lievieic of Rcvicirs, 1/J2/13. 



S/R RUFUS ISAACS. 



959 



when he abandoned stockbroking. His 

 record since he left school had been one 

 of unrelieved failure, and again one can 

 picture the disapproval of wise heads 

 when it was announced that he was 

 going to be a barrister. He had stuck to 

 nothing. He was adopting a profession 

 where patient endurance is the first re- 

 quisite of success. 



HE TURIvIS TO THE LAW. 



He did not find the new life easier 

 than the old. For a time, during several 

 years, he had to mark the day as luck)- 

 if he earned a guinea in a count)- court, 

 And then, of course, the tide turned. 

 The work and the money were poured 

 upon hull m quantities be)'ond all that 

 he could desire. 



He took silk in ]8g8, after only ten 

 years' experience of the Bar, )-et the pres- 

 sure of work as a junior made the ste]) 

 quite essential. " I am giving him silk 

 to save his life," said Lord Ilalsbur)-. 

 In 1904 he entered Parliament. In iQio 

 he was made .Solicitor-General, then 

 Attorney-General, and last year, by an 

 almost unprecedented step, he was given 

 Cabinet rank. 



The turbulent )^outh, the repeated 

 failures, and the astonishmg success, are 

 just what Disraeli would have liked for 

 the salient points of his own story. Even 

 more, perhaps, would he have liked 

 another of the qualities of Sir Rufus, 

 a quality that has undoubtedly been of 

 the first importance in success, the sunn)- 

 disposition. 



Both in the practice of law and in the 

 game of politics Sir Rufus has been, as 

 a hghter should be, both gay and gal- 

 lant. The strain of overwork has not 

 seemed to affect him further than to init 

 a slightly tired look into his eyes. It 

 has never, at any rate, affected his 

 temper. 



He cannot be far from being the most 

 popular man who ever won success at 

 the Bar. His temper, though not merr)- 

 nor embellished with a special wit or 

 humour, acts as a sedative upon judges, 

 juries, and opposing counsel. All ap- 

 pear to come equally under the spell. 

 In politics, according to the testimony 

 of his foes at Reading, his personalit)' 

 is far worse to fight than his politics. 



THE LAWYER IN POLITICS. 



If anyone will study the lists of 

 Cabinet Ministers from the time of the 

 Reform Bill until now he will find evi- 

 dence of a fact that is more significant 

 than might at first appear. There is a 

 stead)' increase, in Cabinet after Cabinet, 

 of those who rose to eminence by the 

 road of the law. This phenomenon we 

 propose to examine in the light of the 

 particularly attractive lawyer whom we 

 are studying, than whom, of all legal 

 politicians, there has been no more fair 

 an^ favourable example. 



In Rome, the museum of the ten- 

 dencies of nations, there was a progress 

 from soldier-statesmen to millionaire- 

 statesmen, and from these to lawyer- 

 statesmen, and finall)- a return to the 

 soldiers. In England the soldiers, or at 

 an)^ rate the magnates who could muster 

 territorial military force, had the control 

 of affairs down to the time of the Re- 

 volution. The wealthy families suc- 

 ceeded to their power. By the time of 

 Queen Victoria some men of self-made 

 wealth were also pushing their way to 

 power. Brief, however, was their reign. 

 They were rapidly followed by the 

 lawyers, who have now completely out- 

 distanced them. 



Look back to the time when England 

 really was disturbed as a whole, and 

 you will hnd the parties themselves at 

 peace. All round the time of Cromwell, 

 during the hundred years of struggle be- 

 tween the Cro-wn and the Parliament, the 

 parties, as such, were flourishing. They 

 may occasionally have been embarrassed 

 by internal feuds, but that mattered little 

 against the robust condition of their 

 general health. For it must never be for- 

 gotten that the health of parties consists 

 in their having the solid, passionate, un- 

 yielding support of a large mass of the 

 nation. 



It would be rash to name the time 

 when this ceased to be the case. As late, 

 probably, as the date at which Disraeli 

 and Gladstone towered over against one 

 another, the nation as a whole sincerely 

 and passionately believed in one or other 

 of the parties. All is now changed. 

 There is no party that can claim the 

 enthusiasm of England, or even of half 

 England. There is no party that is not 



