On Monday two determined personal attacks were made on the
Government, the first by Mr. Bartley, the second by Mr. Lloyd-George. Mr. Bartley moved as an amendment to the Address that the House express regret at the appointment of so many of the Premier's relatives to office. His speech, however, in which he confessed himself a disappointed office- seeker who had been offered knighthood and the Auditor- Generalship, was mainly an attack on Mr. Brodrick, whom he pronounced unfit for Secretary of War because he had been ten years in the War Office. He deviated, however, into his sub- ject, declaring, unmindful of Douglas Jerrold, who said "we are all brethren, all Caine and Abele," that relatives of the Premier could not be independent. Even Tories called the Cabinet "the Hotel Cecil." Mr. Balfour made an amusing reply, in which he quoted instance after instance of Ministers who were kinsfolk quarrelling violently, pointed out that Lord Salisbury bad only added one relative to the Cabinet, and described Cabinet - making as the "most difficult, most responsible, and most thankless task imposed on any subject of her Majesty." Just so, but in spite of these things the Premier ought to think of himself as adlatus of the Sovereign, and, like a Sovereign, above personal friend- ships or enmities. The division was 230 to 128.
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