My Life

My Life - Oswald MosleyI may be unfair, and it may be true that they had previously made efforts to work withsuch men which had proved impossible; but I suspect that the emotions, complexesand personal prejudices of the old aristocracy cost this country dear in the days whentheir influence was still often decisive. They should have forgiven Lloyd George'sminor faults, and have embraced his genius to use it for fine ends. Great affairs cannotafford the luxury of emotions. To be divided from men who can have value by reasonof their imperfections is to misunderstand the world, which is imperfect.The character of the Cecils was a strange and interesting phenomenon of English life.The subtle political wisdom of their Elizabethan ancestor still lived in some degreeamong them, and I learnt much from the inner discussions of this association. Yetthere was a febrile quality in their action which must surely have been absent from themassive calm inherent in the practical achievement of the Tudor period. Particularlywas this noticeable in Lord Hugh Cecil, who in some respects was the most brilliantamong these three sons of the great Prime Minister. His religious convictionstraversed and permeated his whole political being, and they were dragged into themost inappropriate occasions. I never read a letter by him to The Times, illuminatingsuch a dry-as-dust subject as Free Trade, without apprehending that it would concludequite irrelevantly with 'To hell with the Pope', expressed, of course, in his delicate andindeed exquisite phraseology. His intellect was entirely mastered by his emotions, ifsomeone inadvertently touched one of the key-controlling buttons of his complexmechanism.Lord Robert in his saintly personality and in the high endeavour of his politicsrepresented probably the last attempt for a long time to make the contemporary worldsensible, humane and civilised, a world of well-arranged peace. He was nearly a greatman, and he was certainly a good man; possibly as great a man as so good a man canbe. There is something in a basic concept of Greek thought, stressed by the neo-Hellenists, that an element of the Dionysian is necessary as counter-point to theApollonian in the perfect harmony of creative nature. Lord Robert too suffered insome degree from the inhibiting emotions which should never intrude in action. Whenthe emotions were touched, plain sense was liable to fly out of the window. It isalways sad to see such minds clouded by feelings irrelevant to great purpose,deflected from practical achievement by the triviality of personal likes and dislikes. Itis a common condition in these delicate aristocratic constitutions which cannot easilyendure the dual strain of thought and action.At the other extreme of politics Lord Russell's combination of clear vision with atendency to emotion dims the clarity of his thought in the moment when effectiveaction is possible. In so many cases of brilliant men the fine motor of the intellect iswrecked directly it enters the rough field of action, because the chassis of physicalconstitution and concomitant will-power is not strong enough to sustain it. This is thebasic reason why so few who can truly be described as intellectuals are effective inthe world of action. Calm deserts them in the moment of decision when it is mostrequired. Mr. Asquith was nearly right in his telling epigram about the Cecils: 'Theycan never make up their minds until they have lost their tempers'.This psychology was the exact opposite of the character and temperament of themasters of successful action. For instance, authoritative comment on the nature ofJulius Caesar notes the entire absence of feeling or passion in serving his overriding124 of 424