"He Had No Enemies "

Commonwealth

(BRITISH COMMONWEALTH OF NATIONS)

The death in London from cancer and the impressive burial in West- minster Abbey of the Right Honorable Andrew Bonar Law removed a great man from the rostrum of the Commonwealth's political forum. Eulogia printed in the press of the world paid tribute to Mr. Law's ability as a statesman of note and a politician of sterling qualities. Mr. Law was greater than this. His first claim to praise rests securely upon foundations of moral integrity. Ex-Premier Lloyd George, when he heard the news, said: "I have heard the news with deep regret . . .During the last years of the War and the first years of the peace . . . there was hardly a day we did not meet ... No man could wish for a more loyal, sagacious and helpful partner in times of emergency. Although we had serious political differences . . . our friendship never broke. He was honest to the verge of simplicity." General Jan C. Smuts, Premier of the Union of South Africa, said: "Mr. Bonar Law supplied the wisdom, moderation and the shrewd, canny, Scotch temper which was necessary to complete and offset the Premier's [Lloyd George's] great qualities." More remarkable still was a single sentence contained in a London despatch to the U. S. "He had no enemies!" That is, perhaps, the most remarkable thing ever said of any public servant. This tribute was borne out by the world's press, particularly that of France, where his death is mourned as that of a friend. In that country, where Anglophobia is supposedly rampant, the people think of "a British statesman who, when he could no longer agree with French policy, at least wished France good luck in her enterprises ..." His last words to Premier Poincare in January, when the two parted at the Gare du Nord after a memorable conference in Paris, were: " I feel you are wrong, but I hope you are right, and I wish you success." As a statesman and a politician, however, Mr. Law could not aspire to dizzy heights. He was essentially a business man, sober, slow-thinking, conservative; but his indirect influence on the trend of politics was enormous. Undoubtedly his greatest work was raising unprecedented millions of pounds for the successful prosecution of the War. This he did when he was Chancellor of the Exchequer (1916-18), a post he inherited from Mr. Reginald McKenna. Mr. Law, born in New Brunswick, Sept. 16, 1858, was educated both in Canada and in Scotland. Until 1900 Mr. Law busied himself almost exclusively in the affairs of his uncle's firm, William Kidston & Sons, iron merchants, rising from an obscure posi-tion to one of great responsibility. He also became a partner in the firm of William Jacks & Co. and Chairman of the Glasgow Iron Trade Association. All in all, in 1900, when he took the momentous step into politics, Mr. Law was well known, popular, rich and influential in Glasgow business circles.

He first represented in Parliament, as a Unionist, the Blackfriars Division of Glasgow, but lost his seat in 1906; the same year he successfully contested the Dulwich division of Camberwell which he represented from 1906-1910; after a futile attempt to carry the business section of Manchester he was elected the member for the Bootle Division, Lanes., 1911-18; in 1918 he became the Member for the Central Division of Glasgow, which he represented until his death.

Political positions held: Secretary of the Board of Trade, 1902-6; Leader of the Opposition in the House of Commons, 1911-15; Secretary of State for the Colonies, 1915-16; Chancellor of the Exchequer, 1916-18; Lord Privy Seal, 1919-21; Prime Minister, 1922-23.

Mr. Law married Miss Annie Pitcairn of Glasgow in 1891 (died 1909) and had two sons and two daughters. Both sons were killed in the War to the inconsolable grief of the ex-Premier, whose physical sufferings, long endured, were thereby considerably aggravated. Both daughters are still living to mourn their father: Lady Sykes, wife of Major General Sir Frederick Sykes, Controller General of Civil Aviation; Miss Catherine Law, who so admirably stood hostess for her father during his short tenure of office at No. 10 Downing Street.