WINSTON CHURCHILL.

Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 309, 30 December 1922, Page 13

WINSTON CHURCHILL.

! « FCUPSE OF A REMARKABLE * MAN. j j ' l! gItIIXIANT AND DANGEROUS, j t i]!v X MUlll.i ' 1 Sonic unkind;.N a-'.tic -pfuking of the J Kli-assuran.-e- or - of Lord , ,„hn Russci. declined that the great - ' r( former wits .mi!*' i'loprired at a mo- < I]]C „t's notice to „.- ~,. ,1,.- ,eal» of ] offiec and form ■< ' -*ernuicnt, v, , w - , .unie the direction and emu nil of the i r;«t, or to take command 01 the armies in the field- "'"'" - u ' r > »l"»y- ™<™* ' .hen the doing- and sajing- of Winston Churchill arc f corded in the Press. fl,. r e in our gem-rat ion i> an able mid » ro bitious man •>!»■ v, quite i..n\iuccd u j his onu i.uiMiinniiiic ability and pnius. And h;.- or ability need '„t be questioticd. though there i- more than doubt lll.it it is ranked by the ,hrewd critic a- highly as Mr. Churchill himself places "■ He h:i-> now reached middle-age. yet. though lie has been ,prominent figure in Imperial politics for long it cuimoi lie <ai,l that he has Veil conspicuous >n.-, esslul in any „f the administration offices held by Bin, and it .- hardly likely that in the remaining yem> lie will ever attain supreme office, unless ii be by one of those extraordinary accidents such as i la» pitchforked Mr Hoimr Law into, office as first Minister of the Crown. | lYinston Churchill has certainly had | I stirrine and varied career. Son of j tliat brilliant politician. I-ord TCandotoh fharchill, he has inherited much of his father's frit's as n dashing guerilla drtter in the political arena. A-.d ,dien superadded to these there is the strain of Yankee pushfulne-s inherited from his mother, one can in a measure tain to understand how it is Hint Mr dinrchill i' i"" 'I"' creature he is. nrrogant, dominccrint.'. ruthlessly ambitions, prepared to undertake -any task In any sphere, absolutely confident all th" tiir-° that none other o«n do it so ttell. He ha~ been traveller, soldier, nr correspondent, author. Tory politician, and Liberal Cabinet Minister. Sow comes what Mr. Churchill must, consider a sort of blasphemous reo.ictio ad absurdum—the hard-headed electors of Dundee have re.ipciel him and If is without «pnt in Parliament or office in any Cabinet. Vet posterity may benefit by this untoward event: Lately we read that the versatiV Minister had turned painter, und future fenerations mnv feast their c-cs in the Royal Aeademv on Cbunhi'l ma*t»rvKeH. painted in the bitter hours that followed the defeat in Dundee. Winston Churchill i* not a lovable personality. He ran not lie In it. He suffers from the defects of his qualities and, it is said, makes his subordinate and inferiors in office suffer too. He is so cocksure of his own absolute perfection and infallibility that he cannot suffer to be questioned. He has no patience with those who do not approve of his strokes of genius, his splendid project?. But always, from the early days when he was a rather undistinguished newspaper correspondent, there : laTe been keen, perhaps, not nnkindlv, observers who questioned many of his deeds and savings. His exploits during tlie South African war. as recounted by himself, were frankly scouted by many. A. G. Hales, the Australian war correspondent, was one of these, and in an] amusing noTei by him. "McCiusky." he , gives a scathing picture of Winston Churchill as he then wav Atir* allowing for some exaggeration—the bwok if wholly an exaggeration —the piiture Bales gives of the Churchill of ttuse iljl would well represent the ChuftSiill of today. Somi few extra touches wrald have to be. added, of course. A lather pompous, self-important manner lias been assumed since, for he takes limielf very, very seriously, and as if to emphasise the value of his head and bnunß to the service of the Empire be draws public attention by* a fortuitously pave pose—and a conspicuously huge lit. After all. why not'; Gladstone had his particular collar, .Indents Cbamkrfain bis monocle and orchid. Why sot yTinston Churchill hit h-it' It used to be current, in journalistic and other circles at Home that Mr. ChureliU's first public appeal ance as a Ipeatkcr was at a London music-hall. *hen he, as one of the audience. inMated excitedly on addressing the giddy erenrd—it was probably after his return from South Africa! if the story be true. But that was the exuberance of ?«uth, and the public arc willing, as Mr-Churchill is probably anxious, to Wget the Incident. Later on he stood 'w Parliament, as a Tory or Unionist —the terms were synonymous —and weeseded in entering Parliament. Mr. Balfour—now Earl Balfour—was then pime Mir.iste-. He had been tbe col*We and boon companion of Lord Handolplt Churchill in the old stirring %8 when they formed the Fourth ™rty. and it was said that Mr. Churchill looked for some considerate treatment bom his father's comrade. He did not 'Pt.lt. It might have been due to into mpatibility of temperament—what*<l\the T reason, Mr. Churchill was not * P«rsona gratis with either the leader * tte rank and file of the Tory Party. Bad.they but taken him and encouraged J*'.' and given him oTice. Winston Cmu-chill would to-day have been in Jw Tory camn. hut as'they did'not do *ie '"ratted" to the other side and »ent back to St. Stephen's as n supr°rter of Sir Henry Campbell Bannerfun. " Apd in the Liberal party lie was made ™ n !* of and soon began to reap the ™"> of his conversion—or apostacy. j™* came to bun. and he burgeoued wa ai ~ Rigllt honourable. But it *?»t be emid that he was looked upon *>th suspicion by many of the Liberal ™»Kand file. For one thing honest men . Jotfot like political -rats." For another ™g in professing and preaching with ?S and vitriolic eloquence tbe gospel "I nadicalism. he was preaching against class. am ] lllain w . 0 ple hold that 5 man should always be true to hi. re «d. and his sa lt. So it wis that, many t he writer) believed that anf* ton rh, ' Tr ' l 'iH bad become Radica °t for principle hut for expediency. As Kadir-al he f. hi nil he could far more £?*Mh.illv follow ,„,d realise bis am i .*">"• wherefore ihi = scion of the aris , 7*7 * r 'i**»*\ ■■< .Kith '0 democrat-v a . : democratic ideals thai soundec ,ff Y e if not insincere. F« wn« ar Mtivo ■speaker. True he suffered fron thickne-« or impediment o j*?™ or n-ticnlation. but practici wdtn nullify that, and the form nnr I;*' nnd phra-ing of his speeehei fro ex<,(,l,<, nt. as might be expecter 'oUn °Ji R tt *° from vo " ,n upwards Tiac ?tred journalism and the inky war

Une or two incidents of his career as | Minister may be recalled to illustrate: tlie peculiar assertivcness of his charicter. While he was Home Secretary. | v band of alien desperadoes and anar- I •hints had entrenched themselves in a building in one of the London streets— Sydney Street, l think. They were irmed and made it clear that they would light to the death to avoid arrest. The police surrounded the building, and later the military appeared with machine suns. The end of it was that the house was burned down and the miscreants perished in it just as the Kelly brothers died at Glenrowan. During the siege, which lasted a day or two. Winston Churchill appeared, and finding fault with some of the methods employed began to give orders, which were not obeyed, the police or military refuting . to recognise his authority. The matter was afterwards raised in the Commons, and it is mentioned here only to show the ruling passion of the man. When he appeared he wanted to t*ke char:*— who else so fit? And always it has been the sa.me. Can we not recall later how he wasted some ten thousand marines by "-ending them to Antwerp when the Germans had invaded Belgium? It meant the loss of these men to our fighting force during the war. for they escaped to Holland where they were promptly interned. And there later, there was the mad enterprise of the Dardanelles. That Mr. Churchill survived that is due more probably to the friendship of Mr. Lloyd George than aught else. Blunders of that sort arc not forgivable to men who hold tbe keys of life anii death for a whole race. Time was when Radicals at Home used to canvass interestedly the question nf the probable successor of Mr. Asouith when he chose to quit office, and usually the choice lay between Mr. Lloyd George and Mr. Winston Churchill. The world knows of Mr. Lloyd G«i>rge, and once a&ain be may hold office as •Prime Minister. But i;. is almost certain that. Mr. Churchill will never be Liberal Prime Minister. Indeed it would not He surprising to find him "rat back to Toryism. o r find salvation in the Labour ranks. He cannot live without office I and limelight, and the sacrifice of a handful of DrincipaU here or there is nothing, so bis ambition is served. As an o'd Scottish Bedieal I am glad Winston Churchill is now in eclipse. If he were younger there might be hone that bis compulsory refinement might teach him something of modesty and unselfishness, but he is too old for that: mid win orobablv go on to the end as 1«» has been going all along—brilliant-, clever, unscrupulous—hut unsatisfied, and. after all, more or less of a failure.