MR. ASQUITH, THE PRIME MINISTER.

Colonist, Volume LII, Issue 12767, 13 April 1910, Page 1

MR. ASQUITH, THE PRIME MINISTER.

"Mr Asquith is once more the chief I , Citizen Of the British Empire," writes ; ( Mr A. G. Gardiner, the editor of the "Daily News." "He returns to the | helm of State with the sanction of all that is most significant and virile in . the nation. No personal triumph, was ever achieved by more honest and unpretentious methods than, his have been. When the history of this momentous period is written, the figure of Mr As^quith will dominate it in a measure we do not now realise. The picturesque actor in politics browses on hia glory while it is green. He does not garner it when it is ripe. He passes across the stage to the plaudits of the throng, and' when he . has vanished he is forgotten. The ; Oriental splendours of Disraeli have : faded into a legend, into a tale of . little meaning, while the stature of! Gladstone rises steadily higher in the ' field of the past. So it will be with | Mr &squith. No man ever played less ; to the gallery, refused more icily to '■■■ affect a .passion, an enthusiasm, a . cause because it would profit him..! His attitude to the people is stiff and ' aloof. Coriolanus himself could scarcely find fault with it. He will not tickle the ears of the groundlings. He wiE offer thdm no fireworks — give • them no circuses. If they want thr> ' truth — good. Hera iv is plain and unvarnished. If they want tricks, let I them go elsewhere. He will lie for no , office, and play the buffoon for no J audience. , He will make no promises ; to win a cheer or a vote. He is the plain dealer, These are my terms —

take them or leave them. His temperament is negative. That is perhaps only another way of saying that he is governed by intellect and not emotion. A brilliant woman once said to me, 'Asquith has three, great qualities. He has aio egotism, no jealousy, and no vanity." It was a saj'ing of very searching truth. Thereare some men who seem to live in front of the mirror, I doubt whether Mr Asquith ever looks at it. His mind works in singular and entire detachment from self. This at once the source of its weakness and its strength. It is faultless and it is cold. It convinces j'ou, but it does nob warm you. It wins jour confidence, but it does not stir the blopd. It has the priceless value of detaching his public policy from his private interest.' His freedom from jealousy is one of the rarest and most precious gifts of public life. When Gladstone offered him the Solicitor-Generalship ho declined the office."