The Timaru Herald MONDAY, JAN. 29, 1912. "WITH THE GLOVES OFF."

Timaru Herald, Volume XCIV, Issue 14659, 29 January 1912, Page 4

The Timaru Herald MONDAY, JAN. 29, 1912. "WITH THE GLOVES OFF."

I If Air Balfour listened to tlie speech which his successor, Mr Bonar Law, delivered on Friday night to a massed meeting in tie Albert Hall, he might have reflected that it was just the kind of speech a democratio age required, and still have felt well pleased that his own talents lay in a different direction. Mr Balfour was at his' worst when he addressed mass meetings. He could delight the House of Commons by his polished oratory, but he could not talk down to a mixed assemblage. The great statesmen of the past never had to do so. Chatham, it has been recalled, never addressed a publio meeting in hia life, and Palmerston spoke, about once a year to a village meeting iu his constituency, where hig only critic was the butcher. But other times require other manners: the democratic process has caused power to be transferred to the hands of the many, and the statesman who would win" votes for his party must be able to address the multitude in a language that they understand. 3fr Bonar Law was- selected as the new leader of the Unionist Party lara;ely because he came from the industrial class, not from the aristocracy, and it was felt that if the party was, to retain, much less increase its influence, it must be democratised. If Mr Balfour, graceful, refined, scholarly, had addressed the meeting in the Albert Hall, he _ would probablj have had half his audience

lug. JJiit llv Bouar Law, with tile gloves oii, with lii 3 coat off (metaphorically), and persjjiringj gave them better entertainment than they might have hoped to obtain from a modern boxing 1 contest, conducted under the eyes of the Rev. F. J3. Meyer and the Bishop of London. There is nothing new in the address ot' which a summary is published in another column- All the charges which it makes rigainst the Liberal Government have been made bofora, but they have, not often been made so ruthlessly and directly, or in a way so well suited to impress a popular audience, which likea its politics as it likes its drama, vigorous and highlycoloured- When Mr Law was promoted to the Opposition leadership two months ago one of the Liberal journals described him as the " most combative of men," and another Liberal critic said of him: "He is a clever extemporo debater, siren to scoring debating points, but clearly devoid of the larger manner, the higher restraints, which are essential, or havo been considered essential, to supremo responsibility." The "largor manner" and "higher restraints" will certainly not be found conspicuous in the present address, but Unionists may well console themselves that ic waSj as much as anything, the excessive prominence of just these qualities in Mr Bali'our which made him ineffective as a popular leader. Liberal supporters, when they find their party in future subjected to the same rude jabs and thrusts from Mr Law which the Unionists have had to suffer from Mr Lloyd Geortre and Mr Churchill, will probably complain that his uncompromising onslaughts mark a lamentable descent from the courteous and lofty standard of Mr Balfour, just as Sir Joseph "Ward has been known to quote the milder methods of Sir "William Russell for a reproof of Mr Massey. But Mr Balfour's mildness could not get his party into power, and that is n result which Mr Bonar Law is far more likely to achieve, provided always that his energy is not allowed to degenerate mto_ mere unecrupulousness or noisiness. The neworatory of which the Unionists have learned the value will never be admired by futuro generations like the eloquenco of Burke or Chatham, but it is nn art, if such a name can be accorded it, that is probably far better suited to politios in the present age than theirs would be.