NEWS OF THE WEEK
RAMSAY MACDONALD may have been a controversial figure, but he was a great figure. Starting life with no single .advanrage in his. favour; he achieved in 1924 and 193i positions either of which would have assured him a permanent place in the history of this country. He was more conspicuously compounded than most men of strength and weaknesses ; a true- picture of him must take account of both, as the estimate of him On a later page of this issue seeks to do. Judgements: that. Were valid the day.' before a man's death cannot in honesty be reversed the -dity after. His action in 1931 _was -applauded by_ the country -as taken in the country's best interests"; it was condemned • by his former colleagues less because :they: disagreed with it than .because—if Cabinet Ministers like Mr. Clynes are to be believed—it was taken over their heads and without their knowledge. But in the days of his physical vigour he towered over any other member of his party as Parliamentarian and statesman. His first Premiership was notable from its first day, and though it was physically imprudent to combine it with the Foreign Secretaryship his tenure of the latter office was notable:too: It began with the unexpected letter of personal Cordiality to M. Poincare, and after the French Prime Minister'S fall Mr. MacDonald, in more congenial. collaboration with M. Herriot; Cemented Anglo-French friendship and eased the whole Euroitean situation immensely by his part in getting the Dawes agreeinent through. ' He -Was courageous; untiring, sensitive, not free from vanity, warm-hearted and huinan, a man to Whom his family meant much, who yet in the long years since his wife's death remained essentially a lonely man. His death reminds us of how unique a figure he was. - • , * * * *
