Evening star., 1927-09-04
BY DREW PEARSON,
FTER five years of compromis-

A FTER five years of compromis-
~ ing his own ideals for the sake
II of his party Viscount Cecil of
4 4 Chelwood has rebelled.
II consider that l shall be
able to do better work outside the cab
met than in," he says, and that prob
ably means two things.
1t means a thorough airing in
Parlia ment and in Congress of the
reasons for the naval failure at
Geneva and also it means the return
of Bob" Cecil, uncompromising ideal
list. to the forefront of international
politics.
For five years Cecil has been a
conscientious messenger boy. In
three important international confer
ences he has carried instructions with
which he was entirely out of SYM
pathy between Downing street and
Geneva. Formerly accustomed, as the
free-lance delegate of South Africa. to
champion any cause, plunge into any
battle. Cecil has chafed visibly under
the cabinet checkrein. But though
he disagreed violently with his gov
ernment. he has played their game.
Followed Instructions.
At the Opium Conference he success
fully carried out Downing Streets
orders to block the abolition Of
Indian opium production. Although
chief delegate to the Preparatory Com
mission on Disarmament, his cabinet
forced Cecil to oppose most OF the
peace proposals he had worked and
prayed for. Finally at Geneva, where
the British brought forward gigan-
tic cruiser program which was the
antithesis of his ideas on disarma-
ment, Cecil still followed instructions.
Members of the American delegation
who had talked with Cecil before the
conference and knew his views on re-
duction, were amazed. But having ac-
cepted charge to represent gov.
ernment built on a century-old founda-
ton of majority-rule, Cecil stood by
the ma ajority.
Toward the end of the conference,
Cecil, never in robust health, became
visably nervous and at times Ill. There
were rumors of split between him
and W. c. Bridgeman. first lord OF the
admiralty At the height of these ru-
mors, both men were called back to
London. What actually happened at
the cabinet meetings which followed
NAV never be told, but in the end the
cabinet backed up Bridgeman's build
ing program and threw down Cecils
peace plan.
"An agreement might have been
reached on terms which would nave
sacrificed no British interests, Cecil
| now SAYS. But instead the British
delegates returned to Geneva and
stood pat. Three days after the
hreak-up of the conference, which in
evitably resulted, Cecil served notice
on Stanley Baldwin that he had de
| cided to terminate his services as mes
| senger for the British empire al
Geneva.
| His resignation, in view Of his owr
history and the whole background o1
| his illustrous father, uncle and brother
who. in turn, did almost the same
| thing. could almost have been pre-
| dicted Although they formulated
some of the most important policies
/ Of recent British history, the Cecils
are chiefly distinguished for theil
power of acid analysis Of other peo
| pies enthusiasms. Politics in theil
marrow but each of them after sue
ceeding brilliantly at politics, ha:
taken refuge in something more sooth
| ing to an analytical mind. Tht
Marquis of Salisbury, Lord Cecil's
| father, took refuge from public office
/
| four. Lord Cecirs uncle, abandoned
politics for metaphysics. To LORD
Hugh, Lord Roberts brother, the
church afforded anchorage to the
| scepticism of an analytical mind.
Active i'm Politics.
But Lord Robert Cecil did not find
his anchorage until seven years ago
| Up until that time he had been fairly
| constant to politics. Gaining some ex.
perience as one of his fathers private
secretaries, he was admitted to the bar
and established a reputation as bar.
rister. He entered politics actively in
! 1906, when he was elected to Parlia-
ment as a member from East Maryle.
| bone, and in a short time became a
we'll known figure in the House OF
| Commons.
But he was not an ideal politician.
| He was described as one who presents
his opinions as a gentleman expresses
| his views at dinner table. not as an
ale-house politician airs his dogma
tisms in the taproom.'
Nor was he considered practical. He
championed women's suffrage and
moved the resolution permitting WON.
en- TO sit in Parliament, but he op-
posed the eight-hour day, old age pen
sions and the taxation Of unearned in.
comes. Men speak well of him." de-
| clared the Gentleman with a Duster,
"and confess willingly tl.at he is vast.
ly superior in character and intellect
to the ruck of politicians, but alas. he
is a fanatic
During the war he became under
secretary for foreign affairs, an in
terest in which subject he had in
herited from his father, who was
foreign minister with Disraeli. Later
Lloyd George made him minister of
blockade.
After the war, Lord Cecil found him.
self more and more out of sympathy,
with Lloyd George, who. like the pres
ent Baldwin cabinet, could always
buster him into submission. Finally
Cecil did almost the same thing he has
done today. He rebelled. He crossed