'CONTEMPORARY PERSONALITIES'

Evening Star, Issue 18852, 29 January 1925, Page 3

'CONTEMPORARY PERSONALITIES'

LORD BIRKENHEAD’S BOOK. Lord Birkenhead is a generous friend. In ‘ Contemporary Personalities ’ he discusses the attributes of of t-ho leading public men of Great Britain with whom he has been for the most part, in jiolitical life. Without exception (says the ‘Argus '), whether he bo colleague or opponent, there is not one word of harsh criticism in the entire series of delightful essays. Some of his subjects have minds and characters that are as far removed from his own as arc the North and South Poles. Yet, though candid, he is impartial. As was inevitable, since ha wrote the sketches, ho has joined a Ministry in which some of the personalities whose calibre lie discusses without apparent restraint are intimately associated with him. .With some of his opponents ho will have, at some time or other, to cross swords. But his book, so equitable is it in spirit, need never embarrass him. First place is given by the author to Mr Bonar Law, who was living when the appreciation was written, let the author is more sparing in his praise of the late Prime Minister than lie is of almost any other of the men whom he describes. Presumably Mr Bonar Law belonged to a type which does not create enthusiasm in the author. He admired his business ability, and has credited him with having had an “ honorable ambition which never deserted him,” instead of that " meek ambition ” of which Mr Asquith spoke. Speaking of his leadership of (lie Unionist Party from 1911 to 1914, Lord Birkenhead says:

It was direct and courageous, if occasionally a little naive and inexperienced. All the time the simplicity and sincerity of his character endeared him to those with whom he fought side by side in a desperate struggle. And he was, on (be whole, aided rather than hindered by the ludicrous intellectual contempt which critics as acute as Mr Asquith and Mr Winston Churchill felt, for him.

Mr Asquith is dubbed by the author '‘the las! of the Ghidstoniau age.” “He seems,” he continues, “to breathe the quintessence of the years which stretch from the glories of Midlothian to the bleak wastes of t lie Newcastle programme,” Lord Birkenhead, passing from a plowing tribute to Mr Asquith s classic achievements at Oxford ‘‘in' the golden age of Jowett,” is mildly critical of his record in ‘‘ .Radical politics.” But he is unstinted in his admiration of his leadership in the first years of tho Great War. llesavs:

Mr Asquith's character is a national asset. He lights cleanly, wins without insolence, and loses without ram’or. In the rotund form of his oratory, and the absolute integrity of motive and con-

duct, lie recalls to a perverse genera-

tion all that was best of a bygone ago. And it will be said of him, when the last criticism is weighed, that here was a statesman, honorable, generous, and sagacious, who rendered groat service to his couulrv at a time when no other living Knglishmau could have done that which he did, and without which the State might have tottered to ruin.

Lord Balfour remains to Lord Birkenhead the, hero that ho was when the latter was little more than a youth. So brilliant and so crowded has his career been that the author apologises for his audacity iu attempting to write about it iu a. brief space. " J lie greatest political and philosophic intelligence of our ago” is only one of many similar declarations. Finally, he says of his hero, when writing of the personal side : Ho brings to life in all its aspects

a freshness which age cannot quench, and a curiosity and cliaim which time and knowledge hove failed to dim. He is in thought nod interest as modern as modernity itself, and yet retains an exquisite courtliness of manner which belongs to a polished few in a vanished age. Tho English language in his hands is a supple and beautiful instrument, tit to ■express the various purposes of a very various mind. No living philosopher, except, perhaps, F. H. Bradley, in his cloistered .Merton study,

has written upon impalpable subjects with such beauty, ease, and limpidity. Hi.s qualities are such, and so manifold, that no short or superficial survey of the politico] history of England will provide an elder brother so radiant, so youthful, so sophisticated, so learned.

This is wrillcn, of course, before the death vf Mr Bradley. Though in a different category, Mr Lloyd George is another of Lord Birkenhead's heroes whose fate, whatever if may he, cannot tarnish the fame which he bus already won in the eyes of his eloquent admirer. Perhaps the admiration is mutual. Both author and subject are men of immense and restless energy. Having referred to Mr Lloyd Georgoks sentiment, “which at its best touches nobility, and at its worst declines into that which is merely maudlin,” ha writes:

1 think that the next quality in Ibis complex personality, which 1 should myself single out for note, would lie that eerie intuition, subtlety, divination—call it. what you will —which enables him with equal clarity of vision to peer into flic minds of men and multitudes. 1 have never known anyone who discovered as quickly as Mr Lloyd George what was in tho minds of those who spoke with him ; and I do not believe there ever has been a man who discerned more swiftly .and certainly the moods of an assembly- -Cabinet., Parliament, Or public meeting-—with whose mental or emotional processes bo was concerned. . . . There is about him u (vrlain almost, indefinable trait; suppleness, subtlety, cajolery, plausibility -—call it which you will—which surely makes him the most persuasive negotiator in tho world. He is like Odysseus, "A man of many devices.” Again, he is like a Greek wrestler, whoso supple body has boon anointed with oil. He is

not very easy to grip. Lord Birkenhead has no hert Ration in (■ailing Mr Liovd George " incomparably the greatest living English statesman, and no less certainly one of the greatest who ever lived.” I lie author, it will be reme,inhered, was a colleague of Mr Lloyd George’s in tho Coalition Cabinet, so he writes with knowl-edgo of the best. Of tho future- —he wrote bolero tho last General Election —lie is not, so certain. If. as lie expects, however, the next great struggle should be lx;tween the existing system and Socialism, be thinks that Liberals and Conservatives should combine, and he foresees Mr Lloyd Georgo os “tho most eloquent and l lie most powerful enemy of the Red cause. W ritmg of Mr Lloyd George’s part in the war, tho author savs ;

It is fashionable now, among those who no longer require him, to dismiss Mr Lloyd Georgo with tho observation that "he certainly rendered groat services during the war.” This almost contemptuous summary dona little justice to the poignant anxieties amid which he pursued an unruffled arid a valiant path. Those who stood by his side in that struggle will recall the letter written to him by the late Field-marshal Sir Henry Wilson on t-ho day of the armistice; - “You have done more than any one man in tho world to win (his war.

“ On© of the most remarkable men nonliving” is the author’s estimate of Mr Winston Churchill. “ Many nvill dispute about many of his qualities,” he says. "Some wild praise one, others will disparage another. But no one will dispute that 'that strange and brilliant complex which is Mr Churchill is as arresting as bewildering as any J.n the world. dins is a fascinating sketch. When writing of one who is, more nearly a political contemporary of his own than any other in the gallery of ” portraits, Lord Birkenhead throws off all restraints and reeels in the task. We learn from him that Lord Ran dolph Churchill had little or no belief in Winston’s ability to achieve success, and “died in complete ignorance of the fact that he had produced a son intellectually greater than himself.” Of his personality the author says that Ee is j looked agon aa

even domineering. “ For those illusions, he adds, “his own demeanor is (unintentionally) much to blame. Ho does not mean to be either reserved or rude, but ho contrives to give the empression to those who know him little that Jio does not desire to know them more. Llsowhere Lord Birkenhead writes:—‘No man Jiving is more tolerant, more easy, more companionable iu social intercourse. And his charm and friendship are as veil known as his genius." Here, again, the author pleads for one whose work in the war was underestimated. "jho War Office,” he writes, “still preserves a comparative chart illustrating the output of destructive agencies when ho wont to the .Munitions Office and when he Mt it. Had ho (.ton o n 0 °^ ier wOl Y, al ' ho would have deserved well of the nation.” Lord Birkenhead credits Mr Uhurcliill with haring done more than anybody else to procure the adoption of the tank conception. Speaking _of the Antwerp and Gallipoli cnleipnses, bo says

His fundamental conceptions were sound, and even brilliant; but they inarched too far in front of the material resources which even he could command. Ho saw too much, and he tried ■to do too much. No one department, hardly one war, was enough for him iu that sublime and meteoric moment. Mr Winston Churchill and tho author are now colleagues iu tho Baldwin Cabinet, the head of which, strange to say, is not included in Lord Birkenhead s gallery. Tho fact is a reminder of how recent is .Mr Baldwin’s elevation in British politics. There are very many more interesting essays than those referred to here. Lord Gurzon, I-iord Reading, tho Karl of .Derby, Viscount Grey of Ifalloden, and Lord Levorhulme are among the peers; the Labor Party is represented by Mr Ramsay MacDonald, .Mr J. H. Thomas, and Mr Philip Snowden; and there are also sketches of Mr Austen Ghambe-rlain, Kir Robert Horae, Mr Timothy Healv, and Mr T. P. O’Connor. In fart) nobody has been included who is nut worthy of being “on the line.” It is truly a gallery of the talents which is well worth a visit.