l62 



The Review of Reviews. 



February to, V/06. 



a marquis, two are earls, and one a baron. The 

 Commoners include two baronets and two knights. 

 The Peers, with the exception of Lord Carrington. 

 are all from north of the Humber. Lord Ripon 

 and Lord Crewe are Yorkshiremen } Lord Elgin and 

 Lord Tweedmouth, Scotchmen. Taking the Cabinet 

 as a whole, excluding Mr. Birrell, out of theeighteen 

 memhers seven are Scotch by birth, one Irish (Mr. 

 Bryce, who represents Aberdeen), and one Welsh. 

 Of tin- remaining nine, five are North countrymen, 

 two of whom sit for Scotch constituencies. Of the 

 remaining four, one — Mr. Gladstone— sits for a 

 Yorkshire constituency, so that only three (Lord 

 Carrington, Sir Henry Fowler, and Mr. S. Buxton) 

 represent England. Of the eighteen, therefore, ten 

 are either Scotch. North of the Humber, or sit for 

 Scotch constituencies, one sits for Wales, and four out 

 of the remaining seven are North countrymen, or sit 

 for North country constituencies. If Mr. Birrell is 

 included, it raises the number of North countrymen 

 to five. The purely Southern loons cut a poor figure 

 in the Cabinet. With all due deference to them, the\ 

 could be better spared than any other three of their 

 colleagues. 



In religion, as might be expected from them, pre- 

 dominance of Scotch Anglicanism is at a discount. 

 Lord Ripon is a Roman Catholic, Mr. Morley and 

 Mr. Burns are Agnostics, Sir H. H. Fowler is n 

 Wesleyan, Mr. Lloyd-George and Mr. Birrell are 

 Nonconformists. There are six Scotch Presby 

 terians, so that there are only six nominal English 

 Churchmen left. One of these, Mr. Asquith, was 

 born a Nonconformist, and Lord Crewe's father was 

 an Epicurean. Mr. Herbert Gladstone is almost the 

 only Anglican whoso churchmanship is more than 

 nominal. The Cabinet is a curious illustration of the 

 extent to which the Established Church has become a 

 Tory preserve. 



Of the nineteen Cabinet Ministers, eight are 

 lawyers, although three of them — Mr. Morley, Mr. 

 Bryce and Mr. Birrell — are better-known as men of 

 letters ; five are Peers, one a soldier, two are country 

 gentlemen, and one a working man. Mr. Sydney 

 Buxton and Mr. Herbert Gladstone are somewhat 

 difficult to classify. It is a very significant fact 

 that there is not a single man of business in the Cabi- 

 net. Mr. Buxton belongs to a famous family of 

 brewers, and that is the nearest approach to trade 

 that can be discovered in this Liberal Cabinet. De- 

 mocracy does not seem to favour manufacturers and 

 the kings of shipping and commerce. The Liberals 

 at least are free from the pest of guinea-pigs. 



The ages of the Cabinet Ministers vary from 

 seventy-eight (the age of Lord Ripon, who is the 

 Nestor of the Cabinet) to forty-two, which is the age 

 of Mr. Lloyd-George. The following is the Cabinet 



arranged according to the precedence of the alma- 

 nack : — 



Veterans. 



Under 60. 



Under 50. 



The Marquis ol Sir K. Reid, 59. Mr. Haldane, 49. 



Ripon, 78. Ix>rd Tweedmouth. Lord Crewe, 47. 



Sir H. II. Fowler. 56. \] r . John Burns, 



Q . 75 ;, r , „ Lord Elgin, 56. 47-' 



Sir H. Campr^U. { 6 ( , in Sinclai 



Bannerman, 69. ' J r 



Mr. Tames Bryce, Mr. "• Asquith, 45- 



6 7 * 53. Mr. Lloyd-George, 



Mr. John Morley, Mr. S. Buxton, 52. 42- 



67." \ir. II. Gladstone, Sir E. Grey, 42- 



Lord Carrington. ,. 



62. S ' 



The average age of the Ministers in the new Cabinet 

 is 56 1 ,. Six are in their forties, seven in their fifties, 

 four in their sixties, and two in their seventies. 



When we come to analyse their marital condition 

 we find that <»f the nineteen there is only one bache- 

 lor, Mr. Haldane. All the others are married. Mr. 

 Birrell, Mr. Asquith and Mr. Buxton have married 

 twice. Sir Robert Reid is a widower. But the mar- 



iges of the Liberal Cabinet Ministers are not pro- 

 lific. As it is not a case of race suicide, it would 

 seem to point to the sterility of superior men. The 

 Premier, the Lord Chancellor, the Indian Secretary, 

 the Chief Secretary for Ireland, the Foreign Secre- 

 tary have no children. None of the others have their 

 quivers full. It is doubtful whether the nineteen 

 Cabinet Ministers who have, first and last, had 

 twenty-One wives have a dozen children among them. 



The educational antecedents of the Cabinet are 

 very varied. According to the Eton College Chronicle, 

 Rugby is out of it altogether. There are only three 

 Etonians — viz., the Earl of Elgin, Earl Carrington 

 and Mr. Gladstone. Harrow and Cheltenham each 

 have two, the former being responsible for the Earl 

 of Crewe and Lord Tweedmouth, and the latter for 

 Sir Robert Reid and Mr. John Morley. Winchester 

 may be proud of Sir Edward Grey, and Clifton of 

 Mr. Sydney Buxton. Edinburgh Academy supplies 

 Mr. Haldane and Mr. Sinclair ; the High School, 

 Glasgow. Mr. Bryce : the City of London School. Mr. 

 Asquith ; Amersham Hall, Mr. Birrell ; and Llany- 

 stymdwy Church School Mr. Lloyd-George. Mr. 

 Burns got his education at an elementary school, 



As usual Oxford leads when we ask which Uni- 

 versities trained our new rulers, although the Premier 

 hails from Cambridge. Six members of the Cabinet 

 hail from Oxford : three — Mr. Asquith, Sir Robert 

 Reid and Lord Elgin — from Balliol, Mr. Herbert 

 Gladstone comes from University College, Mr. Bryce 

 from Trinity, and Mr. Morley from Lincoln. Four — 

 C.-B., Lord Carrington, Mr. Buxton (all from Trin 

 ity) and Mr. Burrell — graduated at Cambridge. 



Of the nineteen members of the Cabinet, five have 

 voted for Woman's Suffrage, seven have voted 

 against it, and one who has never voted is pledged 

 against it, leaving six uncommitted. 



