death he gave up
both habits on the challenge of a friend and never reverted to them
again. Mr. William Brace, the miners' leader, said to me one day,
"Rhondda has the income of a duke and the tastes of a peasant, whereas I
have the income of a peasant and the tastes of a duke." I told Lord
Rhondda this, and he smiled quietly over the remark, saying, "He's a
very pleasant fellow, Brace: fond of pictures, and a good judge of them,
too. Yes, I suppose my tastes are rather simple when you come to look at
them, but I don't find them cheap." He was on excellent terms with
Labour politicians, knew many of the old miners with real intimacy, and
could handle large bodies of men with consummate tact.

I do not think for a moment that he was a very great man, but I can
think of few Cabinet ministers during the last thirty years who were
anything like so well-fitted to render the nation real and lasting
service. Lord Rhondda had genius, and though a boyish egoist in his
private life he was earnestly and most eagerly anxious to sacrifice all
he possessed for the good of the State. That he came so late and for so
brief a period to power I regard, if not as a national misfortune, at
any rate as a striking condemnation of our methods of government.

LORD INVERFORTH

LORD INVERFORTH 1ST BARON OF SOUTHGATE (ANDREW WEIR)

Born, 1865. Head of firm of Andrew Weir and Co. shipowners of
Glasgow, Surveyor General of Supplies, 1917-19; Minister of
Munitions, 1919.

[Illustration: LORD INVERFORTH]

CHAPTER XII

LORD INVERFORTH

_"Gratitude is a fruit of great cultivation; you do not find it
among gross people."_--DR. JOHNSON.

We are keeping up Voltaire's idea of our English character. Instead of
only admirals, however, we are now hanging all sorts and descriptions of
our public servants, but whether to encourage the others or to pay off a
grudge, who shall determine?

Lord Inverforth takes his hanging very well. One might go so far as to
say that he is not merely unaware of the noose round his neck but so
perverse as to think he is still alive. His sense of humour is as good
to him as a philosophic temperament.

I like his sense of humour. It manifests itself very quietly and with a
flash of unexpectedness. One day at luncheon he was speaking of Lord
Leverhulme, whose acquaintance he had made only a week or two before.
Someone at the table said, "What I like about Leverhulme is his
si