The Southland Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. Luceo Non Uro. TUESDAY, JANUARY 27, 1925. THE EARL OE OXFORD.

Southland Times, Issue 19460, 27 January 1925, Page 4

The Southland Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. Luceo Non Uro. TUESDAY, JANUARY 27, 1925. THE EARL OE OXFORD.

A familiar name disappears, and in the future we are to know Mr Asquith as the Earl of Oxford. The translation of . the distinguished Liberal Leader to the Peerage follows upon a decline in his health not permitting him to place himself at the service of the nation in the popular Chamber, where the stress and turmoil of party warfare take heavy toll of the most robust constitution. The disappearance of Mr Asquith from the House of Commons is to be regretted. In the days of the late Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, when Liberalism was fighting in the ascendency, Mr Asquith earned for himself the sobriquet of “the sledge-hammer,” by reason of his slashing attacks on the forces of re-action and aristocratic Conservatism. Then followed the accession of the Liberals to power, and these memorable events which will go down as milestones in British history. In these momentous incidents, Mr Asquith played a leading role, so that he has many notable political achievements to his credit. The great Liberal attack which reduced the power of the House of Lords to a mere vestige of its former self, the institution of Old Age Pensions, and a drastic renovation of the system of taxation are but three in the lengthy list of magnificent accomplishments of the Liberal regime, in which Mr Asquith was the leading figure. Indeed, it might truthfully be written that his outstanding* ability was recognised immediately he entered Parliament in 1886, and in the ensuing forty years, he has come to be recognised as one of the foremost intellectual forces, combining a rare determination of character with a mind that is strictly judicial. This trait was unerringly demonstrated at the outbreak of the Great War. He was then Secretary of State for War as well as Primo Minister and, despite differences in the Cabinet during these fateful hours when the whole future of Europe, aye of the world, lay in the balance, he never wavered, but stood full square to the four winds, the personification of Britain’s determination that in her Justice and Right would have a doughty champion. His speeches were clear and forceful, but his subsequent resignation in 1916 can best be ascribed to the lack of driving power—Mr Asquith did not possess the personality or human touch, which so readily appeals to the masses. Out of office, he was not capricious or peevish, but frequently gave the men who had displaced him the benefit of his vast experience and ripened judgment. It will be difficult to think of the great Liberal under another name and, all things considered, it is hardly likely that he will succeed, like Disraeli, in making his aristocratic title as familiar to the public as his commoner’s name. For, Mr Asquith is no longer “the sledge-hammer” of his earlier days, but in the autumn of his life, none will begrudge him the safe and peaceful haven to which he has retired by the gracious act of a Government to which he was in opposition. The great British Democracy. will, however, always remember with gratitude the great work which Asquith, Earl of Oxford, accomplished in the realm of domestic and international affairs.