Sir Austen's Memories
Down the Years. . By the Rt. Ilan. Sir Austen Chamberlain. (Cassell. 15s.) HISTORIANS • will bless Sir Austen Chamberlain: Instead of following • some rather portentous writers on the War, he has given us a series of brilliant monographs on particular incidents, and has done this with an accuracy which springs from an intimate knowledge and a singular detachment. The result is a specially valuable war book. Reviewers; on the other hand, will tremble. Sir Austen is so many things besides statesman ; he is student, gardener, member of a remarkable family, man of strong friendships and notable 'individuality, being both English and cosmopolitan. Each side is reflected in his book : each side calls for an essay by itself : and yet the whole must be compressed into reason- able compass. The outbreak of war, the fall of Asquith's government in 1916, the signature of the Irish Treaty and the signature of that of Locarno, are all told as he saw them, chiefly from his own- contemporary records. Fetched up unexpectedly from the seaside, lie reached London at one o'clock on the morning of Sunday, August 2nd, 1914, and from then till the outbreak of war and after he tells the story from hour to hour. He never doubted what Britain's duty was, and no Conservative leader had greater influence on the events which led up to Grey's speech in the House of Commons on August 8rd, to the quick embarkation of the Expeditionary Force, and above all to bringing a united Empire into the War.. He tells us, by the way, that as early as August 4th Balfour wrote to Haldane urging the
immediate despatch of 100,000 men to France. ' -
He clears up the tangled story of the fall of- Asquith's government in December, 1916. Bonar Law acted without the knowledge of his Conservative colleagues : Asquith was not told their real decision. Hence a series of vital misunderstandings. Sir Austen himself was ready to join any government strong enough to conduct a- successful war, under either Asquith, or Balfour, or Bonin- Law, or Mr. Lloyd George. Asquith was given the chance of serving under either Boner Law or Balfour, but he would not (Sir Austen thinks that he might have served under Bonar Law had he been approached earlier) ; he refused indignantly to serve under Mr. Lloyd George. Sir Austen acquits neither Asquith nor Bonar Law of blame.
• The making of the Irish Treaty is drawn in vivid colours : Arthur Griffith with the air of a tired scholar " ; Michael -Collins tall of stature and loud of voice with noisy laughter ; Birkenhead " gay and light-hearted in moments of ease ; serious, cool-headed and with-nerves of steel in time of stress and danger " ; Mr. Lloyd George, persuasive and conciliatory, but not yielding an inch more than he meant : and in the background Erskine Childers, moody, savage and relentless, living in Sir Austen's memory as " a face always in shadow, dark as the thoughts behind it." A fine tribute is paid to Birkenhead, without whom there would hive been no Treaty. _ .
All Sir Austen's training led up to Locarno. Immersed as he had been in domestic politics—he has sat in the House continuously: for.',fiirty-three yeais—the world- had not realised that was as a `'cosmopolitan. In' 1885, on leaving Cambridge, he spent nearly a year in Paris, and in 1887 a similar time in Berlin, and he kept up)iis connexion with both capitals:: In both lie met eVVryone of note in Politics, business, letters and lift,' and made many lasting friendships. clemen- eeau introduced him to the premiere danseuse at the Opera, and Bismarck asked him to dinner, saying afterwards to Sir Charles Dilke, " a nice boy, that young Chamberlain. Pity that he's such a poor drinker." He heard Bismarck speak in the Prussian Landtag, and disliked his aivkWard delivery, and he attended Treitschke's bitter lectuires,.: teaching young Ger- many that England was the real enemy. Later, in 1908, lie told Metternich, then German Ambassador in London, that Germany had missed her chance whenBul6w, some nine years
earlier, had mocked at Joseph Chambeilairi's suggestion of an alliance. He had lived in, and absorbed, the atmosphere of
Berlin as well as of Paris : he knew the Europe of after the
War : consequently, in 1925, he was' the Man to pull it to- gether. He was fortunate.,in finding two big men, Briand
and StresomEinn. .. They were.both big. Briand loved France passionately, but was always in his. own phrase, a good
European.' " Stresemann Sir Austen considers the greatest- German since Bismarck. Sir Austen's task was to bring them together, and.this he did. The alternative to Loearno was an ossification of the War grouping, which would probably have cracked and certainly have brought another war. We could not withdraw from Europe. Nearly forty years earlier Sir Edward Malet, then Ambassador at -Berlin, had said to Sir Austen, " If we won't take our part in helping to make or maintain peace, the others will make peace at our expense." It would do no harm if some people in this country would keep that in mind, as well as Sir Austen's own comment on Locarno : " Our safety lies-not in abstention till war has broken out, but in throwing our weight beforehand into the scale of peace."
The book is full of good things, which can only be mentioned the storm-swept last Parliament of Gladstone ; how speakers prepare their speeches, with examples running from Pitt to Asquith ; chapters on gardening and old family records ; appreciations of many contemporaries, and many good stories. But there is one fact omitted. Sir Austen twice put aside the leadership, of his Party, carrying with it, as it must, the position of Prime Minister. On Balfour's retirement, the party was divided, some wanting Long, some Sir Austen. He, however, would not allow a conflict, and insisted on their both withdrawing and Bonar Law being chosen. Had there been a vote Sir Austen would have been elected. Again, had his intense loyalty not made him refuse to 'desert 'Mr. Lloyd George on the break-up, of the Coalition in 1922, he would have been Prime Minister that same year. And might be so
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