Lloyd George, David, 1863-1945; Prime ministers -- Great Britain -- Biography
“Mr. M. is one of your most ardent admirers; and if you do not
know it let me tell you that their number in this country is
legion.”
There he certainly spoke the truth.
Sir Richard Flavelle, the famous Canadian financier, was present in
London during the great financial crisis. On returning to Canada, in a
speech at Ottawa on September 26th, 1916, he spoke as follows:
“During those days the men who met the Chancellor (Mr. Lloyd
George) in Committee were struck with one or two personal
characteristics. One of the noted ones was the man’s
self-effacement. He sought for no glory for himself. He sought
for no recognition for himself. One of the early evidences of
the measure which he had taken of the situation was found, by
the gentlemen who waited upon him, that Mr. Austen Chamberlain
sat by his side. He crossed over to the other side of the House,
and he said—‘I need your assistance.’”
Less expected than the praise of Canada is the admiration of India. Mr.
Lloyd George has never visited India, and he would not claim any special
knowledge of India. But India is the country of the poor man; and the
poor man all over the world has heard in his speeches a new call of
hope. To him Mr. Lloyd George seems a light in great darkness, the
glimmering of a new dawn. Writing before the war, the _Indian Patriot_
said:
“Of all the statesmen at the head of affairs in England to-day
no one exercises the imagination of India so much as Mr. Lloyd
George. He is not known as ‘Mr.’ here, but has gone over to the
ranks of greatness, and is called simply ‘Lloyd George.’ His
force and his earnestness always appeal to the imagination. His
speech is carefully read and treasured up. The cry of India
is—‘When shall we have a Lloyd George over here?’ and the story
of his pensions for the old, his insurance for the sick has
become a legend from the West.
“When will he come as our Viceroy?” is what a poor man asked the
writer. And he was disappointed to be told that he may not come
at all. ‘But then Mr. Lloyd George has many followers, and any
one of them, trained as he is, may come!’ And here was
consolation!”
“They all love him, and are ready to lay down life for him; and all
because he has done so much for the poor.” That is the verdict of India,
where kindness to the poor is a first call on all religions, and not a
pious aspiration controlled by the Poor Law.
Then there are the little “Neutrals.” They ought, by all the rules, to
have seen the best of the game. There is a remarkable article in the
_Journal de Genève_ of May 15th, 1917, which seems to embody the
judgment of the most cautious and level-headed of all the neutral
observers of the war:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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