BRITISH POLITICIANS.

Ohinemuri Gazette, Volume XVII, Issue 2245, 28 August 1907, Page 3

BRITISH POLITICIANS.

A SKETCH OF MR BALFOUK.

A writer in the "Westminster Gazette " gives a clear ■word-picture of the Eight Hon. A. J. Balfour, as seen in the House of Commons, and Sir F. 0. Gould brightens the description with a number of his smart caricatures :

" There are few men in the House now, unlesß it "be Mr Chaplin, or the Prime Minister," says the writer, " who remember the young and rather dilettante Arthur Balfour of twenty years ago. He wore side whiskers and had curly brown hair, and his figure was thin and willowy. He was known as the member of a society of which each member was certain of the possession of a soul and future in this world at all events. He lolled about in those days on the front bench below the Gangway, where, with Lord Eandolph Churchill, Sir Henry Drummond Wolff, and Mr John Gorst, he posed as a candid critic of his leaders.

"Butlie learned in those far-off days that readiness in debate and argument which has made him one of the great Parliamentarians of to-day. It is true that some of his critics say that ho learned his lesson a little too well', and that he is a little too prone to make debating points against the other, Bide. But his skill in the debate remains, like his charm of manner, the great asset of his party, and one trembles to think what figure the Opposition in the House would cut to-day if it were not for Mrßalfour.

" There are very few intelligent men to be compared with Arthur Balfour in the House of Commons, at least. And this is probably what he thinks himself about the matter, for he certainly does not suffer fools gladly,, as may be noted from his attitude of dejection when some bore is on his feet. On such occasions he assumes a prison-cell-like attitude, for he leans forward, and, placing his head in Ms hands, is seen to be ruminating on the pattern of the carpet in abject misery. He would no doubt like to flee to the library, where a congenial novel or a theological treatise might while away the time. " His dislike of detail and red-tape is proverbial. He can very rarely quote a date accurately, and has been known to astonish the House by saying that when he was in Parliament in 1780 he was struck by such-and-such- an event. It is said that when the Russians fired on our fishermen in the North Sea, although Mr Balfour was Prime Minister at the time, he knew nothing of the untoward event until his return to town from the country in the afternoon of the same day. This was due to the fact that he never opens a newspaper. If there is one thing that he dislikes, it is a newspaper, and it is his proud boast that he never reads one.

" Although it may not be given to the ordinary mortal to understand him, there are few people who have been brought within the charmed circle of his acquaintance who are not numbered among his devoted adherents. His personal charm is, indeed, the most"valuable asset of his party. " Although his hair has rapidly whitened in recent years, he still retains the power of shaking off his weariness when, he leaves the House. Had lie remained a student, he would probably have given the world a most valuable treatise on philosophy, j As it is, his ' Foundations of Belief ' has given him a place among the schoolmen of the day, and Archbishops and Nonconformist ministers respect him alike as one who knows his theology. lathis respect, he is merely following the hereditary instincts of the Cecil family. " Poasibly his happiest moments, when ha is not on his own ground with one of the best libraries in all Scotland at hand, are spont on the golf-liaks. Eeal golfers declare that he will never play the game. As if that mattered, or as, if a man took to golf with the mere vulgar ambition of playing it as well as a professional at the game! " The House generally knows when the Leader of the Opposition has boen claying golf. He then plays the political game with good temper and sangfroid. But when he has been balked of his game on the links, then woe betide the Government, for there is no language too strong to describe their misdeeds." (