Evening Post. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 31, 1923. BONAR LAW

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 105, 31 October 1923, Page 6

Evening Post. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 31, 1923. BONAR LAW

Almost exactly a year after his call to the Premiership,' Mr. Bonar Law is dead. As he had only held the. office for a little more than half the time, and the illness which had dictated his retirement was known to forbid his return to the front rank of public life, his death will involve no material change in the political position. But the .services which he has rendered to his country are not to be measured by his brief and uneventful term in the highest office. Such was the value of those services and so deep the impression which a singularly modest and winning personality had made even upon political opponents that there" are few men left in politics whose loss would be more sincerely mourned. The admiration and affection in which Mr. Bonar Law was held by all sections of the House of Commons was displayed on two previous occasions. The first was on the 17th March, 1921, when, without a word of warning from the most alert' of lobby correspondents, Mr. Lloyd George announced the resignation of the man who, though his strong opponent in party politics, had been his righthand man in the Coalition during more than four "of the most eventful years of British history. The second of these tributes from the House was on the 28th May last, when it met for the first time after Mr. Bonar Law's resignation of the Premiership.

Though Mr. Asquith's undemonstrative nature has won him a reputation for hardness and coldness, there, is no one who better succeeds on these occasions in combining emotion, precision, and an unfailing- felicity of language. Referring to Mr. Lloyd George's "most unexpected and painful announcement" of Mr. Bonar Law's resignation from the Coalition Ministry, Mr. Asquith said :

I have been for many years, with the exception of a brief period when we were colleagues—and no one had ever a more loyal colleague—constantly engaged in giving and receiving rhetorical blows which left nothing to rankle. lam sure that this is not an occasion on which many words are required from me, but I may say on behalf of those whoi have been for many years his political antagonists that we entertain for the Leader of the House a most affectionate memory. We all sincerely wish him complete restoration of health and re-entry into the fighting line of' his party.

,A man who, though a hard-hitter, could win such a tribute from a hard-hitter on the other side must obviously have been blessed with a charm of character which goes far to account for his success. Mr. Asquith's hope for the retiring Minister's complete restoration to health was not to be realised. The moving candour with which Mr. Bonar Law spoke of his own condition in his letter of resignation was unfortunately nearer the mark :— The strain of the last few years has pressed very heavily upon me" and, as indeed you know, I have for more than three years found it very difficult to do my- work. Now I am quite worn out, and my medical advisers have warned me that my physical condition is such that, unless I have an immediate and a long rest, an early ' and complete breakdown is inevitable.

It was a pleasant surprise when, after a long holiday, Mr. Bonar Law returned to political life. The remarkable' success in keeping a secret which he had displayed on the eve of his retirement was repeated after his return. He took no conspicuous part in debate, and his attitude towards' the internal strife that was agitating the Coalition remained obscure. The secret was kept till the most dramatic moment of his career, when, on the 19th October last, at a meeting of the Unionist Party, he carried against the official leaders of the Party the resolution which destroyed the Coalition. It was a tremendous responsibility for any private member to take, and especially for on© who less than eighteen months previously had spoken of his health in the terms above quoted. The success of the resolution resulted iv the immediate resignation of Mr. Lloyd George and his colleagues, and Mr. Bonar Law was sent for. After forming a Ministry, in which out of loyalty to their late allies in the Coalition some of the most distinguished of .the Unionist leaders' declined to take a hand, the new Premier went to the country. His remarkable success at the General Election, though due in part to the chances of an imperfect electoral system, amply justified his decisive action at the Carlton Club meeting. Mr. Bonar Law had done well for his party and for the country, but he had done badly for himself. The strain was far too severe for an invalid. The, illness which enforced his resignation in May has now had a deeply deplored but not unexpected ending.

Mr. Bonar Law had held the leadership of his party for nearly ten years when he resigned it in 1021. About half that period had been covered by the war, and but I'ov its intervention he might well have become Prime Minister whilo his health was still strong. Yet he won a still higher honour by the fcolf-offaccttieiiL whioh rnu.de him content to accept secondary places

in both the Coalitions formed during the war. In an address to his party a.t the outset of the struggle Mr. Bonar Law expounded his idea of their duty as follows :—

We cannot fight the Government now. Ihey have tied our hands by bur patriotism. But when the war is over the fight will be resumed, and it will, in my opinion, not be less successfully resumed because we put our country before our party. But whether my expectation in that respect is correct or not it does not matter. . We are doing what I ask you to do. not because'we think it will pay, but because we know it is right.

The man who at a time of national crisis could pilot his party along the right path with these inspiring words, and could keop them there till the danger had passed, has won a more abiding title to our regard than the most brilliant of party tacticians.