SOCIAL AND POLITICAL INTERESTS
Hospitable and popular, Sir Charles had the best of what those days could
offer in talk and talkers. He compared his own country very unfavourably
with the possible standard of social intercourse:
'In England and in France people seem wholly unaware that they cannot
either in politics or in literature deal with or even understand
questions involving philosophical and historical considerations
without any training in either philosophy or history, and one sees
writings and speeches by persons who think themselves members of an
educated class which are unintelligible to any who have the slightest
discipline of either habit of thought or form of expression.'
'In the best English political and literary society there is no
conversation. Mr. Gladstone will talk with much charm about matters
that he does not understand, or books that he is not really competent
to criticize; but his conversation has no merit to those who are
acquainted with the subjects on which he speaks. Men like Lord
Rosslyn, [Footnote: Lord Rosslyn died in 1890.] Lord Houghton, Lord
Granville (before his deafness), had a pleasant wit and some
cultivation, as had Bromley Davenport, Beresford Hope, and others, as
well as Arthur Balfour, but none of these men were or are at a high
level; and where you get the high level in England, you fall into
priggism. On the whole, Hastings, Duke of Bedford, was the best
specimen that I ever knew of an English gentleman as regards learning
and conversation; but then he was horrible as a man, in spite of his
pretty manners, because ferocious in his ideas upon property. Now, at
Rome is to be found that which is unknown in London, in Paris, in St.
Petersburg, and unknown, I fancy, at Vienna and Berlin, although of
these I know far less--namely, conversation not priggish or academic,
and yet consistently maintained at a high level.
'I often heard Mr. Gladstone talk well at little Charles Forster's.
"Mr. G." also seemed to me to talk especially well at the table of Sir
Walter James, [Footnote: The first Lord Northbourne.] an old gentleman
who had left Parliament soon after I was born. In those two houses he
was supreme; but if Coleridge or the Viper (Abraham Hayward) or
Browning were present, who talked better than he did, and would not
give way to him, he was less good. Villiers, who was another good
talker, "Mr. G." could not abide, and his presence also was a damper.'
In the next year we have 'a dinner at the French Embassy, where Gladstone
was very agreeable, talking French well in an old-fashioned style.'
Also, in 1880, there is a dinner to which
'the first man to come was the Duke of Cambridge, who gave Mr.
Gladstone his left hand, and said that his right was too painful
through gout. Mr. Gladstone threw his arms up to the sky, as though he
had just heard of the reception of Lord Beaconsfield in heaven, or of
some other similar terrible news. His habit of play-acting in this
fashion, in the interest of a supposed politeness, is a very odd one,
giving a great air of unreality to everything he does; but of course
it is a habit of long years.
'I heard good talk about this time at Coleridge's house, but preferred
his Blakes--which were even better than mine--to his conversation.'
Under the date February 23rd is record of sitting up late at night at the
Lubbocks' with Sir James Fitzjames Stephen, the Judge:
'We did not agree upon any point, for his opinions upon all things,
especially hanging, were the exact opposite of my own. He talked of
"our dear old British gallows." But we got on well, and I was one of
those who greatly regretted his breakdown, which occurred some ten
years later. He and Leslie Stephen were the sons of Sir James Stephen,
Professor of History at Cambridge--very unlike one another in early
life, when J. F. Stephen was a fat, half-Whig, half-Tory lawyer and
_Saturday Reviewer_, and Leslie a starved-looking, free-thinking
Radical parson, afterwards to throw off his Orders. As they grew old
they became much alike in appearance, and in opinion.'
There is a note of spending a Sunday in March 'at Aston Clinton, with the
widow of Sir Anthony de Rothschild and her daughter, Mrs. Cyril Flower,
afterwards Lady Battersea.
'Sir Nathaniel de Rothschild and his wife came to dinner, and, well
knowing as I did two other members of the family, I could see how
strangely like a Royal family the Rothschilds are in one respect--
namely, that they all quarrel with one another, but are united as against
the world. When Cyril Flower, in 1878, made a speech unfriendly to the
Government, but not more so than might naturally be expected at that time
from a Liberal member, Baron Lionel sent for him, and told him that it was
"wicked and abominable for him to attack a man who had been a poor Jew and
was now the greatest man in England." "In Europe, papa," cut in Nathaniel,
who was present at this public cursing.
'From March 15th to the 17th I stayed at York House with the Grant
Duffs, where I met the Marquis and Marquise de la Ferronnays, Henry
Cowper, Minto, Lord Reay, and Herbert Spencer. La Ferronnays was at
this time Military Attaché at the French Embassy, but resigned as soon
as the Republic became consolidated, and, being elected to the
Chamber, was soon the fighting leader of the high Tory party--a not
clever, but excellent gentleman, like the others.
'On Monday, March 31st, I dined at the Harcourts', but, alas I this
time no Schouvalof. His place was occupied by Rancez, the Spanish
Minister, who had the same diplomatic capacity for concealing the
truth while talking with equal apparent frankness, but who was less
amusing.
'On Monday, April 7th, I dined with Lord and Lady Arthur Russell, to
meet old Lady Russell. I had seen her once before at Pembroke Lodge,
and once at Harcourt's at dinner, on both of which previous occasions
I had seen Lord Russell too--a shadow of his former self.... On this
occasion Lady Russell was alone, Lord Russell having died in the
previous year. [Footnote: In 1878.] The old lady was pleasant, and
gave me a general invitation to come to Pembroke Lodge any or every
Sunday, an invitation of which I afterwards availed myself.
'On April 9th I left for France for Easter, and had long and pleasant
breakfasts at the Palais Bourbon with Gambetta, varied by a grand
dinner on April 16th, at which I met many of those who afterwards held
office--Ferry, afterwards Prime Minister; Rouvier, afterwards Prime
Minister; Spuller, afterwards Minister for Foreign Affairs; Constans,
afterwards Minister of the Interior; and Freycinet, afterwards Prime
Minister--all of them dull men enough. Spuller, a kindly and pleasant
dull man; Constans, a red-faced Burgundy drinker; Freycinet, a little
white intriguer--on the whole a sorry crew, Gambetta towering above
them in ability, in joviality, and even in reading.'
In a scrap of an old letter, dated Wednesday, April 16th, Sir Charles
says:
"I've spent nearly all my time with Gambetta. He said that he thinks
Sella 'le premier homme politique de l'Italie, mais enragé
protectionniste.' He says he told him that if he were not so violent a
Protectionist he would be 'l'homme absolument nécessaire.'"
On this follows later the observation:
'If Gambetta was anything, he was anti-Russian and a Free Trader, and
his friends, professing to continue his work, became, after about
1887, rabid Russians and fierce Protectionists.'
He speaks of Gambetta's 'contempt for Sella because Sella was a
Protectionist,' and adds: 'I suppose Gambetta would have become one
had he lived.'
While Dilke was in Paris he received a letter from Chamberlain referring
to a motion about 'the interference of the Crown in politics,' of which
Mr. Dillwyn had given notice. Mr. Chamberlain thought the subject
"certainly a popular one, but very difficult to treat in the House of
Commons."
'Dillwyn's motion was obviously what people would call "interesting,"
but obviously also highly dangerous, as it was really impossible to
prove the case. The Queen does interfere constantly; more, however,
when Liberal Ministers are in power than when she has a Conservative
Cabinet, because the Conservatives on the whole do what she likes, as
she is a Conservative; whereas the Liberals are continually doing, and
indeed exist for the purpose of doing, the things she does not like.
But it is very doubtful how far her interference is unconstitutional,
and it would be quite impossible to prove it, unless Mr. Gladstone,
for example, were to publish her letters--a not very likely
supposition. The Queen is a woman of great ability.... She writes to
the Prime Minister about everything she does not like, which, when he
is a Liberal, means almost everything that he says or does. She
complains of his colleagues' speeches. She complains, with less
violence, of his own. She protests against Bills. She insists that
administrative acts should not be done without delay, for the purpose
of consulting with regard to them persons whose opinions she knows
will be unfavourable. But if the Minister acts as she directs, he, and
not she, becomes responsible; and he may be impeached, for example,
for so doing. And... her action, to my mind, is, strictly speaking,
constitutional. Even in the House of Commons, and in a speech taking a
rough popular view of the Constitution, it would be difficult to
maintain that with her immense experience the Queen is not justified
in asking for time in order that men of distinction should be
consulted upon various acts; and anything beyond this would be mere
matter of inference, not proving the case even if the facts were
known, which of course they are not. Our poor Dillwyn on this
occasion, prompted by Trevelyan, walked into a hornets' nest; and, as
he did it without consulting his two leaders, his leaders were not
bound to follow him.'
'On March 21st I dined with Sir Baliol and Lady Bret, meeting the
German Ambassador (Count Münster) and his daughter, and Lord and Lady
Derby. She was not at all bitter about Lord Beaconsfield, although
very bitter about the Court; and after dinner Lord Derby said that the
Queen was now carrying on a confidential correspondence with every
quarter of the globe, so that he was evidently bitter too....
'On April 22nd I received from Auberon Herbert a letter: "Things look
well. The gilding is much tarnished, and shows the brass underneath.
You have done right well. Many thanks for your letter. I went to
Leeds--on the chance but I suspect I am best out of the House. I can
do more to make people believe in themselves, and not in our Moslem
idea of government--perhaps--outside the House than in it. You do
agree in the fearfully paralyzing effect of belief in Government,
don't you?" The last words reveal the growth in Auberon Herbert of
anarchic views, which shortly afterwards turned him for all practical
purposes from a Radical into a Tory, or, rather, turned him back to
the point from which he had started, for as a Tory private secretary
to a Tory Cabinet Minister he had begun political life at the time
when he drew up the plan for the action of the troops against the mob
on the day of the Hyde Park railings being torn down--a plan so
drastic that the Home Secretary, Walpole, refused to move.
'On Wednesday, April 23rd, I dined with Waddy, M.P., Q.C., [Footnote:
Afterwards County Court Judge.] a man who would have been a Judge but
for his odd name and his odder manners, "to meet Lord Hartington and
the President of the Wesleyan Conference," an odd mixture. Waddy is a
Wesleyan, and wanted Hartington to make the acquaintance of the
leading Wesleyans in England, and took this course to bring about the
result.
'My Sundays at this time I had taken to spend at Pembroke Lodge,
preferring it to Strawberry Hill as quieter, for we often had there
(besides Lady Russell) only Lady Agatha and Rollo Russell, and little
Lord Russell when he was home for the holidays from Winchester.
'On Monday, April 28th, I had an interview with the Duke of Argyll at
his wish with regard to the Eastern Question generally, in which he
took deep interest, and on which he made, perhaps, on the whole, the
most conclusive speech delivered in Parliament against the policy of
the Conservative Government. The Duke of Argyll was at this time the
most finished and (for a stately occasion and a cultivated audience)
about the most convincing speaker that could be found--to me, not so
convincing as Gathorne Hardy, and, to all men, less gifted with charm
and melody of voice than Mr. Bright; but fine in the extreme, with no
serious drawbacks except a little too much satisfaction with himself;
a very able man, as his monumental book upon the Eastern Question will
suffice to show. In philosophy he dabbled, and for dabblers was a
philosopher.
'On Friday, May 9th, I lunched with Lord and Lady Lansdowne, and found
her one of the nicest women that I had ever met--a plain and simple
lady. In the evening I dined with Lady Elizabeth Biddulph, and made
the acquaintance of Herbert of the Colonial Office, whom I afterwards
heard described by Grant Duff in a public speech as "the perfect
permanent official." I had later, when Undersecretary of State for
Foreign Affairs, to act twice for a short time during changes in the
Colonial Office as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the
Colonial Office, in addition to my own duties, and I was able to
discover for myself how true was what Grant Duff said. On one of these
occasions Hicks Beach, who had been Colonial Secretary, gave notice to
call attention to salaries of officers on the West Coast of Africa,
and I at once sent over to the Colonial Office to tell Herbert that he
had done so. Herbert immediately replied that the salaries were low,
and the coast unhealthy, and that salaries could hardly be reduced;
while, on the other hand, when Sir Michael had been Secretary of
State, he had not proposed to raise them; but that so soon as we could
learn which it was that he intended--_i.e._, to lower or to raise--he
would send me, "in either event, a perfect case."
'On May 10th George Sheffield, the _alter ego_ of Lord Lyons, asked
himself to breakfast, and I gathered that Lord Lyons had told him to
come and pump me as to what Gambetta had indicated of his intentions
in France, as George Sheffield kept telling me that Gambetta evidently
intended to make himself Dictator in name, as he was in fact.
'On Sunday, May 11th, I dined with Edmund Yates and his wife, meeting
Irving, Browning, Sala, Mrs. Lynn Linton (just back from three years
in Florence), Mr. and Mrs. Douglas Murray, and some others. I was
intensely amused at watching Mrs. Douglas Murray, agreeable but rather
superfine, looking at the Bardolphian nose of "George Augustus," who
took her in to dinner, and of whom she had evidently never heard, and
wondering what manner of wild man he could be.
'On May 17th, after the Greek Committee, I dined with the Lyulph
Stanleys.... Chamberlain took Lord Airlie, whom he had never
previously met, for Sir George Campbell, and addressed him in a
friendly but disrespectful manner, whereupon Lord Airlie promptly and
publicly said: "It is all right. You take me for Sir George Campbell.
I am used to it; "for they were extraordinarily alike. [Footnote: Mr.
Gladstone once made exactly the same mistake at a great public meeting
in Scotland in 1879.] In fact, Lord Airlie used to wear his ribbon
oftener than other people chiefly because Campbell had not got one, so
that it formed a distinction, but not a sufficient one, for members of
the House sometimes said to me at parties, "What is that ribbon that
Campbell is wearing?" It must have been a relief to Sir George
Campbell when Lord Airlie died; but it would have been a greater
relief to Lord Airlie had Campbell died first.
'The next day I spent at Lubbock's.... Fitzmaurice, Fawcett, and I
went for a walk to the oak under which Wilberforce decided to abolish
slavery, and, strolling on, came to a stile, where we were doubtful of
our way. Fawcett sat down, and Fitzmaurice, looking for the road,
cried out: "Here comes a clod. We will ask him." The slouching
labourer was Lord Derby, as we recognized with a loud laugh, joined in
with terrific shouting by Fawcett as we privately informed him of the
cause, at which Lord Derby was no doubt astonished. However, he did as
well as the yokel, for he led us towards home. My low opinion of Lord
Derby as a politician does not prevent my thinking that in private he
is a most agreeable man; but his appearance is against him. He took us
round by Holmwood, where Pitt lived, and Hayes, where his father,
Chatham, lived.
'Whitsuntide I spent partly upon the river in my canoe, [Footnote:
Canoeing had at this time taken for him the place of rowing, and he
spent his Sundays on the river.] partly at Lord Derby's, and partly at
Dudbrook, Lady Waldegrave's place in Essex; but the first part of my
holiday was spoiled by a summer flood, although the river was very
beautiful, there being beds of the snowflake or summer snowdrop in
bloom, with large white cups tipped with green. They are all gone now
(1900). [Footnote: One at least grew in the willow thicket by his
house at Dockett Eddy in May, 1911, after his death, close by a
nesting swan--two sights which would have filled him with interest and
joy.] The weather was so cold that Lord Derby called it "winter
dressed in green." He and his wife seemed to me to have come over to
our side with almost indecent violence and suddenness; but to be
called "Titus Oates" in the House of Lords by your relative and
successor is too much. [Footnote: This speech of Lord Salisbury's was
made on July 18th, 1878.] The close family connection between the
Derbys and Lord Salisbury had a great deal to answer for in the
sharpness of the quarrel.
'At the beginning of June I received at my house two distinguished
Frenchmen whom I had not previously known: Edmond About and Coquelin
the actor, the latter introduced to me by Gambetta.'
Coquelin was thus introduced:
'"CHAMBRE DES DÉPUTÉS,
'"PRÉSIDENCE,
'"31 _Mai_, 1879.
'"CHER AMI,
'"J'introduis auprès de vous mon ami Coquelin dont vous pourrez
apprècier le charmant esprit, et je vous le recommande sans autrement
faire de phrases, sachant que vous savez à premier vu reconnaître les
vrais hommes.
'"C'est à l'ami que je confie l'ami,
'"À vous, LÉON GAMBETTA."
'About dined with me at the House of Commons on the day on which the
House of Commons met after the Whitsuntide recess; but I did not at
the moment know his peculiarity of being unable to touch any article
of food which contained onion in any form or had been cooked with it,
so that I am afraid I starved him. On June 13th I had prepared
accordingly, and he dined with me, and met all the people who spoke
good French--Leighton, Mitford, Fitzmaurice, Borthwick, Barrington,
Bourke (the Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs), Chamberlain--and
Montebello and La Ferronnays of his own Embassy, and Gennadius the
Greek. It was hard to say whether Mitford, Leighton, or Borthwick
spoke the best French. But certainly neither Fitzmaurice, who was a
quarter French, nor the three Frenchmen, could venture to contest
matters with such talkers. I never heard any fault found with
Leighton's French except that it is too good, though I have heard
people declare that his Italian and his German were yet better; but I
myself could see no fault in Mitford's. About naturally came to the
conclusion, not entirely justified by fact, that all Englishmen could
speak French.
'On June 22nd I gave a dinner for Gambetta's friends, Coquelin and
Hecht, at which I had Lord Granville, Lord Lansdowne, Malet,
Montgélas, Lord Reay, Lord Arthur Russell, and Gavard. Lord Granville
was at his very best, shining as he always did when he could talk
French theatre anecdotes to a man playing up to him as could Coquelin.
'I think it was on Thursday night, June 19th (1879), that, about
midnight, Pender brought me a telegram to the House of Commons telling
me that Prince Louis Napoleon had been killed by the Zulus, in order
that I might telegraph it to Gambetta. I did so; and in the morning
received from Gambetta a telegram asking me to repeat my telegram if
it really came from me, evidently thinking that he had been hoaxed in
my name, for my news reached Paris long before the thing was known
there. The Queen was not told till 10.30 a.m., and she then informed
the Empress Eugénie, so that I knew it eleven hours before the poor
mother.'
On Sunday, June 29th, Sir Charles had stayed at Strawberry Hill. Within
the same week Lady Waldegrave died suddenly. He was among the friends who
went down to see her buried at Chewton, near Chewton Priory, her place in
Somersetshire.
'Carlingford was present at the funeral, although his condition was
very painful to his friends and he refused to leave the place, and
remained there, with great fortitude but little wisdom, for a long
time, until his nerve was completely gone. He never was afterwards the
same man, and, although Mr. Gladstone put him into his Cabinet in
1881, for friendship's sake, [Footnote: There was another reason: his
intimate knowledge of the details of the Irish Land Question, then the
subject of legislation. He became Lord Privy Seal on the resignation
of the Duke of Argyll.] he had become a broken invalid, and was unable
even to bear the smallest reference to past days or even the sudden
sight of friends who had known him in happier times.'
On July 8th there is a note of dining with Lord and Lady Derby, where were
'Lord Odo Russell and a good many other interesting people; Odo Russell
always easily the first wherever he goes. He told me, what I was glad to
hear, that Bismarck was most favourable to Greece.'
'_July_.--Two Crown Princes were in London at this time, and to both
of them I had to be introduced as the maker of speeches in the House
which they had heard: the Crown Prince of Sweden and the Hereditary
Duke (son of the Grand Duke) of Baden. Like all Kings and Princes,
except the King of Greece, and in later days the Emperor William II.,
they seemed to me heavy men, bored by having to pretend to be
thoughtful persons, and I found that difficulty in distinguishing them
the one from the other, which has always oppressed me in dealing with
Royal personages.'
'At this time I had several interviews with Cardinal Manning, at his
wish, about the Irish primary education question, in which I agreed
with him, differing, however, wholly from him with regard to English
education, which caused him always to reproach me with having what he
playfully called a "geographical conscience."'
'In the many visits that I received from the Cardinal and paid to him
at the end of July and beginning of August, 1879, I was amused by
finding how much he cared for general gossip and even scandal. He
insisted on talking to me about Sarah Bernhardt, and Gambetta, and the
Prince of Wales, and all sorts and conditions of people. He told me
that if he was not Cardinal Archbishop he would stand for Westminster
in the Radical interest. But, Radical though he be in social
questions, he is a ferocious Jingo.'
Manning, unlike almost all other Englishmen of his creed, had a sympathy
for Irish Nationalism. Dilke shared the Cardinal-Archbishop's view as to
the power of Rome in Irish politics, as may be seen from the concluding
sentence of this passage from a letter written by him in August, 1879,
with regard to the Act establishing what was called the Royal University:
"Shaw is a Protestant--a Congregationalist--who once was a preacher
and now is a banker, but he is the leader of the Irish party, and
speaks for the Bishops, as did Butt, who also was a Protestant.
Parnell, too, is a Protestant, curiously enough. Biggar was, but has
turned. I don't think popular feeling is engaged; but you must either
govern through and with the priests--or by force."
Mr. Shaw's day of influence was nearly ended. The revolutionary party--for
they aimed at, and effected nothing less than, a revolution--led by
Parnell in the House and by Davitt in the country, were sweeping away the
staunch adherents of pure constitutionalism, among whom Shaw and Butt were
to be numbered. The Irish party was not the only one which contained
conflicting elements:
'Manning attached more importance to an understanding with me and
Chamberlain than to one with Hartington, and sided with us in the
conflict which followed the scene between Hartington and Chamberlain
on July 7th.'
Sir Charles describes the occurrence, though somewhat toning down a
sufficiently stormy passage:
'What occurred was this: James, who was Hartington's right-hand man,
and absolutely in his confidence, had started a debate on flogging,
and came to us and told us that he quite agreed in our view that much
should be made of it, and that it offered a good opportunity for
getting rid of flogging in the Army, and then went away to dinner. Our
men kept up the debate with a good deal of violence of language; and
then Hartington, strolling in after dinner, and hearing that there was
this obstruction, made a violent attack upon poor Hopwood (the Queen's
Counsel, afterwards Recorder of Liverpool, a member of the Radical
Club) and on those acting with him, for obstruction. Chamberlain, much
nettled by this attack upon our men below the gangway for doing only
that which they had been told to do, got up and ironically referred to
Hartington as "the late leader," and I was stung, by Fawcett clumsily
siding with Hartington, into supporting Chamberlain and Hopwood.
'My talents of diplomacy were called into requisition after the
Hartington-Chamberlain quarrel, and I was very proud of managing to
get through nineteen clauses of the Irish University Bill on the next
day, July 8th, stopping all divisions except one, in which Parnell and
I told together, and got Hartington into our lobby, which was, I
think, a triumph of conciliation.
'Later in the month the Whigs, or men above the gangway, showed great
anger at the completeness of Hartington's surrender to us, which,
indeed, meant more than the immediate conquest, for it involved the
ultimate supersession of Hartington by Gladstone. Harcourt, James, and
Adam [Footnote: The Right Hon. W. P. Adam, afterwards Governor of
Madras.] (the Chief Whip), in giving Chamberlain the victory by
insisting that Hartington should yield, were considering the
constituencies, not the House. As regarded the House, the popularity
of stamping upon us would have been great. There was strong Whig
dislike of our activity, and strong Radical personal hatred among
ourselves. If Chamberlain were to have fought Hartington on any
question on which he had not the Liberal constituencies with him, he
would have got the worst of it; but then he was too wise to stir on
any question on which he could not at least carry all the active
elements of the party in large towns. The anti-Chamberlain set went to
work to get up a banquet to Hartington, and were very cross with me
when I told them that I was certain that the Whips would not let
Hartington accept the banquet unless they obtained Chamberlain's
signature to the requisition. It, of course, turned out as I expected.
Some twenty men said that they would not sign unless Chamberlain did
so, and he was then begged to sign, and, when he did, at once deprived
the manifestation of all significance. It was all rather small and
mean, but when one went to the root of the matter, one saw that the
whole difficulty sprang from the fact that the Whigs had now no
principles. Once upon a time they had had principles, but their
principles had been adopted by the other side, and long before 1879
their distinctive opinions had been taken from them. A party cannot be
dignified and consistent if its chiefs and the mass of its rank and
file have no principles. My own opinion, which I preached on all
occasions, was that the right course in these democratic days was for
leaders to say, "Here are my opinions, but I know that on certain
points they are not those of a majority;" and not to continue to
pretend that all agreed when, as a fact, they differed.
'In a note in my diary upon the question of the leadership I say:
"Harcourt's good points and bad points are both on a large scale.
Childers is too much in city business and in companies to be one of
the leading men in the party in the future. Hartington is too careless
and too much bored to interest others. Gladstone and Bright are old;
Bright 'past'; Gladstone still a great power, and, but for his Scotch
deference to the aristocracy, which is a sad drawback, I could admire
him with little check."
'On July 26th I received from Bradlaugh a letter about his candidature
for Parliament, in which he wrote: "It appears that the so-called
moderate Liberals mean to fight for one seat only at Northampton. I,
therefore, can only fight for myself. This means Phipps's seat sure,
and for the second either Merryweather or Ayrton, and I think the
order expresses--subject to contingencies--the probability. There are
one or two county constituencies and several boroughs where moderate
Liberals will stand who cannot be elected without the votes of my
friends. I am now consulted as to what my friends in such cases ought
to do. Speaking moderately, I think I could surely prevent the return
of five or six moderates, and render doubtful the return of ten or
twelve more. Is it reasonable to expect me to aid actively those who
do me the most possible mischief? I owe no debt of gratitude to anyone
in England ... except the people who love me. May it not be as well
for me this coming election to pick, say, twenty seats and make a few
burnt-offerings by way of example, to show the moderates that I am
strong enough to be worth reckoning with? Pardon me if I am boring you
with a matter in which you have no interest."'
At the close of the Session Sir Charles addressed his constituents--
'with an overwhelming case against the Government, in which I showed
the folly of the pretences which had been put forward as to the Berlin
settlement in Bulgaria and in Asia Minor, of the Anglo-Turkish
Convention, of the occupation of Cyprus, and of the South African
policy; and pointed out the fact that in the year we were spending
fifty millions sterling upon our army and navy, and that if the navy
was in excellent condition, no one would venture to make the same
assertion with regard to our land forces.'
He crossed to France, saw Gambetta in Paris, and also Nubar Pasha, and
went to drink waters at La Bourboule, and on to Le Puy, and thence started
on one of the long tramps by which he came to know France as few
Englishmen have done. He walked across to Vals, 'and so to the Rhone, and
then to my solemn Provençal country--to my mind, a better Italy.'
At Toulon he busied himself with the German history of the nineteenth
century for his projected book, and wrote much to his brother, who was now
hoping to enter Parliament.
'Nubar, who had a quarrel with our Foreign Office, and who had been
expelled from Egypt by the new Khedive, but, as Nubar thought, at the
wish of the French Consul-General, was another correspondent of these
days, destined afterwards to return to be made Prime Minister at the
hands of this same Khedive.'
The Government's sixth year of office was running out, and a General
Election was at hand.
'At the end of the year I had letters describing the state of things
in England from Harcourt, Chamberlain, and Adam. Chamberlain wrote:
"Things look bad for the Tories. We shall have a majority at the next
election. I feel confident." Adam wrote: "As things are at present, we
shall have a majority independent of Home Rulers." Harcourt wrote that
he was unusually dull and stupid: "I feel as if the soul of Northcote
had transmigrated into me, and, if only I had a flaxen beard, I am
sure I should make one of his Midland speeches to admiration.... I
really find nothing new to say. Of course, there is the old story of
Afghanistan, but the latter is already discounted, and it is rather a
ticklish question. I never felt it so difficult to mix a prescription
good for the present feeling of the constituencies.... Depend upon
it, if we are to win (as we shall), it will not be on some startling
cry, but by the turning over to us of that floating mass of middle
votes which went over to the Tories last time, and will come back from
them in disgust at the next election. It is much easier to persuade
the public that the Government are duffers than that we are conjurers.
I shall therefore ... be dull and safe, and not overabusive. That, at
least, is my diagnosis of the treatment the patient requires just
now.... Not having materials for one speech, I have got to make a
second. I must trust to the newspaper abuse of the first to supply me
with materials for the second."'
Sir William Harcourt was too diffident, as his brilliant speeches at
Oxford and elsewhere, full of epigrams, had more effect on the electorate
than any others--not even excepting Mr. Gladstone's speeches in his
Midlothian campaign.
There is no suggestion in the correspondence of the ferment which was
working in Midlothian. Mr. Gladstone was apart from both Whigs and
Radicals in these days.
So closed the last years of Sir Charles's second Parliament. He had played
in it a commanding part in debate upon matters of war and of foreign
policy without abating his activity in domestic politics, such as the
franchise, or flogging in the army, which he helped finally to abolish. No
man could well seem to have fewer enemies or more friends.