Oct. 4. At Hawarden. Receives address signed by 400,000 women of Ireland:
on home rule.
1887.
Jan. “_Locksley Hall_ and the Jubilee,” in _Nineteenth Century_.
Jan. 27. Tribute to memory of Lord Iddesleigh.
Jan. 27. On Lord Randolph Churchill’s retirement and Ireland.
Feb. “Notes and Queries on the Irish Demand,” in _Nineteenth Century_.
March “The Greater Gods of Olympus: (1) Poseidon,” in _Nineteenth
Century_.
Match 17. To the liberal members for Yorkshire: on home rule.
March 24. On the exaction of excessive rents.
March 29. On Criminal Law Amendment (Ireland) bill.
April “The History of 1852-60 and Greville’s Latest Journals,” in _English
Historical Review_.
April 18. On second reading of Criminal Law Amendment bill.
April 19. At Eighty club on liberal unionist grammar of dissent.
April 25. Criticise Mr. Goschen’s budget.
May “The Greater Gods of Olympus: (2) Apollo,” in _Nineteenth Century_.
May 5. Moves for select committee to inquire into the _Times_ articles on
“Parnellism and Crime.”
May 11. At Dr. Parker’s house on Ireland.
May 31. On Crimes bill at Hawarden.
June Reviews Mr. Lecky’s _History of England in the Eighteenth Century_ in
_Nineteenth Century_.
June “The Great Olympian Sedition,” in _Contemporary Review_.
June 4. At Swansea, on Welsh nationality, Welsh grievances, and the Irish
Crimes bill.
June 6. At Singleton Abbey on home rule and retention of Irish members.
June 7. At Cardiff on home rule.
July “The Greater Gods of Olympus: (3) Athene,” in _Nineteenth Century_.
June 2. To the liberal members for Durham on Lord Hartington’s Irish
record.
June 7. Moves rejection of Irish Criminal Law Amendment bill.
June 9. Presented at Dollis Hill with address signed by 10,689 citizens of
New York.
June 14. On second reading of the Irish Land bill.
June 16. At National Liberal club: on Ireland and home rule movement in
Scotland and Wales.
June 29. At Memorial Hall on the lessons of bye-elections.
Aug. “Mr. Lecky and Political Morality,” in _Nineteenth Century_.
Aug. 16. Lays first cylinder of railway bridge over the Dee: on railway
enterprise and the Channel tunnel.
Aug. 25. On proclamation of Irish land league.
Aug. 30. At Hawarden on Queen Victoria’s reign.
Sept. “Electoral Facts of 1887,” in _Nineteenth Century_.
Sept. 12. On riot at Mitchelstown, Ireland.
Oct. “Ingram’s History of the Irish Union,” in _Nineteenth Century_.
Oct. 4. At Hawarden on the absolutist methods of government.
Oct. 18. At National Liberal Federation, Nottingham, on conduct of Irish
police.
Oct. 19. At Skating Rink, Nottingham, on home rule.
Oct. 20. At Drill Hall, Derby, on Ireland.
Nov. “An Olive Branch from America,” in _Nineteenth Century_.
Dec. 27. At Dover on free trade and Irish Crimes Act.
Dec. 28. Leaves England for Italy.
1888.
Jan. “A reply to Dr. Ingram,” in _Westminster Review_.
Feb. “The Homeric Herê,” in _Contemporary Review_.
Feb. 8. Returns to London.
Feb. 17. On coercion in Ireland.
March “Further Notes and Queries on the Irish Demand,” in _Contemporary
Review_.
March 23. On perpetual pensions.
April 9. On the budget.
April 11. At National Liberal club on the budget and Local Government
bill.
April 23. Moves an amendment in favour of equalising the death duties on
real and personal property.
April 25. On second reading of County Government (Ireland) bill.
May. “Robert Elsmere, and the Battle of Belief,” in _Nineteenth Century_.
May. A reply to Colonel Ingersoll on “Christianity,” in _North American
Review_.
May 1. On government control of railways.
May 2. Opens Gladstone library at National Liberal club: on books.
May 9. At Memorial Hall on Irish question.
May 26. At Hawarden condemns licensing clauses of Local Government bill.
May 30. Receives deputation of 1500 Lancashire liberals at Hawarden.
June 18. On death of German Emperor.
June 26. Condemns administration of Irish criminal law.
June 27. On Channel Tunnel bill.
June 30. At Hampstead on Ireland and the bye-elections.
July “The Elizabethan Settlement of Religion,” in _Nineteenth Century_.
July 6. On payment of members.
July 18. To liberal members for Northumberland and Cumberland on Parnell
commission and retention of Irish members.
July 23. On second reading of Parnell Commission bill.
July 25. Mr. and Mrs. Gladstone presented with their portraits on entering
on fiftieth year of married life.
July 30. On composition of Parnell commission.
Aug. 20. Receives deputation of 1500 liberals at Hawarden: on conservative
government of Ireland.
Aug. 23. At Hawarden on spade husbandry and the cultivation of fruit.
Sept. “Mr. Forster and Ireland,” in _Nineteenth Century_.
Sept. 4. At Wrexham on Irish and Welsh home rule.
Sept. 4. At the Eisteddfod on English feeling towards Wales.
Nov. “Queen Elizabeth and the Church of England,” in _Nineteenth Century_.
Nov. 5. At Town Hall, Birmingham, on liberal unionists and one man one
vote.
Nov. 6. To deputation at Birmingham on labour representation and payment
of members.
Nov. 7. At Bingley Hall, Birmingham, on Irish question.
Nov. 8. To deputation of Birmingham Irish National club on Irish
grievances.
Nov. 19. On Irish Land Purchase bill.
Dec. 3. On Mr. Balfour’s administration of Ireland.
Dec. 15. At Limehouse Town Hall on necessary English reforms and the Irish
question.
Dec. 17. On English occupation of Suakin.
Dec. 19. Leaves England for Naples.
1889.
Jan. “Daniel O’Connell,” in _Nineteenth Century_.
Feb. Reviews _Divorce_ by Margaret Lee in _Nineteenth Century_.
Feb. 20. Returns to London.
March 1. On conciliatory measures in administration of Ireland.
March 29. On death of John Bright.
April Reviews _For the Right_ in _Nineteenth Century_.
April 4. On £21,000,000 for naval defence.
April 9. On Scotch home rule.
May “Italy in 1888-89,” in _Nineteenth Century_.
May 15. On second reading of Welsh Education bill.
May 16. Moves amendment to Mr. Goschen’s proposed death duties on estates
above £10,000.
June 5. At Southampton on lessons of the bye-elections.
June 7. At Romsey on Lord Palmerston.
June 8. At Weymouth on shorter parliaments and Ireland.
June 10. At Torquay on Ireland.
June 11. At Falmouth and Redruth on Ireland.
June 12. At Truro, St. Austell, and Bodmin on Ireland, one man one vote,
the death duties, etc.
June 14. At Launceston on dissentient liberals.
June 14. At Drill Hall, Plymouth, on home rule.
June 17. At Shaftesbury and Gillingham on the agricultural labourer.
July “Plain Speaking on the Irish Union,” in _Nineteenth Century_.
July 6. Presented with freedom of Cardiff; on free trade; on foreign
opinion of English rule in Ireland.
July 25. Golden wedding celebrated in London.
July 25. Speech on royal grants.
Aug. “Phœnician Affinities of Ithaca,” in _Nineteenth Century_.
Aug. 22. At Hawarden on cottage gardens and fruit culture.
Aug. 26. Celebration of golden wedding at Hawarden.
Sept. 7. Entertained in Paris by Society of Political Economy.
Sept. 23. At Hawarden on dock strike and bimetallism.
Sept. “The Triple Alliance and Italy’s Place in it,” by Outidanos, in
_Contemporary Review_.
Oct. Reviews _Journal de Marie Bashkirtseff_ in _Nineteenth Century_.
Oct. 23. At Southport on Ireland.
Oct. 26. Opens literary institute at Saltney, Chester.
Nov. “The English Church under Henry the Eighth,” in _Nineteenth Century_.
Nov. “The Question of Divorce,” in _North American Review_.
Dec. Reviews _Memorials of a Southern Planter_ in _Nineteenth Century_.
Dec. 2. At Free Trade Hall, Manchester, on liberal unionists and foreign
policy.
Dec. 3. In Free Trade Hall on government of Ireland.
Dec. 4. At luncheon at Town Hall on city of Manchester.
1890.
Jan. “A Defence of Free Trade,” in _North American Review_.
Jan. “The Melbourne Government: its Acts and Persons,” in _Nineteenth
Century_.
Jan. 9. At Hawarden on the effect of free trade on agriculture.
Jan. 22. At Chester on Ireland.
Feb. 5. At Oxford Union on vestiges of Assyrian mythology in Homer.
Feb. 11. On motion declaring publication by _Times_ of forged Parnell
letter to be breach of privilege.
March “On Books and the Housing of Them,” in _Nineteenth Century_.
March 3. On report of Parnell commission.
March 24. At National Liberal club on report of Parnell commission.
March 26. At Guy’s Hospital on the medical profession.
April 24. On second reading of Purchase of Land (Ireland) bill.
May 2. On disestablishment of church of Scotland.
May 12. On free trade at Prince’s Hall, Piccadilly.
May 15. On Local Taxation Duties bill.
May 16. At Norwich on Parnell commission, land purchase and licensing
question.
May 17. At Lowestoft on Siberian atrocities and the agricultural labourer.
April 27. Receives 10,000 liberals at Hawarden: on Mitchelstown, Irish
Land bill, and Licensing bill.
June 5. On Channel Tunnel bill.
June 13. On Local Taxation Duties bill.
June 18. To depositors in railways’ savings banks: on thrift.
July 17. At Burlington School, London, on the education of women.
July 24. On Anglo-German Agreement bill.
July 30. To Wesleyans at National Liberal club on Maltese marriage
question, and Ireland.
Aug. 21. At Hawarden on cottage gardening and fruit farming.
July 30. “Dr. Döllinger’s Posthumous Remains,” in the _Speaker_.
Sept. 12. At Dee iron works on industrial progress.
Oct. 21. At Corn Exchange, Edinburgh, on government’s Irish
administration.
Oct. 23. At West Calder on condition of working classes and Ireland.
Oct. 25. At Dalkeith on home rule for Scotland and Ireland.
Oct. 27. At Music Hall, Edinburgh, on retention of Irish members,
procedure and obstruction.
Oct. 29. At Dundee on free trade and the McKinley tariff. Opens Victorian
Art Gallery: on appreciation of beauty.
Nov. “Mr. Carnegie’s Gospel of Wealth,” in _Nineteenth Century_.
Nov. 24. Letter to Mr. Morley on Mr. Parnell and leadership of Irish
party.
Dec. 1. Publishes reply to Mr. Parnell’s manifesto to Irish people.
Dec. 2. On Purchase of Land (Ireland) bill.
Dec. 11. At Retford on Mr. Parnell and the home rule cause.
Publishes _The Impregnable Rock of Holy Scripture_, a reprint of articles
in _Good Words_.
_Landmarks of Homeric Study, together with an Essay on the Points of
Contact between the Assyrian Tablets and the Homeric Text._
1891.
Jan. 27. Supports motion to expunge from journals of the House the
Bradlaugh resolution (1881).
Feb. “Professor Huxley and the Swine-Miracle,” in _Nineteenth Century_.
Feb. 4. Moves second reading of Religious Disabilities Removal bill.
Feb. 13. Opens free library in St. Martin’s Lane: on free libraries.
Feb. 16. Condemns action of Irish executive in Tipperary trials.
Feb. 20. On disestablishment of church in Wales.
Feb. 27. On taxation of land.
March 3. On registration reform.
March 14. At Eton College on Homeric Artemis.
March 17. At Hastings on Mr. Goschen’s finance, Irish policy, and the
career of Mr. Parnell.
May “A Memoir of John Murray,” in _Murray’s Magazine_.
June 19. At St. James’s Hall, at jubilee of Colonial Bishoprics Fund, on
development of colonial church.
July 4. Death of W. H. Gladstone.
July 15. At Hawarden on fifty years of progress.
Sept. “Electoral Facts, No. III.,” in _Nineteenth Century_.
Oct. “On the Ancient Beliefs in a Future State,” in _Nineteenth Century_.
Oct. 1. At jubilee of Glenalmond College on study of nature and the
clerical profession.
Oct. 2. At Newcastle on the liberal programme.
Nov. 3. At Newcastle on local self-government and freedom of trade.
Nov. 28. At Wirral on home rule. At Sunlight Soap works on profit-sharing
and cooperation.
Dec. 11. At Holborn Restaurant to conference of labourers on rural
reforms.
Dec. 15. Leaves London for Biarritz.
1892.
Feb.-May “On the Olympian Religion,” in _North American Review_.
Feb. 29. Returns to London.
March 3. Opposes grant of £20,000 for survey of Uganda railway.
March 16. On Welsh Land Tenure bill.
March 24. On Small Agricultural Holdings bill.
March 28. On Indian Councils Act (1861) Amendment bill.
April Reviews _The Platform, its Rise and Progress_, in _Nineteenth
Century_.
April 28. On Church Discipline (Immorality) bill.
May 24. On Local Government (Ireland) bill.
May 31. At Memorial Hall on London government.
June “Did Dante Study in Oxford?” in _Nineteenth Century_.
June 5. At Dalkeith on Scotch home rule and disestablishment.
June 16. Receives deputation from London trades council on Eight Hours
bill.
June 18. To nonconformists at Clapham on Ulster and home rule.
June 21. Issues address to electors of Midlothian.
June 25. Struck in the eye by piece of gingerbread in Chester. At Liberal
club on the general election, the appeal to religious bigotry, and
disestablishment.
June 30. At Edinburgh Music Hall on Lord Salisbury’s manifesto, home rule,
and retention of Irish members.
July 2. At Glasgow on Orangeism and home rule.
July 4. At Gorebridge on labour questions.
July 6. At Corstorphine on government’s record.
July 7. At West Calder on protection, the hours of labour and home rule.
July 11. At Penicuik on conservative responsibility for recent wars,
finance, disestablishment, and Irish question.
July 13. Elected for Midlothian: Mr. Gladstone, 5845; Colonel Wauchope,
5155.
Aug. 9. On vote of want of confidence.
Aug. 15. Fourth administration formed.
Aug. 24. Returned unopposed for Midlothian.
Aug. 29. Knocked down by heifer in Hawarden Park.
Sept. 5. A paper on Archaic Greece and the East read before Congress of
Orientalists.
Sept. 12. At Carnarvon on case of Wales.
Oct. “A Vindication of Home Rule: a Reply to the Duke of Argyll,” in
_North American Review_.
Oct. 22. Cuts first sod of the new Cheshire railway: on migration of
population and mineral produce of Wales.
Oct. 24. Delivers Romanes lecture at Oxford on history of universities.
Dec. 3. Presented with freedom of Liverpool: on history of Liverpool and
Manchester ship canal.
Dec. 21. Leaves England for Biarritz.
1893.
Jan. 10. Returns to England.
Jan. 31. Replies to Mr. Balfour’s criticisms on the address.
Feb. 3. On Mr. Labouchere’s amendment in favour of evacuation of Uganda.
Feb. 8. On amendment praying for immediate legislation for agricultural
labourers.
Feb. 11. On motion for restriction of alien immigration.
Feb. 13. Brings in Government of Ireland (Home Rule) bill.
Feb. 28. On motion for international monetary conference.
March 3. Receives deputation from the miners’ federation on Eight Hours
bill.
March 20. On Sir Gerald Portal’s mission to Uganda.
March 27. Meeting of the liberal party at foreign office: on programme for
session.
March 27. On Mr. Balfour’s motion censuring action of Irish executive.
March 28. Receives deputations from Belfast manufacturers and city of
London merchants protesting against home rule.
April 6. Moves second reading of Home Rule bill.
April 19. Receives a deputation from the miners’ National Union on Eight
Hours bill.
April 21. Replies to criticisms on Home Rule bill.
May 1. On the occupation of Egypt.
May 2. Receives a deputation of the Mining Association in opposition to
Eight Hours bill.
May 3. On second reading of Miners’ Eight Hours bill.
May 11. Replies to Mr. Chamberlain’s speech on first clause of Home Rule
bill.
May 23. Opens Hawarden institute: on the working classes.
May 29. At Chester on Home Rule bill.
June “Some Eton Translations,” in _Contemporary Review_.
June 16. On arbitration between England and United States.
June 22. Statement regarding the financial clauses of Home Rule bill.
June 28. Moves resolution for closing debate on committee stage of Home
Rule bill.
July 12. Announces government’s decision regarding the retention of Irish
members at Westminster.
July 14. Moves address of congratulation on marriage of Duke of York.
July 21. Moves a new clause to Home Rule bill regulating financial
relations.
Aug. 5. At Agricultural Hall, Islington, on industry and art.
Aug. 30. Moves third reading of Home Rule bill.
Sept. 27. At Edinburgh on House of Lords and the Home Rule bill.
Nov. 9. On Matabeleland and the chartered company.
Dec. 19. On naval policy of the government.
1894.
Jan. 13. Leaves England for Biarritz.
Feb. 10. Returns to England.
March 1. On the Lords’ amendments to Parish Councils bill.
March 3. Resigns the premiership.
March 7. Confined to bed by severe cold.
March 17. At Brighton. Letter to Sir John Cowan—his farewell to
parliamentary life.
May “The Love Odes of Horace—five specimens,” in _Nineteenth Century_.
May 3. At Prince’s Hall on life and work of Sir Andrew Clark.
May 24. Right eye operated on for cataract.
July 7. Announces decision not to seek re-election to parliament.
Aug. “The Place of Heresy and Schism in the Modern Christian Church,” in
_Nineteenth Century_.
Aug. 14. On cottage gardening at Hawarden.
Aug. 16. Receives deputation of 1500 liberals from Torquay at Hawarden.
Sept. “The True and False Conception of the Atonement,” in _Nineteenth
Century_.
Dec. 29. Receives deputation from the Armenian national church at
Hawarden.
1895.
Jan. 7. Presented with an album by Irish-Americans: in favour of Irish
unity.
Jan. 8. Leaves England for south of France.
March Publishes _The Psalter with a concordance_.
Jan. “The Lord’s Day,” in _Church Monthly_; concluded in April number.
Jan. 23. Returns to England from France.
Jan. 15. At Hawarden to a deputation of Leeds and Huddersfield liberal
clubs: on English people and political power, and on advantages of
libraries.
June 12-24. Cruise in _Tantallon Castle_ to Hamburg, Copenhagen, and Kiel.
July 1. Farewell letter to Midlothian constituents.
Aug. 5. At Hawarden on small holdings and his old age.
Aug. 6. At Chester on Armenian question.
Nov. “Bishop Butler and his Censors,” in _Nineteenth Century_; concluded
in December number.
Dec. 28. Leaves England for Biarritz and Cannes.
1896.
Feb. Publishes _The Works of Bishop Butler_.
March 10. Returns to England from Cannes.
March 28. At Liverpool on the development of the English railway system.
April “The Future Life and the Condition of Man Therein,” in _North
American Review_.
April Contributes an article on “The Scriptures and Modern Criticism” to
the _People’s Bible_.
May _Soliloquium and Postscript_—a letter to the Archbishop of York,
published.
June “Sheridan,” in _Nineteenth Century_.
June 1. Letter on Anglican Orders published.
Aug. 3. At Hawarden horticultural show on rural life.
Sept. 1. At fête in aid of Hawarden Institute on progress of music.
Sept. 2. At Hawarden fête on Welsh music.
Sept. 24. At Hengler’s circus, Liverpool, on Armenian question.
Oct. “The Massacres in Turkey,” in _Nineteenth Century_.
Oct. 16. At Penmaenmawr in praise of seaside resorts.
1897.
Jan. 29. Leaves England for Cannes.
March 19. Letter to the Duke of Westminster on the Cretan question
published.
March 30. Returns to England from Cannes.
May 4. At Hawarden on the condition of the clergy.
June 2. Opens Victoria jubilee bridge over the Dee at Queensferry.
Aug. 2. At Hawarden horticultural show on small culture.
Nov. 26. Leaves England for Cannes.
1898.
Jan. 5. “Personal Recollections of Arthur H. Hallam,” in _Daily
Telegraph_.
Feb. 18. Returns to London from Cannes.
Feb. 22. Goes to Bournemouth.
March 22. Returns to Hawarden.
May 19. Death of Mr. Gladstone.
May 26, 27. Lying in state in Westminster Hall.
May 28. Burial in Westminster Abbey.
FOOTNOTES
1 Above, vol. ii. pp. 563-8.
M1 The Cabinet A Coalition
M2 Character As Head Of The Cabinet
M3 An Independent House Of Commons
M4 Naval Demonstration
2 March 25-6, 1881.
3 Bradlaugh, who was a little vain of his legal skill, founded this
claim upon the Evidence Amendment Act, taken in connection with the
Parliamentary Oaths and other Acts.
M5 The Bradlaugh Case
4 See vol. i. p. 138.
5 Speech on second reading of Affirmation bill, 1883.
M6 On Theistic Tests
M7 The Bradlaugh Case
_ 6 Lord Hampden’s Diaries._
7 Perhaps the best equivalent for _begeistert_ here is “_daemonic._”
M8 Speech On Affirmation Bill
8 Lucretius, ii. 646. “For the nature of the gods must ever of itself
enjoy repose supreme through endless time, far withdrawn from all
concerns of ours; free from all our pains, free from all our perils,
strong in resources of its own, needing nought from us, no favours
win it, no anger moves.”
M9 End Of The Struggle
9 Religious Disabilities Removal bill, Feb. 4, 1891.
10 Vol. ii. p. 583.
M10 Recall Of Sir Bartle Frere
M11 Annexation Of The Transvaal
11 Sir Garnet Wolseley to Sir M. Hicks Beach, Nov. 13, 1879.
M12 Decision Of The Government
12 In H. of C, Jan. 21, 1881.
_ 13 Speeches in Scotland_, i. pp. 48, 63.
14 C, 2586, No. 3.
15 Mr. Grant Duff, then colonial under-secretary, said in the House of
Commons, May 21, 1880, “Under the very difficult circumstances of
the case, the plan which seemed likely best to conciliate the
interests at once of the Boers, the natives and the English
population, was that the Transvaal should receive, and receive with
promptitude, as a portion of confederation, the largest possible
measure of local liberties that could be granted, and that was the
direction in which her Majesty’s present advisers meant to move.”
16 At Birmingham, June 1881.
M13 Decision Of The Government
17 C, 2367, p. 55.
_ 18 Afghanistan and S. Africa:_ A letter to Mr. Gladstone by Sir Bartle
Frere. Murray, 1891, pp. 24-6. Frere, on his return to England, once
more impressed on the colonial office the necessity of speedily
granting the Boers a constitution, otherwise there would be serious
trouble. (_Life_, ii. p. 408.)
M14 Boer Rising
19 Sir George Colley pressed Lord Kimberley in his correspondence with
the reality of this grievance, and the urgency of trying to remove
it. This was after the Boers had taken to arms at the end of 1880.
20 Before the Gladstone government came into office, between August
1879 and April 1880, whilst General Wolseley was in command, the
force in Natal and the Transvaal had been reduced by six batteries
of artillery, three companies of engineers, one cavalry regiment,
eleven battalions of infantry, and five companies of army service
corps. The force at the time of the outbreak was: in Natal 1772, and
in the Transvaal 1759—a total of 3531. As soon as the news of the
insurrection reached London, large reinforcements were at once
despatched to Colley, the first of them leaving Gibraltar on Dec.
27, 1880.
21 Sir B. Frere was recalled on August 1, 1880, and sailed for England
September 15. Sir Hercules Robinson, his successor, did not reach
the Cape until the end of January 1881. In the interval Sir George
Strahan was acting governor.
M15 Paragraph In The Royal Speech
22 Lord Kimberley justified this decision on the ground that it was
impossible to send a commissioner to inquire and report, at a moment
when our garrisons were besieged, and we had collected no troops to
relieve them, and when we had just received the news that the
detachment of the 94th had been cut off on the march from Lydenberg
to Pretoria. “Is it not practically certain,” he wrote, “that the
Boers would have refused at that time to listen to any reasonable
terms, and would have simply insisted that we should withdraw our
troops and quit the country?” Of course, the Boer overture, some six
weeks after the rejection by Lord Kimberley of the Cape proposal,
and after continued military success on the side of the Boers,
showed that this supposed practical certainty was the exact reverse
of certain.
M16 Boer Overtures
23 “I do not know whether I am indebted to you or to Mr. Childers or to
both, for the continuance of H.M.’s confidence, but I shall always
feel more deeply grateful than I can express; and can never forget
H.M.’s gracious message of encouragement at a time of great
trouble.”—Colley to Kimberley, Jan. 31, 1881.
24 “The directions to Colley,” says Mr. Bright in a cabinet minute,
“intended to convey the offer of a suspension of hostilities on both
sides, with a proposal that a commissioner should be appointed to
enter into negotiations and arrangements with a view to peace.”
_ 25 Life of Childers_, ii. p. 24.
M17 Repulse On Majuba Hill
26 Colley’s letter to Childers, Feb. 23, _Life of Childers_, ii. p. 24.
M18 Sir Evelyn Wood’s View
27 See Selborne’s _Memorials_, ii. p. 3, and also a speech by Lord
Kimberley at Newcastle, Nov. 14, 1899.
28 In a speech at Edinburgh (Sept. 1, 1884), Mr. Gladstone put the same
argument—“The people of the Transvaal, few in number, were in close
and strong sympathy with their brethren in race, language, and
religion. Throughout South Africa these men, partly British subjects
and partly not, were as one man associated in feeling with the
people of the Transvaal; and had we persisted in that dishonourable
attempt, against all our own interests, to coerce the Transvaal as
we attempted to coerce Afghanistan, we should have had the whole
mass of the Dutch population at the Cape and throughout South Africa
rising in arms against us.”
29 July 25, 1881.
30 One of the most determined enemies of the government in 1881, ten
years later, in a visit to South Africa, changed his mind. “The
Dutch sentiment in the Cape Colony, wrote Lord Randolph Churchill,
’had been so exasperated by what it considered the unjust,
faithless, and arbitrary policy pursued towards the free Dutchmen of
the Transvaal by Frere, Shepstone, and Lanyon, that the final
triumph of the British arms, mainly by brute force, would have
permanently and hopelessly alienated it from Great Britain.... On
the whole, I find myself free to confess, and without reluctance to
admit, that the English escaped from a wretched and discreditable
muddle, not without harm and damage, but perhaps in the best
possible manner.”
M19 Case Considered
M20 The Sequel
31 “I apprehend, whether you call it a Protectorate, or a Suzerainty,
or the recognition of England as a Paramount Power, the fact is that
a certain controlling power is retained when the state which
exercises this suzerainty has a right to veto any negotiations into
which the dependent state may enter with foreign powers. Whatever
suzerainty meant in the Convention of Pretoria, the condition of
things which it implied still remains; although the word is not
actually employed, we have kept the substance. We have abstained
from using the word because it was not capable of legal definition,
and because it seemed to be a word which was likely to lead to
misconception and misunderstanding.”—_Lord Derby in the House of
Lords_, March 17, 1884. I do not desire to multiply points of
controversy, but the ill-starred raising of the ghost of suzerainty
in 1897-9 calls for the twofold remark that the preamble was struck
out by Lord Derby’s own hand, and that alike when Lord Knutsford and
Lord Ripon were at the colonial office, answers were given in the
House of Commons practically admitting that no claim of suzerainty
could be put forward.
_ 32 Works of T. H. Green_, iii. 382.
33 House of Commons, April 4, 1882.
34 Edinburgh, Sept. 1, 1884.
M21 Action Of The Lords
35 See vol. ii. book vi. chap. II.
36 Proceedings had been instituted in the Dublin courts against Parnell
and others for seditious conspiracy. The jury were unable to agree
on a verdict.
37 Tried by Lord Spencer in Westmeath in 1871, it had been successful,
but the area of disturbance was there comparatively insignificant.
M22 Disturbances In Ireland
38 For a plain and precise description of the Coercion Act of 1881, see
Dicey’s _Law of the Constitution_, pp. 243-8.
39 See vol. ii. p. 284.
M23 Great Agrarian Law
M24 Its Reception In Ireland
M25 Arrest Of Mr. Parnell
40 At the Cloth Hall banquet, Leeds, Oct. 8, 1881.
41 Speech to the Leeds Chamber of Commerce, Oct. 8, 1881.
M26 Mr. Forster’s Resignation
42 Introduced by Mr. Redmond.
M27 The Murders In The Phœnix Park
43 It had been Mr. Burke’s practice to drive from the Castle to the
Park gate, then to descend and walk home, followed by two
detectives. On this occasion he found at the gate that the chief
secretary had passed, and drove forward to overtake him. The
detectives did not follow him as usual. If they had followed, he
would have been saved.
_ 44 Life of Dean Church_, p. 299.
_ 45 Nineteenth Century_, August, 1877; _Gleanings_, iv. p. 357.
M28 Anti-European Rising
46 July 27, 1882.
47 Granville and Malet, November 4, 1881.
48 Before Midlothian, however, Mr. Gladstone had in 1877 drawn an
important distinction: “If I find the Turk incapable of establishing
a good, just, and well-proportioned government over civilised and
Christian races, it does not follow that he is under a similar
incapacity when his task shall only be to hold empire over
populations wholly or principally Orientals and Mahomedans. On this
head I do not know that any verdict of guilty has yet been found by
a competent tribunal.”—_Gleanings_, iv. p. 364.
M29 Policy Of England And France
_ 49 Fortnightly Review_, July 1882.
50 Defining the claims of the European bondholder on revenue.
M30 Gambetta
_ 51 Fortnightly Review_, July 1882.
M31 Diplomatic Labyrinth
52 Lord Granville to Lord Dufferin. Oct. 5, 1882.
M32 Bombardment Of Alexandria
M33 Tel-El-Kebir
53 A share of the credit of success is due to the admirable efficiency
of Mr. Childers at the War Office. See Sir Garnet’s letter to him,
_Life of Childers_, ii. p. 117.
54 Considerate la vostra semenza:
Fatti non foste a viver come bruti,
Ma per seguir virtute e conoscenza.
—_Inferno_, xxvi. 118.
M34 After Fifty Years
_ 55 Times_, Dec. 8, 1882.
_ 56 Standard_, Nov. 16, 1882.
_ 57 Morning Post_, Oct. 20, 1882.
M35 Parliamentary Power Unbroken
58 Traill’s _New Lucian_, pp. 305-6,—in spite of politics, a book of
admirable wit, scholarship, and ingenious play of mind.
59 To Mr. Hazzopolo, Dec. 22, 1882.
M36 Dean Wellesley
M37 Recommendation To Canterbury
_ 60 Life of Tait_, i. p. 109.
61 Bishop Browne writes to a friend (_Life_, p. 457): “Gladstone, I
learned both from himself and others, searched into all precedents
from the Commonwealth to the present day for a primate who began his
work at seventy, and found none but Juxon. Curiously, I have been
reading that he himself, prompted by Bishop Wilberforce, wanted
Palmerston to appoint Sumner (of Winchester) when he was
seventy-two. It was when they feared they could not get Longley (who
was sixty-eight).”
_ 62 Life and Letters of Dean Church_, p. 307.
M38 Church Appointments
_ 63 Life and Letters of Dean Church_, p. 307.
64 See vol. i. p. 47.
_ 65 Gleanings_, ii. p. 287.
M39 Reconstruction
66 Lord Derby had refused office in the previous May.
M40 Reconstruction
67 The matter itself has no importance, but a point of principle or
etiquette at one time connected with it is perhaps worth mentioning.
To a colleague earlier in the year Mr. Gladstone wrote: “I can
affirm with confidence that the notion of a title in the cabinet to
be consulted on the succession to a cabinet office is absurd. It is
a title which cabinet ministers do not possess. During thirty-eight
years since I first entered the cabinet, I have never known more
than a friendly announcement before publicity, and very partial
consultation perhaps with one or two, especially the leaders in the
second House.”
M41 Holiday At Cannes
68 See Appendix.
69 The lines from Lucretius (in his speech on the Affirmation bill).
See above, p. 19.
70 In a party sense, as he told the cabinet, it might be wise enough to
grant it, as it would please the public, displease the tories, and
widen the breach between the fourth party and their front bench. Mr.
Gladstone had suffered an unpleasant experience in another case, of
the relations brought about by the refusal of a political pension
after inquiry as to the accuracy of the necessary statement as to
the applicant’s need for it.
M42 Mr. Bright And The Irishmen
71 By an odd coincidence, on the day after my selection of this letter,
I read that the French prime minister, M. Combes, laid down the
doctrine that the government is never committed by a minister’s
individual declarations, but only by those of the head of the
government. He alone has the power of making known the direction
given to policy, and each minister individually has authority only
for the administration of his department (September 25, 1902). Of
course this is wholly incompatible with Mr. Gladstone’s ideas of
parliamentary responsibility and the cabinet system.
M43 Official Discipline
M44 Occupation Of Egypt
72 Many indications of this could be cited, if there were room. A
parade of the victors of Tel-el-Kebir through the streets of London
stirred little excitement. Two ministers went to make speeches at
Liverpool, and had to report on returning to town that references to
Egypt fell altogether flat.
M45 Egyptian Finance
73 Milner’s _England in Egypt_, p. 185.
M46 County Franchise
_ 74 Saturday Review_, April 12, 1884.
M47 Bill Rejected By The Lords
75 Edinburgh, August 30, 1884.
76 Corn Exchange, Edinburgh, August 30, 1884.
M48 Negotiation
M49 Negotiation And Persuasion
77 Dinner of the Eighty Club, July 11, 1884.
M50 The Queen’s Suggestion
M51 Conferences With Lord Salisbury
M52 The Question Settled
M53 Mr. Plunket’s Speech
M54 The Case Of Ireland
78 Lord Waterford, July 7, 1884.
79 December 11, 1883.
80 “I am not at all sure,” Mr. Forster rashly said (March 31, 1884),
“that Mr. Parnell will increase his followers by means of this
bill.”
81 This was only the second occasion on which his party in cardinal
divisions voted with the government.
M55 The Mahdi
82 Wingate, pp. 50, 51.
83 The Soudan was conquered in 1819 by Ismail Pasha, the son of Mehemet
Ali, and from that date Egypt had a more or less insecure hold over
the country. In 1870 Sir Samuel Baker added the equatorial provinces
to the Egyptian Soudan.
84 Mr. Gladstone said on Nov. 2, 1882: “It is no part of the duty
incumbent upon us to restore order in the Soudan. It is politically
connected with Egypt in consequence of its very recent conquest; but
it has not been included within the sphere of our operations, and we
are by no means disposed to admit without qualification that it is
within the sphere of our responsibility.” Lord Granville, May 7,
1883: “H.M. government are in no way responsible for the operations
in the Soudan, which have been undertaken under the authority of the
Egyptian government, or for the appointment or actions of General
Hicks.”
M56 Policy Of Evacuation
M57 Despatch Of Gordon
85 It was a general mistake at that time to suppose that wherever a
garrison fell into the hands of the Mahdi, they were massacred. At
Tokar, for instance, the soldiers were incorporated by the victors.
See Wingate, p. 553.
86 Granville to Baring, Dec. 1, 1883; Jan. 10, 1884.
87 Gordon had suppressed the Taiping rising in China in 1863. In 1874
he was appointed by the Egyptian government governor-general of the
equatorial provinces of central Africa. In 1876 he resigned owing to
trouble with the governor-general of the Soudan upon the suppression
of the slave trade, but was appointed (1877) governor-general of the
Soudan, Darfur, the equatorial provinces, and the Red Sea littoral.
He held this position till the end of 1879, suppressing the slave
trade with a strong hand and improving the means of communication
throughout the Soudan. He succeeded in establishing comparative
order. Then the new Egyptian government reversed Gordon’s policy,
and the result of his six years’ work soon fell to pieces.
88 Gordon’s Letters to Barnes, 1885. Lord Granville took his ticket,
Lord Wolseley carried the General’s bag, and the Duke of Cambridge
held open the carriage door.
M58 Character Of Gordon
89 Baring’s Instructions to Gordon (Jan. 25, 1884).
90 Gladstone to Granville, Jan. 19, 1884.—“I telegraphed last night my
concurrence in your proceedings about Gordon: but Chester would not
awake and the message only went on this morning.”
91 Dilke in House of Commons, Feb. 14, 1884. See also Lord Granville to
Sir E. Baring, March 28, 1884. In recapitulating the instructions
given to General Gordon, Lord Granville says: “_His_ (Gordon’s)
_first proposal_ was to proceed to Suakin with the object of
reporting from thence on the best method of effecting the evacuation
of the Soudan.... His instructions, _drawn up in accordance with his
own views_, were to report to her Majesty’s government on the
military situation in the Soudan,” etc.
M59 Gordon’s Instructions
92 For the full text of these instructions, see Appendix.
93 Baring to Granville, January 28, 1884.
94 Dated, _Steamship __“__Tanjore,__”__ at Sea, Jan. 22, 1884_.
95 Granville to Baring, March 28.
M60 Changes Of Policy
96 Feb. 23, 1885.
97 May 13, 1884.
M61 Zobeir
98 Wingate’s _Mahdism_, p. 109.
99 Baring to Granville, Jan. 28.—“I had a good deal of conversation
with General Gordon as to the manner in which Zobeir Pasha should be
treated. Gen. Gordon entertains a high opinion of Zobeir Pasha’s
energy and ability. He possesses great influence in the Soudan, and
General Gordon is of opinion that _circumstances might arise which
would render it desirable that he should be sent back to the
Soudan_.”
M62 Zobeir
100 (_From his diary._) _March 9._—... At night recognised the fact of a
cold, and began to deal with it. 10th. Kept my bed all day. 11th.
The cabinet sat, and Granville came to and fro with the
communications, Clark having prohibited my attendance. Read _Sybil_.
12th. Bed as yesterday. 13th. Got to my sitting-room in the evening.
It has, however, taken longer this time to clear the chest, and
Clark reports the pulse still too high by ten. Saw Granville.
Conclave, 7-½ to 8-½, on telegram to Baring for Gordon. I was not
allowed to attend the cabinet.
101 The case of the government was stated with all the force and reason
of which it admitted, in Lord Granville’s despatch of March 28,
1884.
M63 Condition Of The Soudan
102 In the light of this proceeding, the following is curious: “There is
one subject which I cannot imagine any one differing about. That is
the impolicy of announcing our intention to evacuate Khartoum. Even
if we were bound to do so we should have said nothing about it. The
moment it is known we have given up the game, every man will go over
to the Mahdi. All men worship the rising sun. The difficulties of
evacuation will be enormously increased, if, indeed, the withdrawal
of our garrison is not rendered impossible.”—Interview with General
Gordon, _Pall Mall Gazette_, Jan. 8, 1884.
... “In the afternoon of Feb. 13 Gordon assembled all the
influential men of the province and showed them the secret firman.
The reading of this document caused great excitement, but at the
same time its purport was received evidently with much
gratification. It is worthy of note that the whole of the notables
present at this meeting subsequently threw in their cause with the
Mahdi.”—Henry William Gordon’s _Events in the Life of Charles George
Gordon_, p. 340.
103 Wingate, p. 110.
M64 Question Of An Expedition
104 Lord Hartington, House of Commons, May 13, 1884. An admirable
speech, and the best defence of ministers up to this date.
105 Address to the electors of Midlothian, September 17, 1885.
106 See the official _History of the Soudan Campaign_, by Colonel
Colvile, Part 1. pp. 45-9.
M65 The Expedition Starts
107 February 27, 1885.
108 Colvile, II., Appendix 47, p. 274. Apart from the authority of
Kitchener, Gordon’s own language shows that he knew himself to be
_in extremis_ by the end of December.
109 The story that he went to the theatre the same night is untrue.
M66 Mr. Gladstone’s Vindication
_ 110 Belford’s Magazine_ (New York), Sept. 1890. A French translation of
this letter will be found in _L’Égypte et ses Provinces Perdues_, by
the recipient, Colonel C. Chaillé-Long Bey (1892), pp. 196-7. He was
chief of the staff to Gordon in the Soudan, and consular-agent for
the United States at Alexandria. Another book of his, published in
1884, is _The Three Prophets; Chinese Gordon, El Mahdi, and Arabi
Pasha_. Burton reviewed Gordon’s Khartoum Journals, _Academy_, June
11, 1885.
M67 Party Prospects
111 Above, p. 166.
M68 The Left Wing
112 For the censure, 288; against, 302.
M69 Narrow Escape In Parliament
113 I often tried to persuade him that our retreat was to be explained
apart from pusillanimity, but he would not listen.
M70 Change Of Soudan Policy
114 See Appendix.
115 For instance when Mr. Gladstone fell from office in 1874, Lord Odo
Russell wrote to him, “how sorry I feel at your retirement, and how
grateful I am to you for the great advantage and encouragement I
have enjoyed while serving under your great administration, in Rome
and Berlin.”
116 “We do not depart in any degree from the policy of leaving the
Soudan. As to the civilisation which the noble and gallant earl
[Lord Dundonald] would impose upon us the duty of restoring, it
could only be carried out by a large and costly expedition,
entailing enormous sacrifice of blood and treasure, and for the
present a continuous expenditure, which I do not think the people of
this country would sanction.... The defence of our retention of
Suakin is that it is a very serious obstacle to the renewal and the
conduct of that slave trade which is always trying to pass over from
Africa into Asia. I do not think that the retention of Suakin is of
any advantage to the Egyptian government. If I were to speak purely
from the point of view of that government’s own interest, I should
say, ‘Abandon Suakin at once.’ ”—Lord Salisbury, in the House of
Lords, March 16, 1888.
M71 A Historical Parallel
117 Above, vol. ii. p. 49.
118 Edinburgh, March 17, 1880.
119 In the letter to Mr. Bright (July 14, 1882) already given, Mr.
Gladstone went somewhat nearer to the Manchester school, and
expressed his agreement with Bright in believing most wars to have
been sad errors.
M72 The Vote Of Credit
120 West Calder, November 17, 1885.
M73 State Of Ireland
M74 Lord Randolph Churchill And The Irishmen
121 May 20, 1885.
122 The story was told by Lord R. Churchill in a speech at Sheffield,
Sept 4, 1885.
123 Mr. McCarthy’s speech at Hull, Dec. 15, 1887.
M75 In The Ministerial Camp
M76 Opinion In The Cabinet
M77 Opinion In The Cabinet
M78 Final Deliberations
M79 Budget Rejected
M80 Resignation Of Office
124 Duke of Argyll, July 10, 1885.
125 As the reader will remember (vol. i. pp. 436-440), on Dec. 16, 1852,
Mr. Disraeli’s motion for imposing a house duty of a shilling in the
pound was rejected by 305 to 286. Mr. Gladstone also referred to the
case of the expulsion of the whigs by Peel. On May 13, 1841, after
eight nights’ debate, the government were defeated by a majority of
36 on their budget proposals in regard to sugar. Ministers not
resigning, Sir Robert Peel moved a vote of want of confidence on May
27, which was carried by a majority of 1 (312-311), June 4, 1841.
Parliament thereupon was dissolved.
M81 Ministerial Crisis
126 Memo. by Mr. Gladstone, on a sheet of notepaper, June 20, 1885.
M82 Crisis Prolonged
127 Mr. Gladstone was reminded by a colleague that when Sir Robert Peel
resumed office in 1845, at the request of the Queen, he did so
before and without consultation with his colleagues. In the end they
all, excepting Lord Stanley, supported him.
128 June 25, 1885.
129 The correspondence with the Queen up to June 21 was read by Mr.
Gladstone in the House of Commons on June 24, and Lord Salisbury
made his statement in the House of Lords on the next day. Mr.
Gladstone told the House of Commons that he omitted one or two
sentences from one of his letters, as having hardly any bearing on
the real points of the correspondence. The omitted sentences related
to the Afghan frontier, and the state of the negotiations with
Russia.
130 This proceeding was so unusual as to be almost without a precedent.
Lord Mulgrave had addressed the House of Lords in 1837, and Lord
Clarendon in 1850. But on each of these occasions the viceroy’s
administration had been the object of vigorous attack, and no one
but the viceroy himself was capable of making an effective
parliamentary defence.
131 July 6, 1885. _Hans._ 298, p. 1659.
M83 The Maamtrasna Debate
132 Sir M. H. Beach, July 17, 1885. _Hans._ 299, p. 1085.
_ 133 Hans._ 299, p. 1098.
_ 134 Ibid._ p. 1119.
M84 Change In Situation
135 In _The Contemporary Review_, October 1885, p. 491.
136 See _Spectator_, Sept. 26, 1885.
M85 Whigs And Radicals
M86 Party Aspects
137 Mr. Chamberlain has been good enough to read these two letters, and
he assents to their substantial accuracy, with a demurrer on two or
three points, justly observing that anybody reporting a very long
and varied conversation is almost certain, however scrupulous in
intention, to insert in places what were thoughts much in his own
mind, rather than words actually spoken. In inserting these two
letters, it may tend to prevent controversy if we print such
corrective hints as are desired.
138 In connection with a local government bill for small holdings and
allotments, subsequently passed.
139 He suggested, for instance, the appointment of a committee.
140 Mr. Chamberlain puts it that he proposed to exclude home rule as
impossible, and to offer a local government bill which he thought
that Parnell might accept. Mr. Gladstone’s statement that he and his
visitor were “pretty well agreed” on Ireland, cannot mean therefore
that the visitor was in favour of home rule.
141 This is not remembered.
142 “Some misunderstanding here.”
143 That is, in his seventy-sixth year.
M87 A Remarkable Interview
144 This episode was first mentioned in the House of Commons, June 7,
1886. Lord Carnarvon explained in the Lords, June 10. Mr. Parnell
replied in a letter to the _Times_, June 12. He revived the subject
in the House of Commons, Feb. 13, 1888, and Lord Carnarvon explained
a second time in the Lords on May 3. On Lord Carnarvon’s first
explanation, the Duke of Argyll, while placing the utmost reliance
on his personal honour and accuracy, “felt bound to observe that the
statement did not appear to be complete, for he had omitted to
explain what the nature of the communication [with Mr. Parnell]
absolutely was.” Neither then nor two years later was the omission
made good. Curiously enough on the first occasion Lord Carnarvon did
not even mention that Lord Salisbury in any way shared his
responsibility for the interview, and in fact his language pointed
the other way. What remains is his asseveration, supported by Lord
Salisbury, that he had made no formal bargain with Mr. Parnell, and
gave him no sort of promise, assurance, or pledge. This is not only
entirely credible, it is certain; for the only body that could carry
out such a promise had not been consulted. “I may at least say this
of what went on outside the cabinet—that I had no communication on
the subject, _no authorisation_, and that I never communicated to
them even that which I had done.”—_Hansard_, 306, p. 1258.
_ 145 E.g._ _Hans._ 306, pp. 1181, 1199.
146 Letter to the _Times_, June 12, 1886.
M88 A Remarkable Interview
_ 147 Hans._ 332, p. 336.
148 August 24, 1885.
M89 Lord Hartington And Mr. Chamberlain
149 Lord Hartington at Waterfoot, August 29.
150 June 17, 1885.
151 Warrington, September 8.
M90 Letter To Mr. Childers
_ 152 Life of Childers_, ii. p. 230.
153 Sept. 18, 1885.
154 Nov. 9, 1885.
155 Midlothian Speeches, p. 49.
_ 156 Ibid._ p. 39.
M91 Declarations From Lord Salisbury
157 Some of them are set out in Special Commission _Report_, pp. 99,
100.
158 See Mr. Gladstone upon these tactics in his fifth Midlothian speech,
Nov. 24, 1885. Also in the seventh, Nov. 28, pp. 159-60.
M92 Irish Manifesto
M93 In Midlothian
_ 159 Nineteenth Century_, November 1885; reprinted in _Later Gleanings_.
160 Speech in the Free Assembly Hall, Nov. 11, 1885.
M94 First Days
161 November 26, 1885.
_ 162 Result of General Election of 1885_:—
English and Welsh boroughs and universities, 93 L., 86 C., 1 P.
Metropolis, 26, 36, 0
English and Welsh counties, 152, 101, 0
Scottish boroughs, 30, 3, 0
Scottish counties, 32, 7, 0
Ireland, 0, 18, 85
Totals, 333 L., 251 C., 86 P.
The following figures may also be found interesting:—
_Election of 1868_—
English and Welsh Liberals, 267
Tories, 225
Majority, 42
_In 1880_—
English and Welsh Liberals, 284
Tories, 205
Majority, 79
_In 1885_—
English and Welsh Liberals, 270
Tories, 223
Majority, 47
M95 General Result
163 Mr. Chamberlain at Leicester, December 3, 1885.
M96 Extraordinary Results In Ireland
164 Macknight’s _Ulster as it Is_, ii. p. 108.
165 Mr. Forster, March 11, 1881.
M97 Mr. Parnell As Dictator
166 Lord Salisbury, at a dinner given in London to the four conservative
members for Hertfordshire, February 17, 1886.
_ 167 Special Aspects of the Irish Question_, p. 18.
M98 Proffer Of Support
M99 Leaders At Hawarden
168 These statements first appeared in the _Leeds Mercury_ and the
_Standard_ on Dec. 17, and in a communication from the National
Press Agency issued on the night of Dec. 16. They were not published
in the _Times_ and other London morning papers until Dec. 18. Mr.
Gladstone’s telegram was printed in the evening papers on Dec. 17.
M100 Reports From Hawarden
169 Speech on the Address, January 21, 1886.
M101 Notes Of Conflict
170 At the Birmingham Reform Club, Dec. 17, 1885.
M102 Views Of Mr. Parnell
M103 Changes And Rumours
171 Correspondence between Lord Salisbury and Lord Carnarvon, _Times_,
Jan. 16, 1886.
_ 172 Hans._ 302, pp. 1929-1993, March 4, 1886. See also Lord Randolph
Churchill at Paddington, Feb. 13, 1886.
173 Maxwell’s _Life of W. H. Smith_, ii. p. 163.
174 If this seems hyperbole, let the reader remember an entry in
Macaulay’s diary: “I have now finished reading again most of Burke’s
works. Admirable! The greatest man since Milton.” Trevelyan’s
_Life_, ii. p. 377.
M104 End Of Seventy-Sixth Year
175 In 1833 the King’s Speech represented the state of Ireland in words
that might be used at the present time, and expressed confidence
that parliament would entrust the King with “such additional powers
as may be necessary for punishing the disturbers of the public peace
and for preserving and strengthening the legislative union between
the two countries, which with your support and under the blessing of
divine Providence I am determined to maintain by all the means in my
power.” The Address in answer assured his Majesty that his
confidence should not be disappointed, and that “we shall be ready
to entrust to H.M. such additional measures, etc., for preserving
and strengthening the legislative union which we have determined,”
etc. This was the address that Mr. O’Connell denounced as a “bloody
and brutal address,” and he moved as an amendment that the House do
resolve itself into a committee of the whole House to consider of an
humble address to his Majesty. Feb. 8. Amendment negatived, Ayes
being 428, Noes 40.—_Memo._ by Sir T. E. May for Mr. Gladstone, Jan.
18, 1886. O’Connell, that is to say, did not move an amendment in
favour of repeal, but proposed the consideration of the Address in
committee of the whole House.
_ 176 Hans._ 302, p. 128.
177 Lord Carnarvon left Ireland on Jan. 28, and Lord Justices were then
appointed. But the lawyers seem to hold that there cannot be Lord
Justices without a viceroy, and Lord Carnarvon was therefore
technically viceroy out of the kingdom (of Ireland), until Lord
Aberdeen was sworn in upon Feb. 10, 1886. He must, accordingly, have
signed the minute appointing Mr. Smith chief secretary, though of
course Mr. Smith had gone over to reverse the Carnarvon policy.
_ 178 Hans._ 302, p. 112.
M105 Coercion Bill Announced
179 Mr. Gladstone was often taunted with having got in upon the question
of allotments, and then throwing the agricultural labourer
overboard. “The proposition,” he said, “is not only untrue but
ridiculous. If true, it would prove that Lord Grey in 1830 came in
upon the pension list, and Lord Derby in 1852 on the militia.... For
myself, I may say personally that I made my public declaration on
behalf of allotments in 1832, when Mr. Jesse Collings was just
born.”—To Mr. C. A. Fyffe, May 6, 1890.
_ 180 Diary._
M106 Again Prime Minister
181 “When the matter was finally adjusted by Chamberlain’s retirement,
we had against us—Derby, Northbrook, Carlingford, Selborne, Dodson,
Chamberlain, Hartington, Trevelyan, Bright; and for—Granville,
Spencer, Kimberley, Ripon, Rosebery, Harcourt, Childers, Lefevre,
Dilke (unavailable).” Mr. Goschen was not in the cabinet of 1880.
182 A few weeks later, Lord Hartington said on the point of Mr.
Gladstone’s consistency: “When I look back to the declarations that
Mr. Gladstone made in parliament, which have not been infrequent;
when I look back to the increased definiteness given to these
declarations in his address to the electors of Midlothian and in his
Midlothian speeches; when I consider all these things, I feel that I
have not, and that no one has, any right to complain of the
declaration that Mr. Gladstone has recently made.”—Speech at the
Eighty Club, March 5, 1886.
_ 183 Hans._ 304, p. 1106.
M107 Position Of Mr. Chamberlain
184 January 30, 1886. _Hans._ 304, p. 1185.
185 As for the story of my being concerned in Mr. Gladstone’s conversion
to home rule, it is, of course, pure moonshine. I only glance at it
because in politics people are ready to believe anything. At the
general election of 1880, I had declined to support home rule. In
the press, however, I had strenuously opposed the Forster Coercion
bill of the following winter, as involving a radical misapprehension
of the nature and magnitude of the case. In the course of that
controversy, arguments pressed themselves forward which led much
further than mere resistance to the policy of coercion. Without
having had the advantage of any communication whatever with Mr.
Gladstone upon Irish subjects for some years before, I had still
pointed out to my constituents at Newcastle in the previous
November, that there was nothing in Mr. Gladstone’s electoral
manifesto to prevent him from proposing a colonial plan for Ireland,
and I had expressed my own conviction that this was the right
direction in which to look. A few days before the fall of the tory
government, I had advocated the exclusion of Irish members from
Westminster, and the production of measures dealing with the
land.—Speech at Chelmsford, January 7, 1886.
186 The cabinet was finally composed as follows:—
Mr. Gladstone, _First lord of the treasury_.
Lord Herschell, _Lord chancellor_.
Lord Spencer, _President of council_.
Sir W. Harcourt, _Chancellor of exchequer_.
Mr. Childers, _Home secretary_.
Lord Rosebery, _Foreign secretary_.
Lord Granville, _Colonial secretary_.
Lord Kimberley, _Indian secretary_.
Mr. Campbell-Bannerman, _War secretary_.
Lord Ripon, _Admiralty_.
Mr. Chamberlain, _Local government_.
Mr. Morley, _Irish secretary_.
Mr. Trevelyan, _Scotch secretary_.
Mr. Mundella, _Board of trade_.
The Lord chancellor, Mr. C.-Bannerman, Mr. Mundella, and myself now
sat in cabinet for the first time. After the two resignations at the
end of March, Mr. Stansfeld came in as head of the Local government
board, and we sat with the ominous number of thirteen at table.
M108 On Procedure By Resolution
187 See Mr. Chamberlain’s speech, June 1, 1886. _Hans._ 306, p. 677.
Also Lord Hartington at Bradford, May 18, 1886.
188 June 1, 1833. _Hans._ 18, p. 186.
189 June 13, 1833. _Ibid._ p. 700.
190 May 14, 1833. _Hans._ 17, p. 1230.
191 There is also the case of the Reform bill of 1867. Disraeli laid
thirteen resolutions on the table. Lowe and Bright both agreed in
urging that the resolutions should be dropped and the bill at once
printed. A meeting of liberal members at Mr. Gladstone’s house
unanimously resolved to support an amendment setting aside the
resolutions. Disraeli at once abandoned them.
M109 Two Branches Of The Policy
192 Lord Hartington’s argument on the second reading shows how a
resolution would have fared. _Hans._ 305, p. 610.
_ 193 Hans._ 304, p. 1116.
_ 194 Hans._ 304, p. 1190.
M110 Important Resignations
195 Faint hopes were nourished that Mr. Bright might be induced to join,
but there was unfortunately no ground for them. Mr. Whitbread was
invited, but preferred to lend staunch and important support
outside. Lord Dalhousie, one of the truest hearts that ever was
attracted to public life, too early lost to his country, took the
Scottish secretaryship, not in the cabinet.
M111 Mr. Parnell
M112 The Bill On The Anvil
196 See Appendix.
M113 Forces For And Against
M114 Scene In Parliament
M115 Character Of The Debate
197 First reading, April 13. Motion made for second reading and
amendment, May 10. Land bill introduced and first reading, April 16.
198 April 9, May 10.
M116 Stroke And Counter-Stroke
_ 199 Hans._ 304, pp. 1204-6.
M117 Lord Salisbury
_ 200 Hans._ 306, p. 697.
_ 201 Hans._ 304, p. 1202.
202 May 15, 1886.
203 See for instance, _Irish Times_, May 8, and _Belfast Newsletter_,
May 17, 18, 21, 1886.
_ 204 Hans._ 304, p. 1134. Also 305, p. 1252.
205 When the bill was practically settled, he asked if he might have a
draft of the main provisions, for communication to half a dozen of
his confidential colleagues. After some demur, the Irish secretary
consented, warning him of the damaging consequences of any premature
divulgation. The draft was duly returned, and not a word leaked out.
Some time afterwards Mr. Parnell recalled the incident to me. “Three
of the men to whom I showed the draft were newspaper men, and they
were poor men, and any newspaper would have given them a thousand
pounds for it. No very wonderful virtue, you may say. But how many
of your House of Commons would believe it?”
206 For this point, see the _Times_ report of the famous proceedings in
Committee-room Fifteen, collected in the volume entitled _The
Parnellite Split_ (1891).
M118 Subterranean Activity
M119 Strength And Weakness
M120 Correspondence With Mr. Bright
207 Letter to Mr. T. H. Bolton, M.P. _Times_, May 8, 1886.
_ 208 Hans._ 306, p. 698.
M121 Few Secondary Arguments
_ 209 Hans._ 306, p. 1218.
210 In the end exactly 93 liberals did vote against the bill.
M122 Party Meeting
_ 211 Hans._ 306, p. 322.
M123 Death-Warrant Of The Bill
M124 End Of The Debate
M125 Dissolution Of Parliament
M126 At Edinburgh
212 He was returned without opposition.
M127 Cabinet Resign
M128 At Tegernsee
213 On the Irish Question.—“The History of an Idea and the Lesson of the
Elections,” a fifty-page pamphlet prepared before leaving England.
_ 214 Speaker_, Jan. 1, 1890.
_ 215 Conversations of Döllinger._ By L. von Köbell, pp. 100, 102.
_ 216 Nineteenth Century_, January 1887. See also speech at Hawarden, on
the Queen’s Reign, August 30, 1887. The reader will remember Mr.
Gladstone’s contrast between poet and active statesman at Kirkwall
in 1883.
_ 217 Robert Elsmere: the Battle of Belief_ (1888). Republished from the
_Nineteenth Century_ in _Later Gleanings_, 1898.
218 May 2, 1888.
M129 Dissentient Position
219 See vol. i. p. 423.
220 Sir W. Harcourt, Mr. Chamberlain, Lord Herschell, Sir George
Trevelyan, and myself.
M130 Round Table Conference
221 See speeches at Hawick, Jan. 22, and at Birmingham, Jan. 29, 1887.
_ 222 Baptist_ article, in _Times_, Feb. 25, 1887.
223 If anybody should ever wish further to disinter the history of this
fruitless episode, he will find all the details in a speech by Sir
William Harcourt at Derby, Feb, 27, 1889. See also Sir G. O.
Trevelyan, _Times_, July 26, 1887, Mr. Chamberlain’s letter to Mr.
Evelyn Ashley, _Times_, July 29, 1887, and a speech of my own at
Wolverhampton, April 19, 1887.
M131 State Of Ireland
_ 224 Hans._ 309, Sept. 21, 1886.
225 See _United Ireland_, Oct. 23, 1886.
M132 Plan Of Campaign
226 Lord Randolph had encouraged a plan of campaign in Ulster against
home rule.
227 Speech at the Memorial Hall, July 29, 1887.
228 Report, p. 8, sect. 15.
_ 229 Freeman_, Jan. 1887.
230 Questions 16, 473-5.
M133 Ministerial Vacillations
_ 231 Hans._ August 19, 1886.
_ 232 Ibid._ 313, March 22, 1887.
_ 233 Ibid._ 312, April 22, 1887.
M134 Singular Operations
234 Speech on Criminal Law Amendment (Ireland) bill, March 29, 1887.
235 This vital feature of the bill was discussed in the report stage, on
a motion limiting the operation of the Act to three years. June 27,
1887. _Hans._ 316, p. 1013. The clause was rejected by 180 to 119,
or a majority of 61.
236 See Palles, C. B., in Walsh’s case. _Judgments of Superior Courts in
cases under the Criminal Law and Procedure Amendment Act_, 1887, p.
110.
M135 New Crimes Act
M136 First Guillotine Closure
237 On September 9, 1887.
M137 Mitchelstown
238 Sept. 12, 1887. _Hans._ 321, p. 327.
M138 Intervention From Rome
239 Dec. 3, 1888. _Hans._ 331, p. 916.
240 May 8, 1888.
M139 At Sandringham And Windsor
_ 241 Tablet_, Jan. 5, 1889.
_ 242 Iliad_, X. 317. See _Homer and Homeric Age_, iii. 467 n.
243 House of Lords, August 10, 1888.
M140 The Facsimile Letter
244 Here is the text of this once famous piece:—
’15/5/82.
“DEAR SIR,—I am not surprised at your friend’s anger, but he and you
should know that to denounce the murders was the only course open to
us. To do that promptly was plainly our best policy. But you can
tell him and all others concerned, that though I regret the accident
of Lord F. Cavendish’s death, I cannot refuse to admit that Burke
got no more than his deserts. You are at liberty to show him this,
and others whom you can trust also, but let not my address be known.
He can write to the House of Commons.—Yours very truly,
“CHAS. S. PARNELL.”
245 The three judges held this to be a correct interpretation of the
language used in the article of March 10th, 1887. Report, pp. 57-8.
246 April 20, 1887.
M141 Demand For A Committee
_ 247 Hans._ July 12, 1888, p. 1102.
_ 248 Hans._ July 16, p. 1410.
_ 249 Hans._ July 16, 1888, p. 1495.
M142 The Bill
_ 250 Hans._ 329, July 23, 1888, p. 263.
M143 The Tribunal Opened
_ 251 Hans._ Aug. 2, 1888, p. 1282.
_ 252 Report_, p. 5.
_ 253 Hans._ 342, p. 1357.
M144 Proceedings In Court
_ 254 Evidence_, iv. p. 219.
255 The common-sense view of the employment of such a man seems to be
set out in the speech of Sir Henry James (Cassell and Co.), pp.
149-51, and 494-5.
M145 The Letters Reached
256 Feb. 24, 1889. _Evidence_, vi. p. 20.
M146 The Forgeries Exploded
M147 On The Report
257 See above, vol. iii. p. 56.
M148 On The Report
258 “The Triple Alliance and Italy’s Place in It.” By Outidanos.
_Contemporary Review_, October 1889. See Appendix.
M149 Blessings Of The Home
259 See above, vol. i. pp. 99, 568.
260 Third Part, vol. i. p. 62.
261 Vol. i. p. 206.
262 These articles appeared in _Good Words_ (March-November 1900), and
were subsequently published in volume form under the title of _The
Impregnable Rock of Holy Scripture_.
_ 263 Speaker_, Aug. 30, 1890.
_ 264 Inf._ v. 98: “Where Po descends for rest with his tributary
streams.”
_ 265 Od._ xx. 82.
266 Mr. Hanbury, August 1, 1889. _Hans._ 339, p. 98.
267 At Birmingham, July 30, 1889.
_ 268 E.g._ _Northern Whig_, February 21, 1889.
M150 Advance Of Home Rule
269 Mr. Balfour at Manchester. _Times_, October 21, 1889.
270 October 22, 1890.
271 See Mr. Roby’s speech at the Manchester Reform Club, Oct. 24, and
articles in _Manchester Guardian_, Oct. 16 and 25, 1890. The _Times_
(Oct. 23), while denying the inference that the Irish question was
the question most prominent in the minds of large numbers of the
electors, admitted that this was the vital question really before
the constituency, and says generally, “The election, like so many
other bye-elections, has been decided by the return to their party
allegiance of numbers of Gladstonians who in 1886 absented
themselves from the polling booths.”
M151 The Catastrophe
272 “That the effect of this trial will be to relegate Mr. Parnell for a
time, at any rate, to private life, must we think be assumed....
Special exemptions from penalties which should apply to all public
men alike cannot possibly be made in favour of exceptionally
valuable politicians to suit the convenience of their parties. He
must cease, for the present at any rate, to lead the nationalist
party; and conscious as we are of the loss our opponents will
sustain by his resignation, we trust that they will believe us when
we say that we are in no mood to exult in it.... It is no
satisfaction to us to feel that a political adversary whose
abilities and prowess it was impossible not to respect, has been
overthrown by irrelevant accident, wholly unconnected with the
struggle in which we are engaged.”—_Daily Telegraph_, Nov. 17, 1890.
M152 Opinion In Ireland
273 Speech at Retford, Dec. 11, 1890. _Antony and Cleopatra_, Act I. Sc.
2.
M153 Judgments In Great Britain
274 Lord Granville, Sir W. Harcourt, Mr. Arnold Morley, and myself.
M154 The Liberal Leaders
M155 The Irish Leader Obdurate
275 If anybody cares to follow all this up, he may read a speech of Mr.
Parnell’s at Kells, Aug. 16, 1891, and a full reply of mine sent to
the press, Aug. 17.
M156 Mr. Parnell’s Decision
276 On the day after leaving Hawarden Mr. Parnell spoke at Liverpool,
calling on Lancashire to rally to their “grand old leader.” “My
countrymen rejoice,” he said, “for we are on the safe path to our
legitimate freedom and our future prosperity.” December 19, 1889.
277 See _The Parnell Split_, reprinted from the _Times_ in 1891.
Especially also _The Story of Room 15_, by Donal Sullivan, M.P., the
accuracy of which seems not to have been challenged.
M157 Committee Room Fifteen
M158 The Irish Bishops
M159 Break-Up Of The Irish Party
278 The case for the change of mind which induced the majority who had
elected Mr. Parnell to the chair less than a fortnight before, now
to depose him, was clearly put by Mr. Sexton at a later date. To the
considerations adduced by him nobody has ever made a serious
political answer. The reader will find Mr. Sexton’s argument in the
reports of these proceedings already referred to.
_ 279 Od._ xi. 200. “It was not sickness that came upon me; it was
wearying for thee and thy lost counsels, glorious Odysseus, and for
all thy gentle kindness, this it was that broke the heart within
me.”
280 Hor. _Carm._ i. 24.
M160 Severe Ordeal
281 December 23, 1890.
282 April 3, 1891.
283 July 8, 1891.
M161 Death Of Mr. Parnell
284 October 6. He was in his forty-sixth year (_b._ June 1846), and had
been sixteen years in parliament.
285 Vol. i. p. 387.
286 See above, vol. ii. p. 76.
M162 At Newcastle
287 Once Mr. Gladstone presented him with a piece of plate, and set upon
it one of those little Latin inscriptions to which he was so much
addicted, and which must serve here instead of further commemoration
of a remarkable friendship: Georgio Armitstead, Armigero, D.D. Gul.
E. Gladstone. Amicitiæ Benevolentiæ Beneficiorum delatorum Valde
memor Mense Augusti A.D., 1894.
288 Era già l’ora, che volge ’l disio
A’ naviganti, e ’ntenerisce ’l cuore
Lo di ch’ han detto a’ dolci amici addio, etc.
_Purg._ viii.
Byron’s rendering is well enough known.
M163 Opinions On Statesmen
M164 Table-Talk
289 On some other occasion he set this against Macaulay’s praise of a
passage in Barrow mentioned above, ii. p. 536.
M165 Table-Talk
_ 290 Iliad_, ix. 32.
M166 Ecclesiastical
M167 Fuentarabia
291 ναυτίλε, μὴ πεύθου τίνος ἐνθάδε τύμβος ὅδ᾽ εἰμί,
ἀλλ αὐτὸς πόντου τύγχανε χρηστοτέρου.
“Ask not, mariner, whose tomb I am here, but be thine own fortune a
kinder sea.”—MACKAIL.
M168 Disenchantment A Mistake
M169 Table-Talk
292 I have not succeeded in hitting on the passage in the _History_.
M170 Payment Of Members
M171 At Bayonne
293 Boswell, March 21, 1776. Repeated, with a very remarkable
qualification, Sept. 19, 1777. Birkbeck Hill’s edition, iii. p. 162.
_ 294 Carm._ iii. 5.
M172 Table-Talk
M173 Table-Talk
_ 295 Translations by Lyttelton and Gladstone_, p. 166.
M174 Table-Talk
296 Thou shalt possess thy soul without care among the living, and
lighter when thou goest to the place where most are.
M175 Conversations
297 See Appendix, Hor. _Carm._ i. 12, 25.
M176 Question Of Undertaking Government
298 Lord Palmerston’s government of 1859 was shorter by only a few days.
M177 The Cabinet
299 Here is the Fourth Cabinet:—
_First lord of the treasury and privy seal_, W. E. Gladstone.
_Lord chancellor_, Lord Herschell.
_President of the council and Indian secretary_, Earl of Kimberley.
_Chancellor of the exchequer_, Sir W. V. Harcourt.
_Home secretary_, H. H. Asquith.
_Foreign secretary_, Earl of Rosebery.
_Colonial secretary_, Marquis of Ripon.
_Secretary for war_, H. Campbell-Bannerman.
_First lord of the admiralty_, Earl Spencer.
_Chief secretary for Ireland_, John Morley.
_Secretary for Scotland_, Sir G. O. Trevelyan.
_President of the board of trade_, A. J. Mundella.
_President of the local government board_, H. H. Fowler.
_Chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster_, James Bryce.
_Postmaster-general_, Arnold Morley.
_First commissioner of works_, J. G. Shaw Lefevre.
_Vice-president of the council_, A. H. D. Acland.
300 See Mr. Gladstone’s speeches and answers to questions in the House
of Commons, Jan. 1, Feb. 3, and May 1, 1893. See also the French
Yellow Book for 1893, for M. Waddington’s despatches of Nov. 1,
1892, May 5, 1893, and Feb. 1, 1893.
M178 Preparation Of The Bill
301 I hope I am not betraying a cabinet secret if I mention that this
committee was composed of Mr. Gladstone, Lord Spencer, Lord
Herschell, Mr. Campbell-Bannermann, Mr. Bryce, and myself.
302 See above, p. 386.
M179 Achievements In Debate
303 One poor biographic item perhaps the tolerant reader will not grudge
me leave to copy from Mr. Gladstone’s diary:—“_October 6, 1892._ Saw
J. Morley and made him envoy to ——. He is on the whole ... about the
best stay I have.”
M180 Obstruction
M181 The Guillotine
M182 Question Of Dissolution
304 See above, ii. p. 241.
305 See Appendix for further elucidation.
M183 Again At Biarritz
M184 Last Cabinet
306 Above, p. 130.
M185 Last Audience
307 Written down, March 5.
308 Dr. Carlyle’s translation.
_ 309 Inferno_, xxvii. 81.
310 On July 1, 1895, he announced his formal withdrawal in a letter to
Sir John Cowan, so long the loyal chairman of his electoral
committee.
311 “The Place of Heresy and Schism in the Modern Christian Church” and
“The True and False Conception of the Atonement.”
_ 312 Letter to the Duke of Westminster._
M186 Last Meeting With The Queen
313 For the list see Appendix.
_ 314 King John._
M187 Last Illness
M188 Parliamentary Tributes
M189 His Summary Of The Period
315 Letter to Sir John Cowan, March 17, 1894.
316 July 1, 1895.
M190 Leader, Not Follower
317 See vol. i. p. 457.
M191 Achievements Compared
318 See _Guardian_, Feb. 25, 1874.
M192 Attitude To Church Parties
319 iii. p. 396.
320 For instance, Geddes, _Problem of the Homeric Poems_, 1878, p. 16.
M193 On Homer
321 Pattison, ii. p. 166.
_ 322 Gleanings_, ii. p. 147.
_ 323 Life_, i. p. 398.
M194 Leopardi Translations
_ 324 Gleanings_, ii. p. 129.
M195 A Golden Lamp
325 Telegram of April 4.
326 Despatch, March 9.
327 Power, p. 73 A.
_ 328 Ibid._ 75 B.
329 Egypt, No. 18, p. 34, 1884 (April); Egypt, No. 35, p. 122 (July 30).
M196 Home Rule Bill, 1886
M197 Naval Estimates Of 1894