SOUTH AFRICA.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 670, 22 November 1909, Page 7

SOUTH AFRICA.

- JfI£sGOUEBbtt&G£IIieRALSHIP. ' ACCRETED GLADSTONE. (By. Megrajili.— Press , AraodaHon.— Copyright.) (800. November 21, 5.5 p.m.) ' London, Novombor 20, Tho "Telegraph" announces that Mr. Herbert Gladstono (Homo Secretary) has accepted th>. Governor-Generalship of South Africa. , ME. GLADSTONE AND HIS BED OP THOENS. "... your secretaries Of etato attend me, Siie, to render up Tho ledgers of a realm. I do beseech you Suffer theso noblo gentlemen to learn The nature of tho glorious task that waiti thorn." \ > Bulwer's "EichoHou." Tho Homo Secretary, Mr. Herbert Gladstone (writes "M.A.V.") is perhaps tho v mosl. "pul upon" of all his Majesty's Ministers. Not only has ho tlie i supervision of factories, minci and quarries, mcbiiatos, aliens, police, and •• reformatories, but tho vast network of our prison administration depends on him, and, , above all, it is. ho who e.\crciscs tho King** prerogative of mercy. This it is, as wo shall see, that Mr. GlaiMouo linds so terrible a responsibility. As Home SwwUry, ho is, tin Snncipal channel ,of comiiiimication between 10 > Sovereign and Hie nation; for instance, all Royal messages to the people aro issued through him, and he must ),o near at hand at Uoyal accoiiclicnienls, just to make surt that 'no strange baby ib introduced in a wnrtn--1 mer-panl At one time the poor "Homo" Soo. rotary had to deal with Ireland, tho Colonics, and the War Department alao; but oven with" out theso ho is probably the barilest-worked Minister in the Cal-iuct. ITe has a good deal of valuablo pntronage, iri'uJing tho appointment of all llccordcrs and stipendiary mogie- ( tratcsi and tbo corrospondonco that this alono entails is simply enormous. Why, it will bo askod, should Mr. Glai stone be so thin-sldnnodP It is no secret thai some shrewd politicians liko to be merciless!* ' ' denounced, fov they know that, owing to tU« innato fairness of the English people, there tf suro to be a reaction from which they wil duly benefit. Evidently Mr. Gladstono ha« ■ not such a calm philosophy as his great fathct certainly had. In somo waye ho is mor* human than his .father. Ho has tho Gkd- . stone eye-large, black, pupil-loss, hawk-like- •' but ho has none, of the G.O.M.'s imperious mannor. Ho is almost boyishly amiablo nnd genial, and baj-ishly eensitive, too. Yet there are two of bis predecessors in the IJome Secretaryship now living who know how to keep a stiff upper lip on occasion. One was Mr. Asquith, who has never been forgiven by tho Labour party for his action in ordering out tho troops to quell tho strike riots at ,i Fonthorstono. Mr. Asquith, in that, did what he judged to bo his duty, namely, to keep the lungs peace, regardless of what anybody said. Iho. other instanco is that of Lord Llandaff,, who, ns Mr. Henry Matthews, nearly wrecked Lord Salisbury's second administration over the now almost forgotten caso of Miss Cass, which formed tho subject of violent newspaper diatribes against the then Home Secretary. It is pretty clear, too, that Mr. .Gladstone , takes no intellectual interest in crime, in the ' psychology of criminals, or in tho processes by which crimes are proved. Ono of tho best Homo Secretaries who ever hold, office, " Sir Matthew' While Ridley, afterwords Lord Eidley, had this keen, intellectual interest. , Ho would havo made an excellent member of that i' curious and little-known coterie in tho London ' world who meet periodically to dine 'and die- \ cuss somo great murder or other cause• celcbro of the past. Perhaps it is a misfortune that' Mr. Gladstone is not a barrister. Most of his predecessors had been "called," and somo of them, notably Jlr. Asqiiith, had practised with success. It would really seem that those qunli. ties of gentleness, kindness, and urbanity which mode Mr. Gladstone an almost ideal Chief Whip when his party were wandering \ in tho cold shaded of Opposition, are positive drawbacks when he has to discharge the miscellanoone mass of functions piled on to Wβ Majesty's Principal Secretary of Slate for tie Homo Department.