BRITISH PREMIER RESIGNS.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 6488, 7 April 1908, Page 5

BRITISH PREMIER RESIGNS.

SIR H. C. BANNERMAN’S SERIOUS ILLNESS.

KING EDWARD’S SYMPATHY.

HIS MAJESTY SUMMONS MR ASQUITH.

(By Telegraph.—Press Association.— Copyright.—Received April 7, 10.33 pm.)

LONDON, April 6.

of now blood into the Cabinet, to invigorate the party, and win back tho nation’s confidence.

A Court Circular announces that Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, Prime Minister, at the urgent recommendation of his medical advisers, has resigned.

Tho “Horning Post” is friendly in its comments.

“ The Times ” forecasts Mr LloydGcorgo as Chancellor of tire Exchequer, It heartily congratulates Mr Asquith on his promotion, and says ho has discharged the duties of the Premiership this session with remarkable energy and conspicuous ability under unusual difficulties.

King Edward, who is at present at Biarritz, received the communication with much regret, and accepted the resignation- ,

Router’s representative at Biarritz reports'that his Majesty ’s acceptance is accompanied by expressions of esteem and of best wishes for Sir H. C, Bannorman’s recovery.

POLITICS IN THE MELTINGPOT,

King Edward has summoned Mr Asquith, the Chancellor of tho Exchequer. Sir H. C. Bannerman’s resignation caused more regret than surprise in London clubs* WHAT THE PAPERS SAY.

Hie “Daily Notts,” after eulogising Mr Asquith’s loyalty to the Liberal party and his great efforts in the cause of free-trade, says:—Ho has sometimes failed to awaken that ardent enthusiasm without which reform is impossible. He fights in the cold, dry light of intellectual reason. The brusquenoss of his utterance has sometimes offended. He is summoned to the Premiership at a moment of transcendent interest, when politics are in the melting-pot and the future of parties and causes more uncertain titan ever.

Approciatory and sympathetic comments appear in all the newspapers. The “ Daily Mail ” emphasises Mr Asquith’s moderation, and expects a further purging of the Liberal programme.

Tho “Daily Chronicle” cays;—Mr Asquith has immense ability and unswerving devotion to principle. It remains to bo seen if he has the art of managing men. Owing largely to Sir H. C. Bannorman’s illness the Government for some little time lately seems to have lost its grip over tho country. Mr Asquith will be able, hy the infusion

The “Nows” adds;-—The enduring reputation of Mr Asquith’s statesmanship will depend upon accurate judgment of things necessary to the country’s welfare, and a courageous and successful determination to realise such as are realisable in the political change.

THE RETIRING PRIME MINISTER A PEN PICTURE,

War Minister's salary by <3IOO on the ground that the ©tores of small-arm ammunition was insufficient. 4 "pingdong, ding-dong/’ went the division bells, and in came Sir William Harcourt, his unlighted cigar ih his hand, with & crowd of other mom-bens. The Qoverhment were defeated by ISte vote© to 135! Sir Henry at once moved the adjournment of the House. I can see m my mind’s eye the fallen Minister—the least perturbed man in the excited chamber—coolly stuffing his papers into his des-patch-box,. and quitting the Treasury bench; Eleven years were to elapse before he was. to return to the Treasury bench again—but he returned to it Prime Minister of Britain! HIS ONE AMBITION.

"Right Honourable Sir- Henry Camp-bell-Bannerman, G.C.8., M.Pi, P.C., LL.D., D.L., J.P.” Thus is the Prime Minister of Britain do&cribed in books of reference.

He is not only leader of the Commons. He is father of the House as, well, by right of having sat for the same piece for the longest unbroken term Of year©* In 1868 be entered Parliament as member for Stirling, and has represented interruptedly the same constituency ever since. There is nothing of the stem parent in Sir Henry as Father and Leader. He shakes no grave and reverend locks at the House. Its waywardness ho never reproves. He prefers bo wheedle and coax it with a joke. Nor is ho', ever in a hurry and perturbed. Observe him walking leisurely up the floor of tho House. He has all the air of a man who enjoys life , and takes things easily. He carries his head not forward like the enthusiast or fanatic—eager, impetuous, and self-cen-tred—but on on© side as if inviting familiarity and confidence. Genial imperturbability is the dominant expression of hie strong, roughly carved Scots features. Happy man! He evidently has an excellent set of. nerves and digests his food. No wonder, then that he should be placid, urbane, and self-con-trolled. Ho has never displayed any deep-seated political enthusiasms. On the other hand, there is no trace of political ferocity in his composition. But we shall see what we shall see. Is ho not about to lead a campaign against the House of Lords? At any rat© he has grit.

In 1805, if Sir Henry thought anything at all about his future, he probably concluded that his official career was at an end. He had confessed to but on© political simbitiott.. It. Wa© to be Speaker of the House of Commons* Curiously enough, a few mouths before his fall that great post became vacant through the resignation of Mr . Arthur Wellesley, Peel. Sir Henry pressed his claim to the office, but his colleagues vowed he would be too valuable a man to be spared from the councils of hie party, and Mr William Court Gully was appointed to it instead.

If that bad been the end of the story the name of Sir Henry Campbell Bannerman would probably have been in time as meaningless and unsuggeetiv© a© the thousand other lustreless names of politicians in the dusty tomes of "Hansard/' And what would it have mattered to ri?2J- s , lle a n exceedingly rich man? indeed he could afford to light his cigar With the quarterly £1,600 cheque he got w, Minister. But the year 1899 brought an unexpected turn in the fortunes of Sir Henry. Sir William liarcourt resigned the post of leader of tho and r hUf ar V‘.. ? e been ambitious and high-spirited, gladly devoting hie A 1 1 ® 9 service of his S-iS. - 1 ® there was a chance of obtaining the dazzling prize on had i s *’ t , IIIS heart—the Premiership—a poet which was his due. and which he would have filled} but when hjs;dcsire was baulked he retired in disillusionment and bitterness from me arena.

A TOTTGH IRISH SECRETARY. For a time he filled the most difficult of posts, the chief Secretaryship of Ireland. That was in 1884, when Parnell's young and able followers were in their most virulent mood. But the 000 l and urbane Campbell-Bannerman was Impervious to their. most stinging invective. He took the pin-pricks of the Nationalists and the crackers they exploded under his coat-tails as all in the days work. He proved, indeed, the toughest man tho Nationalists had yet encountered. Ono night the attack was particularly fiery and furious. But the Chief Secretary oxasperatingly refused to take it seriously. “Mr Speaker," said he, “I have found tho Irish Office an excellent post for moral self-desciphne, 'May the Lord give us a good conceit of ourselves,' prayed a countryman of mine. But in the Irish Office, and face to face witu ton. gentlemen opposite, no man could think well of himself." The Nationalists were fairly upset. This was not playing the game. When they say hard things of a man they expect him to squirm. Even Mr Timothy Healy oould only throw up his hands and inquire, What had Ireland done that she should be governed by Scots jokes? His urbanity and imperturbability were proof even against his personal defeat as and the consequent overthrow of the Government. I remember well the night of June 21, 1895, which witnessed the fall of the Rosebery Administration. The House was in Committee of Supply on the Army estimates. quiet and dull sitting was anticipated. “Thank Heaven there is one evening of tue week when no crisis need bo apprehended," and Sir YV ilham Harcourt, the weary and haraesed Leader of the House, as he sat beside a colleague on the Terrace after dinner and struck a match to light a cigar. Just then the division bells rang out their imperative summons. Throwing tho lighted match away, Harcourt, with a rude exclamation, went m to vote. Ah tho irony of things! It was the fata] division I

TW,? ' vou!d «P the leadership? T?™!/ 130 f,eT , c *. rmb for the office. , , Party vms divided and dispirited Ambition seemed to be dead in all its prominent mem,hers. At any rate, thev thfnu ! Ht r<M ? tie lea{ Jp reili P with son/ tiling like terror. All—save one Tint 5 e „ TO Sir Henry, the man of them all for «™d Wn l | o >7 e / ho desfre rtrmig" cut, did? ond aS,’ imm^ablo dispiriting years ho stuck to his post on the front of the Opposition S S serene temper and coSSfitten ri’S r 1 °i nly tbo pJvrioaTrtSS eL ™cp')«itK)n, its senons responsibilities, rhs many worries, but alsb!aSiffst the eclipse of Liberalism and the bitter perennial antagonism of his follower! contribute?? h “ r °' Vard ’-" Dai 'y Mail ”

WAR MINISTER. Sir H. Campbell-Bannerman was Secretary for War.. Ho increased the allowance of tho private soldier by threehalf pence a day. The night lie made this announcement a member of the Opposition was anxious to know what Tommy Atkins was to get in the way of luxuries for this addition to his allowance.

' He will got,” said the War Minister in a characteristic reply, "just Ijd worth more n day than he would have without that lid per day allowance." Nothing like this had been sard in the House of Commons since Lord John ’ Russell described an archdeacon as a man who performed arohidiacOnai duties.

A more important announcement was modo hy Sir Henry on the dav which was to be his last as Secretary for War. For many years the Dirk© of Cambridge as Commander-in-CMcf. had stood in the way of reform of the British Army. He was greatly opposed to change, and on account of his long and distinguished service? War Ministers shrank from inviting him to resign. Bnt Sir Henry, with supreme tact, pleasantly carried out this unpleasant duty. On that fatal evening he read a letter from the Duke graciously laying down the burden of the office he bad borne so long; and the House gave rent to its relief in cheers. Then a motion was moved to reduce the

ME ASQUITH

A REMARKABLE CAREER. The Eight Hen. H. EC. Asquith, who'it &eera® will in a few hours be proclaimed Fume Minister of Great Britain, has had a remarkable career. A writer in “"Who's Who" at Westminster, published by the “Daily Chronicle" just after the 1906 elections, remarked that Mr Asquith “will prove an able leader of the House in the absence of his chief" and this is just what “The Times" now declares he has done recently while the unfortunate illness of Sir H. C. Bannerman has put the responsibilities of leadership on Mr Asquith's shoulders. Born, in Yorkshire in 1853, the ©on of a mill-owner, Mr Asquith had neither great wealth nor powerful social influence to help him on his way. Yet even at the outset he did well. He was one of Dr Abbott 1 © most successful boys at the City of London School, and winning a Balliol Scholarship, he became one of the most brilliant of Dr Jowett's undergraduates, took a first-class in the classical school©, and waa elected to a fellowship of his college.

SUCCESS AT THE BAE. He went from Oxford to the Bar, end had Hot long to wait for success there. His powerful defence of Mr Cunninghame Graham and Mr John Burns, charged with holding meetings in Trafalgar Square, gave him a reputation, which grew steadily until, as junior to Sir Charles Bussell in the Parnell Commission, he won universal admiration by his cross-examination of Mr Macdonald, the manager of "The Times." Thu® rapidlv did he establish himself ae a leading lawyer, while he had still to make hi© reputation as a statesman.

But fortune was no less kind to him in this pursuit, and his own genius and force of Character enabled him to lake a prominent pOsiiion in the House of Commons in an exceptionally short space of time. He was elected for East Fife in 1880 as a follower of Mr Gladstone, and the constituency has remained faithful to him ever since". Entering Parliament when tho Liberal party was labouring under n heavy cloud as an ineffective minority, when several of its most cap* able lieutenants had gone to the other side, and tho need of courage and skill in advocacy was keenly felt, the young politician soon attracted attention by the cogency of his arguments and his mastery in debate. Mr Gladstone instantly marked' the ability of his brilliant recruit and singled him out to move the amendment to the Address which proved fatal to Lord Salisbury’s Administration in 1892. MINISTERIAL RANK.

When Mr Gladstone returned to a precarious renewal of power in 1892, he proved how highly ho estimated his talents by installing him at the Home Office after only sis years’ experience of legislative work. It is said that Mr Gladstone had some qualms about entrusting so young a politician with so responsible a task. How amply Mr Asquith justified the choice, how vigorously ho performed the duties allotted to him, how he brought a new spirit into administration, and gave a new moaning and purpose to the enactments passed for the protection and well-being of Labour are matters within the memory of all. During the last ten years he has remained conspicuous among the leaders, doing valiant service for the cause of progress and sustaining the spirit of tho party during its long wanderings in the deserts of Opposition.

VIGOROUS INTELLECT. So much only is necessary to outline the career of this sturdy, strenuous, indomitable man, who is endowed with the best ■attributes traditionally ascribed to the people of his native county. Mr Stead summed him up ten years ago as "sombrely virile”: and Hie phrase is essentially true of, him to-day. In the political arena ho is strong, level-headed, alert, logical, and nnhnpassioned. His vigorous intellect enables him to grapple with the most complex problems, ana to expound the most involved case lucidly and effectively, bo that he interprets the highest statesmanship to the man in the street with acceptable simplicity. On the platform he is invariably a welcome speaker; in the House his interposition in debate draws an. attentive throng to the benches. In his duels with' that most doughty of antagonists, Mr Chamberlain, he has never been worsted, and there is no man who possesses in a higher degree the power to hit hard and decisively, But he does not wield . the broadsword ; his weapon is the rapier, and when he is in earnest few escape from its swift effective thrust. His voice is musical and resonant, and his phrases are well rounded *jid often brilliant. Ho never rises to high imaginative flights of oratory, and sometimes one has felt that ho lacks sympathy, that relentless logic has dwarfed the growth of emotion in him. ‘ But his intellectual dominance compels admiration, and if he appeals to. the brain rather than to the heart, the appeal is never made in vain. Though cold in debate, in private life he is genial and warm-hearted. The common adversary has already whitened his hair; and left some 1 ines on his brow. , But the clean-shaven , face, stern yet mobile, stiff-lipped yet alight With expression, indicates unabated Strength and capacity, and those who have followed the remarkable career of this brilliant man are assured that in the years which are left to him he will sustain the highest traditions of British etatcemanahip. . , , Mr Asquith has been twice married, his present wife being a daughter of Sir Charles Tennant, and a very accomplished lady. :