BOM LAW HITS OUT

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1349, 29 January 1912, Page 5

BOM LAW HITS OUT

A SCATHING SPEECH. MINISTERIAL MISDEEDS. "WHAT HUMBUGS THESE PEOPLE ARE!" By Telscratih— Frees Association-Cosrrlirhl (Rec. January 28, 5.5 p.m.) London, January 27. Mr. Bonar Lz\t, v.-ho recently sncceedHγ.' Ealfour as Leader of the Opposition, addressed a packed and enthusiastic meeting at the Albert Hall. He said tho Government could not keep going at the present pace, for tho result would be either destruction of the Government or ruin of the country. The Cabinet played Faust to Mr. Redmond's Mephistopheles, and were now called upon to redeem the bond. Disestablishment was an act of destructive violence. It appeared to the Unionist that tho Free-trader must choose between tariff reform and "Lloyd-Georgeisin." The country has had enough of the present Government. The lane had been long, but the turning was visible. Failure and. incompetence marked every step of tho wild men who controlled the Radical party. They trusted the !ato Sir H. Campbell-Bannerman, but they do not trust the present Premier, who was being driven, without resistance, faster down the slope. There was never a whisper of competent criticism on the Government benches. Critics were promptly collared and made peers, knights, or front benehmen. Wales had thirty members, and eighteen had been honoured from a peerage to a job. The Labour party had lost its influence because it was in the pocket. On the other side, the Government had sold the 'constitution, and found themselves in the Nationalists' pocket. Thorp were tremendous transformations without explanation. Before Christmas Mr. Winston Churchill had enough of "Stepney sieges" and "ge'ntlo shepherds," and lintl Rone to the (Admiralty. Jlr. Reginald M'Kenna had enough of Colonel Archer Shee and Lord Charles Bere.'ford, and both desired to begin a now leaf. . Lord HaKlane's method of strengthening the regulars was by tils'reduction of twenty thousand men; he similarly reduced tho auxiliaries by thirty thousand, and all ,are armed with inferior weapons to other nations. While not joining the senseless attack on Sir Edward Grey (Foreign Minister), by his owu press it was a' fact that the Morocco incident ended in an advantage to France, while we got all the ill-will. Wo drifted to the verge .of war because responsible Ministers led foreign nations /to believe that tho Government would never assert its rights by force. Mr. Lloyd-George's Mansion House speech saved us from war, but accentuated Germany's ill-will. ■ It would require a geueration of sane statesmanship to livo it down. . ' The Radicals increased the national expenditure to tho extent of forty millions annually, much of• it being spent npon a swarm of new officials numbering nearly six thousand, half of whom wero appointed without competition. I!evolutionary Governments were always corrupt Governments. Capital was leaving the country to on extent unknown in . previous history. Them seeimxl no bottom to tho drop in Consols. The Government hitherto had been preparing machinery for destruction which would come into operation next s?ssion. The Premier told them, that women's fulVrnge, would be a national disaster, yet ho has express' , -') his willingness to perpetrate that disaster. He (Jfr. Bonar Law) asked: Has ever British statesmanship fallen so low? Ho -reviewed the Ministerial programme, and said he believed the Government was already in difficulties- over the construction of a Home Rule Bill acceptable to Ireland, and possibly to England. "What humbugs these people are! They employed the trickery and methods of tho artful dodger. Their methods last session were a disgrace to tho Government and a degradation to tho House of Commons." , THE NEW UNIONIST LEADER, AN APPRECIATION OF MR. BONAR, LAW. It is only eleven years since Mr. Bonar Law entered politics. He has never held high office. In Mr. Balfonr's Administration he discharged with skill and efficiency tho duties of Parliamentary Secretary of the Board of Trade, but this has always been regarded as a subordinate position. He was littlo known outside the House of Commons, until his selection a few months ago to succeed Mr. Bxlfaur, though he proved himself a vigorous fightiii" man when he attacked North-West Manchester at the last election. And thoso who have read the little volume of speeches on the fiscal question which lie published three years ago (writes "A Politician" in the "Daily Mail') are aware that there is at least one subject of which he is a pastmaster. Successful Business Ma,n. What aro the qualities that have so swiftly brought him to the front? In the first place ho is a business man with business training, business methods, and a clear, cool head. In the second place he is ii strong character. In the third place he has an admirable mental equipment and rare grasp of facts and figures. If he has given little sign of Mr. Balfonr's many-sidedness, he has Mr. Balfour s taste' for philosophy; and this, when all is said, is no tad endowment for a leader who has to look beyond the passing hour nnd its fleeting emotions to the essential and unchanging principles which lie behind. Like Mr. Balfour, in his speeches, which are devoid of rhetoric, he appeals alwnj-s to reason; his oratory is conversation raised to a higher power. ' He can hit, and hit hard, and the Government fears him, for he has the gift of makinff his opponents wince. He is a master of dialectic, and though he never uses notes ho is never caught tripping. "Verify your quotations" is a motto he has laid to henrt, as Ministers have found when they have ventured to challenge tho accuracy of his statements. He has a habit of suddenly producing disconcerting quotations from 'his pockets and thus silenciii2 interruption or question. Mr Bonar Law comes <lf pood Scottish stock. His father was a Presbyterian minister, ;Mid he himself was born in the province of New Brunswick, Canada, in lS. r iß At iho nge of twelve ho left the Dominion for Glasgow, nnd wns educntrd at the High School in that city. Tn 1874 ho joined the firm of William Kidston and" Rons, iron merchants, of Glasgow, of which his uncle was the head, and in 1886 became partner in the house of William Jacks and Co., of tho same city. The firm were frreat exporters, and Mr. Bonar Law speedily achieved so strong a position in the business world that he was chosen chairman of Hie Glasgow Iron Trade Association. In ISIOO he retired from business, nnd began Parliamentary life as a Conservative, winning tho Blackfriars division of Glasgow. Striking Maiden Speech. His maiden speech in the House- was a veritable tour dc force, and by the consent of those who heard it was one of tho best ever made in Parliament, its only defect being the extreme rapidity with which it was delivered. So marked was tho impression it produced that r.o surprise was felt when two years later he was given office, though ho was a man entirely without connections and any kind of influence.

"Ho reprocnfa ft typa by himself on the front Opposition bench. says tuio jdio

has watched his Parliamentary progress. ' Deep-sunk ryes, a big square jaw, an upright forehead, a straight motif h, covered by a somewhat drooping moustache, (rive it tlio first glance an iinnrossion of a man deeply reflective, touched with melancholy, but dominated by the recognition of tlio necessity for stron" and forcible actions. . . . Hern is no fervid prophet who rims to words. Ilcro is rather the man who, having convinced himself that a certain course of action is necessary, will work without .personal ostentation, but with a certain grim rulhlossness, until his object is attained."

Tall and square, ho stands erect when speaking, with one hand by his side—typically Scotch in appearance, and with a -light and pleasing Scotch accent. Re has no gestures, though now and then ho will dive into one of his numerous pockets for a reference, and lie is always, cool and unembarrassed. Parlly because of this perfect mastery of himself, which is invaluable to a leader, though it postulates an absence of the emotion that gives to oratory its most overwhelming force, he has never been obliged to explain anything away.