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England Takes a Recess

So little of a stirring nature has happened in Great Britain during the past fortnight that the press has had to manufacture its sensations, and relatively minor matters, like the scandal of The Whispering Gallery, have filled its columns. Echoes of the Imperial Conference are still heard, but they are principally reminiscent and personal. The London Outlook draws a retrospective portrait of the leading delegates as they appeared at the banquets, speeches, excursions, and other public functions attending that event. It gives the palm for eloquence to India's representative, the Maharajah of Burdwan, 'a physical giant overtopping all his colleagues, and an excellent speaker.' Mr. Bruce of Australia ranked next to him as 'on the whole the most forcible and direct of the overseas orators.' An absence of humor, the seriousness of a man who had come to England 'to talk economics and development, not to bandy compliments over the port,' made him a less acceptable after-dinner speaker, however, than Mr. Mackenzie King, the Canadian Premier, who 'obviously enjoyed himself,' and whose humor 'often

bubbled over in delightful quips and allusions that were fully appreciated by the audience.' General Hertzog is described as 'a curious combination of a gentle, almost shrinking manner with a very determined personality.' He has neither the characteristic robustness of his fellow Boers nor the intellectual distinction of General Smuts. 'Odd as it may sound, the man with whom I should most readily compare General Hertzog is Lord Milner. There is precisely the same stiff upper lip and unbending principle in public, and the same exquisite charm in private life.' Mr. Coates of New Zealand is described as 'the ideal public schoolboy grown up and come to responsibility adequate rather than eloquent'; and Mr. Monroe of Newfoundland, who was 'a little overshadowed by his colleagues,' is dismissed as 'a worthy representative' of Britain's oldest colony. Mr. Cosgrave of the Irish Free State was prevented by ill-health from attending public functions, but his deputies ably represented him, and, in the opinion of the Outlook writer, 'must have appreciated the welcome they received from their audiences.' Some French writers

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