A BUDGET-MAKER. MR. LLOYD-GEORGE TO-DAY.

Evening Post, Volume LXXVII, Issue 144, 19 June 1909, Page 9

A BUDGET-MAKER. MR. LLOYD-GEORGE TO-DAY.

AN INTERESTING PERSONALITY. When at twelve minutes to four this afternoon (wrote the Parliamentary correspondent of the London Mail, on 29th April) a slightly built man rises from the Treasury bench to 'ho table of the House of Commons a crowded Assembly will give a generous cheer to one who in the course of twenty years has climbed from the position of an obscure solicitor to become the statesman who handles the country's wealth. Mr. Lloyd-George makes a dramatic' entry with his first Budget, for he has to unfold what may be the most important financial proposals of a generation. Mere, then, is a, prospect to shake the nerves of the most hardened public man. It may safely be prophesied that Mr. Lloyd-beorge will not be shaken ; he will be stimul. ted. Whatever may be urged against the Chancellor of the Exchequer no one -an deny his force of will, his couragi and his power of rising to emergency. .Most people now know the outline of the strenuous upward struggles of the man who, left an orphan in mfancy and possessing no social or other external advantages, has made himself Chancellor of the Exchequer at forty -five. • In view of his posiuon Lo-day, however, one or two outstanding lacts are illuminating. " When Mr. Lloyd-beorge was a boy the uncle who took charge of his education waa in some difficulty as to the impaiting of a knowledge of Frerjch and Latin, since a paid coach or tutor was out of the question. It was his ambition that the boy should become a professional man, and to pass a preliminary examination, French and Latin were necessary. It says something for the iamily nbre that this uncle, who was a- shoemaker by trade, himseli learned French and Latin in order to teach them to his nephew. His de\otion was not wasted, for , the boy's qualities of brain soon showed themselves. His delight in conflict, in struggle, was manifested equally early with his intelligence. It is related of him how as a boy he led a revolt of Nonconfoimist children at school in reference to the teaching of some Churchdoctrine. On the great day of the school year, when all the county mag- „ nates were in attendance, the children j under young Lloyd-George refused to ' utter a single syllable, ihat was now he began leadership. He became a . solicitor at twenty one, and it was during the early years of his country practice that the villagers came to consult him on a matter »vnich eventually made him into a kind of local hero. An old quarryman before iris death had expressed the wish to be buried in the churchyard by the side of his favourite daughter, and the vicar, resenting the service of a legal notice on him, assigned a grave in a place usually set apart for suicides. The furious villagers at once went to Mr. Lloyd-George. He promptly advised them that if access to the churchyard were refused they should assemble in force, break down the wall, make their way through the churchyard, and bury the old quarryman by the side of his daughter.' 'Uhey followed his advice to the letter. There were legal proceedings, and eventually Lord Chief Justice Coleridge endorsed the young solicitor's advice, and adjudged the villagers to have acted within their rights. MR. LLOYD-GEORGE IN PARLIAMENE. Entering Parliament at twenty-seven, Mr. Lloyd-George proceeded apace on his work of making many personal | friends. His ability in debate, his Ccl- ', tic fervour, his repartee, soon made I him a power. He struck at his opponents with all the force that was in him, but he never shrank from blows in return. Nothing daunted him. He was one of the most unpopular men in England during the Boer war, but ho flew his unpopular opinious at the masthead, and even those who deplored his views could not withhold a grudging admiration to the forcefulneas of the , man. When he was appointed President of the Board of Trade some three years ago, there were many shakings of the head. Mr. Lloyd-George at once proceeded to disappoint the fears of his friends and opponents. He was no longer the fanatic with a mission, but the keen ma-n of business, untrammelled by red tape. He settled the threatened railway strike and put through the Pat- j ents Act, among other things, and waa i generally acclaimed. To-day we have to learn whether he has the calibre for still more- important work. Whatever his political successes or failures, Mr. Lloyd-Get rge is one of the most interesting of personalities. Among the crowd of Ministers on the ; Treasury bench, ho always sits side by side with Mr. Winston Churchill, with whom he is on friendly and apparently on almost brotherly terms. They exchange whispered jokes together and laugh like Bchoolboysj while other and more staid Ministers on either side of them wonder what it all means. Prominent as Mr. Lloyd-George has made himself in the present Parliament, there is at first glance 'nothing very impressive in his looks to indicate the great statesman. He has none of the leonine dignity of the late Mr. Gladstone, no trace of the imperturbable air of power which sat on Lord Salisbury j none of the dominating, mighty poise of Sir William Harcourt. Indeed, he gives the impression of being one who strives to be without a manner ; he cannot apparently be bothered to acquire methods or a demeanour which will make him into a character. ' "'Let's get on with business," "seems to be always at the back of his mind when it is not on his lips. He probably pleases himself with the thought that he has no mannerisms, that he is just a keen man of affairs. And yet he has an atmosphere all his own. MR. LLOYD-GEORGE AS CHANCELLOR. Picture a slim man with rather long/ black hair brushed back from the pale, wide forehead. A short, curved-in moustache conceals a very straight mouth, and there is a firmness about the jaw which hardens a general delicacy of feature. Shining eyes of darkblue light up the pale face, and they grow bitter and scornful with the 'Same swiftness as they sparkle in sly merriment. In repose there is a certain boyish air about the Chancellor's face which it is hard to define. As soon as he speaks, an extremely smooth bkin , breaks into a thousand little criss-cross' wrinkles, and from being the picture of a rather thoughtful youth, he becomes the alert and wary politician. No one is more suave thnn Mr. Lloyd-George as a Minister, and he wil 1 go out of his way to be courteous to an opponent. When the Chancellor rises to speak, he arranges his notes on the table before him, but having previously packed his mind with the facts, he sometimes hardly fiouche's them. He stands confronting the House, and rarely leans forward with his elbow on the des-patch-box, a customary pose wl'h many Ministers. He explains his point of view to the Opposition in a £ expostulatory way, ab though trying to convince a naughty child with whom ho desires to be kindly. Once in a way h« will swing youad with withering

words to some Liberal who has criticised the Government, and with attack him with a sort of slow scorn. Or he will turn to the bitter-tongued Socialist, Mr. Snowden. and drop a dozen keen words upon him. For the most parE, however, he keeps away from bitterness. But there is always the latent power for it. . ! Mr. Lloyd-George certainly is a persona) power in the House. He has a gift of real oratory, apart from his reserve force of swift attack. It is, however, hard to define the influence of a magnetic man, and ho is truly magnetic. The slim figure of this .man in his wellfitting frock-coat can always fill the House of Commons.' He can light up a dull debate as with flame. His presence gives a life to the Assembly. He seems to diffuse a kind of personal electricity. There is continually proceeding from hr-n some' strange vitalising influence which is causing his opponents to j strtiightFn their backs, and which is ' taking the sleep from the eyes of tired Liberals. Meanwhile he probably prides himself on the fact thst it is lvs views as a plain man of business that are moving in the House.