Oct. 2
The 20th Century was, in many ways too cramped," too drab, fitly to provide a setting for Frederick Edwin Smith, first Earl of Birkenhead. His declaced preference for "sharp swords and glittering prizes," his retention of the superb insolence of the undergraduate long after his, state of pupillage had been passed, his capacity for pose tionate friendship, his firm belief in the aristocracy of superman, his patrician tastes and his spacious habits of retreation, all seemed to demand the elegant wig and rufe of the. 18th century, He would have found in Pitt, Fox and Sheridan his kindred spirits. How zo: fully would he have crossed: oratorical swords with Burl—a Dleased relief from occasional and. painfully easy task of withering the unfor tunate Lord Parmoor with a few contemptuous 8 of matchless invective career now ended hi much service to the Empire; a Lord Chancellor—to the sucprise even of his friends—Lord Birkenhead has left his mark in the legal annals of Great Britain; as a signatory of the Anglo-Irish Treaty, he helped to terminate a sad chapter la British history and, in so doing, showed great courage for one who, in most respects, prided himself on his consistency; a8 a Secretary of State for India his work and policy are in doubtful repute—history will probably assign to him a higher' place in the roll at King Charles Street than either India or the friends of India in England are prepared at the moment to admit, Above all as a member, of Mr. Lloyd George's War. Cabinet, Lord Birkenhead contributed wise counsel which was intensely valued by his colleagues and, being acted upon, proved of inestimable benefit to his country. The achievements which brought him rapidly to, the front were in the main due, entirely to his own effort, He evinced no overweening pride on that account. Fragrantly there clings to the memory that pio tribute which, on her death, paid to his' mother in. the correspondence columns of the "Times," over the simple initial, But it probably is in the rol vhich made him famous—in ingle night—that posterity will acclaim him. Tu a sense he may be described asa brilliant failure. His passing leaves no' gap to-day in public life; it hardly makes a ripple on th surface of the social mirror. He was never a figure in interional polities. He confined' his knowledge of foreign cons) tries practically to the Unite States of America and to Ggpy many-—b6th of which he ad
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.