Review of Reviews, 20/2/06. 



Character Sketches, 



T 53 



II.— THE NEW BRITISH CABINET. 



The ease with which the whole personnel of the 

 Governing Committee of the Empire has been 

 changed in the second week in December ought to 

 attract the admiration of Constitution makers. 

 Seldom has the work of Cabinet making been so 

 easily and expeditiously accomplished. Mr. Balfour 

 resigned on Monday, December 4, and on the fol- 

 lowing Monday he and all the other Ministers were 

 replaced by Sir H. Campbell-Bannerman and his 

 colleagues. Any calculations which Mr. Balfour 

 based upon the possibility of Liberal differences 

 proved to be unfounded. Lord Rosebery's character- 

 istic escapade at Bodmin removed the only serious 



Edward Grey as the disposer of his destinies. 

 Whereupon Sir Edward Grey said as politely, but 

 not less firmly, that if he could not dispose of Sir 

 Henry's destinies, he could at least dispose of his 

 own, and nothing would induce him to take a^seat 

 in the Cabinet unless its chief departed to the House 

 of Lords. But night brought counsel, and the next 

 day Sir Edward Grey saw what an absurdity he had 

 been guilty of, and to the no small chagrin of the 

 Tories and Protectionists, he became Foreign Sec- 

 retary of the new Liberal Administration. 



That was the only hitch that took place in the 

 formation of the Cabinet, and it only lasted twenty- 

 four hours. The task of Cabinet making was 



obstacle in the way of the hearty co-operation of all facilitate d by the readiness of Sir Henrv's colleagues 

 iberal partN Lord Rosebery not to accept whatev er posts he thought best suited to 



merely passed a self-denying ordinance for his own 

 voluntary exclusion from the Ministry, but he did it 

 in such a way as to make even his dearest and 

 nearest political supporters, the four vice-presidents 

 of the Liberal League, lift up their hearts in thank- 

 fulness that he was altogether out of it. Exit Lord 

 Rosebery, therefore, with the benedictions of all the 

 Liberals. He has done more for the unity of his 

 party by deserting it than ever he did when he 

 endeavoured to hold it together. His self-elimina- 

 tion being an accomplished fact, Sir H. Campbell- 

 Bannerman had no difficulty in getting together a 

 political team containing every conspicuous per- 

 sonality, and representing every section of the party 

 which recognises him as leader. Tf the new Cabi- 

 net is not a Ministry of all the Talents; it comes 

 as near deserving that title as any Liberal Cabinet 

 of our time. 



One momentary hitch there was -in the process of 

 Cabinet making, and only 'Hie. It was purely per- 

 sonal in its origin, and can be explained only by 

 reference to the idiosyncrasy of the Greys. Sir 

 Edward Grey is a near relative of the Northumbrian 

 Earl of that name, whose exceptional intellectual 

 capacity was neutralised by an as exceptional inde- 

 pendence of view which made him an impossible 

 colleague. Sir Edward Grev did not differ from 

 Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman upon any question 

 of politics. Neither was there anv disputi as to 

 place in the Cabinet. The difficulty arose not from 

 Sir Edward Grey's dissatisfaction with the position 

 offered to him. It was dm- solelv to his ideas as 

 to what was the proper place for Sir Henry. lie 

 thought the new Prime Minister, being well on his 

 way to three score years and ten, ouglit to lie rele- 

 gated to that Constitutional scrap-heap, the Mouse 

 of Lords. Naturally Sir Henry objected. He did 

 not feel he was "too old at sixty-seven " to lead the 

 House of Commons. He had the General Election 

 to fight and his party to keep together, lie there- 

 fore refused, politelv but firmly, to accept Sir 



their capacity or those in which they could best 

 serve the State. 



It was reported that Mr. Morley entertained 

 serious ambit-ions, which, if satisfied, would have 

 seated him in the Exchequer instead of Mr. 

 Asquith. But even if this be so, he consented to 

 be overruled, and to take the India Office. Mr. 

 Herbert Gladstone, who has not inherited the all- 

 devouring energy of his illustrious father, aspired 

 after the easier post of the Admiralty. But as Lord 

 Tweedmouth was leader of the Lords, he had a 

 claim to select his portfolio superior even to that 

 of the late Liberal Whip. So Mr. Herbert Glad- 

 stone, who was not a lawyer, and not a particularly 

 active man, was constrained to accept the Home 

 Secretaryship, which needs a legal mind and in- 

 domitable industry. 



Some curiosity was felt as to how Mr. Winston 

 Churchill would take a decision which left him out- 

 side the Cabinet. The answer is that he took it 

 admirably. It was intended at one time to admit 

 h.im to the Cabinet as Postmaster-General. But 

 Winston wisely preferred the Under-Secretaryship of 

 the Colonies, with his chief in the Lords, to the 

 Postmaster-Generalship with Cabinet rank. So Mr. 

 Sydney Buxton became Postmaster and Cabinet 

 Minister, while Mr. Winston Churchill will have to 

 represent the Colonies in the House of Commons, 

 ft is an admirable arrangement, which suits every- 

 bodv except Mr. Chamberlain and Mr. Lyttelton, 

 who would have preferred any other antagonist to 

 the redoubtable Winston. 



Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman has not allowed 

 his strong sympathies with the cause of Liberty and 

 Righteousness to denv a place of repentance to the 

 recreant Liberals who apostatised from the true faith 

 during the war in South Africa. In this he acted 

 wisely. Of course, no one can ever really place 

 absolute confidence in any of those Liberals who 

 supported the war. They were tried and found 

 wanting on a crucial occasion, and there is therefore 



