The Manawatu Herald. Thursday, April 7, 1910. THE PRIME MINISTER—A STUDY.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXII, Issue 823, 7 April 1910, Page 2

The Manawatu Herald. Thursday, April 7, 1910. THE PRIME MINISTER—A STUDY.

‘‘ Mr Asquith is once more the chief citizen of the British Empire,” writes Mr A. G. Gardiner, the editor of the Daily News. ‘‘ He returns to the helm of Stale with the sanction of all that is most significant and virile in the nation. No personal triumph was ever achieved by more honest and unpretentious methods than his have been. When the history ol this momentous period is written, the figure of Mr Asquith will dominate it in a measure we do not now realise. The picturesque actor in politics browses in his glory while it is green. He does not garner it when it is ripe. He passes across the stage to the plaudits of the throng, and when he has vanished he is forgotten. The Oriental splendours of Disraeli have faded into a legend, into a tale of little meaning, while the stature of Gladstone rises steadily higher in the field ol the past. So it will be with Mr Asquith. No man ever played less to the gallery, refused more icily to effect a passion, an enthusiasm, a cause because it would profit him. His attitude to the people is stiff and aloof. Coriolauus himself could scarcely find fault with it. He will not tickle the ears of the groundlings. He will offer them no fireworks —give them no circuses. If they want the truth —good. Here it is, plain and unvarnished. If they want tricks, let them go elsewhere. He will lie for no office, and play the buffoon for no audience. He will make no promises to win a cheer or a vote. He is the plain dealer. These are my terms —take them or leave them. His temperament is negative. That is perhaps only another way of saying that he is governed by intellect and not emotion. A brilliant woman once said to me, ‘‘Asquith has three great qualities. He has no egotism, no jealousy, and no vanity.” It was a saying of very searching truth. There are some men who seem to live in front of the mirror. I doubt whether Mr Asquith ever looks in it. His mind works in singular and entire detachment from self. This at once the source of its weakness and its strength. It is faultless and it is cold. Tt convinces you, but it does not warm you. It wins your confidence, but it does not stir the blood. It has the priceless value of detaching his public policy from his private interest. His freedom from jealousy is one of the rarest and most precious gifts of public life. When Gladstone offered him the Solicitor-Generalship he declined the office.”