The Press Saturday, December 1, 1928. "The Worldly Hope Men Set Their Hearts Upon—."

Press, Volume LXIV, Issue 19482, 1 December 1928, Page 14

The Press Saturday, December 1, 1928. "The Worldly Hope Men Set Their Hearts Upon—."

In the lives of all men who play a prominent part in the great drama of public life there is material for the moralist. Ambition and office are stern testers of character. Of eminent Englishmen who have died in the last few years few provide so much as Lord Curzon. We have lost greater men in that time, but none, perhaps, who illustrates more clearly the way in which Nature and the world sometimes mix their colours in the painting of a portrait. Viewed from one angle Curzon was attractive, distinguished, even noble; from another he was mean, vain, and almost childish. Studying his career, one is struck afresh by the folly of permitting faults to overshadow virtues. " The web of our life "is of a mingled yarn, good and ill "together," and Curzon well illustrated the truth of the saying. We have no intention of going over again the facts of that career. Our purpose is rather to consider Curzon in relation to his ambition and to his fellows, and to show how great gifts and utter devotion to duty, because they are not accompanied by other qualities, may fail to carry a man to j the inner circle of his dreams. Curzon was intensely ambitious. His final goal was the Premiership, and when he missed it towards the end of his life the disappointment nearly broke his heart. That is one of the profoundly interesting things about this favourite of fortune. Well-born, capable far above the average, rich, of cultivated mind, called to some of the highest offices in the land, able on the threshold of old age to look back on a brilliant career of service to the State, he was unable in the hour of that disappointment to take a philosophic view. "Such was .the reward I received for "nearly forty years of public service "in the highest offices; such was the "manner in which it was intimated to "me that the cup of honourable " ambition had been dashed from my " Hps " The words in italics are an indication of the weakness in his character. Can anyone imagine Asquith or Mr Baldwin using 'them? They would have murmured a quotation to themselves, perhaps: The Worldly Hope men set their Hearts upon, Turns Ashes—or it prospers; and anon. Like • Snow upon the Desert's dusty Face, Lighting » ' little Hour or two—is gone and would have solaced themselves quietly with a boob. or some routine task of life. . ■" It is ; extraordinary that; Curzon should ever have imagined that he could be chosen as Prime Minister in succession to BoharLaw. There were two riiost convincing reasons against it. He, was unpopular and he was a peer. Though Curzon once confided to his wife that perhaps he was "un- " fitted " for the post, the first reason oould not have troubled him much. Men are not conscious of their own infirmities, but only of one another's. What is surprising is that a mail so versed in politics should have supposed it possible that in these days the Prime Minister could sit in the House of Lords. Yet he cherished this ambition for years. Perhaps that is partly the explanation of this proud aristocrat's retention of his post at the Foreign Office under Mr Lloyd George, when his chief, whose diplomacy he detested, persistently interfered in the conduct of foreign affairs. He wished to be in the running for the Premiership. Also he loved office, and rather than'relinquish this and his ambition, he suffered humiliation. 41 Knowledge comes, but wisdom " lingers." How often the truth of this is written in the recerds of men who may be supposed to have had exceptional opportunities of acquiring wisdbm. Cnrztfh had wonderful industry, and' it is very greatly to his credit that he did not allow chronic pain to interfere with the vigorous execution of his duty. Unfortunately he did not understand men. He was by no means without kindness, but he lacked that consideration for others which oils the wheels of life. A story is told of him that on a tour of inspection in India he observed something amiss in the sphere of a young English official and gave him a severe " wigging." The official was obviously upset by this censure from the Viceroy, but when a member of the staff pointed this out, Curzon could not see it. To him it was simply a routine matter; he was unable to put himself in the position of a sensitive young man hauled over the coals by so august a person as the Viceroy. This unhappy inability handicapped him throughout his career. From high officials to messengers his subordinates at the Foreign Office appear to have been glad to see his back. So were the Ambassadors. There is nothing more ironic in English politics than the remark of one of the staff of the Foreign Office when Mr Ramsay Mac Donald, the first Labour Minister, succeeded Curzon —"At last "we have a gentleman over us." Curzon prided himself on being a gentleman of the ruling class, and nothing would have hurt him so much as such a remark. Yet, though he was so profoundly disappointed at being passed over for the highest office, he , served Mr Baldwin loyally. He was i indeed a composite creature. His J greatest fault seems to have been his l lack of true humility. Pride and ambii tion were his masters, not his servants. . Beside his faults of temperament the , serenity of Asquith in success and ad- | versity stands out clearly as the mark of a mind wholly noble and an inspirai tion to this and succeeding generations.