Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1923-04-09
BY THE MARaUIsE DE FONTENOY.

Persistent reports continue to come
from London concerning the impend-
ing retirement of Andrew Bonar La"
from the premiership. due to his fall
ing health. 1t may be recalled that
its complete breakdown compelled
him to retire from parliamentary ana
public life in 1921, entailing the res
ipnation of his seat in the Lloyd
George cabinet as lord privy seal, and
as government leader of the house OF
commons After prolonged rest
abroad. he recovered last year sum
GENTLY to reappear in parliament, II
being understood. however, that ms
nhysicians would not on any account
hermit him to resume the burdens of
government office. However, ne
gradually became more and more
active again in the politlcal questlohs
of the day, and when conservatives.
as the result of Lord 1oungers VT
riolic campaign against Lloyd George,
declined to follow the latter any
longer. and broke up the coalition,
thus involving his retirement from
office and the disappearance OF his
cabinet. the premiership was thrust
upon Andrew Bonar Law
1t was admitted at the time tnat
the terrible burdens of the once,
especially in these times of inter
national and domestic crises, might
affect his health, although every ef-
fort is being made by his colleagues
TO snare him. But the labors, and
above all the anXietieS of the place
have been too much for him, and his
condition is such that his retirement
may be looked for at any moment.
* x
Naturally there is much discussion
as TO his successorship. 1t has mar
rowed down to two men-one OF them
ia the Marquis of Curzon and the
other Stanley Baldwin, at present
chancellor of the exchequer, and VINO
was over here in January last Tor the
mIrpose of negotiating the arrange
ments for the funding or the BRUSH
war debt in the United States.
past experience has shown that the
government of the day has always
suffered when its premier was in the
house of lords. and he could only air
his views and defend them In the
lower house. through a representa-
tive The late Marquis of Salisbury
and Lord Rosebery were alike gravely
handicapped in this fashion when
thew occupied the premiership, ana so
strongly was this recognized through
ont the nineteenth century that one of
the most powerful. and, above all, of
masterful prime ministers of the Vic
torian era. Lord Palmerston. although
a yiscount and a knight of the garter,
resolutely declined throughout his
life to accept an English peerage,
and insisted upon contenting himself
with his Irish viscountcy, which en-
abled him to sit in the house of COM
mons for an English constituency.
1t is regarded as certain. therefore.
that the premiership will be allotted
to Stanley Baldwin. whose expert
ence of politics and public affairs
dates merely from 1917, when he was
induced by his old friend Bonar Law
to periodically give his services to
the government as financial secretary
Of the treasury and after that as
president of the board of trade-that
is to say, as minister of commerce.
Until then he had restricted his activ
tiles and his energies as one of the
great captains of industry of the
kingdom to the craftsmanship of the
big Swansea iron and coal concern
of Baldwins Ltd, and as one of the
railroad magnateS of the United
Kingdom. All those problems of in
ternationa1 relations which play so
great a role in the policies of the
British empire, largely on grounds
that are ultimately economic, and
which Lord Curzon. like Lord Balfour
and Lord Grey of Fallodon, has at
his fingers ends, having devoted his
entire life to their study and to
keeping abreast of their develop
ments, ara relatively terra incognita