270 WITH MR. CHAMBERLAIN 



attempt to praise so great a man. His praise will be 

 found written in the history of our country during the 

 last generation. He is, after all, the greatest of all 

 living men in the political world, and he is the greatest 

 not because of his marvellous gifts of oratory, his 

 extraordinary lucidity, and his compelling force, not 

 even because of his tenacity and courage, or even 

 because of that great quality and that rare quality, 

 the quality of leadership, the quality we denominate 

 personal magnetism. 



" All these things are very great things, and all 

 these things Mr. Chamberlain has got ; but to my 

 mind his greatest claim on our admiration is this, 

 that he was a great idealist, which is another name 

 for a great patriot. He put forward from time to 

 time views and opinions which he had formed as 

 necessary for the greatness of our country, and when 

 he had formed them he was ready to sacrifice not 

 only his personal career and his personal position — 

 for more than once he jeopardised those — but 

 everything else — his party, his personal ties, every- 

 thing, so long as he carried into effect that which he 

 really believed was for the good of his country. 

 That is a great quality. It argues a very remarkable 

 possession of the qualities of determination, of 

 courage, and of faith, and it argues the possession 

 of that quality, which, after all, distinguishes the 

 statesman from the mere politician. I believe that 

 Mr. Chamberlain had all these qualities, and at the 

 present crisis in the history of our country we can 

 ill spare so great a man." 



