S&9 



Character Sketches. 



THE RIGHT HON. ANDREW BONAR LAW, M.P. 



WHAT is the world coming to? Mr. Bonar 

 Law is unanimously elected Leader of the 

 Conservative Party in place ol" Mr. Balfour 

 resigned. .\nd who is .Mr. Bonar Law that he should 

 be tlie Leader of the great Constitutional I'arty which 

 prides itself upon being the present day representative 

 of the Englibh 

 Cavaliers who 

 fought for the 

 King, the party 

 of country gen- 

 tlemen, the 

 partv that is 

 the bulwark of 

 the Anglican 

 Church, and 

 which is the 

 political stay of 

 the publican ? 

 vVho is this 

 man who is to 

 reign over us 

 in the name of 

 the Tori as of 

 Old. England? 

 The answer is, 

 that .Mr. Bonar 

 LawisaSt:otch- 

 min of Ulster 

 descent and 

 Canadian birth: 

 that .Mr. Bonar 

 I.^w is a suc- 

 cessful business 

 man, who made 

 a fortune in the 

 iron trade ; that 

 Mr. Bonar Law 

 i s a Presby- 

 terian, and the 

 son of a Presby- 

 terian minister; 

 that Mr. Bonar 

 Law is a su|)- 

 porter of wo- 

 man suffrage ; 

 and, strange 

 and more in- 

 credible still, 

 Mr. Bonar Law 



is a lifelong teetotaler, who celebrated his election to 

 the House of Commons by drinkin'j; a tumbler of 

 milk ! Mr. Bonar Law has never been a Cabinet 

 Minister; he only became a Privy Councillor at the 

 {'oroiiation. But there he is to-day, seated in the 

 place occupied by Sir Robert Peel, by Benjamin 



Pkotft^rnph I'y\ 



THE NEW LEADER. 

 Right Hon. Andrew Bonar Law, M.P. for Bootle 



Disraeli, and by Arthur Balfour — a great outstanding 



object lesson as to the trutli of the saying that " it is 



always the unexpected that happens." 



The secret of it all is that Mr. Bonar Law has 



brains ; and the " stupid party " is not so stupid as to 



be unable to see that brains are the one thing needful 



in the leader- 

 sb.ip of a party. 

 Brains and 

 < hnracter; and 

 Mr. Bonar Law 

 has both. 

 Hence, al- 

 though he was 

 not born in 

 the purple, and 

 never intrigued 

 for recognition, 

 he has triumph- 

 ed over all the 

 schemers, and 

 sits unchal- 

 lenged in the 

 seats of the 

 mighty. '"Seest 

 thou a man 

 diligent in busi- 

 ness, he shall 

 stand before 

 kings, he shall 

 not stand 

 before mean 

 men." 



We wish him 

 well. All of us, 

 but especially 

 llie Liberals. 

 For one of the 

 greatest dan- 

 gers which 

 threaten this 

 England of ours 

 is the lament- 

 able lack of 

 rapacityamong 

 ihe Leaders of 

 theO]iposition. 

 Mr. Law may 

 not be a genius. 

 He has never 



yet shown a trace of the supreme capacity of states- 

 mansiiip— that of sym[)athelic imagination. But he is a 



goo 1 man, a straigiil man, and one who, although he 



fights hard, will tigiit fair. 

 'I'he best account |irinted of the new Conservative 



Leader was that contributed to the Brilish W<ekly by 



\ Pits tan; 1.1,1. 



