Among Mr. Chamberlain’s working associates, Mr. Powell Williams has been a sort of “surprise packet.”  Poets, we are told, are born, and not made, but Mr. Powell Williams seems to have been made, and not born.  At least, no one seems to know anything much about his early career.  He appeared to burst upon the municipal horizon all at once, like a meteor emerging from outer space, but when he came in contact with the Corporation atmosphere he soon became ignited and fired by municipal enthusiasm, and, encouraged by those who perceived his capacity, he rapidly began to be a conspicuous luminary in our local Forum.  He quickly distinguished himself in the matter of local finance, and indeed soon became Birmingham’s Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Without being a brilliant or learned orator, Mr. Powell Williams had the gift of fluency, and he could generally be reckoned upon to get up at a moment’s notice and make an effective speech.  He could also do a little fighting if it came in his way, and in the course of his Town Council career he had one or two pretty bouts with some of his opponents.  When he is not on the war horse he is a pleasant, intelligent, un-sour man, with a touch of smartness and humour which give point to his words.  As is now well known, Mr. Williams was returned to Parliament for one of the Birmingham divisions.  He became the successful helmsman in London of the central organization of the Liberal Unionist party.  On the formation of the Government in 1895, to the surprise of many of his friends and acquaintances, he became a member of the administration.  It was believed that he was well taken in tow by Mr. Chamberlain, but it may with truth, perhaps, be added that by his own energy and ability he placed himself in a prominent position where he could hardly be overlooked.

With respect to Mr. Schnadhorst, there can be no question as to Mr. Chamberlain’s prescience in judging of the capabilities of men, and his quick appreciation of Mr. Schnadhorst’s attributes is a case in point.  The pre-eminence this latter-named gentleman attained in the political world was somewhat of a surprise to many of his old friends, and probably not least of all to himself.  Doubtless at the beginning of his career he little dreamt that owing to his being taken in hand by men of influence; to unforeseen circumstances in the evolution of political affairs; and also, it must be admitted, to certain capabilities of his own, he would attain to the position of importance he somewhat quickly reached, and his name become a synonym for systematic political organization.

I knew Mr. Schnadhorst long before he blossomed out into fame.  He struck me, and doubtless others, as being an intelligent, good, easy-mannered man, with a touch of “Sunday schoolism” in his character and manner.  He was not brilliant, and he did not appear to be burdened with much originality.  He seemed to be a pointless sort of man, apparently destitute of any keen sense of humour; a spectacled, sallow, sombre man, who would have been an ornament to a first-class undertaker’s business.  Certainly he was not one who, by his smartness, wit, cleverness, and courage would have tempted anyone to say, “There is the great political organizer of the future.”