urious and easily
satisfied body, the House of Commons, and no man in the public life of
our times has enjoyed a more powerful prestige in the constituencies.
Indeed, he stood for many years as the most dignified and honourable
figure in the public life of Great Britain, and his influence in
politics during the first part of that period was without serious
rivalry.

It must not be forgotten, too, that in the days of "bloody Balfour" he
was not merely chivalrous, but even Quixotic, in taking upon himself the
mistakes and misdoings of his subordinates in Ireland. He certainly had
the makings of a chivalrous figure, and perhaps even a great man. One
thinks that he began his descent unconsciously, and that carelessness
rather than any inherent badness led gradually to an egoism which has
proved fatal to his powers and to his character.

To the self-absorbed, vision is impossible. Mr. Balfour, unable to
penetrate the future, has lived from day to day, enjoying the game of
politics for the fun of confounding critics and managing colleagues,
enjoying too the privilege and dignity of power, but never once feeling
the call of the future, or experiencing one genuine desire to leave the
world better than he found it. And now he ends his political career
clinging to a decorative office under the leadership of Mr. Lloyd
George.

At the end of his Gifford Lectures, after an argument which induced one
of his listeners to say that he had _a stammer in his thoughts_, Mr.
Balfour announced his faith in God. One may recall Pascal's exclamation,
"How far it is from believing in God to loving Him!"

I have always thought it significant of his true nature that Mr.
Balfour should be one of the worst offenders in that unlovely Front
Bench habit of putting his feet up on the Clerk's table. The last time I
was in the House of Commons Mr. J.H. Thomas was lying back on the
Opposition Front Bench with his legs in the air and his muddy boots
crossed on the table. The boorishness of this attitude struck my
companion very sharply. But I pointed out to him that the difference
between Mr. Thomas, the Labour member, and Mr. Balfour, the great
gentleman, was merely a size in boots.

LORD KITCHENER

LORD KITCHENER OF KHARTOUM

Born, 1846; entered Army, 1866; Colonel, 1899; Burmah Campaign,
1891; Viscount, 1914; Baron, 1914; Earl, 1914; Sec'y for War, 1914;
died, 1917.

[Illustration: LORD KITCHENER]

CHAPTER VI