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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/8540-8.txt b/8540-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..59094ae --- /dev/null +++ b/8540-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,22186 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Life of the Rt. Hon. Sir Charles W. +Dilke, Vol. 2, by Stephen Gwynn +#2 in our series by Stephen Gwynn + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: The Life of the Rt. Hon. Sir Charles W. Dilke, Vol. 2 + +Author: Stephen Gwynn + +Release Date: July, 2005 [EBook #8540] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on July 21, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIFE OF CHARLES W. DILKE, VOL. 2 *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Franks, David King +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + + +THE LIFE OF THE RT. HON. + +SIR CHARLES W. DILKE + +BART., M.P. + +BEGUN BY STEPHEN GWYNN, M.P. + +COMPLETED AND EDITED BY + +GERTRUDE M. TUCKWELL + +LITERARY EXECUTRIX OF SIR CHARLES DILKE + +WITH PORTRAITS AND ILLUSTRATIONS + +IN TWO VOLUMES + +VOL. II. + + + +CONTENTS OF VOL. II. + +CHAPTER + +XXXIV. HOME AFFAIRS (OCTOBER, 1883, TO DECEMBER, 1884) + +XXXV. EGYPT (1884) + +XXXVI. FRANCHISE AND REDISTRIBUTION (JULY TO DECEMBER, 1884) + +XXXVII. FOREIGN AFFAIRS IN 1884 + +XXXVIII. DIVIDED COUNSELS (JANUARY AND FEBRUARY, 1885) + +XXXIX. THE FALL OF KHARTOUM AND THE PENJDEH INCIDENT + +XL. REDISTRIBUTION: COERCION AND DEVOLUTION (1885) + +XLI. FALL OF ADMINISTRATION (JUNE TO JULY, 1885) + +XLII. OUT OF OFFICE (JULY, 1885) + +XLIII. THE TURNING-POINT (JULY, 1885, TO JULY, 1886) + +XLIV. THE RADICAL PROGRAMME _VERSUS_ HOME RULE (JULY TO DECEMBER, 1885) + +XLV. BEGINNING OF THE HOME RULE SPLIT (DECEMBER, 1885, TO FEBRUARY, + 1886) + +XLVI. THE FIRST HOME RULE BILL (FEBRUARY TO JULY, 1886) + +XLVII. LADY DILKE--76, SLOANE STREET + +XLVIII. FOREIGN POLICY + +XLIX. PUBLIC LIFE AND RETURN TO PARLIAMENT (1886-1894) + +L. INDIA AND FRANCE--RHODES AND BISMARCK (1886-1892) + +LI. PERSONAL LIFE--IN OPPOSITION (1895-1904) + +LII. LABOUR (1870-1911) + +LIII. WORK FOR NATIVE RACES (1870-1911) + +LIV. THE BRITISH ARMY + +LV. IMPERIAL DEFENCE + +LVI. ARMY AND NAVY IN PARLIAMENT + +LVII. DEATH OF LADY DILKE--PARLIAMENT OF 1905 + +LVIII. FOREIGN AFFAIRS (1890-1910) + +LIX. THE LAST YEARS + +LX. LITERARY WORK AND INTERESTS + +LXI. TABLE TALK + +INDEX + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS TO VOL. II + +SIR CHARLES W. DILKE IN THE YEAR 1908 +From a drawing by W. Strang. + +MRS. MARK PATTISON +From a photograph taken about 1878. + +SIR THOMAS WENTWORTH, 1ST BARON WENTWORTH (DIED +MARCH 3RD, 1550-51) +From a painting ascribed to Theodore Bernardi. + +BISMARCK +From a photograph given by him to Sir Charles W. Dilke. + +SIR CHARLES W. DILKE ROWING +From a photograph reproduced by permission of the _Daily Mirror_. + +DOCKETT EDDY +From photographs. + +PYRFORD ROUGH +From photographs. + +LADY DILKE IN THE YEAR 1903 +From a photograph by Thomson. + + + +THE LIFE OF SIR CHARLES DILKE + +CHAPTER XXXIV + +HOME AFFAIRS + +OCTOBER, 1883-DECEMBER, 1884 + + +I. + +The interval between the Sessions of 1883 and 1884 was critical for the +question of electoral reform which interested Liberals beyond all other +questions, but involved the risk of bringing dissensions in the Cabinet +to the point of open rupture. As the months went by, Mr. Chamberlain and +Lord Hartington used less and less concealment of their differences, +while it was well known to all the Cabinet that the alliance between +Chamberlain and Dilke was complete and unconditional. Whoever broke with +Chamberlain broke with Dilke. Fortunately a certain bond of personal +sympathy, in spite of divergent views, existed between Lord Hartington +and Sir Charles Dilke, and this bond largely helped to hold Mr. +Gladstone's Government together. + +In the negotiations which followed between the leaders of the two great +Parties, Sir Charles Dilke was able to show the full measure of his +value to the State. It was of first-rate importance that the Liberal +Party should possess at that moment a representative with whom Lord +Salisbury found it congenial to treat, and whom the most advanced +Liberals trusted unreservedly to treat with Lord Salisbury. + +The same confidence could hardly have been given by them to Lord +Hartington, who held that "equalization of the franchise was pressing +mainly on account of the pledges that had been given, and not much for +any other reason." [Footnote: Letter to Mr. Gladstone of October 24th, +1883, quoted by Mr. Bernard Holland in his _Life of the Duke of +Devonshire_, vol. i., p. 395.] Most Liberals took a very different view +of the need for this reform. Further, Lord Hartington held that +franchise and redistribution should be treated simultaneously, and he +was unwilling to extend the franchise in Ireland. + +At a Cabinet on October 25th, 1883, the question of simultaneous or +separate treatment of the problems had been settled. Mr. Gladstone, says +Sir Charles, 'made a speech which meant franchise first and the rest +nowhere.' On the Irish question, Sir Charles was instructed to get +accurate statistics as to the effects of equalizing the franchise +between boroughs and counties, and 'on Friday, November 16th,' he notes, +'I wrote to Chamberlain: "I have some awful figures for poor Hartington +to swallow--700,000 county householders in the Irish counties."' Lord +Hartington still stuck to his point of linking redistribution and +franchise. + +But on November 22nd, + + 'Mr. Gladstone read a long and admirable memorandum in favour of the + views held by him, by Chamberlain, and by me, as to franchise and + redistribution--that is, franchise first, with a promise of + redistribution but no Bill; and Hartington received no support after + this from any members of the Cabinet.' + +There were, however, matters in which Lord Hartington's Conservative +tendencies found an ally in the Prime Minister. On November 28th, 1883, +at the Committee of the Cabinet on Local Government, + + 'Chamberlain noted: "Mr. Gladstone hesitates to disfranchise the + freeholders in boroughs--persons voting as householders in boroughs + and as freeholders in the counties in which the boroughs are + constituted. I am in favour of one man one vote, and told him so." + Our not getting one man one vote was entirely Mr. Gladstone's fault, + for the Cabinet expected and would have taken it, Hartington alone + opposing, as he opposed everything all through.' + +The question of widening the franchise in Ireland was still unsettled, +and Mr. Chamberlain and Lord Hartington both made allusion to it in +public speeches at this moment. The speeches, apart from their marked +difference in general tone, were on this point in flat contradiction to +each other, and on December 2nd Lord Hartington wrote to Mr. Gladstone +with a threat of resignation. On that day he delivered at Accrington a +long eulogy of the Whigs, who had 'formed a connecting link between the +advanced party and those classes which, possessing property, powers, and +influence, are naturally averse to change.' The Whigs it was, he +contended, who had by their guidance and their action reduced changes in +the direction of popular reform to the 'calm and peaceful process of +constitutional acts.' + + 'At this moment there was a conflict raging between Chamberlain and + Hartington, and in their autumn speeches each of them pretty plainly + attacked the other's policy. Chamberlain wrote to me: "Why does + Hartington think _aloud_ when he thinks one thing and is going to do + the other? And why does he snub the Caucus when he has made up his + mind to do exactly what they want? If he cannot learn to be a little + more diplomatic, he will make a devil of a rum leader!" A little + later Chamberlain gave me "passages from a speech which _ought_ to + be delivered: 'Yes, gentlemen, I entirely agree with Lord + Hartington. It is the business and duty of Radicals to lead great + popular movements, and if they are fortunate enough to kindle the + fire of national enthusiasm and to stir the hearts of the people, + then it will be the high prerogative of the great Whig noble who has + been waiting round the corner to direct and guide and moderate the + movement which he has done all in his power to prevent and + discourage.'" + + 'The storm between Hartington and Chamberlain having broken out + again, Chamberlain wrote to me on December 5th, enclosing a letter + of reproof from Mr. Gladstone, and saying: "I replied casuistically + that I would endeavour to exclude from my speeches the slightest + reference to Hartington, but that he was really too trying. I + reminded Mr. G. that I had asked if I were free to argue the + question, and that he had said: Yes--no one taking exception." In + the following week Chamberlain came to town and dined with me, + and we discussed the matter. Although Mr. Gladstone had blown + Chamberlain up, he was really much more angry with Hartington.' + +It appears from the _Life of the Duke of Devonshire_ that Mr. Gladstone +continued through December his attempts to mediate. [Footnote: See _Life +of the Duke of Devonshire_, by Mr. Bernard Holland, vol. i, p. 398 _et +seq_.] The matter is thus related by Sir Charles, though not from first- +hand knowledge, since he went to Toulon in the middle of December, and +stayed there till January 8th, 1884: + + 'During my absence I had missed one Cabinet, the first that I ever + missed, and perhaps the only one. It was held suddenly on January + 3rd, and I could not arrive in time. Mr. Gladstone had come up from + Hawarden under the impression that Hartington was going to resign, + because we would not produce a redistribution scheme along with + franchise. On the morning of the 3rd, however, he received a letter + in which Hartington gave way on the understanding that Mr. Gladstone + would state the general heads of his redistribution scheme. The + subject was not named at the Cabinet of the 3rd, which dealt with + Egypt only. But the Cabinet adjourned to the 4th, and on January 4th + discussed South Africa, and also ... received a statement from Mr. + Gladstone as to his intention to state the heads of our + redistribution scheme in "very general terms." On the 10th I noted: + "The Cabinets have resulted in peace between Lord Hartington and Mr. + Gladstone, but the Reform Bill will be less complete than I had + hoped." "Mr. Gladstone calmed Hartington by promising not to run + away from us after franchise and before redistribution, which was + what Hartington feared he meant to do."' + +Discussion upon the detail of the Bill was resumed, and on January 23rd, +1884, + + 'the Chancellor (Lord Selborne), Hartington, Kimberley, and Dodson, + supported by Mr. Gladstone, forced, against Harcourt, Chamberlain, + and myself, a decision not to attach any condition of residence to + the property vote.' + + 'On January 28th there was a meeting of the Committee of the Cabinet + on the Franchise Bill in Mr. Gladstone's room. Chamberlain was + anxious to "make Hartington go out on franchise." I asked him how he + thought it was to be done, and he replied: "If he is restive now, + raise the question of Mr. Gladstone's statement on redistribution, + and oppose all limitations in that statement"; and he added that Mr. + Gladstone had only agreed to make the statement unwillingly to quiet + Hartington, and that if Hartington were not quieted Mr. Gladstone + would go back about it. Chamberlain and I on this occasion tried to + make the Franchise Bill more Radical, but failed, Mr. Gladstone + opposing us on old-fashioned grounds.' + + 'Chamberlain came to me' (on April 26th) 'about a plan which Mr. + Gladstone was to broach at the next Cabinet, for putting off the + operation of the Franchise Act until January 1st, '86, in order to + give time for redistribution to be dealt with. We decided to oppose + it, on the ground that it would not improbably lead to our being + forced into holding an election on the old franchise.' + +At the beginning of the Session Sir Charles helped on the general policy +of Radicalism by one of his many minor electoral reforms. This was a +Bill to extend over the United Kingdom the right of keeping the poll +open till eight o'clock at night, which he had secured as a privilege +for Londoners in 1878. He notes that on February 11th he 'fought with +Tory obstructives as to hours of polling, and won'; but the violent +resistance which was offered at first did not continue, and the Bill +passed quietly in July, after time had been given to discuss it in the +constituencies. + + 'On this day (July 22nd) I had a long and curious conversation with + Healy as to Irish redistribution and as to the hours of poll in + counties, with regard to which he was against extension, but said + that he was forced to support it in public. He told me that his + private opinion was that the Land Act had quieted Ireland.' + +The 'Representation of the People' Bill, as the franchise measure was +called, was introduced on February 28th, 1884, and made steady progress, +Liberals finding their task facilitated by the difficulties of their +opponents. + + 'On May 7th I wrote to Chamberlain to say that I had to speak at a + house dinner of the Devonshire Club that night, and to ask him if + there was anything he wanted said, to which he replied: "Note + Randolph Churchill's letter to Salisbury with reference to the + Conservative Caucus, and the vindication of the Birmingham one." It + was impossible not to notice this important letter, which + revolutionized politics for some time.' + + '_May 14th_.--After the Cabinet I was informed by Chamberlain that a + week earlier, on Wednesday, May 7th, Randolph Churchill had sent to + him to know whether, if he broke with the Conservatives, the + Birmingham Liberals would support him as an independent candidate.' + +Sir Charles's letter to his agent at this time sums up the political +position: + + 'The Tory game is to delay the franchise until they have upset us + upon Egypt, before the Franchise Bill has reached the Lords.... Our + side will be in a humour to treat as traitors any who do not insist + that the one Bill and nothing else shall be had in view--in face of + the tremendous struggle impending in the Lords.' + + 'On _May 13th_ I had received a letter from Mr. Gladstone in answer + to one from me in a matter which afterwards became important, and + but for Chamberlain's strong stand would have forced me to leave the + Government. I had so strong an opinion in favour of woman's suffrage + that I could not undertake to vote against it, even when proposed as + an amendment to a great Government Bill.' + +Sir Charles had written as follows: + + 'ANTIBES, + '_Easter Eve_, '84. + + 'I had thought till lately that the Woman's Suffrage division in + Committee on the Franchise Bill would have been so hollow that my + absence from it would not have mattered; but as I find that + Grosvenor thinks that it will not be hollow, it becomes my duty to + write to you about it. I myself think Grosvenor wrong; the woman's + suffrage people claim some 250 "friends," but this they do by + counting all who, having voted with them once, have abstained from + voting for many years, and who are really foes. The division can + only be a close one if the Tory party as a body support the view + which is Northcote's, I believe, and was Disraeli's, but many of the + leaders would be bitterly opposed to such a course. Mr. Disraeli + left the woman's suffrage amendment an open question on his own + Reform Bill, and forbade the Government Whips to tell against the + amendment, but the mass of the Tory party voted in the majority. On + this next occasion there will be a larger Liberal vote against the + change than there was last year, and I do not believe that there + will be a larger Tory vote in its favour. But, supposing that I am + wrong and Grosvenor right, I should feel no difficulty in voting + against the amendment on the grounds of tactics which would be + stated, provided that Fawcett and Courtney, who are the only other + thick-and-thin supporters of woman's suffrage in the Government, + voted also, but I cannot vote if they abstain. Under these + circumstances what had I better do?' + +Mr. Gladstone wrote back on May 11th: + + 'The question as to the votes of members of the Government on + woman's suffrage is beyond me, and I have always intended to ask the + Cabinet, and (like the Gordon rescue) at the proper time. The + distinction appears to me as clear as possible between supporting a + thing in its right place and forcing it into its wrong place. To + nail on to the extension of the franchise, founded upon principles + already known and in use, a vast social question, which is surely + entitled to be considered as such, appears to me in principle very + doubtful. When to this is added the admirable pretext--nay, the fair + argument--it would give to the House of Lords for "putting off" the + Bill, I cannot see the ground for hesitation. But I quite understand + what (I believe) is your view, that there should be one rule for all + the members of the Government.' + + 'This was an important letter. The words "(like the Gordon rescue) + at the proper time" seem to show that Mr. Gladstone had already made + up his mind to send an expedition to Khartoum, although he would not + say so. The body of the letter proved that Mr. Gladstone had a very + strong opinion against me on the main point, and the consultation of + the Cabinet (which was dead against woman suffrage), and the one + rule for all members of the Government, meant that he intended to + force my vote by a Cabinet resolution, and, killing two birds with + one stone, to attack at the same time Fawcett, who had walked out on + several questions, and announced his intention of walking out on + others. + + 'By May 22nd I had finally made up my mind that I could not vote + against the woman franchise amendment--even as a mere matter of + tactics and deference to others--if Courtney and Fawcett went out on + the matter. I could not speak to them about it because of the + "Cabinet secret" doctrine. Childers had been directed by the Cabinet + to sound Courtney, because he was Courtney's official superior in + the Treasury. Childers was to offer Courtney that if he would vote + against the amendment he should be allowed to speak for woman + franchise on the merits, and that none of its opponents in the + Cabinet (that is, all except myself) should speak against it on the + merits. I noted: "On the whole I think that we shall walk out, and + not be turned out for so doing." I again explained my position to + Mr. Gladstone.... I felt that the majority of those voting for woman + franchise on this occasion would be Tories, voting for party + reasons, and in order to upset the Bill. I was therefore unwilling + to go out on this occasion, but thought I could not do otherwise + than make common cause with Courtney. On the merits of woman + franchise I had and have a strong opinion. I always thought the + refusal of it contrary to the public interest. The refusal of the + franchise also affects the whole position of women most + unfavourably.' [Footnote: Mrs. Fawcett wrote thanking him 'in the + name of the friends of Women's Suffrage. Your being a member of the + Cabinet made your position in the matter one of special difficulty; + but I do assure you that our gratitude is real and unfeigned.'] + +On May 24th Sir Charles told the Cabinet what 'I had told Mr. Gladstone +in a letter which I had written to him on Easter Eve, and renewed on the +occasion when he made the reply which has been quoted above.' + +When the amendment was reached, Dilke, with Fawcett and Courtney, +abstained. This led to serious trouble. Sir Charles wrote on June 12th +in his Diary: + + 'Hartington is very angry with me for not voting, and wants me + turned out for it. He has to vote every day for things which he + strongly disapproves, and this makes the position difficult. He says + that my position was wholly different from that of Fawcett and + Courtney, because I was a party to the decision of the Cabinet, and + that custom binds the minority in the collective decision of Her + Majesty's servants. This is undoubtedly the accepted theory. Poor + Hibbert was made to vote. [Footnote: Sir John Tomlinson Hibbert (d. + 1908), at this time Financial Secretary to the Treasury, was an able + administrator, and held office in Mr. Gladstone's four + administrations. He assisted materially in the passing of the + Execution within Gaols Act, Married Women's Property Act, and Clergy + Disabilities Act, and was keenly interested in the reform of the + Poor Law.] I fear the Cabinet put the yoke, not of political + necessity, but of their personal prejudice against woman suffrage, + on the necks of their followers.' + +The matter came up at a Cabinet on June 14th, and was made worse because +a letter from Lord Hartington, 'offensive in tone,' had been circulated +by accident. However, Mr. Gladstone issued a minute about my walking out +on woman's suffrage, which concluded by a proposal, if his colleagues +concurred, to request me to remain in the Government. Thus ended a +personal crisis which, to use the French phrase, had been 'open' since +my letter to Mr. Gladstone dated 'Antibes, Easter Eve.' + + 'Chamberlain wrote to me: "It is settled"; and I wrote back: "It is + settled. I would not have asked you to stand by me, as I have no + constitutional case, and your conduct in so doing could not be + defended. I always count on your friendship, but this would have + been too much." He replied: "We are both right. You could not ask + me, but if you had been requested to resign I should have gone too." + Chamberlain had previously informed the Cabinet that, though he + differed from me about woman's suffrage, and regretted the course + that I had felt myself obliged to take, he intended to stand by me + "to the fullest extent."' [Footnote: The further negotiations with + regard to Franchise and Redistribution in 1884, and the 'compact' + which ended them, are dealt with in Chapter XXXVI., infra, pp. + 63-79.] + + +II. + +While the great measure of the Session went steadily through its stages, +various other questions were also occupying the Cabinet. The search for +a new Speaker in succession to Sir Henry Brand, who had declared at the +beginning of 1883 his unwillingness to retain office beyond that +Session, was one, and not the least important, of these questions. Sir +Henry James was first mentioned, and he refused. + + 'November, 1883. Some had thought of putting up Dodson, but the + Tories had announced that they should run Ridley in opposition to + him. There was also a difficulty about filling Dodson's place. + Trevelyan was the only man who could be put into the Cabinet without + causing the resignation of Courtney and Fawcett, and Mr. Gladstone + was still in the humour which he had developed at the time of the + offer of the Chief Secretaryship to me, and declared that he would + not have the Chief Secretary in the Cabinet, the Viceroy being in + it, for this would be to have two Kings of Brentford.' + +On November 10th 'Childers seemed the favourite for Speakership,' but on +the 12th it was decided that Herschell, Goschen, Arthur Peel, and +Campbell-Bannerman, were to be offered the Speakership--in that order. +It was known that Herschell would refuse, it was thought that Goschen +would refuse on the ground of sight, and Peel on the ground of health, +and it was intended that Campbell-Bannerman should have it. Herschell +did refuse, but Goschen accepted, and had to be shown by his doctor that +he could not see members across the House, that he would be capable of +confusing Healy with Parnell.... Peel accepted, and in spite of his bad +health took it, and has kept it till this day (1891).' + +There was also continuous discussion behind the scenes as to the two +important measures of local government reform--for London and for the +country. + + 'By November 8th, 1883, I had succeeded in bringing Harcourt round + on the London police matter ... to let the City keep their police, + and then went to Mr. Gladstone.... After twelve o'clock at night + Harcourt joined us, and it was agreed to put both London and local + government in the Queen's Speech for 1884.' + +Dilke spent much work upon the London Government Bill with Harcourt in +January of that year; but the Bill, having passed its second reading, +was not further proceeded with, owing to House of Commons difficulties. +Sir Charles gives the true reason in a letter to his agent: + + 'One unfortunate thing about the London Bill is that no one in the + House cares about it except Dilke, Firth, and the Prime Minister, + and no one outside the House except the Liberal electors of Chelsea. + This is the private hidden opinion of Harcourt and of the + Metropolitan Liberal members except Firth. I am personally so strong + for the Bill that I have not at any time admitted this to Harcourt, + and I have only hinted it to Firth....' + +When Sir William Harcourt's Bill collapsed, Dilke attempted a minor +improvement for the Metropolis by framing a City Guilds Bill, which he +described to Mr. Gladstone as following the scheme of the Bills by which +the Universities had been reformed. But the Chancellor, Lord Selborne, +fought strongly against this proposal: and nothing came of it. + +The great scheme for reforming Local Government in England and Wales was +meanwhile being considered by the Committee to which it had been +referred. Besides Sir Charles Dilke, who naturally acted as Chairman, +the Committee consisted of Mr. Chamberlain, Lord Kimberley, Mr. +Childers, Lord Carlingford, and Mr. Dodson (who were members of the +Cabinet), and Lord Edmond Fitzmaurice. With them were Sir Henry Thring, +the celebrated Parliamentary draughtsman, and Mr. Hugh Owen, the +Permanent Secretary of the Local Government Board. The task of obtaining +agreement, and even sometimes of maintaining order, in a Committee +composed of persons representing such a variety of opinion, was no easy +one, and it tested to the full the tact and ingenuity of the Chairman. +Mr. Dodson, Sir Charles Dilke's immediate predecessor at the Local +Government Board, and Lord Carlingford represented the views which had +hitherto prevailed in favour of piecemeal and gradual reform. Mr. +Chamberlain, Lord Kimberley, and Lord Edmond Fitzmaurice were, on the +contrary, supporters of the large Bill which the Chairman had prepared; +while Mr. Childers, as Chancellor of the Exchequer, was there mainly to +keep a vigilant watch on the local authorities, who were suspected, and +not without reason, of desiring to treat the Treasury as a sort of +"milch cow," a description which Mr. Gladstone had recently made current +in a debate in the House of Commons, Sir Henry Thring was no mere +draughtsman. He had had an immense experience of official life, had +known every man of public importance over a long period of years, and +had very determined views on most subjects, which he never hesitated to +express in clear-cut language and without respect of persons. Mr. Lowe, +it was asserted, had once observed at a Cabinet just before Thring +entered the room: 'I think before he arrives we had better carry a +preliminary resolution that we are all d----d fools.' As it also +happened, Local Government was a subject on which Sir Henry Thring, and +not without reason, prided himself as an expert, and the Committee over +which Sir Charles Dilke presided consequently had Sir Henry Thring's +views conveyed to them in unmistakable terms. One of his special objects +of hostility was the Poor Law Union area, which he hoped ultimately to +destroy. On the other hand, Mr. Hugh Owen, like nearly all the Local +Government Board officials of that time, regarded the Poor Law and +everything connected with it as sacred. The controversies were +frequently fierce, and on one occasion a serious crisis almost arose +owing to Lord Kimberley asking to be informed if Sir Henry Thring was +preparing a Bill of his own or was acting on his instructions. + +The Bill of 1884 contained almost everything now to be found within the +corners of the two great measures of 1888 and 1894, which, the one +passed by a Conservative, the other by a Liberal Government, entirely +revolutionized the Local Government of England. It was, however, decided +to have no Aldermen, but a few ex-officio seats were created on the +County Council. Otherwise direct election was the method chosen for all +the new Councils. The administration of the Poor Law was kept within the +purview of the Bill, after a long controversy as to the method of +electing the representatives of urban parishes on the local Poor Law +authority, when such an authority included both a borough and a rural +district; and the limit of population that was to entitle a borough to a +complete independence from the county authority was raised from the +figure originally proposed of 20,000 to 100,000 and upwards. + +It had been part of Sir Charles Dilke's plan to include education within +the framework of the Bill, making the Borough and District Councils the +local education authority, with a limited superior jurisdiction in the +County Council. But it was found that almost insurmountable difficulties +would arise in adding so immense a proposal to an already large measure, +and it had to be abandoned. + +Mr. Gladstone expressed a decided view on one portion of the Bill only. +He gave his strongest support to the proposal that the price of any +increased contributions in the shape of Treasury grants should be the +complete reform of the conflict of areas and jurisdictions, which added +so much to the difficulties and the cost of local administration. +[Footnote: In a speech made at Halifax on October 13th, 1885, which +occupies nearly the whole of a page of the _Times_, Sir Charles Dilke, +after the fall of the Government, gave a full account of the proposed +measure.] + +The question of female councillors inevitably found its way into the +discussions, and it was decided in their favour, notwithstanding much +divergence of opinion. + + '"I am sorry," Childers wrote, "about female councillors, but I + suppose I am in a minority, and that we shall soon have women M.P.'s + and Cabinet Ministers." This shows that we had decided to clear up + the doubt as to the possibility of women serving as councillors, and + distinctly to give them the opportunity of so doing. When Ritchie + afterwards introduced portions of my Bill, he left this doubtful, + and the Lady Sandhurst decision was the result.' [Footnote: See for + "Lady Sandhurst decision," infra, p. 17.] + +Sir Charles differed from other members of the Committee in the desire +to make the county and not the Local Government Board the sole appellate +authority from the district. 'I would, indeed,' he says, 'have gone +farther, had I been able to convince my colleagues, and have set up an +elective Local Government Board for England.' + +Owing to the Parliamentary position, progress with any large measures of +reform was, however, difficult even in the preliminary stages; and the +road seemed to get more encumbered every day, for the period now under +review indicates the high-water mark of Parliamentary obstruction in the +skilled hands of the Irish Party and Lord Randolph Churchill, who +successfully defied the feeble reforms of procedure of 1882. So it came +about that early in 1884 Sir Charles was found rather mournfully writing +to Mr. Gladstone: + + 'We produced to-day our last draft of the Local Government Bill, and + had our funeral meeting over it, I fear. I wish to tell you with + what spirit and skill Edmond Fitzmaurice has gone into the matter. + He is the only man I know who is fit to be President of this Board.' + +In the autumn of 1883 Sir Charles made what was rare with him, a kind of +oratorical progress. He spoke at Glasgow, at Greenock, and lastly at +Paisley, where he received the freedom of the burgh for his services +connected with the commercial negotiations. His speech at Paisley +naturally dealt with commercial policy, and drew an admiring letter from +Sir Robert Morier, who was then just bringing to a head the offer of a +commercial treaty with Spain. The Cabinet, however, had been much +inclined to issue a general declaration on the subject, + + 'Mr. Gladstone and Lord Granville being against all commercial + treaties, I for good ones and against bad ones, and Chamberlain for + punishing Italy for her conduct to us.' [Footnote: 'March 5th, + 1883.--We turned to Tariff Treaties: Lord Granville and Mr. + Gladstone wishing for a general and abstract declaration against + them, and I, with support of Childers, urging most strongly the + other view. The proposed declaration was a gratuitous piece of + folly, for we were not called on to say anything at all.'] + +When the proposed treaty with Spain, and the changes in duties which it +would involve, were before the Cabinet on November 10th, + + 'I am afraid I played upon Mr. Gladstone's favourite weakness (next + to praise of Montenegro)--namely, abuse of the Customs, a department + for the routine of which he always had a perfect loathing.' + + +III. + +Queen Victoria's demand for investigation into the housing of the poor +[Footnote: See Vol. I., p. 509.] had led to prompt administrative +action, planned by Sir Charles before he left for his Christmas holiday. + + 'While I was at Toulon there were issued from the Local Government + Board the circulars on the Housing of the Working Class, which I had + prepared before leaving London.... One circular, December 29th, 1883 + ... called on the Vestries to make use of the powers which they + possessed for regulating the condition of houses let in lodgings. + Another, December 30th ... called attention to their powers under + the Sanitary Acts, and under the Artisans and Labourers' Dwellings + Acts; and one of the same date to a similar effect went to all urban + sanitary districts throughout the country, while a further circular + with digests of the laws was sent out on January 7th, 1884. This + action was afterwards repeated by Chamberlain and others, and taken + for new, and again by Walter Long.' + +But, naturally, the first man to do it stirred up a hornets' nest. +_Punch_ of the first week in January, 1884, derides the 'Bitter Cry of +Bumbledom' against Dilke and Mr. Hugh Owen, [Footnote: Years after Sir +Hugh Owen, G.C.B., wrote to Dilke: 'I shall always remember that I owed +my first step in the Order of the Bath to you.'] Secretary to the Local +Government Board: + + '_Us_ to blame? That's a capital notion! Drat them and their + "statutes" and "digests"! + "Convenience of reference." Ah! that is one of their imperent sly + jests. + Removal of Noosances? Yah! If we started on _that_ lay perniskers + There is more than a few in the Westries 'ud feel suthin' singein' + their wiskers, + Or BUMBLE'S a Dutchman. Their Circ'lar--it's mighty obliging--defines + 'em, + The Noosances namely; I wonder if parties _read_ Circ'lars as signs + 'em, + If so, Local Government Boarders must be most oncommonly knowin', + And I'd like to 'eave bricks at that DILKE and his long-winded + myrmidon OWEN. + The public's got Slums on the brain, and with sanitry bunkum's have + busted. + _We_ make a more wigorous use of the powers with which we're + entrusted! + Wy, if we are at it all day with their drains, ashpits, roofs, walls, + and windies, + Wot time shall we 'ave for our feeds and our little porochial + shindies! + And all for the 'labouring classes'--the greediest, ongratefullest + beggars. + I tell you these Radical lot and their rubbishy littery eggers, + Who talk of neglected old brooms, and would 'ave _us_ turn to at their + handles, + Are Noosances wus than bad smells and the rest o' their sanitry + "scandals."' + +Sir Charles's main object in local government was to decentralize, and +he sought to move in this direction by stimulating the exercise of +existing powers and the habit of responsibility in local popularly +elected bodies. But inquiry was also necessary. + + 'On February 8th, 1884, it had been decided to appoint a Royal + Commission on the Housing of the Working Classes, and Mr. Gladstone + had expressed his wish that I should be chairman of the Commission, + on which the Prince of Wales desired to serve.' + + 'On the 9th it was settled that Bodley, my secretary, should be + secretary to the Royal Commission. I immediately wrote to Manning to + ask him to serve, and he consented on February 12th.' + +Lord Salisbury's name lent another distinction to the list, which was +completed by February 16th. [Footnote: In addition to the Prince, the +Cardinal, and Lord Salisbury, Dilke's Commission consisted of Lord +Brownlow, Lord Carrington, Mr. Goschen, Sir Richard Cross, the Bishop of +Bedford (Dr. Walsham How), Mr. E. Lyulph Stanley, Mr. McCullagh Torrens, +Mr. Broadhurst, Mr. Jesse Collings, Mr. George Godwin, and Mr. Samuel +Morley. To these were added later Mr. Dwyer Gray and Sir George +Harrison, for Ireland and Scotland respectively.] + + 'A very difficult question arose about his precedence. I referred it + to the Prince of Wales, who said that he thought Manning ought to + take precedence, as a Prince, after Princes of the Blood, and before + Lord Salisbury.' + +The nice question was referred to Lord Salisbury and to many other +authorities, and finally to Lord Sydney, who wrote, from the Board of +Green Cloth, 'that in 1849, at the Queen's Levee at Dublin Castle, the +Roman Catholic Primate followed the Protestant Archbishop, but he was +not a Cardinal. _A fortiori_ I presume a Cardinal as a Prince of the +Holy Roman Empire would have precedence next to the Prince of Wales. It +showed, however, extraordinary ignorance on the part of the Lord Steward +to suppose that the Holy Roman Empire and the Papal Court were the same +thing.' [Footnote: The story of how the question of precedence was +settled in Manning's favour is given in detail in Mr. Bodley's _Cardinal +Manning, and Other Essays_ (1912).] + + 'It was on February 12th that I received Sir Henry Ponsonby's letter + announcing the approval of the Queen to the Prince serving on the + Commission as an ordinary member under my chairmanship, and the + Prince of Wales expressed his pleasure at the Queen's approval.' + + 'On February 22nd the members of the Cabinet present (at a meeting + at the Foreign Office) discussed my proposal to put Miss Octavia + Hill on my Royal Commission, no woman having ever sat on one; and + Harcourt having refused to sign the Commission if it contained a + woman's name, Mr. Gladstone, Kimberley, and Northbrook sided with + me, and Hartington with Harcourt. Lord Granville said that he was + with me on the principle, but against me on the person. After this + Mr. Gladstone went round, and said that the decision of the Cabinet + was against me. Asquith put several women on a Royal Commission a + few years later, but refused them the precedence to which they were + entitled, and gave every male member precedence before them.' + +Mr. Lyulph Stanley was included to represent his sister, Miss Maude +Stanley, whom Sir Charles Dilke had wished to appoint. + +Later in the year Sir Charles successfully asserted the principle for +which he was contending, by putting women on the Metropolitan Asylums +Board. Lady Ducie had the honour of the first invitation to serve, and +Sir Charles afterwards added Miss Maude Stanley and others. The question +of qualification was discussed, only to be set aside. The law officers + + 'knew the women would be knocked off if anyone raised the question, + and in Lady Sandhurst's case this was afterwards made clear; but no + one did raise it against my nominees, and they stayed on for life.' + + 'March 7th.--I had now had several interviews with Lord Salisbury + and the Prince of Wales about the Royal Commission, and the first + meeting of the Commission itself was held on March 5th.... We really + began our work on March 14th. My work was heavy at this time, with + sittings of the Commission twice a week, for which I had to prepare, + as I did all the examination in chief of the witnesses, and, indeed, + found them all and corresponded with them in advance.' + + 'The Commission was dull, although it produced a certain amount of + valuable evidence, and almost the only amusing incident which + occurred in the course of many months was Lord Salisbury making a + rather wild suggestion, when Broadhurst put down his pen, and, + looking up in a pause, said with an astonished air, "Why, that is + Socialism!" at which there was a loud laugh all round.' + + 'I wrote to Lord Salisbury on May 7th to ask him for his suggestions + as to what I called "remedies" to be proposed by our Commission, as + I had already made my own list, and wished from this time forward to + examine each witness on the same heads, with a view to collecting a + body of evidence for the Report, intended to lead to recommendation + and legislation upon these particular points....' + +Some of Lord Salisbury's suggestions were 'valuable, and still throw +much light on his temporary Radicalism, which unfortunately soon wore +off.' + + 'It is clear that on May 9th, 1884, he was contemplating throwing + the rates upon the land, and making a long step towards leasehold + enfranchisement. Lord Salisbury's proposal on this last head was + virtually one for "judicial rents," as far as principle went, and + destructive of the old view of the rights of holders of landed + property--although, perhaps, not one carrying much advantage to + anybody!' + +The Report of the Commission proposed the rating of vacant land, but +before it was drafted Lord Salisbury condemned the proposal in a +memorandum attached to the Report, which Mr. Goschen supported by +another independent minute. + +Sir Charles sent also a request for the suggestion of 'remedies' to +Cardinal Manning, who, says a scribbled note, 'is our only +revolutionary!' + + 'On Friday, May 16th, at the Commission the Cardinal handed me his + list of suggestions, which were not only revolutionary, but ill- + considered, and I have to note how curiously impracticable a + schemer, given to the wildest plans, this great ecclesiastic showed + himself. He suggested the removal out of London, not only of prisons + and infirmaries (which no doubt are under the control of public + authorities), but also of breweries, ironworks, and all factories + not needed for daily or home work, as a means of giving us areas for + housing the working class, suggestions the value or practicability + of which I need hardly discuss.' + + 'On May 18th, I having proposed to add to the Royal Commission a + member for Ireland and a member for Scotland before we began to take + the Scotch and Irish evidence, and having proposed Gray, the + Nationalist member and proprietor of the _Freeman's Journal_, who + was the highest Irish authority upon the subject, Ponsonby replied: + "Although the Queen cannot say she has a high opinion of Mr. Gray, + Her Majesty will approve of his appointment, and that of the Lord + Provost of Edinburgh, on the Royal Commission." Sir Henry Ponsonby + was a worthy successor of General Grey--a wise counsellor of much + prudence, invaluable to the Queen.' + + 'Early in June Chamberlain came a good deal to the Local Government + Board to consider the evidence which he was to give before my + Commission. His view was mine--that in the Metropolis the housing of + the working classes could only be dealt with by imposing the most + stringent obligations on the owners of property on which artisans' + dwellings already existed; and Chamberlain was willing to go so far + as to reserve such property permanently for the object, with State + interference to secure fair rents. I argued with him that a strong + case could be made against him on such points as extension of trade + from the City into Whitechapel, extension of fashionable dwellings + from Mayfair into Chelsea, and so forth. He then fell back upon a + proposal for exchange, and said that at all events there was no + practical alternative to his view, an opinion in which I agreed. On + a later day in June the Cardinal wrote to me expressing his regret + for absence from the Commission, "at which I should like to have + seen Lord Salisbury examine Mr. Chamberlain." But the Commission + kept up its character for dulness, and nothing noteworthy occurred.' + +The Commission on Housing, to which so much of Sir Charles's time was +devoted, had an importance, now forgotten, in the modern development of +Social Reform. + + 'Up to five-and-twenty years ago,' said a writer in a daily + newspaper on Social Reform in 1910, 'when the living Sir Charles + Dilke was the President of the Local Government Board, no one cared + how the poor lived or fared. They could reside in the most + ramshackle tenements in insanitary slums, for which, by the way, + they were charged exorbitant rents, far higher than what they would + now pay for the well-ventilated and well-equipped self-contained + houses of the London County Council and building companies which + provide accommodation for the industrial classes. Sir Charles saw + the abject and helpless condition of the people of London, and + resolved, when he succeeded to office, to try and remedy the evils + under which they laboured. His enthusiasm in the cause of the poor + caught on, and in a short time "slumming" became a fashionable + craze. Committees were formed--the premier one being that which had + its headquarters at the Mansion House--to improve the dwellings of + the poor. In a short time the movement became a great success, and, + that there should be no falling back, medical officers of health, + whose sole time was to be devoted to their duties, and battalions of + sanitary inspectors, were appointed in every district in the + Metropolis.' + +It cannot be said that 'no one cared,' for outside the great official +movement which Sir Charles Dilke directed were the devoted social +workers on whom he called for evidence at the Commission, and to whose +labours he always paid tribute; nor must be forgotten the Queen's fine +letter calling on her Ministers to act. But, as Miss Octavia Hill wrote +to him on March 22nd, 1884, 'you among all men realize most clearly that +action is more needed than words.' + +The question of Housing is so inextricably bound up with all the +conditions of the poor, with hours of work and with those questions of +wages which Sir Charles had first studied with John Stuart Mill, that it +is natural to find him presiding over another inquiry which, though +prepared for in 1884, was carried out in the first weeks of 1885. + + 'At the beginning of the new year of 1885 there were completed the + final arrangements for my presidency of the Industrial Remuneration + Conference, which was held at the end of January at Prince's Hall, + Piccadilly, on three mornings and three afternoons. A large sum of + money had been given for the purpose of promoting the consideration + of the best means for bringing about a more equal division of the + products of industry between capital and labour, so that it might + become possible for all to enjoy a fair share of material comfort + and intellectual culture--possible for all to lead a dignified life, + and less difficult to lead a good life. The trustees who were + appointed decided to promote a conference on the present system + whereby the products of industry are distributed between the various + classes of the community, and the means whereby that system should + be improved. They then divided the subject into subheads, and asked + certain persons to read papers, and an extraordinarily interesting + series of discussions was the result. In my own speech in opening + the proceedings I called attention to the nature of the German + Governmental Socialism, and quoted Prince Bismarck's speeches, + showing what was the object which the Prussian Government had in + view--namely, to try experiments as to the labour of man with the + view "to reach a state of things in which no man could say: 'I bear + the burden of society, but no one cares for me.'" This Conference + first introduced to London audiences all the leaders of the new + Unionism, and future chiefs of the Dockers' Strike. Among the + speakers were Arthur Balfour and John Burns, who told us of his + dismissal from his employment as an engineer at Brotherhoods + [Footnote: A great engineering firm at Chippenham in Wiltshire.] for + attending as delegate of the "S.D.F."' + + 'I am convinced,' wrote Mr. Burns in 1914 from the Office of the + Local Government Board, over which he then presided, 'that few, if + any, conferences held in London in recent years have done more good + for the cause of social progress than the Industrial Remuneration + Conference of 1885. The Conference focussed public opinion and + sympathy upon a large number of important questions, which have + since made greater headway than they would have done if the + Conference had not taken place. I have the highest opinion of the + value of its work, and of the good influence it exercised in + stimulating inquiry and action in many directions.' + +Six years later, when Sir Charles was before the electors of the Forest +of Dean as their chosen candidate, he discussed the whole question of +limiting by law the hours of work; and he told them how his experience +of those days spent in the chair of the Conference in 1885 had converted +him 'from a position of absolute impartiality to one strongly favourable +to legislative limitation.' + +A speech delivered by him in January, 1884, to the Liberals of Bedford +Park, brings together the two sides of his work. For him political +reform lay at the very base of social reform; in his opinion the +government of London and extension of the franchise ought not to be +party questions at all; his desire was to call the whole people of the +country into citizenship of the State, and he would make exercise of the +voting power compulsory and universal. People said there was no 'magic +in the vote.' He wanted as many citizens as possible to have the right +to consider 'the sort of magic by which many persons contrived to live +at all under the existing social conditions.' + +A proof of his friendship for the cause of labour, and of his desire to +associate manual workers with the administration, was given by him in a +use of patronage, in which he departed from his principle of confining +it to the men in his office, tendering the chance of official employment +to two leading representatives of labour in August, 1884. + + 'I had a "good" appointment under the Local Government Board to + make, and I offered it not only to Broadhurst, but afterwards to + Burt. I expected both of them to decline, which both did, but I + should have been glad if either of them would have taken it, for + both were competent.' + + +IV. + +As to his departmental work, Sir Charles notes in July, 1884: + + 'I have said but little of my work at the Local Government Board, + because, though heavy, it was of an uninteresting nature.' + [Footnote: There are, however, many entries, of which this for 1884 + is typical: + + 'September 8th.--With the Local Government Board Inspectors Fleming + and Courtenay to the worst villages in England. I made my way from + Bridport to Yeovil, Nettlecombe, Powerstock, Maiden Newton, Taunton + and its neighbourhood, Wiveliscombe, Bridgwater, and North + Petherton.' + + 'Between September 21st and 27th I was visiting workhouses and + infirmaries every day, and on the 27th I completed my visits to + every workhouse, infirmary, and poor-law school in or belonging to + Metropolitan Unions.] + + 'My chief new departure was in connection with the emigration of + pauper children, which had been long virtually prohibited, and which + I once more authorized.' + +Mr. Preston Thomas has fortunately preserved a note of another +innovation. The Guardians of a certain union in Cambridgeshire had +committed the offence of spending three shillings and threepence of +public money on toys for sick pauper children in the workhouse +infirmary. The case had occurred before, and the Board's legal advisers +had held the expenditure to be unwarrantable, and had surcharged the +offending Guardians. Dilke was questioned in the House about the matter, +and admitted the previous decisions, but said that the Board had changed +its mind. So the children at Wisbech kept their toys; and not only that, +but a circular went out from Whitehall suggesting that workhouse girls +should be supplied with a reasonable number of skipping-ropes and +battledores and shuttlecocks. + +The appearance of cholera in French and Spanish ports disquieted the +public, and as early as July 25th, 1883, + + 'I circulated a draft of a Bill to meet the cholera scare, which I + carried into law as the Diseases Prevention Act. I did not much + believe in cholera, but I took advantage of the scare to carry some + useful clauses to deal with smallpox epidemics, the most important + clause being one giving compulsory powers for acquiring wharves, by + which we could clear the London smallpox hospitals, removing the + patients to the Atlas and Castalia floating hospitals on the Thames. + I was a strong partisan of the floating hospitals for smallpox. I + used to pay frequent visits to them, and in the early summer of 1885 + stayed there from Saturday to Monday; and I used also to go to the + camp at Darenth to which we removed convalescents from the ships.' + +He notes that he was revaccinated before one of these visits: + + 'September, 1884.--My arm was in a frightful condition from the + vaccine disease, though I was still a teetotaller, now of about ten + years' standing.' + +During the autumn recess: + + 'In the course of this week I was every day inspecting schools and + asylums, the imbecile asylums at Caterham, Leavesden, and many + others; and my smallpox wharves were also giving me much trouble, as + Rotherhithe and the other places showed strong objections to them, + which I was, however, able to remove.' + +But the veteran official who has been already quoted attaches a very +different importance to this whole matter. In France and Spain, says Mr. +Preston Thomas, the Governments were chiefly concerned to deny the +existence of any danger. In England the medical staff demanded such an +increase in the number of inspectors as would enable them to take proper +precautions at the ports. + + 'Fortunately, Sir Charles Dilke had become President of the Board, + and carried with him a political weight which his two worthy, but + not particularly influential, predecessors, Sclater-Booth and + Dodson, had not enjoyed. He had one or two passages of arms with + Childers, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, when it was attempted to + interfere with the estimates which he had put forward, and which he + declined to defend in Parliament if they were curtailed. There was + an appeal to the Premier, and Sir Charles Dilke had come off + victorious. So when he proposed largely to increase the medical + staff in order to make a sanitary survey of the entire coast, the + Treasury's sanction was given, and the work was carried out with + far-reaching results. The authorities of the ports ... were + impressed with a sense of their responsibilities; not only did they + organize special arrangements for the inspection of ships from + infected countries, but they also recognized the necessity of + setting their own houses in order in a literal sense, and many of + them for the first time displayed activity in providing pure water, + efficient sewerage, and a prompt removal of nuisances.... The + communications of the Board's expert with the local authorities and + their officers ... did something more than lay the foundations of + that Public Health System ... which has saved us from any outbreak + of cholera for the last quarter of a century, [Footnote: Written in + 1909.] and has reduced the mortality from preventable diseases to a + rate which such countries as France and Germany may well envy.' + (_Work and Play of a Government Inspector_, p. 148.) + +It should be noted, too, that the first definite action of the Housing +Commission concerned the Local Government Board: + + 'It was decided to ask Parliament to alter its standing orders with + regard to persons of the labouring class displaced under + Parliamentary Powers, and to insist on local inquiry in such cases, + and the approval of the Local Government Board after it has been + shown that suitable accommodation had been found for the people + displaced. This was done by resolution of both Houses of + Parliament.' + + +V. + +The friendliness which had grown up between Sir Charles and Lord +Salisbury, and was later in this year to be of public service, is +illustrated by an amusing note in the Memoir. Sir Charles Dilke was +never a clubman, and had incurred the remonstrances of Sir M. Grant Duff +by refusing to take up membership of the Athenaeum, as he was entitled +to do on entering the Cabinet. But there is a club more august than the +Athenaeum, and here also Dilke showed indisposition to enter. He notes +in May: + + 'Before this I had been much pressed to accept my election at + Grillion's Club on Lord Salisbury's nomination. The Club considers + itself such an illustrious body that it elects candidates without + telling them they are proposed, and I received notice of my election + accompanied by some congratulations. I at first refused to join, but + afterwards wrote to the secretary: "Carlingford has been to see me + about Grillion's, and tells me that I should have the terrible + distinction of being the first man who ever declined to belong to + it, an oddity which I cannot face, so ... I will ask your leave to + withdraw my refusal." On May 3rd I breakfasted at the Club for the + first time, Mr. Gladstone and a good many other Front Bench people, + chiefly Conservatives, being present.' + +The meetings of the Housing Commission had also increased the frequency +of intercourse between Sir Charles Dilke and the Prince of Wales, who +was in this May + + 'showing a devotion to the work of my Commission which was quite + unusual with him, and he cut short his holiday and returned from + Royat to London on purpose for our meeting.' + +On January 11th, 1884, the Duke of Albany wrote to Sir Charles that he +had hoped to call, but was not sure whether he had returned to England. +'I write to express a hope that your opinions will coincide with the +request which I have made to Lord Derby ... namely, to succeed Lord +Normanby as Governor of Victoria.' He referred to their talk at +Claremont of his 'hopes, which were not realized, of going to Canada.' +'The Prince went on to say that, as I had been in Australia, I was "a +more competent judge than some others of the Ministers as to the +advisability of my appointment."' He spoke of the matter as one in which +he was 'vitally interested,' and his 'sincere trust' in Sir Charles's +support. The Cabinet agreed to the appointment, + + 'unless the Queen persisted in her opposition. The matter had been + discussed at Eastwell (where I stayed with the Duchess of Edinburgh + from the 19th to the 21st) by me with the Duchess as well as with + Princess Louise and Lorne, who were also there. The Duke of + Edinburgh was not there, but at Majorca in his ship. The party + consisted of Nigra, the Italian Ambassador, the Wolseleys, Lord + Baring and his sister Lady Emma, and Count Adlerberg of the Russian + Embassy, in addition to the Princess Louise and Lome already named.' + + 'On January 24th there was a regular Cabinet. The Queen had written + that she would not allow Prince Leopold to go to Victoria.' + +On March 28th 'we heard of the death of Prince Leopold,' codicils to +whose will Sir Charles had witnessed in the preceding year. 'All +newspapers wrote of the pleasant boy as though he had been a man of +literary genius.' + +But anxious as Sir Charles had been to further Prince Leopold's wishes, +and in spite of his 'respect for his memory,' he could not allow a +principle, for which he always fought, to be waived. + + 'The Queen wrote to Mr. Gladstone at this time (April 5th) with + regard to provision for the child and possible posthumous child of + the Duke of Albany, and I wrote to Mr. Gladstone that I could not + possibly agree to any provision for them, for which there was no + exact precedent, without the Select Committee which I had previously + been promised as regarded any new application.' + +On April 22nd Mr. Gladstone alluded 'to a letter to the Queen, but he +did not read it to us,' and Sir Charles again insisted 'upon inquiry +before the proposal of any provision for which there was no direct +precedent.' + + 'At the Cabinet of Monday, April 28th, we found that the Queen was + indignant with us for our refusal to make further provision for the + Duchess of Albany.... None of the precedents of the century + warranted provision for children in infancy. It was agreed that Mr. + Gladstone was to write to the Queen again, but "our negative answer + is only applicable to the case where the children are in infancy." + In other words, we did not wish to bind those who might come after + us, but the phrase was not to commit us as to what we would do in + five years' time.' + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV + +EGYPT + +1884 + + +I. + +At the close of 1883 the destruction of Hicks's army had made clear to +all that the Soudan was, for the time at least, lost to Egypt; and close +upon this disaster in the central region had followed defeats on the Red +Sea coast. But Egyptian garrisons were holding out at Sinkat, some fifty +miles from the port of Suakim, and at Tokar, only twenty miles from the +coast. In October, 1883, a small force sent to relieve Sinkat was cut up +by the Dervishes under Osman Digna; in November, a larger column of 500, +accompanied by the British Consul, was utterly routed in an attempt to +reach Tokar. General Baker, with his newly formed gendarmerie, was then +ordered to Suakim. He desired to enlist the services of Zebehr Pasha, a +famous leader of men, but a former dealer in slaves. To this the British +authorities objected, and Zebehr was not sent. Baker went, attempted +with 3,500 troops to reach Tokar, and on February 2nd, 1884, lost 2,000 +of them near the wells of El Teb. Both Tokar and Sinkat soon after fell +into the hands of the Dervishes. + +Long before this event, the evacuation of the Soudan had been decreed. A +peremptory mandate from the British Government was sent to Cherif Pasha, +the Egyptian Prime Minister, who, as he had intimated that he would do, +resigned rather than be responsible for giving up so vast a possession. +On January 8th, Nubar took office to carry out the prescribed policy. +But the problem was how to get away the garrisons, and, since England +had ordered evacuation, the Egyptian Government looked to England for +assistance. + + 'On January 16th I noted: "Baring wants to make us send a British + officer to conduct the retreat from Khartoum. I have written to Lord + Granville to protest." Baring had been pressing for an answer to his + suggestion named above. I had all along fought against the "Hicks + Expedition," and this seemed a consequence. The Egyptian Government + had resigned, and the sole supporter of the abandonment policy among + the Egyptians in Egypt was the Khedive himself; but Nubar was sent + for, and accepted office (with a number of cyphers) to carry it into + effect. On January 10th Lord Granville had telegraphed to Baring, + without my knowledge, "Would Gordon or Wilson be of use?" [Footnote: + Colonel Sir Charles Wilson. See his _Life_, by Sir Charles Watson, + p. 244.] On the 11th Baring replied, "I do not think that the + services of Gordon or Wilson can be utilized at present"; and after + a reply had been received I saw the telegrams. The earlier Gordon + suggestions by Granville, now revealed by E. Fitzmaurice from the + Granville Papers, and expounded in Cromer's (1908) book, were never + before the Cabinet. [Footnote: Life of Lord Granville, vol. ii., pp. + 381, 382.] + + 'On the 14th Lord Granville telegraphed to Baring: "Can you give + further information as to prospects of retreat from (? for) army and + residents at Khartoum, and measures taken? Can anything more be + done?" Power, our Consular Agent at Khartoum, had also been told + that he might leave. On January 16th Baring telegraphed: "The + Egyptian Government would feel obliged if Her Majesty's Government + would send out at once a qualified British officer to go to Khartoum + with full powers, civil and military, to conduct the retreat." Lord + Granville then telegraphed for Gordon, and on the 18th I was + summoned suddenly to a meeting at the War Office in Hartington's + room, at which were present, before I arrived, Hartington, Lord + Granville and Lord Northbrook, and Colonel Gordon. Gordon said that + he believed that the danger at Khartoum had been "grossly + exaggerated," and that the two Englishmen there had "lost their + heads"; he would be able to bring away the garrisons without + difficulty. We decided that he should go to Suakim to collect + information and report on the situation in the Soudan. This was the + sole decision taken, but it was understood that if he found he could + get across he should go on to Berber. Gordon started at night on the + same day. + + 'On January 22nd the first subject mentioned was that of Egyptian + finance, a Rothschild loan for six months being suggested, but + nothing settled. The Cabinet approved our action in sending Gordon. + But they had before them a great deal more than what we had + done--namely, what he had done himself. On his road between London + and Brindisi he had prepared a series of decrees which he + telegraphed to us and which we telegraphed to Baring. In these he + announced the restoration to the various Sultans of the Soudan of + their independence, and he made the Khedive say: "I have + commissioned General Gordon, late Governor-General of the Soudan, to + proceed there as my representative, and to arrange with you" (the + peoples of the Soudan) "for the evacuation of the country and the + withdrawal of my troops." He then made the Khedive appoint him + "Governor-General for the time necessary to accomplish the + evacuation." He also telegraphed to the Hadendowa and Bishareen + Arabs of the desert between Suakim and Berber, directing them to + meet him at Suakim, and saying that he should be there in fourteen + days. In sending these we told Baring: "Suggestions made by Gordon. + We have no local knowledge sufficient to judge. You may settle + terms, and act upon them at once, as time presses, or after + consultation with him." Mr. Gladstone did not object, although + strongly opposed to our undertaking responsibility in the Soudan, + because Gordon still spoke in every sentence of conducting the + evacuation; but reading his proclamations in the light of his + subsequent change of mind, and desire to stay in Khartoum and be + supported by force, it seems clear that he had deceived us and did + not really mean evacuation. This, however, could not yet be seen + from the words he used. I wrote to Lord Granville on January 22nd, + to point out that in addition to the danger in the Soudan, which had + been foreseen, there was a risk that Gordon might get himself + carried off alive into the desert by some of the Arab chiefs that he + was to meet, and that in that case we should have to send an + expedition after him. + + 'On January 31st there was a meeting at the War Office about Egypt + between Hartington, Lord Granville, Edmond Fitzmaurice and myself. + As the facts about Gordon were beginning to be misrepresented in the + Press, Lord Granville set them down in writing. [Footnote: See _Life + of Gladstone_, vol. iii., pp. 152-155; Life of Granville, vol. ii., + pp. 381-385 and 512, where a letter from Lord Cromer on General + Gordon's instructions is printed; and chap. xvi. ('Gordon, and the + Soudan') in _The Development of the European Nations, 1870-1900_, by + Dr. J. Holland Rose.] It had been stated, and was afterwards + repeated by Justin McCarthy in his history, that the mission on + which we sent Gordon "was in direct opposition to his own ideas. He + was not in favour of the abandonment of the Soudan or the evacuation + of Khartoum." It had also been said that the whole mission had been + forced upon us by the Press--i.e., by Stead, in the _Pall Mall + Gazette_. Lord Granville gave me a memorandum saying that Gordon had + acknowledged that the statements in the _Pall Mall_ were "not + accurate." Lord Granville went on to say that he did not think that + Gordon could be said to have "changed his mind. It appeared in his + conversation with Wolseley on the Tuesday that he (Gordon) was not + decided in his opinion, and that he was as likely to recommend one + course as another.... I told him that we would not send him out to + re-open the whole question, and he then declared himself ready to go + out merely to help in the evacuation of the interior of the Soudan. + He is not remarkably precise in conversation, though I found him + much more so than Wolseley had led me to expect." + + 'Lord Granville had previously written to me on this point: "The + papers seem to think that Gordon is a new discovery by the + Government under pressure of the Press. It happens that I consulted + Malet on the subject months ago. But after communicating with Cherif + he sent me an unfavourable reply. I subsequently consulted Baring, + who agreed with Cherif that it was best not to do so. I consulted + him again after the change of Ministry, with the same result. On the + other hand Gordon was in Syria, having declared before leaving + England that he would not enter the Egyptian service. It was only on + his return to England that I heard indirectly that, although he had + no wish to go, he would willingly obey the orders of Her Majesty's + Government and act under the instructions of Sir Evelyn Baring and + the orders of General Stephenson. Having got the full concurrence of + Sir E. Baring by telegraph, the matter was arranged." + + 'The fact was that it was Wolseley, Gordon's friend, who suggested + that he should be sent and who induced him to go; but Wolseley's + account of the matter could not, I fear, be trusted, as he is more + inclined to attack Gladstone than to let out anything which in the + light of subsequent events might be unpleasant to himself. + + 'Edmond Fitzmaurice had drawn up an elaborate memorandum for our + meeting at the War Office, which I have, with my own corrections. He + thought that the public was hostile to us on four grounds: our + non-interference to stop Hicks; [Footnote: General Hicks advanced + west of the Nile, contrary to the views of Lord Dufferin, who wished + him to limit his advance to the province lying between the + bifurcation of the Blue and White Nile. See the _Life of Dufferin_, + by Alfred Lyall, vol. ii., pp. 56, 57.] our failure to withdraw the + garrisons of Khartoum and of the Equatorial Provinces in time to + avoid disaster; our failure to relieve Sinkat; and, on the other + hand, our decision to force the Egyptians to evacuate the Soudan in + the face of defeat, a decision which had overturned Cherif Pasha. + With regard to Hicks, we could only tell the truth, which was that + our policy was to limit, not extend, the sphere of our + responsibilities in Egypt; that we followed the advice we got, which + was either for doing exactly what we did, or for a moderate support + of Hicks, which latter we declined. Our opponents were prophesying + after the event. We should have taken a great responsibility had we + absolutely forbidden the Egyptian Government to make use of their + own troops (not including any portion of the army officered by + English officers under Sir Evelyn Wood for the defence of Lower + Egypt) to crush the Mahdi. Hicks had at first defeated the Mahdi in + every encounter and cleared him out of the whole country east of the + Nile. [Footnote: Hicks Pasha complained that directly Lord Dufferin + had left Cairo for Constantinople, he ceased to received adequate + support from the Egyptian Government (_Life of Dufferin_. vol. ii., + p. 55).] The main point, however, and that of present importance, + was our forcing upon the Egyptians the policy of evacuating the + Soudan after Hicks's defeat. Fitzmaurice wrote: "The Soudan could + not be held without the assistance of England, and it is not a + British interest to hold the Soudan.... The cost of the Soudan is + one of the causes which ruin the Egyptian Treasury." Edmond + Fitzmaurice then went on to explain in his memorandum the reasons + which had forced us to wait until January 4th before we had told the + Egyptian Government as to withdrawal from the interior of the + Soudan, including Khartoum--"that the Ministers must carry out the + advice offered them, or forfeit their places." + + 'On January 9th we had been told from Khartoum that, if a retreat + was ordered at once, it could be safely effected; and it was on the + next day, the 10th, that we offered the services of Colonels Gordon + and Sir Charles Wilson, which were declined. It was not till January + 16th that we were able to induce the Egyptians, even under their new + withdrawal Government, to ask for a British officer, and on the 18th + Gordon was sent. Gordon, however--who had left us to go to Suakim, + and for whom we had drawn up a route from Suakim to Berber, in case + he should go forward, and negotiated with the tribes for his free + passage, and of whom we had telegraphed to Baring, "He does not wish + to go to Cairo"--went to Cairo, "at Baring's" suggestion. He did not + even land at Alexandria, but he was stopped by Baring at Port Said + when on his way to Suakim, Baring sending Sir Evelyn Wood to meet + him. Baring had already given orders, through Nubar, to commence the + evacuation. Gordon had telegraphed to us requesting us to send + Zebehr Pasha to Cyprus--that is, arbitrarily to arrest him and + deport him. Yet, when he reached Cairo, at his own wish he had had + an interview with this very man, and shortly afterwards he + telegraphed to us, asking leave to take him to Khartoum and to make + him virtually Governor of the Soudan, which, indeed, would have been + entirely outside our power; for Forster, supported by the Anti- + Slavery Society and the Conservatives, would at once have upset us + in the House of Commons and reversed the policy. Wolseley had + already begun to press as early as the 23rd for the sending of an + expedition via Suakim and Berber. + + 'On January 26th Gordon had left for Khartoum without any + communication with us upon the question whether he should go, and + the last thing we had from him before he started was a memorandum in + which, among other things, he said of the Soudan: "Few men can stand + its fearful monotony and deadly climate." He insisted on absolute + authority, and Stewart, who was with him, did the same for him, and, + backing up his chief's arguments at this moment against Zebehr, said + that Zebehr's return would undoubtedly be a misfortune to the + Soudanese, and also a direct encouragement to the slave trade. + + 'On February 1st we received a telegram from Baring, telling us that + Gordon had taken with him proclamations of evacuation, and other + proclamations less direct, with authority to issue those which he + thought best; but "he fully understands that he is to carry out the + policy of evacuation, in which he expressed to me his entire + agreement. I have sent home by last mail my instructions to him, + which leave no doubt on this point, and which were drafted at his + request and with his full approval.... There is no sort of + difference between his views and those entertained by Nubar Pasha + and myself." Here ended our responsibility, because it must be + remembered that Gordon at Khartoum was entirely outside our reach, + and openly told us that he should not obey our orders when he did + not choose to do so. From this moment we had only to please + ourselves as to whether we should disavow him and say that he was + acting in defiance of instructions, and must be left to his fate, or + whether we should send an expedition to get him out. + + 'Doubtless "we" wavered between these two opinions. Mr. Gladstone + from the first moment that Gordon broke his orders was for the + former view. Lord Hartington from the first moment was for the + latter. Chamberlain and I supported Hartington, although we fully + recognized Gordon's violations of his orders in much of his action + at Khartoum, where he changed the policy agreed upon with Baring and + with us to that expressed by him in the words, "Smash the Mahdi." + Many members of the Cabinet went backwards and forwards in their + opinion, but the circumstances were of incredible difficulty, and it + must be remembered that we were not sure of being allowed to carry + out either policy; and not only was it difficult to decide which of + the two was right, but it was also difficult to decide whether + either policy was possible--that is to say, whether the one adopted + would not be immediately upset by a Parliamentary vote. The Liberal + party in the House of Commons was divided on the matter, the Whigs + generally wishing for an expedition, and the Radicals being hot for + immediate abandonment of the Soudan, which meant abandonment of + Gordon. The Conservatives were divided; most of them probably wished + for an expedition, but they were afraid to say so; and Randolph + Churchill, whose strength at this time was immense, was in full + agreement with Labouchere and Wilfrid Lawson, and was denouncing the + retention of the Soudan as a violation of the principles of freedom. + + 'Gordon on his way up and on his arrival at Khartoum issued + extraordinary proclamations. Arriving there alone, but with + incredible prestige, he was hailed as father of the people; he + burned the taxation books and the whips upon the public place; he + released the prisoners from the gaol; he sent away the commander of + the garrison with the words, "Rest assured you leave this place as + safe as Kensington Park." He declared the Mahdi "Sultan of + Kordofan." Gordon, of all men in the world, sanctioned slavery by + another written document; and he then asked us to send the arch + slave-driver Zebehr to his help, which we thought on Baring's + truthful opinion of the moment that we ought not to do, and which we + certainly could not have done. I thought and still think that Gordon + had lost his senses, as he had done on former critical occasions in + his life; but the romantic element in his nature appealed to me, + and, while I could not but admit that he had defied every + instruction which had been given to him, I should have sent an + expedition to bring him out, although thinking it probable that when + Wolseley reached him he would have refused to come.' + +While Gordon was on his way to Khartoum, which he reached on February +18th, the defeat at El Teb had occurred, and the question arose as to +what should be done in the Eastern Soudan. + + 'On February 6th the Cabinet met twice, and at our second meeting it + was decided to send marines to Suakim. + + 'On Thursday, February 7th, I visited the Admiralty with Pauncefote + in order to take in hand the defence of the Red Sea coast against + the Arabs, and then I went to the War Office, where I met + Hartington, Northbrook, Wolseley, and Cooper Key, in order to + concert steps. When I passed through the Secretary's room after the + meeting, and stayed for a moment to talk with Hobart and Fleetwood + Wilson, the Duke of Cambridge (whose room opened into theirs, and + who had evidently been lying in wait for me) rushed out and carried + me off into his room, and made much of me, with an enthusiastic + desire to help an expedition. At night, Hartington, Chamberlain, and + I met in Hartington's room and decided to press for relief of + Gordon. + + 'On February 8th Chamberlain wrote to me, "I should like to + telegraph to Baring, 'If you think that employment of British troops + could relieve beleaguered garrisons in Soudan without danger, you + are authorized to concert measures with Evelyn Wood.'" A Cabinet was + called at the wish of Hartington, Chamberlain, and myself, for this + day upon this point. Hartington, Harcourt, Northbrook, Carlingford, + Chamberlain, and I, were for asking Gordon if a demonstration at + Suakim would help him. Mr. Gladstone and Lord Granville, very strong + the other way, broke up the meeting sooner than agree.' + + 'Gordon had acted as Governor-General of the Soudan without having + told us that he had accepted this appointment, and we had had to ask + on February 4th a question which had been answered by Baring on the + 5th, to the effect that Gordon had "at his own request" been + appointed Governor-General. On February 6th Baring had telegraphed + stating that Gordon had said that it was possible he might go to the + Mahdi and not be heard of for two months, as the Mahdi might keep + him as a hostage for Zebehr. On the same day we telegraphed to + Baring approving his having told Gordon that there would be the + strongest objections to his placing himself in the Mahdi's power. On + February 7th we received a despatch by post from Baring in which he + informed us that, while Gordon would probably ask for Zebehr, "it + would certainly not be desirable to send him ... for he is + manifestly animated by a feeling of deep resentment against General + Gordon." At the same time Baring forwarded a shorthand report of the + meeting between Gordon, Zebehr, Baring, Stewart, Colonel Watson, Sir + Evelyn Wood, and Nubar, at which Zebehr had told Gordon that he had + entrusted his son to him, "and told you he was thenceforth your son. + He was only sixteen years of age.... I entrusted my son to you.... + But you killed my son whom I entrusted to you. He was as your own + son." _Gordon_: "Well, well, I killed my own son. There is an end of + it." _Zebehr_: "And then you brought my wives and women and children + in chains to Khartoum, a thing which for my name in the Soudan was + most degrading." + + 'By the same mail we received a despatch from Baring in which he + made it clear that Gordon's instructions had Gordon's full approval. + "He expressed to me his entire concurrence in the instructions. The + only suggestion he made was in connection with the passage in which, + speaking of the policy of abandoning the Soudan, I had said, 'I + understand also that you entirely concur in the desirability of + adopting this policy.' General Gordon wished that I should add the + words 'and that you think it should on no account be changed.' These + words were accordingly added." + + 'Between this Cabinet and the next we received, on February 9th, a + telegram from Baring to the effect that he was sending home a letter + from Gordon to the King of the Belgians in which he urged the king + to appoint him Governor of the Equatorial Provinces, Gordon's idea + being to go there from Khartoum; and Baring stated his own view that + we should forbid Gordon to go south of Khartoum. In his letter, + which was dated February 1st, Gordon said that the King of the + Belgians had told him that he would take over the Provinces with the + troops in them, when Gordon had been at Brussels immediately before + we sent him out; but not one word had Gordon ever breathed of this; + and when we first heard of it he was virtually beyond our reach, + seated, when our answer arrived, at Khartoum, and little disposed to + listen to us, although on some points, for a few days, he pretended + to listen. + + 'On February 12th Baring telegraphed that he hoped that "H.M.G. will + not change any of the main points of their policy"; but, as will be + seen a little later, Baring soon changed his own, adopting the new + policy of Gordon, and pressing it upon us. + + 'On February 12th it was decided, against Mr. Gladstone, to send an + expedition to the Red Sea Coast. + + 'On February 13th we had before us a statement which had been made + the previous day by Randolph Churchill, to the effect that in the + summer of 1883 General Gordon had offered to go to the Soudan, and + that the Government had telegraphed to him accepting his offer, and + then written to him declining it. Lord Granville instructed me to + say that the whole story was one gigantic concoction. I then asked + Hartington if he knew anything about it; and Lord Wolseley + ultimately discovered that Randolph Churchill had confused the Congo + with the Nile, an amusing example of his harum-scarum recklessness. + Gordon had telegraphed from Syria in October for leave to accept + service under the King of the Belgians on the Congo, and the + Commander-in-Chief had replied by telegraph that the Secretary of + State declined to sanction his employment. In transmission the word + "declines" was changed into "decides," which exactly reversed its + sense, so that Gordon had received a confirming letter consistent + with the telegram as sent, but exactly reversing the sense of the + telegram as received. He had told the story which Churchill had + heard, but altered from one side of Africa to the other.' + +On February 14th Sir Charles made effective use of this blunder in the +debate upon the vote of censure concerning Egypt. It was a debating +speech which, he himself notes, 'had extraordinary success.' Lord +Randolph Churchill had been more than usually aggressive, and Sir +Charles hammered him with detailed facts. [Footnote: He comments on the +20th on the opinions expressed to him as to his powers of debate: 'This +is a curious position for a man who has no natural gift of speech. I can +remember when I was the worst speaker that ever spoke at all.'] The +debate on this vote of censure, occasioned by the fall of Sinkat, +occupied the House for five days. The motion was defeated by forty-nine. + + 'On February 14th I found that Lord Granville had not answered an + important question from Baring about Wood's Egyptians which had been + received by us on the 13th, and that because he had not seen it. We + had started a red label as a danger-signal for pressing notes; but + Lord Granville's room was full of red-labelled notes not touched.' + +He records his remonstrances with Lord Granville as to the non- +employment of Sir Evelyn Wood's Egyptians. On February 18th there was a +Cabinet 'partly upon this subject. It was decided to send reinforcements +to Egypt.' + + 'On February 21st there was another Cabinet which again discussed + the Egyptian question and decided to send Wood's Egyptians to + Assouan. On the 15th Gordon had reassured us by telling us that all + communication between Cairo and the Soudan would be finally at an + end within three months' (that is, that evacuation would be easily + carried out). 'On February 18th we had heard that on the 17th Gordon + had issued a proclamation saying that the Government would not + interfere with the buying and selling of slaves; and this telegram, + having got out from Cairo, produced a storm in England. On the 19th + there occurred another matter which was considered by the Cabinet at + the same time--the absolute refusal of Admiral Hewett, and very + proper refusal, to issue a proclamation calling on the chiefs from + Suakim to go peacefully to meet Gordon at Khartoum, inasmuch as the + Admiral knew "that English troops are about to be sent against the + people in question." The issue of this proclamation had been + recommended by Wolseley, who thinks that Governments exist for the + purpose of deceiving enemies in war for the benefit of generals. + + 'On the same day, February 19th, we had received a telegram which + had been sent off from Khartoum by Gordon on the 18th, asking that + Zebehr should be sent to the Soudan, "be made K.C.M.G., and given + presents." This was backed by Stewart, so far as that he said that + someone should be sent, adding that he was not sure whether Zebehr + was the best man. It was clear from Gordon's proposed conditions + that Zebehr was to be free to prosecute the slave trade. In another + memorandum on the same day Gordon said that we must "give a + commission to some man and promise him the moral support of + H.M.G.... It may be argued that H.M.G. would thus be giving ... + moral support to a man who will rule over a slave state.... This + nomination of my successor must ... be direct from Her Majesty's + Government.... As for the man, H.M.G. should select one above all + others, namely Zebehr." Baring now backed this opinion up, so that + we were face to face with an absolute change of front on the part of + Gordon and Baring, and a partial change of front on the part of + Stewart. On the other hand, Baring, at the same time when he told us + to appoint Zebehr, added: "I am quite certain that Zebehr hates + Gordon bitterly, and that he is very vindictive. I would not on any + account risk putting Gordon in his power.... He is, to my personal + knowledge, exceedingly untruthful.... I cannot recommend his being + promised the moral support of Her Majesty's Government. He would + scarcely understand the phrase, and, moreover, I do not think he + would attach importance to any support which was not material.... I + doubt the utility of making conditions. Zebehr would probably not + observe them long." Baring further proposed that Zebehr should be + given money, and he left us to judge of the effect of the whole + scheme on public opinion in England. Colonel Watson, who had been + present at the meeting between Zebehr and Gordon, informed us that + to let Gordon and Zebehr be together in the Soudan "would entail the + death of either one or other of them." On the 21st Gordon + telegraphed to the newspapers explaining away his slave trade + proclamation, but its terms were even worse than could have been + gathered from the first summary, which was all that we had received. + + 'On February 21st we received the text of Gordon's proclamation, + which contained the words, "I confer upon you these rights, that + henceforth none shall interfere with your property," and spoke with + apparent regret of "severe measures taken by Government for the + suppression of slave traffic, and seizure and punishment of all + concerned." + + 'On February 26th there was a meeting of Mr. Gladstone, Hartington, + Childers, Chamberlain, Dodson, and myself, to approve a telegram + from Hartington to General Graham; [Footnote: General Graham was in + command of the expedition to Suakim.] and on the next day again, the + 27th, a meeting of Lord Granville, Hartington, Northbrook, and + myself, which decided to invite the Turk to show himself at the Red + Sea ports. On the 29th there was a Cabinet at which it was decided + that the Turk must approve our future ruler of the Soudan, and that + British troops were to go as far as Assouan if Baring thought it + necessary. + + 'On February 27th Gordon had frightened us out of our senses by + telegraphing that, having put out his programme of peace, and + allowed time to elapse, he was now sending out his troops to show + his force; and another telegram from him said: "Expedition starts at + once to attack rebels." On the same day he telegraphed that he had + issued a proclamation "that British troops are now on their way, and + in a few days will reach Khartoum." It was very difficult to know + what to do with this amazing lie: solemnly to point out to him by + telegraph that it was a lie was hardly of much use with a man of + Gordon's stamp; and what was done was to send a strong private + telegram to Baring to communicate with him about it, but the result + was not encouraging, for it was the first ground for the desperate + quarrel which Gordon afterwards picked with Baring, and for his + charge against Baring of inciting the Government to drive him to his + death. + + 'On the next day, February 28th, Gordon, having heard that Zebehr + was refused, telegraphed his policy of smashing up the Mahdi, which, + however, he seemed inclined to attempt with a most inadequate force. + "Mahdi must be smashed up. Mahdi is most unpopular, and with care + and time could be smashed.... If you decide on smashing Mahdi, then + send another hundred thousand pounds, and send 200 Indian troops to + Wady Haifa, and an officer to Dongola under pretence to look out + quarters for troops.... At present it would be comparatively easy to + destroy Mahdi." Gordon had also telegraphed to Baring to recommend + that 3,000 black Egyptian troops should be kept in the Soudan, and + completely throwing over the evacuation policy. Baring added for + himself: "There are obviously many contradictions in General + Gordon's different proposals"; but he went on to express his + agreement in Gordon's new policy, strongly supported the selection + of Zebehr, and sneered at us for having regard to uninstructed + opinion in England. On the same day Gordon telegraphed: "If a + hundred British troops were sent to Assouan or Wady Halfa, they + would run no more risk than Nile tourists, and would have the best + effect." At the same time Baring said: "I certainly would not risk + sending so small a body as 100 men." It will be seen in how great a + difficulty the Government were placed; but Baring's position was, in + fact, as difficult as our own. We were evidently dealing with a wild + man under the influence of that climate of Central Africa which acts + even upon the sanest men like strong drink. + + 'On the same day Gordon telegraphed to us completely changing his + ground about Suakim. He had previously prevented our doing anything + except trying to relieve the towns blockaded, but on March 1st told + us to do something to draw the Hadendowa down to Suakim. On the 2nd, + General Graham having beaten the Arabs at Teb, the Admiral asked us + to send more troops and to threaten Osman Digna's main force, a + suggestion which concurred with Gordon's. And on March 5th the + Cabinet met and decided that, while it was impossible to send Zebehr + to the Soudan, General Graham was to be allowed to attack Osman + Digna's main force.... Chamberlain then suggested that I should go + to Egypt: Hartington evidently thought that somebody should go, and + thought he had better go himself. Lord Granville would not have + either, as might have been expected.... I suggested a way out of the + Zebehr difficulty, and wrote to Chamberlain: "If I were sent out to + do this, I believe I should get away the forces from the interior + and have Zebehr elected, entirely without our action, by the + Notables at Khartoum. On the whole, this would do if we did not do + it. This would, in my opinion, be improved by Turkish approval under + Turkish suzerainty, but that you do not like." Chamberlain answered: + "Perhaps we cannot help having Zebehr, but surely we ought not to + promote him, directly or indirectly; not only because he is a slave- + hunter, but also because he will probably attack Egypt sooner or + later, and very likely with the help of our subsidy." I replied: "I + am quite clear that we must not set up Zebehr, but if we retire we + cannot prevent his election by the Notables; and they would elect + him." In the meantime Gordon had completely thrown over Baring's + suggestion that Zebehr should be sent (but so sent that he and + Gordon should not be in the Soudan together) by telegraphing that + the combination at Khartoum of Zebehr and himself was "an absolute + necessity," and that it would be "absolutely necessary" for him to + stay at Khartoum with Zebehr for four months; and Stewart had now + completely come over to Gordon's policy about Zebehr personally. On + the other hand, Baring and the military authorities in Egypt were + unanimously opposed to the idea of sending a small British force to + Wady Halfa. + + 'On March 7th it was decided to give an inland district to the + Abyssinians, but not to offer them a port (which was what they + wanted), on account of its not being ours to give away from the + Turks. The Cabinet would not hear of receiving a Turkish + Commissioner at Cairo. + + 'On March 11th we further considered pressing demands from Gordon + and Baring for Zebehr. Mr. Gladstone had taken to his bed, but was + known to be strongly in favour of sending Zebehr. The Cabinet were + unanimous the other way, and Hartington was sent to see Mr. + Gladstone, we waiting till he returned. When he came back, he + laconically stated what had passed as follows: "He thinks it very + likely that we cannot make the House swallow Zebehr, but he thinks + he could." Morley has told this, but the words which he took + verbally from me are less good. [Footnote: _Life of Gladstone_, vol. + iii., p. 159.] Baring on the 6th had recommended a further attack on + Osman Digna, which he thought might open the Berber route. On the + 9th we received Gordon's replies to our telegrams of the 5th, + showing that he had done nothing towards the evacuation of Khartoum + except by sending away the sick. He admitted that it was possible + that "Zebehr, who hates the tribes, did stir up the fires of revolt, + in hopes that he would be sent to quell it. It is the irony of fate + that he will get his wish if sent up." On the same day Baring + informed us that it was clear that Gordon now had no influence + outside Khartoum, and that he contemplated the despatch of British + troops. The Anti-Slavery Society had strongly protested against the + employment of Zebehr, and they pointed out to us the records of + murders "in which this man has stood the foremost and the principal + actor.... Countenance ... of such an individual by the British + Government would be a degradation for England and a scandal to + Europe." W. E. Forster, amid loud cheers from the Conservatives, + protested in advance in the House of Commons against the policy of + sending Zebehr. On March 11th we had received in the morning from + Baring twelve telegrams from Gordon, of the most extraordinary + nature, which Baring had answered: "I am most anxious to help and + support you in every way, but I find it very difficult to understand + exactly what it is you want." Besides deciding that Zebehr could not + be sent, the Cabinet changed its mind about the employment of Turks + in the Red Sea, and decided that they could not be allowed to go + there at present. + + 'On March 13th the matter was again considered by a Cabinet, which + was not called a Cabinet as Mr. Gladstone was in bed and Chamberlain + was at Birmingham, and on the 14th we met again, still retaining our + opinion; and on Sunday, the 16th, Mr. Gladstone at last unwillingly + gave up Zebehr as impossible. [Footnote: _Life of Granville_, vol. + ii., p. 388.] + + 'I had been at this time working out the facts connected with the + two routes to Khartoum in case an expedition should be sent, and had + made up my own mind in favour of the Nile route; Wolseley still + being the other way. + + 'On March 17th, I wrote to Lord Northbrook to protest against a + proclamation which had been issued by the Admiral and General at + Suakim offering a reward for Osman Digna, and I wrote also to + Hartington upon the same subject, stating that I would not defend + it, and that if it were "not disapproved, and the disapproval made + public, I cannot remain a member of the Government." Northbrook + would not admit that he had disapproved it, but Hartington did, and + also informed me that Northbrook had telegraphed. Lord Granville + agreed with me that the proclamation was not defensible, and it was + as a fact withdrawn, although the Admiral was very angry. + + 'Mr. Gladstone had gone down to Coombe, near Wimbledon. On March + 22nd we held a Cabinet without him.... Harcourt was now writing to + me in favour of the view "that we must get out of Egypt as soon as + possible at any price. The idea of our administering it or of the + Egyptian army defending it is equally out of the question." On the + 25th we had another Cabinet without Mr. Gladstone. Turning to + Gordon, we decided that a force was not to be sent to Berber; but I + noted in my diary: "It will _have_ to be sent next autumn, I + believe"; but when I said to Berber, it must be remembered, of + course, that there were two ways of reaching Berber, and Lord + Hartington, Brett, and I, now turned steadily to the consideration + of which of those two ways should be taken. It will be remembered + that we already had a report in print as to the Suakim-Berber route. + [Footnote: See p. 33; 'We had drawn up a route from Suakim to + Berber.'] We now obtained from Wolseley a general report, which was + afterwards printed and circulated to the Cabinet on April 8th. Lord + Wolseley, preparing for the sending of a military force to Khartoum + this autumn, stated that his force must be exclusively British, for + he doubted whether the very best of our Indian regiments could stand + the charges of the Arabs, besides which our natives took the field + encumbered with followers. Lord Roberts, who was not given to + boasting, told me, long afterwards, that he, on the other hand, was + sure that he could have marched from Suakim to the Nile and Khartoum + with an exclusively Indian force. It is the case that our best + Gurkha troops have sometimes stood when white troops have run. + Wolseley had now come round to a boat expedition, which I had been + for a long time urging, upon information which I had obtained for + myself from the Admiralty, and which was afterwards printed by the + Foreign Intelligence Committee at the Admiralty, and circulated to + the Cabinet in April, a further document upon the subject being + circulated to the Cabinet in May. It must be remembered that the + date of passing the cataracts was settled for us by the high Nile, + and that there was only one time of year at which the expedition + could be safely sent. + + 'The Cabinet of March 25th further decided that Graham must soon be + brought away from Suakim. + + 'On the next evening, March 26th, when the Ministers were dining + with the Speaker, we received a very unpleasant telegram from + Baring, pointing, we thought, to a possible resignation unless it + was promised to send an expedition to Khartoum. I suggested the + following answer: "We adhere to our instructions of the 25th, 160 + Secret. We cannot send an expedition now, and entertain the gravest + objection to contemplating an expedition in the autumn." This answer + was rejected in favour of one suggested by Mr. Gladstone and Lord + Granville. Our telegram 160 Secret had been an absolute refusal, and + my additional words had been intended by me slightly to open the + door, which was as much as I could hope that the Cabinet would do. + But the telegram actually sent on March 28th (165 Secret, extended + in 191) was to the effect that we were unable to alter the + instructions, and it was accompanied by two long despatches, + virtually written by Harcourt, and afterwards laid before + Parliament, explaining our reasons for not sending Zebehr and for + not sending an expedition. Gordon had been communicating with us + with difficulty, as the telegraph was broken from time to time, but + he had told us that if he was to evacuate Khartoum he wished to + resign his commission and to take all his steam vessels and stores + to the equatorial provinces, "which he would consider under the King + of the Belgians." This Baring had told him he must not do. Baring + had rejected every possible alternative except the sending of + Zebehr, and Zebehr we could not have sent. In discussing the + question of an expedition to Khartoum, Baring had told us that + Gordon was "not in any immediate danger. He has provisions for six + months." Gordon himself had telegraphed: "As I have been + inconsistent about Zebehr, it is my fault, and I should bear the + blame if Zebehr is sent, and should put up with the inconvenience if + he is not." He had himself told us that he had provisions for six + months, but had after this informed us that provisions were still + coming in freely to Khartoum--as late as after March 15th, a week + later than the date at which he had told us that he had six months' + provisions in the town. I had made up my mind that we must send an + expedition, but I did not agree with Baring that it was physically + possible to send an expedition at this moment, and thought that if + sent at high Nile it would be in time. On the 23rd, after Gordon's + defeat, by treachery and shooting, of the two black Pashas, Gordon + telegraphed: "I think we are now safe, and that as the Nile rises we + shall account for the rebels." This we received on March 31st. + + 'On March 27th there was a Cabinet without Chamberlain, who was + listening to George Russell's speech which I had got him leave to + make, and without Mr. Gladstone, who was still ill. The Cabinet + decided against an expedition to Khartoum, but the Chancellor' (Lord + Selborne) 'gave us to understand that he should resign if one were + not sent in the autumn, and Harcourt intimated that he should resign + if one were sent. Lord Granville observed that no Cabinet could last + a day if it was to be exposed to going to pieces on differences as + regards the future. Harcourt proposed to "clear out" of Egypt + immediately. Lord Granville won an easy victory over him by proving + that only three weeks ago he had wanted to take Egypt under our + protection. Harcourt then said that as long ago as November, 1883, + he had spoken in favour of clearing out. "Yes," said Lord Granville, + "so you did; but I said three weeks ago." + + 'On March 29th there was a Cabinet at Coombe Warren. Mr. Gladstone + seemed pretty well, and had at least one good laugh. He still + regretted Zebehr. The Cabinet considered Gordon, what we should do + with slavery at Suakim, and House of Commons business.' + +About this date the main body of the British troops was withdrawn from +Suakim in accordance with the decision of March 25th. They had inflicted +defeats on Osman Digna at El Teb, and again at Tamanieb; many Dervishes +and not a few English had been killed, but no effect of moment had been +produced, and the road to Berber was not opened. + +A new complication now arose. Egypt was presented with Europe's total +claims for the losses to Europeans in the burnings at Alexandria. They +amounted to four millions and a half. How was this demand to be met? +Under the Law of Liquidation established in 1880, Egypt could not borrow +without the consent of the five Powers who had constituted the +Commission of Liquidation. The demand presented to Egypt had to be +considered by the one Power which was now _de facto_ supreme in Egypt. + + 'On April 2nd there was an important Cabinet called on Egyptian + finance. It began, of course, on something else. We discussed the + future of Suakim; the replies to be given in the House on the next + day as to Gordon; and then Childers' views upon Egyptian finance; + while we were considering these, there came a letter from Northcote + with the questions that he intended to put on the next day' + (questions which could only be answered by a full statement of + policy on all the points of the Egyptian problem). 'After going back + to this, we went on again to finance, and decided to call a + conference of the Great Powers to alter the Law of Liquidation. Mr. + Gladstone had unwillingly consented to meet the Powers by proposing + to reduce the charge for the British army; and he was anxious to get + the money for the British taxpayer out of a borrowing operation on + the future value of the Canal Shares. Chamberlain and I decided that + if he did this the Tories would declare that Mr. Gladstone had + become a pensioner on the bounty of Lord Beaconsfield. There was + some talk at this Cabinet as to whether we should guarantee the + Egyptian debt, to which I was opposed. Chamberlain had at one time + been friendly to such an operation, but had now "gone round" on the + ground that we could not "carry it against the Tories and the + Radicals." "Is there anything else?" said Chamberlain to Mr. + Gladstone as the Cabinet was breaking up. "No," said Mr. Gladstone, + "we have done our Egyptian business and we are an Egyptian + Government."' + + +II. + +From this time forward the 'Egyptian Government' at Westminster had two +main subjects of concern--the question of extricating Gordon with the +garrisons, and the question of dealing with the international situation, +partly diplomatic and partly financial. France, increasingly unfriendly +to Great Britain, was above all unfriendly in regard to Egypt: while +Bismarck, doing his best to foment this quarrel, was at the same time +weakening Great Britain by menaces in Africa and Australasia, and the +danger of a Russian advance in Central Asia hung like a thundercloud +over the whole situation. [Footnote: Sir Charles wrote to Mr. Brett on +November 15th, 1884: 'I told Herbert Bismarck when he was here that it +was very silly of his father to get in the way of our Egypt plans, for +France would not go to war about them, and therefore, after threatening, +he would have to look on and see the things he had threatened against +done quietly.'] + +There were three groups of opinion in the Government in regard to the +Soudan. The first was for an expedition which should carry with it the +consequence of occupation more or less prolonged. Another was against +any expedition and in favour of immediate evacuation. A third section-- +including Sir Charles Dilke and Mr. Chamberlain--accepted the need of an +expedition, but was determined that occupation should not follow. It was +incumbent on this last-named group to suggest a positive policy, and +Dilke, as will be seen, had his plan ready. There was a further decision +to be taken. When once an expedition was in contemplation, the route and +the character of the expedition had to be fixed. On this matter also Sir +Charles had early formed a resolve, but neither he nor anyone else could +pin the Cabinet to a clear course of action. + + 'At this time' (April 2nd) 'Chamberlain wrote to me of Egypt: "Once + more Hartington, and you and I, are at opposite poles. For one, I do + not mean to be forced any further in the direction of protectorate." + + 'Although they would not admit it, the Cabinet were rapidly coming + round at this time to an autumn Gordon expedition, and Chamberlain + wrote to me: "I believe it will come to this in the end"; while + Northbrook was in favour of an expedition. I then made up a list + from private information showing that six of us were favourable to + an expedition, as against five the other way--several members having + made no statement either way. Those for an expedition were + Hartington, Northbrook, the Chancellor (Lord Selborne), Derby, + Chamberlain, and myself; and those against it, Mr. Gladstone, Lord + Granville, Harcourt, Kimberley, and Dodson. On April 21st, Egypt was + discussed without decision, though with the note by me: "The + majority now begin to see that an October expedition is certain." + + 'On the 23rd a Cabinet ... considered the possibility of reaching + Berber.... After the Cabinet of April 23rd, I advocated a naval + expedition by the Nile on the ground that the Admiralty were likely + to do the thing better than the War Office. [Footnote: A review by + Sir Charles in the _Athenæum_ of October 24th, 1908, deals with the + _Life of Lord Northbrook_, by Sir Bernard Mallet, and his allusions + to Lord Northbrook's consideration, as early as April, of a 'rescue + and retire' expedition by the Nile route for the autumn, 'it being + assumed that the boats then ordered could not pass the various + cataracts before High Nile.' See _Life of Lord Northbrook_, pp. + 185-186. A review by Sir Charles of March 28th, 1908, in the same + paper, of _Modern Egypt_, by the Earl of Cromer, also deals with + Lord Northbrook's pressure for a Nile Expedition in March, 1884.] On + April 28th, Berber, Khartoum, and Gordon, on which there was nothing + new, but Hartington insisted on a large and important military + expedition.' + + 'On April 29th Baring had now come over about Egypt, and attended a + Cabinet to state his views. I saw him privately, and settled with + him the details for a possible Nile expedition "small and early." + The difficulty was at the sixth cataract. He also broached to me his + scheme for a new control by the four Powers already represented on + the Caisse de la Dette--namely, England, France, Austria, and Italy, + with an English president.' + + 'At the next Cabinet there was a proposal by Hartington that there + should be a vote of thanks to Sir Gerald Graham and Admiral Hewett + for the Suakim expedition--a proposal which the Cabinet rejected, + having had quite enough of votes of thanks on the former occasion + when Wolseley and Beauchamp Seymour were in question. The next + matter was what we should say about our Law of Liquidation + Conference, on which there arose an awkward question as to what + should happen in the probable case of the representatives of the + Powers not being unanimous. There was every reason to suppose that + the French would not agree to anything, and precedents went to show + that unanimity was necessary to render valid the decisions of a + conference. Indeed, there was no precedent as regards questions of + principle which told the other way; and at the Congress of Berlin + Prince Bismarck had stated, as recorded in the first protocol, that + as regarded substantive proposals it was an incontestable principle + that the minority should not be bound to acquiesce in a vote of a + majority. + + 'Then came the consideration of the action to be taken by the + Egyptian Government towards Mr. O'Kelly, M.P., [Footnote: Mr. James + O'Kelly, then M.P. for Koscommon, a very adventurous war + correspondent. He died in 1916.] Parnell's friend, who had been + trying to join the Mahdi. We next considered Lord Salisbury's + relations towards Tewfik as Khedive, as affected by the violent + attacks of many Conservative members, put up by Broadley, upon + Tewfik's character. Randolph Churchill had made a most ferocious + series of attacks upon the Khedive, without one atom of truth in + them. It is a curious example of his forgetful flightiness, that + when, a few years later, he went to Egypt, he was struck with wonder + at the Khedive's refusal to receive him. The terms of the French + acceptance of our invitation to the Conference were discussed, as + were the House of Commons questions as to Gordon, and the offer of + Mr. Guy Dawnay, M.P., to go as a messenger to Gordon at his own + cost. Then followed the internal condition of Egypt, as to which + Baring's views were stated by me; then Harrar; then the employment + of negroes or Turks for the Egyptian army; then the Turks at Suakim; + then the Somali coast. + + 'On the same day I had an interview with the ex-Khedive Ismail, who + had gone downhill. He always had a certain difficulty in collecting + his ideas and putting them into words, but on this occasion it went + farther than I had previously known. He wished to impress on me the + necessity for defending Egypt against the Mahdi at some given point + upon the Nile, when occurred that incident of his continually + working up to the name of the place and forgetting it. [Footnote: + See Chapter XXX., Vol. I., p. 487.] + + 'On May 5th there was a Cabinet. We considered the vote of censure + as to Gordon, and decided that time must be given for it; and I then + had some correspondence with Northbrook across the table as to an + expedition. I said: "Northbrook, I should be glad to know all you + know against the Nile route. Ismail, who knows all about it, thinks + it quite possible." Northbrook replied: "My objections are + uncertainty of getting steamers up at all (we know nothing of the + 140 miles beyond Wady Halfa), and necessity of assistance from + natives, which may not be given. Key" (Sir Cooper Key) "is in rather + a delicate position, as he does not like to go against Wolseley, + whose opinion is for the Nile, and the responsibility is with the + W.O." + + 'On May 7th there was another Cabinet. It was decided that Nubar + need not be brought to London for the Conference, that a fresh place + in some other unhappy portion of the world must be found for + Clifford Lloyd; [Footnote: A Resident Magistrate who had come + violently into collision with the Nationalists in Ireland, and who + had also proved himself a storm centre in Egypt, as he afterwards + did in Mauritius.] and one was found, and he again fought with the + local authorities as he had fought in Ireland and in Egypt. With + regard to the attitude of France, it was decided that we could not, + so long as we remained in Egypt, put up with a new international + control. It was decided to bring the Turks to Suakim, although this + decision was afterwards reversed. We then wasted much of our time on + the consideration of what should be our attitude on the vote of + censure which was pending in the House. Harcourt had drawn an + amendment for Mr. Gladstone on which they had agreed. Chamberlain + and I had agreed to support a mere negative, and we talked the + others over.... + + 'On May 11th Fitzmaurice wrote to me complaining that no definite + instructions had been given him with regard to the conduct of the + Gordon debate' (on the vote of censure), [Footnote: See _Hansard_, + vol. cclxxxviii., 3rd series, debate of May 13th, 1884] 'as was + usual in such important cases, but stating that he expected me to + speak. On the next day, May 12th, I learnt that Hartington had + refused to speak, although he was finally made to do so by Mr. + Gladstone. On Tuesday, May 13th, I made a good speech from 12.10 to + 1.10 a.m.--too late for the reporters. "The debate has (I noted in + my diary) been the best I ever heard. Mr. Gladstone was not so good + as usual, while Hartington and I were neither better nor worse than + usual. But Churchill, Forster, Cowen, John Morley, and Beach, all + spoke far above their usual level; and the rest were good. A + memorable debate, which I do not expect to see excelled for interest + and fire, and I am glad to have had the honour to wind it up for the + Liberal party." Afterwards I noted that it "does not read well." + + 'On May 14th Cabinet again decided that Nubar must not come over for + the Conference; discussed internal affairs of Egypt, then the + Conference again; and then called in Sir Evelyn Baring and discussed + with him the same matters of Clifford Lloyd, Nubar, Conference, the + Turks and the Red Sea ports, what was to be said to Waddington about + the Conference, and the detail of a scheme of Childers upon Egyptian + finance, which was extraordinarily unpopular with the Cabinet. + + 'On May 17th at noon there was a full Cabinet (Spencer being + present), and a long one. The first matter discussed was the Queen + and Conference, [Footnote: Proposed Conference of the Powers on the + Law of Liquidation.] and a strong objection on the part of Mr. + Gladstone to tell Parliament anything about the Conference. + Chamberlain wrote to me on this: "What a queer twist this objection + of Mr. G. is!" To which I replied: "I really wish he would have gone + to Coombe for this lovely day and let us go on without him. He has + wasted an hour and a half. Mr. G. will fight a whole day in Cabinet + to avoid telling Parliament something, and then after all will tell + them twice as much in reply to Ashmead Bartlett." On this + Chamberlain wrote: + + "Here lies Mr. G., who has left us repining, + While he is, no doubt, still engaged in refining; + And explaining distinctions to Peter and Paul, + Who faintly protest that distinctions so small + Were never submitted to saints to perplex them, + Until the Prime Minister came up to vex them." + +[Footnote: These were notes passed during the sitting of the Cabinet. On +Mr. Gladstone's inconvenient habit of giving information at question +time, see Vol. I., pp. 307, 384, 459, 535; and _infra_, p. 118.] + + 'The Cabinet decided to send a telegram to Gordon through Zebehr, in + order to obtain safe conveyance for it, offering free use of money + among the tribes. + + 'To Grant Duff I wrote on May 17th: "The Queen is much against our + arrangements with France. If we 'let them out' we spoil them, and if + we don't we shall be condemned for a 'secret negotiation with France + by a moribund Cabinet.' Yet, though we look very wrong, we _are_ + right."' + + 'On the 19th it was decided that the Nile was to be patrolled by the + Navy as far as Wady Halfa.' + +This was in the direction of the military policy which Sir Charles +favoured, but in which he was not to succeed. His diplomatic proposals +now have to be considered. + + 'At this time I sent a box round the Cabinet as to the + neutralization of Egypt, Northbrook assenting. In a minute dated May + 22nd, Lord Northbrook wrote: "I am disposed to think it would be + wise to propose at once an international guarantee of the neutrality + of Egypt, (1) It would give a substance and solidity to the French + assurances." (To Grant Duff I wrote on the 22nd: "We have got from + France an engagement not to go to Egypt when we come away, and never + at any future time, except by the authority of Europe.") "(2) + Without it I hardly see a chance of escaping from annexation.... All + the circumstances of Egypt ... point to this solution, and ... the + release of Egypt from the Soudan makes the solution possible." + Chamberlain wrote: "I agree entirely with Dilke and Northbrook. (1) + As to the intrinsic importance of such a proposal. If adopted it + secures every essential British interest, and promises relief from + the intolerable burden of a continued occupation. I am strongly in + favour of making the proposal at once. It will give a real guarantee + to the Powers of our good faith and intention to clear out of the + country. (2) I attach great importance to it as forming a definite + policy.... To make Egypt the 'Belgium of the East' is an object + easily popularized. The phrase will carry the proposal." Kimberley + wrote: "I agree with Northbrook and Dilke. The neutralization of + Egypt will be a gain in itself, irrespective altogether of the + question of its internal administration. It would also ... render it + easy to establish a firm domestic Government in so far as it would + put an end to the rivalries ... which exercise a very disturbing + influence on all Egyptian affairs.--K." This minute received the + support of the signatures of the Chancellor, Harcourt, and Childers. + Lord Derby wrote: "I agree so entirely with the views of Lord + Northbrook and Sir Charles Dilke that I need add nothing to what + they have written. There is only one alternative in the long-run; + guaranteed neutrality or annexation.--D., May 23." Carlingford also + agreed, but Hartington strongly dissented; and although Lord + Granville agreed with us, Hartington's dissent was so fierce that he + succeeded in preventing Mr. Gladstone from expressing an opinion, + and the view taken by ten members of the Cabinet remained without + effect. + + '... On May 24th, the next matter discussed was the neutralization + of Egypt, which Mr. Gladstone decided, in face of Hartington's + minute, was "not to be immediately proposed."' [Footnote: The offer + of neutralization was, however, made. See _infra_, Chapter XXXVIII., + pp. 94, 97.] + + 'We then returned to our old business of Waddington and the + Conference. Mr. Gladstone next complained that he had been + catechized in the House of Commons on Monday, May 19th, as to + whether he "told most lies on Monday or on Thursday." We then + discussed the desirability of making a statement in the House as to + the number of years that our troops would remain in Egypt; + Northbrook and Hartington suggesting either five years or three + years from January, 1885, and Carlingford suggesting one year, in + which he was supported by the Prime Minister and myself; but three + years prevailed. Next came Morocco; and then a Gordon + expedition--Mr. Gladstone speaking strongly against it. + + 'On May 27th there was a Cabinet before the Whitsuntide recess. It + was decided what statement was to be made to Parliament about the + Conference. Lord Granville had told Waddington that we should not + stay more than five years in Egypt at the outside, and Hartington, + who himself had been willing to limit our stay to three years, now + fought violently against a limitation even to five. Chamberlain + wrote to me: "As usual--the question having been twice settled, + Hartington, in a minority of one, raises the whole question again. + It is direct, unmitigated, and unconcealed obstruction." We then + discussed the expedition to Khartoum and the making of a Suakim- + Berber railway, but it was decided that orders were not yet to be + given. On the next day Mr. Gladstone, who had gone to Hawarden, + wrote: + + '"My Dear Northbrook, + + '"I have received and read this morning Sir Cooper Key's very + interesting paper on an expedition to Khartoum. I write, however, to + suggest that it would be a great advantage if two suggestions it + contains were to be fully examined and developed. (1) The _small_ + river expedition which he thinks practicable. (2) The small desert + expedition from Korosko to which he also adverts as an auxiliary + method.... Clear as is the case for the railway from Suakim, as + against the large expedition by the Nile, in every other view it is + attended with the most formidable difficulties of a moral and + political kind ... whether the 'turning of the first sod' of a + Soudan railway will not be the substitution for an Egyptian + domination there, of an English domination ... more unnatural, more + costly, more destructive, and altogether without foundation in + public right. It would be an immense advantage that the expedition + (should one be needed) should be one occupying little time, and + _leaving no trace behind it_. + + '"Yours sincerely, + '"W. E. Gladstone." + + 'Of this letter a copy was made by Edward Hamilton, and enclosed to + me with an autograph letter from Mr. Gladstone. + + 'On May 31st I had received a further letter from Mr. Gladstone + about the Soudan expedition, in which he said: "Suakim and Berber + route has utterly beaten Nile route for a large expedition.... But + the question of a small expedition has hardly yet been touched, + while some believe Gordon is or will be free, and there need be no + expedition at all." I sent this letter to Lord Northbrook, and to + Lord Hartington, pointing out that Colonel Sartorius had written a + letter to the papers in favour of an expedition of a thousand picked + men armed with repeating rifles; and after receiving replies, I + wrote to Mr. Gladstone on June 4th that I had not had much + encouragement from Hartington and Northbrook, the fact being that + Hartington was determined on giving Wolseley his big job. [Footnote: + See _Life of Granville_, vol. ii., p. 395.] + + 'On June 6th Lord Granville called a meeting to ask us whether, + Waddington having now agreed to all our demands, we could devise + some plan of getting out of them. He said that for his own part he + should not have asked the question, but that Hartington had + suggested it.... He said: "I must rather complain of Hartington's + conduct--from so intimate a friend. If it had been Dodson I should + have been very angry." After such an introduction, the meeting could + hardly come to a conclusion favourable to Hartington's views. + + 'On June 9th Sir Henry Ponsonby came to see me before the Cabinet, + wishing to talk to me before he spoke to any other member, as the + Queen thought that I was the most in agreement with her views, which + was not the case, as regarded evacuation. He discussed with me two + points: First the term of years, as to which I explained that, under + the agreement, if at the end of three and a half years any one Power + thought we had better stay, and we ourselves wished to stay, then we + could stay. It was not my wish that we should. Secondly, as to the + union of Bulgaria and East Roumelia, about which I did not care, and + as to which I suggested that the Queen should propose to Lord + Granville to take counsel with Austria. [Footnote: The union took + place in 1885.] At the Cabinet which followed we discussed the words + of our promise to lay our French agreements before Parliament, and + also our answer as to the Turks and Suakim. The French having + written us a disagreeable despatch, we agreed that they must be made + to take it back. + + 'On the next day, June 10th, there was a Cabinet to begin the + railway from Suakim. and to consider the draft despatch to + Waddington, and as the Government at this time was not very strong, + it was decided to leave for our successors a Cabinet minute upon the + subject of our relations at this time with France. After the Cabinet + I had to see Mr. Gladstone from Lord Granville upon the question + whether we should insist on a casting vote on the Caisse. Mr. + Gladstone, against the unanimous opinion of the Cabinet, replied: + "No, not to the point of breaking off."' + +On June 12th Sir Charles made two notes in his Diary of that date: + + 'I think that if Mr. Gladstone was to stay in, and live on, we + should come as regards Egypt to evacuation and neutralization. Under + the Tories, or under Hartington, the _status quo_ may be tried for a + long time.' + + 'When Bismarck offered Egypt to Dizzy, it was in order to embroil + England with France.' + + +III. + +From this point onwards in the Memoir the focus of the Egyptian question +changes; attention is centred on the diplomatic questions arising out of +the financial problem. + +As between England and France the issue concerned itself with the +proposal to pay less than the promised interest on previously existing +loans. The French view, expressed through M. Barrère, the French agent +in Egypt, was that interest need not be reduced; the alternative view +was that the bondholders must make a sacrifice of part of their +interest, at any rate for some period of years, in return for the better +security they were obtaining. + + 'On July 3rd Barrère called and explained to me a scheme of his on + Egyptian finance, in which he was now highly skilled, having been + French Agent in Egypt for some time. I put the matter before Lord + Granville, who sent it to Mr. Gladstone and Childers. Barrère argued + that it was not necessary to reduce interest, or, to use the slang + of the moment, to "cut the coupon." We called a meeting of the + Commons Ministers, and Chamberlain announced that he should resign + if the coupon were not cut. + + 'July 18th, 1884.--We had virtually decided on declaring Egypt + bankrupt in order to force the hands of the French, but Waddington, + at a meeting with Childers, had broached a plan, which had + originally been suggested by the Germans, for a temporary reduction + of interest, to be reconsidered at the end of a certain number of + years.' (These proposals were discussed at the Conference, which met + in the latter half of July, held seven sittings, and then broke down + without arriving at a conclusion on August 1st.) 'The question now + raised was--at the end of what number of years? The French said + three, and we decided to propose ten; but with a willingness to take + six or even five; we advancing 4 1/2 millions instead of 8, or, in + other words, leaving out the indemnities due by Egypt. If this + arrangement failed, then we were to fall back on bankruptcy. + Harcourt was much against declaring bankruptcy, and in favour of the + policy of "scuttle." Hartington was against bankruptcy, and for + paying the differences ourselves; so as to force us into annexation. + Spencer, Childers, Chamberlain, and I, were for bankruptcy or for a + strong threat of bankruptcy. + + 'On July 21st there was a meeting of members of the Cabinet after + questions, at which Mr. Gladstone, Lord Granville, Hartington, + Harcourt, Childers, and I, were present. The French had backed out + of their proposals, and we considered a new scheme of Childers's to + put all administrative charges in Egypt before interest of debt, a + scheme which it was certain that the French would refuse. Harcourt + was again violent against bankruptcy, which he announced he thought + grossly "illegal," as if there were such a thing as illegality in + such affairs. + + 'On August 2nd there was a full Cabinet, every member being present, + and we had to consider whether, the Conference having broken down, + Baring should go back to Egypt or remain at the Foreign Office and + continue to advise us. Lord Granville proposed that he should + remain, and that Malet should go to Egypt. Chamberlain proposed that + Goschen should go. Childers proposed J. K. Cross. [Footnote: + Under-Secretary for India.] Dufferin was mentioned; then Lord + Granville proposed Northbrook. All other names were immediately + withdrawn, and Northbrook took time to consider, but evidently meant + to go, and decided, I think, in the course of the same evening. + Baring was then called in, and we once more began to chop straw by + considering the "ulterior consequences" of the collapse of the + Conference--i.e., bankruptcy. Lastly, Gordon was dealt with, and + it was decided that a supplementary estimate should be proposed, + with the understanding that we should spend more if it was wanted. I + wrote to Chamberlain: "We always have two subjects--(a) Conference, + (b) Gordon." And he wrote back: "The first always taking up two or + three hours; and the second five minutes at the fag end of + business." + + 'On August 3rd I noted "we are going to send Northbrook to Egypt to + put down Barrère." + + 'On August 5th we considered the instructions to Northbrook, or + rather whether he should have any at all, and if so, what they + should be. Northbrook read us a scheme which he had written, which + attempted to conciliate Turkey and Italy, so as to have great naval + strength in the Mediterranean and to prevent all chance of a sudden + occupation of Egypt by France. We were to express our continued + determination not to annex. We were to stay five years at the + request of the Sultan. We were again to propose to the Powers those + arrangements with regard to the Canal which we had proposed already. + We were to pay the indemnities in stock; and the next coupon in + full; and we were to promise for the future not less than 4 per + cent, on privileged stocks, and not less than 3 per cent, on the + Unified debt, while we were in Egypt. Indian troops were to hold + Massowah. Harcourt, in reply, read a written counter-statement, + again proposing to "scuttle," and again threatening us that we + should have war with France. Hartington again spoke for a guarantee + by us of the whole Egyptian debt. After Hartington's observations + the discussion was, as usual, adjourned. Chamberlain and I decided + that we would ask for our old term of three and a half years' + occupation, as against Northbrook's five. Next came Gordon, and + Hartington proposed that we should embody some militia. + + 'On August 6th there was another Cabinet, and the first question was + that of Northbrook's scheme. Lord Granville agreed to a temporary + use of Turkish troops provided that they were to leave Egypt when we + left. Chamberlain would not agree, and wished to stick to + Northbrook's phrase only inviting "co-operation." This view + prevailed, and it was decided that if the Turks proposed to send a + commissioner, we were to refuse. But the question of troops was + really left open for more discussion. Next came the question of an + advance of nearly a million which had been made by Rothschild to + Egypt, and we asked him, as a favour to ourselves, to let it run, + which was all he wanted us to do. Northbrook, who is not strong, had + been a good deal fatigued with the discussion on his scheme, and + instead of sleeping (his usual practice at a Cabinet) on this + occasion fainted, and we had to get up and look after him at this + point. + + 'On August 26th I received a letter from Hartington, saying that + Northbrook was going to Osborne at the end of the week, and starting + for Egypt from there. Hartington told me he was coming up to meet + him, and he afterwards wrote to me to fix an appointment at the War + Office on the 29th. This I kept. Northbrook was deplorably weak. He + had returned from Rosebery's completely under the influence of Mr. + Gladstone's pro-French views. [Footnote: At Dalmeny Lord Northbrook + "met Mr. and Mrs. Gladstone." See Life of Lord Northbrook, p. 190.] + He had settled to spend a day at Walmer, and had telegraphed to Lord + Lyons to meet him there. His plan now was to ask the French + Government to send a man to Egypt in order that he and the Frenchman + might settle matters together. Hartington and I pointed out to him + that the Frenchman's instructions from his Government must either be + to refuse all reduction of interest, or to consent to it upon + obtaining from us a better political position than that given to + France by the Anglo-French agreement. We explained to him that it + would be impossible for us to tolerate such proposals. I wrote to + Chamberlain a full account of the interview. + + 'September 22nd_.--We decided with reference to Egyptian finance + that Chamberlain should write a strong letter to Lord Granville + protesting against any British advance to Egypt, unless accompanied + by a cutting of the coupon. He did so, and on September 25th sent me + a copy, and I sent the copy to Childers, and wrote myself to Lord + Granville. On the 27th I received a memorandum from Chamberlain as + to Lord Granville, Lord Derby, and Bismarck. + + 'Chamberlain's memorandum was a fierce denunciation of the + principles laid down in Northbrook's despatch No. 4, dated September + 13th, and received September 22nd.' [Footnote: Lord Northbrook had + arrived in Egypt.] + +Controversy now raged over Lord Northbrook's scheme, and added to the +difficulties of the Cabinet, which was divided on the question of +lowering or not lowering the rate of interest. + + 'On 19th November the second matter mentioned was Northbrook's + scheme, against which I fought hard.... I pointed out that early in + April, when Mr. Gladstone had wished to borrow on the future value + of the Canal shares, that proposal had not been accepted, and we + laid down the principle that it was for the bondholders to make + sacrifices. On July 3rd we had decided that the coupon must be + "cut." On July 18th the whole Cabinet had taken the same view except + Harcourt and the Chancellor, and four members--Childers, Spencer, + Chamberlain, and I--had advocated distinct bankruptcy. On August 2nd + we had seen Baring to lay our plans for bankruptcy. On August 5th + Northbrook himself had proposed a reduction of the interest. On + August 29th there had been a general agreement to the same effect. + Northbrook's policy had enormously sent up Egyptian stocks. After my + strong observations the opinions stood: Mr. Gladstone, Childers, + Chamberlain, Harcourt, Trevelyan, and Dilke against Northbrook's + scheme; for it, Lord Granville, the Chancellor, Hartington, Spencer, + Kimberley, Derby, Carlingford, and Northbrook himself. All the Lords + on one side, curiously enough, and all the Sirs and Mr.'s on the + other; eight to six against us. But I noted: "Mr. Gladstone is so + strong that we shall win." "As we did."' [Footnote: Letter from Sir + Charles to Mr. Brett (afterwards Lord Esher): + + Local Government Board, + Whitehall, + _November_ 19_th_, 1884. + + '_My_ policy has always been bankruptcy and stand the shot, and if + we had stuck to that we should have had no trouble with the Powers; + but indiscretions have made that difficult. It is not pleasant to be + called in too late. I quite agree in your general view, but how can + the bondholder be got to make sacrifices without his consent?'] + + 'At the meeting of the Cabinet of December 2nd, Egyptian finance + again came up. We were informed that Prince Bismarck suggested oral + communications among ambassadors. For this Malet proposed Paris, and + we replied Berlin.' + +IV. + +During this time the Government continued to waver as to the Soudan +expedition. + +On June 21st + + 'with regard to Gordon it was decided to wait ten days before + settling anything, and to see whether we heard from him in reply to + the silly questions which had been asked.' + +On June 27th came the definitive news that Berber had fallen on May +26th. On July 5th + + 'We discussed the Egyptian army of the future, and then the question + of whether we should send an expedition to Khartoum, as to which we + again could come to no decision; Mr. Gladstone still opposing.' + +Dilke, backed by Chamberlain, was still pressing the military solution +which he favoured. On July 16th + + 'Hartington on this occasion gave up the Berber-Suakim route, and + pressed for a decision as to an immediate expedition by the Nile. He + was supported by the Chancellor, Northbrook, Carlingford, and + Dodson. Mr. Gladstone, Harcourt, and Childers opposed. + + 'Chamberlain and I opposed a large expedition by the Nile, and + supported a small expedition, under the control of the navy, with a + body of picked men. Baring was called in about the police in Egypt, + and his views in support of Nubar were approved. Nubar was to have + his own way in the appointment of Inspectors of Police in Egypt.' + + 'On July 22nd we found that Mr. Gladstone had again taken up Zebehr, + and was anxious to send him to Khartoum in order to avoid a British + expedition. + + 'On July 25th there was a full Cabinet, Spencer being present, which + first discussed the Conference and then the Gordon expedition, for + which for the first time a large majority of the Cabinet pronounced. + The issue was narrowed down to that of sending some sort of British + force to or towards Dongola; and this was supported by Hartington, + the Chancellor, Derby, Northbrook, Spencer, Carlingford, Dodson, + Chamberlain, and me, while on the other side were only Mr. + Gladstone, Harcourt, and Kimberley. Lord Granville said nothing. By + the stoutness of their resistance the three for the moment prevailed + over the nine. + + 'On July 31st a storm was brewing about Gordon, and Harcourt went + about declaring that the Government would break up upon the + question. On the next day, August 1st, a way out of the difficulty + was found in an agreement that we should ask for a small vote of + credit, which we were to use or not as should be thought right + later.' + +It must be remembered that communications with Gordon were now +interrupted, though occasionally renewed, and this added to the +confusion. + + 'On September 17th we received a telegram from Gordon which looked + as though he were perfectly mad, although some of the other + telegrams from him sent at the same time were sane enough.' + +Since Parliament had risen and the Cabinet scattered, preparations had +been going on apace. + + 'When Hartington came to me on September 15th he told me that he had + already spent "£750,000 out of the £300,000" for the Gordon + expedition.' [Footnote: 'On August 9th Lord Hartington again asked + us for permission to embody militia or call out a portion of the + First-Class Army Reserve.'] + + 'On October 4th Chamberlain had written strongly against Wolseley's + great expedition, Harcourt was still opposing the whole thing. After + this meeting of the Cabinet Northbrook wrote to Gordon a long letter + based on the Cabinet decision. He stated that the expedition under + Wolseley was not sent for the purpose of defeating the Mahdi, but + only of enabling the Egyptian garrison of Khartoum, the civil + employees and their families, with Gordon, to return to Egypt. He + offered the Grand Cross of the Bath' (to Gordon) 'as from the Queen + personally. He explained our refusal of Zebehr, and he suggested the + placing at Khartoum of the Mudir of Dongola. It was easy, however, + to write to Gordon, but it was not easy to get the letters to him; + and we had to attempt even to send them by Tripoli and the desert.' + [Footnote: As to the last communications with Gordon, see _Life of + Granville_, vol. ii., pp. 397-399. Besides the authorities already + quoted, the Parliamentary Papers Nos. 2, 6, 12, 13, and 25, for + 1884, may be referred to.] + +That is the last detailed reference to Gordon in the Memoir until +February 5th, 1885, when the news of the fall of Khartoum reached +London. The matter had passed out of the hands of the Cabinet into those +of the soldiers. + +This comment in the Diary may fitly end this chapter: + + 'On February 20th I noted (conversation, I think, not printed), Lord + Acton says of Gladstone: "Cannot make up my mind whether he is not + wholly unconscious when working himself up to a change of position. + After watching him do it, I think that he is so. He lives completely + in what for the moment he chooses to believe."' + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI + +FRANCHISE AND REDISTRIBUTION + +JULY TO DECEMBER, 1884. + + +In the summer of 1884 the Government Bill for extension of the franchise +had strong and even passionate support throughout the country; but that +policy threatened a breach with Lord Hartington, who in the opinion of +many was by prescriptive right Mr. Gladstone's successor. Still more +entangling were the difficulties in respect of Egypt, over which the +Government was so hopelessly divided that no coherent policy could be +pursued. Sir Charles notes that on July 18th Mr. Gladstone, + + 'who had the greatest abhorrence for City dinners, proposed the + extinction of the Lord Mayor's ministerial banquet; the fact being + that the Government of London Bill and the failure to send an + expedition to Khartoum had made the Ministry so unpopular in the + City that he did not think it wise to subject himself to the torture + which such banquets are to him.' + + 'The Tory game,' Sir Charles wrote on May 24th, 1884, to his agent, + 'is to delay the franchise until they have upset us upon Egypt, + before the Franchise Bill has reached the Lords.' [Footnote: This + letter is also quoted in Chapter XXXIV.] + +When the Franchise Bill went up to the Lords in the first week of July, +it was rejected for a reasoned amendment which declined to alter the +franchise except as part of a scheme dealing with redistribution of +seats. + + 'On July 5th there was a Cabinet to consider what was called the + crisis--our relations with the House of Lords over the franchise, + and Spencer was present.... The question to be considered was that + of dissolution or an autumn Session. Lord Granville, Hartington, and + Lord Derby were for an immediate dissolution on the old franchise, + which was at once negatived.' + + 'On June 21st there was mentioned the attitude of the House of + Lords. Lord Granville said something in favour of life peerages. I + asked Chamberlain whether he thought that it was seriously meant, + and writing passed between us in which he replied: "Serious, I + think"; to which I answered: "You won't have it, will you?" Answer: + "No."' + + 'On July 7th Mr. Gladstone explained to me his plan for dealing with + the House of Lords, which was not so objectionable to me as the + schemes known as "Reform of the House of Lords." It was to imitate + the French constitution, and in cases of difference to make the two + Houses sit in Congress and vote together. From the practical point + of view it would be as difficult to carry as the abolition of the + House of Lords, and if carried would not be of much use to the + Liberal party except on occasions when their majority was absolutely + overwhelming. + + 'On July 8th offers of compromise came to us from the Lords, but + they would not offer terms which we could accept. We decided to + propose to them a solemn resolution by both Houses pledging us to + redistribution. This they refused.' + +The extent of real agreement which existed between the two sides had not +yet been divined; and it was Sir Charles who set on foot the work which +finally averted conflict. + + 'Early in July I began to take time by the forelock by preparing, + without instructions from the Cabinet, a Redistribution scheme; and + the first memoranda drawn up by Sir John Lambert for my use were + written in that month, although it was not till after Parliament had + separated for the recess that we got seriously to work. In the + evening of July 14th Mr. Gladstone broached to me his views on + Redistribution, and we practically hatched the Bill.' + +Party feeling ran high, and the Queen intervened. + + 'On July 9th in the morning Sir Henry Ponsonby came up to see the + Duke of Richmond and some of us, and tried to settle the deadlock, + but failed.... The Cabinet decided that Chamberlain must not take + the chair at a meeting at the Agricultural Hall to denounce the + House of Lords.' + +Liberals in general were, however, speaking out, and at a Cabinet a week +later they had 'some fun with Hartington concerning his Lancashire +meetings, with strong resolutions directed against the House of Lords +for doing that which he privately approved.' Also, there was a +tremendous demonstration in the Metropolis. + + 'On July 21st I saw the Franchise Demonstration on this day from the + Speaker's window, the procession passing from three till six.' + + 'After the Cabinet on August 5th we congratulated Chamberlain upon + his Birmingham franchise meeting, and he told us that Birmingham was + "thirsting for the blood of the Lords"--saying to Bright: "You are + too lenient with them. We won't stand them any longer." I told him + that as the _Times_ had said that he was too violent, I had no doubt + the Queen would say so also, to which he replied: "Probably, and if + she does I shall most likely ... deny her right to criticise my + speeches, although she may, if she likes, dismiss me, in which case + I will lead an agitation against the Lords in the country." I + answered: "Yes, but you cannot go alone in such a case, and + therefore should not appear to contemplate doing so." He replied: "I + am not going, but perhaps she can dismiss me. What then? I am not + going to tie my tongue." I retorted: "In that case it would surely + be even more essential than usual that I should go too." He closed + the matter by saying: "If it really arose out of the agitation + against the Lords and the interference of the Crown with the liberty + of speech of ministers, I do not see how a Radical could stay in. + Remember, I have observed Mr. Gladstone's limits. I have said + nothing about the future; only denounced past action."' + +Mr. Chamberlain's outside agitation coincided with Sir Charles's work +towards a peaceful solution. On August 9th + + 'A Committee of the Cabinet was appointed to deal with + Redistribution--to consist of Hartington, Kimberley, Childers, + Chamberlain, and me, with the addition of Lefevre. They forgot + James, who was anxious to be on it, [Footnote: Sir Charles wrote to + Sir Henry James on the matter, and received a reply admitting that + he had been "slightly touched" by the omission of his name, but + saying that he would still give his services.] but I soon got rid of + the Committee and went on by myself with Lambert.' + +Parliament was prorogued on August 14th, but very soon compromise was in +the air. + + 'On August 21st and 22nd I had interviews with Hartington at his + wish, nominally to talk over the sending of Wolseley to Egypt, but + really to see what I thought of a compromise with the Lords on the + basis of Lord Cowper's letter in the _Times_--introduction of the + Redistribution Bill in October.' + +The situation was profoundly modified by speeches from Lord Salisbury, +which made it clear that the plan "hatched" between Mr. Gladstone and +Sir Charles was not likely to have any terrors for him. Lord Kimberley +wrote in September: + + 'Now that Salisbury is going in for electoral districts, it will + become a sort of open competition which party can go furthest. I + should not be surprised if he were to trump us by proposing to + abolish the House of Lords.' + + 'I had now decided to agree with Lord Salisbury in advance, and + divide the counties into single-member districts if Mr. Gladstone + would let me; and Trevelyan, to whom I had broached my scheme, + wrote: "I very much approve of the scheme of dividing counties. I + hope to goodness you will be able to carry it out."' + +The original draft, completed on September 18th, followed the lines laid +down in consultation with Mr. Gladstone. The object of obtaining fair +representation, and doing away with over-representation of vested +interests, was thus attacked and began with two great industrial +centres. + +The scheme for England treated Lancashire and Yorkshire as urban +throughout, and divided them into single-member districts; but the +remaining 'rural' counties of England were divided into two-member +districts. Thus, 'the net increase of county members was 53.' Boroughs +which had less than 10,000 inhabitants (53 in all) were merged into the +counties; those with a population of between 10,000 and under 40,000, +which had two members, lost one. Thus, having added to the under- +represented, Sir Charles took from the over-represented, and adds: 'this +gave us 33 more seats.' Sir Charles in a secret memorandum added that he +thought the fixing of so low a limit as 10,000 showed 'an altogether +indefensible tenderness to vested interests.' 'I should carry the loss +of one member far higher than the 40,000 line adopted, and should take +away one member up to the point at which I began to give two' to a new +constituency. Dilke was in favour of carrying merger of small boroughs +to a greater extent than was adopted in the Act. + + 'Summing up, on our English borough scheme,' he said, 'I am struck + by its _extreme_ timidity. I do not see how it is to stand the + revolutionary criticism of Lord Salisbury.' 'My plan for the + Metropolis gave to it its legitimate proportion of members: 55 in + all.... These figures should be compared with 22--the previous + number.' + +As to Ireland, he admitted that 'if you take its population as a whole +it was over-represented in our plan; yet the difference in favour of +Ireland is very small; moreover, Wales is vastly better treated than +Ireland.' Lord Spencer 'thought there would be a howl from Belfast,' and +wished for the representation of minorities. 'But the Irish Government +made no practical proposal,' and the whole of this intricate business +was left almost entirely to Sir Charles. + + 'On September 29th Mr. Gladstone wrote at length conveying his + general approval of my plan, and stating that he did not intend to + "handle" the Bill in the House of Commons; and so wished to defer to + the opinions of his colleagues. He gave me leave to add 12 members + to the House for Scotland, instead of taking the 12 from England; + and he congratulated me upon the "wonderful progress" which I had + made.... On the same day on which I had received Mr. Gladstone's + letter I saw one from Sir Henry Ponsonby to Mr. Gladstone with Mr. + Gladstone's reply. Sir Henry Ponsonby made proposals.... Mr. + Gladstone had refused both for the present; the former with scorn + and the latter with argument. [Footnote: The first was "that the + Lords should read the Franchise Bill a second time, and then pass a + resolution declaring that they would go into Committee as soon as + the Redistribution Bill reached them."] + + 'On September 30th further letters were circulated, one from Sir + Henry Ponsonby on the 27th, in which he said that the reform of the + House of Lords must in any case come, but must come later, and that + he would see the leaders of the Opposition about the second + suggestion of his previous letter as it had not been absolutely + refused (the suggestion being that the Lords should provide in the + Franchise Bill that it should come into force on January 1st, 1886, + unless the Redistribution Bill were sooner passed). + + 'On October 4th Hartington made a speech which produced a storm upon + this subject of Compromise as to Reform.' (He proposed that the + Lords should pass the Franchise Bill 'after seeing the conditions of + the Redistribution Bill and satisfying themselves that they were + fair.') 'But Mr. Gladstone went with Chamberlain and myself against + any compromise.' + +Mr. Chamberlain put the point that no bargain could be considered unless +the Franchise Bill were first passed without conditions very plainly in +a speech on October 7th, and next day at the Cabinet + + 'Mr. Gladstone expressed his approval of Chamberlain's speech of the + previous night, and attacked Hartington for his earlier one. It + seemed to me that at this moment Lord Salisbury might have caught + Hartington by offering the compromise which Hartington had + suggested.... I refused to discuss Redistribution with the Cabinet, + telling Chamberlain that they would "drive me wild with little + peddling points."' + +The appreciation of Sir Charles's competence was general. It was not +limited to Parliament, and he met the expression of it when he appeared +on the platform in three great centres of the Lancashire industrial +democracy. + + 'On Tuesday, October 14th, I spoke at Oldham, and on October 15th at + the Free Trade Hall, Manchester, and on the 16th at Stockport. I had + a wonderful reception at all these meetings, but especially at the + Manchester meeting.' + +Sir Charles's personal record served the party well, for the Tory cry +was that the Liberals wished to preserve the inequalities of the +existing divisions. To this he answered by appealing to the projects +which he had introduced year after year, and recalling their reception +from the Tory Government: + + 'I have preached for redistribution in the desert, I have advocated + it unceasingly for years, I have been a bore upon it in Parliament + and out; even the franchise is no less important in my eyes as being + that which I have a dozen times called "the necessary first step to + a complete redistribution" than in and for itself. Redistribution + is, however, if possible, of even more tremendous difficulty than + importance. It offers a greater hold than any other subject to the + arts of blocking and delay.' [Footnote: October 14th, at Oldham.] + + 'On October 17th Spencer reported from Balmoral that the Queen was + much pleased with her "Speech"; but not so with other people's + speeches, being angry at the violence of the language used.' + +Lord Salisbury had declared that if Birmingham was going to march on +London, he hoped Mr. Chamberlain would head the procession and get his +head broken for his pains. Mr. Chamberlain retorted that he would gladly +head the procession if Lord Salisbury would promise to come and meet it, +and then, if his own head were broken, 'it should be broken in very good +company.' On October 21st + + 'I was sent for by Mr. Gladstone about Chamberlain's speech, and + wrote to Chamberlain to ask him if he could tone it down a + little.... On October 22nd at the Cabinet Chamberlain told me that + he was willing to adopt the words of my letter in explanation of his + speech.' + +He agreed to write for publication a letter to one of his Quaker +constituents; but it was judged insufficient. + + 'On October 28th Mr. Gladstone wrote to me: "I thought you and I + were perfectly agreed about the unfortunate expressions in + Chamberlain's speech ... and in the expectation that his letter ... + would fully meet the case. I own that in my opinion it did not come + up to the mark. All I had really wished was a note conceived in the + same spirit as that in which he withdrew the 'jackal' because it + gave offence. Can nothing more be done? You saw a recent letter of + mine in defence, written when I thought the objections taken not to + be just. I am precluded from writing any such letter with the facts + as they now stand, but I hope that you may be able to bring them to + the standard of our reasonable expectations." I sent this letter to + Chamberlain, as was intended, with a note from me to say that it was + clear that the Queen had written Mr. Gladstone a second letter about + the matter, and asked whether I should say that I thought + Chamberlain's letter met the case; and Chamberlain replied: "Yes. I + cannot and _will not_ do more." This I communicated to Mr. + Gladstone. Randolph Churchill had taken the matter up. He accused + Chamberlain of having advocated violence, and was loudly + threatening, even to me, that there should be "somebody killed at + Birmingham next time." Chamberlain told me that Randolph had tried + to get up a march against Highbury on the part of the Birmingham + Tory roughs; but they were still on speaking terms, and often + chatting together at the smoking-room at the House. On the same day, + the 28th, late in the evening Mr. Gladstone sent for me about the + Chamberlain matter, and said of the Queen: "She not only attacks him + but me through him, and says I pay a great deal too much attention + to him." When Chamberlain and I went home, as we almost always did, + together in one cab, he broke out, evidently much worried and + excited, against Mr. Gladstone. + + 'Next day I warned Mr. Gladstone that it would not take much to make + a serious row.' + +On October 15th Sir Charles wrote to Sir M. Grant Duff that he expected +'they would sit till February, and send the Bill up a third time.' On +October 24th Mr. Gladstone was inclined to resign at the second +rejection, which was taken for a certainty. But as to the final issue, +it was becoming daily clearer that the Commons were going to win against +the Lords. Even in the home counties Liberalism had become aggressive. + + 'October 24th.--Franchise and Redistribution seemed well in view + when I discovered on this day that Nathaniel Rothschild, who had + lately looked on Buckinghamshire as his own, was now down on his + knees to Carrington about it.' Work now began on the details of the + draft Bill. + + 'On October 25th there was a full meeting of my Committee of the + Cabinet on Redistribution. I took the chair, and Hartington, + Kimberley, Childers, Chamberlain, James, and Lefevre, sat round the + table. I got my own way in everything, and succeeded in raising the + 10,000 limit of merger to 15,000. Mr. Gladstone, who disliked the + change, and who was the strongest Conservative living upon the + subject, yielded to it on the same night by letter.' + +Sir Charles now threw himself into getting as big a measure as possible +by a 'truce of God' between the parties. + + 'On October 29th Mr. Gladstone told me that Lord Carnarvon had + proposed to him that they should meet in order to come to some + conclusion about Redistribution. He had declined, but had tried, + through Sir Erskine May, to induce the Tories to appoint a Committee + of their own to draw up a scheme. I saw Sir Erskine May and told him + to tell Northcote that I would accept, and press the acceptance of, + any scheme not obviously unfair, and not containing minority + representation, which I should be unable to carry.' + + 'On October 31st there was a Cabinet which was Trevelyan's first, + and very glad he and his wife were to escape from Ireland, + [Footnote: The Chief Secretaryship was offered to Mr. Shaw Lefevre, + who refused on the same ground as had previously been taken by Sir + Charles. Without Cabinet rank he was not prepared to accept it. Sir + Henry Campbell-Bannerman was then appointed. Mr. Lefevre entered the + Cabinet as Postmaster-General after the death of Mr. Fawcett, which + occurred on November 6th, 1884.] which had aged him dreadfully.... + On the question of Reform Hartington told us that he had had several + interviews with Sir Michael Beach, who had expressly stated that he + was not authorized by his party to make suggestions, but had + proposed total merger up to 25,000, and loss of the second seat up + to 80,000. I, to clinch the matter, at once volunteered to draw up a + scheme on this basis.' + + 'James called my attention to some communications in the + Conservative newspapers, stating that he had it on very high + authority (which with James always meant Randolph Churchill) that + the extremely large schemes hinted at were Lord Salisbury's, and + would be supported by the whole Conservative party; but these + schemes suggested minority-representation in urban districts, with + single-member constituencies in counties; or, as Chamberlain said, + "Tory minority represented in towns, and Liberal minority + extinguished in county." Lord Salisbury, however, was only keeping + his friends in good humour with minority-representation. In the + evening Randolph Churchill sent me a message that he wished to have + a conference with me about Redistribution, and by an arrangement + made through Sir Erskine May, we met in the Office of the Serjeant- + at-Arms. He then told me that Beach's scheme was his, and that he + was convinced that an agreement might be come to on those lines. I + assured him of my warm support for a large scheme. I think this was + the occasion (about this time) when Randolph, who was thinking of + going to India, vented his anger as to Salisbury. Winston Churchill + told me in March, 1901, that his father had come to terms with + Salisbury as to the future Tory Government before he started for + India. I told him this could not be, as the possibility of forming + one depended on the Irish, and that Lord Salisbury could not at this + early date have agreed to buy them by the promises of (1) Enquiry + into Spencer's police, (2) no Coercion, (3) a Viceroy personally + favourable to Home Rule. + + 'In the evening I dined with the Duchess of Manchester to meet the + Dufferins, on which occasion Dufferin shone, but his health and + spirits were now beginning to decline. Hartington was at the dinner, + and told me that he had had a fresh interview with Beach, this time + at his (Hartington's) request. + + 'On Saturday, November 1st, I had some correspondence with + Hartington about these interviews, of which I warmly approved; and + on the 3rd Hartington wrote to me that he was going to see Beach + again that day, and I placed all my scheme before him for + communication to the Conservative front bench.' + +Publicly there was war. + + 'On November 4th was the laying of the foundation-stone of the + National Liberal Club, at which Harcourt, after saying that he was a + moderate politician, compared the House of Lords to Sodom and + Gomorrah.' + +But privately + + 'on this day Hartington again saw Beach, and afterwards + Churchill.... Beach said that Lord Salisbury unreservedly accepted + the Queen's suggestion for a meeting of the leaders.... Conferences + went on, but all through the month Beach declined to take a + "representative character, or negotiate in such a way as would + commit his party"--to use Hartington's words. Hartington now thought + "Mr. Gladstone would be able either to come to terms with Lord + Salisbury or to put him completely in the wrong." Hartington added: + "Beach very much regrets the Lowther and John Manners speeches,"' + +and probably Lord Hartington expressed regret for Sir William Harcourt's +references to Sodom and Gomorrah. + + 'On the 6th there was a meeting of my Committee on Redistribution to + consider Beach's proposals, at which I took the chair, but did + little else, and left all the talking to the others, and their view + came to this--that they were quite willing to agree to the Tory + revolutionary scheme, provided the Tories would take the odium with + the House of Commons of proposing it.' + + 'On November 7th the Cabinet decided that I should be joined to + Hartington as recognized plenipotentiary.' + +On the 10th + + 'I proposed and Mr. Gladstone agreed to write to Lord Salisbury + "distinctly accepting the Queen's offers." On November 11th we + confirmed our decisions at the last Cabinet as to completely taking + away from Lord Salisbury the power of saying that he had accepted + and we declined the Queen's proposals, by unreservedly supporting + Mr. Gladstone's letter to the Queen.' + +On November 15th Mr. Gladstone informed the Cabinet that the Lords were +unyielding. + + 'Northcote had taken tea with him on the previous evening. The Lords + would not part with the Franchise Bill till the Redistribution Bill + was in their House. As regarded Lord Salisbury and Sir Stafford + Northcote, Mr. Gladstone considered the door absolutely closed, but + he was informed that the Duke of Richmond and Lord Cairns did not + agree with the leaders. We then drew up a statement to be made on + Monday, November 17th, in both Houses of Parliament as to the steps + we had taken to produce conciliation, Harcourt saying: "This is the + apple-woman spitting on her old apples and shining 'em up!"--the + fact being that it was only done to put the Lords in the wrong.' + + 'On Monday, November 17th, when I returned from Sandringham, I had + to see Lord Rowton, who had been sent to me by the Prince of Wales + to try and produce a settlement of the Redistribution difficulty, + but we only sat and smiled at one another; he saying that he had + come because he had been told to come, and I saying that I had + nothing new to tell him, for Lord Salisbury knew all we had to say.' + + 'On November 19th there was a Cabinet. The first matter mentioned + was the arrangement with the Conservatives for an interview, and at + four o'clock on this day, November 19th, occurred the first meeting + of the parties: an interview between Lord Salisbury and Sir Stafford + Northcote on the one side, and Mr. Gladstone and Lord Granville on + the other. Lord Salisbury had written to me about it already, and + had privately seen my papers the previous day at the Commission, and + had asked me a great number of questions, and I had given him my + division of the Metropolis and of Lancashire at his wish, and + received from him the following note: "I do not know whether it will + be possible to discuss the application of the one-member principle + to the Counties and the Metropolitan Constituencies and the suburbs + of the larger towns." The hesitating way in which he asked shows + that we might have avoided the single-members had we fought upon the + point. But, as I liked them myself, I fought the other way, against + Mr. Gladstone. At the interview between the leaders of the two + parties and the two Houses it was merely decided that the real + interview should take place on Saturday, November 22nd, at noon + between the two Conservative chiefs and Mr. Gladstone, Lord + Hartington, and me, Lord Granville being left out as knowing nothing + of the subject. On November 21st I continued my private conference + with Lord Salisbury at the Royal Commission, and we settled who the + Boundary Commissioners should be. On Saturday, November 22nd, I had + a conference with Chamberlain before going to the meeting with Lord + Salisbury. Chamberlain was in favour of two-member seats as against + single members, especially for boroughs. He was as clear as was Lord + Salisbury that the single-member system would damage the Liberal + party in the Metropolis. + + 'In the afternoon the Conference took place, and there never was so + friendly and pleasant a meeting. I fully described it in three + letters to Chamberlain, in which I said, among other things: "It + looks as though Lord Salisbury is really anxious that we should pass + our Bill." No memorandum on this day passed in writing, and the + written compact was concluded between Lord Salisbury and me only on + November 28th. The meeting of the 22nd was known at the time as the + Downing Street meeting; and the other as "the Arlington Street + compact." + + 'On Sunday, November 23rd, Lord Salisbury wrote to me a letter which + I sent on to Mr. Gladstone and which he kept. Mr. Gladstone replied + on the same day undertaking to move the adjournment of the House for + a week, and showing that he was not at all sure that Lord Salisbury, + having got from us the whole of our scheme and given us nothing in + writing which was worth anything, did not mean to sell us. + Chamberlain wrote on the same day in reply to my letters, "I cannot + make head or tail of Salisbury. He appears to be swallowing every + word that he has ever written or spoken about Redistribution.... I + wonder if he will carry his party with him.... On the whole, you + seem to be doing very well."' + +Discussion now went on by correspondence between Sir Charles and Lord +Salisbury, and it touched subjects which might easily have led to +friction. Lord Salisbury proposed to create a number of urban +constituencies by grouping; his plan being to get the small towns taken +out of rural districts which he looked upon as otherwise Conservative, +and to group them with small manufacturing boroughs: + + 'I was aghast at this suggestion, because it was a very difficult + thing, in a Parliamentary sense, to create a few such groups in + England; and if the thing was to be carried far and not confined to + a few cases only it would entirely have destroyed the whole of the + work that we had done, because all the counties would have had their + numbers altered. I therefore fought stoutly for my own scheme, which + I succeeded in carrying almost untouched. Lord Salisbury's letter + crossed one from me to him in which, after Mr. Gladstone's leave + (conveyed in the words "I see no objection to sending him this + excellent and succinct paper marked Secret"), I had communicated to + Lord Salisbury my views and the grounds on which they were based.' + + 'On the 26th, at four o'clock, we met at Downing Street, all five + being present.... Lord Salisbury, yielding to my reasoning, gave up + grouping,' on the understanding that the Boundary Commissioners were + 'to keep the urban patches as far as possible by themselves.... + Ultimately it was settled that single-member districts should be + universal in counties, and that we should leave open for the present + the question of how far it should be applied to boroughs.' + +Lord Salisbury wished to retain the minority clause in places where he +thought it had worked well, but he did not ask for it in Birmingham and +Glasgow. 'All this showed great indecision,' says Sir Charles, and he +observes that 'Lord Salisbury did not seem to me thoroughly to +understand his subject.' It is probable, at all events, that he was no +match on the details either for Sir Charles or for Mr. Gladstone, who, +after the Conference, thus summed up his impressions in a letter dated +November 26th: + + 'My Dear Dilke, + + 'I send you herewith for your consideration a first sketch which I + have made of a possible communication to-morrow after the Cabinet + from us to the Legates of the opposite party. I think that if the + Cabinet make it an _ultimatum_ we should be safe with it. There was + a careful abstention to-day on their side from anything beyond + praising this or that, and at the outset they spoke of the + one-member system for boroughs "with exceptions" as what they + desired. + + 'Yours sincerely, + + 'W. E. Gladstone.' + + 'Mr. Gladstone's memorandum was on my lines. On the next morning, + November 27th, Mr. Gladstone, Lord Granville, Hartington, I, and + Chamberlain met before the Cabinet at 11 o'clock, and kept the + Cabinet waiting, the Cabinet having been called for twelve, and + Redistribution alone being considered at it. I announced at the + Cabinet that the Tories proposed and we accepted single-member + districts universally in counties, boundaries to be drawn by a + commission who were to separate urban from rural as far as possible, + without grouping and without creating constituencies of utterly + eccentric shape. The names of the commissioners had been settled, + and both sides were pledged to accept their proposals, unless the + two sides agreed to differ from them. [Footnote: At the meeting of + the 26th 'it was agreed that the Boundary Commissioners should + consist of those gentlemen who had been advising me.'] + + 'The Tories proposed single-member districts almost everywhere in + boroughs, and only positively named one exception--the City of + London--but were evidently prepared to make some exceptions. They + made our agreement on this point the condition of passing the + Franchise Bill, of giving up the decrease of the Irish members from + 103 to 100 which they urged, of giving up all forms of minority + vote, and of giving up grouping. My own opinion and that of the + Prime Minister were in favour of agreement. Hartington, who much + disliked what he thought would be the extinction of the Whigs by an + omnipresent caucus for candidates' selection, was hostile to the + single-member system. I pointed out that we already proposed in our + amended scheme 120 single-member borough seats out of 284 borough + seats. We had thrown out to the Tories a question as to whether they + would accept, say, 184 single-borough seats, and give us, say, not + more than 100 for double-member seats; or, if they liked, two-thirds + and one-third; and they did not positively decline this suggestion. + Mr. Gladstone proposed to "save from compulsory division those urban + constituencies, not Metropolitan, which, now possessing dual + representation, are to have their representation neither increased + nor diminished." (This was the ultimate agreement.) Also, that + "cities and towns which are to receive four members and upwards, ten + in number, should have one central or principal area set apart with + two members." (This was purely personal on Mr. Gladstone's part and + was universally rejected.) + + 'I argued warmly in favour of supporting Lord Salisbury's scheme + (upon which he and I were absolutely agreed), I being delighted at + having got seven more members for the Metropolis than were given by + my scheme in its last form after the Cabinet had cut it down. In + order to secure Chamberlain's support I told him "I might be able to + save a seat for you and give the extended Birmingham seven if you + liked to make that a condition, but in that case I must get one + somewhere for Glasgow also out of the rest of Scotland, which is + skinning flints." + + 'The reception of our proposals by the Cabinet, to which Grosvenor' + (the Chief Whip) 'had been called in, was not altogether favourable. + Childers talked about resigning, and Grosvenor was most hostile. We + had the enormous advantage, however, that Chamberlain and I and Mr. + Gladstone were the only three people who understood the subject, so + that the others were unable to fight except in the form known as + swearing at large. I was sent off from the Cabinet to Lord Salisbury + to tell him that we could agree. At three o'clock we had a further + conference with the Conservative leaders, and came to an agreement + on my base, Chamberlain, who was somewhat hostile, yielding to me, I + going in and out to him, for he was at Downing Street in another + room.' + +Next day memoranda were exchanged between the parties to the Conference, +and Mr. Gladstone was pledged to stand by the heads set down in his +memoranda, and accept no provision outside of these without Sir Stafford +Northcote's agreement. One detail is of interest as illustrating Mr. +Gladstone's inherited Conservatism, which comes out all through these +negotiations. + + 'Mr. Gladstone in sending this (memorandum) to me said: "You will + see that Salisbury stands upon our printed statement as to + Universities." Mr. Gladstone, knowing that I was strongly opposed to + University representation, took this matter upon himself. He + proposed a more general form of words in place of Lord Salisbury's + pledge against new matters, and, as for Universities, wrote: "Assure + Salisbury that I personally will _bind_ myself out and out to this + proposition."' + + 'In the afternoon I went to Lord Salisbury to settle the terms of + agreement, and had to go four times from him to Mr. Gladstone, and + four times back again, before we finished.... + + 'The next day I lunched with Mr. Gladstone to meet Miss Mary + Anderson, the actress, and Princess Louise. I received at lunch a + letter from Lord Salisbury making a few reservations ... none of + them difficult of acceptance. + + 'On December 2nd I got a note from Harcourt--to ask what I had been + doing with the British Constitution in his absence. On December 8th + I had a serious grumble from Spencer from Dublin as to my having + settled with Salisbury who were to be the Irish Commissioners, and + only asked the Irish Government after the thing was done. I had + undoubtedly been wrong, and can only say that Spencer let me off + cheaply....' + +Sir Charles's holiday in the South of France, whither he went on +December 17th, was broken by copies of a correspondence between Lord +Spencer and Lord Salisbury, the latter writing 'with much sound and +fury' on the question of another Conservative Boundary Commissioner for +Ireland. 'Lord Salisbury had always been so extremely soft and sweet to +me that it was a revelation to find him writing to Spencer in the style +of Harcourt or of Chamberlain when in a passion.' + + 'Sir Stafford Northcote also wrote to me upon the subject, and + passing on to Scotland in his letter, added, "It is, I think, + understood that we may have a free fight over the grouping of Scotch + boroughs." This question of the Scotch boroughs was afterwards + referred to me and Charles Dalrymple (M.P. for Buteshire), and I + gave Dalrymple one or two changes that he wanted, which, I think, + did not matter.' + +Such difficulties were few and subordinate. The scheme was settled in +principle, for after the Arlington Street compact + + 'I wrote the letter to the Boundary Commissioners the same night, + and after I had signed their instructions on December 5th I had a + pause in my Redistribution work for some time.' + +But at the end of December Lord Hartington wrote: + + 'I think it will take two of us all our time to work the Bill + through; and you know so much more about it than anybody else that + you must necessarily take the greatest share of the details'; + +and ended with an invitation to Sir Charles to stay at Hardwick to do +some preliminary work on the measure. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII + +FOREIGN AFFAIRS IN 1884 + +Mrs. Mark Patterson + + +I. + +During 1884 'I warned Lord Granville, Mr. Gladstone, Fitzmaurice, and +Childers, that I should not in future be able to speak on foreign +affairs on account of the terrible work of the Redistribution Bill, and +of the Royal Commission,' for 'I was now so busy with the preparation +for working the Redistribution Bill through the House, and with the +Report of the Royal Commission, that I objected to receiving Foreign +Office papers not sent to other members of the Cabinet ... but Lord +Granville insisted that I should still see them, and circulated a letter +to that effect.' + +During 1884 and 1885 Foreign Office work was not only exacting, but was +connected with acute disagreements in the Ministry itself. It has been +seen how closely Sir Charles was occupied with the Egyptian question, +and how constantly he found himself opposed to Lord Hartington in his +views of policy. Moreover, out of the Egyptian difficulty there sprang a +general divergence from France, and this led to action by France in +various quarters of the globe calculated to offend British +susceptibilities and to injure British prestige. Sir Charles, friend of +France as he was, had been strong for resenting and resisting such +action, and this attitude had brought him into conflict with those who +on the whole had supported him in Egyptian matters. A new factor was now +introduced. Bismarck had previously been content to urge on the French +in their colonization policy, but in 1884 the German Chancellor, who in +1883 had been working out his schemes of national insurance, found his +hand forced by the Colonial party, and, in view of the coming German +elections, could no longer afford to ignore them. Bismarck, 'contrary to +his conviction and his will,' said Lord Ampthill, accepted a policy of +colonization, which had the secondary effect of harassing and +humiliating the British Liberal Administration. [Footnote: _Life of +Granville_, vol. ii., p. 355.] Sir Charles, who realized that every such +annexation meant the exclusion of British trade from an actual or +potential market, fought for strong British action, but he fought +against the older Liberals of the Cabinet. Again and again the Radical +leaders were overborne by Mr. Gladstone. + +The German Government had demanded protection for a German firm of +traders who had established themselves in the territory of Angra +Pequena, on the west coast of Africa, 280 miles south of Walfisch Bay. +Lord Granville, after considerable delays, caused chiefly by the +necessity of consulting the Colonial Office, which in its turn had to +consult the Cape Government, where a change of Ministry was impending, +objected to the declaration of a German protectorate. + + 'June 14th, 1884.--At a Cabinet at Lord Granville's house on + Conference.... Waddington waiting in another room. + + 'H. Bismarck was also in the house, and had been very rude to Lord + Granville about Angra Pequena, which was mentioned to the Cabinet, + which would do nothing. + + 'June 2lth--... Angra Pequena was mentioned, and it was decided that + Bismarck, who was greatly irritated with the Government, was to have + all he wanted. + + 'On September 22nd Chamberlain came to me on his return from abroad. + He told me that H. Bismarck had told him that the German Chancellor + was very angry at having had no answer to a full statement of German + views as to Angra Pequena and other colonial matters, which had been + sent to Lord Granville on August 30th, and he was astonished to + learn that the Cabinet had not seen his letter.... + + 'On the 27th Lord Granville had in the meantime written: "I will + send you my letter and Bismarck's answer, but I do not wish the + correspondence to be mentioned.... My only excuse, but a good one, + for acting merely as a medium between the German Government and the + Colonial Office, was that I had continually the most positive + assurances in London, and still more in Berlin, that Bismarck was + dead against German colonization--as he _was_."' [Footnote: On this + chapter of African history, see _Life of Granville_, vol. ii., chap. + x., _passim_.] + +This was the first of a series of instances in which, to Sir Charles's +great disgust, the British Foreign and Colonial Offices 'lay down to +Germany.' + +Since the annexation of part of New Guinea by Queensland had been +disavowed in April, 1883, all Australia was vehemently concerned over +the ultimate fate of this territory, and pressed the home Government to +forestall other Powers by occupying it. + + 'June 27th we discussed New Guinea, as to which Lord Derby was + getting into serious trouble. + + 'On July 5th there was a Cabinet called to consider what was called + the "crisis"--our relation with the House of Lords over the + Franchise. But so peculiar is the British Empire that, although the + Cabinet was called upon this question, we immediately proceeded to + consider for the greater portion of the day matters in Sumatra, in + the Malay Archipelago, and the Pacific, and ... the affairs of New + Guinea and so forth. Harcourt, Lord Selborne, and Mr. Gladstone + violently opposed the occupation of New Guinea--Harcourt and Mr. + Gladstone on anti-imperialistic grounds, and Lord Selborne on + grounds connected with the protection of the aborigines against the + rapacity and violence of the Queensland settlers. Hartington, Lord + Granville, Derby, Kimberley, Chamberlain, and I, took the Australian + view. The matter was adjourned, as matters always are adjourned when + the Prime Minister is against the Cabinet.' + + 'August 6th.--We then attacked New Guinea, most of us wanting + annexation, some protectorate, and decided on the latter to please + the Chancellor and Mr. Gladstone.' + + 'August 9th.--We first discussed German colonies in the South Seas. + Bismarck had seized North New Guinea, and we decided to stick to the + long peninsula which faces both north and south.' + +Bismarck's immediate answer was to annex, not only the north coast, but +what is now called the Bismarck Archipelago. + + 'October 4th.--Next came New Guinea. Were we to insist, as we had + done previously, on keeping the Germans off the north coast of the + long eastern peninsula? The previous decision was reversed. The + Cabinet, however, vetoed a suggestion for the joint commission with + Germany as to land claims in the Pacific Islands being allowed to + meddle in New Guinea. We then decided to annex one quarter, and + several members of the Cabinet expressed a hope that _this time_ the + thing would "really be done."' [Footnote: A useful sketch of these + events has recently appeared in the paper read before the Royal + Geographical Society by Sir Everard Im Thurn, K.C.M.G. See + _Journal_, vol. xlv., No. 5, April, 1915.] + +These instances did not stand alone. Two native chiefs in the Cameroons +had so far back as 1882 proposed to be taken under British protection, +and Sir Charles had pressed acceptance of their offer. The matter had +been discussed in the Cabinet, and Lord Derby and Lord Granville were +still debating what should be done, when a German expedition seized the +territory. + + 'On September 18th I received from Chamberlain a letter from + Leipsic, in which he said: "The Cameroons! It is enough to make one + sick. As you say, we decided to assume the protectorate eighteen + months ago, and I thought it was all settled. If the Board of Trade + or Local Government Board managed their business after the fashion + of the Foreign Office and Colonial Office, you and I would deserve + to be hung."' + +Those who thought with Sir Charles felt considerable anxiety about +possibilities on the East Coast of Africa. The Cameroons were lost, but +a protectorate over Zanzibar had been offered, and Zanzibar was the +outlet for an important trading district, which the forward party +thought of securing. The Prime Minister was opposed to all such schemes. +'On December 14th Mr. Gladstone broke out against the proposed +annexations in what is now called the Kilimanjaro district.' + +He wrote to Sir Charles: 'Terribly have I been puzzled and perplexed on +finding a group of the soberest men among us to have concocted a scheme +such as that touching the mountain country behind Zanzibar with an +unrememberable name. There _must_ somewhere or other be reasons for it +which have not come before me. I have asked Granville whether it may not +stand over for a while.' [Footnote: The allusion is to the treaties with +native chiefs which were negotiated by Mr. (afterwards Sir) Harry +Johnston in 1883-84. These treaties were the foundation of what is now +known as British East Africa, and related mainly to the Kilimanjaro and +Taveita districts. It would appear that Mr. Gladstone himself had at +first expressed an interest in the development of British influence +'over this hinterland of snow mountains and elevated plateaux,' to which +his attention had been drawn by the report of Mr. Joseph Thomson. +Speaking subsequently at the Colonial Institute, Sir Harry Johnston said +that 'about twenty years ago he was making preparations for his first +expedition to British Africa. He had a very distinguished predecessor, +whom he regarded as the real originator of British East Africa: Mr. +Joseph Thomson, who died all too young in 1895. His great journey from +Mombasa was commenced in 1882 and finished in 1884.... His reports sent +home to the Royal Geographical Society had attracted the attention of +Mr. Gladstone; and there was another British statesman, Lord Edmond +Fitzmaurice, who perhaps more than most of his colleagues saw the +possibility of a white man's settlement in Equatorial Africa, and who +chose to select him (Sir H. Johnston) as one agency by which this work +should be commenced.' (_Journal_ of the Royal Colonial Institute, +1903-04, No. 5, p. 317.) The territory covered by the Kilimanjaro +Treaties was ceded to Germany under the arrangement made at the end of +1885, but the remainder has continued to be British (see Sir Harry +Johnston, _A History of the Colonization of Africa by Alien Races_, pp. +376-409.] + +Mr. Gladstone could not bring himself to understand that the great +States of Europe had, almost without premeditation, moved into a field +of policy which involved the apportionment of regions scarcely yet known +in any detail to the geographers; nor did he realize the far-reaching +consequences of the acquisition or refusal of some of these districts. +The question of the Congo, for example, involved, as Sir Robert Morier +had foreseen, the settlement of the whole West African coast. In April +Sir Charles had recorded how he + + 'had to read up African papers, and found reason to fear that the + King of the Belgians was contemplating the sale of his Congo + dominions to France. We had a meeting at the Foreign Office in the + afternoon, [Footnote: April 26th, 1884.] at which were present Lord + Granville, Kimberley, Chamberlain, myself, and Fitzmaurice, and, + finding that we could not possibly carry our Congo Treaty with + Portugal, we determined to find a way out by referring it to the + Powers.' [Footnote: The following extract from an article in the + _Quarterly Review_ explains the importance attached by Sir Charles + to this Congo treaty, and the far-reaching results which it would + have had: + + 'In 1875 the results of Lieutenant Cameron's great journey across + Africa became known.... They revealed ... the material for a Central + African Empire awaiting the enterprise of a European or an Asiatic + power. There is now little doubt that, had the famous treaty + negotiated by Sir Charles Dilke, Lord Edmond Fitzmaurice, and Sir + Robert Morier in 1884, been ratified and carried out ... the Congo + Basin would have been added to the British Empire, together with + Delagoa Bay and Nyasaland, before its time; with Dahomey also, and + an all-British West African Coast between Sierra Leone and the + Gaboon.' (_Quarterly Review_, January, 1906.) + +It would perhaps have been more accurate had the author spoken of the +'treaty proposed to be negotiated.' The original plan of Sir Robert +Morier--part of a large scheme for the settlement of all outstanding +questions with Portugal--contemplated _inter alia_ some territorial +acquisition on the Congo by Great Britain. But the Cabinet put a veto on +this. The Foreign Office had therefore to fall back on the alternative +but less ambitious plan contained in the Anglo-Portuguese Treaty of +1884, which was never ratified, owing to the opposition of Germany. +(_Life of Granville_, vol. ii., chap. x.; and supra, I. 418. See also +on this subject the observations of Sir Harry Johnston in his _History_, +quoted above, pp. 277, 278, 343, 405.)] + +In October he goes on to relate how + + 'Lord Granville had been frightened by Plessen, the Prussian, coming + to invite him to a Conference at Berlin, but explained that he had + been much relieved on finding, as he put it, that it was only about + the Congo. It was, however, the famous Africa Conference which + virtually settled the whole future of the Dark Continent.' + +Sir Charles notes the result in January, 1885: + + 'The sittings of the West African Conference, as it was called, were + at this time taking place at Berlin, and the General Act was signed + in the following month--that of February, 1885. [Footnote: He notes + in this month, February 4th, at "a meeting at the Admiralty of all + the Ministers in town, Childers and I stand alone in support of + Portugal as regards the Congo. I stated very freely what I still + believe, that we had behaved shamefully to the Portuguese; but this + neither convinced Lord Granville at the time, nor excused the + subsequent behaviour of the Portuguese." On February 11th Sir + Charles wrote to a diplomatic friend: "I cannot quite follow the + present phase of Congo, but I hope that nothing will be done to back + up the rascally association against Portugal. I believe that + Portugal will seize the disputed territory, and I certainly should + if I were the Portuguese Ministry."] I was very busy with this work, + in which I had long taken a deep interest, and was much relieved + when I found that what I thought the folly of the House of Commons + in upsetting our Congo Treaty, and preventing a general arrangement + with the Portuguese as regarded both West Africa and South-East + Africa, had turned out better than could have been anticipated, + owing to the interposition of the Germans. My joy was short-lived, + for King Leopold has not kept his promises.' + +The interests thus claimed or created beyond the seas had to be defended +upon the seas. Either Great Britain must be prepared to abate her +pretensions, or she must strengthen her power to enforce them. Dilke and +Chamberlain were strongly against giving way to anything which could be +regarded as usurpation. Mr. Gladstone, on the other hand, pointed out +that to maintain a control, or veto, over the allocation of +unappropriated portions of the globe meant large increase of naval +expenditure, and he set his face against both. On December 2nd + + 'Naval expenditure was mentioned. The Cabinet had been about to + agree both to Northbrook's proposals (for Egypt) and to the sums + suggested for the defence of coaling-stations, when Mr. Gladstone + suddenly broke out, told us that he did not much care for himself, + as he now intended to retire, but that had he been twenty-five years + younger nothing could have induced him to consent. A loan he would + not tolerate. Then there was a general veer round, and all went + against the fortifications. Mr. Gladstone, however, said that he + should retire as soon as the Redistribution Bill was carried.' + +The affairs of South Africa, where Great Britain was consolidating her +position, are also touched on in 1884. + + 'On March 22nd we had another Cabinet without Mr. Gladstone. The + first matter discussed was Zululand, Chamberlain opposing Kimberley + and Derby, who wished to increase the British Protectorate. At last + Kimberley said: "I see the Cabinet do not want more niggers," and + dropped the scheme. + + 'On May 17th ... we decided to defend the Zululand reserve against + all comers.' + +Later in the year there are entries as to the annexation of +Bechuanaland: + +October 4th, 'Bechuanaland was discussed, as to which Chamberlain wanted +to go to war with the Boers, and had written to me.' + +And on November 11th 'there was a Cabinet called on the Bechuanaland +trouble, and we discussed votes of money for the Gordon and Bechuanaland +expeditions.' + + +II. + +During this year the Central Asian question, always of first-rate +interest to Sir Charles, constantly claimed his attention. + + 'On February 22nd there was a meeting at the Foreign Office which + was intended to be a meeting about my Central Asian scheme, but + which developed into a virtual Cabinet. There were present Mr. + Gladstone, Hartington, Kimberley, Northbrook, myself, Fitzmaurice, + and J. K. Cross, Undersecretary of State for India. The delimitation + of the Afghan frontier was further considered and pretty much + decided. + + 'Pleasures of Office. I dined with the Dean of Westminster, and was + called away in the middle of dinner to make a speech about Central + Asia, and got back again for coffee.' + + 'On March 5th Hartington suggested that we should recommence the + Quetta railroad, and it was decided to give a hint to Lord Ripon to + ask for it.' + + 'August 5th.--Lord Granville informed us that the Shah was alarmed + at the Russian advance upon the Persian frontier, and asked us for + promises. + + 'August 7th.--There was a meeting of the Central Asian Committee.... + Lord Granville, Hartington, Kimberley, I, and Fitzmaurice were + present, with Philip Currie. As to the amount of support to be given + to Persia Lord Granville wrote an excellent despatch, while we were + talking. It was settled that we were to repeat our statements at St. + Petersburg at a convenient opportunity, but to ask the Shah that, as + an earnest of his good intentions towards us, the Persian rivers + should be thrown open to our trade--not a bad touchstone. We + discussed the Afghan boundary, and decided that, if the Russians + would not agree to our proposed starting-point for the delimitation, + we would send an Afghan British Commission without them to make our + own, delimitation.' + + 'November 18th.--Edmond Fitzmaurice consulted me as to Central Asia. + The Russians had agreed in principle to the delimitation, but ... + had made much delay in questions of detail.' + +On the Committee Sir Charles and Lord Edmond Fitzmaurice were unequally +yoked with the lethargic Secretary of State for War. Lord Fitzmaurice +has vivid recollection of Lord Hartington's entry at one sitting half an +hour late, after his fashion. The question turned on the probable action +of some Afghan chiefs, whereupon Lord Hartington broke silence by +observing reflectively: "I wonder what an Afghan chief is like." Sir +Charles, with a glance at the high-nosed, bearded, deliberate face of +his colleague, pushed a scribbled note to Lord Edmond: "I expect an +Afghan chief is very like the Right Honourable the Marquis of +Hartington."' + +Sir Charles's interest in this Central Asian question, where political +and military interests lay so close together, led to a correspondence, +and the correspondence to a friendship, with Lord Roberts. + + 'In March I received a letter from Sir Frederick Roberts, not yet + personally known to me, in which he enclosed a memorandum by him + called "Is an Invasion of India by Russia Possible?" In his letter + he said that he had given up the idea of returning to Kandahar, and + only desired that we should make ourselves secure upon our new + frontier, improve our relations with the Afghans, and clearly show + that we could not allow the Russians to establish themselves in + Northern Afghanistan. In his printed paper he showed that Persia + might be looked upon as virtually Russian, and that what we had to + do was to prevent Afghanistan falling into the same position. He + incidentally admitted the strength of the view of those of us who + had advocated the evacuation of Kandahar by saying that the Afghans + "must be assured that we have no designs upon their country, and + that even should circumstances require a British occupation of + Kandahar, the direction of all internal affairs would be left in + their hands; we must guarantee them the integrity of their kingdom." + He strongly supported my view that no time should be lost in + defining the northern boundary of Afghanistan. + + 'Roberts went on to lay down the principle that the main body of a + Russian army destined for the invasion of India must advance by + Herat and Girishk on Kandahar, whence, if not defeated, the Russians + must move by Ghazni, Kabul, and the Khyber. Sir Frederick Roberts + pointed out that India could not place in the field, under the then + conditions, more than 40,000 men, with from 130 to 140 guns. Part of + the native army could be relied on, but, writing as Commander-in- + Chief in Madras, he pointed out that the Southern Indian Sepoys had + not the courage and physique to fight against Russian troops, or + even against natives from the north. On the other hand, many of our + northern native troops would be of doubtful loyalty in the event of + Russia becoming predominant in Afghanistan. "Sir Fred" laid down + the principle of completing railway communication to a point near + Kandahar, with a bridge across the Indus near Sukkur, and generally + described the plan of a vigorous offensive on the Kandahar side and + a defensive on the Khyber line, which has since been adopted.' + + 'At the end of May I received from Sir Frederick Roberts a letter in + reply to mine, acknowledging the receipt of the Defence of India + papers which I have named. I had told him that the real danger was + that Russia would detach Herat by local intrigue without appearing, + and that I did not see how we could prevent this alarming danger. + Sir Frederick admitted the truth of my view, and again pointed out + the importance of trying to win the friendship of the Afghans. He + favoured my proposals for the delimitation of the northern frontier + of Afghanistan. "But I much doubt Russia's now agreeing to any + proposal of the sort." He ended by expressing his gratification at + our issue of the order for the completion of the railway to Quetta + and Pishin.' + +Discussions preliminary to the Budget occupied the Cabinet in January, +1884, and Mr. Childers announced that the Army and Navy Estimates would +leave him with a deficit, chiefly because the newly introduced parcel +post had been 'a disastrous failure.' + + 'In the course of this Cabinet of January 24th, I for the first time + stated my views on the subject of army reform. I have a slip of + paper which passed backwards and forwards between Chamberlain and + myself, headed "The condition of the army." I wrote: "Do you + remember my saying one night in our cab to you that I could not go + to the W.O. because of my views upon this very point?" Chamberlain + wrote back: "But that really is the reason why you should go. I have + the lowest opinion of army administration wherever I can test it-- + contracts, for instance. It is most ludicrously inefficient." To + which I replied: "The Duke of Cambridge and the old soldiers and the + Queen would make it very nearly hopeless."' + +The War Office never tempted Sir Charles as did the Admiralty, where, he +wrote to Lord Granville in 1885, 'I fear I should be extravagant.' + + +III. + +A holiday home in the South of France had ceased to be easily accessible +to the 'most hard-worked member of the Government.' Though for many +years he retained his little villa of 'La Sainte Campagne' near Toulon, +nestling in its olive groves with, from windows and cliff, the view of +the red porphyry rocks across the deep blue of the bay, he had for some +time been negotiating for the purchase of strips of land by the +riverside near Shepperton, and among the pines at Pyrford. + +In 1883 the building of the cottage at Dockett Eddy was begun, over the +door of which he set this inscription: + +"Parva sed apta mihi, sed nulli obnoxia, sed non Sordida, parta meo sed +tamen aere, domus." + +[Footnote: Thus rendered in English by the Rev. W. Tuckwell: + + ''Tis tiny, but it suits me quite, + Invades no jealous neighbour's right; + 'Tis neat and clean, and--pleasant thought-- + I earned the cash with which 'twas bought.' + +(It was bought out of his official salary.)] + +This was to be always his riverside home, and in it he always slept, +even after the larger house had been built near by. There he was one of +the river's most jealous guardians, and in this year notes that he + + 'gave evidence before the Select Committee on the River Thames, and + was instrumental in securing the insertion of a clause in the Bill, + afterwards produced by the Committee, which put an end to shooting + on the Thames, and did a great deal to protect the quiet of the + river.' + +The Dockett cottage was not finished till 1885, and: + + 'On Saturday, March 21st, I took a holiday on the river, starting + down with my punt from Taplow Court, and bringing her down to + Dockett Eddy, of which I now took possession, the little house being + now finished.' + +On May 22nd, 1884, + + 'I settled to go on Whitsun Tuesday to look at Lord Onslow's land at + Pyrford, for a winter house. I had forgotten that my ancestor Sir R. + Parkhurst had been Lord of the Manor of Pyrford, and that my + ancestor Sir Edward Zouche had lived even nearer to my new purchase, + at old Woking St. Peter, whence I hear his bells.' + +Late in the year + + 'I settled on my motto for my cottage at Pyrford--a line of Ruskin, + "This is the true nature of Home,--it is the place of Peace." + + 'The selection meant in my mind that home was about to exist once + more for me.' + + 'In July, 1884, Mrs. Mark Pattison had been left a widow by the + death of the Rector of Lincoln College. She went to live at The + Lodge, Headington, near Oxford. + + 'Later in the year we became privately engaged, and told Mr. and + Mrs. Frank Pattison, Mrs. Westlake, Mrs. Earle, and Mrs. Grant Duff, + as well as Chamberlain, but no one else. It was decided that others + should not be told until much later, and to Lord Granville, who + (without mentioning a name) congratulated me, I had to feign + ignorance of what he meant. Mrs. Pattison settled to go to India in + February, March, or April, 1885, to stay with the Governor of Madras + and Mrs. Grant Duff in the hills, and to return in September or + October for our wedding, which before her departure was fixed for + October. Before the return there happened Emilia's typhoid fever at + Ootacamund, and our terrible misfortunes; but the date of October, + 1885, was fated to remain the date, and Chamberlain, who had, before + Emilia left, consented to be best man, was best man still. The place + of the wedding alone was changed--from Christ Church Cathedral, + Oxford, to the parish church of Chelsea. Mrs. Grant Duff wrote to us + on being told a most pleasant letter. + + 'Chamberlain wrote the best letter of his life to her.' + +This was the letter: + + '40, Prince's Gardens, S.W., + + 'November 5th, 1884. + + 'My Dear Mrs. Pattison, + + 'Dilke has told me his great secret, and I sympathize with him so + warmly in the new prospects of happiness which are opening for him + that I have asked leave to write to you and to offer my hearty + congratulations. + + 'I venture to think that we are already friends, and this adds + greatly to the pleasure which this intelligence has given me. + + 'For many years I have been on the most intimate terms with your + future husband; and while I share the general opinion of the world + as to his talents and force of character, I have better reason than + any other man to appreciate his generosity and goodness, and the + chivalrous delicacy which a natural reserve conceals from casual + acquaintance. + + 'I prize his friendship as the best gift of my public life, and I + rejoice unfeignedly that he will have a companion so well able to + share his noblest ambitions and to brighten his life. + + 'I know that you will forgive me this intrusion, which is justified + by the fact that next to yourself I am more interested than anyone + in the change which will bring so much happiness to my dear friend. + + 'Believe me always, + + 'Yours most sincerely, + + 'J. Chamberlain.' + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII + +DIVIDED COUNSELS + +JANUARY AND FEBRUARY, 1885 + + +At the close of 1884 Mr. Gladstone's colleagues expected that he would +resign, and it appears that he had really thought of doing so, provided +that a ministry could be formed under Lord Hartington's leadership. +Franchise and Redistribution were virtually settled, and there was no +legislative proposal before either the Cabinet or the country on which +Lord Hartington was in marked disagreement with his colleagues. But they +were still 'an Egyptian Government,' and here differences seemed to be +irreconcilable. + + 'The Egyptian policy of the Government had now become thoroughly + unpopular, and those of us who, although we had favoured + intervention as necessary at the time, had deplored alike the + engagements of our predecessors which had made it necessary, and the + occupation which, unnecessarily in my opinion, followed it, were as + unpopular as were those like Hartington, and the majority of the + peers in the Cabinet, who had insisted not only on going, but on + staying--at least in Cairo. It is curious to reflect how + intervention in the East is judged by subsequent complications which + do not affect the principle. The intervention of 1860-61 in Syria + gave considerable popularity to the Government who agreed to it, and + to Lord Dufferin who conducted it on the spot; and it was as popular + in France which found the troops, as in England which found the man. + By that intervention Syria was pacified and war in the East + prevented, and ultimately it was followed by evacuation and + reversion to what diplomatists style in their jargon "an improved + _status quo_." + + 'It is too often now (1891) forgotten that we actually proposed in + 1884 to France (in connection with a Conference which took place, + obtaining therefore to some extent, it might be contended, valuable + consideration for our proposal) that we would, at or before the + expiration of our occupation, propose to the Powers and to the Porte + a scheme for the neutralization of Egypt on the basis of the + principles applied to Belgium. A document which we printed at the + beginning of 1885 gave our suggested wording for the neutralization + treaty, declaring that Egypt should be an independent and + perpetually neutral State under the guarantee of the contracting + parties; limiting the strength of the Egyptian army, the claim of + Turkey to military aid from Egypt, and so forth.' + +The suggestion was not welcomed by the Powers. + + 'On New Year's Day I left Antibes for Paris, which I reached on + Friday, the 2nd January, and quitted for London on Saturday, the + 3rd. + + 'Chamberlain wrote to me that Mr. Gladstone was threatened with a + return of his illness, that he required rest, that Egypt had been + for the moment tided over, though it might at any moment break up + the Government. It had been decided to send a firm but courteous + despatch to France demanding immediate consideration of our + proposals, failing which we should "take our own course." + Chamberlain, however, added, "What that course is to be is the + question on which agreement appears impossible. It is 'scuttle and + bankruptcy' against 'protectorate and guarantee.' Sufficient unto + the day is the evil thereof."' + +Mr. Gladstone was with Dilke and Chamberlain in opposing protectorate or +guarantee in any shape. But there were other questions of Imperial +policy upon which the Imperialism of these two Ministers divided them +from Mr. Gladstone. + + 'New Guinea had also been discussed, and Chamberlain was for + demanding explanations from the Germans. Zululand had been + mentioned. Chamberlain supported the annexation of the coast of + Pondoland: Mr. Gladstone, with the support of Trevelyan, "opposing + any attempt to anticipate Germany." + + 'On Sunday, January 4th, Chamberlain wrote again from Birmingham. + His letter shows that I was anxious for resignation on the Egyptian + question, and Chamberlain replied that he could not find a + satisfactory boat to leave the ship in, and that he thought that the + Government had more lives than a cat. Chamberlain added that he had + to speak on January 5th, and should find it difficult to steer + between Jingoism and peace-at-any-price.' + + 'He also was engaged in preparing a programme for the future to be + set forth at Ipswich. This last was the memorable "Unauthorized + Programme."' + +A first instalment of this programme was given by Mr. Chamberlain in a +speech at Birmingham, which advocated restriction of game-preserving, +provision of land for agricultural labourers, and better housing. The +accusations of Communism brought against Mr. Chamberlain began at this +point; and they, of course, redoubled after he had proposed on January +10th at Ipswich to give local bodies power for compulsory acquisition of +land. + +At this juncture Mr. Chamberlain was absent from London, and +communicating only by letter with Sir Charles, whom he had not seen +since the middle of December, when Sir Charles crossed to Paris, on his +way to Toulon; and before the unauthorized programme was launched Lord +Hartington contemplated forming a Government which would have given the +foremost positions to Dilke and Chamberlain. + + 'On the morning of January 5th Harcourt had told me that Mr. + Gladstone intended to resign, and that Lord Granville would follow + Mr. Gladstone, in which case Hartington intended to make him, + Harcourt, Chancellor, to move Lord Derby and Childers, to put in + Rosebery, [Footnote: As Secretary for the Colonies.] to offer + Chamberlain the Chancellorship of the Exchequer, and me the + Secretaryship of State for Foreign Affairs. But, great as were the + offices proposed, Chamberlain and I could not have consented to + remain in if Mr. Gladstone had gone out notoriously dissatisfied. If + he had gone out on grounds of health alone, it would, of course, + have been another matter.' + +In a letter, + + 'probably of Monday morning, January 5th, Chamberlain said that Mr. + Gladstone's retirement was possible, and might be necessary; that + Hartington and Harcourt could bring it about; but that we must be + most careful not to allow them to say that we had been engaged in an + intrigue with them against Mr. Gladstone. He thought that we ought + to tell them frankly that we could enter into no negotiations with + them, and to put this in a Memorandum to which we could afterwards + appeal. On the other hand, he was willing to state his views as to + policy, provided all reference to personal questions was avoided. As + his Egyptian policy, he stated "immediate bankruptcy, communication + to the Powers of our fixed intention to leave, declaration that we + would not allow intervention by other Powers in our place, and + Conference to settle details of neutralization." As to domestic + policy, he agreed in my suggestion that we should insist upon an + immediate Civil List Committee, and proposed an inquiry into labour. + He gave me leave to discuss his letter with Harcourt ("the latter + has always been a most loyal friend, though he can not be expected + to agree with us in everything"), and I did so before the Cabinet of + January 7th.' + +By this time Mr. Chamberlain had come to London, and there is no +indication that his speech at Birmingham had created friction. But the +party which wished to offer resistance to Germany's high-handed policy +had been strengthened by a new instance of usurpation. + + 'Mr. Gladstone was absent from this Cabinet. The first matter + discussed was that of Samoa raised by me. There had been received on + the night of the 6th from the Governor of New Zealand a telegram + saying that the Germans had made a treaty giving the whole authority + of Government to the German Consul. While Münster had been telling + Lord Granville that Germany would take no step hostile to Samoan + independence, the Germans had sent warships there with secret + orders, and had hoisted their flag in various parts of the islands. + The next subject mentioned was that of Zanzibar, and it was decided + that we should warn Germany that we would not brook interference + there. At the same time I had much doubt whether Lord Granville + would act upon the instructions of the Cabinet in this matter, and + my doubts were justified. The third matter was that of the Pondo + coast, and also the coast of Zululand. Mr. Gladstone alone objecting + to a protectorate and being absent, it was decided to have one.' + + 'Then came the old question of sending troops to Suakim; [Footnote: + Colonial troops were offered about this time, and the Diary contains + the entry, February 20th: "The sending of a Colonial force to + Suakim. Hartington and Derby had snubbed the Colonists, and were + snubbed by the Cabinet in consequence."] then that of Egyptian + Finance, on which Harcourt broached his scheme by which the United + Kingdom was to pay the difference caused by a reduction of the rate + of interest, to which scheme Chamberlain and I were opposed. We were + informed that the Queen "most strongly protested against our binding + ourselves to leave Egypt."' + +Meanwhile the Radicals in the Cabinet considered their concerted action +in view of a change of leadership. + + 'We settled during the Cabinet that Trevelyan, Chamberlain, and I + should meet at my room at the Local Government Board, directly the + Cabinet was over, to discuss the terms on which we would join a + Hartington administration; and we did so, finding Egypt and my + proposed inquiry into the Civil List the only real difficulties. The + Civil List could be got over, as it was certain that the Whigs would + give in to pressure from us upon this point. But Harcourt had + informed us that our Egyptian policy made the formation of a + Government impossible, as Hartington would not consent to accept + office on our Egyptian policy.' + +It was very difficult to come to an agreement about Egypt. Lord Derby +had declared that the only alternatives were guaranteed neutrality or +annexation. Dilke and Chamberlain stood for the former, considering +their duty done if they prevented occupation by any other European +Power, and took steps to establish internal order--which meant +completing the organization of an Egyptian army. There was a third +policy; for Lord Hartington, who repeatedly in public repudiated the +idea of annexation, insisted upon the retention of a single control +during a prolonged occupation. In this he had the strongest backing from +the Queen. + + 'Chamberlain at our meeting added a fresh proviso--namely, that + Parnell or some other Irishman should be Chief Secretary. I + afterwards informed Harcourt of Chamberlain's views, adding that + Chamberlain was willing to avoid all personal questions, although he + much wished that John Morley should be in the Cabinet, [Footnote: + Sir Charles had noted his own strong wish to this effect in the + previous year.] that he wholly rejected Harcourt's plan for Egypt as + being a bribe to buy off the Powers, forced on us by unworthy fears. + Chamberlain wished, if his own Egyptian policy was not adopted, to + simply evacuate the country. + + 'Chamberlain, I was empowered to say, had also mentioned the English + land question, and was opposed to allowing Lord Salisbury to come + in,' as this, he said to Sir Charles, 'would surely be a hopeless + confession of weakness, and give him a chance with the new electors. + + 'I argued against Chamberlain's Egyptian policy, not on the merits, + but on the chances of our getting our own way. + + '"I doubt our getting our way as to bankruptcy, and am not sure that + we ought to put that forward as sole or chief cause for not joining + Hartington." To this Chamberlain replied: "True. But how can we join + another Government without any settled policy about Egypt? + Harcourt's alternative is impossible; then what is there? I should + refuse to join Hartington unless we can agree as to Egypt policy, + and if we do agree, there can in that case be no reason for letting + Salisbury in."' + +Egypt was in Sir Charles's view the main, but not the only, difficulty. +The Government policy of 'lying down to Germany' was another. At the +same date: + + 'January 7th, Chamberlain and I had a conference with regard to + Samoa, in which I pointed out that if we quarrelled with France + about Egypt she would have all Europe behind her, whereas in our + dealings with Germany about Samoa, Zanzibar, and other matters, + Germany would stand alone.' [Footnote: A letter to Lord Hartington + from his secretary, Mr. Brett, which is quoted by Mr. Bernard + Holland (_Life of Duke of Devonshire_, vol. ii, pp. 38, 39), + suggests that the Hartington section had difficulty in reconciling + Sir Charles's attitude on other Imperial matters with his Egyptian + policy: "It would indeed be a farce, after all the fuss about the + Cameroons and Angra Pequena, to allow Suakim, which is the port of + Khartoum, and the Nile to pass into the hands of foreigners." The + answer is, first, that Sir Charles would certainly never have + consented to let any port in Egypt or the Soudan pass into the hands + of any European Power: his proposal was neutralization of Egypt + under international guarantee; and, secondly, that the questions + were governed by different conditions, which he set out in + conference with Mr. Chamberlain about Samoa.] + +January 9th, 'I had decided that if I resigned, or if I refused to join +a Hartington administration, I should mention four subjects--Egypt, +Samoa, Zanzibar, and (probably) the Civil List inquiry (if I were not +completely satisfied). On the same day I was at work on our draft +despatch to Sir Edward Malet as to Zanzibar, which had been settled on +the 8th after the Cabinet of the 7th, but which did not go off until the +14th. On January 14th I noted in my Diary, "The Zanzibar despatch went. +Seven days' delay. I know that two days' delay was caused by the +necessity of sending to Osborne and to the Prime Minister, but why seven +days?" + + 'On January 21st the first matter discussed was that of New Guinea, + in which we found ourselves in difficulties caused by absence of + jurisdiction over foreigners, and we agreed in consequence to + annexation.' + +The situation with Germany was undoubtedly grave, but ought not, Sir +Charles maintained, to entail the sacrifice of Zanzibar. On February +24th Count Münster, the German Ambassador, told Mr. Alfred de Rothschild +that he expected to be withdrawn, but that New Guinea was the only +serious matter in dispute. + + 'On Tuesday, February 24th, I breakfasted at Alfred de Rothschild's + house, to meet the German Ambassador, Count Münster, at the latter's + wish. Alfred de Rothschild did not sit down with us, and we were + _tête-à-tête_. Münster was very free in his remarks about Bismarck. + "No one ever contradicts him." "He sees none but flatterers." "His + life is a period to be got through."' + +Two March entries are apposite here: + + 'On Wednesday, March 4th, Rosebery wrote to me to ask me to dine + with him to meet "Herbert Bismarck," who had suddenly arrived, but I + was engaged to the Speaker's dinner, and had to put off seeing young + Bismarck till Thursday, the 5th. He had come over to try to force us + to dismiss Lord Granville and Lord Derby. I noted in my Diary: + [Footnote: Sir Charles's Diaries, to portions of which certain + biographers had access, are at this point quoted by Lord Edmond + Fitzmaurice in his _Life of Lord Granville_, vol. ii., p. 430. The + passage runs: "Negotiations with Germany on the vexed colonial + questions were meanwhile proceeding, more particularly with regard + to New Guinea. Sir Julian Pauncefote proposed a plan which it was + hoped might satisfy the German Chancellor, and Count Herbert + Bismarck reappeared as co-negotiator with Count Münster in London. + Lord Rosebery, who had just joined the Cabinet as Lord Privy Seal, + also took part in the negotiations. 'Herbert Bismarck came over + again,' Sir Charles Dilke noted; 'if at his former visit he had only + tried to get us to dismiss Lord Derby, on this occasion he wanted us + to dismiss Lord Granville and Lord Derby.'"] "He puts us in a + difficult position as individuals, for how can we say to this + personally friendly fellow that we do not think Lord Granville's + speech in the Lords on Friday foolish, or how say that we think that + the allusion to old Bismarck's dislike of Münster in a recent + despatch from Malet ought to have been published." + + 'On Friday, March 6th, I saw Herbert Bismarck again twice.... I + having expressed anxiety about Zanzibar, he told me that his father + had directed him to say that he "considered Zanzibar as independent + as Turkey or Russia." It is to my mind shameful that, after this, + Lord Granville should have begun and Lord Salisbury have rapidly + completed arrangements by which the Zanzibar mainland, the whole + trade of which was in our hands, was handed over to Germany.' + + 'On March 7th we discussed Herbert Bismarck's views on the + Cameroons, on German claims in New Guinea (on this head we settled + with him), and on Pondoland.' + +While the difficulties with Germany were being discussed, differences as +to Egyptian policy and our relations with France continued. + +On January 20th, Egypt once more threatened to break up the Government. +France had proposed an international Commission of Inquiry into the +financial situation. + + 'We discussed a French proposal which, as I wrote to the Chancellor, + had at least one advantage--namely, "that it re-forms the majority + in the Cabinet by uniting two of the three parties--yours and mine." + Mr. Gladstone, Lord Granville, Kimberley, Derby, Harcourt, the + Chancellor, Trevelyan, and Dilke, eight in all, supported taking the + new French proposals as a basis. Chamberlain was absent ill. + Northbrook, Hartington, Childers, to my astonishment, and + Carlingford were against us. After the Cabinet Hartington wrote to + Mr. Gladstone to say that he "could not accept the decision," and + Northbrook supported him.' Next day, however, 'when we turned to + Egyptian finance, Trevelyan went over from our side to the other. + Mr. Gladstone announced that what we had decided on the previous day + was not to prevent our arguing against the French proposed inquiry, + and thus Hartington was kept in.' + + 'On January 23rd I forwarded to Chamberlain a letter from + Sandringham, which showed that the Queen had been alarmed at the + possibility that my proposed Civil List inquiry might affect not + only new grants, but also the Civil List arrangements made at the + beginning of the reign. Chamberlain made a Delphic reply that, on + the one hand, inquiry would be a farce if it did not include the + existing Civil List, but that on the other hand there could be no + intention to make any change in the arrangements with the Queen.' + + 'On January 28th, I heard from Sandringham that the Prince of Wales + was going to Osborne the next day, and would broach to the Queen his + friendliness to the idea of a new settlement of the Civil List. + Chamberlain was anxious that no difficulty should be made by us on + the occasion of the marriage of Princess Beatrice. He wrote: "_If + alone_, I should wait for something or somebody to turn up. Before + Prince Edward wants an allowance who knows what may happen? But I am + perfectly ready to follow your lead or to lead to your prompting."' + +All arrangements were being made on the assumption that Lord Hartington +would become Prime Minister. + + 'I had been left by Mr. Gladstone in a certain doubt as to whether I + was to be completely responsible for the Redistribution Bill, or + whether Hartington was to share the responsibility. I wrote to + Hartington: "Mr. Gladstone sends me everything on Redistribution, + and expresses no opinion of his own. Northcote and Salisbury write + to me only, and the whole thing is more and more in my hands. If I + let things drift, it is clear that I shall practically have sole + charge of the Bill, for no one else will know anything about it. I + do not shrink from this at all. It is work I like. But, as you will + probably be called on to form an Administration immediately after + the passing of the Bill, don't you think it would look well, and + that our people and the Press and the country would like it, if you + were to take charge of the Bill? If so, I had better have two or + three days' work at it with you." + + 'Hartington had asked me to stay with him at Hardwick to talk it + over, but it was only a Saturday to Monday visit from January 10th + to 12th, and there were many people in the house, and our whole + conversation was but very short; and Hartington continued to show + but little desire to work at the detail, and the Bill could only be + handled by those who knew its detail.' + +Although the Opposition leaders had accepted the compact, it was at this +time quite uncertain whether the House of Commons would consent to the +Redistribution scheme--affecting as it did the interests of every +member. The Fourth Party had not been consulted in the arrangement, and +inevitable friction followed. + + 'On January 27th I had a correspondence with Northcote in reference + to some mischief which had been made by Randolph Churchill. + Northcote had been told by the Conservative Chief Whip, "Dilke told + Randolph that the Government would have given more grouping if we + had pressed for it." The Conservative party being angry at the + absence of grouping of the boroughs, Northcote had taken up the + point, but he now wrote: "Whatever Churchill said must have been in + the nature of an inference of his own from what had previously + passed, from which he had probably gathered that the Government were + ready to concede grouping." But there was a lady in the case who had + gossiped about what Northcote had said to her, and he promised to + write to the offender.' + + 'On January 13th Mr. Gladstone wrote as to the Redistribution Bill: + "The difficulty as I see it about communication with Northcote is + that he seems to have little weight of influence, and to be afraid + or unwilling to assume any responsibility. I have usually found him + reasonable in his own views, but obliged to reserve his judgment + until after consulting his friends, which consultations I have found + always to end badly. On the other hand, it is, of course, necessary + to pay him due respect. What may prove to be best under these + circumstances is--(1) not to be bound always to consult HIM, (2) to + consult him freely on the easier and smaller matters, but (3) in a + stiff question, such as the numbers of the House may prove to be, to + get at Salisbury if possible, under whose wing Northcote will, I + think, mostly be content to walk, (4) Or, if Salisbury cannot be got + alone, then Northcote and Salisbury would be far preferable to + Northcote alone."' + +All these difficulties had to be met by Sir Charles. When the Bill +actually came before the House, 'Mr. Gladstone instructed James to +assist me in the conduct of it. But practically I had it to myself.' +Lord Hartington had rendered invaluable service in the preliminary +negotiations. But for such laborious work of detail as was needed to +carry through this Bill, neither temperament nor surroundings had fitted +him. His Hardwick home is thus described by Sir Charles in a letter +which he wrote to Mrs. Pattison: + + 'I am writing in my bedroom, which is--bed and all--that of Mary + Queen of Scots, who was the prisoner of Bess of Hardwick. It is a + wonderful house, indeed--enormous, and yet completely covered with + the tapestry and the pictures of the time.... The casement windows + have never been touched since Queen Elizabeth was here, and are + enormous. (There is a local proverb which speaks of the hall as "all + window and no wall.") The result is that, in spite of heavy hanging + curtains, the candles are blown out if you go near the windows.... + The portrait of the first Cavendish--who was usher of Cardinal + Wolsey, and who married Bess of Hardwick, the richest lady of the + day--is exactly like Hartington, but a vulgar Hartington--fat and + greasy--a Hartington who might have kept a public-house.' + +Mr. Chamberlain wrote to Sir Charles at Hardwick concerning his host: + + 'The true Whig tradition is to keep abreast of the movement which + they would willingly restrain, and do nothing to quicken, but it is + difficult for a man of Hartington's temperament to make the + sacrifice of pride which these tactics require.' + +Mr. Chamberlain's Ipswich speech had made its mark, and Sir Charles +notes 'the beginning of the terror caused by the unauthorized programme' +in 'a letter which I received from Lord Salisbury, who was at Florence, +as to my draft Report of the Housing Commission.' + + 'Lord Salisbury had greatly changed his views since he had sketched + out socialistic proposals for me in his own hand. He now complained + of that which I had said on "the burning questions of expropriation, + betterment, and land tenure," and thought that Chamberlain's + evidence had affected the report, and that such views "must now be + considered in the light of the doctrines as to land he has recently + laid down."' + +That letter, received on January 30th, must have been written two days +earlier, and evidently at that moment there were plans of forming an +administration which should exclude the Radicals. + + 'On January 28th Harcourt told me that he had stopped the Queen + deciding to send for Goschen to form a Whig Ministry if we were + beaten or if Mr. Gladstone resigned by telling her that Goschen + would refuse, or that, if he consented, no one would join him.' + +On January 29th, at Birmingham, Mr. Chamberlain made reply to his +critics in a speech which added to the Ipswich programme manhood +suffrage and payment of members, and which further declared that the +sanctity of public property far exceeded that of private property. If +land, for instance, had been 'lost or wasted or stolen,' some equivalent +for it must be found, and some compensation exacted from the wrongdoers. +[Footnote: 'The ransom theory,' afterwards alluded to (see Chapter +XLIV., p. 182).] + +These utterances from a member of the Cabinet were not likely to pass +unchallenged. + + 'On Monday, February 2nd, Chamberlain telegraphed to me that he was + coming up on the next day, Tuesday, the 3rd, on purpose to see me on + an important matter; and on the morning of the 3rd I received in a + secret box the letters about which he was coming. There was one from + Mr. Gladstone complaining of the unauthorized programme, and a draft + proposed reply, and Chamberlain added: "Take them (Mr. Gladstone's + letters and enclosures from the Whigs) in connection with the + _Times_ articles. There is to be a dead set evidently.... There are + three possibilities. (1) Mr. Gladstone may wish me to resign. (2) A + vote of censure may be proposed in the House of Commons and carried. + (3) Mr. Gladstone may defend me, and in so doing may to all intents + and purposes censure me in such a way as to entail my resignation. + The first would not, I think, do me any harm. The second would do me + good. The third would not be pleasant. My object in proposed reply + is to make Mr. G. speak more plainly, and to let me know where I + stand. I have spoken in the first person because (until I see you) I + have no right to assume that you will accept a joint responsibility. + But I think you will, and then if we go out or are forced out there + will be a devil of a row. I have been speaking to Schnadhorst to-day + on the possibility. He says (you must take the opinion for what it + is worth) that it would strengthen us in the country.... I assume + Trevelyan would go with Mr. G.... I shall want to know what you + think of it all, and whether you have any alterations to propose in + the reply." + + 'I noted: "I, of course, make common cause. The Whigs want to force + him into a row with Mr. G., who, they think, will break him in place + of his breaking Hartington after Mr. G. is gone." I admitted to + Chamberlain when we met on February 3rd that there was, as he said, + a dead set at him, and that the _Pall Mall_ for a wonder was backing + it up. On his first point I was sure that Mr. Gladstone did not wish + for his resignation, and knew that I should go too. On the second, I + doubted any member being ready to bell the cat; and on the third + point I was sure that Mr. Gladstone's defence of Chamberlain would + not be such as to entail his resignation.' + +Sir Charles thought, and told Chamberlain, that the object of the Whigs +was to force them 'to war with Mr. G. who is strong, and not with +Hartington,' against whom the Radicals would hold winning cards. 'We +therefore play into their hands by going NOW.' Meanwhile, he took up a +fighting attitude towards the rest of the world. + + 'I had written to Mr. Gladstone very strongly backing up + Chamberlain's right to express his individual opinion upon the + questions of the future, and pointing out his patience in not + repudiating some of Hartington's remarks, and saying that I could + not let him go out alone.' + + 'On February 4th I heard from Chamberlain ... thanking me for + getting Carrington, who represented my Department in the Lords, to + make a pro-Chamberlain speech.' + +This was the more valuable because the whole Press was against the +"unauthorized programme." At the same time, Sir Charles did not fail to +point out that their position was an unsound one, writing first: + + 'Our words as to the future are too wide. They would cover my + preaching a Republic for two years hence, or your preaching the + nationalization of land without compensation for the next + Parliament.' + +He urged also that the precedent which Mr. Chamberlain sought to +establish was two-edged. + +February 5th, 'At night I gave Chamberlain a hint that some day others +might turn against him that freedom of speech which he claimed as +against Hartington; and he prepared a document which, under the form of +standing out for full right of free speech, really yielded the whole +point. He covered his retreat with great skill, and the document as +corrected by me would be valuable if it could be found. I have no copy, +but have memoranda which passed between us, in one of which I begged him +to keep the draft with my corrections as representing our joint view, +inasmuch as it might be important in the future. Chamberlain notes, in a +minute which I have, his acceptance of the general doctrine, with a +declaration that the present was an exceptional period; that there was a +new departure under the franchise reform, that it was essential to give +a general direction to the discussion, that his actual proposals were +moderate, and such as only to point to, firstly, a revision of taxation +which Mr. Gladstone himself had advocated, details being open, but the +principle being to secure equality of sacrifice; secondly, the extension +of power of local authorities on lines already conceded in Ireland.' + +The two allies were fighting a hard fight at a critical moment. At such +times even the closest friends naturally seek to reassure each other, +and to a letter from Sir Charles Mr. Chamberlain made this reply, +January 11th: + + 'The malice and ingenuity of men is so great that I should be afraid + they would some day break our friendship if it had not victoriously + stood the strain of public life for so many years. I will swear that + I will never do anything knowingly to imperil it, and I hope that we + are both agreed that if by any chance either of us should think that + he has the slightest cause of complaint he will not keep it to + himself for a day, but will have a frank explanation. In this case I + shall feel safe, for I am certain that any mistake would be + immediately repaired by whoever might be in fault.' + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX + +THE FALL OF KHARTOUM AND THE PENJDEH INCIDENT + + + 'On the morning of Thursday, February 5th, 1885, at 3 a.m., Brett + went to Lord Granville with the news of the fall of Khartoum. He + used to tell how he had been wholly unable to find the old + gentleman, and how the servants had ultimately asserted that their + master was at Walmer--which he was not. At the same hour the news + was sold by a War Office messenger to one of the News Agencies. The + resident clerk at the War Office had written to Thompson, of the War + Office, in an unsealed envelope, instead of putting the despatch + into a box. It did not matter much on this occasion, but it might + matter in a great European war. A Cabinet was immediately summoned + for the next day. [Footnote: The following correspondence between + Mr. Brett (now Viscount Eslier) and Sir Charles throws light on the + summoning of the Cabinet: + + War Office, + + Thursday morning, 3 a.m. + + Here is some bad news. + + No Ministers in town, except you and Chamberlain! + + Have tried Lord G. and Lord Northbrook. No results! + + So things must take their chance. There ought to have been a Cabinet + to-morrow; but suppose it is not possible. + + R.B. + + Please return enclosed. Will send you a copy later. Have you any + suggestion to make? + + You will see that W. proposes to keep this secret. Not possible for + long in this Office. + + _Sir Charles Dilke to Mr. Brett._ + + Telegraph to _Mr. G. and Hartington to come up to-day_, and call a + Cabinet for to-morrow at 11 a.m. Make Hamilton telegraph to all + Ministers at once. I'm prepared to take it on myself if you like, + but you can send this to Chamberlain if he agrees. + + I agree certainly.--J. C. + + Local Government Board, + + February 5th, 1885. + + It is absurd not to make them come up _to-day_ in face of Wolseley's + "_It is most essential that I shall have the earliest possible + decision._"] Only three subjects were discussed: Khartoum, secrecy, + and the question of the Italians as against the Turks in the Red + Sea.' + +On February 7th, 'The next matter was Wolseley, who had confused us by +greatly varying his statements.... Next came a proposal that Gordon +should be bought from the Mahdi.' + + 'On February 9th Mr. Gladstone mentioned his intention to bring in + Rosebery and Lefevre as members of the Cabinet. It was decided that + the Italians should be allowed to go to Kassala--a decision which + was afterwards reversed. The French views on Egyptian finance were + named, the despatch of Indian troops to Suakim again discussed. + Wolseley having asked that General Greaves should be sent to Suakim, + Childers said that the Queen and Duke of Cambridge had stopped that + officer's promotion because he "belonged to the Ashantee gang" + (Wolseley's friends), and that the Duke had now complained that he + did not know him. Chamberlain proposed that we should invite the + Canadian Government to send a force to Suakim; and, finally, + Childers was allowed to mention finance, which had been the object + for which the Cabinet was called. + + 'On February 10th I wrote to Chamberlain that Rosebery and Lefevre + would help the Cabinet with the public, but would weaken us in the + Cabinet. + + 'On February 11th there was another Cabinet, five members being + absent--namely, the Chancellor, Carlingford, Spencer, Chamberlain, + and Trevelyan--owing to the suddenness of the call. It was on the + Suakim command, Mr. Gladstone being very obstinate for Greaves, as + against Graham with Greaves for Chief of Staff--a compromise. I + supported Hartington--I do not know why--and we beat Mr. Gladstone + by 5 to 4. Both officers were inferior men, and Graham did but + badly. Probably Greaves would have done no better.... + + 'Mr. Gladstone complained that he and Hartington had received at + Carnforth on the 5th a disagreeable telegram _en clair_ from the + Queen, and Mr. Gladstone was very anxious to know whether the Tories + had found it out, asking anxiously, "What are the station-master's + politics?" + + 'February 13th ... I was with Harcourt when Rosebery came to be + sworn in, so I took the opportunity of making Rosebery help us to + make Lord Derby uncomfortable for proposing to refuse the troops + offered by the colony of New South Wales. + + 'We began to discuss our Soudan policy with some anxiety. + + 'Courtney and Morley had insisted in private letters that we should + only rescue, and not attack the rebels, and the _Times_ agreed with + them--unless we intended to stay in the country and establish a + Government. Wolseley's policy would be represented as one of "smash + and retire," and it was for this reason that Chamberlain pressed + negotiations with the Mahdi, as he thought we should be stronger if + we could show that the Mahdi had rejected a fair offer. It was on + February 13th that Hartington most strongly pressed his proposal for + the Suakim railroad, and invited me to be a member of a Cabinet + Committee to consider the proposal.' + + 'On Monday, February 16th, the first matter discussed was the + Russian answer as regards Egyptian finance. The Soudan was put off + till the next day, Chamberlain making a strong speech first upon our + policy. Hartington asked for five million, to include the cost of + his Suakim-Berber railway, and for leave to call out reserves. + + 'On February 19th I had an interview with Mr. Gladstone, and found + him anxious to be turned out on the vote of censure. Indeed, he was + longing for it, in the firm belief that, if turned out, he would + come back after the dissolution in November, while, if not turned + out, he would be more likely to be beaten. + + 'On February 20th the subjects discussed were Egypt (Finance and + Suez Canal) and the sending a colonial force to Suakim. Chamberlain + had developed to Childers at the same meeting a proposal that + Hartington should form a Ministry to carry on the Soudan War, with + the loyal support of those of us who went out with Mr. Gladstone. + + 'On February 25th, Goschen having asked for assurances as to the + Berber railway, Chamberlain wrote to me saying that if Hartington + gave them, it might be a sufficient cause for our resignation, as we + were not prepared to commit the country to establishing settled + government in any part of the Soudan. Chamberlain proposed that we + should resign before the division, and that the Government being + beaten, there should then be brought about the establishment of what + he called the combination or patriotic Government, which meant a + Hartington administration. I, on the whole, preferred to go on as we + were, so I stopped a box of Hartington's which was going round the + Cabinet, and proposed an alteration of form which prevented + Chamberlain going out on these assurances. + + 'During the debate I went away to dine, and, not having heard the + middle of Harcourt's speech, asked Chamberlain whether Harcourt had + tried to answer any of Goschen's questions, to which Chamberlain + answered, "Not one. He asked questions in turn," which is a good + description of Harcourt's style. I then wrote on a slip of paper, + "Forster is taking notes"; and Chamberlain replied, "Forster-- + against slavery, against Zebehr, [Footnote: Zebehr was arrested in + Cairo on the ground of treasonable correspondence with the Mahdi, + and interned at Gibraltar, but later was allowed to return to Cairo. + He died in January, 1903.] and of course generally in favour of a + crusade," a note which is also characteristic--of both these men. + + 'At four o'clock in the morning of February 28th, when we got our + majority of 14, after the first division, Mr. Gladstone, who wanted + to go out, said to Childers and myself, "That will do." This was + indeed a Delphic utterance.' + +Sir Charles himself spoke, at Mr. Gladstone's request, at great length +in the third day's debate on February 26th, but it was 'only a debating +speech.' + + 'After we had had a sleep, we met in Cabinet on Saturday, February + 28th. Lord Granville and Childers now anxious to go. Harcourt, who + had at night been against going, was now anxious to go. This was a + curious and interesting Cabinet. Lord Granville and Lord Derby, who + were at loggerheads both with Bismarck and with their colleagues, + were strong that we should resign, and they got some support from + Chamberlain, Northbrook, Childers, and Hartington. Lefevre, + [Footnote: Lord Eversley, then Mr. Shaw Lefevre, had joined the + Cabinet after the news from Khartoum. Lord Rosebery had accepted the + Privy Seal. Lord Eversley says that on February 28th opinions were + evenly divided, but that one member refused to express an opinion on + the ground of his recent admission. See, too, _Life of Granville_, + vol. ii., pp. 421-422.] who had only just come in, and Trevelyan + were strong for staying in, as was Carlingford; but the other + members of the Cabinet either wobbled backwards and forwards, or did + not care. At last it was decided by the casting vote of Mr. + Gladstone, if one may use the phrase when there was no actual + voting, that we should try to go on at present so as to carry the + Seats Bill ourselves. + + 'We then turned to the Berber railway, and decided that it should be + a temporary or contractor's line made only so far as might be + necessary for purely military reasons. We then decided that Wolseley + should not be allowed to make himself Governor-General of the + Soudan. + + 'After the Cabinet Chamberlain and I continued our discussion as to + his strong wish to resign. I told him that I wanted to finish the + Seats Bill, that I thought Lord Salisbury might refuse or make + conditions with regard to coming in, that Mr. Gladstone would not + lead in opposition, and that we should seem to be driving him into + complete retirement, and I asked whether we were justified in + running away.' + +Meantime the financial business of the year had to go on, and part of it +was a demand for increased naval expenditure, to which, as has been seen +already, Mr. Gladstone was opposed. + + 'The Navy Estimates were first discussed, and then the Army, and a + sum asked for for the fortification of coaling-stations was refused, + and also a sum asked for for defending the home merchant ports. We + all of us were guilty of unwise haste on this occasion, for the + demand was right; but the chief blame must fall rather on Childers, + Hartington, and the others who had been at the War Office than upon + those who sinned in ignorance.' + +This decision against naval expenditure was a cause of embarrassment to +the Government in the country, for a strong 'big navy' campaign +followed. The real question at issue in the Cabinet became that of +taxation. On March 2nd, and again in April, Sir Charles 'warned Mr. +Gladstone against Childers's proposed Budget'--the rock on which they +finally made shipwreck. 'Mr. Gladstone replied: "The subject of your +note has weighed heavily on my mind, and I shall endeavour to be +prepared for our meeting." I now sent him a memorandum after +consultation with Chamberlain.' + +What Sir Charles wrote in 1885 is nowadays matter of common argument; it +was novel then in the mouth of a practical politician: + + 'I stated at length that, as head of the Poor Law department, I + ought to have knowledge of the pressure of taxation upon the incomes + of the poor. As Chairman of the Royal Commission on the Housing of + the Working Classes, I had had to hear a great deal of evidence upon + the subject of the income of the working classes, and as Chairman of + the recent Conference on Industrial Remuneration had had special + opportunities of further examining the question. It was my opinion + that the position of the agricultural labourers had declined, and + that the Whig or Conservative minority on my Commission, represented + by Mr. Goschen and Lord Brownlow, admitted this contention of mine + as regarded the south of England. The labourers of the south were + unable to procure milk, and relied largely on beer as an article of + food. Their wages had but slightly increased in the twenty years + since 1865, and had decreased considerably since 1879. Food had + slightly risen in price, clothes were nominally cheaper, but the + same amount of wear for the money was not obtainable, and house rent + (where house rent was paid by the labourers) had greatly risen. An + enormous proportion of the income of the rich escaped taxation: + fifty millions a year of their foreign income at the least. The + uncertainty of employment placed the labourer even lower as a + partaker in the income of the country than the statisticians placed + him. The calculations of employers, upon which the estimates of + statisticians were based, were founded upon the higher earnings of + the best workers; and when the matter was examined, it was found + that variation of wages, loss of time, and failure of work, much + lowered the average earnings. The taxation of the working classes + rose to a higher percentage than that of the upper and middle + classes. Mr. Dudley Baxter, who was a Conservative, had admitted + this, and had advocated a reduction in the tobacco duty and the malt + tax. Since that time the tobacco duty had been raised, and the + duties pressing upon beer had been rather raised than lowered.' + +Sir Charles's insistence upon this matter is all the more notable +because foreign complications were rapidly accumulating, and they were +of a gravity which might well have seemed to dwarf all questions of the +incidence of taxation. + +There were not only the difficulties with Germany. There was also the +Soudan, where a large body of British troops was engaged, in a country +the perils of which England had now to realize. + + 'On March 7th there was a Cabinet as to the Suakim-Berber railway. + Northbrook and I, soon joined by Harcourt and Chamberlain, were in + favour of stopping our impossible campaign. I argued that when we + decided to destroy the power of the Mahdi, it was on Wolseley's + telling us that he hoped possibly to take Khartoum at once. For some + weeks after that he had intended to take Berber. Then he had told us + that he at least could occupy Abu Hamed. Now he was in full retreat, + and both his lines of supply--namely, that up the Nile and that from + Suakim--seemed equally difficult. The Chancellor wrote on a slip of + paper for me: "We seem to be fighting three enemies at once. (1) The + Mahdi; (2) certain of our people here; (3) Wolseley." Nothing was + settled, and we passed on to Egyptian finance.' + +March 11th, 'In the evening a despatch was circulated in which Wolseley +said: "Please tell Lord Granville that I cannot wait any longer, and I +must issue proclamation, and will do so on my own authority if I do not +receive answer to this by the 14th. I hope I may be allowed to issue it +as Governor-General." + + 'I at once wrote, "I understood that we had _decided_ that he was + not to be Governor-General, and that the proclamation should not be + issued in the terms proposed"; on which Lord Granville wrote, "Yes. + Cabinet to-morrow.--G." + + 'On Thursday, March 12th, the first matter discussed was that of the + arrest of Zebehr. Then came Wolseley's proclamation, which was + vetoed. We decided that he should not be allowed to make himself + Governor-General of the Soudan.' + +It now seemed more than likely that the British Government would have +work on its hands which would render the employment of an army in the +Soudan very undesirable; for more serious than the Mahdi's movements on +the Nile, more serious than the operations of German Admirals in the +Pacific, was the menace of a Russian advance upon Afghanistan. + +Arrangements had been made for the demarcation of the Afghan frontier +which Sir Charles had persistently urged. A British Commissioner had +been appointed in July, 1884, but at the end of the following November +Russia was still parleying on questions of detail. These, however, +seemed to have been at length resolved; and in January, 1885, the +British Commissioner was waiting in the neighbourhood of Herat for the +Russian Commissioners to join in the work of fixing the boundaries. But +the Russians did not appear; they were, says Sir Charles, 'intriguing at +Penjdeh, and preparing for the blow which later on they struck against +the Afghans.' The Amir evidently felt this, for he renewed the proposal +that he should pay a state visit to the Viceroy, and on January 23rd +Dilke wrote to Grant Duff that this had been accepted. + +February 4th, 'On this day I received a letter from Sir Robert Sandeman +at Quetta, in which he thanked me for the assistance that I had given +him in the retention of Sibi, Pishin, and the Khojak. "It was greatly +due to your support of my representations on the subject that our +influence on this frontier is at present all-powerful."' + +On February 5th, a few hours after the fall of Khartoum was published, + + 'there was a meeting of Ministers as to Central Asia. We decided on + a reply to Russia drawn up by myself and Kimberley, Lord Granville + and Northbrook somewhat dissenting, and Fitzmaurice and Philip + Currie taking no part. + + 'On February 18th we had a meeting of the Central Asia Committee at + the Foreign Office with regard to the Russian advance in the + direction of Penjdeh, Lord Granville, Hartington, Northbrook, + Kimberley, myself, Fitzmaurice, and Currie. We ordered Sir Peter + Lumsden' (Chief of the Boundary Commission), 'in the event of a + Russian advance on Herat, to throw himself and escort into that + city, and to aid the Afghan defence.' + +On March 12th, after deciding to limit Lord Wolseley's schemes in the +Soudan, 'we took a decision that war preparations against Russia should +be made in India.' + + 'On the 20th we decided that if the Russians continued to advance, + 20,000 troops should be concentrated at Quetta. We next gave + instructions to Lord Dufferin with regard to what he was to say to + the Amir of Afghanistan at the interview which was about to take + place between them, and authorized him to renew our guarantee. There + was either a regular or irregular Cabinet on March 24th. We decided + that if the Russians advanced upon Herat, the advance should be + treated as a _casus belli_, and orders to this effect were sent to + Dufferin. At the meeting on April 2nd the Viceroy, Lord Dufferin, + assured the Amir in the presence of his Prime Minister, of Mr. + Durand, and of Captain Talbot, "that a Russian advance on Herat + should be met by war all over the world."' + + 'On April 8th, in public durbar, the Amir, without contradiction + from Lord Dufferin, said: "The British Government has declared it + will assist me in repelling any foreign enemy."' + +Sir Charles was now discussing by letter with Sir Frederick Roberts the +proposals which were preferred by the Defence Committee in India for the +defence of the North-West Frontier, with special emphasis on the further +question whether there was any point at which England could strike at +Russia. [Footnote: See Appendix following on this chapter, pp. 122, +123.] + +Early in April sittings of the Housing Commission in Scotland occasioned +Dilke's absence from a Cabinet at which important phases of the Central +Asian question were discussed. + +April 4th, 'Chamberlain wrote to me an account of all that passed, +pointing out that the Russian answer bade us "give up everything, and +they offer us absolutely nothing by way of concession in return. This +attitude really leaves us no alternative. I am very uncomfortable about +it, because the more I study the matter the more I think that the +Russians are right both in form and in substance--i.e., they have the +pretexts on their side, and they also have a strong argument in favour +of their line, both on the matter of territorial right, and also on the +ground that this line is the only one which insures any chance of +permanent peace. But we cannot have the pill forced down our throats by +Russia without inquiry, or discussion on equal terms.... Harcourt +declares that we have 'closed the door of Peace and opened the door of +War.' The only difference between us is that he is inclined to accept +the alternative of the Russian zone which has been already refused, and +as to which the present Note says in effect that, though they are ready +to go back to this zone, yet it will be of no use, as they are +determined in the end to stick to their line."' + + 'On Thursday, April 9th, there was a Cabinet, which I also missed, + and which considered the conflict at Penjdeh.' [Footnote: On March + 20th, General Komarof with a Russian force had attacked and routed + an Afghan army in the valley of Penjdeh.] + +Every day now had its Cabinet. On April 11th, 13th, and 14th evacuation +of the Soudan was discussed, but Lord Hartington, by a threat of +resignation, secured repeated postponements. + + 'This question was mixed up by some members of the Cabinet with that + of Afghanistan, inasmuch as they said that we could not fight Russia + in Afghanistan, and go on in the Soudan as well; upon which Mr. + Gladstone said of the Soudan, "I am not prepared to go on upon any + terms, Russia or no Russia." + +A new trouble was added when the Egyptian Government suppressed the +_Bosphore Égyptien_, a local paper published in French, and closed the +printing office. Against this the French protested, and in the course of +the quarrel actually broke off diplomatic relations with the Egyptian +Government, which, considering the relations between that Ministry and +the protecting force of Great Britain, pushed unfriendliness very far. +Ultimately the _Bosphore_ was allowed to appear and to print what it +chose, until it died a natural death. + + 'On Monday, April 13th, came a proposal from the Russian Ambassador, + made through Lefevre and Brett, but which was really from Stead; + Brett meaning Stead. Curiously enough, it was a proposal of + Chamberlain's, of which he had previously told us, which had come + back to him in this way. Chamberlain consulted me as to whether he + should tell Mr. Gladstone that it was his, and I told him that I + thought he had better not, as I thought it was more likely to be + successful as coming from the Russian Ambassador and Stead than as + coming from him. It virtually amounted to the plan of Arbitration + which was ultimately adopted, although as a fact the Arbitration + never took place.' + + 'On Wednesday, 15th, there was an informal Cabinet, at which I was + not present, because the Seats Bill was in Committee in the House at + the same time. A form of words with regard to the Soudan was agreed + upon which united Hartington with the others.' + + 'On Thursday, the 16th, Mr. Gladstone misinformed the House of + Commons--the inevitable result from time to time of his habit of + answering without notice questions upon dangerous subjects. A + meeting had taken place between Lord Granville, Kimberley, and + Philip Currie on our side, and Staal, the Russian Ambassador, and + Lessar, the Russian expert, at which Lord Granville showed that we + meant to let Penjdeh go. Lessar paid a newspaper for its support by + telling them. Mr. Gladstone was asked, and replied that he knew + nothing about the matter, while he suggested that Penjdeh was not to + be given up.' + + 'On the 18th the Queen agreed to retirement from the Soudan, with + reservation of future liberty of action.' Whatever happened about + Penjdeh, it was certain that resistance would be offered to Russia. + 'On this day, Monday, April 20th, there was a Cabinet, at which it + was decided to ask for eleven millions in the vote of credit. We + then discussed Lumsden's despatch of explanation as to the Penjdeh + incident, which we decided should be published. The vote of credit + was really partly for Russia and partly for the Soudan, and a + question arose whether it should be proposed as one or as two, and + we decided for one. After which we went back again to the Budget, + and the minority proposed a penny increase on the income tax as + against the increase on beer, after which the Budget was adjourned + to April 30th, it being decided then that the vote of credit should + be taken first.' + + 'On April 20th I received from the Communalist General Cluseret a + long letter in which he offered, on the ground of his profound + sympathy, his services to England against Russia in the event of + war--a document which would have done him little good had it seen + the light when he afterwards stood successfully for my electoral + division in the Var, at a time when French sympathy for Russia was + predominant. + + 'On Tuesday, April 21st, after the Cabinet, I had told Mr. Gladstone + that I could not agree to the increase of the taxation on beer, and + Mr. Gladstone wrote to me twice on that day about the matter. I was + not very sure of Harcourt standing by us, and knew that the pressure + was great, inasmuch as, in addition to the two letters from Mr. + Gladstone, I received one from Edward Hamilton, also dated the 21st, + in which he made the strongest appeal to me on personal grounds not + to worry Mr. Gladstone by resignations. He said that Mr. Gladstone + was overburdened, and that it would take very little to break him + down. Edward Hamilton wrote: "It is a peculiarity of his ... that, + while he can stand the strain of a grave political crisis such as a + question involving peace or war, he succumbs to the strain of a + personal question.... Mr. Gladstone, I know, feels that any + secession, especially of one who has a reputation not confined to + this country, would necessarily weaken greatly the Government, and + from a national point of view this is of all times a moment when + there ought to be a strong Government which can confront Europe and + face the varied difficulties. No one would more gladly escape from + office than Mr. G. himself; but the more attractive is the prospect + of freedom, the less does he dare allow himself to contemplate it."' + +Mr. Gladstone wrote saying that such a secession at such a time would be +serious for the Government, but also, he thought, serious for the +seceder, and Sir Charles replied: + + Local Government Board, + Whitehall, + April 21st, 1885. + + 'I should always let the consideration of what was due to my friends + weigh with me as much as any man, I feel sure, and I am also certain + that considerations of personal loyalty to yourself are as strong + with me now as they are with any member of the Cabinet. I should + never let the other class of considerations--i.e., those personal + to myself--weigh with me at all. Because I am fond of work I am + supposed to be ambitious; but I fancy few politicians are less so, + and I do not mind unpopularity, which, after all, generally rights + itself in the course of years. I knew that this matter would be a + very serious one before I went into it, and I should not have said + what I did had I not felt forced to do so. + + 'If others go with me, the extent of our unpopularity and consequent + loss of future usefulness will depend on our own conduct, and if we + do our duty by firmly supporting the Government through its foreign + and general difficulties, I do not think that even the party will be + ungenerous to us.' + +But Sir Charles finally yielded, and drove a bargain. + + 'On April 24th I had decided at Chamberlain's strong wish to yield + to Childers as to the beer duty; Childers promising in return to + take the Princess Beatrice Committee of Inquiry demand upon himself. + + 'May 9th, the Queen now wished for immediate inquiry--that is, in + other words, preferred the Parliament she knew to the new + Parliament. The Government proposed "next year." It was agreed that + the Government were to guide the Committee whenever it might sit, + and that the Chancellor of the Exchequer should be in the Chair. + + 'Mr. Gladstone wrote me a letter to ease off my surrender on beer + duties, by pointing out the importance of the proposals which were + being made to put realty in the same position as personalty as to + Death Duties. "This must in all likelihood lead to a very serious + struggle with the Tories, for it strikes at the very heart of + class-preference, which is the central point of what I call the + lower and what is now the prevalent Toryism."' + +In the great debate of April 27th, in which Mr. Gladstone proposed a +vote of credit for eleven millions, of which six and a half were for war +preparation in view of the collision between the Afghans and Russians at +Penjdeh, + + 'Mr. Gladstone made perhaps the most remarkable speech that even he + ever delivered, and I have his notes for it with a map I drew for + him before he spoke, to show him the position of the various places. + [Footnote: On this speech see the _Life of Gladstone_, vol. iii., p. + 184; _Life of Granville_, vol. ii., p. 440.] At this time I wrote to + Hartington to suggest that if we were forced into war with Russia we + should attack the Russians at Vladivostock, and the Intelligence + Department wrote a memorandum upon the subject. I also sent round a + paper pointing out that we should fight at the greatest advantage + from a Pacific base, that the help of China would be of moment, and + that Chinese troops drilled and officered by Englishmen would be + irresistible; and Northbrook strongly backed me up. Lumsden was + sending us most violent telegrams, and while I was preparing for war + I was also asking for the recall of Lumsden in favour of Colonel + Stewart. Lord Granville wrote: "Lumsden was a bad appointment, and I + for a moment wished to recall him. But it would be condemned here as + an immense knock-under." [Footnote: See the _Life of Granville_, + vol. ii., pp. 441, 442.] I also suggested that the engineers for + whom the Amir had asked should be carefully picked, and should have + a private Indian allowance for keeping us informed of what passed at + Kabul, and Lord Granville conveyed the suggestion by telegraph to + Lord Dufferin. (This was afterwards done.)' + +Russia unexpectedly withdrew. + + 'On May 2nd there was a sudden Cabinet on the Russian acceptance of + arbitration, Harcourt, Chamberlain, and Carlingford being absent. + Kimberley, the Chancellor, Northbrook, Derby, and I were for + immediate acceptance of the offer; Hartington against; Lord + Granville for amiably getting out of it; Trevelyan and Lefevre + silent; Rosebery late. Mr. Gladstone at first sided with Lord + Granville, then came half way to us, and then proposed that we + should wait a bit till Condie Stephen reached us. I replied by + showing that Condie Stephen was a Jingo, the friend of Drummond + Wolff and of Bowles of _Vanity Fair_, and would make things worse. + Then Mr. Gladstone came completely to our side. Childers drew up in + Cabinet the form for the declaration as to the Select Committee on + the Civil List, and I agreed to it. I wrote what had passed to + Chamberlain, who was at Birmingham, and he replied on the next day + that he trusted that the information about Russia would be + immediately communicated to the House, and went on: "But, then, what + becomes of the vote of credit and the Budget? It seems cheeky to ask + for 6 1/2 millions of Preparations when the matter is practically + settled." + + 'On May 7th the Herat boundary was discussed and a line settled, and + it was decided that either the German Emperor or the King of Denmark + should be named as the Arbitrator about Penjdeh.' Later, 'There was + a meeting of the Commons Ministers to discuss the situation created + by the refusal by Russia of the German Emperor as Arbitrator, the + Queen having previously refused the King of Denmark. The Queen had + ultimately to yield. But, as I have said, the arbitration, although + agreed on, never took place at all.' + +The demarcation of frontier for which Sir Charles had so long contended +was carried through without any marked incident, largely owing to the +skill of Sir J. West Ridgeway, who had succeeded Sir Peter Lumsden. + + + +APPENDIX + + +The Memoir gives the following account of the proposals made for defence +of the North-West Frontier in India in the spring of 1885, and some +observations arising from them: + + 'The general idea was to hold the northern route by an entrenched + position, and, as regards the southern or flank road, to fortify the + mountains before Quetta. Roads and railways were to be made for + concentration in the direction of Kandahar, and Sir Frederick + Roberts afterwards very wisely noted, "It is impossible to threaten + Russia's base, but we should do all in our power to keep it as far + away as possible." Unfortunately, Sir Frederick Roberts afterwards + forgot this, and suggested the possibility of advance upon Herat + with the view to attack Russia at her Sarakhs base. The suggestions + made in 1885 with regard to Kashmir and the Gromul Pass were acted + upon in 1890. Sir Donald Stewart, however, went on to recommend a + railway extension from Peshawur towards Kabul, and Sir Frederick + Roberts, with greater judgment, on succeeding him, vetoed this + scheme. Lord Kitchener revived it, but was not allowed to complete + his work. Sir Donald Stewart's committee recommended the tunnel at + the Khojak, which was carried out. Roberts reported against it, and + he was right. + + 'On the whole, when Sir Frederick Roberts sent me his view on the + defence proposals, I was struck with the contrast between the + completeness of the manner in which a defence scheme for India has + been considered, and the incompleteness, to say the least of it, of + all strategic plans at home. Sir Charles Macgregor put on record at + the same time his view that a mere offensive on the North-West + Frontier of India would be folly, if not madness, and that it would + be necessary also to undertake offensive operations against Russia. + Quite so, according to all rules of war, and if ultimate defeat is + to be avoided. Unfortunately, however, it is not easy to attack + Russia, and the proposals made by Sir Charles Macgregor would not + bear investigation. Sir Frederick Roberts himself afterwards tried + his hand at proposals of his own in a Memorandum entitled, "What are + Russia's vulnerable points?" But I do not know that he was more + successful, and I fear that his first question, "Has Russia any + vulnerable points?" must, if we are looking to permanency, and not + to merely temporary measures, be answered in the negative, except as + regards Vladivostock--a case I put. After much correspondence with + me on this last memorandum, Sir Frederick Roberts quoted me, without + naming me, as having, to his regret, informed him that English + public opinion would oppose a Turkish alliance, that a Turkish + alliance would not be of much use if we could obtain it, and that + apart even from these considerations we could not obtain it if we + wished.' + +The importance which Sir Charles attached to Vladivostock, as the +vulnerable point at which Russia could be attacked in time of war, +explains his regret when Port Hamilton, which threatened Vladivostock, +was abandoned. [Footnote: See _Life of Lord Granville_, vol. ii., p. +440; and _Europe and the Far East_, by Sir Robert K. Douglas, pp. 190, +248, 249.] + + 'May, 1885.--The Port Hamilton matter began about this time. We had + seized it, and, as Northbrook and I agreed, "for naval reasons we + ought to keep it." Northbrook also wrote that he was laying a cable + from Shanghai to Port Hamilton, which he thought a most important + precaution in time of war; but Port Hamilton was afterwards given up + because the sailors found it dull--an insufficient reason.' + + + + +CHAPTER XL + +REDISTRIBUTION: COERCION AND DEVOLUTION + +1885 + + +I. + +The year 1885 saw the Seats Bill, with its numerous compromises in +detail, passed into law, but not without attendant difficulties. + + 'On Ash Wednesday, February 18th, I saw Sir Stafford Northcote, and + settled with him, in view of the meeting of the House on the next + day, the whole course of affairs for the 19th and 20th, under guise + of discussing details of the Seats Bill. After we had parted, + Northcote wrote to me that on consideration he had come to the + conclusion that he must give notice of a vote of censure, but our + amicable communication continued on the next day. "On + consideration," with Northcote, always meant "After bullying by + Randolph."' + +In the process of settlement there were constant meetings with Lord +Salisbury and Sir Stafford Northcote together, with Lord John Manners, +with Sir Michael Hicks Beach; while on the Conservative scheme for Irish +grouping + + 'I saw Healy for them, to discover if the thing could be done by + general consent; and, although Healy did not oppose right out, the + prospect of an agreement on details was far from promising. Healy + and I took the opportunity to discuss the Parnell-Chamberlain Irish + National Board scheme, of which I had written to Grant Duff on + January 23rd, "Chamberlain has a grand scheme for an Irish Board."' + +March 6th.--'Healy having told me that he was sure Lord Salisbury had +"rigged" the Irish Boundary Commission, and I having written this to +Spencer, I received an indignant denial. "If indignation were justified +at anything that Healy says, I should indignantly deny his accusation."' + + 'Between March 11th and 13th the Conservatives had given me a good + deal of trouble by trying, under pressure from their friends, to + vary the Seats Agreement upon several points.... They then attacked + the two-member towns in England, which, it may be remembered, had + been insisted on by Mr. Gladstone against my wish; and Northcote + wrote: "Lord Salisbury and I never liked that _privilegium_, and + wished to have single-member constituencies everywhere"; he tried + hard to get me to reopen the question, knowing doubtless that I was + with him on the merits. He continued to press the question as late + as March 15th, when he wrote: "Our men are getting hard to hold, + and, having twice walked through the lobby almost alone, I have no + taste for repeating the operation." Conference with Lord Salisbury + followed, and the final stages were reached: from Monday, March + 23rd, I had the Seats Bill in Committee four days a week.' + +The essential fact in these dealings is that emphasized by Mr. Howel +Thomas, Secretary to the Boundary Commission: + + 'No political or other pressure would induce Sir Charles--and the + strongest pressure was used again and again--even to contemplate a + departure from the spirit of the compact. When once an agreement + became possible, he would spare no trouble to modify details. But + without agreement, however strong the argument for a change, nothing + was listened to.' + + 'On May 6th I received from Sir John Lambert, the retired Permanent + Secretary of the Local Government Board, a most grateful letter + about the Privy Councillorship, which had been announced to him by + Mr. Gladstone, and which no man ever more greatly deserved as an + honour, or by his character more greatly honoured.' [Footnote: John + Lambert's letter to Sir Charles contained these words: 'I have had + the opportunity of assisting you in a work which has placed you in + the very foremost rank of statesmen, and I have formed a friendship + which is one of the most gratifying incidents of my declining + years.'] + + 'On the morning of May 9th I received a letter from Northcote, + congratulating me on the manner in which I had conducted the + Redistribution Bill "through its difficult stages.... Let me thank + you once more for the great consideration, as well as the perfect + loyalty, with which you have dealt with the numerous questions, and + congratulate you on having brought your ship so well into port."' + [Footnote: Upon a table in the larger drawing-room at 76, Sloane + Street there stood always a bronze 'Victory' sent by Sir George + Trevelyan to Sir Charles to celebrate the passing of the + Redistribution Bill, with these words: + + 'Dear Dilke,--The bronze is a Victory on a globe. The Victory is + obvious. The globe below signifies the manner in which your conduct + of the Redistribution Bill got the Tory Press under your feet. I am + pleased to think that, as a work of art, it may pass muster even + before such an artist as the future Lady Dilke.... It is a copy of a + Herculaneum bronze.... I cannot help hoping that you will think it + not unworthy of the event which it is meant to commemorate.'] + +But 'port' was not finally reached till after the fall of the Ministry +in June. + +Work on the Housing Commission was also practically completed. +Throughout the year the Report had been under discussion. + +On February 16th 'I told Chamberlain that the Labourers' Ireland +Committee had "advised taking of land under compulsory powers in order +to attach it to cottages"--a proposal which was afterwards carried; to +which Chamberlain replied: "And your Commission?" and I answered: "We +_shall_, I hope, but Lord Salisbury is jibbing since your speeches" (on +the unauthorized programme). + + 'On March 11th, at the meeting of my Housing Commission, Lord + Salisbury proposed what Goschen at once described as "Revolution," + and Broadhurst "Socialism." He wanted to give public money out of + taxes to London. It may have been silly, but it was not either + revolutionary or socialistic.' + +When it came to the point of acting on the Report, the Tory leader was +very far from revolutionary; on June 4th, + + 'I was also seeing Lord Salisbury as to the Housing Commission + Bills, which he was to introduce into the House of Lords, [Footnote: + Sir Charles was to take charge of the measures in the Commons.] He + was strongly opposed to putting it into the power of Boards of + Guardians "to build out of the rates as many cottages, with half- + acres attached, as they like, taking for the purpose any land + they please." In another letter he wrote: "I should provide that-- + (1) The Local Authority must pass a petition to the Local Government + Board to apply the Acts. (2) The Local Government Board must send + down and inquire with a long notice. (3) If the Local Government + Board inspector reports (i.) that the poorer classes of the parish + are not, and are not likely to be, sufficiently housed without the + application of the Acts; (ii.) that the Acts can be applied without + ultimate loss to the ratepayers, then a vote of the local + authorities should be sufficient to apply the Acts. It would be + better that a sufficient interval should be passed in these + processes to insure that the second vote should be given by a newly + elected local authority."' + +On April 4th to 9th the Housing Commission visited Scotland. + + 'On the evening of April 4th I dined with the Lord Provost of + Edinburgh. On Easter Day I attended the Kirk with the Lord Provost, + hearing a magnificent sermon by Principal Caird, and in the evening + dined with the Lord Advocate. On Easter Tuesday I dined with the + Convention of Royal Burghs. On Thursday, April 9th, we left + Edinburgh for London.' + +There remained only the question of inquiring and reporting with regard +to Ireland, and here perplexities abounded. + +As far back as February 7th at the Cabinet, 'the third matter discussed +was that of the proposed visit of the Prince of Wales to Dublin as a +member of my Commission, or, by himself, in advance of the visit of the +Commission. It was decided that Parliament could not be asked for his +expenses without trouble with the Irish.' + +April 9th.--'I now began discussing with Spencer the conditions on which +the Commission was to appear at Dublin, with regard to which there were +great difficulties. Gray was on the Commission, but could not be +Spencer's guest in any way, although, on the other hand, he and his +friends were willing to receive me in spite of my being a member of the +Government. [Footnote: Mr. Dwyer Gray, Nationalist member for Carlow in +1885. In 1886 he represented St. Stephen's Green, Dublin.] Spencer, in +inviting me to stay with him, wrote: "I do not think you will fear the +denunciation of _United Ireland_." + + 'On April 17th I entered in my diary, after the meeting of the Royal + Commission at which we signed our report: "Pleasures of Ireland. If + we stay with Spencer, the Irish witnesses say that they will not + appear before the Commission; and if we do not, I am told that the + 'loyalists' will not appear." On this day I wrote to Grant Duff: "I + may go" (out) "with Chamberlain over Budget [Footnote: + Correspondence with Mr. Gladstone on the Budget and the Beer Tax has + been given in the previous chapter, pp. 118-120.] or over Irish + Coercion." He replied, and my rejoinder will be found below.' + [Footnote: Sir Charles's summary of this letter will be found in + this chapter (p. 143).] + +Trouble had arisen also over Mr. Childers's wish to increase the duty on +sparkling wines. This Sir Charles strongly opposed + + 'on the ground that it would upset the French and make them withdraw + the most favoured nation treatment which I had won, and the matter + was adjourned.' + + 'On Saturday, May 16th, there was another Cabinet. Childers proposed + to raise the wine duties, to reduce by one-half his proposed + increase on spirits, and to limit to one year his increase on beer. + We all agreed, against Childers, to postpone any announcement of + changes for three weeks, and Childers, thinking that this meant that + we had agreed not to take his proposals, said that he would resign.' + +April 24th.--'I had now received Spencer's consent to my quitting the +Viceregal Lodge, when at Dublin at Whitsuntide, for one evening, to +attend a party at Gray's, which was the virtual condition of our not +being boycotted by the Nationalists.' + +Negotiations between the Irish party and both English parties were at +this time in the air, and it will be seen that this visit to Ireland +became connected with political issues quite different from its +ostensible and non-controversial object. + + +II. + +Early in 1885 anti-Irish feeling, which to some extent had been allayed, +was again roused by dynamite outrages. One bomb was exploded in the +Tower of London, and two in the precincts of Parliament. The general +temper may be judged by an entry of February 7th: + + 'I remonstrated with Harcourt as to the restrictions at the House, + which he and the Speaker had agreed on, so far as they affected the + Press. I said that it was ridiculous to shut out little Lucy, the + "Toby" of _Punch_, and Harcourt gravely assured me that Lucy was a + man who would willingly bring dynamite into the House himself; after + which I had no more to say.' + +It was in face of this feeling that Mr. Chamberlain had drafted a scheme +giving very large powers of self-government to an Irish popularly +elected body. + +When Sir Charles was declaring for resignation, he received a +communication which made the Irish matter pressing. + + 'On April 22nd Cardinal Manning wrote to me that he had some + information of importance which he wished for an opportunity of + making known to me, and he begged me to come to him on my way to + Whitehall on the morrow. I had to see Lord Salisbury and Sir + Stafford Northcote as to the Seats Bill, and it was not until the + afternoon that I was able to see the Cardinal. He spoke in the name + of Croke and another Roman Catholic Irish Archbishop, and of five + Irish Roman Catholic Bishops who had been staying with him, the + latter being a deputation of five to Rome who represented "the 14 + Bishops." He said that Croke had become frightened of the extreme + Nationalists. The Cardinal declared that the Roman Catholic clergy + were ready to pacify Ireland if we would pass Chamberlain's Local + Government Ireland Scheme, with a Central Board such as Chamberlain + proposed. The Bishops and clergy would be prepared to denounce, not + only separation, but also an Irish Parliament. I had reason to know + that Lord Spencer was unfavourable to any negotiation with Cardinal + Manning, but on the 24th, having that day again seen Manning, who + put the dots on the "i's" and volunteered that if the Irish Bishops + got the elective board for Ireland they would denounce as + revolutionary an Irish Parliament, I wrote to Mr. Gladstone stating + Manning's views, and suggesting that Chamberlain should see the + Cardinal on the morrow. [Footnote: See the next two pages, where + accounts of these interviews and correspondence occur.] + + 'I said in my letter to Mr. Gladstone: "I knew that the Pope, in + sending for the Bishops to Rome, had acted on Manning's advice. I + also knew that Manning bitterly resented Errington's visits to Rome. + This was all I knew on the subject until to-day, when Manning + suddenly proposed to me to bring about peace and good-will in + Ireland on the basis of Chamberlain's Local Government and Central + Board Scheme.... Manning has got a pledge from the Roman Catholic + Bishops, including even Archbishop Croke ... and from Davitt, to + denounce separation. He has got from the Bishops, including Croke, a + declaration against an Irish Parliament, provided they obtain the + Local Government Central Board. I suggested that he should see + Chamberlain at once, and learn secretly the details of his + proposals. He said nothing of coercion, and I, of course, avoided + the subject, as I did not know whether a coercion Bill is to be + proposed. I should suggest that Manning be encouraged to let the + Pope have Chamberlain's scheme." + + 'I sent this memorandum to Chamberlain and to Lord Spencer, as well + as to Mr. Gladstone, and Chamberlain wrote: "I am quite willing to + call on the Cardinal if Mr. Gladstone approves." Lord Spencer wrote: + "The question of Mr. Chamberlain's seeing the Cardinal with a view + of his scheme being made known to the Pope is for Mr. Gladstone's + decision, but I would venture to say that he should not disclose his + plan to the Cardinal unless the Cabinet agree to it." This last + memorandum from Lord Spencer is dated the 25th, but on the 24th + Chamberlain, Mr. Gladstone having consented, had seen the Cardinal. + I also saw the Cardinal again on the 25th, and he told me that in + his opinion it was essential that Dr. Walsh should be made + Archbishop of Dublin. He also told me that he was going to see + Parnell on the Chamberlain scheme. On April 30th the Cardinal saw + Parnell, and told him that the Bishops would support Chamberlain in + the Local Government of Ireland scheme. Parnell promised that he + would support it, and would not obstruct the Crimes Bill. So O'Shea + told me, and showed me a paper unsigned, which purported to be, and + which, knowing the hand, I believe was, Parnell's writing, somewhat + to this effect. On the 28th a Committee of the Cabinet had been + appointed on Chamberlain's Irish Local Government and Central + Council scheme. On May 1st the Cardinal told me of his interview + with Parnell, and of a more completely satisfactory interview + between himself and Sexton. + + 'The scheme was one which proposed the establishment in Ireland of a + national elective Council, to which were to be referred matters at + present in the hands of some four Boards at Dublin Castle. Mr. + Gladstone's consent to Chamberlain's interview with the Cardinal had + been given in conversation at the House of Commons on the 23rd, and + I have a letter from Mr. Gladstone stating this. I had probably, for + some reason which I forget, both written and spoken to him after my + first interview with Manning on the 22nd, and put the matter again + in a letter (possibly to go to Spencer) on the 24th. I have also a + letter from Chamberlain on the 24th, saying that his interview with + Manning "quite confirms your minute, and the position is hopeful." + With regard to the Cardinal's insisting upon Walsh, and his anger at + Errington's interference, I had a letter which I sent to Lord + Spencer, and which he kept, but returned my minute referring to the + Cardinal's letter, endorsed only "S. 25-4-85." Chamberlain also + wrote on the same day, again stating that his interview with the + Cardinal had been highly satisfactory, and adding: "Do not let Mr. + Errington meddle with the Archbishopric of Dublin." On April 26th + the Cardinal had again written to me about the Errington business + and the See of Dublin, and this second letter on the subject I kept. + The only new point in it was that contained in the following phrase: + "I have an impression that efforts have been made to represent Dr. + Walsh as a Nationalist. He is not more so than I am; and whether + that is excessive or obstructive you will judge." + + 'On Tuesday, April 28th, the Cardinal again spoke to me as to the + archbishopric, expressing his great vexation as to Spencer's action + through Errington. I sent a minute to Spencer which he returned, + writing, with regard to Manning's moderate opinions: "I wish it may + be so. Responsibility does wonders. Maynooth is so bad that the Pope + is now discussing it with the Bishops." Dr. Walsh, Manning's + candidate, was President of Maynooth. I sent Spencer's minute to + Chamberlain, who returned it with a strong minute of his own for + Spencer, who again wrote: "H.E. the Cardinal is wrong in his + estimate of Dr. Walsh." On April 30th Manning wrote mentioning a + further conversation with Parnell, and adding: "The result is that I + strongly advise the prompt introduction of the scheme I have in + writing. It cannot be known too soon. But both on general and on + particular reasons I hope that neither you nor your friend will + dream of the act you spoke of. Government are pledged in their first + Queen's Speech to county government in Ireland. Let them redeem + their pledge. All the rest will follow." The "act," of course, was + resignation.' + + 'At the Cabinet Committee of May 1st on Ireland, Carlingford and + Harcourt, in Spencer's interest, violently attacked Chamberlain's + scheme; Hartington less violently; Childers, Lefevre, and Trevelyan + supported. Spencer seeming to waver, Harcourt rather turned round, + and Mr. Gladstone afterwards told Chamberlain that Carlingford's + opposition did not matter. + + 'On May 1st I again saw Manning, who told me of further interviews + with Parnell and Sexton. I noted in my diary: "2nd to 6th. The Irish + row--Mr. Gladstone between Chamberlain and Spencer: the deep sea and + the devil, or the devil and the deep sea--continues." + + 'On May 7th the Cardinal wrote: "How can the _Standard_ have got the + Irish scheme? Nothing is secret and nobody is safe. My copy of it is + both safe and secret." On May 8th I wrote to Grant Duff: + "Chamberlain and I have a big Irish Local Government scheme on hand, + which is backed by the R. C. Bishops--which may either pacify + Ireland or break up the Government." On the 9th, Harcourt having + come over, Chamberlain's scheme received the support of all the + Commoners except Hartington, and was opposed by all the peers except + Lord Granville. Mr. Gladstone said to me in leaving the room: + "Within six years, if it pleases God to spare their lives, they will + be repenting in ashes." At night he wrote to Lord Spencer and to + Hartington that he intended to go out upon this question. + + 'During Sunday, May 10th, Harcourt tried hard to patch matters up on + the basis of "No Home Rule, no coercion, no remedial legislation, no + Ireland at all."' + +On May 13th 'Cardinal Manning dined with me, and we further discussed +the position of Chamberlain's scheme.' + +Then suddenly a new and complicating factor was introduced: + + 'On Friday, May 15th, there was another Cabinet, from which + Trevelyan was absent through illness. A Land Purchase Ireland Bill + was suddenly presented to us, to which I expressed strong + opposition, unless it were to be accompanied by "Chamberlain's Local + Government scheme"; and a Coercion Bill was also presented to us, + against which Chamberlain, Lefevre, and I, protested. We, however, + declared that we would yield as regards some points in the Coercion + Bill provided the Land Purchase Bill were dropped or the "Local + Government measure" introduced.' [Footnote: A Land Purchase Bill had + been proposed in the end of April, 1884, by Lord Spencer, which + after preliminary consideration by a Committee was discussed in + Cabinet. + + 'I opposed the whole thing. Lord Derby gave five reasons against it, + all five unanswerable, and then supported it. Northbrook agreed with + me. Childers, supported by a unanimous Cabinet committee, proposed a + scheme of Chamberlain's suggestion for advancing the whole purchase + money. Spencer proposed three-fourths. Mr. Gladstone had a scheme of + his own which nobody could understand. Spencer insisted on counting + heads. Lord Granville, who would, of course, have supported Mr. + Gladstone, had gone away. Trevelyan, who had been called in, was not + allowed to vote, and the result was that the majority pronounced + against Chamberlain's scheme; Spencer who was for three-fourths, and + I against the whole thing, voting together with Carlingford, + Northbrook, the Chancellor, Hartington, and Dodson--a scratch + lot--against Mr. Gladstone, Childers, Harcourt, Kimberley, Derby, + and Chamberlain.'] + + 'On Sunday, May 17th, I dined with Edward Levy Lawson, [Footnote: + Afterwards the first Lord Burnham.] and met the Prince of Wales and + Randolph Churchill; and Randolph told the Prince and myself that + which he had previously told the Irish members--namely, that + Salisbury had promised to have no coercion; but I noted in my diary + that I did not believe this. I was wrong, for Salisbury afterwards + said at Newport that his mind had been made up against coercion long + before the change of Government. I knew that Randolph had seen + Parnell, as I had twice seen them together in Gosset's room, which + only Randolph and I ever used before 5 p m.' + +There were now two separate subjects of division leading to resignations +in the Cabinet. There were those who would resign unless coercion was +renewed, and there was the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who was +resigning because he could not get his way as to the Budget. His +resignation was 'suspended'; but Mr. Gladstone was evidently anxious to +be out of it all. + + 'On the Sunday Childers informed us that he would go on for three + weeks. On Wednesday afternoon, May 20th, Mr. Gladstone spoke to me + at the House, and told me that he would go on until the end of the + Session, and would then resign, and that Hartington would try to + form a Government, although he might fail in getting one that could + agree on Irish proposals. Mr. Gladstone said nothing about land + purchase, but in the course of the afternoon he suddenly announced + publicly the introduction of a Land Purchase Bill, thinking, I + believe, that he had Chamberlain's consent to a Bill limited to one + year. I at once wrote him a letter of resignation, and then sent off + for Chamberlain, Lefevre, and Trevelyan. + + 'Chamberlain's interview with Mr. Gladstone that had misled the + latter had taken place after the Cabinet of Saturday--I think on the + morning of Monday, the 18th--and their meeting was on the subject of + Childers's Budget proposals. Chamberlain, writing to me about it, + said: "We are likely to want four millions less money. Therefore, + says Childers, let us have a new Budget and clap an additional tax + of £300,000 on wine." Chamberlain also wrote to me, after his + interview with Mr. Gladstone, on the Monday afternoon, telling me + that Randolph Churchill was going to give notice of a Committee to + inquire into the state of Ireland, that Churchill thought that we + should be out by that time and supporting him, and that he + contemplated a separation from his own leaders, and a union, on a + Radical Irish policy for "Local Government," and against coercion, + of the two sides from below the gangway. Chamberlain added that, if + the Russian matter "were out of the way, Mr. Gladstone would let us + go, and I think _we must go_." This correspondence had left me + unaware of any change in Chamberlain's view, if there was any, about + the Land Purchase Bill. As soon as Chamberlain reached the House on + the 20th, and heard from me what I had done, he also wrote a letter + of resignation; but he was not pleased, and perhaps rightly, at my + having taken so strong a step without consulting him on the precise + point. + + 'In Chamberlain's letter, which was sent at 6 p.m. on the 20th, he + said: "Dear Mr. Gladstone,--I have heard with great surprise that + you have this afternoon given notice of the introduction of a Land + Purchase Bill for Ireland, unaccompanied by any reference to the + large scheme of Local Government, the promise of which for next year + was the condition of the assent given by Sir Charles Dilke and + myself to the proposal for dealing with Land Purchase during the + present Session. I am convinced that a measure of the kind suggested + by Lord Spencer will have a distinct tendency to increase the + agitation for a separation between the two countries, and at the + same time will seriously prejudice the success of any such scheme of + Local Government as I have submitted to the Cabinet.... In the + circumstances I feel that I have no alternative but to place my + resignation in your hands." + + 'On the morning of May 21st Lefevre informed us that he should go + with us, and also wrote a letter of resignation, in which he said + that he did not agree with us as to Land Purchase, but that as we + went he must go, too, on coercion. + + 'Mr. Gladstone sent for me on the 21st, and I suggested a way out, + in our acceptance of the Land Purchase Bill, with a promise of "the + Local Government Scheme" for 1886. Mr. Gladstone fell in with this + view, and proposed that at Dublin, for which I was starting on + Friday morning, May 22nd, I should try to get Spencer's consent to + the limitation of the new Coercion Bill to a single year, and the + promise of the "Local Government Bill" for 1886. On the 21st Mr. + Gladstone wrote to me several times, as did also Chamberlain. Mr. + Gladstone had written to Chamberlain on the night of the 20th: "I + have never been in greater surprise than at the fresh trouble + developed this afternoon. I believed myself to be acting entirely + within the lines of your and Dilke's concurrence, and surely I am + right in thinking that you could not have supposed that the notice + of an intention to bring in a Bill offered the occasion on which to + refer to the distinct though allied subject of Local Government. + What I understood to be your and Dilke's procedure was to agree to a + Land Purchase Bill with a provision of funds for one year, which + would leave the whole measure ... dependent on a fresh judgment + which might be associated with Local Government as its condition. It + seems to me to be a matter which we may perfectly well consider, and + hope to arrange, in what terms reference shall be made to Local + Government when the Bill is brought in. Will not that be the time to + part, if part we must, which I do not believe? I send a copy of this + to Dilke, and will only add, to the expression of my surprise, my + deep concern." + + 'When I received a letter from Mr. Gladstone, enclosing a copy of + his to Chamberlain, I replied (first showing my answer to Lefevre + and sending it to Chamberlain) to the effect that the proposal to + introduce a Land Purchase Bill had been discussed by and rejected by + the Cabinet, that I could not concur in the reversal of its + judgment, and that, thinking as I did that a deliberate opinion of + the Cabinet had been disregarded without warrant, and having, so + thinking, resigned, I should be unable to attend any meeting of the + Cabinet if one were summoned. I have a letter from Chamberlain to Mr + Gladstone dated 21st, and two later ones from Mr. Gladstone to + myself. Chamberlain said: + + '"My Dear Mr. Gladstone, + + '"I fear there has been a serious misapprehension on both sides with + respect to a Land Purchase Bill, and I take blame to myself if I did + not express myself with sufficient clearness. I certainly never + imagined that the promise of introduction would be made without + further reference to the Cabinet, or without some definite decision + as to Local Government. I doubt very much if it is wise or even + right to attempt to cover over the serious differences of principle + that have lately disclosed themselves in the Cabinet. I think it is + now certain that they will cause a split in the new Parliament, and + it seems hardly fair to the constituencies that this should only be + admitted after they have discharged their functions, and when they + are unable to influence the result. + + '"I am, + + '"Yours sincerely, + + '"J. CHAMBERLAIN." + + 'They _did_ "cause" a split in the new Parliament, but Spencer the + Coercionist and Chamberlain the Nationalist had changed places!' + + 'I do not know which of Mr. Gladstone's two letters dated the 21st + is the earlier. In the one Mr. Gladstone wrote: "I hope that my note + may have shown you that the time for considering your difficulty (if + there be one) has not arrived. Please to tell me if this is so, as + if it were not I should have to summon the Cabinet this afternoon to + report what has happened. The messenger will wait for an answer.-- + Yours sincerely, W. E. Gladstone.--This is also for Chamberlain." I + replied somewhat curtly that if there were a Cabinet I could not + attend. The other letter referred to a conversation which had taken + place between Hamilton and Chamberlain, and said that the latter was + "willing that his letter should stand as _non avenu_ until after the + recess--i.e. (so I understand it), we should, before the Bill is + introduced, consider in what terms the subject of Local Government + should be referred to when the Bill is introduced. I am not trying + to bind you to this understanding, but if you and he will come here + at 3.0 we will try to get at the bottom of the matter." My reply + was: + + '"21st May. + + '"I certainly cannot withdraw my resignation unless the incident is + explained to the whole of the members of the Cabinet. If you could + see your way to circulate a box explaining that we were not + consenting parties to the reversal of the opinion of the Cabinet, + then I would try to help find some way out. I am, however, hopeless + as to the wisdom of doing so. We differ so completely on the + questions which will occupy the time of Parliament for the remainder + of the Session that I feel that the Cabinet cannot hold together + with advantage to the country. Lefevre strongly agrees with this + view Northbrook and Hartington, who, with Lefevre, were against + Chamberlain and myself on the merits, evidently felt as amazed as we + were at the reversal of the decision."' + + 'At this moment Chamberlain wrote to Mrs. Pattison' (in India) 'to + say that the times were "most anxious. Mr. Gladstone is certainly + going to retire soon, and the influence which has held together + discordant elements will be removed with him. Fortunately, we know + our own minds, and are not deficient in resolution, but it is not + always easy to see clearly the right times and way of giving effect + to our decisions. I do not myself believe that the struggle between + us and the Whigs can be long postponed. It has nearly come over the + question of Ireland, and even now we may be compelled to break off + on this vital point. In any case we shall not join another + Government nor meet another Parliament without a decision; and if it + is against our views, the split will be final and complete, and we + shall be out of office until we can lead a purely Radical + Administration. We must win in the end, but the contest will be a + bitter one, and may lead us farther than we contemplate at + present.... I was dining last Saturday with Lord Ripon, who + professed to be well pleased ... and declared his full adhesion to + the new gospel; but the majority of his class and school are getting + thoroughly frightened, and will probably quicken and intensify the + movement by setting themselves against it, instead of trying to + guide and direct it. A good deal depends on Lord Hartington. He is + constitutionally contemptuous of, and unsympathetic with, the + democratic sentiment of the times." + + 'By our telegrams of May 21st, I saw that on the 20th Sir John Kirk, + our man at Zanzibar, had been snubbed by Lord Granville, and I felt + that if I went out upon the Irish Question I should be able at least + to speak my mind as to the manner in which we had pandered to the + Germans on the Zanzibar coast. + + 'On May 21st I wrote to Grant Duff: "Mr. G. will resign at the end + of the session. I rather doubt Hartington being able to form a + Government." + + 'On the morning of Friday, May 22nd, I left for Dublin, and by + teatime was at the Viceregal Lodge.' + +On the previous day Sir Charles had written: + + 'Local Government Board, + 'May 21st, 1885. + + 'My Dear Grant Duff, + + 'Off to Ireland, where I expect to be Boycotted by both sides + [Footnote: It turned out the other way.]--by the Nationalists + because I stay with Spencer, and by the Orangemen because we sit at + the Mansion House. + + 'Yours, + 'Chs. W. D.' + + 'As Mr. Gladstone at our last interview had bid me convert Spencer + if I could, and virtually promised that he would support our views + if Spencer would, I had asked Trevelyan and Harcourt to back me up + in letters. Harcourt made delay. Trevelyan wrote on the 23rd: "I am + sorry the whole thing is in the newspapers, and see in it another + reason for getting it settled. If you and Chamberlain make it a + point to have the Bill for a year, I should be glad to see the + concession made. The concession on the part of those who take + another view would not be greater than was made by those of us who + objected to have a Land Bill that was not based upon a new system of + Local Government." + + 'Early in the morning of Saturday, the 23rd, before the meeting of + my Commission at the City Hall, I had had a long talk with Spencer, + and I felt, more strongly than I ever had before, that his position + in Dublin was untenable, and that he ought to be allowed to go. On + Whit Sunday I attended church with Spencer, and in the afternoon + took him for the only walk which he had enjoyed for a long time. We + passed the spot where Lord Frederick Cavendish was killed, and + accompanied by a single aide-de-camp, but watched at a distance by + two policemen in plain clothes, and met at every street corner by + two others, walked to the strawberry gardens, and on our return, it + being a lovely Sunday when the Wicklow Mountains were at their best + and the hawthorn in bloom, met thousands of Dublin people driving + out to the strawberry gardens on cars. In the course of the whole + long walk but one man lifted his hat to Spencer, who was universally + recognized, but assailed by the majority of those we met with shouts + of, "Who killed Myles Joyce?" [Footnote: One of several men hanged + for the Maamtrasna murders. All the other men sentenced protested + that Myles Joyce was innocent, and died protesting it. Strong + efforts were made to gain a reprieve for this lad.] while some + varied the proceedings by calling "Murderer!" after him. A few days + later, when I was driving with Lady Spencer in an open carriage, a + well-dressed bicyclist came riding through the cavalry escort, and + in a quiet, conversational tone observed to us, "Who killed Myles + Joyce?" At his dinner-party on the Sunday evening Spencer told us + that a Roman Catholic priest [Footnote: Father Healy, parish priest + of Bray, and most famous of modern Irish talkers.] who was present + (the Vicar of Bray, I think, but not _the_ Bray) was the only priest + in Ireland who would enter his walls, while the Castle was boycotted + by every Archbishop and Bishop. On Monday morning, the 25th, Whit + Monday, I paid a visit to the Mansion House at the request of the + Lord Mayor of Dublin, taking by Spencer's leave the Viceregal + carriages there, where they had in his second viceroyalty not been + before, and was received by the Lord Mayor in state, which consisted + in much exhibition of the most gorgeous porter (in green and gold) + that my eyes had ever beheld. I afterwards went on to see Hamilton, + [Footnote: Sir Robert Hamilton, who had succeeded Mr. Bourke as the + permanent head of Dublin Castle.] the Under-Secretary. He offered us + as a maximum County Boards plus a Central Education Board for + Ireland, to administer all the grants with rating powers, and to be + called a great experiment to be extended if it answered. In the + evening I discussed this with Spencer, who went a little farther, + and offered, in addition to County Boards, four elective Central + Boards for Ireland, to discharge much the same duties which + Chamberlain's scheme gave to the Central Board; but Spencer + obstinately refused to take the plunge of making the four Boards + into one Board. It was on this point that we broke off; and he never + got farther forward until after the Government had gone out. He has + since declared that his conversion to a more advanced Home Rule + scheme than that of Chamberlain, which he had refused, was caused by + the return of a certain majority of Nationalist members; but he was + perfectly aware at this time what that majority would be, and I + confess that I have never been able to understand why Hamilton and + Spencer should have held out as they did in May against the moderate + scheme, and have supported the extreme one as early as July, which I + believe to have been the case. Had Spencer yielded at this moment, + it is at least possible that the Irish question would have been + settled. At all events, there has never been in our time so fair a + chance of settlement. + + 'On Tuesday, the 26th, I heard from Lefevre, who wrote strongly + against the Coercion Bill for Spencer's benefit, but added in a + separate letter that he regarded the notice in the _Birmingham Post_ + as indicating that Chamberlain had been talking freely about the + dissensions in the Cabinet, and that if this was so he considered it + unfortunate, as tending to increase the difficulty of getting any + further concessions from Spencer or other members of the Cabinet who + favoured coercion. + + 'On Tuesday evening the Commission dined with Gray, and met Dr. + Walsh, the new Archbishop; but at Dr. Walsh's wish I had gone to + Gray's house half an hour before dinner to see the Archbishop + privately, and to be thanked by him for the part that I had taken in + trying to prevent opposition to the choice. In the evening Gray had + a party at which both sides were represented, Chief Justice Morris + being among those present. Gray's house, although the Spencers + disliked him, was one at which the parties always met as much as is + possible at all in Ireland. When Gray came out of gaol after his + imprisonment he gave a small dinner, at which were present the Judge + who had sentenced him, the gaoler who had had him in custody, and + the prosecuting counsel. The most interesting man at Gray's was + Fottrell, the man whose memoirs ought to be interesting, for he had + acted as intermediary between the Castle (that is, Hamilton) and + Parnell at the time when secret communications were passing between + them, although openly they were at war. + + 'Dickson, the Ulster Liberal member, [Footnote: M.P. For Dungannon, + Tyrone, 1880-1885. He afterwards became a leading Unionist.] was at + Gray's, and he announced that he had at last come over to + Chamberlain's scheme. Now, Hartington was crossing the next day to + stay at the Viceregal Lodge, and was to speak at Belfast under + Dickson's auspices, and the announcement of Dickson's change of + front was a startling blow to him and Spencer. + + 'On the morning of Wednesday, the 27th, I wrote to Grant Duff: "A + pretty pass you Whigs have brought this country to! I really think + we Radicals ought to be allowed to try. We certainly could not do it + _worse_. 'Poland' has been a byword, yet Poland is far less of a + weakness to Russia than Ireland to us, and the Russians have now the + Polish peasantry with them, if they have the towns and nobles + against them. _We_ have _no_ friends in Ireland. All our policy has + aimed at conciliating at least Ulster, and now Ulster is fast + becoming as Nationalist as Cork. The Liberals carried Belfast + freeholders in the late Antrim election to the cry of 'Down with + coercion!' and 'No special legislation!' Hartington comes to-night, + and I shall try to arrange some compromise with him and Spencer as + to the future--probably an Irish elective education Council." + + 'On the evening of the 27th I had a long conference with Hartington + and Spencer, in which I "worked" Dickson much. Before this I had had + the third meeting of my Commission, and then a public meeting in + connection with the Dublin Ladies' Central Association, a body + dealing with the Housing of the Working Classes. On the morning of + May 28th Spencer came into my bedroom before eight o'clock, and told + me that Hartington was very ill, suffering from sleeplessness and + fever, and that it would be quite impossible for him to make his + Belfast speech.... Dickson soon came to the Viceregal Lodge, and + earnestly begged me to go to Belfast in Hartington's place, but + under the circumstances I felt that it was impossible that I should + do so, although he promised me that a special train should be + waiting at the last moment if I would change my mind. + + 'I received this day a letter from Cardinal Manning strongly urging + that Chamberlain, Lefevre, and I, should stay in. "If you and the + like of you leave the Whigs, they will fall back and unite in + resisting you. So long as you are in contact with them, they will + yield to reason. These are the thoughts of an Old Testament + Radical." But the Old Testament Radical went on to make proposals to + me with regard to the Roman Catholic vote in Chelsea which would + have astonished the Old Testament prophets. + + 'Another letter which I received this day was from O'Shea about + Parnell's opinions on the Coercion Bill, but it is so obscure that I + can make nothing of it. It was on a suggestion of Lefevre's with + regard to bringing the Coercion Bill into force only by + "proclamation." It shows, however, if O'Shea is to be believed, that + Parnell was willing to accept a coercion measure of some kind, or, + at all events, to haggle about its terms, if publicly resisting it + as a whole. + + 'By the same post I received a letter from Heneage [Footnote: Mr. + Edward Heneage, for many years M.P. for Grimsby, and for a short + time Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster in 1886. He was afterwards + a leading Unionist.] professing to state the general view of the + House of Commons, and pronouncing in favour of a liberal policy + towards Ireland. "(1) Non-renewal of the Crimes Act. (2) Amendment + of the jury laws. (3) Amendment of the purchase clauses. (4) + Abolition of the Lord Lieutenancy. (5) Improvement of Local + Government." This I showed to Spencer, with a memorandum of my own + in which I said that it was "a curious letter from a Whig." Spencer + wrote on my memorandum in returning the letter: "It is an odd + letter.... He wrote to me the other day about the abolition of the + Lord Lieutenancy, rather apologizing for bringing it on. I replied + deprecating any movement which might not go with action. To denounce + an office without at once abolishing it would weaken the hands of + him who filled it." + + 'I wrote to Lefevre and Chamberlain that Hartington had come very + well, and was very well at dinner, but bored at having to speak. + "Walker told him what I told him as to the unwisdom of speaking in + favour of coercion in Belfast immediately after the anti-coercion + speeches of the Liberals at the Antrim election; and to-day he is + ill. I do not know how far the two things are connected; but the + papers will _say_ they are." + + 'I lunched with Sir Edward Guinness and sat in the Speaker's chair + of the Irish Parliament; dined with Sir Robert Hamilton at the Yacht + Club at Kingstown; slept on board the boat and crossed next day; + spent Saturday to Tuesday at Dockett Eddy; and on Tuesday was at the + State Concert, where several of us tried to patch up some means of + being able to meet in Cabinet on June 5th. On Thursday, June 4th, I + had a long talk with Mr. Gladstone, and, on his agreeing to support + the Heneage-Lefevre-O'Shea proposal, now supported by Chamberlain, + for only bringing the Coercion Bill into force by a proclamation, + agreed to attend the Cabinet the next day, but without withdrawing + my resignation, which remained "suspended." + + 'I began on the 3rd and ended on the 5th June a letter to Grant Duff + in reply to one from him bidding me not break off from the + Government on any but a clear and obvious issue. I told him that (1) + Radicals in a minority would only ever get their way by often + threatening to go, even on secondary points, and that they must not + threaten unless they "meant it." (2) Mr. G. insisted he was "going." + "Therefore we have to count with Hartington. We doubt if we can form + part of a Hartington Government, and we can't do so if we do not ... + impose our terms by threats.... This is why I have been forcing the + pace of late.... Chamberlain is a little timid just now, in view of + the elections and the fury of the _Pall Mall_. I could not drive + Chamberlain out without his free consent, so I am rather tied. + Still, we shall (June 5th) get our own way, I fancy, at to-day's + Cabinet." + + 'On the morning of June 5th my position in attending the Cabinet was + weakened, if not made ridiculous, by a letter from Spencer in which + he refused the Heneage-Lefevre-O'Shea compromise. But I went all the + same, for I was not supposed to know what he had written to Mr. + Gladstone. The first matter discussed was the Budget. I opposed the + proposed increase of the wine duties from 1s. to 1s. 3d., and from + 2s. 6d. to 3s. (all bottled wine to be at the 3s. rate). I carried + with me at first all except Mr. Gladstone against Childers, and at + last Mr. Gladstone also. Childers then left the room; Mr. Gladstone, + Lord Granville, Harcourt, and the Chancellor, one by one, went after + him, but he would not come back. The Guards at Alexandria were + mentioned, and then Spencer's letter to Mr. Gladstone against the + proclamation clause read, whereon Chamberlain and I protested + against coercion as a whole, and no decision upon any point was come + to. + + 'On June 6th I dined at Harcourt's Queen's Birthday dinner, and + afterwards attended Lady Granville's Foreign Office party, but these + were expiring festivities. + + 'On Monday, June 8th, there was a Cabinet, at which the first matter + was Irish Coercion and the proclamation clause. Spencer now offered + proclamation by the Viceroy (i.e., not by the Government in + London, which was our proposal) for all the Bill except the + intimidation part, but refused to have it for the boycotting clause. + Trevelyan now joined Chamberlain, Lefevre, and myself, in opposing + Spencer; the others supported him, but tried to make him yield. We + decided that if he yielded we should ask that a statement to the + Cabinet should be promised to precede proclamation.' + +On June 8th Mr. Childers moved the second reading of his Budget Bill, +which was met by an amendment moved by Sir Michael Hicks Beach, +condemning the proposed increase upon beer and spirits without any +corresponding increase on wine, and declining to increase the duty on +real property until promised changes were made in regard to local +taxation. + + 'I made a good debating Budget speech, of which Sir John Lambert + wrote "In Tea, Domine, spero," and I replied: "Since the time of Sir + Thomas More all these profane 'good things' have come from devout + Catholics."' + +Other leading men followed, and Mr. Gladstone summed up by saying that +you must tax either alcohol or tea and sugar. But the division went +against him: 6 Liberals voted with the Tories, and 76 were absent. The +majority against the Government was 12. The end had at length come. + + + + +CHAPTER XLI + +FALL OF ADMINISTRATION + +JUNE TO JULY, 1885 + + +On June 8th, as has been seen, the Government were defeated by a +majority of 12. + + 'On June 9th there was a further Cabinet. We had been beaten on the + Budget, but in the meantime Spencer had yielded, and Mr. Gladstone + was very anxious to be able to say that we were all agreed. + Therefore we discussed a Coercion Bill in the first place, but the + four of us at once refused to agree to Spencer's concession as + sufficient.' [Footnote: Namely, that the Coercion Bill should only + have effect after a special proclamation had been issued. Sir + Charles Dilke notes, September 20th, 1891, the receipt of a letter + from Mr. Chamberlain, thanking him for extracts from his Memoir of + 1884-85 on Irish affairs, and saying that where it dealt with the + same points it tallied exactly with his recollections.] 'It passes + my understanding, therefore, how Mr. Gladstone is able to pronounce, + as he has done, "unfounded" the statement that the Cabinet was at + odds upon the Irish question at the moment of its defeat. Three of + us had resigned on it, and our letters were in his pocket. The next + matter discussed was resignation, which did not take a minute; and + then the question of what Customs dues should be levied.... + + 'After the Cabinet there was a levee, at which I had some + conversation with Lord Salisbury as to the Redistribution Bill in + the Lords, and his reply showed that he meant to form a Government.' + + 'On June 10th my discussions with Lord Salisbury as to the + Redistribution Bill were continued, and it was decided that the Bill + was to go forward in spite of the Ministerial crisis, although this + was resisted by the Fourth Party in the House of Commons.' + +On the previous evening Sir Charles Dilke addressed an audience at the +City Liberal Club in a speech of unwonted passion. Confidently +anticipating that the Redistribution Bill would go through in spite of +any change of Ministry and the resistance of the Fourth Party, he dwelt +on the magnitude of the change for which he had so long wrought. But the +central point of the speech was a eulogy of Mr Gladstone, which +reflected the temper of a scene that had passed in the House of Commons +the same day, and he demanded in the name of Liberalism that the battle +should be won, 'not only with his great name, but under his actual +leadership.' + +This was the declaration of the Radicals against all thought of a +Hartington Administration. Referring to the speech, he writes: + + 'I was greatly congratulated on this day on a speech which I had + made at a house dinner of the City Liberal Club on the 9th. + Chamberlain wrote: "Your speech was admirable, and I have heard from + one who was present that the effect was electrical. You never did + better in your life." He went on to agree with me in my wish that + Herbert Gladstone should be appointed Chief Whip for the Opposition, + and then to say that we must be very careful what we did, or "we + shall destroy the Tory Government before it has done our work." I + had asked him to sit to Holl for a portrait for me, and he said that + he would do so, but that he was going to speak all over the country + in support of the unauthorized programme. He did sit, and a very + fine picture was the result.' [Footnote: Now at the National + Portrait Gallery, to which Sir Charles bequeathed it.] + + 'On Saturday, June 13th, I presided at the Cobden Club dinner, at + which Chamberlain was also present, and our speeches attracted some + attention.' [Footnote: Sir Charles from the chair advocated + 'destroying the monopoly in land,' and 'establishing an Irish + control of Irish affairs.' Chamberlain advocated 'some great measure + of devolution by which the Imperial Parliament shall retain its + supremacy, but shall nevertheless relegate to subordinate + authorities the control and administration of their local business,' + and added: 'I think it is a consolation to my right hon. friend as + well as to myself that our hands are free, and that our voices may + now be lifted up in the cause of freedom and justice.'] + + 'On Tuesday, the 16th, we had a meeting of the leaders, at which + were present Lords Selborne, Northbrook, Carlingford, Derby, + Kimberley, Mr. Gladstone, Harcourt, Childers, Chamberlain, Lefevre, + and myself. Salisbury, through Arthur Balfour, had verbally asked + for (1) priority for Supply; (2) if we would, supposing that we + opposed their Budget, support them in borrowing by Exchequer Bills. + We decided to make as little reply as possible. In Winston + Churchill's Life of his father he says we promised "facilities," but + we refused.' + + 'Randolph Churchill sounded me to know if in the event of his taking + office he could sit for Birmingham, and Chamberlain answered: "If R. + C. takes office _without_ coercion, we should not oppose him. If + _with_, I should certainly fight to accentuate the betrayal." + + 'On the afternoon of June 16th I had a serious talk with Chamberlain + about manhood suffrage, which he had advocated in a speech, pointing + out to him that this question of manhood as against adult suffrage + (i.e., including women) was the only one on which we differed, and + the only question which seemed likely to divide us. The outcome of + our talk was that we should postpone as long as possible the + inevitable difference, and make it last as short a time as possible + by postponing it till the very moment when the thing was likely to + be carried. When the time came that our people should be raving for + manhood suffrage, and that I should have to join the Tories in + carrying adult suffrage as against it, I might, if in office, have + to go out by myself, but this could not be avoided.' [Footnote: A + memorandum on this subject by Sir Charles, published by the Society + for Promoting Adult Suffrage, in the last years of his life, is + quoted on p. 409 of this volume.] + + 'On the 16th, also, I wrote to Grant Duff that there was "no liking + for Ireland or the Irish," but "an almost universal feeling now in + both parties that some form of Home Rule must be tried. My own + belief is that it will be tried too late, as all our remedies have + been." + + 'I told him how I had written to solicit a peerage for him, and that + the Liberals would be in office again in "January," and when his + term of office was to expire--a true prophecy.' + + 'On June 18th there was another Cabinet of the outgoing Ministers, + although Hartington and Lord Granville were not present. There were + present Mr. Gladstone, Lord Selborne, Carlingford, Northbrook, + Kimberley, Derby, Rosebery, Harcourt, Childers, Trevelyan, Lefevre, + Chamberlain, and myself. Mr. Gladstone had heard on the previous + night from the Queen, enclosing a letter from Lord Salisbury to her, + asking for an undertaking that we would support him on his Budget + and in Supply, as he could not now dissolve. We again refused to + give any but very general assurances. + + 'On June 19th, Randolph Churchill having blown up Northcote' (who + had been removed to the Upper House), 'and shown his power by making + himself Dictator, now wished for freedom and some excuse for + preventing the formation of a Government, and a curious letter from + him was forwarded to me by Chamberlain. In Chamberlain's covering + letter there is the first allusion to our proposed tour in Ireland. + + 'On Saturday, June 20th, there was a last Cabinet or "full meeting" + of outgoing Ministers, all being present except Spencer and our two + racing men--Hartington and Rosebery. We further considered the + question of "assurances," at the renewed suggestion of the Queen, + and finally declined to give them. Though this was called as a + Cabinet, Mrs. Gladstone was in the room. Saturday to Monday I spent + in a last visit to the smallpox camp at Darenth. On Monday, the + 22nd, I made a fighting speech at a meeting at the Welsh chapel in + Radnor Street at Chelsea; [Footnote: The speech advocated not merely + Home Rule, but Home Rule all round. Sir Charles expressed a wish to + "study in Ireland a plan for the devolution to Welsh, Scottish, and + Irish bodies of much business which Parliament is incompetent to + discharge, and which at the present time is badly done or not done + at all." + + "The principles of decentralization which ought to be applied are + clear to those who know the two kingdoms and the Principality, but + the details must be studied on the spot. As regards Wales and + Scotland, no great controversial questions are likely to arise. But + as regards the Irish details, it is the intention of Mr. Chamberlain + and myself to inquire in Ireland of those who know Ireland best. + Officials in Ireland, contrary to public belief, are many of them in + favour of decentralization, but still more are the Bishops and + clergy of various denominations, legal authorities, and the like. + Some writers who have recently attacked a proposal which has been + made to abolish in Ireland what is known as 'Dublin Castle' are + unaware, apparently, of the fact that not only officials of the + highest experience, and many statesmen on both sides who know + Ireland well, are agreed on the necessity for the abolition, but + that those who have had the most recent experience in the office of + Viceroy are themselves sharers in the decentralization view which + now prevails."] and on Wednesday, June 24th, I left my office. + + 'My successor was Arthur Balfour, and I initiated him into the + business of the Local Government Board at his request, after a first + interview at Sloane Street. As late as June 21st Harcourt had made + up his mind that the Tories would be unable to form a Government, + and that it was his painful duty to come back; and he wrote to me + that he had informed Mr. Gladstone that "I would stand by him if he + agreed to come back _whatever might happen_." Chamberlain wrote on + this that it was impossible if Spencer remained. "It will be bad for + us and for the settlement of the Irish question." + + 'Chamberlain and I were now intending to visit Ireland, but Manning + declined to give us letters, and wrote on June 25th: "What am I to + do? I am afraid of your Midlothian in Ireland. How can I be + godfather to Hengist and Horsa?" I replied: + + '"Dear Cardinal Manning, + + '"I fear I have made myself far from clear. You speak of a + Midlothian. I should not for a moment have dreamt of asking you for + letters had not that been most carefully guarded against. We are not + going to make a single speech or to attend any dinner, meeting, or + reception, in any part of Ireland. Our journey is private, and our + wish is to visit the Catholic Archbishops and Bishops and to find + out what they want. It has sprung from your own suggestion, and from + my conversation, held also at your suggestion, with Dr. Walsh. It + would not conduce to any possibility of settlement and of future + peace if, after proposing, at your suggestion, to go to men like the + Archbishops Croke and Walsh, we should have to state that we + renounce our visit because they refuse to receive us. You know what + passed as to Dr. Walsh, and you know that if Mr. Gladstone had + reformed his Government we had made that matter one of our + conditions. Surely that was pretty clear evidence of our desire to + act with you in a matter which is certainly above all party. But it + is 'now or never.'" + + 'On the same day Chamberlain wrote proposing that we should meet + Trevelyan and Lefevre at fixed and short intervals to produce + concerted action, and consulting me as to whether we should include + Morley. The first consultation took place at my Royal Commission + office at noon on July 4th, and Morley was present as well as + Trevelyan, and I think Lefevre.' + + 'On June 27th I had a last fight with Mr. Gladstone. The outgoing + Government had given a baronetcy to Errington, personally my friend, + but a baronetcy given under circumstances which I thought + politically discreditable, and I protested strongly. I told Mr. + Gladstone that it had long been my opinion that there is + insufficient consultation of the opinion of the party, as well as of + Cabinets and ex-Cabinets, on questions of the deepest moment. "For + example, since I have been a member of the 'Inner Circle,' many + decisions of the gravest moment as to Irish affairs have been taken + without reference to the general opinion of the leaders or of the + party. When Mr. Forster first induced Lord Granville to give letters + to Mr. Errington, I stated my own view in favour of the appointment + of an official representative of this country to the Roman Church, + if there was work which must be done between the Government and that + Church. I always protested against the secret arrangement, and the + last straw has been the resistance to Walsh." Such was my private + note.' + + 'Chamberlain wrote: "Mr. G. has yielded to Lord G., and has done an + act unfair to us and without notice. I have seen O'Shea. I think the + 'visit' may yet be all right." I wrote to Mr. Gladstone: + + '"I feel bound to express my dismay at seeing this day that honours + have been conferred on that excellent fellow Errington at a moment + when it will be felt by the great majority of people who do not see + round corners that he is rewarded for the fight made by him on + behalf of the defeated policy of resistance to the selection as + Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dublin of the accomplished gentleman on + whom the whole Irish Roman Catholic clergy and people had set their + hearts. I have already described to Lord Granville in your presence + what I thought the fatal results of this policy of interference + against a unanimous Irish sentiment in the choice of the great Roman + Catholic dignitaries in Ireland--a policy which has, in the belief + of the thoughtful men of all parties, among whom I may name + privately the new Lord Chancellor of Ireland, [Footnote: Mr. Gibson, + afterwards created Lord Ashbourne.] undone the effects of your Land + Acts of 1871 and 1881, and made the resistance to the Union stronger + and more unanimous than it ever was before. Surely such an intention + as that to specially honour Mr. Errington at such a moment might + have been named to me when I so strongly expressed before you and + Lord Granville my opinion of the policy. Mr. Forster, the initiator + of the Errington policy, has returned to the Liberal front bench, + and sat next to me there. I fear I must take the opportunity of + leaving it, as I do not see how I can fail to express the opinion I + hold of the conferring of special honour at such a moment on Mr. + Errington." [Footnote: A letter from Mr. Gladstone to Mr, Errington, + dated June 30th, 1885, is given in the _Life of Granville_, vol. + ii., p. 292.] + + 'Mr. Gladstone replied: + + '"1, Richmond Terrace, + + '"_June 27th_, 1885. + + '"My Dear Dilke, + + '"I feel that the coincidence of the Walsh appointment with the + Errington baronetcy is unfortunate, but I think that the grant of + the baronetcy or of something in that sense is unavoidable. I regard + Gibson's confidential disclosure to you as an absurd exaggeration + indulged in for party purposes. The policy, and any ingratitude to + an agent of it, are wholly different matters; and your disapproval + of the first never conveyed to my mind the idea of speaking to you + about the second. You are aware of the immense stress laid by + Spencer on the Errington mission, which Granville more traditionally + (as I think) supported. For my part, I never did more than acquiesce + in it, and I think it highly probable that no such thing will be + renewed. As to 'diplomatic relations' with the Pope, I am entirely + opposed to them. + + '"Sincerely yours, + + '"W. E. Gladstone." + + 'I was not opposed to diplomatic relations with the Pope, but to the + extraordinary anomalies involved in the Mission that was no Mission. + My conversation with Gibson had been at a party at Lady Ridley's, + where I congratulated him upon his high office. He began with a + laugh: "I am popular with all parties. Whose congratulations do you + think were the first that I received?" A happy inspiration struck + me, and I at once answered "Walsh"--a lucky guess which completely + puzzled him, for he said, "Who told you?" + + 'Chamberlain wrote the next day: "Reflection confirms me in the + opinion that Mr. Gladstone has not treated us well. I cannot resist + the conclusion that on both occasions he concealed his intentions, + knowing that we disapproved of them, and in order to force our + hands. I would cordially join in a protest against this, although, + as I have already told you, I do not think the last proceeding--in + the matter of Errington--will justify a formal secession. People + generally, especially in the country, cannot understand the + importance of the matter, and would not back up our quarrel." + + 'Chamberlain, writing on June 27th or 28th, [Footnote: It was on + June 17th that Mr. Chamberlain had delivered his famous denunciation + of Dublin Castle, and had declared that "the pacification of Ireland + depends, I believe, on the concession to Ireland of the right to + govern itself in the matter of its purely domestic government." He + went on to speak of an Irishman being at every step controlled by + "an English official, appointed by a foreign Government."] said: "On + the greatest issue between us and the Whigs Mr. G. is on our side, + and has told Harcourt that if he stands at the General Election he + will make this a prominent feature in his platform, and will adopt + in principle our scheme--Local Government and devolution. This will + immensely strengthen our position if we finally decide to press the + matter. I say 'if' because I wait to have more positive assurances + as to Parnell's present attitude. If he throws us over, I do not + believe that we can go farther at present, but O'Shea remains + confident that matters will come right."' + +On June 29th, Sir Charles replied to Mr. Gladstone: + + 'My Dear Sir, + + 'Harcourt, Chamberlain, and Lefevre, have all lectured me, and the + former tells me that you have accepted a proposal to stand again for + Midlothian. This is so great a thing that smaller ones must not be + allowed to make even small discords, so please put my letter of + Saturday in the fire, and forgive me for having put you to the + trouble of reading and replying to it. I fancy that overwork and + long-continued loss of all holidays except Sundays have told upon + me, and that I must be inclined to take too serious a view of + things. + + 'Sincerely yours, + + 'Charles W. Dilke.' + + 'On June 30th Chamberlain wrote: "Ireland. I heard some days ago + from the Duchess of St. Albans, and replied that we would certainly + call if anywhere in her neighbourhood" (near Clonmel). "Next time I + see you we may make some progress with our plans. I have a most + satisfactory letter from Davitt--voluntary on his part, and assuring + us that _United Ireland_ [Footnote: _United Ireland_, then edited by + Mr. William O'Brien and Mr. T. M. Healy, discouraged the visit.] + does not represent the views of the Nationalist party. See also an + article in the _Nation_, and Davitt's own speech at Hyde Park. + [Footnote: Davitt's leanings were always much stronger towards + English Radicalism than those of most among his colleagues. But the + decisive attitude was that of Mr. Parnell, whose power was then + paramount, not only in Cork, but throughout all Ireland. He + discussed the project with one of his colleagues, Mr. John O'Connor, + to whom he expressed the view that Mr. Chamberlain was aspiring to + replace Mr. Gladstone in the leadership, and that he would do + nothing which could assist him in this purpose, because he thought + that he "could squeeze more out of Gladstone than he could out of + Chamberlain."] I shall reply rather effusively. I cannot altogether + acquit Parnell of duplicity. I think he fears our visit, and that we + may cut him out. I am sure that neither he nor anyone else will + succeed in boycotting us. Parnell does not admit this feeling, but I + am losing confidence in his honesty. We can go to Ashley's and + decline Cork."' [Footnote: Mr. Evelyn Ashley, who had been Under- + Secretary of the Colonies in the Gladstone Government, had a house + and property at Classiebawn in Sligo, which had once belonged to + Lord Palmerston.] + + 'I hear very encouraging accounts of the feeling in the country. I + am assured that we (the Radicals) never held so strong a position-- + that the counties will be swept for the Liberals, and that the whole + atmosphere of the House of Commons will be changed after November. I + firmly believe that this is true. A little patience, and we shall + secure all we have fought for.' + + 'On June 30th I wrote fully to Mrs. Pattison, who was ill of typhoid + in the Madras hills, but without my yet knowing it. "I've been + thinking over grave words I would say to you about politics." I went + on to say that politics were not to me amusement. "I could not have + heart to live such a life at all if the religion of life did not + surround my politics. I chat the chatter about persons and ambitions + that others chat, and, in my perpetual brain fatigue, shirk the + trouble of trying to put into words thoughts which I fancy you must + exactly share. How can you share them if you are never shown they're + there? Dear Lady, please to try and feel, however unable I am to + express it, that my life is now one, and that there are not things + to pick among, and things to be cast aside, but duties only, which + are pleasures in the doing of them well, and which you must help me + do. It is in old age that power comes. An old man in English + politics may exert enormous power without effort, and with no drain + at all upon his health and vital force. The work of thirty or forty + years of political life goes in England to the building-up of + political reputation and position. During that long period no power + is exercised except by irregular means, such as the use of threats + of resignation. It is in old age only that power comes that can be + used legitimately and peacefully by the once-strong man. I'm still + young enough, and have of illusions yearly crops sufficient to + believe that it can be used for good, and that it is a plain duty so + to use it, and I would not remain in political life did I not think + so."' + + + + +CHAPTER XLII + +OUT OF OFFICE + +JULY, 1885 + + +After Lord Salisbury had formed, in June, 1885, what was called the +'stop-gap Government,' charged with carrying on business till the +General Election fixed for the following winter, the heads of the +Liberal party began to mature their plans. It soon became evident that +the cardinal fact to be decided was whether Mr. Gladstone should +continue to lead. This, again, was found to depend upon the policy +adopted in relation to Ireland. + +The Irish Question was at the moment in an extraordinary position. Lord +Salisbury had appointed Lord Carnarvon, a known sympathizer with Home +Rule, as Viceroy. Further, the Tory leaders in the House of Commons were +refusing to take any responsibility for the actions of Lord Spencer, +which were challenged especially in regard to the verdict upon one of +the men sentenced for the Maamtrasna murders. This put Sir Charles and +Mr. Chamberlain, who had always disapproved the policy of coercion, in a +very difficult position, the more difficult because Mr. Trevelyan, a +member of their inner Radical group, was jointly concerned with Lord +Spencer to defend these actions. + + 'On July 4th I received from Maynooth a letter of thanks from Dr. + Walsh for my congratulations on his appointment to the Archbishopric + of Dublin, and he expressed the hope that we should meet in Dublin + when I came over with Chamberlain. On the same day, Saturday, July + 4th, there took place at noon at my office a meeting of Chamberlain, + Trevelyan, Lefevre, John Morley, and myself, in which we discussed + the proposed mission of Wolff to Egypt, resolving that we would + oppose it unless the Conservative Government should drop it. We were + wrong, for it afterwards turned out that they meant evacuation. Next + the proposed movement on Dongola, which we did not believe to be + seriously intended; then the proposal to increase the wine duty, + which I was able to announce (on Foreign Office information) that I + knew that Lord Salisbury would drop; then the succession duties, + with regard to which we decided to support a motion to be brought + forward by Dillwyn; then police enfranchisement, we deciding that I + was to move an instruction on going into Committee to extend the + Bill, so as to shorten the period of residence for all electors.' + + 'Before we separated we discussed the inquiry proposed by the Irish + members into the Maamtrasna business. Trevelyan thought that he was + obliged in honour to speak against inquiry, but we decided that he + must not press for a division in resistance to the Irish demand.' + + 'On Monday, July 6th, I presided over my Royal Commission in the + morning, and in the evening dined at Grillion's Club. In the + afternoon Mr. Gladstone sent for me, and told me that whether he + would lead that party or would not, at the dissolution, or in the + new Parliament, would depend on whether the main plank in the + programme was what I called Home Rule or what Chamberlain called the + National Council scheme, or only the ordinary scheme of Local + Government for all parts of the United Kingdom. If the latter alone + was to be contemplated, he said that others would suffice for the + task. Parnell's acquiescence in the Home Rule scheme he thought + essential. If Parnell, having got more from the Tories, was going to + oppose, he, Mr. Gladstone, could not go on: and he evidently thought + that I should have the means of discovering what would be Parnell's + attitude. Parnell had, of course, been for what I believe was really + his own scheme, suggested to Chamberlain by O'Shea. But he was now + in league with R. Churchill and Lord Carnarvon. I advised Mr. + Gladstone to deal directly with Parnell, but he said that he would + not, and I noted in my diary that he and Parnell were equally + tortuous in their methods. Mr. Gladstone, failing me, as he said, + would deal with Grosvenor and Mrs. O'Shea. But it was clear to me + that he had already tried this channel.' + + 'On the next day I received interesting letters from Dr. Walsh and + Sir Frederick Roberts. The latter completely destroyed the foolish + War Office plan of preparing for a campaign in the Black Sea, and + once more laid down the principle that England must go to war with + Russia rather than permit her to occupy any portion of Afghanistan + in face of our interest and of our pledge to the contrary. + + 'Dr. Walsh wrote that in going to Rome he was by no means determined + to accept the archbishopric. "I am not Archbishop; acceptance is an + essential point, and I have a view of certain matters to set before + His Holiness before that stage is reached. I have sent on to Rome a + written statement of my views, that the matter may be considered + before I arrive there. I am thoroughly convinced that there is + another position in which I could be far more useful both for Church + and country. The Archbishopric of Dublin, now that it can be dealt + with as a purely ecclesiastical matter, can be very easily provided + for." + + 'I suppose that Dr. Walsh wished to be Papal Legate. He went on to + say: + + '"As to the Bishops you should see, I would say, in the South, as + you begin there, Cashel and Limerick (Cloyne, unfortunately, is very + deaf; otherwise I should like you to meet him). In the West, + _Galway_, Elphin, Achonry. In the North, Raphoe (of whom Mr. + Childers can tell you something), Clogher, Ardagh, Meath, and Down + and Connor. In this province of Dublin our Bishops are either very + old or very young in the episcopacy: they could not give you much + information. All I have mentioned are generally on the popular side. + Of those on the less popular or nonpopular side, we have Cork, + Kerry, and _Coadjutor of Clonfert_. Clonfert himself is on the most + advanced National lines. But his views are rather general. It might + be well to see him. He is a great admirer of Davitt's. + + '"I remain, my dear Sir Charles, + '"Sincerely yours, + '"William J. Walsh." + + 'I sent this letter to Chamberlain, who replied that it was very + satisfactory. + + 'On Saturday, July 11th, we had another meeting of our "party," I + again being in the chair, Chamberlain, Lefevre, and John Morley, + being present, and Trevelyan absent. We decided that Chamberlain, + Lefevre, and Dilke should see Mr. Gladstone as to the Maamtrasna + inquiry, in which we were strongly opposed to Spencer. With regard + to the organization of the Liberal party, which meant the adoption + of Schnadhorst by the party, Chamberlain, Lefevre, and Dilke, were + also to see Mr. Gladstone. + + 'On Saturday evening I went down to Dockett, where I stayed till + Monday, Cyril Flower spending with me the day of Sunday, July 12th. + On Monday, July 13th, I again presided at my Royal Commission, and + again dined at Grillion's. + + 'On the same day Chamberlain, Lefevre, and I, saw Mr. Gladstone. + After talking over Maamtrasna, I repeated a statement which O'Shea + had made to me, namely, that Fottrell [Footnote: Sir Charles, during + his visit to Dublin, had been much impressed by Mr. Fottrell, who + had acted as intermediary between the Castle and the Nationalists + (see p. 140). He wrote to Mrs. Pattison that Mr. Fottrell and Sir + Robert Hamilton were the only two men who counted in that city.] had + had a two-hours interview with Randolph Churchill on Home Rule. I + also informed Mr. Gladstone that O'Shea had shown me a letter from + Alfred Austin,' (afterwards Poet Laureate) 'a hot Tory leader-writer + on the _Standard_, asking to be introduced to Parnell for the + benefit of the country. Lefevre having gone away, Chamberlain and I + talked with Mr. Gladstone as to organization. It was decided that we + should have an interview with him on the subject (Grosvenor to be + present) the next day. + + 'I was going out a good deal this week, and on the Wednesday was at + parties at Lady Salisbury's, at the Austrian Embassy, and at the + Duchess of Westminster's, and at one of them met Harcourt and + arranged for a meeting on Thursday, July 16th, at my Commission + office in Parliament Street, with Chamberlain and Harcourt, to + discuss Schnadhorst; Harcourt favouring our view that he should be + adopted by the party, which was done, and the National Liberal + Federation installed at Parliament Street. But the Whips "captured" + it! On Friday, July 17th, Chamberlain and his son dined with me to + meet Harcourt and Gray of the Irish party and _Freeman's Journal_. + + 'On Saturday, July 18th, we had our usual cabal, Trevelyan being + again absent, and the same four present as on the previous Saturday. + We discussed the proposed Royal Commission on the depression of + trade; land purchase, Ireland; party organization; and the land + question. + + 'On July 22nd I heard from Mr. Gladstone: + + '"1, Richmond Terrace, + + '"_July 21st,_ 1885. + + '"My Dear Dilke, + + '"I cannot forbear writing to express the hope that you and + Chamberlain may be able to say or do something to remove the + appearance now presented to the world of a disposition on your parts + to sever yourselves from the executive, and especially from the + judicial administration of Ireland as it was carried on by Spencer + under the late Government. You may question my title to attempt + interference with your free action by the expression of such a hope, + and I am not careful to assure you in this matter or certain that I + can make good such a title in argument. But we have been for five + years in the same boat, on most troubled waters, without having + during the worst three years of the five a single man of the company + thrown overboard. I have _never_ in my life known the bonds of union + so strained by the pure stress of circumstances; a good intent on + all sides has enabled them to hold. Is there any reason why at this + moment they should part? A rupture may come on questions of future + policy; I am not sure that it will. But if it is to arrive, let it + come in the course of nature as events develop themselves. At the + present moment there appears to be set up an idea of difference + about matters which lie in the past, and for which we are all + plenarily responsible. The position is settled in all its elements, + and cannot be altered. The frightful discredit with which the new + Government has covered itself by its treatment of Spencer has drawn + attention away from the signs of at least passive discord among us, + signs which might otherwise have drawn upon us pretty sharp + criticism. It appears to me that hesitation on the part of any of us + as to our own responsibility for Spencer's acts can only be + mischievous to the party and the late Cabinet, but will and must be + far more mischievous to any who may betray such disinclination. Even + with the Irish party it can, I imagine, do nothing to atone for past + offences, inasmuch as it is but a negative proceeding; while from + Randolph, Hicks Beach, and Gorst, positive support is to be had in + what I cannot but consider a foolish as well as guilty crusade + against the administration of criminal justice in Ireland; which may + possibly be defective, but, with all its defects, whatever they may + be, is, I apprehend, the only defence of the life and property of + the poor. It will be the legislation of the future, and not this + most unjust attack upon Spencer, which will have to determine + hereafter your relations with Ireland, and the 'National' party. I + may be wrong, but it seems to me easy, and in some ways + advantageous, to say: 'My mind is open to consider at large any + proposals acceptable to Ireland for the development and security of + her liberties, but I will not sap the foundations of order and of + public right by unsettling rules, common to all parties, under which + criminal justice has been continuously administered, and dragging + for the first time the prerogative of mercy within the vortex of + party conflict.' I dare say I may have said too much in the way of + argument on a matter which seems to me hardly to call for argument, + but a naked suggestion would have appeared even less considerate + than the letter which I have written, prompted by strong feeling and + clear conviction. + + '"Yours sincerely, + '"W. E. Gladstone." + + 'I sent the letter to Chamberlain, asking whether he thought he + could say at Hackney, where he was about to speak, anything + flattering to Spencer, and he replied: "I am not certain that I + shall say anything about Spencer; at most it would be only a + personal tribute."' + +With these words ends the story of Sir Charles Dilke's official +relations with his party. + + * * * * * + +Looking back on that story, Sir George Trevelyan writes: 'I never knew a +man of his age--hardly ever a man of any age--more powerful and admired +than was Dilke during his management of the Redistribution Bill in +1885.' This influence had been built up by the long years of sustained +work, of which the story has been told in his own words. + +He combined two unusual characteristics: he was one of the Radical +leaders at home, and he also carried extraordinary authority on the +subject of foreign affairs both here and on the Continent. + +The depth of his convictions as a Radical is attested by a note to Mr. +Frank Hill, [Footnote: Undated, but evidently written about this time.] +editor of the _Daily News_: 'As a _man_ I feel going out on this +occasion very much indeed, but Chamberlain and I are trustees for +others, and from the point of view of English Radicalism I have no +doubt.' Yet Radicalism never fettered his capacity for working with all +men for the great questions which are beyond party, and uniting their +efforts on big issues of foreign policy. + +It was this gift which frequently made him more the spokesman of the +House of Commons than of party in Government counsels. The approval of +the House of Commons was, in his opinion, essential to the development +of foreign policy, and his views as to the undesirability of unnecessary +concealment were strong. While recognizing that everything could not be +disclosed, he thought that the House of Commons should be in the +Government's confidence as far as possible in diplomatic relations, and +he looked on the tendency to surround all official proceedings with +secrecy as more worthy of a bureaucrat than a statesman. Bismarck, Dilke +said in 1876, was the diplomatist of foreign Europe who was never +believed because he told the truth. He had no sympathy with the +isolation of Great Britain, which had been a feature of our policy +during his early career. But when Lord Beaconsfield would have plunged +into a war with Russia in 1878, without an ally or a friend, he opposed +that policy as suicidal. Of that policy he said at that time: 'English +Radicals of the present day do not bound their sympathies by the Channel +... a Europe without England is as incomplete, and as badly balanced, +and as heavily weighted against freedom, as that which I, two years ago, +denounced to you--a Europe without France. The time may come when +England will have to fight for her existence, but for Heaven's sake let +us not commit the folly of plunging into war at a moment when all Europe +would be hostile to our armies--not one Power allied to the English +cause.' [Footnote: Vol. I., Chapter XVI., p. 239.] The keynote of his +policy was friendship with France. His experience in the Franco-German +War had for ever changed the friendly impression which led him first to +follow the German forces into the field. + +Germany at war and Germany in a conquered country taught him in 1870-71 +a lesson never to be forgotten, and affected his whole attitude to that +Great Power. It has been seen how in the eighties he opposed, to the +point of contemplated resignation of office, the Governmental tendency +to accept German aggression--'to lie down' under it, as he said; and he +fought for the retention of the New Guinea Coast and Zanzibar in +1884-85, as later he fought against Lord Salisbury as to the surrender +of Heligoland. [Footnote: _Present Position of European Politics_, p. +242.] + +It was this courage as well as consistency of policy that bound Gambetta +to him, and made Bismarck wish that he should be sent to Berlin at a +critical moment in 1885 'to have a talk.' [Footnote: _Life of Lord +Granville_, vol. ii., p. 439.] Strong men recognize one another. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIII + +THE TURNING-POINT + +JULY, 1885, TO JULY, 1886 + + +[Greek: ou thruon, ou malachaen avemos pote, tus de megistas ae druas ae +platanous oide chamai katagein.] + +[Footnote: It is not the rush or mallow that the wind can lay low, but +the largest oaks and plane-trees.] + +Lucian in "Anthologia." + +I. + +When Mr. Gladstone's Ministry left office in the summer of 1885, there +seemed to be in all England no man for whom the future held out more +assured and brilliant promise than Sir Charles Dilke. He was still +young, not having completed his forty-second year; in the Cabinet only +Lord Rosebery was his junior; he had seventeen years of unremitting +Parliamentary service to his credit, and in the House of Commons his +prestige was extraordinary. His own judgment and that of all skilled +observers regarded his party's abandonment of office as temporary: the +General Election would inevitably bring them back with a new lease of +power, and with an Administration reorganized in such fashion that the +Radicals would no longer find themselves overbalanced in the shaping of +policy. The Dilke-Chamberlain alliance, which had during the past five +years been increasingly influential, would in the next Parliament become +openly authoritative; and, as matters looked at the moment, it was Sir +Charles, and not Mr. Chamberlain, who seemed likely to take the foremost +place. + +Chamberlain's dazzling popular success had been of the kind to which a +certain unpopularity attaches. Moderate men of both parties were prone +to impute it to demagogism, and Dilke was in the fortunate position of +seeing those Radical principles for which he stood advocated by his ally +with a force of combined invective and argument which has had few +parallels in political history, while to him fell the task, suited to +his temperament, of reasoned discussion. Those who denounced +Chamberlain's vehemence could hardly fail to point a comparison with +Dilke's unfailing courtesy, his steady adherence to argument, his +avoidance of the appeal to passion. Some strong natures have the quality +of making enemies, some the gift for making friends, outside their own +immediate circle, and Sir Charles Dilke possessed the more genial +endowment. + +This capacity for engendering good-will in those whom he encountered +certainly did not spring from any undue respect of persons. Members of +the Royal Family, whose privileges he had assailed, were constant in +their friendliness; high Tories such as Lord Salisbury, whose principles +he combated on every platform, liked him, and were not slow to show it. +On the other hand, the friendship which Sir Charles inspired did not +proceed, as is sometimes the case, from a mere casual bounty of nature. +In Parliament his colleagues liked him, but this, assuredly, was not +without cause. No member of the Ministry had given so much service +outside his own department. Lord Granville wrote at this time: 'I have +not seen you alone since the smash, or I should have told you how much I +feel the support you have given me both when we were together at the +F.O. and quite as much since. I shall not soon forget it.' Sir William +Harcourt at the Home Office, Sir Henry James in the conduct of the +Corrupt Practices Bill, had been beholden to him for no ordinary +assistance. Moreover, as he was good to work with, so he was good to +work under. Those who served him at the Local Government Board remember +him as in no way prompt to praise; but if a suggestion was made to him, +he never failed to identify it with the suggester, recognizing its +source in adopting it. If he made a mistake and was set right, he +admitted his error--a trait very rare in Ministers, who feel that they +have constantly as amateurs to direct the decision of experts, and are +therefore chary of such admissions. Sir Charles always gave his men +their due, and he took care that they should not be treated as machines. +When colleagues called on him at his office, and found him with one of +his staff, he never allowed the subordinate to be ignored in greetings. +The Minister in a hurry would be stopped with, 'I think you know +So-and-so.' These are small matters to set down, but by such small +things men indicate their nature; and one of the oldest servants in that +office summed up the matter in a sentence which is not the less +interesting because it brings in another name. 'When Sir Charles Dilke +was at the Local Government Board,' he said, 'the feeling towards the +President, from the heads of departments down to the messengers in the +hall, was the same as it was in the time of Mr. Walter Long, and I can +say no more than that.' + +Nobody, perhaps, has a better right to be counted fortunate than a man +who can feel that he is strong, that he is liked, and that he is +successfully promoting principles of government for his fellow- +countrymen in which he sincerely believes. In July, 1885, Sir Charles +Dilke had all these grounds for satisfaction, and in no common measure. +Of course there were anxieties, politically speaking; Mr. Gladstone's +future course of action was uncertain, and Mr. Gladstone was so great a +force that he might at any time derange all calculations--as, in point +of fact, he did. Still, time was on the side of the Radicals, and from +day to day they held what they called 'cabals' of the group formed by +Chamberlain, Shaw-Lefevre, Trevelyan, Morley, and Dilke himself. At +these meetings Sir Charles regularly presided. + +The work of the Commission on Housing was in its last stages; its +chairman was able to announce on July 1st, when laying the foundation- +stone of some artisans' dwellings in Hoxton, that the Commission's Bill +would be introduced in the Lords by Lord Salisbury, and that he himself +would have charge of it in the Commons. For a man who had so laboured +during the past five years such duties as these were child's play, and +Sir Charles was able for the first time for many months to take his +share in social enjoyments. He dined repeatedly at Grillion's; he went +to parties at famous houses both of his political allies and political +opponents; above all, he found time for restful days upon his beloved +river. He went to Henley in that July with his old rowing comrade +Steavenson 'to see Bristowe's fine Trinity Hall eight'; he spent Sunday, +July 12th, at Dockett in company with Mr. Cyril Flower; and for the next +Sunday, the 19th, he was engaged to be at Taplow Court with Mr. W. H. +Grenfell, famous among oarsmen. But of that day more has to be written. + +Throughout the month one dark cloud had hung over him: Mrs. Pattison was +grievously ill in the Madras hills, and not until the fourth week in +July did he know even the nature of her illness. It was typhoid, and it +left her weak to face what had to come, like a 'bolt from the blue,' +upon her and her future husband. Her first marriage had brought her +discipline rather than happiness; now in the middle years of life her +vivid nature was blossoming out again in the promise of union with a man +before whom there lay open an illustrious career. Illness struck her +down, and while she lay convalescent there came to her as black a +message as ever tried the heart of any woman. + + * * * * * + +II. + +On the evening of Saturday, July 18th, Sir Charles Dilke was entertained +at a dinner given by the Reform Club--a very rare distinction--to +celebrate the passing of the Redistribution Bill into law. From this +ceremony, which crowned and recognized his greatest personal +achievement, he returned late, and found at his house a letter from an +old family friend who asked him to call on the following Sunday morning +on grave business. He then learnt that the wife of a Liberal member of +Parliament had volunteered a 'confession' to her husband, in which she +stated that she had been unfaithful to him with Sir Charles immediately +after her marriage. + +His note in his private diary on Sunday is: '19th.--Early heard of the +charge against me. Put myself in hands of J. B. Balfour, and afterwards +of Chamberlain and James.' + +Later Sir Charles Dilke went down to Taplow, and spent the day there. +This accusation found him separated from his future wife by many +thousand miles; worse than that, she had been dangerously ill; the risk +to her of a telegraphed message must be great; yet there was the chance +from day to day that newspaper rumour might anticipate direct tidings +from him to her. He was 'in as great misery as perhaps ever fell upon a +man.' + +He returned next morning to preside at the last meeting of the +Commission on Housing, when, he says, 'the Prince of Wales proposed a +vote of thanks to me in an extremely cordial speech.' From that attitude +of friendliness the future King Edward never departed. + + 'I had a dinner-party in the evening, which was one of several in + preparation for our Ward meetings in Chelsea, which I had to + continue to hold in spite of my private miseries. + + 'I was engaged on the one night for which none of these dinners had + been fixed to dine with Lord and Lady Salisbury, and to attend the + Princess of Wales's Ball at Marlborough House, and I wrote to put + off my engagements, for which I was much blamed; but I think that I + was right.' + +For three or four days Sir Henry James, Mr. Chamberlain, and Mr. J. B. +Balfour, the Lord Advocate of Mr. Gladstone's Ministry, moved to secure +a court of inquiry which would act without prejudice to the right of +legal action. But within the week it was certain that public proceedings +would be taken. + +The blow had come suddenly; it came with dramatic incidence at the +moment when Sir Charles's prestige was most effectively recognized; and +from the moment that it fell he knew that the whole tenor of his life +was altered. On Thursday, July 23rd, four days afterwards, he wrote in +his Diary of the time this judgment: + + 'Left for the last time the House of Commons, where I have attained + some distinction. It is curious that only a week ago Chamberlain and + I had agreed, at his wish and suggestion, that I should be the + future leader, as being more popular in the House, though less in + the country, than he was, and that only three days ago Mr. Gladstone + had expressed the same wish. Such a charge, even if disproved, which + is not easy against perjured evidence picked up with care, is fatal + to supreme usefulness in politics. In the case of a public man a + charge is always believed by many, even though disproved, and I + should be weighted by it through life. I prefer, therefore, at once + to contemplate leaving public life.' + +Upon the first sentence of this he added in a marginal note, written +after his marriage with Mrs. Mark Pattison, and after he had, in spite +of that first decision, returned to the House of Commons: 'Chamberlain +overpersuaded Emilia, and, through her, me, but he was wrong.' + +Of honourable ambition Sir Charles Dilke had as much as any man. Yet in +the innermost record of these days--in those letters which, not yet +daring to despatch them, he wrote to his future wife--there is not a +hint of his personal loss, not a word of the career that he saw broken. +These things had no place in the rush of feeling which overwhelmed him, +and left him for the moment unable to trust his own judgment or assert +his own will. + +Through the months of Mrs. Pattison's absence in India one note had been +constant in his letters--the reiterated anticipation of what he hoped to +bring her. Up to the middle of July his letters, apart from the news of +his daily life, are filled with joyful forecast, not of his own +happiness, but of his and hers together--of his happiness in seeing her +happy. When the stroke fell, the note, even though it changed, was the +same in essence: 'I feel this may kill you--and it will kill me either +if it kills you or if you don't believe me.' + +That was written down within an hour after he had the news. Never +afterwards did he consider the possibility of her failing him. + +The next day he wrote: + + 'Taplow Court, Taplow, + _July 20th._ + + 'The only thing I can do in future is to devote myself entirely to + _you_ and helping in your work. To that the remainder of my life + must be dedicated. I fancy you will have the courage to believe me + whatever is by madness and malevolence brought against me....' + +He wrote again: + + 'The less you turn from me, and the more you are true--and of course + you will be all true ... --the more misery and not the less is it to + me to bring these horrors on you. This thing is not true, but none + the less do I bring these horrors on you.' + +So desperate was the tumult in Sir Charles Dilke's mind that Mr. +Chamberlain strove to tranquillize him by a change of scene. Some spot, +such as is to be found in Sir Charles's own holiday land of Provence, at +first occurred to his friend, though this would have meant the +cancelling of all Mr. Chamberlain's public engagements at that most +critical moment in politics. But Sir Charles instead went down to +Highbury, where he passed his days much in the open air, playing lawn +tennis and riding with his host's son, Mr Austen Chamberlain. + +Here he rapidly came back to something of his normal self. As news had +been telegraphed of Mrs. Pattison's gradual recovery, it was decided to +inform her of what had happened. Mr. Chamberlain undertook the delicate +task of wording the communications. She telegraphed back at once that +full assurance of her trust and of her loyalty on which Sir Charles had +counted. But it was characteristic of her not to stop there. A telegram +from Mrs. Pattison to the _Times_ announcing her engagement to Sir +Charles Dilke immediately followed on public intimation of the +proceedings for divorce. Lord Granville wrote to Sir Charles: 'I wish +you joy most sincerely. The announcement says much for the woman whom +you have chosen.' + +Yet days were to come when the storm was so fierce about Sir Charles +Dilke and 'the woman whom he had chosen' that few cared to face it in +support of the accused man and the wife who had claimed her share in his +destiny. + +When those days came, they found no broken spirit to meet them. Through +his affections, and only through his affections, this man could be +driven out of his strongholds of will and judgment; when that inner life +was assured, he faced the rest with equanimity. He writes: + + '_August 28th._--I continue to be much better in health and spirit. + I was five and a half weeks more or less knocked over; I am strong + and well, and really happy in you and for you, and confident and all + that you could wish me to be these last few days.' + +Mrs. Pattison, before she left Ceylon on her way to England, sent him a +telegram, the reply to which was written to meet her at Port Said: +'Nothing ever made me so happy.... Though it has been a frightful blow, +I am well now; and the blow was only a blow to me because of you.' + +At first sympathy and support were proffered in ample measure. On being +formally notified of proceedings in the divorce case, he wrote at once a +letter to the Liberal Association of Chelsea, in which he declared that +the charge against him was untrue and that he looked forward with +confidence to the result of a judicial inquiry; but at the same time he +offered to withdraw his candidature for the seat at the forthcoming +election, if the Council thought him in the circumstances an undesirable +candidate. To this offer the Council replied by reiterating their +confidence in him. About the same time, yielding to Chamberlain's +advice, he returned to the House of Commons while the Housing Bill was +in Committee, and took part in the proceedings as usual. + +The Prince of Wales, to whom he communicated news of his engagement +before the public announcement, wrote warm congratulations and wishes +for dispersal of the overhanging trouble. Mr. Gladstone, who had +frequent occasion to write to him on public business, in one of these +political letters added congratulations on the engagement, though he had +made no allusion to the Divorce Court proceedings. But Mr. Gladstone's +chief private secretary, Sir Edward Hamilton, had written at the first +publication of them this assurance: + + 'You may depend upon it that your friends (among whom I hope I may + be counted) are feeling for you and will stand by you; and, if I am + not mistaken, I believe your constituents will equally befriend you; + indeed, I am convinced that the masses are much more fair and just + than the upper classes. Anything that interfered with your political + career would not only be a political calamity, but a national one; + and I do not for a moment think that any such interference need be + apprehended.' + +This letter represented the attitude that was generally observed towards +Sir Charles Dilke by political associates till after the first trial. + +Mr. Chamberlain's support was unwavering, though there were some who +anticipated that the misfortunes of the one man might disastrously +affect the political career of the other. + +It is true that by the amazing irony of fate which interpenetrated this +whole situation the Tories gained in Mr. Chamberlain their most powerful +ally, and that Sir Charles had to encounter all the accumulated +prejudice which the 'unauthorized programme' had gathered in Tory +bosoms. But none of these things could be foreseen when Chamberlain, +then in the full flood of his Radical propaganda, invited Sir Charles to +make his temporary home at Highbury. Here, accordingly, he stayed on +through August and the early part of September, breaking his stay only +by two short absences. There still lived on at Chichester old Mr. +Dilke's brother, a survivor of the close-knit family group, preserving +the same intense affectionate interest in Charles Dilke's career. To him +this blow was mortal. Sir Charles paid him in the close of August his +yearly visit: ten days later he was recalled to attend the old man's +funeral in the Cathedral cloisters. + +In the middle of September he crossed to France, and waited at Saint +Germain for Mrs. Pattison, who reached Paris in the last days of the +month. On October 1st Sir Charles crossed to London; she followed the +next day, and on the 3rd they were married at Chelsea Parish Church. Mr. +Chamberlain acted as best man. + + +III. + +Return to England meant a return to work. The General Election was fixed +for November; and from August onwards Dilke had been drawn back by +correspondents and by consultations with Chamberlain into the stream of +politics, which then ran broken and turbulent with eddies and cross- +currents innumerable. Chamberlain, sustaining alone the advanced +campaign, wrote even before the marriage to solicit help at the earliest +moment; and from October onwards the two Radicals were as closely +associated as ever--but with a difference. Circumstances had begun the +work of Sir Charles's effacement. + +When the election came, his success was personal; London went against +the Liberals, his old colleague Mr. Firth failed, so did Mr. George +Russell in another part of the borough, which was now split into several +constituencies; but Chelsea itself stood to its own man. The elections +were over on December 19th. Before that date it was apparent that the +Irish party held the balance of power, and Mr. Gladstone had already +indicated his acceptance of Home Rule. [Footnote: Chapter XLV., p. 196.] + +Parliament met early, and by January 28th, 1886, the Tory Government had +resigned. Mr. Gladstone, in framing his new Administration, thought it +impossible to include a man suffering under a charge yet untried, and +wrote: + + '_February 2nd_, 1886 + + 'My Dear Dilke, + + 'I write you, on this first day of my going regularly to my arduous + work, to express my profound regret that any circumstances of the + moment should deprive me of the opportunity and the hope of + enlisting on behalf of a new Government the great capacity which you + have proved in a variety of spheres and forms for rendering good and + great service to Crown and country. + + 'You will understand how absolutely recognition on my part of an + external barrier is separate from any want of inward confidence, the + last idea I should wish to convey. + + 'Nor can I close without fervently expressing to you my desire that + there may be reserved you a long and honourable career of public + distinction. + + 'Believe me always, + + 'Yours sincerely, + + 'W. E. Gladstone.' + +Less than a fortnight later the divorce case was heard: the charge +against Sir Charles was dismissed with costs, the Judge saying expressly +that there was no case for him to answer. + +The Prime Minister's attitude made it inevitable that while the case was +untried Sir Charles should be excluded from the new Ministry; but not +less inevitably his position before the world was prejudiced by that +exclusion. Had Parliament met, as it usually meets, in February; had the +whole thing so happened that the judgment had been given before the +Ministry came to be formed, exclusion would have been all but +impossible. We may take it that Mr. Chamberlain would have insisted on +Sir Charles's inclusion as a condition of his own adherence; it would +have been to the interest of every Gladstonian and of every follower of +Chamberlain to maintain the judgment. As it was, the effect of Sir +Charles's exclusion had been to prepare the way for a vehement campaign +directed against him by a section of the Press. + +By the law a wife's confession of misconduct is evidence against +herself, entitling the husband to a divorce; but if unsupported by other +witnesses it is no evidence against the co-respondent. But a question +arose which afterwards became of capital importance. Should Sir Charles +go into the witness-box, deny on oath the unsworn charges made against +him, and submit himself to cross-examination? His counsel decided that +there was no evidence to answer; they did not put their client into the +box, and the course was held by the Judge to be the correct one. + +In reply to the Attorney-General's representation that there was no case +whatever which Sir Charles Dilke was called to answer, Mr. Justice Butt +said that he could not see the shadow of a case. In his judgment he +said: 'A statement such as has been made by the respondent in this case +is not one of those things which in common fairness ought for one moment +to be weighed in the balance against a person in the position of Sir +Charles Dilke. Under these circumstances, I have no hesitation whatever +in saying that counsel have been well advised in suggesting the course +which they have induced Sir Charles Dilke to take, and the petition, as +against him, must be dismissed with costs.' + +Dilke himself notes: 'On Friday, February 12th, the trial took place, +and lasted but a short time, Sir Henry James and Sir Charles Russell not +putting me into the box, and Sir Charles Butt almost inviting them to +take that course. Lord Granville had written to me: "Will you forgive my +intruding two words of advice? Put yourself unreservedly into the hands +of someone who, like our two law officers, unites sense with knowledge +of the law." I had done this, and had throughout acted entirely through +James, Russell, and Chamberlain. In court and during the remainder of +the day, Chamberlain, James, and Russell, were triumphant....' + +For the moment it seemed as if misfortune had ended in triumph. +Congratulations poured in upon both Sir Charles and his wife; the +official leaders welcomed the judgment. Mr. Chamberlain sent an express +message to Downing Street: 'Case against Dilke dismissed with costs, but +the petitioner has got his divorce against his wife.' Mr. Gladstone +answered: 'My dear Chamberlain, I have received your prompt report with +the utmost pleasure.' Sir William Harcourt wrote direct: + + 'Dear Dilke,--So glad to hear of the result and of your relief from + your great trouble.--Yours ever, W. V. H.' + +Lady Dilke's friends wrote to her, congratulating her on the reward that +her courage and her loyalty had reaped. + +But in Sir Charles's Diary of that date, where notes of any personal +character are few indeed, this is written on the day after the case was +heard, in comment on the action of a certain section of the Press: + + 'Renewed attempt to drive me out of public life. But I won't go now. + In July I said to Emilia and to Chamberlain: "Here is the whole + truth--and I am an innocent man; but let me go out quietly, and some + day people will be sorry and I shall recover a different sort of + usefulness." They would not let me go. Now I won't go.' + +A man other than innocent would have rested on the strong judgment in +his favour and let agitation die down, but the attacks continued and +Dilke would not wait their passing. Chamberlain was included in these +attacks, 'for having kept me out of the box,' and wrote in reply to Sir +Charles: 'I was only too glad to be able in any way to share your +burdens, and if I can act as a lightning conductor, so much the +better.... Of course, if _you_ were quite clear that you ought to go +into the box, it is still possible to do so, either by action for libel +or probably by intervention of the Queen's Proctor.' + +'This was the first suggestion made to me of any possibility of a +rehearing of the case ... and though Hartington, James, and Russell, +were all under the impression that I should find no further difficulty, +it was the course which I ultimately took,' and which he pressed on with +characteristic tenacity. And here laymen may be permitted to marvel at +the fallibility of eminent lawyers. 'No one, of all these great +lawyers,' foresaw the position in which he would be placed as a result +of his application. Yet from the moment that this procedure was adopted +it was possible that he might be judged without those resources of +defence which are open to the meanest subject charged with an offence. + +In March Sir Charles Dilke applied to the Queen's Proctor for his +intervention in order that the case might be reheard. The application +failed. In April he moved again, this time by a public letter, and this +time the Queen's Proctor yielded. Application was made in the Court of +Probate and Divorce to the President, Sir James Hannen, that Sir Charles +Dilke should be made a party to the intervention or reinstated in the +suit. + +The President laid down that Sir Charles was no party to the suit, and +had now no right to appear except as a witness, and might not be +represented by counsel. The question was then taken to the Court of +Appeal, but, on strictly technical grounds, the Court held that Sir +Charles was no longer a party, and that he could not be allowed to +intervene. Thus the first judgment, by declaring him innocent and +awarding him costs as one unjustly accused, led straight to his undoing. +He had been struck out of the case; he was now a mere member of the +general public. There never were, probably, legal proceedings in which +from first to last law and justice were more widely asunder. + +Sir Charles Dilke was, in fact, in the position from which Sir Henry +James had sought to protect him--the position described in the course of +his pleading for reinstatement: + + 'I have no desire to put forward any claim for my client other than + one founded on justice, but I cannot imagine a more cruel position + than that in which Sir Charles Dilke would be placed in having a + grave charge against him tried while the duty of defending his + interest was committed to hands other than those of his own + advisers.' + +The consequences which flowed from the technical construction put upon +the situation were these: In reality Sir Charles Dilke was the defendant +on trial for his political life and his personal honour. Yet although +Sir Henry James and Sir Charles Russell were there in court ready +briefed, neither was allowed to speak. Dilke's case against his accuser +had to be dealt with by the counsel for the Queen's Proctor, Sir Walter +Phillimore, who, though a skilled ecclesiastical lawyer, was +comparatively inexperienced in the cross-examination of witnesses and in +Nisi Prius procedure, and was opposed by Mr. Henry Matthews, the most +skilled cross-examiner at the bar. Sir Walter Phillimore also stated +publicly, and properly, that it was not his 'duty to represent and +defend Sir Charles Dilke.' So strictly was this view acted upon that Sir +Charles did not once meet Sir Walter Phillimore in consultation; and +witnesses whom he believed to be essential to his case were never +called. But that was not all. According to the practice of that court, +all the information given by Dilke was at once communicated to the other +side; but as Sir Charles was not a party to the suit, the Queen's +Proctor did not communicate to him what he learned from that other side. + +In an ordinary trial the witnesses of the accusers are heard first. And +this order is recognized as giving the greatest prospect of justice, +since if the defence is first disclosed the accuser may adjust details +in the charge so as, at the last moment, to deprive the defence of that +fair-play which the first order of hearing is designed to secure. The +only possible disproof which Sir Charles could offer was an alibi. It +was of vital importance to him that the accusation should be fixed to +dates, places, days, hours, even minutes, with the utmost possible +precision. Then he might, even after the lapse of years, establish the +falsity of a charge by proof that he was elsewhere at the time +specified. But in this case, owing to the form that the proceedings +took, the opportunity which of right belongs to the defence was given to +the accuser. The accusation being technically brought by the Queen's +Proctor, who alleged that the divorce had been obtained by false +evidence, Sir Charles Dilke was produced as his witness, and had at the +beginning of the proceedings to disclose his defence. + +Further, and even more important, the issue put to the jury was limited +in the most prejudicial way. + + 'On the former occasion,' said Sir James Hannen, 'it was for the + petitioner to prove that his wife had committed adultery with Sir + Charles Dilke.' (This, as has been seen, the petitioner failed to + prove against Sir Charles Dilke; the petitioner had to pay Sir + Charles's costs.) 'On this occasion it is for the Queen's Proctor to + prove that the respondent did not commit adultery with Sir Charles + Dilke.' + +How this negative was to be proved in any circumstances it is difficult +to see, and under the conditions Sir Charles had no chance to attack the +accusation brought against him. + +Sir Charles's own comment in his Diary of the time was: + + '_July 16th_--My case tried again. I not a party, and--though really + tried by a kind of Star Chamber--not represented, not allowed to + cross-examine, not allowed to call witnesses; and under such + circumstances the trial could have but one result, which was that + the jury, directed to decide if they were in doubt that the Queen's + Proctor had not established his case, would take that negative + course. The trial lasted from Friday, 16th, to Friday, 23rd, + inclusive, and the jury decided, as they could not have helped + deciding, and as I should have decided had I been one of them.' + +The situation may be thus summed up: + +In the first trial the petitioner failed to produce any legal evidence +whatever of the guilt of Sir Charles Dilke; in the second the Queen's +Proctor failed to prove his innocence. [Footnote: Technically the +verdict, by dismissing the Queen's Proctor's intervention, confirmed the +original judgment, which dismissed Sir Charles from the case.] + +The verdict of the jury at the second trial was not a verdict of Guilty +against Sir Charles; it was a declaration that his innocence was not +proven, the question put to the Jury by the clerk after their return +into Court following the words of the Act of Parliament, and being +whether the decree nisi for the dissolution of the marriage of the +petitioner and the respondent was obtained contrary to the justice of +the case by reason of material facts not being brought to the knowledge +of the Court. The Jury's answer followed the same words. [Footnote: See +report in _Daily News_, Saturday, July 24th, 1886.] When we add to that +the conditions under which the question was tried, we see that they were +such as to make the proof of innocence impossible. + +Those about Sir Charles at this time remember how even at that bitter +moment he began to look round for any method by which his case might be +reheard. He wrote to Sir Henry James that it would be a proper course +for himself to invite a trial for perjury; and though Lady Dilke was so +ill 'from sick and sleepless nights' that she had been ordered at once +to Royat, he waited for three weeks before accompanying her abroad, to +give time for action to be taken, and wrote to Sir Richard Webster (then +Attorney-General) practically inviting a prosecution. + +He did not abandon hope of a rehearing, and worked for many years in the +trust that the evidence accumulated by himself and his friends might be +so used, nor did he cease his efforts till counsel in consultation +finally assured him 'that no means were open to Sir Charles Dilke to +retry his case.' + +Sir Eyre Crowe, a friend valued for his own as well as for his father's +sake (Sir Joseph Crowe, to whom Sir Charles was much attached), wrote at +the time of Sir Charles's death: 'How he bore for long years the sorrow +and misfortunes of his lot had something heroic about it. I only once +talked to him about these things, and was intensely struck by his Roman +attitude.' It was the only attitude possible to such a man. Placed by +his country's laws in the situation of one officially acquitted by a +decision which was interpreted into a charge of guilt; forced then, in +defence of his honour, into the position of a defendant who is debarred +from means of defence; assured after long effort that no legal means +were open to him to attempt again that defence, he solemnly declared his +innocence, and was thereafter silent. + +'By-and-by it will be remembered that as a fact the issue was never +fairly represented and never fairly met,' was the estimate of Sir +Francis Jeune, afterwards President of the Divorce Court. And from the +first there were many lawyers and thinking men and women who would have +endorsed it. From the first also there were those who believed Sir +Charles's word. Among such faithful friends, Lord Edmond Fitzmaurice, +Sir Robert Collins, Mr. Cyril Flower, Mrs. Westlake and Mr. Westlake, +Q.C., Mr. Thursfield of the _Times_, Mr. Chamberlain, Sir Francis and +Lady Jeune, Sir Charles's old college friend Judge Steavenson, stand out +in memory. He himself says: 'I received after the trial ... a vast +number of letters from people who wrote to express their belief in me. +Some, as, for example, from Dr. Hatch' (the eminent Oxford theologian) +'and his wife, and from Dr. Percival, Head-master of Rugby, [Footnote: +Dr. Percival was President of Trinity College, Oxford, till 1887, when +he went to Rugby. He became Bishop of Hereford.] and his wife, were from +firm friends of Emilia, brought to me by their belief in her; some from +friends, some from political foes, of all sorts--all breathing +confidence and devotion.' + +Mr. Chamberlain wrote: 'I feel bitterly my powerlessness to do or say +anything useful at the present time.' In such a case the testimony of +intimates is weighty, and Sir John Gorst sent in June, 1913, his +recollection of words used by Mr. Chamberlain in the autumn of 1886: 'I +assure you that, as a man of honour, I don't believe the charges made +against him. If you had been in and out of his house at all times as I +have been, you would see they were impossible.' + +Then as now there existed a certain body of opinion which would have +discriminated between a man's private honour and his public usefulness, +holding that the nation which throws aside a great public servant +because of charges of personal immorality is confusing issues, and +sacrificing the country's welfare to private questions. Whatever is to +be said for this view, it was one to which Sir Charles Dilke wished to +owe nothing. He did not share it, and those whose adherence he +acknowledged were those who believed his word. From different sources, +then, Sir Charles had found confidence and support, but they were small +stay in that gradually accumulating torrent of misfortune. + +As the Press campaign had developed in the spring, he found himself +avoided in Parliament and in society. In the House, where a few months +before he had again and again been the Government spokesman and +representative, he was retired into the ranks of private members. This +short Parliament of 1886 came to an end in June, and, in the General +Election which followed, London went solidly against Home Rule; and Sir +Charles, though as compared with other Gladstonian Liberals he did well, +found himself rejected by the constituency which had stood by him in +four contests. Such a reverse occurs in the life of almost every +prominent politician, and, though harassing, is of no determining +import. For Sir Charles Dilke at this moment it was a cruel blow. The +personal discredit against which he had to fight coincided with the +discredit of his party; and when the jury came to their decision in +July, after a week in which the newspapers had been filled daily with +columns of scandalous detail, public feeling assumed a character of +bitter personal hostility. + +'Sir Charles's fall,' says the chronicler of that period, Mr. Justin +McCarthy, 'is like that of a tower. He stood high above every rising +English statesman, and but for what has happened he must have been Prime +Minister after Gladstone.' [Footnote: This article appeared in a +Canadian journal after the second trial.] + + + + +CHAPTER XLIV + +THE RADICAL PROGRAMME _VERSUS_ HOME RULE + +JULY TO DECEMBER, 1885. + + +[Footnote: This chapter and the next cover the same dates as the +preceding chapter, which contains the record of other than political +events, while these deal with the political history of the time.] + +The period between July, 1885, and July, 1886, determined the course of +English history for a generation. At the beginning of this period, Sir +Charles Dilke was one of the three men on the Liberal side who, after +Mr. Gladstone, counted most, and he commanded more general approval than +either Chamberlain or Hartington. But from the first rumour of his +personal misfortune his influence rapidly dwindled; when the period +closed, many of those who had been his political associates had left +him, and from Mr. Chamberlain, in political life, he was irretrievably +sundered. + +In July, 1885, the much-talked-of visit of the Radical leaders to +Ireland was abandoned, owing, it appears, to the change in Sir Charles's +personal fortunes. Meanwhile the first-fruits of the Tory alliance with +Parnellism had begun to appear, and on July 21st Mr. Gladstone had made, +as has been seen, [Footnote: See p.158] a powerful appeal to his Radical +colleagues for support of Lord Spencer--addressing it, after his +invariable custom, to Dilke. It was the last time that he did so, and he +wrote then without knowledge of the blow which had already fallen on Sir +Charles. + +In the end Mr. Gladstone's appeal was disregarded, and, when Lord +Spencer's policy was assailed in the House, the Press noted the +significant absence of Dilke and Chamberlain from the front bench. It +would have been more significant had not Sir Charles been then engrossed +with his personal concerns. Not until the last days of August was he +'sufficiently recovered from the blow to be able to take some interest +in politics'; and then it was merely to take an interest, not to take a +part. Yet already the crucial question for Liberal policy had begun to +define itself. + +On August 24th, Parnell, speaking in Ireland, declared that the one +plank in Ireland's platform was National independence. In reply, Lord +Hartington, speaking at Waterfoot in Lancashire, declared his confidence +that no British party would concede Parnell's demand. But Lord +Hartington did not confine his speech to this + + 'A speech by Hartington in Lancashire read to Chamberlain and myself + like a declaration of war against the unauthorized programme and its + author; and when Rosebery wrote to me to congratulate me on my + coming marriage, I replied in this sense. I had a good deal of + correspondence with James as to what should be the nature of + Chamberlain's reply at Warrington on Tuesday, September 8th, James + trying to patch up things: "The ransom theory [Footnote: Mr. + Chamberlain on January 29th, 1885, at Birmingham: "I hold that the + sanctity of public property is greater than even that of private + property, and that, if it has been lost or wasted or stolen, some + equivalent must be found for it, and some compensation may fairly be + exacted from the wrongdoer." See Chapter XXXVIII., p. 105.] startled + a good many people, and dissent from it was to be expected. But + surely such dissent does not cause a man to be unfit to be in the + Liberal ranks...." James also sent me a memorandum from which I + extracted the following sentence: "If it be once introduced as an + admitted principle that no man can take office without stipulating + for the success of every question to which he may have given a + support, and if every man in Government is to be bound to reject all + concessions to those with whom he has on any point ever differed, + the practical constitution of this country would be overthrown...." + On September 5th Chamberlain had received a letter from Harcourt + which I afterwards considered with him "I set store by your + declaration that you will try to be as moderate as you can. You have + no idea how moderate you can be till you try. I am not the least + despondent about the state of affairs. The Liberal party has a + Pentecostian gift of tongues, and the Parthians, Medes, Elamites, + and others, require to have the gospel preached to them in very + different languages.... I suppose that Bosebery reported to you his + phrase that 'he had expressed himself on the land question more + clumsily even than usual!' It is impossible to be angry with such + frankness...."' + +Lord Rosebery had written at the same time to Sir Charles that the real +trouble arose from 'clumsiness of arrangement,' and quoted Lord +Hartington's words as accepting this view. + + 'John Morley wrote also on September 4th to Chamberlain that Goschen + was rather wrathful that Hartington should be so slow and infrequent + in speaking while he, Chamberlain, was so active, but that he did + not believe Hartington meant war.' + +None adverted to the difficulty, which was nevertheless the central one, +of reaching an agreement concerning an Irish policy. Mr. Morley was +right when he said that there was not going to be 'war' in the Liberal +party over questions of English reform. The question which was to split +the party was Ireland, and Chamberlain in his Warrington speech joined +Hartington in repudiating Parnell's demand. But Mr. Chamberlain saw what +Lord Hartington did not, that a Liberal party must have a positive +policy, and his conception of a Liberal policy during these months was +to force the pace on social questions and leave Ireland alone. + +At these critical moments of August and September, 1885, Sir Charles was +a guest in Mr. Chamberlain's house, and was in consultation with him; +but it was a consultation to which one of the two brought a mind +preoccupied with his own most vital concerns. Scarcely a month had gone +by since the petition had been filed, in July, 1885; much less than a +month since he had been on the very edge of a complete breakdown. He had +been dragged back, almost against his will and against his judgment, +into political life by that imperious personality with which he had been +so long associated in equal comradeship. Under the old conditions Sir +Charles and Mr. Chamberlain would have inevitably influenced each +other's action, and it is at least possible that Sir Charles's gift for +bringing men together and concentrating on essentials might have altered +the whole course of events. But it is clear, from what followed later, +that under the conditions which existed there was no thorough discussion +between them, since the line which Sir Charles took on Ireland when the +dividing of the ways came was a surprise to his friend. + + 'On September 10th, 1885, there came a letter from Mr. Gladstone, + addressed to Chamberlain and myself. Chamberlain replied, after + consultation, in our joint names.' + +They developed their views as to their programme of English as distinct +from Irish reforms. + + 'Mr. Gladstone wished to issue an address (to his constituents with + a view to the General Election), and had got Hartington to ask him + to do so, and he now wanted us also to ask him. We stipulated that + we must have (1) power to local authorities to take land for + housing, allotments, and so forth, and (2) free schools: otherwise, + while we could not object to his issuing his own address, we could + not offer to support or join a future Government.' + + 'On the 15th Chamberlain wrote to me to Paris that he gathered Mr. + G. intended to issue immediately, without waiting his reply.' + +He would write, however, asking for further allusions to compulsory +powers for taking land, and asked Sir Charles to write direct about +registration. + +On September 20th Mr. Chamberlain wrote again, enclosing a copy of his +letter to Mr. Gladstone, and stating his opinion that the manifesto was +bad, and that he regarded it, especially the part referring to free +schools and education, [Footnote: Mr. Gladstone was never at any time in +harmony with the views of the more advanced section of his own party on +education. See the account of the curious controversy between him and +Lord Russell during the last days of the latter's leadership of the +Liberal party (_Life of Granville_, vol. i., pp. 516, 517).] as a slap +in the face to himself and Sir Charles. He added that he had written +frankly to Mr. Gladstone, telling him that he was dissatisfied, and +expressed his opinion that Mr. Gladstone would give way, and that his +reign could not last long. Through the somewhat involved phraseology of +Mr. Gladstone's letter, it seemed possible to extract some hope in +regard to extra powers for local authorities, and a revision of taxation +in favour of the working classes. He concluded by saying that if his +party could get a majority, he would make their terms on joining the +Government, and regretting that Sir Charles was not still staying with +him. + +The letter to Mr. Gladstone spoke of the manifesto as a blow to the +Radical party, and went on to say that, in the event of the Liberal +party returning in full power to office, he would offer loyal support, +as far as possible, to any Government that might be formed, but that the +joining any Administration formed on the narrow basis of the programme +now presented would be impossible. It ended with the words: 'Dilke has +left me, but, from a letter I have received from him, I am justified in +saying that he shares my views.' + + 'I told Chamberlain that in my first speech (and I had two to make + shortly after my proposed marriage in October) I intended to attack + Reform of the House of Lords from the Single Chamber point of view.' + +He replied urging Sir Charles to give this question prominence and +importance, and to do so in the name of the Radical Party, as expressing +their policy, for fear that even Radical candidates should be under some +misapprehension. He also authorized him to use his (Mr. Chamberlain's) +name, as concurring in the views expressed. + + 'On the 25th I received a letter from Chamberlain containing Mr. + Gladstone's reply: + + '"My Dear Chamberlain, + + '"Were I engaged (which Heaven forfend) in the formation of a new + Liberal Government, and were your letter of yesterday an answer to + some invitation to join it, then _I_ should have read the letter + with great regret; but I pointed out to you (as I think), in a + previous letter, that it would (as far as I could judge) be an + entire mistake to lay down a _credo_ of Liberal policy for a new + Government at the present juncture. You and Hartington were both + demurring in opposite senses, and I made to each the same reply. My + aim was for the election only, in giving form to my address. As to + what lies beyond, I suppose the party will, so far as it has a + choice, set first about the matters on which it is agreed. But no + one is bound to this proposition. + + '"Bright once said, with much force and sense, that the average + opinion of the party ought to be the rule of immediate action. + + '"It is likely that there may be a split in the party in the far or + middle distance, but I shall have nothing to do with it, and you, I + am sure, do not wish to anticipate it or force it on. What I have + said may, I hope, mitigate any regret such as you seem to intimate. + + '"I am at present busy on private affairs and papers, to which for + six years past I have hardly given one continuous hour. Later on I + should like much to explain to you my personal views and intentions + in conversation. It would be difficult to do so in writing. They + turn very much upon Ireland--the one imperial question that seems at + present possible to be brought into immediate view. But, for + Liberals generally, I should have thought that there was work enough + for three or four years on which they might all agree. So far as my + observation and correspondence go, I have not found that non-Whig + opinion is offended. + + '"Sincerely yours, + '"W. E. Gladstone. + + '"P.S.--A letter received from Dilke speaks pleasingly about the + address. + + '"I may say that I was quite unconscious of interfering with your + present view, which I understood to be that none of your advanced + proposals were to be excluded, but all left open for discussion.--W. + E. G." + + 'On the passage with regard to Ireland I noted: "He means that he + would go on as Prime Minister if he could see his way to carry the + larger Local Government (Ireland) scheme, and not otherwise." But he + meant more.' + +Sir Charles also wrote suggesting that Mr. Chamberlain should, in his +correspondence with Mr. Gladstone, go into the question of the Whig +composition of Liberal Cabinets, and the latter promised 'to say just +what you suggest.' + +Those who occupied the centre position in the Liberal party were +bewildered by divided counsels. + + 'On September 28th I received from Chamberlain a letter enclosing + one from Harcourt.... He (Harcourt) dwelt upon the delicacy of Mr. + Gladstone's position. "He (Mr. Gladstone) says, if he is not wanted, + he will 'cut out,' and he doubts, I think, if either you or + Hartington want him. But I hope in this he is mistaken; for he is + wanted, and neither section can do without him.... When I spoke at + Plymouth I knew nothing of the contents of his address, nor indeed, + that it was about to appear so soon, though, oddly enough, it came + out the next day. I therefore spoke like a cat in walnut shells, and + had, like a man who makes a miss at billiards, to 'play for safety.' + I am quite with you on the subject of the acquisition of land by + local authorities, and also on free education, which seem to be your + two _sine qua nons_. As to what you say about remaining outside a + new Liberal Government, forgive me for saying that is all nonsense. + If a Liberal Government cannot be formed with you and Dilke, it + certainly cannot be formed without you. You have acquired the right + and the power to make your own conditions, and I am sure they will + be reasonable ones."' + +Sir William Harcourt omitted to consider the possibility of a Government +being formed--as actually happened--while the charges against Sir +Charles were still untried. Politically, he made an omission which was +less natural; once more there is no reference to the Irish problem and +its effect. Yet in Mr. Gladstone's mind it was daily becoming more +insistent. + + 'On September 28th Chamberlain wrote enclosing a letter from Mr. + Gladstone, and his reply: + + '"My Dear Chamberlain, + + '"I felt well pleased and easy after receiving your note of the + 21st, but there is a point I should like to put to you with + reference to your self-denying ordinance making the three points + conditions of office. + + '"Suppose Parnell to come back eighty to ninety strong, to keep them + together, to bring forward a plan which shall contain in your + opinion adequate securities for the union of the Empire, and to + press this plan, under whatever name, as having claims to precedence + (claims which could hardly be denied even by opponents), do you + think no Government should be formed to promote such a plan, unless + the three points were glued on to it at the same time? Do you not + think you would do well to reserve elbow-room for a case like this? + I hope you will not think my suggestion--it is not a question-- + captious and a man-trap. It is meant in a very different sense. A + Liberal majority is assumed in it. + + '"Yours sincerely, + '"W. E. Gladstone."' + +When that letter reached Highbury, Sir Charles was in France, awaiting +Mrs. Pattison's arrival from India. Mr. Chamberlain's reply was written +without consultation on September 28th. In it he said that he had +assumed that Local Government would be the first work of a Liberal +Government, and that Bills for the three countries would be brought in +together. Mr. Parnell's change of front would, he thought, have limited +the proposals to the establishment of County Councils, with certain +powers for the acquisition of land by Local Authorities. He thought it +unlikely that Parnell would bring forward a scheme that any Liberal +Government could support; but if he did, he would do all he could to +assist the Government in dealing with it, whether from inside or outside +the Cabinet. + +Chamberlain further urged Dilke to lay stress on the determination of +his party not to be 'mere lay figures in a Cabinet of Goschens.' He +regarded his party as indispensable, and if the Government tried to do +without them, they were determined to make trouble. He expressed an +earnest wish that Sir Charles Dilke could be working with them; but he +did not press this at the moment, if Sir Charles was taking a holiday +after his marriage. + +Dilke took the briefest of holidays; on October 6th, three days after +his wedding, he spoke at Chelsea. After dwelling at length on +Chamberlain's proposal to give powers of compulsory land purchase to +local authorities, he asked for the widest form of elective self- +government for Ireland consistent with the integrity of the Empire, +[Footnote: 'In my individual opinion, the natural crowning stone of any +large edifice of local government must sooner or later be some such +elective Local Government Board for each of the three principal parts of +the United Kingdom and for the Principality of Wales, as I have often +sketched out to you. As regards Ireland, we all of us here, I think, +agree that the widest form of elective self-government should be +conferred which is consistent with the integrity of the Empire. No one +can justify the existence of the nominated official Boards which at +present attempt to govern Ireland. I care not whether the Irish people +are or are not at the moment willing to accept the changes we have to +propose. If the present system is as indefensible as I think it, we +should propose them all the same. If they are not at first accepted, our +scheme will at least be seen and weighed, and we shall be freed from the +necessity of appearing to defend a system which is obnoxious to every +Liberal principle. I would ask you to remember some words in Mr. +Ruskin's chapter on "The Future of England," in his _Crown of Wild +Olive_, which are very applicable to the situation:--"In Ireland, +especially, a vicious system has been so long maintained that it has +become impossible to give due support to the cause of order without +seeming to countenance injury." The bodies which would deal with +education, with private Bills, with provisional order Bills, and with +appeals from local authorities in matters too large for county +treatment, in Wales and Scotland and England itself, if I had my way, as +well as in Ireland, would, I believe, make the future government of the +United Kingdom, as a United Kingdom, more easy than it is at present.'] +and went on to assume that the first session of the new Parliament would +be 'a Local Government session.' In the following week 'I made an +important speech at Halifax on Local Government which attracted much +attention.' 'Halifax will be all Local Government,' he wrote to Mr. +Frank Hill, 'which is necessary, as it is clear that Balfour and +Salisbury have cribbed my last year's Bill.' + + 'I may note here that on October 6th, at my Chelsea meeting, George + Russell told me that he had on the previous day induced Mr. + Gladstone to send for Chamberlain to Hawarden. On October 7th + Chamberlain wrote: + + '"Hawarden Castle. + + '"My Dear Dilke, + + '"I was sent for here, but up to now I do not know why.... My + present object is to say that you made a capital speech, and that I + approve every word of it except the part about London Government. + But as to this I suppose that Londoners must have their way and + their own form of municipal government though I doubt if it will not + prove a fatal gift. Why will the papers invent differences between + you and me? I verily believe that if I spoke your speech, and you + spoke mine, they would still find the distinguishing characteristics + of each speaker unchanged. I thought your last part admirable and + just what I should have said. Yet the _Standard_ thinks it quite a + different note to the South London and Bradford speeches. Mr. G. + thinks Mr. Parnell's last speech more satisfactory I confess I had + not perceived the improvement. He (Mr. G.) is still very sweet on + National Councils." + + 'On October 9th Chamberlain wrote: + + '"I am not quite certain what was Mr. G.'s object in sending for me. + I suppose he desired to minimize our conditions as far as possible. + He was very pleasant and very well, with no apparent trace of his + hoarseness. He spoke at considerable length on the Irish Question; + said he was more than ever impressed with the advantages of the + Central Council scheme, and had written strongly to that effect to + Hartington. But I do not gather that he has any definite plan under + present circumstances. He thought Parnell's last speech was more + moderate (I confess I do not agree with him), and I suppose that if + we get a majority his first effort will be to find a _modus + vivendi_, and to enter into direct communications with this object. + + '"As regards Radical programme I stuck to the terms of your speech, + namely, first, compulsory powers for acquiring land to be inserted + in the Local Government Bill. Second, freedom to speak and vote as + we liked on questions of free schools. He boggled a good deal over + this, and said it was very weakening to a Government; but I told him + we could not honestly do less, and that I expected a large majority + of Liberals were in favour of the proposal. We did not come to any + positive conclusion, nor do I think that he has absolutely made up + his mind, but the tone of the conversation implied that he was + seeking to work with us, and had no idea of doing without us. At the + close he spoke of his intention to give up the leadership soon after + the new Parliament met. I protested, and said that if he did this + our whole attitude would be changed, and we must and should ask from + Hartington much larger concessions than we were prepared to accept + from him. I expect the force of circumstances will keep him in his + place till the end, though I believe he is sincerely anxious to be + free."' [Footnote: Mr. Gladstone's account of this interview is to + be found in Morley's _Life of Gladstone_, vol. iii., p. 224.] + +On October 17th Chamberlain wrote 'on another letter of Mr. Gladstone's, +which I do not possess: + + '"I do not think it is wise to do anything about Mr G.'s letter on + Ireland. I agree with your recollection of the matter. But Mr. G. is + not far wrong, and we have our hands full of other things. The Irish + business is not the first just now." + + 'About this time I was taken as arbitrator in a considerable number + of disputed candidatures, in most of which I acted by myself, and in + one, the Walworth case, with Chamberlain and John Morley.' + + 'I had been to see Manning, at his wish, with my wife, and he had + spoken kindly about Chamberlain, on which I wrote to Chamberlain + about him; and Chamberlain replied: + + '"Our experience in the Irish Question has not been encouraging. We + understood the Cardinal cordially to approve of my scheme of + National Councils and to be ready to use his influence in any way to + promote its acceptance. On our part we were prepared to press the + question at any sacrifice, and to make the adoption of our scheme a + condition of our membership of any future Government. And yet, when + the time came to ask the Cardinal for his help, he refused + categorically so small a matter as an introduction to the Irish + Bishops, and, as I understood, on the ground that the Conservatives + were in office. Would not the same influence prevail in the matter + of education? Besides, I do not see what Cardinal Manning has to + offer. The majority of English Catholics are Conservative, and no + concession that it is in our power to make would secure their + support for the Liberal party. I am therefore of opinion that the + differences between us can only be decided by the constituencies." + + 'The Cardinal wrote concerning Chamberlain: + + '"Mr. Chamberlain was good enough to send me his scheme for Local + Government in Ireland, in which in the main I agree, and did all in + my power to promote its acceptance. The Government went out, and you + asked of me to promote what I called a 'Midlothian in Ireland,' + under the eyes of the new Lord Lieutenant. (I wrote on this to + Chamberlain: 'I answered this at the time and have done so again + now.') Did Mr. Chamberlain understand my agreement with his scheme + as carrying any consequences beyond that scheme or any solidarity in + such an aggressive action against any party whatsoever in power?... + In the matter in which he was courteous enough to make known his + scheme to me, I have promoted it where and in ways he does not + know." + + 'In a day or two there came another letter from Manning: + + '"It is true you did disclaim a Midlothian; but I told you that I + know my Irishmen too well, and believe that even Paul and Barnabas + would have been carried away. Moreover, if you had been silent as + fishes, the moral effect would have been a counter-move. Your + humility does not admit this. So you must absolve me for my one + word."' + +Mr. Chamberlain commented in strong terms on the diplomatic methods of +the great ecclesiastic. The 'countermove' implied that there had been a +Tory move in the direction of Home Rule with a view to securing Irish +support. Manning believed, as Mr. Gladstone also believed, that the +Tories meant business; later it became clear that they had no +constructive Irish policy at all. Yet the question grew daily more +pressing. + + 'At the end of October Chamberlain wrote: + + '"I had a note from Mr. G. this morning urging unity, and saying he + had an instinct that Irish questions 'might elbow out all others.' + This makes me uneasy. I hear from another source that he is trying + to get Parnell's ideas in detail. It is no use."' + +To Mr. Gladstone, Chamberlain wrote, on October 26th, that he could not +see his way at all about Ireland. He emphasized his view that Ireland +had better go altogether than the responsibilities of a nominal union be +accepted, and that probably the majority of Liberals would not give more +than English Local Government; and that, if possible, Irish and English +Local Government should be dealt with together. Unless the principle of +the acquisition of land by local authorities was accepted, neither he +nor Dilke nor Morley, nor probably Lefevre, could join the Government. + +The strife between Chamberlain and Hartington was maintained, and Mr. +Gladstone interposed by a letter to the Chief Whip, in which he advised +the intervention of Lord Granville in view of 'his great tact, prudence, +and experience.' On November 5th Mr. Chamberlain wrote to Sir Charles, +enclosing Mr. Gladstone's letter, and adding: + + 'Mr. G.'s is the most definite proof I have had yet that he does not + mean to quarrel with us. Lord Granville has just been here. He told + me nothing about Ireland, but _I am convinced_ that Mr. Gladstone + has been trying to make a treaty all to himself. It must fail.' + +No such treaty was made, and on the eve of the General Election of +November, 1885, Parnell issued an instruction that the Irish in England +should vote Tory. + + 'On Tuesday, November 24th, our poll took place in Chelsea, and on + Wednesday, November 25th, the count, which showed that I was + returned, although only by a small majority.... The Irish had voted + for Whitmore, the Conservative candidate, my opponent, in + consequence of the issue at the last moment of the bill, "Mr. + Parnell's order--Vote for the Conservative, Mr. Whitmore. Irishmen, + do your duty and obey your leader."' + + 'I had been summoned by Chamberlain, who desired a meeting of our + party within the party, in a letter in which he said: + + '"It does not look as if the Tories would have the chance of doing + much mischief; but I should much like them to be in for a couple of + years before we try again, and then I should 'go for the Church.'"' + +Dilke notes that Chamberlain was persuaded to drop this line of attack, +on which he had already embarked. Disestablishment of the Church of +England had proved to be anything but a good election cry; the ransom +doctrine had not brought in more votes than it lost; and the 366 certain +Liberal seats with twenty-six doubtful ones which Mr. Schnadhorst +counted up at the end of October were now an illusion of the past. The +election was generally taken as a set-back to the extreme Radicals. + + 'On Saturday, December 5th, we met at Highbury, and remained in + council until Monday, December 7th. Mr. Gladstone, we were informed + (that is Morley, Lefevre, and myself), had presented a Home Rule + scheme to the Queen, who had shown it to Lord Salisbury, and + Randolph Churchill had told Lady Dorothy Nevill, who had told + Chamberlain, but no statement had been made by Mr. Gladstone to his + former colleagues.' + + + + +CHAPTER XLV + +BEGINNING OF THE HOME RULE SPLIT + +DECEMBER, 1885, TO FEBRUARY, 1886 + + +After the meeting of Radicals, December 5th to 7th, at Highbury, Sir +Charles went back to London. + + 'On Wednesday, December 9th, I spoke at the Central Poor Law + Conference.... I carried the assembly, which was one of Poor Law + Guardians, and therefore Conservative, along with me in the opinion + that it was desirable to elect directly the whole of the new bodies + in local government, instead of having either a special + representation of Magistrates or any system of indirect election or + choice of Aldermen.' + +He argued in the belief that the next session might still see a Tory +Government in power. 'If the Conservatives propose a Local Government +Bill,' he said at Chelsea, 'it will be our Local Government Bill which +they will propose.' He notes: 'They proposed two-thirds of it, and +carried one-third, in 1888.' + + 'At this moment, not knowing how far Mr. Gladstone was willing to go + in the Home Rule direction, and that there was, therefore, any + chance of his securing the real support of the Irish party, I was + opposed to the attempt to turn out the Government and form a Liberal + Administration resting on the support of a minority, and I spoke in + that sense to my constituents. My view was that it would be + disastrous to advanced Liberalism to form a Government resting on a + minority, as it would be impossible to carry any legislation not of + a Conservative type.' + + 'Chamberlain wrote to me on December 15th, with regard to one of my + speeches, that I was too polite to the Tories. "This," he added, "is + where I never err." + + 'On December 18th I received some copies of important letters. Mr. + Gladstone's scheme had got out on the 16th, [Footnote: Lord Morley's + _Life of Gladstone_, vol. iii., pp. 264,265, shows that the "scheme + got out" owing to Sir Charles Dilke's speech to his constituents. + Mr. Herbert Gladstone came to town on the 14th partly in consequence + of a speech "made a few days before by Sir Charles Dilke," and the + talk it caused. The speech was "taken to mean" that the two Radical + leaders preferred keeping the Tories in power "in the expectation + that some moderate measures of reform might be got from them, and + that meanwhile they would become committed with the Irishmen. + Tactics of this kind were equivalent to the exclusion of Mr. + Gladstone, for in every letter that he wrote he pronounced the Irish + Question urgent." Accordingly, on December 16th there came the + unauthorized version of Mr. Gladstone's scheme, given to the Press + through his son.] and on the 17th he wrote to Lord Hartington a + letter of which the latter sent me a long extract. [Footnote: The + letter, which has been printed both by Lord Morley and by Mr. + Bernard Holland, is that in which Mr. Gladstone detailed the + "conditions of an admissible plan" of Home Rule, and expressed a + determination "on no account to do or say anything which would + enable the Nationalists to establish rival biddings between us." It + is so germane to this discussion that part of it is again printed in + the appendix following this chapter (p. 208).] + + 'At the same time I received a letter from Chamberlain in which he + said: + + '"Have I turned round? Perhaps I have, but it is unconsciously. + Honestly I thought you went beyond us in your speeches, but I feel + that your judgment is very likely better and certainly as good as + mine, and I should have said nothing but for the flood of letters I + received. + + '"The situation changes every minute. The announcement of Mr. G.'s + plan makes it much more serious; and I altered my speech somewhat + to-night to meet it, but unless I have failed in my endeavour I have + not said anything which will embarrass you, and I had you constantly + in mind throughout. Please read it carefully and let me know exactly + what you think and how far I have succeeded. I would not put you in + a hole for a King's ransom if I could avoid it. + + '"I agree entirely with you as to dissolution. The Tory game is to + exaggerate Mr. Gladstone's performance and to go to the country on + the 'integrity of the Empire.' I have endeavoured to reserve our + position, and, as to taking office, to make it clear that we are + opposed to it, unless we can get a big majority, which is + impossible. Unless I am mistaken, the Gladstone business will + exclusively occupy attention the next few days, and my speech will + pass without much notice. But again I say that I have tried (and I + hope and believe I have succeeded) to avoid anything which may + appear like contradiction or opposition to your line. + + '"Finally, my view is that Mr. G.'s Irish scheme is death and + damnation; that we must try and stop it; that we must not openly + commit ourselves against it yet; that we must let the situation + shape itself before we finally decide; that the Whigs are our + greatest enemies, and that we must not join them if we can help it; + that we cannot take office, but must not offer assistance to the + Tories publicly; that we must say all we can as to their shameful + bargain and surrender of principle; that even if they bring in good + measures they will also bring in bad, which we shall be forced to + oppose; and that the less we speak in public for the present, the + better." + + 'I had told Chamberlain that his speech had given the impression + that he had turned round.' + +Sir Charles, in a further speech to his constituents at Chelsea, +reaffirmed the principles which he had already publicly laid down. + + 'In speaking on the night of Friday, December 18th, at Chelsea, I + declared that we ought not to allow ourselves to be driven either + forward or backward from the principles that we had put forward with + regard to Ireland, and that our course should be to continue to + propose the measures which we had previously proposed without + reference to the Parnellite support of Conservative candidates. The + scheme which I had put forward at the General Election was the one + to which I adhered. If it had been generally adopted when first + suggested, it would have received very large support in Ireland.' + +He then quotes from the report of his speech this sentence: 'We are told +that now it is too late, but for my part I should not be inclined to +recede from it because it does not meet with general support.' + +On this Chamberlain wrote: + + '_December 19th_, 1885. + + 'My Dear Dilke, + + 'The papers this morning seem to show that I have succeeded in + avoiding any kind of conflict with you. Your own speech was most + judicious. What a mess Mr. G. has made of it! What will be the end + of it all? Why the d---- could he not wait till Parnell had + quarrelled with the Tories? I fancy that a large number, perhaps the + majority, of Liberals will support _any_ scheme of Mr. G.'s, but I + doubt if the country will endorse it. The Tories, if they are wise, + will throw everything else aside and go for the "Empire in danger," + dissolving at the earliest possible opportunity. The Liberals would + be divided and distracted, and I think we shall be beaten into a + cocked hat. Our game--yours and mine--is to avoid definite committal + for the moment. Circumstances change every hour. Harcourt is coming + to me on Saturday and Sunday.' + + 'On the next day Chamberlain sent me a copy of a letter to him from + Mr. Gladstone: + + '"_December 18th_, 1885. + + '"My Dear Chamberlain, + + '"I thank you very much for your references to me in your speech + last night. + + '"In this really serious crisis we must all make efforts to work + together; and I gladly recognize your effort. + + '"Moreover, reading as well as writing hastily, I think we are very + much in accord. + + '"Both reflection and information lead me to think that time is very + precious, and that the hour-glass has begun to run for a definitive + issue. + + '"But I am certainly and strongly of opinion that only a Government + can act, that especially this Government should act, and that we + should now be helping and encouraging them to act as far as we + legitimately can. + + '"In reply to a proposal of the Central News to send me an + interviewer, I have this morning telegraphed to London: 'From my + public declarations at Edinburgh _with respect to the Government_, + you will easily see that I have no communication to make.' + + '"Be _very incredulous_ as to any statements about my views and + opinions. Rest assured that I have done and said _nothing_ which in + any way points to negotiation or separate action. The time may come, + but I hope it will not. At present I think most men, but I do not + include you, are in too great a hurry to make up their minds. Much + may happen before (say) January 12th. The first thing of all is to + know _what will the Government do?_ I know they have been in + communication with Parnellites, and I hope with Parnell. + + '"I remain always, + + '"Sincerely yours, + + '"W. E. Gladstone." + + 'I fancy that I was the cause of Chamberlain receiving this letter, + as I had told Brett (who at once wrote to Hawarden) that Chamberlain + was angry at not having been consulted.' + + 'On December 21st we went down to Pyrford, which was now just + finished, to stay there for the first time, and remained until + Christmas Eve. On December 22nd I received a letter from Chamberlain + from Highbury.' + +In this letter Mr. Chamberlain chronicled Sir William Harcourt's +visit--who, after 'raving against the old man and the old cause,' had +left in better spirits. Mr. Chamberlain was in much doubt whether Mr. +Gladstone would go on or would retire after Lord Hartington's letter to +the Press, [Footnote: This is a reference to Lord Hartington's letter in +the Press of December 21st, 1885, which he alludes to, in writing to Mr. +Gladstone, as "published this morning" (_Life of Duke of Devonshire_, +vol. ii., p. 103).] and had written to Mr. Gladstone to say that he did +not think the country would stand an independent Parliament. He saw +nothing between National Councils and Separation, and wondered whether +Mr. Gladstone thought that--in the event of a separate Irish +Legislature--Ireland could be governed by a single Chamber, and England +and Scotland by two. + + 'On December 26th Chamberlain wrote: + + '"I do not envy you the opportunity of speaking on the 31st. It is a + dangerous time, and I am inclined myself to 'lie low.' Is it + desirable to say anything? If it is right to speak at all, I think + something like a full expose of motifs is necessary, and I put the + following before you as the heads of a discourse. + + '"At present there are two different ideas, for settlement of + Ireland, before the public imagination, viz.: (A) National Councils; + (B) Separation. + + '"As to A, the fundamental principles are supremacy of Imperial + Parliament and extension of local liberties on municipal lines. It + is a feasible, practical plan. But it has the fatal objection that + the Nationalists will not accept it. It is worse than useless to + impose on them benefits which they repudiate. As to B, everyone + professes to reject the idea of separation. If it were adopted, I + have no doubt it would lead to the adoption of the conscription in + Ireland; then to the conscription in England, and increase of the + navy; fresh fortifications on the west coast, and finally a war in + which Ireland would have the support of some other Power, perhaps + America or France. Between these alternatives there is the hazy idea + of Home Rule visible in Morley's speech and Gladstone's assumed + intention. It is dangerous and mischievous to use vague language on + such a subject. Those who speak ought to say exactly what they mean. + It will be found that Home Rule includes an independent separate + Irish Parliament, and that all guarantees and securities, whether + for the protection of minorities or for the security of the Empire, + are absolutely illusory. + + '"At the same time we are to continue to receive Irish + representatives at Westminster in the Imperial Parliament, and we + shall not even get rid of their obstruction and interference here by + the concession of their independence in Ireland. To any arrangement + of this kind, unworkable as I believe it to be, I prefer + separation--to which, indeed, it is only a step. + + '"Is there any other possible arrangement which would secure the + real integrity of the Empire for Imperial purposes, while allowing + Irishmen to play the devil as they like in Ireland? + + '"Yes, there is. But it involves the entire recasting of the British + Constitution and the full and complete adoption of the American + system. According to this view you might have five Parliaments, for + England, Scotland, Wales, Ulster, [Footnote: This is the first + suggestion of a scheme under which part of Ireland would be + separated from the rest.] and the three other provinces combined. + Each Parliament to have its own Ministry, responsible to it and + dependent on its vote. In addition an Imperial Parliament or + Reichsrath with another Ministry dealing with foreign and colonial + affairs, army, navy, post-office, and customs. + + '"To carry out this arrangement a Supreme Court or similar tribunal + must be established, to decide on the respective attributes of the + several local legislatures and the limits of their authority. + + '"The House of Lords must go, or you must establish a separate + Second Chamber for each legislature. + + '"It is impossible to suppose that the authority of the Crown could + survive these changes for long. One or other of the local + legislatures would refuse to pay the expense, and, as it would have + some kind of local militia at its back, it is not likely that the + other legislatures would engage in civil war for the sake of + reimposing the nominal authority of the Sovereign. + + '"As a Radical all these changes have no terrors for me, but is it + conceivable that such a clean sweep of existing institutions could + be made in order to justify the Irish demand for Home Rule? Yet this + is the only form of federal government which offers any prospect of + permanence or union for Imperial purposes. + + '"If English Liberals once see clearly that indefinite talk about + Home Rule means either separation or the entire recasting of the + whole system of English as well as Irish government, they will then + be in a position to decide their policy. At present they are being + led by the _Daily News_ and Morley and Co. to commit themselves in + the dark." + + 'Next day, December 27th, Chamberlain wrote: + + '"The situation (Irish) is now as follows: + + '"(1) The Government have been informed that Mr. Gladstone thinks + this great question should not be prejudiced by party feeling, and + that he will support them in any attempt they may make to give Home + Rule to Ireland. + + '"(2) Mr. Gladstone has been informed that the Government will see + him damned first. + + '"(3) The Irishmen have been informed that Mr. Gladstone will not + move a step till the Government have spoken or until the Irish have + put them in a minority. + + '"(4) In either of these events he will do his best to effect a + thorough settlement. 'He will go forward or fall.' + + '"(5) I gather that he will not, as he ought, challenge Parnell to + say publicly exactly what he wants, but that he will propose his own + scheme, which is an Irish legislature with a veto reserved to the + Crown--to be exercised on most questions on the advice of the Irish + Ministry, but on questions of religion, commerce, and taxation, on + the advice of the Imperial Ministry. + + '"(6) The Irish are suspicious, and have not made up their minds. + Parnell says nothing, but the rank and file are inclined to give Mr. + Gladstone his chance and turn him out again if they are not + satisfied with his proposals. + + '"The Tories hope to get out Mr. Gladstone's intentions in debate on + Address, and threaten another immediate dissolution if they are + placed in a minority; I think, however, their true policy is and + will be to let Mr. Gladstone come in and make his proposals. This + will divide the Liberal party, and in all probability alarm and + disgust the country. + + '"Was there ever such a situation? Test Mr. Gladstone's scheme in + practice. The Irish Ministry insist on necessity of restoring Irish + manufactures by protection. The Imperial Parliament veto their + proposals. Thereupon the Irish representatives join the Tories and + turn out the Government on a foreign and colonial debate, the same + Government being in a great majority on all English and Scotch + questions. How long can such a state of things last? Mr. Gladstone + will have the support of a portion of the Liberal party--Morley, for + instance, Storey, the Crofters' representatives, and probably some + of the Labour representatives. How many more will he get? Will he + have the majority of the Radicals? Will he have the majority of the + Liberals, following the party leader like sheep? It is curious to + see the _Scotsman_ and the _Leeds Mercury_ leading in this + direction. What are we to do? Certainly I will not join a Government + pledged to such a mad and dangerous proposal. But this may mean + isolation for a long time. + + '"The prospect is not an inviting one. + + '"I have told Harcourt the facts as in the numbered paragraphs. Do + not say a word to anyone else. Harcourt is perplexed and hesitating. + I think he is impressed with the danger of Fenian outrages, + dynamite, and assassination. + + '"For myself, I would sooner the Tories were in for the next ten + years than agree to what I think the ruin of the country." + + 'On New Year's Eve, the 31st, we went to Rugby, where I had to make + the speech alluded to in Chamberlain's letter. I had received an + invitation, dated December 29th, to a meeting at Devonshire House. + Hartington wrote: + + '"My Dear Dilke, + + '"You know, no doubt, that Harcourt has had a good deal of + communication with Chamberlain lately. I hear that Chamberlain will + be in town on Friday (New Year's Day), and it is proposed that he, + Harcourt, you, and I, should meet here on Friday at four to talk + over matters, especially Irish. I have asked Granville to come up if + he likes. I do not think there would be any advantage in having any + others, unless Rosebery? + + '"Yours sincerely, + + '"Hartington." + + 'I sent this letter to Chamberlain with an inquiry as to what he + knew about the meeting, and he replied on New Year's Eve: + + '"The meeting to-morrow was arranged by telegraph.... I suspect Mr. + Gladstone is inclined to hedge. He refuses to satisfy the Irish by + any definite statements. I hope they may continue suspicious and + keep the Tories in for some time."' + + 'Yet it was Chamberlain who was to turn out the Tories. On New + Year's Eve, at Rugby, referring to the Irish Question, I praised the + speech made by Trevelyan on the previous night as being "a + declaration in favour of that scheme of National Councils which he + supports for Ireland at least, and which was recommended in an able + article in the _Fortnightly Review_ for Scotland, Ireland, and + Wales." I said: "I am one of those who have never limited my views + upon the subject to Ireland. Mr. Trevelyan last night spoke as + though it were only in Ireland that it was necessary to institute + some local body to deal with purely local questions--with those + questions which now come before nominated boards or branches of the + Executive Government." I went on to speak in the sense of Mr. + Gladstone's letter, in favour of the Conservatives being encouraged + to propose such Irish remedial legislation. + + 'On New Year's Day, 1886, an important meeting took place at + Devonshire House between Hartington, Harcourt, Chamberlain, and + myself. I did not see my way clearly, and did not say much; the + other three arguing strongly against Mr. Gladstone's conduct in + having sent Herbert Gladstone to a news agency to let out his views + for the benefit of the provincial Press, in such a way as to put + pressure on his colleagues. It seemed to me that the pressure, + though no doubt unfair and indefensible, had nevertheless been + pretty successful, as neither Harcourt nor Chamberlain saw their way + to opposing Mr. Gladstone, although both of them disliked his + scheme. Hartington only said that he "thought he could not join a + Government to promote any such scheme." But, then, he would not, I + pointed out, be asked to do so. He would be asked to join a + Government to consider something. The practical conclusion come to + was to write to Mr. Gladstone to urge him to come to London to + consult his colleagues. On January 4th I heard from Hartington that + Mr. Gladstone informed him that he had nothing to add to his + previous letter dated December 17th. Hartington wrote: + + '"I have heard from Mr. Gladstone. He declines to hasten his arrival + in London, but will be available on the 11th after 4 p.m. for any + who may wish to see him. He will be at my sister-in-law's (Lady F. + Cavendish), 21, Carlton House Terrace.... He has done nothing and + will do nothing to convert his opinions into intentions, for he has + not the material before him. There is besides the question of + Parliamentary procedure (this refers to action on the Address). For + considering this, he thinks the time available in London will be + ample." + + 'In forwarding the correspondence to Chamberlain with a copy of the + letter of December 17th, 1885, as I was requested by Hartington to + do, I added that Mr. Gladstone could hardly be said not to have done + anything which had enabled the Nationalists to establish rival + biddings between the two sides (to use his phrase), because we knew + that he had asked Arthur Balfour to go to Lord Salisbury with a + message from him promising his support if the Government would bring + in a Home Rule scheme. This he had let out to the Irish. + + 'After this we were in consultation as to whether we ought to see + Mr. Gladstone separately; and Hartington wrote to me on January + 10th, 1886, from Hardwick, that he did not see how we could decline + to see Mr. Gladstone separately, but that we might be as reticent as + we pleased, and could all combine in urging further collective + consultations; and it was arranged that Hartington himself should + see Mr. Gladstone on January 12th--the day of the election of the + Speaker. Mr. Gladstone then informed us all that he would see such + of us as chose on the afternoon of January 11th, and Chamberlain + then wrote: + + '"As far as I know, only Harcourt is going on Monday, and I on + Tuesday morning. If for _any_ reason you think it well to go, there + is really not the least objection." + + 'I went on the 11th, but nothing of the least importance passed, and + the same was the case with Chamberlain's interview on the 12th. + Harcourt was present on the 11th, and evidently in full support of + Gladstone. + + 'On the 15th Labouchere gave a dinner to Chamberlain and Randolph + Churchill, but I do not think that anything very serious was + discussed. There was a sharp breach at this moment between + Chamberlain and Morley, Chamberlain telling Morley that his speeches + were "foolish and mischievous," and that he was talking "literary + nonsense--the worst of all." + + 'On January 21st we had a meeting of all the ex-Cabinet at Lord + Granville's. Chamberlain breakfasted with me before the meeting, and + he drew and I corrected the amendment which was afterwards accepted + at the meeting as that which should be supported by the party on the + Queen's Speech, and which was that moved by Jesse Collings by which + the Government were turned out on the 26th. The adoption of our + amendment was very sudden. The leaders had met apparently without + any policy, and the moment Chamberlain read our "three acres and a + cow" amendment, they at once adopted it without discussion as a way + out of all their difficulties and differences. [Footnote: This + amendment was carried by seventy-nine votes, and the Government thus + overthrown.] The Government resigned on the 28th, and on the 29th I + had an interview with Chamberlain as to what he should do about + taking office. + + 'On January 30th Mr. Gladstone offered Chamberlain the Admiralty, + after Hartington had refused to join the Government. Chamberlain + came and saw me, and was to go back to Mr. Gladstone at six. He + thought he had no alternative but to accept a place in the + Government, although he did not like the Admiralty. Mr. Gladstone + showed him a form of words as to Irish Home Rule. It was equivalent + to a passage in Sexton's [Footnote: Home Rule M.P. for S. Sligo, + 1885-1886; Belfast W., 1886-1892.] speech on the 22nd, at which Mr. + Gladstone had been seen to nod in a manner which implied that he had + suggested the words. The proposal was, as we knew it would be, for + inquiry. Chamberlain did not object to the inquiry, but objected to + the Home Rule. Chamberlain, before returning to Mr. Gladstone, wrote + him a very stiff letter against Home Rule, which somewhat angered + him. On Sunday, January 31st, Chamberlain wrote that for personal + reasons he had sooner not accept the Admiralty. Mr. Gladstone saw + Chamberlain again later in the day, on the Sunday, and asked what it + was then that he wanted; to which Chamberlain replied, "The + Colonies," and Mr. Gladstone answered, "Oh! A Secretary of State." + Chamberlain was naturally angry at this slight, and being offered by + Mr. Gladstone the Board of Trade, then refused to return to it. + After leaving Mr. Gladstone he went to Harcourt, and told Harcourt + that he would take the Local Government Board, "but not very + willingly." On Monday, February 1st, I asked Chamberlain to + reconsider his decision about the Admiralty, and found that he would + have been willing to have done so, but that it was now too late. On + the 2nd Mr. Gladstone wrote me a very nice letter quoted above, + [Footnote: Chapter XLII., p.172.] about the circumstances relating + to the trial then coming on which made it impossible for him to + include me in the Ministry. Morley wrote: "Half my satisfaction and + confidence are extinguished by your absence. It may and will make + all the difference."' + +Mr. Morley's apprehension was justified by events. + +In 1880 the position of the Radical leaders, while only private members, +had been of such strength that Sir Charles had been able to secure, from +a reluctant Prime Minister, the terms agreed on between Mr. Chamberlain +and himself. He had obtained for both positions in the Government, and +procured Cabinet rank for Chamberlain. Now that the power of one of the +allies was demolished, and Mr. Chamberlain stood alone, Mr. Gladstone's +view of the changed situation was apparent. The 'slight' to Chamberlain +was followed by that course of action which resulted in his breach with +the Liberal party. Together the two men could, from a far stronger point +of vantage than in 1880, have made their terms; with Mr. Chamberlain +isolated Mr. Gladstone could impose his own. The alteration in the +course of English political history which the next few months were to +effect was made finally certain by Sir Charles Dilke's fall. + +Lord Rosebery wrote on February 3rd to say that he had been appointed +Foreign Secretary, an office which in happier circumstances would, he +said to Sir Charles, 'have been yours by universal consent.' The letter +went on to state in very sympathetic words how 'constantly present to +his mind' was his own inferiority in knowledge and ability to the man +who had been set aside. + + 'I had written to Rosebery at the same moment, and our letters had + crossed. I replied to his: + + '"My Dear Rosebery, + + '"Our letters crossed, but mine was a wretched scrawl by the side of + yours. I do not know how, with those terrible telegrams beginning to + fly round you, you find time to write such letters. I could never + have taken the Foreign Office without the heaviest misgiving, and I + hope that whenever the Liberals are in, up to the close of my life, + you may hold it. My 'knowledge' of foreign affairs _is_, I admit to + you, great, and I can answer questions in the Commons, and I can + negotiate with foreigners. But these are _not_ the most important + points. As to the excess of 'ability' with which you kindly and + modestly credit me, I do not admit it for a moment. I should say + that you are far more competent to advise and carry through a + policy--far more competent to send the right replies to those + telegrams which are the Foreign Office curse. As to questions, these + are a mere second curse, but form a serious reason why the Secretary + of State should be in the Lords. + + '"I have always said that, if kept for no other reason, the Lords + should remain as a place for the Secretary of State for the Foreign + Department, and _I_ think also for the Prime Minister. Between + ourselves, you will not have quite a fair chance in being Secretary + of State for the Foreign Department under Mr. Gladstone, because Mr. + Gladstone _will_ trust to his skill in the House of Commons, and + _will_ speak and reply when the prudent Under-Secretary would ask + for long notice or be silent. Lord Granville was always complaining, + and Mr. Gladstone always promising never to do it again, and always + doing it every day. [Footnote: See supra, p. 51 and note.] I am + going to put down a notice to-day to strengthen your hands against + France in _re_ Diego Suarez." + + 'From Bryce I heard that he had been appointed Under-Secretary of + State for the Foreign Department, and asking me whom he should take + as his private secretary; and I told him Austin Lee, and he took him + at once.' + + 'To the Prince of Wales I wrote to say that I should not attend the + Levee, and had from him a reply marked by that great personal + courtesy which he always shows.' + +Thus came into being Mr. Gladstone's third Administration. In 1885 the +continuance of Mr. Gladstone's leadership had seemed necessary in order +to bridge the gap between Lord Hartington and the Radicals. Now in 1886 +Lord Hartington was out, to mark his opposition, not to Chamberlain, but +to Gladstone; and Chamberlain was in, though heavily handicapped. Yet +none of these contradictions which had defied anticipation was so +unforeseen as the exclusion of Sir Charles Dilke. + + + +APPENDIX + + +See p. 196. Letter of Mr. Gladstone to Lord Hartington, December 17th, +1885: + + 'The whole stream of public excitement is now turned upon me, and I + am pestered with incessant telegrams which I have no defence against + but either suicide or Parnell's method of self-concealment. The + truth is I have more or less of opinions and ideas, but no + intentions or negotiations. In these ideas and opinions there is, I + think, little that I have not more or less conveyed in public + declarations: in principle, nothing. I will try to lay them before + you. I consider that Ireland has now spoken, and that an effort + ought to be made by the _Government_ without delay to meet her + demand for the management, by an Irish legislative body, of Irish as + distinct from Imperial affairs. Only a Government can do it, and a + Tory Government can do it more easily and safely than any other. + + 'There is first a postulate--that the state of Ireland shall be such + as to warrant it. + + 'The conditions of an admissible plan, I think, are-- + + '(1) Union of the Empire and due supremacy of Parliament. + + '(2) Protection for the minority. A difficult matter on which I have + talked much with Spencer, certain points, however, remaining to be + considered. + + '(3) Fair allocation of Imperial charges. + + '(4) A statutory basis seems to me to be better and safer than the + revival of Grattan's Parliament, but I wish to hear more upon this, + as the minds of men are still in so crude a state on the whole + subject. + + '(5) Neither as opinions nor as intentions have I to anyone alive + promulgated these ideas as decided on by me. + + '(6) As to intentions, I am determined to have none at present--to + leave space to the Government--I should wish to encourage them if I + properly could--above all, on no account to say or do anything which + would enable the Nationalists to establish rival biddings between + us. + + 'If this storm of rumours continues to rage, it may be necessary for + me to write some new letter to my constituents, but I am desirous to + do nothing, simply leaving the field open for the Government, until + time makes it necessary to decide. Of our late colleagues, I have + had most communication with Granville, Spencer, and Rosebery. Would + you kindly send this on to Granville? I think you will find it in + conformity with my public declarations, though some blanks are + filled up. I have in truth thought it my duty, without in the least + committing myself or anyone else, to think through the subject as + well as I could, being equally convinced of its urgency and its + bigness.' + +The remainder of this letter is not quoted in the Memoir. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVI + +THE FIRST HOME RULE BILL + +FEBRUARY TO JULY, 1886 + + +The acute political crisis now maturing within the Liberal party had a +special menace for Sir Charles Dilke. It threatened to affect a personal +tie cemented by his friend's stanchness through these months of trouble. + +On January 31st, 1886, he wrote: + + 'My Dear Chamberlain, + + 'I feel that our friendship is going to be subjected to the heaviest + strain it has ever borne, and I wish to minimize any risks to it, in + which, however, I don't believe. I am determined that it shall not + dwindle into a form or pretence of friendship of which the substance + has departed. It will be a great change if I do not feel that I can + go to your house or to your room as freely as ever. At the same time + confidence from one in the inner circle of the Cabinet to one wholly + outside the Government is not easy, and reserve makes all + conversation untrue. I think the awkwardness will be less if I + abstain from taking part in home affairs (unless, indeed, in + supporting my Local Government Bill, should that come up). In + Foreign Affairs we shall not be brought into conflict, and to + Foreign and Colonial affairs I propose to return. + + 'I intend to sit behind (in Forster's seat), not below the gangway, + as long as you are in the Government. + + 'There is one great favour which I think you will be able to do me + without any trouble to yourself, and that is to let my wife come to + your room to see me _between_ her lunch and the meeting of the + House. The greatest nuisance about being out is that I shall have to + go down in the mornings to get my place, and to sit in the library + all day.... + + 'Yours ever, + + 'Chs. W. D' + +When the first trial of the divorce case was over (almost before Mr. +Gladstone's Government had fairly assumed office), in the period during +which Sir Charles designedly absented himself from the House of Commons, + + 'Chamberlain asked me to act on the Committee to revise my Local + Government Bill, and to put it into a form for introduction to the + House; and I attended at the Local Government Board throughout the + spring at meetings at which Chamberlain, if present, presided.... It + is a curious fact that I often presided over this Cabinet Committee, + though not a member of the Government.' + + During the month of February, while the Press campaign against him + was ripening, Sir Charles had little freedom of mind for politics. + Yet this was the moment when Mr. Chamberlain's action, decisive for + the immediate fate of a great question, had to be determined. Sir + Charles had been a conducting medium between Mr. Gladstone and Mr. + Chamberlain. He was so no longer. "I wonder," wrote Chamberlain, + years after, on reading Dilke's Memoir, "what passed in that most + intricate and Jesuitical mind in the months between June and + December, 1885." Perhaps the breach that came was unavoidable. But + at all events the one man who might have prevented it was at the + critical moment hopelessly involved in the endeavour to combat the + scandal that assailed him. [Footnote: There is a letter of this date + to Mr. John Morley: + + '76, Sloane Street, S.W., + + '_February 2nd_. + + 'My Dear Morley, + + 'As I must not yet congratulate you on becoming at a bound Privy + Councillor and member of the Cabinet, let me in the meantime + congratulate you on your election as a V.P. of the Chelsea Liberal + Association. But seriously, there can be no doubt that you now have + sealed the great position which you had already won. My _one_ hope + is that you will work;--my hope, not for your own sake, but for the + sake of Radical principles--as completely with Chamberlain as I did. + It is the only way to stand against the overwhelming numbers of the + Whig peers. I fear Mr. Gladstone will find his new lot of Whig peers + just as troublesome as the old. + + 'As long as I am out and _my friends_ are in, I shall sit, not in my + old place below the gangway, but behind, and do anything and + everything that I can do to help. + + 'Yours ever, + + 'Chs. W. D. + + 'I _hope_ it is true that Stansfeld is back?' + +It was not till March 3rd, 1886, that + + 'I resumed my attendance at the House of Commons, and Joseph Cowen, + the member for Newcastle, did what he could to make it pleasant. I + wrote to him, and he replied: "It is a man's duty to stick to his + friends when they are 'run at' as you have been."' + + 'On March 4th a meeting of the Local Government Committee at + Chamberlain's was put off by the absence of Thring, who had been + sent for by Mr. Gladstone with instructions to draw a Home Rule + Bill. I went to Chamberlain's house, he being too cross to come to + the House of Commons, and held with him an important conversation as + to his future. I tried to point out to him that if he went out, as + he was thinking of doing, he would wreck the party, who would put up + with the Whigs going out against Mr. Gladstone on Home Rule, but who + would be rent in twain by a Radical secession. He would do this, I + told him, without much popular sympathy, and it was a terrible + position to face. He told me that he had said so much in the autumn + that he felt he _must_ do it. I said, "Certainly. But do not go out + and fight. Go out and lie low. If honesty forces you out, well and + good, but it does not force you to fight." He seemed to agree, at + all events at the moment. + + 'On March 13th there was a Cabinet, an account of which I had from + Chamberlain, who was consulting me daily as to his position. Mr. + Gladstone expounded his land proposals, which ran to 120 millions of + loan, and on which Chamberlain wrote: "As a result of yesterday's + Council, I think Trevelyan and I will be out on Tuesday. If you are + at the House, come to my room after questions." I went to + Chamberlain's room and met Bright with him. But real consultation in + presence of Bright was impossible, because Bright was merely + disagreeable. On Monday, the 15th, Chamberlain and Trevelyan wrote + their letters of resignation, and late at night Chamberlain showed + me the reply to his. On the same day James told me that the old and + close friendship between Harcourt and himself was at an end, they + having taken opposite sides with some warmth. On the 16th + Chamberlain wrote to Mr. Gladstone that he thought he had better + leave him, as he could only attend his Cabinets in order to gather + arguments against his schemes; and Mr. Gladstone replied that he had + better come all the same. + + 'On the 22nd I had an interesting talk with Sexton about the events + of the period between April and June, 1885. Sexton said that he had + agreed to the Chamberlain plan in conversation with Manning, but it + was as a Local Government plan, not to prevent, so far as he was + concerned, the subsequent adoption of a Parliament. It was on this + day that Chamberlain's resignation became final. On March 26th I, + having to attend a meeting on the Irish question under the auspices + of the Chelsea Liberal Association, showed Chamberlain a draft of + the resolution which I proposed for it. I had written: "That while + this meeting is firmly resolved on the maintenance of the Union + between Great Britain and Ireland, it is of opinion that the wishes + of the Irish people in favour of self-government, as expressed at + the last election, should receive satisfaction." Chamberlain wrote + back that the two things were inconsistent, and that the Irish + wishes as expressed by Parnell were for separation. But his only + suggestion was that I should insert "favourable consideration" in + place of "satisfaction," which did not seem much change. This, + however, was the form in which the resolution was carried by an open + Liberal public meeting, and it is an interesting example of the + fluidity of opinion in the Liberal party generally at the moment. A + rider to the effect that the meeting had complete confidence in Mr. + Gladstone was moved, but from want of adequate support was not put + to the meeting. I violently attacked the land purchase scheme in my + speech, suspended my judgment upon the Home Rule scheme until I saw + it, but declared that it was "one which, generally speaking, so far + as I know it, I fancy I should be able to support." On this same day + Cyril Flower told me that on the previous day the Irish members had + informed Mr. Gladstone that it was their wish that he should + entirely abandon that land purchase scheme which he had adopted for + the sake of conciliating Lord Spencer. On March 27th Chamberlain + wrote: "My resignation has been accepted by the Queen, and is now + therefore public property. We have a devil of a time before us." + + 'On April 5th there was a misunderstanding between Hartington and + Chamberlain which almost shivered to pieces the newborn Liberal + Unionist party. Hartington had taken to having meetings of James and + some of the other more Whiggish men who were acting with him, which + meetings Chamberlain would not attend, and at these meetings + resolutions were arrived at to which Chamberlain paid no attention. + Chamberlain consulted me as to the personal question between + Hartington and himself, and placed in my hands the letters which + passed.' + +Mr. Gladstone was to introduce his Home Rule Bill on April 8th, and on +the 5th Lord Hartington wrote to Chamberlain announcing that he had +'very unwillingly' decided to follow Mr. Gladstone immediately, 'not, of +course, for the purpose of answering his speech, but to state in general +terms why that part of the party which generally approves of my course +in declining to join the Government is unable to accept the measure +which Mr. Gladstone will describe to us.' + +Chamberlain replied on April 6th to Lord Hartington that his letter had +surprised him. Having tendered his resignation on March 15th, he had +kept silence as to his motives and intentions. He said he thought that +it was understood that retiring Ministers were expected to take the +first opportunity of explaining their resignations, and Trevelyan and he +were alone in a position to say how far Mr. Gladstone might have +modified his proposals since their resignations, and thus to initiate +the subsequent debate. He objected to what he understood to be Lord +Hartington's proposed course--namely, formally to oppose Mr. Gladstone's +scheme immediately on its announcement; and this he thought not only a +tactical error, but also discourteous to Trevelyan and himself. + + 'Chamberlain went on, however, virtually to accept Hartington's + suggestion, and the real reason was that he had not received the + Queen's permission to speak upon the land purchase scheme, and that + he did not want to make his real statement until he was in a + position to do this. Chamberlain, in sending me this correspondence, + said that Hartington's proposal was "dictated by Goschen's uneasy + jealousy."' + +Sir Charles at this moment believed it possible that Mr. Chamberlain +might carry his point against Mr. Gladstone as to the continued +representation of Ireland at Westminster, and, although he disliked this +proposal, desired its success because it would retain Mr. Chamberlain in +the party. This is the moment at which Dilke's influence, had he +retained his old position, would probably have proved decisive. What Mr. +Gladstone would not yield to Chamberlain alone he would probably have +yielded to the two Radicals combined; and Mr. Chamberlain, deprived of +the argument to which he gave special prominence, could scarcely have +resisted his friend's wish that he should support the second reading. +Sir Charles wrote, April 7th, 1886: + + 'I don't like the idea of the Irish throwing all their ferocity + against you, and treating you as they treated Forster. Unless you + are given a very large share in the direction of the business, I + think you must let it be known that you are not satisfied with the + Whig line. I hate the prospect of your being driven into coercion as + a follower of a Goschen-Hartington-James-Brand-Albert Grey clique, + and yet treated by the Irish as the Forster of the clique. I believe + from what I see of my caucus, and from the two large _public_ + meetings we have held for discussion, that the great mass of the + party will go for Repeal, though fiercely against the land. Enough + will go the other way to risk all the seats, but the party will go + for Repeal, and sooner or later now Repeal will come, whether or not + we have a dreary period of coercion first. I should decidedly let it + be known that you won't stand airs from Goschen. + + 'Yours ever, + + 'Chs. W. D.' + + 'Another meeting on the Irish Question in Chelsea led to no clearer + expression of opinion than had the previous one, for it was + concluded by Mr. Westlake, Q.C., M.P., who afterwards voted against + the Home Rule Bill, moving that the meeting suspend its judgment, + and Mr. Firth, who was a Gladstonian candidate and afterwards a Home + Rule member, seconding this resolution, which was carried + unanimously.' + + 'On April 20th Labouchere wrote to me as to an attempt which he was + making to heal the breach between Mr. Gladstone and Chamberlain. + + 'Chamberlain wrote on April 22nd from Highbury: "I got through my + meeting last night splendidly. Schnadhorst has been doing everything + to thwart me, but the whole conspiracy broke down completely in face + of the meeting, which was most cordially enthusiastic. The feeling + against the Land Bill was overwhelming. As regards Home Rule, there + is no love for the Bill, but only a willingness to accept the + principle as a necessity, and to hope for a recasting of the + provisions. There is great sympathy with the old man personally, and + at the same time a soreness that he did not consult his colleagues + and party. Hartington's name was hissed. They cannot forgive him for + going to the Opera House with Salisbury. I continue to receive many + letters of sympathy from Radicals and Liberals, and invitations to + address meetings, but I shall lie low now for some time. The + Caucuses in the country are generally with the Government, but there + will be a great number of abstentions at an election.... Parnell is + apparently telling a good many lies just now. He told W. Kenrick the + other day, not knowing his relationship at first, that I had made + overtures to him for Home Rule, which showed my opposition to Mr. G. + to be purely personal. I have sent him word that he has my leave to + publish anything ever written or said by me on the Irish Question, + either to him or to anyone else.... I have a list of 109 men who at + one time or another have promised to vote against the second + reading, but they are not all stanch, and I do not think any + calculation is to be relied on." + + 'On April 24th Labouchere wrote that Chamberlain and Morley could + not be got together, Chamberlain sticking to his phrases, and Morley + writing that Chamberlain's speech is an attempt to coerce the + Government, and they won't stand coercion. + + 'On April 30th Chamberlain wrote to me from Birmingham to get me to + vote with him against the second reading. "The Bill is doomed. I + have a list of 111 Liberals pledged against the second reading. Of + these I know that fifty-nine have publicly announced their + intentions to their constituents. I believe that almost all the rest + are certain; but making every allowance for desertions, the Home + Rule Bill cannot pass without the changes I have asked for. If these + were made, I reckon that at least fifty of the malcontents would + vote for the second reading. Besides my 111 there are many more who + intend to vote for amendments in Committee. The Land Bill has hardly + any friends;" and then he strongly pressed me to go down to Highbury + upon the subject.' + +To this Sir Charles replied: + + 'Pyrford, + + '_May Day_, 1886. + + 'My Dear Chamberlain, + + 'Lots of people have written to me, confident statements having been + made that I was against the Bills, which I see Heneage repeats in + the _Times_ to-day. I have replied that I was strongly against the + Bill for land purchase, but that as regards the chief Bill I had + said nothing, and was free to vote as I thought right when the time + came. I have called my caucus for Friday. We don't have reporters, + but I think I ought to tell them what I mean to do, and why. + + 'As to our being separated, I am most anxious, as you know, that you + should not vote against the second reading. I know the Bill is + doomed, but I fancy the Government know that, too, and that some + change will be made or promised, and it is a question of how much. + My difficulty in being one to _ask_ for those changes you want is + that I am against the chief change, as you know. If it is made--as + seems likely--I shall keep quiet and not say I am against it, but go + with you and the rest. But--what if it is not made? You see, I have + said over and over again that, if forced to have a big scheme, I had + sooner get rid of the Irish members, and that, if forced to choose + between Repeal and Federation, I prefer Repeal to any scheme of + Federation I have ever heard of. Now, all this I can swallow + quietly--yielding my own judgment--if I go with the party; but I + can't well fight against the party for a policy which is opposed to + my view of the national interest. If it is of any use that I should + remain free up to the last instant, I can manage this. I can explain + my views in detail to the caucus, and not say which way I intend to + vote; but I do not well see how, when it comes to the vote, I can + fail to vote for the second reading. + + 'The reason, as you know, why I am so anxious for YOU (which matters + more than I matter at present or shall for a long time) to find + yourself able if possible to take the offers made you, and vote for + the second reading, is that the dissolution will wreck the party, + but yet leave _a_ party--democratic, because all the moderates will + go over to the Tories: poor, because all the subscribers will go + over to the Tories; more Radical than the party has ever been; and + yet, as things now stand, with you outside of it.' + +Chamberlain wrote on May 3rd from Highbury: + + 'My Dear Dilke, + + 'Your letter has greatly troubled me. My pleasure in politics has + gone, and I hold very loosely to public life just now. + + 'The friends with whom I have worked so long are many of them + separated from me. The party is going blindly to its ruin, and + everywhere there seems a want of courage and decision and principle + which almost causes one to despair. I have hesitated to write to you + again, but perhaps it is better that I should say what is in my + mind. During all our years of intimacy I have never had a suspicion, + until the last few weeks, that we differed on the Irish Question. + You voted for Butt, and I assumed that, like myself, you were in + favour of the principle of federation, although probably, like + myself also, you did not think the time had come to give practical + effect to it. The retention of the Irish representatives is clearly + the touchstone. If they go, separation must follow. If they remain, + federation is possible whenever local assemblies are established in + England and Scotland. Without the positive and absolute promise of + the Government that the Irish representation will be maintained, I + shall vote against the second reading. You must do what your + conscience tells you to be right, and, having decided, I should + declare the situation publicly at once. + + 'It will do you harm on the whole, but that cannot be helped, if you + have made up your mind that it is right. But you must be prepared + for unkind things said by those who know how closely we have been + united hitherto. The present crisis is, of course, life and death to + me. I shall win if I can, and if I cannot I will cultivate my + garden. I do not care for the leadership of a party which should + prove itself so fickle and so careless of national interests as to + sacrifice the unity of the Empire to the precipitate impatience of + an old man--careless of the future in which he can have no part--and + to an uninstructed instinct which will not take the trouble to + exercise judgment and criticism. + + 'I hope you have got well through your meeting to-night. I send this + by early post to-morrow before I can see the papers. + + 'Yours very truly, + + 'J. Chamberlain.' + + 'The meeting to which Chamberlain in his letter referred was that at + Preece's Riding School, in which I announced that I had succeeded in + inducing the Queen's Proctor to intervene.... The meeting was a very + fine one, and the next day Chamberlain wrote to congratulate me on + it and on my speech, and added: "Labouchere writes me that the + Government are at last alive to the fact that they cannot carry the + second reading without me, and that Mr. G. is going to give way. I + hope it is true, but I shall not believe it till he has made a + public declaration."' + +Sir Charles replied: + + '76, Sloane Street, S.W., + + '_Wednesday, May 5th_, 1886. + + 'My Dear Chamberlain, + + '... It is a curious fact that we should without a difference have + gone through the trials of the years in which we were rivals, and + that the differences and the break should have come now that I + have--at least in my own belief, and that of most people--ceased for + ever to count at all in politics.... The fall was, as you know, in + my opinion final and irretrievable on the day on which the charge + was made in July last--as would be that, in these days, of any man + against whom such a false charge was made by conspiracy and careful + preparation. I think, as I have always thought, that the day will + come when all will know, but it will come too late for political + life to be resumed with power or real use.... + + 'You say you never had a suspicion that we differed on the Irish + Question. As to land purchase--yes: we used to differ about it; and + we do not differ about the present Bill. As to the larger question-- + when Morley and I talked it over with you in the autumn, I said + that, if I had to take a large scheme, I inclined rather to Repeal, + or getting rid of the Irish members, than to Home Rule. I don't + think, however, that I or you had either of us very clear or + definite views, and I am sure that Morley hadn't. You inclined to + stick to National Councils only, and I never heard you speak of + Federation until just before you spoke on the Bill in Parliament. I + spoke in public against Federation in the autumn in reply to + Rosebery. + + 'I do not pretend to have clear and definite views now, any more + than I had then. I am so anxious, for you personally, and for the + Radical cause, that anything shall be done by the Government that + will allow you to vote for the second reading, and so succeed to the + head of the party purged of the Whig element; so anxious, that, + while I don't really see my way about Federation, and on the whole + am opposed to it, I will pretend to see my way, and try and find + hope about it; so anxious, that, though I still incline to think (in + great doubt) that it would be better to get rid of the Irish + members, I said in my last, I think, I would be silent as to this, + and joyfully see the Government wholly alter their scheme in your + sense. I still hope for the Government giving the promise that you + ask. Labouchere has kept me informed of all that has passed, and I + have strongly urged your view on Henry Fowler, who agrees with you, + and on the few who have spoken to me. I care (in great doubt as to + the future of Ireland and as to that of the Empire) more about the + future of Radicalism, and about your return to the party and escape + from the Whigs, than about anything else as to which I am clear and + free from doubt. I don't think that my circumstances make any + declaration or any act of mine necessary, and on Friday at the + private meeting I need not declare myself, and can perhaps best help + bring about the promise which you want by not doing so. Why don't + you deal with the Chancellor (Lord Herschell), instead of with + Labouchere, O'Shea, and so forth? + + 'I care so much (not about what you name, and it is a pity you + should do so, for one word of yourself is worth more with me than + the opinion of the whole world)--not about what people will say, but + about what you think, that I am driven distracted by your tone. I + beg you to think that I do not consider myself in this at all, + except that I should wish to so act as to act rightly. Personal + policy I should not consider for myself. My seat here will go, + either way, for certain, as it is a Tory seat now, and will become a + more and more Tory seat with each fresh registration. If I should + make any attempt to remain at all in political life, I do not think + that my finding another seat would depend on the course I take in + this present Irish matter. This thing will be forgotten in the + common resistance of the Radicals to Tory coercion. I think, then, + that by the nature of things I am not influenced by selfish + considerations. As to inclination, I feel as strongly as any man can + as to the _way_ in which Mr. Gladstone has done this thing, and all + my inclination is therefore to follow you, where affection also + leads. But if this is to be--what it will be--a fight, not as to the + way and the man, and the past, but as to the future, the second + reading will be a choice between acceptance of a vast change which + has in one form or the other become inevitable, and on the other + side Hartington-Goschen opposition, with coercion behind it. I am + only a camp follower now, but my place is not in the camp of the + Goschens, Hartingtons, Brands, Heneages, Greys. I owe something, + too, to my constituents. There can be no doubt as to the feeling of + the rank and file, from whom I have received such hearty support and + following. If I voted against the second reading, unable as I should + be honestly to defend my vote as you could and would honestly defend + yours, by saying that all turned on the promise as to the retention + of the Irish members, I should be voting without a ground or a + defence, except that of personal affection for you, which is one + which it is wholly impossible to put forward. If I voted against the + second reading, I should vote like a peer, with total disregard to + the opinion of those who sent me to Parliament. Their overwhelming + feeling--and they never cared for Mr. Gladstone, and do not care for + him--is, hatred of the Land Bill, but determination to have done + with coercion. They look on the second reading as a declaration for + or against large change. They believe that the Irish members will be + kept, though they differ as to whether they want it. Both you and I + regard large change as inevitable, and it is certain that as to the + form of it you must win. The exclusion of the Irish has no powerful + friends, save Morley, and he knows he is beaten and must give way. I + still in my heart think the case for the exclusion better than the + case against it, but all the talk is the other way. The _Pall Mall_ + is helping you very powerfully, for it _is_ a tremendous power, and + even Mr. G., I fancy, is really with you about it, and not with + Morley. It seems to me that they must accept your own terms. + + 'The meeting was a most wonderful success. + + 'Yours ever, + + 'Chs. W. D. + + 'Since I nearly finished this, your other has come, and I have now + read it. I have only to repeat that I should not negotiate through + Labouchere, but through a member of the Cabinet of high character + who agrees in your view. L. is very able and very pleasant, but + still a little too fond of fun, which often, in delicate matters, + means mischief. + + 'I have kept no copy of this letter. When one has a "difference with + a friend," I believe "prudence dictates" that one should keep a + record of what one writes. I have not done so. I can't really + believe that you would, however worried and badgered and + misrepresented, grow hard or unkind under torture, any more than I + have; but you are stronger than I am, and perhaps my weakness helps + me in this way. I don't believe in the difference, and I have merely + scribbled all I think in the old way.' + +Chamberlain wrote: + + '_May 6th_, 1886. + + 'My Dear Dilke, + + 'The strain of the political situation is very great and the best + and strongest of us may well find it difficult to keep an even mind. + + 'I thank you for writing so fully and freely. It is evident that, + without meaning it, I must have said more than I supposed, and + perhaps in the worry of my own mind I did not allow enough for the + tension of yours. + + 'We never have been rivals. Such an idea has not at any time entered + my mind, and consequently, whether your position is as desperate as + you suppose or as completely retrievable as I hope and believe, it + is not from this point of view that I regard any differences, but + entirely as questions affecting our long friendship and absolute + mutual confidence. If we differ now at this supreme moment, it is + just as painful to me to lose your entire sympathy as if you could + bring to me an influence as great as Gladstone's himself. + + 'I feel bitterly the action of some of these men ... who have left + my side at this time, although many of them owe much to me, and + certainly cannot pretend to have worked out for themselves the + policy which for various reasons they have adopted. On the + whole--and in spite of unfavourable symptoms--I think I shall win + this fight, and shall have in the long-run an increase of public + influence; but even if this should be the case I cannot forget what + has been said and done by those who were among my most intimate + associates, and I shall never work with them again with the + slightest real pleasure or real confidence. With you it is + different. We have been so closely connected that I cannot + contemplate any severance. I hope, as I have said, that this + infernal cloud on your public life will be dispersed; and if it is + not I feel that half my usefulness and more--much more--than half my + interest in politics are gone.... As to the course to be taken, it + is clear. You must do what you believe to be right, even though it + sends us for once into opposite lobbies. + + 'I do not really expect the Government to give way, and, indeed, I + do not wish it. To satisfy others I have talked about conciliation, + and have consented to make advances, but on the whole I would rather + vote against the Bill than not, and the retention of the Irish + members is only, with me, the flag that covers other objections. I + want to see the whole Bill recast and brought back to the National + Council proposals, with the changes justified by the altered public + opinion. I have no objection to call them Parliaments and to give + them some legislative powers, but I have as strong a dislike as ever + to anything like a really co-ordinate authority in Ireland, and if + one is ever set up I should not like to take the responsibility of + governing England. + + 'I heartily wish I could clear out of the whole busine&s for the + next twelve months at least. I feel that there is no longer any + security for anything while Mr. Gladstone remains the foremost + figure in politics. But as between us two let nothing come. + + 'Yours ever sincerely, + + 'J. Chamberlain.' + + 'On May 7th Chamberlain wrote: + + '"I hope it will all come right in the end, and though not so + optimist as I was, I do believe that 'le jour se fera.' + + '"I got more names yesterday against the Bill. I have ninety-three + now. Labouchere declares still that Mr. G. means to give way, and + has now a plan for the retention of Irish members which is to go to + Cabinet to-day or to-morrow." + + 'On May 18th I presided at the special meeting of the London Liberal + and Radical Council, of which I was President, which discussed the + Home Rule Bill; but I merely presided without expressing opinions, + and I discouraged the denunciations of Hartington and Chamberlain, + which, however, began to be heard, their names being loudly hissed. + On May 27th we had the meeting of the party on the Bill at the + Foreign Office, which I attended. But there was no expression of the + views of the minority.' + +Mr. Chamberlain wrote to the Press some phrases of biting comment +concerning the meeting of the 18th, and Sir Charles made protest in a +private letter. + + 'It is a great pity,' he wrote to Chamberlain, 'that you should not + have done justice to the efforts and speeches of your friends at + that meeting. Many were there (and the seven delegates from almost + every association attended, which made the meeting by far the most + complete representation of the party ever held) simply for the + purpose of preventing and replying to attacks on you. For every + attack on you there was a reply; the amendments attacking you were + both defeated, and a colourless resolution carried, and Claydon, + Osborn, Hardcastle and others, defended you with the utmost warmth + and vigour.' + + 'Chamberlain wrote to me (May 20th, 1886) about the attacks which + were being made on him: + + '"I was disgusted at the brutality of some of the attacks. I am only + human, and I cannot stand the persistent malignity of interpretation + of all my actions and motives without lashing out occasionally. You + will see that I met your letter with an apology. I might complain of + its tone, but I don't. This strain and tension is bad for all of us. + I do not know where it will ultimately lead us, but I fear that the + mischief already done is irretrievable. + + '"I shall fight this matter out to the bitter end, but I am getting + more and more doubtful whether, when it is out of the way, I shall + continue in politics. I am 'wounded in the house of my friends,' and + I have lost my interest in the business." + + 'In another letter (May 21st) Chamberlain said: "Your note makes + everything right between us. Let us agree to consider everything + which is said and done for the next few weeks as a dream. + + '"I suppose the party must go to smash and the Tories come in. After + a few years those of us who remain will be able to pick up the + pieces. It is a hard saying, but apparently Mr. Gladstone is bent on + crowning his life by the destruction of the most devoted and loyal + instrument by which a great Minister was ever served." [Footnote: In + a letter of January 2nd, 1886, Lord Hartington, writing to Lord + Granville, said: "Did any leader ever treat a party in such a way as + he (Mr. Gladstone) has done?" (_Life of Granville_, vol. ii., p. + 478).] + + 'On June 2nd Chamberlain wrote: "I suppose we shall have a + dissolution immediately and an awful smash." On that day I spoke on + the Irish Registration Bills in the House of Commons--almost the + only utterance which I made in the course of this short Parliament. + + 'On June 4th Sir Robert Sandeman, who had sought an interview with + me to thank me for what I had done previously about the assigned + districts on the Quetta frontier, came to see me, to tell me the + present position and to discuss with me Sir Frederick Roberts's + plans for defence against the eventuality of a Russian advance.' + +The defeat of the Home Rule Bill by a majority of thirty came on June +8th, and the General Election followed. [Footnote: See Morley's _Life of +Gladstone_, vol. iii., p. 337, which gives one o'clock on the morning of +the 8th as the time of decision. Sir Charles's Memoir contains among its +pages an article from _Truth_ of October 14th, 1908, marked by him. The +article, which is called 'The Secret History of the First Home Rule +Bill,' states that Mr. Gladstone's language did not make clear that the +proposal to exclude Irish representatives from the Imperial Parliament +was given up. Mr. Chamberlain, who had made the retention of the Irish +members a condition of giving his vote for the second reading, left the +House, declaring that his decision to vote against the Bill was final. +The _Life of Labouchere_, by Algar Thorold, chap, xii., p. 272 _et +seq_., gives the long correspondence between Mr. Chamberlain and Mr. +Labouchere prior to this event.] Sir Charles voted for the Bill. + + 'On July 5th I was beaten at Chelsea, and so left Parliament in + which I had sat from November, 1868. + + 'The turn-over in Chelsea was very small, smaller than anywhere else + in the neighbourhood, and showed that personal considerations had + told in my favour, inasmuch as we gained but a small number of + Irish, it not being an Irish district, and had it not been for + personal considerations should have lost more Liberal Unionists than + we did. + + 'Some of my warmest private and personal friends were forced to work + and vote against me (on the Irish Question), as, for example, John + Westlake, Q.C., and Dr. Robert Cust, the learned Secretary of the + Royal Asiatic Society, and Sir Henry Gordon--General Charles + Gordon's brother--who soon afterwards died, remaining my strong + friend, as did these others. + + 'James wrote to Lady Dilke, July 26th: + + '"No one but your husband could have polled so many Gladstonian + votes. London is dead against the Prime Minister."' + +Mr. Chamberlain wrote of his deep regret and sympathy that the one +Ministerialist seat which he had earnestly hoped would be kept should +have gone. He pointed out that the falling off in this case was less +than in other London polls; but the reactionary period would continue +while Mr. Gladstone was in politics. If he retired, Mr. Chamberlain +thought the party would recover in a year or two. + +There is a warm letter from Mr. Joseph Cowen of Newcastle, who wrote: + + 'Chelsea has been going Tory for some time past, and only you would + have kept it Liberal at the last election.... If you had not been + one of the bravest men that ever lived, you would have been driven + away long ago. I admire your courage and sincerely sympathize with + your misfortunes.... I always believed you would achieve the highest + position in English statesmanship, and I don't despair of your doing + so still.' + +For a final word in this chapter of discouragement may be given a letter +from Lord Edmond Fitzmaurice, who wrote from a detached position, having +been prevented by illness from standing both in 1885 and 1886: + + 'What a delightful leader of a party is the G.O.M.! It is an + interesting subject of speculation, though, thank God, it is one of + speculation only, what might happen to this country if, like the old + Red Indian in Hawthorne's novel, he lived to be 300 years old.... My + own opinions about setting up a Parliament in Dublin are quite + unchanged, but I look on the G.O.M. as the great obstacle to any + satisfactory settlement. I see nothing but pandemonium ahead of us.' + +The question was whether the future Assembly in Dublin was to be called +a 'Legislature' or a 'Parliament.' + +Sir Charles, as a Gladstonian Liberal politician, was involved in the +misfortune of his party. But in the first weeks of July he hoped that +justice in the court of law might soon relieve his personal misfortunes. +That anticipation was rudely falsified. Within a fortnight after he had +lost the seat which had been won and held by him triumphantly in four +General Elections, the second trial of his case was over, and had +followed the course which has been already described. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVII + +LADY DILKE--76, SLOANE STREET + + +Sir Charles Dilke's marriage in 1885 extended rather than modified his +sphere of work. Lady Dilke, the Emilia Strong who was studying drawing +in 1859 at South Kensington, [Footnote: See Chapter 11. (Vol. 1., p. +17).] had submitted herself in these long intervening years to such +scholarly training and discipline as gave her weight and authority on +the subjects which she handled. + +The brilliant girl's desire to take all knowledge for her kingdom had +been intensified by her marriage at twenty-one to the scholar more than +twice her age. In the words of Sir Charles's Memoir: 'She widened her +conception of art by the teaching of the philosopher and by the study of +the literatures to which the schooling of Mark Pattison admitted her. +She saw, too, men and things, travelled largely with him, became +mistress of many tongues, and gained above all a breadth of desire for +human knowledge, destined only to grow with the advance of years.' +[Footnote: _The Book of the Spiritual Life_, by the late Lady Dilke, +with a Memoir of the Author by Sir Charles W. Dilke, p. 18.] + +At twenty-five years of age she was contributing philosophical articles +to the _Westminster Review_, and for years she wrote the review of +foreign politics for the _Annual Register_. Later she furnished art +criticisms to the _Portfolio_, the _Saturday Review_, and the _Academy_, +of which last she was art editor. It was as an art critic that she had +come to be known, and to this work she brought a remarkable equipment; +for to her technical knowledge and artist's training was added a deep +study of the tendencies of history and of human thought. _Art in the +Modern State_, in which she wrote of the art of the 'Grand Siècle' in +its bearing on modern political and social organizations, has been +quoted as the book most characteristic of the philosophical tendency of +her writing, but this did not appear till 1888. The _Renaissance of Art +in France_, which had been published in 1879, was illustrated by +drawings from her own pencil, and in 1884 had appeared _Claude Lorrain_, +written by herself in the pure and graceful French of which she was +mistress. + +She had been a pupil of Mulready, whose portrait still decorates the +mantelpiece of her Pyrford home, and in the early South Kensington days +had come much under the influence of Watts and Ruskin. There were +numbered among her friends many who had achieved distinction in the art, +literature, or politics of Europe. Her letters on art to Eugène Müntz, +preserved in the Manuscript Department of the Bibliothèque Nationale, +commemorate the friendship and assistance given to her by the author of +the _History of the Italian Renaissance_, whose admiration for her work +made him persuade her to undertake her _Claude_. It was Taine who bore +witness to her 'veritable erudition on the fine arts of the +Renaissance,' when in 1871, lecturing in Oxford, he used to visit Mark +Pattison and his young wife at Lincoln College, and described the 'toute +jeune femme, charmante, gracieuse, à visage frais et presque mutin, dans +le plus joli nid de vieille architecture, avec lierre et grands arbres.' +[Footnote: 'The Art Work of Lady Dilke,' _Quarterly Review_, October, +1906.] It was Renan, a friend of later years, whom as yet she did not +know, who 'presented' her _Renaissance_ to the Académie des Inscriptions +et Belles-Lettres. + +But there was another side to her activities, as intense. Public service +was to her a duty of citizenship, and her keen sympathy with suffering +had inspired her to such study of economic and industrial questions +that, in her effort for the development of organization among women +workers, she was for years 'the practical director of a considerable +social movement.' Her four volumes on Art in France in the Eighteenth +Century, which occupied her from this time onwards, were not more +absorbing to her than was the growth of the Women's Trade Union League. + +She had concentrated her powers on a special period of French art, just +as she concentrated them on a certain phase of industrial development; +but her reverence for and pursuit of all learning persisted, and, in the +words of the Memoir written by Sir Charles, 'she was master enough of +human knowledge in its principal branches to know the relation of almost +every part of it to every other.' [Footnote: _Book of the Spiritual +Life,_ Memoir, p. 70.] + +The intense mental training of the years of her first marriage had given +her a grasp of essential facts and a breadth of outlook most unusual in +women, and rare among men. She always correlated her own special work to +that of the larger world. She found in the Women's Protective and +Provident Union a little close corporation, full of sex antagonism and +opposition to legislative protection, but under her sway these +limitations gradually disappeared, and the Women's Trade Union movement +became an integral part of industrial progress. It is difficult to +realize now the breadth of vision which was then required to see that +the industrial interests of the sexes are identical, and that protective +legislation does not hamper, but emancipates. It was this attitude which +brought to her in this field of work the friendship and support of all +that was best in the Labour world of her day henceforth to the end. + +'It is delightful to talk to Mrs. Mark Pattison,' said Sir Charles Dilke +years before to Sir Henry James. 'She says such wonderful things.' She +had the rare power of revealing to others by a few words things in their +true values, and those who came within the sphere of her influence try +still to recover the attitude of mind which she inspired, to remember +how she would have looked at the fresh problems which confront them, and +to view them in relation to all work and life. + +It was this knowledge and breadth of view which told. A perfect speaker, +with tremendous force of personality, charm of manner, beauty of voice, +and command of emotional oratory, her power was greatest when she +preferred to these methods the force of a reasoned appeal. Conviction +waited on these appeals, and in early days, at a public meeting, a group +of youthful cynics, 'out' for entertainment, dispersed with the comment: +'That was wonderful--you couldn't heckle a woman like that.' + +Her serious work never detracted from her social charm, which was +influenced by her love and study of eighteenth century French art. Her +wit, gaiety, and the sensitive fancy which manifested itself in her +stories, [Footnote: _The Shrine of Love, and Other Stories_; and _The +Shrine of Death, and Other Stories_.] made up this charm, which was +reflected in the distinction and finish of her appearance. Some touches +seemed subtly to differentiate her dress from the prevailing fashion, +and to make it the expression of a personality which belonged to a +century more dignified, more leisured, and less superficial, than our +own. [Footnote: _Book of the Spiritual Life,_ p. 120.] Her dress +recalled the canvases of Boucher, Van Loo, and Watteau, which she loved. + +She played as she worked, with all her heart, delivering herself +completely to the enjoyment of the moment. 'Vous devez bien vous amuser, +Monsieur, tous les jours chez vous,' said a Frenchwoman to Sir Charles +one night at a dinner in Paris. [Footnote: _Book of the Spiritual Life,_ +Memoir, p. 96.] In this power of complete relaxation their natures +coincided. Her gaiety matched Sir Charles's own. This perhaps was the +least of the bonds between them. The same high courage, the same +capacity for tireless work, the same sense of public duty, characterized +both. + +Sir Charles's real home was the home of all his life, of his father and +grandfather--No. 76, Sloane Street. Pyrford and Dockett were, like La +Sainte Campagne at Toulon, mainly places for rest and play. This home +was a house of treasures--of many things precious in themselves, and +more that were precious to the owners from memory and association. +Through successive generations one member of the family after another +had added to the collection. Many had been accumulated by the last +owner, who slept always in the room that had been his nursery. He +believed he would die, and desired to die, in the house where he was +born. The desire was accomplished, for he died there, on January 26th, +1911, a few months before the long lease expired. + +Partly from its dull rich colouring of deep blues and reds and greens, +its old carpets and tapestries, partly from the pictures that crowded +its walls, the interior had the air rather of a family country-house +than of a London dwelling in a busy street. + +Pictures, lining the walls from top to bottom of the staircase, +represented a medley of date and association. Byng's Fleet at Naples on +August 1st, 1718, with Sir Thomas Dilkes second in command, hung next to +a view of the Château de la Garde, near Toulon. This picturesque ruin +rose clear in the view from Sir Charles's house at Cap Brun, 'La Sainte +Campagne,' and figures as an illustration in one of Lady Dilke's +stories; 'Reeds and Umbrella Pines' at Carqueiranne, by Pownoll +Williams, kept another memory of Provence. Next to a painting, by Horace +Vernet, of a scene on the Mediterranean coast, little Anne Fisher, born +1588, exhibited herself in hooped and embroidered petticoat, quaint cap +and costly laces, a person of great dignity at six years old. She was to +be Lady Dilke of Maxstoke Castle and a shrewd termagant, mother of two +sons who sided, one with the Commonwealth, the other with the King. The +Royalist Sir Peter Wentworth was a great friend of Milton, with whom he +came in contact on the Committee of State when Milton was Secretary for +the Council of Foreign Tongues. But Cromwell turned him off the Council, +and he was arrested and brought to London for abetting his Warwickshire +tenantry in refusal to pay the Protector's war-taxes. Her Puritan son, +Fisher Dilke, followed, with a sour-faced Puritan divine, and then came +a group of water-colours by Thomas Hood, the author of 'The Song of the +Shirt,' and an intimate friend of the Dilkes. + +One of the ancestors, an earlier Peter Wentworth, son of Sir Nicholas +Wentworth (who was Chief Porter of Calais, and knighted by Henry VIII. +at the siege of Boulogne), bore the distinction of having been three +times sent to the Tower. The first was for a memorable speech on behalf +of the liberties of the House of Commons, in 1575. Imprisonment does not +seem to have taught him caution, for he was last imprisoned in 1593, +because he had 'offended Her Majesty,' and a prisoner he remained till +his death in 1596, occupying the period by writing a _Pithie Exhortation +to Her Majesty for Establishing her Successor to the Crowne_. + +Engravings of Sir Philip Sidney, Sir Francis Walsingham, Sir Harry Vane, +Fulk Greville, Lord Burleigh, William Warham (the friend of Erasmus, +Archbishop of Canterbury, and Chancellor), Queen Katharine Parr, Robert +Devereux (Earl of Essex), who all came into the Dilke pedigree, hung on +the walls. But the most interesting portrait might have been that of Sir +Charles himself in fancy dress, the Sir Charles of the early eighties +before trouble had lined his face or silvered his hair. This was the +painting of Sir Thomas, afterwards Lord Wentworth, who died in 1551 and +lies in Westminster Abbey. The reversion to type was so striking that +guests would often ask to see again 'the best portrait of Sir Charles.' +[Footnote: This first Baron Wentworth had been knighted for his bravery +in the taking of Braye and Montdidier in the expedition to France of +1523, and in 1529 was summoned to Parliament under the title of Lord +Wentworth of Nettlestead. He attended Henry VIII. in his interview with +the French King at Calais, and under Edward VI. was Lord Chamberlain of +the Household and a member of the Privy Council.] + +Among more recent portraits and drawings were a group of trophies, +illustrating Sir Charles's experiences in the Franco-German War. Of +three passes, the first was carried when he was with the Crown Prince +Frederick and the Knights of St. John; the other two showed the change +in his sympathies from Germany to France--one from the Commune, the +other from the national headquarters at Versailles. Here lay a bullet +which struck the wall beside him at Clamart Railway Station, just +missing him; pens taken from the table of the Procureur Impérial at +Wissembourg when the first French town was entered by the Germans; and a +trophy of his birthday in 1871, a bit of the Napoleonic Eagle from the +Guard-room at the Tuileries, smashed by the crowd on that day, September +4th, when the Third Republic was proclaimed. + +Then followed old photographs of members of Parliament and Cabinet +Ministers; pictures of Maxstoke Castle, where the elder branch of the +Dilkes had its home; etchings by Rajon; framed numbers of _Le Vengeur_, +printed after the entry of the Versailles army into Paris during the +'semaine sang-lante'; addresses, including some in Greek, presented to +Sir Charles on various occasions. In the double dining-room a famous +portrait of Gambetta--the only portrait taken from life--hung over one +mantelpiece. A favourite citation might have been upon the lips: 'La +France était à genoux. Je lui ai dit, "Lève-toi".' In 1875 Sir Charles +asked Professor Legros to go to Paris and paint Gambetta, who never sat +to any other artist. This portrait hangs now in the Luxembourg, and will +ultimately be transferred to the Louvre, its destination by Sir +Charles's bequest. The only other portrait of Gambetta is that by +Bonnat, painted after death. It was the property of Dilke's friend M. +Joseph Reinach, and the two had agreed to bequeath these treasured +possessions to the Louvre. But the Legros was the more authentic. M. +Bonnat said to Sir Charles: 'Mine is black and white; I never saw him. +Yours is red as a lobster. Mais il paraît qu'il était rouge comme un +homard.' Sir Charles himself wrote: 'It is Gambetta as he lives and +moves and has his being. What more can I ask for or expect?' He always +predicted that its painter, whose merit had never in his opinion been +adequately recognized, would after death come to his due place. + +The rooms had been lined with the grandfather's books, but soon after he +came into possession Sir Charles disposed of them. He had a strong +belief in keeping round him only the necessary tools for his work, and a +large library was an encumbrance to him. But sentiment was strong, and +for some time they remained, till a comment of George Odger's sealed +their fate. Looking round the shelves, he remarked with wonderment on +the number of the books and the wisdom of the friend who had read them +all. Sir Charles, conscious that he had not done so, and that he never +should lead the life of a purely literary man, gave away the more +valuable, and sold the rest of the collection. Lord Carlingford profited +by the Junius papers; Mr. John Murray by the Pope manuscripts; the +British Museum by the Caryll papers; and pictures took the place of +shelves. [Footnote: See Chapter XI. (Vol. I., pp. 161, 162).] + +A number of fine old prints after Raphael were there, and also a +photograph of the head of Fortune in Burne-Jones's 'Wheel.' Sir Charles +had commissioned Burne-Jones to paint a head of Fortune, and the +correspondence on the subject was sufficiently complete to suggest that +the commission had been executed, though as a fact it was never carried +out. Sir Charles, who knew something of the difficulty of tracing and +attributing pictures, used to declare laughingly that the correspondence +might go far to mislead some critic of the future into search after a +non-existent original. Anyway, the beautiful head with its closed eyes +hung there always, presiding over the varying fortunes of the last +tenants of the house. + +The far dining-room opened with French windows on a paved terrace, which +led by steps to a little garden and to the stables beyond. This terrace +was the scene of the morning fencing, when the clashing of foils and Sir +Charles's shouts of laughter resounded to the neighbouring gardens. Lord +Harcourt recalls the parties in the eighties, as one of the +characteristic features of life at 76, Sloane Street. Lord Desborough, +then Mr. W. Grenfell, a first-rate fencer, came frequently, and he +chronicles the 'deadly riposte' of Sir Julian Pauncefote, a regular +attendant when he was in town. Mr. R. C. Lehmann, best known as oarsman +and boxer, but a fencer as well, came whenever he could. A great St. +Bernard, lying waiting for him in the entrance hall, announced his +master's presence. + +Baron d'Estournelles de Constant, of the French Embassy, was one of the +most regular attendants. When M. d'Estournelles left London it was to go +to Tunis; and further reference in one of Sir Charles's letters betrays +the pride with which he learnt that this frequenter of his school had +done it credit by 'pinking his man' in a duel. M. Joseph Reinach came to +fence whenever he was in London; so did Italian masters--for example, +the Marchese Fabrizio Panluoci de' Calboli, 'who wants to set up here.' + +The _maitre d'armes_ was senior master at the London Fencing Club, and +many young fencers joined these parties to gain experience. Sir Charles +was one of the first Englishmen to use the épée; he fenced always when +in Paris, as in London, and any famous French fencer who visited this +country received as a matter of course an invitation to the morning +meetings at No. 76. [Footnote: Sir Charles fenced whenever he was +abroad, if he could get an opponent. There is a note of 1881: 'August +29th-September 3rd, fenced with de Clairval at La Bourboule.' As late as +1907 he was fencing at Hyères with a master who came over from Toulon on +certain days in the week. Also at the end of 1881 he 'started a local +fencing club in my own street, and trained some good fencers there, and +used to get away to fence there whenever I could find time in the +evening hours.' He took part in a competition at this club, and 'won the +prize for rapier fencing, being beaten, of course, for foil fencing.'] +Sir Theodoré Cook, now editor of the _Field_, an antagonist of a later +date, and captain of the first international fencing team of 1903, +speaks of the considerable reputation of Sir Charles as a fencer, +'taking the same place in a quiet way as that Lord Howard de Walden +takes towards the public now' (1913). + +It was the 'unconventional style and the boyish enjoyment of his +pastime'--to use Lord Desborough's words--which were characteristic of +Sir Charles. His mischievous attempts to distract his adversary's +attention, his sudden drops to the ground and bewildering recoveries, +his delight at the success of his feints, and contagious merriment, must +have gained the sympathy of even the most formal fencer. Many stories of +these bouts are told. One is that, having driven an antagonist from the +terrace into the Garden Room, into which he was followed by his +favourite cat, Sir Charles caught up and threw the protesting animal at +his opponent, and dealt his final blow at a foe embarrassed by the +double onslaught. Those, however, who know his respect for the dignity +of cats will always regard the story as apocryphal. + +He delighted in having near him the pictures of his friends, and there +were many on the next landing, in the vestibule and the Blue Room to +which it led. Mr. Chamberlain, keen-eyed and alert, looked out from +Frank Holl's canvas. Fawcett, [Footnote: Now in the National Portrait +Gallery, as also Holl's 'Chamberlain,' by Sir Charles's bequest.] +painted by Ford Madox Brown in 1871, recalled an earlier friendship, as +did the portrait of John Stuart Mill, who, never having sat to any +painter, just before his death allowed Watts to paint this for Sir +Charles. The picture came home on the day Mill died, and is the +original. It was left by will to the Westminster Town Hall. The picture +in the National Portrait Gallery is a replica, painted by Sir Charles's +leave. By Watts was also a beautiful portrait of Sir Charles himself, +the pendant to another which has gone. He and his first wife were +painted for each other, but the portrait of her seemed to him so +inadequately to render the 'real charm' of the dead woman that he +destroyed it. The illustrations of this book contain some reproductions +of pictures mentioned here. + +Reminiscent of earlier family friendships were the Keats relics here and +in Sir Charles's own study. Many of these had been bought by old Mr. +Dilke from Keats's love, Fanny Brawne, to save them from the indignity +of an auction. + +In the Blue Room also hung some extraordinarily fine pictures by Blake, +who was the friend of Sir Charles's grandfather--among them 'The +Crucifixion,' 'The Blasphemer,' and 'The Devil,' [Footnote: 'I gave four +of my Blakes to the South Kensington Museum in 1884.'] The best loved +both by the grandfather and by Sir Charles was the beautiful 'Queen +Catherine's Dream.' A precious copy of _The Songs of Innocence_, +hand-painted by Blake and his wife, completed the collection. There were +several reliefs by Dalou in the house, the finest let in over the +mantelpiece of the Blue Room, a copy of Flaxman's Mercury and Pandora. +They were executed for Sir Charles when the sculptor was in London in +great distress after the Commune, before the amnesty which retrieved his +fortunes. + +Here also were reminiscences of Provence. One side of the wall was +largely covered by a picture of Fréjus by Wislin, painted in the days +when St. Raphael and Valescure did not exist, and when the old town rose +clear from the low ground as Rome rises from the Campagna, the beautiful +Roquebrune, a spur of Sir Charles's beloved Mountains of the Moors, +behind it. Sèvres china, vases, bronzes, filled the window ledges, +presents to the first Baronet from the Emperor of Austria, Napoleon +III., the Crown Prince of Prussia (afterwards the Emperor Frederick), +and other royal persons and Governments, with whom his Exhibition work +brought him into touch. + +At the time when Horace Walpole's collection at Strawberry Hill was +sold, Sir Charles's grandfather had stayed at Twickenham, and had +brought away many purchases, which peopled the Red and Green +Drawing-rooms on the next landing. There was a little group of +miniatures in which the 'Beautiful Gunnings' and a charming 'Miss +Temple' figured; in another group, miniatures of Addison, of Mme. Le +Brun, of Molière, came from Lady Morgan, whose pen of bog-oak and gold, +a gift to her from the Irish people, hung in Sir Charles's own study. +The best of the miniatures were those by Peter Oliver, and portrayed +Frederick of Bohemia, Elector Palatine, and his wife Elizabeth, Princess +Royal of England, afterwards married to Lord Craven; while the finest of +all was 'a son of Sir Kenelm Digby, 1632.' It was one of 'several +others' which Walpole 'purchased at a great price,' a purchase which was +thus chronicled 'by Mason (Junius) in a letter to Walpole: 'I +congratulate you on the new miniatures, though I know one day they will +become Court property and dangle under the crimson-coloured shop-glasses +of our gracious Queen Charlotte.' The set were all brought together for +the first time since 1842 at the Burlington Fine Arts Club Exhibition. + +In these two drawing-rooms, among the medley of enamelled and inlaid +tables, royal gifts and collectors' purchases, pictures by Cranach, +Mabuse, Van Goyen, Mignard, and many more, some special objects stood +out. These were a beautiful Madonna by Memling, on a circular panel, +from Lord Northwick's collection; the Strawberry Hill marble version of +the famous Bargello relief by Donatello, of the head of the infant St. +John the Baptist; and a portrait ascribed to Cornelius Jansen, which, +owing to the fleurs-de-lis on the chair, passed by the name of 'the +Duchess,' a portly lady of some dignity, with beautiful white hands and +tapering fingers. Lady Dilke's researches, however, placed the lady as +Anne Dujardin, an innkeeper of Lyons. The painter, young Karl Dujardin, +unable to pay his reckoning, had settled it by marrying his hostess and +taking her to Amsterdam, and the fleurs-de-lis on the chair explained +that the lady was of French extraction. A Flemish head of Margaret of +Austria, Regent of the Netherlands, had come from the Gwydyr Collection. +She was much exhibited, but her main interest was due to Sir Charles's +intense admiration for the governing capacity and the overshadowed life +of the woman. He made two pilgrimages to the church at Brou, near +Bourg-en-Bresse, where her sculptured face, closely resembling that of +the portrait, looks out from tomb and windows, as she lies side by side +with Philibert le Beau, the husband of her love and of her youth, in the +magnificent shrine she built for him. + +Tapestry hangings divided the rooms from each other, and in many cases +only heavy curtains divided them from the stairs. + +Above these rooms, Sir Charles's little study, occupied all day by his +secretary or himself, was lined with books of reference and piles of +despatch-boxes, while every spare foot on the wall held relics of the +past. There was the Herkomer portrait of his second wife, there also a +copy of a favourite picture, Bellini's Doge Leonardo Loredano; the +portrait of Keats, the only one Severn did from the life--now on loan at +the National Portrait Gallery--old political cartoons of Chelsea days, +portraits and prints of John Wilkes, and a head of Mazzini. Felix +Moscheles (the nephew of Mendelssohn and baby of the Cradle Song) +painted Mazzini. Concerning its subject the Memoir notes: 'In the course +of 1872 I lost a good friend in Mazzini, whose enthusiasms, Italian and +religious, I at that time scarcely shared, but whose conversation and +close friendship I deeply valued.... The modernness of the Universal +Cigarette Smoking Craze may be judged by the fact that Mazzini was the +first man I ever knew who was constantly smoking cigarettes.' + +The rest was a medley impossible to catalogue: portraits of Charles +Lamb, who had been the grandfather's friend; a scarce proclamation by +the Pretender; medals and other 'Caryll' relics; rapiers, pistols which +had travelled with Sir Charles through America; a section of the Trinity +Hall boat which was head of the river in 1862 and 1864; seven cups, +trophies of rowing, walking, fencing, and shooting matches, with shots +dug up on his Toulon estate which were mementoes of the British +blockades of the town. Apart from works of reference, a special case was +given to autographed books from Hood, Rogers the poet, Gambetta, +Laveleye, Louis Blanc, Castelar, Cardinal Manning, Queen Victoria, and +many more. In this collection figured all Sir Charles's college prizes, +carefully preserved; the family Bible of Lord Leicester, uncle to Sir +Philip Sidney, with Dilke family entries; and a little volume in which +his second wife had written for him some of the most beautiful passages +from 'Queens' Gardens' in _Sesame and Lilies_; it was bound in white +vellum and 'blessed by Ruskin.' Here, too, were many Keats letters and +books afterwards left by will to Hampstead. + +A hoard of treasures filled a little book-room above--his mother's +sketches, drawings of his first wife driving her ponies in Sloane +Street, photographs and trinkets of hers, old family caricatures, and +also some original sketches by Leech. In the room next to it, occupied +by his grandmother till her death in 1882, was a John Collier of the +first Lady Dilke. + +When the grandmother's sitting-room was used later by Sir Charles's +second wife, its main features were a small reference library of French +art and a collection of books on Labour. Before the fireplace, on the +writing-table as it was in 1885, were bowls of French porcelain filled +once a week with fresh flowers from the Toulon garden--paper white +narcissus and purple anemones or big violets of Provençal growth. + +Sir Charles's bedroom above was the old nursery, connected with his +mother's room, in which he was born, and out of which opened a little +room where as a child he slept. His memories of that room were the +terrors of a nervous boy, lying alone in the dark, creeping downstairs +to sit--a tiny white-robed figure--as near as possible to the +drawing-room door, to get comfort from the hum of talk or thunder of the +four-handed piano pieces of the period. + +His own room for many years was full of drawings by his second wife--her +studies under Mulready, her drawings for her _Renaissance_, and other +pen-and-ink sketches by her hand, as well as two miniatures of her by +Pollet. Some of Frank Dicey's Thames water-colours, one showing Sir +Charles's river house at Dockett Eddy, and sketches from his own pen or +brush made in his Russian, American, and world-wide wanderings, were +here also. In a tiny glazed bookcase by the fire were some 'favourite +books,' a volume or two of Kipling, two volumes of Anatole France, next +to a cookery book of 1600, Renan's _Souvenirs d'Enfance et de Jeunesse_, +and a volume of Aubanel. The place of honour was given to a deeply +scored copy of Jeremy Taylor's _Golden Grove_. + +Beside his great-uncle's Peninsular medal and clasps hung one of Roty's +medals, a present from the artist. There were several of Roty's +beautiful medallions in the house, the finest one of Sir Charles +himself, explained by the legend on the back as 'done for his wife.' She +had it made, and it was always with her. + +There were a good many of W. E. F. Britten's pictures, painted for Sir +Charles; the finest was that of 'St. Francis preaching to the Birds,' a +thing of delicate colour and taste, which fitted with his love of the +Umbrian Holy Land and went later to the country cottage at Pyrford. +There was more force in a large crayon drawing of the Earl of +Southampton in the Tower: 'his cat had just arrived down the chimney, +probably saving his master's reason by relief of the intolerable tension +of lonely confinement.' + +The painted cats, or Miss Chaplin's modelled pussies, of which there +were many, were seldom without some magnificent living representative at +76, Sloane Street. Zulu, an enormous dark long-haired cat, was very +popular; but the last of the 'Head Cats,' Calino, was so engaging that, +at his death about 1908, Sir Charles decided that he should never be +replaced. The sway of these cats was despotic, but there were occasions +on which their own territory was too limited for them, and messages +would come from far down the street demanding the removal of the +reigning favourite from some article of furniture where it had ensconced +itself with such majesty that a show of violence was out of the +question. Among his precious books was a cat story--privately printed +and bound--which his second wife had gradually evolved among the +wonderful essays in story-telling with which, when he was jaded, she +diverted him. This held so large a share in his affection that it nearly +displaced his little French copy of the _Contes de Perrault_, containing +the adventures of the Marquis of Carabas and Puss in Boots. At the +winter cottage at Pyrford, among the pines, was a cattery, where Persian +tailless cats, some ginger and some white, were bred. A list of names +was kept ready for them, and Babettes, Papillons, Pierrots and +Pierrettes, Mistigrises and Beelzebubs, were distributed to friends and +acquaintances. Among the treasured pathetic scraps kept in his father's +desk, his executors found a pencil drawing by his wife, the closed +window of a silent house, into which the perfectly sketched figure of a +little kitten was trying to enter. + +In the gracious setting of this house the pervading atmosphere was that +of work. The three generations of Dilkes whom it had sheltered had each +found the sphere for which he was best fitted, and pursued it +tirelessly. The grandfather, beloved old scholar and critic; the father, +indefatigable organizer of international exhibitions, horticulturist, +newspaper proprietor, member of Parliament--both passed on the +traditions of strenuous labour to the great Parliamentarian who was now +the occupant of the house. He had absorbed those traditions and far +outvied his predecessors, working day and night, bringing down from his +bedroom almost illegible memoranda to be deciphered by his secretary in +the morning. + +From 1880 to 1885 his accession to public office had intensified the +work. Messengers with official boxes waited in the hall; callers on +political or electoral business, to be interviewed by him or his +secretaries, filled the Blue and Red Rooms. After the morning's fencing +he passed rapidly from letters to interviews till the Office or the +House of Commons claimed him, and his faithful coachman, Charles Grant, +who when he died in 1901 had served his master for thirty years, waited +for him at the door. Yet with all this the house continued, as in his +father's day, to be noted for its hospitality, and the lists of guests +in the tattered diaries bear witness to the enormous and varied circle +of Sir Charles's friends. Here met foreign diplomatists and artists, +English statesmen, and men of letters. Even Cardinal Manning broke his +rule against dining out, as 'yours is a Cabinet dinner,' to come to 76, +Sloane Street; but as he met M. de Franqueville, Baron Ferdinand de +Rothschild, and the friend whom the Cardinal designated to be his +biographer, the future author of _France_, J. E. C. Bodley, there must +have been talk of other subjects than 'Housing of the Poor.' Indeed, +absence of 'shop' seems to have been one of the charms of these dinners, +and Mr. G. W. Osborn, the Chairman of the Chelsea Liberal Association, +records that, even when the local leaders met there, some outside +element was always introduced which made the talk general. + +On another occasion Sir Charles notes: 'July 9th, 1884. On this day +Cardinal Manning dined with me, and gave me, in return for a Spanish +crucifix with which I had presented him, a miniature of "our patron, St. +Charles,"' which now, he adds, '(1891 and 1903) hangs in my bedroom. +Manning and H. von Bismarck met at my table--I think for the first +time.' + +His first invitation to Mr. Gladstone, of October 26th, 1882, was to +meet the Duc de Broglie: 'the leader of the Conservative party in France +is at this moment a sufficiently interesting figure for me to think you +may like to come to meet him, if you are not engaged.' + +Such social life, like the morning's rapid turn with the foils or the +Sunday afternoon on the river, helped to save him from breakdown under a +strain of work persistently intense. Another quality which saved him was +his power of turning at once and completely from one occupation to +another. + +A friend thus describes him as he appeared in 1885: 'There was in him a +quality of boyishness I have never seen in any other man, coupled with +deep gravity and seriousness, and the transition from one mood to the +other came with lightning rapidity. Appeal to him on some question of +high politics, even at a moment of the most joyous relaxation, and his +face gravened, his bearing changed; he pulled himself together with a +trick of manner habitual to the end, and the 'boy' became the statesman +before it seemed the last echoes of his laughter had died away. We all +prophesied for him accession to the highest offices of the State; for +though so far the offices which he had held had been of but minor rank, +yet he had magnified these offices till they became of the first +importance, and his knowledge and authority were as great as were his +charm and his power of gathering round him supporters and friends. He +spoke with the authority of one who knows his value to the nation which +he serves.' + +So with Sir Charles's second marriage the house entered on its last +phase, and the dark days which followed were lightened for its two +occupants by mutual confidence and the support of an abiding love. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVIII + +FOREIGN POLICY + + +After a brief stay at Royat, whither doctor's orders had sent Lady +Dilke, Sir Charles returned with her, in September, 1886, to the little +riverside cottage at Dockett. Thence, as autumn drew on, they moved to +the other cottage that had been built among the pines on the sandy ridge +near Woking. + +No longer having a seat in the House of Commons, Sir Charles again +resumed the pen, by which he had first gained distinction. + +In the English home politics of 1887, the Irish Question predominated as +it had never done before: Home Rule was being thrashed out on every +platform. This was a matter on which Sir Charles, to use his own words, +'never clearly saw his way'; it was one that he naturally avoided, for +it had separated him from his most intimate political associate, and he +turned to the field of foreign affairs which had continuously occupied +him during his tenure of office, and which, save during the episode of +the franchise negotiations, had been his central concern. + +For a moment he had the notion of entering into the business of +newspaper management. His object was not to secure literary reputation, +but to direct and influence public opinion. Early in 1887 he wrote to +his friend Mr. Thursfield of the _Times_: + + 'What I want is work on foreign affairs, or rather external affairs, + or foreign and colonial. I would prefer not to write, but to suggest + and supervise foreign news, and to work up the subjects of the + leaders which others would write. If I wrote, I think I should write + less well than other people, because I always write as I speak, and + not as people are taught to write.' + +Nothing came of this idea; but it was a proposal remarkable in its +self-depreciation, because it was made when work from his pen was +already having a conspicuous success. Beginning in January, 1887, a +series of six articles dealing with the existing position of the six +Great Powers appeared in the _Fortnightly Review_, anonymously, but the +author was at once identified. They sent the _Review_ into repeated +editions. They appeared translated into French in the _Nouvelle Revue_, +and were discussed all over Europe. Later in the summer they were +published in book form, and called in English _The Present Position of +European Politics_ and in French _L'Europe en 1887_. + +In the author's own words, the articles dealt with 'facts and +tendencies'; and though he would have been the last to hold himself a +prophet, saying that in the nature of things 'two years meant for ever +in politics,' much that he wrote is still of interest, and the +suggestion of Mr. Erskine Childers' hero that we should 'Read Dilke' is +not yet out of date. [Footnote: _Riddle of the Sands_, by Erskine +Childers, popular edition, p. 127. First published March, 1903.] + +The keynote of the book is contained in the opening words, 'The present +position of the European world is one in which sheer force holds a +larger place than it has held in modern times since the fall of +Napoleon.' This reign of force the author traced back to 1878, the date +of the Treaty of Berlin, but it was originally due, as he pointed out, +to the annexation of Alsace-Lorraine in 1871, which had left a permanent +source of irritation in the European States system. Nevertheless, he +recognized that for the time the continuance of Prince Bismarck's +policy, based as it was on the maintenance of the Treaty, meant peace, +because Prince Bismarck believed peace to be necessary for the +maintenance in undiminished strength of the German Empire, wedged in +between France and Russia, the former always hostile, the latter an +uncertain quantity. An alliance with Austria-Hungary was necessary to +this policy: an alliance dictated by the fact that no other was likely +to be permanent. Italy, it was true, had recently joined the alliance; +but Italy, like Russia, was an uncertain factor, and Sir Charles Dilke +believed that, if a critical moment were to come, the desire to get the +Trentino would be stronger than the ties of any alliance. The policy of +Prince Bismarck was accordingly to prevent a Russo-French alliance, and +to help Russia to push into the Far East; to help her also in the +Balkans, but not beyond the point at which Austria might remonstrate; +and to prevent Austria from seeking anything calculated to precipitate a +war between herself and Russia, such as an attempt to add to the +position which she had obtained in the Balkan Peninsula under the Treaty +of Berlin. This policy also involved keeping Turkey quiet and preventing +a league of the Balkan States, lest such a league should irritate Russia +and Austria and produce a European conflagration. + +General Fadejew, in a celebrated pamphlet [Footnote: General Fadejew, +_Über Russland's Kriegsmacht und Kriegspolitik_, Leipzig, 1870, +translated from the Russian.] which fluttered all the Chancelleries of +Europe in the early seventies, had said that the road from Russia to +Constantinople lay through Vienna; and Vienna, Sir Charles agreed with +the Russian general, was the centre to be watched, for it was there that +the key of European policy was to be found. 'Austria interests me,' he +wrote, when preparing his book, to Sir William White, the Ambassador at +Constantinople. 'I can't leave London, but I'm thinking of sending a man +to Vienna to tell me certain things. If so, to whom should he go?' And +he watched the strange development of events in Bulgaria. Early in +January he notes an interview with 'Dr. Stoiloff, the ablest man except +the brutal Stambuloff, and the leader of the Conservative party' in +Bulgaria, where the perpetual intrigues of Russian agents, official and +unofficial, had recently culminated, in August, 1886, in the kidnapping +of the reigning chief of the State, Prince Alexander of Battenberg, and +had thereby created an Austrian party: events which were to have many +long-drawn-out consequences, as the following century to its own cost +was to find out. Bulgaria from this time began to move in an orbit of +her own, distinct from, and often unfriendly to, the other Balkan +States. + +In 1887 it was still a current belief--especially on the part of many of +Sir Charles's own political friends--that Germany was eagerly watching +for an opportunity to seize the German provinces of Austria, and that +Austria was eagerly watching for an opportunity 'to go to Salonica,' as +the current phrase had it. The two propositions were almost mutually +destructive, but, without insisting on this rather obvious +consideration, Sir Charles was well aware that (even apart from reasons +of international policy) Germany could not desire the disruption of +Austria, because the German provinces of Upper and Lower Austria and +Styria did not lie next to North Germany, but were cut off from it by +countries in which the most enterprising of all Slavonic peoples--the +Czechs of Bohemia--'hated the Germans with a deadly hatred,' and +already, even in 1887, had got the upper hand. Count Bismarck himself +had resisted--and successfully--the desire of the military party to +annex Bohemia in 1866 after Sadowa. The permanent exclusion of Austria +and the House of Hapsburg from Germany was also no sudden or ephemeral +policy. In the middle of the seventeenth century, as the author of the +_Holy Roman Empire_ had reminded his readers, it had been proposed by +the famous publicist Philippe Chemnitz, who wrote under the name of +'Hippolytus à Lapide,' as the surest means of securing a permanent unity +of some kind in Germany. [Footnote: See Bryce, _Holy Roman Empire_, +chap. xx., p. 386; Louis Léger, _Histoire de l'Autriche-Hongrie_, chap. +xv., p. 258.] It had been adopted by the leaders in the Frankfurt +Parliament of 1848-49, and Count Bismarck was the inheritor of these +traditions when he finally expelled the House of Hapsburg in 1866, and +thus translated ancient theories into modern facts. It was therefore +highly improbable, to say the least, that only a few years after the +Treaty of Berlin he should be engaged in an attempt to nullify his own +work. [Footnote: On January 14th, 1849, the Frankfurt Parliament voted +the exclusion of Austria from Germany.] + +Austria, Sir Charles Dilke pointed out, some day by mere competition +with Russia, if that Power made further advances, might perhaps be +forced forward unwillingly to Salonica; but by thus seizing Macedonia--a +far larger proposition than that of the annexation of Bosnia and the +Herzegovina, and in many respects a different one--it was clear she +would 'increase her military weakness, would deeply offend the Servians, +the Greeks, and the Bulgarians, and by increasing the number of her +Slavonic subjects would only hasten her own break-up.' Here, in fact, +lay the real danger to the 'Eastern Empire.' Prince Bismarck, as a +matter of fact, was of all men in Europe the man who most desired to +keep Austria alive. 'It is a necessity to him that she should continue +to exist. Once destroy Austria, and Germany is left to fight it out with +France and Russia without assistance, for in this case Italy would not +move,' notwithstanding the recently renewed Triple Alliance. That a +military party existed in Austria which might desire to go to Salonica, +and would also rejoice in a war with Italy, Sir Charles was well aware; +but he saw no reason to believe that it would succeed in forcing these +adventures on the Ballplatz, or on the statesmen of Hungary, who above +all things dreaded an increase of the Slavonic elements in the Empire. +The Austria-Hungary of 1887 was the Austria-Hungary of the long rule of +Count Taafe at Vienna, of M. Koloman Tisza at Buda-Pesth, and of Count +Kalnoky at the Ballplatz; and it was not unreasonable at that time to +consider it possible that, 'after the division of the respective spheres +of influence of Bulgaria, Greece, and Serbia, in Macedonia, Austria +might gradually increase her influence in the Balkan States; and if she +would take the bold step of making up an arrangement for evacuating part +of Bosnia and the Herzegovina, so as to show she had no intention of +going southwards to Salonica, she might bring together in a general +understanding with herself the small States and the Turks.' This, +however, Sir Charles admitted, was probably impracticable, 'as Austro- +Hungarian pride would effectually prevent the abandonment of any portion +of Bosnia.' But so late as 1909 Dilke told Lord Fitzmaurice, when, at +the time of her final annexation of Bosnia and the Herzegovina, +Austria-Hungary had retired from the Sandjak of Novi Bazar, that he +thought the British Foreign Office 'had made too great a fuss' over the +annexation, which had been certain to come, sooner or later. [Footnote: +Lord Fitzmaurice was then Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, and +represented the Foreign Office in the House of Lords. See further as to +Sir Charles Dilke's' views on the events of 1908, Chapter LVIII.] + +Mr. Robert Lowe is credited with having said that a metaphysician +resembled a blind man groping in a dark room for a black hat that was +not there. The comparison might almost have been applied to the Foreign +Minister of the Dual Empire, vainly seeking for a coherent policy among +the mists and cross-currents of rival nationalities. The charge to be +made against the foreign policy of Austria-Hungary was, in fact, not +that she had got a policy--good or bad, ambitious or the reverse--but +that it was almost impossible as a rule to ascertain whether she had any +policy at all: the explanation being that her internal problems +paralyzed her action abroad. 'It was difficult to be a patriot in +Austria, for nobody exactly knew to the representatives of what race, +tongue, or language, his allegiance was due.' 'Austria was indeed of all +countries in the world by far the most difficult to govern, and as a +necessity of her condition she must before all things long for peace.... +Under her many difficulties caused by racial divisions she had become +constitutionally timid and naturally slow to move, and the outlook was +far from promising ... nor had Prince Bismarck'--notwithstanding the +terms of the Triple Alliance--'bound Germany to espouse all the quarrels +of Austria, no matter where and with whom.' It had been said, and by +Prince Bismarck himself, that the bones of not a single Pomeranian +grenadier should be allowed to whiten in a Balkan quarrel. [Footnote: +Speech in the Reichstag, December 16th, 1876.] 'The only real question +worth asking was: Will Austria resist Russian pretensions, and will she, +if in danger of conquest, be supported by allies, or will she yield and +take her share of the spoils?' [Footnote: _The Present Position of +European Politics_, pp. 185, 193, 194, 205, 206, 219, 221-224.] + +The long-standing jealousies, also, of Austria-Hungary, Italy, and +Greece, in regard to the future of the Adriatic coast, Sir Charles Dilke +felt were not sufficiently appreciated in England, where public opinion +was too much inclined to see the Turk and the Slav only in every +question concerned with the Balkan Peninsula. When Under-Secretary for +Foreign Affairs in 1880-81, he had given a strong support to the +proposals in regard to Albania of Lord Edmond Fitzmaurice, which had the +approval of Mr. Goschen, then Special Ambassador to the Porte--proposals +which were framed with a view to the ultimate autonomy of the country, +and were not accepted by the European Commission of Reforms, mainly +owing to the opposition of Austria-Hungary. [Footnote: See _Life of Lord +Goschen_, vol. i, p. 215. These proposals were revived in 1912, and, +which is remarkable, by Count Berchtold, the Foreign Minister of +Austria-Hungary, in a despatch in favour of 'progressive +decentralization.' See an article in the _Edinburgh Review_, April, +1913: 'Austria and Italy have been rivals for influence in Albania, as +Austria and Russia were rivals in Macedonia. It was because of this +rivalry that the Treaty of Berlin, so far as it applied to the European +provinces of Turkey, was never properly carried into effect. For the +same reason the Fitzmaurice proposal of 1880 was defeated by the +opposition of Vienna. The suggestion was that a greater Albania should +be created, which would have been autonomous under a European guarantee. +It is among the ironies of history that this scheme, rejected by Austria +when it came from a friendly and neutral source, should have been put +forward by the Austrian Foreign Office itself thirty-two years later. +Count Berchtold's Circular Note of August 14th, 1912, revived the +Fitzmaurice programme. The proposition came too late.'] But in _The +Present Position of European Politics_ it is seen how the author's +increasing confidence in the future of Greece led to a change of opinion +on this, the most intricate, perhaps, of all diplomatic questions +connected with the Near East. He now advocated as large an extension as +possible of the existing northern boundary of Greece, and held that the +rest of Albania should be joined to Greece by some form of personal +union, which ultimately might grow into a closer tie, bearing in mind +the friendly cooperation of Greeks and Albanians in the War of +Independence against Turkey, and the fact that a strong Albanian element +already existed in the Greek kingdom. [Footnote: _The Present Position +of European Politics_, pp. 146, 148, 193, 206, 214-217, 232, 237, 238.] +A European Congress seemed to him the only method to avoid the ultimate +arbitrament of war in this mass of tangled questions, but experience had +shown that a Congress was useless unless the Great Powers had settled +the main questions beforehand in agreement among themselves. Experience +had unfortunately also shown the extreme difficulty of obtaining any +such agreement. + +'Austria ought to have been the heir of Turkey; the protector of a +Greece extended to include Albania, Macedonia, the Islands, and the +coast to Constantinople and down to Asia Minor; the friend of Servia and +Roumania, and what not.' But these things remained in the class of +visions, even if occasionally some Austrian or Hungarian statesman, like +Herr von Kallay, seemed disposed to grasp them, and to renew the +tradition of the forward policy attributed to Prince Eugène of Savoy and +the Archduke Charles. Hungary also had made Roumania her antagonist by +her illiberal policy in regard to the navigation of the Danube. Any +permanent confederation of the Balkan States as distinct from a +temporary alliance for some special and defined object, such as a +possible attack on Turkey, seemed therefore no longer possible, +especially after the recent events in Bulgaria. Meanwhile there was to +be peace, because Prince Bismarck so willed it. [Footnote: See _Der +Krimkrieg und die Österreichische Politik_, von Heinrich Friedjung, +chap, ii., p. 16 (Stuttgart und Berlin, 1907); Louis Léger, _Études +Slaves: L'Autriche-Hongrie et la Question d'Orient_, p. 395.] + +The overmastering sense of the importance of whatever happened at Vienna +and Constantinople--of which every page of _The Present Position of +European Politics_ is the evidence--will largely explain Sir Charles +Dilke's views on another question. It has been seen that he was amongst +the strongest advocates of an active policy in Egypt in 1882, agreeing +in this with Mr. Chamberlain and Lord Hartington. But at an early period +after the Battle of Tel-el-Kebir he pronounced himself, when the +question arose, in favour of the earliest possible evacuation of the +country, and contemplated it as a possibility of the immediate future. +[Footnote: Sir Charles wrote in the _Speaker_ of January 23rd, 1892, in +reply to Admiral Maxse: 'Admiral Maxse appears to think that my views in +favour of evacuation have been recently formed....' 'There was a time, +_before_ the intervention of the condominium with France by Lord Derby, +when I held a different view; but it was not only formed under +circumstances very different from those which have now existed for +fourteen years, but also at a time when I had not given special +consideration to our probable naval and military position in the event +of war.'] Egypt to him, considered from the point of view of British +interests, was subsidiary to Constantinople. All that really signified +was the right of passage through the Suez Canal, which could, he +believed, be secured by international arrangement and the neutralization +of the country, a plan for which, as already seen, was being actually +discussed by Mr. Gladstone's Government when it fell. Egypt, in fact, he +regarded as part of Asia rather than of Africa, and he believed that +time would make this more clear than ever, in proportion as railways +were developed in Syria, Arabia, and Asia Minor. In this connection +Constantinople, not Alexandria or Cairo, seemed to him the decisive +factor: an opinion which brought him into opposition with those who held +the view that since the occupation of Egypt by British troops events at +Constantinople had become comparatively unimportant to this country. He +also feared that if some great European crisis were to arise, in which +Great Britain was involved, the occupation of Egypt might be a hindrance +rather than a source of strength, and might hamper our exertions in +other lands. + +He had, however, no fear of allowing the Bosporus and the Dardanelles to +be opened under suitable conditions to the passage of Russian ships of +war, but only on the condition laid down by Sir William White, that the +right accorded to Russia must be accorded to the ships of war of other +nations; and this partly out of regard to the dignity of the British +flag, and partly because any exclusive right accorded to Russia would be +resisted by the States bordering on the Black Sea and by those +interested in the trade and navigation of the Danube. But the opening of +the Straits was one thing, the possession of Constantinople by Russia +was another, and in his opinion would cause a European convulsion; for +he saw in Constantinople what has since been termed 'the great strategic +centre of the world': [Footnote: The expression was used by Mr. Winston +Churchill in a speech on November 15th, 1915, in the House of Commons.] +the meeting-place and clearing-house of the trade and politics of three +continents. + +'Russia at Constantinople,' he wrote, 'would mean the destruction of +Austria and the Russification of a large portion of her Slavs. When +Austria had disappeared or had been transformed out of all knowledge, +Germany, placed between France and Russia, would be still weaker in her +military position than she is at present. It is no doubt impossible that +Germany can really contemplate that contingency with complete +satisfaction. And if she cannot get other people to help Austria to keep +Russia away from Constantinople, it is probable that she would be forced +to interfere to help to do so, however stoutly her rulers may make the +opposite declaration. One of my most valued correspondents, whose +criticisms have been of the highest use to me, admits that to place +Turkey at the head of a Balkan Confederation would be "adding a badger +to your three unfriendly cats and altogether hostile dog"; but, +nevertheless, he thinks that such a combination would be possible on +account of the overwhelming dread of the danger of absorption by Russia; +and I think it right to state his view, although I am unable to modify +that which I have said as to the difficulties which the dispute for +Macedonia causes.' [Footnote: _The Present Position of European +Politics_, pp. 372, 373.] + +In the autumn of 1891 this note occurs in the Memoir: 'John Morley +having made a speech in favour of the cessation of the Egyptian +occupation, I wrote to tell him how pleased I was, and in his reply he +asked why we should go on mechanically applauding Lord Salisbury's +foreign policy, which left this danger standing.' + +Mr. Morley's satisfaction was, however, not shared by Mr. Chamberlain, +who wrote in January, 1892, 'to implore me to have regard to the opinion +of society about Egypt.' + +'I do not mean fashionable society,' he added, 'but political society, +and the great majority of cultivated politicians. I think you do go out +of your way to offend them when you advocate evacuation of Egypt, and I +ask you to consider if it is worth your while. It is not necessary for +your constituents, and with regard to the others, there is no need to +add to their causes of anger against you. My advice is, "Be as Radical +as you like, be Home Ruler if you must, but be a little Jingo if you +can."' + +The correspondence had begun in the autumn of 1891, when Sir Charles +wrote the following letter: + + 'Pyrford by Maybury, + 'Near Woking, + '_October_ 19_th_, 1891. + + 'My Dear Chamberlain, + + 'I have never said that there are not conceivable circumstances in + which it would be better for us to be in Egypt. I'm going to try and + discuss them in the book I am at work on. _Re_ command of the sea + against France. We have not quite a sufficient force to blockade + Brest and Toulon. Lefevre and most of our sailors contemplate only + "masking" Toulon by a fleet at Gibraltar, and using the Cape route. + In this case we could not reinforce Egypt except from India, and + not, of course, from India if we were at war with Russia too. + + 'I am in favour of a stronger navy, and attempting blockade, though + it is not _certain_ that it can be made _for certain_ successful. + Still Colomb is a better authority than Beresford, etc. I mean + "Admiral Colomb," not Sir John. The difficulty, even if blockades + are possible, is that France keeps building after us so as always to + be without the limits which would make it possible. Lefevre will + support Mr. G. in cutting down the navy on this ground--i.e., will + prove by figures that every time we lay down nine ships the French + lay down six or seven. + + 'I think that in the long-run France will beat Germany. She will + fight her some day single-handed on a point in which Austria and + Italy will not move, nor Russia either. Then, if Germany gets the + best of it, the others will "mediate." + + 'Yours ever, + + 'Chs. W. D.' + + 'November, 1891, we spent in France.... While I was away I had a + correspondence with Chamberlain about his speech on Egypt' (in reply + to Morley), 'and pointed out to him,' says the Memoir,' that he had + changed his mind so completely about evacuation that it was hardly + prudent in him not frankly to admit the change of mind, as he had + done in at least one speech previously.' He replied: + + '"I have looked the matter up, and I think it is quite true that in + 1884 we were all for evacuation as early as possible. But I did not + then estimate properly the magnitude of the task we had undertaken, + nor did I know how splendidly it would be performed by Baring and + his colleagues. Baring himself began as a strong advocate for + evacuation." + + 'In my answer, I said that Baring had only changed his mind in the + way in which all people are apt to change their minds when they are + employed as the agents of a policy, and I combated Chamberlain's + military views, which were, in fact, for defending Egypt by the + fleet--that fleet which is expected to do everything!' + +Sir Charles set out in an article in the _Speaker_ all the pledges to +evacuate which had been given by the Liberal Government and repeated by +Lord Salisbury. Thereupon Mr. Morley, whose general views on foreign +policy were not as a rule at all the same as those of Sir Charles, wrote +from Biarritz, where he was in Mr. Gladstone's company, that he had read +the _Speaker_ with enormous satisfaction. It would have a stimulating +effect in quarters where a little stimulus was much needed, and had +given much satisfaction to other people in Biarritz besides himself. + +'"Quarters" of course meant Rosebery,' is Sir Charles's comment, and he +adds: + + 'In order to meet the Rosebery objection to evacuation, I wrote an + article for the January _Fortnightly_, of which the editor changed + nothing but the title. I had called it "Lords Salisbury and + Rosebery," and he changed it to "Conservative Foreign Policy."' + +At a later date, in a letter [Footnote: This letter was apparently +written on April 14th, 1893: + + 'Those of us who bitterly dislike the occupation of Egypt by a + British force have been both to add to your work before and during a + session in which, not to speak of the ordinary demand on the time of + a Prime Minister, your unprecedented relation to the chief measure + makes it the duty of your supporters to confine themselves to + helping clear the road. Naught else could have excused us from + having hitherto refrained from pressing the state of Egypt on the + consideration of yourself, or of the House of Commons. It is only + because since the publication of a recent despatch we feel that the + time has nearly come for making up one's mind to be for ever silent + upon the question, and because I cannot do so, given the strong + feeling that I have with regard to it, without one last attempt to + cause some change in a "temporary" situation now crystallizing into + permanency, that I venture to address you. I ask for no reply. I + shall have to bring the question before the House of Commons. I have + no illusions as to what is likely to be the result of so doing. Sir + E. Grey will tell us that the occupation is still "temporary," but + must last, "for the sake of Egypt," till we can "with safety" leave: + and so it will continue, with all its dangers to ourselves, till the + next great war. Whoever else may again raise the Egyptian question + in the future, I shall not. Vote I must, whenever it comes before + the House, but I need not do more. + + 'Not one word of blame of anyone will fall from me when I raise the + question on first going into Committee on Civil Estimates. It seems + to me, I confess--but I shall try to keep the opinion to myself-- + that it would have been, on the whole, the safest course to have + done in 1892 that which Lord Granville, under your guidance, did in + 1880, and to have ourselves proposed, on the very day of the + accession to office of the new Government, the policy which we + thought best in the interest of the country and had supported in + Opposition. Lord Granville congratulated himself, and with justice, + on the promptitude with which, before the Russians could say a word + to him as to the complete fulfilment of the Treaty of Berlin, he had + told the Ambassador, in the first minute of their first interview, + that the Government would insist on that fulfilment. Had the present + Secretary of State, at his first interview with the French + Ambassador, made a similar communication with regard to Egypt (at + least so far as to propose to resume the negotiations of 1887), we + should, perhaps, have avoided many evils. I share to the full the + belief, which you expressed in such admirable terms a couple of + years ago, that the long-lasting occupation of Egypt by our forces + is the cause of all the difficulties by which our foreign policy, + and even our position in Europe, are oppressed. Our hands are not + free, and never will be free, so long as the occupation continues. + But ills more direct are likely to fall upon us; and no one can look + forward without the gravest dread to the prospect of our being + drawn, step by step, into a situation in which we shall be driven to + arrest the persons of the young Khedive and those of his advisers + who possess the confidence of all that is intelligent among the + Egyptian people; or (as seems hinted in Lord Bosebery's despatch) to + insist upon a deposition. + + 'In the discussions as to the occupation of Egypt which occurred in + the Cabinet, before I was a member of it, in 1882, even before the + expedition (for the occupation was foreseen), I took a share, as + Lord Granville was good enough to consult me on the papers + circulated by his colleagues. As far as I am concerned, I have never + budged from the principles of a memorandum which I wrote on July + 4th, 1882; but those principles were far more excellently stated by + you in a memorandum of the beginning of September, 1882--before + Tel-el-Kebir--a memorandum which was approved by men now so hostile + to your views as Sir Auckland Colvin and Sir Edward Malet. Sir E. + Baring, now, as Lord Cromer, so bitterly opposed to us, in a paper + of September or October, 1882, and Chamberlain in his paper of about + October 21st, 1882, both pointed out how essential it was that our + occupation should be really temporary, and that our condition--that + we should leave behind us a "stable" state of things--depended on + and meant what Chamberlain called "the extension of Egyptian + liberties": the convoking, if not of a truly representative + Assembly, at least of the Notables. Lord Dufferin, in December 1882, + wrote to me that he would sooner run any risk than abandon the + representative institutions proposed for Egypt in his famous scheme. + Yet now the French are bidding the Khedive call together, against + Lord Dufferin's virtual successor, this very Assembly of Notables, + which Lord Cromer, such is his present policy, dare not call. The + conception of this Assembly was the act of yourself, supported by + Lord Granville and Sir William Harcourt and supported on paper by + Lord Dufferin and Sir E. Baring, and opposed by Lord Hartington, by + the then Chancellor, and by Lord Northbrook. This "extension of + Egyptian liberties," which was our pride, which was our excuse for + that "short prolongation" of the occupation, to which I was myself + opposed--an extension of liberties which has not been carried into + practical effect by us--is certain to result in a declaration by the + Notables, when they meet, as within this year, through the French + Agent's influence, they will, that they are rootedly opposed to our + presence in their land. + + 'It may be said that neither the Turks nor the French have pressed + us, directly, to come out. The Turks will never really press us. The + Sultan is forced by Moslem public opinion to ask us to leave Egypt, + but he is in fact personally anxious that we should stay there to + keep Mahdism in the desert and representative institutions in the + shade. The French have also their inner policy--their Rothschilds to + keep in good humour--and two currents, one political and one + financial, with which to deal. M. Waddington expressed to you at + Hawarden a mere desire for exchange of views between the Cabinets. + He was naturally anxious not to be refused in any direct request. + But French public opinion is exasperated against us; only one man in + France believes a word we say, and our diplomatists and admirals + behave as though they represented German instead of neutral + interests. We are responsible for tempting Italy to stay in the + alliance of the Central Powers, to her own hurt. + + 'None of these things shall I be able to say when I bring the + question before the House of Commons. To do so would involve + statements based on private letters and statements as to Cabinet + differences of 1882, which I cannot make. We shall be compelled to + rely chiefly upon the declarations of Lord Salisbury, which were + summed up in his words of May, 1887, to the effect that the + occupation entails on us "heavy sacrifices, without adequate return + either in peace or in war." + + 'Having given attention for some years past to our general position + as a nation, feeling as I do, with you, how adversely it is affected + by the prolongation of the "temporary" occupation, which, as matters + stand, seems likely to endure till the next war, even should it be + postponed till half a century hence, I cannot but feel miserable at + the situation of this affair, and I once more ask your pardon for in + this way liberating my mind, or, I fear, rather discharging upon + you, regardless of your prodigious avocations, this last expression + of a regret deeper than that which I have previously entertained on + any public question. + + 'Through the mischiefs of the occupation there now seems to come no + single ray of light. The present year will not pass over without a + change in the local situation at Cairo, from which a conference is + likely to result. A passage near the end of Lord Rosebery's despatch + shows that he is prepared to have a conference forced upon him. Had + we invited it, such a conference would be to us the blessing that it + will be to others. Would it not at least be best that we should call + that conference on the first opportunity rather than have it thrust + down our throats? + + 'This letter has not been shown to anyone, and needs, as I said, no + reply, but I should be glad if it were not handed to anyone outside + of your own circle. It has not been mentioned to anyone except Mr. + Herbert Gladstone.'] + +to Mr. Gladstone during his last Premiership, Dilke summed up his views +when a debate was about to take place in the House of Commons, and four +days later he notes: 'On April 18th I had a long interview with Mr. +Gladstone, who sent for me, on my letter. The only thing he said worth +remembering was, "Jingoism is stronger than ever. It is no longer war +fever, but earth hunger."' + +In 1887 the possibility of a German attempt to violate the neutrality of +Belgian territory, notwithstanding the treaty of guarantee of 1839, +which Prussia herself had signed, was again attracting attention owing +to a sudden renewal of warlike apprehensions on the Continent. The +position of Luxemburg was a kindred question, though the international +guarantee was of a far more uncertain character than in the case of +Belgium. Sir Charles, as already related, had returned from his work in +France during the war of 1870 with a profound conviction that a spirit +of reckless violence was abroad in Germany, which would stop at nothing +if favourable circumstances offered a temptation to action; and in his +opinion the absence of any fortifications at Liége and Namur afforded +such a temptation. The point had been till then little discussed in +England, though General Brialmont had written in the _Revue de Belgique_ +on the subject. Sir Charles's view having been questioned, that the +danger to Belgium's neutrality for military and other reasons was from +Germany alone, he drew attention to the enormous accumulation of +supplies of every kind in the entrenched camp of Cologne as of itself +sufficient in military eyes to prove the truth of what he said. He +considered also that the reduction of our horse artillery greatly +impaired the possibility of Great Britain affording really effectual +military assistance to Belgium, and that the recent utterances of the +principal organ of the Conservative party, the _Standard_, and of the +writers in the _National Review_, that intervention in support of +Belgium 'would be not only insane but impossible,' showed that the +public opinion of Great Britain was no longer unanimous as it had been +in 1870-71. [Footnote: The questions connected with the Belgian and +Luxemburg guarantees are very fully discussed in a recent work, +_England's Guarantee to Belgium and Luxemburg_, by C. P. Sanger and H. +T. J. Norton. See also chapter i. of _War: Its Conduct and Legal +Results_, by Dr. Baty and Prof. J. H. Morgan; _The Present Position of +European Politics_, pp. 42-48, 73, 321-323.] This dispassionate +consideration of the chances of England's intervening single-handed and +without allies, in the case of a European war, to protect the neutrality +of an unfortified Belgium, led to statements that he was opposed to such +a step, and he had to point out in reply that for years he had +consistently expressed the contrary view, but that he was now dealing +with facts and tendencies, not with his own wishes. [Footnote: _British +Army_, chap. ii., p. 55.] Shortly after the appearance of this article, +discussion in Belgium led to the introduction of a Government Bill for +the fortification of the towns upon the Meuse, and it was afterwards +decided to fortify Namur and Liége. + +Estimating the probabilities of a Continental war, he thought that +Russia came next to England in staying power, because her enormous army +formed a smaller proportion of her working class than in the case of any +other great Continental Power. Notwithstanding his suspicions of her +policy, he spoke of Russia with a deep and discriminating interest born +of numerous visits to all parts of her dominions, and deprecated the +attitude of those Englishmen whose dislike of Russia had done harm to +the cause of sense and truth by exaggeration, and had led them to ignore +'her power and the marvellous patriotism of her people.' 'In the union +of patriotism with religion I know no nation which can approach them.' +There could be no doubt in any reasonable mind of her real and lasting +strength. But her unlimited power of self-deception; the necessary +instability of a policy resting upon the will of a single man; her +misgovernment of Poland and her alienation of Bulgaria, constituted +dangers which it was idle to ignore. He, however, set against these +weaknesses her popularity with all the Slav nations; her influence in +the Baltic provinces of Germany, and even with the Poles, 'who, like +everyone else of Slavonic race, seem born with a hatred of the Teutons.' + + 'The only foreigner who is known to the Russian peasantry is the + German, and the name for German and for foreigner with the peasantry + is the same, and the hatred of the "dumb men," as they call their + German neighbours, is intense. The peasantry know little of the + English, and if you listen to their sentiments you discover that it + is their belief that one day there will be between _them_ and + Germany a war compared with which, their soldiers say, that of 1870 + will be child's play, and that if Germany wins this will not be the + end, but that war after war will follow until Germany is destroyed.' + + 'Because Russia is very violent in her language and her acts, we + often fail to see how a peasantry, which an aristocratic government + or a government of political economists could never win, is won over + by her to her rule. The Moscow men failed in Bulgaria, but in Poland + they succeeded, and in the Baltic provinces, too, their methods and + their policy have not been wanting, and the problems that have so + long perplexed this country in her relations with Ireland would have + been solved in a week by Samarin, or Miliutin, or Prince + Teherkasky.' [Footnote: _Present Position of European Politics_, pp. + 125, 134.] + +The popular phrases which dubbed Sir Charles Dilke as 'anti-German' or +'anti-Russian' were never more curiously misapplied. The flaw to be +found even in the mental constitution of Gambetta's great personality, +as shown by his antagonism to Russia, had no part in his friend's +outlook; nor did Sir Charles's friendship for all things French make him +an enemy to Germany, though the possibility of conjuring 'the German +peril' was ever in his mind. But he doubted the wisdom of the wavering +counsels which began with 'lying down to Germany,' and were to be marked +by the cession of Heligoland. Strong men and strong Governments +recognize and respect one another; and in dealing with Germany he +believed that it was necessary never to forget this trite yet valuable +warning. + +If personal friendships and political sympathy made Sir Charles, as the +previous chapters have shown, look constantly to France as the natural +ally of Great Britain, and also her most desirable ally, neither +friendships nor sympathies could blind him to the constant danger +arising from the instability of French Administrations, and the +consequent difficulty of relying on any certainty in arrangements +projected for joint action. Of this the events connected with Egypt had +been a most conspicuous illustration. Nor were these the only dangers: +for the best friends of France were painfully aware of the immense +influence exercised by powerful financial interests both in her domestic +and in her foreign affairs, and by the growth of fierce antagonisms on +home questions which seemed to tear the country asunder and paralyze her +position abroad. Numerous questions, not only in Egypt, but elsewhere in +Africa; the old quarrels about the Newfoundland fisheries, on which Sir +Charles was constantly putting his finger as a possible cause of a +serious quarrel; and increasing jealousies in the Pacific, contributed +to produce a condition of permanent tension for many years in the +relations of the two countries, until the Fashoda incident in 1898 +brought a crisis which cleared the air. Two of the ablest men in France, +M. Jules Ferry and M. Hanotaux, were, to say the least, not friendly to +Great Britain, and a plan which Sir Julian Pauncefote [Footnote: Then +Permanent Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs, and afterwards Lord +Pauncefote and Ambassador at Washington.] had suggested in 1884, of +attempting to bring all outstanding questions with France into one great +settlement, fell still-born, to be vivified, but twenty years later, by +Lord Lansdowne in more favourable circumstances. + +In all possible complications Sir Charles relied much on Italy's close +friendship for England--notwithstanding her entry into the Triple +Alliance--a friendship due to permanent gratitude for the support which +she had received from Lord Russell, Mr. Gladstone, and Lord Palmerston, +at the crisis of her fate in 1859; and also to the offer to her of a +joint occupation of Egypt in 1882--an offer rejected indeed, but +fruitful of good feeling. + +But more important even than any question of alliances was, he insisted, +the necessity that Great Britain should know her own mind, and have a +definite policy in regard to the future of Constantinople and of Egypt, +and in regard to the Belgian guarantee. Army organization itself +obviously depended on policy, and in this connection there was a danger +at home greater, perhaps, than any originating abroad. + + 'It is too much the case with us in England,' he wrote, 'that when + we are occupied with the consideration of the Irish problem, or + dealing with the circumstances which most often lead to the rise and + fall of Ministries, we allow the foreign affairs of the country to + be transacted in the dark: with an absence of control which, owing + to the efficiency of our Foreign Office, may produce no ill, but + also with an absence of knowledge which cannot be advantageous. On + the other hand, when some awkward circumstance arises, a + disproportionate weight is attached to it by those who have wilfully + remained in ignorance of the true position, and the diplomacy of the + country is suddenly unduly hampered by criticism which rests on no + foundation of fact.' + +Speaking from experience, he uttered a warning as to the danger of +uninstructed debates and foolish questions--then so frequent--on foreign +affairs in the House of Commons, and the harm done by them abroad. He +spoke of the tendency to take advantage of some rebuff in foreign +affairs for party motives, and urged that, as secrecy was not to be +hoped for, members should at least try to inform themselves and the +electorate, and avoid 'periods of ignorant calm' or 'equally ignorant +panic.' In this connection he never ceased to insist on the weakness of +our position abroad, owing to the deficient strength and want of +organization of our army; the small results shown for the immense amount +spent; the insufficient stock of arms and ammunition, and the poor +reserves of rifles; and he urged that, whatever our economies, none +should fall upon equipment or reserves of material. Such economies he +stigmatized as a 'horrible treachery to the interests of the country.' +[Footnote: The military situation as a whole is discussed in chapter vi. +of _The Present Position of European Politics_, 'The United Kingdom.'] + + + + +CHAPTER XLIX + +PUBLIC LIFE AND RETURN TO PARLIAMENT + +1886-1894 + + +Pathways of return to political life soon began to open to Sir Charles +Dilke. In November, 1886, Mr. Labouchere wrote: + + 'It looks as though Chamberlain will be the scapegoat. At present + his going over bag and baggage to the Whigs has utterly disgusted + the Radicals. As long as Gladstone lives things will go on fairly + with us, but after--the deluge. The Radical M.P.'s are regretting + your not being in, as they would have accepted you as the leader.' + +In the autumn of 1886 the Council of the Chelsea Liberal Association +unanimously asked him to be their candidate (for Parliament), but he +replied that he could not serve the borough to his own satisfaction +while so large a section of the public still attached weight to the +'gross calumnies' with which he had been assailed. He was, however, from +the autumn of 1887, increasingly active in local affairs, both on the +Vestry and the Board of Guardians, [Footnote: In the winter of 1888, Sir +Charles was unanimously elected Chairman of the Board of Guardians, as +also of the Vestry ('as was the case in subsequent years'). He wrote to +Mr. Chamberlain: 'I've taken the chairmanship of the Chelsea Board of +Guardians, so am keeping my hand in on the prevention of obstruction. I +am forced to begin gradually with them, and have only as yet ruled that +I cannot _let two speak at once_.'] and also on the newly formed Library +Committee, on which he served for three years, till both the local +libraries were established and opened. + +To M. Joseph Reinach he wrote in April, 1887: 'I have a splendid +position as a writer, and writing projects which will occupy me for +three years at least; and if any great calamity should occur which would +force me back into public life--such as war with Russia, for example--I +do not know that I should like the change.' Nor was the political scene +attractive at this moment. His friends were tearing each other asunder; +and not only his political friends--both parties were rent with faction. + + 'On October 1st, 1886, Chamberlain called and gave me an interesting + picture of the political state. He seemed to think that he could + keep Mr. Gladstone out for life, and was persuaded that Randolph + would give him all he wanted and leave Hartington and Salisbury in + the lurch. Randolph had promised him to have an anti-Jingo foreign + policy, leaving Turkey to her fate, and to pacify Ireland with the + National Councils scheme, modified into two Councils, or into + Provincial Councils, to suit Ulster; and Churchill had also promised + him procedure reform--that is, a sharper closure--and a three-acres- + and-a-cow policy for England. + + 'There was an article in the _Morning Post_, October 2nd, + representing Churchill's democratic views, but in the later autumn + (while Chamberlain was away abroad) Churchill was beaten in the + Cabinet both on his Irish scheme and also on the amendments which he + proposed to make in the Local Government (England) Bill in the + three-acres-and-a-cow direction. On December 17th Chamberlain, who + had returned from abroad, came to lunch with me, furious at the + defeat of Randolph Churchill. He found no fault with the Irish + policy' (which was strongly coercionist), 'or with the foreign + policy of the Cabinet; but he was anxious to defeat them on their + Local Government (England) Bill, if it was not altered back again to + suit his policy. Ultimately a compromise on this matter was + arranged.' + +For a moment it seemed as if Chamberlain's anger with the Tory party was +going to drive him back into his old associations. On December 31st, + + 'Chamberlain and John Morley came in together to lunch, Chamberlain + having been asked and Morley not, and it was somewhat startling. + "Chamberlain thinks that he can get Mr. Gladstone by the bait of + 'Four times Prime Minister' to accept his terms. On the other hand, + Mr. Gladstone thinks that he can detach Chamberlain from Hartington. + Conferences are sitting: Harcourt, Herschell, and Morley, meeting + Chamberlain and Trevelyan. Hartington is crusty at this. Chamberlain + has threatened Hartington with the consequences if he, as he wants + to, supports a reactionary Local Government Bill of Salisbury's. + Chamberlain has written to Salisbury as to this Local Government + Bill, and received a dilatory reply." He told me the whole long + history of Randolph's troubles with the Cabinet which preceded his + resignation; first on procedure, as to which he finally obtained his + own way, secondly as to foreign affairs, thirdly as to allotments, + fourthly as to Local Government, and fifthly as to finance. + Churchill always stood absolutely alone, and, being in a minority of + one, could only get his way at all by continually tendering his + resignation. At last he resigned once too often, as it was of course + on the wrong subject; Salisbury jumped at it, and accepted it in a + cool letter when Churchill did not mean it in the least. It was only + the classical annual resignation of a Chancellor of the Exchequer + against his colleagues of the army and navy. The Budget always + involves the resignation either of the Secretary of State for War + and First Lord of the Admiralty, or else of the Chancellor of the + Exchequer, but hitherto they have always managed to make it up.' + +Within a fortnight Sir Charles 'was hearing from all sides about the +Round Table Conferences which were intended to reunite the Liberal +party.... From Chamberlain I heard that his view was to bring about a +_modus vivendi_ only, under which the Conservative Government was to be +turned out on some side-issue. Mr. Gladstone would become Prime Minister +for the fourth time, if the Irish would consent to take Local Government +and a Land Bill first, and to leave Home Rule over. He thought that Mr. +Gladstone was not unwilling, but that there would be difficulty in +getting the Irish to consent. Morley and Harcourt were, according to +Chamberlain, friendly to his suggestions, and Hartington hostile, not +trusting Mr. Gladstone.' + +On January 15th, 1887, Sir Charles wrote to Mr. Chesson [Footnote: See +note, p. 273.] that + + 'Chamberlain and Morley were both going to make conciliatory + speeches, but that nothing had really been done at Harcourt's house, + every difficulty having been "reserved." There could be no doubt + that several of the five who were there meeting were anxious to keep + things open, on the chance of Mr. Gladstone not remaining in + sufficiently good health to continue to lead the party. The + independent Liberals were vexed at the Conferences. Willy Bright + called on me, and said that obviously the great difficulty of the + moment was "to keep Mr. Gladstone in the Gladstonian party." Morley, + who also called on me, casually observed, "Harcourt was never a Home + Ruler. The only Home Rulers in the last Cabinet were Lord Granville + and Spencer, in addition to myself and Mr. Gladstone." When we + remember the views of Spencer in May, 1885, his violent Home Rule, + which dates from July, 1885, is laughable.' + + 'On the 15th I had a long and curious conversation with Chamberlain + about the matter. He said that the articles which had been appearing + in the _Birmingham Post_ about his own position were inspired by + him--that he and the other members of the Conference were telling + the newspapers that everything was going on swimmingly, but that the + whole thing was in reality a sham on both sides. Parnell was + frightened at Mr. Gladstone's declining health, and Mr. Gladstone + did not wish to end his life by having smashed his party, so that + the Conference was willingly continued, although it was doing + nothing. It was the wish of all concerned in it to be at the point + of an apparent reconciliation whenever Mr. Gladstone might become + incapacitated, but he, Chamberlain, was firmly decided not to take + office under Mr. Gladstone. + + 'Chamberlain said that Randolph Churchill on the previous night had + asked him, "Shall I come over?" but that he, Chamberlain, had + replied that he advised him not to, being afraid that Randolph would + play for the lead of the party, and not liking the notion of having + him for leader. He had advised Randolph to simulate moderation + towards Lord Salisbury, in spite of his anger at the Duke of Norfolk + and the members of the Conservative party who, since his quarrel + with the Government, had been "attacking his private character."' + + 'On February 4th, 1887, Chamberlain again came to see me, and I + noted in my diary that he was "very sore against Labouchere and + others." + + 'On February 13th, Morley called and said that the Round Table + Conference was hopeless, although they were to meet at dinner on the + 14th, and once again after that. He said, "Both sides are very + cross, and each side asks, 'What is to become of the other?'" + + 'On the same day Chance, M.P., told me, he being the attorney of the + Nationalist party, that O'Shea was going forward with his divorce + case against Parnell, and that Parnell had no defence possible. I + have never known what was the reason of the immense delays which + afterwards occurred.' + +Parties now began to settle into their new groupings. + + 'On March 2nd, 1887, Chamberlain came to lunch, and told me a good + deal about the failure of the Round Table Conference, but it was not + till April 3rd that he told me the whole story. On this latter day + Deakin, the Chief Secretary of Victoria, and most interesting of + Colonists, was with me; and Chamberlain came in before Deakin had + gone, and, talking with his customary frankness, discussed the whole + matter before the astonished Victorian. There had been a sad split + caused by a letter which he had written, and which he admitted was + an indiscreet one, to the _Baptist_, as to Welsh Disestablishment. A + hint was then let fall that the Gladstonians were going to negotiate + with Hartington direct. On this Chamberlain went off to Hartington + and got from him a letter to say that Hartington would not negotiate + himself, but that Chamberlain was in possession of his views. + Efforts were then made to get Chamberlain to meet Mr. Gladstone. + Chamberlain agreed to do so, but not to ask for the meeting. At + length a meeting was fixed at Mr. Gladstone's request for the + morrow, Monday, April 4th. It was settled that at this Mr. Gladstone + would ask what Chamberlain had to propose. Chamberlain was going to + reply that Mr. Gladstone knew his views, and to then ask whether + they were accepted, and he knew perfectly that nothing would come of + it. He had on the same day, April 3rd, met Randolph at Mrs. Jeune's + at lunch. They had walked away together, when Randolph had proposed + a Chamberlain-Hartington-Randolph league against both parties. This + had tempted Chamberlain, but was an idle suggestion, as Hartington + and Randolph could never work together.' + +In the autumn of 1887 Sir Charles and Lady Dilke went to Constantinople, +and he writes: + + 'I had received at this time a letter from James, in which he said + that Mr. Gladstone had sent for him to talk to him about me in the + friendliest way, and, Mr. Gladstone having called, I wrote to him, + and transmitted some messages from the Sultan, in the following + letter: + + "Athens, + "_October 14th_. + + '"I have never thanked you except verbally through James for a kind + and pleasant message which I had from you by James and Chamberlain + last session. + + '"At Constantinople last Friday, and again to Lady Dilke last + Monday, the Sultan said that he wished complimentary messages + conveyed to you. The Greek Patriarch said the same thing to us on + Tuesday and Wednesday. My wife told both that she hardly knew you, + and I replied that I was unlikely to see you for some time, but + would see that the messages reached you. + + '"The Greeks on the one hand, and the Bulgarians on the other, are + now very friendly with the Sultan, but I regret to find that the + dislike between the Greeks and the Bulgarians is as strong as ever. + The common preference of both for the Sultan over Russia has not + sufficed to draw them together. The split between the Bulgarian + Government and the Exarch of Bulgaria will, however, probably draw + Bulgaria closer to the Phanar."' + +Mr. Gladstone replied, on October 24th, that his message to Sir Charles +expressed his real feeling, which he should have been glad to find other +modes of expressing. He added that if the Sultan spoke sincerely in the +message which Sir Charles transmitted, + + 'he must be acting as a good Christian: for Hobart Pasha when here, + as a spy on Fehmi, told me the Sultan believed I was his greatest + enemy. I have never been so great an enemy to him as he to himself. + I have never had extreme views about Turkey. Had I the settling of + the affair, I should be disposed to keep the Turks in + Constantinople, and not to let Home Rule when freely and honestly + given mean total severance. But the materials of convulsion are, I + fear, slowly gathering in that quarter, and Russia, shut out from + her just claim to the passage of the Straits, means to have the + mastery of them. I always grieve over the feud of Hellene and Slav, + out of which much mischief may come. The situation here is + favourable to those who view the Irish Question as you do. The + relations with Chamberlain have been rather painful. I think he has + developed since the schism of March, 1886, even greater speaking and + debating talents than he had shown before. I think also that the + organization of dissentient Liberalism, in which he has borne so + large a part, has been enormously favourable to his general creed as + an advanced Radical, whereas Hartington with his weak-kneed men has + been utterly hoodwinked, and hoodwinked by himself. On the other + hand, I own myself amazed at Chamberlain's proceedings during the + last month. Everyone took a favourable view of his accepting the + American mission; [Footnote: Mr. Chamberlain was corresponding with + Sir Charles in regard to his mission, for which he started on + October 29th, 1887. It had for its object the negotiation of a + treaty with America on several outstanding questions.] but a man of + one-tenth of his talent ought to have seen the folly of widening + breaches and exasperating all passions as a preliminary to charging + himself with a business that eminently requires a serene atmosphere. + + 'We witnessed at Nottingham an enthusiasm literally the greatest I + have ever seen.' + + 'On my return to England before the middle of November, 1887, I + received a letter from the Cinderford Liberal Association, in the + Forest of Dean, in which they referred to an attempt which had been + made to induce me to stand for the Forest of Dean when Blake retired + in July, 1887, and went on to press me to go there to speak.... + After the completion of the army articles and of the book, I + intended to set to work on a new version of my _Greater Britain_. + This afterwards became the book published under the title of + _Problems of Greater Britain_.' + +On October 28th, 1887, 'Chamberlain wrote ... "Mr. Gladstone's last +speech shows distinct signs of old age. I think matters cannot long +remain in their present state, and the whole policy of England--both +foreign and domestic--may be greatly altered."' + +On reaching Washington, Chamberlain wrote: 'I do not find the "civilized +world" so much pro-Irish as Mr. Gladstone would have us believe. On the +contrary, I have as yet only met two Americans who have expressed +themselves favourable to Mr. Gladstone's policy. They are, generally +speaking, inclined to some concession in the direction of State rights, +but they are entirely opposed to anything in the nature of a self- +governing colony, and they have no personal liking for the Irish. Above +all, they are horrified at Mr. Gladstone's recent utterances about law +and order, and say openly that he must have lost his head.' + + 'On January 4th, 1888, I made a speech in which I laid down my + position as regarded Parliamentary candidature. It was made in + presiding at the first dinner of the Hammersmith Central Liberal + Club. About the same time I received requests to stand as candidate + for Merthyr and for the northern division of the borough of West + Ham, which I declined, pointing to my Hammersmith speech without + giving further reasons.' + + 'About this time, my son being now at Rugby, we went down to see him + and lunched with the Percivals.' + +In the new session of 1888 Mr. Ritchie introduced his Local Government +Bill, which (as Sir Charles had predicted to the Chelsea electors in +1885) was much influenced by the Liberal scheme that lay accessible in +an official pigeonhole. The outline given by the new President of the +Local Government Board in introducing the measure showed, however, that +it fell short of expectation, and Sir Charles immediately criticized the +project in an evening paper without waiting for publication of the text. +When the Bill was published, he issued notes upon it, in concert with +Mr. Cobb, M.P. for the Rugby Division, condemning the absence of any +attempt to 'reform and revivify the parish.' + + 'My main objection to Mr. Ritchie's scheme was that, whereas in my + scheme the District Councils had been more highly organized than the + County Councils, in his scheme the reverse was the case. [Footnote: + The allusion is here, apparently, to the Bill which Mr. Chamberlain + prepared in 1886, but with considerable help from Sir Charles.] + There was no building up out of the smaller districts, giving the + work as far as possible to the smallest, where the people were at + their homes; but Mr. Ritchie's unit was the county, and the smaller + bodies were neglected. + + 'The Liberal leaders took a short-sighted course in recommending + their friends to allow the Bill to pass almost without discussion.' + [Footnote: In 1892 he again notes his intervention on this question. + 'On November 9th, 1892, I had a long interview at the Local + Government Board with Henry Fowler, the President, at his request, + before I went down to the Chelsea Board of Guardians for the last + time. He consulted me as to all his Bills, especially as to that on + Local Government.'] + +There were, however, friends who considered that the new institutions +established by Mr. Ritchie's Act opened a way back into public life for +Sir Charles. Among these was Mr. Chamberlain. He was, as usual, +corresponding with Sir Charles, during his absence abroad, on all +matters, and an interesting letter is noted here. + + 'In, I think, May, 1888, while we were at Royal, I received a letter + from Chamberlain in which he indicated a change in his views upon + the South Africa question. Ultimately he completely turned round + from his old position, which was violently anti-Dutch, and, like + everyone else, fell into line upon the principle of the fusion of + race interests in South Africa.' + + 'On our return Chamberlain came down to Dockett and spent the + afternoon, bringing Austen with him, and very strongly urged that + the time had now come when I should stand for Parliament. I said + that I thought that the time would come, but that, after India, I + had _Problems of Greater Britain_ to write before I thought about + it. He then urged that I should stand for the County Council in my + absence in India, and as to this point a great difference of opinion + arose, I being inclined to accept his advice, which was also very + strongly pressed upon me by my former colleague Firth; my wife and + G. W. Osborn strongly took the opposite view, to which I yielded. I + afterwards came to think it had been the right view. Chamberlain + pressed his opinion very hotly to the last. I received a deputation + from Fulham which represented the entire Liberal and a portion of + the Conservative party, and the seat would certainly have been won; + but I declined, and Chamberlain then wrote: "You must be the judge, + and are probably the best one. But I yield reluctantly."' + +This decision was made public in answer to the Fulham deputation just +before Sir Charles started on a journey to India. + +In February, 1889, after his return to England, he was confronted with a +new proposal. The Progressive party now in power on the London County +Council desired to put him forward as one of the first Aldermen. Sir +Charles refused; but a preliminary circular in reference to his +candidature had been issued, and a protest was immediately organized by +the section which desired his permanent ostracism. This opposition was +then formidable in its proportions, and it never wholly disappeared. It +was, however, increasingly clear that a much stronger body of public +opinion desired his return to public and Parliamentary life. + +In March, 1889, he was elected Honorary President of the Liberal Four +Hundred in the Forest of Dean. The election did not pass without +challenge, and one of the objectors was the Rector of Newent (Canon +Wood). Sir Charles sent this clergyman the papers in the divorce case, +which had been collected by Mr. Chesson [Footnote: Mr. Chesson had died +earlier in this year; and the token of Sir Charles Dilke's gratitude to +this defender of unpopular causes is commemorated in the High-Altar of +Holy Trinity Church, Upper Chelsea, which he presented in memory of his +friend. Sir Charles wrote: 'He had been for many years a useful man in +politics, and he was to me at this period a very precious friend; one of +the best and truest men I ever knew; he had been the most helpful man in +England to the anti-slavery cause of the Northern Abolitionists, the +working man of the Jamaica Committee, and, many years afterwards, of the +Eastern Question Association, and of the Greek Committee; and since his +death no one has taken his place.'] and his associates, and a study of +them turned the Rector of Newent into a strong supporter of the man whom +he had at first denounced. + +Dilke's first visit to the Forest of Dean took place in May, 1889. By +this time it was clear that his absence from Parliament could be +terminated at his own pleasure. Mr. Gladstone had intervened almost +officially in the matter. In June, 1889, he again sent for Sir Henry +James, who transmitted the purport of his talk: which was that, while +Mr. Gladstone was most anxious to see Sir Charles back, his opinion was +that steps should not be too quickly taken. Sir Henry thought that Mr. +Gladstone would willingly give his opinion and advice if Sir Charles +thought that would be of any value to him. A few weeks later Mr. +Gladstone called at 76, Sloane Street, but missed Sir Charles. + + 'In August he wrote to me in regard to his correspondence with + James. The most important passage in the letter was: + + '"I deeply feel the loss we sustain in your absence from public + life, after you had given such varied and conclusive proof of high + capacity to serve your country; and I have almost taken it for + granted that with the end of this Parliament, after anything + approaching the usual full term, the ostracism could die a kind of + natural death. And I heartily wish and hope that you may have lying + before you a happy period of public usefulness."' + +Sir Charles was in no hurry. Another invitation had reached him, from +Dundee, and 'on November 4th a unanimous request to contest the borough +of Fulham.' + +But his determination was to let nothing interrupt the work on his book; +after that, various promises both of writing and speaking had to be +redeemed. + +Meanwhile he remained in touch with the political world. 'I carried on a +controversy with Labouchere about his views in favour of reforming the +House of Lords, to which I was bitterly opposed, preferring, if we could +not get rid of it, to go on as we are.' All Labouchere's letters were +full of references to the position of Chamberlain, and Chamberlain +himself came from time to time to discuss that point. + + 'On December 2nd, 1889, I saw Chamberlain. On October 10th he had + told me that he was clear that ultimately he should join the + Conservatives, unless Mr. Gladstone were soon to go and a + Rosebery-Harcourt combination would come to terms with him about + Ulster. On December 2nd I found a little change back from his + general attitude, and in face of the probable break-up of the + Parnellite party over the O'Shea case, which was beginning to be + talked of in detail, Chamberlain was undecided, he said, and no + doubt thought, between the two parties. But I noted in my diary: + "Labouchere sets him against the Liberals, and Balfour attracts him + to the Tories." It was clear that I thought that the change was but + a temporary one, and that he was certain to return to his attitude + of October, as in fact he did.' + +_Problems of Greater Britain_ appeared at the end of January, 1890, and +within a month the edition was exhausted. In America, Sir Charles, +expecting censure, had arranged to reply in the _North American Review_ +to his censors; but there was so little adverse comment that he chose +another subject. + +Discussion of military problems abounded in the book, but the 'Problems' +treated were by no means only those which concerned military experts. +Mr. Deakin wrote: + + 'It will not merely be the one book treating authoritatively of the + Empire, and the one book making it known to Britons in Europe, but + it will also be the first book enabling the various groups of + colonies to understand each other, and their individual relation to + the whole of which they form a part.... Knowing some of the + difficulties you encountered ... I have been completely amazed at + the skill or the intuition with which you have caught the right tone + of local colours and the true tendency of our political and social + life.' + + 'On July 23rd, 1890, I lunched with McArthur [Footnote: Mr. W. A. + McArthur, Liberal Whip and member of Parliament, who had made Sir + Charles's acquaintance in 1886, and become a warm personal friend.] + to meet Schnadhorst, who had returned from South Africa, and who + warmly pressed my standing at the General Election, and I allowed + myself to be persuaded so far as to promise that I would consider + the matter in connection with the offer of any first-rate seat.' + +Different constituencies were mentioned; but in the following October, +when it became known that the then member for the Forest of Dean would +not stand again, Mr. Schnadhorst wrote at once to Sir Charles urging him +to let his name be put forward. He added, as an indication of the +general feeling, that the adjacent constituency of South Monmouthshire +had also sent in a request for Sir Charles's services--'which should +assure you that popular support will overwhelm any other influence.' +Accordingly, at the end of this year Sir Charles saw a deputation of +leading men from the Forest, and fixed a date on which he would give a +reply to a formal invitation. Having spent Christmas in his house at +Toulon, he returned thence in February, 1891, met a further deputation, +and agreed to give his public reply in the Forest in March. + +In December, 1890, Chamberlain had concurred in the decision that, +before Dilke accepted any candidature, there should be published a +digest of the case with annotation and with the new evidence, 'which had +grown up out of Chesson's notes, and which was largely the work of Howel +Thomas, Clarence Smith, Steavenson, and McArthur. This was published in +February, 1891, on my return.' [Footnote: In 1886 he had written: 'In +the course of this winter a committee of friends of mine, got together +by Chesson, and containing Steavenson (afterwards Judge Steavenson), and +Howel Thomas of the Local Government Board, but also containing W. A. +McArthur, M.P., Clarence Smith, ex-Sheriff of London and Middlesex, +afterwards M.P., and Canon MacColl, who were mere acquaintances, or +less, had begun to investigate my case with a view of getting further +evidence.'] + + 'The Cinderford meeting (the central town of the Forest) on March + 9th, 1891, was unanimous, and after it we remained chiefly in the + Forest of Dean for a long time. I had promised to give my final + reply in June. At the meeting of March I had only stated that if, + after all the attacks which might be made upon me, they should + remain in the same mind, I would accept.' + +Sir Charles was fortunate in his new constituency. Throughout England +there was no other so suited to him; he desired contact with large +bodies of labouring men, and the Forest made him a representative of +that great and typical British Labour group, the miners. He loved 'each +simple joy the country yields,' and, whereas almost everywhere else a +mining district is scarred, defaced, and blackened, here pit-shafts were +sunk into glades as beautiful as any park could show, forest stretches +of oak and beech enveloped that ugliness in green and gold, and from +many a rising ground you might look over the broad vale where the wide +Severn sweeps round a horseshoe curve and the little, unspoilt town of +Newnham stands set in beauty, winter or summer. + +Newnham was dear to Sir Charles, and there he stayed for visits in +winter. But the place of his most frequent and prolonged abode in his +constituency was the Speech House, built in the very heart of the +woodland, remote from any town, yet at a centre of the communal life; +for outside it, on a wide space of sward, the Forest miners held their +yearly meeting, their 'speech-day.' The miners' interest, which he +represented, was not of recent growth, nor arising out of some great +enterprise of capital; it linked itself with those rights of commonage +of which he had always been a chief champion, and appealed not only to +the radical but to the antiquarian in him. The 'free miners' privileges +marked only one of many ancient customs in that Crown domain which he +studied and guarded. + +As in 1867 and 1868 he had made it his business to be sure that the +electors whose votes he sought should know his opinions, so far as +possible, not on one subject, but on all, so now in 1891, at his +meetings throughout the constituency, he unfolded the whole of his +political faith. + +He developed in speech after speech the views which he had put forward +in _A Radical Programme_, published in 1890, and in a great speech at +Glasgow on March 11th of that year. His views on Housing, as given in +his Glasgow speech and afterwards dealt with in his Forest campaign, +show how far he was in advance of the recommendations made in the Report +of the Royal Commission on Housing of the Poor. + + 'As chairman of that Commission, I had to instruct the secretary + working with myself to draw such a report as would at least obtain a + majority upon the Commission, and we succeeded in drawing a report + that obtained a unanimity of votes; but, of course, to do so we had + to put forward the points in which we felt that many would concur, + and to keep out our most extreme suggestions. I personally would go + much farther, and would allow towns to build or hire or buy, and + would encourage them to solve the problem for themselves, and not + ask the State to help them, except by setting free their hands and + allowing them to obtain land cheaply and to tax themselves freely + for the purpose.... Gladly would I see towns armed with the powers + to destroy, without compensation, in extreme cases, filthy + dwellings, where it is proved to the satisfaction of the magistrates + that the owners are in fault, and the sites of such dwellings might + be obtained by a cheap process. In all cases we ought to give powers + to public bodies to take land for public purposes at a fair price + ... and by the adoption of the principle of betterment ... owners + would be called upon to make special contribution towards schemes + which would improve their property at large.' + +He dwelt on the sufferings of the working classes owing to improvements +which ejected them from their dwellings, and urged that the Local +Authority should in all cases come to terms as to rehousing before +granting any facilities for improvements. + +For land he advocated taxation of unearned increment and fixity of +tenure under fair rents fixed by judicial courts, with power to the +community to buy up land at its real price. + +He also advocated, not only the limitation of hours of work, a principle +to which he had been converted by the Industrial Remuneration Conference +of 1885, but that the workers should be qualified for the enjoyment of +their leisure by educational opportunities. He urged the example of +Switzerland in making education compulsory up to sixteen years of age, +and that of Ontario in granting free education up to the age of +twenty-one. + +He advocated municipal Socialism, by giving to municipalities the widest +possible power to deal with local needs, and, passing from local +expenditure to that of the State, he dealt with the need for graduation +of Imperial taxation, and urged the equalization of the death duties (as +between real and personal estate) and making these duties progressive. +He would raise them gradually to 25 per cent. By such means we should +attain the double purpose of raising money and discouraging the +possession of large estates, which are the cause of the existence of a +too numerous idle class. + +Adult suffrage and one man or woman, one vote, was always a part of his +programme. + +In his utterances the change from individualism to collectivism is +marked. 'We were all Tory anarchists once,' he used to say in reviewing +economic theories of the sixties, and the change which had come over the +attitude of economists to social questions. His own conversion was so +thorough that in industrial questions he acted often as a pioneer, and +his constituency adopted his views on the limitation of hours by +legislation as in the demand for a legal eight-hour day. [Footnote: +Speeches in Forest of Dean and elsewhere (1890-1891). _Radical +Programme_, 1890.] + +He had laid it down as a condition of acceptance of the candidature for +the Forest that there must be 'full and absolute belief' in him and in +his word. Time was given for the personal attack to develop, and it was +made by pamphlet propaganda with unsparing virulence, but entirely +without result. Not a dozen Liberals in the division declared themselves +affected by it; and 'on June 11th, 1891, I gave my consent to stand for +Parliament at a meeting held at Lydney, which was extraordinarily +successful and unanimous.' + +The chair was taken by Mr. Thomas Blake, who had been member for the +division, and who in the darkest hour of Sir Charles's political life +had come forward with a proposal to resign and make way for him. He was +there now to say that, if Sir Charles would stand, he himself would act +as unpaid election agent. On the platform were all the leading Liberals +of the Forest, among them Canon Wood of Newent, whose opposition had +been turned into strenuous advocacy. There also was 'Mabon' to speak for +himself and the Welsh miners, and from the outside world Mr. Reginald +McKenna, an inseparable friend. Sir Charles's speech, which he counted +to have been the best of his life, dealt briefly with the leading +political topics of the day--Home Rule and the Radical programme--but +soon passed to the personal issue. He recalled the change from the murky +dreariness of March to the height of summer loveliness which reigned +about them, and the change no less great in the moral atmosphere. He +reviewed the history of the attacks that had been made, the avowed +determination to prevent his being their member; and at the close he +declared himself satisfied that their trust was fully his. 'My +conditions have been fulfilled. I accept the confidence you have reposed +in me. I trust that strength may be given to me to justify that +confidence, and I reply--not for a day, nor for a year, but from this +day forward, for better for worse; and thereto I plight my troth. +To-morrow we go forth from among you and commit our honour to your +charge.' + +He was justified in the confidence which he reposed in them. One attempt +was made to raise the personal issue against him; and its result showed +that any man would be imprudent who sought to oppose Sir Charles Dilke +in the Forest of Dean except on strictly political grounds. First and +last no member of Parliament ever got more loyal support; but no man +ever trusted less to personal popularity. He carefully developed the +whole electoral machinery. The month which he spent every autumn in the +Forest was very largely a month of work on the detail of registration, +and the register as he caused it to be kept might be put forward as an +example of perfection unapproached elsewhere in Great Britain. + + 'A day or two afterwards I received at a public meeting at Chelsea + Town Hall an address signed by 11,000 inhabitants of Chelsea, + congratulating me on my return to public life. It was signed by + persons on both sides of politics. In reply, I made another good + speech; but it was a great occasion.' + +Among the letters which reached him from all quarters was one from Sir +Henry Parkes, who wrote: + + 'Chief Secretary, New South Wales, + 'Sydney, _March 9th_, 1891. + + 'I still hold the belief that few men have before them a broader + path of honourable usefulness than you. May you succeed in nobly + serving the dear old country!' + +He received now and henceforward many invitations to address labouring +men, especially from the miners of Great Britain. + +At Cannock Chase, in August, 1890, he attended his first miners' +meeting. How rapidly the list increased may be judged by the fact that, +speaking in July, 1891, at Ilkeston, he alluded to his conferences with +miners of Yorkshire, of Lancashire, of Cheshire, Somerset, +Gloucestershire, Monmouthshire, Staffordshire, and the Swansea and Neath +districts in England and Wales, and of Fife and Ayrshire in Scotland. +Attempts had not been wanting to stimulate against him the strong +puritanism of these people, especially in South Wales; the answer had +come from men like Tom Ellis, [Footnote: Mr. Thomas E. Ellis was a +Liberal Whip at this time.] who brought him to address the quarrymen of +Blaenau Festiniog, or like Mabon--William Abraham--miner, bard, and +orator, who organized a gigantic torchlight procession of his own +constituents in the Rhondda Valley to welcome Sir Charles and Lady +Dilke, and who, at Lydney, when Sir Charles finally accepted their +invitation, congratulated the Forest of Dean on having secured the +services of 'one who was not only a political leader, but a real Labour +leader.' + +Parliamentary action in favour of an Eight Hours Bill formed the burden +of Sir Charles's discourse at all these meetings. Accepting a special +invitation to the annual conference of miners in the beginning of 1892, +he dealt with the proposal, then strongly advocated, of a general +international strike, pointing out that this measure 'should not be even +talked about until they had seen the exhaustion of all other means of +obtaining what they wanted.' It meant civil war; would 'disorganize the +whole economic condition of the country and the trade of the Empire, and +produce also a great feeling of exasperation between classes.' He +pressed them to consider whether, in the event of such an international +conflict, the whole brunt would not fall on Great Britain. In Belgium +and in France there was no such strength of organization as among them; +and a general strike succeeding in Great Britain, but failing on the +Continent, would be a national danger. He proposed, as an alternative, +co-operation with the British representatives of other trades, for whom +also Parliamentary interference was demanded. In the discussion which +followed, the weight of his argument was fully recognized, and a +resolution favouring the international strike was amended into one +calling for Parliamentary action. + +In the following June Sir Charles Dilke attended the Miners' +International Congress, and spoke at the banquet given to foreign +delegates. A month later, when the General Election came on, 'thousands +of handbills and posters,' says Mr. Thomas Ashton, 'were sent to the +Forest of Dean by our federation recommending the workers to vote for +the working man's candidate.' + +Nor were his public utterances on Labour questions limited to Great +Britain; request came from a society of the Belgian economists for a +lecture on some subject connected with Greater Britain, and he chose the +Australian strike and the position of Labour in the Colonies. This +discourse was delivered by Sir Charles in Brussels on his way back from +France at the beginning of 1891, and he then, he says, 'made the +acquaintance of all the leading people on both sides in that city.' + +As early as May, 1891, Dilke had made up his mind (and stated it in a +letter to Count Herbert Bismarck) that the Liberal party would win the +next election. The question of the Leadership was raised at the end of +the session in a letter from Chamberlain: + + 'I am told that Mr. Gladstone is much shaken by his late illness, + and I cannot see how he can ever lead the House again, though his + name will always be a tower of strength in the constituencies.' + +But in December Mr. Chamberlain said that he did not think the prospects +of a General Election were so good for Mr. Gladstone as they had been +six months ago. + + 'James, dining at my house, had said a long time before this that + the prospects of the Liberals might look rosy, but that they had not + realized the extent to which the Liberal Unionists intended to spend + their money upon Labour candidates;' and this danger 'began to show + itself more clearly about this time.' On December 28th 'I had an + amusing letter from Cyril Flower: + + '"Surely for a real good muddle in political affairs, Welsh, Irish, + Scotch, and English, there has never been a bigger, and what with + Pamellites and anti-Parnellites (Christian and anti-Christian) + Whigs, Labour candidates, Radicals, Tories, Jacobites, and Liberal + Unionists, the next House will be as rum a kettle of fish as ever + stewed since George III. The worst of it is, as the House gets more + and more divided (like the French Chambers) into sets, it also + becomes more and more incapable of getting through its business, and + the littleness of the individual members becomes daily more + apparent."' + +The real difficulty for the Liberals was, however, the question of +leadership; and Sir Charles wrote an article in the _Speaker_ [Footnote: +September 5th, 1891.] in support of one of his few paradoxes--that Great +Britain would be better off without a Second Chamber, but that, given a +House of Lords, the Prime Minister should be a member of it. For this +reason he urged that though, 'when the moment has come for Mr. Gladstone +to think that he has earned a change into the position of adviser from +that of military chief, Sir William Harcourt will occupy the place he +pleases to assume--he will be able to make himself Prime Minister if he +chooses'--yet 'the party would be strongest with Mr. Gladstone for +adviser, Sir William Harcourt, as fighting chief, sharing the +responsibility with the leader in the Lords more fully than he would if +he were Prime Minister in the Lower House'; and he named Lord Spencer as +possible Prime Minister, since Lord Rosebery should be Foreign +Secretary, and the Foreign Secretary and Prime Minister should not be +the same man, 'so heavy is the work of each of these two offices.' + +With the opening of 1892 Parliament entered on its sixth, and last, +session, and 'on April 1st I received a letter from Chamberlain, in +which he said: + + '"My own firm conviction is that parties will be nearly divided, and + if Mr. G. has a majority nothing will be done either in regard to + Ireland or to social questions in Great Britain. + + '"I do not _expect_ the election till late in the autumn, and, + judging from appearances, the Opposition are much divided and rather + depressed in spirit. My prediction is that, unless the Gladstonians + give up the idea of a separate Parliament (I do not say extended + local government), they will not obtain power--though they may + obtain office--for this generation. + + '"This is a bold prophecy for you, but it is my sincere opinion."' + +Right essentially--for there was a very small Liberal majority--Mr. +Chamberlain was wrong on the point of date: the election came in July, +1892. + +In the Forest proper, the local war-chant, 'Yaller for iver, an' Blue in +the river!' was shouted everywhere. But the constituency, 'a microcosm +of England, industrial and agricultural,' as Sir Charles had called it, +had districts where support of the 'working man's candidate' could only +be whispered; where closed hands were furtively opened to show a +marigold clasped in them; where perhaps, as a farmer's trap drove by +carrying voters to the poll, the voters, outwardly blue-ribboned, would +open their coats a little and show where the yellow was pinned. Lady +Dilke on polling-day took charge of these districts. Yellow flowers from +every garden were heaped into her carriage as she passed; and when votes +came to be counted, more than one had been spoilt by too enthusiastic +votaries who wrote across their paper, 'For Lady Dilke.' Her courage and +devotion had touched the loyalty of the Forest people, and she received +from them a tribute of genuine love. One who accompanied her tells of a +later day when, after a terrible mine accident, Lady Dilke came down to +visit the homes on which that blow had fallen. In one a young widow sat +staring dry-eyed at the fire or turning tearless looks on the child that +played near her. But when Lady Dilke entered, the woman rose from her +chair, and, running to her visitor, put her arms about her neck, and as +the two held each other, tears came at last. + +Sir Charles Dilke was returned by a majority of two to one, and, he +writes laconically, 'in August was well received in the House of +Commons.' + +In 1891 Sir Charles had expressed some surprise at hostile comment in +the _Times_ and other important organs on his selection as candidate for +the Forest of Dean, and Mr. Chamberlain told him candidly that opinion +in society and in the House itself was hostile to his candidature, and +that he must look forward to a 'mauvais quart d'heure.' But it was +otherwise. After his election there appears to have been a general +expectation that he would be silent, and keep out of the range of +hostile criticism. As a fact, he fell directly into his old habit of +raising every subject which interested him. Parliament met again on +January 31st, 1893, and as soon as notice of questions could be given, +Sir Charles was reviving interest in a subject familiar to him of old, +by asking the new Liberal Government to issue papers which had been +omitted from the official publications of France and Great Britain, but +had been published in the Madagascar Red Book. + +Amongst congratulations on his election came one from the Prime Minister +at Antananarivo, rejoicing that the threatened freedom of Madagascar +would again have his support, and transmitting the Red Book just named. +Within the first week of the session Sir Charles had questioned +Government about the arbitration as to the Newfoundland fisheries; and +concerning a vacancy in the Bombay command, with inquiry as to whether +amalgamation of the Indian armies would be considered [Footnote: The +amalgamation of the Indian armies was achieved by abolition, in 1894, of +the separate military commands of the Presidencies.]--a change which he +had long advocated. He also reappeared in a different field, but one +familiar to him, by introducing a Bill to amend the system of voting in +local elections. Then, on February 11th, while the Address to the Crown +was still under discussion, he took part in a full-dress debate. + +Mr. James Lowther, the leading Protectionist of days when Protection was +not a fashionable creed, proposed an amendment seeking to restrict the +immigration of destitute aliens; and he found a seconder in a trade- +unionist, Mr. Havelock Wilson, who spoke for the seamen. After Mr. +Gladstone had argued strongly against the proposal, but had shown his +perception of the widespread support which it received by expressing +willingness to appoint a committee of inquiry, Sir Charles Dilke rose, +and, claiming to speak for a small minority, opposed legislation and +committee alike. + +The force of his appeal to the House lay in the description which he +gave of persecution directed against the Jews in Russia, coupled with +citation of many previous instances in which England had afforded +asylum, and had gained both advantage and respect by so doing. First- +hand knowledge of Russian conditions and detailed mastery of the +historical case were combined in what one of the more important speakers +for the motion (Sir William Marriott) called a 'magnificent speech'; and +Sir Charles himself observes that it turned many votes. Mr. Mundella +wrote to him after the debate: 'I think it was the best I ever heard +from you, and, moreover, was courageous and just.' + +Mr. Mundella was no doubt struck by the fact that a man coming in, as +Sir Charles did, specially dependent on the support of organized Labour, +had in his first speech combated the view of Labour interests which was +put forward by trade-unionists. Sir Charles's reply to the trade- +unionists ran thus: If these aliens come to England, they very often +join trade-unions, and so accept the higher standard; if they do not, +the products of their work come in and compete even more disastrously. +From this there lay an argument against Free Trade, and this he +characteristically admitted. Free Trade was only a balance of +advantages, and Labour politicians, he pointed out, considered that the +arguments against it were outweighed by countervailing considerations. +To exclude the immigrants and not to exclude the products of their +labour would be inconsistent, and also it would lower the nation's +standard of humanity. + +Early in the session he spoke again on the qualifications for membership +of local elective bodies, and incidentally condemned the proposed +Ministry of Labour as 'a sham remedy.' [Footnote: See "Labour," Chapter +LII., pp. 347, 348.] Not to create new Ministries, but to reorganize and +redistribute their work, was his policy, advocated repeatedly both in +the House of Commons and from the chair of the Statistical Society. He +spoke also on redistribution in this session, and these speeches were +'successful in their business way. Thus I regained influence of a quiet +sort.' + + 'For the first time' (1893) 'I dined at the Speaker's third dinner, + or "dinner of the discontented." The first dinner each year is to + the Government, the second to the late Government, and the third to + the Privy Councillors who were not of either of the others, and to a + few other leading members. Little Northcote was on the Speaker's + left, parted only by the Speaker from Randolph. I was opposite, + reflecting, whenever Jim Lowther would leave off slapping me on the + back.' + +On January 29th, 1893, Sir Charles noted in his diary: + + 'There is a league between Harcourt and Labouchere against the + Rosebery-Asquith combination. Labouchere showed me a letter from + Harcourt: "Hell would be pleasant compared to the present + situation."' + + 'On my return to the House of Commons,' notes Sir Charles, 'I found + Chamberlain's debating power marvellous, but, while his method has + improved, it ... no longer carries the conviction of conviction with + it, which, to me, is everything. + + 'Asquith is the only new man who is "any good"--a bold, strong man, + of great intellectual power. Sir E. Grey is able, but terribly + Whiggish. Hanbury has improved, and so has Harcourt. The others are + where they were.' + +Mr. Asquith he had met for the first time in 1891, at Mr. Chamberlain's +house, and found him 'much more intelligent than the ordinary run of +politicians.' + +Dilke and Chamberlain, once closely united through a long period of +public life, had now been working apart for more than seven years. +Strong minds, that in the collaboration of their earlier policy mutually +influenced each other, had by a turn of personal fortune combining with +a great political change followed divided destinies; and their evolution +carried them far apart. They had met in private, had maintained the +personal bond, [Footnote: 'At this time I was searching for a secretary, +and Chamberlain found me Hudson, who, as he said, "fulfils all your +requirements."' The connection between the secretary and his chief ended +only with Sir Charles's death.] and in so meeting must inevitably have +been prompted by a desire to minimize differences. But now they stood +both again in the public arena--the one returning after the lapse of +years, the other sustained by an unbroken continuance of Parliamentary +activity--and the situation became difficult. + +There were not many men who could work with Mr. Chamberlain in equal +alliance. For that a man was needed, confident enough in his own weight +not to fear being overbalanced in the combination; great enough in +nature to be devoid of jealousy; and wise enough to understand that +restless activity was the law of his ally's being. Upon those conditions +only was it possible for a cooler, more temperate, and, on some +subjects, better instructed politician to steer the tremendous motive +power which Mr. Chamberlain's personal force afforded. What was lost to +the world when the crippling of Sir Charles disjointed that alliance can +never be reckoned. Not only the alliance, but the personal intimacy, was +broken when their political ways sundered on the Home Rule division. +Friendship remained; but it was not possible that men of that mark, who +had met incessantly in the closest confederacy, could meet easily when +the very groundwork of their intimacy was gone. + +Sir Charles worked hard for a Bill specially interesting now to his +constituents. + +On April 18th, 1893, 'I wrote to Chamberlain and to Randolph Churchill +as to the Miners Bill, as its authors had asked me to lay plans for the +debate. From both I had replies favourable to local option, and on my +writing again to Chamberlain he answered: "The sentence about the Labour +leaders escaped me because I am, I confess, impatient of their extremely +unpractical policy, and also because I believe their real influence is +immensely exaggerated. A political leader having genuine sympathy with +the working classes and a practical programme could, in my opinion, +afford to set them aside. Mr. Gladstone has no real sympathy with the +working classes, and a perfect hatred for all forms of Socialism. His +concessions are extorted from him, and are the price paid for votes, and +therefore I do not wonder at the pressure put upon him."' + +In the first week in May, 1893, 'I brought forward my Egypt motion, +spoke for the Miners Bill, and carried a resolution, drawn for us by the +Lord Chancellor himself, as to the appointment of the magistrates for +counties. From this time forward I shall not name my speeches and +ordinary action in the House, as I had now regained the position which I +had held in it up to 1878, though not my position of 1878-1880, nor that +of 1884-85.' + +No Parliament is exactly like its predecessor, and changed conditions +had also changed the character of Sir Charles Dilke's Parliamentary +personal surroundings; but they were drawn now, as of old, from neither +party exclusively. The group comprised several young supporters of the +Government, like Mr. McKenna, who, having failed in Clapham, wrote to +Sir Charles on July 7th, 1892, of his regret at not being near him in +the House of Commons 'to go on learning from you--I don't mean +information, but patience and judgment and steadfastness.' Mr. McKenna +had now been returned for South Monmouthshire, one of the constituencies +which had been anxious to secure Sir Charles himself. Here Sir Charles +had many devoted friends, who gave introductions to Mr. McKenna, which +led to his adoption as candidate, and he wrote again to Sir Charles on +his election: 'I am glad to owe it to you.' Old friends--as, for +example, Mr. Morley--remained, and from the ranks of the Opposition at +least one rarely interesting figure stands out, that of H. O. +Arnold-Forster, who with Mrs. Arnold-Forster came to rank among the +nearest friends of Sir Charles and Lady Dilke. The political tie was +here due to common advocacy of army reform, and it took shape in a kind +of formal alliance. + + 'In November, 1893, in the debates on the Local Government Bill, I + carried a good deal of weight, and was able greatly to improve the + measure. I also in December made a speech in a naval debate which + was as successful as my Zulu speech--with as little reason, except + its opportuneness.' + +In the Home Rule portion of the session of 1893, Sir Charles was mostly +silent, being, in his own words, inclined to 'keep still' on the main +issue. His only contributions to the long debates were made during the +Committee stage, and concerned the electoral arrangements--a matter upon +which Mr. Gladstone was quick to acknowledge his high competence. When +at last, in 1894, the Bill reached the Lords, it was rejected; and then +the foreseen change of leadership came to pass, and Lord Rosebery was +'popped into Mr. Gladstone's place by an intrigue.' Sir Charles +discussed in the _North American Review_ the result, which his Memoir +describes thus. Admitting that the choice, which 'came as a surprise to +the Liberal party in the country,' would strengthen the Government in +Scotland and in London by Lord Rosebery's personal prestige, he none the +less foresaw that the new leader would come into conflict 'with all that +is active in the Liberal party,' unless he could renounce 'his personal +wishes in favour of a reformed but a strong and indeed strengthened +Second Chamber.' His chance of success lay in putting himself as a peer +at the head of a movement against the veto of the House of Lords. 'The +chance is before him, but he is a cautious Scotchman who seldom makes up +his mind too soon, and who may possibly make it up too late.' + +Meanwhile 'I was pressed to join Labouchere and Storey in opposing him, +which I declined to do, on the ground that I was concerned with the +measures proposed, but not with the men.' + +Speaking in the Potteries on November 22nd, 'to a big audience which +took it well,' he 'attacked Rosebery about the Lords.' + + 'He would like to see Lord Rosebery in the popular House in which he + had never sat, and he would like to see Lord Salisbury back again. + Their ideas would undergo a change. The reform of the Upper House + was now not a Liberal but a Conservative nostrum.... It would be + necessary for the Radicals to fight even against their Liberal + leaders to prevent lengthening the life of the Parliamentary sick + man.... The Liberal party was still hampered by men who wanted + peerages for themselves and their sons, and he should not believe + that the leaders were in earnest until the Liberal party gave over + making peers. Moderate men must be warned by the example of what had + recently happened in Belgium, where the moderate Liberals had been + promptly suffocated between the two opposing forces of Toryism and + Socialism, as they were too pretentious to submit to Tory discipline + and too slavish to become frankly democratic.' + + + + +CHAPTER L + +INDIA AND FRANCE--RHODES AND BISMARCK + +1886-1892 + + +I. + +In the period covered by the earlier portion of the previous chapter, +Sir Charles Dilke had used his freedom as an opportunity for travel. + + 'During a visit to Paris, in the winter of 1886, paid in order to + discuss the question of the work which ultimately appeared in France + as _L'Europe en 1887_, I saw a good deal of Castelar, who was + visiting Paris at the same time; and it was to us that he made a + speech, which has become famous, about Boulanger, who was beginning + to attract great notice, declaring in French, "I know that General + Boulanger--he is a Spanish General;" meaning that the Spanish habit + of the military insurrection under the leadership of a showy General + was extending to France. [Footnote: In 1889 Sir Charles notes: 'My + wife and I were asked to dinner to meet General Boulanger; and I + decided that I would not go, neither did she.'] + + 'Chamberlain, during his journey abroad, had seen a good deal of Sir + William White, the Ambassador at Constantinople, who wrote to me + about him: "We became friends, and spoke naturally of you, our + mutual friend. I could not help seeing Chamberlain's immense + quickness of observation and talents. In foreign politics he + appeared to me to be beginning his ABC, but disposed to learn...." + The Ambassador went on to say that the intimacy between France and + Russia was coming to the front at Constantinople, and that + Bismarck's Ambassador did not seem to take umbrage at it. + + 'In September, 1887, we went to France, where our journey had + nothing of great interest, except a visit to Vaux-le-Vicomte, + Fouquet's house, [Footnote: Near Melun, in the Seine-et-Marne, where + Fouquet gave the celebrated fête referred to. See _Mémoires de + Fouquet_, by A. Chéruel, vol. ii., chap. xxxv.] which remains very + much as Fouquet left it, although the gardens in which he received + Louis XIV. in the great féte recounted by Dumas have been completed + by their present proprietor, with whom we stayed. We afterwards + visited Constantinople, and stayed for ten days at Therapia, and + then at Athens, where I had a great reception, as indeed throughout + Greece, on account of my previous services to the Greek cause; in + some cases payment was refused on this ground. [Footnote: A letter + from Lady Dilke of October 29th, 1887, written to Cardinal Manning, + a constant correspondent, deals with one of these episodes: + + "We were received at the Piraeus by an order not to open our boxes, + an ignorant underling being severely rebuked, and bid to 'look at + the name on the boxes. Would you ask money from one who has done so + much for Greece?' In short, we had a royal reception. The Prime + Minister, the Metropolitan, and the other Ministers and their + families, and all dignitaries, ecclesiastical, academical, + political, military, all vied in showing Charles honour. The crowd + watched outside for a glimpse of him, and M. Ralli, when I said how + touched he was at their faithful gratitude, said: 'It is not only + our gratitude we wish to show him. You have no idea of the intense + sympathy felt for him in Athens.' We had but three days to give, and + so missed the great public banquet and the torchlight procession + which the students wished to organize. At Corinth the King and Queen + were equally kind."] + + 'Our journey to Turkey and Greece was full of interest. The Sultan + showed us immense courtesy. Greece after twenty-five years seemed to + me as lovely as ever. The Eastern Church were very civil to us, and + the reception at the Phanar at Constantinople by the Oecumenical + Patriarch, the Archbishop of Constantinople, Dionysius V., in Synod + was striking. I wrote from Constantinople to Chesson: "The + Bulgarians and the Greeks are both now on excellent terms with the + Turks, although, unfortunately, they still detest one another. The + Sultan does not care two straws about Bulgaria now, and will do + nothing in the matter except mark time. The Greek Patriarch gave us + an official reception, with some Archbishops present, who + represented the Churches of Asia and of the Islands, and showed us + their splendid Byzantine treasures. It is extraordinarily + interesting to see all the effects of St. Chrysostom; but I cannot + help feeling that the Church sold the Empire to the Turks, and would + have been more estimable had it _lost_ its jewels. The last + Constantine tried to reunite the Eastern and Western Churches, and + the poor man was denounced as a heretic, and surrounded only by + Latins when he was killed on the breach. The Church, however, went + through a small martyrdom later on, and was glorified by suffering + at the beginning of the Greek War of Independence, when the then + Patriarch was hanged by the Turks and dragged about for three days + by the Jews. They all seem on very good terms now, and the Patriarch + sang the praises of the present Sultan loudly. The Sultan has been + very civil. I did not want to see him, which doubtless made him the + more anxious to see me. He sent for me twice, and, besides the + audience at the Selamlik, had us to a state dinner given in our + honour at the Haremlik. I refused the Grand Cordon of the Médjidieh, + but Emilia accepted the Grand Cordon of the Chefkat for herself. He + is very anxious to make a good impression, and is having the _Shrine + of Death_ done into Turk!" + + 'I received a letter of thanks from the Secretary of the Trustees of + the National Portrait Gallery for having obtained for them from the + Sultan a copy of the portrait of Nelson which is in the Treasury at + Constantinople; but what I really tried to obtain was the original, + inasmuch as no one ever sees it where it is.' + +Sir Charles Dilke, writing to Mr. Chamberlain an amused account of the +Sultan's advances, says: 'Lady White told Emilia that she heard I was to +be Grand Vizier.' + + 'My riding tour along the Baluch and Afghan frontiers was,' Sir + Charles notes, 'one of the pleasantest and most interesting + experiences of my life.' [Footnote: He adds, 'I described so fully + in the _Fortnightly Review_, in two articles of March 1st and April + 1st, 1889, my riding tour ... that I shall say no more about it.' + This account of the journey is summarized from those articles, the + criticism on military questions being dealt with by Mr. Spenser + Wilkinson in the chapter on Defence (LV.).] Leaving England in + October, 1888, he landed with Lady Dilke at Karachi in November. + They were met by the Commander-in-Chief, Sir Frederick Roberts, and + went on over the broad-gauge line, then not officially open, through + the Bolan Pass to Quetta. 'When we reached the picturesque portion + of the pass, we left our carriages for an open truck placed at the + head of the train, in front of two engines, and there we sat with + the fore part of the truck occupied by the paws and head of His + Excellency's dog; next came the one lady of the party and Sir + Frederick Roberts, and then myself and all the staff. The long- + haired warriors and tribesmen, who occupied every point of vantage + on the crags, doubtless thought, and have since told their tribesmen + on their return, that the whole scene was devised to do honour to a + dog.' + +They were travelling over part of 'the great strategic railroad +constructed after the Penjdeh incident, on orders given by the +Government of which I was a member.' + +At Quetta he was among the guests of Sir Robert Sandeman, Agent for +British Baluchistan, ruler in all but name of those nominally +independent frontier principalities and clans. 'Quetta conversations +soon brought back reminiscences of far-off days. When I had last seen +Sir Robert Sandeman it had been in London, during the discussion of the +occupation of the Khojak position, in which I sided with him.... We +brought with us or found gathered here all the men who best understood +the problem of frontier defence--a very grave problem, too.' + +The party assembled under the roof of the Residency included the +Commander-in-Chief, of whom Sir Charles says: 'Sir Frederick Roberts +knows India as no one else knows it, and knows the Indian Army as no one +else has ever known it'; the Adjutant-General; the Quartermaster- +General, who was Director of Military Intelligence; the Military Member +of Council, General Chesney; and Sir Charles Elliott, the Member of +Council for Public Works, who had charge of the strategic railways. With +them were the Inspectors-General of Artillery and of Military Works, the +Secretary of the Defence Commission, and the General in Command at +Quetta, as well as his predecessor, who had not yet vacated the post. + +He saw manoeuvres outside Quetta in the valleys that lead from the +Afghan side, and he had the experience of riding up and down those stony +hill slopes beside the Commander-in-Chief. He explored the Khojak +tunnel, then under process of construction, running through 'a wall-like +range which reminds one of the solitude of Sainte-Baume in Provence,' +surveyed all the defences of Quetta, and then, while Lady Dilke went on +by rail to Simla, he set out to ride, in company with Sir Frederick +Roberts and Sir Robert Sandeman, from Harnai, through the Bori and Zhob +Valleys, towards the Gomul Pass. On that journey he saw great gatherings +of chiefs and tribesmen come in to meet and salute the representatives +of British rule. He watched Sir Robert Sandeman parleying with the +borderers, and was introduced to them as the statesman who had +sanctioned the new road. These were regions beyond the reach of +telegraph, where outposts maintained communications by a pigeon post, of +which the mountain hawk took heavy toll; and each day's journey was a +hard and heavy ride. + +The ride continued for twelve days, through scorching sun by day and +bitter cold at night; and every march brought its full portion of +strange and beautiful sights. All the romance of border rule, outposts +among robber tribes, order maintained through the agency of subsidized +chiefs, were disclosed; and even when the conditions of travel changed, +when a train took them from the Upper Indus to Nowshera and Peshawur, it +brought to Sir Charles the opportunity of seeing what interested him no +less than the wild tribal levies--namely, the pick of British regulars +in India, both native and European. + +The splendour and beauty of the pageant pleased the eye, and there was +not lacking a dramatic interest. He had seen by Sir Frederick Roberts's +side the mountain battle-ground where the day of Maiwand was avenged and +British prestige restored; now he was present when Ayub Khan, the victor +of Maiwand, voluntarily came forward to hold speech for the first time +with the conqueror who so swiftly blotted out the Afghan's victory. + + 'On our way back (from India) we stayed at Cairo, and saw much of + Sir Evelyn Baring, Riaz, Mustapha Fehmy, the Khedive, Tigrane, + Yakoub Artin, and the other leading men. At Rome, as we passed + through Italy, I made the acquaintance of many of my wife's friends, + the most interesting of whom was, perhaps, Madame Minghetti, known + to her friends as Donna Laura, and previously Princess Camporeale; + and I obtained through Bonghi, whom we saw both at Naples and at + Rome, an order to see Spezia--an order which was refused by the War + Office, and granted by the Admiralty. The Admiral commanding the + Fleet and the Préfet Maritime were both very kind, and I thoroughly + saw the arsenal, fleet, and forts, with the two Admirals.' + +In 1905 Sir Charles writes: + + 'On September 7th in the year 1891 I started for the French + manoeuvres, to which I had been invited by Galliffet. By sending + over my horses I was able to see the manoeuvres extremely well.... + + 'The Marquis de Galliffet was an interesting figure, a soldier of + the time of Louis XV., who, however, had thoroughly learned his + modern work. There were 125,000 men in the field, but, looking back + to my adventures, I am now more struck by the strange future of the + friends I made than by the interest, great as it was, of the + tactics. We had on the staff almost all those who afterwards became + leading men in the Dreyfus case, on both sides of that affair. + Saussier, the Generalissimo, had with him, to look after the foreign + officers, Colonel (afterwards Sir) Reginald Talbot, Huehne' (German + Military Attaché), 'and others--Maurice Weil (the Jew friend of + Esterhazy), who was in the Rennes trial named by the defence as the + real spy, though, I am convinced, innocent. We now know, of course, + that Esterhazy should have been the villain of the play.... General + Billot, afterwards Minister of War, was present, living with + Saussier, as a spectator. Galliffet had under him nearly 120,000 + men, but the skeleton enemy was commanded by General Boisdeffre, + afterwards Chief of the Staff, and the leader of the clerical party + in the Ministry of War, and friend, throughout the "affair," of + Billot. General Brault, also afterwards Chief of the Staff, was in + the manoeuvres Chief of the Staff to Galliffet. He, it will be + remembered, also played his part in the "affair," as did Huehne, + named above. On Galliffet's staff, besides General Brault, were + Colonel Bailloud, also concerned in the Dreyfus case; Captain + Picquart, afterwards the youngest Lieutenant-Colonel in the French + army, a brilliant and most thoughtful military scholar, the hero of + the Dreyfus case in its later aspects; the Comte d'Alsace, + afterwards a deputy, and, although a clerical Conservative, a + witness for Dreyfus; and Joseph Reinach, the real author of the + virtual rehabilitation of Dreyfus. It was a singularly brilliant + staff. Bailloud, it may be remembered, afterwards became + Commander-in-Chief of the China Expedition. + + 'Of those who have not been named, in addition to the remarkable men + who figured in the Dreyfus case, and among the few on this staff who + were not concerned in it, were other interesting persons: the Prince + d'Hénin, M. de la Guiche, and a man who was interesting, and figures + largely in memoirs, Galliffet's bosom friend, the Marquis du Lau + d'Allemans. "Old Du Lau," as he is generally called, was a rich _bon + vivant_, with a big house in Paris, who throughout life has been a + sort of perpetual "providence" to Galliffet, going with him + everywhere, even to the Courts where Galliffet was a favourite + guest. Reinach and Du Lau were not soldiers in the strict sense of + the term, although members of Galliffet's staff. Maurice Weil, + though a great military writer, was himself not a soldier, although + on Saussier's headquarters staff in Paris and in the field. Weil and + Reinach were both officers of the territorial army: Weil a Colonel + of artillery, Reinach a Lieutenant of Chasseurs à Cheval. Du Lau was + a dragoon Lieutenant of stupendous age--possibly an ex-Lieutenant, + with the right to wear his uniform when out as a volunteer on + service. I was walking with him one day in a village, when a small + boy passing said to a companion "What a jolly old chap for a + Lieutenant!" And it was strange indeed to see the long white hair of + the old Marquis streaming from beneath his helmet. He was older, I + think, than Galliffet, who was retiring, and who received during + these manoeuvres the plain military medal, which is the joy of + French hall-porters, but the highest distinction which can be + conferred by the Republic on a General who is a member of the + Supreme Council of War and at the top of the tree in the Legion of + Honour. Joseph Reinach was, of course, young enough to be the son of + old Du Lau, but since leaving the regular regiment of Chasseurs--in + which he had done his service at Nancy, while Gyp (his future enemy + and that of his race) was the reigning Nancy beauty--he had expanded + in figure so that his sky-blue-and-silver and fine horse did not + save him from comments by the children who had noted Du Lau's age. + The Duc d'Aumale was also present on horseback as a spectator, but + his official friends, and their friends, were forced to ignore him, + as he had not yet made his peace with the Republic. + + 'As soon as I had joined Galliffet, I wrote to my wife: "Conduct of + troops most orderly. It is now, of course, here, as it was already + in 1870 with the Germans, that, the soldier being Guy Boys + [Footnote: Guy Boys was Lady Dilke's nephew; Jim Haslett the + ferryman at Dockett. Sir Charles was illustrating the fact that all + classes serve together both in the ranks and as officers.] and Jim + Haslett and all of us, and not a class apart, there is no 'military + tone.' Discipline, nevertheless, seems perfect, but are the officers + as good as the non-commissioned officers and the men? I doubt. + Promotion from the ranks combined with special promotion to the + highest ranks for birth of all nobles who have any brains at all is + a combination which gives results inferior to either the Swiss + democratic plan or the Prussian aristocratic. Perhaps a fifth of the + officers are noble, but more than half the powerful officers are + noble; and here we are with the sides commanded by the Prince + d'Eckmühl and the Prince de Sartigues." (During the first days of + the manoeuvres the four army corps and the two cavalry divisions + were combined under Galliffet; half the army was commanded by + General Davoust, who, of course, is the first of these two Princes; + and Galliffet had for "second title" the name of his Provençal + principality near Marseilles.) "You may say, 'The Generalissimo, + sausage-maker, restores the balance.' But the real Generalissimo is + Miribel, Aristo of the Aristos--for he is a poor noble of the South. + Another of the army corps is commanded by a Breton, Kerhuel, and the + other by a man of army descent for ever and ever, Négrier, son and + nephew of Napoleonic Generals."' + + 'An amusing billet adventure was named in another letter to my wife: + + '"I am in a Legitimist chàteau: one side of the room, Callots; the + other, Comte de Chambord. Over the bed a large crucifix. The room + belongs to 'Mathilde.' But as I live with the staff I do not see the + family. The butler is charming, and the fat coachman turned out two + of _his_ horses to make room for 'Madame' and 'W'f'd'r.' I had to + write a letter to a French newspaper, which had charged me with + turning my back on the standard of a regiment instead of bowing to + it, and dated from this place: 'Château de Boussencourt.'"' + +His observations were summed up in an article for the _Fortnightly_, +which was later translated into French by an officer on the staff of +the Commander-in-Chief, and, after appearing in a review, was published +separately by the military library. His strictures on the handling of +the cavalry led to a controversy in France into which he was obliged +later to enter. + + 'As I passed through Paris on my return, Galliffet wrote: "You are + as a writer full of kindness, but very dangerous as an observer, and + next time I shall certainly put you on the treatment of the military + attachés--plenty of dinners, plenty of close carriages, plenty of + gendarmes, no information, and a total privation of field-glasses. + This will be a change for you, especially in the matter of dinners. + Lady Dilke cannot have forgiven me for sending you back in such + wretched condition."' + +M. Joseph Beinach wrote in 1911: + + 'Nous recommandions tous deux le rajeunissement des cadres. II s'est + trouvé enfin un ministre de la guerre, M. le général Brun, pour + aborder résolument le problème. Comme nos souvenirs revenaient + fréquemment aux belles journées de ces manoeuvres de l'Est! Je + revois encore Dilke chevauchant avec nous dans l'état-major de + Gallififet. II y avait la le général Brault, le général Darras, le + général Zurlinden, le "commandant" Picquart, Thierry d'Alsace, le + marquis Du Lau.... Ah! la "bataille" de Margerie-Haucourt, sous le + grand soleil qui, dissipant les nuages de la matinée, fit scintiller + tout à coup comme une moisson d'acier les milliers de fusils des + armées réunies! Comme c'est loin! Que de tombeaux!... Mais nous + sommes bien encore quelques-uns à avoir gardé intactes nos âmes + d'alors!' [Footnote: An article in the _Figaro_ written after Sir + Charles Dilke's death.] + + +II. + +It was in 1889 that Sir Charles Dilke came into touch with Cecil Rhodes +during a visit paid by the latter to England. + + 'In July, 1889, I saw a good deal of Cecil Rhodes, who was brought + to my house by Sir Charles Mills, [Footnote: Then Agent-General for + the Cape and a great personal friend.] and afterwards came back + several times. He was at this moment interesting, full of life and + vigour, but when he returned to England after the British South + Africa Company had been started he seemed to have become half torpid + and at the same time dogmatic. The simplicity which had + distinguished him up to the end of his visit of 1889 seemed to have + disappeared when he came back in 1891; and his avowed intention of + ultimately coming to England to take part in English politics seemed + also a strange mistake, as he was essentially a man fitted for + colonial life, and had none of the knowledge, or the mode of + concealing want of knowledge, one or other of which is required for + English public work.' + + 'In August, 1889, I received a note from Rhodes from Lisbon which + constitutes, I believe, a valuable autograph, for his friends all + say he "never writes." I had asked him to clear up an extraordinary + passage in one of Kruger's speeches (on which I afterwards commented + in _Problems of Greater Britain_), and Rhodes wrote: + + '"The fates were unpropitious to my day on the river, as matters + required me in South Africa, from which place I propose to send you + the famous speech you want. I quite see the importance, if true, of + his utterance, but I can hardly think Kruger would have said it. I + hope you will still hold to your intention of visiting the Cape, and + I can only say I will do all I can to assist you in seeing those + parts with which I am connected. I am afraid Matabeleland will be in + too chaotic a state to share in your visit, but between the diamonds + and the gold there is a good extent to travel over. I am doubtful + about your getting Kruger's speech before you publish, but it will + be the first thing I will attend to on my arrival at the Cape. + Kindly remember me to Lady Dilke. + + '"Yours truly, + + '"C. J. Rhodes." + + 'At the beginning of November, 1889, I heard again from Rhodes, who + wrote from Kimberley: + + '"Dear Sir Charles Dilke, + + '"I have come to the conclusion that Kruger never made use of the + expression attributed to him, as I can find no trace of it in the + reports of his speech on the Second Chamber. I send you a copy of + the draft law.... + + '"Thanks for your news of Bismarck's map. Their true boundary is the + 20th degree of longitude, and it will take them all their time to + retain even that, as the Damaras are entirely opposed to them, and + the German company which nominally holds that territory will soon + have to liquidate for lack of funds. It is one thing to paint a map, + and it is quite another to really occupy and govern a new territory. + I am still waiting for the news of the signature of the charter, + which I hope will not be much longer delayed. I think Kruger will + find his hands quite full enough without interfering with me. He is + still trying to get them to give him Swaziland in return for + non-interference in Matabeleland. The Matabele King (Lobengula) + still continues to slaughter his subjects, and makes the minds of + our representatives at times very uncomfortable. It is undoubtedly a + difficult problem to solve; but the plain fact remains that a savage + chief with about 8,000 warriors is not going to keep out the huge + wave of white men now moving north, and so I feel it will come all + right. + + '"Yours, + '"C. J. Rhodes." + + 'In March, 1890, I received a letter from Rhodes from the Kimberley + Club, in which, after giving some facts with regard to the state of + South Africa, he went on: "I see that Home Rule is gaining ground. + [Footnote: Rhodes had given Mr. Parnell a subscription of £10,000.] + It really means the American Constitution. It is rather a big + change, and the doubt is whether the conservative nature of the + English people will face it when they understand what Home Rule + means. Schnadhorst is here, but is still suffering very acutely from + rheumatism."' + +The reference to 'Bismarck's map' in the second of these communications +shows that Sir Charles had reported to Rhodes some of the observations +made by the Chancellor in the course of the visit of which an account +here follows. + + 'In September, 1889, having settled to take my son to Germany to a + gymnasium, and having told Herbert Bismarck my intention when he was + in London, I was asked by him in his father's name to stay at + Friedrichsruh with the Prince. I started for Germany with my son at + the same moment at which my wife started for the Trades Congress at + Dundee.' + +He wrote to M. Joseph Reinach in August, 1889: 'I'm going to +Friedrichsruh the week after next to stay with Prince Bismarck, who +seems very anxious to see me--about colonial matters, I think. I will +tell you what he says, for your private information, if he talks of +anything else, which is not, however, likely, as he knows my views about +that Alsace question which lies at the root of all others. But I had +sooner my going there was not mentioned in advance, and I shall not be +there until September 7th-9th.' + + 'Herbert Bismarck wrote: "I hope you will accept my father's + invitation, because he is anxious to make your personal + acquaintance. I am greatly disappointed that I shall be deprived of + the pleasure of introducing you myself to my father, owing to my + absence, but, then, I am sure that you will find yourself at your + ease in Friedrichsruh, whether I am there or not. Hoping to see you + before long in England, believe me, + + '"Very truly yours, + '"H. Bismarck." + + 'The son was still called Count von Bismarck by himself, and + popularly Herbert Bismarck, but shortly afterwards his father gave + him the family castle of Schoenhausen, and from that time forward he + used on his cards the name of Graf Bismarck-Schoenhausen. When I got + to Ratzeburg, where I left my son, I found a telegram from + Friedrichsruh: "Prince Bismarck looks forward to your visit + to-morrow with great pleasure"; and then it went on to tell me about + trains. + + 'I was met at the station by Prince Bismarck's official + secretary--Rottenburg of the Foreign Office--with an open carriage, + although the house was formerly the railway hotel (Frascati) and + adjoins the station. I wrote to my wife on Saturday, September 7th: + "The great man has been very sweet to me, though he is in pain from + his sinews. We had an hour's walk before lunch together. Then + Hatzfeldt, the Ambassador in London, came, and all the afternoon we + have been driving, and went to the harvest-home, where the Bismarck + grandchildren danced with the peasants on the grass. The daughter, + and mother of these children, does the honours, and is the only + lady; and at dinner we shall be the Prince, Hatzfeldt, self, + Countess von Rantzau, Count von Rantzau, Rottenburg the secretary, a + tutor and another secretary, the two last 'dumb persons.' The forest + is a Pyrford of 25,000 acres, but the house is in the situation of a + Dockett, and must be damp in winter till the great January frost + sets in, when the Baltic is hard frozen."' + +Sir Charles notes upon this: 'Hatzfeldt was the Chancellor's right-hand +man--of action. But Bismarck did not consult him: he said, "Do," and +Hatzfeldt did.' + +The letter continues: + + '"When Bismarck's Reichshund died, a successor was appointed, but + the Emperor, who had heard of the death and not of the appointment + to fill the vacancy, gave another, and the Prince says: 'Courtier as + I am, I sent away my dog to my head-forester's and kept the gift + one, but as I do not like him I leave him at Berlin.' Here the + favourite reigns, and her name is Rebekkah, and she answers very + prettily to the name of Bex. The old gentleman is dear in his polite + ways.... The daughter is equally pleasant, and the son-in-law as + well. We were loudly cheered at the harvest festival, of course.... + You can write to our friend J. R. [Reinach] of the R.F. [_République + Française_] that I found the Chancellor very determined on peace as + long as he lives, which he fears will not be long, and afraid of + Prussian action after his death." + + 'In another letter the next day, Sunday, September 8th 1889, I + wrote: "I expected the extreme simplicity of life. The coachman + alone wears livery, and that only a plain blue with ordinary black + trousers and ordinary black hat--no cockades and no stripes. There + are only two indoor men-servants: a groom of the chambers, and one + other not in livery--the one shown in the photograph of Bismarck + receiving the Emperor, but there, for this occasion only, dressed in + a state livery. [Footnote: Photographs which Bismarck gave Sir + Charles, showing the Chancellor with his hound receiving the young + Kaiser, and Bismarck alone with his dog, always hung on the wall at + Dockett.] The family all drink beer at lunch, and offer the thinnest + of thin Mosel. Bismarck has never put on a swallow-tail coat but + once, which he says was in 1835, and which is of peculiar shape. A + tall hat he does not possess, and he proscribes tall hats and + evening dress among his guests. His view is that a Court and an army + should be in uniform, but that when people are not on duty at Court + or in war, or preparation for war, they should wear a comfortable + dress, and each man that form of dress that he finds most agreeable + to himself, provided that it be not that which he calls evening + dress and tall hats--a sort of 'sham uniform.' Countess von Rantzau, + however, dresses in a high, short evening gown like other people. + The Prince eats nothing at all except young partridges and + salt-herring, and the result is that the cookery is feeble, though + for game-eaters there is no hardship. The table groans with red-deer + venison, ham, grouse, woodcock, and the inevitable partridges-- + roast, boiled, with white sauce, cold, pickled in vinegar. A French + cook would hang himself. There is no sweet at dinner except fruit, + stewed German fashion with the game. Trout, which the family + themselves replace by raw salt-herring, and game, form the whole + dinner. Of wines and beer they drink at dinner a most extraordinary + mixture, but as the wine is all the gift of Emperors and merchant + princes it is good. The cellar card was handed to the Prince with + the fish, and, after consultation with me, and with Hatzfeldt, we + started on sweet champagne, not suggested by me, followed by + Bordeaux, followed by still Mosel, followed by Johannesberg (which I + did suggest), followed by black beer, followed by corn brandy. When + I reached the Johannesberg I stopped, and went on with that only, so + that I got a second bottle drawn for dessert. When the Chancellor + got to his row of great pipes, standing against the wall ready + stuffed for him, we went back to black beer. The railway-station is + in the garden, and the expresses shake the house." + + 'Other points which struck me in the manners and customs of + Friedrichsruh were that the Chancellor invariably took a barrel of + beer out driving, and stopped halfway in the afternoon and insisted + on his guests consuming it out of a two-handled mug which appeared + from under the coachman's seat. I had some talk with him about the + wisdom of his going unprotected for great distances through the + woods, and he answered, "But I am not unprotected," and showed me a + pistol which he carried, but, of course, a man with a blunderbuss + behind a tree might easily have killed him. He never takes a servant + on the box by the side of the coachman, and generally drives + entirely alone. He rides alone without a groom, and walks alone with + only his dog, or rather the forester's dog, the daughter of the + Reichshund, who walks six or seven miles every morning to go out + with him, and six or seven miles every night to come to dinner. + + 'The Prince was evidently discontented with the Emperor, but wholly + unable to believe that he himself could be done without. He told me + that he must work each day and could never take a holiday, but that + even a few minutes' work was sufficient, as all that was necessary + was that he should keep an eye on what was going on. All was now so + well arranged that the only thing which gave him trouble was the + internal condition of Alsace, which as a Reichsland had him alone as + a Minister. In the evening he chatted much about the past; told me + of his visit to London in 1842, of how a cabman tried to cheat him, + and how at last he held out all his money in his hand and said to + the man, "Pay yourself"; how then the man took less than that which + he had refused, his right fare, and then with every sign of scorn + ejaculated, "What I say is, God damn all Frenchmen!" Bismarck speaks + admirable English, with hardly any trace of accent, but spoken very + slowly. French he speaks more rapidly but less well; and of Russian + he has a fair knowledge. He told me how (also in 1842) he had + visited Barclay and Perkins's, and had been offered an enormous + tankard of their strongest ale. "Thinking of my country, I drank it + slowly to the last drop, and then left them, courteously I hope; I + got as far as London Bridge, and there I sat down in a recess, and + for hours the bridge went round." He told me how he had striven to + keep the peace through the time of Napoleon III., but finding it + useless had prepared for war; and he made no secret of the fact that + he had brought the war about. He told me himself, in so many words, + that at the last moment he had made war by cutting down a telegram + from the King of Prussia, as I have said above; [Footnote: See + Chapter XL (Vol. I., p. 157).] "the alteration of the telegram from + one of two hundred words to one of twenty words" had "made it into a + trumpet blast"--as Moltke and Von Roon, who were with him at dinner + when it came, had said--"a trumpet blast which" had "roused all + Germany." As he mellowed with his pipes he told me that, though he + was a high Tory, he had come to see the ills of absolutism, which, + to work, required the King to be an angel. "Now," he said, "Kings, + even when good, have women round them, who, even if Queens, govern + them to their personal ends." It was very plain that he was on bad + terms with the Emperor, and equally clear that he did not believe + that the Emperor would dare dismiss him.' + + A commentary on the last sentence follows at no long interval, when + _Problems of Greater Britain_ appeared and 'Herbert Bismarck, in + thanking me for a copy of my book, said: "My father ... sends you + his kindest regards. He is just going to disentangle himself from + the Prussian administration altogether, and will resign the post as + Prime Minister, so that he will only remain Chancellor of the + Empire." This was on February 10th, 1890, and before long Bismarck + had been still further "disentangled," not by his own act,' but by a + blow almost as sudden and dramatic as that which, in 1661, had + struck down the owner of Vaux. [Footnote: See the _Mémoires de + Fouquet_, by A. Chéruel, vol.ii., chap, xxxviii.] + + 'In a second letter that young Bismarck wrote, he thanked me for + sending him the famous sketch from _Punch_ (Tenniel's cartoon) of + the captain of the ship sending away the pilot. He wrote: + + '"My Dear Dilke, + + '"I thank you very much for your kind note, which warmed my heart, + and for the sketch you have cut out of _Punch_. It is indeed a fine + one, and my father, to whom I showed it yesterday when your letter + reached me, was pleased with its acuteness, as well as with the kind + messages you sent him and which he requites. He has left last night + for good, and I follow to-night to Friedrichsruh. It was a rather + melancholy historical event, when my father stepped out of the house + in which he has lived for the benefit of my country for nearly + twenty-eight years. When I wrote you last, my father thought only of + leaving the offices he held in Prussia, but things went on so + rapidly that he did not see his way to remain as Chancellor in + Berlin after the Emperor had let him know that His Majesty wished + him to resign. I had no choice what course to take after he had been + dismissed. My health is so much shaken that I am not able to take + upon my shoulders alone the tremendous amount of responsibility for + the foreign affairs of Germany which hitherto fell upon my father. + When we drove to the station yesterday, our carriage was almost + upset by the enthusiastic crowd of many thousand people who thronged + the streets and cheered him on his passage in a deafening way; but + it was satisfactory for my father to see that there are people left + who regret his departure. I shall come back to Berlin after April + 1st to clear my house and to pack my things, and then I shall stay + with my father till the end of April. In May I hope to come to + England, and I look forward to the pleasure of seeing you then. + + '"Believe me, + + '"Ever yours sincerely, + + '"H. Bismarck." + + 'He dined with me on May 15th, 1890, when Arnold Morley, Borthwick, + Jeune, Fitzmaurice, Harry Lawson, and others, came to meet him; and + from this time forward he came frequently to England.' + +Sir Charles, while meeting the younger man thus often, never again had +sight or speech of the old Chancellor. 'In Christmas week [1892] I had a +general invitation from Prince Bismarck to stay with him again at +Friedrichsruh. But the chance never came.' Immediately on his return +from Germany Sir Charles wrote to his friend Reinach: + + 'Pyrford by Maybury, + 'Near Woking, + '_September_ l3_th_, 1889. + + 'My Dear Reinach, + + 'Bismarck c'est la paix. As long as he lives, which he thinks will + not be long, he expects no movement. He agrees with me that the + first movement will come from Russia. He expects the Republic to + last in France. Bleichröder tells him that Ferry is the one man of + energy and power. + + 'Yours, + 'Chs. W. D.' + +Three weeks later, in answer to a question by M. Reinach, this is added: + + 'Health as good as he says. But he does _not_ say that. He says he + suffers very much. The fact is that he looks very much older than he + is, and his hands look like ninety instead of seventy-four.' + +What Bismarck thought of his guest may be gathered from a saying quoted +in public by Dr. Stephen Bauer. Baron Rottenburg, Bismarck's first +secretary, had told him that, after Sir Charles's visit to +Friedrichsruh, the Chancellor spoke of him as 'the most interesting of +living English statesmen.' [Footnote: At the banquet given to Sir +Charles Dilke in April, 1910.] + +In spite of Bismarck's efforts to bring about another meeting, this +visit was the only occasion on which the two men met. It was at a time +when the great maker of United Germany was nearing his fall. He was +becoming the bitter adversary of the Kaiser and of his policy, a policy +which he foresaw might imperil 'the strength and glory of the German +Empire.' In the often-quoted words of his instructions to diplomatic +representatives abroad--'Do all in your power to keep up good +relationship with the English. You need not even use a secret cipher in +cabling. We have nothing to conceal from the English, for it would be +the greatest possible folly to antagonize England'--is to be found one +main point of Bismarck's diplomacy; and feeling thus, he welcomed a +conference with the English statesman of that generation whom he had +looked upon as certain to be a force in the approaching years. When at +last the meeting took place, Dilke had been overtaken by circumstances +which altered his political position in England. But neither Bismarck +nor any other statesman on the Continent anticipated that they could +possibly have the result of excluding permanently from office one of the +very few English statesmen whose names carried weight with foreign +Powers on military and international politics. + + + + +CHAPTER LI + +PERSONAL LIFE--IN OPPOSITION + +1895 TO 1904 + + +Few members of the House of Commons can have been sorry to see the last +of the Parliament which ended in June, 1895; and Sir Charles had nothing +to regret in its disappearance. In respect of foreign affairs, he saw +little to choose between the Liberal and Tory Ministers except that, of +the two, Lord Salisbury was 'the less wildly Jingo.' On questions of +Imperial Defence many of his old friends in the Liberal Government were +arrayed against him; and with matters standing as they stood between the +two Houses, there was no hope of any important Labour legislation. Lord +Salisbury had again become Prime Minister, and under the new +Conservative Administration everything went more easily. Sir Charles +testified in one of his speeches that Mr. Balfour's leadership, 'by his +unfailing courtesy to all members, made the House of Commons a pleasant +place'; and Mr. Balfour's leadership was well assured of several years' +continuance. + +A great Parliamentarian, Sir Charles nevertheless held no brief for +Parliament. As a practical statesman, he realized the advantages in a +strong hand of such a machine as Bismarck controlled; while his +democratic instincts made him favour the Swiss methods, with direct +intervention of the people through the Referendum. + +'I trained a whole generation of professional politicians to respect the +House of Commons,' he said, 'but I was never favourable to the +Parliamentary, and I was even hostile to the Party, system.' + +Nevertheless, since England was wedded to its traditional system, to +work this efficiently was the first duty of an English politician. A +note from Sir Reginald Palgrave in 1893 acknowledges gratefully some +criticisms of the tenth edition of the classical work which deals with +this subject. No one was ever better qualified than Sir Charles to say +what could or could not be done by the rules of order, and he would +certainly have inculcated upon every politician the necessity of this +knowledge as a practical equipment. + +'What Dilke did,' writes Mr. McKenna, 'was to impress upon me the +importance of a thorough understanding of the procedure and business of +the House of Commons, a branch of knowledge in which he was an +accomplished master.' + +Sir Charles's whole scheme of existence was arranged with reference to +the work of Parliament. Of it he wrote on December 15th, 1905, in reply +to Lord Edmond Fitzmaurice, who had dwelt on the interest of county +government: + + 'The development of character in politics and the human side of the + House of Commons have an extraordinary dramatic interest for me, and + an attraction so strong that Harcourt told me that, knowing it, he + did not see how I could live out of the House of Commons. I managed + to do so, but only by shutting it for a time absolutely out of my + mind, as though it did not exist. Having the happiness of being able + to interest myself in everything, I suppose I am born to be + generally happy. You have known me so long and so closely that few + men are more aware of the kind of suffering I have gone through, but + the happiness of interest in life has rarely been wanting for long + in me, and if it were, I should go out--not of Parliament--but of + life.' [Footnote: Lord Edmond Fitzmaurice was Chairman of the + Wiltshire County Council. He had re-entered Parliament as M.P. for + North Wilts in 1898.] + +Sir Charles never left London while the House was sitting, except for +the annual gathering of the Forest miners at the Speech House. On all +other working days of the session he was to be found in the House of +Commons. He held that the House offered the extremest form of interest +or of boredom, according as a man did or did not follow closely all that +was going on. For this reason, the smoking-room, where most +Parliamentary idling is transacted, saw little of him; cigars, of which +he was a great consumer, were for periods of leisure, and he was at the +House for business. He might be seen in the passages, going by with +coat-tails streaming behind him, most often in the members' lobby on his +way to the first corridor, where was his locker--marvellously stuffed +with papers, yet kept in a methodical order that made it a general +centre of reference for himself and his colleagues, who consulted him on +all subjects; or sometimes in the library, with multifarious +correspondence and documents outspread, snipping away with a pair of +scissors, after his habit, all in them that was not vitally important. +[Footnote: Mr. Hudson tells how in February, 1911, after Sir Charles's +death, he went down to clear his locker in the House of Commons, and +found it empty. Mr. Hudson surmised that, foreseeing his need for it was +over, Sir Charles had himself prepared it for his successor in its use.] +Again, since one form of relaxation which he permitted himself was his +afternoon cup--or cups, for they were many--of tea, the tea-room also +offered a chance to those who sought him. But whoever wanted Sir Charles +went first into the Chamber itself, and in five cases out of six would +find him there alert in his corner seat below the gangway, primed and +armed with documented information, and ready at any minute to interpose. +Every day he went through the whole bewildering mass of papers from +which members are presumed to instruct themselves concerning the +business of the sittings and to keep a check upon the general +proceedings of Government. In his case the presumption was realized. +Probably no private member ever equalled him in demands for 'papers to +be laid,' and certainly none was ever better able to justify his +requests for additional information. If these requests were refused, it +was never because he wanted what was superfluous, but that which, in his +hands, might become inconveniently serviceable. + +One habit of his may be traced to his hatred of wasting time. The +instant a division was announced he was on his feet, hurrying so as to +avoid long minutes of waiting in a crush; and it came to be regarded as +part of the natural order that Sir Charles should be first through the +lobby. + +With all this industry, the record of divisions so carefully chronicled +by the hard-working M.P. was not of moment to him. If the business did +not seem to him important, he had no objection to absent himself and +dine at home. He was weatherwise in the assembly, and knew the +conditions which might lead to unforeseen disturbance. + +In questions raised by alteration of rules or standing orders, he was +never averse from innovation, and even generally an advocate of change. +But while the rules were there he insisted rigorously on their +observance, in so far as they affected the larger interests of division +or debate. Also he fulfilled punctiliously the prescribed courtesies, +making it a usage to be down early and to secure his place, although no +one ever thought of appropriating it. He rigidly observed the rule, +transgressed by others, which prescribes the wearing of a tall hat by +members in the House. The hat which was thus endeared to him by +traditional usage is therefore inseparable from Parliamentary memory of +him. He was generally to be seen handling a sheaf of papers more than +Ministerial in dimensions; and he made his hat the receptacle for them; +often it would be crammed to bursting before the speech had concluded. +Yet there remained with him always the trace of his younger days of +grave dandyism; he never abandoned the Parliamentary frock-coat, and +sketches of him in the illustrated papers convey the austere correctness +of its folds; and the hat from which so much service was exacted +appeared each day unsurpassable in gloss. + +The intricate mass of historical associations delighted his imagination +at Westminster. He took pleasure in all the quaint survivals, from the +long-transmitted ceremonial of the Speaker's entrance, the formal +knockings of Black Rod, the cry of 'Who goes home?' down to the still +continued search before each session for some possible Guy Fawkes. +Keenly alive to the past and to the present, he saw with special +pleasure any happy grafting of a new usage on to that old stock of +memories. Speaking in his constituency after the lying in state of King +Edward, which he had attended (standing next to the Prime Minister as +the senior Privy Councillor present), he welcomed the precedent which +gave a new association to Westminster Hall--that 'epitome of English +history.' He recalled to his hearers the outstanding incidents and +persons whose record had then come into his mind. His habit of tracing +out links with the past made him at Westminster the best and most +animated of guides. + +So it was in Provence, in the Forest of Dean, on the road down from +London to Surrey; so it was always in the neighbourhood of his Chelsea +home. + +There could be no such companion for a ramble through its streets. His +memory, astounding in its recollections of his own time, held stories of +older records; in his eager, vivid talk the past lived again. As we +passed along Cheyne Walk, George Eliot held court in her house once +more, while a few doors off Rossetti's servant pushed aside the little +grating to inspect his visitors before admission. Carlyle dwelt again in +the house in Cheyne Row, with Whistler for his neighbour. Sir Charles +would tell how earlier the Kingsley brothers lived with their father in +the old rectory, and one at least of their novels was founded afterwards +on the traditions of the place. Then, as layer after layer of history +was lifted, Smollett wrote his novels or walked the Chelsea streets with +John Wilkes; Sir Richard Steele and 'his dear Prue' reinhabited their +house, and Dr. Johnson worked at the furnaces in the cellars where +Chelsea china was made. [Footnote: 'Sir Charles Dilke, in hunting about +for materials for his lecture on "Old Chelsea" to-morrow, has made some +very interesting discoveries. He has found that part of the building +once occupied by the famous Chelsea china works, which was thought to +have gone for ever, exists as part of a public-house with a modern +frontage looking out on the Embankment. The cellars are in an admirable +state of preservation. Another interesting point has been the +exploration of the old Moravian cemetery, which is now completely +enclosed by houses, the ironwork of the gate worn, and, as it were, +eaten out by age. Here lie the bones of Count von Zinzendorf, one of the +founders of the Moravian sect, and many other famous folk. This, again, +has led to some interesting discoveries about Sir Thomas More, all of +which will find a place in Wednesday's lecture' (Extract from _Leicester +Daily Post_, January 11th, 1888, on lecture to be delivered in Town +Hall, Chelsea).] + +He would give, as a curious illustration of the way in which many years +may be covered by a few generations, the fact that he himself had known +intimately the daughter of Woodfall, printer of the _Letters of Junius_; +while Woodfall's acquaintance included Smollett as a resident, and Pope +as a visitor to Chelsea. He would talk long of Sir Thomas More, +[Footnote: He writes: 'On December 18th, 1886, Cardinal Manning wrote to +me: "On Saturday last Sir Thomas More was declared both martyr and +saint, to my great joy. We have bought a house and garden, 28, Beaufort +Street, which is said to be a piece of Sir Thomas More's garden. The +tradition seems probable. If you can give me any light about it, I shall +be very thankful."' Later (January, 1888) Sir Charles writes: 'In the +course of this same month I lectured on Old Chelsea, and made a +considerable attempt to clear up some points in the life of Sir Thomas +More, for whom I have a great admiration. The result was that Cardinal +Manning asked me to visit Father Vaughan at the house which stands on +the site of Old Beaufort House, which the Roman Catholics have purchased +as a house of expiation for the martyrdom of Sir Thomas More.'] 'the +first of Chelsea worthies,' whose memory is loved and commemorated by +every true inhabitant, and to whose voluntary poorhouse for the parish +he pointed, as the direct progenitor of the Chelsea Benevolent Society +and the Board of Guardians. But one episode in More's career specially +fascinated him: it was when two great lives touched, and More, +journeying to Calais, met that famous lady, Margaret of Austria, the +first Governess of the Netherlands, and negotiated the treaty between +the Emperor, England, and France, 1527. Great as was his respect for Sir +Hans Sloane, after whom the street in which he lived was named, and who +gave to Chelsea its beautiful Physic Garden, he never forgave him the +destruction of More's house or the removal of its water gateway. + +He would describe the tidal shore, as it lies in the picture which he +bequeathed to the Chelsea Free Library, and which hangs on its +staircase, when below the old church the bank sloped to the water's +edge; or he would pass back to the earlier time when the boats of the +nobles lay there in such numbers that Charles II. described the river as +'Hyde Park upon the Thames.' Once more Bess of Hardwick lived at +Shrewsbury House, Princess Elizabeth sheltered under the Queen's Elm; at +the old Swan in Swan Walk, Doggett founded the coat and badge to be +rowed for by the watermen's apprentices 'when the tide shall be full.' +These things may be found in many a guide-book and in the lectures which +he delivered more than once in Chelsea, but told as he told them they +will never be told again. + +This habit of associating the prosaic business of his daily work in +Parliament with picturesque traditions, and of peopling the dingy +streets of London with great figures of the past, gave colour and +character to his town life. He entertained still--at 76, Sloane Street, +or at the House of Commons. + +For exercise he relied on fencing, rowing, and his morning ride. Busy +men, he held, needed what 'good exercise as contrasted with mere chamber +gymnastics' could give them: 'a second life, a life in another world-- +one which takes them entirely out of themselves, and causes them to +cease to trouble others or to be troubled by the vexations of working +life.' [Footnote: _Athletics for Politicians_, reprinted from _North +American Review_.] + +He was nowhere more characteristically English than through his faith in +this regimen, and in the pages of the _North American Review_ he +addressed to American public men in 1900 an advocacy of 'Athletics for +Politicians.' This exists as a pamphlet, and some of the friends who +received it were surprised to find themselves cited in confirmation of +the theory that nearly all English politicians, 'having been athletes as +boys, have found it wise as well as pleasant to keep to some sport in +later life.' But Mr. Chamberlain, 'the most distinguished debater in the +Government of the United Kingdom, who has an excellent seat on a horse, +but is never now seen on one, and who is no mean hand at lawn tennis, +which he scarcely ever plays,' had to be cited as a heretic who thought +himself 'better without such gymnastics.' + +Sculling on sliding-seats [Footnote: In 1873 'sliding-seats' had just +taken the place of fixed ones, and Sir Charles, having gone as usual to +see the Boat Race, criticized the crews, in a notice which he wrote, as +not having yet learnt to make the best possible use of the slide.] and +rapier fencing were the exercises which Sir Charles recommended to men +no longer young. He continued his fencing in London and Paris. In Paris +he frequented chiefly the school of Leconte in the Rue Saint Lazare, and +always kept an outfit there. Teachers of this school remember with +wonder Sir Charles's habit of announcing, at the termination of each +stay in Paris, the precise day and hour, perhaps many months ahead, at +which he would appear--and at which, like Monte Cristo, he never failed +to be exactly punctual--to the joy and amusement of the expectant +school. + +It was at his riverside home that he found the exercise which beyond all +others pleased him best. + + '1890 I took a good deal of holiday in the summer and early autumn, + doing much rowing with McKenna and others in a racing pair; we + challenged any pair of our united ages.' + +'On my fifty-third birthday,' he notes, 'I began to learn sculling. My +rowing, to judge by the "clock," still improves. Fencing, stationary or +declining.' + +He timed himself regularly in his daily burst up and down the reach with +some first-rate oarsman, very often 'Bill' East, now the King's +Waterman, whose photograph stood with one or two others on the +mantelpiece of his study in Sloane Street. In the same way he kept a +daily record of his weight, which up to 1904 ranged between fourteen +stone and thirteen. + +Dockett was essentially a boating-place, a place for sun and air, where +life was lived in the open or in the wide verandah hailed by Cecil +Rhodes and others as the only 'stoep' in England. His son, who was +travelling abroad much at this time, shared Sir Charles Dilke's love for +Dockett, and was frequently there in the intervals of his journeyings. +Other than boating friends came to lunch or to dine and sleep, for the +mere pleasure of talk. Such were the Arnold-Forsters, the H. J. +Tennants, Lady Abinger (the daughter of his old friend Sir William +White) and her husband: and there came also members of Parliament--Mr. +Lloyd George, or in a later day Mr. Masterman; and the knights errant of +politics, Mr. Cunninghame Graham and Mr. Schreiner. Many nationalities +were represented--often, indeed, through official personages such as M. +Cambon, the French Ambassador, or some member of the French Embassy. +Baron Hayashi and his wife came with many other Japanese friends, and +the various representatives of the Balkan States met in pleasant +converse. It was one of these who afterwards wrote: 'I never pass the +house in Sloane Street without raising my hat to the memory of its +former inmates.' That close friend M. Gennadius came also, and his +predecessors in the Greek Legation, M. Metaxas, M. Athos Romanes, and +half a score of other diplomatists, including Tigrane Pasha, and even +Ras Makonnen, who was brought to Dockett by the British representative +in Abyssinia, Sir John Harrington, a friend and correspondent of Dilke. +Thither also for leisure, not for athletics, came Cecil Rhodes, +described in _Problems of Greater Britain_ as a 'modest, strong man'; +there came Prince Roland Bonaparte, Coquelin, and Jules Claretie, with a +host of others, politicians, wits, and artists, English and foreign. M. +Claretie thus, after Sir Charles's death, chronicled one visit: + + 'Nous avons canoté, mon fils et moi, sur la Tamise avec Sir Charles, + un de ces "Sundays" de liberté. Quand il avait bien ramé, il + rentrait au logis, et s'étendant en un petit kiosque au seuil duquel + il plaçait des sandales, l'homme d'état, ami du sport, accrochait à + la porte un écriteau où se lisait ces mots: "Prière de faire + silence. Je dors." Hélas! Il dort à tout jamais maintenant le cher + Sir Charles. Ce fut une énergie, un cerveau, un coeur, une force.' + [Footnote: _Le Temps_, February, 1911.] + +Then there were men illustrious in another sphere, the famous oars of +their generation. Mr. S. D. Muttlebury, most illustrious of them all, +has compiled a list of Cambridge 'blues,' young and old, who rowed with +Sir Charles at his riverside home. These were-- + + _School_ _College_ +Bell, A. S. .. .. Eton .. .. Trinity Hall. +Bristowe, C. J. .. Repton .. .. " +Escombe, F. J. .. Clifton .. .. " +Fernie, W. J. .. Malvern .. .. " +Howell, B. H. .. -- " +McKenna, R. .. King's College " + London +Maugham, F. H. .. Dover College .. " +Muttlebury, S. D. .. Eton .. .. Trinity College. +Rowlatt, J. F. .. Fettes .. .. Trinity Hall. +Steavenson, D. F. .. -- " +Wauchope, D. A. .. Repton .. .. " +Wood, W. W. .. Eton .. .. University + College, Oxford. + +In the list here given, Judge Steavenson was Sir Charles's contemporary. +Judge Wood, [Footnote: He was the son of Dilke's friend and constituent, +the Rector of Newent.] his neighbour at Chertsey, known among Etonians +as 'Sheep' Wood, was a University oar of the sixties, and rowed for Eton +at Henley against the Trinity Hall crew which included Steavenson and +Dilke. But most of the others were young. Mr. Charles Boyd [Footnote: +Mr. Charles Boyd, C.M.G., sometime political secretary to Cecil Rhodes.] +sketched the life in an article written just after Sir Charles's death: + + 'To know Dilke as he was you had to be with him at Dockett Eddy, on + the river. Dilke's ability is praised everywhere, but almost, one + thinks, his manly, ungushing kindness exceeded it. He could never do + enough for people, or too stealthily, as it were. He had a special + kindness for young men, for Trinity Hall men perhaps by preference; + the black and white blazer of his old college carried a certain + prescriptive right to share in every belonging of the most famous of + old Hall men. But many, oars or others, at different times in the + past fifteen to twenty years, as sons of the house, spent between + Shepperton and Chertsey Locks, or on the tennis lawns among Sir + Charles's famous willows, or lying on deck-chairs on the long, deep + verandah, the happiest and healthiest of week-ends or more extended + summer holidays. There are few pleasanter reaches of our river, and + none quieter, than this, for the rush and the intolerable crowds are + above stream or below stream, but not here. And there is no such + holiday house for young men as Dockett, hidden in its willow walks + and islanded by the Thames in front and by the expanse of Chertsey + Mead behind. + + 'Less a country-house, indeed, than a camp of exercise. You did as + you pleased, but under Sir Charles's guidance you were pleased to be + strenuous. He called everybody to bathe at 7 a.m., and where was + ever better fresh-water bathing-place than the floating raft below + the boat-house at Dockett? Etiquette required you to dive in and go + straight across to the other bank, touch, and return; when, like as + not, Sir Charles, in shorts and sweater, might be seen very + precisely preparing tea on the landing-stage for the deserving + valiant. His little kindnesses had an added and affecting quality + from his reserve and sternness. A rare figure of an athlete he was, + and a rare athlete's day his was in that retreat. For hours before + he called and turned out the morning guard he had been up busy + gardening, or reading, or writing. At a quarter to nine he + breakfasted. Very shortly after breakfast an ex-champion sculler the + admirable Bill East, would arrive from Richmond, and he and Sir + Charles would row in a racing skiff a measured mile or more of the + river. One summer at least he changed from rowing kit to boots and + breeches after his rowing, and rode till luncheon. At four o'clock + there would be a second bout with East, and thereafter, having + changed from his rowing kit into flannels and his Hall cap, he would + take Lady Dilke in her dinghy, which nobody else has ever used or + will use. + + 'After these exercises came dinner, and after dinner talk; and what + talk! How his intellectual weight and equipment affected those who + were much with him as young men, and who had a chance to revise + their impressions after years of close observation of the world and + its big men, a scrap of dialogue may illustrate. One who in his + "twenties" was much at Sloane Street and Dockett, and who passed + later into close working relations with several at least of the most + conspicuous, so to say, of Front Bench men in the Empire, after an + interval of thirteen years sat once more for a whole long evening + with three others at the feet of Gamaliel. A well-known scholar and + historian put questions which drew Sir Charles out; and all were + amazed and delighted by the result. After Sir Charles had gone, one + of the others, a distinguished editor, said to the wanderer: "Come, + you have known the Mandarins as well as anybody. Where do you put + Dilke with them?" "Well, I rule Lord Milner out," said ----: "but + all the others, compared to Sir Charles, strike me in point of + knowledge, if you must know, as insufficiently informed school- + boys." That is how his brain struck this contemporary. As for the + moral qualities observed, you get to know a man well when you see + him constantly and over years at play. And what intimate's affection + and respect for Sir Charles, and confidence in him, did not grow + greater with every year? It seems admitted that he was a great man. + Well, if there is anything in the intimate, not undiscerning + impression of nearly eighteen years, he was a good man, or goodness + is an empty name.' + +Another account of his talk and ways comes from Mr. Spenser Wilkinson: + + 'I moved to London in 1892, and from that time on found the intimacy + with Dilke one of the delights of life. We used always to meet, + either for breakfast or lunch, at Dilke's house in Sloane Street, or + for lunch at the Prince's Restaurant in Piccadilly, or at 2.30 in + the lobby of the House of Commons. I was also frequently a guest at + the dinner-parties either at Sloane Street on Wednesdays, when Lady + Dilke was alive, or at the House of Commons. Then there were small + house-parties on Saturday and Sunday at Dockett Eddy, near + Shepperton on the Thames, where Sir Charles had built two cottages, + and where a guest was expected to do exactly what he pleased from + the time when he was punted across the river on arrival until he + left the punt on departing. In winter I used to bicycle over to the + cottage at Pyrford, where Dilke and his wife were always to be found + alone and where I spent many a charming afternoon. + + 'Every man takes a certain tinge from the medium in which he is, and + is therefore different in different company and different + surroundings. I knew three Dilkes. First there was the statesman, + the man of infinite information which he was ever working to + increase. When you went to see him it was on some particular + subject; he wanted precise information, and knew exactly what he + wanted. With him my business was always finished in five minutes, + after which I used to feel that I should be wasting his time if I + stayed. This Dilke, in this particular form of intercourse, was by + far the ablest man I ever met. + + 'Then came Dilke the host, the Dilke of general conversation. Here + again he towered above his fellows. The man who had been everywhere + and knew everybody--for there seemed to be no public man of great + importance in any country with whom Dilke was not acquainted and + with whom he had not corresponded--a man who was almost always in + high spirits and full of fun, had an inexhaustible fund of + delightful conversation, about which the only drawback was that, in + order to appreciate it, you had to be uncommonly well informed + yourself. + + 'But the Dilke I liked best was the one I used to have to myself + when I spent a day with him either in the country or on the river, + when neither of us had anything to do, when there was no business in + hand, and when we either talked or were silent according to the + mood. In these circumstances Dilke was as natural and simple as a + civilized man can be. If one started an uncongenial subject, he + would say. "It does not interest me," but the moment one approached + any of the matters he cared for he mobilized all his resources and + gave himself with as little reserve as possible. + + 'Dilke was a past-master in the art of ordering his time, and this + was the secret of the vast quantity of work which he was able to do. + He was a voracious and quick reader, as is proved by the number of + books which he used to review for the _Athenaeum_, of which he was + proprietor. Yet he was an early riser and went to bed early, and a + part of his day was given to exercise. + + 'A great deal of time was consumed in interviews with all sorts and + conditions of men, and his attendance at the House of Commons, + constant and assiduous, accounted for a large part of half the days + in the year. But everything was mapped out in advance; he would make + appointments weeks, or even months, in advance, and keep them to the + minute. His self-control was complete, his courtesy constant and + unvarying; he was entirely free from sentimentality and the least + demonstrative of mankind, yet he was capable of delicate and tender + feelings, not always detected by those towards whom they were + directed. He was simple, straightforward, frank, and generous. It + was delightful to do business with him, for he never hesitated nor + went back upon himself. Modest and free from self-consciousness, he + was aware both of his powers and of their limitations. I once tried + to persuade him to change the manner of his Parliamentary speeches, + to stop his minute expositions of facts and to make some appeal to + the emotions of his hearers--at any rate in cases where he had + strong feelings of his own. He made one experiment in accord with + this suggestion, and told me that it had been most successful; but + he said that he would not try it again, because it was not in accord + with his natural bent, and he was unwilling to be anything but + himself.' + +Dockett was the home of the Birds. Sir Charles's evidence before the +Select Committee on the Thames as to the destruction of kingfishers led +to a prohibition of all shooting on the river, and to an increase of +these lovely birds. In 1897 he had two of their nests at Dockett Eddy. +His acres of willow-grown all-but-island were made a sanctuary for +birds, and therefore from Dockett only, of all his homes, cats were kept +away. Nests were counted and cherished; it was a great year when a +cuckoo's egg was discovered among the linnet's clutch, and its +development was watched in breathless interest. Owls were welcome +visitors; and the swans had no better nesting-place on the Thames than +the lower end of Dockett. They and their annual progeny of cygnets were +the appointed charge of Jim Haslett, Dilke's ferryman and friend. +Pensioners upon the house, they used to appear in stately progress +before the landing raft--the mother perhaps with several little ones +swarming on her back or nestling in her wings, and from time to time +splashing off into the water. Always at their appearance, in answer to +Sir Charles's special call, a cry of 'Swan's bread' would be raised, and +loaf after loaf would disappear down their capacious throats. A place +with such privileges was not likely to be undisputed, and many times +there were battles royal against 'invaders from the north,' as Sir +Charles called the Chertsey swans who came to possess themselves of the +Dockett reach and its amenities. Swan charged swan, with plumage +bristling and wings dilated, but not alone they fought; Jim Haslett and +his employer took part against the invaders, beating them off with +sticks; and even in the night, when sound of that warfare rose, the +master of Dockett was known to scull out in a dinghy, in his night gear, +carrying a bedroom candlestick to guide his blows in the fray. + +Evening and morning he would steal along the bank in his dinghy, +counting and observing the water-voles, which he was accustomed to feed +with stewed prunes and other dishes, while they sat nibbling, +squirrel-like, with the dainty clasped in their hands. + +A few gay beds of annuals by the house, a purple clematis on the +verandah, and a mass of syringa at the landing-stage, were all the +garden permitted; roughly mown grass paths here and there led through +the wild growth of nature, where the willows met overhead. + +Such was his summer home, described in the lines of Tibullus which were +carved on the doorway of the larger house: + + 'Jam modo iners possim epntentus vivere parvo + Nec semper longae deditus esse viae, + Sed canis aestivos ortus vitare sub umbra + Arboris, ad rivos praetereuntis aquae.' + +[Footnote: Thus translated by the Rev. W. Tuckwell: + + 'Here, fancy-free, and scorning needless show, + Let me from Life's dull round awhile retreat, + Lulled by the full-charged stream's unceasing flow, + Screened by tall willows from the dog-star's heat.'] + +He guarded its quiet, and, champion as he had always been of the public +right of common on land and on the river, he was resentful when its +privilege was carelessly abused. He rebuked those who broke the rules of +the river in his marches--above all, such as disturbed swans or pulled +water-lilies. After every Bank Holiday he would spend a laborious day +gathering up the ugly leavings. + +Many associations endeared to him what he thus defended. When he was out +in the skiff, darting here and there, Lady Dilke, in the little dinghy +which he had caused to be built for her--called from its pleasant round +lines the _Bumble Bee_--would paddle about the reach. After her death he +would paddle out in the dinghy which no one else might take out, and lie +for hours watching the light change on that familiar and tranquil beauty +of green mead and shining water, of high-waving poplar and willow, with +drooping boughs awash. When he also was gone, the little boat was not +suffered to pass into the use of strangers, but burnt there on the bank. + +In his other home at Pyrford, all the day's relaxations were of this +intimate kind. [Footnote: Here, too, work was disturbed by his natural +history researches. He writes apologetically to Mr. Hudson as to some +mistake in a letter: 'I can plead as a disturbing cause three young +brown owls, quite tame; one barks, and two whistle, squeak--between a +railway guard and a door-hinge. The barker lets me get within four or +five feet before he leaves off yapping. He worries the cuckoo into +shouting very late. I leave the owls unwillingly, late--one night 1 a.m. +They are still going strong.'] Here also was no formal garden; Nature +had her way, but under superintendence of a student of forestry. Sir +Charles was a planter of pines; great notebooks carefully filled tell +how he studied, before the planting, the history of each species, how he +watched over the experiments and extended them. [Footnote: Here is a +detail entered concerning Lawson's cypress--_Erecta vividis_: 'I +remember Andrew Murray, of the Royal Horticultural, first describing +Lawson's cypress, introduced by his brother in 1862, when my father was +chairman of the society of which Murray was secretary. Our two are +gardener's varieties, one greener and the other bluer than the true +Lawson. The American name is Port Orford cedar. It will not do very well +on our bad soil, but I've given it a pretty good place. It is said that +Murray _first_ sent it to Lawson of Edinburgh in 1854. This variety was +made by A. Waterer in 1870.'] + +In summer, on the dry heathy commons of Surrey, there is always danger +of a chance fire spreading, and it was part of his care to maintain a +cleared belt for fending off this danger. Much of his day went in +gathering débris and undergrowth, so as to keep clear ground about the +trees, and then the heaped-up gatherings rewarded him with a bonfire in +which he had a child's pleasure, mingled with an artist's appreciation +of the shapes and colours of flame. It was for praise of this beauty +that he specially loved Anatole France's _Rôtisserie de la Reine +Pédauque_, with its celebrations of the salamanders and their vivid +element. + +The heath blossom in all its kinds was cultivated, and it was his +invariable custom to come up on a Monday from Pyrford with a spray of +his favourite white heather in his buttonhole. + +Here, too, were associations, interesting if not exactly historic. The +Battle of Dorking was fought close by, and in this neighbourhood the +Martians descended. + +Chief of Pyrford's distinctions was the discovery on Sir Charles's own +land, by Mr. Horace Donisthorpe, of a beetle (Lomechusa) which in Queen +Anne's day Sir Hans Sloane had first identified in Hampstead, parasitic +in a nest of red ants. A second specimen was found in 1710 in the mail- +coach between Gloucester and Cheltenham; but from Queen Anne's day till +1906 it was regarded as extinct, until once more it was discovered, and +discovered in its true place among the ants, on whose gestures and +behaviour towards it, whether as indicating worship or serfdom, Sir +Charles dilated with such rhetoric of description that the beetle +assumed dimensions in the mind disappointing when it was viewed in +reality. + +Another rarity of insect life at Pyrford was a spider whose appearances +have been oftenest noted at Hampton Court. These creatures, large, +black, and horrific, were accordingly known as 'Hampton Courters,' but +received no welcome, being slain on sight, their slayer quoting a +characteristic saying which he had heard from Anatole France: + + 'We all know of dangers which seem more terrible than they are. The + spider alone suffers death for his carelessness as to this habit of + exaggeration. Many an uncle spider walks about by candlelight, and + is slain by us on account of his monstrous shadow, whereas his body, + being but small, would have escaped our rage.' + +It was here that much of his Memoir was dictated, based on an enormous +mass of letters, papers, and private diaries, kept throughout his +Government career. After 1891 there is only a scattered series of +entries, increasingly sparse as time went on. Mr. Hudson recalls their +walks from the station at Woking to Pyrford across the then open common, +the lunch of eggs and milk, and the hours of work, during the period +between the publication of _Problems of Greater Britain_ and Sir +Charles's return to Parliament for the Forest of Dean. + +These two country homes, Pyrford and Dockett, held Sir Charles so fast +with their simple pleasures that the once insatiable traveller ceased to +roam. At the close of 1892, after his return to Parliament, he sold his +house and garden at Toulon. Pyrford to a great extent had come to take +its place. But to the end of his days he was a constant visitor to that +Provençal country which he loved. Apart from them there was another +place where, though he neither owned nor rented house or land, he was no +less at home than among his willows or his pines. No resident in the +Forest of Dean was better known in it than its member, and nowhere had +Sir Charles more real friends. For many years he spent three periods +among them: his Whitsun holiday, which was very much a visit of +pleasure; a visit in autumn, when he attended all meetings of the +Revision Courts; and finally a month in the dead of winter, when he went +round to meetings in each polling district, at night educating his +electors in the political questions of the time, and in the day working +with his local friends at the register till it became the most accurate +record of its kind in all Great Britain--so perfect, indeed, that he was +at last able to discontinue his attendance at the Revision Courts, +though never relaxing his keen personal interest in every change. + +His friendships in the Forest were not bounded by class or party. He had +the support, not merely of the Liberal and Labour groups, but of many +strong Conservatives, here as before at Chelsea. Mention has been made +of Mr. Blake, and another friend was Mr. John Probyn, who had stood as a +Liberal candidate for Devizes as far back as 1868, and had not changed +his views. Of his many faithful friends and supporters, one, the +honorary secretary of the Liberal Association for all Sir Charles's +years of membership, had as far back as 1886 proclaimed his faith in +him. [Footnote: Mr. John Cooksey, formerly proprietor of the _Dean +Forest Mercury_.] Another equally active in conveying the original +invitation to Sir Charles was the agent of the Forest miners, a Labour +leader of the wisest type, [Footnote: Mr. G. H. Rowlinson.] who writes: + + 'He did not live for himself; it was always others first. I never + made an appeal to him for any case of need in vain. With regard to + local matters, he seemed at the beck and call of nearly everyone. + Nothing was too small or too large for him to undertake to assist + any constituent, and oftentimes an avowed and lifelong political + opponent. In a multitude of ways he did us service with his + knowledge of affairs, his influence, his experience, his ability and + work. + + 'In the matters of commoners' right, the right of "turnout" on the + Forest, free miners' rights, questions of colliery owners, matters + relating to the Crown, the development of the lower coal seams--in + all these (and many of them are local intricate historical questions + involving a mass of detail) he rendered valuable service. + + 'In his electoral battles he was always a keen fighter and a + courteous opponent. In every campaign he seemed more anxious to beat + his opponent by sheer weight of reason and argument, and intellect + and knowledge, than by any appeal to party passion or feeling. + + 'I have been at a great many of his meetings, and never saw him + shirk a question, nor saw one put to him that he did not, nine times + out of ten, know more about than the questioner, however local the + point might be. + + 'As an example, he was holding a meeting at Newnham. Questions were + invited; none asked. Sir Charles looked disappointed; so Mr. King, + of the "Victoria," in a friendly way, thought he would put him a + poser, and asked his opinion about Sir Cuthbert Quilter's Pure Beer + Bill. + + 'For about twenty minutes Sir Charles talked beer--the origin, + ingredients, what it should be, what it often is and what it is not, + what it is in other countries. As Mr. King remarked afterwards, he + told him more about beer than he ever knew before, though he had + been in the trade all his life.' + +Probably none was more rejoiced at the unexpected display than the +genial Tory host of the Victoria, who lived to deplore his friend and to +quote especially one of his observations: 'If you see a man put on +"side," Sir Charles once said to me, you may be sure he feels the need +of it.' [Footnote: Among those who worked with him and for him best and +longest should be named at least Mr. Charles Ridler and Mr. T. A. H. +Smith of Lydney, Mr. Henry Davis of Newent, Mr. B. H. Taylor, and Mr. S. +J. Elsom.] + +Part of the service which he rendered to the constituency was by means +of the honorary presidency of the Liberal Four Hundred, first created, +to be held by himself, in 1889. Under this title the foremost spokesmen +of Liberalism were in successive years brought into the Forest; +[Footnote: The list included Mr. Asquith, Lord Morley, Mr. McKenna, Mr. +Lloyd George, and Lord Loreburn.] and thus member and constituents +worked together alike in political and in personal friendship. He hailed +the little clump of trees on the conical top of Mayhill, the first +landmark which indicated the Forest, almost as if it stood above his +home. All was homelike to him as he drove from the pastoral country by +the Severn, with its apple and pear orchards, to the typical mining town +of Cinderford, and on to the great expanse of Forest in whose midmost +glade was the Speech House Hotel, more ancient than the hollies about +it, which had been planted to mark Charles II.'s Restoration. The +Panelled Room, always reserved for his use during his stay there, had +been for many generations the place in which the free miners met to hold +their courts; it had been built for the purpose, as the gallery for +speakers showed. + +He loved the Forest--not only the distant spots of interest, but every +tree, delighting to act as guide to all its pleasant places. So each new +guest was taken to see High Beeches and the great wind-swept row of +Scots firs by Clearwell Court. The aged oak-tree, which at a distance +resembled a barn--for nothing was left but its great trunk above the +roots--was another point of pilgrimage; so were the dwarf thorns on +Wigpool Common, which reminded him of the tiny Japanese trees centuries +old, as, indeed, probably were these. + +Then there were the expeditions to the rocking stone called the +Buckstone, a relic of the Druids; to the Scowles, the wonderful Roman +iron workings like the Syracusan quarries; to Symons Yat, where the old +military earthworks ended in a triple dyke, with the Severn and the Wye +on either side; to Newland Church, in which a fifteenth-century brass +shows the free miner of those days equipped for work; or to the lovely +valley by Flaxley Abbey, once in the precincts of the Forest, where the +monks had their fish-ponds, and where on the side of the hills their old +ironworks may still be seen. + +He and Lady Dilke rode early in their stay to all these outlying places, +with Miss Monck as their constant companion. She was President of the +Women's Liberal Association, stayed with them during their long visits +to the Forest, and was with him for the election at the end. [Footnote: +Miss Emilia Monck, sister of Mr. Berkeley Monck, of Coley Park, Heading, +of which he was several times Mayor, and which he contested as a Liberal +in 1886.] + +These were far rides, but close about the Speech House the place teems +with interest. In the last years he would walk every evening to look at +the great stag-headed ruins of the oaks, which thrust their gnarled and +crooked limbs fantastically into the closing night, or stand watching +the shadows fall on the spruce rides which stretch out near the old inn, +till, in the fading light, it seemed as though figures were moving in +and out on the greensward of the great vistas. In the bright sunshine, +imposing silence on himself and his companions, he would watch for long +together the life in one of the forest glades, the moving creatures in +the grass, the tits playing on the branches of a silver birch +silhouetted against the sky, the little blue butterflies chasing each +other over the pink crab-apple bloom. He would follow the tapping of a +woodpecker, and wait in the evening for the owl's cry to begin; and +here, as elsewhere, to be with him was to see in everything unsuspected +things. + +In the winter, Speech House was at first Sir Charles's headquarters for +part of January, but there, 500 feet above the sea, the roads were +sometimes impassable from snow. At last Lady Dilke became too delicate +to face the mid-winter visit, and, except for elections, Whitsuntide and +the autumn were the two occasions for their stay. He went also each year +to the miners' demonstration--in 1908 so ill that it seemed impossible +that even his power of endurance could enable him to bear the strain, +and in 1910 again because he said he 'would not fail Rowlinson and the +miners,' though he fainted after the meeting there. + +One of their early headquarters in the Forest was Lindors, the home of +two among their first and warmest friends--Mr. Frederick Martin and his +wife. It is in a lovely little valley with sheltered lawns, the rush of +the water sounding always behind the house, above which the old castle +of St. Briavels stands. The ancient prison is still there, and the +castle dates back to the thirteenth century, and claims an almost +unbroken succession of Constables of the Castle and Wardens of the +Forest of Dean, beginning with John de Monmouth. + +After Speech House the Victoria at Newnham saw them oftenest. Its +interior is fascinating, with a low hall and fine old oak stairway, +broad and shallow; a bit of quaint French glass let into the staircase +window bears an illustrated version of La Fourmi et la Cigale. Lady +Dilke found there a remnant of fine tapestry--a battle scene with a bold +picture of horses and their riders. She traced and located this as +belonging to a great panel which is in the Palace at Madrid. At each +election, after the declaration of the poll, Sir Charles made from a +balcony of the Victoria or from a motor-car his speech to the cheering +constituents, who had followed him from the town-hall, first under +happiest circumstance, with his wife waiting for him in the porch, later +alone, till the last occasion, in December, 1910, when he fought and won +the election, dying, but with dogged courage; and as he spoke of the +long term of Liberal government which would ensue before a new electoral +struggle, friends standing near caught the words, 'When I shall not be +here.' + + * * * * * + +Sir Charles had given up the habit of travel except for some special +purpose, as when in 1897 he journeyed with Lady Dilke to see the +Nattiers at Stockholm, or in another year to Bordeaux for her work on +French Art in the Eighteenth Century. But every Christmas they went for +a month to Paris. It was the great holiday of their year, and all the +engagements were made far ahead. There was interest in their Parisian +associations, for their differing attainments made them part of various +separate coteries not familiarly accessible to English people. + +Their friends were of all worlds, political, literary, artistic, and +social; and since Sir Charles's intimacy with France dated back to +boyhood, and Lady Dilke's to the days of her first close study of French +art, which, beginning in the sixties with the French Renaissance, +terminated in her big work on French Art in the Eighteenth Century, +their friendships extended over a long period of years, though each +fresh visit enlarged their circle of friends and acquaintances. + +In the memoir prefixed to her _Book of the Spiritual Life_ Sir Charles +says of his wife: + +'Those who are familiar with several languages learn instinctively to +take the natural manners of the people who are for the moment their +companions. So it was with Lady Dilke.... In Paris she was French with +sufficient difference to give distinction.' As to himself, his great +friend M. Joseph Reinach wrote, 'Dilke connaissait la France mieux que +beaucoup d'entre nous.' But while his command of the French language and +his knowledge of many sides of French life quickened his genial +intercourse with the French, he never failed to impress them as an +English statesman. He paid his French friends the compliment of adopting +many little mannerisms; and however pure the French he spoke, he always +entertained himself by keeping up to date his acquaintance with French +slang, so that the latest developments of fashionable Paris jargon were +familiar to him. Yet that never could be said of him which he himself +noted of his friend M. Richard Waddington, brother to William +Waddington, for many years Ambassador in London, and, in Sir Charles's +opinion, a man of even higher ability than the Ambassador. Of this +friend, half French, half English, he said that he had two mentalities, +and that among Englishmen he was English, among Frenchmen French. Sir +Charles's talk with Frenchmen was unrestrained; as Bismarck felt of +England, so he of France: 'We have nothing to conceal from the French; +they are our natural allies.' But it was always the Englishman who +spoke; no slight veneer of manner in his social intercourse could +conceal that. + +There are many scattered entries in his Diary which show how great a +relaxation the Paris holiday yielded. + + 'At Christmas at Paris we were always gay, though often among the + aged. The gayest dinner I remember was at Henri Germain's with + Gérôme, Gaston Boissier, Laboulaye, and others, all about eighty, I + being the chicken of the party.' + +Gérôme, the painter, is often mentioned. Laboulaye must have been Paul +Laboulaye, born 1833, the diplomatist who had been Ambassador to St. +Petersburg in 1886. It was during his embassy that the _rapprochement_ +took place between France and Russia which was announced to Europe by +the welcome of the French fleet to Cronstadt. + +Gaston Boissier, Perpetual Secretary of the French Academy, and a great +classical scholar, figures again with another friend, M. Bonnat, in Sir +Charles's memoir of his wife; for he notes that during their last +Christmas in Paris, in 1903, 'the gaiety of their meetings' with these +two friends and others 'had been as unrestrained as ever.' Earlier +memories recall the sculptors Christophe and Gustave Moreau. +Christophe's beautiful 'Mask,' of which Lady Dilke had written, stands +in the Tuileries Garden, and was some time ago horribly disfigured by +inkstain. One of Sir Charles's late letters was written to M. Joseph +Reinach, to ask whether anything had yet been done to cleanse this work +of the sculptor she venerated. Only two small casts were made by +Christophe from the statue, and one of these, given to her by him, +decorated the Pyrford home. So did a picture by François Louis Français, +another artist friend, chief in his day of the water-colour school, a +picture which had inspired one of her stories, and gave the motto, +'Dites-moi un Pater,' to her _Shrine of Death_. In all the later and in +some of the earlier friendships Sir Charles shared, as he did in those +of the great custodians of art treasures. M. de Nolhac, the poet and the +Curator of Versailles, was prominent among them, and Eugène Müntz, head +of the École des Beaux Arts. Lady Dilke's correspondence with the +latter, extending over a period of twenty-three years, is preserved at +the Bibliothèque Nationale. + +One great friend among collectors was M. Gustave Dreyfus, a high +authority on Donatello and on the medallists of the Italian Renaissance. +At his house there was another attraction in the shape of the +concierge's cat, on whom Sir Charles would call before paying his +respects upstairs. At another house a cat named Pouf was held in great +honour by him, and his feelings were deeply wounded when, with feline +capriciousness, it turned, on Paul Hervieu's entrance, to bestow all its +blandishments on the writer. His love of cats was as well known to his +French as to his English friends, Émile Ollivier writes in 1891 from La +Moutte: 'Campion lui-même cherche d'un regard affligé son protecteur +disparu'; and M. André Chevrillon, being 'touché par la façon dont je +vous ai entendu parler de ce divin animal,' sent him Taine's sonnets 'A +trois chats, Puss, Ébène, et Mitonne, dédiés par leur ami, maître, et +serviteur.' + +Memorials of dinners with the well-known collector Camille Groult were +preserved in the shape of some sketches, one of a cavalier in peruke and +cravat, another an excellent crayon head of the host, by Domingo, the +Spanish artist, drawn on the back of a torn menu and given by him to +Lady Dilke. + +The Groults' admiration of the beauty of Dockett Eddy was testified in +the gift of a little reflecting mirror, a 'camera obscura,' which, held +to the light, made exquisite vignettes of river, clematis, and syringa; +and a dinner at 76, Sloane Street was marked by the gift of little +copies of M. Groult's famous lately acquired Fragonard, in which Cupid +levels his arrows at the dainty feet of a well-known dancer of the time. + +The sculptor Rodin was an acquaintance of late years, and a Christmas +card sent to 76, Sloane Street, in the form of a framed and signed +pencil sketch of a female head, was that master's tribute to Sir +Charles's heresy that Rodin drew much better than he sculptured. + +'For old Français,' says Sir Charles, 'Lady Dilke had the veneration she +felt for Christophe among sculptors,' and for a few women, such as Mme. +Renan. To both the Renans they were bound by ties of familiar +friendship, and some of their pleasantest hours were spent at the +Collège de France. On November 11th, 1880, there is a note of Sir +Charles's of a talk with Gambetta: 'They discussed Renan's "Souvenirs," +which were appearing in the _Revue_ for November, wonderfully +entertaining, and perfectly beautiful in style.' It was Renan who had +presented Lady Dilke's two volumes on the French Renaissance, in 1880, +to the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres, with an admiring +report, and Sir Charles's admiration for Renan's writing was great. Of +Mme. Renan he says: 'This homely-looking old dame was not only a good +wife, but a woman of the soundest sense and the most upright judgment.' + +The same feeling of attachment and respect bound them to Mme. de +Franqueville, [Footnote: Mlle. Érard.] the first wife of Sir Charles's +old friend M. de Franqueville, whom he saw often both in Paris and +London. They visited them at La Muette, famous for its memories of Marie +Antoinette, where in the early years of her prosperity she would take +her companions to play at dairying with dainty emblazoned milkpails. + +One whose friendship dated far back was Émile Ollivier, and with him Sir +Charles often discussed, both in Paris and at St. Tropez, a vanished era +in France's history, that of the 'Liberal Empire.' To these talks the +Prime Minister of Napoleon III. would bring such wealth of oratory and +such fertility of gesticulation that his hearers felt themselves +transported to a crowded chamber, of which he occupied the rostrum, and +woke with bewilderment to find themselves in the tranquil calm of his +sun-flooded Southern home. There were those who said that the point of +view urged with such conviction varied, and Sir Charles retains a _mot_ +of M. Jusserand: 'Émile Ollivier change souvent d'idée fixe.' Mme. Émile +Ollivier, his devoted second wife and helper, was also a great friend, +and her photograph was one of those which Lady Dilke kept near her. + +'Relations of the pleasantest kind,' says Sir Charles, were formed with +the Due d'Aumale, in Mr. Bodley's phrase 'last of the grands seigneurs +of France.' On September 25th, 1895, the Duke wrote asking them 'to +spend a whole day going through the books at Chantilly.' 'The charm of +these books, however, and of these repeated visits of 1895 and 1896, lay +in the fact that books and drawings alike excited historic memory.' + + 'In October, 1895, we were in Paris, and took Went [Footnote: Sir + Charles Dilke's son, the present Sir C. Wentworth Dilke.] to stay at + Vaux, that he might see the finest of the châteaux, and also the + room where, according to Dumas, Aramis and Porthos carried off Louis + XIV., though d'Artagnan saved him again. We also went ourselves to + lunch at Chantilly with the Due d'Aumale, who told us how Mme. + Adélaïde, his aunt, used to slap his brother, the Prince de + Joinville, already a distinguished naval officer, and stop his + talking politics with, "Tais-toi, méchant morveux, qui oses + critiquer la politique de ton père." Comtesse Berthe de Clinchamp + has looked after the house since the days of the Duchesse d'Aumale, + though she lives in another house. This distinguished old dame was + also there. A daughter of the Due de Chartres was once slapped by + her aunt, the Comtesse de Paris, in public, for asking to be taken + to stay at Chantilly with "tante de Clinchamp." In 1896 to 1897 we + were a great deal at Chantilly, finding the Duke interesting with + his reminiscences of his father's account of the Court of Louis XVI. + With the ex-King of Westphalia, and Bismarck, the Duc d'Aumale was + in old age the most interesting companion that I have known. It was + the projecting of his stories into a newer generation that made them + good. Sir S. Smith ("Long Acre") was a bore at the Congress of + Vienna, but would have been delightful to us could we have known + him.' [Footnote: Sir Sidney Smith must have been prolix over his + achievements at the siege of Acre and elsewhere. It is certain that + a reputation for bombast injured his career and caused his + remarkable achievements to be underrated.] + +When in May, 1897, the Duke suddenly died, Lady Dilke wrote a little +article which, in spite of the sadness of the circumstances of his death +and the consequent deep note of pathos, in certain parts of the obituary +recalled very happily the brightness of their talks. Letters of the time +speak of the losses which the Dilkes and their friends had sustained by +the fire at the charity bazaar which had indirectly caused the Duke's +death, through that of the Duchesse d'Alençon, his favourite niece. One +of Lady Dilke's dearest friends in France, the Marquise de Sassenaye, +had escaped, but several of her relations who were with her had died a +dreadful death. The tie with these friends was very close, and the +daughter of the Marquise de Sassenaye, the Baronne de Laumont, and her +granddaughter, the Comtesse Marquiset, were among Sir Charles's last +guests at the House of Commons. But he did not live to know that his +friend the Baron de Laumont and his only son laid down their lives for +France in 1915. + +Colonel Picquart Sir Charles had met in 1891 during the 'belles journees +de ces manoeuvres de l'Est,' chronicled by M. Joseph Reinach. He deeply +admired the character of this noble and chivalrous gentleman, who, +convinced that wrong had been done to an innocent man, sacrificed his +fine career to save him, and suffered for his Dreyfusism by imprisonment +and military degradation. Sir Charles met Picquart often at the table of +M. Labori and elsewhere, and at one dinner when Emile Zola was present +in 1899 there were also two English friends, the genial Sir Campbell +Clarke, Paris correspondent of the _Daily Telegraph_, and his kind wife, +at whose house in Paris the Dilkes dined almost every Christmas Day. He +touched in this way the struggle over the Dreyfus affair, and his +attitude is summed up in a letter conveying through M. Reinach to +Colonel Picquart 'that intense sympathy which I do not express publicly +only because all we English say does more harm than good.' [Footnote: +'At Christmas, 1900, in Paris we met Labori and Colonel Picquart two +nights running, and heard fully the reasons of their quarrel with the +Dreyfus family, which will probably all come out. Labori with great +eloquence, and Picquart quietly, developed the view that Dreyfus, by +virtually accepting the amnesty along with his own freedom, has taken up +the position of a guilty man and sacrificed all those who have +sacrificed everything for him. When, during the season of 1901, Labori +came to London, and we saw much of him, he had toned down this view, or +did not think it wise to express it. But it came out in November, +1901.'] + +His friendship with M. Joseph Reinach, so often mentioned, dates back to +the days when the latter was Gambetta's secretary. 'C'est par Gambetta +que j'ai connu Dilke,' says M. Reinach. 'Gambetta avait pour lui une +vive affection.' In London and in Paris they met and talked and fenced, +and kept in touch by close political correspondence. 'Dilke was a great +friend of mine, and I thought him a true and intrepid patriot and +citizen,' said M. Reinach; and perhaps of all M. Reinach's great +qualities it was his courage which most provoked the admiration of Sir +Charles and of his wife. They knew all the three brothers, and M. +Salomon Reinach, asking Sir Charles to come and discuss manuscripts, +signs himself 'in admiration of your enormous knowledge'--a happy +tribute from one of whom it was said 'il sait tout.' 'Salomon Reinach, +the outgoing President of the Academie des Inscriptions et Belles +Lettres,' writes Sir Charles in 1908 to Lord Fitzmaurice, 'is what +Arthur Strong (Librarian of House of Lords) was, and Acton tried to be, +"universal." He asked me to listen to him for two whole evenings, till +we became a nuisance to our hosts--on the way in which, despite our +Historical Manuscripts Commission, we still lock up papers. His +strongest examples were Horace Mann's letters to Horace Walpole, and the +letters received by the Duke of Wellington (the loss of nearly all the +letters written by J. S. Mill moves me more).' + +M. Pallain, Regent of the Bank of France, was another friend whose +acquaintance with Sir Charles dated back to the days when he was +Gambetta's secretary. His book on Talleyrand, the 'fameux livre de +Pallain,' as Sir Charles calls it in a letter to M. Jusserand, was +hardly less interesting to him than his mastership of French finance. + +The Siegfrieds, representatives of the wealthy and serious Protestant +world, were friends who shared Sir Charles' interest in questions of +social reform, as was that wisest of permanent officials, M. Fontaine, +head of the French Labour Department; and he discussed these matters +also with the great representative of Roman Catholic Socialism, Count +Albert de Mun. The list of his Diary engagements, ranging over a long +period of time, is filled with the names of French writers, from Ludovic +Halevy, the novelist and dramatist (passages from whose _Belle Helene_ +he would recite and whistle), to Anatole France; and of politicians of +every school of thought, from Leon Say, 'a statesman of rare +competence,' to M. Delcasse, whom he saw often, Deschanel, Leon +Bourgeois, Millerand, Viviani, and that great friend of Greece--M. Denys +Cochin; Calmette, the editor of the _Figaro_, assassinated by Mme. +Caillaux; and Lepine, the Prefect of Police; while Jaures was a London +as well as a Paris guest. + +The excellence of much French acting attracted Sir Charles and his wife +to the theatre in Paris, though in London their visits to a play were +rare. M. Jules Claretie, the Academician, and for nearly thirty years, +till his death in 1913, the distinguished Director of the Theatre +Francais, constantly put his box at their disposal, and rarely failed to +join them for a talk between the acts. + +There is a reply from General de Galliffet, the 'beau sabreur'--that +brilliant soldier whom Sir Charles had followed through the French +manoeuvres accepting a theatre invitation in 1892: 'J'ai, en principe, +l'horreur du theatre; j'en benis le ciel puisque je pourrai ainsi mieux +jouir de votre societe et de celle de Lady Dilke.' + +In these visits to Paris they went always to the Hotel St. James, in the +Rue St. Honore, attracted by the beauty and interest of their rooms +there. It is the old Hotel de Noailles, and the staircase and landing, +and several of the rooms, are still as they were when three members of +the family--grandmother, mother, and daughter--were guillotined at the +time of the French Revolution. The guardroom at the head of the stairs, +with its great folding doors, and the paved landing with its old +_dalles_, are intact, as are some of the state-rooms. Their sitting-room +and the great bedroom opening from it looked out on to the courtyard, +where in old days, before it became a courtyard and when the garden +stretched away to the Seine, Marie Antoinette walked and talked, the +story goes, with La Fayette, with whom her friend Mme. de Noailles had +arranged an interview. The windows and balconies here, and part of the +garden front, resemble exactly their representations in pictures of the +period. + +They saw many of their friends during the year both at the House of +Commons and at Dockett. Describing them in London, dining in the room +decorated by Gambetta's portrait, M. Jules Claretie writes: 'La premiere +fois que j'eus l'honneur d'etre l'hote de Sir Charles la charmante Lady +Dilke me dit, souriante, "Ici vous êtes en France. Savez-vous qui est +notre cuisinier? L'ancien brosseur de Général Chanzy."' And among Sir +Charles's collection of Dockett photographs was one in which the chef, +accompanied by the greater artist, the elder Coquelin, was fishing from +a punt on the Thames. + +'Je me rappelle avec tristesse,' says the same friend in February, 1911, +'les beaux soirs où, sur la terrasse du Parlement, en regardant, de +l'autre côté de la Tamise, les silhouettes des hauts monuments, là-bas, +sous les étoiles, dans la nuit, nous causions avec Sir Charles de cet +_Athenæum_, la revue hebdomadaire oú il accumulait tant de science, et +dont j'avais été un moment, après Philarète Chasles et Edmond About, le +correspondant Parisien; puis de Paris, de la France de Pavenir-du passé +aussi.' + +When M. Jules Claretie came to London to deliver a lecture in 1899 on +the French and English theatre, Sir Charles was asked to preside, and +also to assist in welcoming him at the Ambassador's table. The charming +and unfailing friendship of that Ambassador, M. Paul Cambon, is worthy +of record, and Sir Charles's admiration for him was very marked. He used +to say that so long as a great Ambassador, either French or English, +represented his nation in Paris or London, the other representative +might be a cipher, and M. Cambon's embassy in London sufficed for both +countries. 'He is a man,' he wrote to Mr. Morley in 1892, 'who (with his +brother Jules) will survive Ribot, and even Freycinet.' + +Another close friend was M. Jusserand, whose graceful studies of English +literary history adorned the Pyrford bookshelves. While he was +counsellor to the Embassy in London he was a frequent guest at 76, +Sloane Street, and when he became Ambassador at Washington he still kept +in constant touch with Sir Charles. + +'Dès qu'on nous parle d'un homme d'état étranger, ministre ou +diplomate,' says M. Joseph Reinach, writing of Sir Charles, 'c'est notre +première question: Aime-t-il la France? C'est une sottise. Un Italien +n'aime que l'Italie, un Russe n'aime que la Russie, un Anglais n'aime +que l'Angleterre.' It may be so. In 1887 Sir Charles wrote to M. Reinach +concerning the possibility that Bismarck would attack France, which, he +added, 'everybody thinks likely except your humble servant, Lord Lyons, +and Sir E. Malet, our new man at Berlin.' If it did happen, said he, +'whatever use I can be I shall be, either if I can best serve France by +writing here, or by coming to be a private of volunteers and by giving +all I can to the French ambulances.' Some there are who can recall Sir +Charles's face as he turned over the pages of M. Boutet de Monvel's +_Jeanne d'Arc_, and dwelt on that first picture in which the little +'piou-pious' of the modern army advance, under the flag on which are +inscribed the battles of the past; while the Old Guard rises from the +earth to reinforce their ranks, and the ghostly figure of Jeanne d'Arc, +symbolizing the spirit of France, leads on to victory. Listening as he +talked, his hearers became infected with Sir Charles's spirit, and +thinking of the past, looking to the future, he so kindled them that +when he closed the book they all were 'lovers of France.' + + + + +CHAPTER LII + +LABOUR + +1870-1911 + + +I. + +'From 1870 to this date one man has stood for all the great causes of +industrial progress, whether for the agricultural labourers, or in the +textile trades, or in the mining industries, or with the shop +assistants. That man is Sir Charles Dilke.' So, in 1910, spoke Dr. Gore, +the present Bishop of Oxford, at that time Bishop of Birmingham. + +In Sir Charles's early days, economists were still governed by +individualist doctrines. The school of _laissez faire_ was the +prevailing school of thought, and in its teaching he was trained. "We +were all Tory anarchists once," was his own summary of the views which +characterized that economic theory. But to "let alone" industrial misery +early became for Sir Charles a counsel of despair. _Greater Britain_, +published in 1868, when he was twenty-five, gave indications of a change +of view, and his close friendship with John Stuart Mill directly +furthered this development. Mill's lapses into heresy from the orthodox +economics of the day were notable, and Sir Charles was wont to point to +a passage written by Mill in the forties showing that sweated wages +depressed all wages, and to claim him as the pioneer of the minimum +wage. + +It was left for Mill's disciple to become one of the foremost champions +of the legislation which now protects the industrial conditions of the +worker, and also the guardian of its effective administration. + +His policy was distinguished by his determination to act with those for +whom the legislation was created, and to induce them to inspire and to +demand measures for their own protection. The education of the +industrial class, the object of "helping the workers to help +themselves," was never absent from his mind. This view went farther than +the interest of a class: he held the stability of the State itself to be +menaced by the existence of an unorganized and depressed body of +workers. An organized and intelligent corporate demand put forward by +trained leaders chosen from the workers' own ranks was essential to the +development and stability of industrial conditions and to appropriate +legislation. Sir Charles was therefore the unwavering advocate of +trade-unionism. It is worth while to emphasize his attitude, since views +now generally accepted were not popular in the sixties. His first speech +to his Chelsea electors in 1867 dealt with his trade-union position, as +it did with the need for strengthening the Factory Acts. + +Violent utterances on the part of certain sections of Labour did not +affect his advocacy of its claims, for he would have endorsed the words +of Cardinal Manning written to him on September 13th, 1884: "It is the +cause of the people mismanaged by imprudent and rough words and deeds; +but a people suffering long and stung by want of sympathy cannot speak +like county magistrates." During the later period of his life he tried, +at innumerable meetings all over Great Britain, to help trade-unionists +to make their claims understood. So he came to fill "a unique position +as counsellor, friend, and adviser to the Labour cause." [Footnote: +Letter from the Rt. Hon. George Barnes, Labour M.P. for the Blackfriars +division of Glasgow, and Minister for Pensions in Mr. Lloyd George's +Government of 1916, once general secretary of the Amalgamated Society of +Engineers.] + +His belief in trade-unionism was never shaken; for though he did not +pretend that in the distant future trade-unionism would be sufficient to +redress all social ills, holding it, as Lady Dilke did, to be, not "the +gospel of the future, but salvation for the present," he believed that +during his lifetime it was far from having perfected its work. He was a +strong municipal Socialist, but with regard to State Socialism he would +never bind himself to any general theory; he was in favour of large +experiments and of noting those made elsewhere; beyond this he "did not +see his way." + +His faith in the maintenance of all safeguards for trade-unions was well +demonstrated by his action on the occasion of the Taff Vale judgment and +its sequel. [Footnote: _Taff Vale Judgment_.--As trade-unions were not +incorporated, it was generally assumed that they could not be sued, but +in 1900 Mr. Justice Farwell decided that a trade-union registered under +the Trade-Union Acts, 1871 and 1876, might be sued in its registered +name; and this decision, after being reversed in the Court of Appeal, +was restored by the House of Lords in 1901. The result of this case (the +Taff Vale Railway Company _v_. the Amalgamated Society of Railway +Servants) was that damages could be obtained against a trade-union for +the acts of their officials in "picketing" during a strike; and by +making the trustees in whom the funds were vested defendants, an order +could be obtained for the payment of damages and costs out of the +accumulated funds of the trade-union.] He wished to keep for them the +inviolability of corporate funds which formed their strength and staying +power. While he admitted that theoretically a good case could be made +out against such inviolability, he was clear that in practice it was +essential to the continued existence of Labour as an organized force, +capable of self-defensive action. The conference on the effect of the +Taff Vale decision held in October, 1901, was arranged by him after +consultation with Mr. Asquith, who suggested Sir Robert Reid and Mr. +Haldane as legal assessors. How grave was the position which the +judgment had created may be gathered from the declaration of Mr. Asquith +in a letter to Sir Charles written on December 5th, 1901: "How to +conduct a strike legally now, I do not know." He advised the +introduction of two Bills, one to deal with the question of trade-union +funds, the other with picketing, etc. In April, 1902, Sir Charles Dilke +introduced the deputation, organized to ask for special facilities for +discussion, to Lord James of Hereford, who received it on behalf of the +Cabinet, and to Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman as Leader of the +Opposition. + +In an article contributed by him to the _Independent Review_ of June, +1904, he notes a private offer of the Government for dealing with the +matter by a small Royal Commission of experts, whose recommendations +should be immediately followed by legislation. This was refused by the +Labour leaders, and he thought it a lost opportunity for what might have +been a favourable settlement. [Footnote: Mr. D. J. Shackleton, an +Insurance Commissioner, and appointed Permanent Under-Secretary of the +Ministry of Labour in December, 1916, was in 1906 M.P. for Clitheroe, +and a prominent member of the Labour party. He writes of the passing of +the Trade Disputes Act, which reversed the Taff Vale judgment: "It was +my privilege to be the spokesman for the Labour party and Joint Board on +the Trade Disputes Bill in the House of Commons. On the evening when the +Bill was read a third time in the House of Lords, the three National +Committees gave me a complimentary dinner at the House of Commons. In +the course of my speech in reply to the toast, I expressed, on behalf of +the Labour movement and myself, our sincere and grateful thanks to Sir +Charles for the very valuable help he had given us through all our +Parliamentary fights. My consultations with him whilst the Bill was +before the House were almost daily. On many occasions he crossed the +floor to give me points in answer to speeches that were made in +opposition to the Labour position."] But at the same time 'the Taff Vale +judgment virtually brought the separate Labour party into existence, and +the difficulty of upsetting the judgment and of amending the law of +conspiracy will,' he said, 'nurture, develop, and fortify it in the +future.' To him this was matter for satisfaction. [Footnote: A full +account of the action taken by Sir Charles on the Taff Vale judgment and +the Trade Disputes Act which reversed its decision will be found in +Appendix II. to this chapter, furnished by Miss Mary Macarthur (now Mrs. +W. C. Anderson). Miss Macarthur, secretary of the Women's Trade-Union +League from 1903, worked with Sir Charles on many questions.] + +His absence from the House of Commons from 1886 to 1892 gave him leisure +for deep study of industrial questions, and he drew much of illustration +and advice from his knowledge of colonial enterprise in social reform. +Thus, in his advocacy of a general eight-hour day, observation of +colonial politics largely guided his suggestions. In his first speech in +the Forest of Dean in 1889, he said: "Australia has tried experiments +for us, and we have the advantage of being able to note their success or +failure before we imitate or vary them at home." The experiments in +regard to regulation of hours and wages which colonial analogy justified +should, he urged, be carried out by Government and by the municipalities +as employers and in their contracts. His visits to our Colonies were +followed by constant correspondence with Colonial statesmen, especially +with Mr. Deakin, and the introduction here of minimum-wage legislation +may be traced to Sir Charles's close study of Colonial experiment. + +But he never narrowed his policy to developments which would confine the +leaders of Labour to the management of the internal affairs of their +trade-unions; he early urged the representation of Labour by Labour in +Parliament, where its influence on legislation affecting its interests +would be direct, and there is a note in his Diary in 1906, when the +"Labour party" in Parliament came into existence, chronicling the +"triumph of the principles" to which during his life that part of his +activities devoted to Labour had been given. + +In 1894, when the Independent Labour party was emerging into light, he +had advocated in talks with Labour friends its development into the +Labour party of later days. But he noted the limits which bounded his +own co-operation except as an adviser: "My willingness to sink home +questions and join the Tories in the event of a war, and my wish to +increase the white army in India and the fleet--even as matters +stand--are a bar." + +There were those who prophesied that the Labour party's appearance had +no permanent interest; that it owed its existence to political crises, +and would soon fade out of the life of Parliament. Sir Charles, on the +contrary, was clear that it constituted a definite and permanent feature +in Parliamentary life. It might vary in number and in efficiency; it +might, like other parties, have periods of depression; but it was +henceforth a factor to be reckoned with in politics. Its power, however, +must largely depend upon its independence. The point to which an +independent party can carry its support of the Government in power must +not be overstepped, and when, as in 1910, in the case of the "Osborne +judgment" [Footnote: Mr. Osborne was a member of the Amalgamated Society +of Railway Servants. He brought an action against them for a declaration +that the rule providing contribution for Parliamentary representation is +invalid, and for an injunction to restrain the funds being used in this +way. He was successful in the Court of Appeal and in the House of Lords +(A.S. of R.S. _v_. Osborne, 1910, A.C., 87). This practically made it +impossible for trade-unions to support the Labour party.] or the +Unemployed Bill, he thought that he detected weakening in the ranks of +the Labour party in their fight for these Bills, he noted it gravely. + +His view that Labour should find its leaders in its own ranks was not +shared by Chamberlain and others who initiated Labour legislation; +[Footnote: April, 1893, letter to Dilke from Chamberlain: "A political +leader having genuine sympathy with the working classes and a political +programme could, in my opinion, afford to set them [Labour leaders] +aside." Reference to this letter has been made also in Chapter XLIX., p. +288.] but Dilke's principle was to act as spokesman for Labour only so +long as it stood in need of an interpreter; when the movement had +attained stability and become articulate, his work as the advocate who +had expressed its aspirations and compelled public attention for them +was done. + +His policy did not involve his silence on points in which he differed +from the Labour party. In his first speech in the House of Commons in +1893, on the question of the destitute alien, he did not agree with some +trade representatives, who would in those days have excluded aliens, in +fear of their competition. His dissection of the figures on which the +plea of exclusion was based showed that they were misleading, since +emigration and immigration were not accurately compared. He maintained +that protective legislation with regard to conditions and wages would +deal with the danger from competition which the trades feared, and he +pointed out that anti-alien legislation must strike at the root of that +right of asylum which had always been a distinguishing feature of +British policy. + +He met the contention of those who wished for a Labour Ministry by +pointing out that co-ordination and readjustment, not addition to the +number of Ministers, was needed. The size of our Cabinets was +responsible for many governmental weaknesses in a country where +Ministers were already far more numerous than was the case in other +great European countries; too numerous to be accommodated on the +Treasury Bench, and with salaries which would almost have met the cost +of payment of members. + +From Labour developments everything was to be hoped, and nothing to be +feared, in the interests of the State or community. The only danger +which menaced the gradual and wise evolution of Labour was "an +unsuccessful war." The danger to peaceful evolution from such a war +would be great indeed. He warned those who advocated the settlement of +international difficulties by arbitration, that this result could only +be obtained when the workers of the different countries were in a +position to arrive at settlement by this means. Till then we could not +neglect any precaution for Imperial Defence. + +Complete data are needed to carry out efficient work, and to Sir +Charles's orderly mind the confusion of our Labour and other statistics, +and the absence of correlation arising from their production by +different departments, were a source of constant irritation. Both by +question and speech in the House of Commons and as President of the +Statistical Society he laboured to obtain inquiry into "this +overlapping, to obtain co-ordination of statistics and the possibility +of combining enforcement with economy under one department," instead of +under three or four. [Footnote: Sir Bernard Mallet, Registrar-General, +gives an account of Sir Charles's work in this direction. See Appendix +I. to this chapter.] + +Trade-unionism had by no means achieved "its perfected work," and +outside the highly organized trades there was a vast unorganized mass of +labour, largely that of women. The existence of such a body of workers +undermined the Labour position, and of all Sir Charles's efforts to +improve industrial conditions none is more noteworthy than that which +was done by himself and Lady Dilke for women and children. His wife's +work for the Women's Trade-Union League, to which are affiliated women's +trade-unions (the League increased its membership from ten to seventy +thousand during her lifetime), brought him increasingly in touch with +women's work; and, from his return to Parliament in 1892 to the end, +scarcely a month in any Session passed without many questions being put +by him in the House of Commons on points dealing with their needs. These +questions tell in themselves a history of a long campaign; sometimes +dealing with isolated cases of suffering, such as accident or death from +ill-guarded machinery, or a miscarriage of justice through the hide- +bound conservatism of some country bench; sometimes forming part of a +long series of interrogatories, representing persistent pressure +extending over many years, directed to increased inspection, to the +enforcement of already existing legislation, or to the promotion of new. +The results were shown not only by redress of individual hardships and +by the general strengthening of administration, but by the higher +standard reached in the various measures of protective legislation which +were passed during his lifetime. Nearly every Bill for improving Labour +conditions, for dealing with fines and deductions, for procuring +compensation for accident, bore the stamp of his work. [Footnote: As +Minister he helped in measures far outside his department. Mr. W. J. +Davis, father of the Parliamentary Committee of the Trade-Union +Congress, tells how once, at Dilke's own suggestion, he and Mr. +Broadhurst came to see Sir Charles, then Under-Secretary for Foreign +Affairs, about the Employers' Liability Bill and the Contracting-out +Clause. "We spent an hour with him in the smoking-room," says Mr. Davis, +"and left, Sir Charles having agreed to see the full Committee at 9.30 +next morning. The House did not rise until 3 a.m., but Sir Charles was +at our offices in Buckingham Street prompt to time. In the afternoon he +met a few of us again, to consider an amendment for extending the time +for the commencement of an action to six months instead of six weeks. +This desirable alteration he succeeded in obtaining. When the Bill was +passed--which, with all its faults, restored the workers' rights to +compensation for life and limb--there was no member of the Government, +even including the Home Secretary (Sir William Harcourt), from whom the +Parliamentary Committee had received such valuable help as from the +Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs."] + +Characteristically he mustered for use every scrap of information +available on a subject. Thus, he detected in the Employment of Children +Act (1903) powers which neither the framers nor the promoters of the Act +had foreseen, and, by speech and question, pressed their use till these +previously unknown powers of protection for children were exercised by +the officials to the full. Equally characteristic was his fashion of +utilizing his specialized knowledge of regulations in one department in +order to drive home his point in another. Thus, having cited the case of +a stunted child told off to carry loads amounting to 107 pounds, he was +able to add the information that, "in regulating the weight to be lifted +by blue-jackets in working quick-firing guns, the limit was put at 100 +pounds." + +His care for women workers was not confined to public advocacy; it +showed itself in unostentatious and unremitting help to those who worked +with him or came to him for advice. Such advice was not confined to +large questions of policy: he spent himself as faithfully on the +smallest points of detail which made for the efficiency of the work. His +knowledge furnished "briefs" for that group of workers which his wife's +care for the Women's Trade-Union League drew round them both, and it +guided and inspired their campaign. He watched every publication of the +League. However busy, he would find time to correct the proofs of +articles brought to him, to dissect Blue-books and suggest new points; +each quarter he read the review which was issued of the League's work. + +The man who knows, and is ready to help, is early surrounded by clients. +Tributes from the organizers and leaders of the great trades are as +frequent as the testimony to his help which came from workers in +unorganized and sweated trades. The representative of a mining +constituency in later years, his work for the miners was great, and +repaid by their trust and support. [Footnote: "During the whole of his +Parliamentary life he was always ready and willing to help the miners, +assist in preparing and drafting Mines Bills, regulations for increased +safety in mines, and the eight hours. He was in charge of the Mines +Regulation Amendment Bill, bringing it before the House every Session +until the Government appointed a Royal Commission, and ultimately +brought in a Bill which became an Act of Parliament. By his tact and +influence he managed some years ago to get a short Bill passed raising +the working age underground from twelve to thirteen," writes Mr. T. +Ashton, secretary of the Miners' Federation.] From a standpoint which +gives an estimate of all his Labour work come these words from Mr. +Sidney Webb: + + "He was an unfailing resource in every emergency. No one will ever + know how much the Progressive Movement, in all its manifestations, + owed to his counsel, his great knowledge, and his unsparing + helpfulness. Trade-unionism among women as well as men; the movement + for amending and extending factory legislation; the organization of + the Labour forces in the House of Commons, are only some of the + causes in which I have myself witnessed the extraordinary + effectiveness which his participation added. There has probably been + no other instance in which the workmen alike in the difficulties of + trade-union organization and amid the complications of Parliamentary + tactics have had constantly at their service the services of a man + of so much knowledge and such extensive experience of men and + affairs. But the quality that more than any other impressed me in + Sir Charles Dilke as I knew him was his self-effacement. He seemed + to have freed himself, not only from personal ambitions, but also + from personal resentments and personal vanity. What was remarkable + was that this 'selflessness' had in it no element of 'quietism.' He + retained all the keenness of desire for reform, all the zest of + intellectual striving, and all the optimism, of the enthusiast." + + +II. + +That "true Imperialism" which Sir Charles advocated was never more +clearly shown than in matters of Social Reform. His demand that we +should learn from the example of our Colonies was dictated by his desire +to promote the homogeneity of the Empire. He believed in developing our +institutions according to the national genius, and he viewed, for +example, with distrust the tendency to import into this country such +schemes as that of contributory National Sickness Insurance on a German +pattern. His attitude during the early debates on Old-Age Pensions +helped to secure a non-contributory scheme. He laid, then as always, +special stress on the position of those workers who never receive a +living wage and already suffer from heavy indirect taxation, holding +that to take from such as these is to reduce still further their +vitality and efficiency. During the debates on the Workmen's +Compensation Act he urged the extension of the principle to out-workers +and to all trades. The protection should be universal and compulsory. + +In a speech of April 27th, 1907, he promised to "fight to the death any +scheme of Old-Age Pensions based on thrift or on the workers' +contributions." Later, when the proposals as to workmen's insurance were +nebulous, but nevertheless pointed to a contributory scheme, he, +criticizing some words of Mr. Haldane's, spoke his anxiety lest "to have +a system for all labour, including the underpaid labour of unskilled +women, based on contributions by the individual, might involve the +difficulty expressly avoided by the Government in the case of pensions-- +namely, the use of public money to benefit the better-paid class of +labour, inapplicable to the worst-paid class, but largely based on +taxation which the latter paid." One of his last pencillings on the +margin of an article reviewing the Government's forecast of the scheme +for sickness insurance includes a note of regret and indignation at the +apparent omission to make any special provision for the lowest-paid +classes of workers. + +One neglected class of Labour whose grievances he sought to remedy by a +measure which has not yet reached fulfilment was that of the shop +assistants. Year after year, from 1896, he spoke at their meetings, +introduced their Bill in the House of Commons, urged its points, +inspired its introduction in the Lords, till at last the Liberal +Government, in 1909, introduced proposals embodying its main features. +The question of the representation of the shop assistants on the Grand +Committee when the Bill should reach that stage was discussed by him +just five days before his death, and many attributed very largely to his +absence the fact that the Government were obliged to permit mutilation +of their proposals before they became law in 1911. The National Union of +Shop Assistants have commemorated his work for them by giving his name +to their new headquarter offices in London. + +An amusing tribute to his legislative activities and the effect they +produced on reactionaries is to be found in a speech by that famous +"die-hard" of the individualist school, the late Lord Wemyss, who warned +the House of Lords that their lordships should always scrutinize the +measures that came from "another place," and "beware of Bills which bear +on their backs the name of that great municipal Socialist, Sir Charles +Dilke." + +A minor but important characteristic of Sir Charles's views as an +administrator was his conviction that wherever the interests of women +and children are concerned the inspectorate should include an effective +women's staff. The appointment of women inspectors for the Local +Government Board made by him in 1883 was a pioneer experiment, which he +vainly urged Sir William Harcourt to follow in the Home Department--a +reform delayed till twelve years later, when Mr. Asquith as Home +Secretary carried it out. + +But his most important service to Labour in the direction of +administration is connected with the Home Office Vote. Though Bills were +closely followed by him in Committee, he refused to take part in any +obstruction upon them, holding that "all obstruction is opposed to the +interests of Radicalism, in the long-run." Acting on this view, he with +others helped the Government to get votes in Supply. The true policy +was, in his view, to obtain "ample opportunity for the discussion of +important votes at those times of the Session when we desire to discuss +them." So he dealt with Home Office administration on its industrial +side. Some more marked and centralized criticism of the workings of this +great department was necessary than that supplied by questions in +Parliament, correspondence, and private interviews. The administration +of the War Office, the conduct of Foreign Affairs, or of the Admiralty, +claimed the attention of the House of Commons as the annual vote on the +Estimates came round. It was not so with the "Ministry of the Interior," +and it was practically left to Sir Charles to create that annual debate +on the Home Office Vote, which dealt with the industrial side of that +department's administration. Year after year he reviewed its work, +forcing into prominence the Chief Inspector's Report on Factories and +Workshops; examining the orders, exemptions, exceptions, and +regulations, by which the Home Office legislates under the head of +administration, always with a view to the levelling up of industrial +conditions and the promotion of a universal incidence of protection for +the workers. "We can trust no one but Sir Charles Dilke in Parliament to +understand the principles of factory legislation," wrote Mr. Sidney Webb +in comment on some destructive Government proposals as to industrial +law. This appreciation of the fundamental ideal underlying our +legislative patchwork of eccentricities went hand in hand with a half- +humorous and half-lenient understanding of his countrymen's attitude to +such questions. "We passed Acts in advance of other nations," he said, +"before we began to look for the doctrines that underlay our action, and +long before we possessed the knowledge on which it was said to have been +based." But for one afternoon in the year the attention of the House of +Commons was intelligently focussed on the details of the suffering of +those, the weakest workers of all, on whose shoulders the fabric of our +industrial system rests. Matters left previously to the agitation of +some voluntary society or to the pages of the "novel with a purpose" +were marshalled according to their bearing on different administrative +points, and discussed in orderly detail. The overwork of women and girls +in factory or workshop; the injury to health and the risks that spring +from employment in dangerous trades; poor wages further reduced by fines +and deductions; the employment of children often sent to work at too +early an age, to stagger under loads too heavy for them to bear; the +liability to accident consequent on long hours of labour--these were the +themes brought forward on the Home Office Vote, not for rhetorical +display, but as arguments tending to a practical conclusion, such as the +inadequacy of inspection or the insufficient numbers of the available +staff. + +In the atmosphere thus created much progress was possible. Take, for +example, one dangerous trade, that of the manufacture of china and +earthenware, in which during the early nineties suffering which caused +paralysis, blindness, and death, was frequent and acute. Speaking as +late as 1898 on the Home Office Vote, and quoting from the official +reports, Sir Charles showed that the cases for the whole country +amounted to between four and five hundred out of the five to six +thousand persons exposed to danger. Under his persistent pressure +Committee after Committee inquired into this question and promulgated +special rules; attention was focussed on the suffering, and this evil, +though still unfortunately existing, abated both in numbers and +acuteness, till at his death the cases had fallen to about a fifth of +those notified in 1898. + +His standpoint was one which raised industrial matters out of the arena +of party fight, and on both sides of the House he found willing +co-operators. + +Help came not from the House of Commons alone. Lord James of Hereford, +Lord Beauchamp, Lord Milner, lent their aid on different occasions, and +Lord Lytton paid generous tribute to one "who was always ready to place +his vast knowledge and experience, his energy and industry, at the +service of any cause which has for its object the social well-being of +the people of this country." + +In Sir Charles's crowded day, the early luncheon at half-past twelve +which allowed time for talk before the House met was often set aside for +interviews. During the meal itself conversation for the greater part +ranged wide, but towards the end he would turn to his guest with a +demand for information on the point at issue, or, if his advice were +needed, with an appeal for questions. The mass of information which he +elicited was due to the simplicity of his talk with all who came to him. +"He asked me my views as if I were of his own standing," said the young +secretary of the Anti-Sweating League after his first interview. + +[Footnote: Apart from these scattered conversations, Sir Charles met the +united representatives of trade-unionism once a year at the opening of +Parliament, for then the Trade-Union Congress Parliamentary Committee +lunched with him and talked over Labour questions at the House of +Commons. This custom, which began in 1880 and lasted through Mr. +Broadhurst's secretaryship, was resumed in 1898, and was continued to +the end, and the meeting was fruitful of results. "These annual +conversations," says Mr. Davis, "had much more to do with the policy of +the legislative Labour party than could be understood by the party as a +whole, but always the object was to aid the main aspirations of the +Trade-Union Congress; indeed, from 1901 to 1906 the luncheons were +followed by a conference of Labour and Radical members in one of the +conference-rooms, where arrangements were made to support Labour Bills +or to oppose reactionary proposals made by a reactionary Government. +This would have continued, but in 1906 the larger Labour party returned +to Parliament made it unnecessary." + +The advent of the "larger Labour party," though it affected the +conferences, did not affect the social meetings, which ceased only with +Sir Charles Dilke's death. The last of these dinners was one at which +the Parliamentary Committee in their turn entertained him, paying warm +tribute to the years of help he had given to the trade-union movement. +It was in the vacation, but there was a full attendance, all the +provincial members of the Parliamentary Committee without exception +coming up or staying in London for the dinner. One of his prized +possessions in the after-months was the gold matchbox they gave him, +inscribed with the badge of the Trade-Union Congress and the word +"Labour." Round it were engraved his name and the date of the +Parliamentary Committee's presentation.] + +The reformer does not generally count on the aid of representatives of +the great Government departments, yet the independent and non-party +attitude of Sir Charles and the friends who worked with him for Social +Reform secured not only the attention of successive Ministers, but also +the help of those permanent officials who finally came to do him honour +at the dinner which commemorated the passing of the Trade Boards Act in +1910. + +Conspicuous among the friends who worked with him in the House of +Commons for the promotion of Social Reform in different directions were +Mr. H. J. Tennant (afterwards Secretary for Scotland in Mr. Asquith's +Coalition Government), Captain Norton (now Lord Rathcreedan), Mr. +Masterman, and Mr. J. W. Hills, member for Durham, a leader of the +Social Reform group among the Conservatives. Mr. Hills's estimate of +this side of Sir Charles's Parliamentary achievements may fitly be given +here: + + "Dilke's interest in Labour questions sprang not only from his sense + of justice and sympathy with the unfortunate, but also from his + clear and logical mind, which recognized that starvation, + underpayment, and servile conditions are the negation of that + democracy in which he believed for the United Kingdom and the + Empire. For this reason he was the admitted champion of the coloured + races; and he was the originator of a growing school of reformers of + all countries, who realize that the nations of the world must + advance together, for if one lags behind all suffer. He therefore + took a most active interest in the International Association for + Labour Legislation; he was the mainstay of the English branch, and + he kept closely in touch with men like Dr. Bauer of Switzerland, M. + Fontaine of France, and M. Vandervelde of Brussels, who were working + on the same lines in other countries. Of the earlier and more + difficult part of the work I saw nothing, for when I joined the + association it had an assured position, and had behind it two great + outstanding successes--the abolition of white phosphorus in the + making of matches, and the regulation of nightwork for women. His + knowledge of foreign countries, his familiarity with their + industrial questions and modes of thought, and his facility in their + languages, gave him, by common consent, a position such as no one + holds now. The work has been little recognized in England; our + Government, unlike foreign Governments, was slow to give help to the + association, and it was only Dilke's unbounded energy that compelled + them to support this important and hopeful movement. + + "What struck me about his position in domestic Labour questions was + that his support or opposition was always the dominating fact of the + situation. What his relations were with Labour I do not know--he + never talked about it; but I have no doubt that he was their + counsellor and adviser throughout their history. + + "Dilke had a deeper hold on Labour than his knowledge and ability + alone would have given him. He held their hearts and affection as + well. They looked upon him as the one man who had always stood up + for the workers, through bad and good report, whether they had votes + or had not. He had championed their cause when they were voiceless, + when it had little support in Parliament and gave little advantage + at elections. Nowadays such championship is both easy and + profitable, but that was by no means the case in the sixties and + seventies. It was exceedingly unpopular, and out of touch with the + political philosophy of all except a few. I was greatly struck with + this at the dinner given to Dilke in 1910 to celebrate the passing + of the Trade Boards Act. I realized that many had come there to do + honour to the one man who had always fought for them. They knew that + so long as he was alive there was someone who would support them, + regardless of consequences. + + * * * * * + + "Of his activities in Parliament, I remember most vividly those in + which I was personally concerned. In two such cases I was on the + opposite side; in two I worked with him. The Trade Disputes Act of + 1906 was in reality carried by Dilke and Shackleton, for the + Government were hopelessly compromised by the two voices with which + nearly all their leaders had spoken. Again in 1907, when I was + trying to plead for Preferential Trade, he marshalled against it all + the force of his wide knowledge and ripe experience. + + "On the other hand, in 1909 the luck of the ballot enabled me to + bring in a private member's Bill, and I introduced Dilke's Sweated + Industries Bill. Dilke was to second it. When the Bill came on I was + laid up with influenza, but I was determined to go to the House, and + got out of bed to do so, though when I got there I was only capable + of a few sentences and had to return to bed. But the effect of the + introduction of Dilke's Bill was to stir up the Government, so much + so that a few days later Winston Churchill introduced his Bill, + which, being a Government Bill, took precedence of ours and became + law as the Trade Boards Act. In 1910 again, on the Home Office Vote, + an occasion on which Dilke always made a masterly review of the + industrial history of the year, he asked me to second him, and to + deal particularly with lead-poisoning in the Potteries. He always + tried to detach Labour questions from party. It was entirely owing + to him that I took an interest in the subject. + + "I never actually worked with him, but I should imagine that he + worked at a pace that few could follow. He was wonderful at + mastering facts, and he had the instinct of knowing what facts were + important. His method must have been somewhat unconventional, for + not only did he tear the heart out of a book, but he frequently tore + pages out as well. He had got what he wanted, and the rest was waste + paper." + + +III. + +The testimony of Mr. Hills has touched on several objects for which Sir +Charles worked till his death, but of these one upon which he struggled +to establish an international understanding--that of the minimum wage-- +claims a fuller consideration. The interdependence of Labour was always +apparent to him, and under the sympathy for suffering which inspired his +action on such questions as the native races or the treatment of the +alien Jew, there lay the sense that the degradation of any class of +labour in one country affected its status in all, and that to be insular +on industrial questions was to undermine everything that the pioneers of +English Labour had fought for and achieved. + +The wages of many workers were left untouched by the imperfect +development of trade-unionism. Sweating was the result. To check this +evil, machinery must be created by legislation to deal with low wages, +while international understanding was essential here, as in other +questions of Social Reform, to enable the democracies of the various +countries to keep abreast. + +The question of the minimum wage had occupied Sir Charles Dilke's +attention from the days of his discipleship to John Stuart Mill. He had +been much impressed by the debates which took place during his +presidency in 1885 at the Conference on Industrial Remuneration. A few +years later he had been present at a meeting convened by the Women's +Trade-Union League during the Trade-Union Congress at Glasgow, and the +impression made on him by that meeting he thus described: + + "I had long been used to Labour meetings, but was then brought face + to face with hopeless difficulties, heartbreaking to the organizer, + because of a rooted disbelief among the workers in the possibility + of improvement. There is a stage in which there is hope--hope for + the improvement of wages and of conditions, possibly to be won by + combined effort. There is a stage, familiar in the East End of + London, when there is no hope for anything, except, perhaps, a hired + feather and the off-chance of an outing. Yet even the roughest + trades employing women and children in factories or large workshops, + to be found in the East End or in the outskirts of Glasgow, have in + them the remote possibility of organization. Home industries in many + cases have not even that bare chance. There is in them a misery + which depresses both the workers and those who would help them. The + home life of the poorest class of factory workers is not much, but + it means, nevertheless, a great deal to them. The home life of the + home worker is often nothing. The home becomes the grinding shop. + Factory slavery finds a refuge even in a hard home. 'Home' slavery + has none.... It is in this class, utterly incapable of fixing a + minimum wage for itself, that the evil of its absence stands + revealed in its worst form." + +Turning, as was his custom, to our colonies for successful experiment +and example, he discussed with Mr. Deakin (the Victorian Minister of +whom he prophesied in 1887 that he would be the First Prime Minister of +that federated Australia which was then called "Deakin's Dream") the +example of a Wages Board which was being introduced in Victoria. An +Anti-Sweating League had been formed in 1893 in Victoria, and had +adopted this scheme, carrying it into law in 1895. The vital part of the +scheme was the creation of Conciliation Boards on which representatives +of employers and employed were represented--Boards which should discuss +wages and fix a minimum rate in the trade concerned. + +As opposed to any larger scheme of conciliation for all trades, this +plan had to Sir Charles's mind certain marked advantages: it would not +interfere with the activities of the great trade-unions which already +stood possessed of similar voluntary machinery, while its application +only to those whose depressed and miserable condition invoked public +sympathy would create an atmosphere likely to induce successful and +harmonious development. + +In 1898 he introduced his Wages Boards Bill, from that time annually +laid before Parliament; but it made no progress, and there were moments +when even his optimism almost failed. It was not till 1906, when a +Sweated Industries Exhibition was organized by the _Daily News_, that a +step forward was made. The sight of the workers, engaged in their +ill-remunerated toil, brought home to the public an evil till then too +little realized. The movement was international. A similar exhibition in +Berlin had already been held, and others now followed in America, in +Continental countries, in Scotland, and in various parts of England. In +this country a National Anti-Sweating League came into existence. A +great meeting of trade-unionists and Labour representatives was held at +the Guildhall, Sir Charles Dilke presiding on the first day, and the +question of the minimum wage was debated by Labour; Sir George Askwith, +Mr. Sidney Webb, and Mr. W. P. Reeves, with other Colonial +representatives, speaking from the platform. Many conferences followed, +and M. Vandervelde came from Belgium, M. Arthur Fontaine from France, to +combat insular and Tariff Reform arguments, and to point out that the +movement was not confined to our own shores. A great deputation +representative of every shade of political opinion, introduced by Sir +Charles Dilke and the Archbishop of Canterbury, waited on the Prime +Minister on December 4th, 1908, and laid their views before him. Sir +Charles put the Bill into the hands of the Labour party in Parliament. A +Committee of the House was appointed to consider the question of home +work and the proposed measure, and, after the stages which Mr. Hills has +described, it became law as the Trade Boards Act in 1909. The Act at +first applied to only four trades, but there have been several +additions. Of the first extension made after Sir Charles's death, and of +the probability of the adoption of the scheme by other countries, Sir +George Askwith wrote: "It will be the first stone on Sir Charles's +cairn. I can see them all coming up the hill, nation by nation." + +[Footnote: France, the first nation to reach the hill-top, passed her +Minimum Wage Act for home workers in 1915. + +Minimum rates of wages under the Trade Boards Act were in operation in +Great Britain (February, 1915) as follows: + + _Female Persons over 18_ + _per Week of 52 Hours._ + Per Hour. Per Week. + + Ready-made and wholesale bespoke tailoring, + and shirt-making 3-1/2d. 15s. 2d. + Chain-making 2-3/4d. 11s. 11d. + Paper-box-making 3-1/4d. 14s. 1d. + Lace-finishing 2-3/4d. 11s. 11d. + Sugar confectionery and food-preserving 3d. 13s. 0d. + Tin-box-making 3-1/4d. 14s. 1d. + Metal hollow-ware 3d. 13s. 0d. + +It is to be noted that these rates of wages, which are in every case +much higher than those they supplanted, were fixed before or in the +early part of the War, and owe nothing to the general inflation of +earnings which took place at a later stage. From the figures of the +Board of Trade Enquiry into Earnings and Hours of Labour, published in +1909, it appears that about one-third of the women employed in factories +and workshops were at the time of the Enquiry in receipt of wages of +less than 10s. per week, and the minimum rates above mentioned must be +considered in relation to these, and not to later figures. + +In the various trades, shirt-making and lace-finishing excepted, minimum +rates of wages have also been fixed for adult male persons. These rates +before the War were, save in one case, 6d. per hour or upwards, and +probably one-quarter of the adult male workers in the trades benefited +by them. + +The relief given by the Boards to groups of particularly ill-paid women, +such as the chain-makers, the matchbox-makers in East London, and the +lace-finishers, has been the subject of many articles in the Press. + +In the chain-making trade, where the Board affected both wives and +husbands, the family income increased, in many cases, by 15s. and +upwards per week. The bearing of these higher rates of wages on the food +and clothing of those who received them, the physical condition of the +school-children, and personal and social habits, forms part of the story +which Mr. R. H. Tawney tells in _Minimum Rates in the Chain-making +Trade_.] + +On April 14th, 1910, there followed the dinner to celebrate the passing +into law of his favourite project, and at that dinner, under the +presidency of Dr. Gore, then Bishop of Birmingham, representatives of +Liberalism, Labour, and Conservatism met to do Sir Charles honour. There +were many tributes paid to one whom Mr. Will Crooks dubbed "the greatest +of anti-sweaters," and of them the happiest was, probably, that of Dr. +Gore: + + "Sir Charles has played a great part publicly. In finding out, + however, what has been going on behind the scenes, I am led to know + that, great as has been the public part, there is a greater part Sir + Charles has played in that region which the newspapers do not + penetrate--the region where important decisions are hatched and + matured, and differences made up, before appearances are made in + public. His zeal has been unquenchable and consistent." + +After Sir Charles's death, the same friend described his knowledge as +"supreme and incomparable in all matters relating to industries and +industrial law, transcending that of any of his contemporaries." + +Sir Charles Dilke's nature led him to discount personal tributes, and +his verdict on the triumph of the minimum-wage principle is best summed +up in the words of Renan which he sent to one who worked with him: +"C'est ainsi qu'il se fait que le vrai, quoique n'étant compris que d'un +très petit nombre, surnage toujours, et finit par l'emporter." + +There is no part of his work which brings out more the quality of +"self-effacement" to which Mr. Sidney Webb alludes. The cause of Labour +is not even yet a popular one, and there are many who held and hold that +his interest in it was not calculated to strengthen the political +position of one to whom men looked as a military expert, or an authority +on foreign affairs. But to him a grasp of social questions and a full +recognition of the place which Labour should hold in the modern State +were essential parts of a statesman's equipment, and appeals on the +ground of a weakening of his position by his unremitting care for Labour +interests could not have a feather's weight in the balance for one in +whom the chord of self had long since been struck and passed in music +out of sight. + + +APPENDIX I + +Statistics by Sir Bernard Mallet, Registrar-General + +In 1907 Sir Charles Dilke, who had been a member of the Royal +Statistical Society since 1866, accepted an invitation to become its +President, in which capacity he served for two years, with notable +advantage to the society. As the writer of the notice which appeared in +the journal on the occasion of his death observed: + + "While Sir Charles Dilke would have declined the title of + statistician, and, indeed, frequently referred to himself as a 'mere + user' of statistics, he possessed in a high degree what may be + termed the statistical instinct. His genius for marshalling facts in + orderly sequence, his passion for precision of statement even in + minute detail, his accurate recollection of figures, as, indeed, of + everything which he stored in the chamber of his encyclopædic + memory, are all primary attributes of the ideal statistician, though + in his case the wide range and magnitude of the subjects in which he + was interested led far beyond the field of statistical + investigation." [Footnote: _Journal of the Royal Statistical + Society_, February, 1911 p. 320] + +His assumption of this office was thus specially appropriate on general +grounds; but it was connected in his mind, as he more than once +explained, with certain definite and practical objects. He had been +impressed, during his chairmanship of the Income Tax Committee, with the +inadequacy of the published statistics on finance, and he hoped to +signalize his period of office by the promotion of the better +organization of Government statistics. He chose this subject, +accordingly, for the presidential address which he delivered before the +society in December, 1907, [Footnote: Ibid., December, 1907, pp. +553-582.] and which Mr. Arthur Bowley, in his address to the society in +furtherance of the same crusade a few months later, described as a +"terrible indictment" of the existing system, or want of system. To a +large extent this address consisted of illustrations of the lack of +co-ordination in the collection and issue of these statistics, and the +difficulties which confronted the student who desired to make use of +them. But he did not confine himself to criticism. Although no definite +scheme for dealing with this large and difficult matter could be +usefully put forward without a searching official inquiry, Sir Charles +was willing to support any proposal which would assist the object in +view, from the institution of an advisory or consultative committee of +expert statisticians, to that of a central statistical bureau on the +Continental model. He induced the council to enlarge the scope of the +society's Census Committee, then sitting to advise on measures to +improve the census to be taken in 1911, so as to include official +statistics generally; and he persuaded the Select Committee of the House +of Commons on Publications to hear evidence on the subject. [Footnote: +_Journal of the Royal Statistical Society_, September, 1908, p. 459] He +secured the consideration of his suggestions in several official +quarters, and his criticisms undoubtedly led to some improvements in +detail. It would have been a miracle if Sir Charles Dilke's vigorous +campaign had attained a more obvious measure of success, and he himself +was well aware of the extreme difficulty of securing attention in this +country to a mere question of administrative reform as distinguished +from one of political or party interest--a question, moreover, which +aroused many departmental susceptibilities. But it would be a mistake to +ignore the utility of such efforts as his in stimulating interest in the +subject and assisting those whose labours have resulted in material +improvements in recent years. + +Never had the society enjoyed the advantage of a President who took so +much interest in its proceedings. He regularly attended the meetings of +the committees. He was almost invariably in the chair at the society's +meetings, and rarely failed to add to the interest of the discussion by +some illuminating comment, and he was the life and soul of the dinners +of the Statistical Club which followed the meetings. + +It is difficult to exaggerate the encouragement which a President of Sir +Charles Dilke's distinction can give in these various ways to workers in +the unpopular and unattractive paths of statistical science. + + * * * * * + +APPENDIX II + +By Miss Mary Macarthur + +The Taff Vale decision struck a vital blow at trade-union organization, +and while the case was still finally undecided the leaders of the +Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants called on Sir Charles for +advice. Afterwards, when the judgment was upheld, his services were +unreservedly at the command of the Parliamentary Committee of the +Trade-Union Congress. + +He assisted the committee in 1901 at a conference in which Mr. Asquith, +Sir Robert Reid, and Mr. Haldane, committed the Liberal party to the +initiation of legislation to reverse the Taff Vale decision, and shortly +afterwards played a similar part in an interview with Lord James of +Hereford and the late Lord Ritchie, who spoke as representing the then +Government. The second conference was also satisfactory, since it drew +from Lord James the emphatic opinion that workmen on strike were +entitled in their own interest to use moral suasion to prevent their +places being taken by others. + +The Tory party did not, however, take Lord James's view, and a +resolution proposing the restoration of the _status quo_ before the Taff +Vale judgment was defeated in the House of Commons by a majority of 29. +In May, 1903, a Bill introduced by Mr. D. J. Shackleton to legalize +picketing shared the same fate; while an even more ominous event was the +appointment by the Government of a Royal Commission on which Labour was +unrepresented, and before which the leaders of the trade-union movement +refused to appear. + +Arguments in favour of compromise were put forward at the Trade-Union +Congress of 1903, which followed closely on the rejection of Mr. +Shackleton's Bill, and during the next three years the position of the +unions became continuously more precarious. It looked as though trade- +unions were beginning, in the phrase of Mr. Bell, to "exist very much on +sufferance." + +In this crisis Sir Charles was an inexhaustible source of strength. On +everyone he could reach and influence he pressed the policy of standing +firm, and the continuing reverses of the Tory party at by-elections +played into his hands. + +The Tories accepted the decision of their constituents to the extent +that Mr. Shackleton's Bill, rejected in 1903, obtained second reading by +39 votes in 1904, and by 122 in 1905. But dislike of the measure had not +abated; so many vexatious amendments were embodied in the Bill in +Committee as to render it worse than useless; and at last all but the +Tory members retired from the Grand Committee in disgust, and the Bill +was discharged from the House. But in 1906 came the General Election, by +which the Labour party found itself abruptly in the enjoyment of +prominence and power. + +Faced with responsibility for legislation, the Liberal Government abated +something of their pre-election zeal, and introduced a measure which +would have given only conditional immunity to the trade-unions; but an +indignant Labour party, having secured a majority of 300 for a +thoroughgoing measure of their own, were prepared to oppose the Bill of +the Government, and this Bill was remodelled on Labour party lines. + +The result was seen by everyone, but very few people understood how at +every stage the member for the Forest of Dean had intervened, using to +the utmost his powerful influence in the one camp to fix the trade- +unionists in their demand for complete reversal of the Taff Vale +judgment and the prevention of its recurrence, and in the other to bring +about an unequivocal acceptance of the demand. + +[Footnote: The Trade Disputes Act, 1906, got rid of the Taff Vale +decision by Section 4. It also legalized peaceful picketing (Section 2), +and made certain acts done in furtherance of a trade dispute not +actionable on the ground merely that they interfered with business +(Section 4). Its sections dealt with the following subjects: + +Section 1 amended the law of conspiracy. + +Section 2 made peaceful picketing legal. + +Section 3: "An act done by a person in contemplation or furtherance of a +trade dispute shall not be actionable on the ground only that it is an +interference with the trade, business, or employment, of some other +person, or with the right of some other person to dispose of his capital +or his labour as he wills." + +Section 4: "An action against a trade-union, whether of workmen or +masters, or against any members or officials thereof, on behalf of +themselves and all other members of the trade-union, in respect of any +tortious act alleged to have been committed by or on behalf of the +trade-union, shall not be entertained by any court."] + +Nor after this major issue was settled triumphantly did his anxiety and +watchfulness abate. He scrutinized the provisions of the Bill with +jealous care. He desired to exclude every ambiguous word. "Too easily +satisfied," he scribbled to me after Labour members had neglected to +press an amendment he considered of importance, and as the Bill slowly +moved forward several such criticisms came into my hands. + +His own work in Committee on the Bill is indicated by his summary of the +risks confronting those who took part in trade disputes: + +1. The liability to be hit in respect of molestation. + +2. Under the word "reasonable." + +3. Under the Law of Nuisance. + +The first danger he diminished in an amendment accepted by the +Government. The second he tried to lessen by moving the omission of the +words "peaceably and in a reasonable manner." Unsuccessfully, for his +Labour colleagues inclined to think him extreme, and intimated their +consent to retain "peaceably." + +On the third question he was supported by almost half the Committee, and +only failed to carry his amendment against the Government through a +dictum of the then Attorney-General, that the Law of Nuisance could not +be invoked to stop picketing. This law has, however, since been invoked +against the pickets of the Hotel, Club, and Restaurant Workers' Union, +and under it several members of the union have been fined, and one or +two committed to gaol. The instance is a final proof, if one were +needed, of Sir Charles's prescience. The fame of Sir Charles Dilke in +the realm of industrial legislation will mount high, but to trade- +unionists nothing will endear his memory more than the knowledge that, +if and in so far as they have now a charter invulnerable alike to the +prejudice and the caprice of those who administer the law, it is largely +due to the clear vision of Sir Charles Dilke, and to the skill and +invincible courage with which he followed his aims. + + + + +CHAPTER LIII + +WORK FOR NATIVE RACES + +1870-1911 + + +I. + +Perhaps no one of Sir Charles Dilke's eager activities won for him more +public and private affection and regard than the part which he took both +in and out of Parliament as a defender of the weaker races against +European oppression. + +At the very outset of his career, John Stuart Mill's admiring sympathy +for the youthful author of _Greater Britain_ was specially called forth +by chapters which made a natural appeal to the son of the historian of +British India. More than twenty years later, Sir Charles, revising his +work in the full maturity of his power and knowledge, emphasized again +the first precept of his policy, which enjoined not only justice, but +courtesy: + + "Above all it is essential to the continuation of our rule under the + changed conditions that the individual Englishman in India should + behave towards the people as the best behave at present." + +Into the question whether India would be better or worse off under some +other system he never entered; British control was accepted by him as a +fact; but, so accepting it, he insisted that justice should be done to +the Crown's Asiatic subjects. + + "Men who speak better English than most Englishmen; who conduct able + newspapers in our tongue; who form the majority on town councils + which admirably supervise the affairs of great cities; who, as + Native Judges, have reached the highest judicial posts; who occupy + seats in the Provincial, the Presidency, and the Viceregal Councils, + or as powerful Ministers excellently rule vast Native States, can no + longer be treated as hopelessly inferior to ourselves in + governmental power. These men look upon the Queen's proclamations as + their charters, and point out that, while there is no legal reason + against their filling some proportion, at all events, of the highest + executive posts, there are as a fact virtually no natives high up in + the covenanted Civil Service." + +Control of the military power, control of the Budget, must remain with +the governing race. But "provided war and finance are in those single +hands, autocratic or despotic if you will, which must exist for India as +a whole, in the absence of any other authority, the less we interfere in +the details of administration, to my mind, the better both for India and +for ourselves." [Footnote: _East and West_, November, 1901.] + +Local self-government would give to the leading natives more opportunity +for a career, and to the governed a rule more closely in touch with +their sympathies and traditions. But there could be no general formula. +"Roughly speaking," he said, "my views are hostile to the treating of +India as a single State, and favourable to a legislative recognition of +the diversity of conditions which undoubtedly exist in India." He +contemplated administration in some parts of India by hereditary chiefs +and princes, in some cities by elective representatives of the +municipalities, in other portions of the country by a mixed system. But, +by whatever method, he was for recognizing the fact that in India we +were at many points controlling a developed though a different +civilization; that trained men were to be had in numbers; and that the +educated natives' claim for an increased and increasing part in the task +of government must be recognized. + +There is a letter from him to Mr. Morley in 1897, when he thought that +freedom for the Indian Press was threatened by "blind reaction" after +the Poona murder: "The state of things in Poona has grown out of the +Committee, under the man who was stabbed but is not dead, employing +British privates (instead of employing native troops, as did General +Gatacre at Bombay) to search the houses for plague patients." The whole +position appeared to him "more dangerous than it has been at any time +since the recall of Lytton in 1880." + +A policy of repression would set back the progress of liberalizing +Indian government. No one insisted more strongly on the maintenance of +sufficient force to defend the Indian Empire; but he believed that there +was a second "greatest duty" in learning "how to live with the +development of that new India which we ourselves have created." + +Speaking on July 13th, 1909, when the murder of Mr. A. M. T. Jackson at +Nasik was fresh in all minds, he urged continued "measures of amnesty +and appeasement," and deprecated the policy of deporting leading members +of the National Congress. "If reform was dangerous," he said, "it was +less dangerous than leaving things alone." Describing Lord Ripon, whose +death had only just taken place, as "the Viceroy who more than any other +had touched the imagination of the people of India," he added: "If our +rule, excellent in intention, but rather wooden, is to be made +acceptable, imagination must play its part." + +This lifelong advocacy of generous principles was not unrecognized. In +the last autumn of his life he was pressed in flattering terms to attend +the twenty-fifth National Congress; and for some time he entertained the +idea, which was specially urged on him by his friend and honorary agent +for the Forest of Dean, Sir William Wedderburn, who was presiding over +the Congress that year. + +The project was finally set aside in view of the momentous autumn +session of 1910; but he did not feel equal to the journey. When the end +came, India mourned for him. + + * * * * * + +II. + +Sir Charles Dilke's concern with the vast network of problems arising +throughout Africa and the Pacific Islands from the contact of white men +with natives was infinitely detailed; yet more and more it tended to +reduce itself to one broad issue. In this relation the coloured man is +everywhere the white man's labourer; Dilke's object was to insure that +he should not be his slave. Against actual slavery he was always a +crusader, and for long years he contended against the recognition of it +implied by the practice of restoring runaway slaves in Zanzibar. Under a +Liberal Government, he carried his point at last. A letter written on +August 17th, 1907, fitly sums up this matter: + + "Dear Sir Charles Dilke, + + "I have just heard, on arriving here, that the announcement has been + made in the House of Commons of the intention of the Government to + abolish the legal status of slavery in Mombasa and the Coast + District on October 1st. I can hardly say how much pleasure this has + given me, nor can I refrain from writing to say how much we out here + are indebted to you for the part you have taken in bringing the + Government to this decision. I feel that without your assistance the + affair would have dragged on, possibly, for years. With many and + grateful thanks, + + "Believe me, yours very sincerely, + + "Alfred R. Tucker, + + "_Bishop of Uganda_" + +To Sir Charles men turned if protest had to be made against the illegal +flogging of natives, or against those punitive expeditions which under a +Liberal Government were often called military patrols. + +As early as 1870 he had become a correspondent of the Aborigines' +Protection Society; in 1871 he supported their action in defence of the +Demerara negroes; and to the end of his life he was in constant +communication with their leading men. + +His brief tenure of office gave him power to put in force principles for +which he had contended as a private member. In 1877 he wrote to Mr. +Chesson that since 1868 he had been interested to secure fair treatment +for China, [Footnote: In 1869 Sir Charles wrote letters to the _Times_ +on Chinese affairs, which, says the Memoir, 'possess a certain interest +as showing that I held the same views as to China which I have always +continued to have at heart,' and which may be sufficiently illustrated +by quotation of a single phrase. He condemned "the old, bad, world-wide +party ... which never admits that weak races have rights as against the +strong."] but China's friends must bring pressure to bear to limit the +use of torture. In 1880, having become Under-Secretary for Foreign +Affairs, he was able to inform the same correspondent that he had +"succeeded in making it certain that a strong direction would be made on +the subject of Chinese torture." + +Cases of gross barbarity, cases of actual slave trading, always found +him ready to act, but his great object was to check the growth of all +systems and institutions which made for industrial servitude--to his +mind a graver peril than direct slavery. Thus, in 1878 he was in +correspondence with the Aborigines' Protection Society concerning the +proposed establishment of a Chartered Company in Borneo, and observed +that such arrangements could not be justified by proving the existence +of bad government in independent Native States. "The worse the +government of these States, the greater the difficulties which crop up +when we intermeddle." In 1881 as a Minister he resisted the grant of +that charter. All these surrenders of territory and jurisdiction to +commercial associations filled him with suspicion. He knew that +expedients lay ready to the white man's hand by which the native +population could easily be enslaved; and to these even the best +representatives of direct colonial government under the Crown were prone +to resort. In 1878 he had written anxiously to Mr. Chesson concerning +the labour tax in Fiji, which, although instituted by a Governor in whom +the society had special trust, seemed "opposed to all the principles for +which you have hitherto contended." Nearly twenty years later he was +maintaining this vigilance. "I am always uneasy about Fiji," he wrote to +Mr. Fox Bourne in August, 1896. "I attacked the labour system when it +was instituted, and continue to hold the strongest opinion against it." +But by that time the new developments which he had resisted in the +seventies had spread fast and far. + +"The fashion of the day," he wrote in September, 1895, "sets so strongly +towards veiled slavery that there is nothing now to be done by +deputation to Ministers. We ought to appeal to the conscience of the +electorate, and I am willing greatly to increase my little gifts to your +society if that is done." + +Part of his concern was engendered by the revelation, then recent, that +the Chartered Niger Company imposed by contract a fine of £1,000 on any +agent or ex-agent of theirs who should publish any statement respecting +the company's methods, even after his employment was ended. "I am +convinced," Sir Charles wrote, "that the secrecy which it has been +attempted to maintain puts them wholly in the wrong, even if they are +angels;" and upon this ground he kept up a steady campaign against the +Niger Company by question and debate in Parliament until Government +bought the company out and assumed direct responsibility for the +country. + +South Africa was a graver centre of disquietude, for there commercial +enterprise was on a greater scale. He wrote in December, 1900, after +Great Britain had occupied the Transvaal: "My point is that the Rand +Jews have already got slavery, and our Government must repeal the laws +they have. Reading together the Pass Law and the coloured labour clause, +which you will find was the end of the latest Gold Law, we have slavery +by law." + +The remedy lay, for him, in the guarantee of citizenship, at least in +some degree, to this class of labour; and with that object he put +himself at the centre of a concerted movement as soon as opportunity +offered. When, after the Boer War, the mine owners returned to the Rand, +and, pleading shortage of Kaffir labour, demanded the introduction of +indentured Chinese coolies, Sir Charles vigorously protested. The +question played a considerable part in the elections which returned the +Liberals to power with an enormous majority. It was not, however, as the +party man that Sir Charles made his protest, but as the upholder of +human rights. He feared lest "South Africa is to become the home of a +great proletariat, forbidden by law to rise above the present +situation." + +When the Union of South Africa was proposed, it became manifest that +division existed as to the status of non-European citizens. In 1906, +when the Liberals came into power, immediate action was taken by a small +group of members, who addressed a letter to the Prime Minister begging +that, in view of the contemplated federation, steps should be taken to +safeguard such political rights as natives actually enjoyed in the +various colonies, and also the tribal institutions of separate native +communities. The letter advocated also an extension of Native Reserves, +and it was promptly followed (on February 28th) by a motion, brought +forward by Mr. Byles, which declared that "in any settlement of South +African affairs this House desires a recognition of Imperial +responsibility for the protection of all races excluded from equal +political rights, the safeguarding of all immigrants against servile +conditions of labour, and the guarantee to the native populations of at +least their existing status, with the unbroken possession of their +liberties in Basutoland, Bechuanaland, and other tribal countries and +reservations." + +Sir Charles himself took no part in the debate; but he notes: 'I am +proud to have planned this letter and drawn the motion for Byles so that +it was carried unanimously by the House.' A resolution much stronger in +terms could easily have been carried in that Parliament; but it would +not have been unanimous, and it could hardly have been enforced later +on. Here a principle was so firmly laid down that the House could not +recede from it; and the importance of the step soon became apparent. +When the Bill for the South African Union came before Parliament in +1909, Colonel Seely, who had been one of the signatories to the letter +of 1906, represented the Colonial Office in the Commons; and Sir +Charles, warned by friends of the natives in South Africa, questioned +him as to whether the Bill as drafted empowered the self-governing +colonies to alter the existing boundaries of the Protectorates. He +received a private promise that the matter should be put beyond doubt; +and this was done in the Committee stage by a solemn declaration that +the Imperial Government absolutely reserved its right of veto upon the +alienation of native lands. As soon as the text of the proposed +Constitution became known, he raised his protest against what he +considered a permanent disfranchisement of labour; for labour in South +Africa, he held, must for all time be coloured labour. Six weeks later, +when the Bill was brought to Westminster, Mr. W. P. Schreiner, who came +specially to plead the rights of the civilized men of colour, was in +constant intercourse with Sir Charles, and scores of letters on detailed +proposals for amendment attest the thoroughness of that co-operation. +Dilke, with the support of some Labour men and Radicals, fought +strenuously against the clauses which recognized a colour-bar, and in +the opinion of some at least in South Africa, the essence of the +position was secured. + +[Footnote: Mr. Drew, editor of the _Transvaal Leader_, wrote: + + "I am truly glad that (if my view of the somewhat vague cablegram is + correct) you have alienation of native lands reserved everywhere in + South Africa. This provision, together with the entrenchment of the + Cape Franchise, will form a solution of the question not + unfavourable to the natives. It gives the natives and their friends + something to bargain with. If the Cape Franchise should ever go, its + place will be taken by something which will benefit all the natives + and be acceptable to all." + +From a different quarter came even stronger expression of gratitude. +M. Jacottet, of the Swiss Mission, wrote: + + "I beg on behalf of all my fellow-missionaries in Basutoland, as + well as of all the friends of justice and liberty in this territory, + to thank you most sincerely for your courageous and strong advocacy + of the rights and interests of Basutoland and the other territories. + All thoughtful and civilized Basutos know how much they are indebted + to you, and your name is held in reverence by them."] + +Sir Charles, always a strong advocate of colonial autonomy, nevertheless +did not go to extreme lengths in this doctrine. An Imperialist first, he +was fully prepared to say to the colonies, So long as you claim Imperial +protection, you must recognize the full rights of citizenship within the +Empire. He feared gravely the tendencies which might develop under the +British flag, if uncontrolled liberty of action were given to the +Colonial Parliaments in dealing with such questions as forced labour. +"The Australian rule in New Guinea is going to be terrible," is a stray +note on one of his communications with the Aborigines' Protection +Society. + +This labour question was to him essentially the problem of the future, +and he watched its developments with ceaseless anxiety. At the annual +meeting of the society in April, 1910, he spoke of the energy which the +Colonial Office displayed in promoting the growing of cotton as laudable +but dangerous. "The chiefs had sometimes exercised compulsion to make +their tribes cultivate the unfamiliar product." More generally he felt +that wherever the white man introduced taxation there would be a +tendency to requisition labour, and that all such projects would +inevitably generate an interested commercial support. The Portuguese +system of recruiting for the cocoa plantations might be barbarous; but +if it were pleaded in defence that without it the supply of cocoa must +fail, Sir Charles foresaw the gravest difficulties with the House of +Commons. "How are we to make that 'would-be' practical Assembly tell the +Government to induce Portugal to put an end to so enormous a +cultivation?" The only method of avoiding these evils was to prevent +their growth; and the soundest plan was to insure that the natives +retained their own familiar means of livelihood, and so could not be +brought down to the choice between starvation and selling their labour +in a restricted market. For that reason he fiercely opposed the whole +policy of concessions, and by public and private representations he +pressed the Colonial Office to reject every such alienation of native +rights in the land. + +He had promised to read a paper on Indentured and Forced Labour at the +Native Races Conference held in July, 1911. It reviewed all the facts of +the situation as they existed--the growing demand for indentured +service, the respective record of the European Powers, and the varying +results produced by varying methods which the same Power has adopted in +different regions. It was, he thought, not easy to decide whether the +anti-slavery cause had lost or gained ground in his lifetime; new +insidious and widespread forms of the evil had taken a hold. Great +Britain's escutcheon was marred by the inclusion of a colour-bar in the +most recent Constitution of her oversea dominions; and the Government of +India had recently failed to obtain from some British States that +measure of rights for emigrating British Indian subjects which it had +formerly been able to secure. Forced labour was being employed under +British auspices in Egypt; while the French, who had "more nearly than +any other nation" done away with this evil in colonies, were open to +grave reproach in the matter of concessions--especially in that region +where French administration was affected by the neighbouring example of +the Congo Free State. The danger both of forced labour and of +concessions was that they alike tended to destroy native law and tribal +custom, and so to create 'one universal black proletariat'--a vast +reservoir of cheap defenceless labour. + +What he wrote was duly read at the Conference, and is included in the +volume of their proceedings called _Inter-Racial Problems_. But before +the Conference took place, silence had been imposed for ever on this +advocate of equal justice. Among his papers is the manuscript of this +composition corrected for the press by him within a week of his death-- +work done against the entreaty of those who cared for him, but work that +he would not leave undone. + +In defending the interest of the native races, Dilke always felt himself +to be defending the dignity and the safety of labour at home--even +though the representatives of European labour did not recognize the +common concern. He was defending labour where it was weakest; and it is +in his championship of the weak that one of the younger men who worked +with him and learnt from him sees the characteristic note of his life. +General Seely writes: + + "To many of the younger men who found themselves in the Parliament + of 1900 Dilke was an enigma. We could all appreciate his immense + store of knowledge, his untiring industry, his courtesy to younger + men, and his striking personality. But what the real purpose was to + which he was devoting these talents, what was the end in view--put + shortly, 'what he was at'--was to us a puzzle. + + "Clearly, it was no bitter hostility either to a Government with + which as a Radical he profoundly disagreed, or to an Opposition + amongst whom he sat, but whose chiefs had not restored him to their + inner councils. Not the former, for in matters of foreign policy and + in Imperial Defence, where his unrivalled knowledge gave him + powerful weapons of attack, he never pursued an advantage he had + gained beyond very moderate limits. Not the second, for no man was + more steadfast in his attendance and in his support, given by speech + and in the lobby, to those of his own political faith. + + "Still less was it personal ambition or self-seeking; for if he + spoke often, it was only to put forward some definite point of view, + and not for the purpose of taking part in a debate just because the + House was crowded and the occasion important. + + "Least of all was his constant attendance in the House of Commons + the refuge of a man with no other object in life, for no man was + more many-sided or had so many and such varied interests. + + "His Parliamentary action was often baffling to the observer, + especially in its restraint. It was only after many years that the + present writer found the master-key to Dilke's actions, and it was + revealed in a flash at the time of the passing of the South Africa + Union Act. The question was the representation of the native + population in the Union, and the cognate questions of their + treatment and status. Dilke came to see me. He pleaded the native + cause with earnestness, with eloquence, with passion. The man was + transfigured as the emotions of pity and love of justice swept over + him. No record could be kept of what he said; there could have been + no thought of using his eloquence to enlist popular support or + improve a Parliamentary position, for we were alone. And so I came + to see that the mainspring of all his actions was the intense desire + to help those who could not help themselves--to defend the + under-dog. + + "Looking through the long list of the speeches he made, and of the + questions he asked, from the beginning of the Parliament of 1900 + until the time of his death, one sees plainly that this was his + guiding motive. No detail was so small as to escape his attention if + the people he was endeavouring to protect were poor and helpless. + + "On the wider questions of the general treatment of natives he + displayed the same meticulous care in finding out the true facts of + the case. In the controversy that raged round the administration of + the Congo, he would not move until he had ascertained the facts, not + only from official documents, but from inquiries he himself had set + on foot. Indians, Africans, Chinese, as well as his own countrymen + and countrywomen, all would find in him a champion and defender, + provided only that they were poor, unrepresented, or oppressed." + + +III. + +In some cases the defence of the "under-dog" was a duty imposed by our +acknowledged sovereignty or by international obligations. + +What might follow from the growing rush for tropical products, capital +pursuing large returns "into every jungle in the world," was shown to +Europe, in the last months of Sir Charles's life, by the revelations +from the Amazon Valley, a scandal to which he was among the first to +call attention. This was a region where Great Britain had no special +duty. But a series of facts not less horrible, on a scale infinitely +vaster, and affecting a population which, originally, could not have +numbered less than thirty millions, had, long before the Putumayo +revelations, been proved to exist throughout the basin of a great +African river. No labour of Sir Charles's later years was more +continuous and persistent than his effort to fix on the Imperial +Parliament the responsibility for what was done in the Congo Free State, +and the duty of putting an end to it. + + "He perceived with increasing clearness of vision, as the years went + on," says Mr. Morel, "that the future relationship between the white + and coloured races in the tropical regions of the globe was bound up + with the problem of the Congo, and that the effects of the success + or the failure of the movement for Congo reform would govern in + great measure the attitude of Europe towards these questions for + very many years." + +A State that had been brought into being by England's express sanction, +for solemnly defined purposes of civilization in Africa, was proved by +its own agent to be employing cannibal troops. That was the circumstance +which most impressed a startled House of Commons when, on April 2nd, +1897, Sir Charles raised the first of many discussions upon the question +of the Congo. + +In 1896 a violent action had brought home to England what had been the +fulfilment of the promised free trade for all nations, and of King +Leopold's protestations in 1884. Mr. Stokes, a British trader, was +arrested and shot by the order of a Belgian officer, Major Lothaire. His +offence was trading in ivory. Sir Charles, when he raised the debate in +April, 1897, combined then as always the diplomatic with the +humanitarian aspect of the case; and brought before the House the +existence of the secret decree of September, 1891, declaring a State +monopoly of all rubber and ivory, for violation of which Mr. Stokes had +been executed. [Footnote: Stokes was also accused of bartering guns to +the Arabs for that ivory. This, true or not, does not affect the initial +outrage, that, though he was entitled to a proper trial, he was trapped +and summarily executed without trial of any kind.] But it was the +publication of Captain Hinde's book, [Footnote: _The Fall of the Congo +Arabs_.] with its revelation of the fact that European officers had +commanded an army fed for long periods by organized cannibalism, which +gave authority to Sir Charles's demand for a new conference of the +Powers. "We should take action," he said, "to remove from ourselves the +disgrace which had fallen upon our declarations." + +Mr. Curzon, who as Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs then spoke for +Lord Salisbury's Government, treated the matter coolly enough, though +admitting that the agents of the Congo State had sometimes adopted +methods repugnant to Christian feeling; and so for the moment the +controversy ended, but Sir Charles with persistent application returned +to the question again and again, although his efforts were hampered by +lack of information. So well was the secret of those dark places kept +that even he, with his widespread net of acquaintance in many capitals, +found facts hard to gather; and he was naturally attracted by the +appearance in 1900 of a series of anonymous articles in the _Speaker_, +which dealt with the system set up in the Congo, and its inevitable +results. These articles displayed an unusual knowledge of the whole +complicated subject, and revealed aspects of it which had previously +baffled inquiry. The writer proved to be Mr. E. D. Morel. So began a +co-operation whose influence upon the administration of African races +was destined to be far-reaching. + +The campaign was steadily pressed. Within the House of Commons, Sir +Charles spoke session after session, using language of a vehemence that +startled in one so moderate. He organized representations to the Senate +and Chamber in Belgium, summarizing what was being done in the Congo and +urging Belgium's moral responsibility. Out of doors, the Press campaign +was vigorous--so vigorous that no Government could disregard it; and at +the beginning of 1903, in reply to a question from Sir Charles, Mr. +Balfour promised a formal debate "on the position of the signatories to +the Berlin General Act of 1885, in regard to the abuses which had grown +up under the Congo Free State's rule in violation of that Act." The +debate, on May 20th, 1903, was opened by Mr. Herbert Samuel. Sir +Charles, following him, was in turn supported by Sir John Gorst, an old +ally in such causes. Mr. Balfour, in face of a unanimous House, +accepted, not without reluctance, the motion which asked him to consult +the co-signatories of the Berlin Act, and thus committed Great Britain +to a diplomatic re-opening of the case. Inquiry necessarily followed, +and with the publication of our Consul's report in December, 1903, the +affair reached a new phase. + +When the Foreign Office vote came to be discussed in the Session of +1904, Sir Charles, basing himself on that report, delivered what Sir +John Gorst called a "terrible speech." Replying for the Government, Lord +Percy used these words: "There never has been a policy of which it might +be said as truly as of this one that it was the policy not so much of +His Majesty's Government as of the House of Commons." Not less is it +true that Sir Charles had guided the House to the adoption of that +policy. + +By this time the cause commanded popular interest. The questioning of +Ministers was frequent, and it was done by men from all camps. Sir +Charles could afford henceforward to select his portion of the work. He +limited himself as far as possible to the diplomatic aspect of the case, +more technical and less popular in its appeal, but giving the surest +right of intervention. + +The Foreign Office does not naturally look with favour upon policies +forced upon it by the House of Commons, and perhaps for this reason the +permanent officials proved opponents very difficult for the House of +Commons to control. But Sir Charles's knowledge gave him the necessary +advantage. For instance, on November 22nd, 1906, he asked if the United +States had not expressed a desire to co-operate with Great Britain in +this matter. An official denial was given. On December 16th the question +was put again, and the admission made that "the United States have +recently expressed" such a desire. + +After various obscure negotiations on the part of King Leopold to secure +German support for his personal rule, there came at length with the +beginning of 1907 the announcement that Belgium would annex the Free +State. + +[Footnote: The delay which took place in the transference of the Congo +Free State from the personal rule of King Leopold to the rule of the +Belgian Government is dealt with in the following letter from Lord +Fitzmaurice from the Foreign Office to Sir Charles: + +"_February_ 16th, 1906.--The King of the Belgians puts about these +stories for the same sort of reason which made the German Emperor put +about the story that there was a change of policy in regard to France. +At the same time there must be a little 'law' given to the King while +his second Commission is reporting on the methods of carrying out the +reforms indicated in the first Commission's report. As you know, I am +not a believer in the King 'at all, at all,' but one has to observe the +forms of diplomacy. It is, perhaps, not unfortunate that this pause +coincides with a moment when it is not our interest to be having a row +with Belgium also, if perchance we were having a row with Germany." This +letter was written while the Algeciras Conference was sitting.] + +Yet the matter was not allowed to sleep in either House of Parliament; +it was raised by Sir Charles on the Whitsuntide adjournment, and again +in August. In 1908 the subject was mentioned in the King's Speech. But +by this time a "Colonial Law" had been proposed in Belgium, which went +far to re-establish King Leopold's power under the new system and +created new difficulties. Sir Charles's allies now were not in England +only. He had made friends with M. Vandervelde, leader of the Socialist +party in Belgium, and the one Socialist who had ventured to vote for +annexation. They met during Sir Charles's Christmas stay in Paris in +1907, and had "two days' thorough discussion of Congo." The result was +written to Lord Fitzmaurice (then Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs) +on January 6th, 1908: "I tell you confidentially that, after seeing +Vandervelde, I cease to advise moderation, and shall say so to the +private Congo Reform meeting called for the 21st." This tone made itself +felt in the debate on the Address, and in two subsequent discussions. +The points pressed for were, first, that Belgium in taking over the +Congo should take over fully and honor the Free State's treaty +obligations, and, secondly, that full guarantees should be given for +native rights. [Footnote: On Sir Charles Dilke's action in regard to the +Congo, see also _Red Rubber_ (T. Fisher Unwin), pp. 4, 11, 177, 195; and +_Great Britain and the Congo_ (Smith, Elder and Co.), pp. 122, 124, 138, +142, 193, by Mr. E. D. Morel. The official organs of the Congo Reform +Association from 1904 until Sir Charles's death contain a complete +record of his speeches, both in the House and outside, during this +period.] + +But discussion in the Belgian Parliament showed reluctance to accept +this view, and on November 4th, 1908, a strong memorandum was despatched +by Great Britain. When Parliament reassembled in 1909, a question put by +Sir Charles elicited the fact that no answer had been returned to this +despatch, and an amendment to the Address was put down by a Unionist, +Sir Gilbert Parker. Sir Charles, in supporting it, laid special stress +on backing from America, being well aware that relations were strained +in Europe. + +His speech indicated some fear that the question might be submitted to +the Hague Conference. + +"That," he said, "is not our intention. That is not what Parliament +meant. That is not the policy which successive Governments have given +their adhesion to. In a state of Europe far more disturbed, even Lord +Castlereagh several times took in similar matters far stronger action +than is now necessary." + +But the Parliament elected in 1906 did not see the end of this affair; +and when they next met in February, 1910, King Leopold had died, and +there was a new King of the Belgians. On March 10th, Sir George White +moved upon the matter, pointing out that there was no improvement in the +treatment of the natives and no extension of freedom for trade; and the +Foreign Secretary replied in a somewhat ambiguous speech. Annexation, he +said, had not yet received the sanction of Great Britain, and could not +until improvement in the administration had taken place. But beyond this +negative attitude of disapproval, Sir Edward Grey seemed to think that +Great Britain could not wisely act alone, and that under the Berlin Act +isolated action was in some measure barred. This, in the temper of the +moment, was construed as a hint that insistence on reform might drive +Belgium into the arms of Germany. Sir Charles said in this debate: + + "There is one case, and one only, where I think we see very distinct + signs of weakening in our policy, a weakening caused by terror, and + undue terror, of the risks which may follow. The papers issued by + the Belgian Government with regard to the Congo show a distinct + weakening of attitude on our part.... In the Belgian despatch they + treat us with contempt, with a sort of lofty scorn which is almost + inconceivable. I have never known such a thing before; it is an + entirely new departure. + + "I believe the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs has been here + to-day, knowing that many members in all quarters of the House have + incurred a certain disappointment, which is reflected in the letter + in to-day's papers from the Archbishop of Canterbury, with regard to + the speech with which he wound up the other night the short debate + upon the Congo question.... He says that we have not weakened our + position, that we have given nothing away, that we have not + 'recognized.' But it is not a mere paper recognition or a paper + non-recognition to which we attach high importance and which we + formerly thought we understood from his speeches.... We have before + us a Bill for the largest naval expenditure that our country has + ever incurred in time of peace. We add for the first time to that + expenditure colonial expenditure which swells out beyond that of our + own Estimates. The House has supported those Estimates, and the + Empire is spending on land forces even a larger amount than it is + spending on the fleet. None of us believe that war is probable, but + we do think, and many of us in this House believe, that the + armaments of this country, if they are to have weight in time of + peace, ought to have weight behind our diplomacy; and if they are to + be justified by many of the arguments put before this House, there + is no reason why at this moment we should be afraid of our own + shadow. We have been afraid of our own shadow on the Congo question. + I think there can be no doubt that we have received from M. Renkin, + the Colonial Minister, such treatment as we have never had to put up + with from any Power, at all events in recent years." Dilke warned + members not to be silenced by unnecessary fears on these matters. + "Not even a single question was asked in the far more dangerous case + of the ultimatum which we now know was sent to the Turkish + Government when they came into office in the beginning of 1906, in + regard to the occupation of the village of Tabah. That ultimatum + might have raised serious questions in that part of Europe. I think + a little more courage would be desirable in a case like that of the + Congo. It is not a question of ten pounds or one hundred pounds of + somebody's property. We are shocked in the case of the Congo because + that which would never happen is put as a conceivable danger at the + end of a long train of hypothetical events. It is said that there + might be an act of violence.... There would not be an act of + violence, and I beg the House not to be led away by the fear of + trifling complications following upon our insisting, not upon + anything new, but upon that which we have been insisting upon for + years past in a matter in which our moral obligation is very + weighty." + +Yet it was not Sir Charles's fortune to see the fulfilment of the long +labour in which he had played so great a part. Not till three years +later--in June, 19l3--did the Congo Reform Association feel that its +work was completed, and that it could disband its forces. + +Sir Charles's part had been to apply in Parliament the force that was +generated outside. From a private position to have guided without +seeming to dictate; to have inspired common action among colleagues +holding all shades of political thought; to have avoided miscarriage by +infinite tact and patience; to have possessed so wide a knowledge of all +the complicated issues involved that official reluctance could never +avoid action by mysterious pretexts; to have been always so moderate in +expression that strong condemnation from him, when it came, was indeed +weighty; to have watched time and opportunity, the dispositions of men, +the temper of the assembly--all this was necessary to carry through such +a Parliamentary task without the power of office, and all this Sir +Charles performed. No finer example has been given of what in the +Imperial Parliament a member of Parliament can do; and Sir Charles Dilke +could well afford to be judged by it, and it alone, as typical of his +life-work. + + + + +CHAPTER LIV + +THE BRITISH ARMY + +[Footnote: This and the two following chapters are by Mr. Spenser +Wilkinson.] + + +In October, 1885, in the course of a speech delivered to his +constituents, Dilke expressed his opinion on the subject of the reform +of the army, then generally regarded as desirable, but also as so +extremely difficult that the old Parliamentary hands shrank from +grappling with it. "Everybody was agreed," he said, "upon this point, +that we ought to have a strong navy, but there was more difference of +opinion as to the army." Speaking personally, and without any authority +from others, he felt desirous of throwing out a suggestion whether it +would not be possible to have a separate army for India and the +colonies, the army being treated as any other trade, and the men being +permitted to withdraw when they pleased, with safeguards against the +country being involved in loss when men came home prematurely. It would +be necessary, of course, to have special training for cavalry, +engineers, and artillery, as well as officers and non-commissioned +officers; but he believed that for the great mass of the infantry, apart +from the Indian and colonial army, we might safely rely upon the +volunteers, and encourage volunteering by special advantages. + +The suggestion thus modestly thrown out in 1885 proved to be the prelude +of the effort of Dilke's later life--to prepare the country and the +Empire for the times of storm and stress that were to come. His travels +as a young man had given him an unrivalled acquaintance with the chief +countries of the world, and especially with those which constitute the +British Empire. In the spring of 1887, in his articles on "The Present +Position of European Politics," as already seen, he passed in review the +aims of the several Powers of Europe, and the military means which were +available for their furtherance. His conclusion, expressed in the first +sentence of the first article, was that "the present position of the +European world is one in which sheer force holds a larger place than it +has held in modern times since the fall of Napoleon." In this condition +of Europe, the phenomenon that most impressed him was that "England is +of all Powers the most unprepared for war." That being the case, it +seemed to him to be the first duty of a British Government to set in +order the nation's defences. The next five years he devoted chiefly to +an effort to master the subject, to which he gave the name of Imperial +Defence. + +The spirit and method of Dilke's work on the subject of preparation for +war mark him off from all his Parliamentary contemporaries into a class +by himself. He took the subject of war seriously. He would not speak of +it without knowledge, and, as he had not had the professional education +of a naval or military officer, he associated himself as closely as +possible in this part of his work with those who appeared to him the +most completely to command the subject. His own words were: "Writing on +the British Army as a civilian, I am only accepting an invitation which +soldiers have often given to their fellow-countrymen. At the same time I +have not the presumption to write without military help." [Footnote: +_The British Army_, p. 1.] + +He diligently studied the military literature of the day, English and +foreign, treating of the questions he was considering, and collected a +great number of official reports and other documents which he digested. +At the same time he entered into correspondence with the best soldiers, +in order to learn and appreciate their views. Prominent among these was +Sir Frederick Roberts, then Commander-in-Chief in India, with whom +during the whole period he was in constant communication. He also sought +the collaboration of some congenial student of the problems of war, +organization, and national defence, in order to insure the thorough +discussion of all points, and to guard himself against the temptation to +attach too much importance to his own impressions. He wished to acquaint +himself with, and to reproduce in his writings, the best that was known +and thought in the military world. In 1887, while writing his articles +on European Politics, he frequently consulted in this way Colonel +Charles Brackenbury, R.A., one of the most accomplished officers of the +progressive school, a master of his profession and a clear exponent of +its principles. + +In this spirit and in these conditions was written the sixth article of +the series on European Politics, published in June, 1887, and entitled +"The United Kingdom." It was an account of the country's military +weakness and a plea for a much-needed improvement of the army. "We spend +more upon war services than does any other empire in the world.... It is +believed abroad, and I fear with reason, that even within the last two +years our stock of rifles was so small that there were only enough guns +in store to arm the first-class army reserve, so that, in fact, there +was from the military point of view no reserve of rifles, and that our +ammunition stood at about a similar point of exhaustion.... The most +capable men of the army tell us very frankly that they are almost in +despair at its condition." + +Assuming for the moment that all idea were given up of fulfilling the +nation's treaty obligations for the defence of Turkey and of Belgium, +and that no more were aimed at than the defence of India, of England, +and of the colonies, "even upon this reduced estimate of our +responsibilities, in the opinion of all competent men, we fall short of +power to accomplish our task." In view of this state of things Dilke +suggested methods of increasing the strength of the nation, and of +obtaining value for the money spent. In the first place, "it is +necessary for the statesmen, or if the statesmen will not, then for the +public, to lay down for the soldiers a basis of military policy." + + "It certainly seems clear, even to those who are not great + scientific soldiers, that there is sufficient risk of invasion to + make it essential to our position that we should have plenty of + cavalry and artillery, plenty of officers, plenty of guns, + ammunition, and other stores, always in readiness to supplement the + large force of infantry which is provided for us by the militia and + volunteers.... The things we need to keep in hand are the things + which cannot be suddenly improvised--cavalry, artillery, transport, + officers, and stores. We can, whatever some soldiers may say, make + effective infantry of our volunteers in a short space of time." + + "What we have to look to are, mainly, the defence of India, the + defence of England, and the supply of a possible expeditionary + force. For the defence of India we need, according to an opinion + which I expressed at the date of the first introduction of short + service, a long-service army." Dilke quoted Major Buxton's words: + "For home service and European warfare we need a reserve, and + therefore a short-service army. What difficulties do not hamper us + in striving to reconcile short service with foreign service! Divide + the two services and all becomes simple. The foreign service army + ... requires yearly fewer recruits, becomes acclimatized, and has + fewer green young men in its ranks; it is never relieved home, + though it moves about abroad. The question of home and foreign + reliefs is closed for ever. Recruits go out, and time-expired men + come home; that is all." "On the other hand, for the home army," + Dilke wrote, "I would rely very largely upon the militia or + volunteers, and for the infantry privates of the expeditionary army, + upon special volunteers from the militia or volunteers.... I am + convinced that the time required, provided that your officers and + non-commissioned officers are well trained, to make an infantry + private is not very great." + + "Instead of trying to imitate at one time the Prussians, and at + another the French, we ought, in my belief, to strike out a + thoroughly national system for ourselves"--the direction to be taken + being that of "giving high efficiency to the elements which cannot + be rapidly created in the home army, and the loyal adoption for the + infantry of the principle of localization and of union with the + militia and volunteers." + +In the autumn and winter, with Brackenbury's collaboration, which was +not disclosed, as Brackenbury was an officer on the active list, Dilke +wrote for the _Fortnightly Review_ a second series of articles, +entitled, like the volume in which they were afterwards collected, _The +British Army_. The first article appeared in November. After its +publication, Lord Wolseley wrote: "I have at this moment finished what I +may be allowed to call your very interesting military article in the +_Fortnightly Review_. I trust it may be read by every voter, and may +turn public opinion to the shortcomings of our army and of our military +establishments." Dilke thereupon wrote to ask Wolseley for some account, +of which public use might be made, of his views upon the condition of +the army and of the necessary reforms. Wolseley replied at some length, +and said: "I should not like any quotation made from this very hurriedly +written letter, but if you care to do so you may say in any of your +articles that I entertain these views and opinions." Wolseley's views +were given, accordingly, in the third article, in a paraphrase of his +letter. + +A more complete exposition of England's unreadiness for war has never +been written than was contained in _The British Army_. It revealed the +neglect of successive Governments to ascertain and determine the +purposes for which in war the army would be employed, and the standards, +quantitative and qualitative, of the military forces which ought to be +kept ready. It showed the evils of excessive centralization. For an +expenditure as great as that of a Continental military Power the War +Office maintained a regular army, as to which it was doubtful whether it +could mobilize, in a condition to take the field, a single army corps. +The militia was imperfectly officered. The volunteer force was of +unequal quality, and the mass of its officers inadequately trained for +war. It was without field artillery, and the guns with which in case of +war it ought to be accompanied did not exist. The regular army at home +was sacrificed to the necessity of furnishing reliefs to the army in +India, which, however, was not in a condition to defend that country +against serious attack. + +The system on which Continental armies were raised, organized, and +trained, was explained, and proposals were made for reform of the +British system. The suggestion was repeated that the British army in +India should be rendered independent of the military administration at +home, and the home army be relieved of the burden of supplying reliefs +to India. This would render possible the introduction of true short +service at home, and the enlistment for the Indian army of men willing +to serve for comparatively long periods as professional soldiers. It was +maintained that for national defence it would be found necessary to rely +mainly upon the volunteers, and that therefore they should be given a +place in the system corresponding to the call which would have to be +made upon them in case of war. In the regular army those elements should +be specially maintained which least admit of rapid training--cavalry, +field and horse artillery--and a General Staff of an English type ought +to be developed. + +The cogency of Sir Charles Dilke's appeal to his countrymen to attend to +the subject of defence, the weight of authority behind his exposition of +the failure of the military administration, and the appropriateness of +the reforms which he suggested, will be better conveyed by the quotation +of a few passages than by a summary: + +"The reign of force of which I have often spoken is so marked at present +that no Power can consider itself safe unless it is ready at any time to +defend its interests." "Humanly speaking, we can trust for our +protection in the last resort only to our strong right arm." "Time is +slipping by, and the unreadiness of England is a danger to the peace of +the world." "It is time that party politics should be put aside on +questions relating to the national defence." He pointed out how +dangerous was the influence of those "who may almost be said to oppose +all military expenditure, and yet whose ability and honesty gave them a +deserved influence with the electors." "It was impossible to adopt a +policy of disarmament without grave danger for the future;" but if it +was to be prevented, "the people have to be shown that large +expenditure, not only upon naval but also upon military purposes, is a +necessity of the time." He deprecated "the unwisdom of those who, +thinking our present position unsatisfactory, and more or less agreeing +about the main lines of the remedies to be applied, fight among +themselves.... The points which have a real importance are not those on +which we differ, but those upon which we are agreed." + +The first question that he wished to have cleared up was what the +country would fight for. He pointed out that England was bound by treaty +to support the defence of Turkey against Russia, though he doubted +whether English opinion would support that policy, and to defend the +neutrality of Belgium, as to which he thought the attitude of +Governments had been ambiguous. He would himself approve of fulfilling +our treaty obligations as regards that country, but he said: "If indeed +we are to defend the neutrality of Belgium, we may at any time find +ourselves involved in a Continental war against Germany, with France and +Belgium for our Allies." He was prepared to accept as a minimum basis +for preparation the assumption "that we ought to defend the +coaling-stations, to be in a position to defend ourselves in India and +at home, and to send, if need were, two army corps abroad as an +expeditionary force." + +One great difficulty of proving a case against the sufficiency and +efficiency of the army lay in the fact "that, while soldiers are very +willing to communicate information in their possession as to our present +weakness, to those who, they think may help in any degree to set things +straight, they not unnaturally shrink from the publication of their +names." Yet Dilke was able to express the views of Sir Frederick +Roberts, communicated to him very fully, and more briefly those of Lord +Wolseley. He was also able to quote Wolseley's statement to a Royal +Commission, that "if a hostile force of, say, 100,000 men were to land +upon our shores, there is no reason whatever, if that 100,000 were +properly led, why they should not take possession of London.... We are +not in the position we ought to be in, nor do I believe we are in the +position we should be in if the English people were told the whole +truth." + + "The inefficiency of our present organization, and its wastefulness, + are admitted by persons who differ as greatly the one from the other + as, on the one hand, the chief of the 'Economists,' Lord Randolph + Churchill, and, on the other, the soldiers who are the object of his + scorn--Lord Wolseley, Sir Frederick Roberts, and General + Brackenbury. [Footnote: General Sir Henry Brackenbury, brother of + Colonel Charles Brackenbury.] Our present position is, therefore, + condemned all round, and the day has come when it behoves every + Englishman to have an opinion as to the direction in which the + remedy is to be sought." + + "To form armies which will be of any value against the power of + 'armed nations,' it is necessary to provide modern weapons, and here + again we are weak just where we should be strong.... It is one of + the most astonishing features of our 'system' that, with all our + enormous expenditure, we manage to drop behind other nations both in + the quality of our weapons and the proportional number of them to + the hands that would have to use them. The reason probably is that + the country has gradually arrived at the absurd belief that Great + Britain alone of all nations in the world can by prudence escape the + common lot, and never have war again except with savages. From this + unfounded and unwise opinion springs grave carelessness as to the + condition of the military forces, and Governments desirous of + presenting a comparatively small Budget fail to keep up the + necessary quantity of arms and stores, because deficiency in these + is a weakness easy to conceal.... Thus we, who should always be in a + state of readiness to supply arms to improvised forces, and to + colonial levies, have never enough for the purposes of the home + army. We are always compromising between the popularity of a + Government and the safety of the Empire." + +It will be shown later on how Dilke, when the time came, upheld this +opinion by his vote in Parliament, even against his own party and to the +sacrifice of his own political interests. + + "For an expenditure of nineteen millions the Germans can put into + the field nineteen army corps of 37,000 men each, besides an + enormous force of garrison troops and a territorial army, of which + they could rapidly make a field army of thirty-five army corps in + all. For an expenditure of twice nineteen millions we can put into + the field in India two army corps, of which one is composed of + native troops, but in the United Kingdom, in General Brackenbury's + words, owing to our defective organization, we should scarcely be + able to put one; but if the army were properly organized we should + be able to put two into the field." + +Yet it could not be said that the British army fell short in numbers: + + "The army proper, the militia, the army reserve and militia reserve, + the volunteers, the native troops in India, the 36,000 Canadian + militia of the first line, about 16,000 men in Australia and New + Zealand, the South African local forces of between six and seven + thousand well-trained men, the Irish constabulary, the armed and + drilled portion of the Indian constabulary, the Hyderabad + contingent, and the marines, easily make up a total of a million of + men fit for some kind of land service, of whom very nearly the whole + are supposed to serve even in time of peace." + + "We are more saving of peace taxes than of war debt.... If the + arrangement for strict saving in time of peace and for wild waste in + time of war was ever a wise one, which in my opinion it was not, + even in the days of old-fashioned armies, it is certainly foolish in + these times of rapid mobilization.... We are in these times exposed + to war at a day's notice, and to invasion at very short notice, if + our fleet can be divided or drawn away and beaten in detail." + + "We are not without men who could reduce our non-system to system. + Sir F. Roberts, who has partly done this in India so far as the + white army goes, and has attempted, in spite of resistance at home, + to reform the native force--Sir F. Roberts could do it. Lord + Wolseley, whose organization of each of his expeditions has been + careful, energetic, and in every way remarkable, and who in his + _Soldier's Pocket-Book_ has produced the best of all handbooks to + the elements of the art of war--Lord Wolseley could do it. But the + existing system does not do it." + +In examining the Continental system, Dilke enumerated what he thought +the principal points. They were, first of all, personal service by all +men, which produced an enormous trained reserve; then complete +localization both of troops and stores; fully worked out plans of +mobilization and arrangements for obtaining horses instantly on the +outbreak of war; and last, but not least, "the organization of a General +Staff which shall act as the brain and nervous system of the army, and +shall draw to it and pass through its training as large a number of +officers as possible, so that experienced staff officers shall be +numerous in the event of war." + +In spite of his appreciation of the Continental system, Dilke did not +advocate universal compulsory service: + + "Many of my correspondents cannot understand why I do not advocate + for the British army that same general service which now prevails + almost universally on the Continent, and brings with it so many good + fruits both for the nation and the army. I have, as I have shown, no + personal objection to it, but I have pointed out the existence of a + fatal obstacle in certain forms of English and Scotch religious and + certain forms of English commercial thought. It would be unpractical + to consider at length a measure which stands no present chance of + adoption. The time may come when we shall be drawn into a struggle + for life or death, and it seems to me that it will very probably + come within the next ten years, and maybe bring with it the + necessity for that general service which would now be impossible of + attainment. For our present ideas of the imperial position general + service is not necessary, and, moreover, until some capacity is + shown for organizing the troops which we already possess, I do not + see the slightest use in obtaining a large number of fresh men. But, + in view of the reign of force which now exists in Europe, and of + slowly but surely advancing danger in the East, it is impossible to + contemplate an ideal defence of the Empire without supposing that + the inhabitants of Great Britain and all her colonies may arrive at + a condition in which every strong man shall recognize that he owes + to the State some kind of defensive military service. I have tried + to make it plain that such service need not be in the regular army; + still less need any man with us be taken against his will to fight + outside the limits of his own country. But there can be no ideal + defence in which the bulk of the population is not trained, however + slightly, in the handling of military weapons, and the individual + man trained in spirit to believe that the hearths and homes where + his sisters or his wife live free from danger owe their immunity + from attack, not merely to a half-despised 'mercenary army,' but to + the strength and the skill of his own right arm." + + "My first condition for an ideal British organization would be + freedom of the fleet from the calls of local defence. The maritime + fortresses and coaling-stations should all be capable of defending + themselves." This meant, of course, guns and garrisons. "My second + ideal principle would be to look to local help for all garrisons + where that system is possible, we retaining always a large staff of + specially well-trained officers for the purpose of organizing and + commanding local levies in war." + +Dilke thought it needful for England to train as many officers as +possible, especially as she had an ample supply of men capable, if +trained, of being good officers. + + "Is it possible to conceive a more absurd situation than that of the + wealthiest country in the world, with a vast reserve of high-blooded + youth lying idle, and enormous masses of warlike people, Sikhs, + Goorkhas, Mahrattas, Zulus, Arabs, Malays, and what not, under our + hands 'spoiling for a fight,' while this nation is unprepared to + defend its own possessions and its very existence in circumstances + which all know to be more than likely to occur? This nation, our + nation, might absolutely keep the peace of the world, yet shivers at + every breeze of Continental politics." + +Dilke's scheme was for a professional army for India and for a citizen +army at home, in which the bulk of the infantry would be volunteers, +while the special arms and the infantry of two army corps, destined to +be an expeditionary force, would be short-service soldiers. It was in +its broad outlines a forecast of the actual development that has taken +place. In particular he proposed, what was carried out by Lord Haldane's +Act, that "the militia should become liable to general service in war, +and should be organized and equipped accordingly. The volunteers should +be liable to be called out for home defence whenever the two army corps +were sent out of the kingdom." + + "My first object," he said in conclusion, "has been to point out how + seriously our national military strength falls behind our + requirements, and how unready we always are, in spite of our huge + expenditure. My second object was to show that what we want most is, + not a great and expensive increase of the regular army, but an + endeavour to make the best possible use of what we have already, by + proper organization and by utilizing to the utmost the voluntary + principle, which best suits our national temper and that of the + colonies.... We stand in presence of new forces the power of which + is almost incalculable, and, while I admit that there are in the + army a great number of able men, perhaps more than there ever were, + capable both of creating new systems and of leading us to victory, I + am inclined to think that their characters have been formed in spite + of an obsolete and decaying system, and that they are restrained by + the incapacity of others and the carelessness of the country from + exercising the influence which their talents and energy ought to + command. If the question were one of commerce, liberty, or progress + in civil affairs, the nation would be interested, and would bring + the resources of its accumulated knowledge to bear on the subject. + But being, as it is, a question without the right settlement of + which neither commerce nor liberty is safe, the public is so little + in earnest about it that politicians are allowed to play with it, + and the serious needs of self-defence are sacrificed to the poor aim + of keeping constituencies in good-humour. Nothing can or will be + done by Governments of any party till the nation can be roused to + some expression of public opinion; and that opinion has to be formed + before it can be expressed. In the reign of force which now prevails + throughout Europe, carelessness as to our power of defence is + culpable beyond possibility of exaggeration, for we may have to + defend not only our individual interests as a nation, but all that + enormous influence for the good of mankind which is at present + exercised in the remotest parts of the earth by an enormous Empire + bent on preventing war and on spreading the blessings of peace." + +Coming when it did, _The British Army_ made an impression on the +educated public. It followed soon after the report of Sir James +Stephen's Commission, which had exposed the chaotic condition of the +administration of the army. Dilke revealed a grasp of every branch of +the subject. His criticisms reflected the judgment of officers familiar +with the branch of service discussed. His proposals were modest and +intelligible, and in every case represented some body of competent +military opinion. He told the public much that none of his readers fully +appreciated at the time. The German army had been largely increased in +the spring of 1887, and in the beginning of 1888 a Bill passed the +Reichstag which increased by a further 700,000 men the numbers available +in case of war. Dilke explained in one of his chapters that, "according +to the calculations of the French Staff, the total number of armed men +upon which Germany would be able to draw for all purposes would exceed +7,000,000." [Footnote: The British Army, p. 161.] This and other +forecasts may startle those readers whose curiosity tempts them to read +the volume again in 1917. But the work produced no practical result +except to put Dilke into the front rank of army reformers. The +Government took no action to remedy the military weakness which everyone +recognized. The report of the Stephen Commission remained a dead letter. +In June, 1888, a new Royal Commission was issued, in which the Marquis +of Hartington, associated with a number of colleagues of Cabinet rank +and with a General and an Admiral, was instructed to inquire into the +administration of the naval and military departments. The attempt at +reform was postponed until these Commissioners should have made their +report. + + + + +CHAPTER LV + +IMPERIAL DEFENCE + + +I. + +Sir Charles Dilke's visit to India in 1888-1889 convinced him that he +had been right in believing the Indian army to be better prepared for +war than the portion of the army which was kept at home. A great +difficulty he now saw was that there were two rival plans of campaign, +the one cherished in India, the other by officers at home. "The greater +number of Indian officers expect to march with a large force into +Afghanistan to meet the Russians, and believe that reinforcements will +be sent from England to swell their armies and to make up for losses in +the field. On the other hand, the dominant school in England expect to +send an expedition from England, in combination with Turkey or some +other allied Power, to attack Russia in other quarters." Dilke was led +accordingly to the general conclusion that the one thing needful was +"that we should try to remove the consideration of these subjects from +the home or the Indian or the Canadian point of view, and should take a +general view of the possibilities of Imperial defence." + +The attempt to take this imperial view was made in _Problems of Greater +Britain_, which Dilke wrote during the remainder of the year 1889. In +this work he discussed the defence of the North-West Frontier of India +as a prelude to the examination of the defence of the British Empire. +His reason for this separate treatment was that "only on this one of all +the frontiers of the Empire the British dominion is virtually +conterminous with the continental possessions of a great military +Power." He showed that the serious import of this condition was +understood by all who knew India well and by both the political parties +in England. He dissented from the view that security could be obtained +by an agreement with Russia, because it was not easy to see "how Russia +could put it out of her own power at any moment to threaten us on the +North-West Frontier." The suggestion that Russia should be allowed to +occupy the northern portion of Afghanistan he rejected, first because it +would have been a flagrant breach of faith with the Amir, and secondly +because it would give to Russia territory which she could quickly +transform into a base of operations against India. + +He thought that Russia could not invade India with a good chance of +success if she started from her present frontier, but that if she were +allowed to occupy the northern portion of Afghanistan the Indian +Government would be put to ruinous expense for the defensive +preparations which would then be required. [Footnote: 'Lord Dufferin +wrote to me from the Embassy at Rome to express his satisfaction with +the Indian portion of my book, and especially those passages in which I +demonstrated the exceeding folly of which we should be guilty if ever we +consented to a partition of Afghanistan with Russia.'] He noted that the +policy of advance upon our left, which he had recommended in 1868, had +been adopted with success, chiefly by the efficacy of the Sandeman +system of recognizing and supporting the tribal chiefs and requiring +them to maintain order, and also by the occupation and fortification of +the position of Quetta and by the opening of roads from Quetta through +the Gomul and other passes to the Indus at Dera Ismail Khan and Dera +Ghazi Khan. This would enable an Indian army to attack the right flank +of any Russian force attempting to advance along the Khyber line, which +would be resisted in the Khyber hills and at Attock, and be stopped at +the fortress of Rawal Pindi. Generally speaking, he held that Indian +"defence must be by the offensive with the field army, and the less we +have to do with fortifications, the better." He urged the extension +northwards of the Sandeman system to all the independent tribes between +the Indian and the Afghan borders. If the separate armies for the +Presidencies were to be united under a single Commander-in-Chief, as the +Indian Government had long desired, and if the principle of enlisting in +the native army only men of fighting races were fully adopted, and the +native Princes induced to place effective contingents at the disposal of +the Government, he thought that India with reinforcements from home +would be well able to resist a Russian attack starting from the frontier +that Russia then possessed. + +But if Russia should once be established at Herat, with railway +communications to that point, there would be hardly any limit to the +force with which it would become necessary to resist her. He therefore +urged that the Russian Government should be given to understand that any +advance of her forces into Afghanistan would be regarded by England as a +hostile act. At the same time he admitted that it was difficult to see +how Russia was in that event to be fought. He still thought that she +would be vulnerable at Vladivostock--at any rate until her railway to +the Pacific should be completed [Footnote: He considered that, with a +view to any future struggle with Russia, the abandonment of Port +Hamilton in 1886 by Lord Salisbury had been unfortunate. See, as to Port +Hamilton, _Life of Granville_, ii. 440; _Europe and the Far East_, by +Sir Robert Douglas, pp. 190, 248]--but he was aware that this view was +shared neither by the Indian nor the British officers likely to be +heard. + +In his chapter on Indian Defence Dilke had exhausted the subject from +the Indian point of view. He was fully acquainted with the ideas of all +those who had been seriously concerned with the problem, of which he had +discussed every aspect with them, and his exposition was complete. When +in his last chapter he came to "examine the conditions of the defence of +the Empire as a whole, and to try to find some general principle for our +guidance," he was to a great extent breaking new ground. The subject had +been treated in 1888 by Colonel Maurice, afterwards General Sir +Frederick Maurice, in his essay on the Balance of Military Power in +Europe, but Maurice based his scheme on the assumption of a Continental +alliance which Dilke thought impracticable. It had also been treated +with great insight as early as 1880 by Sir John Colomb in his _Defence +of Great and Greater Britain_. His brother Admiral Philip Colomb had +more recently expounded the view that the right plan was to make the +enemy's coasts our frontier, and to blockade the whole of his ports, so +that it would be impossible for his fleets to issue forth. This seemed +to Dilke to imply a superiority of naval force which England did not +possess, and was not then intending to create. But Sir John Colomb in +1880 had admitted the absolute necessity of being prepared to render +invasion impossible by purely military forces. "It was necessary," he +had said, "that invasion be efficiently guarded against, so that, should +our home fleet be temporarily disabled, we may, under cover of our army, +prepare and strengthen it to regain lost ground and renew the struggle +for that which is essential to our life as a nation and our existence as +an Empire." + +Sir Charles Dilke thought this sound sense, and that it was rash, in +view of the inadequate strength of the actual navy and of the +uncertainty as to the effect of new inventions on naval warfare, to +count upon beginning a future war with a repetition of Trafalgar. He +admitted that the navy, if concentrated in home waters, would be fully +able to defend the United Kingdom, but that the fleets if so +concentrated must abandon the remainder of the Empire, and that this +would involve the destruction of our commerce and would be as severe a +blow to the Empire as the invasion of England. He inferred that the navy +must be the chief agent in defence, but backed by fortification and by +land forces. There ought to be squadrons in distant seas strong enough +to hold their own, without reinforcements, against probable enemies on +the same stations. The coaling ports must be suitably fortified and have +all the troops necessary for their garrisons on the spot in time of +peace. [Footnote: Autumn of 1889: 'Among those with whom I corresponded +about my book was Lord Charles Beresford, who gave me a great deal of +information about coaling-stations for my chapter on Imperial Defence, +in which I also had Charles Brackenbury's help to a considerable +extent.'] He carefully considered the question of food-supply at home +and the possibility of a commercial blockade of the United Kingdom. He +did not think that such a blockade could be established or maintained. +"Our manufactures would be seriously assailed, our food-supply would +become precarious, but we should not be brought to the point of +surrender by absolute starvation, and the possibility of invasion is not +excluded, as some of the naval school pretend, by the fact that it would +be unnecessary." + + "On the other hand, a defeat or a temporary absence of the fleet + might lead to bombardments, attacks upon arsenals, and even to + invasion, if our mobile land forces, our fortifications and their + garrisons, were not such as to render attacks of any kind too + dangerous to be worth attempting. In the absence of the fleet a + landing could not be prevented. But the troops landed ought to be + attacked. For this purpose we do not need an immense number of + ill-trained, badly-equipped, and unorganized troops, but an army + completely ready to take the field and fight in the open, supplied + with a well-trained field artillery." + +But the mere protection of Great and Greater Britain was not enough. "It +is idle to suppose that war could be brought to a termination unless we +are prepared in some way to obtain advantages over the enemy such as to +cause him to weary of the struggle. The _riposte_ is as necessary in +warfare as in fencing, and defence must include the possibility of +counter-attack." "In view of almost any conceivable hostilities, we +ought to be prepared to supply arms and officers to native levies which +would support our Empire in various portions of the globe." But we had +too few officers for our own troops at home, in India, and in the +auxiliary forces. The stocks of arms ought to be larger than they were, +and there ought to be centres of production for them in various parts of +the Empire. "The moneys that the British Empire spends upon defence are +immensely great, and what is wanted is that those moneys should be spent +as is decided by the best advisers who can be obtained." "The main thing +needed for a joint organization of the whole of the defensive forces of +the Empire is the creation of a body of men whose duty it would be to +consider the questions raised, and to work out the answers." For this +purpose he thought the one thing needful was a General Staff, an +institution of which he gave a brief account, based on Mr. Spenser +Wilkinson's essay _The Brain of an Army_, of which the author had sent +him the proofs. "A General Staff," Dilke wrote, "would neither inspect +troops nor regulate the promotion of the army, but it would decide the +principles which would arrange the distribution of the Imperial +forces.... The very existence of a General Staff would constitute a form +of Imperial military federation." + + +II. + +In December, 1890, Dilke read before the Statistical Society a paper on +the Defence Expenditure of the Chief Military and Naval Powers. He had +taken great pains to ascertain what each Power spent on its army and +navy, and what return it obtained for its money. The net result was +that, while France and Germany for an expenditure of about 28 millions +sterling could each of them put into the field a mobile force of two +million men, the British Empire, at a cost of 35-1/2 millions, had "a +nominal force of 850,000 of various degrees of training wholly +unorganized, and supplied only with the professional artillery needed +for a force of about 150,000 men." The British navy was more formidable +than the French, and "the German navy does not as yet exist. I say 'as +yet,' for the Germans mean business with their navy, and have begun, in +a businesslike manner, at the top, putting at the head of it their best +administrators." The French were spending altogether on defence a total +of 36 to 36-1/2 millions, the Germans 38, and the British Empire 57 +millions. The moral was that, "whatever the peace expenditure, war +cannot be commenced with a fair chance of winning by a nation which +waits until war to make her organization perfect. Germany before 1870 +prepared in time of peace her corps, her armies, and provided them all +with officers for the various commands, who knew what their duties would +be in war. All countries spending much on their armies now do the same, +except the United Kingdom, which stands alone in having still +practically little but a regimental system in existence. But although we +are old-fashioned, to the point of being utterly unprepared (except in +India) for the stress of war, we nevertheless spend sums so vast as to +stagger and amaze even the French and German critics, who ought to be +pretty well used, one would think, to large sums for military +expenditure." [Footnote: Sir Charles notes in 1893: 'Sir William +Harcourt on the British Army: "One knows a man who has ten thousand a +year, sixteen horses, and ten carriages, and yet if one guest comes he +has difficulty to find a dogcart to meet him, and if two come a fly has +to be hired. The British nation also spends its money freely, and has +equal difficulty in meeting the slightest emergency."'] + +Early in 1891 Dilke proposed to Spenser Wilkinson that they should join +in writing a new popular book on Imperial Defence. During that year the +two men kept up a constant correspondence, and Wilkinson was frequently +Dilke's guest in London, at Dockett and Pyrford, and in the Forest of +Dean. At Whitsuntide Dilke stayed at Aldershot (where Wilkinson was in +camp with his old volunteer battalion, the 2nd Manchester), and went +every day to see the regiment at work. + +In September, on the eve of Dilke's starting for the French manoeuvres, +Wilkinson sent him the draft of an introduction to the proposed book. It +challenged the widely-held opinion that war is wicked in itself, and +might by political arrangement be rendered unnecessary, and deprecated +the abstention from inquiry into its methods which this opinion +encouraged. It challenged the maxim 'No foreign policy,' which meant +either having no relations with other countries, or, having such +relations, conducting them without system. War should be conceived of as +imposed upon States by an irreconcilable opposition of purposes, and was +always a means to an end. Peace could not be secured by a policy which +adopts it as a supreme end. The confusion between defence as a political +attitude and defence as an operation of war had led to the neglect, by +English public opinion, of all naval and military preparations that +might be available for attack. But the essential elements of defensive +strength, fleets and armies, were mobile and equally available for +offensive operations, and no efficient preparation for defence was +possible that would not also serve for attack. Without a clear and true +conception of the character of war as a conflict of national purposes, +proper conduct of military operations and of defensive preparations was +impossible, and to its absence was due the unorganized condition of the +defence of the Empire. Dilke, in acknowledging the manuscript, wrote: +"I've read it all and like it, but shall shorten it a little," and in +returning the manuscript, with his modifications, wrote: "The +introduction is most excellent--stately and interesting: I can say this, +as it is almost all yours." Wilkinson then sent a chapter entitled "The +Primacy of the Navy." + + "An attack on land conducted across the sea is a most hazardous + speculation so long as there exists anywhere a hostile fleet that is + able to fight. In order to make such an attack safe, it is + indispensable that the attacker should secure himself from all + interruption by destroying or driving from the sea any hostile + fleet. The Power which should succeed in doing this would have 'the + command of the sea' as against its particular enemy.... The + territories of the Power having command of the sea are virtually + safe against attack by sea.... The British navy, then, so long as it + maintains the superiority at sea is a sufficient protection against + invasion for every part of the Empire except India and Canada. If, + however, the navy were to suffer decisive defeat, if it were driven + to seek the shelter of its fortified harbours and kept there, or if + it were destroyed--then, not only would every part of the Empire be + open to invasion, but the communication between the several parts + would be cut, and no mutual succour would be possible. + + "The defeat of the British fleet or fleets would, of course, be + effected by purely naval operations; but the acquiescence in its + destruction could, perhaps, only be secured by a blow affecting the + British power at its source, and therefore the establishment by an + enemy of his naval superiority would almost certainly be followed by + an invasion of Great Britain. So long, then, as the British navy can + be maintained invincible, the Empire could be adequately defended + against attack of any European Power other than Russia, and for such + a defence, therefore, no more is needed than complete naval + preparation, and such military preparation as is required for the + full efficiency of the navy. Any additional military preparation is, + as against attack of this nature, merely an insurance to cover the + possibility of the failure of the navy. After such failure, it might + save the British Islands, but it could not save the Empire." + +Dilke wrote that this doctrine was the opposite of what he had +previously held and preached, and expressed a doubt whether, that being +the case, the book could go on as a joint work. Wilkinson replied that +the first question was whether the doctrine of the chapter was sound, +and that the question of the names on the title-page could wait till the +work was done. + +In _Problems of Greater Britain_ Dilke had discussed the view of Sir +John Colomb and of his brother, Admiral Colomb. The Admiral appeared to +rely upon "blockade," which required a navy much stronger than Great +Britain possessed, and might, with modern weapons and the torpedo, be +impracticable of execution, while Sir John Colomb appeared to admit the +necessity of purely military forces to prevent invasion. Dilke, looking +at the extent of the Empire to be defended, had thought that the +concentration of the navy in home waters must involve the abandonment of +the rest of the Empire. This is the view usually held by those who are +thinking of what they have to protect. Wilkinson thought first of the +enemy's forces and how to destroy them. If they can be destroyed, the +enemy is helpless and the territories of the victor are safe, because +the enemy has no force with which to molest them. On the appearance of +_Problems_, Dilke, as the extracts from his Diary at that time show, had +begun to doubt whether this view was not the right one; Wilkinson's +exposition and the discussion which accompanied it completed his +conversion. This was the turning-point of his studies of Imperial +Defence. + +The next chapter was headed "The Command of the Sea." Here the debated +doctrine was applied. + + "The purpose of Great Britain to render her territories secure would + be perfectly accomplished by the destruction of the enemy's navy, as + this would render any attempt at the transport of troops + impracticable. The destruction of the enemy's navy would, of course, + also be the best possible protection for England's sea-borne trade + (though, no doubt, for this purpose additional measures would be + required), and for her communications with every part of her Empire. + Thus, in every possible war in which Great Britain could engage, the + prime function of the British navy is to attack, and if possible to + destroy, the organized naval forces of the enemy." + +Suppose the enemy sought battle, the question would soon be decided, but +if he wished to avoid it the difficulty would be to find him and to +compel him to accept it. For this purpose the best plan was that adopted +in 1803 by Lord St. Vincent, which consisted in placing at the outset, +in front of every one of the enemy's military ports, a British squadron +superior to that which the enemy had within it. This was incorrectly +termed "blockade," as the object was not to prevent the issue of the +French fleets from their ports, but to prevent their exit unwatched and +to fight them when they should come out. This plan must be supplemented +by a reserve fleet, and by numerous cruisers to hunt such of the enemy's +cruisers as might be at large. The alternative plan of Lord Howe, of +concentrating the fleet at one of the home ports, was also discussed, +but considered less advantageous, as it left the enemy's fleet free to +proceed to sea. But it was shown that the navy of 1891 was twenty +battleships short of the number believed by naval officers to be +required for the successful adoption of St. Vincent's plan against the +French navy alone. + +The defence of India was treated in two chapters entitled "The Peace of +India" and "The North-West Frontier," which were in substance a +restatement of the view expressed in _Problems of Greater Britain_. + +The chapter on "The Armies" was a translation into specific shape, with +full details and calculations, of Dilke's idea of a separation between +the British and Indian systems. It was argued that the militia and +volunteers should be organized into army corps with permanent fully paid +commanders and the necessary auxiliary troops, and it was pointed out +that the volunteer department of the War Office ought to be entrusted to +volunteer officers. A chapter on "The Management of the Home Army" +asserted that "Any system proposed for the better management of the army +must satisfy three distinct conditions: It must be framed with a view to +the preparation of the army for war; it must secure unimpaired the +authority of the Cabinet; and it must provide for an efficient control +over expenditure by the House of Commons." The first requirement of a +sound system was a general who could be entrusted with the duty of +advising the Cabinet upon the conduct of war and with the actual +management of campaigns. He ought to have a proper general staff and the +field troops at home should be organized into localized autonomous army +corps. "The British army at home has no generals, and can have none +until its battalions are settled and grouped into brigades, divisions, +and army corps." There must be a second general charged with all +branches of supply. + +Any satisfactory Admiralty system, it was pointed out, would provide a +competent naval adviser for the Cabinet. But it was doubted "whether it +will be possible to secure unity of design in defence so long as the War +Office and the Admiralty are separately represented in the Cabinet. The +difficulty would be overcome if it became the practice for one Minister +to hold both offices." Dilke had long had the common-sense idea that a +single Minister ought to have general charge of all the preparations for +war and its conduct by sea and land. + +He had made excisions and additions in the chapters as they had reached +him, and had closely scrutinized the expression throughout. The whole +book was read through by the two men together, and each point discussed +to complete agreement. Dilke then proposed that it should appear in +Wilkinson's name, as it was substantially Wilkinson's work, and that he +himself might write a preface. Wilkinison said that it was a joint work, +that the idea of the book was Dilke's, that its substance was the +outcome of the intimate exchange of views between them, and that it +ought to bear both their names. In his diary Dilke wrote: "Wilkinson's +part in it was far greater than mine, though we argued out the whole." +When the book appeared, Admiral Colomb wrote to Dilke: "On reading the +introduction and the first and second chapters, I am inclined to sing +'Nunc dimittis,' for, as far as I can understand the matter, you put +forward all the views for which I have contended; and coming thus from +your hands, I think they will henceforth be current views." Dilke sent +the letter to Wilkinson, noting on it: "Colomb thinks _he_ has converted +me. I reply, _he couldn't_. You did--after he had failed." He regarded +his collaboration with Wilkinson as an intellectual partnership in +regard to defence, and hardly ever spoke or wrote on the subject without +referring to it. + +The development of Sir Charles Dilke's thoughts on defence has now been +fully traced and his method of work revealed. His mind was unreservedly +open to take in the thoughts of others, and he was incessantly trying to +know the best that was thought and said concerning the subjects that +interested him. He assimilated the substance of a vast correspondence, +and on every topic the ideas which he received became a part of him. His +intellectual life was thus an incessant dialectic with the best minds of +his time. But he never accepted ideas from others without the most +generous acknowledgment, and did not, as so many men do, proceed, after +assimilating another man's thought, to imagine that it was his own +invention. This intellectual candour, involving a rare modesty and +absence of affectation, was one of his finest characteristics. + + + + +CHAPTER LVI + +ARMY AND NAVY IN PARLIAMENT + + +I. + +In 1892, when Sir Charles Dilke returned to the House of Commons as +member for the Forest of Dean, his mind was made up in regard to the +subject of national defence, and from that time on he worked in and out +of Parliament to bring about an organization for war of the resources of +the nation and of the Empire. + +At that time the management of both services was hampered by the +accumulated changes made by three generations of statesmen intent upon +home affairs, under which were buried and hidden the traditions of an +earlier period of wars. In 1857 the Duke of Cambridge had been appointed +Commander-in-Chief in deference to the belief of the Prince Consort, +inspired by Baron Stockmar, that in order to avert revolution the royal +authority over the army must be exercised through a Prince, and not +through the channel of a Minister responsible to Parliament. The Duke +thought it his mission to resist changes, and his obstruction had been +the bane of successive Ministers. Accordingly, the statesmen of Cabinet +rank and experience were anxious at all cost to establish the supremacy +of the Cabinet over the army, and for this purpose had welcomed the +proposal of the Hartington Commission to abolish the office of +Commander-in-Chief whenever the Duke of Cambridge should cease to hold +that post. The Commission had not considered that a change of persons +might solve the difficulty, and was led astray by the proposal to +appoint "a Chief of the Staff," who was to be, not the strategical +adviser of the head of the army, but rather its administrator in chief. +In every modern army there is a Chief of the General Staff to assist the +Commander-in-Chief, the principal executive officer, as well as an +Administrator-General to manage the business of supply. The Hartington +Commission proposed to give the name "Chief of the Staff" to an +Administrator-General. It further proposed the creation of a Committee +of the Cabinet to hold the balance between the requirements of the War +Office and those of the Admiralty. + +Dilke recognized as fully as the occupants of either front bench the +necessity for the paramount authority of the Cabinet. He also felt the +need for co-ordination between the War Office and the Admiralty, and +considered that both these needs would best be met by a single Minister, +the Prime Minister, supervising or taking charge of both offices. The +essence of co-ordination would consist in framing the arrangements for +both services with a single eye to victory in war. + +Dilke's first step was to get into touch with those members of +Parliament who were most keenly interested in the army and navy. + + 'On February 21st (1893) I had a meeting, which I had suggested, + with Lord Wolmer, General Sir George Chesney, and H. O. + Arnold-Forster, and agreed on joint action in all service matters, + and to attend the meeting of the service members fixed for the next + day, to which, although civilians, Arnold-Forster and I were asked. + We wrote Wolmer's motion for him.' + +At this time Campbell-Bannerman was Secretary of State for War. On March +9th the House was to go into Committee of Supply, and on the motion +"that Mr. Speaker do now leave the chair" Lord Wolmer moved "that in the +opinion of this House the present system of military administration +fails to secure either due economy in time of peace or efficiency for +national defence." Lord Wolmer in his speech referred to the breakdown +in the system of recruiting which had been disclosed in the report of +Lord Wantage's Committee. He was supported by Sir George Chesney, who +referred to the report of Sir James Stephen's Commission as "a scathing +exposure of mismanagement," and to that of the Hartington Commission as +"an unqualified and alarming denunciation of our military system." +Arnold-Forster also supported the resolution, in favour of which Dilke +made a short and incisive speech. Campbell-Bannerman declined to take +the discussion seriously. "The first observation," he said, "that must +occur to anyone reading the motion is, What in the world has the report +of Lord Wantage's Committee to do with the present system of military +administration? It is as if the noble lord were to call attention to the +Tenterden Steeple, and to move that the Goodwin Sands are a danger to +navigation." But the breakdown of recruiting was the crucial evidence of +the weakness of the military administration. + +In September, 1893, the question of the then recent appointment of the +Duke of Connaught to the command at Aldershot was raised in the House of +Commons by Mr. Dalziel. It was defended by Campbell-Bannerman on the +ground that the Duke possessed sufficient qualifications for the post. +If that had been the sole question, said Dilke, he should have supported +the Government. + + "But there was another point. Aldershot was a training-school not + only for the men and regimental officers there employed, but also + for the Generals commanding. It might be said to be the only school + in the United Kingdom where a general officer could obtain + experience in commanding men in battle, and therefore only officers + who were likely to command armies in case of serious war ought to be + put in command of such a place. Was it likely that the Duke of + Connaught, under the circumstances, would be called upon to take the + chief command against a European enemy in case of war?" + +In the division Dilke voted against the appointment. + +On December 19th Lord George Hamilton moved a resolution "that a +considerable addition should at once be made to the navy." Mr. Gladstone +regarded this proposal as a vote of censure on the Government, and +delivered an indignant reply. Dilke deprecated making the navy a subject +of party controversy, and made an appeal to his Liberal friends: + + "All naval experts who have been consulted on the question have + always laid it down that, for safety, you must have a supremacy of + five to three in battleships, that you require that supremacy for + the policy of blockade.... If ever we engage in war ... it is a + necessity of the position of this country that our frontiers should + be at the enemy's ports.... I know this is not a popular policy, but + the existence of the Empire depends upon it.... Liberals should give + up thinking of this question of national defence as a hateful one, + and as one against which they ought to close their eyes and ears. I + know that, in these days of great armaments on the Continent, the + old tradition of the Liberal party, that they should look to the + possibility of using the forces of this country on behalf of + Continental freedom, has become a dream of the past. They must + remember that our liberties at home depend upon the efficiency of + our fleet, and that, beyond this, the very existence of our Empire + is concerned in the question which the House is at this moment + debating." + +The sequel to this debate was Mr. Gladstone's retirement in February, +1894. + +Early in the autumn of 1893 Dilke had talked over with Spenser Wilkinson +the line to be taken in Parliament by the service members. Wilkinson had +urged as a preliminary some effort to obtain agreement among the +"experts," suggesting that Chesney as the ablest of them all should +first be approached. On November 8th Chesney and Wilkinson dined at +Sloane Street, and, Chesney having expressed his general concurrence in +the views as to administration explained in _Imperial Defence_, Dilke +proposed that Wilkinson should draft a letter to the Prime Minister, +embodying the main points, to be signed by all three and by Arnold- +Forster, if he should be in accord with them, and to be sent not only to +Mr. Gladstone, but to the leaders of the Opposition. The result was the +following letter, which was eventually signed and sent on February 12th, +1894, to Mr. Gladstone (then Prime Minister), to Lord Salisbury, the +Duke of Devonshire, Mr. Balfour, and Mr. Chamberlain: + + Sir, + + The late debate in the House of Commons on the subject of the navy + was one of many symptoms of a widespread uneasiness with regard to + the defences of the Empire. There is a doubt of the sufficiency of + the naval establishments and of the efficiency in some respects of + the systems under which the navy and the army are administered. This + failure of confidence has been of gradual growth. Those who think it + justified do not attribute the responsibility for it to any one + administration or to either party in the State. Yet it seems + difficult to discuss these doubts in Parliament without, at least, + the appearance of censure upon the Government of the day, a result + which is unfortunate, for the subject should unite rather than + divide parties, and upon its paramount importance there is no + difference of opinion. + + For this reason a service may perhaps be rendered by the + communication to the Prime Minister and to the leaders of the + Opposition of suggestions which commend themselves to men of + different parties who have from different points of view for many + years given attention to questions relating to national defence. + + No arrangements which aimed at or resulted in a subversion of the + principles which experience has shown to be essential to the working + of constitutional government could be seriously considered. But no + system of defence, however constitutional, can avail unless it be + shaped with a view to war. It is to the conciliation of these two + necessities, that of compatibility with the constitution and that of + adaptation to the purpose of war, that our attention has been + directed. + + If the preservation of peace depended upon the goodwill of the + British Government, there would perhaps be little need for a navy or + an army. The existence of these services implies that this is not + the case, and that safety in time of war depends upon forethought + and preparation in advance. Such preparation involves a view of the + nature of a possible war and an estimate of the intensity of the + effort it would impose, this view and this estimate furnishing the + standard for the quantity and quality of the means to be kept + available. + + The design, without which even a defensive war cannot be carried on, + and in the absence of which preparations made during peace must fail + to serve their purpose, is properly the secret of the Government. + Yet, where the Government is responsible to a Parliament, it is + indispensable either that so much of the design should be + communicated to Parliament as will enable it to judge of the + necessity and of the sufficiency of the preparations for which + supplies must be voted, or that Parliament should know who are the + professional advisers upon whose judgment the Government relies. + Neither of these conditions seems to us at present to be fulfilled, + and as a consequence of the omission there has arisen in the public + mind that distrust to which we have alluded. + + The leading decision in the administration of the national defence, + governing the whole course and character of any future war, is that + which settles the total amount of expenditure upon preparation and + apportions it between the naval and military services. For this + decision the Cabinet is, and must ever be, responsible. Yet in the + distribution of the business of the Cabinet into departments there + appears to be no office specially entrusted with the consideration + of war as a whole, embracing the functions both of the navy and of + the army. Of the sums usually devoted each year to warlike + preparations, the larger part is spent upon the army, and only a + lesser part upon the navy, upon which the maintenance of the Empire + and the security of Great Britain must ever chiefly depend. It is + difficult to believe that this apportionment is the result of + deliberate examination of the requirements of war. It would seem + more probable that the separate existence of a department of the + navy and a department of the army leads in practice to the + management of each for its own sake rather than as an instrument + serving a more general purpose. + + In order to secure the special consideration by the Cabinet of + national defence as distinct from and superior to the administration + either of the navy or of the army, we would suggest the appointment + of one and the same Minister to the two offices of Secretary of + State for War and First Lord of the Admiralty, or the amalgamation, + with the consent of Parliament, of these two offices. + + We would further suggest that the Cabinet should select for each + service an officer whose professional judgment commands its + confidence, to be at once the responsible adviser of the Cabinet + upon all questions regarding the conduct of war so far as his own + service is concerned, and the principal executive officer of that + service. + + We understand by a responsible adviser one who stands or falls by + the advice which he gives. He would, of course, have at his + disposal, in the formation of his views, the best assistance which + the professional staff of the navy or of the army could supply. But + the opinion which, after mature consideration, he would submit to + the Cabinet, and formally record, would be his own and would be + given in his own name. It follows that a difference of opinion + between the Cabinet and its naval or its military adviser upon any + important matter of naval or military policy would lead to the + resignation of the latter. In our view, the essence of + responsibility for advice is that the officer giving it is + identified with it, and remains in the post only so long as his + judgment upon the professional matters with reference to which he is + consulted is acceptable to the Cabinet which he serves. In order to + facilitate his independence in this respect, provision should be + made, in case of his resignation, for his employment in another post + or for his honourable retirement. + + If these suggestions were adopted, the passage in case of need from + peace to war would take place without personal or administrative + change. The adaptation of the whole service, whether naval or + military, to the necessities of war, as understood by a competent + officer studying them with full responsibility, would be assured. + The House of Commons and the public would have in the person of the + naval and of the military adviser a guarantee of the sufficiency and + of the efficiency of the navy and of the army. The authority of the + Cabinet and the control of the House of Commons would be unimpaired. + + We are, sir, + + Your obedient servants, + + Charles W. Dilke. + + George Chesney. + + H. O. Arnold-Foster. + + Spenser Wilkenson. + +In December, 1893, Dilke had communicated to Mr. Balfour the draft of +this letter and his plan for sending it to the leaders of both parties. +Mr. Balfour thought the best plan for co-ordinating the two services +would be by a Defence Committee of the Cabinet, of which Dilke put his +finger on the weak point, that it gave no guarantee of meeting the +requirements of war. [Footnote: The letters printed in Appendix I., p. +451, embody the substance of previous conversations between Dilke and +Mr. Balfour. In Appendix II., p. 456, are given the replies of Mr. +Gladstone and the other leaders to the joint letter, which was +afterwards published in the newspapers.--Ed.] It was after these +communications that Mr. Balfour made his speech at Manchester on January +22nd, 1894, in which he said: + + "It is responsibility which is chiefly lacking in our present + system. If anything goes wrong with the navy, you attack the First + Lord of the Admiralty. If anything goes wrong in the army, you + attack the Secretary for War. If anything goes wrong in the Home + Department, you attack the Secretary to the Home Department. But if + the general scheme of national and imperial defence is not properly + managed, there is nobody to attack but the whole Cabinet; and the + Cabinet as a whole is not, in my opinion, a very good body to carry + on the detailed work of that, any more than of any other, department + of the State." + +These private discussions between Dilke and Mr. Balfour foreshadowed the +actual course which reform was to take. It began in 1895 with the +adoption of Mr. Balfour's plan of a Committee of the Cabinet; it ended +in 1904 by Mr. Balfour as Prime Minister adopting Dilke's plan, and +undertaking himself, as chairman of that Committee, the co-ordination of +the two services. Then and not till then the fundamental principle of +the primacy of the navy in the defence of the Empire was formally +recognized. + +The next step of the signatories to the joint letter was action in +Parliament. Dilke gave notice that, on the introduction of the Army +Estimates, he would move the following resolution: + + "That this House, before voting supplies for the maintenance of + military establishments in the United Kingdom, seeks an assurance + from Her Majesty's Government that the estimates for that purpose + submitted to it are framed upon consideration of possible war by sea + and land, and upon a consideration of advice tendered in that behalf + by such officer of either service as is fitted to command in war Her + Majesty's forces of that service." + +The debate took place on March 16th, 1894. In the course of his speech +Dilke said: + + "What I want to know, and what the Cabinet in framing the estimates + ought to know, is this: Are the proposals before the House those + which alone are capable of securing the safety of the country and of + the Empire?... I wish to know whether the Government present these + estimates as representing the least, but still what is sufficient, + for the needs of the country for the next twelve months, not only + for the protection of the whole country and the Empire, but for the + protection of our trade in all parts of the world.... + + "The Cabinet must obtain the best advice possible. I, for my part, + should prefer that the advice should be concentrated for each + service, because I think it is far more responsible advice if it + comes mainly on the responsibility of a single man as regards the + army and navy respectively than if you dispersed it among a great + number of people.... As far as I am concerned, form in this matter + is immaterial. I have stated what I want to secure, and I will put + two or three different ways of securing it which would very often + come to the same thing. What I ventured to suggest at first was that + the Prime Minister should be brought to take more personal concern + in the defence of the country than is the case at the present time; + that he should consider himself mainly responsible for the joint + consideration of the whole defence proposals; that he should hear + the Secretary for War, the First Lord of the Admiralty, and their + advisers, if he is doubtful, and that they together, more seriously + than has been the case in the past, should go into the difficulties + of the problem, and he should then advise with them as to the + estimates.... There was another suggestion made--that a Defence + Minister, a Minister who should represent the army and navy, should + be the person charged specially with the responsibility to this + House.... But I am not wedded to any particular form. Whether the + Prime Minister specially undertakes the duty, whether it is + undertaken by a Defence Minister, or whether the suggestion is + adopted--which, I believe, is that of the Leader of the Opposition + (Mr. Balfour)--that a Defence Committee of the Cabinet, which I have + heard was instituted by the late Government, should be provided with + a more avowed and distinct position, armed with permanent + responsible advisers, and equipped with records so as to hand over + its work to those by whom they might be succeeded in office--all + these plans would come at the present moment to very much the same + thing." + +The resolution was seconded by Arnold-Forster, and supported in a clear +and relevant speech by Sir George Chesney. In the debate which followed, +Mr. Balfour expressed his adherence to the third of the plans described +by Sir Charles Dilke. "I rather contemplate," he said, "that the Prime +Minister, with or without his colleagues, or a Committee of the Cabinet, +with or without the Prime Minister, should constitute themselves a body +with permanent records and confidential advisers." Campbell-Bannerman +expressed general agreement with the object Dilke had in view, and +added: "I entertain almost identically the opinion which has been +expressed by the Leader of the Opposition." Having thus obtained the +concurrence of both parties to one of the plans which, it was thought, +might fulfil the purpose in view, Dilke withdrew the motion. + +In 1895 (March 11th) a resolution couched in the precise words of that +of 1894 was moved by Mr. Arnold-Forster on the introduction of the Navy +Estimates. In supporting it Dilke said: + + "The sole purpose of all this very large expenditure was to enable + us to achieve victory at sea, which was essential to our very + existence as a nation; and what the resolution asked was an + assurance that the Government had had under its consideration the + nature of the efforts that would be called for to secure victory and + the distribution of these efforts between the land and sea forces." + +On March 15th, in the discussion of the Army Estimates, Dilke raised a +doubt "whether there was in our system of military administration any +security that those we put into positions of high command, where they +were able to get military experience, were only those men who were +fitted for such posts and would hold command in time of war." + +On June 21st, 1895, Campbell-Bannerman announced the retirement of the +Commander-in-Chief, the Duke of Cambridge, and his own intention to +adopt the main lines of the scheme of the Hartington Committee. He would +appoint a Commander-in-Chief with reduced powers who would be the +principal military adviser of the Secretary of State, and he, with the +other heads of departments, who would each be directly responsible to +the Minister, would constitute a deliberative Council, so that the +Secretary of State, when he gave his decisions, would be guided and +supported by the express opinions of all the experienced officers by +whom he was surrounded. + +Thereupon Mr. Brodrick, now Lord Midleton, moved to reduce the salary of +the Secretary of State by way of a vote of censure on the insufficiency +of the supply of cordite ammunition. A brief debate followed in which +Campbell-Bannerman failed to convince the House that the supply was +adequate, and in the division this vote of censure was carried by 132 +against 125. This division overthrew the Liberal Ministry. Dilke took no +part in the debate, but voted in the majority. For this vote +Campbell-Bannerman never forgave him. + +In the new Ministry formed by Lord Salisbury as Prime Minister, Mr. +Balfour became First Lord of the Treasury and Leader of the House of +Commons, Lord Lansdowne Secretary of State for War, Mr. Brodrick +Under-Secretary of State for War, and Mr. Goschen First Lord of the +Admiralty. The first act of the new Government was to remodel the +general arrangements for national and imperial defence. The scheme was +described in general terms by Lord Lansdowne in the House of Lords on +August 26th, and more specifically by Mr. Brodrick in the House of +Commons on August 31st. There was to be a Defence Committee of the +Cabinet under the presidency of the Duke of Devonshire. Mr. Brodrick's +words implied that the creation of this body was due to the action of +Sir Charles Dilke, who, in the debate on the Address, had again urged +his views on this subject. + +Of the army Lord Wolseley was to be the new Commander-in-Chief. But, +instead of being at the head of the military departments of the War +Office, he was to have charge only of the intelligence and mobilization +departments, and to be the President of an Army Board of which the other +members were to be the Adjutant-General, the Quartermaster-General, the +Director of Artillery, and the Inspector-General of Fortifications, each +of whom was to be directly responsible for his own department to the +Secretary of State. "The main principle of the change," said Mr. +Brodrick, "is the separate responsibility of the military heads of +departments to the Secretary of State for their departments, and the +focussing of military opinion by means of the Army Board presided over +by the Commander-in-Chief." When Mr. Brodrick had finished his +statement, Dilke immediately rose and said that + + "he had listened to the statement with something like dismay, for + some of the changes made had been in his view entirely in the wrong + direction.... There certainly had not been, during the many years he + had been in the House, any debate in which the issues presented to + the House had been so momentous.... To that portion of the + Government's scheme which involved the position of the Duke of + Devonshire in relation to Imperial defence he was fully favourable. + He believed he was the original suggester of the proposal in 1888. + What had been said by the Undersecretary went to suggest the + creation of a Committee of the Cabinet only, which had been formed, + they were told, by the late Government. If so, the matter was + minimized, and there was less security given to the country than + they had hoped. The first thing to be secured was that there should + be the individual responsibility of one great member of the Cabinet + rather than the collective responsibility of a considerable number. + + "In regard to the reorganization of the War Office itself, he viewed + with dismay the further explanations given to-day by the + Under-Secretary. What had been the main objection to the past + management of the army in this country? It had been that + responsibility had been frittered away among a great number of + different Boards.... He hoped that the new man chosen to be the head + of the army would be in practice the real head of the army and the + real adviser of the Secretary of State. What he feared they were + doing was to create a copy of the Admiralty in those particular + points in which the Admiralty itself had been the subject of + criticism.... The Government, he contended, ought to recommend the + one man, the Commander-in-Chief, and in the first instance take his + opinion and regard him as ultimately responsible. Having picked out + the most competent man, he hoped the Government would put the + arrangement under that man and not under the civilian Secretary of + State.... It was a mistake to give the Commander-in-Chief a + department; he ought to be above the departments, and the + departments ought to report to him. He had ventured for many years + to ask in the first place that the Cabinet should consider the whole + problem of Imperial defence, and in the second place that they + should pick out the best man and trust him." + +In reply to Dilke, Mr. Balfour said: + + "If you put the Secretary of State for War in direct communication + with the Commander-in-Chief alone, I do not see how the Secretary of + State for War can be anything else than the administrative puppet of + the great soldier who is at the head of the army. He may come down + to the House and express the views of that great officer; but if he + is to take official advice from the Commander-in-Chief alone, it is + absolutely impossible that the Secretary of State should be really + responsible, and in this House the Secretary of State will be no + more than the mouthpiece of the Commander-in-Chief. It seems to me + that the differences in this branch of the subject between the right + hon. gentleman (Sir Charles Dilke) and the Government are of a more + fundamental character than I anticipated." + +The difference was indeed fundamental, for Dilke was thinking about war, +and Mr. Balfour was thinking only of Ministerial responsibility. In case +of a war in which the welfare, possibly the independence, of the nation +would be at stake, what civilian Secretary of State would wish to be +personally responsible for victory or defeat, or to be more than the +mouthpiece of a great soldier at the head of the army? + +The Commander-in-Chief had been a military officer whose function was to +co-ordinate the work of the heads of the several military departments. +The change made in 1895 transferred to the Secretary of State this duty +previously performed by the Commander-in-Chief. Sir James Stephen's +Commission had reported in 1887 that it was morally and physically +impossible that any one man should satisfactorily discharge the +functions which at that time belonged to the Secretary of State. To them +in 1895 the Government added those of the Commander-in-Chief. The result +was that in 1899 the Secretary of State failed to fulfil the most +important of all his functions, that of maintaining accord between the +policy of the Cabinet and the military preparations. The Committee of +Defence, which was appointed in 1895, might perhaps have performed this +essential function if it had ever taken a serious view of its work. But +it in doubtful whether it ever did any work at all. + + +II. + +In the new Parliament, Dilke moved on March 5th, 1896, for a return of +the number of British seamen available for service in the navy in time +of war. + +"One difficulty," he said, "that had to be faced was that in debates +like the present they had no real opportunity of engaging in a +collective review of the whole defensive expenditure of the country on +the army and navy taken together.... They expected from the Government a +policy which could be explained to the House--either a policy of +alliances, to which he himself was rootedly opposed; or the policy, +which was the only true policy for this country, of keeping up such a +fleet as would make us safe against any probable combination. The point +to which he wished to draw most urgent attention was that the real +reserve of England was disappearing very fast. The British sailor was +becoming more and more a rare article of luxury. He was used on the +first-class liners, and not used elsewhere.... There was another point +of importance. Among these foreigners there were many masters of ships, +and they were taught the pilotage of our rivers. That was a very serious +matter, and might become a great danger in time of war." + +It soon became evident that the changes made in 1895 had not produced +improvement either in the Government's arrangements for national defence +or in the management of the army. In November, 1896, Lord Lansdowne, +Secretary of State for War, and Sir Michael Hicks Beach, Chancellor of +the Exchequer, made speeches the same evening at Bristol. The Secretary +of State expressed the intention to make a slight increase in the number +of battalions in the army, while the Chancellor declared that he would +consent to no increase in the Army Estimates until he could feel more +confidence in the manner in which the money was expended. This +disagreement between members of the Cabinet led to inquiries, through +which Dilke became aware that the Commander-in-Chief, Lord Wolseley, +wished for a larger increase in the number of battalions than the +Secretary of State was willing to propose. The opportunity seemed +suitable for raising the question whether or not the military measures +proposed by the Government were those suggested by their military +adviser--a fundamental question. Lord Lansdowne having explained in the +House of Lords in February, 1897, that his proposal was to add two +battalions to the Guards and one to the Cameron Highlanders, and that he +hoped in this way to restore the equilibrium between the number of +battalions at home and the number abroad, Dilke in the House of Commons +pointed out (February 8th) that the measure proposed would not establish +the desired equilibrium, and that the proposal was anonymous. Who, he +asked, were the military authorities on whose advice the Government +relied? Mr. Brodrick, in reply, said that the proposals of the +Government, taken as a whole, had been gratefully accepted by one and +all of the military heads of the War Office, as, in the words of the +Commander-in-Chief, "such a step forward as has not been made for many +years." Thus it became clear that the military heads, including the +Commander-in-Chief, were as ready to be overruled in regard to their +views as to what was necessary for the army as the civilian Minister was +to overrule them. + +In the Christmas recess of 1897-98 Dilke prepared for the next Session +by writing a pamphlet on Army Reform in which he reviewed the position. +He and the other reformers had steadily asserted that the home army +could not take the field until it had drawn heavily on the reserve; that +it was terribly short of artillery; that the seven to eight years' +enlistment was a hybrid, and that the sound course was to have a +short-term service with the colours at home followed by a choice between +a long term in the reserve and a long term in the Indian or Colonial +army; and, lastly, that the administration was over-centralized at the +War Office, to the detriment of the authority, the efficiency, and the +character, of the generals. The critics had further urged that the +linked-battalion system and the hybrid term, bad as they were, could not +be worked at all without a large increase of the number of battalions at +home. In 1897 the War Office had replied that an increase of three +battalions would suffice. + +The new estimates were introduced in the House of Commons on February +25th, 1898, by Mr. Brodrick, who admitted that, in order to put 50,000 +infantry into the field, it would be necessary to call out 28,000 +reservists. In order to have artillery enough for a fraction of the army +he asked for fifteen more batteries. He had to admit that the three +battalions added in 1897 were not enough, and to ask for six more. The +speech was an admission of all the contentions of the critics, though it +began by abusing them. + +In the debate Dilke moved: "That no scheme for the reorganization of the +army will be satisfactory which involves the sacrifice of one unit to +secure the efficiency of any other." He referred to the admitted +breakdown of the eight-years and linked-battalion system. Mr. Brodrick, +quoting Lord Wolseley, had reassured the country by telling them that +they could despatch two army corps abroad. + +"Two army corps!" exclaimed Dilke, "when it is twenty army corps which +this country pays for!... Out of the men at home, if cavalry and +artillery were provided, twenty corps instead of two corps might be +made.... In the last three years the cost of the army has been +considerably increased, and there has been an increase in numbers voted. +Yet there has been a decrease not only in the militia, but also in the +regular army and in the army reserve as well during that period--an +additional evidence of breakdown.... The territorial system here can +never be anything more than a sham so long as we have to provide for +India and garrison coaling-stations, and so long as the battalions are +constantly moved about.... We have year by year made our statements with +regard to artillery to the House. Nobody believed a word we said, and it +was only last year, when three batteries were sent out to the Cape, and +twenty batteries wrecked in men and horses to provide them, that the War +Office at last admitted that we had all along been right.... On this +occasion we see some results, in the speech of the right hon. gentleman +to-night, of our action in the past." + +The Navy Estimates were introduced in July. Lord Charles Beresford in +his argument had pointed out that the cost of the navy bore a much +smaller proportion to our mercantile marine than that of the navies of +other countries. Dilke said: + + "The position of the British Empire is such that, if by the + mercantile policy of other countries our mercantile marine were + wholly to disappear, or if it were to disappear as the result of a + war in which our carrying trade passed, say, to the United States, + it would be just as necessary as now for us to have a predominant + fleet.... If the pressure of taxation on the poorer classes, if the + unrest in this country on the subject, were so great that it was not + possible to make the sacrifices which I for one think it necessary + to make, I would sooner give up the whole expenditure on the army + than give way upon this naval programme.... This matter of the fleet + is vital to our position in the world. The army is an arguable + question." + +Dilke continued steadily to press for a strong navy. In 1899 he once +more supported Mr. Goschen's proposals, and again urged that, if the +cost of the army and navy should be too great, we must save on the army, +but not on the navy. His chief criticism of the Admiralty was that "we +have got into the vicious position of beginning our building programme +each year at the extreme end of the financial year." + +The keynote of his speech was: "This Empire is an Empire of the seas, +and the navy is vital to our existence, but our army is not. Our Indian +army is vital to our possession of India, but India pays the full cost +of it, perhaps rather more." + + +III. + +During the winter of 1898-99 the opposition of purposes between the +British Government and the Government of the South African Republic was +causing grave apprehension to public men. The High Commissioner, Sir +Alfred Milner, paid a visit to England, and on his return to the Cape +was authorized in May, 1899, to meet President Kruger in a Conference at +Bloemfontein. On June 7th the failure of the Conference was announced, +and was thought by many to be the equivalent of a diplomatic rupture, +the prelude to hostilities. No serious military preparations were made +by the British Government, though various measures were suggested by the +Commander-in-Chief, Lord Wolseley, and by Sir Redvers Buller. It was not +until September 10th that 10,000 men were ordered from India to Natal, +and not until October 7th that orders were issued for the calling out of +the reserve and for the mobilization of an army corps and other troops +for South Africa. The Boers began hostilities on October 11th, and the +operations were unfavourable to the British until the middle of +February, when Lord Roberts began the advance towards Kimberley. + +At the end of January, 1900, the Prime Minister, Lord Salisbury, said in +the House of Lords: "I do not believe in the perfection of the British +Constitution as an instrument of war ... it is evident that there is +something in your machinery that is wrong." + +In the debate on the Army Estimates on February 1st, Dilke, with his +usual courage, raised the question of responsibility, in a speech to +which little attention was paid at the time, but which will now, in the +light of subsequent events, be better appreciated. + +"The country," he said, "has gone through an awful winter, and under our +constitutional system there are persons responsible, and we have to +examine the nature of their responsibility. Some Government speakers, +who during the recess have addressed the country, have drawn certain +comparisons between the occurrences in this war and those of the Crimean +War.... I confess that I believe the present war has been far more +disgracefully conducted than the Crimean War had been, and that the +mourning is far more applicable to this case. Now, with regard to the +checks or reverses--that is the accepted phrase--we are really afraid in +these days to talk about 'disasters.' The First Lord of the Treasury at +Manchester distinctly stated there had been 'no disaster.' There has +been no single great engagement in which we have met with an absolute +disaster, but for the first time in our military history there has been +a succession of checks or reverses--unredeemed as they have been by a +single great military success in the whole course of the war--in many of +which we have left prisoners in the enemy's hands. We began with the +abandonment of the entrenched camp at Dundee, and of the great +accumulation of stores that had been made there, of the wounded, and of +the dying General, and we lost the headquarters of a regiment of cavalry +that tried a cavalry pursuit. We lost the headquarters of two battalions +at Nicholson's Nek; we lost the headquarters of one battalion and a very +large portion of another battalion in the repulse at Stormberg; we lost +the Colonel, most of the field officers, and the whole of one company of +the Suffolks, on another occasion. These headquarters of cavalry, and +the principal portion of the remaining men of five battalions of British +infantry, are now prisoners at Pretoria--not to speak of what happened +to the Highland Brigade at Magersfontein, or of the loss of the guns in +the repulse at the Tugela, or of the fact that thirteen of our field +guns, besides a mountain battery, are now in the enemy's hands. The loss +of guns in proportion to our small strength of guns is equivalent to the +loss of some 300 guns by the German army. None of these events +constitutes what the First Lord of the Treasury calls a disaster. +Probably he is right. But can any member of this House deny that the net +result of these proceedings has been disastrous to the belief of the +world in our ability to conduct a war? Therefore, if there has been, as +the right hon. gentleman says, not one disaster, surely the result of +the proceedings has been one disastrous to the credit of this country. +There has been one immense redemption of that disaster, which is that +all the Powers, however hostile, have very frankly acknowledged on these +occasions the heroism of the officers and men. Our military reputation, +which undoubtedly never stood lower in the eyes of the world than at the +present moment, is redeemed in that respect, and the individual courage +of officers and men never stood higher in the estimate of the world than +it does now. It seems to me to be a patriotic duty of those who have in +the past discussed in this House the question of Cabinet responsibility +for military preparations to discuss the question now; to see who is +responsible, whom--I will not say we will hang, but whom we are to hold +blameworthy in the highest degree for what has occurred. I believe that +the opinion is attributed to the Prime Minister that the British +Constitution is not a fighting machine. I am told that he has thrown +doubt upon the working of the British Constitution as a Constitution +which will allow this country successfully to go to war. That is a very +serious matter. The Constitution of this country has been maintained as +a fighting machine by the members of this House who are now responsible +for the Administration. No one has ever put the doctrine of Cabinet +responsibility for the preparation for war higher than it has always +been put by the present Leader of the House (Mr. Balfour), and anything +more direct than the conflict on that point, as on many others, between +his opinion and the opinion of the Prime Minister it is impossible to +conceive.... On Thursday last the right hon. member who preceded me in +this debate--the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (Mr. +Brodrick)--delivered a speech and said that all that had been done in +this war had been 'solely dictated by military advice,' and 'military +advice alone determined all that had been done.' I should like the House +to consider what that statement means. The right hon. gentleman was the +member who, on three occasions, brought the question of the ammunition +supplies of this country before the House: it was he who moved the +amendment which turned out the Rosebery Administration on the cordite +vote, and he led the discussion on two subsequent occasions on which we +debated the same question. At the opening of the next Parliament the +whole question of Ministerial responsibility for war preparation was +thoroughly and exhaustively considered by this House. I confess that I +did not expect to hear the right hon. gentleman--who on those three +occasions so firmly pressed, to the very extinction of the Government +itself, the doctrine of Cabinet responsibility--as it were sheltering +the Cabinet behind military advice, advice which he rejected, as also +did the Leader of the House, with scorn upon that occasion.... I feel it +a duty to myself, and to all who hold the same opinion, to press home +this doctrine of Cabinet responsibility on this occasion. In that debate +the hon. member who seems likely to follow me in this debate--the +present Under-Secretary for War (Mr. Wyndham)--took part. He was then a +private member and warmly occupied his mind upon this question, and he +used these words: 'If they were overwhelmed by disasters, the Minister +for War would be held responsible.' Not only he, but the whole Cabinet +are responsible, and the present Leader of the House, in following the +hon. member in that debate, emphasized that fact, and pointed out the +importance of complete Cabinet responsibility. That doctrine was +emphatically maintained. There are practical reasons why this question +should be pressed home on this occasion. This is obviously the time to +press it home if ever it should be done, and it seems to me that such +practical reasons are to be found in two considerations. We have been +told that at the beginning of every war it is always fated that there +should be muddling. We have been told it from both sides of the House, +that we always begin by muddling our wars. If there is one fact more +certain than another, it is that in future wars, not with Boer +Republics, but with Great Powers, there will be no time for muddling at +the beginning of war, and it is vital that this muddling should be +guarded against. If we are to look forward as a matter of certainty that +this country is always to muddle at the beginning of a war, then we may +look forward with almost certainty to defeat." + +Dilke then examined the excuses that had been made for the Government, +to the effect that the war took them by surprise and that they had no +knowledge of the Boer preparations. He showed that both these pleas were +inconsistent with the facts. Mr. Balfour had said that the Government +had thought it their duty, during the negotiations which preceded the +war, to abstain from unnecessary menace. Dilke pointed out that they did +not so abstain. Lord Salisbury had said on July 28th, 1899, "the +Conventions are mortal ... they are liable to be destroyed." That could +only be understood by the Boers as holding out the prospect of a war in +which the independence of their country would be taken away. Were these +words wise when used without the smallest preparation for war having +been made? As regards knowledge of the Boer preparations, the +Intelligence Department had admirably done its work. No Government was +ever so well informed as to the resources of its opponents as the +British Government in entering upon this war. Dilke went on to say: + + "Both by those who would have anticipated war and by the Government + it has been alleged that the existence of a Parliamentary Opposition + was the reason why the military precautions of the Government were + inefficacious. But the Government has been in power since July, + 1895, and has been supported by overwhelming majorities, and it + would have had the cheerful acquiescence of the House of Commons for + every measure of military precaution and all the military + expenditure which was asked. The Cabinet are responsible; but if + there is to be any difficulty on account of the existence of a + constitutional Opposition--even a weak one--I say that by that + doctrine we are fated to be beaten on every occasion we go to war. + The time for the reform of our military system will come when this + war has ended. We cannot reform it in a time of war. We have often + addressed the House upon this subject. We preached to deaf ears. We + were not listened to before war. Shall we be listened to when war is + over? While I admit that in a time of war you cannot reform your + military system, what you can do is to press home to the Cabinet the + responsibility.... For some years past there have been discussions + as to Empire expansion which have divided some of us from others on + military questions. There are some of us, who are strong supporters + of the Government in preparing for war in the present situation of + the world, who are not in favour of what is called the expansion of + the Empire. We have resisted it because we believed the military + requirements of the Empire were greater--as it was put by Lord + Charles Beresford, whom we see here no longer--than we were prepared + to meet. And the Government now come down to the House and quietly + tell us that that is so. They have put it in the Queen's Speech. We + have it stated that, although the money we have to spend in military + preparations is more than that of any other Power in the world, we + are going to be asked to spend more. I should hope that good may + come out of evil, and that a result of this sad war may be the + proper utilization of our resources in preparing, in times of peace, + all the military forces of what people call Greater Britain.... I + venture to say that the Government went into this war without the + preparation they should have made. Their neglect of that precaution + has brought about the reverses we have met with, and the natural + consequence is the failure of our arms I have described. As regards + the Crimean War, which in some respects has been compared with this, + one is reminded of the present Commander-in-Chief, who has written + these momentous words: The history of the Crimean War shows 'how an + army may be destroyed by a Ministry through want of ordinary + forethought.' I confess that I think there is only one point in + which the two cases are exactly parallel--for there are many + distinctions between them--and that is in the heroism of officers + and men." + +On July 27th, 1900, on the occasion of a supplementary estimate for the +South African War, Dilke criticized the censorship of letters from the +front, in consequence of which the truth about the military mistakes +made remained unknown. He reviewed a series of blunders that had been +made in the war, and quoted the opinion of an eminent foreign strategist +to the effect that "the mistakes which had been made were mistakes on +immutable and permanent principles." Thus, there was a doubt whether the +army had been properly trained for war in the past and was being +properly trained at that moment. He asked for a full inquiry into these +matters. + +That inquiry was never made. The Royal Commission appointed after the +war to inquire into its conduct began by disclaiming authority to +inquire into the policy out of which the war arose, and by asserting its +own incompetence to discuss the military operations. + +In a paper contributed to the _New Liberal Review_ of February, 1901, +Dilke reviewed the South African War, and summed up: + + "The war, then, has revealed deficiency in the war training of the + Staff in particular, and of the army generally. It has shown that + the recommendations of the Commander-in-Chief to the Cabinet for the + nomination of Generals to high commands were not based on real + tests. It has called attention to the amateurishness of portions of + our forces. It has proved that for years the reformers have been + right, and the War Office wrong, as regards the number and + proportion of guns needed by us and the rapidity of the mobilization + of our artillery. + + "Remedies which will certainly be attempted are--Better training of + the Staff, especially in the thinking out and writing of orders; + weeding out of incompetent amateurs from among our officers; better + pay for the men; careful preparation in time of peace of a picked + Imperial force of mounted infantry from all parts of the Empire. But + greater changes, urgently as they are demanded by the national + interest, will not be accomplished, as public excitement will die + down, and triflers and obstructives will remain at the head of + affairs, in place of the Carnot who is needed as organizer to back + the best General that can be found for the Commander-in-Chief. + + "The greatest of the lessons of the war was the revelation of the + neglect, by statesmen, to prepare for wars which their policy must + lead them to contemplate as possible.... The long duration of the + war, with all its risks to our Imperial interests, is to be laid at + the door of the politicians rather than of the Generals. This, the + greatest lesson, has not been learnt." + + +IV. + +After the General Election of December, 1900, there was a shifting of +offices in the Cabinet, by which Mr. Brodrick succeeded Lord Lansdowne +as Secretary of State for War, and Lord Selborne became First Lord of +the Admiralty instead of Mr. Goschen. Lord Roberts was brought home from +South Africa to become Commander-in-Chief, and the direction of the war +was left in the hands of Lord Kitchener. The first important event in +the new Parliament was a speech by Lord Wolseley in the House of Lords, +in which he warned the nation against the dangerous consequences of the +system introduced in 1895, which failed to give its proper place to the +military judgment in regard to preparations for war. The warning was +disregarded. Mr. Brodrick announced the determination of the Government +to maintain the system set up in 1895, and to give to Lord Roberts as +Commander-in-Chief the same position of maimed and crippled authority as +had been given to Lord Wolseley six years before. + +Mr. Brodrick, while carrying on the war in South Africa, attempted at +the same time to reform the army. The results were the more unfortunate +because on vital matters, both of organization at the War Office and of +the reorganization of the army, Mr. Brodrick insisted on overriding the +great soldier to whom, as Commander-in-Chief, was due whatever +confidence the country gave to the military administration. Mr. Brodrick +was much preoccupied with the defence of the United Kingdom against +invasion. In the debate on the Army Estimates of 1901, Dilke said: + + "I am one of those who hold that the command of the seas is the + defence of this country. I believe that the British Army exists + mainly for the reinforcement of the Indian garrison, and, if + necessary, as the rudiment of that army which, in the event of a + great war, would be necessary." + +Dilke continued to support the Admiralty in its endeavours to strengthen +the navy. In the debate on the Navy Estimates of 1901 (March 22nd) he +said: + + "The Secretary of State for the Colonies a few years ago made a + speech in favour of an alliance with a military Power. [Footnote: + See _infra_, p. 491.] He said that the alternative was to build up + so as to make ourselves safe against a combination of three Powers, + and that that would entail an addition of fifty per cent. to the + estimates. Since that time we have added more than fifty per cent. + to our estimates. Of course the expenditure is very great; but is + there a man in this House who believes that it is not necessary for + us to maintain that practical standard which would lead even three + Powers to hesitate before attacking? During the last year we have, + happily, had friendship between ourselves and Germany; I believe + that friendship may long continue, and I hope it will. But it is + impossible to shut our eyes to the fact that there have been + distinctly proposed to the German Houses, by Admiral Tirpitz, + estimates which are based on the possibility of a war with England. + Von der Goltz, who is the highest literary authority on this + subject, has said the same thing. We have seen also that remarkable + preparation of strategic cables on the part of Germany ... in order + to be entirely independent of British cables in the event of a + possible naval war. In face of facts of that kind, which can be + infinitely multiplied, it seems to me it would be monstrous on our + part to fail to maintain that standard, and that it is our bounden + duty to make up for the delays which have occurred, and to vote + programmes for the future which should be sufficient to keep up that + standard." + +When the Navy Estimates for 1902 were introduced into the House of +Commons by Arnold-Forster as Parliamentary Secretary to the Admiralty, +Mr. Lough moved an amendment: "That the growing expenditure on the naval +defences of the Empire imposes under the existing conditions an undue +burden on the taxpayers of the United Kingdom." Dilke, in opposing the +amendment, deprecated the introduction of party considerations into a +discussion concerning the navy. The time taken to build ships ought to +be borne in mind. The usual period had lately been four years; many of +the ships of the 1897 programme had not yet been commissioned; therefore +it was necessary to remember that the country would go into a naval war +with ships according to the programme of four or five years before war +was declared. Mr. Goschen was a careful First Lord of the Admiralty, yet +Mr. Goschen in his programme year after year alluded to the necessity of +maintaining a fleet which would cause not two but three Powers to pause +before they attacked us. To his (Dilke's) mind, it was infinitely more +important to the country that its expenditure should be shaped, not +towards meeting a sudden attack by two Powers, which was not going to +occur, but towards meeting--not immediately, but in time to come--the +possibility of an eventual joining together of three Powers, one of +which was very rapidly building a magnificent fleet. From that point of +view the programme of the Government this year was a beggarly programme. + +In introducing the Navy Estimates for 1903 Arnold-Forster said that they +were of a magnitude unparalleled in peace or war. Dilke, in supporting +them, said (March 17th): + + "The standard which Lord Spencer gave to this House was not a fleet + equivalent to three fleets--not a fleet, certainly, on all points + equivalent to the fleets of France, Germany, and Russia--but a + standard which gave us such a position in the world of fleets as + would cause three Powers to pause before they entered into a + coalition against us. That was a position he had always contended + was necessary for the safety of this country.... The only weak point + that one could discern as really dangerous in the future was the + training of the officers for high command and the selection of + officers, which would give this country, in the event of war, that + real unity of operations which ought to be our advantage against any + allied Powers." + + +V. + +On June 20th, 1902, Lord Charles Beresford had raised the question of +the organization of the Admiralty, which he held to be defective for the +purpose of preparation for war. "The administrative faculty," he said, +"should be absolutely separate from the executive faculty, but at +present they were mixed up." Campbell-Bannerman held that no change was +necessary. Dilke supported Lord Charles Beresford, and after reviewing +the cordite debates of 1895, to which both the previous speakers had +referred, gave his reasons for holding that the duty of the Cabinet was +to control both services in order to secure that each should take its +proper share in defence. "If there was a very strong man, or even one +who thought himself very strong, at the head of either department, the +present system tended to break down, because, unless there was some +joint authority in the Cabinet strong enough to control even a strong +First Lord of the Admiralty, no joint consideration of the views of the +two departments could be obtained. At the present moment the two +services competed." Lord Charles Beresford and Dilke were supported by +Sir John Colomb, and in his reply Arnold-Forster said: "I cannot but +reaffirm the belief I held before I stood at this table, and since I +have stood here, that there is a need for some reinforcement of the +intellectual equipment which directs or ought to direct the enormous +forces of our Empire." The question was raised again on August 6th by +Major Seely, in a speech in which he commented on the lack of a body +charged with the duty of studying strategical questions. Mr. Balfour +thereupon said: + + "We cannot leave this matter to one department or two departments + acting separately. It is a joint matter; it must be a joint matter. + I hope my honourable friend will take it from me that the Government + are fully alive, and have, if I may say so, long been fully alive, + to the difficulty of the problem which presents itself to his mind + and which he has explained to the House; and that that problem is + one always present to our minds. It is one which we certainly do not + mean to neglect to meet and grapple with to the best of our + ability." + +In 1903, in an article contributed to the Northern Newspaper Syndicate, +Dilke wrote: + + "We are face to face with the fact that Mr. Brodrick's scheme is + admitted from all sides, except by those actually responsible for it + who are still holding office, to be a failure; that under this + scheme the charge on the British Empire for defence in time of peace + stands at eighty-six millions sterling, of which fifty-two millions + at least are for land defence, nevertheless ill secured; that + without a complete change of system these gigantic figures must + rapidly increase; and that, while all agree that in our case the + navy ought to be predominant, no one seems to be able to control the + War Office, or to limit the expenditure upon land defence as + contrasted with naval preparations. The service members of the House + of Commons, who used to be charged with wasting their own and the + nation's time upon military details, or upon proposals for increase + of expenditure, have shown their patriotism and their intelligence + by going to the root of this great question. They brought about the + declaration of the Secretary of the Admiralty, Mr. Arnold-Forster, + on June 20th, 1902, and the complete acceptance of that declaration + by the Prime Minister on August 6th. They have now forced on + Parliament and on the Prime Minister the necessity of taking real + action upon his declaration that 'the problem of Imperial defence + cannot be left to one department or two departments acting + separately.' The utilization of the resources of the British Empire + for war must be the business of the Prime Minister, who is above the + War Office and the Admiralty, and who alone can lead the Cabinet to + co-ordinate the efforts of the two services." + +In October, 1903, Arnold-Forster was appointed to succeed Mr. Brodrick +as Secretary of State for War. He had previously expressed, in +conversation, his wish to see the whole subject of Imperial defence +entrusted to a Committee of three men conversant with it, and had named +Sir Charles Dilke and Sir John Colomb as two of the three whom he would +choose if he had the power. In November a Committee of three was +appointed by Mr. Balfour to report on the organization of the War +Office. Its members were Lord Esher, Admiral Sir John (now Lord) Fisher, +and Sir George Sydenham Clarke (now Lord Sydenham). The first instalment +of this Committee's report, published on February 1st, 1904, proposed +the reconstitution of the War Office on the model of the Board of +Admiralty, and as a preliminary the dismissal of the Commander-in-Chief +and the heads of the great departments at the War Office. + +At the same time the Cabinet Committee of Defence was reconstituted +under the presidency of the Prime Minister (Mr. Balfour). Thus at +length, eleven years after Sir Charles Dilke's first conversations with +Mr. Balfour on the subject, was adopted the suggestion he had urged for +so many years, and so fully explained in his speech of March 16th, 1894, +that a Prime Minister should undertake to consider the needs both of the +army and navy, and the probable functions of both in war. + + +VI. + +The result was very soon manifest in a complete change of policy, which +was no doubt facilitated by the presence in the Cabinet, as Secretary of +State for War, of Mr. Arnold-Forster, one of the signatories of the +joint letter of 1894. + +On March 28th, 1905, Arnold-Forster said: + + "We have been adding million after million to our naval expenditure. + Are all these millions wasted? If it be true, as we are told by + representatives of the Admiralty, that the navy is in a position + such as it has never occupied before--that it is now not only our + first line of defence, but our guarantee for the possession of our + own islands--is that to make no difference to a system which has + grown up avowedly and confessedly on the basis of defending these + islands by an armed land force against an invasion? Is that to make + no difference? Is this view some invention of my own imagination? + No, sir, that is the deliberate conclusion of the Government, + advised by a body which has been called into, I believe, a useful + existence during the last eighteen months, and which I regret was + not called into existence much longer ago--the Committee of + Defence.... I have seen it stated that, provided our navy is + sufficient, the greatest anticipation we can form in the way of a + landing of a hostile army would be a force of 5,000. I should be + deceiving the House if I thought that represented the extreme naval + view. The extreme naval view is that the crew of a dinghy could not + land in this country in the face of the navy." + +This speech showed the conversion of the Government, for which Sir +Charles Dilke had laboured so long, to the doctrine of the primacy of +the navy and of defence by the command of the sea. + +On May 11th, Mr. Balfour in the name of the Committee of Defence put +forth the general view which that body had reached. In the first place, +provided the navy was efficient, a successful invasion of the country +upon a large scale need not be contemplated. Secondly, the Committee had +gone on the broad line that our force should as far as possible be +concentrated at the centre of the Empire. This had rendered unnecessary +expenditure which had been undertaken under a different view of our +needs, the most notable case being the works at St. Lucia, which had +been made by Lord Carnarvon into a great naval base. Lastly, with regard +to India, the Government adopted Lord Kitchener's view that in addition +to drafts there should be available in the relatively early stages of +the war eight divisions of infantry and other corresponding arms. + +Dilke, who had described himself as a constant supporter of the +blue-water view, agreed with the Government with regard to invasion, and +welcomed Mr. Balfour's moderate view with regard to the needs of India. +But he pointed out that vast sums of money had been spent in the +fortification of places which were now discovered to be unnecessary. + + "He asked the Committee to remember how far the responsibility of + all this expenditure had been on the present occupants of office. He + believed that the Defence Committee of the Cabinet was created by + Lord Rosebery at the end of his Administration in 1895. That was the + first form of the Committee. Immediately the new Government came in + it assumed its second form, and the Defence Committee of the + Conservative Government, formed in 1895 under the presidency of the + Duke of Devonshire, lasted for many years, and was composed of + substantially the same gentlemen as were in power now. It was + constantly vouched to the House as the great co-ordinating + authority, and as the body responsible for expenditure on an + enormous scale on principles diametrically opposed to those now + held. The third form of the Committee was that which was adopted + when the Prime Minister acceded to his present office. The right + hon. gentleman came to this House and at once explained the new form + of the Committee on March 5th, 1903.... The Committee had heard + to-day the extent to which invasion at home was believed in by the + Defence Committee.... It was firmly expected from the moment that + the Government announced their naval view that the reduction would + be under the military head. But instead of that the reduction had + been on the Navy Estimates, and that had not been accompanied by a + reduction on the army votes. That had been the amazing effect of the + co-ordination. Had any member of the Committee calculated how much + money had been wasted in the last nine and a half years by the + non-adoption in 1895, when virtually the present Government came + into office, of the policy which had been adopted now?" + + +VII. + +The Government which had thus tardily followed Sir Charles Dilke's lead +had lost the confidence of the country. The General Election of 1905 +gave the Liberals a large majority. Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, the +new Prime Minister, had not forgotten Dilke's vote in the cordite +division of 1895, and did not share his view of the necessity to be +ready for war, and to rely, not upon arbitration, but upon the +organization of defensive preparations. Dilke was not included in the +new Ministry, in which Mr. (now Lord) Haldane was appointed Secretary of +State for War. Mr. Haldane undertook a fresh reorganization of the +military forces of the country, taking the Committee of Defence and the +Army Council as they were left by Mr. Balfour after the changes proposed +by the Esher Committee. The Order in Council gave the Secretary of State +the power to reserve for his own decision any matter whatever, and to +impose that decision upon the Army Council, a power not contemplated by +the Esher Committee's report. Mr. Haldane availed himself of this power +and of the assistance of Colonel Ellison, who had been Secretary to the +Esher Committee, but was not a member of the Army Council, to prepare +his scheme. It consisted in the organization of an expeditionary force, +which was to be composed of six divisions and a cavalry division, with a +total field strength of 160,000 men, fully equipped for war, together +with additional troops at home to make good the losses of a campaign. +This force was to be made up of the regular army (of which the +establishments were reduced by some 20,000 of all arms), of its reserve, +and of the militia, renamed special reserve, also with a reduced +establishment, and with a liability to serve abroad in case of war. The +Volunteer force was to be renamed the Territorial force, and its +officers and men to be brought under the Army Act, the men to be +enlisted for a term of years and paid. It was to be organized, as the +Norfolk Commission had suggested, into brigades and divisions. But the +further suggestion of the same Commission, that a member of the Army +Council familiar with the volunteer system should be charged with its +supervision, was not adopted. Mr. Haldane's view was that the +territorial troops could not in peace receive a training which would +prepare them for war, but that, as England was not a Continental Power +and was protected by her navy, there would be six months' time, after a +war had begun, to give them a training for war. The force was to be +administered by County Associations to be constituted for the purpose. +The scheme was gradually elaborated, and in its later stage improved by +the transformation of the University and some other volunteer and cadet +corps into officers' training corps. The works which, at the suggestion +of Sir John Ardagh, had been prepared for the defence of London were +abandoned. + +Mr. Haldane first expounded his plans in March, 1906, and in the debate +of March 15th Dilke said: + + "There was a little too much depreciation of the Volunteers; and + although he had always been considered a strong supporter of the + 'blue-water' view, yet he had always believed in accepting from the + Volunteers all the service they could give, as he believed they + would give an enormous potential supply of men." + +Mr. Haldane explained (February 25th, 1907) that the expeditionary force +would require only seventy-two batteries, while the army actually had a +hundred and five; there was therefore a surplus of thirty-three +batteries which he would use as training batteries in which to train men +for divisional ammunition columns. Upon this Dilke's comment was that +"if the officer difficulty could be solved, then the real military +problem would be solved." We could raise men fast enough through the +volunteer system, and turn them into good infantry, provided there was a +sufficient supply of officers qualified to train them; but the infantry +which could thus be produced in a few months would require to be +supplemented by artillery and cavalry which could not be improvised. He +would have faced the cost of keeping up these arms, and would not have +saved by turning batteries into ammunition columns. + +In the debate on Mr. Haldane's Territorial and Reserve Forces Bill (June +3rd), Dilke voted for an amendment of which the purpose was to establish +a department at the War Office under an officer having special knowledge +and experience with the militia, yeomanry, and volunteers, ranking as +third member of the Army Council. This amendment, however, was not +carried. + +In an article in the _Manchester Guardian_ of June 6th, 1907, Dilke +explained his main objections to Mr. Haldane's scheme and to the Bill +which was to lay its foundation. + +"The cost," he wrote, "must undoubtedly be large, and it is difficult to +see where the substantial saving on Army Estimates, twice promised by +Mr. Ritchie when Chancellor of the Exchequer, but not yet secured, is to +be obtained. As an advocate of a strong fleet, I have a special reason, +equivalent to that of the most rigid economist, for insisting upon the +reduction in our enormous military charge, inasmuch as the money +unexpectedly needed for the army will come off the fleet." + +Dilke thought that the defence of Great Britain depended upon the navy; +that so long as the navy was equal to its task invasion was not to be +feared. The function of the military forces would be to fight an enemy +abroad. He, therefore, held it a mistake to increase expenditure on +troops which it was not proposed to train to meet foreign regulars. The +Territorial army would be the volunteers under a new name, but without +an improved training. As the linked-battalion system and the long term +of service were retained, the regular army would still be costly, and +its reserves or power of quick expansion less than they might be. Mr. +Haldane would be compelled to retain a high rate of War Office +expenditure, and this would involve a reduction on the outlay for the +navy, which was all-important. Mr. Haldane, however, had the support of +a very large majority, and argument was of little avail. Sir Charles +Dilke therefore threw his weight into the debates on the Navy estimates, +in which he consistently supported the Admiralty in every increase. + +Year after year he persevered in the effort to counteract the tendency +to exaggerate the importance of military schemes and military +expenditure, especially upon troops not fully trained and not kept ready +for action abroad, and to point out that the effect of such schemes +could not but be to reduce the amount of attention and of money devoted +to the navy. In 1904 (March 1st) he had said: + + "It was an extraordinary fact that, in all calculations on the + subject of the expenditure of the army, the cost of the army outside + the United Kingdom was never taken into account. We were spending + vastly more upon the land services than we were upon our naval + services, and so long as that was so he confessed that he should + view with more than indulgence what was called the extravagant + policy in regard to the navy." + +In 1907 (March 5th) he expressed his disapproval of the sweeping change +by which the defence of ports by submarine mines had been abolished. +"Newcastle had been defended by means of an admirable system of +submarine mines which had no equal in the world. So good was it that the +volunteer submarine miners of the Tyne division were employed to do the +laying of electric mines at Portsmouth and other naval ports. Newcastle +was now without that defence." He explained that these mines, which had +cost a million, had been sold. Had they fetched £50,000? He was not +content with Mr. Haldane's account of the steps taken to prepare for +defence against possible raid. On this subject, writing for the _United +Service Magazine_ of May, 1908, a paper entitled "Strong at all Points," +which enforced his view of the supreme importance of the navy, he said: + + "The provision for time of war, after complete mobilization of the + Territorial army, may be perfect upon paper; but the real question + is, how to obtain the manning of the quick-firing guns, say on the + Tyne, in time of political complication, by trained men, who sleep + by the guns and are able to use them when awakened suddenly in the + dead of night." + +In the discussion of the estimates of July 31st, 1907, he said that, +"bearing in mind the enormous importance in naval matters of a steady +policy, he should resist any reduction that might be moved." On the same +occasion he pointed out that, "if there was any danger from Germany, it +was not the danger of invasion or from the fleet, but it was her growing +superiority in the scientific equipment of her people." Yet he declined +to encourage panic, and in the debate of March 22nd, 1909, when the +Opposition moved a vote of censure because of a supposed unforeseen +start gained by Germany in shipbuilding, pointed out the reasons for not +indulging in a scare. + +Dilke closely watched the new developments in armament and construction, +and from time to time pressed them upon the attention of the Government. +As early as 1901, in an article reviewing the progress of war in the +nineteenth century, he had said: "The greatest change in the +battlefields of the future, as compared with those of a few years ago, +will be found in the developments and increased strength of the +artillery." In 1907, in the debate on the Navy estimates, he suggested +that "the reserve of guns was a matter which needed the utmost +diligence." Docks, he thought, were proportionately more important than +battleships. In 1907 (April 25th) he said: "A base was needed east of +Dover--Rosyth or Chatham: he need not suggest or criticize the spot that +should be chosen. Whether the Hague Conference prohibited floating mines +or not, they would be used; and that being so, they must contemplate +either the extension of Chatham or the creation of an establishment at a +different point of the east coast." To this subject he repeatedly +returned. In 1908 (March 3rd): "The necessity for a large establishment +in a safer place than the Channel had been raised for many years, and +was fully recognized when Rosyth was brought before them. Both parties +had shirked the expenditure which both declared necessary." On March +10th: "There were important works, docks and basins in which big ships +could be accommodated, and these by universal admission should be made +as rapidly as possible. Big ships were worse than useless if there was +no dock or basin accommodation for them.... The limited instalment of +one dock and one basin contemplated was only to be completed in eleven +years. He believed that was bad economy.... The need for this +expenditure had long been foreseen." Again, in 1909, on July 1st, he +pointed out that the Governments of both parties had shirked the +expenditure on Rosyth, of which the need had been known as early as +1902. The delay had been enormously grave. The report which contained +the whole scheme had been presented to Parliament in January, 1902; the +land had been bought in 1903, and the contract was made only in March, +1909. + +Sir Charles's command of detail made his hearers apt to suppose that he +was mainly concerned with technical matters. But no impression could be +farther from the truth. Never for a moment did he lose sight of the +large issues, and of the purpose to which all measures of naval and +military preparation are directed. It was to the large issues that his +last important Parliamentary speech on the subject of defence was +directed. + +"We talk a little," he said on March 7th, 1910, "about the possibility +of invasion when we talk of our Territorial army, but we do not--the +overwhelming majority of us--believe the country is open to invasion, or +that the fleet has fallen off in its power of doing its duty as compared +with days past.... No one of us who is prepared to pay his part, and to +call upon others to pay their part, to keep the fleet up to the highest +standard of efficiency and safety which we at present enjoy--no one of +us ought to be prepared to run the Territorial army on this occasion as +though it were the main and most costly portion of the estimates that +are put before the House. The Territorial army is defensible as the +Volunteers were defensible. It is an improvement on the volunteer +system, and it might have been made without the statute on which it is +based, but that it will add an enormous expenditure to our army is not +the case. Our Territorial army, in fact, cannot be kept in view as the +first object which we have to consider in the course of these +debates.... It is supposed to be the one certain result of the last +General Election that there is a large majority in favour of maintaining +our naval position; but we cannot maintain that naval position without +straining every nerve to do it, and we shall not be able to put all our +energy into maintaining that position if we talk about invasion, and +tell the people of this country that the fleet cannot do its duty.... If +you put the doctrine of invasion so high, and if you tell them that in +any degree their safety depends upon the Territorial army trained and +serving here at home, then you run a great risk of compromising your +naval defence and taking money out of one pocket and putting it into +another, and of being weak at both points, and creating a Territorial +army which could not face a great Continental force landed on our +shores, and at the same time detracting from the power of your fleet.... +The Territorial army, like the Volunteers, is really defended by most of +us, in our hearts if not in our speech, as a reserve of the regular, +expeditionary, offensive army for fighting across the seas.... My right +hon. friend Mr. Haldane has always maintained the view that your army +and army expenditure must depend upon policy. It is no good fighting +him; he has both Houses of Parliament and both parties in his pocket. He +is a man of legions political as well as military. The school +represented by myself and the dominant school represented by him have +differed, not upon the question of policy dictating your armaments, but +upon the question of how your policy and your armaments together would +work out." + +Sir Charles Dilke's last utterance on defence was a review of Sir +Cyprian Bridge's _Sea-Power, and Other Studies_, in July, 1910. It was a +plea for reliance upon the navy to prevent invasion and upon a mobile +military force for a counter-stroke. "I confess," Dilke ended, "that, as +one interested in complete efficiency rather than especially in economy +to the national purse, I join Sir Cyprian Bridge in asking to be shown, +at least, the mobile, efficient, regular force ready for immediate +service across the seas." + +In the effort of a quarter of a century to have his country prepared for +the struggle which was to come Dilke was associated with others, many of +them conspicuous for knowledge and zeal; the services of Arnold-Forster, +of John and Philip Colomb, and of Chesney, have been too little +appreciated by their countrymen. Of their common endeavour Dilke was the +chief exponent. At every stage of the movement his was its most +characteristic and most comprehensive expression, marking the central +line of thought. Some of the dominant ideas were his own. From him came +the conception of defence as not merely national but imperial. He first +pointed out the true function of the Prime Minister in relation to it. +The actual development proceeded along the lines which he drew--a strong +navy; a general staff at the War Office; a regular army of first-rate +quality, that could be sent abroad at short notice, most likely for the +defence of Belgium against attacks from Germany; expansion to be sought, +in the first instance, from the numbers furnished by the volunteer +system. There were points which he failed to carry--the provision of +arms and ammunition for the multitude of soldiers who would be +forthcoming from the Empire, as well as of that modern artillery which +must play so great a part in a future campaign; the search for generals +capable of command in war; the enforcement of the responsibility of +Ministers for preparations neglected. What was accomplished and what was +left undone give the measure of Sir Charles Dilke as the statesman of +Imperial Defence. + + + +APPENDIX I + + + '"_December 21st_, 1893. + + '"Dear Mr. Balfour, + + '"I have been thinking over the matter which you mentioned in the + tea-room yesterday. I am absolutely convinced of your own detachment + from party in connection with it, and I write as one not likely at + any time to act generally in connection with your party, unless in + the (I hope most improbable) event of doubtful or unfortunate war. + + '"The suggestion that I am inclined to make is that a letter should + be written, to be signed by Sir George Chesney as a Conservative, by + myself as a Gladstonian Liberal, by Arnold-Forster as a Liberal + Unionist, and Spenser Wilkinson as a civilian expert, to Mr. + Gladstone as Prime Minister, you and Chamberlain as leaders of your + parties in the House of Commons, and Lord Salisbury and the Duke of + Devonshire as leaders of the same parties in the House of Lords; + that a copy should be sent by me confidentially to the Prince of + Wales, it not being right, of course, that we should in any way + address the Queen; that this letter should not be made public either + at the time or later; that this letter should press for the joint + consideration of the naval and military problem, and should point to + the creation of a Defence Ministry, of which the War Office and the + Admiralty would be the branches, or to a more active control of the + Secretary of State for War and the First Lord of the Admiralty by + the Prime Minister personally. We should be put in our places by Mr. + Gladstone, but I fancy, probably, not by the other four. + + '"I had sooner discuss this matter first with you, if you think + there is anything in it, than with Chamberlain, because he is, oddly + enough, a much stronger party man than you are, and would be less + inclined (on account of national objects which to him are + predominant) to keep party out of his mind in connection with it. I + have not, therefore, as yet mentioned the matter to him. If you + think ill of the whole suggestion, and are not even disposed to + suggest modification of it, it can be stopped at the present point. + + '"The addition of Spenser Wilkinson to a member of each party is + because I owe to him the clearing of my own mind, and believe that + he is probably the best man on such questions who ever lived, except + Clausewitz. When I first wrote upon them in _The Present Position of + European Politics_ in 1886-87, and in _The British Army_ in 1887-88, + I was in a fog--seeing the existing evils, but not clearly seeing + the way out. In the Defence chapter of _Problems of Greater Britain_ + I began to see my way. Admiral Colomb, and Thursfield of _The + Times_, who are really expositors of the application to our naval + position of the general principles of military strategy of + Clausewitz, helped me by their writings to find a road. I then set + to work with Spenser Wilkinson, whose leaders in the _Manchester + Guardian_ (which he has now quitted, except as an amateur) struck me + as being perfect, to think out the whole question; and we succeeded, + by means of a little book we wrote together--_Imperial Defence_, + published in February, 1892--in afterwards procuring the agreement + of Lord Roberts in views widely different in many points from those + which Lord Roberts had previously held. We are now in the position + of being able to declare that in naval particulars there is no + difference of opinion among the experts, and that in military there + is so little upon points of importance that the experts are + virtually agreed. This is a great point, never reached before last + year, and it is owing to Spenser Wilkinson, and in a less degree to + Arnold-Forster, that it has been reached. + + '"The question of the length at which the proposed letter should + develop the existing dangers and the remedies is, of course, + secondary. + + '"The dangers are much greater than even the alarmist section of the + public supposes. For example, the public have not in the least + grasped the fact that we were on the brink of war with France at the + moment of the Siam blockade, nor have they realized the great risk + of the fall of the monarchy in Italy and of a complete change in + Italian policy, leading more or less rapidly to an alliance with + France and Russia. The adoption of Lefevre's policy by the Liberal + party, which is possible at any time, and the announcement that we + do not hope to hold the Mediterranean, might attach to the Franco- + Russian combination even the present advisers of King Humbert. + + '"With regard to Siam, neither the English nor the French Government + dare publish the despatches which passed about the blockade, and + they have not been able to come to an agreement as to what portion + of the papers should be published, although both Governments have + long since promised publication. The words used in the House of + Commons by Sir Edward Grey were altered by the French Government + into meaningless words, and the words actually used excluded by + Governmental action from every newspaper in France."' + + [Footnote: On December 25th, 1913, M. d'Estournelles de Constant + wrote to the _Frankfurter Zeitung_ an article warning Europe against + the chance of war breaking out, not because it is desired, but "by + chance, by mistake, by stupidity," and he cited an instance from his + experiences in 1893: + + "The stage was Siam, where British India and French Indo-China were + seeking to push, one against the other, their rival spheres of + influence. Lord Dufferin, British Ambassador in Paris and ex-Viceroy + of India, was upholding the British claim, but it was in London that + the negotiations were carried on. The irreparable conflict broke out + on the day when the French Admiral, the bearer of an ultimatum, + anchored his ships in the very river of Bangkok. I was negotiating, + but during this time the British Government telegraphed to the + Admiral commanding the Pacific station to proceed also to Bangkok + with his whole fleet, which was far superior in numbers to ours. + + "I knew nothing about it; no one knew anything about it. I was + negotiating, and it was war almost to a certainty without anybody + suspecting it. I only knew this later. Happily, wireless telegraphy + did not then exist, and the orders of the Admiralty did not reach in + time the British squadron, which was then sailing somewhere in the + Pacific. Thanks to this chance delay, the negotiations had time to + come to a successful conclusion, and the agreement was concluded."] + + On the same day Dilke received the following reply: + + "I shall be most pleased to have a further conversation with you on + the all-important subject on which we had a brief talk yesterday, + and which is dealt with in your letter of to-day. + + "I should like, however, to discuss the matter first with Lord + Salisbury (whom I shall see to-morrow), and, if you will allow me, + to show him your letter. + + "I may, however, say at once that I have _always_ been in favour of + a Defence Committee of Cabinet, with expert advisers and permanent + records carrying on the work from Government to Government; and + that, oddly enough, I pressed the idea on Asquith last week. I think + he and Rosebery would be in favour of the plan; not so the older + members of the Cabinet." + + 'On Friday, January 5th, 1894, I had a long interview with Balfour + upon my letter, and wrote on it to Wilkinson as follows: + + '"_Confidential_. + + '"76, Sloane Street, S.W., + '"_January_ 5_th_, 1894. + + '"Dear Wilkinson, + + '"I saw Balfour (in a full discussion) this afternoon. We + provisionally agreed, with Lord Salisbury's consent, that Sir George + Chesney, Arnold-Forster (if he agrees), you, and I, should sign a + letter which we should address (with the view to publishing it with + the replies) to Mr. Gladstone as Prime Minister and leader of my + party, to Lord Salisbury and to Balfour as leaders of Sir George + Chesney's party, and to the Duke of Devonshire and Chamberlain as + leaders of Arnold-Forster's party, and of which I should privately + send a copy to the Prince of Wales in the hope of its reaching the + Queen. In this letter we should press for the joint consideration of + the naval and military problem, and point either to the creation of + a Defence Ministry, of which the War Office and Admiralty would be + the branches--to which the objection is that Parliamentary consent + would be necessary--or to a more active control over the Secretary + of State for War and the First Lord of the Admiralty, and their + Estimates, by the Prime Minister personally, or to that which is + Balfour's own scheme and which has the support, among our people, of + Rosebery and Asquith: the creation of a Defence Committee of the + Cabinet, ordinarily to consist of the Prime Minister, of the leader + of the other House, of the Secretary of State for War, the First + Lord, and (doubtless) the Chancellor of the Exchequer (?), with + expert advisers and permanent records which would carry on their + work from Government to Government. Mr. Gladstone would snub us. The + other four would not, and our proposal (that is, our third proposal, + which is Balfour's) would probably be adopted when the Conservatives + came in, and continued by the Liberals. + + '"Balfour would be very willing to express his favourable opinion of + our view in debate in the House of Commons, should we raise one next + Session, and Lord Salisbury is less inclined to make a strong and + distinctly favourable reply to our letter than is Balfour. + + '"Balfour would go more willingly, if possible, than he does into + the schemes if he could see his way beforehand to the saving of + money on the army for the purpose of devoting it to the navy. He + says that he himself cannot put his finger on the waste which he + knows must exist, that Buller has to some extent his confidence and + tells him that there is none, although Balfour is not convinced by + this. We discussed our Indian army scheme, to which he sees no + objection, and (very fully) the Duke of Cambridge and the extent to + which he will be supported by the Queen. + + '"Balfour sees immense difficulty in the absence of a sufficiently + commanding expert, and in the consequent jealousy between the + Admiralty and War Office officials. + + '"Will the letter which Sir George Chesney has do as a base, or + would it be better to write a shorter and a fresh letter? If the + latter, will you try your hand at it, if you approve? And after + noting this will you return it to me, that I may send it to Sir + George Chesney and then to Arnold-Forster? + + '"Balfour had in reading _us_ [Footnote: "Us" refers to the joint + work on Imperial Defence. One of the recommendations was to + substitute marines for soldiers in the small garrisons, such as + Bermuda.] asked questions through George Hamilton, who agrees with + us, on the point of further employment of marines, and has been told + that they would be sadly costly. + + '"Yours very truly, + '"Charles W. Dilke."' + + +APPENDIX II + +In reply to the joint letter, Chamberlain wrote to Dilke: + + "I have received the interesting paper on the subject of National + Defence which you have communicated to me on behalf of yourself and + the other signatories. One of the greatest difficulties which any + politician must feel in dealing with this question has been the + apparent difference of opinion among those best qualified to speak + authoritatively on the subject, and it is an important advance to + find practical proposals agreed to by some of those who have given + special study to the problems involved. Without venturing at the + present state of the inquiry to commit myself to any specific + proposal, I may say that I am favourably inclined to the main lines + laid down in your paper--namely, the closer union between the two + great departments of national defence, and the recognition of the + responsibility of the professional advisers of the Cabinet on all + questions of military and naval provision and administration." + +Mr. Balfour wrote: + + "I beg to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of February 12th, + dealing with certain very important points connected with the + problem of National Defence. Though it would be inopportune for me + to pass any detailed judgment upon the scheme which you have laid + before me in outline, and though it is evident that difficulties of + a serious kind must attend any effort to carry out so important a + change in our traditional methods of dealing with the Admiralty and + the War Office, I may yet be permitted to express my own conviction + that the evils that you indicate are real evils, and that the + imperfections in our existing system, on which you insist, might + under certain not impossible contingencies seriously imperil our + most important national interests. + + "That four gentlemen of different training, belonging to different + parties in the State, approaching this subject from different points + of view, and having little, perhaps, in common except a very + intimate knowledge of the questions connected with National Defence, + should be in entire agreement as to the general lines along which + future reformation should proceed, is a fact of which the public + will doubtless take note, and which is not likely to be ignored by + those responsible for the preservation of the Empire." + + 'Our letter was in all the papers about February 28th (1894), with + replies from Balfour and Chamberlain. Mr. Gladstone's reply, written + just before he resigned, was in his own hand, and more than usually + legible. Though it was not marked "Private," I did not print it, as + it seemed too personal and playful. It meant that he had resigned, + but I did not know this till an hour after I had received it: + + '"You will forgive my pleading eyesight, which demanded the help of + others and thereby retarded operations, as an excuse for my having + failed to acknowledge the paper on Naval Defence which you were so + good as to send me. You will, I fear, find me a less interesting + correspondent than some who have replied at length, for I fear I + ought to confine myself to assuring you that I have taken care it + should come to the notice of my colleagues." + + 'On March 9th I sat near to Asquith at a dinner, and he told me that + his Defence Committee of the Cabinet, favoured by Balfour and + Rosebery, would soon be "a fact." The decision was made known in a + debate which I raised on the 16th.' + +A note adds: 'When the Tories came in in June, 1895, they adopted the +scheme of a Minister (the Duke of Devonshire) over both army and navy, +which had been put forward in the Dilke--Chesney--Arnold-Forster-- +Wilkinson correspondence with Balfour and Chamberlain, and originally +invented by me. On the night of the Government (Liberal) defeat +Campbell-Bannerman had promised a Commander-in-Chief who should be the +Chief Military Adviser, a double triumph for my view.' + + + + +CHAPTER LVII + +DEATH OF LADY DILKE--PARLIAMENT OF 1905 + + +In 1903, Chamberlain, by raising the question of Tariff Reform and +putting himself at the head of a movement for revising the Free Trade +policy which had been accepted by both the great political parties since +1846, practically broke up the Conservative Government. It survived, +indeed, under the leadership of Mr. Balfour; but it was only a feeble +shadow of the powerful Administration which Lord Salisbury had formed in +1895. + +On the motion for adjournment before the Whitsuntide recess (May 28th, +1903), Sir Charles raised the whole question of commercial policy, +directing himself chiefly to the speeches that had been made by Mr. +Balfour and by Mr. Bonar Law. But it was Mr. Chamberlain's policy that +was in question. Years later, after the whole subject has been +incessantly discussed, it is difficult to realize the effect produced by +the sudden and unexpected onset of that redoubtable champion. Free Trade +had been so long taken for granted that the case for it had become +unfamiliar; what remained was an academic conviction, and against that +Chamberlain arrayed an extraordinary personal prestige backed by a +boldness of assertion to which his position as a business man lent +authority. To meet an onset so sudden and so ably conducted was no easy +task, and for Dilke there was the unhappy personal element of a first +angry confrontation with his old ally. Mr. Chamberlain described Sir +Charles's motion as gratuitous and harassing, "an affair of spies," for +a day had been fixed for the regular encounter. Yet what was needed then +was to show on the Liberal side that confidence which anticipates the +combat. The temper of the time is well indicated by a letter from an old +friend, the Bishop of Hereford: + + "I hope you will stick to the business, and protect ordinary people + from the new sophistry both by speech and writing. So few people + have any intellectual grip that everything may depend on the + leadership of a few men like yourself, who can speak with knowledge + and authority, and will take the trouble to put concrete facts + before the public." + +Meanwhile Tariff Reform had begun to act as a disintegrant on the +Unionist party, and by the end of October, 1903, Lord James was writing +to Sir Charles Dilke as to the position of Unionist Free Traders: "Can +nothing be done for these unfortunate men?" There is no evidence that +their state moved Sir Charles to compassion, but it is clear that he +feared lest a regrouping of parties should destroy the commanding +position which Radicals had gained, and as soon as Parliament +reassembled he took action. + + '_Thursday, February 11th_, 1904.--I sought an interview with John + Redmond, to whom I said that there seemed a rapidly increasing risk + of the speedy formation of a Whig Administration dominated by + Devonshire influence, and that it might be wise that he, with or + without Blake, should meet myself and Lloyd George for the Radicals, + J. R. Macdonald for the Labour Representation Committee, and with + him either Snowden or Keir Hardie. Redmond assented, and I then saw + Lloyd George. Lloyd George was at first inclined to assent, but on + second thoughts asked for time, which I think meant to see Dr. + Clifford. + + '_Friday, February 12th_, 1904.--Lloyd George had not made up his + mind either way, but thought that it would be wise to meet except + for the fact that trouble might happen afterwards as to what had + passed. I pointed out that this could be easily guarded against by + his writing me a letter making any conditions or reservations which + he thought necessary, which I should show to Redmond, and write to + him that I had so shown. On this he promised to let me know on + Monday what he thought, and probably would prepare a draft letter. + + '_February 18th, 1904.--Further talk with George. A little afraid of + being attacked by Perks for selling the pass on education. I said + that I must go on alone to a certain extent, and he then consented + to come in, and on my suggesting reservations--as, for example, on + education--he said: "No, I can trust the Irish as regards the + personal matter, and, as I come in, I will come in freely without + any reservations."' + +Through the general unsettlement which Chamberlain's new policy had +created, a dissolution and a change of Government were now possibilities +of a not distant future, and speculations were rife as to the future +position of Sir Charles. Lady Dilke, who regarded the admission of her +husband to office as a proof of his public exoneration from the charges +brought against his character, was ardently desirous that he should +accept without reserve any offer of a place in the Cabinet, and it was +much against her wish that Sir Charles imposed conditions, in +conversation with a political friend who had been a member of the last +Liberal Cabinet. So far as anxiety again to hold office existed on his +part, it was more because of her wishes in the matter than from any +strong political ambition of his own. [Footnote: He wrote to Mr. Deakin +from Geneva, December 9th, 1904: "Only one word of what you say on 'too +tardy rewards in higher responsibilities'! I was in the inner ring of +the Cabinet before I was either a Cabinet Minister or a Privy +Councillor, 1880-1882, and I am not likely to have the offer of the +place the work of which would tempt me. The W.O. would kill me, but I +could not refuse it. I have been told on 'authority' that it will not +come to me."] + +But the motive which in this, as in all else, swayed him so strongly was +now to be taken away. + +Lady Dilke's wish for her husband's return to office was shared by many +Radical politicians, and in the course of the summer Captain Cecil +Norton, one of the Liberal Whips, in a speech expressed his opinion of +the value of Sir Charles Dilke's services, and his anticipation that the +fall of the Tory Government would bring back the Radical leader of 1885 +to his full share of power. This utterance was enough to set the old +machinery in motion against him. A series of meetings had been organized +by the advanced Radical section of the House of Commons, and the first +was to have been held in Newington, Captain Norton's constituency, with +Sir Charles for the chief speaker. Threats of a hostile demonstration +reached the Newington committee, and it was decided--though Sir Charles +Dilke was opposed to any change--that the series should be opened with a +speech from him in his old constituency, the place where he was best +known and where he had most friends. It was fixed for October 20th, +1904. + +Nothing of the reason for this change was told to Lady Dilke. Her health +had given some cause for anxiety, though at Dockett Eddy in August and +at Speech House in September she had been more bright, more gay, than +ever. She herself wrote to friends that she had "never been so happy in +her life," but felt need of rest, and was going to Pyrford for a long +rest. + +She reached Pyrford with her husband on October 15th, and he wished her +to see a doctor, but she refused. "He would stop my going up with you on +Thursday, and I want to go. I think I ought to be there." + +It was long since Dilke had stood before those whom he once represented, +and she was determined to be with him; she assisted at the triumphant +success of this meeting; but the strain of coming up to London and the +excitement justified her forecast of the doctor's opinion. That night +she was taken ill, yet till the morning would make no sign, for fear of +disturbing her husband. She admitted then that she was very ill; to +Pyrford, however, she was set on returning; in London she "could not +rest." By Sunday she seemed to be on the highroad to recovery, but on +that Sunday night the end came. + +Those last days and hours have been fully described by Sir Charles in +the memoir prefixed to her posthumous book. All that he has written in +his own Memoir is this: 'October 23rd, 1904: Emilia died in my arms +after one of our happiest Sunday afternoons.' + +So ended the marriage which, contracted under gloomy auspices in 1885, +had resulted in nineteen years of unbroken felicity. Her praise has been +written in love and reverence by her husband, who was her equal comrade. +The union between them was so complete as to exclude the thought of +gratitude, but whatever man can owe to a woman Sir Charles Dilke owed to +his wife; and though she died without achieving that end on which she +had set her heart, of utterly and explicitly cancelling by public assent +all the charges that had been brought against him, yet she had so lived +and so helped him to live that he was heedless of this matter, except +for her sake. + +Over her grave many hands were stretched out to him. Chamberlain wrote +from Italy: + + "My Dear Dilke, + + "I have just seen with the deepest sympathy and sorrow the news of + the terrible loss you have sustained. + + "Consolation would be idle in presence of such a blow, but I should + like you to feel that as an old friend, separated by the unhappy + political differences of these later years, I still share your + personal grief in losing a companion so devoted to you, and so well + qualified to aid and strengthen you in all the work and anxiety of + your active life. + + "When the first great shock is past, I earnestly trust that you may + find in the continued performance of your public duties some + alleviation of your private sorrow, and I assure you most earnestly + of my sympathy in this time of trial. + "Believe me, + "Yours very truly, + "J. Chamberlain." + +Mr. Morley wrote also: + + "My Dear Dilke, + + "I did not hear the news of the unhappy stroke that has befallen you + until it was a fortnight old. You need not to be told what a shock + it was. I think that I had known her longer than anybody--from the + time of a college ball at Oxford in 1859; a radiant creature she + then was. To me her friendship was unwavering, down to the last time + I saw her, when she gave me a long and _intime_ talk about the + things that, as you know, she had most at heart. I am deeply and + sincerely sorry and full of sympathy with you. Words count little in + such a disaster, but this I hope you will believe. + "Ever yours, + "John Morley." + +When after his wife's death Sir Charles again took up his life in +London, those who saw him off his guard recognized keenly the effect of +this last sudden blow, heavier because unexpected. The very mainspring +of his life had been weakened. But he exerted himself to prepare Lady +Dilke's unpublished writings, and to write the memoir which prefaced +them. Of this he says: + + 'I put my whole soul into the work of bringing out her posthumous + book with a proper memoir, and it nearly killed me. I was never so + pleased with anything as with the success of the book. To hundreds + of the best people it seems to have meant and said all that I wished + it to say and mean.' + +Probably, also, to many readers it gave for the first time a true image, +not of her only for whose sake it was written, but of him who wrote. One +letter of this moment deserves to be put on record. Mr. Arnold-Forster +wrote: + + "Dear Sir Charles, + + "In a very few days the Session, with all its conflicts, its + misunderstandings, and its boredom, will be upon us. Before it comes + let me take advantage of one of the few remaining days of calm to + write a line to you. + + "It is inevitable, and no doubt right, that you and I should find + ourselves on different sides; we shall probably differ on a good + many points, and on some we shall very likely express our + differences. But I trust that nothing in the rough and tumble of + public work will interrupt the pleasant relations which have so long + existed between yourself and me, and the existence of which I have + so greatly valued. + + "You have been a good and kind friend to me ever since I entered the + House, and I have always valued both your friendship and your good + opinion, when you could give it me. I have known well enough that I + owed much to Lady Dilke's friendship and affection for my wife; but + I shall never forget how generously that friendship was extended to + me. I was very deeply sensible of the privilege of receiving the + confidence and the good-will of a very noble and wonderfully able + woman. + + "But I must not weary you with too long a letter. All I want to tell + you is that I cherish the hope that even now that this bond of + union, this comprehending and reconciling presence, is no longer + here to keep our tempers wise and sweet, you may still count me + among your warm friends, and--despite the estrangement of party + politics--may continue to give me your good-will and may believe in + the continuance of mine." + +The Administration of Mr. Balfour fell in the last days of 1905. Sir +Henry Campbell-Bannerman was entrusted with the formation of a Liberal +Government, and the question was at once eagerly asked, in political +circles, whether Sir Charles Dilke would be a member of it. In February, +1905, he had written to Lord Edmond Fitzmaurice expressing a hope that +he would be outside the next Government, so as to be free to oppose the +deal with Russia which in his opinion Sir E. Grey was contemplating. + +The feeling of the Conservative party on the question of his return to +official life is sufficiently shown by the fact that he had previously +been sounded as to his willingness to accept the chairmanship of the +Royal Commission on the Poor Law. That the attitude of the Court towards +him had changed is also clear. Not only was his attendance at Levees +approved, but he and Lady Dilke had received the royal command to the +Queen's Garden Party at Windsor. The attitude of his own party was, +however, the determining factor. + +Before the critical time actually arrived, there had been tentative +conversations, and, although Sir Charles did not expect that any +invitation would come to him, Mr. Labouchere thought otherwise, and a +letter from him describes conversations which he had held with Sir Henry +Campbell-Bannerman: "I thought then from his general observations that +you would be War Minister." + +In Labouchere's opinion the determining factor was a public +correspondence in which Dr. Talbot, then Bishop of Southwark, took the +lead in protesting against any such appointment. But this was probably a +mistaken view. There is no reason to believe that the Liberal leader had +any wish to include Sir Charles in his Ministry. The Cordite vote was +not forgotten by the members of the Liberal Administration of 1892-1895. +No office was offered to Sir Charles. His answer to the letter written +by Labouchere on January 6th was: + + "I never thought C.-B. could possibly offer me the War Office, and I + could not have refused it or made conditions for the post, and it + would have killed me. I did not expect him to offer me any place. + Had my wife lived, that would have hurt her, and, through her, me. + As it is, I prefer to be outside--a thing which, though often true, + no one ever believes of others. + + "But when in office--April, 1880, to June, 1885--I was exceptionally + powerful, and nearly always got my own way in my department. That + could never have been repeated--a strong reason why I have all along + preferred the pleasant front seat in the house to a less commanding + position on the stage." + +When Mr. Haldane's name was announced for the War Office, Mr. Arnold- +Forster sent a message agreeing with Sir Charles's high estimate of the +new War Minister's abilities. "By far the best appointment they could +possibly make--with the one exception." And Mr. T. R. Buchanan, +Financial Secretary to the War Office, wrote in reply to Sir Charles's +congratulations: + + "I have taken the liberty of showing your letter to Haldane, and he + desires me to thank you for what you say about him, and he values it + all the more highly because of your generosity. You would certainly + have been the natural man to be now in his place, and it is a public + loss that you are not in it." + +At the election which followed Sir Charles was re-elected by an enormous +majority for his old constituency, after issuing this, the shortest of +all his habitually short addresses: + + "Gentlemen,--I solicit with confidence the renewal of your trust. + + "Believe me, your devoted servant, + "Charles W. Dilke." + +In the autumn of 1905 he had delivered a series of addresses, mainly to +audiences of Labour men, advocating a general co-operation of Radicals +with the Irish and Labour groups. For Ireland he urged a return to the +"Parnell-Chamberlain scheme of 1885," but applied as a part of Home Rule +all round. His proposal was that the Irish members should in the autumn +sit in Dublin, the Scottish members in Edinburgh, the Welsh in Wales, +and the English at Westminster, and should then transact local affairs, +their decisions being ratified or rejected by the United House when it +met in spring as an Imperial Parliament. + +In December, 1905, he wrote to Mr. Deakin: + + "The composition of the new Ministry seems to me, as to everybody + else, good. The Imperial question will slumber, I think, until the + Irish question has become again acute. The Ministry ought to be able + to do very well in 1906; two Sessions up to Christmas. In 1907 I + expect a row with Redmond, in which I shall be more or less on + Redmond's side. The Liberal party will not face the fact that they + cannot avoid dealing with the Irish question without the certainty + of the Irish moderates, of whom Redmond is the most moderate, being + forced to say: 'We can no longer keep Ireland quiet for you.' The + Liberal party will not have coercion, and, that being so, they have + no alternative except to do what they ought to do. It would be wiser + to do it before they are compelled; and if they did it before + compulsion was applied, they would have more chance of carrying the + country with them." + +In a lighter vein he wrote to Lord Edmond Fitzmaurice, commenting on the +extraordinary predominance of Scottish members in the Cabinet, on +December 15th, 1905: + + "I had already, before I received your criticism on the Scotch, + suggested to Hudson (who is with me) the things that Labouchere is + likely to say about his friends, and had yesterday got as far as his + turning round and asking us in a loud whisper: 'Who is it who + represents _England_ in this Government?' + +[Footnote: The Cabinet consisted of nineteen persons. Of these, the +Prime Minister (Sir H. Campbell-Bannerman); the Chancellor (Lord +Loreburn); the Chancellor of the Exchequer (Mr. Asquith); the Secretary +of State for the Colonies (Lord Elgin); the Secretary of State for India +(Lord Morley); the Secretary of State for War (Mr. Haldane); the First +Lord of the Admiralty (Lord Tweedmouth); the Chief Secretary for Ireland +(Mr. Bryce); the Secretary of State for Scotland (Mr. Sinclair)--nine in +all--were Scottish Peers or represented Scottish constituencies. It was +also observed that Sir Edward Grey's constituency was the Scottish +Borderland; and it was jestingly said that John Burns was put into the +Cabinet because he had persuaded the Premier that he descended from the +poet! + +Mr. Birrell, when the Government was formed, was not in Parliament, but +his last constituency had been Scotch, The Lord Lieutenant of Ireland +was Lord Aberdeen.] + + "We used to think that the value of Randolph was that he gave to + politics the constant pleasure of the unexpected. Rosebery now does + this in the Lords, and Charles II.'s truthful saying about the House + of Commons, 'It is as good as a play,' becomes on account of + Rosebery temporarily true of the House of Lords. We shall all of us + be drawn there very often, and even such a House of Commons man as + your humble servant, grumbling the while, will nevertheless find + himself attracted to that 'throne.'" + +When the new Parliament met in 1906, Labour had for the first time a +really important representation. [Footnote: See Chapter LII., "Labour," +p. 346.] + +Sir Charles noted in his Diary: 'The Labour party was my original scheme +for the I.L.P. as developed in talks at Pyrford, before its formation, +with Champion and with Ben Tillett. To join it or lead it was never my +thought.' + +His purpose was rather to be a connecting link between the varying +groups in the development of a legislative programme which he forecast +with shrewd prevision. On January 6th, 1906, he wrote to Labouchere: + + "As I now seem to have the confidence of Balfour, Redmond, and Keir + Hardie, the position will be difficult; but in the present year + Redmond and Keir Hardie will, I think, join with me in supporting + Government. Next year it will be different, unless, as I expect, + Grey goes for H.R. The small Budget of 1906 will be a + disappointment, and so, I fear, will be the big one of 1907. + + "The really weak point is that the Government is damned unless it + fights the Lords in 1907, and that the promise of 'five years in + power' will prevent the hacks from fighting." + +Holding these views, it was natural that he should seek to maintain that +organization of a Radical group which had existed continuously since +Fawcett established, or rather revived, it on first entering the +Parliament of 1865-1868. The Radical Club, of which Sir Charles himself +was the first secretary, grew out of this, and was largely directed by +him till 1880, when he ceased, on taking office, to be a member. +[Footnote: For earlier mention of the Radical Club, see Vol. I., Chapter +VIII., p. 100.] His brother succeeded him in the secretaryship; but with +Ashton Dilke's death the club died also, being replaced by a loose +committee organization which lasted till 1893, and then came to an +untimely end because the party Whips attempted to pack the meeting which +elected this committee. The elected body was then replaced by a +virtually self-chosen group. In 1904 an emergency committee of this +group was appointed; and when the new Parliament met, Sir Charles was +the only member of the committee left. Mr. Harcourt and Captain Norton +had taken office, Mr. Stanhope had gone to the Lords, Mr. Labouchere had +retired. It therefore fell to Sir Charles to reassemble surviving atoms +of this organism, to attract new ones, and to make known its nature and +purpose. + +It had always been essential, in his view, that there should be no +"party," no chairman, and no whips; but simply a grouping for the +purpose of stimulating the Government by pressure as to practical and +immediate Parliamentary objects on which advanced men think alike or +harmoniously, and for current arrangements, such as balloting for +motions and generally making the best use of private members' time. + +There was at the outset a great influx of members, and three secretaries +were appointed. At all meetings at which he was present Sir Charles took +the chair, and through this centre exercised much influence, committing +the House of Commons to a series of resolutions--abstract indeed, but +none the less important. + +The various objects which Radicalism should have before it in 1906 are +sketched in a kind of shorthand summary: + + "Good understanding with Irish Nationalist members, based on at + least the Parnell-Chamberlain National Council scheme of 1885, and + with the Labour party for common objects. + + "So far as further political reforms are needed no registration + reform worth having, but principle of adult suffrage of all grown + men and women carries simplification and single vote. + + "Payment of members and expenses. + + "Single Chamber, or restriction of power of House of Lords (i.e., no + 'Reform' of = stronger). [Footnote: Sir Charles always maintained + that "Reform" of the House of Lords would result in strengthening + its position.] + + "Fiscal reform, capable of being dealt with by Budget or + administratively, and money to be saved by ... increased revenue + provided by increased graduation of death duties and by relieving + the Imperial Exchequer of the local grants, substituting taxation of + land values by the local authorities for the latter. + + "This last point is closely connected with full power to local + authorities to acquire land for all purposes, and this with + municipal trading and other forms of municipal Socialism. The heads + of the Labour policy are now so universally embraced as not to be + specially Radical; Taff Vale, for example, being supported by all + Liberals and some Tories, and the Miners' Eight Hours receiving the + support of nearly all Liberals and of some Tories." + +On the question of electoral reform, and specially of woman's suffrage, +all his action was guided by one conclusion thus expressed, and embodied +in the Franchise Bill introduced by him each Session: + + "The limited franchise, if it is ever carried, will be carried as a + party Conservative measure intended to aid Conservative opinions and + to rest the franchise upon an unassailable limited base, and it will + be carried in that case against the counter-proposal of the suffrage + of all grown men and women, made by those representing the advanced + thought of the country." [Footnote: Memorandum by Sir Charles Dilke + on "Suffrage of All Grown Men and Women," issued by the People's + Suffrage Federation.] + +It is unnecessary to emphasize the completeness with which political +evolution has followed the lines here marked out by him. Others reaped +the harvest. But no man then living had done more to sow the seed. + +The Parliament in which he found himself was one of singular interest. +He wrote: + + "The old form of party divisions is, in the great majority of + constituencies, not yet much affected by recent events. In the House + of Commons it is almost dead for the present year.... + + "The future cannot be foreseen, and in politics it is always foolish + to attempt to prophesy. I have frequently myself made or quoted the + remark that in politics a year is equivalent to eternity. I have now + limited myself to 1906. Whether the party system, in which British + statesmen of our time and of past generations have been nurtured, + will ever be restored is another matter. Whether the birth of a + definite Labour party, in addition to a definite Irish Nationalist + party, will be followed by any further division, or whether, as I + expect, it will not, yet the division into four parties--of which + three will compete actively for the favour of the British + electorate--will, I think, continue, and we follow here the line of + political development in which first the Australian Colonies, and + now the Commonwealth, have led the way." [Footnote: _Potentia_, + 1906.] + +Writing in the _Financial Review of Reviews_ for April, 1906, he spoke +of the "extraordinarily interesting nature of the debates," of which +example had already been given, and he foreshadowed no less interesting +action. The changes which he had in view, mainly financial, were "not +likely to be popular in the City, with solicitors, with the organized +representatives of the employing class," but none the less they would +probably be carried into law. The old assumption that democratic +movements would be carried into legislation "by capitalist members +steeped in Radical pledges" had ceased to correspond with the facts. A +new type of member of Parliament had appeared, and Sir Charles welcomed +the change. + + "It is possible that the members are more Radical than the + constituencies. This is an arguable question; but that they are + convinced upon such questions, not by pressure, but by training and + by thought, is a conclusion which no one who knows the present House + of Commons can resist. + + "There has probably never sat so interesting a House of Commons in + the history of this country. With a good deal of experience of + Parliaments and of their inner life and thought, and with the + opportunity of frequent discussion with those who, like Mr. + Gladstone, remembered all the Parliaments back to the early + thirties, and those, like Mr. Vernon Harcourt, [Footnote: George + Granville Vernon Harcourt, elected to the House of Commons as member + for Oxford in 1831. He held his seat till 1859.] who remembered much + earlier Parliaments, I am certain that there has never met at + Westminster an assembly so able and at the same time so widely + different in intellectual composition from its predecessors as that + which is now there gathered. The development of opinion, however, is + less of a surprise to those who have watched Australia and New + Zealand than to those who have confined their studies to the United + Kingdom and the Continent." [Footnote: In 1911, when Lord Hugh Cecil + described with violent rhetoric the alleged degradation of the House + of Commons, Mr. Balfour was moved to protest, and cited in support + of his own view "a man whose authority had always been admitted." "I + remember," he said, "talking over with Sir Charles Dilke the + question of general Parliamentary practice, and he said, and I + agree, that there has been no deterioration either in his or in my + Parliamentary experience."] + +Payment of members he did not live to see, but he always regarded it as +"an extraordinary anomaly that payment should have been discontinued in +this country." + + "Members are paid in every other country in the world, and in every + British colony (I believe without exception). Non-payment means + deliberate preference for moneyed oligarchy, as only rare exceptions + can produce a democratic member under such a system. It excludes all + poor men of genius unless they can get themselves paid by parties + like the Irish, which makes them slaves. It throws undue power into + the hands of the capital as the seat of the legislature, and it + leads to poor members selling their souls to rotten compromises." + +Despite the advance of age and a growing weakness of the heart, the +impression which he produced was always one of commanding vigour. His +habit of fencing kept him alert and supple in all his movements. +Notwithstanding his elaborate preparation for the work, no man's +appearances in debate were less premeditated; he spoke when he felt +inclined: had he spoken for effect, his interpositions would have been +much less frequent. But when tactics required it, no man was more +willing to efface himself. Especially was this so in all his relations +with Labour; when he could leave to the Labour party the credit of +moving an important amendment, he gladly left it to them. Yet when he +was more likely than they to secure Liberal support, he was prepared to +move against the Government, and in one notable amendment on the Trade +Disputes Bill brought down their vast majority to the bare figure of +five. [Footnote: For a fuller account of Sir Charles's work connected +with the Taff Vale Decision and the Trade Disputes Act, see "Labour," +Chapter LII, pp. 345 and 365.] + +The work which in these last years cost him most labour--in view of his +failing health, it would have been well for his friends had he never +undertaken it--was that given to the Committee on the Income Tax, of +which he became chairman in 1906. Sir Bernard Mallet (now Registrar- +General) writes in 1916: + + "In the spring of 1906 the Government decided to appoint a strong + Committee to inquire into the questions of graduation and + differentiation of the income tax, which had for some Sessions been + coming into prominence in consequence of the financial difficulties + caused by the South African War. Mr. Asquith, then Chancellor of the + Exchequer, offered the chairmanship to Sir Charles Dilke, who had + never claimed to be an expert in finance, and only accepted it after + strong pressure, and the Select Committee set to work accordingly + early in May. Having taken up the work, which occupied most of the + summer, Sir Charles threw himself into it with immense energy. He + familiarized himself with all the literature bearing on the + question, and he made a point of calling, as witnesses, not only the + usual officials, but also as many outside economists and + statisticians as might be able to throw light upon questions which, + as he rightly conceived, lay at the root of any proper consideration + of the problem before the Committee. He attached special importance + to all the evidence bearing upon foreign and colonial methods and + principles in the taxation of income and property, and to the + endeavour he made to get at statistics bearing on the distribution + of income--two vitally important factors introduced by him, for the + first time, into any official handling of the subject. + + "But the result of all the knowledge, thoroughness, and enthusiasm, + which, as his friends could testify, he lavished without stint (and, + it is to be feared, to the serious detriment of his health) upon the + work, must have somewhat disappointed him. Sir Charles's attempts to + deal with the matter in a comprehensive spirit and produce a report + which would rival in interest the famous reports of two previous + Select Committees on the subject, those of 1851 and 1861, were + hampered by the necessity, under which the Committee lay, of + devising a means to increase the yield of the income tax with the + least political friction. The two expedients which came most + prominently before the Committee were those of differentiating the + rate of the income tax in favour of earned or precarious incomes, + and of imposing a supertax upon the larger incomes. Both of these + were included in the recommendations of the report which was + ultimately adopted, [Footnote: Report of the Select Committee on + Income Tax, II. of C. 365 of 1906.] and carried into effect in the + Budgets of 1907 and 1909 respectively. [Footnote: See _British + Budgets_, by Bernard Mallet (1913), pp. 262, 263, 274, 277-281, and + 305, where also some comments on the recommendations of the + Committee are to be found.] Sir Charles's own view was opposed to + both these methods. He would have preferred to differentiation, even + in the limited form (up to £2,000 a year) in which it became law, + the method of separate taxation of property, or income from + property, as in Prussia and Holland, if death duties were not + considered as sufficient taxation upon property. + + "He was certainly impressed by the unscientific character of the + proposed differentiation; by the difficulty of distinguishing + between 'earned' and 'unearned' incomes, and by the possibilities of + abuse which this method of dealing with the question offered. + Supertax he would have reserved for a national emergency, but it + should not be supposed that his opposition to it implied opposition + to graduation either in principle or in practice. He was, indeed, + strongly in favour of a graduated income tax, but, in his judgment, + a supertax was a somewhat clumsy way of effecting the purpose aimed + at. In his opinion the universal declaration of all taxable incomes + was an indispensable preliminary to the full and just graduation of + the income tax, and written notes of his are in existence showing + how much importance he attached to this point. + + "Holding these views, he could not produce a report sufficiently + decisive in its acceptance of the methods favoured by the majority + of his colleagues. + + "The stupendous increases which have taken place in the rates of the + income tax owing to the present war, increases far surpassing + anything contemplated by the Committee over which Sir Charles + presided ten years ago, have thrown all such controversies as these + into the shade; but apart from the practical results of its + recommendations, which for good or ill left at the time a very + decided mark on fiscal legislation, this investigation succeeded, + owing mainly to his influence, in eliciting a quantity of evidence + which will always make it of historical interest to students of + taxation." + + + + +CHAPTER LVIII + +FOREIGN AFFAIRS: 1890 TO 1910 + + +Even before his return, in July, 1892, to Parliament, Sir Charles Dilke +was still a powerful critic of the country's foreign policy. It is a +curious commentary on the wisdom of those who believe that, except at +moments of special excitement or of public danger, it is impossible to +interest the electorate in foreign affairs, that during this period he +was constantly able to gather large public audiences in the North of +England and in Wales, and induce them to listen to careful criticisms on +questions such as the delimitation of the African continent, the +Newfoundland fisheries, British policy in the Pacific, and the future of +the Congo State. This was achieved, although no party appeal could be +made or was attempted, and although there was a deliberate effort by an +influential section of the London Press to boycott the speaker. In these +speeches Sir Charles pointed out that a perhaps too general acquiescence +existed on the part of most Liberals in the foreign policy of the +Government, merely because Lord Salisbury had made no attempt to +continue or to revive the pro-Turkish and warlike policy which had +distinguished the Government of Lord Beaconsfield in 1878. Lord +Salisbury was now mainly intent on settling outstanding questions with +France and Germany, especially in Africa, dealing with them one by one. +The ordinary Conservative partisan still said in public that nothing +could be worse than the foreign policy and practice of the Liberal +party; but he was also saying in private that the policy of his own +party was little better, that the army both at home and in India was +neglected, and that the fleet was probably insufficient. Dread, however, +of Mr. Gladstone and of the possible return of the Liberal party to +power, made him with rare exceptions silent in Parliament; while, on the +other hand, the mass of the Liberal party had become supporters of Lord +Salisbury's foreign and colonial policy. "The fact that Lord Salisbury +had not been an active Turk or an active Jingo had proved enough to +cover everything." [Footnote: "The Conservative Foreign Policy," +_Fortnightly Review_, January, 1892, by Sir Charles Dilke.] But the +absence of any well-sustained criticism in Parliament had evident +disadvantages, and Sir Charles's speeches at this time supplied the +deficiency. + +The political fortunes of France between 1887 and 1895 were at a low +ebb. The financial scandals which led to the resignation of President +Grevy in 1887, the serio-comic political career of General Boulanger, +dangerous and constant labour disturbances in the great centres of +industry, the Panama financial scandals of 1893, the assassination of +President Carnot in 1894, and the impossibility of forming stable +Ministries, caused a general lack of confidence in the future of the +Republic both at home and abroad, which the facile glories of the Paris +Exhibition of 1889 could not conceal. The foreign policy of the country +seemed to consist in a system of "pin-pricks" directed against Great +Britain, and in hostility to Italy, which culminated in anti-Italian +riots in the South of France, a tariff war, and the entry of Italy into +the alliance of the Central Powers. The letters of Sir Charles during +this period are full of expressions of despair at the condition of +French politics and at the general lack of statesmanship. The suspicion +which he entertained of Russian intentions caused him also to look +askance at the newly formed friendship of France with Russia, which, +commencing with the visit of a French naval squadron under Admiral +Gervais to Cronstadt in August, 1891, was finally sealed by a treaty of +alliance signed in March, 1895, though the precise terms were not known. +[Footnote: In a letter to M. Joseph Reinach written after the appearance +of _The Present Position of European Politics_, Sir Charles says: "I did +_not_ say Gambetta had been a great friend to the Poles. I said he hated +the Russians. He told me so over and over again. He held the same view +as Napoleon I. as to Russia, and said, 'J'irais chercher mes alliances +n'importe oui--meme a Berlin,' and, 'La Russie me tire le pan de +l'habit, mais jamais je n'ecouterais ce qu'on me fait dire.' But, in +searching for my own reasons for this in the first article, I said that +as a law student he had been brought up with a generation which had had +Polish sympathies, and that perhaps this had caused (unconsciously, I +meant) his anti-Russian views. I know he did not believe in setting up a +Poland."] + +In Germany the position was different. The Dual Alliance devised by +Prince Bismarck between Germany and Austria-Hungary had become the +Triple Alliance by the accession of Italy, and had been further +strengthened by an assurance of naval support given to Italy by Lord +Salisbury in the event of the _status quo_ in the Mediterranean being +disturbed. The presumable disturber aimed at was evidently France. +[Footnote: "In 1903 Lord Lansdowne explained that in February, 1887, +there had been that exchange of notes between Italy and ourselves of +which I had written in that year. In _The Present Position of European +Politics_ I made allusion to Disraeli's proposal, before his defeat in +1880, of a league of the Powers for the defence of the _status quo_ in +the Mediterranean. The notes of February, 1887, nominally dealt only +with the Mediterranean _status quo_ desired in common, it was said, by +Italy and Great Britain. Cynics might be tempted to ask whether all +Italian Ministers desired the maintenance of a _status quo_ in a +'Mediterranean' which included the coast of Tunis, the coast of Tripoli, +and even, Lord Lansdowne added, the Adriatic." (Sir Charles Dilke in the +_English Review_, October, 1909: "On the Relations of the Powers.") On +this subject see _Crispi Memoirs_, vol. ii., chap. v.] The meddlesome +intrigues of Russian partisans, and a long series of political outrages +culminating in the murder of M. Stambouloff, were gradually forming an +Austro-German party in Bulgaria; while the wise and progressive +administration of Bosnia and the Herzegovina by Herr von Kallay had +encouraged a belief that some good thing might even yet come out of +Austria, notwithstanding the famous expression of a belief to the +contrary by Mr. Gladstone. + +In the circumstances Lord Salisbury determined to base his policy on a +good understanding with Germany, and he had his reward. The African +settlement of 1890 was a comprehensive scheme which undoubtedly made +great concessions to German wishes, but, taken in connection with +subsequent enlargements and additions, it was hoped that it had at least +removed any real danger of collision between the two Powers principally +concerned. A treaty with France, recognizing a French protectorate over +Madagascar, was defended by its authors as the complement of the +arrangements of 1890, as to Zanzibar, with Germany. Subsequent treaties +with Portugal and Italy made the period decisive as to the future +division of the African continent. Both in Great Britain and Germany the +arrangements of 1890 were attacked as having yielded too much to the +other side. But looking at the treaty from an English point of view, Sir +Charles said there had been too many graceful "concessions" all round, +and of these he made himself the critic. He did not, however, identify +himself with the extreme school of so-called "Imperial" thought, which +seemed to consider that in some unexplained manner Great Britain had +acquired a prior lien on the whole unoccupied portion of the vast +African continent. + +But in the treaty of 1890 there was one clause--the last--which stood +out by itself in conspicuous isolation, and this Sir Charles never +ceased to attack and denounce. It decreed the transfer of Heligoland to +Germany. The importance of the acquisition was not fully appreciated at +the time even in Germany. What the surrender might some day mean was not +understood in Great Britain. On both sides the tendency was to belittle +the transaction. [Footnote: Reventlow, 38-51. _Hohenlohe Memoirs_, ii. +470-471.] Apart from some minor interests possessed by British +fishermen, Lord Salisbury described the value of the island as mainly +"sentimental," in the speech in which on July 10th he defended the +transaction in the House of Lords. + +He supported the proposal by arguing that the island was unfortified, +that it was within a few hours' steam of the greatest arsenal of +Germany, that if the island remained in our possession an expedition +would be despatched to capture it on "the day of the declaration of war, +and would arrive considerably before any relieving force could arrive +from our side." "It would expose us to a blow which would be a +considerable humiliation." "If we were at war with any other Power it +would be necessary for us to lock up a naval force for the purpose of +defending this island, unless we intended to expose ourselves to the +humiliation of having it taken." This argument, Sir Charles Dilke showed +by a powerful criticism of the whole treaty in the columns of the +_Melbourne Argus_, went a great deal too far. It could be used for the +purpose of defending the cession of the Channel Islands to France. "The +Channel Islands lie close to a French stronghold, Cherbourg, and not +very far from the greatest of French arsenals, at Brest. They are +fortified and garrisoned, but they are feebly garrisoned, and they have +not been refortified in recent times, and could not be held without +naval assistance, and the argument about locking up our fleet applies in +the case of the Channel Islands, and in the case of many other of our +stations abroad, as it was said to apply in the case of Heligoland." +[Footnote: _Melbourne Argus_, September 10th, 1890. As to Heligoland, +see _Life of Granville_, ii, 362, 363, 425; Holland Rose, _Origins of +the War_, p. 18.] + +Lord Salisbury went on to point out that we had obtained a consideration +for the transfer of Heligoland to Germany "on the east coast of Africa," +a consideration which consisted mainly in an undertaking from Germany +that she would not oppose our assumption of the protectorate of +Zanzibar. But, said Sir Charles, the protectorate, when it included not +only the island of Zanzibar, but the strip of coast now forming the +maritime fringe both of British and of German East Africa, had been over +and over again refused by us. "I was one of those," Sir Charles +continued, referring to a still earlier chapter of Lord Salisbury's +policy during the short-lived Government of 1885-86, "who thought that +the policy of 1885 with regard to Zanzibar was a mistaken policy, and +that we should have insisted on supporting our East Indian subjects, who +had and have the trade on that coast and island in their hands. We had +joined with France in arrangements with regard to the whole Zanzibar +coast, and when we concluded an agreement with Germany about that coast +it became necessary for us to force that agreement upon the French on +behalf of Germany. A most mistaken policy, in my opinion, as we should +otherwise have had the support of France in resisting a German +occupation of any portion of the coast, an occupation which it is safe +to say would not have been attempted in face of a distinct statement on +our part." + +Lord Salisbury expressed his inability to understand on what ground +those interested in South Africa objected to our recognizing an +imaginary German right over a strip of territory giving the Germans +access to the upper waters of the Zambesi. He said that our chief +difficulty about this territory was that we knew nothing about it; but +this consideration, Sir Charles said, "told against the agreement, +inasmuch as we had given up a territory which seemed naturally to go +with those which have been assigned to the South Africa Company, and +which might, for anything we knew to the contrary, be of high value in +the future." It was amazing to note how obediently the great majority of +the Conservative party followed Lord Salisbury's lead in accepting the +cession of Heligoland for no consideration at all, as Sir Charles +thought--in any case, for a consideration which must seem inadequate. +Contrast, he said, the grounds upon which the cession of Heligoland was +defended with those, welcomed by shouts of triumph from the +Conservatives, upon which the occupation of Cyprus was justified. It was +inconceivable that any man possessed of reasoning powers could support +holding Cyprus (which must be a weakness in time of war), and yet argue +that Heligoland must be a weakness of a similar kind, and therefore had +better be ceded. In the case of Heligoland the vast majority of the +islanders were opposed to union with Germany. In the case of Cyprus the +vast majority of the islanders were hostile to our rule, while the +majority of Heligolanders were favourable to our rule. To cede it +against the wish of the population was a step which should not be taken, +except for overwhelming national advantage, and that advantage most +certainly could not be shown. + +"I am one of those," Dilke wrote, summarizing the argument of his +speeches, "who are sometimes thought by my own party to be somewhat +unduly friendly to the foreign policy of our opponents, a fact which I +mention only to show that I do not come to the present matter with +strong prejudice. I had heard during the negotiations in Berlin, and +some weeks before the publication of the agreement, the whole of its +contents with the exception of the cession of Heligoland, and I had +formed a strong opinion upon the facts then known to me--that it was a +thoroughly bad agreement, most unfavourable to British interests. The +only change since that time has been that Heligoland has been thrown in, +so that to my mind we are ceding that British possession, for which a +very high value might have been obtained, against the wish of the +inhabitants, and ceding it for less than no consideration. Lord +Salisbury seems to be subject to strange dimness of vision when Africa +is concerned. He positively claimed it as a merit, in the course of his +speech to the South African deputation, that while the Germans demanded +an enormous slice of our Bechuanaland sphere of influence, he had +induced them to put back their frontier; but I need hardly point out +that no German traveller had ever entered the country in dispute, that +we had for years acted on the assumption that it was within our sphere, +and that the Germans might as reasonably have set up a claim to the +whole sphere of influence and to all the territories previously assigned +by us to the British South Africa Company...." + +In South-East Africa, too, it was to be remembered that we were dealing +with a country which is far less populated by natives and more open to +European settlement than was the case with Central Africa. [Footnote: +See supra, p. 84, as to the differences which had arisen in Mr. +Gladstone's Cabinet on this subject in 1884-85.] + +"There has been in the whole matter," he declared, "a deplorable absence +of decision. If, when Lord Salisbury came into power in 1885, +immediately after the occupation by Germany of a slice of South Africa +and of the Cameroons, and at the moment of German activity at Zanzibar, +he had let it be clearly understood that we should support the policy of +Sir John Kirk, our Consul, and the Zanzibar Sultan's rule, and had at +the same time abstained from taking steps to facilitate the operations +of the Germans in Damaraland, we certainly should have occupied at the +present moment a stronger position than we do. But, instead of this, +Lord Salisbury allowed our Indian subjects established along the coast +to be ruined by German bombardments to which the British fleet was sent +to give some sort of moral support. Our explorers have carried the +British flag throughout what is now German East Africa and the Congo +State. They had made treaties by which the leading native sovereigns of +these countries had submitted to our rule, and the Germans are too +anxious for our countenance in Europe to have been willing to have +risked the loss of Lord Salisbury's friendship had he taken a very +different line." [Footnote: _Melbourne Argus_, September 6th, 1890.] + +Though not professing to be himself an "African," Sir Charles also asked +how those who professed to come within that description, and speak as +advocates of an Imperial policy in the vast and undeveloped regions of +the Dark Continent, could quietly accept, as they seemed prepared to do, +the break in the so-called Cape to Cairo route which had been allowed to +form part of the great agreement of 1890. + +"What, then," he asked in 1902, "have the Tories done with the free hand +that has been given them? Above all, they have 'made up to' Germany, and +this apparently for no definite object and with no definite result. They +have given to Germany as far as they could give; they have certainly +helped her to procure the renewal of the Triple Alliance, by inducing +sanguine Italians to believe that the British fleet will protect them +against France, though as a fact we all know that the House of Commons +will not allow a British fleet to do anything of the kind. France has +wholly given up the Temporal Power, and would not have threatened Italy +had Italy held aloof from the Triple Alliance; and, in spite of a recent +speech by the Minister of Austria-Hungary which was intended to 'pay +out' Italy for her talks with Russia, it is not Austria that would have +raised the question. Our Government have given Germany, so far as they +could give, a vast tract in Africa in which British subjects had traded, +but in most of which no German had ever been. They have also given +Germany Heligoland, which they might have sold dear, and which, if Mr. +Gladstone had given, they would have destroyed him for giving.... All +this for what? What have we gained by it?" [Footnote: _Fortnightly +Review_, January, 1902.] + +The policy of Lord Rosebery and Lord Kimberley from 1892 to 1895 +resembled that of Lord Salisbury in so far as it aimed at the settlement +of outstanding questions with Germany and France. The apprehensions of +trouble with France were still serious, because a constant succession of +short Ministries at Paris made any permanent agreement difficult if not +impossible. The few Foreign Ministers who were occasionally able to keep +their place for any length of time at the Quai d'Orsay were also +generally those who as a rule were indifferent, if not actually hostile, +to friendship with this country, such as the Duc Decazes in the early +days of the Republic, and M. Hanotaux at a later period, who, however, +was quite ready to invite Great Britain to join in reckless adventures. +[Footnote: Sir Charles notes in November, 1896, that Mr. Morley reported +that 'Hanotaux had told him that he could not understand why England had +refused to join in a France, Russia, and England partition of China. +"China is a dead man in the house who stinks."'] Towards France Lord +Rosebery's Government twice took up a firm stand: first in regard to her +aggressive action in Siam; and secondly by the clear warning, given +through Sir Edward Grey in the House of Commons, that if the expedition +of Major Marchand, which was known to be crossing Africa from west to +east, reached the Nile Valley, as it eventually did at Fashoda, British +interests would be held to be affected. The gravity of this warning was +at the moment very inadequately comprehended by the House and by the +country, notwithstanding the repeated attempts of Sir Charles to +reinforce it before rather unconvinced audiences. + +A firm attitude towards France was greatly facilitated through the +friendly position adopted towards Great Britain by Count Caprivi (the +successor in 1890 of Prince Bismarck in the Chancellorship of the German +Empire) and his Minister of Foreign Affairs, Baron Marschall. This +period indicates the high-water mark of friendly relations between +Germany and Great Britain; and though Count Caprivi retired in 1894, +when he was succeeded by Prince Hohenlohe, who had special ties with +Russia, these friendly relations may be said to have been prolonged, so +far as the official relations of the two Governments were concerned, +though with ever-diminishing vitality, up to the retirement of Baron +Marschall from the Foreign Office in 1897. [Footnote: See the +observations of Reventlow, 115-118, and Büllow, _Imperial Germany_, 31, +34.] In this period German commercial policy took a strong turn towards +freer trade, to the great wrath of the feudal and military parties in +Prussia, who were the centre of the forces hostile to a good +understanding with Great Britain. The secret treaty also which Bismarck +had negotiated with Russia, behind the back of his allies, was allowed +to lapse, and a more conciliatory attitude was adopted towards the +Poles, which gratified Liberal opinion, especially in this country. But +even in the time of Baron Marschall there were evidences of the +existence in Germany of currents of opinion of a less friendly +character, which were able from time to time to assert themselves in +African affairs. As Sir Charles Dilke pointed out, Germany had joined +with France in 1894 in objecting to, and thereby nullifying, the Congo +Treaty of that year with Belgium; and some of the territories which had +been handed over to Germany in the neighbourhood of the Cameroons in +1893, with the express object, apparently, of barring a French advance +in that region, had been handed over by Germany to France by another +treaty in 1895. [Footnote: Reventlow, pp. 52, 53, admits this. For the +treaties themselves, see Hertslet, _The Map of Africa by Treaty_, ii. +658, in. 999, 1008.] + +Throughout the period from 1892 to 1895 a Liberal Ministry was in +office, but hardly in power. For the next ten years a strong Tory +Administration possessing unfettered freedom of action was in real +power, with an Opposition weakened by internal dissension. It was not +unnatural that, under such discouraging conditions as to home affairs, +Sir Charles should have again devoted most of his time to foreign +questions and army reform. + +"I recognize," Mr. Balfour wrote to him, in regard to some arrangements +as to the business of the House, "that no man in the House speaks with +greater authority or knowledge on foreign affairs than yourself, and +that no man has a better right to ask for opportunities for criticizing +the course in respect of foreign affairs adopted by this or any other +Government." [Footnote: March 31st, 1897.] + +This recognition was general, so much so that what he spoke or wrote on +foreign affairs was constantly translated, reproduced verbatim and +commented upon in foreign newspapers--a distinction enjoyed as a rule +only by official speakers, and not always by them; while original +contributions from his pen were eagerly sought for not only at home, but +abroad, especially in France and in the colonies, "Il a pesé constamment +sur l'opinion française," the _Figaro_ wrote at the time of his death; +and his known friendship for France and everything French made plain- +speaking at times possible without exciting resentment. Even those--and +there were many in England--who disagreed with his criticisms of the +details of Lord Salisbury's policy, felt the comprehensive grasp of his +facts, and the vast store of knowledge on which he drew; and the members +of his own party, many of whom did not altogether go with him, or +sometimes, perhaps, quite grasp his standpoint, nevertheless enjoyed, +especially while their own oracles were dumb, the sound of the heavy +guns which, after his return to Parliament, from time to time poured +political shot and shell into the ranks of the self-complacent +representatives of the party opposite. In those ranks, too, there were +men who at heart agreed very largely with the speaker, while compelled +by party discipline to maintain silence. On the other hand, there nearly +always came a moment when Conservative approval passed into the +opposite, for Sir Charles had no sympathy with the vast if rather +confused ideas of general annexation which prevailed in Conservative +circles: the policy of mere earth-hunger which Mr. Gladstone had +denounced in 1893. + +[Footnote: See above, p. 256.] + +When Lord Salisbury returned to the Foreign Office in 1895, the policy +of "graceful concessions" to France seemed to Sir Charles to have begun +again--concessions in Tunis, concessions in Siam, concessions all +round--and he returned to the attack. Tunis, he again pointed out, dated +back to 1878, when M. Waddington received, in his own words as given in +his own statement, a spontaneous offer of that country in the words +"Take Tunis. England will offer no opposition." But at least certain +commercial rights and privileges were then reserved. Now they were gone. +Even the nominal independence of Madagascar had finally disappeared. + +Sir Charles also drew attention to the one subject of foreign affairs +upon which, during the last Parliament, Mr. Curzon never tired of +attacking, first Mr. Gladstone's and then Lord Rosebery's Government: +this was the advance of the French in Siam. Lord Rosebery had gone to +the verge of war with France in checking the French proceedings, and +when he left office France was under a promise to evacuate Chantaboon +and the provinces of Batambong and Siamrep, and to set up a buffer State +on the Mekong. We were then in military occupation of British Trans- +Mekong Keng-Cheng. Lord Salisbury came to an arrangement which left +France in Chantaboon and these provinces, thus giving away, against our +interests, what was not ours to give--as he had done in Tunis--and he +evacuated and left to France British Trans-Mekong Keng-Cheng, in which a +50 per cent, _ad valorem_ duty had just been put on British goods (from +Burmah), a duty from which French goods were free. Not only did Lord +Salisbury himself make this arrangement, but he had to submit when +France, in alliance with Russia, forced the Government of China to yield +territory to France, in direct derogation of China's treaty engagements. +Lord Salisbury had since made what was known as the Kiang-Hung +Convention with China; and it commenced by setting forth the cession by +China to France of territory which had been ceded to China on the +express condition that it should not be so ceded to France. This action +on the part of China was brought about by the violent pressure of France +and Russia at Pekin, which Lord Salisbury passed over. "The defence of +his Siam arrangements in the House of Commons consisted in Mr. Curzon, +who had become the representative of the Foreign Office, informing the +House that the provinces (which he had formerly declared most valuable) +were unimportant to British trade, and in pacifying assurances that the +Upper Mekong was not navigable, although a French steamer was actually +working on it where Mr. Curzon said no ship could go." [Footnote: Letter +to the _Liverpool Daily Post_, December 2nd and 5th, 1898.] + +In the days of these petty collisions in West Africa and all the world +over--the "policy of pin-pricks" to which at this time Mr. Chamberlain +made fierce allusion in a public speech--Sir Charles arranged to publish +a dialogue between himself and M. Lavisse of the French Academy +discussing the international situation. "I shall be answering the +_Temps_ article which replies to you," he wrote to Chamberlain on +December 26th, 1898. "Lavisse, being of the Academy, wants a month to +polish his style. The dialogue will not appear till February 1st or +15th. There will be nothing in it new to you. What is new and important +is that the French, impressed by the fleet, and pressed by their men of +business, such as Henri Germain, the Director of the Credit Lyonnais, +and Pallain, now Governor of the Bank of France, want to be friends. +I've told these two and others that it is useless to try and settle +things unless they will settle Newfoundland. These two came back after +seeing Ministers, including the Foreign Minister and the Minister for +War, Freycinet, and independently said that they want to settle +Newfoundland. They've quite made up their minds that Germany does not +want them and will not buy their friendship. I have not seen Monson (the +British Ambassador) since my second interview with them, but I told +Austin Lee last night to tell him the terms on which I thought that +Newfoundland could be settled if you want to settle it. I do not put +them on paper as I am sending this by post." + +The Newfoundland dispute as to rights of fishing under the Treaties of +Utrecht and Paris was one to which Dilke always attached special +importance, and immediately after this letter to Chamberlain he wrote +upon it in the _Pall Mall Magazine_ (February, 1899), describing it as +"the most dangerous of all international questions, as it is also one of +the most difficult." [Footnote: This dispute was mainly concerned with +the question whether the French fishermen possessed an "exclusive" or +only a concurrent right in the so-called French shore, under the above- +mentioned treaties (see Fitzmaurice, _Life of Shelburne_, 2nd ed., ii. +218). It was finally settled in the Lansdowne-Delcassé agreement of +1904, with other then pending questions. Sir Charles Dilke gave a useful +summary of the history of the question and its numerous developments +after 1783, in a small volume entitled _The British Empire_, published +in 1899.] Great Britain appeared to him to "have gone infinitely beyond +the strict terms of the treaty in the concessions to France made for the +sake of peace," and to have made proposals which "would not be tolerated +for an instant if any of the other ten self-governing colonies were in +question," and were only considered because of the "poverty and +feebleness of Newfoundland." Lord Salisbury was, in his eyes, no worse a +sinner in this respect than the Liberal Government of 1893, except that +Lord Salisbury had also made concessions in giving up the existing +situation secured by treaty in Madagascar, in Tunis, and in Siam, +against which there might have been set off a settlement of this "really +dangerous question." He said that in Newfoundland the British navy was +being used to coerce British colonists into submission to the French +demands; and he foresaw peril to the colonial relation, as well as peril +in the international field. + +Whether it was possible during the period now under consideration to +make an alliance, or even to establish friendly relations with Germany +on a solid and permanent basis, is a question which will never fail to +be the subject of discussion and controversy: for on it hinged the +future of Europe. With an unfriendly France and a German Chancellor-- +Prince Hohenlohe--aiming, and for a time with some partial success, at +re-establishing friendly relations with Russia, the advantages of a good +understanding between Great Britain and Germany were obvious; for hardly +had the difficulties on the North-West frontiers of India been for the +time quieted by the "Pamir" Treaty of 1895, [Footnote: This Treaty was +made while Lord Kimberley was Foreign Secretary.] when the war between +Japan and China opened up the long series of events in the Far East +which culminated later on in the Russo-Japanese War. In those events all +or nearly all the European Great Powers were taking a hand; Germany was +aspiring to take a leading part, and had to a certain extent obtained it +by the command-in-chief of the Allied Forces being given to Count +Waldersee, and by the expedition to relieve the Legations in Pekin. But +the Jameson Raid and the congratulatory telegram of the Emperor to +President Kruger in January, 1896, showed that Germany might intend also +to have a South African policy, which in the hands of a less skilful or +a less friendly Foreign Secretary than Baron Marschall might open, +notwithstanding all the previous treaties, a new chapter of diplomacy. +Meanwhile Baron Marschall, with the hand of a skilful jurist, softened +down the meaning of the famous telegram, by a close and minimizing +interpretation of the words, and, as a practised diplomatist, went out +of his way to meet the wishes of Lord Salisbury, who had proposed that +the cost of the recent British Expedition to Dongola should be a charge +on the funds of the Egyptian Caisse. + +But Baron Marschall's tenure of his post was becoming precarious, and +Sir Charles did not believe in the possibility of any alliance or +permanent understanding with Germany. He feared, on the contrary, that +one result of the policy of concession might be ultimately to tempt +France, Germany, and Russia, to form a practical and informal union +against Great Britain, similar to that which had proved so great a cause +of anxiety in 1884-85. This, though not a formal alliance, had been +almost as dangerous as one more specific and avowed, and it was now, he +thought, likely to be found to exist with reference to events in China. + +After the defeat of China by Japan in 1895, every year brought some new +and dangerous development, and the break-up of the Chinese Empire seemed +near. Any understanding on the part of Great Britain with Russia, in +regard to China, Sir Charles believed to be unreliable, and probably +impossible, and Lord Salisbury's policy, which seemed to have gone out +of its way to let Russia into Port Arthur, showed in his opinion +deplorable weakness. + +Mr. Chamberlain in a speech in the winter of 1898--which was followed by +others in the same strain--had seemed almost to propose an alliance with +Germany. Following him at Birmingham, Sir Charles pointed out that the +Secretary of State for the Colonies had said: "If the policy of +isolation which has hitherto been the policy of this country is to be +maintained in the future, then the fate of the Chinese Empire may +be--probably will be--hereafter decided without reference to our wishes +and in defiance of our interests;" and went on to say: "If, on the other +hand, we are determined to enforce the policy of the open door, to +preserve an equal opportunity for trade with all our rivals, then we +must not allow jingoes to drive us into a quarrel with all the world at +the same time, and we must not reject the idea of an alliance with those +Powers whose interests most closely approximate to our own." No doubt, +Sir Charles replied, the Government were pledged to pursue the policy of +"equal opportunity for trade," but they had not successfully maintained +that policy in action. What were the Powers, he asked, which Mr. +Chamberlain had in view when he went on to say: "Unless we are allied to +some great military Power, as we were in the Crimean War, when we had +France and Turkey as our allies, we cannot seriously injure Russia"? Mr. +Chamberlain must have referred to an alliance with Germany. Personally, +Dilke said that he "was entirely opposed to a policy of standing and +permanent alliances; but was there any prospect that Germany would ever +agree to bear in Europe the brunt of defending for us--for that was what +it would come to--the most dangerous of our responsibilities? Prince +Bismarck's policy on the subject had been avowed over and over again; he +had foreseen these suggestions, and had rejected them in advance. +Speaking in 1887, Prince Bismarck said: 'Our friendship for Russia +suffered no interruption during the time of our wars, and stands to-day +beyond all doubt.... We shall not ... let anyone throw his lasso round +our neck in order to embroil us with Russia.' And again in 1888: 'No +Great Power can, in the long-run, cling to the wording of any treaty in +contradiction to the interests of its own people. It is sooner or later +compelled to say, "We cannot keep to that," and must justify this +announcement as well as it can.' [Footnote: See, too, _Bismarck +Memoirs_, ii., pp. 258, 259.] In 1890 the present German Emperor renewed +the Triple Alliance, and the relations also of Germany and Russia had +never, he believed, been closer than they were at the present time. Any +notion of a permanent or standing alliance with Germany against Russia +was, in short, a Will-o'-the-wisp. Opposed as he was to the whole policy +of alliances as contrary to the true interests of this country, he was +specially opposed to this particular proposal, because it was calculated +to lead our people to think that they could rely on the strong arm of +another Power instead of only on their own strong arm." [Footnote: The +speech of Mr. Chamberlain referred to above was made at Birmingham. It +was followed by speeches at Wakefield on December 8th, 1898, and at +Leicester on November 20th, 1899.] + +Yet a strong action in the Near East, Sir Charles thought, might have +compensated for a feebler policy on the Pacific Coast. In Armenia, +Christians for whom Great Britain was answerable under the Treaty of +Berlin were being massacred, but Lord Salisbury did nothing to help +them. In November, 1896, there was a faint stir of public opinion, but +many of the suggestions made in regard to what ought to be done were +unwise. [Footnote: _November 4th_, 1896.--'Morley told me that in order +to force the hand of the Turks, before July, 1895, Kimberley had +proposed to force the Dardanelles, and that Harcourt had stopped it. Mr. +Gladstone had written to Morley to insist on his speaking about Armenia +and to complain of his lukewarmness. I said: "But Mr. G. in 1880, when +something could have been done, confined himself to what he called +'friendly' words to the Sultan.'" See on the whole subject _Crispi +Memoirs_, vol. ii., chap. ix.] + +"No one," Sir Charles had said in 1896, "would protest more emphatically +than he did against some of the advice which had been given. One of the +ablest journalists and highest of financial authorities, Mr. Wilson, had +suggested the landing of a few troops and the deportation of the Sultan +to Cyprus. The defences of the Dardanelles were not such as could be +very easily forced even by the British fleet.... No British Admiral, +even if he succeeded in forcing the Dardanelles, would have troops to +land who could overcome the Turkish guard, an army corps, and the +excited Turkish population." Elsewhere, with prophetic foresight, he +showed that the forcing of the Dardanelles could not be carried out +without "heavy loss, possibly tremendous loss, and that the loss of a +first-class British ironclad is equivalent to the loss of an army corps +with all its guns." [Footnote: Letter to the _Macclesfield Chronicle_, +September 19th, 1896.] + +Crete was now again in a state of chronic rebellion against Turkish +rule; and Turkish methods of repression only stimulated the popular +demand to be joined to Greece. Sir Charles Dilke thought that, if the +Powers really wished to coerce Turkey to bring about better government +within its dominions, coercion could most safely begin in the Greek +islands, where European fleets could absolutely control the issue and no +question of Continental partition need arise. In Crete the Sultan could, +Sir Charles believed, have been compelled to accept a nominal +sovereignty, such as he retained over Cyprus; and the aspiration towards +Hellenic unity, the need for Hellenic expansion, might thus have been +satisfied. + +If England had taken "instant and even isolated action," France would, +he thought, not have thwarted British policy. "The effect would +ultimately have been the addition of Crete to the Greek kingdom under +the auspices, perhaps, of all the Powers, perhaps of the Powers less +Germany, perhaps of only three or four of them." [Footnote: Ibid.] + +The occasion was missed, and war, declared by Turkey against Greece, +followed, and years of anarchy in Crete. The Ministers of the Powers +"even in the free Parliaments of the United Kingdom and France" "used +pro-Turkish language," and attacked those who, because they upheld the +traditional Liberal policy of both countries, were accused of abetting +the Greeks. + + "The blockade by the fleets of the Powers became pro-Turkish, and + Europe took sides against Greece in the war. If Greece had been + allowed to hold Crete, she could have exchanged it against Thessaly, + if the worst had come to the worst, without those financial + sacrifices which are now necessary. [Footnote: Such a proposal had + actually been made in 1881 by Prince Bismarck. _Life of Goschen_, i. + 214; _Life of Granville_, ii. 226.] The very claim of the Powers to + have localized the war by stopping the Slav States from attacking + Turkey is in itself a claim to have interfered on one side." + +When Greece was defeated, "the majority in the Parliament of the United +Kingdom, if not of the British people," Sir Charles wrote, "professed +that their burning sympathies for Greece had been destroyed by Greek +cowardice, although the stand, at Domoko, of ill-supplied young troops +against an overwhelmingly superior force of Turkish veterans deserved +fairer criticism." He interpreted his own duty differently, and when the +Hellenic cause was most unpopular he continued to express his faith in +the "rising nationalities of the Eastern Mediterranean," and looked +forward with confidence to a future in which Palmerston's generous +surrender of the Ionian Islands should be emulated by a new act of +Liberal statesmanship. "There can be little doubt that Cyprus, as a part +of a great scheme for strengthening the elements of the Eastern +Mediterranean that are hopeful for the future, will not be kept out of +the arrangement by any reluctance on the part of the United Kingdom to +let its inhabitants follow the tendencies of their race!" [Footnote: The +above Notes on Crete relate to the period when war broke out, in 1897, +between Greece and Turkey, and the Turks invaded Thessaly.] + +"Oh for an hour of Canning or of Palmerston!" he said, at a great public +meeting in the North in October, 1898. "Canning was a Tory, a Tory +Foreign Secretary of State, a Tory Prime Minister, although at odds with +the Duke of Wellington upon some subjects. Lord Palmerston was looked +upon by many Radicals as a Whig, but in foreign affairs he had never +exhibited that carelessness and that absence of a willingness to run +risks for the sake of freedom which no doubt marred his conduct of home +affairs. Canning had seen the interest of Great Britain in maintaining +the Greek cause, as Palmerston had seen her interest in strengthening +Greece by allowing the Republic of the Ionian Isles, of which we had the +protectorate, to join her after the downfall of the Prince called by +Palmerston 'the spoilt child of autocracy, King Otho.' Canning had +consistently refused in circumstances of far greater difficulty and +danger than those which attended the Greek or Cretan questions in our +times, to be dragged at the heels of the great despotic Powers. Canning +resolved not only to assist the Greek cause, but in doing so to maintain +the superiority of British influence in the Eastern Mediterranean; and, +seeing the course which was clear in the interest of Europe and in our +own interest, he determined to settle the question in his own way, as he +at the same time settled that of South America to the immense advantage +of this country, which now had found in South America one of the best of +all markets for her trade. There never was a greater loss to England +than when Canning died as Prime Minister and was succeeded in office by +one of those fleeting figures who, in the language of Disraeli, were but +transient and embarrassed phantoms. [Footnote: Lord Goderich, Prime +Minister from August 8th, 1827, to January 8th, 1828.] The deeds of +Canning in the questions of Greece and South America, his regard at once +for liberty and for Britain, might be read in all the lives of that +great Minister, and what Palmerston did of the same kind in the case of +Italy was perfectly known." + +In consequence of observations of this kind, he had to defend himself +more than once against the charge of "Jingoism," as the cant term of the +day had it; and more particularly in the debate on foreign policy on +June 10th, 1898, when it was made by an old political friend, Mr. +Leonard Courtney. + +"I am one of those," Dilke replied, "who are in favour of large +armaments for this country, and believe in increasing the strength of +our defences for the sake of peace; and one of the very reasons why I +desire that is because I repudiate the idea of making our policy depend +upon the policy of others. I have always repudiated, and never ceased to +repudiate, the policy of grab which is commonly associated with the name +of Jingo.... I submit that the worst policy in these matters is to have +regard to our own rights only, and not to the rights of others. We want +our country to be viewed with that respect which men will ever cherish +for unbending integrity of purpose. We should be more scrupulous with +regard to asserting nominal rights which we do not intend to maintain. + + "When such transactions are criticized, the Government always reply + by asking: 'Would you have gone to war at this or that particular + point, for this or that particular object?' It always appears to me + in these cases that there is some confusion in our minds about this + risk of war on such occasions. If the intention of the other Power + is to avoid war, war will be avoided when you quietly hold your own. + But if the intention of the other Power is war, there will be no + lack of pretexts to bring it about." + +His policy, therefore, would have been to advance no claims but such as +could be made good, if need arose, by England's own carefully measured +resources in connection with those of France. + +It was, however, impossible at this time to focus public attention upon +events in the Mediterranean, or even in the Nile Valley. The eyes of all +politicians alike were becoming fixed upon a different part of the +African continent. + +Mr. Chamberlain had taken the Colonial Office in 1895, and it was in +reply to a short speech from Sir Charles Dilke during the brief Autumn +Session of that year that he expressed himself glad to outline his +general policy, and spoke of finding in the Colonies an undeveloped +estate, which he was determined to develop. His phrases caught the +popular imagination then as always. Colonial enterprise was the theme of +all pens and tongues. Then on New Year's Day of 1896 had come the +Jameson Raid. But in the stormy chapters of Parliamentary life which +followed Sir Charles took little part, beyond commending Mr. +Chamberlain's promptitude in condemning the Raid. The speech which he +made in the vote of censure on the colonial policy of Mr. Chamberlain, +moved on January 30th, 1900, as an amendment to the Address, by Lord +Edmond Fitzmaurice on behalf of the Opposition, was of an independent +character, dealing more with the military and naval aspects of the +position than those purely political. But, though standing rather apart +from the general line of attack, the speech was recognized as one of the +most weighty contributions to the debate, as it brought home to the +country on how dangerously narrow a margin of strength the policy of Mr. +Chamberlain rested, and how entirely it owed its success to the +maintenance of the navy of this country, which German Navy Bills were +about to threaten. Four years later, when the German naval preparations +were assuming a definite shape, he repeated these warnings in a still +more decisive manner by a speech which attracted great attention in +Germany itself, as well as at home. [Footnote: "Der frühere +Unterstaatsecretär des Auswärtigen, und sehr angesehene Sir Charles +Dilke, wies damals auf Deutschland bin und sagte: man vergrössere dort +die Flotte mit einer ausgewohnten Schnelligkeit und richte sich damit +öffentlich gegen England." (Reventlow, p. 242).] + +Sir Charles disapproved of the Boer War, [Footnote: "I am myself opposed +to the Milner policy, which led up to the South African War. But in +spite of the Natal events I do not share the opinion either that the war +itself will be a long one, or that foreign complications will arise." +("Risk of European Coalition," _Review of the Week_, November 4th, +1899).] but he held that when the country was seized by the war-fever +interposition was useless: it did more harm than good both at home and +abroad. Staying in Paris, in the early days of the contest, when we were +suffering and beaten for the moment, he told those who commiserated us +and threatened European complications to "wait and see," laughing at the +idea that England could be permanently at a disadvantage, but not +entering into the abstract merits of the question. If forced to speak, +he admitted that the war was "unwise," but his utterances were very few. +It, however, raised a general principle, inducing him to recall facts +which had been too frequently forgotten. The party which was now +opposing government by Chartered Company was, he said, the party which +had revived it in 1881 in the case of North Borneo; while the Tories, +who then had condemned that method of colonization, were now +enthusiastic for it. Sir Charles, who had opposed the system in regard +to Borneo, where it was attended by little danger, now pointed out that +not only had it produced the Jameson Raid in South Africa, but that on +the West Coast the Niger Company threatened to involve England in +differences with France by action which England could not control. These +were conclusive proofs that the principle which in 1881 he had resisted +to the point of seriously differing from his official chief was fraught +with inconvenience and dangers. The Niger Company's position, however, +was the affair of political specialists; South African policy was +embroiled with the fortunes of a gigantic gambling speculation. +[Footnote: This is recalled by a fact in Sir Charles's personal history. +His son became entitled on coming of age in September, 1895, to a legacy +of £1,000. Sir Charles offered him in lieu of that bequest 2,000 +"Chartered South African shares." Had he accepted, he could, when the +legacy became due, 'have sold them for £17,000 and cleared £16,000 +profit! But he refused them when offered, and,' says Dilke, 'not +thinking them things for a politician, I sold them, and (purposely) at a +loss.'] + +The Transvaal War destroyed whatever prospects there might have been of +a permanent understanding with Germany, and Mr. Chamberlain before the +war was over had to make at least one speech which brought on himself +the fiercest denunciations of the German Press, when he replied in +vigorous language to the charge of cruelty brought against the British +military authorities in Africa. The absolute mastery of the sea +possessed by Great Britain probably alone prevented the Emperor forcing +his Ministers into some imprudent act; and it was clearly seen that +Count von Bülow, who had succeeded Baron Marschall as Foreign Secretary +in June, 1897, and afterwards succeeded Prince Hohenlohe as Chancellor +in 1900, though not desiring a conflict, and convinced, as he has since +told the world, that none need come, was nevertheless less friendly than +his predecessors, and intended to pursue rigidly the policy of a free +hand with a strong navy behind it. [Footnote: Bülow, _Imperial Germany_ +(English translation), p. 47. A later edition, with considerable +alterations and additions, was published in 1916.] Events were visibly +fighting on the side of those who saw that France was the only possible +ally of Great Britain, and that the only other alternative was, not an +alliance with Germany, but a return to the policy of "splendid +isolation." The apologist of Prince von Bülow has himself told the world +that the policy of an absolutely "free hand" now inaugurated by the new +Chancellor was evidently one, in itself, of great difficulty, because +Germany might frequently be compelled to change front; and, to use an +expression attributed to Bismarck, might have to "face about" until +friendship with this country became impossible. The prognostication was +soon to be justified. [Footnote: Reventlow, p. 159.] + +It was perhaps the decisive moment in the relations of Great Britain and +Germany, when Count von Bülow, with the ink hardly dry on the Anglo- +German treaty of October, 1900, which was supposed to be intended to +protect China against further Russian advances on the north, cynically +went out of his way to make a statement in the German Parliament that +the treaty did not apply to Manchuria. The reply of the British +Government was the Anglo-Japanese treaty of February 11th, 1902. +[Footnote: Reventlow (_German Foreign Policy_, 1888-1914) speaks of this +incident as the "Wendepunkt der Britischen Politik und der Deutsch- +Englischen Beziehungen." (p. 168). See, too, Bérard, _La Révolte de +l'Asie_, pp. 192-194, 208, 209, 293.] + +In February, 1901, a typical article from Sir Charles's pen appeared in +the _Figaro_, strongly urging the absolute necessity for the creation of +really cordial relations between Great Britain and France, which he +considered were the sure and sufficient guarantee of European peace. It +was true, no doubt, that the increasing strength and efficiency of the +French army were a guarantee, up to a certain point, of peace with +Germany, just as the weakness of the French army had been an active +temptation to Germany in 1870 to attack France. The joint action of the +Powers in China at the moment was also itself a sign of improved +relations. Nevertheless, as Moltke had said, Germany would remain armed +for half a century after 1870, if she intended, as she did intend, to +keep Alsace-Lorraine; and as Europe had for the present to remain an +armed camp, more could hardly be hoped than to maintain peace, however +burdensome the cost. Europe, Sir Charles urged, should try to realize +that a great war would probably be fatal, whoever might be the victor, +to her commercial world-supremacy--as the great and ruinous burdens, +which would everywhere result, would surely cause that supremacy to pass +to America. There the development of the resources, not of the United +States only, but also of the Argentine Confederation, ought to give +pause to those who did not look beyond the immediate future and seemed +unable to realize that a Europe laden with all the effects of some +gigantic struggle would prove a weak competitor with the New World on +the other side of the Atlantic. To remind Frenchmen that the English +have not always been victorious in war was no very difficult task; but +he ventured to remind Englishmen also that, as the English army was +quite inadequate to take a large part in a Continental war under the +changed conditions of modern warfare, Great Britain and France, while +united, should more than ever walk warily, and distrust the counsels of +those who occasionally in Great Britain spoke lightly of war. It was +easy to talk about the victories of Marlborough and Wellington; but the +military history of England was really a very chequered one, and of this +Englishmen were, unfortunately, mostly unaware. Our military prestige +had never been great in the commencement of our wars, and, as he had +said in the recent debates on the Boer War, [Footnote: House of Commons, +February 1st, 1900] we had too often had to "muddle through." On more +than one occasion--in America, for example, during the Seven Years' War, +and more recently in New Zealand--we had only been got out of our +difficulties by the help of our own colonists. Here at least was a great +future source of as yet undeveloped strength. The disastrous Walcheren +Expedition was on record; even Wellington had had to retire over and +over again in the earlier period of the Peninsular War; in the Crimea we +had not shown any great military quality beyond the bravery of our +troops. These were truths, unpalatable truths, but they had to be +uttered, if on the one hand the cause of army reform in Great Britain +was to prosper, and if on the other France was not to reckon too much on +the assistance of a British army on the Continent of Europe, especially +in the earlier stages of a war. [Footnote: _Figaro_, February 11th, +1901.] + +In a cordial understanding with France, therefore, Sir Charles Dilke +considered to lie the sheet-anchor of British foreign policy and the +best guarantee of peace. In 1898 the arrival of the French force at +Fashoda, on the Nile, had brought things to a crisis, and the firm +attitude then adopted by Lord Salisbury at length convinced France, as +Sir Charles always believed it would, that she must make her choice +between Germany and Great Britain. In the action of Lord Lansdowne, who +had succeeded Lord Salisbury at the Foreign Office in 1900, and in the +policy eventually embodied in the Anglo-French agreement of 1904, Sir +Charles recognized the views which persistently, but not always +successfully, he had urged for many years on his own friends in France +and England. But the new departure was only rendered possible by the +appearance at the French Foreign Office of a statesman who, after the +bitter experience of the final failure of the policy of "pin-pricks" +before Lord Salisbury's firm stand in the Fashoda affair, boldly threw +his predecessors overboard, and managed to make himself the inevitable +Foreign Minister of France for a long period of years, successfully +maintaining himself in office against every competitor and every rival, +while other Ministers came and went. Late, perhaps too late, the policy +of Gambetta was revived by M. Delcassé, and it held its own. + +By 1903, owing to the complete change in the attitude of France, matters +had so much improved as between England and the Republic that Sir +Charles could write in the _Empire Review_ of "An Arrangement with +France" as possible, basing himself on recent articles in _La Dépêche +Coloniale_, which had been the extreme anti-British organ. "That the +French colonial party should have come frankly to express the desire +which they now entertain for an arrangement of all pending questions +between the English and the French is indeed a return towards relations +better than any which have existed since Gambetta's fall from power." +But this improvement in the relations of the two countries was +materially aided by the influence of the personality of King Edward +VII., which Sir Charles fully recognized, as he also did one of the +consequences, which was perhaps not so fully seen by others. "The wearer +of the crown of England plays in foreign affairs," he wrote, "a part +more personal than in other matters is that of the constitutional King. +No one can deny that there are advantages, and no one can pretend that +there are never drawbacks, attendant on this system. It is not my +purpose to discuss it, but it makes the adoption in this country of +control by a Parliamentary Committee difficult, if not impossible." +[Footnote: _English Review_, October, 1909. Article by Sir C. Dilke.] +"The great and sudden improvement in the relations between the +English-speaking world and France is largely due to the wisdom and +courtesy with which the King made clear to France that there was no +ground for the suspicions which prevailed." + +[Footnote: _Quarterly Review_, July, 1905, p. 313. Article by Sir C. +Dilke. With France Sir Charles had for the moment again a certain +official relation, having been placed on the Royal Commission charged +with British interests at the Paris Exhibition--an honour due to him not +only in his own right, but as his father's son. At this moment also, +when relations between the neighbouring countries were severely +strained, he gave to the Luxembourg the reversion of Gambetta's +portrait, and sent the portrait itself to be placed among the works of +Legros on exhibition in June, 1900. M. Léonce Bénédez, curator of the +Luxembourg, in writing to press for the chance of exhibiting the +picture, said: + + "Je m'excuse vivement de mon importunité, mais je serais très + désireux que notre public peut être admis à juger Legros sur cette + belle oeuvre. De plus, je serais, en meme temps, très heureux que + les amis de votre grande nation, plus nombreux que la sottise de + quelques journalistes ne voudrait le laisser croire, fussent à même + d'apprécier la pensée élevée et délicate de l'illustre homme d'état + anglais qui, au milieu des circonstances présentes, a tenu à donner + à notre pays une marque si touchante de sympathie en lui offrant le + portrait d'un de ses plus glorieux serviteurs." + +The exhibition drew Sir Charles and Lady Dilke for a summer visit to +Paris, and it was during this visit that the sculptor Roty executed his +medallion of Sir Charles.] + +But wisdom and courtesy were not a little aided by the royal habit of +mixing easily with men at home and abroad, just as, on the other hand, +the long retirement of Queen Victoria had been injurious in an opposite +direction. This feeling finds expression in the fragment of commentary +in which Sir Charles dealt with the change of Sovereigns: + + 'The Accession Council after the Queen's death was a curious comment + on history. History will tell that Victoria's death plunged the + Empire into mourning, and that favourable opinion is more general of + her than of her successor. Yet the Accession Council, attended + almost solely by those who had reached power under her reign, was a + meeting of men with a load off them. Had the King died in 1902, the + Accession Council of his successor would not have been thus gay; + there would have been real sorrow.' + +Sir Charles thought hopefully of the situation at this moment, and there +is a letter dated as far back as 1900 in which Mr. Hyndman noted the +"unusual experience" of finding an Englishman who took a more favourable +view of France than he himself, and expressed his fear that Sir Charles +underrated "the strength of the National party." [Footnote: How well he +understood France may perhaps best be judged by an article written, at +the desire of M. Labori, for the _Grande Revue_ in December, 1901. It is +called "Torpeur Républicaine," and begins with the observation that +English Radicals are tempted to think French Republicans more +reactionary than any English Tories, for the reason that all English +parties had practically, if not in theory, accepted municipal Socialism. +"In France," he said, "the electors of certain cities return Socialist +municipal councils. They are all but absolutely powerless. We, on the +other hand, elect Tory or Whig municipalities, and they do the best of +Socialist work."] But, notwithstanding the alliance of France with +Russia, the action of Russia in the Far East in the period covered by +the events which ended in the Japanese War had not diminished Sir +Charles's rooted dislike of any idea of _entente_ or alliance between +Russia and Great Britain. He considered that Sir Edward Grey meant to be +Foreign Secretary in the next Liberal Government, and was intent on +making an arrangement or alliance with Russia to which he would +subordinate every other consideration. "Grey," he wrote early in 1905 to +Lord Edmond Fitzmaurice, "has always favoured the deal with Russia. I +hope I may be able to stay outside the next Government to kill it, which +I would do if outside, not within. This," he said, alluding to the +recent death of Lady Dilke, "assumes that I regain an interest in +affairs which I have wholly lost. I am well, but can at present think of +nothing but of the great person who is gone from my side." [Footnote: +February 2nd, 1905.] At this time the old controversy was again raging, +both at home and in India, over the question of the defence of the +North-Western Frontier of India; and a recent Governor-General and his +Commander-in-Chief in India, it was believed, had not altogether seen +eye to eye. The latter was credited with very extensive views as to the +necessity of an increase in the number of British troops, with a view to +the defence of the frontier against Russian attack. Sir Charles put +neither the danger of a Russian invasion nor the general strength of +Russia as a military nation so high as did some who claimed to speak +with authority; and he did not believe that we had any reason for +constant fear in India or elsewhere, or to seek alliances, in order to +avoid a Russian attack on India. The vulnerability of Russia on the +Pacific, which he had always pointed to, was demonstrated in the +Japanese War; as well as the miserable military administration of +Russia, which he had indicated thirty-eight years before as a permanent +source of weakness, certain to be exposed whenever Russia undertook +operations on a large scale at any great distance from her base. +[Footnote: In _Greater Britain_, ii. 299-312.] The Japanese alliance, he +believed, could never be directly utilized for resisting in Afghanistan +an attack by Russia on India. Happily, as he considered, the facts had +demonstrated that there was no need for such a display of timidity as +would be involved in marching foreign troops across India to defend it +on the frontier. [Footnote: _Monthly Review_, December, 1905. It is to +be observed that this argument does not involve any criticism of the +Anglo-Japanese Treaty considered as a defensive measure elsewhere.] + +But if he thought that an alliance with Russia was not a necessity for a +sound British foreign policy, on the other hand he was equally convinced +that a good understanding with the United States of America was such a +necessity. He believed that if fresh subjects of difference were not +created, and any remaining questions of difference--like the Fisheries-- +were settled, as the _Alabama_ and Alaska questions had been settled, +the old Jeffersonian tradition of suspicion of English policy would die +out, even in the Democratic party, and that no obstacle would then +remain to prevent the co-operation of all the branches of the race in a +common policy. + +In a speech made in June, 1898, he had referred to the improved +relations with the United States in terms which gave credit for the +improvement mainly to Sir Julian Pauncefote, then Ambassador at +Washington, for whose services he had the greatest admiration. +[Footnote: Sir Julian Pauncefote had previously been Permanent Under- +Secretary for Foreign Affairs for many years.] When, in 1896, the +question of Venezuela had threatened to make trouble between the two +English-speaking Powers, he counted the claims of Great Britain in +respect of the frontiers of Guiana as "dust in the balance" when weighed +against the advantage of not "running across the national line of policy +of the United States." He desired to sink all such petty affairs in a +policy of Anglo-American co-operation in the Far East. Rivals for trade +in China they must be, but the interest of both lay in working for the +"open door" which admitted a friendly rivalry. He wrote in the _American +Independent_ for May 1st, 1899: "The will of the United States, if it be +in accordance with the will of Great Britain and of the Australian +Commonwealth--the will, in other words, of the English-speaking +peoples--will be paramount in the Pacific if they are united"; and he +was never weary of urging the improvement in England's relations with +the United States which would follow from a friendly settlement with +Ireland. [Footnote: In _Present Position of European Politics_, 1887, he +had said: "I, for one, still have hope that the causes of strangement +between Great Britain and the chief of her daughter-countries, which are +mainly to be found in the friction produced by the Irish Question, may +even within our lifetime be removed, and the tie of blood, and tongue, +and history and letters, again drawn close." And in a note written later +in his own copy are the words: "It is for the Americans of the United +States to decide how far towards firm alliance this shall be carried." +Cf. _Life of Beaconsfield_, iv. 231.] + +Bearing in mind all these considerations, he believed, notwithstanding +all the wars and the rumours of wars, that the Great Armageddon so much +dreaded could be avoided by diplomacy combined with proper measures of +defence. The long chain of events formed by the Sino-Japanese War, the +Boer War, the Boxer Rebellion, the Anglo-Japanese Treaty, and the Russo- +Japanese War, were in his opinion "secondary events," however important, +appearing to threaten the peace of Europe from time to time--very +disquieting, no doubt, and ominous occasionally of yet worse things--but +things such as diplomacy had conjured away before, and ought to be able +to conjure away again. He did not think that Morocco, long regarded at +the Foreign Office as a danger-point, would ever prove a sufficient +object to induce Germany to break the general peace. She would threaten, +take all she could get, and then withdraw with the spoils, just avoiding +the danger-point; and so it no doubt turned out to be in 1905-06 at the +time of the troubles which ended in the Algeciras Conference. But he +recognized the personal character of the German Emperor as a new factor +of danger in the situation. + +The essential point since 1871, he wrote in 1905, had been that there +never had existed a serious and settled intention of making the much- +dreaded "European War" on the part of any of those with whom the great +decision rested. There was, he said, to the good this main +consideration--that, if any Power had intended war, a sufficient +pretext could always have been found, yet the war had not come. The +security for the maintenance of the long "armed peace" was, in fact, +this: that no Power had really intended war, or intended it now. What +the consequences would be was too well known by the responsible leaders. +The sudden heats which most seemed to jeopardize peace had arisen in +regard to questions not of European importance, mostly outside Europe, +where sometimes on one side or the other, and sometimes upon both, +tactful treatment in advance, and what might be styled "a long view," +would have saved the world from trouble altogether, and ought to do so +in future under analogous circumstances, whenever the question of the +Bagdad Railway and the remaining questions relating to Africa came up +for final settlement. [Footnote: _English Review_, October, 1909.] + +The guarantee of peace he believed to lie in the policy of _ententes_, +but on condition that the policy begun by Lord Lansdowne and M. Delcassé +should aim at agreement between two Powers only, and be limited to +specific objects. [Footnote: See the same opinion expressed in 1871, +Vol. I., p. 133.] Beyond this it was dangerous to go. An _entente_ +between more than two Powers, as distinct from one between two only, +reminded him of an American game of cards which he had seen played in +the Far West. This game when played by two persons was called _euchre_, +but when played by three persons was called by another and very +disagreeable name, because it so frequently ended in the use of knives. +The Franco-Italian agreements of 1898 and 1900, the Anglo-French +agreement of 1904, the Franco-Spanish agreement of 1904, the agreements +between Japan and Russia which had followed and grown out of the +Portsmouth Treaty of September, 1905, the Anglo-Japanese Treaty which +followed, and the Anglo-Russian agreement of 1907 as to Persia, were +guarantees for peace, because they came within the above definition. It +does not appear, however, that he considered the alliance of France and +Russia, dating so far as was then known from 1895, as a real guarantee +for peace, or that he shared the later views attributed to Gambetta, of +the desirability of an _entente_ between Great Britain, France, and +Russia. + +[Footnote: "M. Gaston Thomson publishes in the _Matin_ extracts from +letters by Gambetta to M. Ranc. In one letter, written apparently at the +time of the crisis of 1875, Gambetta says: + + "'You must know that the forger of the Ems despatch is about to + commit another act of treachery. But our calmness and + self-possession will prevent us from falling into the same trap as + in 1870. The croakings of a sinister raven will not plunge us into + folly this time. He has understood his mistake. He has been able to + transform a divided and impotent Germany into a great, strong, + disciplined Empire. For us and for himself he was less well inspired + when he exacted the annexation of Alsace-Lorraine, which was the + germ of death for his work.... Until they have remedied this error + no one will disarm. The world's peace, which is so necessary for all + peoples, will remain always at the mercy of an incident.' In order + to prepare France to meet the future, Gambetta strove to bring about + the alliance which to-day unites France, Great Britain, and Russia. + In a striking passage he writes: + + "'The number and importance of Russia's difficulties grow every day. + L---- keeps the Prince of Wales informed day by day of the + difficulties of that Power. The political ambitions of Russia will + be impeded by Austria, who is already assuming a hostile attitude. + She is exerting pressure upon Rumania. Do you see, as a consequence, + Austria allying herself with Rumania and Turkey against Russia? What + a conflict! + + "'The Prince of Wales, however, foresees it. He does not share the + hostility of a section of the English nation against Russia. With + all his young authority he fights against measures which may be + prejudicial to Russia. I see in him the makings of a great + statesman.... + + "'I desire that our enemies should be Russia's enemies. It is clear + that Bismarck wants an alliance with the Austrians. Russia must + therefore be made to see that we might be her ally.... Since the + Revolution our country exerts great influence in Europe. Before long + I see Russia and England at our side, if we only have a proper + internal policy.'" (_Times_, December 30th, 1915).] + +He was strongly convinced that the improvement of the French army since +1871 had been so great that it afforded by itself a sufficient reason to +give Germany pause, and he believed that the German Emperor considered +the French army better in some respects than his own. [Footnote: Baron +Beyens says that in 1911 it was the general opinion that in many +respects the French was in advance of the German army (_L'Allemagne +avant la Guerre_, p. 229). Ibid., p. 220.] An alliance between the two +Western Powers and Russia might, in given circumstances, on the one hand +encourage the party of _revanche_ and push the country into dangerous +adventures, and on the other tempt the war party in Germany to try again +some extreme course, as it had in 1875. + +From this point of view Dilke regarded with suspicion and anxiety the +journeys of the King on the Continent after 1905, unaccompanied by a +Secretary of State according to the ancient constitutional practice, but +accompanied by the Permanent Under-Secretary of State from the Foreign +Office, a former Ambassador to St. Petersburg. This gave plausible +opportunities for encouraging the belief then prevalent in Germany that +some mysterious policy was being devised, outside the ordinary channels +of diplomacy and Parliamentary knowledge--a policy which, with the aid +of France and Russia, was to take the shape of encircling Germany with +enemies, and cutting her off from legitimate development. These +anxieties were stimulated by a considerable amount of foolish writing in +London newspapers, and still more foolish and unauthorized talk. + +"France and Russia," he wrote in 1908, "are drawn together by +geographical considerations--given the detachment of French territory to +the benefit of Germany in 1871. It did not need the parade of an +alliance to cause Kings and statesmen to recognize the fact. War was +made impossible in 1875--the last occasion when the well-informed +thought renewed German attack on France probable--by the absolute +refusal of the German Emperor; but behind that refusal lay the certainty +that Russia would not forward the aims of the Prussian military party, +as she had done, for a consideration, in 1870. It is, perhaps, too +trivial a suggestion, but one which comes inevitably to the mind, that +the householder is apt to be friendly with the man who lives next door +but one, on account of their common dislike of their next-door +neighbour. During the 'reign of force,' still extant upon the Continent +of Europe, a more appropriate simile may be found in the proverbial +habit of each of two men, in a street fight, frightening his opponent by +recognition of a personage in the background. That Germany, however +ambitious, and however boastful of her military strength, should be +rendered nervous by the menace of Franco-Russian co-operation is a +consideration modified only by the universal recognition of the desire +of France for self-respecting peace. As soon as another Power is +suspected of any intention of making use of the Franco-Russian +co-operation for the purpose of isolating Germany, a dangerous situation +has arisen. + + "We are so confident in our own profound knowledge of our wish for + European peace that we hardly realize the extreme danger for the + future which is caused by all suggestion that we have succeeded in + isolating Germany, or are striving to bring about that result. The + London articles written in violent support of a supposed alliance + did the harm; and to anyone who keeps touch for himself of + Continental opinion the harm was undoubted, and tended to produce + several undesirable results. + + "There is a word to be addressed to those who believe that our navy + is our true defence, until the progress of pacific thought in the + working classes of all countries has rendered the other Powers as + peaceful as France. Those who crowed over the isolation of Germany + took the best means of increasing the German Fleet, and contributed + at the same time, by the proposed inflation of our expeditionary + force, to the weakening of the British Navy. + + "The true explanation of the _entente_, and it needs no better, is + to be found in the defence of its essentially pacific nature by one + of its original authors, M. Delcassé. [Footnote: M. Delcassé had to + resign office in 1905, under German pressure, in connection with the + controversies about Morocco.] He had his faults as a Minister, and + on two occasions provoked alarms or dangers, which afterwards, + however, he did more than any other man to allay. Should + circumstances change and European war become likely, as it has not + in fact been likely since 1871, the basis for our alliances, if we + needs must have them, lies in our peaceful policy, our vigour, and + our fleet. + + "Thanks to the alarm itself, which the harum-scarum articles + excited, prudence will once more gain control of our foreign + affairs. The _entente_ will continue: Italy, we may hope, will not + once more be scared out of her improved relations with Powers + outside the Triplice. Recent occurrences may be turned to useful + end, by courage in speaking out displayed by those who insist that a + policy, profoundly peaceful in fact, shall not be exposed to being + represented as directed against any one of the European Powers." + +Italy, he believed--and events have justified the forecast--would be +compelled by the pressure of circumstances to leave the Triple Alliance. +How far Germany would be able to keep a permanent hold on Austria- +Hungary might also, he thought, be doubtful, as it would largely depend +on the developments of home issues in Austria itself, as to which +prophecy was always rash. Like other statesmen of an older school, he +still probably clung to the hope that the Dual Empire might yet be +gradually converted into a Federal State, in which the Slavonic +populations of the Empire would play a larger part and would not submit +to take marching orders from Berlin in regard to policy in the Balkans. +[Footnote: A short time before his death, in 1902, Lord Kimberley said +to Lord Edmond Fitzmaurice: "If ever there is another Liberal +Government--which is perhaps doubtful--Grey or you, or both of you, may +have something to say to foreign affairs. Now, remember, there is on no +account to be any quarrelling with Austria. She has been the only steady +friend we have had in Europe--I mean since 1866. The Hungarians have +always been our friends. So, I repeat, _no quarrelling with Austria_. I +have said the same thing to Grey." (Notes communicated by Lord +Fitzmaurice). See, too, the opinion of M. Ribot, cited in René Henry's +_Questions d'Autriche-Hongrie_, pp. 176-178: "Quant à l'Autriche, nos +rapports avec elle ont toujours été bons; ils ont été pleins, non +seulement de courtoisie, mais de quelque chose de plus; parceque +l'Autriche sait que, de toutes les puissances européennes, la France est +la dernière qui pourrait souhaiter que l'Empire d'Autriche, garantie +nécessaire de l'équilibre européen, se brisat et disparût pour le +malheur de l'Europe." (Speech in the Senate, March 11th, 1903). An +interesting collection of opinions on the development of Austria into a +federal State, and the probable results on the Balkan Peninsula, will be +found in the last chapter of the work of Dr. Aurel Popovici, _Die +Vereinigten Staaten von Gross-Oesterreich_ (Leipzig, 1906).] + +Both in 1908 and 1909, in the debates on the Foreign Office Votes in the +House of Commons, Sir Charles had expressed apprehensions of the +development of Great Britain's _entente_ with Russia, in regard to +Persia, into something far more extensive, and therefore dangerous--into +something, in fact, very like an "alliance." He feared that in the +Bosnian question it had been pushed to extreme limits. The result, he +said, had been to lead to a diplomatic humiliation. He claimed also that +recent debates in the French Chamber, which had taken place at the time +of the fall of M. Clemenceau's Ministry in the later half of 1909, +showed that a large body of French opinion shared this view. [Footnote: +See, for a summary of these views, an article by Sir C. Dilke in the +_English Review_ of October, 1909, p. 495; and Hansard for 1908, +cxviii., 955-970; and for 1909, vol. viii., 621-635.] + +With these preoccupations present to his mind he spoke on the last +occasion on which he addressed the House of Commons at any length on +foreign affairs--on July 22nd, 1909--when the policy of Sir Edward Grey +in regard to the final annexation of Bosnia and the Herzegovina by +Austria-Hungary was discussed on the Foreign Office Vote. He attacked +this policy because it seemed to confirm the belief in the alleged +tendency of the Foreign Office to extend the Anglo-Russian arrangement +in regard to Persia into a general _entente_, with the probable result +of producing exactly the opposite of the result intended, and of thereby +strengthening the consolidation of the Central Powers. The diplomatic +admissions and confessions of Lord Salisbury, both before and at the +time of the Berlin Congress of 1878, had, he thought, made it difficult +for the Foreign Office to take any decided stand against the final +annexation, which the existing position had been certain to cause sooner +or later. Turkey and Servia both complained. He did not deny that the +Turkish Revolution brought about by the so-called "Young Turks," who +were the cause of the crisis in the Balkans, held out some possible +prospect of a future less hopeless than the previous state of things; +but this might have been conceded without expressing "unreserved +approval of a military pronouncement attended by a good deal of +hanging." Servia also, no doubt, might be said in some degree to +represent democratic principles upon the banks of the Danube; but he +thought it difficult to reconcile the expression before a rather cynical +Europe--and in very strong language, too--of our official horror at the +conduct of the Servians in the barbarous murder of their King and Queen, +with our joining Russia so very soon afterwards in a support of Servia +against Austria-Hungary too absolute even for French concurrence. + +Lord Salisbury, he fully believed, had become acquainted in 1877, if not +before, with the substance of an agreement between Russia and Austria +which contemplated, amongst other things, the annexation by the latter +of the Provinces; and it was perfectly clear, from what passed at the +Berlin Congress, that in 1878, before the meeting, Lord Salisbury must +himself have concluded an engagement with Austria-Hungary, though the +word "annexation," no doubt, did not appear in it, and more general +terms probably were used, but containing no reservation, and promising +support to the Austrian policy in those Provinces. Technically the +engagement might have lapsed with the treaty, and probably it had; but +the fact remained, with its moral consequences. Meanwhile Lord +Beaconsfield had taken Cyprus from Turkey, and had given a greater shock +to Europe, by the form and the secrecy of the proceedings, than could +possibly attach to the recent unilateral action of Austria-Hungary. +During the proceedings at Berlin, it must also be remembered, Lord +Salisbury had practically promised Tunis to France. Turkish sovereignty +was technically, indeed, still maintained in Cyprus, as it also had been +for thirty years in Bosnia and the Herzegovina, [Footnote: See, on the +whole subject. Hanotaux, _La France Contemporaine_, vol. iv., pp. 314, +363-370; _Etudes Diplomatiques: La Politique de l'Équilibre_, by the +same author, p. 184. A secret clause was signed on July 13th, 1878, by +the Austro-Hungarian Plenipotentiaries, in which the occupation was +described as temporary and ordered to be the subject of a special +arrangement with Turkey. The secret clause was really made to save the +face of the Turkish Plenipotentiaries on their return to +Constantinople.] and as it was at that time in the Sudan; but at no time +did the Turks expect to see those territories again under their +effective sovereignty. Insistence on the letter of the treaty also +weakened our position in regard to Crete, where, as he had so frequently +contended, nobody could wish or believe the position made by the treaty +to be permanent. Lastly, he insisted that the policy into which we had +been drawn by M. Isvolski had been damaging to our interests, not only +because it had strengthened the ties between the members of the Triple +Alliance, but because it assisted the popularity in Germany of a naval +rivalry, which oppressed us with the cost of ever-increased armaments at +sea. + +Sir Edward Grey, he went on to say, had taken for his text the +declaration of the London Conference of 1871 as to the denunciation by +Russia, in 1870, of the Black Sea clauses of the treaty of 1856. But +Russia got her way, and had practically been told she would get it on +the main question before the Conference met. When in 1885 Eastern +Roumelia was swallowed by Bulgaria, all the Great Powers theoretically +protested, but nothing came of their remonstrance. In 1886 Russia broke +the article of the treaty which related to the port of Batoum; and Lord +Rosebery, no doubt, wrote a despatch based on the same doctrine as that +now adopted by Sir Edward Grey. But Lord Rosebery at least avoided +introducing new matters. His final despatch concluded with the words: +"It must be for other Powers to judge how far they can acquiesce in this +breach of an international engagement." Russia again succeeded. Why, +then, have complicated the original issue in the present case by joining +with Russia and France, at the instigation of the former, in putting +forward suggestions to be considered at a European Conference for the +territorial expansion of Servia, if possible to the Adriatic, and in +regard to the Danube, that thorniest of diplomatic subjects? [Footnote: +"L'indépendance des bouches du Danube est pour nous un dogme" were the +words attributed to Count Andrassy in June, 1877 (Hanotaux, _La France +Contemporaine_, iv. 315). See, too, the opinion of Radetzki, quoted by +René Henry, _Questions d'Autriche-Hongrie_, p. 128.] + +"Our action," Dilke argued, "in such matters ought to be, as it +generally is, to bring people together for public peace, and not to +interfere with matters where our interfering in details is certain to be +resented. Of course, there was more than this in the German resistance. +That resistance was always, I think, certain. It was certain to be +provoked by common action on the part of the three Powers in such +matters, but it was doubly caused by the indiscreet language used, not +by us, but by the Press, in support of the three Governments, and +officially in Russia. We heard talk about Russia having at last +completely joined two Western Powers in an anti-Austrian movement, and +articles headed 'Revelations of a New Triple Alliance' were calculated +to intensify opposition on the part of Austria and Germany. + + "The net result has been a set-back, not so much for us as for our + supposed and suspected client, Servia. Servia has had her position + very much worsened by our interference on her behalf. It is + unfortunate that small Provinces in the Balkans should be in this + position, that when Powers who are not going to fight appear to take + up their cause against neighbouring Powers, however natural and wise + it may be in the abstract, the result is almost certain to be to + make their position worse; and undoubtedly there has been a set- + back, caused by us and Russia, to Servia. We have not even with us + our Mediterranean ally Italy, because Italy herself abstained from + supporting us in this matter, as she was bound to abstain under her + engagements. I therefore end this part of the matter by saying I + think we have set the doctrine of the sacredness of the Treaty of + Berlin, in the circumstances, too high. We have had two previous + examples of the risk of setting up that doctrine, and pressing it + too far, in such a case. We have tried to set it up on two previous + occasions, and have failed. The second of those two occasions, in + 1886, is very clear. There was a distinct violation of an article of + the Treaty of Berlin, and of the protocol outside that article. Lord + Rosebery wrote a strong despatch with regard to that violation, and + he raised the same comparison of 1871 as we raised on this question, + but nothing happened. That is a very long time ago, and the Treaty + of Berlin has not become more sacrosanct since 1886 than it was at + that time, which was more near its conclusion. My main point is, we + have supported principles that we could not justifiably or wisely + support. If we had had any political or European idea behind us, any + idea of improving the conditions of peoples, or of giving greater + liberty to the peoples, the country would have been more inclined to + give support than it is on the mere bare doctrine of the sacredness + of a treaty. On the last occasion when these matters were discussed, + the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs made a most brilliant + speech on the Naval Vote of Censure. In that speech he defended what + is very near the old doctrine of the balance of power in Europe. No + one will take exception to his statement of the effect of the + existing balance upon our position in Europe. The danger is now, as + it was 100 years ago, and still more 120 or 130 years ago, that you + may be tempted by these understandings, which are good, to convert + them into something very near, but not quite, an alliance, and to + pursue a policy in support of the balance of power which will keep + you in permanent hot water all round with everybody, and will risk + war." + +How far the belief in the existence of a policy of encirclement, as the +current phrase went, which existed in Germany from 1905 to 1909, +[Footnote: See Hanotaux, _La Politique de l'Équilibre_, chap, xxiii.; +Reventlow, 279, 296-305; Baron Beyens, _L'Allemagne avant la Guerre_, +pp. 220-221.] was justified is a matter which the historian of the +future will have to discuss. Certain it is, however, that the British +Foreign Office after 1909 gave no just cause of offence to Germany. The +disappointing outcome of supporting Russia in the negotiations connected +with Bosnia; the failure at this time of the Entente to produce any +satisfactory results in Crete and in various negotiations at +Constantinople, where French policy was deemed to be influenced by +considerations more financial than political; the friendly reception of +King Edward VII. at Berlin in February, 1909, and the great changes +which death or retirement brought about, in the years immediately +succeeding, in the personnel of the Ministries of Germany, France, +Austria-Hungary, Russia, and Italy--amongst others the retirement of the +German Chancellor--produced a new situation. [Footnote: Hanotaux, _La +Politique de l'Équilibre_, chap, xviii.; Reventlow, p. 339. Prince von +Bülow resigned on July 20th, 1909; M. Clemenceau on July 14th, 1909; M. +Isvolski and M. Tittoni in October, 1910; and Count Aerenthal in +February, 1912.] + +In 1910 things seemed to point again to the possibility of clearer +skies. The negotiations between Germany and Great Britain in regard to +the Bagdad Railway and the still outstanding African questions were +resumed, and proceeded without any serious hindrance. Favourable results +seemed, and with good reason, to be in sight. There were also +negotiations between Germany and Russia. Thus it was that, a few days +before he passed away, Sir Charles was justified in still writing in a +hopeful strain that the Great War could and would be avoided--fortunate +at least in this, that he did not live to see the breaking up of the +foundations of the great deep. [Footnote: In his recently published +work, _England and Germany_, 1740-1914, Mr. Bernadotte Schmitt says, +speaking of the beginning of the year 1911--prior, it is to be +remembered, to the Agadir incident: "In the early summer of 1911, +Anglo-German relations, if not cordial, had lost much of the animosity +engendered by the Bosnian troubles of 1908 and the naval scare of 1909. +The German Emperor had been well received when he attended the obsequies +of his uncle, Edward VII., and again on the occasion of the unveiling of +the national monument to Queen Victoria in May, 1911. On the 13th of +March of the same year, Sir Edward Grey had remarked upon the friendly +relations obtaining with all the Powers.... In Germany the death of +Edward VII., who passed for the inspirer of the _Einkreisungs Politik_, +caused a feeling of relief." Speaking of the period immediately +preceding the outbreak of the war, the same author observes: "Whatever +Germany's motives may have been, the fact remained that in July, 1914, +Anglo-German relations were more cordial than they had been at any time +since the Boer War.... The tragedy of the Great War lies in the fact +that early in the summer of 1914 a substantial agreement had been +reached between Great Britain and Germany on those matters about which +they had previously disagreed" (pp. 195, 373). This book, by an American +Rhodes Scholar of the Western Reserve University, is a very valuable and +impartial contribution to the history of recent events. On the condition +of things in 1911 and 1912, see also the despatches of Count Lalaing and +Baron Beyens, from London and Berlin, to M. Davignon, the Belgian +Minister for Foreign Affairs, published in the official German White +book, _Belgische Actenstücke_, 1905-1914, pp. 85, 113.] + + + + +CHAPTER LIX + +THE LAST YEARS + + +I. + +Call no man happy or unhappy, said the philosopher, till you see his +end. With Sir Charles Dilke's life clear before us, if the question be +put, "Was he happy?" only one answer can be given. He was happy. With a +power of suffering which made bereavement poignant, with tragic +experience of disappointment and distress, he never lost the faculty of +enjoyment: he touched the world at many points, and his contact was +complete and vital. + +Therefore, in the life that he lived after his second wife's death there +was nothing gloomy or half-hearted. At Pyrford and Dockett the same +interests continued to hold their charm, though in his home of homes, +the home that he did not make, but was born into, there was a change. At +76, Sloane Street, he still slept, breakfasted, and did his morning's +work; but he would never willingly return there for dinner, except on +very rare occasions when he entertained guests, or spend the evening +there. + +He still enjoyed the life of the House of Commons. Old friends were a +pleasure, new-comers a fresh spring of interest, and the younger men +naturally drew round this most willing teacher. One of the young +Liberals [Footnote: Mr. A. F. Whyte, M.P.] who came within his influence +describes the amazing interest of his talk, with its personal memories +of the leading personalities in Europe during half a century past. But +the true attraction was something simpler than that. "He made you +extraordinarily fond of him." + +What is implied in that very simple phrase has been set out by another +friend of an opposing political school, brought into touch with him by a +common interest in Social Reform: [Footnote: Mr. J. W. Hills, M.P.] + + "What first brought us together I forget; I think it was some action + I took with regard to sweated trades. At any rate he asked me to + stay for a Sunday at Dockett Eddy; and after my first visit I went + often. For one thing, we were both devoted to rowing; he was, of + course, a far more distinguished and accomplished oarsman than I, + but he and I went extraordinarily well together in a pair. Everyone + who has rowed knows that pair-oar rowing is the most difficult, as + it is the most fascinating, form of the art. We had many long rows + together. + + "The life at Dockett Eddy had an atmosphere and a colour different + from that of other houses. Breakfast was at a fairly early hour. + After breakfast, Dilke was invisible till lunch. Lunch was at 12.30, + French in character, and always, wet or fine, took place on the + broad verandah which ran along one side of the house. During the + afternoon Dilke rowed on the river, walked about the green and + winding paths of his beloved willow-clad island, and talked to his + friends. The prevailing recollection that I shall always have of + Dockett Eddy is good talk. No one who did not talk to Dilke knew the + man. His speeches--at any rate, from 1906 to his death--did not give + all his qualities. These came out in his talk. His amazing + knowledge, which occasionally overloaded his speeches and diverted + them from their main argument, wove itself naturally into the + texture of his talk and gave it a wonderful richness and depth. And + he talked to everybody and on all subjects; and to all he brought + his tremendous vitality and his vivid and many-sided personality. + You always felt that the whole force of the man was behind what he + said--the active, eager, questioning mind, determined to master all + facts that gave true knowledge, and when this was done, when all + facts were noted and weighed, coming to a conclusion which was both + clear-cut and unalterable. He was most tolerant of the views of + others, and never overwhelmed with greater knowledge; but all that + he had in him he gave freely and without stint. The talks I + recollect best are either on industrial conditions in other + countries, or on French history from 1848 onwards, or on English + politics. On French history I always listened to him with delight; + he not only knew literally every fact and every date, but he also + knew personally most of the great men who had latterly played + leading parts. On English politics it was characteristic of the man + to have a tremendous belief in the present. For instance, I said + something about the decadence of Parliament and Parliamentary + speaking. He at once burst out: 'You are quite wrong. The men of + to-day are much greater than their predecessors'; and then he went + through all our prominent politicians and compared them with the men + of the past. The only comparisons I remember are Winston Churchill + with his father, and Asquith with Disraeli and Gladstone, in each + instance to the advantage of the present generation. + + "Dilke was a great man, if ever there was one. He was a man of big + ideas, too big for prejudice or suspicion or self-interest. His mind + was at once imaginative and matter-of-fact, making him that rare + combination, a practical idealist. But the abiding memory which I + shall retain of him as long as I live is not his wide knowledge, his + singleness of purpose, his vital energy and driving force, so much + as the friendship he gave me. He put the whole of himself into his + friendship, and gave himself abundantly and without reserve. He was + so great a man, and meant so much to his friends, that he played a + large part in the lives of all he honoured with his regard. Though I + only knew him during the last three years, he filled so big a place + in my life that his death left a wide and empty gap. I regarded him + with love and veneration." + +"He talked to everybody and on all subjects," and he talked to everybody +on a common ground of fellowship. Newman, the cabdriver at Shepperton, +beside whom he always insisted on sitting when he came to Dockett; Jim +Haslett, his ferryman; Busby, his old gardener and lodge-keeper at +Pyrford: these no less than "Bill" East who rowed with him, and "Fred" +Macpherson with whom he fenced, keep the same memory of his friendliness +and of the pleasure that they had in being with him. For his +constituents he was more than a representative: he was their friend, a +personal influence, a centre of affection in the lives of many among +them. "I hardly know what to do or say," wrote one of them after his +death. "For one man to say of another it seems strange, but I _loved_ +Sir Charles." + +Into this affection there entered that peculiar tenderness of loyalty to +the wronged which finds fit expression in these words of his old +comrade, Judge Steavenson, who had known his life since they were young +athletes together in the Trinity Hall boat: "I loved him, my oldest and +best friend, and how I mourn him! The tragedy of his life has been pain +and suffering to me for more years than I care to remember. Some say a +little band of friends never wavered in their belief in his innocence. I +am one, and so believing in good time I shall go to my grave." + +Many a brave man has under the sense of injustice grown hard and bitter; +it was not so with Sir Charles. After his death a friend's widow wrote +to one who mourned him: "I should like to tell you how divinely kind he +was to me in my great grief." A lady who for long years had been on a +bed of pain said of his visits to her: "He seems to take your suffering +from you and give it back to you on a higher plane. I think he +understands because he has suffered so much himself." + +In these last years after Lady Dilke's death, Sir Charles resumed, in +some moderate degree, the old habit of travel. From 1906 it grew to be +an institution that, when the Trade-Union Congress closed its sittings +in autumn, he should meet the editor of this book and her friend Miss +Constance Hinton Smith, [Footnote: Who attended these Congresses as +visitors representing the Women's Trade-Union League.] and with them +proceed leisurely from the trysting-place to Dean Forest for his annual +visit to the constituency. Thus in different years they set out from +Tewkesbury, from Bath, from Leicester, from Ipswich, and explored towns +and country places of beauty or historic interest, under the guidance of +one who had the gift for placing every detail in its setting, whether on +the physical map of England or on that crowded chart which depicts the +long course of British history. For him these journeys were each a +revisiting of places seen before--seen, as he would often recall, under +his grandfather's guidance in boyhood. + +The annual Christmas visit to Paris, where his son often joined him, was +revived in company of his secretary, Mr. Hudson, and his wife. In more +than one autumn, after his stay in the Forest of Dean was completed, he +made a journey through Switzerland to the Italian lakes. He journeyed +under a resolution not to visit any gallery of pictures, for these must +recall too poignantly the companionship which had made the special joy +of all his picture-seeing. But he sent his companions that they might +compare their impressions with his memory, always astonishingly vivid +and exact. The sights to which he gave himself were sun and air, +mountain and lake. Here, as in England, trees especially appealed to +him, and in the famous garden of the Isola Madre on Lago Maggiore he +amazed the gardener by his acquaintance with all the collection, from +the various kinds of cypress and cedar down to the least impressive +shrub. But what gave him most pleasure was the actual journeying, +awakening not only associations with the places seen, but memories of +other places in far-off corners of the earth. + +In the last year of his life the International Association for Labour +Legislation met at Lugano, and he stopped there on his autumn tour. His +health was already failing, he attended no meetings and received few +visitors; but experts in the subject, Ministers and ex-Ministers of +Labour from Prussia, France, Canada, and other countries, sought him, to +consult him on points of international policy. Two years later, when the +Congress met again at Zurich, M. Fontaine recalled the memory of Sir +Charles and the "conseils précieux" which other workers drew from him in +their interviews. It was only when the Congress was over that the +holiday really began, with a day on Maggiore and two days on Orta, +before the travellers made for their real destination, Aosta among its +hills, a scene new to him as to them, that filled him with fresh life. +All about it charmed him: the mountains, the Roman gateways, the +mediaeval cloisters, the long procession of the cattle coming down from +the hill-slopes during the night; the keen air gave him energy to walk +as he had never thought to walk again; and, for a touch of familiar +humours, the landlord of the rough little inn where they stayed had been +in his day a waiter in Willis's Rooms and remembered his guest among the +diners there. + +An accident to one of his companions had caused him to go on alone, and, +accordingly, when he came back to Turin to fetch them it was as a guide +already fully qualified. On the drive up from Ivrea, in a valley whence +can be seen at the same moment Mont Blanc, Monte Rosa, and the glacier +of the Gran Paradiso, he could show them the fort of Bard, blocking the +gorge just as in the days when it checked Napoleon on his road to +Marengo. But the memories awakened in him were not only of Napoleon; the +valley of the Dora Baltea was a complete image of the Khyber Pass, and +Bard the very counterpart of Ali Musjid. + +As they came home through France, halt was made at Lyons, and, though he +refused to see the gallery, he could describe almost every canvas and +the place where it hung; but best of all he remembered Charlet's great +picture of the retreat from Moscow and the army that "dragged itself +along like a wounded snake." In Paris, too, on that homeward journey a +stop was made, and since few of his friends were yet back from the +country, there was more theatre-going than usual. Guitry, his favourite +actor, was not playing, but Brasseur and Eve la Vallière amused him, and +he found special delight in the _Mariage de Mademoiselle Beulemans_. Yet +not even the acting of Jaques as the good-natured, choleric old Belgian +brewer could induce him to depart from his practice of going away after +the first act. + +Three times in the last years of his life he went back to Provence. The +first of these visits was in the January of 1909, and he with his +companions set out from Paris on the last day of the old year, +travelling by motor-car in defiance of heavy snow and frost. These made +obstacles which only gave piquancy to his journey through scenes where +stories of the Franco-German War crowded to his tongue, and when +difficulties delayed the car he struck up wayside intimacies--once with +an old non-commissioned officer now transformed into a _Garde +Champêtre_, anon with a peasant couple from whose cottage he begged hot +water to make tea. In one such household, arriving with beard and +moustache frozen white, he announced himself to the children of the +family group as Father Christmas, and made good his claim with +distribution of little gifts. + +At Hyères he was rejoined by the old servant, once his gardener and +vine-dresser, who had marketed the produce of La Sainte Campagne in the +days when Sir Charles was trading, like any other petty Provençal +landowner, in grapes and artichokes, mimosa and roses and violets, for +the Toulon market. That former life lived again in his talk as he +recalled those whom he had known in his Provençal home: neighbours, +servants, local politicians; and from his hotel at Hyères he never +failed to make excursions to Toulon, and to visit his old friend and +sometime man of business, M. Bertrand, who would carry him to the café +frequented by the leading citizens, to feast on a Provençal déjeuner +with red mullet and bouillabaisse. Another recurring visit was to Émile +Ollivier at La Moutte, his beautiful seaward-facing house on the +promontory beyond Saint Tropez. + +"Sir Dilke" had friends everywhere in that corner of the world. His near +neighbour at Cap Brun, M. Noël Blache, leader of the local bar, a famous +teller of Provençal stories and declaimer of Provençal verse, said of +him: "He knows our country and our legends better than we know them +ourselves." In the years during which he lived for part of the +twelvemonth at Toulon he had followed every winding of the coast, had +explored all the recesses of the hills. + +"It is my boast, probably vain," he wrote to M. André Chevrillon in +1909, "to have invented the Mountains of the Moors. Sizeranne had been +staying there for six weeks before he came into the British Hyères, but, +_he_, only on the coast. When I first showed that coast to Émile +Ollivier, Noël Blache, then President of the Conseil-Général of the Var, +and Félix Martin, the latter advised the narrow-gauge railway which +ruined the politicians of the Var, and became 'le Panama du Midi.' My +journey this time was to assure myself that the road and railway along +the coast had not spoilt the _interior_. They have improved indeed, and +I was glad, a road from the entrance to the forest on the main road from +Hyères to Cogolin, turning to the north over two cols to Collobrières. +The T.C.F. has made a road from Collobrières up the hill to the +south-east, whence the walk to La Chartreuse de la Verne is easy. I used +to have to reach that spot from Campo, the police post on the stream, +called Campeaux upon the maps. The whole forest is unharmed. It is +unknown to the British inhabitants of Hyères. Not one had been there, +or, I think, heard of it; and I met no human creature upon some twelve +miles of the finest parts of the improved road. Grimaud, at the other +end, I have no doubt you know. It was the Moorish capital. I went there +the day that I lunched with Émile Ollivier this time. There was a foot +of ice on the top, at La Garde-Freinet, and one looked back, down on to +Grimaud, standing baked by an African sun, and could make out the ripe +oranges and the heads of the great cactus." + +"Why does not someone 'discover' France?" he writes to M. Joseph +Reinach. "How few Frenchmen know the sunset view _north_ from St. Tropez +in January!" And again to M. Chevrillon in 1909: "I adore the solitude +of Sainte Baume, and believe in Marie Madeleine--except her head and +tomb at St. Maxime, where Brutus Bonaparte helped keep the inn. +[Footnote: The eldest of the Bonapartes was not the only person of the +Napoleonic days as to whom stories were told in the neighbourhood. +Désirée Clary was said to have lived at the inn of St. Maxime, and Sir +Charles wrote to Mr. Morley concerning La Sainte Campagne: "My old +cottage is supposed to be that where Murat was concealed after the 100 +days."] Intellect is represented here by Robert de la Sizeranne, _but_ +it is only two and a half hours in motor or two and a half by rail to La +Moutte, where I make É. Ollivier read his fourteenth volume!" + +All the little hill towns were known to him, and their history; he could +show the spot at Cavalaire where the Moorish lords of Provence trained +their famous horses; he knew the path at Le Lavandou, worn into the +solid rock by the bare feet of countless generations. It irked him that +the plain of Fréjus was spoilt by the intrusion of white villas on what +had once been called "a better Campagna." But these changes were of the +surface only. Provence was still Provence, its people still unchanged +from the days when Gambetta said to Sir Charles of one who projected a +watercourse at Nice: "Jamais il ne coulera par cette rivière au tant +d'eau qu'il n'en dépensera de salive à en parler." There was still the +local vintage in every inn, still the _beurre du berger_, the cheese and +the conserves of fruit which every housewife in Provence sets out with +pride in her own making; still the thin breeze of the mistral through +the tree-tops, still the long white roads running between fields of +violets and narcissi, and still white farmhouses among the terraced +oliveyards and vines. All these things were an abiding joy, but a +greater joy than all, and still more unchangeable, was the daily +oncoming of light, the subtle flush and gradations of colour before the +sun rose from that beloved sea. + + +II. + +In the year 1908 Sir Charles's health had been very bad, and he risked +his life in attending the annual miners' meeting at the Speech House, +leaving Dockett Eddy, as his custom was, at six in the morning, and +returning home the same night. But by the following year he had regained +his physical condition and his cheerfulness. The aspect of politics, +too, had been transfigured. Speaking to his constituents in September, +1909, he reminded them how a year earlier the Liberal party had been +despondent. + + 'This year all of them felt that the Government, with the country + behind it--for the country was thoroughly behind the Government in + the matter of the Budget--had taken, not only a new lease of life, + but had adopted an attitude which on the whole, apart from any + little doubts in reference to particular details, commanded a + confident and an enthusiastic support on the part of a wider + majority of people than any other movement of modern times.' + +He told them of his own objections to the famous Budget--one in regard +to the cider duty, upon which he had carried his point, the other to the +increased tax on tobacco, which he had unsuccessfully resisted. So long +as tea and tobacco were taxed as they were, the working classes, in his +judgment, paid more than their just proportion. Still, a great stride +forward had been taken. As for the House of Lords throwing out the +Budget, "those who did not like that Chamber wanted that fight, but it +did not seem to him natural that the House of Lords would desire it, +because it appeared to him to be a fight in which the Peers were +perfectly certain to be beaten." Nevertheless it came to pass, a General +Election followed, and the huge independent Liberal majority +disappeared. Sir Charles was active to keep together the various +sections which most desired to limit the power of the House of Lords, +and on February 22nd, 1910, he, on behalf of the Radicals, held an +interview with the Labour and Irish leaders together, to ascertain and +discuss the line of action contemplated. Also, since there was a +proposal that Government should, as a matter of urgency, oust private +members and take all the time of the House, he saw Mr. J. S. Sandars, +Mr. Balfour's chief private secretary, and in Sir Charles's phrase +"factotum," to find out what the Opposition was going to do. + +In the debates upon the Government's Resolutions which laid the +foundation for the Parliament Act, Sir Charles took no part. The matter +had gone as he desired. + +By April the Resolutions were adopted; but before action by Bill could +be begun, the Parliamentary struggle was suspended by the death of King +Edward. In that national loss Sir Charles Dilke felt special sorrow. +Whether as Prince of Wales or as King, the dead Sovereign had +consistently shown him, not merely consideration, but friendship. It was +among the satisfactions of Sir Charles's last years of life that the +principle, for which he had incurred odium by contending forty years +earlier, now came to be fully recognized as that most respectful to the +Crown. Lord Knollys writes that on the accession of King Edward VII., +Sir Charles had called and "offered to support any reasonable Civil List +which might be proposed." A Civil List Committee was appointed, on which +Sir Charles served, and the result of its deliberations was to recommend +a discontinuance of occasional grants from Parliament to members of the +Royal Family. It did not, indeed, go to the length of making adequate +provision for the family and leaving its distribution to the King, which +was what Sir Charles always recommended; but it moved far in that +direction, and to that extent carried out his views. + +The royal funeral brought to London another Sovereign with whom Sir +Charles had friendly personal relations, and the last page in his Memoir +tells of a 'long talk with King George of Greece at Buckingham Palace.' +The King was inclined to deprecate the summoning of a National Assembly +for that autumn. He called it "stupid," whereat, says Sir Charles, +'blank look on my part.' Then, after a pause ('whereas till then we had +talked in a perpetual duet'), the King went on to admit that the +National Assembly was his own creation. + +"Well, I was against it at first because we can do by law already +everything that is to be done by the National Assembly. But I saw that +it was the only way out." + +"I am glad, Sir," Sir Charles quickly rejoined, "that I was not +'stupid,' for I attributed the invention to" (and he pointed) "its +author." + +The King, however, was afraid that some might "blame him," and when Sir +Charles answered, "No one," he quoted the phrase once applied to him: +"Bon petit roi, manque d'énergie." The reply was: "I don't know who said +that, Sir! Your prestige is exactly opposite to the German Emperor's +prestige, but equally important to your country and to peace. It may +have been a fool who said it, but it was probably chaff." + +"... My family?" + +"Oh, well, that is chaff--that is what I meant by chaff." + +But Sir Charles took occasion to tell a very important member of the +"family" that "Berlin and Athens were different." + +When autumn came, the sitting of the Constitutional Conference silenced +Sir Charles and all men who desired a fair field for that great +experiment. Its failure precipitated a new General Election. + +By this time there was no doubt in Sir Charles's mind as to the gravity +of his physical condition. To a friend, who in October was setting out +for extended travel in West Africa, he wrote these words in a letter +wishing him God-speed: + + "You are much more likely to come back alive than I am to be alive + to welcome you. Yet I _hope_ that the less likely survival _may_ be, + and of the other I feel pretty sure." + +Knowing what he did of his own health, knowing the loyalty of his +constituents, who had within a few months returned him by a majority of +over two thousand, he might well have consented, as his friends wished, +to fight the new election by deputy. It was not his way. Haggard and +physically oppressed, he spent a fortnight in that bitter December going +the round of meetings, addressing his supporters as best his bodily +weakness allowed that strong will and fine courage to have their way. +The result was foregone: his majority was triumphant; but the exertion +killed him. None the less, he came out of the fray jubilant; his side +had won, the victory had been decisive. In Paris, where he went with Mr. +Hudson, the journalists came to him for his accustomed review of the +total situation. "Depuis que je suis au Parlement, je n'ai pas connu un +Ministère aussi solide que le Ministère présidé par M. Asquith," was his +emphatic word to M. Leudet in the _Figaro_. + +The strain had in no way impaired his intellectual vitality. Those of +his old friends who saw him, such as M. Reinach, had never known him +more animated. To M. André Chevrillon, a newer friend by whom he had +been greatly attracted, he wrote: + + "I see in the _Times_ that you are writing on Russian literature and + _music_. Please, then, include _Bell_ music: a saint's eve at + Troitsa Sergeifski! The silver notes floating in the dusty--or the + frozen--air. I've been there in September, and I've been there in + December. + + "Any chance of seeing you--without moving, for I'm suffering from + weak heart, after two winter-contested elections in one year? I'm + extraordinarily better to-day, but am apt to 'blow' in other than + the Australian sense." + +M. Chevrillon has written his impression of the gravity which lay behind +that cheery tone. + + "J'allai le voir à l'Hôtel St. James. Je n'oublierai jamais + l'impression que m'a laissée cette visite. II était d'une pâleur de + marbre; il m'a dit brièvement qu'il se savait en danger immédiat, + que le médecin l'avait averti; et tout de suite, quittant ce sujet, + il m'a parlé avec son animation, sa verve et sa précision habituelle + de la situation politique en Angleterre. II y avait ce jour--là sur + cette noble figure toute blême, une dignité, j'ose dire une majesté, + extraordinaire; il était déjà marqué par la mort; il la regardait + venir avec une tranquillité et un courage absolu; j'emportai de + cette visite le douloureux sentiment que je ne le reverrais pas, et + une admiration qui me restera toujours pour ce que je venais + d'entrevoir de son caractère." + +From Paris he insisted on moving South once more. He travelled now as an +invalid; but when morning light came into the compartment where he lay, +he made his way to the window and beheld again cypress and olive, +sun-baked swarthy soil, little hills with rocky crests fantastically +chiselled, all bathed in the dazzling sunshine of the South. Leaning his +face against the window, he said: "Provence always plays up." + +At Hyères he was kept in bed. But he still read the books that came to +him by post, still dictated his reviews for the _Athenaeum_, and still +enjoyed the reading aloud of French plays, which had become a habit of +holiday time. And, above all, from his window as he lay he watched with +delight unjaded the spectacle of sea and sky. "Am I not a fortunate +invalid," he said, "to have the most beautiful view in the world to look +at?" + +Now and then his shout of laughter would be heard and the old spirit of +fun would assert itself. When the journey home in January, 1911, had to +be faced, he rallied for it, came to the restaurant on the train, and +during the crossing sat on deck with Miss Constance Smith, who writes: + + "At that time his thoughts seemed to stray from this last journey + back to that which we had taken in the autumn. 'It is worth while,' + he said, 'to have seen Aosta. I am glad to have done it. It is not + often at my age that one can get so much pleasure out of a new + thing.' I think he had a double motive in mentioning Aosta. He put + it forward partly to obliterate for me the sadness of the past three + weeks by raising the memory of the pleasant times that lay behind." + +When he reached London he was happy to be again at home and he felt +better. Those with him had no fear for the immediate future, and he +himself fully expected to take his place in Parliament when it met. +Friends would have induced him to consider what part of his work could +be abandoned, but his answer was peremptory: "I won't be kept alive to +do nothing." Confined to bed as he was, work still went on; he received +and answered letters, read and annotated Blue-books. Curiously and +almost dramatically, the occupations of these last days sifted +themselves out in such fashion that the very latest things he handled +became, in some sort, an epitome of his life's work. M. Michelidakis, +President of the Cretan Executive Committee, had written to complain, on +behalf of the Cretan people, that the last note of the Powers seemed to +reverse their policy of slowly transferring Crete to a local government. +On January 24th Sir Charles answered this appeal for his help. It was +the last letter that he signed with his own hand--fit close to a +lifelong championship. + +Other clients were knocking at his door that same day, other voices from +that strange retinue of petitioners who brought from all quarters of the +world to this one man their cry for protection and redress. What they +asked was no romantic action, nothing stirring or picturesque, but +simply the weight of his authority exhibited on their side, and the +wisdom of his long practice in public life for their guidance. He was to +fix a date for introducing a deputation concerning certain grievances of +the coloured people in Jamaica, and was to advise upon the best way to +raise a number of minor West African questions in the new Parliament. +His answer was sent from 76, Sloane Street: + + _January 24th_, 1911. + + "I am still lying up, but I think that I could answer any ordinary + call to duty, and I am trying a small private meeting to-morrow + afternoon, though I shall return to bed here. + + "I will note Thursday, 2nd, at noon, on the chance of being well + enough. + + "The questions which personally interest me the most are those + affecting the concessionary companies, and I should be glad if you + would ask Wedgwood to keep very close touch with me on these. He + likes me, and is quite willing to show me things; but he does too + much and, like myself, is always tired, and the result is that he + has to be reminded as to consultation in advance, though he does not + mind this being done. + + "I doubt there being much danger about the Gambia. As for the + Southern Nigerian ordinances, I am not competent, and have a general + impression that as a rule we do best on more general lines, though + some of the concessionary companies make such 'cases' as to form + exceptions." + +His strength was far spent. This letter, says Mr. Hudson, writing two +days later to the President of the Aborigines' Protection Society, "he +asked me to sign, after wishing to sign himself." + +Yet the brain was clear and the will unshaken. The "small private +meeting" of which he wrote was a committee of directors of the +_Gardeners' Chronicle_, and on the 25th he was preparing to rise and +dress to attend this, but was persuaded to go back to bed. In bed, he +was still busy reading and marking Blue-books which bore upon the case +of the unorganized workers. The papers so prepared were, by his +direction, set aside for the service of the Women's Trade-Union League. +They were delivered next morning, but the messenger who took them +carried with them the tidings of Sir Charles Dilke's death. He had +slipped suddenly out of life, his heart failing, soon after four o'clock +on the morning of Thursday, January 26th, 1911. + + * * * * * + +To the funeral service at Holy Trinity, Sloane Street, on January 30th, +there came from the House of Commons members of the Cabinet and of the +Ministry, representatives of Liberalism and Labour, the Irish leader +with several of his colleagues, while from the Unionist benches also men +paid this tribute to an honoured opponent. But the Parliamentary figure +of most interest was Mr. Austen Chamberlain, who carried from a +sick-room to the graveside the farewell of old comrade to old comrade. + +Among the congregation were men who had been official representatives of +great dominions of the Empire or of foreign Governments. These came in +their private capacity, but one nation as a nation was represented +there. The King of the Hellenes sent his Minister in London to be his +deputy, and the Greek Government ordered a wreath, the token of their +sorrow and gratitude, to be laid upon the bier. + +Tributes poured in from the great mass of his fellow-countrymen; from +philanthropic societies; from those who, in or out of Parliament, had +worked with his help and guidance. But above all there were messages +from every trade union and organization of wage-earners, letters from +men and from women in every kind of employ, testifying of service done, +of infinitely varied knowledge, of devotion that knew no limit, and that +had not gone without the one reward acceptable to the man they honoured, +their responsive love and gratitude. + +So closed a life across which many commentators of the moment wrote, +some lightly, some in sincere regret, the word Failure. It was +ill-chosen. They should have written Loss. His career had not fulfilled +the promise of its opening; his abilities had never found the full scope +which once seemed assured to them; he had done for his country only what +his country permitted him to do. Over this it was natural, it was +reasonable, to speak words of sorrow. Those who said--and there were not +a few who said it--that he had accomplished more out of office than he +could ever have achieved in office, paid a tribute to the greatness of +his work, but they did not understand the force which had been wasted. +He combined two gifts rarely found in combination--the gift of +Parliamentary leadership and a profound knowledge of foreign affairs. +Amongst the men of his time he stood out as essentially a House of +Commons man, but he was also a European personality. In these +characteristics he recalls Lord Palmerston. Whether to foreign or to +domestic affairs, he brought a knowledge, a judgment, and a mastery of +detail, which none of his contemporaries surpassed and few equalled; and +he added to these the priceless gift of tact in dealing with men and +with bodies of men. In the only Parliament which knew him as an +administrator his advance was rapid and decisive: five years placed him +by universal admission in the front rank; and yet the general opinion +was not less clear than that of the few great ones. Beaconsfield and +Bismarck singled him out by their special interest; Gladstone looked to +him as probably his own ultimate successor. + +Then came the day when there was taken from him for ever the opportunity +of directing great affairs, and Sir Charles Dilke's career must be +numbered among things that might have been. Yet was his "the failure"? +"It was England's misfortune, and perhaps her fault," wrote one +[Footnote: Mr. Spenser Wilkinson.] who knew him intimately and shared +but few of his political opinions, "that she could thus have been +deprived of the services of one of her best statesmen." + +All that he could do to repair the misfortune to his country was done +without stint. Dismissed from his high command by a scandal, the truth +of which he persistently denied, when a life of ease was open to him he +chose, in spite of obloquy, to return to the ranks. Of what he +accomplished in the ranks some outline has been given; its record stands +as an answer to those who think, as many are tempted to think, that work +in Parliament without office is, in these days, foredoomed to futility. + +Yet not in the external results of his wisdom and his labour, but in +another sphere, lies his supreme achievement. The same fate which +obscured the statesman's greatness revealed, what prosperity must have +hidden, the full measure of the man. To have requited public contumely +with public service; in the midst of humiliation to have kept his nature +unspoilt, unimbittered, every faculty bright and keen; to have abated no +jot of his happiness; and at the last to have passed away in serene +dignity, all the voices of reproach hushed and overawed--this was not +defeat, but victory; this, complete in its fulfilment, was the triumph +of Sir Charles Dilke's life. + + + + +CHAPTER LX + +LITERARY WORK AND INTERESTS + +[Footnote: By Miss Constance Hinton Smith.] + + +No view of Sir Charles Dilke's life can be complete which fails to take +account of his literary interests and activities. He disclaimed the +title of man of letters. [Footnote: 'Except in editing some of my +grandfather's papers, I never myself at all ventured into the paths of +pure literature; but I have lived near enough to it and them ... to be +able to enjoy.'] Except for the little memoir of his second wife, all +the books he gave to the world, as well as the larger part of his +periodical writing, were inspired by political, though not by party, +considerations. And throughout the years of his public career the +pressure of daily work inside and outside Parliament left him small +leisure for reading other than that through which he kept himself +acquainted with every movement, and as far as was humanly possible with +every fact, that seemed to bear upon the wide range of subjects handled +by him. So prodigious was his industry, however--only Dominie Sampson's +adjective will serve--and so quick his faculty for detecting at a glance +the quality of a book and extracting from it the pith and marrow, that +even in the busiest periods of his life he contrived to keep abreast of +the things best worth knowing, not only in English, but also in French +literature. From the time when, by his father's death, he inherited the +proprietorship of the _Athenaeum_, he exercised, through that journal, a +definite if indirect influence in the maintenance of the high standards +of literary honesty, accuracy, and taste in which he had been brought +up. This was done partly by means of his own contributions to the paper, +which covered a field which included history, travel, art, poetry, and +archaeology in two languages, and partly through "his comments and +suggestions on the proofs," of which Mr. C. A. Cook, a former acting +editor, writes with abiding gratitude. Other newspaper proprietors have +doubtless done as much to preserve uniformity of tone and principle; +few, if any, have probably brought such close and unwearied care to bear +upon those details in which tone is audible and principle expresses +itself. + +Sir Charles Dilke's attitude towards literature, like his attitude to +politics and art, was peculiar to himself. He judged books, as he judged +men, not by the conventional verdict of the world--in this case the +world of critics--but by the quality his own mind discerned in them. His +judgments, therefore, were personal judgments, uncoloured, as far as +human judgments can be, by traditional respect or prejudice. This does +not mean that he had no literary canons: his grandfather's pupil could +hardly have left old Mr. Dilke's hands so unfurnished; but he never +became the slave of a rule or the docile worshipper of any reputation, +however well established. This mental freedom was partly due to +intellectual courage. The humour of Lamb, for example, delights the +majority of educated Englishmen: it had no charm for Sir Charles, and he +was not afraid to say so. But his liberty of appreciation owed something +also to the circumstances of his education. The fact that he had never +been at a public school--thus missing, in the plastic years of a +sensitive boyhood, the influences which make most strongly for +conventionality of outlook among men of a certain class--made it easier +for him than it might otherwise have been to examine literary questions +with his own eyes, and not through the medium of special glasses imposed +by authority. By the time he went up to Cambridge this habit of judging +for himself was already formed; and although Cambridge did much to +mould, she did not remake him. + +The catalogue of his published writings, apart from those contributed to +magazines and newspapers, is brief. It consists practically of the early +book that made him famous as a political thinker, _Greater Britain_; the +brilliant satire, _Prince Florestan_, published anonymously in 1874, of +which he subsequently acknowledged the authorship; and the few volumes +written after the close of his official career, each of which deals with +large questions of public and international interest. _Problems of +Greater Britain_ and _Imperial Defence_ (the latter written in +collaboration with Mr. Spenser Wilkinson) were the most important of +these works, which do not represent fully the literary ambition of his +earlier years. There is plenty of evidence in the Memoir to show that, +at the time of that journey round the world of which _Greater Britain_ +was the result, he had not only formed, but had begun to carry out, +several literary projects. Some of these, essays in verse, story- +writing, and metaphysical speculation, belong to the category of +experiment or amusement, and represent nothing more than the natural +activity of a fertile mind trying its powers now in this direction, now +in that. Others are more characteristic: a History of Radicalism, a +Political Geography, a book to be called _The Anglo-Saxon Race_ or _The +English World_, and a work on _International Law_. [Footnote: See +Chapter VI. (Vol. I.)] + +As late as 1878 he was 'working hard at' a _History of the Nineteenth +Century_ 'for three or four months' in Provence, 'besides managing to do +some little work towards it when I was in London.' At this time he was +engaged upon the History of Germany in the early part of his chosen +period, and was corresponding with Professor Seeley as the highest +authority on that subject. + + 'My history of events began with 1814. I showed that the doctrine of + nationality had been made use of for their own purposes by the Kings + in 1812-13, and crushed by them at congresses between 1814 and 1822, + and then appealed to by the revolutionary party in 1823, and in a + less degree in 1848. That doctrine of nationality was described even + in our own times by Heine as a dead thing, when it was yet destined + to prove, in 1859 and 1866 and 1870 and 1878, the phenomenon of the + century, and nowhere to work such change as in Heine's own Germany. + Heine thought that the idea of the emancipation of nationality had + already in his day been replaced by the emancipation of humanity; + but, whatever may be the case in the long-run, the emancipation of + nationalities was destined to prove the more lasting side of the + movement of 1848.' + +After stating that the nineteenth century must be held to have begun in +1814, he writes: + + 'History to me was one and could know no commencements, yet in the + development of a concerted action of the Powers I found 1814 so + convenient a starting-point as to be as good as a real beginning. In + the rise of the new society, the social revolution,' + +he found himself less fortunate. There was no clear starting-point, and +when he selected August 4th, 1789, as his, + + 'I felt that I chose only the moment of the springing of the plant + from the soil ... and stood in some danger of neglecting the + previous germination of the seed beneath the soil.' + +After delivering a lecture on "Old Chelsea," in which 'I made a +considerable attempt to clear up some points in the life of Sir Thomas +More, for whom I have a great admiration ... I conceived ... the idea of +writing a Life of More, whose life has never been well told since it was +written by his son-in-law at the time; but the immense difficulty of +writing any Life which would stand a comparison with the son-in-law's +notes ultimately deterred me.' + +It is easy to understand why the foregoing projects were dropped; but +why Sir Charles never published the book on Russia which he was known to +have had in preparation is not so apparent. He had paid four protracted +visits to the country, travelled over a great part of it, and was +intimately acquainted with Russians of the most widely differing +opinions. Obviously he would have enjoyed writing the book that he had +planned. He had actually fixed the date of publication, when he found +that Mr. Hepworth Dixon had come, almost at the same time, to a decision +to write on his subject. On August 3rd, 1869, he wrote to Mr. Dixon: + + "My Dear Dixon, + + "In reference to your request that in good feeling and friendship + towards you I should defer the publication of my _Russia_ from + February 1st, 1870 (the date fixed with Macmillan), to a later + period, I have carefully thought the matter over, and have decided + to do as you wish. The only condition that I make is that you will + write to me by return of post saying whether, if I fix January 1st, + 1871, as my day, you will date your preface not later than February + 1st, 1870, and issue your first edition not more than a week after + that date." + +Dixon wrote back on the same day: + + "My Dear Charles, + + "I am more pleased at your resolution than words can say. It is more + than right. It is friendly and noble." + + 'Mr. Dixon immediately went to Russia, where we met in the course of + the autumn, and speedily published his _New Russia_, a remarkable + book considering the haste with which it was prepared. After five + visits to Russia, I handed over the whole of my notes to my brother, + who spent two years at one time in that country, and who finished + the book.' [Footnote: Only two chapters ever appeared--in + magazines.] + +Sir Charles's contributions to the _Athenaeum_ began while he was still +at Cambridge. His article of October 22nd, 1864, [Footnote: See Chapter +V. (Vol. I.)] was the first of a long series of reviews and notices, +which continued unbrokenly till within a week of his death. It was +natural that, as years went by, his knowledge and experience should be +drawn upon for reviews of important political biographies, and of books +on imperial and colonial questions or military history. But he did not +confine himself entirely to such grave topics. The files of the +_Athenaeum_ contain many columns from his hand dealing with the lighter +matters of topography (especially in France), travel, and fiction. The +fiction was mainly French, modern English novels commending themselves +little to his liking, though he was among the earliest and steadiest, if +also among the more discriminating, admirers of Mr. Rudyard Kipling, and +Robert Louis Stevenson's _Prince Otto_ had a place with his favourite +books. Another subject which attracted his pen was the local and +legendary history of his beloved Provence. His intimate acquaintance +with the beliefs and fancies of that region could be gathered from his +slightest notice of an ephemeral book on the country, as readily as his +store of political knowledge and familiarity with the events that made +history in his time from an extended review of a volume of _L'Empire +Libéral_ or the life of a leading contemporary in the House of Commons. +In neither case could his hand be hid. + +In influencing the choice of contributors to his paper, he threw his +weight always on the side of the man who had complete knowledge of his +subject. No brilliancy of style could make up in his eyes for lack of +precision in thought or inaccuracy in statement. Next in order he +appeared to value in a reviewer a judicial quality of mind, as essential +to a sane and balanced criticism. "He disapproved"--to quote Mr. C. A. +Cook again--"of anything fanciful in expression or any display of +sentiment;" but, so long as writers kept clear of these literary +pitfalls, he let them go their own road of style, with ready +appreciation for any freshness or liveliness they exhibited on the +journey. Reviews of French books were a special object of care, and for +the _Athenaeum's_ annual survey of French literature he bestirred +himself to secure the best hand available. In a letter to M. Joseph +Reinach, dated July, 1888, he gives a list of the distinguished +men--including MM. About, De Pressensé, and Sarrazin--who had written +this survey in past years, ending with a suggestion that M. Reinach +himself might perhaps be willing to undertake the task. + +In his writing, as in his speaking, his object was always either to +place facts before his audience, or to develop a closely reasoned +argument based upon the facts. He took no trouble to cultivate literary +graces in this connection; rather he seemed to distrust them, as in his +speeches he distrusted and avoided appeals to the feelings of his +hearers. But it would be a great mistake to infer from his own practice +that he was insensible to beauty of form and style. The literature he +cared for most, that which roused his enthusiasm and provoked the +expression of emotion so rare with him in the later years of his +life--the literature of France before the Renaissance, the poetry of +Keats and Shelley, some of the lyrics of the Félibres--is of the kind in +which content owes so much to beauty of form that it is impossible to +conceive of the one without the other; and he certainly took quite as +much delight in the sound as in the sense of his favourites. Even in +those favourites he was quick to detect a flaw. His grandfather's +introduction of him to the best in literature had not been wasted; and +his own early reading had given him a touchstone of taste which he used +freely as a standard, although it was powerless to obtain admission to +his accepted company of men of letters for those who made no appeal to +him individually. The Memoir shows that his self-training in literature +(for the grandfather did no more than indicate the way) was carried out +in youth; it was at Cambridge, while still an undergraduate, that he +read Shakespeare 'for pleasure.' And this was true also of the great +authors of his own time. The results of that reading remained with him +through life. + +The Memoir dwells little upon his literary interests, and contains few +literary judgments. He himself gives the reason: + + 'They do not pretend to be critical memoirs.... I have known + everyone worth knowing from 1850 to my death; but, as I knew the + most distinguished of my own country in childhood or early manhood, + my judgments have changed. I have either to give crude judgments + from which I dissent, or later judgments which were not those of the + time. I have omitted both.... I knew the great Victorian authors. + Thackeray I loved: _Vanity Fair_ delighted me, and _Esmond_ was + obviously a great work of art; the giant charmed me by his kindness + to me as a boy. But Dickens was to me a sea-captain with a taste for + melodrama, and the author of _Pickwick_. It is only in old age that + I have learnt that there was real beauty and charm in _David + Copperfield_. So, too, Mill I worshipped; and Carlyle, though I knew + him, I despised--perhaps too much. Mat. Arnold was to me, in his day + and my day, only a society trifler, whereas now ... after for years + I have visited his tomb, I recognize him as a great writer of the + age in which he lived.' + +Here and there in the Memoir are glimpses of the world of literature +with which he was often in touch. He discusses with Swinburne a much- +disputed reference in Shelley's _Epipsychidion_. In 1872 Browning reads +his _Red Cotton Nightcap Country_ at 76, Sloane Street. There are +admiring references to the work of George Eliot, and to Mrs. Lynn +Linton--'perhaps the cleverest woman I know.' When he goes to the United +States, we get his warmly drawn picture of the Boston group--Emerson, +Agassiz, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Asa Gray, Longfellow, Lowell, Dr. +Collyer, and Dr. Hedge. + +[Footnote: See Chapter VI. (Vol. I., p. 60).] + +Recording Stepniak's suggestion that Bismarck, Mazzini, and Oliver +Wendell Holmes were the three greatest conversationalists of our times, +'I said that, having known all three, I agreed that they were +remarkable, although I myself found Mazzini a little of the bore. +Disraeli was sometimes very good, although sometimes singularly silent; +but there were once two Russians that I put in the first rank--Herzen +and Tourgénief.' + +Questions relating to one literary personality alone receive full-length +treatment in the Memoir. On any point that concerned Keats Sir Charles +was always keenly interested. He may be said to have inherited the Keats +tradition and the Keats devotion from his grandfather, and anyone +connected with Keats found easy way to his sympathy and attention. It +was his intervention which finally obtained for Keats's sister, Mme. +Llanos, a regular Civil List pension in 1880. When the Lindon family +sold to Mr. Buxton Forman Keats's letters to Miss Brawne, Mme. Llanos +wrote 'from Madrid saying how greatly she was vexed that her brother's +love-letters should have been placed before the world,' and 'I had a +good deal of correspondence with Lord Houghton over this matter.... +[Lord Houghton] wrote: + + '"My Dear Dilke, + + '"Since the _Athenaeum_ fixed my place in poetical literature + between Rogers and Eliza Cook, I have naturally not read that + journal, but I have been shown a capital flagellation of those + unfilial wine-merchants. [Footnote: Miss Brawne married Louis + Lindon, a wine-merchant.] I thought I had even gone too far in my + elegant extracts--with which you furnished me. I have, alas! no + poetical amours to be recorded, out of which my family can make + anything handsome."' + +The letter ends with an invitation to lunch and 'talk Keats.' + +Sir Charles notes further: + + 'About this time (1878) Mr. Buxton Forman announced for publication + the Keats Love-Letters, which I certainly thought I had in a vague + way bought for the purpose of preventing publication. They had been + long in my possession, but the son of Fanny Brawne had claimed them, + and I, having no written agreement, had found it necessary to give + them up--although what I had bought and paid for, unless it was the + right to prevent publication, I do not know.' + +About this time Mr. John Morley proffered a request that Sir Charles +would write a monograph on Keats for his _English Men of Letters_. Lord +Houghton thought that a "new view" from Sir Charles "would have great +interest"; but he decided to decline the undertaking. + +The Memoir records at length the course of a correspondence with Joseph +Severn, on the subject of his portraits of Keats, about which the old +man's memory, in his last days at Rome, had grown very hazy. He thought +that the miniature from which the engraving for Mr. Buxton Forman's +edition had been made was the original presented to Fanny Brawne, +whereas it was the copy made for old Mr. Dilke from that original, which +itself was afterwards 'bought by my grandfather to prevent its being +sold by auction.' There was also at Pyrford a copy in oils made for Mr. +Moxon, which Sir Charles had obtained by exchange from Mr. Frederick +Locker-Lampson. + + 'After completing my investigations as to the portraits, I placed + them on record in a letter to my old friend Scharf, the Keeper of + the National Portrait Gallery, who replied: "Thanks for your + interesting note, which we will duly place upon record. The portrait + which we have here is posthumous. Severn painted it in 1821, and we + hold a very curious letter from him describing the circumstances + under which he painted it." Here, therefore, is another undoubted + Severn in addition to the three which I possess. But I know myself + of at least one other.' + +The gift of his collection of Keats relics to Hampstead has been +elsewhere recorded. In deciding on Hampstead for its resting-place, he +brought it within the circle of local associations with Keats himself, +and with the grandfather who had been Keats's friend. [Footnote: The +Memoir records, in 1878, a visit paid with his great-uncle, William +Dilke, to Wentworth Place, 'the little house at Hampstead in which for a +time Mr. C. W. Dilke and his brother were Keats's next-door +neighbours.'] + +Modern French authors interested him more than their English +contemporaries. In the former case he found, perhaps, less declension +from the standard of the giants of whom he had been an eager student in +his early manhood, when he read "all Balzac," and recorded his +admiration for the "dignity" of Mme. de Staël's _Germany_. Dumas he +loved then and always, returning to him with ever new delight, and +utilizing the rare periods of inaction imposed upon him at intervals by +illness to read the whole of _The Three Musketeers_ series 'through +again--properly.' Where other writers who held sway over the mind of +France during the nineteenth century were in question, his independence +of taste came into play. Sainte-Beuve he could 'make nothing of.' For +Chateaubriand he felt something like contempt: 'Equally feeble as a +maker and a writer of history ... the inventor of a drawing-room +Christianity without Christ;' but he recognized the high quality to be +found in the early writings of Sénancour. In later days the revival of a +Stendhal cult filled him with wondering amusement. To the best work of +Renan his affections were always faithful: _Souvenirs d'Enfance et de +Jeunesse_ was among his favourite volumes. Anatole France gave him +exquisite pleasure, and it is hard to say whether he most enjoyed the +wit, the irony, or the style of that great writer. He had his +favourites, too, among the minor gods, and was always ready to introduce +a new-comer to the charms of _François de Barbizanges_ or the fun of +Alfred Capus. + +In French poetry his taste was eclectic. His feeling for Charles +d'Orléans and his contemporaries barely stopped on this side idolatry; +but the classics of the seventeenth century had no message for him, and +Victor Hugo as a poet left him, for the most part, unmoved. Indeed, he +asserted that all French verse between Ronsard and Verlaine was purely +rhetorical, and without genuine poetic quality. But in some modern +poets, he thought, the true spirit of French poetry had revived. Early +he proclaimed the genius of Charles Guérin, whose claim to high place in +his country's literature remained unrecognized till after his death; +early, too, he hailed a new poetic star in François Porché. The star +seemed to him later to wane in brilliancy, but the disappointment with +which he read the poems of M. Porché's second period never weakened his +admiring recollection of the splendour of the poet's Russian verses and +the searching pathos of _Solitude au Loin_. + +His familiarity with French literature, his hearty affection for it, his +understanding of the national spirit by which it is informed and +quickened, constituted one of the strongest ties which bound him in +sympathy to his French friends. The literary forms which have had so +much attraction for the best French minds both before and after 1789-- +the chronicle and the memoir--were precisely those to which his +unfailing interest in human nature led him by choice. Paradin and +Froissart were companions of whom he never grew tired; and it would be +difficult to decide whether he found more absorbing matter of +entertainment in Sully or Mme. de Dino. + +But if he read these authors for delight, he read them also as a serious +student. On this point the testimony of one of the most learned men in +contemporary France is clear. M. Salomon Reinach writes: [Footnote: In a +letter addressed to the editor, and written in English.] + + "Talking with Sir Charles Dilke about Renaissance and modern + history, I soon perceived that he had taken the trouble of going to + the sources, and that he had read and knew many things of importance + which a man of letters, and even a scholar, are apt to ignore. It + was Sir Charles, to give only one instance, who revealed to me the + value of Guillaume Paradin's _Histoire de Notre Temps_ and + _Chronique de Savoie_, which he admired to such a degree that he put + the now forgotten author (the name of whom is not in the British + Encyclopaedia) on the same level as Guicciardini and the great + historians of antiquity. I would like to know how he discovered + Paradin, and if copies of his rare works were in his library. When I + happened to get hold of Major Frye's manuscript, afterwards + published by me (thanks to Sir Charles Dilke's recommendation) at + Heinemann's, he was the first to appreciate its interest, and gave + me much information about abbreviated names and other allusions + which occur in that diary. He chanced to dine with me the very + evening when I first had brought the manuscript to my house, and he + remained till past one in the morning, picturesquely seated on the + edge of a table, reading passages aloud and commenting upon them. He + also knew many secret and unrecorded facts about recent French + history; some of them have been given by him in unsigned articles of + the _Athenaeum_, in reviews of books relating to the Franco-German + War. I hope he may have left some more detailed notes on that + subject. I would have had the greatest pleasure in corresponding + with him, and regret I did not do so; but his handwriting was as + mysterious as his mind was clear, and I soon found that I could not + make it out." + + + + +CHAPTER LXI + +TABLE TALK + + +After Lady Dilke's death, the Rev. W. and Mrs. Tuckwell, her brother- +in-law and her elder sister, made their home with Sir Charles Dilke at +Pyrford; and notes of his talk put together from memory and from diaries +by the old scholar give a vivid impression of the statesman as seen in +intimacy. Mr. Tuckwell says: + + During the last five years of his life I breakfasted alone with Sir + Charles whenever he was at Pyrford. It was his "softer hour," and + showed him in a specially endearing light. Not only was he fresh + from his night's rest, full, often, of matter interesting or amusing + in his letters which he had just read, but the tête-à-tête brought + out his finest social nature. In large companies, as we saw him at + Dockett, he was occasionally insistent, iterative, expressing + himself, to use a term of his own, with a "fierceness" corresponding + to the strength of his convictions. With me at our breakfasts he was + gentle, tolerant, what Sydney Smith called "amoebean," talking and + listening alternately. I was told that before his death the two + experiences to which he referred in anticipating a return to his + Pyrford home were the forestry among his pines and the early + breakfast table. + + Much of his talk was, of course, Parliamentary, bearing on incidents + or persons from the House. He often spoke of Harcourt, whom he + dearly loved. When Harcourt's death was announced to a party at + breakfast in Speech House, several in the company told anecdotes of + the dead man or commented on his character. One lady spoke of him + harshly. Sir Charles remained silent, but more than once during the + meal his eyes filled with tears. He told me on another occasion that + "Lulu" promised to be a greater man than his father, just as Winston + Churchill is a greater man than Randolph. Lulu resembles his father + curiously in all things except in the paternal habit of swearing. + Once, when an attempt by the Opposition to snatch a victory in a + thin House had been foiled, Harcourt said savagely across the table: + "So that d----d dirty trick has failed!" Hicks Beach sprang up to + ask the Speaker if such language were Parliamentary. Speaker Gully + was too discreet to have heard the words. Dilke remembered being in + company with Harcourt and Mrs. Procter, amongst several more. As she + left the room, Harcourt said: "There goes one of the three most + charming women I ever knew; the other two"--a pause, during which + the ladies present looked keenly expectant--"the other two are + dead!" + + He turned to talk of Dizzy, to whom he had first been introduced in + his early days by Lady Lonsdale, the great man wishing to know him. + He quoted some of Dizzy's sayings. Dizzy called Spencer Walpole and + Russell Gurney "those two whited sepulchres of the House of + Commons." Walpole, consequential and lugubrious, he spoke of as "the + high-stepping hearse-horse of public life." Of deaf Mr. Thomasson, + who, ear-trumpet in hand, was wont to place himself near every + speaker, he said that "no man had ever so neglected his natural + advantages." + + Of Gladstone Dilke rarely spoke, but used to describe the periodical + entrance of Mrs. Gladstone into the meetings of the Cabinet with a + large basin of tea for the old man. [Footnote: In the last years of + Sir Charles's life, at a party given by Mr. and Mrs. Herbert + Gladstone at Downing Street, he stopped in the room where Cabinet + meetings used to be held, and pointed out to the editor of this book + the door through which Mrs. Gladstone used to enter bearing the bowl + of tea. For Sir Charles's recollections of Mr. Gladstone, see + appendix at end of this chapter.] Once he had to work out with his + chief some very difficult question. As they sat absorbed, Hamilton, + the private secretary, entered with an apologetic air to say that + ----, a well-known journalist, had called, pressingly anxious to see + the Prime Minister on an important subject. Without raising his + head, Gladstone said: "Ask him what is his number in the lunatic + asylum." + + He told of a Cabinet in 1883 at which ---- talked a great deal, "and + I told Chamberlain that at the Political Economy Club, where I had + been dining on the previous night, there was a closure of debate in + the shape of the introduction of hot muffins, which I thought would + be excellent for Cabinets." At this Cabinet Lord Granville said: "We + all agree that ---- is a bore, but I have never been able to make up + my mind whether that is a drawback or a qualification so far as + public service is concerned." + + Asquith he looked upon as one of the greatest Parliamentarians he + had known, much superior in that capacity to Gladstone. His + allocution on the King's death was noble; still finer his + introduction of the Veto Bill in December, 1909. "His speech was + perfect: forcible in manner, statesmanlike in argument, felicitous + in epithet and phrasing." Balfour on the same occasion was at his + worst: "hampered by his former contrary declarations, trivial in + reasoning, feeble in delivery." He was ill, and ought not to have + come. I asked if Balfour's frequent inconsistencies and vacillations + were due to carelessness. He said no, but to the necessity imposed + upon him, not of proclaiming principles, but of keeping together a + divergent party. I asked what other notable recent speeches he could + recall. He said the Archbishop of Canterbury's [Footnote: Dr. + Randall Davidson.] on the Congo scandal, in the House of Lords: "a + marvellous performance, nothing said which should not have been + said, everything said which required saying; the speech of a great + statesman." Bishop ---- followed him with a mere piece of missionary + claptrap. In the Commons on the same occasion our charming friend + Hugh Law distinguished himself, silencing some of his compatriots, + the Irish Roman Catholics, whose line was to support Leopold because + the Protestant missionaries abused him. Leopold II. Sir Charles + called "the cleverest--and wickedest--man living." He broke off to + speak of the Archbishop, whom he met weekly at Grillion's, as a + delightfully instructive talker, not only full, that is, of light + agreeableness, but supporting the opinions he advances with + convincing, cogent, logical force, yet never boring his hearers. As + another powerful speech he instanced T. P. O'Connor on Sir R. + Anderson's indiscretions, "most terribly crushing in its grim, + ruthless exposition," Anderson sitting in the Gallery to hear it. + + In his own great speech on Army Reform in April, 1907, Sir Charles + said that Haldane was "all things to all men." His hearers perceived + it to be a quotation (which in fact I had furnished), but no one + localized it! An amusing misquotation was Arnold-Forster's in the + same debate: he said that Haldane was like King David, who drilled + his men by fifties in a cave. In March, 1909, Sir Charles told me + sadly of Arnold-Forster's sudden death, which he had just learned. + "With some defects of manner, he was very clever, writing and + speaking well. As War Minister Balfour gave him no chance. His last + speech in the House, a fortnight before his death, just preceded + mine. 'I must speak,' he said to me, 'on those damned Special + Reservists;' and speak he did for a good, well-sustained half-hour, + going out as soon as he had finished." He had been with us at + Dockett. He and Sir Charles sparred continually and amusingly, both + equally aggressive, imperious, stentorian, iterative, each insistent + on his own declamation and inattentive to his opponent's. + + Sir Charles, while on this topic of oratory, went on to quote with + much hilarity a speech by Lord ---- in the Lords: "This Liberal + Government injures friends no less than enemies. Look at me! I am a + passive resister; I belong to the National Liberal Club; I have + married my deceased wife's sister; and none of my children are + vaccinated; yet they are meddling with my rights as a landlord." The + Lords did not see the fun, the papers did not report it, but it is + to be found in Hansard. + + I asked Dilke how my old pupil, Sir Richard Jebb, comported himself + in Parliament. He said: "Handsome, beautifully groomed, with a + slight stoop, slow delivery, speaking rarely and on subjects which + he thoroughly understood, his phrasing perfect, manner engaging: a + man reserved and shy, not seeking acquaintance, but, if sought, + eminently agreeable." University members, he added, should come + always in pairs: one to represent the high University ideal, + embodied only in a very few; his colleague reflecting the mob of + country parsons who by an absurd paradox elect to Parliament. Jebb + was the ideal Cantab.; didactic, professorial, the Public Orator; + seeming incomplete without a gown: but for his rare and apt + appearances, he might have overdone the part. + + He told a story of Major O'Gorman. A professed Roman Catholic, he + was dining in the House one Friday on a devilled chicken, when his + parish priest was announced. "Waiter," he said, "take away the + devil, and show in the priest." + + When Sir Charles first took office, he was cautioned by his + colleague, Lord Tenterden, not to read the newspapers: "If you do, + you will never distinguish between what you know and what you have + just read." + + He mentioned ----. I said that his elaborate manners and bridegroom + dress marked him out as _natus convivio feminali_, meant by nature + to be a guest at ladies' tea-tables. Dilke assented, adding that he + was less bland to men than to women. "Tommy" Bowles said of him in + the House: "The right honourable gentleman answers, or, rather, does + not answer, my questions with the pomposity of a Belgravian butler + refusing twopence to a beggar." + + He spoke of the decadence in costume characteristic of the present + day. I said that, according to Wraxall, we must go back for its + beginnings to Charles Fox, who came down to the House in boots. I + added that, when I first went up to Oxford, a frock-coat and tall + hat were imperative in walking out; that a "cut-away" coat, as it + was called, would have been "sconced" in Hall; that men even kept + their boating-dresses at King's or Hall's, changing there; that a + blazer in the High would have drawn a crowd. He said that till very + lately--he was speaking in 1907--the custom of dress in Parliament + had been equally rigid; that Lord Minto had recently scandalized his + peers by wearing a straw hat; that when, some years before, a member + whose name I forget had taken the same liberty in the Commons, the + Speaker sent for him, and begged that he would not repeat the + offence. + + In February, 1908, we talked of the Sweating Bill. Two years before, + he said, it could command so little support that, having obtained + for it the first private members' night, he withdrew it. Now it was + accepted with enthusiasm, and the second reading passed without a + division--the change, he added, entirely due to the Women's + Trade-Union League. + + He expressed satisfaction with the stiffening procedure rules of + April, 1906, but added that they would make great Parliamentary + orations impossible. I said: "All the better, we want business in + the Commons; for oratory there are other occasions." He said how + transient is the public interest in men and questions; the community + is like a kitten playing with a cork: so soon as it is tempted off + by something else, the cork becomes dead to it. He instanced + Rosebery; the Aliens Act; Tariff Reform, in spite of Chamberlain's + galvanizing efforts. Of Campbell-Bannerman, then alive and well, he + said that all his work was done for him by his subordinates: "he had + only to read novels, prepare jokes, look inscrutable and fatherly." + + In July, 1909, he attended the memorial service for Lord Ripon at + the Roman Catholic Cathedral. Knowing that the leading statesmen on + both sides, Protestant to a man, would be present, the ecclesiastics + made the show as fine as they could, bringing out all their + properties. All the monks and priests in London attended; the + Archbishop, in gorgeous attire, sat on a stool, with two boys behind + holding up his train. The music was exquisite; Sir Charles had never + heard anything so sweet as the warbling of the Requiem by the + chorister boys. But the whole was palpably a show, the actors intent + on their acting, never for a moment devotional; where changes in the + service involved changes in position, they were prepared while the + part before was still unfinished, so that the stage might never be + empty nor the transformations lag: the whole thing a Drury Lane + pageant; while the richly decorated catafalque in the centre, on + which the ceremonial supposed itself to converge, was empty-- + _sepulchri supervacuos honores_--the body being at Studley. Of Ripon + himself, whom everyone loved, he spoke affectionately. + + Of talks on miscellaneous topics I recall the following. We spoke of + the Tilsit Secret Articles, revealed mysteriously to the English + Government. Sir Charles thought the informant was a Russian officer, + betraying it with or without the connivance of the Tsar. Evidence + has since come out connecting the disclosure with a Mr. Mackenzie, + who is supposed to have obtained the secret from General Benningsen. + Or Canning may have learned it through the Russian Ambassador in + England, who was his intimate friend, and strongly adverse to his + master's French policy. [Footnote: See for a recent discussion of + the evidence J. Holland Rose's _Life of Napoleon_, ii. 135-140.] Sir + Charles went on to say that in history lies find easier credit than + truth. All the books have said and say that England refused to buy + Delagoa Bay from Portugal. He always denied this alleged refusal; + and now Lord Fitzmaurice has caused search to be made, and finds no + confirmatory evidence. Again, he maintained in Paris, against all + the experts, that Nigra engineered the Franco-Prussian War. His + words were repeated to the Empress Eugénie, who said, "Yes, he is + right: Nigra was a false friend." + + He talked of the Japanese, whom he had known in England and lived + with in Japan.... Their only religion is patriotism, and their + prayers to the Emperor are formal merely, yet they are reckless of + life and eager to die for Fatherland; indeed, so incapable of + retreating before an enemy as sometimes seriously to damage + strategic plans. Were they launched against the West, they would go + through any European army. + + He spoke of the durability of the Third French Republic. It will be + unbroken while peace lasts. War may bring a temporary Dictatorship, + but the republic will of necessity revive again. The immense + majority of Frenchmen are opposed unalterably to a monarchy. + + He quoted what was said to be Napoleon's only joke. In opening + negotiations with the British Government, he found it to be demanded + as a preliminary that, as matter of principle and without prejudice, + he should formally recognize the Bourbon rights, "Most certainly," + he said, "if, also as matter of principle and without prejudice, the + British Government would formally recognize the Stuart rights." + + Dilke spoke of the old Political Economy Club, to which he was + introduced by John Stuart Mill. The President was Lord Bramwell; its + dominant member William Newmarch, a rough man of powerful intellect, + of whose ferocious criticisms everyone stood in awe, and who was + habitually hard on Mill. + + He told a story of a well-known dandy, now a peer. The talk turned + on "Society" in the second intention of the word ---- had + enumerated certain houses in which you must be at home if pretending + to the exclusive social set. It was objected that the inmates of + some amongst these houses were persons whom the Queen (Victoria) + would not receive. "The Queen!" said ---- in a tone of pained + surprise--"the Queen was _never_ in Society." + + I had been to church unwittingly on "Empire Day," and reported a + sermon stuffed with militarism. He poured cold water on the idea. + "Ireland won't have it; Canada won't have it; South Africa loathes + it; India has an Empire Day of its own. Only Australia cares for it. + It is a vulgar piece of Tory bluff, and a device for annoying the + Dutch." + + He had lately visited Dropmore: said how frequently the Dropmore + Papers upset accepted history, but that the historian will answer, + _Mon siege est fait_. He explained the phrase. A man had written a + history of some famous siege; after it was published fresh facts + were brought to his notice: he declined them--"Mon siege est fait." + [Footnote: Ascribed to the Abbé Dubois.] + + He talked of Marlborough's victories: he hummed the opening verse of + "Malbrook s'en va-t-en guerre." I said it was our "For he's a jolly + good fellow": he said yes, but the tune goes back to the time of the + Crusaders. I asked who wrote the words. He said an unknown French + soldier on the night of Malplaquet, when Marlborough was believed to + have been killed. Napoleon, who knew no music, often mounted his + horse at the opening of a campaign singing the first line as he put + his foot into the stirrup. + + He spoke often of Grillion's which he habitually frequented and much + enjoyed. He told of its formation in 1812; of old members whom he + had known--Sir Robert Inglis, Chenery of the _Times_, regal old Sir + Thomas Acland, Fazakerley, Gally Knight, Wilmot Horton; of its + effect in socially harmonizing men bitterly opposed in politics. He + told the story of "Mr. G." dining there by accident alone, and + entering himself in the club book as having drunk a bottle of sherry + and a bottle of champagne. He said what care was taken to exclude + undesirables, preserving thereby a high tone of company and of talk. + I asked him what was the finest conversation to which he had ever + listened. "In Boston," he said; "at Lowell's breakfast-table; the + company Lowell, Wendell Holmes, Longfellow, Agassiz, Asa Gray." + [Footnote: See Vol. I., Chapter VI.] + + We talked of precious stones, recalling the Koh-i-noor in its small + gas-lighted tent at the 1851 Exhibition. He said that modern paste + is more beautiful and effective than diamonds. The finest pearls + known belonged to the Duchess of Edinburgh: she showed Sir Charles a + collar valued at two millions sterling. I named the Hope jewels, + shown also in 1851. He knew the "rich Hope," Henry, who built the + house in Piccadilly. The "poor Hope," Beresford, had only £30,000 a + year. They were a Dutch family, "Hoop" by name. Beresford's wife, + Lady Mildred, aped the Queen, driving in the Park dressed in black, + with a large hat, and finely mounted outriders. The same thing was + done by Mme. Van de Weyer. Beresford bought the _Morning Chronicle_ + in order to promulgate his High Church views, writing under the + signature D.C.L. He ruined the paper. + + He more than once sang the praises of Sir George Grey--honoured in + South Africa, Australia, New Zealand; statesman, aristocrat, + Radical, creator of the Australian Labour Party, terror of our + Colonial Office at home; one of the few men who have done great + things by themselves. Bismarck told Sir Charles that Cavour, Crispi, + Kruger, were greater than himself. "I had the army and the State + behind me; these men had nothing." Amongst Bismarck's minor desires + was a hope that he might outlive his physician, Dr. Schweininger, + who plagued him with limitations as to diet. "To-day potatoes will + we eat; to-morrow comes Schweininger." He owned to having over-eaten + himself once, and only once: "Nine nine-eyes (lampreys) did I eat." + "People," he said, "look on me as a monarchist. Were it all to come + over again, I would be republican and democrat: the rule of kings is + the rule of women; the bad women are bad, the good are worse." + + Sir Charles spoke of Botha, whom he met here in 1907. People were + unexpectedly charmed with him: they anticipated a replica of old + Kruger; instead of that they beheld a handsome man, with the most + beautiful eyes and mouth ever seen. His daughter with him was very + pretty; fashionably dressed, in the style of a French American. + + He told of an Indian official under the old East India Company + stationed in a remote place, a "Boggley Wallah," who for several + years sent in no reports, money, or accounts. An emissary, + commissioned to bring him to book, found him living in great luxury + on the borders of a lake. He said that he did his work and kept his + papers on an island in the lake, and sent a boat for them; but the + returning boat somehow sank in mid-water, and books and papers went + to the bottom. The Company dismissed him without a pension: he came + to London, took his seat daily in ragged clothes just outside the + offices in Leadenhall Street, standing up to salaam when any + Director or official passed in or out, but speaking no word. People + gathered to look at him, and at last the Company gave him £1,000 a + year. He drove down in a carriage and four, and handed in a letter + stating that he had already amassed £5,000 a year in their service, + that they had now raised it to £6,000, and that he desired to + express his gratitude. + + I quoted from some book I was reading a dictum that no woman + nowadays can be called perfectly beautiful. He said he had known + only two, Lady Dudley and Madame Castiglione. The latter was in the + pay successively of Victor Emanuel and Louis Napoleon; in the second + capacity supposed to have been a spy employed by Cavour. + + He spoke of John Forster, biographer of Dickens, an intimate friend + of his own grandfather and father, as a man of violent, noisy + passions, but very lovable; his attitude towards Dickens + pathetically affectionate. + + He described two German Princesses whom he had met at lunch; dowdy + and of the ordinary Teutonic type, looking on their brother "Billy" + as the greatest of mortals. They had been shopping up and down + Oxford Street, delighted with their purchases, and with their escape + from Court ceremonial. He went on to say how common every Prussian + officer looks when in plain clothes. Wearing them very rarely, the + officers never look at ease in them; and the swagger which they + adopt in uniform is highly ridiculous in mufti. + + When Napoleon's death was known, one of George IV.'s Ministers went + to his master with the news: "Sir, your greatest enemy is dead." + "Good G---! they told me she was better," was the royal answer. Sir + Charles spoke of Jerome Bonaparte, whom he knew; a dull man, a thorn + in the side of Napoleon III. "You have nothing of the great Napoleon + about you," Jerome said one day. "I have his family," answered the + worried Emperor. From him we passed to the death of the Duc + d'Enghien. The Princes were notoriously plotting against Napoleon's + life; by slaying a Prince of the blood he made it clear that two + could play the game. The first copy of Mme. de Rémusat's book was + thought to deal too plainly with this and other topics; it was + destroyed, and rewritten in a softer tone. + + In November, 1909, Sir Charles spent some days in the Record Office, + coming back each time in much need of a bath, after rummaging + amongst papers which had not been disturbed for a century. He found + amongst other papers a letter from a Grand Duke of Modena to + Castlereagh, written just after Napoleon's fall, saying how exultant + were his subjects at his return to them, and asking Castlereagh to + lend him £14. With the letter was the draft of Castlereagh's answer, + congratulating the Duke's subjects and himself, but adding that + there would be difficulty in applying to Parliament for the loan. + + Sir Charles remarked on my _Athenaeum_ review of Francis Newman's + Life. He said that when he himself was in bad odour for his early + Civil List speeches, so that he had been exposed to serious + disturbances, and a break-up of his intended meeting at Bristol was + threatened, Newman, from sheer dislike to mob tyranny, came forward + to take the chair; and through a tempest of shouts and rushes, and + amid the stifling smell of burnt Cayenne pepper, sat in lean + dignity, looking curiously out of place, but serene in vindication + of a principle. [Footnote: See Vol. I, Chapter IX.] + + The publication of the Life of Goldwin Smith led us to talk of + University reform. I said how by means of it my own college had + become _ex humili potens_, had arisen from depths to heights, from + obscurity to fame. Of his, he said, the contrary was true: his + college had been ruined by Parliamentary interference. Trinity Hall + was founded for the study and teaching of jurisprudence, the old + Roman canon and civil law, on which all modern law is based. It was + the only institution of the kind, a magnificent and useful monopoly. + This exclusive character was destroyed by Parliament; scholarships + in mathematics and classics were instituted; it is now like other + colleges, and men who wish to study law at its source no longer + frequent it. He talked to me of Cambridge, and related with mimicry + anecdotes of "Ben" Latham, Master of Trinity Hall. Dining at Trinity + Hall one Sunday in 1883, he said Latham told him that he had lately + been sitting on an inter-University committee with Jowett, and that + Jowett was so sharp a man of business that "it is like sitting to + represent the Great Northern against the London and North-Western. + His one idea is to draw away passengers from the rival line." Latham + went on to say that the students for India who were made to stay two + years at Cambridge or Oxford, under Jowett's scheme, "the first year + learn _Sandford and Merton_ in Tamil, translated by a missionary; + and the second year _Sandford and Merton_ in Telugu, translated by + the same missionary. Thus they acquire a liberal education." + + He talked of Waterloo, the battlefield being known to us both. It + was, he said, as the Duke always owned, a wonderfully near thing. If + Napoleon had had with him the two army corps left in France to + overawe insurrectionary districts, who would have joined him in a + week; and if at Ligny he had persevered in so smashing the Prussians + as to leave them powerless--if these two "if's" had become + realities, Napoleon must have driven Wellington back on Brussels. + Then the Belgians would have joined him, and the Austrians would + have forsaken the Allies, Metternich wishing well to Bonaparte for + the sake of his wife and child. The mystery of his escape from Elba, + which the English fleet might easily have prevented, remains still + to be explained: for the Vienna Congress was riddled with intrigue. + [Footnote: Sir Charles Dilke discussed the whole question of + Napoleon's escape from Elba in an article in the _Quarterly Review_, + January, 1910, entitled "Before and After the Descent from Elba."] + + He made me laugh at a parson who in moments of provocation used to + say "Assouan!" His friends at last remembered that at Assouan was + the biggest dam in the world. + + He gave me a recipe for beefsteak pudding: _no beef_, fresh kidney, + fresh mushrooms, fresh oysters, great stress laid on the epithet: + serve the pudding in its basin. + + He came in to breakfast one morning whistling an attractive air. I + asked what it was; he said from _Carmen_, and hummed the air + through. He went on to say that he had well known the composer, + Bizet, who founded his opera on Mérimée's romance. It fell flat, and + Bizet died believing it a failure; afterwards it became the rage. + + This whistling of music was a favourite practice with him. His + accurate ear enabled him to reproduce any tune which had at any time + impressed him. He would give Chinese airs, would go through parts of + a Greek Church service, would sing words and music of the _Dies Iræ. + On the Sunday following the death of Florence Nightingale our + Chertsey organist played Chopin's Funeral March. Sir Charles said + its _motifs_ were Greek rustic popular airs, each of which he + hummed, showing how Chopin had worked them in. + + The dinner given to him in April, 1910, in connection with the Trade + Boards Bill was a great success, and much delighted him. He said + Bishop Gore had made a splendid speech. Sir Charles had a long chat + with Gore, and was, as always, delighted with his information and + bonhomie. + + He talked of a Parisian jeweller who lived by selling jewels and by + lending money to the great Indian native potentates, and had + establishments for that purpose in India. This man wished to be + employed by our Government as a spy: Sir Charles applied on his + behalf to Lord George Hamilton, who handed to him the man's + _dossier_, an appalling catalogue of crimes and misdemeanours. He + had an extraordinarily noble presence; Sir Charles said to him: + "_You_ ought to be Amir of Afghanistan." "No," he replied; "I should + never have the patience to kill a sufficient number of people." + + Of a French gentleman who had come to tea, recommended by the French + Ambassador, Sir Charles said that he was a French fool, the worst + kind of fool, _corruptio optimi_. + + He showed the number of peerages having their origin in + illegitimacy, although the official books conceal the fact where + possible. The facts come out in such memoirs as Lady Dorothy + Nevill's. He went on to talk of divorce in the Roman Church, and to + scout their boast that with them marriage is an indissoluble + sacrament. The Prince of Monaco was for years the husband of Lady + Mary Hamilton. They tired of each other, wished for a divorce; the + Pope, with heavy fees for the transaction, declared the marriage to + have been for some ecclesiastical reason null and void. Each married + again; but the son of the nominally annulled union succeeded his + father as legitimate heir. + + Sir Charles spoke--this was in 1906--of Bülow's speech in the German + Parliament, as one of the best ever made by any statesman, and + creating universal astonishment. Its appreciation of France and of + Gambetta was magnificent as well as generous. The French, after the + _débâcle_, behaved as a nation self-respecting and patriotic ought + to have behaved. His hint at the bad feeling between the Kaiser and + King Edward was dexterous; it was real and insuperable; none of our + Royal Family can forgive the seizure of Hanover by Prussia; and + added to this was our King's indignation at the Kaiser's treatment + of the Empress Frederick, a member of his family for whom he felt + strong affection. + + Of Morny he said that he was very handsome, but in an inferior + style. His beautiful Russian wife never cared for him, but in + obedience to Russian custom cut off her wonderful hair to be laid + with him in his coffin. + + He spoke of the brothers Chorley, one the supreme musical critic of + his time, the other a profound Spanish scholar, shut up through life + in his library of 7,300 volumes. + + Dilke told me one morning that he had been writing since five + o'clock an article for the _United Service Gazette_, and had + finished it to his satisfaction, adding that papers dashed off under + an impulse were always the best. I demurred. "Those papers of mine," + I said, "specially praised by you have been always the fruit of long + labour." "Ah!" he answered, "but you have style--a rare + accomplishment; that is what I have admired in yours." "Would you," + I said, "admire the style if the matter were ill considered?" "Yes." + + He often talked admiringly of the Provençal language, declaiming + more than once what he called a fine Homeric specimen: + + "Pesto, liona, sablas, famino, dardai fou, + Avie tout affronta." + + (Pestilence, lions, sandy deserts, famine, maddening sun-heat, + Ye have all this faced.) + + He was fond, too, of quoting Akbar's inscription on the Agra bridge: + "Said Jesus, on whom be peace, Life is a bridge: pass over!" + + He described the French Foreign Legion: two regiments employed by + the French chiefly among the natives in the Tonquin settlement-- + desperate men most of them, many of high social position and of army + rank, who had "done something" and had gone wrong; disgraced, hiding + from society, criminals escaped from justice, with a sprinkling of + young adventurers and riotous Germans. No enormity they would not + commit, no danger they would not court; some even seeking death; all + knowing that if left wounded in the bush by retreating comrades they + would be tortured horribly by the Tonquin women. They had a hospital + served by Roman Catholic nurses, to whom they paid every respect. + When a man newly joined once whistled rudely while the Sister was + praying, as was her custom before leaving the ward, his comrades + severely punished him. Intra-regimental offences, such as theft, + were visited with death. + + He mentioned one morning that he had just received a Privy Council + summons. I asked why the Bidding Prayer held a petition for the + Lords _and others_ of Her Majesty's Privy Council: old Regius + Professor Jacobson used to tell us that it was a mistake, that all + Privy Councillors were "Lords" of the Privy Council. He thought that + the word "others" represented the Lord Mayor, who attends Accession + Councils and signs the parchment, but, not being a Lord of Council, + is then required to leave, while other business proceeds. + + Twice in these years he dined at Oxford--once at All Souls as the + guest of Mr. Spenser Wilkinson, again on the invitation of some + undergraduates, sons mostly of his political acquaintances. He + greatly enjoyed both; the young men were the pick and flower of + Oxford; the All Souls high table was full of young teachers and + professors. What a change from the aristocratic college of my time, + whose head was Lewis Sneyd, its Fellows William Bathurst, Henry + Legge, Sir Charles Vaughan, Augustus Barrington, etc.! Anson very + charmingly presided; the talk was everything except political. + + He was extraordinarily impressed by the funeral of the King--a + wonderful and novel ceremony he called it. As a senior Privy + Councillor he had an excellent place with Asquith close to the + coffin. The most magnificent figure in the show was Garter + King-of-Arms, but all the heralds were splendid. The Archbishop, + with the Dean of Westminster and a cross-bearer, was the only + prominent ecclesiastic, the Bishops in their places as peers being + crowded out of sight. The colouring was most effective, black + setting off the scarlet. The singing was somewhat drowned by the + Guards' bands, but the Dead March came in grandly through the + windows from Palace Yard. He mentioned a curious fact: that + Westminster Hall is controlled, not by Parliament, not by any + Government department, but by the Great Chamberlain. It is the sole + remaining part of the royal palace, which was lent to Parliament by + our early Kings. I said that it had not witnessed such a scene + since, on Mary's accession, the Sovereign and the two Houses met + there to receive Papal absolution from the Legate Pole. He wished I + had told him so before. + + He recalled the Cambridge Union debates of his time: the best he + ever heard was on a personal question, the impeachment of a man + named Harris for some breach of rule. Henry Sidgwick was in the + chair, the speaking extraordinarily animated and well sustained. The + finest orator of his time was a man called Payne. [Footnote: Payne + belonged to the same college as Dilke, Trinity Hall, and was + bracketed Senior in the Law Tripos of 1868. He had begun to make his + mark both at the Bar and in the Press, when, still a very young man, + he was killed in a mountaineering accident in Wales.] I said our + best speaker in my day was Goschen; his Union reports caused + Gladstone to pick him out and bring him forward. He said yes, but + that Goschen never fulfilled his promise until his really powerful + speech on Free Trade in 1903. + + He enumerated the Jewish types in England. There is (1) the sallow + Jew with a beak; (2) the same without a beak; (3) the "hammy" Jew, + with pink face like a _cochon-à-lait_. The Florentine type, with + fair hair and beautiful clear face, is not seen in England. + + His criticism of a certain lady led me to ask who, of people he had + known, possessed the most perfect manners. He said Lord Clarendon, + who had the old carefully cultivated Whig manners, yet with the + faintest possible tendency to pomposity. This style became + unfashionable, and was succeeded by what he called the "early + Christian" or "Apostolic" manners, of which the late Lord Knutsford + was a perfect exemplar. The best-mannered woman he had known was the + late Lady Waterford. Domestic servants too, he said, have manners; + he instanced as magnificent specimens Turner, Lady Waldegrave's + groom of the chambers, and Miss Alice Rothschild's Jelf. Lady + Lonsdale once spoke of the latter as "Guelph, or whatever member of + the Royal Family it is that waits on Alice." + + Sir Charles talked about the Wallace Collection. Sir Richard was not + the natural son either of the fourth Lord Hertford, or of his father + the third Lord, Thackeray's Steyne and Disraeli's Monmouth. He was + brought up by the fourth Lord Hertford, under the name of Monsieur + Richard, not by any means as the expectant heir; yet, excepting the + settled estates, which went to the fifth Marquis, all was left to + him. Part of the great art collection remained at Bagatelle, which + became the property of a younger Wallace, an officer in the French + army; the rest has come to the English nation through Lady Wallace, + to whom her husband left the whole. Why Sir Richard assumed the name + Wallace no one knows. He was French, not English, speaking English + imperfectly: a kind, cheery, polished gentleman. + + Apropos of the Education Bill: old Lady Wilde from her window in + Tite Street heard a woman bewailing herself in the street--her son + had been "took away," to gaol that is. "He was a good boy till the + Eddication came along;" then, kneeling down on the pavement and + joining her hands, she prayed solemnly "God damn Eddication." + + Sir Charles contrasted the idiosyncrasies of some politicians: Grey + reserved, Balfour telling everything to everybody; Arnold-Forster + closely "buttoned up," Gorst dangerously frank. On Gorst he + enlarged: a nominal Tory, in fact a Radical, ever battering his own + side for the mere fun of the operation; old in years, young in + activity of brain and body; a poor man all his life. + + He said that the two incomparable sights which this country could + show to a foreigner were (1) Henley in regatta week; (2) the Park on + a fine summer day: everyone out riding, and the Life Guards' band + going down to a Drawing-room. + + I asked if he had heard a certain London preacher who was drawing + large audiences. He said yes, and that he was well worth hearing. + "He is High Church and anti-ritualist, Socialist and aristocrat, + orthodox while holding every heresy extant, not cultured or + literary, slovenly and almost coarse; yet grasping his listeners by + the feeling impressed on each that the preacher knows and is + describing his (the hearer's) experiences, troubles, hopes, + life-history." + + I questioned him about Leonard Montefiore, a memoir of whom had + caught my eye in one of the bookcases. He was a man of brilliant + promise, unpopular at Balliol, giving himself intellectual airs; + went unwashed, with greenish complexion and generally repulsive + appearance; would have been prominent had he lived; was much petted + by Ruskin. + + He said that, if London were destroyed to-morrow, in ten years' time + its site would be covered with a forest of maple, sycamore, robinia, + showing an undergrowth of Persian willow-herb. + + He told of a man whom his groom pronounced to be "the footiest gent + on a 'oss and the 'ossiest gent on foot as he ever see." + + He spoke of the "Local Veto Bill," forced by Harcourt on a reluctant + Cabinet; Harcourt was, he said, a genuine convert to the principle-- + a curious intellectual phenomenon, this development of a belated + conviction in a mind hitherto essentially opportunist. It cost him + his seat later on. + + Sir Charles described Speaker Peel's farewell to the House: said + that it was quite perfect in every way. He thought Gully undesirable + as his successor, and should not vote for him. + + Of the rising I.L.P. he said once, in early days, they had done + wrongly in formulating a programme. Their name was a sufficient + programme; now they would indirectly help the Tories. + + He had an extraordinary insight into the mental habits and emotions + of domestic animals, interpreting the feelings and opinions of his + horses when out riding, of his Pyrford dog Fafner, of his Sloane + Street cat Calino, in a manner at once graphic and convincing. His + love for cats amounted to a passion; a menagerie of eight or ten + tailless white or ginger Persians was kept in an enclosure, at + Pyrford. Once, when exploring a fine Ravenna church, we missed him, + returning from our round to find him near the door, caressing a cat + belonging to the custodian, which he had inveigled into his lap. + + His literary dislikes and preferences were numerous and frankly + expressed, deeply interesting as the idiosyncrasies of a rich and + highly trained intelligence, even when to myself somewhat + unaccountable. While keenly appreciating the best in modern French + literature, he could see no charm in Corneille or Racine. Quite + lately Rabelais, reopened after many years, appealed to him + strongly, as keen satire and invective veiled by wit, and, so only, + tolerated by those scourged. To be laid hold of and temporarily + possessed by a book was as characteristic of him as of old + Gladstone; in their turn, _Pantagruel_, Anatole France's _Penguins_, + most of all _The Blue Bird_, which he read delightedly, but would + not see acted, formed of late the breakfast equipage as certainly as + the eggs and toast: any utterance of conventional apology or regret + was expressed by, "Voulez-vous que j'embrasse le chat?" + + His acquaintance with English literature was intermittent. He was + apparently a stranger to our eighteenth-century authors, both in + poetry and prose; of those who followed them in time, he undervalued + Scott, disliked Macaulay, admired Napier, admired Trollope. + Wordsworth he condemned as puerile, inheriting the _Edinburgh + Review_ estimate of his poetry, and often called on me ecstatically + to repeat Hartley Coleridge's parody of _Lucy_. Of Keats he was + immeasurably fond, drawn to him by the poet's relation to his + family, declaiming his lines often--as he did sometimes those of + Shelley, whose verses in his own copy of the poems are heavily and + with wise selection scored--in tones which showed a capacity for + deep poetic feeling. A quotation would accidentally arrest him, and + he would call for the book, usually after short perusal discarding + the author as a "poopstick," a favourite phrase with him. I remember + this occurring with the _Rejected Addresses_, though he knew and + loved James Smith. A travesty of Omar Khayyám, called _The Rubaiyat + of a Persian Kitten_, he read delightedly, much preferring it to the + original. He professed contempt for the study of English grammar, + more especially for the scientific analysis of English + sentence-structure, which plays so large a part in modern education. + The contempt was certainly, as Osborne Gordon said, not bred of + familiarity. I fear that, like most University or public school men, + he would have been foiled by the simplest Preliminary Grammar Paper + of a University Local Examination to-day. + + But his knowledge of political history, foreign and domestic, during + the last centuries was marvellously extensive and minute. In earlier + history he was oblivious often of his own previous knowledge, + argumentatively maintaining untenable propositions. Though fortified + by Freeman and Bryce, I could never get him to admit that all the + historic "Emperors," from Augustus Caesar in 27 B.C. down to + Francis, King of Germany, who gave up the Empire in A.D. 1806, were + Emperors, not of Germany or Austria, but of Rome; or that the + Reformed English Church of Tudor times, with all its servility, had + never relinquished, but steadily held and holds, its claim to + continuous Catholicity. But a query as to the French Revolution, the + Napoleonic dynasties, the Vienna Congress, the South African or + Franco-Prussian War, or the developments in India, Canada, Egypt, + would draw forth a stream of marshalled lucid information, which it + was indeed a privilege to hear. + + "Neque ille in luce modo atque in oculis civium magnus, sed intus + domique præstantior. Qui sermo! quæ præcepta! quanta notitia + antiquitatis! quæ scientia juris! Omnia memoria tenebat, non + domestica solum, sed etiam externa bella. Cujus sermone ita tunc + cupide tenebar, quasi jam divinarem, id quod evenit, illo exstincto + fore unde discerem neminem" (Cicero, _De Senectute_). + + + +APPENDIX + +PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS OF MR. GLADSTONE BY +SIR CHARLES DILKE + + +The difficulty in the way of furnishing reminiscences of Mr. Gladstone +in Cabinet is in part the Privy Council oath, but still more the fact +that, where the matters that would be touched are of interest, they +often affect individuals or parties. I saw the most of Mr. Gladstone +between 1880 and 1886, and to this period the restrictions imposed by +the considerations named are most highly applicable. In the earlier days +when I sat in Parliament with him, from 1868 to 1880, we were, though +sitting on the same side of the House, frequently opposed to one +another, for I was often fighting for the claims of independent +Radicalism as against his commanding personality. This was especially +the case from 1868 to 1874; and his retirement after his defeat in 1874, +when Lord Hartington became the leader of the Liberal party, was so +complete that it was not until Mr. Gladstone was aroused by the +development of the Eastern Question in 1877 that we again saw much of +him in the House of Commons. An interesting reminiscence of the great +struggle of 1878 is afforded by the copy in my possession of the Whips' +list of the Liberal party marked by Mr. Gladstone and myself. I was +acting for him, against the party Whips, in the preparations for the +division upon his famous Resolutions. We daily went through the promises +of the members who had undertaken to support his Resolutions, of those +who remained steadfast in adhesion to Lord Hartington and who were +prepared to vote against the Resolutions, and of those who would vote +neither way. The changes from day to day in the ascertained opinions of +the party were most strange. Family was divided against family--for +instance the family of Cavendish--and the cleavage followed no line that +corresponded with shades of Liberalism. The pro-Turks upon the Liberal +side were joined in their support of Lord Hartington by the "peace at +any price" section of the Radicals. Curiously enough, the division of +the party was exactly equal, and remained equal through all the changes +of individual promises. On the day on which peace was made, and (to Mr. +Gladstone's immense relief) the chances of a complete disruption +averted, the number of members pledged to Mr. Gladstone was 110, and an +exactly equal number of members was pledged to Lord Hartington and the +Whips. + +Coming to later times, a reminiscence is one of April, 1893, when Mr. +Gladstone sent for me to discuss a motion of which I had given notice +upon the Egyptian occupation. He talked on that occasion with that +absolute frankness which accompanied the confidence he always placed in +others. It was not peculiar to him, but belongs more, perhaps, to the +old days in which he received the training of his mind than to present +times. We are told that democratic diplomacy is to be outspoken. But, so +far as Parliament is concerned, the older leaders were, I think, like +Mr. Gladstone, more given to outspokenness than the newer men, who find +themselves forced by the ubiquity of the Press to a greater reserve than +was formerly necessary to be maintained. Mr. Gladstone was always of a +playful mind, and it would be impossible ever to fully relate any of his +conversations without recalling the manner in which, however absorbed in +his subject, he always would break off to discuss some amusing +triviality. Sir William Harcourt has touchingly recalled Mr. Gladstone's +old-world courtesy, which was in private life his distinguishing +characteristic.--_Daily News_, May 24_th_, 1898. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Life of the Rt. Hon. Sir Charles +W. Dilke, Vol. 2, by Stephen Gwynn + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIFE OF CHARLES W. DILKE, VOL. 2 *** + +This file should be named 8540-8.txt or 8540-8.zip + +Produced by Charles Franks, David King +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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