In the Public Eye

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 123, 26 May 1928, Page 27

In the Public Eye

M. Eleutherios Venizelos. Fresh risen from the obscurity of his retirement, M. Eleutherios Venizelos, once the most powerful figure in Greek politics, has come ,again into the concentrated light of the politics of his country. " Cablegrams from Athens this week stated that he intended to form a new Greek Ministry in order to save the country from a military dictatorship, which is apparently imminent. M. Vcnizelos is a mild- ' mannered man with kiudly blue eyes, which boa.lll through goul-rimmcd eyeglasses, successfully camouflaging the fiery and fearless fighter who at one time was 'as much at home behind a gun' as he was upon the public platform. He has, however, been a political rather than a military, leader; Prior to the Great War, he had hardly been heard of outside his own country, but during the years almost immediately following he was the bulwark of the Greek nation, though he afterwards entered into a compulsory retirement from which he Bas only this week issued. Once again ■he seems determined not to let the hotheads of the nation precipitate' the kingdom into a needless turmoil which might result in untold trouble. The national honour must, however, 'be upheld, and it will be since it is likely to rest in the safe-keeping of M. Venizelos. He first came into prominence in his own country in 1898, at the time when, the King's second son went as .High Commissioner to Crete, and the i regeneration of that distressful isle "commenced., Dr. Sphakianaki refused to assume leadership under the Prince, and M. Venizelos was offered and accepted the post. He served the island with, great loyalty until 1909, when he wasl invited to go to Athens, and this he did. In 1910 both he and his party ■were returned with a largo majority, which was still further increased at a later election. At one time M. Venizelos held three portfolios. He was Minister of War and of Marine and, in addition, President of the Council. In his latter capacity h6 showed«himself to be a wise and prudent as well as a courteous leader, and up to the tim,e of his retirement some four years ago he was the idol of his party as well as of the people. At one time he was thought to be to the Grecian Eoyal- Family, but he did more to uphold -the dignity of that dynasty than did its actual occupants, and had its members paid more attention to his advice there might still have been a King of Greece instead of a Republican form of Government. , With the danger of a military autocracy in sight, M. Venizelos has bnee'more issued from his retirement to take up the cudgels in defence of democracy. Dr. Oustav Stresemann. . ■ , \ The most outstanding figure in Germany during th,e past few' years has been, .that of Dr. Gustav Stresemann, Minister, of Foreign Affairs, and a mem.' ber of the jieagiie of Nations Council , sinco :p™telhbpr,'; 1926. :At the' elections early in the present month the actual results ;<?£. ..w.h.icl},. ,hav,e,_ only come to hand during the present week, Dr. Stresemann and the ! People's Party, of which he. is the leader^ received a decided set-back by th c' Socialist Pariijc-,' luou^u'^e still has a -small majority to work on. His is one of the --most -conspicuous figures at the table of the League of Nations, which is due partly to the importance of the country he represents and partly to the force Of his own personality. Dr. Stresemann has had a stiff apprenticeship in the Beichstag, where in recent years he has had to defend a moderate foreign •policy against the criticisms of Na-_ tionalists, who at some periods formed part of the Coalition Government of which he,was himself a member. As a result he is a singularly dexterous and • offeetive debater. Broadly speaking^ the Stresemann policy rests on three principles—the fulfilment of the Versailles Treaty, rapprochement between victor and vanquished on the basis of the Locarno agreements, and support of the Leagu,e. of Nations. Coming much later to/Geneva than his French or British colleagues-, the German Foreign Minister is displaying, at least as much anxiety as either of them to use the League whenever it can reasonably be .used. Like them, he lends himself with perhaps undue readiness to hotel conversations organised to a point which makes them a rival mechanism to the League Council; but,as he is more a novice .in this particular form of vice ho may be the easier to wean from it. As President of the. Council last year. Dr. Stresemann filled a difficult post with■:distinction. He was efficient, he' was good tempered, he was humorous, and, what is perhaps more surprising, he was eminently tactful, handling questions which necessarily pitted Germany against Poland or Franco with discretion and skill. The attitude of the German.. Foreign Minister at the Assembly will be watched with intorest. Many appeals ,will be made to him—from the Saar, from Danzig, from German minorities in various places—tol .champion their cause from the Assembly platform. The temptation to figure primarily as defender of German interests will be strong. /If Dr. Stresemann has tho wis-. dom to resist.it, and to stand.rather for fortifying the League itself against half-hearted friends or insidious foes,' lie will have served both it and his ■ country well. M. A. Valdemaras. Although; it was anticipated last December that'the trouble between Poland and Lithuania in regard to Tilna had been overcome, by a mutual conference, at Geneva, it is evident that Lithuania still focis under a grievance In regard .■_: tp tu o dispute. fcr the Prime Miiister of that country, M. Valdemarn s, said only this week that he would never' renounce the right to Vilna. On 11th December last it w.is announced ' that the "state of war" between Liuniaiua and Poland had como to an end after a'hurriedly convened mooting of tho Council of the League of Nations had ratified a declaration made ■to it by the Polish and Lithuanian representatives. Under the arrangement Poland promised not to attack Lithuania, and Lithuania no longer considered herself at war on.account of Vilna. The settlement was arrived at as a' result of a conference between Marshal Pilsudski, Polish Prime Minister, and M. Valdemaras, Lithuanian Primo-Minister. In that agreement Poland agreed to fully recogniso and respect the political independence and territorial integrity, of Lithuania, niid i the Council accepted tho statement that

the two countries would enter into direct negotiation for a final settlement of all the necessary details of the agreement. In December, 1926, the Government of Lithuania, then under the Premiership of Dr. Slexevicius, was overthrown and tho then President arrested and deposed as the result of a military coup d'etat. A new. President was elected, and M. Valdemaras formed a Government, in which he took the post of Foreign Minister as well as that of Prime Minister. Some months after his appointment ho made the following reply to a query as to where he and his party stood in regard to Vilna:—"As ' to. whether the present Government is prepared to resume normal relations with Poland by renouncing Vilna, I must emphasise that there is no Lithuanian party ready to renounce Vilua, least of all my own party. I am ready to resume normal relations' with Poland when a satisfactory agreement has been reached with .that country as to Vilna, and when Poland manifests a readiness to respect the independence of Lithuania." After he had issued this statement there was a movement on foot to compel him to resign, the army, always a divided force politically, taking a hand in the affairs of the country in the hope of bringing about a settlement. Deprived of the army's support it looked as though ,M. Valdemaras's position was untenable, and that he would havo to resign, but he successfully weathered the storm and has' continue^ to do so with more or less success ever since. Lord Halisham. When he was Attorney-General; the name of Sir Douglas Hogg was wellknown to newspaper readers all over the Empire, but now that he has been raised to Britain's highest legal office, thnf nf Lord Chancellor, under tho title of Lord Halisham one is likely • to forget that l=e is an old friend in a new' guile. A few years ago journalists attached to the House of Commons saw fit to entertain Sir Douglas M'Gari rel Hogg at a dinner, and on that occii&iou tui; niujiu, card was decorated with the figure of a man toiling up a long flight of'stairs. It also showed the cherubic, but unmistakable features of Sir Douglas Hogg ringing a bell at the bottom of the lift-shaft adjoining the stairs, and uttering the prophetic, phrase: "I'm going up in the lift." The allusion, of course, was to his rapid' rise in polities, and was but a portent of his progress since.- Almost as soon as he was elected for the London seat of Marylebone he stepped into the Cabinet, and when he first stood up to have his "say" beside the Treasury bench it was quite apparent that the old hands had nothing to teach him. Now, after six short years of politics, he steps into one of the highest offices Great Britain ha.s to offer,: and by common consent is recognised as the right man for tho position. Lord Halisham is the distinguished son of an almost equally distinguished father, though the, comparison is not in politics. Mr. Quintin Hogg's great' work at the famou3 Eegent Street Polytechnic, in London, has earned for him a well-earned fame, and Lord Halisham, despite the pre-oceupa-jtipngjjf .life,..has.never.lost touch with the great institution which his. father founded. Curiously enough, his successor as Attorney-General; Sir Thomas Inskip, has been, chairman of the V.M.C.A., Central London division, for quite a number of years,, so that both the Crown's leading law officers have been connected 'with institutions which are carrying' out a: very similar work. Lord Halisham served in the South African War, aid he has always shown consideration for 'the "Ser-vices.'-'lt falls to the lot of the At-torney-General to nominate counsel to represent the Crown in all cases, and he has adopted the invariable rule that his nomination shall be only of those barristers who had served in the Great War or in the Boer War. Lord Halisham is now 55 years old, a comparatively young man for the high office he has -been appointed to,- but during thoso years he has passed ttirougk a varied apprenticeship. After leaving Eton he was for eight years in the sugar trade, but he then turned to-the Bar, where his lucid mastery of detail gained him speedy success. When he introduced the Trade Union Bill, four years ago this month, this attention to detail ' was very . apparent, and hold much, to do with its success when before tho House. , ■ v ■ V iSir Alfred Mond. \ It! is only during last few years that the House of Commons has begun to appreciate Sir Alfred Mond at his ; true value, but now he has become the greatest :Oi all anti-Socialist figures. Ho does not profess to be an 'orator. He just stands up, beams through . his. glasses, sticks onethumb in the armhole of his waistcoat, holds a little pocket-book or some papers in the other hand, and then proceeds to "chat" for half,an hour in rather thick tones. On economic and industrial question? !s-c is like a human concentrate of. all ■ o reference works that were ever \v,-»- :- ---.ten, making his point just at the right moment, while he'is quite cle.vpr enough to know that his appearance and his little peculiarities of speech have a very definite Parliamentary value. Others might—and do—say exactly the things he does, but without half their effect. He has a happy knack of chopping off the head of a political opponent with an undisturbed air of smiling benevolence, which disarms the unwary. His generously proportioned form, clad in the conventional morning coat 'and striped trousers, reminds one irresistibly of the manyi commer-. cial men who are seen in nearly all the world's chief centres, while 11: type is not unknown to Wellington. His glasses balance themselves with complete safety on the bridge of a nose which offers ample accommodation, while a black moustache appears evenly on either side of a mobile and rather impressive mouth. With a flower in his buttonhole ho stands up in his place in ■ the House, and in" slow tones utters his opening words —"Mr. Speaker." In a moment the House settles down to wait for the amusing things which are sure to come side by side with .convincing facts. His utter imperturbability is amazing. Occasionally a too exuberant Oppositionist will essay _an alleged joke, of which he apparently takes no notice, but tho recollection of the interruption remains, and presently, just when it suits his convenience, there comes the crashing blow and the scalp -of his, opponent is in his hand. Sir Alfred Mond is known as one of the wittiest men in the House, for he has a knack of coining humorous phrases, but they come as unconcernedly as' if lie were merely offering a morning's greeting. That, of course, helps their effect. Anyhow, he is certainly one of tho "big brains" of the British Parliament, and the Socialist Opposition has every cause to fear tho might of his arguments, '