I am glad Sir Samuel Hoare's address to Reading Univer-
sity as its Chancellor has been published in permanent form (by Hodder and Stoughton at 2s.). There are a number 01 passages of historical or personal interest in it. Sir Samue1 mentions, incidentally, that he ties with Mr. Churchill in the number of public offices he has' held ; he makes the remarkable statement that in 1922, when he was Air Minister, " demabilisation, the Geddes axe and the Chanak crisis had reduced our first-line defence in Great Britain. to 14 serviceable machines " ; and he refers to a conversation between Lord Haldane, Lord Morley and the American statesman Mr. Elihu Root, in which the three discussed the qualities most needed in public life. Morley or Haldarl: (we are not told which) said " eloquence," the other sal: " courage," but finally both endorsed Root's plea fly " patience." That interests me rather particularly, becau,: when I was discussing with Mr. Root the slow progress the Washington. Naval Conference in 1921, his answer w " Remember, leg after .leg the dog got to Doyer." I didn realise then how much that was a part of his fixed philosoph.l.
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