36 



The Review of Reviews. 



Sir Edward Grey 

 love of country 



has 

 life. 



P.-irliament be is irresistible. P.irt of the secret of 

 his power is that he is not often in his place in 

 Parliament. He never makes himself too cheap. 

 He delegates as much as possible the answering of 

 questions to his Under-Secretary, and when he does 

 answer interpellations he is sparing of words, and 

 still more sparing in the imparting of information. 

 He holds himself aloof from the rank-and-file. He 

 is not hail fellow, well met ! with any but his narrow 

 circle of intimates. Lord Haldane worships him as 

 the greatest Foreign Minister since Pitt, and the 

 Westminster Gazette is his faithful, not to say obse- 

 quious, organ. Sir Edward Grey himself said, some 

 years ago, that " of all pergonal considerations there 

 was nothing stronger with him than the desire to 

 work with, co-operate with, and keep in touch with 

 Lord Rosebery." But this desire, like many other 

 aspirations of Sir Edward Grey, has long since ceased 

 to be a governing principle. 



A POLITICAL WHITE OF SELBORNE. 



The one thing to which 

 always been faithful is his 



When I first met him, many years ago, I told him I 

 had always heard he might some day be Prime 

 Minister if he were not so passionately devoted to 

 .'^almon-fishing. To have been a second White of 

 ^-elhorne was much more in accordance with his 

 natural sentiments than to be the gramophone of the 

 bureaucracy of the Foreign Office. He is happier in 

 the fields and beside a trout stream than he is in the 

 Foreign Office or in the House of Commons. An 

 enthusiastic naturalist, he probably enjoyed nothing 

 60 much of late years as the excursion he took with 

 ex-President Roosevelt into the New Forest for the 

 purpose of observing the birds of that as yet 

 unspoiled region of woodland Britain. He is fond 

 of cricket and an expeit player of law^n tennis. By 

 heredity he is a Whig. The Greys of Northumber- 

 land have always been Whigs, although the present 

 Earl Grey, late Governor-General of Canada, became 

 Unionist when Home Rule split the Liberal Party. 

 Sir Edward (Irey is a Radical by impulse, but his 

 staying power is weak. 



HIS VIEWS ON woman's SUFFRAGE. 



He was devoted to his wife, whose tragically sudden 



death has not prevented the persistence of her - 

 influence over her husband's mind, for he is one of 

 the staunchest advocates of Woman's Suffrage in the 

 Cabinet, which is hopelessly divided on the question. 

 In 1892 I asked him, " Are you in favour of Woman 

 Suffrage and of making the law quite colour-blind as 

 to sex, so that women may take any position they 

 are qualified to fill, whether in Church or State?' 

 Sir Edward Grey answered " Yes," without any 

 qualification. But when it comes to put this heroic 

 resolution into practice, I confess I have my doubts 

 whether Sir Edward Grey will stand to his guns. 



NEXT PRIME MINISTER ? 



I asked one of his colleagues in the Cabinet a short 

 time ago, " If Mr. Asquith were to be killed to-night 

 by a taxi-cab, who would be his successor ? " He 

 answered instantly, " On that subject there can be no 

 doubt. The next Prime Minister would be Sir 

 Edward Grey." I replied, " I would have said sa 

 once, but to-day he would have no chance against 

 Mr. Lloyd George." My friend answered, " In the 

 country, perhaps, but not in the House of Commons. 

 In the Cabinet I do not think he would have one vote 

 excepting his own." Mr. Asquith fortunately is i« 

 no more danger of being killed by a taxi-cab than any 

 other citizen of London, so that the question of the 

 succession does not arise. 



THE VICES OF HIS VIRTUES. 



In conclusion. Sir Edward Grey is an honest man, 

 who, if surrQunded by men equally honest in the 

 embassies and in his own department, would prob- 

 ably be the best Foreign Minister available. But,, 

 conscious as he is of his own ignorance of foreign 

 nations, and ill-informed as he has repeatedly shown 

 himself to be in the vital facts of important questions 

 with which he 'has to deal, he relies upon his 

 ciitoiirage, which is anti-Liberal, anti-German, and 

 anti-Democratic. He is sincerely desirous of peace, 

 but too timid to do anything to maintain it, if the 

 doing of it exposes him to the remonstrances of Sir 

 Francis Bertie and the veiled menaces of France. He 

 is incapable of intrigue, but he is liable to be politi- 

 cally blackmailed by those who are unscrupulous 

 enough to take advantage of his weaknesses and his 

 virtues. 



SOME SERIALS NOW RUNNING IN THE MAGAZINES. 



Ain HOK. 

 Cn?.ile, Agnes and 



Kgcrtoii 

 H.i>;g.i;d. H. Ridjr . 

 li.pe, Oliver . . . 

 Ii'glis, John . . . 



lodiison, Owen . . 

 Le Feuvrc, Amy. 

 Lccke, W. J. . . 

 Mason, A. K. W. . 

 Moure, CJcorge . 

 ^lulllo^and, Clara. 

 NfoMcll.Mrs. J. H. 

 )'ti h.rd, K.. and 

 j;.- kill 



TiTLK. 



Th«Gripof Lif.'. ■ 



Marie ' 



A Burden of Roses . 



(ieorge Wendcin 

 Gave a Party 



Stover at Vale 



I-'our Gates . 



Stella Maris . , 



The Turnstile 



In Search of I)ivinity 



Mistress Marv 



Won i[i De'ipite . 



The Cahusac Mys- 

 tery 



MAr,-\7is-r^ 



Comhill Mag. . 



Cassell's Mag. 

 isunday at Home 

 Blackwood ■ • 



McClure . . . 

 Quiver .... 

 century ■ • • 

 Scribner . . 

 English Review 

 Irish Monthly . 

 Young Woman. 

 Chambers b 

 Journal 



