hen the dukes
and earls fell on him in all their noble rage and dignity he culled
stories from the past about them. One of the attacks on him was by
Earl Selborne, who had been a Cabinet Minister in a Conservative
administration. Lloyd George permitted himself no false delicacy about
the noble earl. "He contends there is no correspondence between his
story and mine. He is quite right. I have already pointed out the
essential difference. I bought shares in a company which had no
contract with the Government, and my purchase of even these shares was
subsequent to the acceptance of the wireless tender by the Government.
Earl Selborne was a director of a company during the time it was
initiating and acquiring a huge contract with the Government, of which
he was a member. His story is, therefore, not mine."

There had probably never been a politician in British public life who
was so affectionately regarded by all those persons who were brought
into personal contact with him, whether they agreed with him or not.
Pressmen whose duty it was to berate him in the papers were generally
fond of him personally. Opponents in the House of Commons when not
engaged in combat had, in most cases, an active liking for him.
Business men and persons not connected with politics after once meeting
him had nothing but good to say of the "Welsh demagogue." And in face
of all this Lloyd George has truly been the most hated man of his
generation. He used to chuckle over it--which sent his opponents to
the last degree of fury. "The dukes," he would remark, cheerily, "are
scolding like omnibus-drivers, and the lords swearing like
stable-boys." He would fling out his hand with a humorously despairing
gesture about it.

Lloyd George was not very precise in his attacks sometimes. Though he
was very rarely, perhaps never, successfully challenged on the general
basis of his charges, his vivid wording always brought on him a flood
of recriminations. He was called an "ignorant demagogue," an
"unscrupulous electioneer," was accused of using "false sentiment" and
of "setting class against class." His principal weapons throughout, it
was said, were his inaccuracies and offensive personalities. The
exasperated Conservatives, only a few months before the war, secured
the time of the House of Commons to indict him for some of these sins.
Here was the resolution moved from the Conservative benches: "That this
House contemplates with regret the