"The Missionary of Empire."

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 388, 15 October 1903, Page 5

" The Missionary of Empire."

MR CHAMBERLAIN AT 67.

THE STRENUOUS UFE.

At first sight it might seem like a paradox to put it as an open question whether Mr Chamberlain is a great man or not. He stands to-day, as somebody has well said, on the heights of his reputation. If not Prime Minister, he seems to have a Prime Minister in tow.

He is a powerful man in the Empire, probably the most talked of figure in world politics. Yet it is not inconsistent with these facts to treat the question whether he is a great man is still open. Mr Chamberlain may deserve to be called a great man, even supposing that he is all wrong in this matter; or he may not deserve the description, though it eventuate that he is triumphantly right. Mr Gladstone is held by a majority of at least of good judges of men and matters to have been entirely wrong in regard to Home Rule ; but they who hold this do not seriously dispute the high claim to the title of the Great. At the same time, the question is naturally of interest'just now. Those whose life dream has been the federation of the Empire would desire to see the work carried through by a man possessing beyond all doubt the qualities of character and mind which constitute greatness.

FAMOUS NICKNAMES. There is eertainly a sense of incongruity felt, even of ridiculousness, in placing Mr Chamberlain in a group of Empire builders, to include, say, Elizabeth, Cromwell, William 111, Pitt, and Wellington. But the test is rather cruel. It must be borne in mind that for purposes of judging we are inconveniently near to Mr Chamber lain now ; our faces almost flat against the canvas,

The fact that he is known to most as •■ Joe " would not so much matter. It need not rule him out of very high company. Was not Pitt —among a few, at any rate—"Billy" Pitt? Elizabeth is " Good Queen Bess "to this day, and does not suffer by it. Napoleon was "Boney."q Gladstone the " G.0.M," If Bill had been short for William in those times, who knows, William of Orange himself might have been so named. It is not so much the fact that people have slipped into the vulgar way of saying " Joe " that for-, bids one to include Mr Chamberlain among the Olympians, whom we picture as serene and aloof from the crowd ; it is rather the way they say it that acts as a deterrent.

There is an exceeding familiar way of naming Mr Chamberlain and talking of his plans and characteristics. He is such a man of the people ; one whom everybody can uoderstand. Then there is newness that tends to disqualify, Time that tones and mellows the brand new in reputation as in art, that can turn the garish into chaste, may have worked a change in this policy by fifty or one hundred years from now. And the historian then may find a place for the ex-Colonial Secretary among those great ones of the earth, each occupying his pinnacle lonely and solemn. To-day we cannot all honestly say that we find in him that gran et puis&am esprit, which, strangely enough, Arnold looked for in vain in Tennyson. SOMETHING TO ADMIRE. Granted this reservation, much is left to admire with heartiness. Carlyle, casting about for a charitable thing to say of Philippe Orleans, discovered that, at any rate, he had the virtue to keep living for forty-five. Mr Chamberlain has improved on that by some years, and how splendid to-day is the strenuousness of his life 1 He lives it through and through. He drinks delight of action to the dregs. He is so keen in all he takes up, so ardent for the fray. Many must be the good men who kindled with him at the start whose fires have now turned low, slipped into aches. With Mr Chamberlain the glow remains. Here is the unquenchable spirit we love to see in men :

" How dull it is to pause, to make an end, To rest unburnished, not to shine in use."

Depth and choiceness of intellect one does not think of in connection with Mr Chamberlain. They certainly do not appear in his speeches. Look round the House of Commons during a full-dress debate, and you will see men on both sides that are his superiors in this. But it is a very different matter when you tuya to ability. There was an interesting letter in the " Westminster. Gazette" lately in whieh Mr Chamberlain was presented by the writer, evidently an old Liberal who had sat in the House of Commons with him, in rather an unusual light. Mr Chamberlain " makes things hum," but in the end nothing comes of it that is solid or lasting, was the purport of it.

POSITIVE ACHIEVEMENT. The statute book is not heavy with his achievements either. But, on the other hand, there is the defeat of Home Rule, the influence in all directions which he has had on Conservative legislation for years past. There is the wa,s and the bold and masterful policy of a personal visit to South Africa. No, it is fantastic to depict Mr Chamberlain, whether you like it or not, in any light but that of the very able man. He does the thing. This is the real test and proof of ability, and none other. The man who does, he alone deserves the description of '< the able," not the man—such as Falkland—who, though known to be good and clever, does not accomplish

Taste could not more be claimed with reason for Mr Chamberlain. Ho will go on quoting « Pickwick * and the most amazing colonial poetry to the end. Think of the jar to the nerves of those who think that the literary instinct should be in their statesmen! Such extremely familiar passages, too, he quotes from Dickens. If he would only drop the Betsy Prigg and Sairy Gamp kind of quotation and draw on " Barnaby Rudge " or " Edwin Drood," there might be some hope for him from the standpoint of the fas« tidious. NOT A SPHINX. Each man is something of a sphinx to himself and every other. But it is hard to see why Mr Chamberlain should have been singled out for the distinction. There is at least one statesman to-day whom the part would fit. better. Mr Chamberlain is notoriously an impulsive man. His emotions when he declares his admiration for the Prime Minister, or his desire for an alliance with America, the scorn with which he turns on his assailants—these are not at all sphinxlike.

His feelings will out, though he has the strong way of keeping them in least till his own chosen moment. We all know that the effect of letting his feelings go is very often not very pleasant for the lesser men who have been tormenting him too much. But it is not always gall- Those' who saw the incident during a debate on Small Holdings in the House o£ Commons ought not easily to forget it. Mr Gladstone, arriving unex« pectedly, brought all his artillery to bear on Mr Chamberlain. It was a beautiful sight. Leaning forward, and looking down to where Mr Chamberlain sat on the Opposition bench, he flashed out, "My right honourable friend always displays an infinite ingenuity in finding' circuitous reasons for shrinking from his former principles." A roar of delight went up from the Liberal benches, and everybody cranned to look at the victim, who, with his arms folded, sat a picture of aSability and enjoyment.