PROMINENT POLITICIANS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVII, Issue 11538, 24 November 1900, Page 5 (Supplement)

PROMINENT POLITICIANS.

THEIR STYLES OF SPEECH. , When he likes to lift his resonant voice, the Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary is one of the most powerful of public speakers, with a faculty for hardhitting, as his opponents know to / their cost. His tall figure, more erect than when he started for a well-earned period of rest and quiet in the exhilarating air of the Vosges, the noble marquis is physically well fit to direct the electoral campaign as supreme Unionist leader and to retain in his own hands the responsible offices he holds with such distinction, in the probable event of bis party being returned topower. The Unionists have a fighting leader in Mr. Chamberlain. His voice has been heard above the storm of elections for fifteen years. In 1892, and still more in 1895, the was due largely to him. A few monthlater he took a prominent part in the proceedings which turned Mr. Gladstone out. ■ In 1892, and still more in 1895, the Unionist candidates drew inspiration from Birmingham. ' He is a born electioneerer, with an unerring instinct for the argument which will impress the populace. When blood is up and voices are loud, laboured | reasoning falls on deaf ears. Mr. Chamberlain presents his case in vivid language, and spices his speeches with personalities. He | is near the age when men are counted old, l but his vigour is not abated nor his tongue ' become blunt. There is scarcely a suggestion of grey in his hair. Mr. Balfour's authority, in expounding the policy of the Government may be at least as great as Mr. Chamberlain's; but he is a House of Commons man, not a leader of the "Man in the Street." His style of speech is less pointed and picturesque than • Ins colleagues. It may appeal to the reflecting person in the study, but when an election begins reflection ends. Nor are Sir ' Michael Hicks-Beach and Mr. Goschen as ' conspicuous in the platform campaign as they are in Parliament. Both are masters v of cogent speech, however, and command the v " confidence of reasonable men. The Duke of Devonshire is always heard with respect, but he does not exert himself escept at a crisis.—Sketch. ' ' ■ . .- : ■■-. ■ ; •■ • *> *• :i ''''£Hpfv*>