MR WINSTON CHURCHILL

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21242, 24 January 1931, Page 4

MR WINSTON CHURCHILL

AN ADVENTUROUS CAREER. " My Early Life: A Roving Commission.” By the Right Hon. Winston S. Churchill, C.H., M.P. Maps and Illustrations. London: Thornton Butterworth. (21s net.) Mr Winston Churchill’s early life would provide, for most readers of his new fulllength essay in autobiography, a considerable number of lives which they would consider well and excitingly spent. He is best known now as the brilliant, somewhat erratic politician without whom his party would be sadly incomplete, and with whom his party is sometimes gravely annoyed and embarrassed. But in “My Early Life we _ meet him during that sensational period in his career which preceded the sensational political career that now, but for profitable journalism, occasional sound authorship, and well-adver-tised bricklaying, engages his alert faculties and keeps him living in the, public eye. Mr Churchill, be it said, has always lived to the full, and dangerously, and this book enables us. to appreciate the adventurous spirit which he still possesses. Winston Churchill’s first memories are of Ireland, to which his father, Lord Randolph Churchill, went as secretary to the Lord-lieutenant, the Duke of Marlborough (who was, as the cartoonists often remind us, Winston’s grandfather). He confesses in his preface that he finds he has drawn a picture of an age which has vanished without violent revolution. The character of society, the foundations of politics, the scale of values, and the outlook of youth have undergone a radical change, and for the Victorian era of security and a sense of fixedness have been substituted times that are anxious and dubious. Who, in reading Mr Churchill’s charming notes on the past period, will not, with him, regret some aspects that have been lost? We do not, of course, include among the vanished amenities that first school he attended, at which

boys were flogged until they bled freely, while the rest sat in the library quaking and listening to their screams. When he passed on to Harrow, Churchill had already begun to think for himself, though those who would expect to findhim an outstanding schoolboy will be disappointed. He finds his schooldays rather discouraging than otherwise, and his only distinctions were in fencing. At a third attempt he entered Sandhurst, and here he found the work interesting. He passed out with honours, and from that hour seems always to have been in the thick of things. While in the 4th Hussars hs resolved to obtain active professional experience, and with a friend received permission to go to Cuba, there to identify himself with the tussle between Spain and the Cuban rebels. A return to London and a plunge into society followed, and then, in 1896, his regiment was ordered to India. There he distinguished himself at polo, but found time to read history, philosophy, and economics. His philosophy is summed up thus: “ I . . . adopted quite early in life a system of believing whatever I wanted to believe, while at the same time leaving Reason to pursue unfettered whatever paths she was capable of treading.” Elsewhere he states: When I am in the Socratic mood and planning my Republic, I make drastic changes in the education of the sons of well-to-do citizens. When they are sixteen or seventeen they begin to learn a craft and to do healthy manual labour, with plenty of poetry, songs, dancing, drill, and gymnastics in their spare time. They can thus let off their steam on something useful. It is only when they are really thirsty for knowledge, longing to hear about things, that I would let them go to the university. It would be a favour, a coveted privilege, only to be given to those who had either proved their worth in a factory or field or whose qualities and zeal were pre-eminent. . .

Churchill’s letters to the Daily Telegraph had created a stir, and he decided to try his hand at fiction. His first book, “ Savola,” was finished in about two months, and was, naturally, accepted for publication. He does not advise his friends to read it. Other books had a wide success, notablj, “ The Malakaland Field Force.” Writing proved considerably more lucrative than the 14a a day paid him for his soldiering. When the fighting in India ■ ended Churchill wished to go to the Sudan, to take-part in the rumoured campaign. At this time a reputation as a “ medalhunter and self-advertiser " had been bestowed upon him. Moreover, Kitchener did not like him. Even the Prime Minis ter (Lord Salisbury) could not persuade Kitchener to accept him, but, nevertheless, to the Sudan he went —a supernumerary lieutenant to the 2let Lancers, under engagement to write for the Morning Post at £ls a column. His description of the Sudan Campaign makes reading that is positively thrilling, Churchill went into action on a polo pony, and armed with an automatic pistol. The regiment lost nearly a quarter of its strength at Omdurman, but he came through unscathed. With the South African War he was also' connected, and his history in this conflict is fairly well known. He was again correspondent for the Morning Post. While. proceeding to Estcourt in an armoured train, after failing to get into Ladysmith, he was taken prisoner. It is' not surprising that his captor turned out to be none other than Botha himself. His escape is described for those who are not acquainted with the almost miraculous experiences which made him a popular hero. To the charge that he broke parole, Churchill replies that there was no parole—nothing but strict confinement under an armed guard. Of his subsequent adventures in the South African War, Mr Churchill writes fully. He took part in the fighting at Spion Kop, got through to Bloemfontein after the relief of Ladysmith, and saw service at Johannesburg and Pretoria before returning to England. A lecture tour followed, for he needed money to launch him on a political career. He hardly ever made less than £IOO a night, and netted £4500 in England and some £IO,OOO in the United States. On his return he was elected member for Oldham in the “khaki election,” and this book leaves him on the threshold of his 1 political career. Doubtless Mr Churchill will not leave _ the recitation of the experiences in this later period of his life to the historians, and there is a volume in store which has still to be written. “My Early Life ” is a sparkling, intensely interesting book, which will enable many people to form a truer judgment of the personality of one of the most versatile politicians. Mr Churchill has vivid ideas and a keen judgment on every question which occurs to Him, be it education, religion, or war, and he writes with a zest and skill that are irresistible. J. M.