Lord Carnarvon was sworn in as Lord-Lieutenant on July 7, 1885, and on
January 12, 1886, he tendered his resignation, departing from the
country thirteen days later. It was an unusually brief, yet an
exceptionally interesting, viceroyalty. He was rightfully regarded as
a man of fastidious honour and sincerity. On two occasions he had
resigned Cabinet rank because of conscientious objections to the policy
of his leaders, and there was scarcely anybody among the statesmen of
his time who commanded greater respect and confidence. The action of
Lord Salisbury in giving him the viceroyalty was rightfully interpreted
to mean that the Tory Prime Minister realized fully the gravity of the
situation in Ireland. Lord Carnarvon might have had a more exalted and
powerful position in the ministry. He accepted the viceroyalty in the
same spirit of anxiety to benefit his fellows that had been
characteristic of him since his entry into public life nearly thirty
years before. He was now fifty-four years of age, and was known to
fame as the author of the act that consolidated the British possessions
in North America in 1867. Again Colonial Secretary in 1874, the
foreign policy of the Cabinet did not {290} meet with his approval, and
he resigned, Sir Michael Hicks-Beach succeeding him.
Lord Carnarvon's state entry into Dublin evoked a display of
enthusiasm, from all classes that indicated clearly the hopes of the
people for something brilliant from his administration. Lady Carnarvon
was received for her own sake, as well as for that of her husband. She
possessed all the arts of the successful leader of society, and she
exercised them fully while in Ireland. There was keen competition to
make the acquaintance of the viceroy and his wife, and Dublin Castle
seemed likely to experience something quite different to its troubles
of the previous five years. But the wise knew that the imminent
General Election would in all probability terminate the reign of Lord
Carnarvon. The Salisbury ministry was a 'Cabinet of Caretakers,' and
the most that could be hoped for was the viceroy's return within a few
years when the electors had had another opportunity of passing a
verdict upon Gladstonian Liberalism.
[Sidenote: Carnarvon and Parnell]
Lord Carnarvon, however, quickly upset the equanimity of the prophets.
Whatever may have been his own doubts about the durability of his
position, he startled friends and foes alike by arranging for an
interview with Charles Stewart Parnell. A Tory Lord-Lieutenant
debating the policy of his Government with the Irish leader was even
more productive of astonishment than the sight of Parnell accepting a
place in the Government would have been. The interview was kept a
secret for a time, but it was too {291} important to escape disclosure
and debate, and the result of the General Election of
November-December, 1885, hastened the acrimonious and puzzling
discussion, with its sequel of denials and denunciations. The scene of
the momentous interview was a London drawing-room. The viceroy, the
moment he was alone with Parnell, appears to have taken the trouble to
explain elaborately--perhaps too elaborately--his adherence to Unionist
principles. As the representative of the queen, he could not listen to
one word involving the separation of the two countries; as a Tory
minister, he did not expect any result from the interview, and he did
not even hope for an agreement; while further, to protect himself and
his colleagues, he assured Mr. Parnell that he was acting entirely upon
his own responsibility, and as an individual, and not as a Cabinet
minister.
Despite these preliminary precautions, the Irish leader came away from
the meeting under the impression that the Tory party were willing to
grant Ireland an assembly giving it complete control of its own
affairs, and also a measure of land reform that would settle that
difficult problem. Of course, the price to be paid for this was to be
the Irish vote. On the other hand, Lord Carnarvon most emphatically
contradicted this interpretation of what had passed between them.
Nevertheless, Mr. Parnell adhered to his version.
The General Election of November-December, 1885, did not give either of
the English parties an independent majority. Of Liberals there were
{292} 335, Tories numbered 249; and 86 Irish Home Rulers, all followers
of Mr. Parnell, held the balance of power. Mr. Gladstone was now a
Home Ruler, and a Bill for establishing a separate legislature for
Ireland was introduced. It was in the early days of Mr. Gladstone's
conversion to the cause that Mr. Parnell hurled a charge against the
Tory party of having at one time been willing to purchase the Irish
vote by an eleventh-hour conversion to Home Rule. The charge was
denied indignantly, and then the Nationalist leader named Lord
Carnarvon as the Tory emissary. The ex-viceroy explained his position
in the House of Lords. This was on June 10--three days after Mr.
Parnell's speech in the Commons. The latter at once replied in a
letter to the _Times_ of June 12. It is worth reproducing:
[Sidenote: The Tory Party and Home Rule]
'Lord Carnarvon proceeded to say that he had sought the interview for
the purpose of ascertaining my views regarding--should he call it?--a
constitution for Ireland. But I soon found out that he had brought me
there in order that he might communicate to me his own views upon the
matter, as well as ascertain mine. In reply to an inquiry as to a
proposal which had been made to build up a central legislative body
upon the foundation of county boards, I told him that I thought this
would be working in the wrong direction, and would not be accepted by
Ireland; that the central legislative body should be a Parliament in
name and in fact. Lord Carnarvon assured me that this was his own view
also, and he strongly appreciated the importance of giving {293} due
weight to the sentiment of the Irish in this matter. He had certain
suggestions to this end, taking the Colonial model as a basis, which
struck me as being the result of much thought and knowledge of the
subject. At the conclusion of the conversation, which lasted more than
an hour, and to which Lord Carnarvon was very much the larger
contributor, I left him, believing that I was in complete accord with
him regarding the main outlines of a settlement conferring a
legislature upon Ireland.'
The viceroy's explanation of this was more general than particular. He
must have been satisfied with Lord Salisbury's verdict that he had
conducted the interview with Mr. Parnell 'with perfect discretion,' but
all the same it was many years before the Tory party lived down the
allegation that had he wished Parnell could have purchased it lock,
stock, and barrel, for service in the Home Rule cause.
In social circles Lord Carnarvon's popularity never waned. He was
supposed to be that contradiction in terms, 'a Tory Home Ruler,' but he
was only a high-minded gentleman who made a genuine attempt to deal
with the Irish problem. It was yet another instance of a viceroy
risking peace and popularity by trying to be impartial. One of his
opponents in Dublin expressed amazement that he should 'bother his head
about Home Rule when he had the viceroyalty and a beautiful wife.' It
is not to his discredit that he failed, and it must be remembered that
he paid a price for his interest in Ireland. The General Election
placed {294} Mr. Gladstone in power with the aid of the Nationalists,
but Gladstone soon committed political suicide, and Lord Salisbury
returned for a six years' lease of power. He did not invite Lord
Carnarvon to join his Cabinet, and at fifty-five the earl passed from
the political stage. All he gained by his brief association with
Ireland was the degree of LL.D. from Dublin University, when he replied
to the Public Orator's congratulations with an elegant Latin speech
that amazed the dons by reason of its splendour and faultlessness.
Lord Carnarvon died in 1890, only fifty-nine, but with a generous
record of work in the public service behind him. Never a party hack
nor a slave to political shibboleths, always an individualist and a
thinker, it was scarcely a fault if his good nature led him into an
unfortunate attempt to reconcile the irreconcilable. He came to
Ireland with no previous experience of the country and its people, and
so he judged them by the standard applied to average men and women. We
have been told by an authority that the Celtic temperament is
destructive, and not constructive, and the facts of history confirm
him. Lord Carnarvon forgot this, and therefore laid himself open to
the charge that he was surrendering to Parnellism and reform by crime,
and at the same time leading the Tory party to destruction. But
political catch-phrases are usually the work of the unthinking and the
illogical, and the only mistake he made was the common one of being a
little too much in advance of his time. The Tory party has travelled
many Irish miles since the day an {295} Irish viceroy and Parnell
exchanged their opinions in a London drawing-room.
[Sidenote: The Earl of Aberdeen]
The General Election of 1885 swept Liberalism out of Ireland, and gave
the House of Commons eighty-six Nationalists, the remainder of the
Irish members representing the opinions of the Unionist and
Conservative party. Mr. Gladstone had to solve the problem created by
the indecisive election, and as he finally decided to cast in his lot
with the Home Rulers, he formed a Government--his third--and appointed
the Earl of Aberdeen Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, Mr. John Morley--now
Viscount Morley--entering the Cabinet for the first time as Chief
Secretary.
Lord Aberdeen was born on August 3, 1847, and in 1870 succeeded to the
earldom--the seventh to hold the title. Associated from his earliest
days with the great Liberal statesman, he had always enjoyed his
friendship and confidence. It was to Lord and Lady Aberdeen's London
residence in the eighties--Dollis Hill, near Willesden--that Mr.
Gladstone went to seek repose after giving up his London house,
recording in his diary that he felt too timid at seventy-seven to think
of acquiring another London home. When in 1894 he resigned the
premiership, it was at Dollis Hill that he spent a few days in rest and
quiet. Ever a stanch and discriminating friend, Mr. Gladstone was
delighted to bestow the viceroyalty upon Lord Aberdeen, and
accordingly, on February 10, 1886, he was sworn in at Dublin Castle.
It is almost impossible to write of contemporaries without revealing
traces of prejudice or {296} partiality. Lord Aberdeen's Liberalism
was moulded by Mr. Gladstone, who was his political mentor; and Lady
Aberdeen, his clever and energetic wife, has always displayed a
masculine knowledge of politics and politicians. She was a Miss Ishbel
Marjoribanks before her marriage in 1877, and from all accounts seems
to have been a Home Ruler before Mr. Gladstone's conversion. When she
entered Dublin in 1886 as the viceroy's wife she was under thirty, but
already had achieved considerable fame as a determined politician, a
philanthropist who had initiated common-sense methods in dealings with
the grave problems of ill-health and poverty, and a loyal friend. She
entered with zest into the social pleasures of Ireland's capital, and
practised the arts of the vice-queen which she has since brought to
perfection in Canada and in Dublin.
Their hospitality was generous, their popularity boundless. The chosen
of Gladstone could not but be an idol with the masses. Until coached
by their suspicious chieftains, the rank and file of Nationalism
idolized the viceroy and his wife. The Lord Mayor of Dublin and the
leading citizens voiced the opinions of the people, and the 'Union of
Hearts' appeared to be accomplished. At last Liberalism seemed to have
won the allegiance of the Irish.
The influence of Lady Aberdeen was considerable, and she helped to earn
success for the viceregal party. An ardent politician, she never made
the mistake of subordinating the hostess to the politician, and at her
functions all classes and {297} creeds met. It may be necessary here
to state that the story which has been in circulation some years,
describing how Lady Aberdeen was informed by the late Lord Morris that
'herself and the waiters, bedad!' were the only Home Rulers in the
room, is a wicked and malicious lie. The alleged incident never took
place, for Lady Aberdeen is not in the habit of introducing politics
during dinner-parties and canvassing for opinions when entertaining.
Lord Morris was the author of many witty sayings, and he does not
require the aid of the unscrupulous to perpetuate his memory. His
sayings will live without the help of that type of person who delights
in associating persons of eminence with their jokes, well aware that
because of their position they are compelled to ignore their slanderers.
While history was being made with startling rapidity in England, Lord
Aberdeen continued to carry out the duties of his exalted office. But
the Liberal party was by now smashed to atoms. Mr. Gladstone was
acting like a broken and disappointed man, and the life of the ministry
threatened at any time to cease. It was merely a question of time for
the Tory party and the rebellious Liberals to amalgamate and turn out
the Gladstone Government.
On July 20, 1886, Mr. Gladstone resigned, and Lord and Lady Aberdeen
left Ireland, and it was now the turn of the Tory-Liberal-Unionist
coalition to show what they could do in Ireland--the land of
opportunities of which no one seemed capable of taking advantage. Lord
Salisbury had {298} already stated his views with characteristic
bluntness. During the debate on the Home Rule Bill of 1886 he forgot
that he had not a reputation for humour, and informed his audience that
the Irish were like the Hottentots, incapable of governing themselves,
while he suggested that the best plan for Ireland would be the
application for twenty years of a stringent Coercion Act. The question
of the Imperial contribution towards the setting up of a Parliament in
Dublin he touched upon lightly by suggesting that the money would be
better employed in aiding the emigration of a million Irishmen.
This was the statesman who was given the opportunity of putting into
practice his theories of Irish administration. There was some
curiosity as to the new viceroy, and when Lord Salisbury chose the
Marquis of Londonderry the nervous felt more relieved. The premier had
selected a safe rather than a brilliant Lord-Lieutenant, and one who
was capable of perpetrating as few blunders as any of his Tory
contemporaries. Sir Michael Hicks-Beach emphasized the new importance
of the Irish Secretaryship by accepting it, and, as he had been
Chancellor of the Exchequer in the previous Salisbury Cabinet, his
action was regarded as a generous one. It was a remarkable innovation
to send a tried statesman to Dublin, for it had been the custom for
many years to utilize the position as a sort of preparatory school for
the Cabinet. It was Sir Michael's second attempt, but this was only a
half-hearted one. Two Royal Commissions were appointed--one {299} to
report on the land question, the other to examine into the material
resources of the country. Lord Cowper, an ex-viceroy, presided over
the first. Lord Salisbury was, indeed, making a worthy attempt to
effect the political salvation of the Hottentots by Act of Parliament.
The viceroy, Charles Stewart Vane-Tempest-Stewart, sixth Marquis of
Londonderry, was thirty-four years of age, and had before his
succession to the peerage in 1884 represented County Down in Parliament
for six years. As a descendant of the second marquis, who earned
undying notoriety by his destruction of the so-called Irish Parliament,
he was naturally of interest to all whose affairs brought them into
close touch with Ireland. He was an Irish landlord, the husband of a
clever, ambitious woman, a daughter of the premier earl of England.
They had married in 1875, and she was a leading Tory hostess when they
transferred their headquarters from Londonderry House, Park Lane, to
Dublin Castle and the Viceregal Lodge for a period of three years.
[Sidenote: Mr. Balfour as Chief Secretary]
They were stirring times, but the viceroy, by a curious chance, was
able to stand aloof. The resignation of Sir Michael Hicks-Beach in the
March following the arrival of Lord Londonderry brought the Prime
Minister's nephew, Mr. A. J. Balfour, over as Chief Secretary. We know
how he made his years in Ireland peculiarly his own, obscuring our view
of the viceroy until at times it seems that there was only a shadow
behind the frail-looking personality that dominated Ireland in his
capacity of Chief Secretary. 'Bloody' {300} Balfour, they called him,
and plotted against his life, much to the annoyance of the viceroy, who
detested fuss, and never could understand the prevailing passion for
political principles. Mr. Balfour answered force with force, and,
remembering the history of attempts at conciliation, he went boldly and
fearlessly for the criminals, their patrons and instigators. Another
Coercion Bill was framed, and, empowered by it, he sent about thirty
members of Parliament to gaol, while evictions and murder continued to
be reported, and Parnellism became synonymous with crime.
A visit from Prince Albert Victor and Prince George towards the end of
June, 1887, was appreciated by both viceroy and people. The event had
all the charm of spontaneity and unexpectedness, and Lord and Lady
Londonderry had the one opportunity of their viceroyalty to show what
they could do as representatives of the Queen of England. There was a
brilliant State banquet in the famous old dining-room of Dublin Castle,
where the leading men of the country paid their respects to the then
second heir to the throne and the youthful Prince who was destined by
Fate to ascend the throne. A review in the famous and superb Phoenix
Park was another feature of the visit that must have appealed to the
viceroy as an oasis does to the traveller in the desert. Not that Lord
Londonderry took a too prominent part in the inevitable political and
agrarian troubles of his reign. He left those to the efficient and
indomitable Mr. Balfour, while he pursued the even way of life, gently
patronizing the elect, and {301} good-humouredly tolerating the
non-elect who are the clamouring and unsought satellites of every
Viceroy of Ireland. Lady Londonderry, who is clever enough to deserve
a better title than that of mere giver of dinners, softened the
crudities of office and gained a popularity in Ireland not confined to
her political friends--a rare achievement in a confessedly party woman.
She is the author of a study of Viscount Castlereagh, second Marquis of
Londonderry.
[Sidenote: The Mitchelstown affray]
The affray at Mitchelstown in the September of 1887 was dealt with by
Mr. Balfour with his usual splendid disregard for public opinion, and
it was succeeded by the Parnell Commission. During these historic
incidents the viceroy remained in the background, jogging amiably
along, and no doubt thanking Heaven that had cast his lot in pleasanter
times than those that fell to Lord Cowper and Lord Spencer. He
resigned the office in 1889. Eleven years later he sat in his first
Cabinet as Postmaster-General, and when Mr. Balfour succeeded his uncle
in the premiership he appointed his colleague President of the Board of
Education--a nice, respectable post that nobody took seriously, and
wondered why it was represented in the Cabinet at all. The 'tariff'
resignations in 1903 placed several important portfolios at Mr.
Balfour's disposal, and he thereupon added to Lord Londonderry's
official duties by making him Lord President of the Council. And as
President of the Board of Education and President of the Council the
marquis continued to attend the Cabinet until the ministry perished in
the {302} maelstrom that swallowed up the Tory party and astonished the
world within a few weeks of Mr. Balfour's resignation of the
premiership. The Tory ex-Prime Minister appeared to have left most of
his courage behind him in Ireland, where he went as 'Clara,' and stayed
to earn the more flattering, if inelegant, sobriquet of 'Tiger Lily.'
{303}