CHAMBERLAIN AS CHAMELEON.

Timaru Herald, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 12901, 12 February 1906, Page 2

CHAMBERLAIN AS CHAMELEON.

Looking at the British statesmen vi the century, the observer must n*,tc v, ii.i surprise how often they are nui i« be t und ai. the end in the party plate of ihi-ir beginning. Canning, the most brilliant ui the nineteenth centim- me.-i. spent 3jjs 3;; c; in moving avr.y frc.ni the Tones. iW's career largely consisted of du.pping Lis. original views ar.d earning ut<> eii-fi-; j; se opinions of his opponent*. GfedM«-rjc, he entered tJie Commors. was haikv: by die unyielding Tories with jor a* :hc:r coming champion, nud he left tiit Chamber advocating Home Rule and n.enadng the House of Lords. Thus the British public is by no means unaccusif-med t-.< sec ch.-;«ccs in Jhe career ui its pub;ic men. What, then, is the reascu that so much aslottishm*nt is created by the transformations of Mr Chamberlain? The answer will be found that we accept revolution, bui revolution jstill surprises us. The last published volume of Mr Herbert Paul's " History of Modem England" recalls to mind how extreme the Chaiclxilain transformation has been.

Thus the Mr Chamberlain of the eighties is associated with a particular policy in South Africa. We are accustomed to attribute all the evils and troubles which he faced there to a, particular policy, namely, the surrender of the Transvaal to the Boeis after Majuba; and we read that it needed all Mr Gladstone's influence to bring the majority of his colleagues into line with Mr Chamberlain. Btrang*ly indeed does this fact read in connection with later proceedings. £«> with the fiscal issue. Five-and-twenty years back Great Britain had to face one of rhe grievous depressions in trade which ;iffiict ell nations in turn, and which bring poverty and misery in their wake. The cry of " Fair Trade" was raised, and many leader* were disposed to coquette with the movement. Beaconsfield was not o:;e. He said protection was <kad. Bnt the politician who is credited in this voltrm with outstripping all others in his denunciation of the t-ne i-.ni.-c and his devotion to the other is Mr Chamberlain. He was She Asquith of that day. His incisive reini'ik- and telling applications carried all before them. Strangely indeed do the i—inrtlim«?a:j* paid t<» the free-trade advocate >.\>:<<l n«w when applied by the peruser t-.» ihe dashing champion of the protective «.usc. Many honoured names are associated with gradual change. But what marks Mr Chamberlain off from this class is the vehemence with which each side Is praised or denounced : the extraordinary evils s*«n in the' policy J hat is left, and the still more extraordinary merits asserted quack fashion, for ;he new policy taken up. With ■a hurricane there is always the t*mr of a riiift of wind that will take the ship aback. Mr Chamberlain may claim to be the most marked of all specimens of she Chamberlain type. And the vehemist extremist who is <ver on the4urn has never been a permant-ui snecess in 1 * the empire.— (** Argus.")