described, the change which resulted in the adoption of a popular
suffrage, in the days when our small band of Irish Nationalists was
still doing battle inch by inch against the Government, we had many
fierce struggles with Harcourt, then a leading member of the Liberal
administration. We had to admit that we found in him a powerful
antagonist. He was ready in reply, resolute in maintaining his position,
and he gave us, to say the least of it, as good as we brought. He was
ever alert, he could answer attack by attack, he could carry the battle
into the enemy's ranks, and the ablest of our debaters had his best work
to do when compelled to stand up in Parliamentary contest against
Harcourt. But I observed that in our private dealings with Harcourt, on
questions which came within the range of his administrative functions,
we always found him considerate, kind, and even generous. There were
frequent occasions when a Minister of the Crown had to be applied to by
an Irish member for justice in the dealings of his official department,
where individual questions of right and wrong having nothing to do with
the general subject of Home Rule came up for consideration. I am now
speaking of questions which were not to be settled by mere debate in the
House of Commons, but which belonged to the ordinary and practical
dealings of the department with this or that individual case. I can
remember many instances in which I had to make some such appeal to Sir
William Harcourt, and I ever found him most ready and willing to
consider fairly the nature of any individual grievance, and to prevent
the administration of the law from being perversely turned into an
engine of oppression. I know that many of my colleagues as well as
myself felt thankful to Harcourt for his prompt interference where a
real grievance had been brought under his notice, and for his resolve to
see that justice must be done to the obscure sufferer from official
tyranny. When the Liberal Government and the Irish National party came
to work together for Home Rule, we, the Irish National members, had
nothing on our memory which could prevent us from regarding Harcourt as
a genuine Liberal and a sincere friend who had never shown any
inclination to abuse his power when he was strong and we were at our
weakest. My recollection of the days when we were fighting against
Harcourt is tinged with no bitterness. He was always a formidable
fighter, but he fought fairly when he still had to fight against us.
It is not surprising that Harcourt should have been for some time
regarded as a powerful debater and nothing more. He was one of the
foremost debaters in the House of Commons, even at a time when that
House had more commanding debaters in it than it can claim to have just
at present. He cannot be ranked among the great orators of the House. He
is wanting in imagination, and without the gift of imagination there
cannot be eloquence of the highest order. Even in the mere making of
phrases he has seldom shown originality, and it has often been remarked
of him, as it was remarked by Disraeli of Sir Robert Peel, that he never
ventures on any quotation which has not already well established its
popularity. Sir William Harcourt's best qualities as a speaker consist
in his clearness of exposition, his unfailing fluency, his masterly
array of forcible argument, and the fact that he never allows his
eloquence to soar over the heads of his audience. I should be inclined
to say of him that, although he is unquestionably a great Parliamentary
debater, yet his intellectual capacity, his faculty for balancing
evidence, acquiring and comparing facts, appreciating tendencies, and
coming to just conclusions, are greater even than his powers of speech.
I may say that one who listened to Sir William Harcourt during the
earlier stages of his Parliamentary career might very naturally have
been led to quite a different conclusion, and might have set him down as
a clever maker of speeches and not a statesman. But such an observer,
supposing him to be endowed with a fair amount of intelligence, would
have gradually changed his opinion as he followed Harcourt's political
career. Every time that Harcourt has been in office he has more and more
given proof that there is in him the true quality of statesmanship. He
served as Home Secretary under Gladstone, and was afterwards Chancellor
of the Exchequer, first in one of Gladstone's Administrations and
afterwards in the Government of Lord Rosebery. There can be no question
that he proved himself to be one of the greatest financial Ministers
England has had in recent times. His famous Death Duties budget,
introduced while Lord Rosebery was Prime Minister, created one of the
most vehement controversies known to the political life of the present
generation. Yet the great principle which Harcourt embodied in his
dealing with the question of death duties must now be regarded even by
his political opponents as resting on a basis of absolute morality and
justice. The principle merely was that the amount of taxation which any
individual pays to the State in consideration of his having obtained
property by bequest shall be greater in proportion according as the
acquired property is great in amount. In other words, Harcourt's policy
maintained that a man who comes in for a large property as a bequest
shall pay a larger proportion of taxation to the State than a man who
comes in for a small property, and that the same principle ought to
prevail through our other systems of direct taxation. The whole
controversy simply turns on the question whether the rich man ought or
ought not to pay a larger proportion of his income to defray the
national expenses than the poor man--whether the citizen who has only
income enough to enable him to maintain his family decently ought to be
called upon to pay towards the maintenance of the State on just the same
scale as that ordained for the man who can live in lavish luxury. The
boldness and originality of Sir William Harcourt's venture in his budget
of 1893, the energy and argumentative power with which he carried it to
success, have undoubtedly secured for him a place in the front rank of
England's financial Ministers. The later years of Harcourt's career
offer a strange commentary on the estimate generally formed of him when
he began to be conspicuous in Parliament. At the former period he was
commonly regarded as a clever but somewhat superficial man, as one whose
qualities were rather flashy than sound, as a ready maker of telling
speeches designed to produce an immediate effect and destined to be
utterly forgotten the day after to-morrow. Harcourt's later years of
public work have proved him to be a serious Parliamentary leader, a man
of strong and deep convictions, a man who thinks before he speaks and
speaks because he thinks.
Indeed, the seriousness of Harcourt's convictions on some subjects of
national importance has brought him more than once into disfavor with
his constituents. He holds very strong and advanced views on the
subject of local option--that is to say, on the right of localities to
say whether they will or will not allow the sale of intoxicating drinks
within their confines, and to state what conditions are to be imposed on
the traffic if it is permitted at all. Sir William Harcourt went further
on this subject than some even among his colleagues who were in favor of
the general principle as a principle, but did not see the necessity for
pressing it to immediate action. One of those colleagues said to me that
in his opinion Harcourt might very well have allowed the question to
stand over for eight or ten years, and perhaps by the end of that time
the habits of the population would have improved so far as to render the
passing of any strong restrictive law unnecessary. I am quite certain
that Harcourt's earnest resolve to deal boldly with this subject if he
should be allowed the opportunity had much to do with the condition of
feeling in the Liberal party which led to his resignation of its
leadership. We may look forward with confidence to the formation of a
new Liberal Government in which Harcourt will have a commanding
position, and when that time comes we may take it for granted that, in
spite of whatever opposition on either side of the House of Commons, he
will once more attempt to deal with the question of local option.
Most of my American readers know that Sir William Harcourt's second wife
was the daughter of Lothrop Motley, the famous historian who was for a
time Minister to Great Britain, and who died at Harcourt's country
residence in 1877. The eldest son, Louis Vernon Harcourt, who was born
in 1863, has also married an American lady. Louis Harcourt, whom I have
known since his boyish days, is endowed with much of his father's
talents, and I have always thought that if he had devoted himself
entirely to political life he might make for himself such a career as
his father has already accomplished. During contested elections I have
been more than once associated with Louis Harcourt in "stumping" some
parts of the country on behalf of the Liberal Government then engaged in
the cause of Home Rule, and I have the clearest memories of his
remarkable organizing capacity, his ready eloquence, and his skill in
replying to questions and arguments and in convincing skeptical voters.
I take it for granted that every one who has known Louis, or, as he is
commonly called, "Lulu" Harcourt, must have delightful recollections of
his bright companionship. We have all heard that Sir William Harcourt
studiously consulted his son when the offer of a peerage was made to him
by King Edward, and that "Lulu" was resolute in supporting his father's
desire to refuse the honor, even although his acceptance of it would
have made "Lulu" the heir to a peerage. Sir William Harcourt, we may
well hope, has yet good work to do in the House of Commons. There is
nothing about him which suggests the idea of advanced years or of
decaying powers, whether mental or physical. The curious attack of
weakness which lately came over so many members of the Liberal party
never touched his robust intellect and resolute character. No man could
render more valuable services than he may be expected to do in turning
to account for genuine Liberalism the reaction already beginning to set
in against the reign of the Tories and the Jingoes. I cherish the belief
that the best of Sir William Harcourt's work is yet to be done by
him.
[Illustration: Photograph copyright by London Stereoscopic Co.
JAMES BRYCE]
JAMES BRYCE
James Bryce is universally recognized as one of the intellectual forces
in the British House of Commons. When he rises to make a speech, every
one listens with the deepest interest, feeling sure that some ideas and
some instruction are sure to come which no political party in the House
can well afford to lose. Some men in the House of Commons have been
orators and nothing else; some have been orators and instructors as
well; some have been Parliamentary debaters more or less capable; and a
good many have been bores. In every generation there have been a few who
are especially regarded as illuminating forces. The House does not think
of measuring their influence by any estimate of their greater or less
capacity for mere eloquence of expression. It values them because of the
lessons which they teach. To this small order of members James Bryce
undoubtedly belongs. Now, I do not mean to convey the idea that such men
as these are not usually endowed with the gift of eloquence, or that
they cannot deliver speeches which would entitle them to a high rank
among Parliamentary debaters, no matter what the import of the speeches
might be. My object is to describe a certain class of men whose
Parliamentary speeches are valued by members in general without any
special regard for their form, but only with regard to their substance,
for the thoughts they utter and not for the manner of the utterance.
James Bryce would be considered an effective and even a commanding
speaker in any public assembly, but nevertheless, when the House of
Commons and the public think of his speeches, these are thought of
mainly for the truths they tell and the lessons they convey, and not for
any quality of mere eloquence which adorns them. In a certain sense
James Bryce might be described as belonging to that Parliamentary order
in the front of which John Morley stands just now; but of course John
Morley has thus far had more administrative experience than James Bryce,
and has taken a more distinct place as a Parliamentary and popular
leader. Of both men, however, I should be inclined to say that their
public speeches lose something of the praise fairly due to them as mere
displays of eloquence, because of the importance we all attach to their
intellectual and educational influence.
I may say also that James Bryce is not first and above all other things
a public man and a politician. He does not seem to have thought of a
Parliamentary career until after he had won for himself a high and
commanding position as a writer of history. Bryce is by birth an
Irishman and belongs to that northern province of Ireland which is
peopled to a large extent by Scottish immigrants. We are all rather too
apt to think of this Ulster province as essentially un-Irish, or even
anti-Irish in tone and feeling, although some of the most extreme among
Irish Nationalists, men like John Mitchell for instance, were born and
brought up in Ulster, and in more recent days some conspicuous Home
Rulers have sat in the House of Commons as representatives of Ulster
constituencies. James Bryce has always been an Irish Nationalist since
he came into public life, and has shown himself, whether in or out of
political office, a steady and consistent supporter of the demand for
Irish Home Rule. Indeed, I should be well inclined to believe that a
desire to render some personal service in promoting the just claims of
Ireland for a better system of government must have had much influence
over Bryce's decision to accept a seat in the House of Commons.
Bryce began his education in the University of Glasgow, from which he
passed on to Oxford, where he won many honors and has left the memory of
a most successful career, not merely as student, but also as professor.
He studied for a while at Heidelberg, where he cultivated to the full
his previously acquired knowledge of German; and I have heard in later
years on good authority that while Bryce was a member of Mr. Gladstone's
Government he became a great favorite with Queen Victoria because of his
capacity for fluent speech in the language which the late Queen loved
especially to hear. Before he turned his attention to active political
life Bryce studied for the bar, became a member of the profession, and
actually practiced in the Law Courts for some years. Thus far, however,
he had hardly given indication of the gifts which were destined to
secure for him a high and enduring place in English literature. Thus far
his life may be regarded as that of a student and a scholar; he had yet
to give to the world the fruits of his scholarship. James Bryce is
probably above all things a scholar. He is, I may venture to say, the
most scholarly man in the House of Commons. I doubt whether there is in
England so widely read a man in all departments of literature, art, and
science as Bryce, now that Lord Acton has been removed from us by death.
Long before his entrance into Parliamentary life Bryce had obtained the
highest distinction as a writer of history. It is not too much to say
that his great historical work, "The Holy Roman Empire," is destined to
be an English classic and a book for all countries and all times. The
author could hardly add to the reputation he won by this masterpiece of
historical study, insight, and labor, but it is only mere justice to say
that every work of importance which he afterwards gave to the world has
maintained his position in literature. His turn of mind has been always
that which distinguishes the practical student--the student of
realities, not the visionary or the dreamer, the man who, according to
Goethe's phrase, is occupied more by the physical than by the
metaphysical. In 1877 he published a narrative of his travels in
Transcaucasia, with an account of his ascent of Mount Ararat. I believe
no other traveler has ever accomplished such a practical study of Mount
Ararat as that which was made by Mr. Bryce, and during a part of his
explorings he was absolutely alone, as he could not prevail upon the
guides belonging to that region to overcome their superstitious dread of
an intrusion on certain parts of the mountain. He was always fond of
travel, and was able to bring some fresh ideas out of places long
familiar to tourists, and he gave to the world in English periodicals
the results of his experiences as a traveler. His descriptions of
Icelandic scenery and of some rarely visited regions of Hungary and of
Poland have a genuine literary as well as a genuine geographical value.
His most important work, after his great history of the Holy Roman
Empire, is undoubtedly his book on "The American Commonwealth,"
published in 1888. This work has been read as generally and studied as
closely on the one side of the Atlantic as on the other. I have heard it
spoken of with as thorough appreciation in New York, Boston, and
Washington as in London, Manchester, and Liverpool. Many years have
passed since an eminent English public man, not now living, expressed
to me an earnest wish that some European writer would take up the story
of the great American Commonwealth just where De Tocqueville left it in
his "De la Démocratie en Amérique." I joined cordially in his ideas and
his wishes, and we discussed the qualifications of certain Englishmen
for the task if any of them could see his way to undertake it, but
neither of us seemed to be quite satisfied that we had named the right
man for the work. At the time it did not occur to either of us that the
historian of "The Holy Roman Empire" would be likely to turn his
attention to the story of the American Commonwealth. Indeed, the two
studies seemed to me so entirely different and uncongenial that if the
name of James Bryce had been suggested to me at the time I should
probably have put it aside without much hesitation. One could hardly
have looked for so much versatility even in Mr. Bryce as to favor the
expectation that he could accomplish, with something like equal success,
two historical works dealing with such totally different subjects and
requiring such different methods of analysis and contemplation.
More lately still Mr. Bryce brought out his "Impressions of South
Africa." This book was published in 1897, and the time of its
publication was most appropriate. It appeared when the prospects of a
war with the Transvaal Republic were opening gloomily for the lovers of
peace and fair dealing in England. If Mr. Bryce's impressions of South
Africa could only have been appreciated, and allowed to have their just
influence with the leaders of the Conservative party at that critical
time, England might have been saved from a long and futile war, and from
much serious discredit in the general opinion of the civilized world.
But if Bryce had spoken with the tongue of an angel, he could not at
such a time have prevailed against the rising passion of Jingoism and
the overmastering influence of mining speculators. It is only right to
say that the book was in no sense a mere distended political pamphlet.
It was not meant as a counterblast to Jingoism, or as a glorification of
the Boer Republic. It was a fair and temperate statement of the author's
observations in South Africa, and of the general conclusions to which
his experience and his study had brought him. Bryce pointed out with
perfect frankness the defects and dangers he saw in the Boer system of
government, and even the most ferocious Jingo could hardly have felt
justified in describing the author by that most terrible epithet, a
"pro-Boer." The warning which Bryce gave, and gave in vain, to the
English Government and the English majority, was a warning against the
credulous acceptation of one-sided testimony, against the fond belief
that the proclamation of Imperialism carried with it the right to
intervene in the affairs of every foreign State, and against the theory
that troops and gold mines warrant any enterprise.
The Parliamentary career of James Bryce began in 1880, when he was
elected as Liberal representative for a London constituency. He did
great work in the cause of national education, and took an important
part in two State Commissions appointed to conduct inquiries into the
working of the public schools. At a later period he was chosen to
represent a Scottish constituency, and when Mr. Gladstone came into
power as the head of a Government Bryce received the important office of
Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs. At that time his chief, the
Secretary for Foreign Affairs, was a member of the House of Lords, and
therefore the whole work of representing the department in the House of
Commons, where alone any important debates on foreign questions are
conducted, fell on Mr. Bryce, who had the entire conduct of such
discussions on behalf of the administration. The department was one
which gave an effective opportunity for the display of Bryce's intimate
knowledge of foreign countries, and he acquitted himself with all the
success which might have been expected from one of his intellect, his
experience, and his enlightened views. Later still he became Chancellor
of the Duchy of Lancaster, and for the first time had a seat in the
Cabinet. The Chancellorship of the Duchy of Lancaster is one of a small
order of English administrative offices which have comparatively
unimportant duties attached to their special administration, and leave
the man in possession ample time to lend his assistance, both in the
Cabinet and in the House of Commons, to all the great public questions
which occupy the attention of the Government. In 1894 he became
President of the Board of Trade, one of the most important positions in
any administration. Bryce's official career came to a close for the
present when the Liberal party lost their majority in the representative
chamber, and the Conservatives got into power and secured the
administrative position they are holding at the present day. Nothing can
be more certain than that the first really Liberal administration which
is again formed will assign to Mr. Bryce one of the highest places in
its Cabinet and in its work. Since he has come to sit on the benches of
Opposition he has taken part in many great debates, and is always
listened to with the most profound attention. He is one of the few
leaders of the Liberal party who were manful and outspoken in their
opposition to the policy which originated and carried on the late South
African war. He has taken a conspicuous part in every debate upon
subjects of foreign policy, of national education, and of political
advancement. He has never acted as a mere partisan, and his intervention
in debate is all the more influential as it is well understood that he
advocates a policy because he believes it to be right and not because of
any effect it may have in bringing himself and his Liberal colleagues
back again into power.
I have often noticed the effect produced in the libraries and
committee-rooms, in the rooms assigned to those who dine and to those
who smoke, when the news is passed round that Mr. Bryce is on his feet.
A member who is reading up some subject in the library, or writing his
letters in one of the lobbies, or enjoying himself in a dining-hall or a
smoking-room, is not likely to hurry away from his occupation or his
enjoyment in order to rush into the debating chamber merely because he
is told that some leading member of the Government or the Opposition has
just begun to address the House. The man who is addressing an audience
in the debating chamber may hold an important office in the Government
or may have an important place on the Front Bench of Opposition, but
then he may be a personage who feels bound to take part in a debate
merely because of the position he holds, and every one knows in advance
what views he is certain to advocate and what line of argument he is
likely to adopt, and our reading or dining or smoking friend may not
think that there is any pressing necessity for his presence as a
listener in the House. But there are some leading men on both sides of
Mr. Speaker who are always sure to have something to say which
everybody wants to hear, and Mr. Bryce is unquestionably one of that
happily endowed order. When the word goes round that Bryce is up,
everybody knows that something will be said on which he cannot exactly
calculate beforehand, something to which it is important that he should
listen, and there is forthwith a rush of members into the debating
chamber. There can hardly be a higher tribute to a man's importance as a
debater than the fact that his rising to address the House creates such
an effect, and I have seen it created again and again whenever the news
went round that "Bryce is on his legs." I have many a time heard
Conservative members murmur, in tones not altogether expressing absolute
satisfaction at the disturbing information, "Bryce is up--I must go in
and hear what he has to say." The tribute is all the higher in this case
because Bryce is not one of the showy and fascinating debaters whom
everybody wants to listen to for the mere eloquence and fascination of
their oratorical displays. Everybody knows that when he speaks it is
because he has something to say which ought to be spoken and therefore
ought to be heard. It is known that Bryce will not make a speech merely
because he thinks the time has come when some leader of Opposition
ought to take part in the debate, if only to show that the Opposition is
attending to its business.