THE MAN OF THE HOUR.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 2710, 14 January 1910, Page 3

THE MAN OF THE HOUR.

LORD LANSDOWNE

(By William Maxwell, in the “Daily

Mail.”)

To Lord Lansdowne lias been committed a solemn duty and privilege. As Leader in the House of Lords he has been called upon to assert the right of the nation to be master of its fate. No man lias stronger claim to this privilege of responsibility, for none has served bis country more faithfully or inspired his countrymen with more confidence. The man whom Gladstone and Salisbury and Granville and Jowett chose for the highest offices of State, and who during forty years of public life has given so many proofs of capacity and pledges of devotion to the interests of the ’country, is entitled to this privilege. Lord Lansdowne is not one of those men who believe that tlieir debt to their country was paid by tlieir ancestors. Yet none bad greater temptation to live on the past. Heir to great possessions and rank, be might have been content to enjoy the beauties and treasures of historic Bowood and of Lansdowne House, to indulge liis taste for art and bis love of hunting and shooting, and to plav the part of a grand seigneur. But Lord Lansdowne realised in youth that service not less than name and wealth is hereditary, and the sense of duty rather than temperament and inclination urged him to follow in the steps of the Iverrys and the Granvilles. who have bequeathed to him a long and brilliant record of public service. HIS POPULARITY IN INDIA.

Of Lord Lansdowne’s services at home and abroad history must be the judge. Contemporaries can only record his achievements. J ,'iiat be was a great administrator India and Canada testify. Despite differences of opinion, which Mr. Gladstone was not always ready to overlook, Lord Lansdowne was appointed Governor-General of Canada in 1883, and justified this confidence by bis wisdom in dealing with the Louis Riel rebellion and in removing the Fisheries question from the list of diplomatic disputes with the United States. If Lord Lansdowne was no “evanescent eidolon” in the Dominion, neither was he

“a fleeting shadow” in India. No Viceroy was ever more popular, and few did more to promote the welfare and security of the Empire. He established our relations with Afghanistan, strengthen, ed our frontiers, regulated the employment of children, restricted child-marri-ages. and saved India from bankruptcy by closing the mints for the free coinage of silver and giving to the rupee an approach to a standard value. AT THE FOREIGN OFFICE. Ten years of exile were rewarded with the office of Secretary for War—-a reward that brought many trials and tribulations. and threatened at one moment to destroy the ?opotation of this successful Governor. The veil has not yet- been drawn aside that covers the period of the Boer war, but enough has now been ;revealed to show that Lord Lansdowne did not merit all the condemnation of those early days of alarm. If ho turned a deaf ear to the warnings of Lord Wolselev. it was because- the Government wished to avoid even tho appearance of seeking a conflict with the Transvaal. To have resigned office at that moment would have been to precipitate a quarrel not in South Africa alone hut on tlm Continent. When the die was cast Lord Lansdowne .show, •ed that he could he resolute. The removal ofl the ordnance factories from the control of the Finance Department to that of tho Inspector-General of Ordnance was wrung from the Defence Committee of the Cabinet in spite of opposition. Tho grant of £11,500,000 for. the automatic replacement of stores and ammunition was wrested from the Chancellor of the Exchequer—whose strong personality dominated members of the Government—after a stormy scene. The service that Lord Lansdowne rendered to his country in those days has yet to he recorded. That Lord Salisbury 'knew and -approved was manifest when Lord Lansdowne succeeded to the Foreign Office. No Depaftmcnt of the State demands from its chief so many) qualities of judgment, tact, and knowledge of men and affairs. You may make a Chancellor of the Exchequer or oven a Prime Minister, but a Foreign Minister is horii —not made. Lord Lansdowne can claim this distinction. As Lord Granville said of him when Jowett suggested that he should become his assistant at the Foreign Office: “Lord Lansdowne has all the qualities—tact that never fails, memory that never slips, temper that no man can ruffle, capacity for secreting international precedents that none can rival.” . A fine and receptive mind in penYotual exercise, a manner at once courteous and reserved, and . a wide and intimate acquaintance with foreign countries were not the sole qualifications of Lord Lansdowne for this important post. He went to tho Foreign Office with a-policy, and that liolicy is written in the treaty with Japan and the entente eordiale with France. These instruments which bear his name have changed the political aspect of Asia and of Europe. They have secured the peace of the world by setting limits to ambition and by removing traditional barriers. If Lord Lansdowne had no other claim than this he would be entitled to our confidence in his sincerity and judgment. Forty years of service, “in action faithful and in honor clear.” more than justifv the faith with which his countrymen accept him as the champion of their inalienable right to pronounce judgment on the revolutionary financial proposals of Mr. Lloyd-George.