The Press Tuesday, April 21, 1925. Mr Baldwin's Position.

Press, Volume LXI, Issue 18362, 21 April 1925, Page 8

The Press Tuesday, April 21, 1925. Mr Baldwin's Position.

In the political sphere nothing is so remarkable in the latest' English mail as the chorus of praise for Mr Baldwin. Wc cannot remember any week in recent times in which newspapers of all political shades, partisan publications of Die "official organ" type, and weeklie's so violently opposed to one another as the "Spectator" and the "Nation," have all declared a Prime Minister's conduct to be beyond ordinary standards of praise. The cable messages certainly indicated that Mr Baldwin's appeal for peace on the Trade Lnion Levy Bill was an unusual deliverance, but we were not prepared for such comments as these:

If Mr Baldwin lives up to the spirit of this speech he will be a great Prime Minister. It was the speech of one who, though the leader of a great party and a great majority, tries to interpret the will of the people irrespective of party, who would rather conciliate than dominate, who can look at the other fellow's point of view, and who docs not forget that a Prime Minister owes more to his country than to his partj. Guardian." It is a very long time since any speech in Parliament has made a more profound impression.—"The Times." Never did a Prime Minister better fulfil his duty to his fellow-countrymen than Mr Baldwin has done in sending out to men of goodwill of all classes and all parties an urgent call for cooperation.—"Dilily Telegraph." Magnanimous and wise, Mr Baldwin has forgone a victory in the hope of bringing about a state of affairs m which neither side shall talk of victory over the other, but of how best to achieve a common • end.—" Morning Post." . It was not only much the best speech that the Prime Minister llus ever made; it is very difficult to* conceive any speech on such a subject which could have been better.—'"Daily News.' Mr Baldwin has given his party a new lead and a new spirit and the country a new hope. —"Daily Graphic. Mr Baldwin has achieved a great personal triumph.-"Evening Standard."

And when wo turn to tlie weeklies, which, if they arc no more sagacious tfyan the better-class daiiies, have more timo to weigh their words and consider their judgments, we have the "Spectator" saying—these, too, are its second thoughts, expressed a week after its first article of praise—that Mr Baldwin's "most moving speech in the ""House of Commons on Friday, "March 6th, was that rare thing, a "Parliamentary speech which will be "remembered for a generation." The "New Statesman," which does not greatly admire Mr Baldwin, though it never questions his integrity and goodwill, "can recall no precedent for- so "complete a triumph." The most important consideration it declares to be the fact that "at one blow Mr Baldwin "has given the Conservative Party a "clean slate in regard to its dealings "with organised tout it does not 'hesitate to say that so decisive a personal success "confirms him in the "undisputed leadership of the Conservative Party, and gives him a moral '' authority which no other Conservative '' leader has enjoyed—at any rate since "the days of Lord Salisbury, and periiaps, since longer ago than that." Tho "Nation," to whom Mr Baldwiu is little better in general than a blind leader of a blind party, says that it would be "easy to dismiss this appeal "as a'futile common-place, and easy to "mako £ame of liis manner of presenting it, with his fond reminiscences of "the charming patriarchal relations be"tween masters and men in tho old "Baldwins, as irrelevant sentimentality. But they arc not very discerning critics who see no more in it than ."that." It agrees that' Mr Baldwin was preaching a sermon rather than issuing a manifesto, and that the best, of sermons is apt to hover near the banal, but it suggests that speaking as lie* did from "the pulpit of Prime "Minister, with its tremendous sound-ing-board," he was in a position to utter words which would really smooth the edges of industrial discord. In other words, Mr Baldwin has reached the perilous slope of uuivertal praise; though it is probably less dangerous for him than for almost any other man in the House to have all men spenking well of him. For we must remember that he has already stood the tests of having greatness and humiliation thrust on him with equal suddenness. The man who can leap to eminence without losing his -head and sink into ignominy without losing his real reputation is not likely to be carried away bv a suddon flood of praise. And tho significance of tho incident for the nation is that confidence in the leader will go a long way towards keeping the Conservative Party iu power-for long enough period to give the country the blessings of stability and peace.