Sir Austen's Renunciation Nothing in Sir• Austen Chamberlain's kale and
dis- tinguished Ministerial career has ever become him like his renunciation of it. The letters in which he abandons in favour of younger men any claim he may have to a continuance in office, and Mr. Baldwin accepts with deep appreciation an offer which beyond queStion represents a real sacrifice of personal predilections, are worthy of the highest. traditions of British public life. The best testimony to Sir Austen is to add that they are in full keeping with the traditions he himself has invariably observed. From the day when, out of -almost excessive scruples, he resigned his post as Secretary of State for India- after .the report of the Mesopotamia Commission in 1917, the Member for West Birmingham has invariably displayed in every department of his public service qualities of courtesy, of chivalry and of honour which rarely in such degree illuminate the political arena. No longer a Minister of the Crown, Sir Austen on the back benches wilL remain what, as he has interpreted the term throughout his public career, is something more honourable still—an English gentleman.
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