CANADA'S PRIME MINISTER

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 15123, 14 October 1912, Page 4

CANADA'S PRIME MINISTER

A PERSONAL IMPRESSION.

"One who knows him" contributes to a London paper an interesting sketch of Mr. B. L. Borden, Premier of Canada. In tho course of his articlo he says : — The first time I ever saw Mr. Borden lie was sitting in his place in the Canadian House of Commons at Ottawa. He was " under the weather'' then, and a Canadian friend said to me impatiently, " The wrong man for the job. There's no fight, in Borden. He'll never do." I looked at him closely. A fine figure of a- man. A handsome face. Eyes that had in them the depth and beauty of the sea. by which lie, lived so long, and to which lie turns by instinct still. Hair with a picturesque wave in it. as it flowed away over his temples. It was hard to believe that tins was the face of one who would be beaten in any effort that he set his hand to. And yet there was about him an air of not greatlv caring. I felt sure that politics as a came attracted him not at all. And at that time there wa« no big question to stir the Dominion. Outside Ottawa no one seemed to be taking politics eerioußiv. It was a game and nothing further—rather a sordid game. There was no fight in Borden. He was too big a, man to throw himself whole-heartedly into the scramble for the fishes and the loaves. This was how ho struck mo; and when I met him that impression deepened. So long as we talked polities, ho seemed tired. But. I happened to quote a line" of poetry. From under his thick eyebrows he shot a glance at me. We started talking poetry, and he was a changed man. Mr. Borden has the quiet, cultivated dignity of the English statesman of 50 years ago. He is even more at homo "in the library than on tho platform. That was why they thought there was no fight in him. He could not exert himself for petty triumphs. If your eyes are on the stars, you miss the mushrooms. Mushrooms did \not excite him. He had his mind on things more important. For this very reason, because he had thought about the realities instead of playing with the shells, because he was a statesman not a politician, lie was the very man Canada needed when it was proposed that she should "develop her trade relations more effectively," not with the rest of the Empire but with the United States. There was plenty of fight in him now. He attacked reciprocity as a man might attack a twrpent which threatened his child. " Reciprocity within the Empire, not with foreign countries, is the aspiration of the Canadian people." He had long been convinced of that. Ho had Jong declared such reciprocity to be. " essential to the future of the Empire." He went all through the Dominion hammering in that nail with all his strength. Up to the day of the election it seemed doubtful whether He had driven it home. The result proved the force of his blows. No one. had ever doubted his ability. He could not have risen from schoolteacher to barrister, from stuff-gownsman to K.C.. from K.C. to leader of the Nova Scotia Bar without natural talent and hard work a? well. No one had ever queried his honesty. In a country where mud-throwing is too popular not a handful had ever" been flung at" him. He was proved to have the courage of his convictions by such incidents as that of tho salarv allotted to him as Leader of the Opposition. Having decided to take it, he disregarded the storms of disapproval simply let them blow themselves out. He. was admitted to be a. "sticker," patient and painstaking. Everyone acknowledged that lie could argue well. But very few believed he could lire the imagination of an audience or impress a •continent. The. majority had excuse. Remember, ho had been in Parliament 15 years without showing that he had the real quality of leadership (because, as I have shown, there, were no issues to call it forth). Remember that twice he liad been on the point of retiring. But the majority only saw the politician. They did not know the man, iior did they realise that Canada, sick of scandals, financial, and personal, had gradually "been falling under the wholesome influence of one who had no vanity, who was not in any way spectacular, but whose life and hands were clean. So Mr. Borden came into power last autumn, and then he had to show that he could hold a party together in Parliament as well as lead it to victory at the polls. He did this admirably. Some say that he lacks "magnetism." But, with all hie magnetism, Sir Wilfrid Laurier could not keep his Ministers in order. ■ Mr. Borden will never permit what Sir Wilfrid Laurier was forced to overlook. He aims at conciliating rather than dazzling. Yet conciliation does not in him mean opportunism. By firmness he has scotched two Roman Catholic religious difficulties without offending his French-Canadian supporters. A difficult feat that! At the end of his first session he was decidedly stronger than when he began it. Mr. Borden knows England well and has many friends there. Ho is proud of belonging to a Kentish family which has been traced back to 1380. and which has never liver] under any flag but that of England. Although he believes that many now living " will see Canada, surpass in population, in wealth.' and perhaps in influence lie British Islands which are now the heart of the Empire." he has admiration as well as love for the Old Country. It is as much on her account as on Canada's that lie is in earnest about making tho ties of Empire real as well as sentimental. Many have eloquently orated about this necessity. He is no master of golden word?, but he means to we it through.