Evening star., 1925-11-24
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
1. G.. NJ.
THE PUBLIC LIFE. j. A. Spender.
Frederick A. Stokes Co.

Frederick A. Stokes Co.
Government and politics, statesmen
and politicians, these provide both
substance and background for THE
Public Life" by J. A. Spender. Him.
self an English publicist long devoted
to close-range, first-hand study of
MS own government, this author here
deals, as matter of course, with the
English Parliament and some of its
! modern representatives. Not exclu-
| sively, however, since at one appli-
cable and illuminating point or an
| other he sets up comparisons and
contrasts between the law.making
| bodies of England and the United
| States, between certain statesmen and
politicians Of the two countries. This
| expansion of the English view to in
clude related theories and practices in
| the United States makes a correspond
| ing extension in the interest and use
fulness Of the study as a whole.
x* n
Near the middle Of the eighteenth
| century-175 years ago or thereabout
"a new concept Of government arose
| in England, on the continent, in the
! colonies Of America. Its advocates.
| few in number, made up for such lack
| by high order of ability, a deep sin
| cerity OF conviction and by logic of
| persuasive and convincing eloquence.
To these the doctrine of human rights
| had taken on a broader connotation
| than that Of the rights of the govern
] ing class alone. To these the public
life became public duty to secure the
rights of all alike, regardless Of caste
and prescriptive privilege.
Here began the modern era in gov
ernments. And this era is still pro-
crossing toward the full seizure and
| the just projection of the ethical pur-
pose that from now on must underlie
| every political concept designed to
meet the requirements of stable gov
ernments. 1t is this period of prog
ress In politics. this new era of gov
ernment, that THE Public Life" por-
| trays.
A brief summary OF the old. ex-
elusive order serves as point OF de-
parture in this study of modern pol
| itics. For here certain vital convic-
| tions took shape in open protest
among political leaders OF that day.
1t was Pitt and Burke and Fox who
| set definitely upon its Vicissitous
! way the doctrine of publicity which
| today-expanded. corrected. solidified
provides the people their surest pro-
| lection and governments their sole
warrant Of perpetuity. 1t was Pitt
| who urged upon Parliament a freer
| contact with the public. 1t was he
who pressed for an unlocking or the
| doors against which was rising SO
| great a clamor to know what the pro
| digious secrecy inside was all about,
since there emerged only more of in
| justice, more Of discrimination and
| oppression. Pitt, according to this
| writer, is the leader Of the moderns
| among English public men, true
! leader m his clear sense of the ethical
| import OF governments. He, the
great commoner," whose power lay
not in the Parliament but in the
people. and whose title gave evidence
| of the political revolution going on
| within his period
\
A revolution whose battles were
| fought in Parliament and its ap-
approaches. One whose armies were,
! on the one hand, those of reform and,
| on the other, those of immemorial
privilege. A revolution whose tri-
| umphs were better laws for the
groundwork of all governments, the
| people themselves This reform pc
riod created the habit of public meet
| ings and gave rise to many popular
and persuasive speaker teaching the
public the alphabet of Self-gOvern-
| ment and the elements of political
representation in lawmaking bodies.
Here Bright and Golden shine out.
the first thoroughly competent pub
lie men that the country had seen
at work outside the walls of Parlia-
ment, presenting an example Of team
work which has never been surpassed
in public life
Mr.. Spender is in full possession of
the art of linking up the past and
the present with a single touch, as
! he does here IN calling these CO
! workers by a name filled with cur
| rent meaning. as he does in destgnat-
| ing Pitt as the first to apply the
! theory of publicity to political pro-
cedures.
Of Bright and Golden he goes on
| to say: Golden was consummate in
plain speech and lucid argument;
Bright abounded in passion and
poetry. Each supplied what was lack
| ing In the other Both were religious
men and both brought to politics the
zeal of missionaries. They sacrificed
their businesses. their comfort. their
health, even their families. to what
they were persuaded was the call OF
duty. They saw a vision OF thou
sands Of humble people being plum
dered and starved by an iniquitouS
law which filed the pockets of the
rich land owners, and, leaving their
calico printing and cotton spinning,
| they travelled by day and harangued
! by night till the whole country was
filled with the sound of their voices.
Bright and Golden are unique exam
pies Of public men who have won
commanding positions outside the Off
cial hierarchy. They had no prede-
cessors and have had no successors
An overlong quotation and broken
one, at that. 1t serves, however, not
only to source the modern teamwork
set up by these two famous English
men of the nineteenth century, but it
gives as we'll the pointed and con-
crete manner of an author VINO proves
| to be to readers of the very essence
of adventure itself.
=
Beyond this setting out Of the
| famous twin-brethren of agitation
! there is a study Of some great VIC
| torians-Peel and Gladstone and Dis
raeli, parliamentarians and party lead
ers. splendid orators and debaters.
Then, under the leadership OF Cham
| berlain, Is the rise of the new politics
| and the new diplomacy. Some emf
nent moderns step into the light here
l-Campbell- -Bannerman. Balfour, John
| Morley, and, beside them. men of the
| Great War "A Asquith and Lloyd
George, that "exhausting personality
around whom the author gathers both
| the advantages and disadvantages of
| being Welsh" Roosevelt and VIII
son are mustered into the brilliant
company by virtue of the service of
each to the Government Of the United
States in significant periods Of this
country's participation in both foreign