AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED STATES

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 203, 16 May 1918, Page 5

AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED STATES

SKETCH OF THE BRITISH MINISTER

ONCE, AS A BOY, RAN AWAY

TO SEA

(By Frank Dilnot, iu tho Sydney "Sun.")

Lord Beading, tho new British Ambassador to tho United States, has a career varied and adventurous enough to innko him. tlio hero of a popular novel. Ho is fortunate, moroovor, in possessing a roniantio personality. Whon to this is added the fact that lie has qno of the keenest business brains in Britain, a foreigner might perhaps be permitted tho smiling question as whether it is really possiblo for a public man to reach such interesting perfection. As a matter of hard fact, Lord Beading does not combine all the gifts,of all British publio mon, or anything like it. Ho would not be eo doliglitfnlly human if he did. Ho has some saving doflcioncics on top of great qualifications. Bnt withal ho is ono of the half-dozen leading men in England, kite earned hie position by sterling work, is tho trusted personal friend of Mr. Lloyd George, tho Prime Minister, And has demonstrated talents which will make for him a niche in his counhistory. "Brilliant" is the terra which best fit Bufus Isaacs—now Lord Heading—until this war descended upon tho world.. Sinco then, with a load of responsibilities, he has come to bo regarded as a war statesman—a great Briton. He arrived in America an example of the best that England can send to forward the great task that lies l»fore tho democracies of tho present ?nd tho future. Lord Beading is 57 yeaTs of age, and Lord Chief Justice of England, in some respocte the highest and most dignified permanent position in tho country. He lias held the office for. the past five years, and will retain it during hie work as Ambassador in America —an unparalleled situation, but ono which commends itself heartily to all who know the man and his work. It is a significant fact thak it never seems possible to spare Lord Beading from any task to which he has set his hand. Iα the Britisli Embassy in Washington lie will still bo the hoad of tho English judiciary—a fact which will servo for picturesque record by the history books of the future. • ' ■

A Schoolboy Runs Away to Soa, • Rufus Isaacs was tho son of a merchant in the city of London, and like .a good many high-spirited youths thought more of mischief than of school books. In his teens he ran away to sea, and travelled on merchant ships over various parts of the world. Back in London again he resumed the broken thread of his education, attended the London Uni versity School, and subsequently studied in Brussels and Hanover. At twenty-one ho entered the stockbroking business on the Londbn Stock Eichaugo, and laid tho foundation of that deep extensive financial knowledge which has been of such service to hinisolf and his country in later days. It was six years aftorwards, at twenty-seven, when, following a special period of etudy, he joined the Bar, and began his career which was to take him on rapidly to fame and forttune. In looking baok it is a puzzle io understand how Rufus Isaacs.without money or influence so swiftly forced his way to eminence. He could have been no moro than thirty when his namo was spoken of with respect and admiration among Mβ associates. When thirty-five he was a ; leading advocate, with his name frequently in the papers. Before be was forty he had 1 become a national figure. How Rufus Isaacs dynamited himself through the various barriers will always be something of a mystery even to those who fully appreciate the force of. personality. He seems to have been a young man who, without exuberance, could not be depressed. Combined with a strong will power ho had a remarkable capacity for the rapid absorption of knowledge on any particular matter. He had external graco3. What is perhaps of at least equal importance was his tremendous natural aptitude for work. It is of interest to know that when he got his foot on. the first and second rounds of the ladder ho did not relax, but redoubled his efforts. He never trusted to any casual examination of a case that was put before him. Np pains wero too great for him to master every detail, lie was never over-confident, but always looked failure straight in the eye, and then deliberately sought the means to overcome it. While some young counsel would come down to tlieir offices at nine or nine-thirty in the morning to prepare for the opening of tho Courts atf half-past ten or eleven, Rufus Isaacs, would be up at fivo o'clock working hard at any brief that had been entrusted to him. That is the kind of man he was and has continued to be. I' have seen tho new British, Ambassador dofend men for their lives in court, fight great financial caws; defend the reputation of some of tho highest m the land. I have seen him as a budding politician in the throes of election night, have witnessed his progress,m the House of Commons from the private benches to tho position of Attorney-General,, and have seen him since as Lord Chiet Justice, and was present when he presided over the trial of Roger Casement, a little more than a year ugo. i have never once seen him lose his temper. In a moment of etrain someone's manifestation t>l stupid obstinacy or perhaps equally stupid dishonesty may have caused that big mouth to shut a little tighter ma flash of impatience, but that was all. Abuse ho would meet with a cold douche of faots, petulance with silky smiling argument. In face of failure I have never seen him discouraged. A soft reflectiveness and an added courtesy were the only outward fligus on such occasions. I have never seeu him cowed, or seen him flinch Iroru unpleasant and painful duties. And there is not cno ot those traits which did not spring from the fact that ho was master of himself, mastor in groat measure of those aiouud him. Unlike those of more impetuous nature and lesser calibre ho avoided arrogance of every kind—perhaps subtlety as well as good nature played its part, but certainly the latter was not lacking. If he was pleading before a weak judge whom eorne of the leading counsel wore inolined to withstand or to treat with contempt, he would be more than usually respectful. Is it to bt wondered at that Kufus Isaacs was liked? On tho other hand, the strongest judge had no terrors for him; doference was never to be extracted from liim by fear or nervousness.

His Consideratencss. Let me give another little sidelight on tho man. Some seventeen years '. ago, when Rufus Isaacs was at tho height of his fame as an advocate, he was engaged day aftor day in a caso which j roused interest all over the country. lie j ii as tho leader of a long line of counsel. on one side. The court was crowded all | day with rank and fashion. Hundreds , of thousands of dollars wero boing spent j in tho fight. Isaacs, in charge of an , intricate contest, was a much-diseuesed j figure in. tho newspapers. Tho caso last-1 ed a week or so. It.was ill the midst' of tho caso that one cvoning a point in connection with the day's hearing wae in doubt—not an important point, but an interesting one—which the proceedings hud not elucidated. A young reporter was sont up to Rufus Isaac's houeo in Park Lams to secure an explanation from tho King's Counsel. En j had boon worried all day and for days) undor tho burden ot tho heavy work. The young reporter was a total stranger to him. Tho information required must have scorned trifling. The call was mado late at night, when ho might reasonably enough have resented intrusion—might, perhaps, evon have been at Tost. If he had refused tho inlormation. or if ho had even declined to sro tho nowspapnr man, there would have been no cnuso for complaint. But that was not Ruius Isaac's way. Ho met tho young fellow with a smilo of vrolcoine, took him into his library, turned up reforonco books, reinforced his memory, and cxplaiuod fully and procisoly tho point upon which it was desired to be clear. No ono could haro been kinder or more helpful. Theyoung poportor left the housn with a feeling that-he hnd not intruded on tho K.C. at all. Such is the kind of impression which Isaacs lea.ve9 upon ono.