AN APPRECIATION

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 105, 31 October 1923, Page 7

AN APPRECIATION

A FIGHT AGAINST HEAVY ODDS.

The late Mr, Bonar Law was born in one of the "outposts of the Empire" New Brunswick. He was the son of a Presbyterian clergyman, and was trained with all the austerity of manse life Reared as a child in Canada, it was not until the days of his youth that he came into touch with life in Great Britain. His early manhood was spent in business life in the midst of the commercial world of Glasgow. It -was no t until he was 42 years of age that he entered the House of Commons in 1900 as Unionist member for the-Blackfriars Division of Glasgow. Almost every thine was against him, and especially against him as a prospective leader of'the Conservative forces. Mr. T. P. O'Connor in 1921 declared that the late Mr. Bonar Law belonged neither to the class nor the creed from which most of the lead ers of Conservatism have been drawn for generations—for centuries even In deed, this inevitable prejudice against him was once put in somewhat disre spectful terms by the jibe of a younc Tory that he was nothing but a Glas° gow ironmonger—a somewhat exaeeer ated description of a prominent member of so important an organisation as the Metal Market. Finally, the superficial observer would see nothing in the personality, including the physique, of ilr Bonar Law to mark him out as a predestined leader of a great party '■ The gift of eloquent speech was' Mr Bonar Law's greatest asset. He had magnificent command of the art of ex pression. His sentences uame out neat and well chiselled, and were ;\s spontaneous as the writing of the most fertile journalist. It was this gift which eventually lifted him to the leadership of a great political party. There were however, other qualities which contributed in no small "degree to his promotion. He had v real modesty. s () veal as to be described as a. weakness, but in addiliuH, lie wtia t,t nil Uma s fuiv, 'was bubbling with guudfelJowsJiip, and was

capable of great personal and party loy ally.

His maiden speech caught the ear of the House, and his second speech, one on Tariff Reform, charmed the whole assembly, even those most fiercely hostile to his opinions being- impressed. His success was rapid, and two years after he entered the House he became Under-Secretary to the Board of Trade, the h'rst rung on the ladder that was to lead to the Premiership. AN EXTRAORDINARY MEMORY. He had a most extraordinary memory. As Colonial Secretary he would stand up in his place and deliver his annual statement of the affairs of his Department with regard to its work in all parts of the Empire. He would give a complete exposition of the problems that confronted each, with forecasts of the future, and detailed accounts of their revenue and resources, moving from State to State as he progressed, the whole being delivered without a single note. He was the only member of the House of Commons capable of such an extraordinary triumph of memory and each member willingly congratulated him on his marvellous achievement.

Mr. Bonar Law had no violent appetite for the limelight, nor did he seek the gauds of life, not even of high official life. These things did not appeal to him, and it was only the pressure of his friends continually urging him to remain in harness, coupled with his own strong sense of duty, that kept him in the political arena for so many years. The departed statesman was essentially allied to modern political history, and was most prominent during the war years. When Mr. Asquith resigned at the latter end of 1916, he was called upon to form a Ministry, but declined to do so. He, however, joined Mr. Lloyd George's Government, and, as leader of the House, carried out the duties of a difficult position with remarkable tact and skill. He was faced with many problems, not the least of which were the bickerings of the Coalition Liberals and the wavering of the Government's Irish policy. His greatest monograph is perhaps the manner in which he successfully guided his own party through the intricate paths of the coercion and reprisals period of Irish history towards the then unforeseen path of Dominion Home Rule—perhaps the most striking transition ever accomplished by a party leader. ■ HIS RESIGNATION IN 1921. He performed yoeman service during the Peace Conference at Versailles, shielding his leader, Mr. Lloyd George, as far as possible from the political attack of his followers. . His health, however, began to show signs of fraying under the continued strain of leadership, and in March, 1921, he resigned. So swift was the onset of ill-health, and so unexpected, that cynical politicians were slow to accept the reason given,, believing the resignation to be due to his party voting against him on a Protectionist issue. Mr. Bonar Law withdrew from affairs of State, and played golf on the Riviera, and from a distance watched the advances of the Government towards the Irish settlement. In the famous .dispute provoked by the manoeuvres and counter-manoeuvres of Mr. Austen Chamberlain and Sir George Younger, and their followers for and_ against the continuance of the Coalition, Mr. Law for a while maintained a non-committal attitude. "Up to the eve of the Carlton Club meeting in September, 1922, at which the question was to be decided whether the Conservative members of the House of Commons should go into the General Election simply as the Conservative Party or as a party in alliance with the Coalition Liberals, nobody knew whether the former Conservative leader would support or oppose the Coalition tendencies -of his successor, or abstain from taking either course." These were the words of the political correspondent of the Manchester Guardian" when referring to his resignation of the Premiership in May of this year., "At the Carlton L/lub meeting, the temper of which reflected the influence of a remarkable election success won the night before by a Die-hard Conservative over a strongly supported Labour candidature, Mr. Law at last revealed his willingness to accept the responsibility to which he was now called by an overwhelming majority of his party, and to lead the Conservatives into the General Election free from all Coalition entanglements—a decision, it ■ may be noted, powerfully influenced by the arguments and example of Mr. Stanley Baldwin."

RAISED TO THE PREMIERSHIP.

Mr. Bonar Law became Prime Minister as a result of the arrangement of the entanglement, and. successfully emerged from the General Election of November, 1922, with a, clear majority over all other parties and groups combined. Certainly he was pledged to no great constructive policy, but he was considered the best possible in order to ensure stability and tranquillity, a condition the country was much in need of. He was confronted by a Labour Opposition, and from the outset had to face unfamiliar conditions and tackle novel problems, forced upon him by unconventional methods.

Shortly before last Easter his throat began to give him trouble, and on his return to his Parliamentary duties afte* the Easter recess, it was 'found that ra far as the public platform was con cerned, he had become almost voiceless tor a week or two longer he continued to take his place on the Treasury benches, guiding his party through the intricacies of many vital questions, until at last the strain imposed on his resources became too great, and he was compelled, for health reasons, to place his resignation in the- hands of His Majesty on 20th May, 1923. Some weeks prior to his resignation the King granted him leave to take a sea voyage but it resulted in but little improvement, and ho returned to London a sick man, utterly unfit to take up the reins of Government at a period when many difficult subjects were looking for settlement. 6 \uKmw Rnl^ ]H I ES *°h}* y > of Glasgow, s™'. to sl)e predeceased him in 1909, leaving two sons and two daughters.