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Page 35
He was far happier among his Herefords at Llanwern than in London or in
Cardiff, but he was for ever postponing the day of his retirement from
public life. He kept all his boy's love for birds and animals, and had
real feeling for beautiful things in nature; but the game of life drew
him always towards the city.
At one time he smoked a prodigious number of cigars and drank a bottle
of port every night, but about twenty years before his death he gave up
both habits on the challenge of a friend and never reverted to them
again. Mr. William Brace, the miners' leader, said to me one day,
"Rhondda has the income of a duke and the tastes of a peasant, whereas I
have the income of a peasant and the tastes of a duke." I told Lord
Rhondda this, and he smiled quietly over the remark, saying, "He's a
very pleasant fellow, Brace: fond of pictures, and a good judge of them,
too. Yes, I suppose my tastes are rather simple when you come to look at
them, but I don't find them cheap." He was on excellent terms with
Labour politicians, knew many of the old miners with real intimacy, and
could handle large bodies of men with consummate tact.
I do not think for a moment that he was a very great man, but I can
think of few Cabinet ministers during the last thirty years who were
anything like so well-fitted to render the nation real and lasting
service. Lord Rhondda had genius, and though a boyish egoist in his
private life he was earnestly and most eagerly anxious to sacrifice all
he possessed for the good of the State. That he came so late and for so
brief a period to power I regard, if not as a national misfortune, at
any rate as a striking condemnation of our methods of government.
LORD INVERFORTH
LORD INVERFORTH 1ST BARON OF SOUTHGATE (ANDREW WEIR)
Born, 1865. Head of firm of Andrew Weir and Co. shipowners of
Glasgow, Surveyor General of Supplies, 1917-19; Minister of
Munitions, 1919.
[Illustration: LORD INVERFORTH]
CHAPTER XII
LORD INVERFORTH
_"Gratitude is a fruit of great cultivation; you do not find it
among gross people."_--DR. JOHNSON.
We are keeping up Voltaire's idea of our English character. Instead of
only admirals, however, we are now hanging all sorts and descriptions of
our public servants, but whether to encourage the others or to pay off a
grudge, who shall determine?
Lord Inverforth takes his hanging very well. One might go so far as to
say that he is not merely unaware of the noose round his neck but so
perverse as to think he is still alive. His sense of humour is as good
to him as a philosophic temperament.
I like his sense of humour. It manifests itself very quietly and with a
flash of unexpectedness. One day at luncheon he was speaking of Lord
Leverhulme, whose acquaintance he had made only a week or two before.
Someone at the table said, "What I like about Leverhulme is his
simplicity. In spite of all his tremendous undertakings he preserves the
heart of a boy." With a twinkle in his eyes, and in a soft inquiring
voice, "Have you ever tried to buy glycerine from him?" asked Lord
Inverforth.
This story has a sequel. I mentioned it to Lord Leverhulme. "One day
two Englishmen," he replied at once, "were passing the Ministry of
Munitions. They saw Lord Inverforth going in. One who did not recognize
him said, 'Anyone can tell that man; he's a Scotsman.' To which the
other, who did recognize him, replied, 'Yes, but you couldn't tell
_that_ Scotsman anything else.' You might repeat that story to Lord
Inverforth the next time you meet him."
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