IN PRAISE OF LORD HALIFAX

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23411, 29 July 1939, Page 1 (Supplement)

IN PRAISE OF LORD HALIFAX

Tributes to His Worth

By MATANGA

WHAT sort of man is England's Foreign Minister? The question has urgent importance in. these days of international difficulty and danger. Policies do not create themselves. Such a proposition is manifestly absurd. The feat is beyond them. They may —in a sense, tlicy must—be affected by circumstances ; yet circumstances cannot entirely produce them—they would cease to be policies, and become mere reflections of events, if this were their origin. So, in the last resort, it is the man that counts. ' Tlio tendency of our times, of the whole period in which the present ■' r»enei'fltion of adults has lived, has £ een to sot Foreign Ministers alongside heads of Cabinets, so much so that often these executive colleagues are deemed to possess quite as great an influence upon national welfare as is wielded by the men giving name and authority to.Governments. In critical times, when questions larger than those of internal affairs have to bo / decisively answered in irder to preserve the very existence of States, a Prime Minister is not infrequently found holding the foreign portfolio himself; that is, when no other man, conveniently available, has marked aptitude for this special re- ; sponsibility. A man thus gifted may lack the qualifications to drive or lead a team: he might not mako a good .' Prime Minister; but, for the task that nodern conditions have made supremely . indispensable, he can render service -o immensely useful that his place in a Ministry is, in all respects save that jf constitutional leadership, second to none. An eloquent instance is provided by the career of Aristido Briand. France easily' holds the record, among democratic countries, for rapid changes of .Ministry. .Tile bloc system has allowed now this, now that, combination of parties- to assume office for a brief period; the average term, taken over the. last thirty years, is not to be reckoned in months but in weeks. Nevertheless', amid this mercurial experience, no matter what induced the ■Chamber of Deputies to turn out one Government and accept another, Briand was again and again Foreign Minister. Unswervingly faithful to his country's aindatncntal need of security, yet eminently able to think internationally, iie was habitually entrusted with that office. The gaps in this remarkable ;equence of service were rare and short. National Service Britain, with a party system making for stability, presents a different case, but in its own way recent British 'listory bears testimony to the unique importance of this Secretaryship of State for Foreign Affairs. Weak holders of the position, no less than strong, ' have in their bearing of themselves riven proof of this. So we come back' to Lord Halifax. How fares he in the .fierce light that beats upon the place . he occupies ? For answer, a long view must be taken of his years in national . anice. __ Turn back to 1924, a year of well-remembered-political changes. Then, many merf passed under careful scrutiny, he among them, but lie, Mr. Edward Wood, this son of the contemporary lord Halifax, had nothing / to fear in the ordeal. "The highest kind of Englishman now in politics," was the considered eulogy written of him by U 'A Gentleman with a Duster," now known to have been Harold Begbie, who had almost unequalled of assessing at close quarters, yet without party prejudice, the character and ability of British parliamentarians; and the obvious fact was that all parties agreed in this estimation. ' The future Lord Halifax had been Minister for Education in the superseded Conservative Government. He had done we'll. The wide range of his intellect had been generally appreciated. He was accounted wise, reflective, and "careful of his words." Labour Admiration • Labour, inside and outside Parliament, was just then, in the circumstances of partisan rivalry, prone to be ™ri ous about opponents. To Edward Wood, nevertheless, it was unfeignedly ready to give deferential heed. It might be thought that this was merely be- • cause lie confessedly could see good in Labour, for he did not hesitate to acknowledge that the sufferings of the depressed classes Were at least an excuse for the wild words of certain extremists in 'the party; but it takes more than so mild a concession to win a cheer from "the ranks of Tuscany." The fact was that Labour spokesmen were thoroughly convinced of his utter sincerity arid good faith. They answered fairness with fairness, not in tender clemency, but because they saw /Whim a scrupulous sense of honour. •He was distinguished for good humour and had a genius for friendship, but something more than these qualities is recjtured to blunt the edge of proletarian animosity, all too eager to find occasion or offence in those born to wealth and title. Besides, he was undisguisedly an •extreme High Churchman, and, therelore, naturally suspect—had the suspicion been feasible—of concern for ritual distinctions between man and Bla l ?.*. e t> between him and these Political opponents, there was not the s''tost conscious barrier in feeling. •traced to its origin, this sympathy •on. his part and theirs is found to nave been due to the splendid element 11 his character that regarded differences of opinion, even of creed, as atively negligible, compared with "Hon of reverence for great and abid- £ moral principles. . C Christian Character :JfSMe's summing of his moreVioiis virtues was "a grave, scholarly '.kindly man, whose wisdom is and whose sympathies are m i ol6 ' .''hat may seem praise enough, _-'planation enough, hut Beghie rightly ml • f ,lr thor>. noting the vital >giQUs spring that unceasingly fed ? steady stream of estimable cliarte[- In much intimate contact ho had "P' 0 opportunity of judging, bihvaicl Wood,;.' lie wrote, "is fc, oatiy loved and trusted by the people v ,? n 8 whom he lives'. .. He longs for a unl ?' or 'd ar, d he prays for it. The ~ JiappinciiS of many poor people, the a l Sl °'r nnd separations of our social 1 Political sectarianism, distress and rliJ 1 m > hut never defeat him." In a ? nse v fine' Christian character, as •ntil« aK f 0 " s as is gracious, is the j- • 'jßfquntn explanation of Lord Ifnliis incoming widely known for ■ enunciation and exposition of British f0 » policy. r . n l e of him for so crucially iiriil an/-office is a clear light uinr i l Chamberlain's keen sense of n ln J*' Vfl hies; that choipe was much a i,i "'an a wish for an intellectually nff Q i C i a S"e. Ilerr Hitler lately this £ ? despise the firm words of l, a ~ "reign Minister, although they nnlif; declared endorsement of ever'v SoK pn - rt - v the land; but the siinlfo V nro f°r which Lord Halifax and Kic Ug i r to 1)0 doc P'? S ,a d that he •tatcsm C ar ° tllorou Shly Christian