yester-
day. He was accompanied by twenty
other members Of the delegation,
among whom were Mr.. BALFoUR's
military adviser. the Earl Of CAvAS:
Sir MAURICE HANKEY of the Foreign
Office, Secretary-General Of the Brit
ish delegation; Sir JOHN JORDAN. for
lner Minister to China, an expert on
| the Far East, and Air Marshal
| HIGGINs. At the same time the dele
! cations from Australia and New Zea-
land arrived ut the national capital.
Lord LEE of Fareham and Sir ROBERT
BORDEN OF Canada, two other dele
gates, have been several days in
Washington.
The chief responsibility of the
British delegation at the conference
will undoubtedly rest upon Mr.. BAL
FOUR. or the coming of LLOYD
GEORGE there is still more or less un-
certainty. Besides, as LLOYD GEoRoE
announced, it is doubtful, even If he
should come to Washington, that his
visit could be otherwise than very
| lrief. From Britain's acceptance of
President HARDING's invitation to
The conference the choice of Mr. BAL
FOUR as a chief delegate had been
! considered inevitable. His was a
master hand at the Paris peace con-
terence, for, although LLOYD GEORGE
was, the foremost representative OF
the British Empire, Mr.. BALFoUE's
skill as an international diplomatist
was constantly In evidence. He has
been the mainstay of British policies
8, all the notable conferences since
the end of the world war, at San
Reno, Rome, Hythe. London and Ge-
r.eva, and he has been the power be-
hind British foreign policies from the
day in December, 1916, when LLOYD
GEORGE succeeded Mr. AsQUIrH as
Prime Minister.
Mr.. BALFouR has been OF peculiar
interest to America almost from the
very beginning OF his political Gu
reer. Perhaps this was because of
his extreme novelty; he never
seemed exactly like any other man in
British politics Of the present day. He
has been in America frequently and
she has always welcomed him. as she
Goes on this occasion, most heartily.
Ills decided stand at the time when
the Cuban crisis arose in 1898 In re-
fusing to fall in with the plan of
some other European Powers to in
tervene in behalf of Spain defeated
the whole scheme. His notin-
cation of Washington that Great
/ Britain would do nothing which
might be construed as unfriendly TO
the United States brought about a
better understanding than had pre-
viously existed between this country
/ and Great Britain. His visit to
America in 1917 as the head OF the
/ British High Commission at the same
time NJ. VIvIANI and Marshal JoFFRE
were here and his address before
both houses of Congress were no
table events attending Americas en-
trance into the world war.
lie entered the House Of Commons
when 20: he went from the debating
societies OF Cambridge to the stern
realities of the British Parliament
the greatest arena for debate in Eu
rope. He made his distinct mari,
upon British politics twelve years at
terward when he became mem
ber of Lord SALIsBuRYs Conserva
tive Cabinet. His mother was Lord
SAIIsBURy's sister and the not un
common remark among his oppo
nents was that like NAPoLEoS III. hs
was the nephew OF his uncle. But
If by that they meant that he leaned
upon SALISBURY for success they
we're mistaken. He hewed his OWL
way through opposition and became
Prime Minister on the resignation ol
his uncle and handled with consum
rate skill the great problems which
confronted the Empire.
The world has sometimes won
dered why Mr.. BMFoUR entered poll
tics. In his Cambridge days his evi
dent inclination was more TO philos
ophy and religion than to practical
politics. When lie became active IL
} public life scholarly England OF Etor
and Oxford remarked: This man Is
} student Of literature, Of philosophy
even of religion; what is he doing IL