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Page 18
"The truth about Arthur Balfour," said George Wyndham, "is this: he
knows there's been one ice-age, and he thinks there's going to be
another."
Little as the general public may suspect it, the charming, gracious, and
cultured Mr. Balfour is the most egotistical of men, and a man who would
make almost any sacrifice to remain in office. It costs him nothing to
serve under Mr. Lloyd George; it would have cost him almost his life to
be out of office during a period so exciting as that of the Great War.
He loves office more than anything this world can offer; neither in
philosophy nor music, literature nor science, has he ever been able to
find rest for his soul. It is profoundly instructive that a man with a
real talent for the noblest of those pursuits which make solitude
desirable and retirement an opportunity should be so restless and
dissatisfied, even in old age, outside the doors of public life.
The most serious effect upon his character of this central selfishness
may be seen in his treatment of George Wyndham. Mr. Balfour has had only
one friend in his parliamentary life, Alfred Lyttelton, but George
Wyndham came nearer to his affections than any other man in the Unionist
Party, and was at one time Mr. Balfour's devoted admirer. Nevertheless,
in the hour of his tragedy, in the hour which broke his heart and
destroyed his career, Mr. Balfour, who should have championed him
against the wolves of the Party, and might, I verily believe, have saved
both him and Ireland, turned away his face and rendered homage to
political opportunism. Wyndham's grave and the present condition of
Ireland stand as sorrowful reminders of that unworthy act.
Wyndham was by no means a first-rate politician, but he was a sincere
man, something too of a genius, and I think there was genuine
inspiration in his method of solving the Irish question.
This incident reveals in Mr. Balfour a capacity for meanness which
rather darkens his good qualities. It prevents one from believing that
his conduct has always been guided by noble and disinterested motives.
The historian might have said that although he mistook astuteness and
adroitness in parliamentary debate for statesmanship, and although he
accomplished nothing for the good of his country, he yet lent a certain
dignity and nobleness to public life at a time when it was besieged by
new forces in democracy having no reverence for tradition and little
respect for good manners; but when the full truth of the Wyndham
incident is related it will be difficult for the historian to avoid a
somewhat harsh judgment on Mr. Balfour's character.
Nor does the Wyndham incident stand alone. His treatment of Mr. Ritchie
and Lord George Hamilton was very bad. Then there was the case of Joseph
Chamberlain, who had good reason never to forgive him. Some day Mr.
Asquith (or will it be Mrs. Asquith) may tell the story of dealings with
Mr. Balfour which were not of a handsome character. The more these
things are revealed the worse I think it will be for Mr. Balfour's
character.
But such is the personal effect of the man that even those whom he has
treated badly never bring any public charge against him. With the
exception of Mr. Asquith, and Joseph Chamberlain, all forgave him, and
even sought to find excuses for his inexplicable lapse. But I am
inclined to think that this indicates weakness on the part of the victim
rather than grace on the part of the victimizer.
There are other ways in which his lack of sensibility manifests itself
in an unpleasant fashion. He is so self-absorbed that he appears to be
wholly unaware of those who minister to his comfort. Of his servants he
never knows the least detail, not even their names, and even a devoted
secretary who has served him faithfully for many years may find himself
treated almost as a stranger in a moment of need. I fear it must be said
that in financial matters Mr. Balfour is as close-fisted as any miser,
although I believe that this meanness has its rise, not so much in
avariciousness as in a total incapacity to realize the importance of
money to other people.
It has been said that the whole history of philosophical thought is an
attempt to separate the object and the subject. Mr. Balfour appears to
have made this separation complete. For him there is no object. His mind
has embraced his subjective self, and has not merely refused the
fruitless effort of attempting to stand outside its functions in order
to perceive its own perceptions, but, abandoning the unperceived
perceptions and the inactive activities of ultimate reality, it has
canonized its own functions and deified its own subjective universe. So
complete, indeed, is this separation that he can scarcely be called
selfish, since for him there exists no objective field for the operation
of unselfishness.
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