BALFOUR'S INTELLECTUAL ABILITY.
As the Premier of England, as Secretary of Ireland and as the leader of the House of Commons Mr. Balfour displayed great intellectual agility, but at no time was credited with having displayed the industry which spurred on such men as Lloyd George to success. He is of the aristocracy and his position in English politics came to him as the nephew of Lord Salisbury.
He was born in 1848 and educated at Eton and Cambridge and entered the House of Commons at the age of 26. Mr. Balfour was known in his early years as a philosophically and religiously inclined young man, and it occasioned some surprise when he followed the traditions of his family by entering politics.
Some years after taking his seat he joined what was known as the Fourth Party, a conservative rebel faction, consisting of three members, Lord Randolph Churchill, Sir Henry Drummond Wolff and Sir John Gorst. This group constituted a sort of mugwump element that voted independently on every party question and that tried to rouse the Conservatives from their party prejudices and narrow leanings.
To Mr. Balfour belonged the distinguished honor of attending the Berlin Conference of 1878 as private secretary to Lord Salisbury. In 1885 he became President of the Local Government Board. The Conservatives were thrown out of power for a short time at this juncture, but when they were restored in 1886 Balfour became Secretary for Scotland. Shortly after he was promoted to be Chief Secretary for Ireland.
Despite his gentle manners and quiet ways, the new Chief Secretary ruled the then disturbed Ireland with an iron hand. He was known as "Bloody Balfour" by the Irish agitators until he began to show his milder ways upon the restoration of peace. He remained in Ireland until 1891. He had endured abuse and faced threats and had come away triumphant. From Ireland Mr. Balfour went to England as First Lord of the Treasury.
Arthur James Balfour showed his friendship for the United States when, in 1897, as Acting Secretary for Foreign Affairs, he refused to give England's consent to a continental proposal that Spain be permitted to govern Cuba as she chose.
LIBERALS COME INTO POWER.
When Lord Salisbury died in 1902 Mr. Balfour succeeded him as Prime Minister. He remained in that office until 1905, when the Liberals came into power. In the coalition Ministry formed since the outbreak of the European War, he was nominated First Lord of the Admiralty. He showed remarkable ability in this office. Upon the resignation of Mr. Asquith's Cabinet, Mr. Balfour became Secretary for Foreign Affairs. He is an enthusiastic sportsman and has written a book on golf.
The other English envoys who accompanied Mr. Balfour to Washington were Rear Admiral Sir Dudley Rawson Stratford de Chair, and Lord Walter Cunliffe, Governor of the Bank of England.