Grey's Book

Many years ago Gladstone said, "... the young man with the true parliamentary manner is Edward Grey." It is the parliamentary manner that permeates his Twenty-Five Years.* Just as Lord Grey/- knew how to manage and impress the House of Commons, which was not by the brilliance of his oratory but by his obvious sincerity, so he has managed his material and has created two impressive books, which are matched in their importance only by the conviction they carry.

He has not much to say of himself. What little he does say is enough to reveal his very great dislike of public life and his preference for the flora and fauna of his estate. He says he lived in luxury, but to him luxury was in having everything he wanted and nothing he did not want, and his wants were few and simple.

The story he has to tell relates to the well-worn topic of War responsibility; but, unlike many post-bellum accounts of ante-bellum diplomacy, it has a human appeal which makes these books more readable and vastly more entertaining than many novels.

Some excerpts:

About Theodore Roosevelt: "Roosevelt could be rough, and he was always ready, and his manner in controversy was that of a fighter. There was not much of the patience of Job; there was a great deal of the war-horse rejoicing in his strength and saying 'Ha, ha,' among the trumpets.

"I once heard him asked whether it would be possible in the United States to pass into law a Budget with the changes in taxation corresponding to Lloyd George's Budget in 1909. The answer was not a learned exposition of the limitations of the American Constitution; it was simply this: 'It would depend upon whether a Judge of the Supreme Court came down heads or tails.'"

About Walter Hines Page (quondam U. S. Ambassador to Britain):

"Page came to see me at the Foreign Office one day and produced a long despatch from Washington. ... 'I am instructed,' he said, 'to read this despatch to you.' He read, and I listened. He then said: 'I have now read the despatch, but I do not agree with it; let us consider how it should be answered!'"

About "Old Diplomacy": "The talk about 'old diplomacy' and 'new diplomacy' is little better than useless chatter. So far as it leads people to look for safety in new methods, it is a positive hindrance and mischief. . . . What is diplomacy ? . . . Business men use it in transactions with one another . . . every committee uses it. ... It is called 'diplomacy' when Governments, which are the executive committees of nations, are dealing with each other, because it then has certain forms. Representatives of Governments call each other Excellency, and so forth. . . . The honest man could and did play it [the diplomatic game] as honestly in [old] diplomacy as the honest man in business, ..."

A Story: "The French had formed a huge Cabinet of concentration. M. Briand was Prime Minister, but the Cabinet contained men of great age. M. Clemenceau, then approaching eighty years, was not included. It was said that when asked the reason for his exclusion, he had replied, Me suis trop jeune' (I am too young)."

Another Story: "To greet this Cabinet [above], Asquith, Lloyd George and I went to Paris. . . . Asquith would not, Lloyd George could not, and I had to speak French. In French I know my vocabulary to be limited, my grammar to be imperfect, and my genders to be at the mercy of chance; further, I am told that my accent is atrocious.... When the Council was over. . .Lloyd George said to me: 'You know your French was the only French that I could understand,' "

A Third Story: "We crossed to Boulogne. . . .The next evening we were taken back from Calais to Dover. . . .Having always been immune from seasickness ... I found myself thinking of mines and wondering what the explosion and shock would be like. When we all three were safely seated in the railway train at Dover, the following interchange of experiences took place:

E. G.: 'I couldn't help thinking of mines on the way over.'

LI. G. (wearily): 'Oh! I was feeling much too bad to think of mines.'

A. J. B.* (with convincing emphasis): 'I longed for a mine.'"

*TWENTY-FIVE YEARS (1892 to 1916) -- Viscount Grey of Fallodon, K. G.--Stokes ($10, 2 vols.).

/-Better known as Sir Edward Grey, British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs from Dec. 11, 1905 to Dec. 11, 1916. Both days happen to be Mondays, of which Lord Grey says: "... a curious coincidence of date and day of the week."

*Arthur James Balfour the present Earl Ralfour.