LATE EARL BALFOUR.

Waikato Times, Volume 107, Issue 17975, 21 March 1930, Page 9

LATE EARL BALFOUR.

EULOGY BY A FRIEND. A MAN OF MANY PARTS. UNIQUE INFLUENCE EXERTED. The following sketch of the late. Earl of Balfour was written by a personal friend when I tic deceased statesman celebrated his SOlli birthday on July 25, 1928. Arthur Balfour has lived for SO years, and for nearly three-fourths of that time he has been prominent in public life, yet it is doubtful i! there arc many outside an admittedly narrow circle who know much about his character and his aims. He .has never been “Arthur” or even “A.J.8.” to the multitude; lie has always seemed something of a mystery, an unknown power in the background: and it has only been very gradually that his unique influence on his generation has been realised by the general. It is not often that a man of eighty retains, as he lias, not only the vigour of his mind but the charm of his whole personality. To Ibis day no woman (or man either) but would feel a kind of elation on finding herself placed next In Arthur Balfour at dinner —an elation sometimes mixed with Ihe insistent fear of not, being able to amuse or

interest him. Almost invariably, after a few minutes and a pinch of courage, the discovery is made that everything interests, him—and especially everything personal. The pleasure of talking with him is not due I o', his great, reputation and position, or- even lo his brilliance and wit, but to something far less tangible— His Overmastering Charm. Attempts have often been made to analyse this, but it is a very difficult task. First, perhaps, comes his complete lack of self-consciousness and vanity. Of course lie knows that he possesses a powerful intellect and one of the quickest brains of his generation, but he knows it much as the rest of us may ’be aware that we have a good voice or clever hands —something, in fact, which wc are glad to possess but l’o which we are not unduly proud. Arthur Balfour will thus turn the searchlight of ids mind on to any topic, however small, and pay as respectful an attention to the remarks of a young girl as to those of a famous statesman or philosopher. Mr Gladstone was like this but with a difference: almost any idea interested him more than the individual who was imparling it, Arthur Balfour is always interested in both. Joined to this lack of self-conscious-ness and vanity, indeed a part of it. is the absence of desire to shine or lo score off anyone. Not that he would ever deliberately refrain from a good repartee or a pungent argument out of consideration for an opponent’s duller wits —that would indeed be a most, tiresome development—but the personal factor, the desire for a personal triumph or victory, is quite simply no! there. His mind can in consequence play freely over any subject and without, reservation. It has often been said of him that he is cold, indifferent, and not sympathetic to human weaknesses. The cause of this misjudgment, for such it is, lies possibly in his curiously practical and, in a sense, Spartan outlook. Go to him with the story of an irremediable disaster or a situation in which nothing can be done, or a hopeless verdict in matters of health, and tie will mentally turn aside. He will not go on saying he is sorry: he seems to ignore useless emotion and in try to think of other things. Only those who do not know him and have not understood the strength and depth of his emotion are deceived. He turns aside because lie feels too much to Trust Himself to Expression, and on the rare occasion when he has given way something elemental in its passion and strength seems to be released. Go to him, however, with a difficulty nr a problem which admits of some action, and there is literally no limit lo Ihe trouble lie will take; Ihe ingenuity and generosity of ids temper will lie put wholeheartedly at your service, and without censoriousness or criticism tie will perform that most difficult, task of all. help a friend who ls-as made a fool of himself as well as exert every possible influence for Ihe friend who deserves it. That tie can be stern at limes is also true: and once his disapproval or aversion is roused it is not 100 much lo say that lie is implacable; fortunately this is a rare occurrence, because lie tins a wide tolerance for many of Ihe sins and follies of his contemporaries. Tt. must also be conceded that his memory is not good: lie forgets easily. Iml most, easily n personal injury, lie once said lo an intimate friend. “I am incapable of harbouring long resentments because I forget I lie cause.” The difficutly is lo pack into a lew lines even a. fragment of what might be written about Arthur Balfour’s charnelcrislics. Nothing lias been yet said about 1 1 is love of games, especially outdoor games, golf, lawn lennis, or of his greal knowledge of and devotion to classical music. Jhicii. Handel Haydn. Mozart would, perhaps, bo Ids special favourites, but he ran be moved lo delight, too, by Ihe more romantic, schools, and perhaps even Hie modern Stravinsky* and Scriabins arc not beyond or beside his apprecialion. Jt seems absurd also that his brilliant wit lias not. been more Irian mentioned. But it is of Lho Lind very difficult lo

preserve, springing as it does, most easily out of personal intercourse. There is a well-known story which may bear telling again, as it is Essentially Characteristic. At a dinner Frank Harris, Lhe writer, was holding forth about the condition oi the world in as provocative a tone as possible, and ended by saying truculently, “All the evils of our lime are due to Christianity and Journalism.” Arthur Balfour responded in a quiet lone; “Christianity of course, hut why Journalism?” and the wind dropped out of Harris’ sails. There must he hundreds of stories of this kind, and perhaps some are recorded in diaries; hut those are evanescent flashes on Hie quality of his thought, for it is thought of a high order which he brings to bear on every topic. His mind is seldom off the speculations of philosophy, using the term broadly; and he habitually correlates history, science, psychical research, literature, politics, seeking always for a comprehensive theory of life. His reading is very wide; no great movement of thought or scientific discovery is neglected, and it is safe lo say that no opinion of his on any subject is without a synthetic blend of speculative thought and. practical knowledge. lu the life of such a being there is lillle room for personal vanities or self-questionings. Once in a family gathering at Whitiingehume, round the big dining-room table, the general talk —and no other talk is over permitted there—turned on remorse and a sense of sin. After a pause Arthur Balfour was heard of say meditatively across the table In his brother Gerald, “I rover remember suffering from a sense of sin—do you, old man?" This was probably a true statement, though made with a full appreciation of its humour. If someone Irad ventured In remark Hud he was never in any ease ■ vunied with hunself, he might have replied with a gleam of seriousness, as Im did once on another occasion, “I’m •.liraid that’s not the explanation: the explanation is that I’m sometimes a fool.” fusel f-consciousncss. detachment, an entire absence of self-seeking, sympalhy, imagination, intellect, strength, purpose—these make up a Good List of ingredients in the private character of a statesman. Kxaelly these same qualities are exhibited in his public life, and that is why it lias serried worth while lo dwell upon them. Public and private charnel eristics arc nol always as completely fused as in Arihur Balfour. For confirmation of fhis statement ask anyone who was with him in InTami when lie was Chief Secretary, surrounded by detectives and assailed by Hie most difficult kind of sentiment; ask anyone how lie behaved in the black week of the Boer War, after the failure lo cross the Tulcga and relieve Ladysmith; and, to come right down to our own day, ask those who witnessed his handling of the Washington Conference on Naval Disarmament, nr nr a particular development during the Imperial Conference of a year ago. These moments are eloquent of ids courage, his resource, his vision. Here were occasions when something could he done to help the country which he loves with passion; and not by words alone, but by the resolution and magicm r,r „ areal man expressed in rapid decisions. The analogy between Ins private and his public chnrart" is demonstrated by them. May he lie allowed for the rest of his span of life lhe full possession of these qualities; it may well be that- his country 'will need him, and them, again.