

Thh Revh^vv of Reviews. 



Unionist Members of Parliament, whether tliey were 

 in favour of taxing wheat, meat, and dairy produce in 

 order to give rebates to Canada and Australia. The 

 result might be as great a surprise as the sudden 

 rhange of cliiefs. 



The Rciiiid Table is fairly well pleased with Mr. 

 Law. ]t says : — 



Hut tie lias won great respect in tlie House of Commons and 

 out of doors on account both of liis brains and his character. He 

 is one of the few contenipnrary speakers whose si^ccches make 

 interesting reading. There is in them a quality of thought as well 

 as style which distinguishes them and fixes them in the memory, 

 lie has been accused of liiiiidily, but chiefly for the reason that 

 in an age of very hasty invective, when allegation often counts as 

 proof, he has refused to take extreme courses if (he reasons have 

 .appeared to him to be insulificient to warrant it. His words cut 

 and sting and are reniembertd against him by his victims. He 

 is not a popular choice among his opponents, but that certainly 

 is no rea.son why he shoukl not make a successlul leader — indee<l, 

 the presumption is rather in the contrary direction. 



ON MR. BALFOUR AS LEADER. 



]iv Me. .\lfred Lyttelton. 



In the Nineteenth Century Mr. Alfred Lyttelton 

 contributes an admirable sketch of Mr. Balfour as 

 leader. It is a sketch that does honour to both 

 persons concerned. Among the factors which have 

 created for Mr. Balfour " ineradicable confidence and 

 regard " he puts first his courage : — 



At the boUoni of their hearts most Englishmen place courage 

 in the very forefront of a statesman's virtues. Mr. l^alfour's 

 .administration in Ireland proved to the whole world how 

 pre-eminently that virtue was his. Brave men before him had 

 faced the daily peril of assassination, which told even tipon 

 the nerve of Cromwell, with fortitude ; l>ut Mr. Balfour, partly 

 perhaps from the detachment due to a disciplined mind and a 

 strong will, fiieed that peril not only with fortitude, l)ut with a 

 serene indiftcreiice. 



THINKING AI.OUD BEFORE 5,0O0 HF..\REK.S. 



Mr. Lyttelton says Mr. Balfour used the weapons 

 of the Parliamentary debater in a manner unsurpassed 

 in the history of the House of Commons : — 



riatform speeches, or introductory speeches in the House 

 expounding large subjects, and designed to brace men's niinrls 

 to a new i>olicy, really demand, when possible, careful prepara- 

 tion, not only of the thought, but of the form. This preparation 

 Mr. Balfour rarely gives. To think aloud before 5,000 people 

 for an hour or an hour and a half is an amazing feat, and it is 

 one that lie has often successfully performed, But it must be 

 .admitted that such speeches, though going to the very heart of 

 the subject and always awakening deep interest, have not, with 

 large audiences, the unhindered force of chjsen words. Nor, 

 .again, docs Mr. Balfour get the stimulus which some unstudied 

 speakers derive from their hearers. 



" Great caution and wariness are not often asso- 

 ciated with unequalled quickness of apprehension, 

 but both are admitted to be part of Mr. Balfour's 

 equipment " : — 



In addition to the constant strain of speaking in the House 

 of Commons, he delivered, in 1909, before his illness in 

 Hecember, twenty-five platform speeches; in 1910, which 

 inchuled two General Elections, thirty-seven: in 191 1, till the 

 time of his resignation, twenty-five. 



Mr. Lyttelton recounts how gradually his ojiponents 

 in 1906, who for soirie weeks alternately jeered and 

 bawled, ultimately fell, almost to a man, under the 

 wand of the magician. 



HIS CHARM. 



Of the universally recognised charm of Mr. Balfour, 

 tMr. Lyttelton writes : — 



Mr. Balfour's charm certainly does not consist in anylliing 

 approaching to indiscriminate geniality, or in any conscious ! 

 efforts to attract others to him. The circle of friends whom he j 

 admits to his confidence is not large, though his " intellectual 

 hospitality " is unstinted and is extended to all genuine 

 iufiuirers. His colleagues and comrades obt.iin from him not 

 merely the most chivalrous support in public but, a far rarer 

 thing, the intimate loyally of his thought. For them his acute 

 mind holds a general retainer for the defence. 



THE TRAFFIC IN TITLES. 



The tide of public reprobation is slowly but steadily 

 rising against the prostitution of public honours to the 

 exigencies of the I'arty war-chest. The price at which 

 the various grades of honour could be purcha.sed by 

 subscriptions to the Party funds has been variously 

 whispered for many, many years. Gradually the 

 muttering is coming out into the open, and being 

 iieard more loudly. Here in Fearson's Mr. James 

 Douglas does not hesitate to put down the scandal in 

 black and white. He not merely slates the well- 

 known fact that knighthoods, baronetcies and peer- 

 ages are purchasable, but there is even a tariff for 

 these titles. The market price, he says, is approxi- 

 mately : — 



Knighthood... ... ... ... ... £1^.000 



Baronetcy ... ... ... ... ... 2^30,000 



I'eerage ... ... ... ... ... /' 100,000 



He tells the story of a wealthy man who was 

 confidentially informed that he could buy a peerage 

 for _;^8o,ooo. The Party agent was to get a com- 

 mission of five per cent, for carrying the negotiation.s 

 through. The man got his peerage, and then refused 

 to pay : 



Mr. ] )ouglas even ventures to draw up another 

 table of the ninety-six new peers created during the 

 last ten years : — 



liarned Peerages ... 49 



Bought Peerages 37 



Doubtful ... ... ... ... ... ... 10 



96 

 The venality of these methods is making a title the 

 sign of dishonour rather than honour : — 



]''or this re.a.son our distinguished civil servants often submit 

 with genuine reluctance to the degradation of a kiiiglithood 

 which they cannot evade. .Some time .ago a very eminent 

 public servant told me that his knighthood had brought him 

 more condolences than congratulations. 



Front Bench (joliticians on both sides are parties to 

 this traffic, and consequently engage in a tacit con- 

 spiracy to hush the matter up. But only by publicity 

 can the evil be killed. The writer suggests that evcr\ 

 voter should insist on every candidate pledging 

 himself to vote for a public audit of the secret 

 Party funds. The system would then be smashed. 

 Or it might be well to organise a national demand 

 for the appointment of a Royal Commission armed 

 with powers to investigate the scandal. He thinks 

 that the advent of George V. to the throne is the time 

 for making the change. 



