Evening star., 1921-12-26
|LL0YDGEORCE ADDS
|T0P0L|T|CAL POWER.
Success With Irish Issue Be-
Iieved to Make His Future
ImpregnabIe.
BY EDWARD PRICE BELL.

VI! IaDie 70 Inc Star and the Chicago Daily
News. Copyright. 1921.l
LONDON. England. December %
Lively satisfaction reigns in all po-
litical and social circles friendly to
David Lloyd George 1t is claimed
in such quarters that the prime min
! lister has routed all his enemies and
| made his future impregnable. This
opinion presupposes that the Irish
| treaty ultimately will settle the Irish
question and that Lloyd George will
prove himself the foremost figure In
! maintaining the Anglo-French enten-
te and In restoring normal. political,
economical and financial conditions in
Europe.
No impartial observer can doubt
the popularity and power of the
| prime minister at present. His tri-
umphs are almost countless. He was
Britain's greatest aggressive influence
during the war and he has not Suf-
! fered reverse since. Though at first
| he was hated by the unionists, he be-
came their leader. Distrusted by
many liberals and hotly opposed by
some, notably ex-Prime Minister AS
Quith, he kept the confidence OF the
majority. He has been called Brit
AIMS unmatched opportunist" and he
| certainly fmpresses one as always
dealing with concrete matters In d
| flexible way rather than as habitu-
ally trying to apply abstract princi-
! pies.
| Irish Issue Adds TO Prestige.
! But for Lloyd Georges wisdom and
+, energy during the war it Is doubtful
/ IL The Irish situation would be any
| Where near t. settlement now. This
| wisdom and energy gave him the
prestise required to preserve the
coalition against every assault. AS
| chief Of the coalition he brought into
political fellowship with him the mosl
| powerful men in the untonist party
AS result, these men stood with
him when the Irish problem attained
Its most turbulent and menacing as
pect But for the coalition they
would have stood apart. They would
have have, been s in the opposition. They
| would have been irresponsible. Who
| can imagine that i'll such circum-
stances the vast majority of the
| unioniSt party could have been mar
| shaled in support of the Irish treaty
old-fashioned tories appear to real
! lZe fully what has happened. They
declare that unionism as a. policy is
| dead and buried. They assert that
the Irish rebels" assassinated it in
/ the house of commons, TO which the
great majority We're elected as its
| adherents. What they mean is that
! tHe OHM rem ngnting men terrOrlZed d
! the unionist leaders into betrayal OF
unionism. Certainly, whatever the
explanation is, England knows no
! longer the unionism Of such leaders
as Joseph Chamberlain and many dis
! tinguished politicians before and after
! him.
| Use of New Power Puzzlins.
| Students of British politics now are
asking. What Will Lloyd George do
| with his power? What kind of a
party will he put in the place of the
coalition when it shall have served its
purpose? Who out of the outstanding
conservative and liberal leaders of the
day will range themselves under his
| banner
| Contemplation of his past ideas and
| acts suggests that he will lead a
party, whatever its name, devoted to
sane, progressive, democratic poll
1 cies. IT there are to be parties in
opposition to Lloyd George-and no
body expects the party system to dis
appear from this country-Lloyd
Georges hosts are likely to stand
between them. In other words. one of
| these parties will be conservative and
| the other radicai-the first going too
| slow and the second too fast. with the
clever and indomitable Welshman
leading his followers just fast enough
! to capture the suffrages of the peo-
| pie.