g the country gentlemen, lawyers and
men of business who have been associated with them; a few have shown
conspicuous ability; most by experience of affairs soon gain a special
aptitude in dealing with them. Anyhow the open recognition of party
claims publicly recognised is infinitely better, as Burke urged, and
history from his day to ours proves, than backstairs influence or merely
personal ties, and still more than using official position as a tribute
to wealth, and the advantages which wealth can confer on those who do it
homage. It is the system which is to blame, not the men to be condemned.
Those who denounce the members of a Government most fiercely would be
only too happy to accept an invitation to meet them at dinner. Ask the
most eloquent writer of philippics who has known, say a score of
Ministers on both sides personally, and who is reasonably tolerant,
modest and candid, which of them does he believe really to be either a
knave or a fool; he will answer, "None, though I am not quite sure about
X." We all have our ineradicable antipathies. Fortunately there is
something forensic about English political contests. The astonished
client sees the advocates who have been hottest in conflict walking away
arm in arm. We must make allowance for the requirements of the forum,
and at the same time be thankful that while there may be something
rotten in the state of politics, those who become prominent in political
life are honourable men. To some it may seem half an insult to state the
fact, but the kind of talk both public and private too frequently heard
to-day makes it necessary to insist upon it. Even Members of Parliament
on the opposite side are as a rule quite respectable citizens. To
maintaining a correct attitude of antagonism too close knowledge of
opponents may sometimes be a hindrance, and it was not without reason
that one engaged in a violent controversy on being told that if he knew
Y., his antagonist, he would be sure to like him, replied, "That is the
reason why I have always refused an introduction to him."

Lastly, when the right men have been selected, they should be supported,
their acts and proposals, of course, criticised if necessary, but not
made the subject of perpetual and irritating nagging, or dull refusal to
understand and appreciate what they are doing and aiming at. They may
not expect gratitude. Most people learn in the course of life that
recognition given and gratitude shown for any