Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-04-25

has no profound convictions about poll =
tics; they attract him only a. . game
which lie thinks he plays well, and
which amuses him much as game OF
chess might de, but he does not really
care for the things at stake, or be-
lieve that the happiness Of maAkind de-.
pend on events going this way or that. V
Winston Churchill. in the course OF |.
conversation comparing Asquith and
Balfour. says Asquith ITS simple.
minded and good, Arthur (Ba'four). on
the contrary, Is in his nature hard; he
could be cruel. call him wicked. He
is very courageous. The dif.
ference between him and Asquith Is
that Arthur is wicked and moral and
Asquith Is good and immoral
Mr.. Blunt expresses his own opinion
about Rosebery md Gladstone and
Disrneli. When Rosebery became fre-
mier he remarked that He is an astute
whig of the Palmerston type. and tn.
Radicals have got what they deserve y
He called him stock exchange Pre-
mier, who would protect the British
bondholders everywhere. When Glad
stone retired he expressed no regret
but said that the cd statesman nat
betrayed too many good causes not tt
be an evil -doer In my eyes.
or Disraeli he wrote: "Y0u canno
persuade me that he ever for an IN
slant to,k himself seriously as a Britisf
statesman - His Semitic politics
we're genuine enough" And he tell,
how Disraeli's father, on being hnet
ESQ by his synagogue for unorthodo'
writing. withdrew from the Jewish con
rreration, Joined the Church OF Eneiene
and had his children christened. Ben
;amin was then ten years old.
His comments on mcn OF letters
are o. free as those on statesme".
LFRED AUSTIN. who became poe
"A laureate when Tennyson died. M
describes ns IAN absurd little COCK.
sparrow Of a man. who never "rote
more than two or three gooo poems
Meredith az a novelist irritated MN
hnt a a poet was not 40 bad. Shaw
IL a brilliant dramatist. whose ap'
pearancc repelled him at first. with .
"faco pasty white. a red nose ana q
rusty red beard. and slatey blue eyes.
But when Shaw began to tax MS ap'
pearance was forgotten. William Nor.
ria he regarded as the greatest man IL
England when he died. There IS mncr
about Oscar Wilde, and his drunken
last y.srs in Paris and hie death, arc
described. Francis Thompson Is char
acterized as the greatest religious poe
since Herbert, and several pages arr
given to Wilfred Meynell's description
! Of how he rescued Thompson from IN
street and had him cured Temporarily
OF his opium habit and how his deatr
was not made known to the puo,ic unt.
arrangements had been made 20 NV
apprecistive notices Of his work appea'
simultaneously in several London peri
odicnls.
And 50 It goes. with entries aoon
almost every Englishman OF importance
for the last thirty years. all Of whom
Biunt knew or knew about. He de
.pised the imperinlists and when news o
the Jameson raid reached him be wrot
that he hoped the raiders might b
hanged. He regarded Cecil Rhodes
an arrant humbug and Rhodes sup
mort of Home Rule for Ireland cou!
not make him forgive the South Atri
can for his imperialist dream.
The diaries reveal Blunt as one o
those hish minded men, intolernnt q
the makeshifts Of statesman and IN
divnant at every invasion OF the right
Of the little peoples. During the Boe
War he made an entry setting forth nj
beli,f that 1.-THE British Empire IS tn
greatest engine Of evil for the wea
races now existing in the worId--no
that we are worse than the trencn
or Italians or Americans--indeeed, "
are lcss actively destructive--but "
do it over far wider area and NOR
successfully.
These extracts from the book Civ
a better idea Of what it is like tha
could be conveyed in any other way
They show its temper and Its scope
the temper Of the idealist and a scop
wide enough to include all the interest
Of his contemporaries. Although tn
English edition appeared only two year
ago it has already begun to be used q
n source hook by men writing IN
history Of the period covered. 1t wi
be more frequently used in this wa
as we get farther from the events.
That the reader may not get tn
impression that IL Is a solemn and seri
Gus book. unreleved by any levity.
close this rambling notice by quOtin
from the entry Of Nav II. 1907. whe
he went to the Royal Academy exhi
bition with Meynell. lie writes: "Sar
gent Is the especial object of his Mey
nell's) admiration. The ladies' !
paints. according to Me!nell. general
bore him so that he is obliged to re
tire every now and then behind q scree
opd refresh himself nv DuttinR out IN