JOSEPH CHAMBERLAIN.

Evening Star, Issue 12882, 3 August 1906, Page 12

JOSEPH CHAMBERLAIN.

In the jTeface to his book Mr Mackintosh declares his intention of v.Tlting an honest biography of Jc-seph Chamberlain. The honesty k apparent throughout. It is--not.an appreciation; it is not-even a, depreciation; it is, ok rely a faithful reflection of the more dramatic scenes in which he has played a prominent part. To Chamberlain's early li.f-b. little- space is given.' He was a shy, reset- -ed child, but even then "he liked to have his own way." "He was -a very quiet and good little boy," and cared little for games ai.-d physical recreationHe left London for Birmingham at the age of eighteen, in .order .to represent his-father's interests in. the manufacture of woodeu screws. Besides pushing the interests', of the business, he found thro to act " as a Sunday school teacher at the New Meeting House of the Unitarians, and Hibseqre'ntly in "the Church of the-Messiah." —Early Pofitical Career.— For'nearly tyrenty years" the "cares of. an industrial undertaking Jeft him little leisure for politics. But in 1869 ho became a member of', the Town Council, founded ilie National Educational League, and made Birmingham the centre of RaScal Nonconformity. Almost from the outset. the League adopted the principle "that the Board .schools should provide ouly the secular elements of educsutidh. Chamberlain and the Birmingham Nonconformists were roused to passionate indignation against the Education Act of .1870. In -stinging phrases Chamberlain jeered "at Mr Forstcr as one "who was once a Radical and_ a Quaker, and who was now-a Cabinet Minister and a State Churchman." It is altogether in keeping- with, the irony of history that after many!day3 similar charges have been inade against, himself.. In these early days he scared ths more moderate,'liberals by his opinions. He believed " in rem vin?- every pernicious 6triction which. haa been imposed by our ancestors for the privilege of property." The will.of,thirty millions of people must not "be perverted and thwarted by three or four hundred gentlemen who met in a gilded chamber and represented the; virtues or the vices or the'; abilities of. ancestors who • died, a very long time ago." He termed Mr Gladstone's election'-address of 1874; " the meanest public document, that has r ever proceeded from a statesman-of the first, rank." "Without full repentance he • must not ba taken back «is ■leader,;: "like a stolen'watch, on the condition that no questions.are' assed." ..- Such were his views and thoiT expression when he stood for Sheffield-and-was defeated. In 1876 he'was

returned as a representative of Birmingham. A,working man, in seconding the nomination, quaintly expressed the popular faith by saying: "Joseph, thou hast been faithful over the things in our borough; we will make thee a ruler of the nation." Another working man added: "We can trust our Joseph to go down into Egypt, . where, • fearless of ■ the power; of Pharaoh and Hie seductions of Potipnar's wife, he will do his duty to his constitutents." ; ■ —The Radical.— .On ,his appearance, in the House a friend warne4-hnn : that the .Commons did„not...ca,re for a man with an outside reputation, and advised him "to contrive to break down a Kttle." He disregarded this advice, and his maiden speech, in which he advocated the separation of religious and secular education, was a complete success. His schemes of reform were very irritating. to those politicians " who. thoueht, either that this was the best of all possible worlds or that they themselves were the persons to reform it." In season and out of season he continued to advocate free schools, free land, free church. Thea, as always, without regard to friend or foe, he expressed his opinions with a clear incisiveness which never for a moment left his meaning in doubt.

In 1830 he became President of the Board of Trade, with" a seat in the Cabinet: Made' I up of such diverse elements as Chamberlain and Hartington, the Cabinet was not altogether a happy family, and XHily Mr Gladstone's influence preserved the equilibrium. Lord Salisbury likened the Cabinet to"an old j Dutch clock: "When it is going to be'fine ■ Lord Hartington appears, and when Mr I Joseph Chamberlain is seen you may look out I for squalls." In 188* ho opened his campaign against the Lords, who had mutilated the Reform Bill. In the course of his attack he said: "The chronicles of the House of Lords ar3 one long record of concessions delayed until, they have lost their gTace, of rights denied until"extorted from their fears." In 188J5, when he unfolded his unauthorised programme/he was the darling of the Radical party. <His: speeches in expounding the unauthorised programme were the most' eloquent of his life. They were inspired by a deep consciousness of .the needs of his poor fellowcountrymen and by a burning conviction as' to the necessary remedies. Out of the heart the orator: spoke. His utterances were those of the natural man. A tone of passion vibrated in his voice, and thrilled his audiences. He has tried in recent years to repeat that thrill, but the fire has seldom flashed into the old flame. "When Lord Hartington criticised some parts of the new gospel he uttered the famous retort: " It is perfectly futile and ridiculous for any po' tical Rip Van Winkle to come down from the mountain on which he has been slumbering and to tell us that these things are to be excluded from the Libera] programme. The world has moved on while those dreamers have been sleeping." > —The Unionist.— But the events of. 1886 were destined to establish a breach between Chamberlain and the Liberals. . .. Then, as in 1893, the bitterest- opponent of. Home Rule was Mr Chamberlain. No other member, not even Lord Randolph Churchill, possessed so bitter a tongue, or such power of rousing fury among his opponents. "A Lost Soul" was the "Hideous aspect in which Mr T. P. O'Connor, with, the-eyes of Irish resentment, ,saw Mr Chamberlain at the opening of his second great struggle with Mr Gladstone:" At the. close it was his words that let loose the passions of both sides, when members struck each other with their fists. "The Prime Minister," he said, "calls 'black,' and tbey say 'it is good'; the Prime Minister calls 'white,' and they say 'it is better.' It is always .the voice of a god. Never since the time of Herod has there been such slavish adulation." Cries of "Judas!" were'raised, and before men knew : what was • happening they were at each other's throats. The author follows in detail" the later career of Mr Chamberlain through all its brilliant changes. _ We see him sitting in a Conserva- • tive Cabinet, and then, as always, concentrating tho attention of the world upon himself.. We see him later leaving the Cabinet and going out into the wilderness once again to-fi'ght'for his own "hand; and we.see him finally, in the' present Parliament, with his little band of faithful followers from Birmingham, sitting on the front Opposition bench, still the most interesting fisjure of English politics. The author closes his volume with a chapter of twenty pages of what he calls ! "A.Study in Contradictions." Here in paralj lei columns are quotations from speeches roi presenting quite irreconcilable opinions. ]>oubtless this long list of conflicting views , will be of service to the political controveri sialist, but they do not.do much to explain the character of the man, nor does the author

himself attempt to solve the riddle. Ta< there should be no difficulty in the taric, f« few men's characters ara more simple or move - easy orcomprehension. yor Chamberlain essentially belongs to the class of person who decides the fate of by-elections, "who determines the swing of the pendulum, and who ' votes now Tory and now Liberal, unconscious of any contradiction, and alwpys under, the .sway of one dominant idea. But he is the ordinary man raised to the.level of a.genius; in other words, he is the. ordinary man in a most' extraordinary -degree., JJPor hnn! the [power of. the one idea' :ss. the powef it iUßid and forceful expositioiiiis "extraordinary, and the power ?t catching and passing on enthusiasm is extraordinary. Always perfectly honest, always perfectly_' sincere, his whole strength lies in his simplicity, and in his direct appeal; to > feelings ho can arouse, because those feelings are peculiarly his own.—' Daily News.'