COMMENTS ON THE CABLES

Evening Star, Issue 12926, 14 April 1908, Page 4

COMMENTS ON THE CABLES

Mr A.syfiTii, the new British Prime Minister, like Rehoboam of The Jmporlal old, has sought counsel of the (ioT.ri.meut. younger men of his party, but, unlike that ancient King, he has not displeased the country in so doing. On the contrary, if newspaper comments may be accepted as a guide Mr Asquith" has " undoubtedly strengthened tho Government." Liberal and Tory Press arc alike in this regard. Unfortunately, the London Press are not tho most reliable authorities in political crises. They too often, as happened <m tho eve of the last General Ele.-i ion. mistake the voice of tho metropoli.. f,.,- ;>■,. voice of tho kingdom, while their piedictions on recent live-elections have been grotesquely at sea. Opposition approval ot Mr Asquith's Government counts for very little, as it is almost wholly based on the belief that ho is not a Radical, but what they term a'• safe " politician. Nor have the Liberal 'Daily News' and •Daily Chronicle' been in touch with public sentiment for some months. Both parties, in brief, make the mistake of ignoring the fact that the old party erics arc on the eve of dissolution, and that the battles of the future have to be tought, whatever be their political badges, between the forces of Socialism and antibocialism. A rearrangement of portfolios does not imply a rearrangement of policy-; it may, in fact, cover up an avoidance of issues that must some dav be faced. The men who will make or" unmake the Asquith Government are in the ilouso of Commons, and they have vet to be heard from. The Labor and Home Lulo parties are avowedly hostile, and the radical Nonconformists" were kept together only by their faith in Sir 11 Campbell- Bannerman. Mr J. Ramsay Macdonald. the ablest parliamentarian and most influential man in the Labor ranks, has declared that the Liberal party in the House of Commons are made up of •disconnected and disjointed groups, onlv held together by the attraetive"personality oi one man. . . . Some of the Liberal leaders had no sympathy with the large heart of human democracy." And if feeling within the party was merely restrained out of deference »„ t! i s -1 l- lale leader, it will not be denied expression in the future, and we do not find much hope of the Government holding their own in the constituencies J'ortunately, however, there will be ,vi opportunity to test, public opinion at the polls when .Mr Winston Churchill, who has been promoted to Cabinet rank, stands tor re-election in North-west Manchester

Suirt: of the changes will provoke a smile. Sir 11. Fowler, an eminentlv Mlßi.Urlai respectable and wealthy wing or tne old school, a -Nonconformist, and the father ot the witty ladv who wrote 'Con cerntmj L«al«?l Canjahy' and other •• brilliant novel., disappears from ~ } io Mhich rarely heard his voice he is <eventv eight years of age—into the dignified repose ot a chamber that liis late fender was going to overthrow, so it was said. And Mr Fowler is to be accompanied bv .Mi John Morley—radical, free-thinkin<', lionet John—into the same august assembly and serene atmosphere. We ;i ll like and admire tlio one-time editor of the 'Pall Mall Gazette,' the author of 'Voltaire' and 'liurke,- the biographer of Cobden and Mads one. the friend of Darwin and Huxley, the central figure in that almost forgotten Radical political triumvirate of Citizen Chamberlain, Citizen Dilke, and Citizen Morley. Twentv-five vears many changes, and none more than in things political, [low few retain the faiths of their earlier days! Citizen Dilke—possibly m a sense the ablest of the threewent down, as Justin M'Carthv says, "like a tower, never to rise again'"'; Citizen _ Chamberlain, the bete noir of the Tories, tho uncompromising Hon)'* Rule down-with-the-Lords, ultra-Radical, like' Samson of old, has become a hissing and a. mockery to tho younger generation ; and Citizen Morley goes "to the Lords! The' last of the. trio has, however, more than enough philosophy of tho light kind to render him impervious to the few shafts that may be aimed by the baser soTt. Of the other changes much might be said! and asked. In fact, the Press and public are already wanting to know why Mr M'Kenna. who was quite recently promoted to be President of the F.ducation Board, should thus early be made First Lord of the Admiralty. Beyond that he is an excellent debater, a- strong Freetrader, and was stroke of the winning boat in the interUniversity r;u:o of 18S7. there is nothing in his career to mark him out for high distinction. As Minister of Kducation Tie has had the honor of annoying the Church of England, of failing to satisfy the Nonconformists, and of running away from his post before ho has proved his statesmanship in putting lius own loudlv-vannted Hi!] through Parliament. We think his was a case where ho would have done v ell to follow the more modest ambitions of his colleague, Mr Herbert Samuel.