THE MAN BEHIND THE MOVEMENT.

Press, Volume L, Issue 14974, 22 May 1914, Page 7

THE MAN BEHIND THE MOVEMENT.

INFLUENCE OF LORD

LONDONDERRY,

(rHOU A CORRBSPON-pEJfT.)

LONDON, April 15

While the name, the personality, and the comings and goings of Sir Edward Carson aro on everyone's tongue in connexion with, the prcseiit &ravo conditions in Ulster, little or nothing is heard, and almost as little is known to the man in the street, of an incomparably moro important and influential man, whose mere "ies" or "No" in the present crisis, may epell civil war: Possessed of enormous wealth, the head of ono of the most powerful families in Great Britain, the holder of a title that at once marks him out as probably tho most important man in Ireland, a closo friend of tho King, and tho trusted adviser and intimate of many of the greatest nobles of England, th> Marquis of Londonderry is tho power that pulls the strings in the North of Ireland. When it comes to a "show down' in this amazing droina of Ulster, it is with this man tnat tno Government will havo to reckon. But for all tnat, tho Marquis of Londonderry would be the last to admit his power, lor ho is ono of those silent men who hardly realise their tremendous influence. For years ho. and his wife and family have patronised Sir Edward Oarson. It was largely tnrougn tho Marquis's influence that Carson rose to tame in tho old days as Irish SolicitorGeneral. Sir . Edward is a man of brains, and, moro important still, ot character, but no ono will deny that for a struggling barrister the influence of a widerllung family like the Londonderry's is of inostimable benefit. Lord Londonderry's whole record of public office ia that of work dope masterfully, sometimes in tho teeth of criticism under which a more resolute man would havo withered, and always without either fuss or show. Besides being an able administrator; his.management of his vast estate of over 50.U00 acres proves him a fiist-clasa business man, and ho looks what he is—"solid" in every way. He is, '. by-the-bye, a particularly fine exemplar of the motto: "Noblesse oblige":—i.e., rank imposes responsibilities, for ho had every incentive, save for inborn energy, to adopt a life of ease and pure enjoyment, instead of devoting, as ho has done, practically the whole of his existence to tho service of .his country. Handsome and rich, the owner of four stately homes,- with a keen love of horseflesh and of life out of doors, he might well havo devoted himself, like so many of his class, to "flesh-pots" of every variety, yet we find him, at 26, standing for Parliament in, County Down, ono of the north-eastern' counties of. Ulster, where his Irish seat, Mount Stewart, is located; sit 34 Lord-Lieutenant of libland, and, in later years, chairman of tho London School Board, PostmasterGeneral, and President of the Board of Education, which position he held when the great Liberal landslide of IUO6 swept his party from office. It always had been supposed that bis long record of office .would be rewarded with a dukedom, and no doubt this would have happened had tbe Unionist Party remained in office, while in view of what has happened since it is one of tho things that are certain to come to pass should tho -Conservatives return to power.

The part he has played and is playing in the Ulster crisis is omincntlv characteristic of Lord Londonderry. His is tho part of the stroug, sileut man. When he went to Dublin as Viceroy of Ireland, in ISSS, the time was a troublous one, but he soon was acknowledged to bo the right man in the right place. It was all to the good that an Irishman should bo among his fellowcountrymen as the representative of the British throne. No doubt he combines tho pluck of old Sir Piers Tempest, who fought against the French five centuries ago, and the statesmanship of i the second marquis, Viscount Castlercagh, a politician of great ability, who was especially famed for his success in dealing with foreign affairs. Both as chairman of the School Board and President of tho Board of Education, a post in which he was followed by the Right Hon. Augustine BirreU. his policy met with determined arid sometimes bitter opposition, but this left him unperturbed. As Postmaster-General his policy for the improvement of the telephone service in London brought down on him an amount of wrath, much of it on the part of powerful city magnates, that would havo terrified anyone but an Irishman. Parliament sided with him, however, and he stuck to his guns and eventually won out.