lievieic of Reviews, 1/12/13. 



S/R RUrrs ISAACS. 



961 



Cormmon sense elevated into genius has 

 sriven Sir Rufus his command of the 

 courts, added, of course, to an excep- 

 tional knack of gripping affairs. This 

 knack is not so unfamiliar. It is strange 

 that many barristers whO' rise not a quar- 

 ter so high as he are able, nevertheless, 

 to learn the facts of a case by a glance 

 rather through the brief than into it. 



The extraordinary faculty of master- 

 ing a mass of detail in less than no time 

 is common to the whole class of success- 

 ful lawyers. It is only when they come 

 to the presentation of the matter in court 

 that qualities like those of Sir Rufus 

 Isaacs begin to show at their right value. 



The instinctive perception of the im- 

 portant point, the self-control which al- 

 lows of much attractive matter being 

 sacrificed for the sake of essentials, and 

 the wide view that can see justice — an- 

 other name for common sense — at the 

 end of a complicated tangle of affairs, 

 these are excellencies in the lawyer and 

 the administrator alike. With them, 

 with their potency developed as far as m 

 Sir Rufus Isaacs, there is little likeli- 

 hood of public or private affairs going 

 wrong in his hands. 



THE AFF.AIRE MARCONI. 



As for the incident which made his 

 name notable a short time ago, it will 

 be remembered chiefly in connection with 

 the manner in which the various victims 

 extricated themselves from the positions 

 into which they had stumbled. The error 

 of accepting financial tips from persons 

 even remotely connected with Govern- 

 ment contracts is not likely to be re- 

 peated. 



That an element of doubtful wisdom 

 from tne first hung about that famous 

 transaction has always been clear from 

 the fact that Sir Rufus Isaacs shrank, at 

 the beginning, from entering upon it. He 

 shrank, clearly, in that part of his per- 

 sonality which has developed with his 

 recent greatness. He said to himself, 

 " One cannot be too careful." 



But he remained in part the adven- 

 turous youth who ran away to sea, and, 

 knowing the integrity of his purposes 

 and feeling the fun of the risk, he took 

 the step which led him to his Marconi 

 crisis. It is very hard to grasp the point 



of view (if indeed the)' have one) of 

 those who have proclaimed themselves 

 sincerely shocked by this affair. 



If financial prudishness is a requisite 

 I if public men, how is it that half the 

 House of Commons sits where it does!* 

 How is it that so many are directors of 

 railway and other companies having con- 

 stant connection with the House in its 

 legislative capacity '^ How is it that 

 they voted themselves, coolly enough, 

 £Apo a year ? How is it that they run 

 about in search of financial information ? 

 How is it that the name of an M.P. on a 

 jiirospectus has come to suggest that the 

 concern requires, to say the least, a little 

 extraneous justification? 



SIR RUFUS AND THE ORDEAL. 



Hypocrisy is a disgusting vice, and it 

 is or ought to be recognised m every 

 quarter that public men have no call to 

 be better than other people. The Minis- 

 ters who got into disgrace over the Mar- 

 coni business might, to judge from the 

 tone of the criticisms, have been engaged 

 in something resembling defalcation. 

 They were guilty of a grave error against 

 official propriety — only that and nothing 

 more ; and they humbly said they were 

 sorry. 



Sir Rufus Isaacs himself emerged 

 from the ordeal with more credit than 

 his colleague, for the simple reason that 

 he ke]3t his temper. He had risked the 

 artificial reproof of Mrs. Grundy, and 

 when it came he took it gracefully, with 

 the deference that Mrs. Grundy has a 

 right to expect. His conduct never de- 

 viated either into bravado or into eva- 

 sion. If a model is wanted to-day for 

 apologies, in the classic sense of the 

 word, it can be found in his speech on 

 the Marconi question in the House of 

 Commons. 



His elevation to the Bench will give 

 us a Lord Chief Justice who is, what 

 they are not always, a great lawyer. 

 More important still, it will give us a 

 wise and sensible and broad-minded 

 judge. But it will be a loss, neverthe- 

 less. In the da\'s when lawyers and hire- 

 lings are more and more required in 

 politics, it will remove one of the ablest, 

 the most uj)right, and the most agree- 

 able that we have in the public life of 

 England. 



