1.1D 
 
 Sir Herbert , Ifaxmlk
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 THE RIGHT HONOURABLE 
 
 WILLIAM HENRY SMITH, M.P,
 
 Civis talis, qualis et prudentissimus 
 elfortunA optimd esse debet. CICERO.
 
 THE RIGHT HON. W. H. SMITH.
 
 LIFE 
 
 OF 
 
 THE RIGHT HONOURABLE 
 
 WILLIAM HENRY SMITH, M.P, 
 
 BY 
 
 SIR HERBERT MAXWELL, BART., M.P. 
 
 WITH 
 A PORTRAIT AND OTHER ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 NEW EDITION 
 
 WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS 
 
 EDINBURGH AND LONDON 
 
 MDCCCXC VI 
 
 All Rtiliti
 
 4
 
 PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION, 
 
 Ix preparing these Memoirs, there has been present to me 
 the difficulty besetting every one who attempts to deal 
 with political events during the lifetime of many who 
 have borne a part in them. There is much that cannot 
 be alluded to without reviving slumbering controversy, or 
 reflecting on the actions of public men, until the chari- 
 table finger of Time shall have touched the harshness 
 out of recent events, and brought them into right per- 
 spective with the history of the country. 
 
 Yet I am not without the courage to hope that in 
 recording the chief incidents in the career of one with 
 whom it was my privilege to be associated, and to follow 
 as leader during some anxious and eventful years, I may 
 have succeeded in avoiding obvious errors, and giving a 
 true account of a life nobly led and purely ended. In 
 whatever measure that hope may be realised, it is owing 
 to the abundance of material placed at my disposal by 
 the family and friends of Mr Smith, and to the assistance 
 willingly given by many who had been associated with 
 him in commercial, philanthropic, and political affairs. It 
 
 410499
 
 Vi PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. 
 
 is possible that in the attempt to give a true impression 
 of the course steered by Mr Smith in politics, I have 
 found it necessary to refer to the actions of those opposed 
 to him in terms which their friends may consider un- 
 favourable. They will, however, be slow to suspect me 
 of any intention of serving the ends of party, or indeed 
 of any motive other than that of giving a faithful 
 narrative. 
 
 In requesting me to undertake the compilation of these 
 volumes, Lady Harnbleden has reposed a degree of confi- 
 dence in me which I am not likely to undervalue. She 
 has put at my disposal the private papers and correspon- 
 dence of her husband, and her daughters have greatly 
 lightened my labours by arranging these, and copying 
 some which were least easy to decipher. 
 
 Among others who have given me valuable information 
 have been the Duke of Eutland, the Marquis of Salisbury, 
 the Earl of Harrowby, the Earl of Iddesleigh, Lord Rowton, 
 Lord Ashcombe, the Eight Hon. Edward Stanhope, M.P., 
 the Rev. Sir Emilius Laurie, Sir Edward Lawson, Sir Henry 
 Acland, Mr Penrose Fitzgerald, M.P., the Rev. Canon 
 Jacob, the Rev. Canon Ince, the Rev. Canon Pinder, the 
 Rev. Canon J. M. Nisbet, Mr W. Lethbridge, Captain 
 Blow of the Pandora, Mr White and Mr Monger of 186 
 Strand. To all these, as well as to others too numerous 
 to mention, my hearty thanks are due. 
 
 MONREITH, October 1893.
 
 PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION, 
 
 MANY indications having been received that the Memoirs 
 of Mr W. H. Smith should be published in such a form 
 as to be easily within the reach of general readers, the 
 present edition has been prepared accordingly. Bulk has 
 been reduced by cutting out much of what is not essential 
 to consecutive narrative or the illustration of motives and 
 character ; and of contemporary political history only so 
 much has been retained as seems necessary to understanding 
 the actions of one who bore a leading part in public life. 
 
 HERBERT MAXWELL. 
 
 LONDON, June 1894.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 1784-1846. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Introductory The brothers Smith Their parentage The 
 house in Duke Street They set up a branch office in the 
 Strand The junior partner buys out his brother Letter 
 from Leigh Hunt Birth of a son, William Henry His boy- 
 hood Goes to Tavistock grammar-school His aversion to 
 Methodism Desires to enter Holy Orders Defers to his 
 father's wishes and enters the business His indifference to 
 games and his love of music Correspondence with William 
 Ince, 1 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 1846-1854. 
 
 Disappointment in choice of a profession Residence at Kilburn 
 House Young Smith enters the business, and on coming of 
 age becomes his father's partner His influence in the office 
 Beginning of the bookstall business Acquires monopoly 
 of the North-Western Railway stations His dealings with 
 employes Expansion of the business Work on the Com- 
 mittee of King's College Hospital, 25
 
 X CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 1854-1893. 
 
 Effect of the repeal of the newspaper stamp-duty Growth of 
 the business Smith & Son become sole agents for the 
 ' Times ' Failing health of the senior partner Increasing 
 work Its effect upon young Smith The firm become con- 
 tractors for railway advertising Extracts from letters and 
 journal The principles of private life carried into business 
 affairs The lending library set on foot Publication of cheap 
 novels Its success and abandonment Present aspect of the 
 Strand office Early morning work Despatch of newspapers, 39 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 1855-1865. 
 
 Smith is elected to Metropolitan Board of Works His marriage 
 in 1858 to Mrs Leach Old Mr Smith retires from business 
 Philanthropic work The Bishop of London's fund Friend- 
 ship with Lord Sandon Smith contemplates standing as a 
 Liberal for Boston And for Exeter Is blackballed for Re- 
 form Club Becomes Conservative candidate for Westmin- 
 ster His address to the electors The election And its 
 result, 62 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 1865-1868. 
 
 Death of Lord Palmerston And of the elder Smith Earl Rus- 
 sell's Reform Bill And Mr Disraeli's Dissolution of Parlia- 
 ment Smith is elected for Westminster 80 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 1868-1869. 
 
 Petition against Mr Smith's return The trial and verdict 
 Smith's maiden speech Debate on pauperism Smith's 
 mistrust of charitable donations Anecdotes illustrating his 
 principles of giving The Telegraph Bill Debates on dises- 
 tablishment of the Irish Church, 90
 
 CONTENTS. XI 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 1870-1871. 
 
 Visit to Paris State of parties in Parliament The smoking- 
 room of the House of Commons Irish Land Bill Elemen- 
 tary Education Bill Smith's motion on the Thames Embank- 
 ment Defeat of the Government thereon Smith elected 
 to first London School Board Religious difficulty arising 
 there settled on his motion Assists emigration to Canada 
 Debates on Army Bill, Budget, and Ballot Bill Damaged 
 position of the Government Irish Home Rule Mr Glad- 
 stone's speech at Aberdeen, 100 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 1872. 
 
 Meeting of Parliament Unpopularity of Ministers The Ballot 
 Bill The Thames Embankment Scheme again Smith sails 
 for America Journal of travel, 114 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 1873-1874. 
 
 Increasing unpopularity of Ministers Irish University Bill 
 Defeat and resignation of the Government Disraeli declines 
 to form a Cabinet Mr Gladstone resumes office Debate on 
 Budget Resolutions Dissensions in Cabinet Dissolution of 
 Parliament General election Conservative victory The 
 poll in Westminster Disraeli forms a Cabinet Mr Smith 
 becomes Financial Secretary to the Treasury Resigns 
 Treasurership of S.P.C.K., 125 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 1874-1876. 
 
 Retirement of Mr Gladstone from lead of Liberal party 
 Beginning of Smith's friendship with Northcote He settles 
 to work at the Treasury Visits Bournemouth Lord Hart-
 
 xii CONTENTS. 
 
 ingtou chosen leader of the Liberals The session Official 
 visits to Edinburgh and Dublin The Suez Canal shares 
 Consolidation of the Home Rule party Visits to the dock- 
 yardsWork, 140 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 1876-1878. 
 
 Difficulties of the Government The Bulgarian atrocities The 
 " bag-and-baggage " policy The Journal of a Discontented 
 Man Obstruction in the House of Commons Death of Mi- 
 Ward Hunt Smith appointed First Lord of the Admiralty 
 Misgivings as to his own ability Congratulatory banquet 
 in St James's Hall War between Russia and Turkey 
 Meeting of Parliament The Fleet sent to Gallipoli Resig- 
 nation of Lords Carnarvon and Derby Votes of censure 
 The Berlin Congress " Peace with Honour," . . . 149 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 1878. 
 Journal of a tour to Cyprus, 181 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 1878-1880. 
 
 War with Afghanistan Motion of censure on Ministers De- 
 pression of trade The Zulu war Meeting of Parliament 
 Fifth motion of censure within twelve months Mr Butt 
 resigns lead of Home Rule party Is succeeded by Mr 
 Parnell Irish tactics in Parliament Speech by Smith 
 at Bury St Edmunds He receives degree of D.C.L. at 
 Oxford The new Eddystone Lighthouse Renewal of war 
 with Afghanistan Lord Hartington on Home Rule Ag- 
 rarian agitation in Ireland By-elections at Liverpool and 
 Southwark Meeting of Parliament Debate on Irish 
 distress Dissolution of Parliament Lord Beaconsfield's 
 manifesto Lord Derby joins the Liberals Smith is re- 
 elected for Westminster, 192
 
 CONTENTS. X1U 
 
 CHAPTEK XIV. 
 
 1880-1881. 
 
 Causes of Conservative defeat Mr Gladstone forms a Cabinet 
 Mr Bradlaugh and the Parliamentary oath Irish measures 
 The Fourth Party Close of the session Agitation in 
 Ireland Rise of boycotting Chairmanship of London and 
 North- Western Railway offered to and declined by Smith 
 Meeting of Parliament Peace Preservation (Ireland) 
 Bill Rules of Procedure Expulsion of Irish members 
 Death of Lord Beaconsfield Arrest of Irish members, and 
 suppression of the Land League, . 205 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 1882-1884. 
 
 Election for Westminster Smith visits Ireland and inquires 
 into the Land Question Resignation of Earl Cowper and 
 Mr Forster Assassination of Lord F. Cavendish and Mr 
 Bourke Arrears of Rent Bill Watchfulness of the police 
 The Fourth Party Illness of Mr Gladstone Mr Forster 
 attacks the Land League Smith's speeches in the country 
 Meeting of Parliament Mr Bradlaugh once more House- 
 hold Franchise Bill Autumn session Smith and the 
 national defences, 219 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 1880-1885. 
 
 Purchase of the Pandora Notes of cruises The Mediterranean 
 Visit to the Sultan Stormy passage to Alexandria 
 Reported loss of the Pandora The Italian and Sicilian 
 coasts Greece Norway Denmark Holland Copen- 
 hagen and Cronstadt Captain Blow, .... 237 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 1871-1891. 
 
 Greenlands Besieged in the civil war Bought by Mr Smith in 
 1871 Effect of his residence on the neighbourhood His
 
 XIV CONTENTS. 
 
 method in charity The church of St Mary's, Portsea 
 Mistrust of the Salvation Army Sanitary improvement of 
 Hambleden Mr Smith builds a hospital near Henley 
 Home life at Greenlands The garden Refusal to appear as 
 a " celebrity at home " The library The pictures Pur- 
 chase of estates in Suffolk and Devonshire, . . . 246 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 1885. 
 
 Dilemma of the Government Fall of Khartoum Northcote's 
 motion of censure The "rapier and rosette" section of 
 Conservatives Hostile attitude of Russia Vote of credit 
 for 11,000,000 Mr Childers's last Budget Defeat and 
 resignation of Ministers Lord Salisbury forms a Cabinet 
 Mr Smith becomes Secretary of State for War The 
 general election Attitude of the Irish party Mr Glad- 
 stone accepts Home Rule, 265 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 1886-1887. 
 
 Anomalous position of the Government Resignation of the 
 Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and his Chief Secretary Smith 
 is appointed Chief Secretary Defeat and resignation of the 
 Government Mr Gladstone's third Administration Mr 
 Gladstone's Home Rule Bill His defeat Dissolution of 
 Parliament Unionist victory at the polls Lord Salisbury's 
 second Administration Autumn session Resignation of 
 Lord Randolph Churchill The " Round-Table " Conference 
 Smith becomes First Lord of the Treasury and Leader of 
 the House of Commons Sudden death of Lord Iddesleigh, 278 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 1887. 
 
 Leadership of the House of Commons The Round-Table Con- 
 ference Resignation of Sir M. H. Beach Mr Balfour be- 
 comes Irish Secretary Obstruction in Parliament Extracts 
 from private correspondence " Old Morality " Close of
 
 CONTENTS. XV 
 
 session Smith's success as Leader Smith's method in ad- 
 ministering patronage Civil List pensions His room at the 
 House of Commons Dinner "behind the Chair" Daily 
 routine, . . .292 
 
 CHAPTER XXL 
 
 1888. 
 
 Happiness in family affairs Meeting of Parliament Rules of 
 Procedure again Extracts from correspondence Letter 
 from Lord Stanley of Preston " Parnellism and Crime " 
 Charges and Allegations Bill Lord Randolph Churchill's 
 remonstrance Speech at Gloucester The autumn session 
 Irish Land Purchase Bill Prolonged proceedings Pro- 
 rogation on Christmas Eve Smith goes to the South of 
 Europe, 306 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 1889. 
 
 Smith offers to resign leadership Modification of parties into 
 groups Debate on the Address Difficulties of the Govern- 
 ment Address of confidence presented to Smith by Minis- 
 terialistsIs entertained at a banquet in the city And at 
 another given by his constituents Is presented with the 
 freedom of Kirkwall Smith addresses meetings in Glasgow, 
 Exeter, and Plymouth, 314 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 1890. 
 
 Gloomy prospects of the Government Alleged resignation of 
 Smith Meeting of Parliament Debate on the Parnell 
 Commission Report of the Commissioners Debate there- 
 upon in the House of Commons Illness of Smith He offers 
 to resign Mr Goschen's Budget The licensing clauses 
 Agitation against them Narrow escape of the Government 
 Withdrawal of the licensing clauses Smith goes to La 
 Bourboule Financial crisis in the City Smith's action 
 thereon The Parnell divorce case Revelations by Mr Par- 
 nell Rupture of the Irish party The autumn session, . 325
 
 XVI CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 1891. 
 
 Letter to the Duke of Rutland State of parties in Parliament 
 The Religious Disabilities Removal Bill Rejection there- 
 of moved by Smith The last of the Bradlaugh difficulty 
 Vote of censure on Irish administration Smith's opinion on 
 Sunday opening of museums His last letter to the Duke of 
 Rutland Is appointed Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports 
 Spends Whitsuntide at Cadenabbia Increasing illness His 
 last words in Parliament Appears for the last time in public 
 at Hatfield Goes with his family to Walmer Castle, . . 338 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 1891. 
 
 Mr Smith's last illness His death on October 6 Message and 
 letter from the Queen The funeral Memorial service in 
 Westminster Abbey The Queen bestows a peerage on Mrs 
 Smith Hon. W. F. Smith elected for the Strand Review 
 of Smith's character and life His unselfishness and honesty 
 His religious feeling and common-sense Smith as a party 
 man Conclusion, 353 
 
 INDEX, ; 369
 
 ILLUSTEATIONS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 THE RIGHT HON. w. H. SMITH, . . . Frontispiece 
 
 MESSRS W. H. SMITH AND SON'S PREMISES IN THE 
 
 STRAND, 36 
 
 MESSRS W. H. SMITH AND SON'S STRAND PREMISES (IN- 
 TERIOR), 54 
 
 KNOT USED IN TYING PARCELS OF NEWSPAPERS, . . 56 
 
 FACSIMILE OF LETTER FROM THE EARL OF BEACONSFIELD, 157 
 
 FACSIMILE OF NOTE FROM THE MARQUIS OF SALISBURY, . 227 
 
 IN THE GROUNDS AT GREENLANDS, 250 
 
 LYCH GATE, HAMBLEDEN, . . . . . . 253 
 
 A FAVOURITE PEEP OF THE THAMES, .... 258 
 
 THE IDEAL. FANCY GERMAN PORTRAIT OF GENERAL SIR 
 SMITH, THE BRITISH SECRETARY OF STATE FOR WAR 
 
 [from ' Punch '], 272 
 
 THE REALITY. W. H. SMITH, ESQ., WAR OFFICE [from 
 
 1 Punch'], 273 
 
 WALMER CASTLE, 346 
 
 W. H. SMITH IN HIS NEW CHARACTER AS WARDEN OF 
 THE CINQUE PORTS AND CONSTABLE OF DOVER CASTLE 
 
 [from ' Punch '], 348 
 
 IN THE GARDENS, AVALMER CASTLE, 351 
 
 DRAWING -ROOM, WALMER CASTLE, 354
 
 LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. W. H. SMITH, 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 1784-1846. 
 
 N 
 
 OT very long before the following pages began to be 
 penned, Sir Charles Bowen commented with caustic good- 
 humour on what he termed the growing tendency of the 
 age to write ponderous biographies of Nobody. 
 
 It must always be a matter of opinion to what exact 
 degree of eminence a man should rise above the mean level 
 of character, or what store of achievement it should be 
 possible to lay to his account, before the public are invited 
 to the perusal of his biography. 
 
 There is an ominous sentence in one of Horace Walpole's 
 letters : " One can never talk very long about folks that are 
 merely excellent I mean, unless they do not deserve it, 
 and then their flatterers can hold forth upon their virtues 
 by the hour." The affection of his family the predilection 
 of his friends the gratitude of those whom he may have 
 benefited the admiration of humbler men from among 
 whom he may have raised himself the success with which 
 Fortune, so partial in her favours, so indifferent to merit, 
 
 A
 
 2 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. 
 
 may have filled his sails, all these have to he liberally 
 discounted before the figure of a public man can be viewed 
 in the just perspective essential to critical narrative. 
 
 But when such a man has brought his life out of a sur- 
 rounding no more than commonplace, when he has conducted 
 an ordinary commercial undertaking to a position beyond 
 competition, and then, having accomplished what would 
 satisfy most men as a life's work, has set himself to political 
 enterprise, and, by sheer dint of the esteem awarded, not 
 to audacity or surpassing powers of speech, but to unselfish 
 integrity and faultless common-sense, has risen from one 
 office of trust to another, till his party at a moment of 
 extreme perplexity, by an involuntary and common impulse, 
 turned towards him and laid upon him the hazardous duties 
 of leader, when a man has set his hand to so much and 
 succeeded in every step of his career, in such a life there 
 cannot fail to be much that is worthy of record, much that 
 will be of service for the guidance and encouragement of 
 others. 
 
 It is this feeling which has actuated the writer of the 
 following Memoirs : there has been also the additional 
 motive of warm personal regard towards the subject of 
 them, and gratitude for unvarying kindness. It is difficult, 
 in dealing with the actions and character of one lately de- 
 parted, to avoid undue eulogy and to keep in right propor- 
 tion incidents of private life which, however much their 
 memory may be cherished by relatives and intimate friends, 
 cannot be expected to occupy the interest of general readers. 
 The object, therefore, has been aXtjOevelv lv ay airy affec- 
 tionately to tell the truth ; to state impartially the origin 
 and incidents of a life which rose from circumstances of 
 comparative obscurity to those of distinction and responsi- 
 bility ; to show the qualities and principles which secured 
 for "William Henry Smith the unbounded confidence of
 
 THE BROTHERS SMITH. 
 
 those who were associated with him, and the ungrudging 
 respect of those who, in public life, were opposed to him. 
 
 Somewhere within the first quarter of the present 
 century, the brothers Henry Edward and William Henry 
 Smith, sons of Henry Walton Smith, who had come to 
 London from Devonshire towards the close of the eigh- 
 teenth century, set up the business of " newsmen, " as it 
 was then termed, in an unpretending shop in Duke Street, 
 Grosvenor Square. Probably there was nothing to dis- 
 tinguish it from dozens of other houses doing a similar 
 business nothing to mark it as the source of what has 
 grown into an important tributary of the Pactolus of British 
 trade. In those days penny and halfpenny dailies may, 
 indeed, have been somebody's dream, but one not more 
 likely to be realised than any other dream. Besides the 
 paper-tax, there was the duty imposed on each copy of 
 every newspaper : the sheets, before going through the 
 press, had all to be sent to Somerset House to receive the 
 official stamp. There was also the advertisement-tax, pay- 
 able by the publisher. 1 
 
 But in spite of these restrictions, the business of Messrs 
 Smith prospered and increased, so that it became desirable 
 to secure premises near the offices of the principal news- 
 papers. About the year 1820 the house 192 Strand was 
 purchased, and formed into a branch office, the head office 
 remaining in Duke Street. 
 
 Now the partners in this firm were of very different 
 degrees of capacity, and the younger brother, William, 
 soon found that, as the scope of their transactions ex- 
 
 1 The practice of withholding information as to the price of books 
 under review in magazines or journals originated in the intention of 
 avoiding the tax on advertisements.
 
 4 LIFE OF W. II. SMITH. 
 
 tended, so the necessity for organisation and punctuality 
 increased. Henry, the elder, was old-fashioned, and, in 
 truth, somewhat dilatory. Part of his duty was to prepare 
 the addresses for country parcels at the Duke Street office ; 
 these were then sent off to the Strand, where William at- 
 tended to their despatch by the mails. Many a time the 
 neighbours used to see the younger brother running out in 
 his shirt-sleeves into the Strand, watch in hand, looking 
 impatiently for the lingering messenger, before whose 
 arrival the day's papers could not be sent off, and exclaim- 
 ing, "What is that lazy brother of mine about?" 
 
 At last the situation became intolerable. Punctuality 
 was the very soul of the business, and punctuality was 
 just what the senior partner could not contribute ; so an 
 arrangement was made by which William Henry became 
 sole proprietor of the concern. 1 Sole proprietor and sole 
 manager, also, in every sense of the word. He was no 
 believer in delegated authority or subdivision of responsi- 
 bility. He worked as hard as any apprentice in the daily, 
 manual labour, being noted as the quickest packer in the 
 establishment. He prided himself on this, and it was a 
 standing rule that any lad who could pack up a greater 
 number of newspapers than his master in the morning 
 was entitled to a gratuity of a shilling. Indefatigable 
 himself, he was intolerant of anything short of the utmost 
 exactitude in others ; he was relentless in reproof of negli- 
 gence, and so stern in dealing with any shortcoming that, as 
 is a common experience, his presence had an effect the re- 
 verse of inspiriting on his staff. Nevertheless, to use the 
 expressive phrase of one who knew him well, and still occu- 
 pies a position of trust in the firm, he brought the business 
 up to that point beyond which it could not be taken by a 
 single individual. 
 
 1 Henry Edward Smith died in 1846.
 
 HARD WORK. 5 
 
 It was an arduous, unremitting life that was required in 
 those early days of one who would succeed in the trade of 
 newsman. Competition was keen and profits so small that 
 success could only be attained by constant watchfulness to 
 make use of every opportunity to extend the business. 
 The trade of disseminating literature contains branches 
 which are not all drudgery. A publisher's profession, for 
 instance, implies plenty of hard work, and a keen sense of 
 the public taste ; but it also means something akin to 
 leisure, enriched by literary occupation. But an active 
 news-agent is bound to laborious routine : William Smith 
 would suffer no one to share his authority in the house ; 
 every letter that came was opened by his own hands and 
 the answer dictated, often it was written, by himself. Yet 
 here and there in his correspondence, buried deep in piles 
 of letters from irritated customers complaining of delay in 
 the delivery of their papers, or from editors negotiating 
 terms for a supply of their journals, there occurs a trace of 
 more attractive material something to hint that from this 
 incessant daily routine there were filched occasional moments 
 of that lettered loitering which so effectually beguiles the 
 tedium and eases the fatigue of the journey through life. 
 The following note, for instance, from the author of ' Ultra 
 Crepidarius ' the prototype of Harold Skimpole lies 
 among letters received early in the forties ; and if it be the 
 case that Mr Smith had taken the book from the London 
 Library for his own perusal, the suggestion is one of a 
 wider and more sympathetic culture than might have been 
 suspected : 
 
 32 EDWAUDES SQUARE, KENSINGTON. 
 
 A stranger is sorry to intrude this note on Mr Smith ; but if Mr 
 Smith, without any immediate inconvenience to himself, could oblige 
 a fellow-subscriber to the London Library with Baldelli's life of Boc- 
 cacio for a few days, & if he could also be so kind as to take the 
 trouble of directing it to this place by the parcel delivery company, 
 it would be a great accommodation to his humble servant, 
 
 LEIGH HUNT.
 
 6 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. 
 
 William Henry Smith, senior, married Mary Anne 
 Cooper, on June 24, 1817, at St George's, Hanover Square. 
 For some years thereafter they continued to live over the 
 office in Duke Street, and in that house their two eldest 
 children, Mary Anne l and Caroline, 2 were born ; but some 
 time previous to 1825 the family removed to the house in 
 the Strand, where, on the anniversary of their marriage in 
 that year, a son was born, to be named after his father, 
 William Henry, the subject of the present Memoir. There 
 has been much misapprehension as to the station in life to 
 which this child was born. It has been reported, and 
 commonly believed, that his first employment was that of a 
 poor newsboy. Had that been the case, there would have 
 been no attempt on the part of his family least of all on 
 his own to conceal his humble origin. But the facts of 
 the case were otherwise, and the mistake has probably 
 arisen from the circumstance that what we now call a 
 " news-agent " was known sixty years ago as a " newsman," 
 and the son of a newsman might, by a strained interpreta- 
 tion, be described as a newsboy. Whatever may have been 
 the descent of his grandfather, Henry Walton Smith, the 
 late Mr W. H. Smith was born of parents occupying the 
 position of respectable and prosperous tradespeople. 
 
 A less eventful boyhood than William Henry's, the 
 younger, it could hardly be the lot of a biographer to 
 describe. Until eight or nine years of age he remained 
 in the schoolroom with his four elder sisters, under the 
 teaching of their governess. Then the services of a tutor, 
 the Eev. William Beal, of Trinity College, Cambridge, 
 were secured for him ; and, when twelve years old, he 
 went M'ith his mother and sisters to Paris, where they re- 
 mained for some weeks. Meanwhile, Mr Beal had become 
 
 1 Married in 1839 to Rev. William Bcnl. 
 ? Married to Mr R. M. Reece.
 
 AT TAVISTOCK GKAMMAK-SCHOOL. 7 
 
 engaged to the eldest Miss Smith, and on his receiving 
 from the Duke of Bedford in 1838 the appointment of 
 head-master to the newly revived grammar-school at Tavi- 
 stock, their marriage took place. This led to William's 
 only and brief acquaintance with a public school, or, 
 indeed, with school of any sort. He was placed there as 
 a boarder early in 1839, being then fourteen years old, 
 and in June his name appears as second in the second 
 form, William Lethbridge (of whom more hereafter) being 
 first. The following note appears on the report of the 
 midsummer examination for that year : 
 
 The medal for Midsr. 1839 gained by, and awarded to, W. H. 
 Smith of Kilburn, London. W. BEAL. 
 
 But William Smith's name is not again found on the 
 school-lists after that date. 
 
 There remains in one of the boy's letters, written from 
 Tavistock to his father, evidence of thoughtfulness unusual 
 at the age of fourteen, and of attention directed to a class 
 of subject which, in after-years, was to occupy a great deal 
 of his energy and thoughts. 
 
 Last Wednesday being a half-holiday, Mr Beal took a walk with me 
 in the afternoon to the Union Workhouse in the neighbourhood of the 
 town, which was quite a new sight to me. To all appearance the 
 people looked extremely comfortable ; in fact, much more so than 
 many poor people in their own houses. I was rather surprised at 
 seeing them so comfortable, for from the noise made about the new 
 Poor Law I expected to find it rather a wretched place. 
 
 The influence which had prevailed so long to keep 
 William from school, and to remove him from it after 
 such a short experience, is not difficult to trace, neither 
 was it without important bearing upon his after-life. His 
 mother's family, the Coopers, were Wesleyans of the early 
 and strict kind ; and her mother, a widow, used to pay 
 long visits at her son-in-law's house in Duke Street. This 
 lady was not only extremely devout, but also painfully
 
 8 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. 
 
 apprehensive of the perils to which young people are 
 exposed at public schools from bad companions and world- 
 ly influence. She it was who prevailed to persuade the 
 Smiths to keep their only son so long at home, and pro- 
 bably to remove him from Tavistock after so short a 
 trial, though he had made, as the prize-list shows, such a 
 promising start there. Anxiety to withdraw the lad from 
 sympathy with the Church of England, signs of which he 
 showed even at this early age, and to keep him in touch 
 with the Wesleyan body, had, no doubt, a good deal to 
 do with the domestic policy. 
 
 There may be traced in the economy of this Methodist 
 Christian home something resembling the stern Lacedae- 
 monian spirit, exacting from the son unquestioning sub- 
 mission to the father, but also putting him, while still very 
 young, in authority over others. In the refusal of the 
 Smiths to yield to their boy's intense desire to go to a 
 university, there is some analogy to the edict forbidding 
 the youth of Lacedaemon to visit Athens; in spite of the 
 learning and philosophy of that focus of culture, there 
 was too much tittle-tattle and luxury to be reconciled 
 with the strenuous home life. Whatever the effect of this 
 early discipline may have been in forming the young man's 
 character, it certainly was the cause of lasting disappoint- 
 ment to himself, and often, in later years, he used to 
 deplore bitterly the circumstances which had debarred him 
 from acquiring a wider culture. 
 
 After a couple of years at home, William was allowed 
 to return to Tavistock school at the age of seventeen, not, 
 apparently, as an ordinary pupil, for his name does not 
 appear on the school-lists of those years, but rather as a 
 private pupil of his brother-in-law, the head-master. His 
 time seems to have been divided between the pursuit of 
 learning here, and attention to business in the Strand,
 
 HIS DESIRE FOR HOLY ORDERS. 9 
 
 until some time in 1844, after which date any learning lie 
 acquired was the fruit of voluntary application of his leisure. 
 
 As the lad grew in stature, his spirit struggled to 
 emancipate itself from the narrow and rather sombre sur- 
 roundings of his boyhood. At sixteen he had already 
 expressed to his father his strong desire to go to a uni- 
 versity and prepare for Holy Orders. Whether his mother- 
 in-law's warning had given the elder Smith a genuine 
 dread of the profligacy of universities as well as of public 
 schools, or whether he merely looked upon university 
 education as an unsuitable preparation for a business life, 
 he would not listen to his son's pleading to be sent there ; 
 and as for the Church he gave an emphatic discourage- 
 ment to that idea. In fact, he gave his son to understand 
 that if he persisted in his purpose of entering Holy Orders, 
 he need not expect a shilling from his father ; whereas, 
 if he came into the business, he might count on being 
 made a partner as soon as he should come of age. 
 
 The young man submitted his will to that of his father, 
 and began work in the office ; but he could not bring his 
 spirit into sympathy with the "VVesleyan community to 
 which his parents were so closely attached. 1 To a youth 
 brought up so constantly at home, it must have been a 
 matter of much difficulty, and have required the support of 
 strong conviction, to attempt separation from the congrega- 
 tion in which he had been reared. To support himself in 
 the effort, and to overcome his parents' objections to his 
 attending the services of the Church of England, William 
 availed himself gladly of the help of his brother-in-law and 
 old master, Mr Beal, who in 1842 wrote to him 
 
 1 It is believed that the elder Smith never actually joined the 
 Wesleyan Society, though he constantly attended their services, and 
 subscribed liberally to their funds. He was, however, married in St 
 George's, Hanover Square, and all his children were baptised in the 
 Church of England.
 
 10 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. 
 
 Would you like me to name to your Father the subject of your, & 
 Augusta's and Emma's, going to church every Sacrament Sunday ? 
 I feel very confident indeed that both with your Father and Mamma 
 I could gain it for you all. With this stipulation, however, that so 
 long as you are under age, this shall be the last concession made to 
 you in these matters viz., that one Sunday in a month, and that the 
 Sacrament Sunday, shall be at your own disposal, but that the other 
 three, you all consent willingly and regularly to go wherever your 
 Father thinks you get the most wholesome spiritual food. 
 
 It would have been in accordance with what very often 
 happens, if early restraint of so strict a kind had brought 
 about a reaction as the boy grew to manhood : the impulse 
 to escape from the narrow field of duties precisely defined 
 weariness of warnings against all that allures a youth as 
 the world opens before him the flush of health and the 
 free instinct of our race, these are influences which have 
 often in such cases brought about the violent rupture of 
 parental control and started the prodigal down the slopes. 
 The saving instrument in such cases is generally found in 
 warm affection ; and it implies the existence of more en- 
 dearing qualities in the parents of this young man than a 
 stranger is able to trace in the record of their habit of life, 
 that, from first to last, their son never wavered in his love 
 for them, and that home influence never lost its hold upon 
 hii. On the other hand, though almost the first use which 
 the younger William made of the liberty of manhood was 
 to carry out the wish he had for some years entertained, of 
 separating himself from the Wesley an body and joining the 
 Church of England, the effect of early training never dis- 
 appeared : throughout his life he remained serious, some- 
 times almost to despondency, deeply religious and attentive 
 to regular worship, and accustomed, in intimate correspon- 
 dence, to express himself with more freedom and fulness 
 on spiritual subjects than is usually the habit of laymen in 
 the older Churches. This may explain many passages in 
 letters written in after-years to his wife and sisters, and
 
 KELIGIOUS INCLINATION. 11 
 
 enable the reader to understand his constantly recurring 
 reddest for their prayers on his behalf in whatever business 
 he happened to be engaged on at the time. It must not be 
 supposed, however, that Smith was ever in the habit of 
 obtruding his religious feelings in general conversation or 
 correspondence. Some of those who had most constant in- 
 tercourse with him in public life, though ihejfelt that they 
 had to do with an earnest Christian, may never, in the 
 course of many years, have once heard the name of the 
 Almighty pass his lips, or remember a single sentence of 
 religious doctrine still less of controversy escape from 
 him. 
 
 Mr Beal's intervention seems to have been effectual, for 
 in 1842 there came a letter from William to his sisters : 
 
 Have you heard from Mr Beal on a particular subject ? Did you 
 expect anything of the kind ? I was quite surprised when I heard 
 from him about it, and Father's approbation too. You know of course 
 that all things go on well day by day. Father says that there is a 
 slight difference in the young generation, but you must wait till Sun- 
 day, when, if you'll go to Church in the morning, you shall hear it all 
 in the afternoon, and then, by attending Methody or other Chapel in 
 the evening, you will cover your double sin and go to bed a Xtian. 
 
 Not improbably the elder Smith, though himself remain- 
 ing staunchly attached to the Wesleyan body, viewed with- 
 out apprehension the tendency of his children towards the 
 Church of England, and it is to the influence of his wife 
 and her relations that such active resistance as he showed 
 in preventing his son offering himself for confirmation may 
 be attributed. Constantly and actively employed as he had 
 been in business, and absent from home during daylight 
 hours, he would, as is the habit of the husbands of good 
 wives, willingly resign into Mrs Smith's hands the chief 
 part of the spiritual direction of his household ; yet there 
 may also be traced, in his thus yielding to Mr Beal's proposal, 
 some of that tolerant breadth which, as men approach the
 
 12 LIFE OF W. II. SMITH. 
 
 half-hundred, generally mellows the view they take of reli- 
 gious controversy. Indeed, though the responsibility ""for 
 the minor divisions which separate the Christian Church 
 into so many parts lies at the door of the men, their main- 
 tenance must be placed to the account of women, who, 
 being far more conservative in spiritual as well as in tem- 
 poral affairs, resist all change and modification as dangerous 
 innovation. 
 
 But however tolerant the elder Smith showed himself of 
 the alteration of his children's views and their alienation 
 from the Methodist connection, he remained inflexible in 
 his resistance to William's inclination to enter the priest- 
 hood. In this he was evidently strengthened by the cir- 
 cumstances of his private affairs. He had, by diligence and 
 active foresight, raised his business from a very modest scale 
 to one of considerable importance and value. But as he 
 advanced in years, incessant work began to tell upon his 
 health. In 1845 his friend, Mr Sercombe (whose son 
 Rupert afterwards married his daughter Louisa), wrote from 
 Exeter : 
 
 I feel persuaded that nothing but rest will do for you ; will you 
 therefore allow me to suggest to you what has passed through my 
 mind and my dear wife's, which is this. If you could by advertise- 
 ment or otherwise get a respectable business man, who understands 
 your kind of business, and who would take your morning work, . . . 
 this would save your health, and in all human probability prolong 
 your valuable life. 
 
 No doubt Smith felt the soundness of this advice, and the 
 result of it is shown in a letter from young Smith to his 
 sister, Mrs Sercombe, written in the same year : 
 
 We have at last made an alteration a decided and, I hope, an 
 effectual one. Father has long felt that his late attack of lameness 
 resulted from overwork, and therefore has so far overcome his natural 
 predilections as to determine on doing less on giving up packing 
 altogether on playing the gentleman Tradesman. In order to carry 
 out this idea he has resolved to dine here [at Kilburn House] regu- 
 larly at 4 o'clock, excepting on Saturdays, and he has purchased me a
 
 YOUTHFUL RESPONSIBILITY. 13 
 
 Horse a very beautiful one indeed on which I am to ride back- 
 wards and forwards if necessary, to stay a short time after he has 
 left, if not to leave with him or when I choose. 
 
 The weight thus lifted from the father's shoulders was 
 placed upon those of his willing son, who now entered upon 
 the battle of life, the labours of which varied, it is true, in 
 character as years brought him into different fields of labour, 
 but were without intermission to its close. In this early 
 begun and long-sustained work may be traced the source of 
 that sense of weariness so often alluded to in the letters of 
 his later years, and the strain so long endured seems to 
 have tended to bring sooner to its close a life which might, 
 under less trying conditions, have continued in vigour till at 
 least the threescore and ten. 
 
 Slow as Mr Smith had been to show confidence in his 
 son's judgment in religious matters, this rearrangement of 
 his business was not the first proof he had given of reliance 
 on William's capacity and common-sense. Mr Smith had 
 shortly before this acquired some property in Cornish mines, 
 and in 1844, while the youth was still a private pupil with 
 Mr Beal at Tavistock, he wrote to him as follows : 
 
 Can you tell me the cause of the Herod's foot shares being 7 
 each ? have you any knowledge what has been paid for the set, be- 
 cause 256 at 7 each is about 1790 a goodly sum. Think about 
 this, & let me know your opinion. I do not think anything is wrong, 
 for otherwise Mr P. has my utmost confidence, but we are all apt to 
 run too fast when we get excited. Coolly think over this matter, 
 but do not think that I have any intention to withhold entering into 
 this matter, but I wish to draw your attention to a full consideration 
 of the matter and also to mining in general. I suppose you will go 
 to the Green Valley. 
 
 I do not see anything in your letter respecting the state the 
 Miners are in has any provision been made for the welfare of the 
 nobler part ? It will not do for me to attend a Place of Public 
 Worship myself, & yet put men in such a situation that they have 
 not the means of religious instruction, and I am sure you will see 
 the inconsistency of subscribing to Missionary Societies, & at the 
 same time being the cause of making my fellow-countrymen heathens. 
 I hold my hand at the present till my mind is set at rest on this subject. 
 
 Do not think that I am in any way displeased respecting Herod's
 
 14 LIFE OF W. II. SMITH. 
 
 foot far from it. I think as far as you have gone you have done 
 perfectly correct, but the other part must not be neglected. 
 
 Nothing could illustrate more clearly than this passage 
 the nature of the training which gave a lasting bent to the 
 character of young Smith. His father, though a peculiarly 
 shrewd man of business, with a quick eye to the main chance, 
 and constantly on the look-out for good investments for his 
 savings, was also scrupulously righteous, and conscientious 
 as to the sources whence he should draw his profits. 
 
 It must not be supposed, however, that old Mr Smith 
 was close-fisted or ungenerous. Persons still living testify to 
 his liberality and consideration for others. On one occasion, 
 when extensive additions were being made to the offices in 
 the Strand, and were on the point of completion, he hap- 
 pened to meet on a Saturday the contractor for the work, 
 who wore an air of depression and anxiety. Smith asked 
 him why he was so downcast. "Perhaps you would be 
 downcast, Mr Smith," was the reply, "if you had come to 
 Saturday night, and had no money to pay your men. The 
 architect is out of London, and I can't get a certificate for 
 my work." " Oh, is that all 1" replied Smith ; " come into 
 my office and I'll write you a cheque for 1000." He 
 did so, and the contractor, then in a comparatively small 
 way of business, now a partner in one of the most power- 
 ful firms in England, still speaks gratefully of this mark of 
 confidence. 
 
 Neither at this time nor at any later period of his life did 
 young Smith possess the gift of poignant expression in his 
 letters. He wrote fluently, indeed, and, making allowance 
 for the greater brevity which multiplied posts have brought 
 about in later times, his early letters are certainly of more 
 liberal measure than most modern sons and brothers address 
 to their parents and sisters. Full of common-sense, they 
 are not always free from a tendency to commonplace, and
 
 THE QUESTION OF A PROFESSION. 15 
 
 the homely language is often an indifferent vehicle for really 
 dignified thought. 1 It is not, for instance, every brother 
 who, at the age of nineteen, takes the trouble to impart such 
 true philosophy as is contained in the following sentence 
 from a letter written by Smith in 1844 to his elder sister 
 Augusta on her birthday : 
 
 Although in a very humble and apparently confined sphere of 
 action, -who can tell the effect which our influence or that of our 
 conduct may have upon others, and its reaction throughout future 
 ages ? 
 
 Written by the heir to influence and possession, such 
 words might have come to be remembered as pregnant with 
 conscious meaning ; penned as they were by the son of a 
 London tradesman, to whom the University training which 
 he had craved for had been refused, they signify a thoughtful 
 sense of responsibility beyond what might have been reason- 
 ably expected. 
 
 In the previous year, 1843, William had already, on the 
 invitation of Mr Eeece of Furnival's Inn, accepted the office 
 of one of the secretaries of the Great Queen Street Branch 
 of the Wesleyan Missionary Society, an institution of which 
 the importance was certainly not underrated by its members, 
 for Mr Eeece, in making his proposal to William, modestly 
 describes it as " the noblest and most deeply interesting 
 enterprise that either the Church or the World in this or 
 any former age ever witnessed ! " 
 
 There was a time when the opposition to his strong 
 desire for ordination seemed about to be removed. His 
 father, weary of incessant work, contemplated the sale of 
 his business and retiring upon the substantial means which 
 he had gained in trade. 
 
 1 In spite of the profusion of his correspondence at all times of his 
 life, Smith possessed two virtues of a letter-writer he wrote a distinct 
 hand, almost ladylike in neatness, and he hardly ever, even at his 
 busiest, used contractions.
 
 16 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. 
 
 I am most sincerely delighted [wrote Mrs Beal to her brother in 
 1844] at the encouraging prospect of affairs. You have now certainly 
 far greater likelihood of realising your long-cherished hopes and 
 wishes. All I can say is, may it please God to grant your desire, and 
 that you may live to be the useful minister of a nice little parish of 
 your own. ... I am very, very thankful dear Father has determined 
 to relieve himself, but shall not be able fully to believe he will sell 
 the business he has so long cherished, until I hear of some very de- 
 cided move in that direction. . . . Some occupation that will be in- 
 teresting and not burdensome must be provided. I am quite sure he 
 cannot live inactive after the life of work and bustle he has passed. 
 
 Mrs Beal's incredulity was justified by the result. Mr 
 Smith overcame his sense of weariness, pushed his business 
 with redoubled energy, and became more resolved than 
 ever to make his son an active partner in the concern. 
 
 Don't be afraid [wrote young Smith to Mrs Beal in 1845] that I am 
 becoming a Puseyite, a Newmanite, or Roman Catholic. If you think 
 me really higher than I was, I have given you a wrong impression. I 
 am only confirmed in my dislike for Wesleyauism as now carried out 
 by preachers and people, and in my decided preference for the Church, 
 and to a certain extent I judge of systems and principles by their re- 
 sults in the lives and ideas of those" who hold them. I think the ex- 
 tremes of parties are decidedly wrong ; and, besides, I should be 
 careful how I held views which would give just occasion to certain 
 parties to exclaim against what they would state was the inevitable 
 result of a departure from Wesleyanism, for the sake of the Church 
 itself. I am sometimes so much annoyed by these people that 1 
 should really say some unpleasant things to them, if I did not remem- 
 ber that they would be carefully treasured up and used at another 
 time against the Church as an illustration of its principles, the aggra- 
 vating cause being of course forgotten, or never mentioned. 
 
 Sisters are a little strong in their views now and then, and if I be- 
 come a Roman Catholic they will go first ; but there is no fear. We 
 are all quiet enough and low enough to please even you, when we get 
 amongst Church people, but now the very reverse is forced down our 
 throats. . . . Nothing has transpired respecting the business or the 
 change that appears to wait me. The increase of clerks promises a 
 little ease, and, accordingly, Father does not say much of selling now. 
 His idea was that after selling the business he would find sufficient 
 employment for his time in attending to the business of the public 
 companies with which he is connected, and in looking after his other 
 property. ... I don't think, however, that even if I go out of it he 
 will really sell the business ; he may probably do less perhaps take 
 some one in, as Cyrus, whom he could manage completely ; but he 
 would never give up the position of master in the concern, nor when 
 the time for action came would he like to give up altogether the in- 
 fluence and income which the business gives.
 
 A.D. 1846.] CHRISTIAN RESIGNATION. 1 7 
 
 I shall endeavour to be perfectly content whatever may be the 
 result of all these things, for I feel I should not be justified in 
 doing that which would seem to anticipate the ordering of events. 
 The position which I desire to occupy is of far too responsible a 
 character to be regarded merely as an occupation. I shall not there- 
 fore be satisfied unless a clear opening presents itself, and if it does, I 
 hope I shall be enabled to fulfil conscientiously the duties to which I 
 shall then feel I am called. 1 
 
 You need not fear I have any desire to tie 2 myself up for life. It 
 is the opposite tendency that induces Father to suggest the subject 
 so frequently, to our great amusement. He thinks that if I entertain 
 such thoughts now, I shall then be settled to something like business 
 for life. But whether I take orders or not, I shall certainly not 
 think of anything like matrimony for some years to come. It would 
 destroy all hope of mental improvement, and make me undoubtedly 
 " soft." 
 
 How great was the sacrifice which young Smith was 
 called on to make to his father's will, in resisting the 
 strong vocation he felt for the Church, may be gathered 
 from passages in a journal kept through part of these years. 
 In 1846, the year he came of age, he wrote : 
 
 August 6. The past twelvemonth has been one of great importance 
 to me, and as far as man may be permitted to judge, determined the 
 particular course of life I shall lead, and the object to which my best 
 energies shall be devoted. 
 
 The decision on these most serious matters was not, perhaps, in 
 accordance with the hopes and desires I had long cherished. 
 
 Those who have a natural claim upon my respect and obedience so 
 strongly opposed the schemes I entertained, and in such a feeling, as 
 to render it impossible for me to carry them into effect. 
 
 It is true that many friends (whose opinions were freely and im- 
 partially given, and who, by their position, their knowledge of the 
 world, and the soundness of their motives, were well qualified to give 
 them) said that they thought I was fitted for, as I was inclined to, 
 the high and exalted position of a Minister, and they judged my strong 
 wishes in the matter to be an indication of the will of Providence. 
 But it is not so, at least apparently, for he whose power is absolute 
 
 1 This lofty tone of Christian fatalism remained with Smith 
 throughout his life. It is the note on which Samuel Johnson con- 
 tinually dwelt. "To prefer," he wrote to Boswell in 1776, "one 
 future mode of life to another, upon just reasons, requires faculties 
 which it has not pleased our Creator to give us." Again, in ' Ras- 
 selas ' : " ' Very few,' said the poet, ' live by choice : every man is 
 placed in his present condition by causes which acted without his 
 foresight, and with which he did not always willingly co-operate.' " 
 
 2 By marriage. 
 
 B
 
 18 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. [art. 21. 
 
 in the matter under Providence itself by the strong expression of 
 his wishes and intentions obliged me to yield my own desires and 
 views, and adopt his instead. 
 
 By this I do not mean that he acted otherwise than from the 
 kindest wishes, as he no doubt considered the course of life he con- 
 templated for me the best and most useful, and that, in fact, for 
 which I am designed. 
 
 However it may be, I now, as a man, am called upon to fulfil 
 obligations imposed upon all men to their Maker and to each other. 
 I may not idly regret the disappointment of long-cherished hopes 
 which, it may be, I have not been justified in entertaining, but it is 
 my duty to acknowledge an overruling and directing Providence in 
 all the very minutest things, by being, in whatsoever state I am, 
 therewith content. . . . 
 
 My conclusion is, then, that I am at present pursuing the path of 
 duty, however imperfectly ; wherever it may lead, or what it may 
 become, I know not. 
 
 Bitterly as the young man felt the disappointment, he 
 did not allow it to destroy the attraction which ecclesiastical 
 matters possessed for him, and the tenor of his after-life 
 was accurately forecast in one of Mrs Beal's letters express- 
 ing sympathy for him in the turn affairs had taken : 
 
 In your present situation there is nothing to prevent your being 
 very useful. I know more than I once did the difficulty ministers 
 find to get willing, intelligent, and suitable persons to co-operate 
 with them in carrying out many benevolent designs : in this you may 
 render many important services. You know that you used to agree 
 with me that if a man had but the inclination he might be as useful 
 out of office as in it. I trust in future years you will find this to be 
 your experience. 
 
 There is no trace in the letters or journals of this period 
 of his abrupt severance from the sect in which William had 
 been brought up. On the contrary, for some time after he 
 had become a member of the Church of England, he con- 
 tinued to attend Wesleyan services, though with a growing 
 distaste for that form of worship. Thus, during a tour 
 which he took in the autumn of 1846, after he was of age, 
 with his mother and four sisters, in the English Lake dis- 
 trict, he wrote from Kendal : 
 
 Sunday, 2nd August. Attended St Thomas's Church in the morn- 
 ing, Mr Latrobe, an excellent man, duly valued ; Trinity Church in
 
 A.D. 1847.] THE RAILWAY KING. 19 
 
 the afternoon the old church, of immense size, having five aisles ; 
 and the Methodist Chapel in the evening. To perpetuate my re- 
 membrance of this service would be unkind. 
 
 On January 29, 1847, he wrote to Mrs Beal : 
 
 I am going on very comfortably with Father now, seldom or never 
 going to Chapel, or asked to do so. 
 
 Another letter to the same, written a month later, gives 
 the impression made on young Smith by a well-known 
 individual : 
 
 I have had an interview with the great George Hudson, the Rail- 
 way King. The ' Times ' wrote for a man to come up to town, on my 
 representation, who knew something of the railways down in the 
 North, and we went together to see this great man, and to remon- 
 strate with him concerning some errors in the arrangement of the 
 trains. We were with him about half an hour, and had a good 
 opportunity of seeing his character, of which I have not formed a 
 very favourable opinion. I think he is a cunning, clever man, but 
 very deficient in everything that is noble and commanding respect ; 
 very much of a bully in conversation if he thinks he can succeed ; 
 if not, possessed of little courage, if any. At first he was disposed to 
 treat me very slightingly, and I felt rather angry, and in the course 
 of conversation brought in the names of the conductors of the 
 ' Times ' and ' Chronicle, ' which had such a magical effect upon the 
 honourable gentleman that both my companion and myself could 
 hardly refrain from laughing in his face. 
 
 It has been a matter of much consideration how far it is 
 expedient to unveil the most secret and sacred thoughts of 
 the man whose narrative fills these pages. One shrinks 
 from putting on permanent record anything that might be 
 but the fruit of a transient mood or merely evidence of a 
 youthful 'phase of thought ; yet no estimate of "William 
 Smith's character and work would be faithful which did 
 not show how, from very early days down to his latest 
 years, he was constantly penetrated with deep religious 
 feeling, and unremitting in the practice both of private 
 prayer and public worship. There are those who believe 
 that this is incompatible with the higher intellectual power ; 
 that the bolder spirits are those which show themselves
 
 20 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. 
 
 somewhat impatient of church services and incredulous as 
 to the efficacy of prayer : not the less would such as these 
 have cause for complaint if the leading motive of all Smith's 
 actions were kept in the background. It will be for each 
 one to form his own judgment of the degree in which the 
 man's usefulness, and the confidence he gained from his 
 fellow-men, was affected by his undoubted piety. 
 
 Smith's early journals are full of religious meditation, 
 expressions of deep regret for failings, and gratitude for 
 deliverance from evil. 1 But there would be little profit in 
 quoting extracts, differing not much from the sentences in 
 which many a serious-minded youth must have committed 
 to paper his perplexity and hope, his ardour and disappoint- 
 ment. Yet there has been preserved on a loose slip of 
 paper something so characteristic of the writer, something 
 that may give, once for all, so clear an insight into his 
 ardent, yet withal methodical, devotion not merely the 
 sentiment of adolescence but the enduring practice of his 
 life that there seems no reason to withhold it. This 
 document, written about the time Smith came of age, con- 
 tains a list of the subjects for which he prayed daily. They 
 are as follows : 
 
 1. For repentance. 2. Faith. 3. Love. 4. Grace to help. 
 5. Gratitude. 6. Power to pray. 7. Constant direction in all 
 things. 8. A right understanding of the Bible, and a thorough 
 knowledge of it. 9. Deliverance from my easily besetting sin 
 watchfulness. 10. Grace that blessings and talents God's gifts 
 may not be the means of withdrawing my heart's service from God 
 
 1 Like all men of prayerful natures, Smith was subject to moods 
 of deep despondency. One is reminded by the tenor of many notes 
 in his handwriting of similar expressions made use of by Dr Johnson 
 his prayerful reflection, for instance, on his fifty-sixth birthday : 
 " I have now spent fifty-five years in resolving, having, from the 
 earliest time almost that I can remember, been forming schemes of 
 a better life. I have done nothing. The need of doing, therefore 
 is pressing, since the time of doing is short. God ! grant me to 
 resolve aright, and to keep my resolutions, for Jesus Christ's sake. 
 Amen."
 
 A SERIOUS BOYHOOD. 21 
 
 the Giver. 11. My wife if it is God's will I should have one. 
 12. Like blessings for my Father and Sisters, according to their 
 several necessities. 13. My friends. 14. This place. 15. Mis- 
 sionaries. 16. All for whom I ought. 17. Pardon for all ignorance 
 and sin in all my prayers. Remember the 4th February, and pray 
 that I yield not to temptation. 
 
 Never, surely, did the boyhood and youth of one whose 
 parents were, if not in affluent, at least in easy circum- 
 stances, pass with so little provision for amusement as did 
 those of William Smith. Games generally bulk largely in 
 a schoolboy's letters, but in the few that have survived from 
 the brief school-days of this boy, there is not even a passing 
 reference to football or cricket. The only exercise which 
 he seems to have been at liberty to enjoy and that from 
 very early years was riding. Each year, however, after 
 leaving Tavistock, he used to take an autumn holiday with 
 his mother and sisters. In 1844 and 1846 they went to 
 Rydal ; in 1847 they made a tour in Scotland ; and in 1848 
 and 1849 they travelled in Ireland. 
 
 The absence of active recreation does not seem to have 
 been compensated for by a decided appetite for literature. 
 True, he was at some pains after his desire to go to a 
 University had been sacrificed to his father's wish for him 
 to enter the business to carry on such studies as his limited 
 opportunities allowed, and for a couple of years after he 
 came of age he used to study with a private tutor ; but he 
 used books not so much from a love of literature, as from a 
 desire for knowledge. His letters are not those of a bookish 
 man ; and long afterwards he remarked once to Mr White, 
 Avho still holds an important, confidential appointment in 
 the head office, "I don't read, I appropriate." 
 
 But he had one darling occupation one, too, in the 
 pursuit of which he had the good fortune to be encouraged 
 by his father. He was passionately fond of music, and 
 learned to play with some skill on the organ. This taste
 
 22 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. 
 
 was dominant with him throughout his life, and the last 
 addition to his country seat at Greenlands in 1885 included 
 the conversion of the kitchen into a large organ-room, in 
 which was placed a fine instrument by Willis. 
 
 It is perhaps fruitless to speculate what his life might 
 have been, and to what level he might have risen, had 
 William Smith been allowed to follow his inclination in 
 the choice of a profession. There are few parents who 
 think it wise to thwart the decided prepossession of their 
 sons for definite callings few that do not rejoice when 
 such prepossession for a worthy vocation is shown. Still, 
 looking back over the circumstances surrounding Smith in 
 boyhood and manhood, it is difficult to see matter for regret 
 in the obstacles placed in the way of fulfilling his ambition. 
 One cannot but see that his was a character requiring 
 external pressure to develop it : had he become a clerk 
 in Holy Orders, he might have filled a rural incumbency, 
 with diligence indeed, and with profit for his own soul and 
 the souls of his parishioners, but his light would not have 
 shone before men, showing how pure and lofty principles 
 can be successfully carried into the highest and most com- 
 plex conditions of modern government. His private friends 
 and parishioners might have gained something, but the 
 public could not but have failed to lose much. In the last 
 year of his life, in reply to a letter from his old friend, the 
 Eev. H. H. D'Ombrain, vicar of Westwell, congratulating 
 him on his appointment to the Wardenship of the Cinque 
 Ports, an honorary post reserved for the highest in the 
 service of the State, Smith wrote : " Our courses in life 
 have been very different, but if I had had my choice at 
 twenty-one, I should have been as you are." There comes 
 to mind a story told of old John Brown, the minister of 
 Haddington, to whom a conceited young fellow, who thought 
 himself too good for his calling, had expressed his ardent
 
 CORRESPONDENCE WITH INGE. 23 
 
 desire to be a minister of the Gospel. " I wish," he said, 
 "to preach and glorify God." "My young friend," replied 
 the cool-headed old divine, "a man may glorify God mak- 
 ing broom besoms; stick to your trade, and glorify God 
 by your walk and conversation." 
 
 To some such conclusion Smith's own strong common- 
 sense seems to have led him. Forty years later in 1885 
 he was writing to his daughter Emily, now the Hon. 
 Mrs W. Acland, from Balmoral, where he was Minister 
 in attendance on the Queen : 
 
 Your account of yourself reminds me of my own feeling when I 
 was young. I thought my life was aimless, purposeless, and I wanted 
 something else to do ; but events compelled me to adhere to what 
 promised to be a dull life and a useless one ; the result has been that 
 few men have had more interesting and useful work to do whether 
 it has been done ill or well than I have had. 
 
 Man proposes and God disposes, and His dispositions yielded to and 
 accepted turn out for our happiness. 
 
 One of Smith's most constant correspondents during his 
 early years was William Ince (now Canon Ince, of Christ 
 Church, Oxford). Interspersed with copious reflections on 
 serious subjects, especially on the development of the Trac- 
 tarian movement, there occur in his letters to Smith refer- 
 ences to matters of the day which are not without interest 
 at the present time : 
 
 30th Jany. 1844- Pray, are you acquainted with Keble's 
 ' Christian Year ' ? If not, I would advise you to get or borrow it of 
 some one, as it contains some of the most melodious verses and beau- 
 tiful sentiments that have been produced in modern times, and you 
 may have it without much fear of being suspected of favouring the 
 party to which its author belongs, as it is read and admired by all 
 even his bitterest opponents. 
 
 30th March 1846. ... As for political parties, they appear to 
 me to be all alike. One when in power pursues the very same line 
 of policy which it denounced when out. Great broad principles are 
 abandoned, and mere expediency is the guide of conduct. 
 
 In writing to Ince about this time Smith observed : 
 
 Your Bishop [Wilberforce] has come out in the House of Lords in 
 good style independently like a man, and although he may have
 
 24 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. 
 
 made a mistake or two, they are nothing to the spirit which is in the 
 man. He will do you in Oxford immense good make men who 
 never thought of thinking for themselves (or acting, rather) first 
 admire his energetic character, and then copy it. ... I am amused, 
 even among people who are a little educated, to observe the easiness 
 with which a man first starting a subject can induce all the rest to 
 follow in his steps taking the same view of it. I suppose it must 
 be so, or the world would be in a terrible mess. For my part, how- 
 ever, I should be inclined to examine any conclusion, all the more 
 because other men had arrived at it ; and I do not think that even if 
 I had thought, and expressed the thought, with them on a previous 
 occasion, it would show either a dishonourable or a weak mind if, on 
 further information and more consideration, I dissented from them 
 and acted accordingly. 
 
 Here is another extract from Ince's letters : 
 
 Dec. 8, 1848. We had a grand treat here last week in Jenny Lind's 
 concert ; nobody has talked of anything else since ; every anecdote 
 of her stay and every word she uttered are most assiduously treasured 
 up. Her singing was certainly most enchanting, and besides its own 
 intrinsic merit was enhanced by the simplicity and artlessness of her 
 manners, so utterly free from all affectation, and so indicative of 
 goodness. She sang two or three songs to the servants at the Angel 
 where she staid, sang some pieces from the Messiah in New College 
 Chapel, and, when asked by the Bodleian Librarian to sign her name 
 in the book provided for distinguished visitors, refused, saying, " No ; 
 Oxford is so great and I am so little." 
 
 The circumstances of Smith's boyhood and youth forbade 
 the planting of many friendships at that season when the 
 tender rootlets of affection creep silently and fasten them- 
 selves deeply into the fabric of a human life. "With Ince 
 his friendship was enduring ; he was almost the only one 
 of whom he could have exclaimed with Charles Lamb : 
 " Oh ! it is pleasant as it is rare to find the same arm 
 linked in yours at forty, which at thirteen helped it to 
 turn over the Cicero De amicitid, or some other tale of 
 antique friendship, which the young heart even then was 
 burning to anticipate."
 
 RESIDENCE AT KILBURN. 25 
 
 CHAPTEE II. 
 
 1846-1854. 
 
 Notwithstanding the agitation of alternate hopes and 
 fears as to the realisation of his dream of becoming a 
 clergyman, young "William Smith had shown no want of 
 willing application to the business of news-agency, upon 
 which he entered at the age of sixteen. While it is im- 
 possible to doubt the reality of his religious conviction and 
 the large place which it filled in all his schemes for the 
 future, it is equally impossible not to admire the resolution 
 Avith which he acted on Candide's maxim il faut cultiver 
 notre jardin. 
 
 There is an entry in his journal for August 1846, highly 
 characteristic of his thoughtful and precise habit of mind : 
 
 The last few weeks have been marked with very important and 
 serious events. First came the decision affecting my future life, of 
 the results of which no one can form any estimate. Then my coming 
 of age on 24th June was a serious event, as, with the liberal means 
 afforded me by my father, and the general though tacit concession of 
 freedom of thought and action, . . . the acknowledgment that 
 I am a man all have opened up fresh responsibilities and duties, 
 without removing any that previously existed. ... On the 30th 
 ulto., Mr Ford waited upon us by appointment to take our joint in- 
 structions as to the Partnership, which gives me 500 a-year clear, 
 board and lodging, a comparative interest in the capital of 2000 for 
 seven years, but liable to six months' notice on either side. These 
 terms, with which was coupled an express declaration that they were 
 only temporary, as a prelude to much greater concessions, are ex- 
 tremely liberal and considerate. 
 
 Some time before the year 1839 his father had bought 
 Kilburn House, a pleasant suburban villa, then standing 
 in ample private grounds, though it has now disappeared 
 under the advancing tide of bricks and mortar. This be- 
 came the home of the family, and every week-day morning 
 at four o'clock, summer and winter, the brougham used to
 
 26 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. 
 
 come to the door to convey the father, or son, or both of 
 them, to the Strand office, to attend to the despatch of the 
 papers by the early mails. 
 
 You are correct [wrote young Smith to Mrs Beal in 1847] in sup- 
 posing that I have been prevented, from writing to you. I never re- 
 member such a period of excitement and hard work. I have been in 
 town with Father, once at 3 o'clock in the morning, and every other 
 day since the beginning of the season before 5, excepting Mondays 
 and Thursdays ; and we have already had 9 special express engines 
 to Liverpool, Manchester, and Birmingham, and they will run every 
 day this week. All this I have mainly to arrange, and I can assure 
 you it has worn me not a little. Constant excitement and anxiety 
 during the days, and short and disturbed sleep at nights as the con- 
 sequence, are gradually making me as low and nervous as I was a few 
 months back. 
 
 But exclusive reliance was not placed on the mail-coaches 
 for the transmission of news. Light carts with fast horses 
 were employed when the newspapers were late of coming 
 from the publishers, to overtake the mails ; and in addition 
 to these, when any event of unusual importance took place, 
 or when something of interest happened too late for in- 
 sertion in the papers of that day, Smith had his own 
 mounted messengers, riding sometimes a couple of hours 
 in front of the mails, distributing printed slips among his 
 agents and customers in provincial towns. 
 
 Not seldom it would happen that, when the House of 
 Commons sat late, the publication of the 'Times' was 
 delayed until after the departure of the morning mails, by 
 reason that it was the only journal which gave a full par- 
 liamentary report. Smith's men would be all ready to re- 
 ceive it and carry it into the country, thus enabling readers 
 to get their paper on the day of publication, instead of wait- 
 ing, as they would otherwise have had to do, till the arrival 
 of the mail on the following morning. By this means, on 
 the death of King William IV. in June 1837, Smith was 
 enabled to carry the news into the country some hours in 
 advance of the mails, and that not only into this country,
 
 BECOMES JUNIOR PARTNER 27 
 
 but into Ireland, for he chartered a special packet to convey 
 the papers to Belfast on the same day. By this boldness 
 and activity, by never grudging expense in a matter of 
 business, and by the excellent organisation of his staff, he 
 had secured the confidence and favour both of publishers 
 and country customers. " First on the road " was his 
 maxim, and it brought his house ultimately to the position 
 of first in the trade, for it enabled him to take full advan- 
 tage of the change of system and rapid development of 
 newspaper traffic consequent on the creation of railways. 
 
 Some years after the exploit mentioned above, 1842, 
 writing to his son, Mr Smith had exultingly said : 
 
 I gave our Opposition a little taste on Saturday. I got the Mng. 
 Papers into Liverpool about 2 Hours before the time of the 6 O'Clk. 
 arriving. I had lost ground a little there, but this has brought me 
 right again. If our friend K. 1 intends to continue the opposition he 
 has begun, he must turn out a little of his money. 
 
 Entering upon his first duties at the Strand office in 
 1842, young William Smith received an allowance of 200 
 a-year from his father. When he came of age in 1846, he 
 was taken into the business on the terms noted above. 
 At that time the property was valued at 80,527, 8s. 6d., 
 and the new firm was registered as Messrs W. H. Smith 
 & Son, the title by which it is still known. 
 
 From the day that young Smith took the position of 
 junior partner, new life made itself felt in the place. Old 
 Mr Smith's temper had not improved with age. The early 
 work now, as was natural, devolved on the junior partner ; 
 his father used to drive over from Kilburn later in the day, 
 and woe betide the employe whom he found neglecting or 
 mismanaging his task ! 
 
 Things go on pretty smoothly [William writes to his sister Augusta 
 in the first few months of his partnership]. Father is of course a 
 little testy, but generally manageable. He came down on Monday 
 
 1 Clayton, the largest news-agency of that day, and until 1854.
 
 28 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. [JKT. 21. 
 
 for half an hour, walked into the Counting-house, bowed to the 
 people, then walked up-stairs, had his leg dressed, and then got into 
 the carriage (which was waiting for him all the time), vowing " the 
 place stunk couldn't breathe " and he " would not come down 
 again for some time it was wretched such a noise too." 
 
 There is no doubt that the senior partner's rule, though 
 just, had become increasingly harsh of late years, and one 
 who remembers the events of these days in the Strand 
 house speaks warmly of the milder influence which prevailed 
 as soon as young Smith entered upon authority. Often, 
 when some clerk or workman was smarting under a pro- 
 longed chiding, which might have been well deserved, 
 but was made almost unbearable by the fiercely sarcastic 
 tone in which it was delivered by the old man, the son 
 would wait his opportunity to pass near the culprit, and, 
 pausing with a kindly look in his good brown eyes, tell 
 him in a low voice not to take too much to heart the in- 
 jurious words addressed to him that his father had a 
 touch of gout on him did not mean all he said, and so 
 on. The effect was wonderful in sweetening the daily toil ; 
 the men soon came to know that, with resolution and 
 business capacity not inferior to his father, the son was of 
 finer fibre and gentler disposition. His hand was not less 
 firm on the reins, but it was more elastic. 
 
 But the new partner's presence was not long in making 
 itself felt far outside the walls of the counting-house and 
 workshops. The business began to spread far beyond its 
 original scope. Hitherto it had been strictly confined to 
 that of distributing newspapers, a trade in which Clayton's 
 was still the largest and leading house : it was by extending 
 their operations to another and a wider field, that Smith & 
 Son were ultimately able to turn the flank of their powerful 
 rivals. 
 
 As railways began to cover the land and travellers multi- 
 plied, bookstalls began to be a familiar feature of the prin-
 
 A.D. 1846.J KAILWAY LITERATURE. 29 
 
 cipal stations. Sometimes they had been started by the 
 enterprise of local booksellers, who generally combined a 
 display of refreshment for the body with that of food for 
 the mind. Newspapers and novels were ranged in amicable 
 jumble with beer-bottles, sandwiches, and jars of sweets. 
 No regulations controlled the privilege of selling on railway 
 platforms, and miscellaneous vendors pushed their humble 
 trade at their own pleasure. Then the railway companies 
 began to find bookstalls a convenient means of providing 
 occupation for men disabled, or for the widows of men 
 killed, in their service ; and in the early days of railway 
 travelling, when the longest stretch of rails was no more 
 than thirty miles, and nobody wanted more than a news- 
 paper to while away the journey, this answered all that 
 was required. But, as journeys lengthened and travellers 
 multiplied, more copious literature came in demand, and 
 it is not surprising that complaints began to be heard that 
 the people who were allowed the privilege of supplying it 
 were often illiterate, and almost always untrained to the 
 business. 
 
 Another objectionable feature soon became manifest : to 
 supply the demand of travelling readers, dealers furnished 
 their stalls with literature of indiscriminate character. 
 Cheap French novels of the shadiest class, and mischievous 
 trash of every description which no respectable bookseller 
 would offer, found purchasers ; indeed, it became notorious 
 that some people sought for and found on railway stalls 
 books that they would have been ashamed to inquire for 
 from tradesmen with a character to lose. Attention was 
 called to the disreputable nature of this traffic by letters 
 to the newspapers, and the directors of the principal rail- 
 ways, recognising the necessity for its regulation, began 
 to advertise for tenders for the rent of stalls on their 
 stations.
 
 30 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. [OFT. 25. 
 
 In this hitherto unpromising soil young Smith was not 
 slow to discern the prospect of a rich harvest ; but in open- 
 ing negotiations with the railway companies for the right to 
 erect bookstalls, he had to encounter his father's opposition, 
 who was disinclined to go beyond what he looked on as the 
 legitimate business of the firm the circulation of news- 
 papers and sceptical as to the profits to be derived from 
 bookselling, pointing to the ill success of private adven- 
 turers in that line. Howbeit, the young man ultimately 
 got his own way, and the first decisive step in the course, 
 which he had initiated by buying up the ventures of local 
 men on liberal terms, was accomplished when he concluded 
 a lease with the London and North- Western Railway Com- 
 pany, giving the firm exclusive rights for the sale of books 
 and newspapers on their system. 
 
 The companies, naturally concerned more about the pro- 
 fits of their shareholders than about the morals or mental 
 development of their passengers, paid more regard to the 
 amount offered in the tenders than to the respectability of 
 the tenderers ; consequently the quality of the wares offered 
 by Smith & Son at the London and North-Western stations 
 soon came into favourable contrast with that of the salesmen 
 on other lines. An article which appeared in the ' Times ' 
 of 9th August 1851 brings this out so clearly, and throws 
 so much light on the principles on which Messrs W. H. 
 Smith & Son started and maintained their new business, 
 and the vast advantage which it was the first to ensure to 
 the travelling public, that it may be permitted to make 
 somewhat lengthy extracts from it. After dwelling on the 
 revolution effected by railways in social habits, the writer 
 went on to say : 
 
 Men cannot move their bodies and leave their minds behind them. 
 . . . When disciples are restless, philosophers must needs be peri- 
 patetic. Are we turning this rushing aud scampering over the land 
 to real advantage ? Is the most made of the finest opportunity yet
 
 A.D. 1851.] RAILWAY LITERATURE. 31 
 
 offered to this generation for guiding awakened thought and in- 
 structing the eager and susceptible mind ? . . . Could it be possible 
 that the conductors of our railways, all powerful and responsible as 
 they are, had either set themselves, or permitted others to establish 
 on their ground, storehouses of positively injurious aliment for the 
 hungry minds that sought refreshment on their feverish way ? Did 
 they sell poison in their literary refreshment-rooms, and stuff of 
 which the deleterious effects twenty doctors would not be sufficient 
 to eradicate ? We resolved to ascertain at the earliest opportunity, 
 and within a week visited every railway terminus in this metropolis. 
 It was a painful and humiliating inspection. With few exceptions, 
 unmitigated rubbish encumbered the book-shelves of almost every 
 bookstall we visited, and indicated only too clearly that the hand of 
 ignorance had been indiscriminately busy in piling up the worthless 
 mass. The purchasers were not few or far between, but the greater 
 the number, the more melancholy the scene. Were all the buyers 
 daily travellers ? Did they daily make these precious acquisitions ? 
 If so, it was a dismal speculation to think how many journeys it 
 would take to destroy for ever a literary taste that might have been 
 perfectly healthy when it paid for its first day ticket. . . . 
 
 As we progressed north, a wholesome change became visible in 
 railway bookstalls. We had trudged in vain after the schoolmaster 
 elsewhere, but we caught him by the button at Euston Square, 1 and 
 and it is with the object of making him less partial in his walks that 
 we now venture thus publicly to appeal to him. At the North- 
 Western terminus we diligently inquired for that which required but 
 little looking after in other places, but we poked in vain for the 
 trash. If it had ever been there, the broom had been before us and 
 swept it clean away. . . . When the present proprietor of the 
 Euston Square book-shop acquired the sole right of selling books and 
 newspapers on the London and North- Western Railway, he found at 
 the various stations on the line a miscellaneous collection of publi- 
 cations of the lowest possible character, and vendors equally miscel- 
 laneous and irresponsible. ... At one fell swoop the injurious heap 
 was removed. At first the result was most discouraging. An 
 evident check had been given to demand ; but as the new proprietor 
 was gradually able to obtain the assistance of young men who had 
 been educated as booksellers, and as public attention was drawn to 
 the improvement in the character of the books exposed for sale, the 
 returns perceptibly improved, and have maintained a steady pro- 
 gressive increase greatly in excess of the proportion to be expected 
 from the increase of travelling up to the present time. . . . Un- 
 expected revelations came forth in the course of the inquiry. It has 
 been remarked that persons who apparently would be ashamed to be 
 found reading certain works at home, have asked for publications of 
 the worst character at the railway bookstall, and, being unable to 
 obtain them, have suddenly disappeared. . . . Cheap literature is a 
 paying literature, if judiciously managed. A host of readers are 
 
 1 The terminus of the London and North-Western line, where 
 Messrs Smith & Son had erected bookstalls.
 
 32 LIFE OF W. II. SMITH. 
 
 springing up along the lines of rail, and imitators of the North- 
 Western missionary will not long be wanting at every terminus in 
 the kingdom. Railway directors will find it their interest no less 
 than their duty to secure the co-operation of intelligent men, and 
 bookstalls will crave for wholesome food, which our chief purveyors 
 must not be slow to furnish. 
 
 In this great work of purifying the sources of information 
 and amusement, it must not be supposed that the " North- 
 Western missionary " was acting solely upon principles of 
 self-interest. There was plenty of demand for the kind of 
 literature which he was determined to discourage. It is 
 on record that already as much as 600 had been paid 
 as the annual rent of a bookstall at a London terminus, 
 and the profits accruing from the old traffic were jeopar- 
 dised by a sudden change. 
 
 It cannot have been an easy matter to compile an Index 
 Expurgatorius. From first to last, letters came in from 
 correspondents indignantly complaining of the profligacy 
 of some of the books sold. Thus in 1853- a gentleman 
 wrote expressing surprise that Byron's ' Don Juan ' was 
 on sale at some of the stations, calling upon Smith to 
 prevent "such a vile book as that to pollute his stalls," 
 and indicating his intention to follow up this letter with 
 another on the subject of Alexandre Dumas' novels. As 
 late as 1888 Smith was reproached by another corres- 
 pondent for allowing the ' Sporting Times ' to be exposed 
 for sale. 
 
 There was, besides, more than the custom of the trade 
 and a depraved public taste to be overcome in setting 
 the bookstall business going : young Smith had also, in 
 this matter, an enemy of his own household, for this branch 
 of the business never, from first to last, found favour in 
 old Mr Smith's eyes. Often, so long as he continued to 
 visit the Strand, when he saw a pile of books in the 
 counting-house, he would gruffly order their removal, or
 
 THE BOOKSTALLS. 33 
 
 if lie met a man carrying a parcel of them, he would ask 
 him what he meant " by bringing such rubbish into my 
 premises." 
 
 It is surprising how soon the son's quiet confidence 
 succeeded in establishing the bookstall business. Besides 
 acquiring the monopoly on the London and North- Western 
 system, he continued to extend his operations on other 
 lines of railway, and wherever he had an opportunity, 
 bought up the local man, who was often glad to be let 
 out on easy terms. The railway companies and the public 
 soon became familiar with the bookstalls of W. H. Smith 
 & Son, and the business became so extensive, that in 1849, 
 only three years after its creator had entered the firm, it be- 
 came necessary to appoint separate departmental managers. 
 
 From this humble beginning there took its rise what 
 must now be looked upon as a great institution. At first, 
 each bookstall clerk had to make a weekly return to the 
 head office of every book sold of one shilling and upwards 
 in value ; it often happened that one such list was easily 
 written on half a sheet of notepaper. But once started 
 in the hands of a powerful firm, and concentrated under 
 control of a competent manager, the enterprise, which 
 had proved so disastrous to many isolated local traders, 
 began to advance by leaps and bounds. One after another 
 the great railway companies ceded to Smith & Son the 
 exclusive right to erect bookstalls at their stations. It 
 was not easy to meet the requirements of such sudden 
 expansions as were caused by acquiring the whole of the 
 London and South- Western system about 1852, that of 
 the London and Brighton a few years later, and that of 
 the Great Western in 1862. To man and supply with 
 literature so many new stations involved taking on an 
 immense number of new hands, as well as considerable 
 capital expenditure. But the junior partner had a quick 
 
 C
 
 34 LIFE OF W. II. SMITH. 
 
 eye for capabilities, and was constantly on the watch to 
 secure the services of young men in the great wholesale 
 houses, who, as the firm of Smith & Son rose in reputa- 
 tion, often came to ask for employment. He never let 
 a promising young fellow pass him, but was always 
 ready to engage him, even if, as would sometimes happen, 
 there was no niche into which he could be fitted at the 
 moment. 1 
 
 Sometimes a young man, " too big for his boots," would 
 show an inclination to sniff at being put in charge of a rail- 
 way bookstall. The trade had an indifferent reputation at 
 first, and such an appointment was not looked upon as that 
 of a legitimate bookseller. 
 
 "We'll raise it, Mr ," replied young Smith to one 
 
 who had offered some such objection " we'll raise it. I 
 am not at all sure that it may not be made as respectable as 
 Paternoster Eow." 
 
 These young men were educated to gauge the literary 
 taste of the various districts. Some curious information, 
 showing how this varied according to locality, is given in 
 the 'Times' article quoted from above. 
 
 Stations have their idiosyncracies. Yorkshire is not partial to 
 poetry. It is difficult to sell a valuable book at any of the stations 
 
 1 This faculty of detecting " form at a glance " (if it may be per- 
 mitted to borrow from the phraseology of a system so foreign to 
 Smith's habits and character as the turf) never left him. During his 
 later years it happened that he attended a meeting of fifteen or 
 twenty persons, held to promote'a certain object, in the house of his 
 colleague, the Right Hon. Edward Stanhope, M.P. One of the 
 gentlemen present, at the request of Mr Stanhope, acted as secre- 
 tary during the proceedings, which lasted about an hour. Twelve 
 months later, Smith went to Mr Stanhope and asked the name of 
 the gentleman who had acted as secretary on that occasion, for he 
 said he had been so favourably impressed with his business-like 
 qualities in the short time he had witnessed them that he wished 
 to meet him again, in order, if a second interview confirmed his 
 impressions, to offer him a high and lucrative post in the house in the 
 Strand.
 
 HIS INFLUENCE ON YOUNG MEN. 35 
 
 between Derby, Leeds, and Manchester. Religious books hardly find 
 a purchaser at Liverpool, while at Manchester, at the other end of the 
 line, they are in high demand. 
 
 One secret of young Smith's influence upon young men, 
 and the ascendancy which he gained over them, was the 
 patience he showed in waiting for development of character 
 and powers. So long as he saw a man willing so long as 
 his shortcomings could be explained by inexperience and 
 not by negligence he was most slow to discourage him by 
 rebuke : he used to say that he preferred, even at the risk 
 of temporary loss of profits, to let a man find out his own 
 mistakes rather than check him at once. No one knew 
 better than Smith the truth of the adage, ex quovis ligiw 
 non fit Mercurius ; but no one bore more constantly in 
 mind that to be carved into an effigy is not the only use 
 to which timber may be put, and that, of the two, a gate- 
 post is more often of service than a god. 
 
 It was remarkable how soon each new hand entering the 
 employment seemed to imbibe the spirit pervading the con- 
 cern, to become jealous for its character and zealous in its 
 interests. No doubt this may be accounted for in part by 
 the system of allowing the clerks a liberal percentage on the 
 sales at their stalls ; but it is not possible to discourse with 
 one of the staff who knew the business in its beginnings, 
 without acquiring the conviction that, in large measure, this 
 esprit de carps had its origin in the personal influence of the 
 junior partner. 
 
 When the Milanese critic Lomazzo chose cognisances or 
 emblems for the master-painters of the Italian Renaissance, 
 symbolising their various genius, he assigned to Michael 
 Angelo the dragon of contemplation, and to Mantegna the 
 serpent of sagacity, but for Raphael he reserved the image 
 of man the type of intelligence and urbanity. 1 It may 
 
 1 Symonds, Italian Renaissance : The Fine Arts.
 
 36 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. 
 
 seem a strained analogy that suggests itself between the 
 characters of two men whose life-work differed as widely in 
 kind as their social environment, but, in truth, the bio- 
 grapher of each has to record traits and method of influence 
 upon others closely similar. Vasari wrote of Raphael that 
 his kindly nature prevailed, even more than his art, to en- 
 dear him to men ; he dwells on his gentleness, his modesty, 
 his courtesy, his anxiety to help others above all, his free- 
 dom from jealousy, a sin besetting artists not more closely 
 than statesmen. 1 These are precisely the qualities which 
 distinguished Smith above his fellows, whether in the days 
 when he was busy building up the great business in the 
 Strand, or in after-days, when he was called on to under- 
 take some of the highest offices in the State. Indeed, had 
 he lived in an age when men were named according to their 
 personal qualities, no more fitting appellation could have 
 been devised for him than Smith the Smoother. 2 Further, 
 there was something in the concord prevailing among all 
 classes in the employment of the Strand house, a concord 
 established by the younger Smith, and enduring now that 
 he has gone to his rest something in the devotion to and 
 confidence in their chief, felt and expressed by every one in 
 that vast workshop, that calls to mind the spirit described 
 by Yasari as animating the painters, sculptors, builders, 
 decorators, engravers, and other handicraftsmen who worked 
 under Raphael in his Roman bottega. 
 
 But it would be a mistake to suppose that Smith was in- 
 discriminate in indulgence. His principle was, once he had 
 chosen and appointed a man to his duty, to put complete 
 
 1 Vasari, Lives of the Painters, vol. viii. pp. 6, 60. 
 
 2 There is no reality in Archbishop Trench's specious derivation of 
 " smith = one that smiteth " ; the laws of comparative philology 
 are against it, and point to the real affinity with "smooth." A 
 smith is therefore not one who smites but one who smoothes a 
 polisher.
 
 DISCIPLINE. 37 
 
 trust in him. That trust was seldom betrayed, and Smith 
 was ever slow to be convinced that it had been forfeited ; 
 but in the rare instances when he was justly offended, he 
 never gave a man an opportunity of deceiving him a second 
 time. In visiting neglect of duty, he was "as stern as his 
 father, though not so unreserved in rebuke. Many years 
 ago, when travelling on one of the southern lines, he ob- 
 served that, as the train entered an important station, the 
 bookstall clerk did not turn round and face it according to 
 his instructions, but remained inattentive, and engaged in 
 conversation with some acquaintance. The man was not 
 only reprimanded, but his promotion was seriously retarded 
 by the act of negligence which his employer had witnessed. 
 He has since proved in a higher sphere that he was thor- 
 oughly capable of discharging more important duties. 
 
 A clerk in the counting-house, who had been dismissed 
 for gross misconduct, appeared before Smith one morning 
 to plead for forgiveness. 
 
 " Think of my mother, sir," he said ; " she has no one to 
 depend on but me, and if you dismiss me without a char- 
 acter, I shall be unable to support her." 
 
 " You should have thought of your mother before, sir," 
 was all the answer given by Smith. 
 
 If the inflexible justice with which he meted out punish- 
 ment to wrong-doers sometimes approached severity, it was 
 no more than the reflex of the perfect confidence he reposed 
 in his men until they did something to forfeit it. 
 
 A notable feature in the history of this house has been 
 the rareness of instances of men employed in it setting up 
 in business for themselves. The liberality with which they 
 have been treated their confidence in the known practice 
 of their employers to advance their interests as the prosper- 
 ity of the business grew, have given them such a feeling of 
 security as to deprive them of the belief they could do any 
 
 410499
 
 38 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. 
 
 better on their own account. It is but fair to observe that 
 the constant expansion of the trade has tended not a little 
 towards this result. Promotion has been kept moving at a 
 rate which would have been impossible in any business less 
 constantly under the influence of the flowing tide. Neither 
 in newspaper circulation nor in bookstall literature, nor in 
 the other departments into which, as will presently be men- 
 tioned, the business came to be extended, has there ever 
 been a check in the demand : the volume of transactions 
 has ever been on the increase, there has been no embarrass- 
 ing fluctuation in prices, and the cold shade of depression 
 which has fallen from time to time on nearly every industry 
 has never yet darkened the house in the Strand ; conse- 
 quently the relations of employer and employed have never 
 been subjected to the heavy strain involved in a reduction 
 of the rate of pay. It may occur to some employers, less 
 favoured by the turn of events, that it is easy, under smil- 
 ing circumstances such as these, to keep a large establish- 
 ment in good-humour, and to retain the devotion of old ser- 
 vants. No doubt there is much practical reason in this : 
 the influence of wise management, willing service, and 
 prosperity mutually react on each other ; but if any one of 
 these conditions is interrupted, the fruits of the others are 
 apt to be wasted. 
 
 Young Smith did not suffer close attention to business to 
 prevent him taking an active part in philanthropic work. 
 The services which he rendered to King's College Hospital 
 extended over more than forty years, and are summarised 
 in a resolution of condolence passed by the Committee of 
 Management after his death in 1891, wherein they affirm 
 that 
 
 They are bound in gratitude to recall the long, varied, and important 
 services which Mr Smith rendered to King's College Hospital. The 
 munificent contributions made by him personally, and by the firm of 
 Messrs W. H. Smith & Son, would alone ensure a grateful remem-
 
 INCREASING BUSINESS. 39 
 
 brance of his name. But the Committee are still more indebted to 
 him for the personal guidance and support which he rendered to the 
 Hospital, ever since he joined the Committee in 1849. . . . Since 
 then, he served the offices of Auditor in 1862, and of Vice-Chairman 
 from 1862-1864. For some time after his resignation of the latter 
 office, he continued to attend the meetings of the Committee, and in 
 February 1874 he was elected a Vice-President. After his public 
 duties prevented him from taking any active part in the management 
 of the Hospital, he was always ready to give his advice and assistance 
 on any occasion of anxiety or difficulty. . . . For all these benefits 
 his name can never cease to be remembered with gratitude by the 
 Committee and the friends of the Hospital, and the memory of his 
 connection with it will ever be cherished as one of its chief honours 
 and encouragements. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 1854-1893. 
 
 It is now time to trace some further steps in the develop- 
 ment of the Strand business, and record circumstances which 
 contributed to its success. 
 
 Besides the expansion of newspaper traffic resulting from 
 the rapid increase of the population of the United King- 
 dom, and perhaps in a greater degree from the spread of 
 education, the business of journalism, and its handmaid, 
 news-agency, received a sudden and extraordinary impetus 
 by the abolition of the newspaper stamp-duty by Mr 
 Bright's Act of 1854. The immediate effect was a reduc- 
 tion in the price of newspapers, and an enormous increase 
 in the demand for them. 
 
 The standing which the energy of the elder Smith had 
 already secured for his business in the days when he worked 
 it single-handed, the indefatigable pluck which he had 
 shown in carrying out his principle of "first on the road," 
 and the perseverance which the new firm had maintained
 
 40 LTFE OF W. H. SMITH. 
 
 in deserving the confidence of the public as well as of 
 publishers, enabled Smith & Son to reap the full advan- 
 tage of the sudden expansion of the trade. On June 21, 
 1854, the most signal proof was given of their pre-eminence 
 in this respect by a circular issued on that day from the 
 ' Times ' office, intimating that the proprietors of that power- 
 ful journal had determined that for the future " all papers 
 required by Messrs Smith & Son for distribution in the 
 country shall be delivered to them by the Publishers before 
 any other Agent is supplied. 'The Country' is under- 
 stood to include all railway stations, and to exclude London 
 and the Metropolitan districts, as defined by the Post Office. 
 Messrs Smith & Son will distribute for the London Agents, 
 at a fair price, the Papers required by them for the service 
 above defined." 
 
 The importance of this document, which really amounted 
 to a charter of monopoly in agency for the principal jour- 
 nal in the world, can scarcely be overestimated, and the 
 effect was practically to place the firm out of reach of the 
 competition alike of Clayton's and all others which had 
 exercised the elder Smith so sorely in bygone years. 
 It did even more than this, for it obliged every whole- 
 sale agent to come to Smith's for his supply of the 
 ' Times.' 
 
 The relief afforded to newspaper proprietors by Bright' s 
 Act of 1854 put them in a position to deal worthily with 
 the Crimean War, which broke out in the autumn of that 
 year. Telegraphic communication had been established 
 since the last great European war, and the 'Times' was 
 the earliest to take advantage of it by sending out the first 
 of the class of war correspondents, Dr W. H. Russell, whose 
 graphic despatches enabled people at home to follow day by 
 day, not only the events of the war, but the fortunes of 
 every regiment engaged in it. This gave an immense im-
 
 LOYALTY TO HIS FATHER. 41 
 
 petus to the circulation of this enterprising journal, and, of 
 course, was to the advantage of the firm which had become 
 their sole country agents. 
 
 The business had by this time grown to a scale far be- 
 yond the failing powers of old Mr Smith ; the scheme and 
 details of organisation devolved entirely upon his son, who 
 from that day forward was practically the managing head of 
 the firm. It is true that the old gentleman still continued 
 to busy himself in the office as often and as long as his 
 health permitted. He used to drive down in his brougham 
 from Kilburn about nine in the morning, attended to corre- 
 spondence, and pored over the ledgers, till, as sometimes 
 happened, he fell down in a swoon. His * presence, how- 
 ever, far from helping business, was a hindrance to it, for 
 the breakdown of his health, while it left his will as im- 
 perious as ever, had told disastrously on his temper. Yet 
 his son, however sorely he must have been tried sometimes, 
 never failed in loyal support to his father's authority. One 
 day a customer came into the office to complain that a bill 
 which he had already paid had been sent in a second time. 
 Old Smith vowed that such a thing was impossible, and 
 maintained that the bill had not been paid. The customer 
 was equally confident that it had been settled, lost his 
 temper, and roundly abused his would-be creditor, upon 
 which young Smith left his seat, and, saying quietly to the 
 justly irate customer, " I can't allow any one to speak to my 
 father like that, sir ! " led him to the door, and assured him 
 that strict inquiry should be made into the matter. The 
 result was to prove that the account had been settled, as 
 had been alleged. 
 
 On another occasion, after considerable transactions had 
 taken place with the great printing house of M'Corquodale, 
 old Mr Smith insisted upon going over the accounts him- 
 self. Although it had long been his custom to spend much
 
 42 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. [xr. 29. 
 
 time examining the books and accounts of the firm, he had 
 not the gift of following any but clear debtor and creditor 
 statements of simple transactions; complicated details al- 
 ways threw him into a state of hopeless perplexity, and the 
 irritation he felt at the consciousness of his want of capa- 
 city in this respect sometimes found vent in a momentary 
 explosion of wrath against those who happened to be 
 nearest. So, having landed himself in a maze of bewilder- 
 ment over these accounts, he suddenly brought his fist 
 down on the book with a bang, and exclaimed hotly that 
 his son and M'Corquodale were in a conspiracy to ruin him. 
 Young Smith rose and, laying his hand on his father's 
 shoulder, said earnestly : " Father, you know that I would 
 rather lose my right hand than see you robbed." The ebul- 
 lition was over in a moment. 
 
 The labour thrown upon the willing shoulders of the 
 junior partner soon became more than one man could trans- 
 act. For several years it was his practice to rise each 
 week-day at four in the morning, swallow a cup of coffee, 
 and drive to the Strand office, by 5 A.M. People still in 
 the business can remember how he was then the central 
 figure in the paper-sorting office, with coat off, shirt-sleeves 
 rolled back, and hands and arms deeply dyed with printers' 
 ink off the wet sheets ; and they speak warmly of his admir- 
 able method. The newspapers were often delivered so late 
 from the printing-houses as to cause much anxiety, yet 
 there was a complete absence of the fuss and hustling from 
 which, under other management, the staff had sometimes 
 had to suffer. 
 
 One of these early morning starts from Kilburn was 
 marked by an unpleasant incident which might have had 
 serious consequences. It was the duty of a servant to put 
 some coffee ready overnight for his master, who, on rising, 
 lighted the spirit-lamp, so that by the time he was dressed,
 
 A.n. 1854.] SHORTENED WORK-HOURS. 43 
 
 a hot cup was prepared for him. By a sleepy-headed 
 blunder one night this servant put into the pot, not coffee, 
 but cayenne pepper, either wholly or in part. Smith, not 
 observing in the dim light any difference in the mixture, 
 gulped down half a cupful before he discovered the mis- 
 take ! He afterwards described the sensation as nothing 
 short of excruciating. 
 
 But if he was ungrudging in the length and severity of 
 his own labours, he soon gave practical proof of his con- 
 sideration for the reasonable recreation of others. This was 
 before the time when much had been heard of the early- 
 closing movement, yet he was one of the earliest and most 
 practical advocates of it, for he very soon brought about a 
 shortening of the hours in the Strand office. Saturday half- 
 holidays were almost unknown in the " fifties " ; young 
 Smith took a leading part in establishing what is now 
 an almost universal and beneficial rule in good trading 
 houses. He organised periodical excursions on the river 
 for the whole staff in the Strand, and provided intellectual 
 recreation for them for after-work hours. A monthly par- 
 liament was set up for the discussion of questions affecting 
 the working classes, but it soon languished and died, for 
 the employes of the firm found they had no grievances to 
 discuss. How long, it may be asked, would interest in the 
 debates at Westminster endure, if there were no grievances, 
 no Supply, and no foreign policy 1 
 
 Devoted and capable as he was, young Smith began, 
 about the year 1854, to find the strain of constantly in- 
 creasing work getting beyond his powers. In this year he 
 renewed acquaintance with an old Tavistock schoolfellow, 
 William Lethbridge, then an assistant master at Eossal 
 schooL Smith invited his old friend to pay him a visit ; 
 the result was that their early intimacy was renewed ; Leth- 
 bridge became interested in the details of the newspaper
 
 44 UFB OF W. H. SMITH. OT. 20. 
 
 and bookstall business, and in the end was admitted into 
 the firm as a partner. 
 
 Previously to this, a totally new branch of business had 
 been entered upon, which was beginning to reach propor- 
 tions hardly inferior to those of the bookstall trade. Adver- 
 tising may be said to have been in its infancy at the com- 
 mencement of the railway movement, but the instincts of 
 trades-people began to awake to the opportunity afforded by 
 the blank walls of railway stations of making known to 
 travellers the merits of their goods. It seemed to them 
 expedient that as, in the latter days, men began to run to 
 and fro, so should their knowledge (of the excellence of 
 Heal's bedsteads and Brogden's watch-chains, &C. 1 ) be in- 
 creased. The first stages of what has now become an 
 enormous system were as modest and ill-regulated as those 
 of the bookstalls : the course adopted was the same ; the 
 companies began to advertise for tenders for the use of their 
 walls, and in almost every case Smith & Son were the 
 successful tenderers. 
 
 But it was some time before the firm could feel satisfied 
 of the prudence of their new undertaking. The initial out- 
 lay of capital was very heavy, and for a time the returns 
 were insignificant. Old Mr Smith fidgeted and fumed at 
 the rent paid to the railway companies, and at the cost of 
 providing frames for advertisements, of printing, agents, 
 and bill-posters. But young Smith's sagacious confidence 
 enabled him to overcome all opposition, and in 1854 the 
 balance-sheet of this branch showed a slight profit on the 
 year's transactions, with prospects of indefinite improve- 
 ment. The expenses during that year amounted to 9800 
 (including 7100 paid as rent to the railway companies), 
 
 1 These two firms were almost the first to avail themselves of the 
 great impetus to advertisement given by the Great Exhibition of 
 1851, and to start pictorial advertisement.
 
 A.D. 1854.] GUIDING PRINCIPLES. 45 
 
 the receipts came to 9930, producing a net profit of 130. 
 But the corner had been turned, the future was big with 
 indefinite increase, and the anxiety caused by the absorption 
 of so much capital was once and for all at an end. 
 
 The business in 1854 thus consisted of three great 
 branches, each in process of swift and sometimes sudden 
 expansion the newspaper agency, under direct control of 
 the younger Smith ; the bookstall trade, managed by Mr 
 Sandifer ; and the railway advertisement department, under 
 Messrs Moore and Small. A fourth branch, hardly less 
 important than the others, was to be added in the course 
 of a few years ; but before alluding further to that, it may 
 be instructive to examine into the effect all this incessant 
 work, and the splendid success attending upon it, had upon 
 the mind and habits of one whose early inclination had been 
 for a very different sphere of action. 
 
 Had the press and strain of business, and the excitement 
 of fortunate enterprise, driven from his thoughts those 
 subjects upon which, as a youth, he had pondered so 
 deeply and constantly 1 Had the flush of achievement and 
 the seduction of increasing gains blotted out those higher 
 views, or loosened the strict principles which guided him 
 into manhood ? By no means. It is only necessary to turn 
 over some of the letters written by Smith at this period, 
 and especially the private notes (they are not consecutive 
 enough to amount to a journal), intended for no eye but 
 his own, to be convinced that he was still deeply devout, 
 and concerned far more about another and better world than 
 he was about the affairs of this one. 
 
 To read his character aright to learn that a tradesman 
 may be sagacious, industrious, ambitious, and successful, 
 and yet never lose sight of the object set before him by a 
 simple unfailing faith it is necessary to quote a few sen- 
 tences showing the matters upon which his mind, as soon
 
 46 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. 
 
 as he was released from business, continually revolved. 
 His sister Augusta was always a favourite correspondent, 
 and the letters he addressed to her while he was at school 
 were the first of a series which continued till the close of 
 her life in 1889. Here is part of one written in pencil 
 during a journey to Dublin. 
 
 3. 3. '53. 
 
 MY DEAR GUSSY, I am flying along the London and North- 
 Western by Express Train somewhere near Tring at this moment, 
 probably near Rugby before I have done. . . . Father wishes me to 
 stay in Dublin a fortnight, but I don't think I ought to be away 
 from home more than three days at the outside, and I therefore 
 think of leaving Dublin again on Friday, even if I have to return 
 next week. 1 I have not told him so, because it is best to let him 
 think he is having his way. Although in really good health, as far 
 as I can see and you know I have as nervous a disposition with re- 
 gard to him as any one can have he chafes more under the small 
 annoyances of business, so as to become nervously irritated beyond 
 anything I ever remember, giving three people notice to leave in one 
 day, and suchlike things ; but he is most kind and considerate to me. 
 Still all this occasions anxiety to me, and I am almost afraid of going 
 away, not knowing what violent changes may take place in my ab- 
 sence, in his desire to get rid of the business. I find, too, that his 
 excitement is much greater when I am away, and increases in propor- 
 tion to the length of time, as everything comes before him. ... I 
 trust Providence, who makes a way for us in the greatest difficulties, 
 will make our way straight before us. If it were not for the perfect 
 confidence I feel that this must be so cannot be otherwise I should 
 sometimes be very unhappy ; for with the positive certainty of great 
 changes impending, I know not what may be the next step I ought 
 to take. 
 
 I sometimes feel that Father's happiness in his later days, and the 
 comfort of the family, depend on me, and then I feel and know I am 
 absolutely blind, and can really do nothing whatever of my own 
 judgment ; but I know also that if I, and we all, desire absolutely 
 and without reservation to be guided aright, that guidance will be 
 granted to us, and we need not and ought not to fear or doubt in the 
 darkest night of uncertainty and human difficulty. I do sometimes 
 tremble lest I should fail to do a man's part in the order of God's 
 providence, for although He orders, guides, and directs, there is still 
 the responsibility of action with us after all, and therefore I pray that 
 my eyes may be opened to comprehend what He would have me to 
 do, and I am assured that a way and means and strength will be 
 given for any and every occasion. The confidence that all things are 
 
 1 Messrs Smith & Sou had at this time a branch office in Dublin.
 
 HIS JOURNAL. 47 
 
 absolutely right, however painful and difficult now, turns what would 
 otherwise be troubles into sources of thankfulness so I feel of all the 
 unsettled circumstances of the past and present. They are necessary 
 to some good and right end, if we (for I believe there is a power in 
 Man to thwart Providence) will have it so. 
 
 I have gone on writing this without quite intending it, just as I 
 would talk with you ; . . . but there is solid pleasure in the convic- 
 tion that we are of one mind in these things : wherever we are, we 
 can think of each other, and we can pray that we may each, indivi- 
 dually and as one family, be directed in all things by a wisdom which 
 can do no wrong, and whose purposes are, I entirely believe, both 
 present and future happiness with regard to us. Do not think I am 
 at all low or sad. With the exception of very transient occasions, I 
 never felt greater reason for cheerfulness. 
 
 All this was written currente stilo evidently without 
 premeditation or reconsideration, for there is hardly a word 
 altered from first to last. It is the genuine, spontaneous 
 expression of the writer's meditation unadulterated com- 
 munion with a sister to whom he was accustomed to talk 
 and write without reserve. There may be some readers, 
 impatient of religious epanchement, disposed to smile at the 
 simple faith so openly confessed ; but even to these, if they 
 have any desire to understand the man, it is necessary to 
 know what he thought of, and how he expressed it. 
 
 Journals are, as a rule, tainted with the suspicion of self- 
 consciousness : one fancies that the diarist harbours, and does 
 not shrink from the prospect of ultimate, though perhaps 
 posthumous, publicity. Nevertheless, there is in Smith's 
 journals something so apart from vainglory so much in 
 contrast with his daily arena of prosperous, bustling com- 
 merce that a few extracts must be made from these time- 
 stained pages. 
 
 Saturday, March 17, 1855. ... I know the Sin which most easily 
 besets me, and have now solemnly vowed never again to give way to 
 it, even by thought and by desire, and I register this my resolve, 
 made, not in my own strength, but in humble dependence on one who 
 is able to save all who trust in him, and who did not teach his dis- 
 ciples to say in vain, " lead us not into temptation, but deliver us 
 from evil." 
 
 Monday, March 19. . . . The world has had the dominion in its
 
 48 LIFE OF W. II. SMITH. 
 
 cares and anxieties. I have also been depressed and not sufficiently 
 trustful for my future domestic life. It is very difficult for man to 
 draw the line between the intelligent exercise of the personal duties 
 and responsibilities devolving upon him his own part in working out 
 the designs of Providence and that anxious care which becomes Sin. 
 Let me remember the word " being careful for nothing, but in every- 
 thing by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests 
 be made known unto God, and the peace of God shall keep your 
 hearts," &c. 
 
 Tuesday, April 10. A day of many mercies and of one trial ; but 
 I will praise God for all his mercies, and pray to him for more, and I 
 shall not be disappointed, for none ever asked in faith and was sent 
 empty away. The Lord increase my faith and enable me to pray 
 always. . . . 
 
 Thursday, April 12. I have passed through a day of much care 
 and anxiety and occupation. It has also been marked by a step which 
 may affect my future life. Oh that I could more entirely trust in 
 Him who has the disposing of events, who ordereth all things well ; 
 but I deplore for myself that depression as to things material and 
 temporal wh. arises from a want of trust in Him who ruleth. May I 
 trust in him with all my heart, and possess the Peace which passeth 
 all understanding ! . . . 
 
 Monday, April 16. I am thankful that I have not been so despond- 
 ing to-day as I have been on former days, but, on the other hand, I 
 am aware of ideas and schemes within me which may not proceed so 
 entirely from a desire to render glory to my God as they ought to do. 
 I pray again that he may direct me in all my ways, for no earthly 
 good can be less than evil unless it be blessed by Him. 
 
 Enough ! we have in these passages, taken at random 
 from among much else of similar tenor, not the sentimental 
 lucubrations of a self-conscious idler or the vague appre- 
 hensions of a morbid-minded youth (Smith at this time was 
 thirty), but the key-note of a laborious useful life, which, 
 though far from purposeless in material concerns or wanting 
 in sympathy for fellow -men, was directed resolutely yet 
 humbly towards a lofty and distant goal The sceptic, 
 even if he does not envy the confidence, cannot impugn the 
 manliness of this simple faith, nor doubt its sincerity; while 
 he who shares it, however imperfectly, must be encouraged 
 by the proof given that there is nothing to prevent one who 
 is an earnest and anxious Christian being also a good man 
 of business and a citizen of the world. 
 
 But, after all, however pious, and even blameless, may
 
 NO WORK ON SUNDAYS. 49 
 
 be the private life of an individual however wisely he 
 may moralise, and however constantly he may ponder on 
 motives of conduct however strict may be his observance 
 of religious ordinances, he cannot but earn mistrust unless 
 the effect of it all can be clearly traced in his worldly action. 
 So it is natural that one should scrutinise closely the extent 
 to which the principles, so clearly and constantly professed 
 in the family and congregations, moulded the conduct of 
 the Smiths in their business. It was marked very plainly, 
 indeed ; and through all the years which have passed since 
 the time described, the character and regulation of the house 
 have been in consistency with the profession of its founder. 
 Men in the employment speak enthusiastically of the 
 justice, consideration, and liberality with which they have 
 always been treated ; but these virtues are no monopoly of 
 Christians, still less of strict Methodists, or members of the 
 Church of England. The point on which more importance 
 is laid by these bodies than by any other section of the 
 Church, except, perhaps, the Presbyterian Church of Scot- 
 land, is the observance of the Lord's Day. Men may hold 
 what views they please about the best means of keeping it 
 holy ; each one may hear the voice of his own conscience, 
 if he listens for it, telling what it is right to do for that end, 
 and what it is wrong not to refrain from doing. But all men 
 would agree, and would be just in agreeing, in condemna- 
 tion of those who, holding certain observances to be neces- 
 sary or conducive to their own salvation, should call upon 
 men for service incompatible with their respecting the same 
 observances. 
 
 It has always been a rule in Smith & Son's that no 
 work should be done on Sundays. To this rule there is 
 on record only a single exception. This occurred in Sep- 
 tember 1855, shortly after the battle of Alma: the de- 
 spatches containing the nominal list of killed and wounded 
 
 D
 
 50 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. 
 
 arrived late on Saturday night, and after consultation with 
 Ms father, young Smith called upon the staff to sacrifice 
 their Sunday rest in order that special supplements might 
 be distributed in London and the provinces. 
 
 In contrast to this incident, and to show that this was 
 done, not to enhance the reputation of the firm or to con- 
 ciliate customers, but to put a speedy end to the doubts, 
 fears, and alas ! to the hopes of many distracted families, 
 it is only necessary to mention another incident which hap- 
 pened some years later. Messrs Smith received a command 
 to supply one of the Eoyal Family with newspapers. Among 
 other journals on the list accompanying the command was 
 the 'Observer,' published then, as now, on Sunday morning. 
 The command was complied with, but it was explained that, 
 as Sunday work was contrary to the rules of the firm, the 
 ' Observer ' could not be supplied. This was followed by a 
 visit from an indignant official, who seemed at a loss to 
 understand how a regulation of a firm of news-agents could 
 stand in the way of a Eoyal command ; but even the threat 
 of withdrawal of the whole order did not avail to cause a 
 departure from the rules of the house. To this day, though 
 Sunday papers have in the meantime multiplied many times, 
 and are, moreover, a peculiarly popular form of literature, 
 those who desire them have to obtain them elsewhere than 
 from Smith's agents. 
 
 The last branch of the business of Smith & Son which 
 remains to be described took its rise, not unnaturally, out 
 of the bookstall business, which, before 1862, had been 
 established on wellnigh every important line of railway 
 in England, and in the demand made by people living 
 in remote rural districts for a supply of books on loan. 
 This was some years after old Mr Smith had retired from 
 the business, which he did about 1858, and the active
 
 THE CIRCULATING LIBRAE Y. 51 
 
 partners, consisting of his son and Mr Lethbridge, felt 
 no inclination for an experiment which, while it called 
 for a heavy capital expenditure, did not promise a very 
 remunerative return. However, it was always a leading 
 principle with the younger Smith l that when any section 
 of the public expressed a desire for the kind of literature 
 it was his business to supply, and it was in the power 
 of the firm to comply with it without hazard of serious 
 loss, it was their duty to make the endeavour, even should 
 the prospect of gain be doubtful. Negotiations, accordingly, 
 were set on foot with that firm which held the same pre- 
 eminence in the circulating and lending library business as 
 Smith & Son did in that of news-agency and bookstalls, 
 with the view of acting as agents for Messrs Mudie in 
 such provincial towns as were in want of a supply. But 
 the negotiations came to nothing, and the result was the 
 foundation of Smith & Son's circulating library. 
 
 Whatever may have been the misgivings in Smith's own 
 mind about this new venture, once he had made up his 
 mind to it, he did not allow them to interfere with the 
 liberal investment of capital. To one long connected with 
 the house, who expressed doubts as to the prudence of risk- 
 ing so much, Smith remarked : " God blesses all I touch. 
 I think there must be some truth in the motto on my 
 father's seal Deo non fortund fretus." 2 
 
 The enterprise has proved successful, not, indeed, in the 
 extraordinary degree attained by the other branches of the 
 business, for it is still the least remunerative department ; 
 but Mr Faux, who presides over it, has charge of the 
 circulation of more than 300,000 volumes. 
 
 1 From this point, when the elder Smith disappears from active life, 
 it will be unnecessary to use terms to distinguish between father and 
 son. When " Smith " is spoken of in future, it will be the son who is 
 indicated. 
 
 2 " Relying not on fortune but on God."
 
 52 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. 
 
 It had always been one of Smith's rules not to have the 
 smallest property in any publication. He held it important 
 to be free to deal impartially with every publishing house, 
 just as in the early days of bookstalls he had avoided bring- 
 ing himself into competition with local tradesmen, but pre- 
 ferred to act in concurrence with them, often, as has been 
 shown, being in a position to relieve them of a business 
 which they were carrying on at a loss. This was the origin 
 of the establishment of the branches in Birmingham, Liver- 
 pool, and Manchester. But a time came when the supply 
 of bookstall literature ran low ; Murray's " Traveller's 
 Library " was proving rather heavy for the tastes of those 
 it was chiefly designed to attract ; there was a dearth of 
 harmless, yet lively publications ; the quality of cheapness 
 in novels had hitherto been inseparable from that of nasti- 
 ness, or, at least, of worthlessness : the receipts from the 
 bookstalls, so brilliant at first, began to show a decline ; 
 something had to be done to restore their popularity. A 
 decided step was taken, which, for the first time, enabled 
 people to buy the best romances at a trifling cost. The 
 copyright of Lever's novels was acquired by Smith & Son ; 
 Mr Sandifer, the manager of the bookstall department, was 
 commissioned to buy paper, contract for printing, receive 
 designs for covers, and, in short, undertake all the necessary 
 steps in setting out on a heavy publishing venture. But, 
 inasmuch as the firm were only concerned to supply a want 
 felt by a peculiar class of customers the travelling public 
 and as they did not wish to engage in competition with 
 established firms, these books were issued by arrangement 
 with Messrs Chapman & Hall, whose name, and not that of 
 Smith & Son, appeared on the titles. 
 
 The success of the venture was immediate and unmis- 
 takable. A new vein had been struck ; the copyrights of 
 other authors were acquired, and Sandifer's enthusiasm
 
 RAILWAY NOVELS. 53 
 
 knew no bounds as the steam-presses flew and the well- 
 known " yellow-backed novels " multiplied in the land. 
 The profits were immense : the books sold off as fast as 
 they could be printed at 2s. a-piece, and the cost of pro- 
 duction was only 9d. 
 
 But Smith did not feel happy about all the consequences 
 of this splendidly successful enterprise. The cheap novels 
 had taken better than he had either expected or intended ; 
 they were driving other works off the stalls. It was the 
 object, of course, of every clerk, seeing that he received 
 commissions on sales, to give the most saleable books the 
 preference, and one morning Smith stood on the platform 
 at Rugby in mournful contemplation of the effects of a 
 revolution which he himself had created. The bookstall 
 at that station was a coruscation of yellow novels and white 
 newspapers ; volumes of essays, secular and religious, travels, 
 science, poetry all were thrust into odd corners or out of 
 sight, for the public would have nothing but fiction. Smith 
 sadly shook his head, but, true to his principles, would not 
 discourage the clerk in charge by expressing any distrust 
 of his discretion : the management of the stall had been 
 committed to him, and he must not be interfered with. 
 
 Messrs Ward & Lock were the next firm to come upon 
 this field of enterprise, and as soon as they and others 
 proved able to conduct the business successfully, Smith 
 felt that his mission in that respect had been accomplished 
 namely, the stimulation of a supply of cheap and sound 
 literature and the issue of these works was stopped. The 
 copyrights acquired by the firm were sold in 1883 for 
 10,000. 
 
 The scale to which the business of Messrs "W. H. Smith 
 & Son has grown at the present time has made it necessary 
 to acquire much of the adjoining ground. The frontage
 
 54 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. 
 
 is still in the Strand, but the counting-house and offices are 
 at the back in a splendid new range of buildings, having 
 their entrance in Arundel Street. Although Mr W. H. 
 Smith retired from active partnership in 1877, he con- 
 tinued to take a warm interest in the proceedings of the 
 firm and the welfare of their employes down to the close of 
 his life, but he was not permitted to see the completion 
 of the new buildings. The book department keeps up the 
 supply for the railway bookstalls, and may be seen at its 
 busiest at the close of each month, when the magazines 
 come out. The lending department contains, as has been 
 said, upwards of 300,000 volumes in circulation. The 
 workshops for making bookstalls and frames for railway- 
 station advertisements are in Water Street. It is part 
 of the system that all damaged or dilapidated bookstalls, 
 even in remote parts of the country, are packed up and 
 sent here for repair. 
 
 In Water Street also are the extensive stables, kept with 
 the regularity and little short of the discipline of a cavalry 
 barracks. Here stand between fifty and sixty horses for 
 the service of the red newspaper carts, and the bloom on 
 their coats speaks plainly to good condition and careful 
 grooming. At the entrance to the yard hangs the drivers' 
 roster, showing the date and hour when each man comes on 
 duty. The printing-house, where the railway advertise- 
 ments are prepared, is at some distance off, in Fetter Lane. 
 
 Of all the busy scenes in busy London, there is none 
 more brisk and orderly than that which may be witnessed 
 any morning, Sundays excepted, throughout the year in 
 the packing department of 186 Strand. On the first four 
 working days in the week, when there is not much except 
 the dailies to deal with, work begins shortly after 3 A.M.; 
 but on Fridays and Saturdays the pressure is increased by 
 the weeklies, and then the start is made an hour earlier.
 
 -
 
 EARLY MORNING IN THE STRAND." " ; - 55 
 
 Few of those who know the Strand and Fleet Street only 
 in the hours when the side -pavements are hidden with 
 swarms of busy men, and the thoroughfare is blocked with 
 vehicles, can have formed any idea of their aspect at day- 
 break in summer, or imagine the singular beauty of the 
 view eastward from a point, say, opposite 160 Fleet Street. 
 The perspective of varied house-fronts on either side con- 
 verges on St Paul's Cathedral, a shapely, soft-toned mass 
 against the pale sky ; and looking westward from the Law 
 Courts, the eye sur 3ys a scene, not so impressive or har- 
 moniously composed as the other, yet far redeemed from 
 commonplace by the quaint churches of St Clement Danes 
 and St Mary -le- Strand, and that block of houses, long 
 threatened by the plans of the city improver, which shuts 
 out Holywell Street from the Strand. Save a policeman or 
 two, and here and there a belated wanderer creeping home, 
 there is not a human being in sight, till, as the bells ring 
 out half-past two, the first of Smith & Son's well-known 
 scarlet carts comes clattering down the narrow thoroughfare 
 laden with piles of the c Illustrated,' the ' Queen,' or some 
 other great weekly journal. This is followed by others, till, 
 at three o'clock, the street is crowded with vehicles, each 
 bringing its load of "raw papers" to be carried into the 
 office and sorted into parcels for the country. 
 
 Inside matters present an appearance in which the casual 
 visitor might, in default of a clue, despair of tracing either 
 method or motive. The place is like an ant-hill ; men are 
 running about in every direction carrying bundles on their 
 shoulders, as aimlessly to all appearance, and as ceaselessly, 
 as ants do their white pupae when something has disturbed 
 them. Sometimes they pause to swallow a mug of excellent 
 coffee, which, with bread and butter, is supplied for the 
 workers. But the simplicity of the system is apparent 
 once it is explained. A stream of bundle-bearers comes in
 
 5G 
 
 LIFE OF W. II. SMITH. 
 
 from the street, each tossing down his parcel on a large 
 table on the right side of the hall ; these are " raw papers " 
 papers, that is to say, as they come from the publishing 
 office. Then each' of the parcels for the country is passed 
 round, checked by a list, and receives its proper contents, 
 Avhich are again checked before the parcel is sent forward 
 to be packed. Watching the packers, one is impressed not 
 only by their swiftness and dexterity for an inexperienced 
 hand would find it a very difficult matter to tie up securely 
 in a single sheet of paper a parcel weighing 50 or 60 lb., 
 composed of newspapers of various size, shape, and sub- 
 stance but also by the amount of knocking about these 
 apparently fragile parcels afterwards endure with impunity. 
 One part of the secret is the excellence of the stout twine 
 
 used, and the pecu- 
 liar slip-knot em- 
 ployed, which en- 
 ables the packer 
 to draw the cord 
 almost as tightly 
 as if by machin- 
 ery. The amount 
 of this twine used 
 is prodigious : in 
 the twelve months 
 of 1892 the con- 
 sumption was 
 9,264,410 yards, 
 or 5271 miles (at 
 the rate, that is, 
 of about 100 miles 
 
 a-week), weighing over 59 tons. The parcels, when finished, 
 are carried or wheeled out to the street, packed into vans, 
 and driven off to the different railway stations. 
 
 Knot used in tying parcels of newspapers.
 
 EA.RLY MORNING IN THE STRAND. 57 
 
 One very remarkable feature in this busy scene is 
 the absence of noise. No loud or hasty accents of 
 command are heard. Mr Monger, the head of this de- 
 partment, who has been connected with it for forty years, 
 moves quietly through the throng ; any instructions he 
 has to give are made in a gentle, almost confidential tone ; 
 expostulation and altercation seem quite unknown ; the 
 contents of each parcel as it is brought in or sent out 
 are announced by the bearer ; good humour and goodwill 
 seem to be in the atmosphere. 
 
 It is pleasant to stand and watch the work on a balmy 
 summer morning, when the cool air flows in through 
 the open doors, and the electric lights are quenched by 
 the broadening day ; but it is far otherwise on some 
 mornings in winter. Rain, cold, and, above all, fog, turn 
 this early work into a test of endurance, and the thickest 
 clothes will not suffice to neutralise the discomfort of 
 the piercing draughts. 
 
 There is an archaic survival in the packing-hall of one 
 of the elder Smith's regulations : the clock is always kept 
 five minutes fast ; but many a householder can testify 
 to the futility of this shallow device. Of course the 
 effect upon punctuality is purely negative, and it is long 
 practice and strict discipline which has given to Smith 
 & Son's drivers the faculty of almost unerring precision 
 in catching trains. At these early hours the streets are 
 clear of traffic, and the men are able to calculate to a 
 nicety the time required ; so that, while it very rarely 
 happens that a train is missed, neither is there any time 
 lost at the stations. 
 
 At four o'clock Smith's vans begin to arrive at the 
 Strand house from the various offices of the dailies, 
 bearing mountains of ' Standard,' ' Daily News,' ' Daily 
 Telegraph,' &c., which are treated in the same way as
 
 58 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. 
 
 the weeklies. The 'Times' is now, as of old, the latest 
 to go to press and the latest in arrival. 
 
 The necessity for punctuality in the delivery of dailies 
 is, of course, much more imperious than in that of weeklies. 
 A slight hitch or accident in one of the huge printing-presses, 
 which, with deafening roar, are vomiting forth folded 
 sheets as fast as men can carry them away, might cause 
 a failure in the supply or a glut at the Strand office 
 or the railway stations, which would dislocate the whole 
 morning's-work. Consequently Messrs Smith & Son have 
 a man at each of the great newspaper offices, superin- 
 tending the loading of carts and the despatch of papers 
 to the different packing places. For only part of the 
 work of packing dailies goes on at the Strand. Smith's 
 carts carry the newspapers direct from the printing offices 
 to the railway stations, at some of which, as at Paddington 
 and King's Cross, the packing is done in rooms provided 
 for the purpose, or, as at "Waterloo Station, on the plat- 
 form; while on other lines, such as the London and 
 North- Western and Midland, the raw papers are loaded 
 into railway vans, and the sorting and packing is accom- 
 plished by Smith's men during the journey. 
 
 Sometimes it seems to the bystander as if, say, the 
 5.15 A.M. newspaper train from Euston must be despatched 
 without some of its load. The minute-hand of the clock 
 is within a few seconds of the quarter past, and the 
 'Times' has not arrived. The signal to start will be 
 given directly Manchester, Liverpool, all the North, 
 must do without their 'Times' till mid-day. Suddenly 
 a cry is heard " The ' Times ' ! " a passage is cleared on 
 the platform, a rush of barrows comes round the corner, and 
 the last bundle is flung into the van as the train moves off. 
 
 Compare this with the experience of an old employe 
 of the firm, Mr Elliman, who died not many years ago.
 
 THE HOME RULE DEBATE, 1893. 59 
 
 In the early days of the business the daily papers were 
 not published in time for the morning mails, but were 
 despatched by the evening post. Old Mr Smith saw 
 the inconvenience of this arrangement to his country 
 customers, so it became Elliman's daily duty to take in 
 hand the entire supply of the 'Times' for Manchester 
 and Liverpool round to the starting-place in John Street, 
 Adelphi. Owing to delay in publication, it would some- 
 times happen that he missed the coach, whereupon he 
 had to hurry up to try and catch it at the Angel, 
 Islington; if he missed it there, he had to saddle a 
 horse and gallop after it to the change at Colney. His 
 orders were to get the paper into the country at all 
 hazards, and it even happened more than once that he 
 had to pursue it as far as Birmingham. How could it 
 pay the firm, it may be asked, to be at such expense 
 in the delivery of a handful of newspapers'? Well, it 
 was by energy such as this that old Mr Smith secured 
 the pre-eminence over all other newspaper agents. 1 
 
 To illustrate the prodigious development of the business 
 started on so humble a scale by Mr Smith, senior, there 
 may be given here the summary of business done in the 
 newspaper trade in the Strand office of W. H. Smith & 
 Son, during a single day of the present year, Tuesday, 
 February 14, 1893. It was, it is true, an exceptionally 
 heavy day, owing to the demand caused by Mr Gladstone 
 having on the previous night introduced his Home Rule Bill. 
 
 Total number of papers despatched . 374,218 
 Quires ..... 14,393 
 
 Weight ... 44 tons cwt. 2 qrs. 
 
 1 During the present year (1893) an Austrian gentleman requested 
 permission, which was readily granted him, to inspect the premises 
 and proceedings of Messrs W. H. Smith & Son, as he desired to start 
 a similar business in his own country. He seemed a little disheart- 
 ened when he learned through what humble and unpromising ways 
 the ascent to such a vast business had been made.
 
 60 LIFE OF W. II. SMITH 
 
 The average weight of newspapers despatched on a Tuesday 
 morning is about 35 tons. The extra supply on account of 
 the Home Kule Bill therefore amounted to 
 
 Copies of newspapers . . . 75,140 
 
 Quires ..... 2,890 
 
 Weight . . . .9 tons 7 cwt. 1 qr. 
 
 The firm continued the endeavour to be "first on the 
 road " long after the establishment of the railway system. 
 The 'Newcastle Journal' for February 26, 1848, contains 
 the following statement : . 
 
 A special newspaper train was run by Messrs W. H. Smith & Son 
 from Euston to Glasgow vid York and Newcastle on February 19. 
 It made the journey of 472^ miles in 10 hours and 22 minutes : 
 detentions amounted to 50 minutes, making the actual travelling 
 9 hours and 32 minutes, being at the rate of 50 miles au hour. It 
 reached Glasgow two hours before the mails which left London the 
 previous evening. It left Euston at 5.35 A.M., reached Edinburgh at 
 2.55 P.M., and Glasgow 3.59 P.M. Lord John Russell's financial state- 
 ment was the exciting topic reported in the papers on the occasion. 
 
 One other department of this establishment the postal 
 is also in full work during the small hours. The work 
 seems small in bulk compared with the despatch of railway 
 parcels ; but many busy hands are at work folding, past- 
 ing, wrapping many thousands of newspapers are thus 
 despatched, and the precision with which the addresses 
 require to be kept involves an immense amount of patient 
 attention. These addresses are all printed in Water Street, 
 and preserved in proof-books, of which there are no less 
 than fifty-six requiring to be gone through carefully every 
 day. If a customer writes directing the discontinuance of 
 a journal which he has been receiving, and the address is 
 not at once removed from the proof-book, it may be that 
 the newspaper will continue to go to him for years at the 
 expense of the firm. One such instance was lately dis- 
 covered, where the 'Field' had been sent to some one in
 
 ODDS AND ENDS. 61 
 
 the country for more than twenty years after he had coun- 
 termanded it. 
 
 It is well remembered by men still employed in the busi- 
 ness how, when the younger Smith entered the firm, he 
 excelled in this department, and had the reputation of 
 being only second to his father in dexterity of folding 
 papers for the post. 
 
 Surgit amari there is a source of bitterness among 
 
 the postal hands here. The embossed postage on the news- 
 paper covers had, for many years, the name of Messrs W. 
 H. Smith & Son tastefully woven round it in a wreath, 
 and the staff were proud of this distinction, which was 
 enjoyed only by a few large firms. When the late Mr 
 Cecil Eaikes became Postmaster-General, he laid his veto 
 on the continuance of this custom, which had forthwith to 
 be discontinued. Mr Smith, at that time First Lord of the 
 Treasury, could of course offer no remonstrance against his 
 colleague's scrupulousness. If it had been an enemy that 
 had done this but it was the act of a Conservative 
 minister ! 
 
 There is a scrap-book kept in the office containing some 
 literary curiosities flotsam and jetsam of the long history 
 of the firm. One of these is an envelope, on which the 
 London postmark shows the date 1864, and the only indica- 
 tion of its destination is contained in the cryptogram 
 
 thisel log, 
 
 near abseelengly. 
 
 It almost implies that the Post-office officials were gifted 
 with second-sight or thought-reading power, which enabled 
 them to convey this missive to 
 
 Cecil Lodge, 
 
 near Abbots Lanyley, 
 
 where Mr Smith resided at that time.
 
 62 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. 
 
 Another envelope, dated 1888, is addressed to 
 
 Mr W. H. Smith, 
 The Stationer, 
 
 Downing Street, 
 
 London, 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 1855-1865. 
 
 Smith's first connection with public business seems to have 
 been in 1855, when he was elected a member of the Metro- 
 politan Board of Works. But before this date he had en- 
 tered upon undertakings quite disconnected with his pro- 
 fessional work in the Strand, and, among other duties, he 
 performed those of a member of the managing committee of 
 King's College Hospital from 1849 onwards. Except his 
 autumn holidays, which were generally spent abroad, he 
 allowed nothing to interfere with the routine of attendance 
 in the Strand, and was always ready to devote such inter- 
 vals of leisure as it afforded to useful or philanthropic 
 schemes. His duties in connection with King's College 
 Hospital brought him acquainted with Mr Robert Cheere, 
 one of those most in the management of that institution, 
 and it was that gentleman who introduced him to the 
 family of Mr Danvers, who had been clerk to the council 
 of the Duchy of Lancaster since the days of George IV. 
 Mr Danvers had several daughters. Smith was received on 
 friendly terms by the Danvers family ; and a friend of his, 
 Mr Auber Leach, who held an appointment in the old India 
 House, used also to visit them in Lancaster Place, and, be-
 
 FALLING IN LOVE. 63 
 
 coming engaged to Miss Emily Danvers, married her in 
 1854. Miss Emily Danvers and her younger sister were 
 married on the same day in the Chapel of the Savoy. But 
 the wedded life of the elder sister was tragically short, for 
 Mr Leach died in January 1855. The young widow then 
 returned to live with her parents in Lancaster Place, where 
 her baby, a girl, 1 was born. 
 
 Smith continued on most friendly terms with the Danvers 
 family, and, as time went on, it became evident that he was 
 much more susceptible to the attractions of Mrs Leach than 
 to those of her unmarried sisters. In short, it soon appeared, 
 not only to himself but to others, that he was becoming 
 deeply attached to the young widow. 
 
 Smith's life had hitherto been useful, dutiful, and suc- 
 cessful ; it had been warmed with the steady glow of 
 domestic affection, but it had also been almost painfully 
 laborious and lacking in that relief which can only be con- 
 ferred by something more ardent than sisterly affection 
 something more inspiring than devotion to aged parents. 
 It was now to receive the complement essential to happy 
 human circumstance ; and in winning the affection of Mrs 
 Leach, Smith achieved the beginning of what proved an en- 
 during and if one may venture to pass judgment on such 
 a sacred tie a perfect union. Henceforward, in prosperity 
 or anxiety, in health or sickness, in happiness or in sorrow, 
 all his hopes were to be shared, his cares lightened, his pro- 
 jects aided, by the presence in his home of one to whom he 
 never failed to turn for counsel. There are some things too 
 deeply hallowed to be treated of on printed page, and of 
 these are the letters which, during three-and-thirty years, 
 passed between this husband and wife ; but those who only 
 knew him in business or in public affairs can form no true 
 estimate of Smith's character unless they take account of the 
 
 1 Now the Hon. Mrs Codriugton, widow of Rear- Admiral Codringtou.
 
 64: LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. [AT. 33. 
 
 love he bore his wife, which this correspondence shows to 
 have been ever growing warmer and more impatient of sep- 
 aration till his time on earth was accomplished. 
 
 The happy conclusion of the courtship is told in a brief 
 note to his sister : 
 
 STRAND, Feb. 25, 1858. 
 
 DEAR GUSSY, All right. It is done for ever. Come and help me 
 to buy the ring. Ever your affectionate WM. 
 
 Smith would have been untrue to his character had he 
 concealed the serious strain that ran through all his happi- 
 ness. On returning from a visit to his betrothed, then stay- 
 ing with some friends at Bedford, a few days after their 
 engagement, he wrote to her : 
 
 March 4, 1858. On my way up in the train I could not help think- 
 ing over the change that has taken place in my prospects during the 
 last few days, and then I came to think of myself and to fear that I 
 had not been sufficiently ingenuous with you. There are some points 
 in my character which I am not afraid to tell you of, because you 
 love me enough to try to do me good, and even to love me through 
 them all ; but you ought to know them, that your prayers may help 
 me, and that your influence may be exerted to correct them. Very 
 likely I do not perceive the worst myself, but I know this. I have 
 not the strong determination to do always that which is right, by 
 God's help, which I admired so much in Auber, and which I see in so 
 many men around me. I am inclined to be easy with myself just 
 as a man who would postpone a duty because it is an unpleasant one, 
 and the opportunity for performing it passes altogether, and I very 
 often neglect to do a thing I ought to do because it is unpleasant and 
 would pain one to do it. 
 
 In good truth, in some things I have really a weak character, and I 
 want you to be the means of strengthening it, and will do so a great 
 deal more, for although it is one of my failings to desire the good 
 opinion of the world at large, I must be true and transparent to you, 
 for my own soul's sake and for our happiness in this world as well as 
 in the next. 
 
 The wedding took place in April of the same year. Be- 
 fore this event, old Mr Smith had finally retired from active 
 business, and his son was practically head of the firm very 
 much, it must be admitted, to the comfort of all parties ; 
 for it had grown to dimensions far beyond the capacity of 
 its founder, whose health, moreover, had failed so far as to
 
 A.D. 1858.] THE BISHOP OF LONDON'S FUND. 65 
 
 make him a serious hindrance in the transaction of import- 
 ant details. Neither the happiness he had found in mar- 
 riage nor the increased responsibility he had to undertake 
 in the business prevailed to diminish the son's dutiful 
 anxiety on his father's account. His letters are full of 
 directions to his sisters about what is to be done for the 
 old gentleman's comfort : 
 
 I would gladly [he wrote to Miss Augusta Smith in December 1858] 
 take upon my shoulders the house at Bournemouth, if he fancied the 
 change ; or he might come somewhere eastward, to Worthing or St 
 Leonards, if he fancied the change, which are both warm. Don't talk 
 to him about anything you consider impracticable, but think over 
 what I have said, and then write to me. Only remember that ex- 
 pense on Father's account is no consideration with me, and if he dis- 
 liked spending the money, I would willingly incur ANY cost or respon- 
 sibility myself that you thought would add to his comfort or safety. 
 
 It was not only in concern for his father that Smith 
 showed that the new source of happiness he had found was 
 not to quench the warmth of domestic ties. To the same 
 sister he wrote after his engagement : 
 
 MY DEAREST GUSST, Not less dear that I have found one whom 
 I can love with a different and you won't grudge her a stronger 
 affection. Indeed I am sensible already of the fact that love begets 
 love even for those who were much loved before. One's capacity is 
 increased but I must not go on, or the paper will be exhausted with 
 that which may perhaps appear foolishness to some. 
 
 Life went smoothly, if uneventfully, with the Smiths for 
 some years after their marriage. They lived in Hyde Park 
 Street ; he became more and more occupied in educational, 
 ecclesiastical, and philanthropic work. At a meeting held 
 at the Bishop of London's in 1861, Smith was first brought 
 into acquaintance with Lord Sandon, at that time member 
 for Liverpool now Earl of Harrowby who describes him 
 as being then a man of very taking appearance, with very 
 dark hair and bright eyes, and a calm and resolute look. 
 At this meeting the Bishop of London's Fund was first set 
 on foot; Lord Sandon moved, and Smith seconded, the 
 
 E
 
 66 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. [>T. 36. 
 
 chief resolution. An inner working committee was formed, 
 of which Lord Sandon was appointed chairman, and on 
 which, among others, Smith had as colleagues Mr John 
 Talbot, 1 the Eev. Canon Eowsell, Lord Eadstock, Mr John 
 Murray, the publisher, the Eev. W. D. Maclagan, 2 the Eev. 
 J. W. Bardsley, 3 the Eev. F. Blomfield, Mr J. A. Shaw 
 Stewart, and Mr Eedmayne of Bond Street. Mr G. H. 
 Croad, who is now Secretary to the London School Board, 
 joined this committee in 1866. Under this committee 
 London was divided into districts Smith having charge, 
 as was fitting, over that of the Strand, in conjunction with 
 the Eev. J. W. Bardsley. He as well as the other mem- 
 bers of committee were oppressed with concern on account 
 of the dreadful condition of the dwellings of London poor, 
 which, though they may still be judged far short of what 
 they ought to be, were at that time in a state calling far 
 more urgently for reform. 
 
 This common work, in which they were associated for 
 five years, brought about a close intimacy between Smith 
 and Lord Sandon, which was to ripen into a lifelong friend- 
 ship. Twenty years later, when, in 1882, Sandon left the 
 House of Commons to take his seat in the House of Lords, 
 he wrote to Smith, referring to this friendship as 
 
 One of the charms of my public life, which has only strengthened 
 under the strain of business and the advance of years, and must now 
 become more and more precious to my heart as time goes on. An 
 intercourse such as ours, of more than twenty years, with a constant 
 similarity of aim, unbroken by a single disagreement, and of those 
 who, while working together on the same public platform, have en- 
 joyed the confidence of an unreserved private friendship, has certainly 
 been one of the blessings of my life. I can only say long may it 
 continue ! though, to my bitter regret, we cannot sit together any 
 longer on the well-known benches. 
 
 While he lived in the parish of St John's, Paddington, 
 Smith took an active part in the promotion of church and 
 
 1 Now M.P. for Oxford University. 
 2 Now Archbishop of York. 3 Now Bishop of Carlisle.
 
 A.D. 1861.] CHURCH AND SCHOOL BUSINESS. 67 
 
 school matters. The Eev. Sir Emilius Laurie, at that time 
 rector of St John's, has furnished the following notes 
 of the benefit derived by the parish from Smith's eager 
 liberality : 
 
 In Mr Smith I found a model parishioner wise in counsel, gener- 
 ous in all his impulses, hearty in his support of all good work. St 
 John's parish, at the commencement of my incumbency, was hardly 
 up to date. The church itself, though a modern one, needed recon- 
 struction, if not rebuilding ; and the very insufficient school-buildings 
 were held only under a yearly tenancy, liable to be put an end to at 
 any time on the usual notice. In the somewhat serious work of pro- 
 viding new schools in a crowded district, Mr Smith's aid was simply 
 invaluable. The 500 subscription was the least of the benefits con- 
 ferred, though in raising 12,000 for site and building, without any 
 external help, such assistance was not to be despised. What struck 
 me most, however, was the readiness with which, amidst the engross- 
 ing calls of public life, Mr Smith gave his full attention to every ques- 
 tion of detail, the tact with which he dealt with opposition, and the 
 free hand with which he overcame difficulties which from time to time 
 arose. An example of this occurred in the course of the rebuilding. 
 The new schools obstructed some ancient lights in two adjoining 
 houses. The owner objected, and threatened legal proceedings, but 
 expressed his willingness to sell. The law was against us ; so, alas ! 
 were the figures for the price asked was high. Mr Smith stepped 
 in and bought the houses, and would have bought half the parish, I 
 believe, rather than leave a good work undone. 
 
 Mr Smith was prepared also to deal on a still larger scale with the 
 church. Occupying, as he said, one of the finest sites in London, it 
 was poor in architecture, inconvenient and ill-ordered in its internal 
 arrangements. Mr Smith thought that a church in such a position 
 should cost not less than 30,000, and towards this he offered to give 
 20,000. Plans were prepared by Sir F. Blomfield, but it was found 
 that, although built upon the Bishop of London's estate, no room 
 had been left for enlargement, and we had to content ourselves 
 with a modest reconstruction, at a cost of 7000, leaving Mr Smith's 
 benevolent donation free for parishes in which the need was greater 
 than at St John's. . . . The Church of England owes, I believe, 
 much to Mr Smith. How much he gave to it was known only to 
 himself. 
 
 It is a common complaint that the House of Commons 
 is not now, and has not been for at least a generation, what 
 it used to be under a restricted franchise. To listen to the 
 talk of some people might dispose one to the uncomfortable 
 belief that political integrity evaporated with the abolition 
 of pocket boroughs, that statesmanship languished when
 
 68 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. [-fit. 36. 
 
 sinecures began to be extinguished, and totally disappeared 
 with the establishment of household suffrage, and that 
 public spirit all powerful when the majority of the public 
 had no voice in the direction of public affairs took flight 
 on the appearance of bloated registers. The divine right of 
 those who have never felt the pinch of hunger nor, save 
 as the direct consequence of their own folly, the gnawing 
 anguish of pecuniary care, to govern those who live by 
 toil of hand or brain, was, in the belief of people yet 
 living, the Palladium of our liberty. To persons of this 
 creed it may be conceded that, with the extension of 
 popular rights, the risk of social oppression has been ex- 
 changed for a greater national hazard. Bacon professed 
 his distaste " for this word ' people,' " and Carlyle wrote 
 scathingly of the "collective wisdom of individual ignor- 
 ances " ; but neither they, nor any other thoughtful seer, 
 thought that because power was passing out of the hands 
 of a few into those of the many, there was any cause, 
 for those who had time to spare from their private anxieties, 
 to relax watchfulness over the destiny of the kingdom, or 
 to refrain from manly effort to lead their fellow-country- 
 men in the paths of prosperity and peace. The method 
 of statecraft has changed with the broadening of the con- 
 stitution, but the object remains the same. As Mr Eicholl, 
 writing of the Government of Queen Elizabeth, puts it 
 with a degree of frankness, not brutal, but sternly mas- 
 culine, "Much must be allowed to the fashion of a time 
 when it was as customary to flatter monarchs as it now 
 is to juggle mobs." l Plus fa change, plus c'est la meine 
 chose the same qualities of patience, foresight, know- 
 ledge of men in the past and in the present, courage in 
 yielding as well as in holding back, which, under the 
 old order, had placed certain individuals in the front rank 
 
 1 Life of Bacon, vol. i. p. 67.
 
 A.D. 1861.] THE KEPUTATION OF PAKLIAMENT. 69 
 
 of statesmen, must be looked for in those to whom the 
 guidance of affairs should be intrusted in the future. 
 
 The perspective of years shuts out of view all but the 
 most conspicuous characters; looking back from one end 
 of a century to the other, one discerns only the loftiest 
 personalities the Pitts, the Foxes, the Burkes ; the crowd 
 of lesser men have sunk out of view, and with them has 
 disappeared the memory of all that was narrow, timid, 
 mean, and selfish in their careers. And so the impression 
 has gained ground, that from being the arena of single- 
 minded patriotism and the theatre of eloquence, the House 
 of Commons has become but the coveted vantage-ground of 
 self-seeking busybodies. We are disposed to compare our 
 public men unfavourably with the great figures of the 
 eighteenth century, but Dr Johnson himself, trained as he 
 was to philosophical reflection, leaned to a similar disposi- 
 tion. "Politicks," he said, "are now nothing more than 
 means of rising in this world. "With this sole view do men 
 engage in politicks, and their whole conduct proceeds upon 
 it. How different in that respect is the state of the nation 
 now from what it was in the time of Charles the First, dur- 
 ing the Usurpation, and after the Restoration, in the time of 
 Charles the Second." This feeling of disparagement has been 
 intensified by the degree of familiarity with its proceedings 
 which has of late been brought about by the activity of the 
 press. It is difficult to preserve the august repute of Parlia- 
 ment when every unruly scene, as well as the foibles and 
 blunders of every member of it, are minutely described and 
 dwelt upon in the newspapers. It is not surprising if 
 familiarity engenders its proverbial offspring in the minds 
 of the many. Yet there be some, and these not the least 
 intelligent in the community, who still recognise in the 
 House of Commons not only the goal of respectable and 
 useful ambition, but also a field in which well-directed
 
 70 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. 
 
 effort may, even at this day, produce valuable fruit. To 
 such natures it is more congenial to be brought in direct 
 contact with the masses for whom they legislate, than to 
 study the moods and allay the apprehensions of exalted 
 individuals : the modern Parliamentarian may have ruder 
 experience to undergo than had the nominee of a great lord 
 of old, but faithfulness to his task earns wider sympathy, 
 and it is more grateful to honest pride to stoop to listen 
 than to cringe to hear. 
 
 Any early indications which William Smith gave of poli- 
 tical opinion were tinged with moderate Liberalism. He 
 seems to have inclined naturally to that side of politics to 
 which his father, as a Wesleyan, adhered. Thus, in 1854, 
 he had written from Dresden to his father, after describing 
 the beauty of the town and surrounding country : 
 
 There is only one obvious drawback in all this that the King and 
 the Government appear to be and to do everything all that is great, 
 beautiful, and even useful appears to proceed from the Govern- 
 ment, and the people are nothing reversing the picture as it is in 
 England. 
 
 The idea of entering Parliament seems first to have pre- 
 sented itself in a concrete form to William Smith at the 
 age of thirty-one. In 1856 he received overtures from the 
 Liberal party at Boston with the view of ascertaining if he 
 were willing to stand in conjunction with Mr Ingram, who 
 at that time represented the borough. He appears to have 
 been ready to accept the invitation on certain conditions, 
 clearly set out in a letter, of which a draft remains in his 
 own handwriting : 
 
 The most important question after all is whether or no the Party 
 is strong enough to return a Second Member on the principles on 
 which alone I can stand, and which are politically and religiously 
 liberal. 
 
 His definition of Liberal principles which follows might
 
 CONTEMPLATES ENTERING PARLIAMENT. 71 
 
 scarcely satisfy thorough-going Radicals of the present day, 
 for although he was in favour of abolishing Church Rates 
 he was opposed to Disestablishment ; though advocating 
 the promotion of popular education by fresh legislation, he 
 would not have it made compulsory; though holding the 
 opinion that naval and military expenditure should be re- 
 duced (the Crimean war had then just been brought to a 
 close), it must not be brought below the point of complete 
 efficiency ; and he could not look with favour on the intro- 
 duction of vote by ballot. 
 
 Then in the following year, 1857, overtures were made 
 on Smith's behalf with the view of his becoming one of the 
 Liberal candidates for Exeter ; but the idea was abandoned 
 for the same reason that prevailed in respect of Boston 
 namely, that the party was not strong enough to return two 
 Liberals. 
 
 Nothing, therefore, came of either of these projects, and 
 the next that is heard of Smith in connection with party 
 politics is a little incident which occurred in 1864. A 
 personal friend of his, Mr Lawson 1 of the 'Daily Tele- 
 graph,' happened to be calling one day at the House on 
 Lord Palmerston, who was then Prime Minister, and re- 
 marked to him that there was " a young man in the Strand 
 who would be heard of some day, and should be seen to, as 
 he would make an excellent candidate." 
 
 "Ah," replied the Premier, "I wish you'd tell Brand 2 
 about him, will ye ? " 
 
 Mr Lawson did so, but apparently nothing was done, for 
 some time afterwards Smith came up to him in the street, 
 and said 
 
 "My dear Lawson, do you know what I have gone 
 
 1 Created Sir Edward Levey Lawson, Bart., in 1892. 
 
 2 Henry Brand, Esq., M.P., the chief Whip of the Liberal party, 
 afterwards Speaker from 1872 to 1884, when he was created Viscount 
 Hampden.
 
 72 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. [JET. 40. 
 
 and done. I've accepted an invitation to stand for 
 Westminster." 
 
 "Delighted to hear it," was the reply; "you're the 
 very man of all others we should like to have. Eely upon 
 me to do all in my power for you." 
 
 "Oh, hut I am the Conservative candidate, you know." 
 
 " Whew ! that alters matters rather," exclaimed Mr 
 Lawson, for the 'Daily Telegraph' was then the leading 
 Eadical paper. "Then, rely upon it, I'll do all I fairly 
 can to keep you out ! " 
 
 And he was as good as his word, although it is pleasant 
 to record that it made no difference in their friendship, 
 which continued warm to the end. 1 
 
 Now, in speculating on the influence which, within 
 eight years, had changed Smith from a moderate Liberal 
 into a moderate Conservative, there is to be remembered 
 something besides the fact that Lord Palmerston had 
 in the interval gone to his place, and the restraint which 
 he had so long exercised upon his followers had been 
 
 1 Mr Lawson was the cause of Smith's only experiences as a 
 betting man. When Mr Disraeli was forming his Government in 
 1874, Mr Lawson happening to meet Smith in the street, asked him 
 what office was going to be offered to him. "None," replied Smith ; 
 " I neither deserve nor expect one." " All the same, you will have 
 the refusal of one," said Lawson. " Not I," persisted Smith ; " I 
 assure you there is no such idea." " Well," exclaimed Mr Lawson, 
 "I'll bet you twenty guineas that within three weeks you will be 
 a member of the Government." "Done! "said Smith, and in less 
 than three weeks he was Secretary to the Treasury, and paid his debt 
 of honour. 
 
 Again, in 1877, Mr Ward Hunt, First Lord of the Admiralty, being 
 seriously ill, Mr Lawson met Smith in the lobby of the House, and 
 said, "Well, I suppose you will be going to the Admiralty soon." 
 " Nonsense ! " Smith answered ; " what put that into your head ? " 
 "Nonsense or not," said Mr Lawson, "I am willing to have another 
 bet about it : I'll lay you fifty pounds that within six weeks you will 
 be in the Cabinet." Again Smith accepted the wager, and within 
 the stipulated time Mr Lawson called at the Admiralty to congratulate 
 the First Lord on his appointment, and receive payment of his bet. 
 " It must seem funny enough," observed Smith, ' ' to you, who re- 
 member me working in my shirt-sleeves, to see me installed here."
 
 A.D. 1865.] INVITATION FROM WESTMINSTER. 73 
 
 removed. While Smith may be credited with a large 
 share of what the Stoics called cTrc^r/, or suspension of 
 judgment a quality peculiarly distinguishing his character 
 in later life there is also to be taken into account the 
 effect of a rebuff he had lately received, sharp enough 
 to have discouraged a much less sensitive nature than 
 his. Smith's name had been for some time on the 
 candidate's book of the Reform Club ; when he came 
 up for election the haughty susceptibilities of the Whig 
 members of the committee were set in arms against the 
 admission of a tradesman, and he was blackballed. This 
 apparently trivial act lightly done and as lightly dis- 
 missed from thought was perhaps to have a more lasting 
 effect on the course of politics for a quarter of a century 
 than anybody could have foreseen at the time. 
 
 To one trained like William Smith, himself a hard- 
 working man, in constant and close intercourse with work- 
 ing men, the summons to enter Parliament came with no 
 unwelcome sound. The part he had taken in social and 
 religious schemes had already accustomed him to apply 
 energy to objects beyond the confines of trade, and had 
 brought him into intimacy with members of Parliament 
 like Lord Sandon, Mr John Talbot, and the Hon. 
 Wilbraham Egerton; while the standing his firm had 
 attained made the choice that fell upon him no extra- 
 ordinary one. On March 31, 1865, he wrote to his sister 
 Augusta : 
 
 I remember Father has very often talked of the famous election 
 contest in Westminster when Sir Frances Burdett stood ; and when 
 the Troops were firing in St James Street, my Father, as a boy, had 
 to run into courts and by backways to escape being shot. 
 
 Would it interest him to know that that little boy's Son myself 
 has been seriously invited to stand for Westminster by a body 
 headed by the Twinings, Stilwells, and Sambroke, and that the 
 subject is being seriously considered upon this understanding, that 
 whether I decide to stand or no on private grounds, upon which I
 
 74 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. \_Jer. 40. 
 
 am quite uncertain, I should nob think of doing so at all, unless I 
 am absolutely assured of success in a contest, if any takes place. 
 
 If I go to Parliament, it will be as an independent man. 1 . . . 
 None but the Committee who have asked me and two or three 
 intimate private friends 3 know anything at all about the affair, and 
 it will remain undecided for some time, but I shall have to give some 
 idea of my inclination on Monday. 
 
 I should like to know what Father thinks about it, if he is well 
 enough to be spoken to on the subject. I can afford the expense, and 
 my business will be well managed. 
 
 And again on April 4 : 
 
 I have taken no decisive step yet. ... A contest would be ex- 
 pensive, but when a man once becomes member for Westminster, he 
 may retain his seat pretty nearly for life if his personal or moral 
 character is good, and he attends reasonably to his duties. I am 
 anxious beyond everything to do what is really right, and if Father 
 really disapproved of the step, which is much less mine than my 
 neighbours', I would at once give up the idea altogether. But I con- 
 fess I should like to be in Parliament. 
 
 In this new project Smith was to encounter no op- 
 position from his father; on the contrary, the old 
 gentleman, at this time in very precarious health, entered 
 upon the project with great enthusiasm, and undertook 
 to pay all expenses. 
 
 How thoroughly Mr Lawson succeeded in reconciling 
 private friendship with Smith to public obligation to his 
 party, and maintained the thorough-going Eadicalism of his 
 journal, may be seen by referring to the ' Daily Telegraph ' 
 of that time. There were three candidates for the two 
 seats Captain Grosvenor, the representative of hereditary 
 Whiggism, the moderate Liberal; Mr John Stuart Mill, 
 the advanced freethinker, and, as most people then thought, 
 the extravagant and dangerous Eadical ; and Smith of the 
 
 1 By how many inexperienced candidates has this declaration not 
 been made in all sincerity how few have found it possible to carry 
 it out ! To bring any perceptible influence to bear upon events, a 
 man in Parliament must be content to act with others to postpone 
 or altogether forego favourite schemes, and to part with cherished 
 illusions. 
 
 2 Among these would certainly be Lord Sandon, the Hon. Robert 
 Qrimston, and Mr Lethbridge.
 
 A.D. 1865.] SMITH'S FIRST CONTEST. 75 
 
 Strand, professing a Liberal-Conservative faith, known to 
 the few as a practical philanthropist and steady churchman 
 to the many as the owner of the bookstalls. 
 
 Mr Lawson gave the support of his newspaper to Mill ; 
 threw cold water upon Captain Grosvenor, and suggested 
 that he should retire in order to avoid splitting the Lib- 
 eral vote ; and attempted to treat Smith's candidature as a 
 farce. 
 
 The metropolitan boroughs [runs the leading article on May 6, 
 1865] owe it to the country and to themselves . . . not to indulge 
 ambitious nobodies who, despairing of any other distinction, want to 
 say they were once " Metropolitan members." ... In the category 
 of political nobodies we must include Mr Smith. . . . The candidates 
 are Captain Grosvenor, Mr Smith, and John Stuart Mill. Now we 
 have already contrasted the claims of the kinsman of the Marquis of 
 Westminster with those of the author of ' Liberty ' and ' Representa- 
 tive Government." And we should insult the intelligence of the 
 public by dwelling on such a point. 
 
 Smith, advocating extension of the franchise and an 
 amicable adjustment of the question of Church-rates, stood 
 as a Liberal-Conservative a title which not only earned 
 for him the jealous suspicion of the old-fashioned Tories, 
 but was resented by the Liberals as an unprincipled bor- 
 rowing of their own peculiar plumes. Smith was in the 
 position of Pope's moderate man 
 
 " In moderation placing all my glory, 
 While Tories call me Whig, and Whigs a Tory." 
 
 The Liberal press taunted the Tories with having, for 
 election purposes, stuck the label " Conservative " on one 
 who was by rights a Liberal ; yet sternly as editors strove 
 to sever the office of censor from that of friend in this 
 contest, there is no doubt that the business relations be- 
 tween the firm of Smith & Son and the leading journals 
 of the day served to impart a tone of kindly recognition 
 even to the most hostile articles in other newspapers. 
 
 They might well afford to be magnanimous. Smith's
 
 76 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. [JET. 40. 
 
 candidature could scarcely be looked on as otherwise than a 
 forlorn hope, having regard to the state of parties in the 
 Metropolis. There had not been for many years a single 
 Conservative member either for a metropolitan constituency 
 or for Middlesex, and the county of Surrey could only boast 
 of two. Besides this discouraging state of affairs, Smith 
 had other difficulties to encounter. Mr Cubitt, who in 
 after-years became his intimate friend, and had at that 
 time much influence in the party organisation of London, 
 was dismayed at the Liberalism of Smith's address to the 
 electors. He consulted Colonel Taylor, the Conservative 
 Whip, as to the prudence of adopting a candidate of such 
 milk-and-water views. " Take him," was Taylor's advice 
 "take him. I don't fancy his politics much myself, but 
 you'll get nobody better." l In his address to the electors, 
 
 1 Smith showed himself scrupulously anxious not to secure Con- 
 servative support by posing as a member of the Conservative party, 
 and in order that his position should be perfectly clear, he wrote the 
 following letter to Colonel Taylor, the Conservative Whip : 
 
 April 26, 1865. 
 
 MY DEAR SIR, I have been so heartily and so handsomely sup- 
 ported by the Conservative party that I am anxious there should be 
 no misunderstanding as to the position I should occupy with refer- 
 ence to it if returned to Parliament for Westminster. 
 
 You are fully aware of the independence of party ties which I felt 
 it necessary to stipulate for when it was proposed by the Committee 
 that I should stand for Westminster, but I am not sure that your 
 friends would gather as much from my address. It will be well, 
 therefore, to repeat that I am not a member of the Conservative 
 party as such nor am I a member of the Liberal party, but I be- 
 lieve in Lord Palmerston, and look forward ultimately to a fusion of 
 the moderate men following Lord Derby and Lord Palmerston into a 
 strong Liberal-Conservative party, to which I should be glad to attach 
 myself. 
 
 Such an expectation may be chimerical, but I cannot help indulging 
 it, and I wish to stand by it. 
 
 In the meantime, I am pledged to oppose Baines's bill (for exten- 
 sion of the suffrage in boroughs), the Ballot, and the unconditional 
 abolition of Church-rates and all similar radical measures. 
 
 May I ask you to make this matter clear to your friends who have 
 so generously offered their support to me, as I would rather retire
 
 A.D. 1865.] THE MODERATE MAN. 77 
 
 dated from the Strand, April 1865, the "milk-and-water" 
 candidate said he came forward to give the 
 
 more moderate or Conservative portion of the constituency an oppor- 
 tunity of marking their disapproval of the extreme political doctrines 
 which have been avowed by the Candidates already in the field. . . . 
 Unconnected with either of the great political parties, I should desire 
 to enter Parliament as an independent Member, at liberty to vote for 
 measures rather than for men. I should not be a party to any fac- 
 tious attempt to drive Lord Palmerston from power, as I feel that the 
 country owes a debt of gratitude to him for having preserved peace, 
 and for the resistance he has offered to reckless innovation in our 
 domestic institutions. 
 
 While not opposed to carefully considered extension of 
 the suffrage, he declared himself unable to support Mr 
 Baines's "bill, then before Parliament ; and he was prepared 
 to resist ballot-voting, because he thought that the voter 
 who was afraid to act openly was " scarcely worthy of the 
 trust which he is supposed to discharge for the benefit of 
 the commonwealth." He laid special stress on his anxiety 
 to legislate in the interests of education and popular thrift. 
 
 Looked at in the light of that time, there was little in 
 this address to rouse fighting spirit in the ranks of the 
 Opposition, and at first some difficulty was found in getting 
 together a good election Committee. The aristocratic house- 
 holders of Belgravia and Mayfair only knew Smith as a 
 newsvendor, and were disposed to lukewarmness in a con- 
 test wherein one of their own order could not engage with 
 any hope of success ; and, whether from jealousy or incredu- 
 lity in a creditable result, many of the West End tradesmen 
 showed little enthusiasm towards their fellow-citizen, and 
 at first held aloof from his Committee. As time went on, 
 however, these obstacles melted to small proportions, and a 
 
 now than fairly lay myself open to the reproach of obtaining party 
 support under false pretences. 
 
 To this Colonel Taylor replied : 
 
 " I consider your letter an extremely fair one, and I shall advise 
 the Westminster Conservatives to give you their unreserved support."
 
 78 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. OET. 40. 
 
 strong representative Committee, with Earl Percy l as chair- 
 man, having been constituted, everything pointed to a well- 
 fought election. The Liberal party in Westminster were 
 perplexed by the candidature of Mr Mill, which was un- 
 favourably viewed by the party managers, and in the end 
 Sir John Shelly, who had represented the borough for many 
 years, retired in order to avoid splitting the Liberal vote. 
 
 The nomination took place, according to immemorial 
 custom, on the hustings at Covent Garden, the scene of so 
 many famous contests between parties and powerful houses. 
 It was the last time when electors were to have the advan- 
 tage of an unlimited supply of cabbage-stalks and rotten 
 potatoes close at hand, for with the Reform Act of 1867 
 came provision for removing the hustings to a place with 
 more elbow-room and fewer missiles. 
 
 By the time the polling-day dawned, the hopes of the 
 Conservative party were high. Smith had made an excel- 
 lent impression, and received promises of support to such 
 an extent as, to one new to the infirmity of electoral human 
 nature, seemed to put his success beyond question. He 
 was soon to be undeceived. It will be remembered that, 
 under the old practice of open voting, the state of the poll 
 was known as the day wore on, and was published from 
 time to time. The first note of warning was sent to his 
 wife from his committee-rooms in Cockspur Street : 
 
 llth July 1865. 
 
 I think you may have a disappointment. Men have broken their 
 promises to a considerable extent, and we are dropping behind. 
 Don't be discontented ; it is all for the best. I will let you know 
 later. 
 
 Another was sent to his sister Augusta : 
 
 Things are looking a little badly for us not very much so, but 
 enough to render it possible that we may be beaten. You must pre- 
 pare my Father for it. 
 
 1 Now sixth Duke of Northumberland.
 
 A.D. 1865.] CORRESPONDENCE WITH MR DISRAELI. 79 
 
 Then, finally, another to his sister, written from his house 
 in Hyde Park Street, where he had gone to carry the news 
 to Mrs Smith : 
 
 The close of the Poll made 
 
 Grosvenor ..... 4384 
 Mill ..... 4379 
 
 Smith ..... 3812 
 So I was 572 behind, and am left out in the cold ; but although dis- 
 appointed, I am not at all cast down about it. I will come to you 
 to-morrow morning. Let me know how my Father is. 
 
 Disraeli was an adept in the art of attaching his followers 
 to himself by tactful and timely notice of them a faculty 
 by no means invariably possessed by parliamentary chiefs. 
 The following little autograph note of sympathy was de- 
 spatched on the day of the declaration of the poll in 
 Westminster : 
 
 GKOSVENOR GATE, July 12, 1865. 
 
 DEAR SIR, Before I leave town to-day for my own County, I 
 must express to you my great regret at the termination of the West- 
 minster contest, conducted by you with so much spirit, & evidently 
 with such a just expectation of success. 
 
 I hope yet to see you in the House of Commons, &, in the mean- 
 time, I trust you may find some dignified consolation & some just 
 pride in the conviction that you possess the respect & the confidence 
 of a great party. I have the honor to be, Dear Sir, your faithful 
 servt., B. DJSRAELL 
 
 W. H. SMITH, Esq. 
 
 Smith's reply to this was as follows : 
 
 1 HYDE PARK ST., July 12, 1865. 
 
 DEAR SIR, I am grateful to you for the expression of your sym- 
 pathy with me under my defeat. Seeing that I had not identified 
 myself with the party, I confess I felt surprise at the warmth and 
 earnestness with which the Westminster Conservatives supported 
 me, and the ready response to our united efforts caused me to be 
 sanguine as to the result. 
 
 But I am amply repaid for any labour or vexation through which 
 I have passed by the confidence of the friends I have made in this 
 contest, and the expression of your own kindly feeling. I have the 
 honor to be, Dear Sir, yours very faithfully, 
 
 WILLIAM H. SMITH. 
 
 Thus ended in decisive repulse the assault on the Liberal
 
 80 LIFE OF W. II. SMITH. [VET. 40. 
 
 stronghold of the Metropolis. But it was not to be long 
 before the attack was renewed. The contest had revealed 
 Conservative feeling in a London constituency to an extent 
 which few could have suspected. No doubt it would have 
 been even more manifest but for the confidence which the 
 middle classes felt in Lord Palmerston. It is true that 
 Smith repeatedly disclaimed any wish to see that statesman 
 dislodged from office ; but the Liberals had the advantage 
 of claiming Palmerston as the head of their party, while 
 Smith was a follower of Lord Derby, whose name, though 
 in high repute with landed gentry and farmers, was not one 
 with which to conjure in the towns. 
 
 CHAPTEE V. 
 
 1865-1868. 
 
 Lord Palmerston died in the autumn of 1865. The night 
 of his death October 18 was marked by a phenomenon 
 to which, in a pre-scientific or more superstitious age, there 
 would undoubtedly have been attributed special significance, 
 as accompanying the removal of one of great influence in the 
 guidance of a great nation. Many persons, especially in the 
 northern part of the island, as they watched the brilliant 
 display of aurora borealis, called to mind the belief of the 
 Scottish peasantry referred to by Aytoun in the stanza 
 
 " All night long the northern streamers 
 
 Shot across the trembling sky : 
 Fearful lights that never beckon 
 Save when kings or heroes die. " 
 
 For indeed many kings and heroes have passed from the 
 earthly scene of their works with less consequence to the 
 course of affairs. With Lord Palmerston's firm will and
 
 A.D. 1865.] DEATH OF THE ELDER SMITH. 81 
 
 quaint, genial personality, there was lost that sense of 
 security which made moderate men of both parties feel 
 safer under a strong Liberal administration than under a 
 weak Conservative one. Henceforward, step by step, in 
 ever-accelerating descent, the Liberal party was to follow 
 the path of reckless opportunism, till, as has come to pass 
 at this day, it has parted with almost all the men who might 
 draw to it the confidence of the educated and consciously 
 responsible. 
 
 During this year also drew to a close the life of one 
 who had exercised as powerful an influence on Smith's 
 character and private life as Lord Palmerston had on his 
 public career and political opinions. Old Mr Smith, whose 
 unremitting devotion to business had often brought upon 
 him the anxious warnings and remonstrances of friends 
 in the " connection," who found it difficult to reconcile 
 his worldly preoccupation with spiritual preparedness, had 
 comparatively early in life paid the penalty of shattered 
 health. Since his retirement from an active part in the 
 firm, much of his time had been spent at Torquay and 
 Bournemouth, and it was at the last-named place that he 
 breathed his last in July 1865. A man of unbending in- 
 tegrity and ceaseless industry, he was a kind, if somewhat 
 imperious, parent, and his children loved and respected him. 
 In him the Wesleyan body lost a faithful adherent and 
 generous benefactor : one of his latest acts was a gift of 
 2100 to the building fund of a chapel in London. 
 
 In the year following upon Smith's defeat in Westminster, 
 his home in Hyde Park Street was darkened by the first 
 sorrow that had fallen upon it since his marriage. His first- 
 born son a weakling from his birth died in February 
 1866, and he records the loss in these words in a letter to 
 Miss Gibeme : 
 
 F
 
 82 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. [xc. 40. 
 
 We are in trouble. Our little boy has been taken from us quite 
 quietly, gently, slowly, and, happily, painlessly ; but he is gone like a 
 breath or a shadow. A bad cold and no strength no power and 
 that is all ; and the Doctors say now that he was not a livable child 
 that any illness must have knocked him down, and so he is taken 
 away from the sorrows to come. ... It is a sad blank in our nur- 
 sery a quiet little sorrow which will last with us for a long time to 
 come. But as the sorrow was to come, it could not have fallen more 
 gently and more mercifully. 
 
 Much more gently and mercifully, indeed, than if the 
 parents had been called on to witness a life carried from 
 ailment to ailment, flickering in a feeble frame, and pro- 
 longed with difficulty through painful adolescence into 
 suffering manhood. 
 
 But in August of the following year the house was 
 gladdened by a happier event, thus announced by Smith 
 to his sister : 
 
 You will be glad to hear . . . that Emily has got through her 
 trouble safely, . . . and that we have a son again. This time the 
 boy looks healthy and well, but I am hardly yet able to say that I am 
 glad. I did not desire it, although we shall be very thankful if all 
 goes well with him. I have always felt there is a greater risk with 
 boys than with girls, and we have both been very well content with 
 our girls. Emily, however, looks very happy indeed with him upon 
 her arm, and if she goes on well, as I have no doubt she will, I shall 
 begin to value the little fellow at his proper worth. 
 
 The first act of Earl KusselTs Government was the 
 preparation of a bill for extending the franchise. This 
 was introduced on March 12, 1866, by Mr Gladstone, 
 Chancellor of the Exchequer and leader of the House 
 of Commons, in a speech memorable for the combined 
 force and elegance of its peroration. ""We cannot," he 
 said at the conclusion of an elaborate explanation of the 
 proposals of the Government 
 
 We cannot consent to look on this addition considerable though it 
 be of the working classes as if it were an addition fraught with 
 nothing but danger ; we cannot look upon it as a Trojan horse ap- 
 proaching the walls of a sacred city, and filled with armed men bent
 
 A.D. 1866.] THE CAVE OF ADULLAM. 83 
 
 on ruin, plunder, and conflagration. We cannot describe it as mon- 
 strum infelix, or say 
 
 " Scandit fatalis machina mnros, 
 Foetaarmis: . . . mediseque minans illabitur urbi." 
 
 We believe that those persons whom we ask you to enfranchise ought 
 rather to be welcomed as if they were recruits to your army. We 
 ask you to give within what we consider a just limit of prudence and 
 circumspection. Consider what you can safely and justly offer to do 
 in admitting new subjects and citizens within the pale of the Parlia- 
 mentary Constitution ; and having so considered it, do it as if you 
 were conferring a boon, which will be felt and reciprocated by a feel- 
 ing of grateful attachment to the Constitution attachment of the 
 people to the Throne and laws under which we live, which is, after 
 all, more than your gold and silver, and more than your fleets and 
 armies, at once the strength, the glory, and the safety of the land. 
 
 In spite of this powerful appeal, the bill was coldly 
 received by those who sat behind Mr Gladstone. The 
 moderate Liberals grouped themselves round such mal- 
 contents as Lord Grosvenor, Mr Lowe, Mr Horsman, 
 Lord Elcho, and Mr Laing, and formed what soon came 
 to be known as the Cave of Adullam, because, as was 
 said, it contained "every one that was in distress, and 
 every one that was in debt, and every one that was dis- 
 contented." l On April 12 an amendment was moved 
 by Lord Grosvenor to the effect that no bill to extend 
 the franchise could be accepted until the House was in 
 possession of the proposals of the Government for re- 
 distribution of seats. This was seconded by Lord Stanley, 2 
 and the debate was wound up on the eight night with 
 a speech of extraordinary warmth and eloquence by Mr 
 Gladstone, who declared that the Government would stand 
 or fall by the result. The division took place in a scene 
 of the utmost excitement at three in the morning, the 
 figures being 
 
 Ayes 318 
 
 Noes 313 
 
 Majority for the Government . . 5 
 
 1 1 Samuel xxii. 2. 2 Afterwards fifteenth Earl of Derby.
 
 84: LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. OT. 41. 
 
 It was generally expected that Ministers would resign, 
 but, on the contrary, they persevered in carrying the 
 bill into Committee. Mr Gladstone, on being twitted 
 with continuing in office after pledging himself to stand 
 or fall by a bill which he had only carried by a majority 
 of five, declared that as the bill still stood, so did the 
 Government. The bill, however, after several exceedingly 
 close divisions in Committee, was finally wrecked on an 
 amendment moved by Lord Dunkellin, who proposed to 
 substitute rating instead of renting as the basis of the 
 franchise. On this question Ministers were in a minority 
 of eleven. The consequence was the resignation of Earl 
 Eussell's Cabinet and the formation of a new one by 
 the Earl of Derby, with Mr Disraeli as Chancellor of the 
 Exchequer and leader of the House of Commons. It was 
 the desire of Lord Derby to include some of the Adullam- 
 ites in his Government, but his overtures were declined, 
 and he had to meet Parliament early in July with a 
 minority of Conservative members in the House of Com- 
 mons, and a body of dissentient Liberals or Adullamites 
 holding the balance of power. 
 
 In the following year 1867 the Queen opened Parlia- 
 ment in person for the first time since the Prince Consort's 
 death in 1861, and in the Speech from the Throne chief 
 prominence was given to a measure to "freely extend 
 the elective franchise." To carry out this purpose the 
 Chancellor of the Exchequer asked the House of Commons 
 to proceed in a somewhat novel way, by adopting thirteen 
 Eesolutions embodying the principles on which bills for 
 the extension of the franchise and redistribution of seats 
 should be framed by the Government. But objections to 
 this course were pressed from all quarters of the House, and 
 after some discussion the Resolutions were withdrawn, and 
 the bill promised. But before it could be introduced,
 
 A.D. 1867.] MR DISRAELI'S REFORM BILL. 85 
 
 the Cabinet had disagreed on its provisions, and three 
 Ministers Lord Carnarvon, Lord Cranborne, and General 
 Peel resigned office. Nothing but speedy destruction 
 seemed to be imminent upon Lord Derby's Administration. 
 Weakened as he was by the secession of three of his 
 own colleagues, his policy was now bitterly attacked by 
 the Adullamites his quondam allies who denounced 
 Mr Disraeli's bill as more sweeping than that which, the 
 previous year, had severed them from their proper leaders. 
 Then was to be seen the strange spectacle of a Conservative 
 Chancellor of the Exchequer moving a measure which, 
 though condemned by many of his own party, and by 
 the whole of the Adullamites, and sarcastically criticised 
 by the Liberal Opposition, was yet allowed to pass 
 second reading in the House of Commons without a 
 division. 
 
 In the session of 1868 similar bills were passed for 
 Scotland and Ireland, and Parliament was dissolved on 
 November 11, to reassemble on December 10. 
 
 Smith's experience in the contest of 1865 had the usual 
 result of practical contact with politics : it tended to ac- 
 centuate his opinions on public questions, and to convince 
 him that, if he would influence the course of events, a man 
 must co-operate heartily with other men, and that inde- 
 pendence of action, carried beyond somewhat narrow limits, 
 must end ineffectively. Henceforward his lot was cast and 
 his course was steered with the Conservative party, and he 
 chose that line from deliberate conviction, not because it 
 was to land him with fewest obstacles in the House of 
 Commons. In 1867 an invitation came to him to stand 
 for Middlesex on " unmistakable Liberal principles " ; but 
 he declined it because, if he stood at all, he could only 
 do so as a Conservative. Thereupon came an invitation 
 to contest the county as a Conservative, on which Smith
 
 86 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. [*T. 43. 
 
 placed himself in the hands of the party managers, who 
 advised him to decline. To another invitation to contest 
 Bedford in the Conservative interest, he replied that " my 
 "Westminster friends have so strongly remonstrated against 
 the proposal to commit myself to a candidature for another 
 constituency at the general election, . . . that out of regard 
 to personal considerations ... I feel bound to refrain from 
 severing myself from them." 
 
 Finally, a requisition, with 3000 signatures, inviting 
 Smith to stand again for Westminster, was presented to 
 him on behalf of the Conservative party in the borough, 
 by a deputation headed by the Earl of Dalkeith, M.P., 1 
 and this invitation he accepted. But Westminster was not 
 now the same constituency he had courted in 1865. The 
 effect of household suffrage on the political complexion of 
 such a borough could only be darkly surmised. It was 
 true that people had begun to get tired of Mr Mill: in 
 those days the advocacy of woman suffrage was regarded as 
 an eccentric novelty, and if there is one thing of which the 
 English middle class is more suspicious than of novelty, it 
 is eccentricity. Mill had also disgusted some of his sup- 
 porters by relentless prosecution of the charges against 
 Governor Eyre ; and by espousing the cause of Charles 
 Bradlaugh, the infidel and revolutionary lecturer, he had 
 roused the alarm of members of all the Churches. Still, 
 the new electors were an untried contingent, and nobody 
 could predict what their action might be. 
 
 In his new address to the electors Smith still claimed to 
 be a Liberal -Conservative, "unpledged to any particular 
 party." But the tone was more decided than in the address 
 of 1865. There was one passage to which the course of 
 subsequent party tactics has imparted a melancholy signifi- 
 cance. 
 1 Now sixth Duke of Buccleuch and eighth Duke of Queensbeny.
 
 A.D. 1868.] SECOND CONTEST FOR WESTMINSTER. 87 
 
 Foremost among the more prominenb questions of the day is that 
 of Ireland. 
 
 I have long been of opinion that the greatest misfortune which has 
 befallen the people of Ireland, is that their condition has become the 
 patrimony of political parties in this country, who, to obtain a fleet- 
 ing popularity or a few votes, fan the flame of popular discontent by 
 attributing to unjust or partial legislation the existence of evils, 
 arising in great measure from causes within the control of the Irish 
 people themselves. 
 
 All through the winter 1867-68 and the succeeding sum- 
 mer, Smith and his friends worked hard, holding meetings 
 and canvassing the voters. Mr Disraeli's profession of belief 
 in the existence of Conservative working men had been as 
 much the subject of misgiving among members of his own 
 party as of derision among his opponents. But as the 
 canvass proceeded, clear evidence was forthcoming that 
 there were working men of a more thoughtful stamp than 
 the rioters who, in 1867, had pulled down the railings of 
 Hyde Park and terrorised the West End. 
 
 The main question on which the general election was to 
 turn was the Disestablishment of the Irish Church, and 
 those who were defending it against Mr Gladstone's attack 
 were able, as has been the case in every one of that states- 
 man's greater enterprises, to equip themselves with weapons 
 from his own armoury of argument, which he had flung 
 aside in successive changes of front. Smith was stoutly 
 opposed to Disestablishment, because he could see in it no 
 promise of lessened bitterness or increased good-neighbour- 
 hood in Ireland, and to Disendowment, because he recog- 
 nised in it a principle which might easily be extended to 
 every kind of property, public or private. Smith numbered 
 among his most active supporters and advisers at this time 
 the Hon. Robert Grimston, Mr Cubitt, and Lord Sandon. 
 
 The nomination took place on November 16, not, as by 
 almost immemorial custom, in Covent Garden, but on hust- 
 ings erected at the base of Nelson's Pillar. The candidates
 
 88 LIFE OF W. II. SMITH. |>r. 43. 
 
 were the same as in 1865 namely, Grosvenor, Mill, and 
 Smith. Smith's supporters were very hopeful ; but if they 
 were confident, he himself did not share their feeling, as 
 may be seen from the following passages in letters to his 
 wife : 
 
 Nov. 10. I don't want people ... to suppose I sulk if I lose the 
 battle or am too much elated if I win. 
 
 Nov. 11. I certainly hope to succeed, but the relief of rest will be 
 so great that if I fail I shall be compensated by a return to home 
 comforts. 
 
 Nov. 12. If I go down home x on Tuesday evening beaten I shall 
 not feel I am disgraced, and I intend to put a good and cheerful face 
 upon it. It will all be for the best, and I shall be quite content to 
 spend more time with my family and with you. . . . Everything is 
 going well with me at present, but it is quite impossible to tell what 
 the issue may be. 
 
 On the polling-day telegrams were despatched to Mrs 
 Smith at intervals. Thus : 
 
 Ten o'clock poll Smith, 2457 ; Grosvenor, 1745 ; Mill, 1647 ; but 
 don't be too sanguine. 
 
 In those days the poll was closed at four o'clock. The 
 lead obtained in the morning by the Conservative candidate 
 was maintained to the close. The result was beyond the 
 expectation of the keenest Tory even of " Bob " Grimston 
 himself : 
 
 Smith (C.) .... 7698 
 
 Grosvenor (L.) . . . . 6505 
 
 Mill(L.) .... 6185 
 
 showing a majority for Smith of 1193 over Grosvenor, 
 and of 1513 over Mill. 
 
 The great day was over, marking a turning-point in the 
 political history of London; for besides the victory in 
 Westminster, the Tories won one of the four seats in the 
 
 1 His country residence was at this time Cecil Lodge, Abbots 
 Langley. The pleasant old house at Kilburn had been so closely 
 built round that it was given up when old Mr Smith retired from 
 business in 1858. As his son once expressed it "I can't even kiss 
 my sister without being seen from a dozen windows."
 
 A.D. 1868.] MEMBER FOR WESTMINSTER. 89 
 
 City of London, thus breaking the solid phalanx ot metro- 
 politan Liberalism. 
 
 The general tone of the Liberal press was not unfriendly 
 to the new member. Most newspapers on that side ad- 
 mitted that if a seat was to be lost, it could not be lost to a 
 better man than Smith; but of course some bitter jibes 
 were written, and one at least of these is amusing to read 
 in the light of after-years : 
 
 Westminster has shown herself incapable of keeping a great man 
 when she has got one, and has raised a wealthy newsvendor to tem- 
 porary prominence, and even to such kind of notoriety as attends 
 those whose names get somehow embedded in the world-wide fame 
 of an opponent. 
 
 But though the Conservative cause had triumphed in 
 Westminster, and though the monopoly of metropolitan 
 Liberalism had been further demolished by the return of 
 Lord George Hamilton for Middlesex, and of Mr Bell for 
 the City of London, it had fared ill with the authors of 
 household suffrage in the country. It seemed as if the 
 jeers which greeted Mr Disraeli's allusions to the existence 
 of Conservative working men had been justified by the 
 result of his " leap in the dark," for the state of parties in 
 the new Parliament was : 
 
 Liberals 387 
 
 Conservatives ...... 272 
 
 Liberal majority . . . . . 115 
 
 Still, the beaten Prime Minister might point to South- 
 West Lancashire a genuine working-man constituency 
 where his chief opponent had sustained a striking reverse, 
 the result of the poll in that division being : 
 
 Cross (Conservative) .... 7729 
 
 Turner (Conservative) .... 7676 
 
 Gladstone (Liberal) .... 7415 
 
 Grenfell (Liberal) 6939
 
 90 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. [-BT. 43. 
 
 CHAPTEE VL 
 
 1868-1869. 
 
 The decree which banished Mill from public life and 
 ushered Smith into it was not to pass unchallenged by the 
 friends of the former. Before the twenty days allowed by 
 statute for lodging petitions had elapsed, one had been 
 filed against the Conservative member for Westminster. 
 Under the law as it then stood candidates were much more 
 in the hands of their agents than they are now, for there 
 was no statutory limit to expenses, and the agent had to 
 be supplied with money according to his discretion; and 
 not the chief agent only, but a whole troop of assistant 
 agents and active partisans besides. 
 
 Certainly there had been no niggardliness shown in the 
 supply. While the published expenses of the Liberal can- 
 didates, Grosvenor and Mill, only amounted together to 
 2296, 2s. 7d., those of the Conservative, Smith, mounted 
 up to the huge total of 8900, 17s. 7d. There had also 
 been lamentable indiscretion on the part of one of Smith's 
 warmest well-wishers, Mr Grimston, to whom, indeed, it 
 was greatly owing that Smith had consented to come for- 
 ward again for Westminster. Mr Grimston had brought 
 up to London a tenant of his brother (the Earl of Verulam), 
 one Edwards, in order that he might act as a sub-agent. 
 This Edwards had already undergone eighteen months' 
 imprisonment for his part in the malpractices which brought 
 about the disfranchisement of the borough of St Albans. 
 No doubt this worthy must have possessed some special 
 qualities which caused his services to be in request, and no 
 doubt Grimston believed he was doing his friend a good 
 turn in securing him an indefatigable sub-agent, but in fact
 
 A.D. 1868.] PETITION AGAINST HIS RETURN. 91 
 
 his zeal very nearly brought about the loss of the seat. The 
 petition was on the grounds of bribery, treating, and undue 
 influence by the candidate and by other persons on his 
 behalf. 
 
 As for Smith himself, he wrote to his wife on December 
 9 with a perfectly clear conscience as to his own actions : 
 
 From what I hear, I think it likely the Petition will be presented, 
 but it is not certain yet, and I do not think they have any matter 
 which cannot be explained honourably and to all the world. I am 
 very much less concerned about it than I was indeed I cannot be 
 said to be at all so. 
 
 Parliament assembled on December 10, and Smith duly 
 took his seat for Westminster. The proceedings on the 
 petition against his return did not begin till February 12, 
 when the case was opened before Mr Baron Martin at the 
 Sessions House, Westminster, but was afterwards removed, 
 first to the Lords Justices' Court and then to the Court of 
 Exchequer, a change rendered necessary by the crowds of 
 persons seeking admittance, and by the intense local excite- 
 ment attending the proceedings. Mr Hawkins, Q.C., and 
 Mr Serjeant Ballantine were counsel for Mr Smith, and 
 Mr Fitzjames Stephen, with Messrs Murch and Littler as 
 juniors, for the petitioners. The trial lasted for seven days, 
 and the cross-examination of witnesses did not fail to pro- 
 duce instances of humour of the sort peculiar to two kinds 
 of case election petitions and actions for breach of promise 
 of marriage. For example, one witness who had applied to 
 Smith's agent for payment of certain alleged expenses and 
 had been refused, said that he thereupon changed his politics 
 and became a Liberal, because the Conservatives were "a 
 nasty dirty lot." 
 
 Asked by Mr Hawkins " Give us your notion of what 
 a Conservative is " a witness replied, " I think a Conser- 
 vative is a rank humbug."
 
 92 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. OT. 43. 
 
 " Well, what is a Liberal 1 " " A Liberal, if he acts as a 
 man and a gentleman, is a Liberal." 
 
 " But suppose a Conservative acts as a man and a gentle- 
 man, what do you think of him 1 ?" "Well but, sir, you 
 rarely come across such a one." 
 
 It was stated in evidence that at a tea-meeting in the 
 Hanover Square Eooms, a blessing was first asked on the 
 buns and the toast, and afterwards there was a good deal of 
 love-making. 
 
 " But do you consider love-making a corrupt practice ? "- 
 " Quite the contrary. I consider it highly laudable." 
 
 And so on, after the time-honoured custom by which 
 gentlemen in silk gowns are encouraged to spend their own 
 time and their clients' money in extracting feeble jokes in 
 protracted cross-examination. 
 
 Though the charge against the respondent broke down, 
 and was abandoned by the petitioners' counsel, the suspense 
 remained intense up to the very last. Not till the closing 
 sentences of Mr Baron Martin's summing up did he give 
 the slightest indication of the judgment he was about to 
 deliver. 
 
 Having commented severely on the enormous expendi- 
 ture incurred by Smith's agents, he exonerated the can- 
 didate from any dishonourable knowledge of what had 
 been going on, and wound up by declaring Mr Smith 
 duly elected, though he declined, after consultation with 
 his brother judges, to make any order as to costs. 
 
 There can be little doubt that it was Smith's personal 
 character for integrity which alone saved him from the 
 consequences of the acts of his agents and it was only 
 by giving to a candidate above suspicion of corrupt inten- 
 tion the benefit of all doubts, that the judge was able 
 to clear him of direct responsibility. As the 'Times' 
 remarked in a leader on the case :
 
 A.D. 1869.] MAIDEN SPEECH. 93 
 
 A good character has, to Mr Smith at any rate, proved better than 
 riches. It may be a question whether the latter won the seat for 
 him, but there can be no question that the former has saved it. 
 
 In spite of the equanimity with which, as he had 
 professed, he had contemplated the approach of the trial, 
 Smith's health gave way under the anxiety of its protracted 
 proceedings : his malady took the painful form of ery- 
 sipelas, and he was unable to he in court during the 
 summing up. It was his friend, Mr Cuhitt, M.P. (now 
 Lord Ashcombe), who had the pleasure of conveying to 
 him the propitious news. 
 
 Once safely seated within the walls of St Stephen's, 
 the new member for "Westminster showed a disposition 
 and capacity for practical business. Importance is some- 
 times attached to the maiden speech of a novice, as 
 forecasting the field in which any influence he is to 
 have on the Legislature is to be developed, and it is 
 often matter of concern to his friends that he should 
 not speak too soon, or, on the other hand, be too long 
 in the House without "making his mark," as the phrase 
 goes. Smith's outset was characteristic of the man. It 
 was neither on a lofty theme of foreign policy nor some 
 scheme of ardent philanthropy that he chose to make his 
 essay. Choice, indeed, had little enough to do with 
 the matter : it happened simply that the second reading 
 of a bill dealing with the valuation of property in the 
 metropolis was moved by Mr Goschen, then President 
 of the Poor Law Board, at the first sitting after the Easter 
 recess, April 1, 1869. It dealt with a subject concerning 
 which Smith was thoroughly well informed ; he had 
 something to say, and he said it. It was to no crowded 
 senate brimming with applause or lowering with ire, 
 that he addressed himself, but to benches sparsely filled 
 with listless legislators, reluctantly obeying the summons
 
 94 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. [JST. 43. 
 
 of Government Whips, who are ever anxious to get some 
 useful work through in the first few days after the holi- 
 days, before the Opposition shall have gathered in strength. 
 Such was the modest opening of a distinguished parlia- 
 mentary career. 
 
 During his first session in Parliament Smith sub- 
 sequently spoke on two or three other subjects, which 
 furnished him with that which Bishop Wilberforce 
 declared makes the difference between a good speaker 
 and a bad one the former speaking because he has 
 something to say ; the latter because he has to say some- 
 thing. On May 10 Mr Gladstone gave facilities to Mr 
 Corrance, to enable that gentlemen to call attention to 
 the question of Pauperism and Vagrancy, and in the 
 debate arising thereon speeches were made by Mr Peel, 
 then Secretary to the Poor Law Board, 1 Sir Michael 
 Hicks Beach, Mr Albert Pell, and others. Mr Smith 
 called attention to the significant increase in the amount 
 of outdoor relief since the commencement of the new 
 Poor Law in 1851, showing that in London alone, while 
 the population had in the interval risen by 34 per cent, 
 the cost of relief had doubled. He advocated withholding 
 all relief of able-bodied poor, except it were coupled 
 with the obligation to work, otherwise the law might 
 be interpreted as establishing the legal right of every 
 man who did not, could not, or would not work, and 
 possessed no property, to food, clothing, and shelter 
 at the cost of those who would, could, and did work, 
 and possessed property. 
 
 He was aware [he said] that he was touching on delicate ground, 
 but he was not afraid of interfering with the labour market. He 
 very much preferred the risk of such interference to the certain de- 
 moralisation which arose from giving relief as a matter of right to 
 
 Became Speaker of the House of Commons in 1884.
 
 A.D. 1869.] DISTRUST OF DOLES. 95 
 
 the person claiming it, without value given or a sense of gratitude in 
 return. 
 
 A thoughtful, wise observation this, founded on wide, 
 practical experience of philanthropic work, yet one which, 
 in however many minds it may win assent, finds too rare 
 expression in these days, when so much is heard of schemes 
 for the endowment by the State of pauperism and old age. 
 Throughout his life this was the keynote of Smith's code of 
 charity : a liberal giver when the need for gifts was clear to 
 him, he always showed an alert distrust of doles, and never 
 subscribed to any fund, or gave to any beggar, without 
 satisfying himself, often by protracted inquiry, into the 
 merits of each case. A very large part wellnigh a half 
 of so much of his correspondence as has been preserved 
 (other than that on political affairs) consists of letters ask- 
 ing for help and answers to inquiries about the applicants. 
 Many years after this debate on pauperism, his friend, Sir 
 Henry Acland of Oxford, happened to mention to Smith 
 that he was about to part with a yacht which he had owned 
 for some years and took great delight in. Smith dissuaded 
 him from doing so, because it was so good for Sir Henry's 
 health and such an amusement for his children. 
 
 "Well, but I have come to think it selfish to spend 
 so much on yachting," replied Sir Henry; "my children 
 are all married, it is chiefly for my own gratification that I 
 keep the yacht, and I feel that the money she costs ought, 
 in part at least, to be devoted to charity." 
 
 " Charity ! " exclaimed Smith, firing up in a way very 
 unusual to him, "how much mischief has been done in 
 the name of charity ! Don't you see that so long as you 
 keep your yacht, you employ Matthews, your captain, and 
 the crew, who would, if you discharged them, lose, not only 
 their employment, but the enjoyment of good clothes, re- 
 creation, music, and other means of culture which you pro-
 
 96 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. [>BT. 43. 
 
 vide for them ? In a national sense, if you withdraw this 
 fund from wages and give it in charity, I firmly believe you 
 will by so much be doing harm instead of good. Charity is 
 often most mischievous." 
 
 He spoke very earnestly, and Sir Henry had rarely heard 
 him open out so much on any subject. Touching this mat- 
 ter of almsgiving, it may be noted here how many and 
 various were the applications which flowed in upon Smith 
 as his wealth increased and his name became better known. 
 Sometimes the appeals were for thousands of pounds, at 
 other times for a few shillings; both were treated alike, 
 careful inquiry was made into the circumstances, and the 
 reply depended not on the amount asked for, but the 
 grounds on which it was asked. Thus Miss Giberne, a 
 constant and valued correspondent of Smith's, once wrote 
 to him about a hawker who drove " the dearest little donkey 
 you ever saw," but wanted to sell it and his cart on the 
 plea of necessity. Probably the man saw in the kind- 
 hearted lady who petted and fed his donkey the prospect 
 of disposing of his live and rolling stock to good advantage; 
 nor was he far out in his calculations, for Miss Giberne 
 suggested that Smith should buy the equipage. But both 
 had left out of account Smith's inflexible observance of 
 principle in the smallest things, and this was his good- 
 natured answer : 
 
 Dec. 16, 1876. 
 
 Why should I buy a donkey and a cart yet ? I do not propose to 
 start as a costermonger yet, but I may come to it, and then I will 
 try to take care of the donkey. 
 
 At the present moment there are two horses and one pony retired 
 from work on the premises ; one or two must be shot presently, 
 to save them from the miseries consequent on inability to work or 
 having no work to do. There are three other ponies of the past 
 generation, their carts and one chaise, with little more than healthy 
 work for one, and there is a very fat and heavy boy to attend to 
 them. What 'place is there for the donkey ? 
 
 There would be nothing for it but to put him to death out of 
 kindness lest he should be ill-treated stuff him and place him and
 
 A.D. 1869.] THE IRISH CHURCH. 97 
 
 his cart on the lawn under a canopy, with an inscription commemor- 
 ating your sympathy and affection for animals, and my weakness in 
 yielding to it. Ever yours afftly., 
 
 W. H. SMITH, The Hard Man. 
 
 There is no record of how Smith dealt with another 
 claimant on his bounty who bore these credentials : 
 
 The bearer of this is an earnest Christian young man. He is at 
 present employed in a wine-cellar, an occupation altogether unsuited 
 to his tastes now that he has become a new man in Christ Jesus. 
 
 And there must have been some conflict between benevo- 
 lence and prudence in dealing with the following applica- 
 tion : 
 
 Sir i wish to .know weither you are in want of a lad as i am in want 
 of a Situation, yesterday i see there was an advertisment in the 
 times for two youths to write a good hand i wish to know sir weither 
 my hand writing will suit you sir i have been used to the newspaper 
 office for 3 years but has never leant Writeing the covers sir i think 
 with a little improvement i should suit you. 
 
 Smith avoided falling into the error of speaking too often 
 in the House. He spoke on one other occasion only during 
 his first session the debate on the bill enabling the Post- 
 master-General to acquire the whole of the telegraphs in 
 the country. He had been for some years a director of an 
 electric telegraph company, and supported the bill, though 
 he showed that the terms on which these concerns were to 
 be ceded to the Government were by no means so over- 
 liberal as the opponents of the measure tried to prove. 1 
 
 Every minor question was overshadowed during the session 
 of 1869 by the discussions on the bill to disestablish and 
 disendow the Irish Church. This was moved by Mr Glad- 
 stone on March 1. Public interest was intensified to a 
 degree beyond what even so radical a measure might have 
 
 1 One of the arguments used by Mr Torrens against the proposed 
 transaction was founded on what he considered Mr Scudamore's 
 extravagance in estimating the number of telegrams to be dealt with 
 by the General Post Office in the course of a year at 11,200,000. In 
 1892 they amounted to 69,685,480. 
 
 Q
 
 98 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. [aft. 43. 
 
 evoked, by the enormous wealth of the corporation which 
 was the subject of attack, and by speculation as to the 
 disposal of the spoil The property of the Church was 
 estimated at sixteen millions, of which the bill disposed of 
 8,650,000 by providing for vested interests, lay compen- 
 sation, private endowments, commutation of the Maynooth 
 Grant and Regium Donum, &c., the free surplus remaining 
 being between seven and eight millions. Mr Gladstone's 
 speech explaining the proposals of the Government occupied 
 three hours in delivery, and, as has always been the case in 
 the perorations of his most destructive orations, he brought 
 his arguments to a close by introducing some metaphor of 
 great force and elegance, and the expression of confidence 
 that the greatest advantage would accrue to the object of his 
 attack 
 
 Disraeli, who rose immediately after him, bore willing 
 tribute to the eloquence to which the House had been 
 listening. The second reading was carried by a majority of 
 118, the motion for going into Committee by 126, and the 
 third reading by 114. These crushing majorities enabled 
 the Government to send the bill up to the House of Lords 
 in much the same state as when it was first laid on the table 
 of the Commons. 
 
 The interest which gathered round the debates on this 
 measure in the House of Commons was transferred to those 
 in the Upper Chamber after Whitsuntide. Would the Lords 
 throw out the bill, as they had in the previous year thrown 
 out Mr Gladstone's Suspensory Bill, or would they recognise 
 in this juncture one of " those rare and great occasions on 
 which the national will has fuDy declared itself," when, as 
 the Marquis of Salisbury had laid down, it was the duty of 
 the House of Lords to yield to the opinion of the country t 
 
 Lord Granville moved the second reading of the Irish 
 Church Bill on June 14, and the debate which ensued was
 
 A.D. 1869.] BISHOP MAGEE'S SPEECH. 99 
 
 chiefly remarkable for the speech delivered by the Bishop 
 of Peterborough (Dr Magee) against it, which has since 
 remained in the memory of those who heard it as one of 
 the most impressive orations in modern times. 1 He con- 
 cluded his resistance to the proposal for disendowment in 
 the following memorable and profound sentences : 
 
 You will always observe in history that corporate property is 
 always the first to be attacked in all great democratic revolutions. 
 Especially is this so in the case of ecclesiastical corporate property, 
 because ecclesiastical corporations for the most part are very wealthy, 
 and at the same time are very weak. . . . Revolutions commence 
 with sacrilege, and they go on to communism ; or to put it in the 
 more gentle and euphemistic language of the day, revolutions begin 
 with the Church and go on to the land. 
 
 The course of the speech was marked by outbursts of 
 applause in the Strangers' Gallery, a breach of parliamen- 
 tary decorum which, unusual in the highest degree in 
 either Chamber, is peculiarly at variance with the staid 
 and impassive atmosphere of the House of Lords. Lord 
 Derby, in opposing the second reading, took up those 
 weapons which the Bishop of Peterborough had flung aside, 
 and took his stand on the Treaty of Union and the Corona- 
 tion Oath; whereas the Marquis of Salisbury condemned 
 such arguments as "involving the inexpressible absurdity 
 that an oath taken in the days of Adam may have lasted to 
 this time, binding the whole human race under circum- 
 stances absolutely different from those of the Paradisiacal 
 period, and that the duties of mankind may have been 
 settled for ever by the act of one single individual at that 
 time, and we might never be able to escape from them." 
 
 1 A certain well-known Scottish baronet, a Liberal, then in Parlia- 
 ment, noted rather for the force than for the length of his contribu- 
 tions to conversation, rode into the Park after listening to Bishop 
 Magee's speech. A friend inquired if it had been a success, and 
 what line of argument had been pursued. " Oh," said Sir Robert 
 Anstruther, " it was the finest thing you ever heard. He said that 
 Gladstone had appealed to them in the name of the Almighty to vote 
 for the bill, but that for his part he would be d d if he did so."
 
 100 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. [JST. 44. 
 
 The division on the second reading was a remarkable 
 one 
 
 Contents . . . . .179 
 
 Non-Contents . . . .146 
 
 Majority for the Bill ... 33 
 
 Many of those peers who thus supported the bill on 
 second reading did so on the understanding that it would 
 be largely altered in the Committee stage, and this, in 
 effect, was done on such a scale that when their lordships' 
 amendments came to be considered in the Commons, Mr 
 Gladstone, confident in the force of a great majority, led 
 the House to disagree with the Lords on all such amend- 
 ments as could be regarded as at all important. Ultimately, 
 after much fierce talk of the usual character about mending 
 or ending the House of Peers, a compromise was effected, 
 and the bill received the Eoyal assent on July 26. 
 
 CHAPTEE VII. 
 
 1870-1871. 
 
 In the beginning of 1870, the year destined to see the 
 fall of the French empire, Smith went to Paris, in order to 
 prosecute inquiries into the management of the poor in 
 France ; and there remains in the letters he wrote home to 
 his wife abundant evidence of the thorough way in which 
 he set about his investigation. 
 
 He had entered Parliament at a time when the Conser- 
 vative party was staggering under a crushing defeat at the 
 polls. Disraeli's "leap in the dark " had landed in disaster,
 
 A.D. 1870.] A DISPIRITED OPPOSITION. 101 
 
 from which, in the opinion of many, and especially of the 
 country party, there was no prospect of recovery. House- 
 hold suffrage seemed to have swamped the instructed classes, 
 and the presence of Mr Bright in the Cabinet, representing 
 the extreme, and, as they had hitherto been regarded, re- 
 volutionary Eadicals, was full of boding for all interested in 
 maintaining the old order of the Constitution and the secu- 
 rity of property. The Opposition were dispirited and in- 
 active ; they fought the Irish Church Bill with resolution, 
 but even on that question there was a want of energy on 
 their front bench. Disraeli was absent from the House on 
 account of ill-health throughout the Committee stage of 
 that great measure ; Northcote, who should have been his 
 lieutenant, was much abroad on foreign missions ; and 
 Gathorne-Hardy l was accused of want of industry. Under 
 such circumstances as these, there is sure to spring up 
 among the younger members of the party a feeling of dis- 
 satisfaction at the laxity of resistance to the policy of the 
 Government. It was so on this occasion, and Smith took 
 his place among a small but determined band sitting below 
 the gangway, a part of the House which at that time, before 
 the broad lines of party had been confused by the creation 
 of Home Eulers and Liberal Unionists, implied a degree 
 of independence of strict party discipline. Conspicuous 
 among these stalwarts were Mr Eichard Assheton Cross 2 
 and Lord Sandon, with whom Smith soon fell into close 
 co-operation, and these three, with some associates, soon 
 came to be looked on as the practical leaders of Opposition. 
 It was no uncommon thing, when matters were moving 
 sluggishly among the Conservatives, for Disraeli to give a 
 hint to this little group that the fire wanted stirring. 
 
 The proceedings which take place, with greater or 
 
 1 Created Viscount Cranbrook in 1878, and Earl Cranbrook in 1892. 
 
 2 Created Viscount Cross in 1886.
 
 102 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. [-ST. 44. 
 
 less decorum, among the occupants of the dingy green 
 benches in the Chamber itself, are, in a large degree, the 
 outcome of much that goes on elsewhere, and there is no 
 corner of Westminster Palace where projects spring so 
 quickly into being and are nursed into maturity than in the 
 smoking-room of the House of Commons. When James I., 
 with royal profusion of adjectives, penned his ' Counter- 
 blaste ' against the " continuall vse of taking this vnsauorie 
 smoake," he could not have foreseen what an important in- 
 fluence it was to have one day, not only on the revenue, but 
 on the general direction of national policy. In 1870 there 
 was but one smoking-room for the use of members of the 
 House of Commons (there are now three), an ill -lit, 
 draughty, cheerless apartment opening upon the terrace, 
 and this was the favourite resort of the most active spirits 
 in all the political sections. Here, more than elsewhere, 
 was the realm of frankness : men of the most divergent 
 views chatted together and discussed the course of events 
 past, present, and to come ; on this neutral field Cross, 
 Sandon, and Smith used to spend much of their time. 
 
 When Parliament reassembled in 1870, the condition of 
 Ireland showed little to justify the expectation professed 
 by the authors of the Irish Church Act as to the concilia- 
 tory effect it was to have on disaffected persons. On the 
 contrary, the Fenian movement had become so formidable 
 towards the close of 1869 that the Government had found 
 it necessary to strengthen the force in Ireland by the addi- 
 tion of several battalions, agrarian crime increased at a fright- 
 ful rate, and there seemed to be no limit to the violence of 
 seditious language uttered in the National press. Never- 
 theless, undaunted by the ill return shown for their efforts 
 at conciliation, the Cabinet resolved to persevere further in 
 that direction, and thereby justify, within a shorter time
 
 A.D. 1870.] THE IRISH LAND BILL. 103 
 
 than could have been predicted, the forecast made by the 
 Bishop of Peterborough, that, having despoiled the Church 
 of her corporate property, they would direct their next at- 
 tack against private property in land ; for whatever opinion 
 may be held as to the manner in which Irish landlords had 
 exercised their rights and the spirit in which their estates 
 had been administered, it cannot be questioned that the 
 effect of the Land Bill introduced by the Government was 
 to diminish very seriously the value of landed property in 
 Ireland. The appearance of this Land Bill was a direct 
 fulfilment of the eloquent Prelate's forecast. 
 
 But the Conservative leaders could not be blind to the 
 state of matters in Ireland : they could not fail to recognise 
 that the rights and wrongs of private ownership in land had 
 been confused by the tacit recognition in certain parts of 
 Ireland of customs of tenure, utterly unknown in England 
 and Scotland, and of the existence in the other provinces of 
 precisely the same conditions which had led to the sanction 
 of tenant-right in Ulster. They resolved, therefore, not to 
 oppose the bill on second reading but, by attacking the 
 details of it in Committee, to purge it of the novel and 
 obnoxious principles it contained. A division, it is true, 
 was taken against the second reading, but it revealed the 
 grotesque proportions of 442 votes to 11, and in the minority 
 were only found two Conservatives. 
 
 Although Smith took no active part in the debates on 
 this important measure, it seems to have been at this time 
 that his interest was drawn to the subject of it, and led to 
 the exertions he devoted to it in after-years, and the share 
 it will be shown that he had in the efforts made to relieve 
 Irish landlords from the intolerable position in which they 
 had been left, by equitably transferring property from the 
 owner to the occupier.
 
 104 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. OT. 45. 
 
 To the consideration of another bill, introduced by Mr W. E. 
 Forster two days after the Irish Land Bill, a measure not 
 so startling as the other in its innovation upon recognised 
 principles, but not of interest less complex nor results less 
 far-reaching the Elementary Education Bill Smith was 
 able to bring ripe experience as well as sympathetic assistance. 
 His friendship with Forster, at that time Vice-President of 
 the Committee of Council on Education (which is the cum- 
 bersome periphrasis prescribed by departmental etiquette as 
 the title of our Minister of Education), 1 probably began in 
 numerous confidential conferences at the time this bill was 
 under consideration a friendship which endured to the 
 last, through many heated controversies in Parliament on 
 other subjects about which the two men held more divergent 
 views than about education. 
 
 It is a feature to be noted in Smith's public life that he 
 never sowed any parliamentary wild oats. Most men who 
 have risen to distinction in the House of Commons, at all 
 events since the Reform Bill of 1832, have brought them- 
 selves into prominence either by persistent oratory, whether 
 excellent or otherwise ; by identifying themselves with some 
 particular question, in which chance or choice has made 
 them expert; or, lastly, by threatened or actual attacks 
 upon the leaders of their party at critical junctures. None 
 of these proceedings marked Smith's career at any time. 
 
 1 Time, it is said, was made for slaves, and the subjects of Queen 
 Victoria, being nothing if not a free people, show a lofty contempt 
 for economy in that commodity, especially, as is well known, in the 
 House of Commons. Otherwise it might be interesting to calculate 
 how many minutes are lost in debate by observance of the rule pro- 
 hibiting one member alluding to another except by mentioning his 
 constituency or his office. The custom, no doubt, had its origin in a 
 salutary avoidance of the risk of personal altercation and even colli- 
 sion, which must be held to justify the use of such circumlocutory 
 
 phrases as " the honourable and learned member for the division 
 
 of shire " to designate " Mr Jones, " or " the Right Honourable 
 
 gentleman the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland " to 
 indicate the ruler of Ireland for the time being.
 
 A.D. 1870.] DEBATES ON EDUCATION. 105 
 
 Though professing independence when he entered the 
 House, he found that the only practical course was to 
 abandon that idea, and he yielded unwavering loyalty to 
 those who directed the party with whom he found himself 
 most in harmony : he never suffered those subjects with 
 which he was most conversant to assume the proportions of 
 a " hobby " or the plumage of a " fad " ; least of all could 
 he pretend to gifts of eloquence, and showed no disposition 
 to inflict himself on the attention of the House except when 
 he was able to contribute something solid to its delibera- 
 tions. Public education was one of those subjects on the 
 discussion of which, alike by experience and inclination, he 
 was fitted to take an intelligent part ; he spoke, accordingly, 
 several times during the passage of Mr Forster's measure, 
 but invariably with a brevity, as the records of Hansard 
 testify, almost inverse to the weight of matter contained in 
 his speeches. 
 
 The most controversial point in the bill was that dealing 
 with the future of religious instruction in schools, and upon 
 this the Opposition in the House of Commons were divided. 
 The young Conservatives, among whom were Smith, Cross, 
 and Lord Sandon, were in favour of voluntary religious in- 
 struction, but Disraeli and Gathorne-Hardy stood out for 
 the full Church of England teaching. There was, of course, 
 a third party in the House, stoutly advocating the total pro- 
 hibition of religious instruction under all circumstances in 
 public schools ; but the Government, supported by the 
 advanced section of the Opposition, adopted a middle 
 course, which, while it gave school boards power to for- 
 bid religious teaching altogether, also empowered them to 
 permit schoolmasters to read and expound Scripture with- 
 out the introduction of Creeds or Catechisms. 
 
 Another feature of novel interest may be noted in this 
 bill namely, the provision made for introducing ballot-
 
 106 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. |>r. 45. 
 
 voting, up to tli at time unknown in this country, in the 
 election of school boards ; and in connection with this, 
 Smith supported Lord Frederick Cavendish's amendment 
 in favour of cumulative voting, which, devised as a safe- 
 guard to the reasonable representation of minorities, has 
 since proved, as many people think, unduly favourable to 
 them. 
 
 But the most important alteration in the bill which Lord 
 Sandon and Mr Smith were chiefly instrumental in induc- 
 ing Ministers to accept was the withdrawal of the clause 
 constituting twenty-three school boards for the metropolis 
 and substituting one, creating a single board for the whole 
 of London. The experience of Sandon and Smith in the 
 management of the Bishop of London's Fund had convinced 
 them that it was important to secure the services of capable, 
 independent, and responsible men to administer the Act in 
 densely populous districts, and they saw clearly that there 
 would be little to induce such persons to become candidates 
 for seats on small local boards. 
 
 They urged with great perseverance upon Mr Forster how 
 necessary it was, in the interests of education, to attract the 
 best men to the work, and finally convinced him, not so 
 much by arguments spoken across the floor of the House, as 
 during repeated and prolonged private interviews in the 
 Privy Council Office, that their view was just. The conse- 
 quence was the withdrawal of the original clause, and the 
 substitution of one establishing the London School Board 
 as it now is. In his speech on the motion for going into 
 Committee on the bill, Smith had urged that this principle 
 should be observed in the formation of all school boards 
 which should have areas coterminous with counties ; but 
 acting on the ne sutor maxim, as a metropolitan member he 
 was satisfied with having secured its application to the 
 metropolis.
 
 A.D. 1870.] THE THAMES EMBANKMENT. 107 
 
 The good understanding between Smith and Forster in 
 their endeavours to settle this question is illustrated by a 
 passage in a letter of the former to his wife on July 29 : 
 
 I am very glad I was in the House last night, as Forster, with 
 whom, as you know, I like to work, came to me and expressed a wish 
 that I should hear his statement on Education, and then I had to say 
 a word. 
 
 Before the House of Commons parted with the bill, Mr 
 M'Cullagh Torrens, on behalf of the Radical supporters of 
 the Government, pronounced a frank recognition of the part 
 taken in promoting its success by the hon. member for West- 
 minster, " whose services in connection with this bill he 
 could not too strongly acknowledge." 
 
 On another matter which formed the subject of debates 
 during this session, Smith made more than one speech. As 
 long as we have the poor with us, so long the presence of 
 persons ready with advice and proposals for their better- 
 ment may be reckoned on ; but it is not always those who 
 best understand the problems involved who are most ready 
 to give advice and to put forward proposals. Smith had 
 worked long and hard among the London poor : his speeches 
 on the second reading of the Poor Relief (Metropolis) Bill 
 (April 25), and on Dr Brewer's motion for the Better Regu- 
 lation of Outdoor Relief (May 10), consisted of practical 
 arguments temperately expressed, illustrated by examples of 
 shamefully bad administration of the law which he himself 
 had witnessed. 
 
 But the most direct success which the member for West- 
 minster achieved was of a nature peculiarly exhilarating to 
 a somewhat dispirited Opposition, bringing about, as it did, 
 the defeat of the Government, and securing to the people of 
 London a result for which they ought to feel grateful at 
 this day. In the formation of the Thames Embankment 
 below Westminster Bridge an extent of land valued at
 
 108 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. [ST. 45. 
 
 5000 a-year had been reclaimed from the river, which 
 came as foreshore into the hands of the Office of Woods 
 and Forests : on this land it was proposed by the Govern- 
 ment to erect certain public offices, and Smith met this 
 scheme with a motion that an address be presented to her 
 Majesty, praying that the land, which had been reclaimed 
 at the heavy expense of the ratepayers, should now be re- 
 served for their advantage as a breathing-place and pleasure- 
 ground. The Chancellor of the Exchequer (Mr Lowe) and 
 Mr Gladstone both spoke vehemently against the motion, 
 the former minimising the objections to the scheme of the 
 Government as " sentimental or sesthetical arguments," the 
 latter declaring that the address moved for would be " flatly 
 contrary to the law of the land, which makes it the duty of 
 the Commissioners of Woods and Forests to turn to the 
 best profitable account the property of the Crown," and 
 that to dispose prospectively of Crown land to the extent 
 of 150,000 would be an invasion of the Prince of Wales's 
 rights of entail. Mr Locke, in supporting the motion, 
 moved the House to laughter by declaring that " wherever 
 you build in this country you are sure to make an eyesore 
 of it." In the division which followed, the Government 
 were defeated by 158 votes to 108, and the question was 
 hung up for the time. 
 
 After the prorogation, Smith directed his energies into 
 another channel of usefulness, and wrote thus to Mr 
 Ford : 
 
 I am concerning myself about the election of the School Board for 
 London, and if I hear favourable accounts from Armstrong, 1 to whom 
 I have written, I shall stand, and Lord Sandon with me, as candi- 
 dates for Westminster. It is a bold thing to do, but I have two great 
 objects in view to show my earnest interest in education, and to en- 
 deavour to prove that popular election may result in the creation of a 
 Board in London as strong in position, character, and fitness for its 
 
 1 Created Sir George Armstrong, Bart., in 1892.
 
 A.D. 1871.] THE LONDON SCHOOL BOARD. 109 
 
 work as the House of Commons itself. Forster very strongly pressed 
 me to engage in the work, and I like him, and like to work with him. 
 
 The intention thus expressed Smith carried out successfully, 
 being returned to the first school board for London a body 
 which fully justified by its composition the anticipation he 
 had formed of the kind of men who would be attracted to 
 it With Lord Lawrence as chairman, the board possessed 
 among its members such men of note as Mr Charles Reed, 
 M.P., Professor Huxley, Mr Hepworth Dixon, Mr M'Cul- 
 lagh Torrens, M.P., the Rev. Dr Angus (Baptist), the Rev. 
 Dr Rigg (Wesleyan), Viscount Sandon, M.P., and Mr 
 Samuel Morley, M.P. 
 
 The first act of the member for "Westminster in the de- 
 liberations of this newly constituted body was characteristic 
 of the man. The question of religious education in board 
 schools, which had distracted earnest people from one end 
 of the country to the other, and had, it was fondly hoped, 
 been laid to rest by the compromise agreed to in Committee 
 on the Education Bill, was revived in an acute form in the 
 narrower limits of the London School Board. It was 
 Smith the Smoother, the quiet, unpretentious reconciler of 
 conflicting opinions who framed a resolution providing an 
 easy escape from this formidable difficulty. The purport of 
 this resolution was the adoption of a by-law ordering that 
 the Bible should be read, and instruction in religious sub- 
 jects given therefrom, in the board schools generally, while 
 those interested in particular schools might show cause for 
 exemption from the whole or part of this by-law ; and in 
 all schools it was to be understood that the spirit of the 
 Act was to be observed, and no proselytism allowed. This 
 proposal, though opposed by Professor Huxley and two 
 other ardent secularists, was seconded by that distinguished 
 Nonconformist, Mr Samuel Morley, and, being supported
 
 110 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. [r. 45. 
 
 by Eoman Catholic, Baptist, and Wesleyan members, was 
 carried by 38 votes to 3. 
 
 On May 5, on the motion for going into Committee of 
 Supply, Smith called attention to the operation of the 
 Poor Law within the metropolis, and moved for the 
 appointment of a Eoyal Commission to inquire into the 
 policy and administration of the law. Now, of the many 
 members who rise " to call attention," only a small fraction 
 succeed in obtaining it, but Smith was one of that number 
 on this occasion. His well-known connection with practi- 
 cal philanthropy, combined with the alarming increase in 
 the number of persons who were receiving relief from 
 the rates, enabled him to make out a formidable case 
 for inquiry, for he was able to show that, whereas in 
 the preceding ten years of general prosperity the popu- 
 lation of London had increased 16 per cent, pauperism 
 had risen in the prodigious ratio of 64 per cent. But 
 he was unable to persuade the House to adopt his resolu- 
 tion, which, after a long and interesting discussion, was 
 withdrawn. Twenty-two years later, in 1893, the subject 
 has been revived. A Eoyal Commission has been ap- 
 pointed to inquire into the administration of the Poor 
 Law in England and Wales, and their labours have 
 already brought to light how immensely the ratio of 
 pauperism has been reduced by the consistency and dis- 
 crimination in giving outdoor relief, the want of which 
 formed the main burden of Smith's complaint of the 
 state of matters in 1871. 
 
 Smith's work in the East End had convinced him 
 that the lot of many of the poor who swarmed in the 
 slums of London could only be relieved by removing 
 them to new lands, and this led him to take an active 
 part in the affairs of the East End Emigration Club, in 
 connection with the British and Colonial Emigration
 
 A.D. 1871.] FATE OF THE BALLOT BILL. Ill 
 
 Society. On June 26, 1870, he went down to Gravesend 
 to bid adieu to 1197 emigrants to Canada, passengers 
 in the Ganges and the Tweed. The expenses of about 
 250 of these were defrayed by himself; but his interest 
 in them was not allowed to drop with their departure, 
 for in 1872 he visited Canada and devoted close inquiry 
 to the resources of that country and the condition of 
 the emigrants there. 
 
 The Parliamentary and Municipal Elections Bill, or, 
 to use the better known title derived from its most im- 
 portant and debateable provision, the Ballot Bill, was 
 brought in early in the session, but, owing to the pro- 
 longed proceedings on the Army Bill, it was not till 
 late in June that progress could be made with it. Mr 
 Gladstone, who for thirty-five years had stoutly resisted 
 the principle of secret voting, now performed on this 
 question a complete change of front, and declared that 
 the bill must pass before the session should be brought 
 to a close. Midsummer Day had gone by, there was still 
 a heavy proportion of the Votes in Supply to be got 
 through, and the Tory Opposition was obstinate. More- 
 over, there stood on the Notice Paper upwards of 200 
 proposed amendments to the bill, half of them in names 
 of supporters of the Government. Under these dis- 
 couraging circumstances Mr Gladstone resorted to the 
 sagacious expedient of calling his party into council in 
 Downing Street, persuaded them to withdraw their amend- 
 ments, and to agree to a policy his opponents of course 
 called it a conspiracy of silence. This proved success- 
 ful ; and although the Government suffered defeat at 
 the hands of two of their own supporters, Mr Harcourt 
 and Mr James, on the proposal to charge election expenses 
 on the rates, they were able to send the bill up in time 
 to be considered by the Lords. Here, however, it was
 
 112 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. |>T. 46. 
 
 destined to be thrown out by a majority of nearly two 
 to one. 
 
 This was the closing event of a session which had proved 
 singularly damaging to ministers ; and although it is a well- 
 known maxim of old parliamentary hands not to argue too 
 much from by-elections, the significance of the result of 
 those which took place during the autumn in the imme- 
 morial Liberal strongholds of East Surrey and Plymouth 
 could scarcely be overlooked. 
 
 The Fenian agitation had been overcome, but the chronic 
 restlessness of Irish discontent began about this time to 
 crystallise into a form all the more dangerous to the in- 
 tegrity of the empire because it assumed the guise of con- 
 stitutional agitation. Home Eule for Ireland began for the 
 first time to be a source of concern to politicians, and the 
 constituencies of England and Scotland heard with relief 
 the following plain bold words spoken by Mr Gladstone at 
 Aberdeen on the occasion of his receiving the freedom of 
 that town. 
 
 You would expect, when it is said that the Imperial Parliament is 
 to be broken up, that at the very least a case should be made out 
 showing there were great subjects of policy and great demands neces- 
 sary for the welfare of Ireland which representatives of Ireland had 
 united to ask, and which the representatives of England, Scotland, 
 and Wales had united to refuse. There is no such grievance. There 
 is nothing that Ireland has asked and which this country and England 
 has refused. This country has done for Ireland what it would have 
 scrupled to do for England and for Scotland. . . . What are the in- 
 equalities of England and Ireland ? I declare that I know none, 
 except that there are certain taxes still remaining which are levied 
 over Englishmen and Scotchmen and which are not levied over Irish- 
 men, and likewise that there are certain purposes for which public 
 money is freely and largely given in Ireland and for which it is not 
 given in Scotland. That seems to me to be a very feeble case, indeed, 
 for the argument which has been made, by means of which, as we are 
 told, the fabric of the united Parliament of this country is to be 
 broken up. But if the doctrines of Home Rule are to be established 
 in Ireland, I protest on your behalf that you will be just as well en- 
 titled to it in Scotland : and moreover I protest on behalf of Wales, 
 in which I have lived a good deal, and where there are 800,000 people, 
 who, to this day, such is their sentiment of nationality, speak hardly
 
 A.D. 1871.] THE SPIEITUAL LIFE. 113 
 
 anything but their own Celtic tongue a larger number than speak 
 the Celtic tongue, I apprehend, in Scotland, and a larger number than 
 speak it, I apprehend, in Ireland I protest on behalf of Wales that 
 they are entitled to Home Rule there. Can any sensible man can 
 any rational man, suppose that at this time of day, in this condition 
 of the world, we are going to disintegrate the great capital institu- 
 tions of this country for the purpose of making ourselves ridiculous 
 in the sight of all mankind, and crippling any power we possess for 
 bestowing benefits through legislation on the country to which we 
 belong ? 
 
 Such were the convincing phrases by which all suspicion of 
 Mr Gladstone's indulgence to these proposals was allayed 
 such the proclamation of resolute purpose to maintain the 
 integrity of Parliament and the realm, which it was the 
 destiny of him who spoke them in later years to minimise, 
 explain away, and retract. 
 
 Greatly as the pressure on Smith's time, thoughts, and 
 bodily strength had been increased by the growing share he 
 was taking in public affairs, there may be traced in his cor- 
 respondence and private notes the same earnest anxiety 
 about the spiritual life which always pervaded his thoughts 
 and controlled his action. Thus, at the close of this year, 
 on Advent Sunday, he wrote in his journal : 
 
 A new Christian year an attempt to look at my own daily life 
 more narrowly, to try and examine motives as well as actions. Mr 
 Robinson of St John's [Torquay], preaching of the story of Uzziah, 
 referred to the dangers of prosperity, of selfishness. Uzziah pros- 
 pered, although called to the throne when the kingdom of Judah was 
 in utter defeat, because he trusted in God : and he became a leper 
 because he defied his laws. A lesson for nations and for individuals, 
 to be read in the history of the Jews, in the history of our own times, 
 and borne out by my own self-knowledge. 
 
 God, give me to think of them more, of Thy love to me, and of 
 my duty ; and help me to pray always with faith.
 
 114 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. [xx. 46. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 1872 
 
 Ministers were able to lay before Parliament on Febru- 
 ary 6, 1872, a Queen's Speech which congratulated her 
 faithful Commons on the relative freedom from crime in 
 Ireland, and the remarkable prosperity of agriculture in 
 that country. The Government was unpopular in the 
 country, but had been protected from sinister consequences 
 by the indifference to politics which invariably springs from 
 extraordinary prosperity. The consequences of the financial 
 disasters of 1866 had wellnigh passed away, the anxiety of 
 the formidable troubles in France had been relieved, and 
 the country had entered on that cycle of prosperity, the 
 knell of which was not to be sounded till, six years later, 
 the City of Glasgow Bank fell with dismal crash. 
 
 The Ballot Bill was once more introduced by Mr Forster, 
 and probably there never was a bill secretly more detested 
 by the House of Commons than this one. Contrary as it 
 was to all national custom and parliamentary tradition, men 
 felt ashamed of compelling their fellow-countrymen to 
 accept the protection of secrecy in exercising a right which 
 had always been used with the utmost openness. The 
 measure had an un-British, almost cowardly complexion, 
 and obviously the fair corollary to it namely, secret voting 
 by members of Parliament in the division lobbies was one 
 that could never be claimed. Nevertheless the Opposition 
 seem to have been afraid to resist it lest the franchise might, 
 in the general election which seemed not far distant, be 
 used under cover of the ballot against the party which 
 should seek to deny this protection to electors. Hence, in 
 spite of the fact that such well-known Liberals as Mr
 
 A.D. 1872.] THE THAMES EMBANKMENT AGAIN. 115 
 
 Walter and Mr Fawcett denounced the system of secret 
 voting, the debate on the Second Beading was half-hearted, 
 and the division, taken in a thin and listless House, showed 
 in favour of the bill by 109 votes to 51. Smith, who, as 
 has been shown by his declarations to the electors of West- 
 minster, detested the ballot, did not vote. But when the 
 bill, after a stormy passage through Committee, was put 
 down for Third Eeading, the Opposition plucked up heart 
 and fought hard against it. The division showed a majority 
 of 58 in favour of the bill, which was framed to expire in 
 1880, since which time it has been necessary to renew it 
 annually by including it in the Expiring Laws Continuance 
 Bill, which is passed at the end of every session. 
 
 One subject in connection with which Smith had taken 
 an active part, that of the Thames Embankment, on the 
 management of which he had beaten the Government in 
 1870, came up in an altered form this year. No action had 
 been taken in consequence of the Resolution of the House 
 when Parliament reassembled in 1871, so Smith gave notice 
 that he intended to move that " it was desirable that the 
 ground reclaimed from the Thames between Whitehall 
 Gardens and Whitehall Place should be devoted to the 
 purposes of public recreation and amusement." The ex- 
 perience of the previous session made the Government 
 aware that they could not successfully oppose this resolu- 
 tion ; a repetition of defeat was a foregone conclusion, so 
 before the day for its discussion came on, the Prime 
 Minister took the course of referring the question to the 
 consideration of a Select Committee. That body reported 
 in favour of the disposal of the ground in the manner advo- 
 cated by Smith and indicated by the vote of the House, 
 but still the winter of 1871-72 passed without any action 
 being taken to carry the plan into effect. Indeed so tena- 
 ciously did the Treasury adhere to the principles which
 
 116 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. OT. 47. 
 
 should regulate the administration of Crown property, that 
 a new Committee was appointed in 1872 at the instance of 
 the Government, which reversed the decision of the former 
 Committee, and recommended the appropriation of nearly 
 all the space in dispute for the erection of public buildings. 
 Thereupon the Chancellor of the Exchequer prepared and 
 brought in a bill to give effect to this recommendation, but 
 the only result was that Ministers suffered another defeat, 
 this time on the motion of Mr Harcourt, who carried a 
 resolution against them to the effect that it was not desir- 
 able to proceed further in the matter that year. 1 
 
 Having undertaken legislative responsibility, Smith was 
 conscientiously anxious to fit himself for his duties by every 
 means of acquiring knowledge of the effect of different forms 
 of government and conditions of society. To this end it 
 was natural that he should have early directed his thoughts 
 to the great American Republic and the British American 
 colonies. But the necessity for a separation from wife and 
 children, even for a few months only, weighed heavily on 
 his mind ; his thoughts centred in his home, and the only 
 reward he sought for his labours was to escape thither as 
 often and for as long as might be. Circumstances made it 
 inconvenient for Mrs Smith to accompany him, but he held 
 it to be his duty to visit Canada and the United States, and 
 he sailed in the 'Moravian' on August 15. During his 
 
 1 The settlement of this matter did not come till 1873. Smith did 
 not allow it to rest until the Commissioners of Woods and Forests 
 agreed practically to his proposal, by offering to hand over to the 
 Metropolitan Board of Works almost the whole of the ground for 
 a payment of 3270, an arrangement which was confirmed by 
 Parliament and carried out. In May 1875 the new ornamental 
 grounds, thus redeemed from being built over, having been com- 
 pleted, were formally declared open by Mr Smith, who had by that 
 time become Secretary to the Treasury ; and it is undoubtedly to his 
 exertions that Londoners owe the enjoyment of a pretty piece of 
 public garden. The seats therein were the gift of Mr Smith, and it 
 is only necessary to walk there on a summer evening to see how much 
 they are appreciated.
 
 A.D. 1872.] AMERICAN JOURNAL. 117 
 
 absence his letters to his wife form a consecutive journal ; 
 and although many of the details contained in them are far 
 too minute to be of general interest in these days, when 
 travelling is so easy and so frequent, some of the sketches 
 in this simple narrative are worthy of preservation. 
 
 August 16. What a change a few hours had made ! Last night 
 almost a calm ; this morning flying scud, wet decks, and sad sounds 
 below. We have been coasting Ireland since daybreak, and have just 
 (9 A.M.) passed the Giant's Causeway, running for Moville, in Lough 
 Foyle. 
 
 17th. A dirty night for our first at sea. The Irish Channel was 
 hardly worth the name of sea, and it blows hard this morning. We 
 are well away from land, and out in the Atlantic. . . . Quiet pre- 
 vails, with interjected sighs almost groans. Food dry toast and 
 tea. 
 
 18th. Very much the same. A serious tone prevails, and we 
 speak respectfully of the Atlantic. Very few passengers visible. 
 Food still tea and toast. Have come to the belief that we are all 
 in the habit of eating a great deal too much, and that so many 
 meals on board ship are quite unnecessary. Night roll, roll. . . . 
 Children cry, and their mothers can't attend to them, and we have a 
 lively night. An old lady in the cabin has a silver bell, which she is 
 constantly ringing to assure the stewardess that she hears the water 
 bubbling about the ship, and she is sure it is sinking. We are all 
 grave, and most of us selfish. Captain read service in cabin ; could 
 not venture down. . . . 
 
 20th. Fine. Ship steady. Turn up at breakfast for the first 
 time. A shoal of porpoises, which seem to race with the ship for 
 some time. Music on deck at night. No sail in sight all day. 
 Wind gets up towards evening. Rain comes with it. I turn in 
 early, but no sleep in the ship to-night. Roll, roll, roll ; crash, 
 smash, bang go china, plates, glasses, doors everything that can 
 move. The old lady's bell rings constantly, and the Captain keeps to 
 the bridge on deck. In the morning our party is smaller at breakfast 
 than usual, and we have to hold our cups in our hands and seesaw 
 them as we drink. 
 
 Mrs MacNabb, who has crossed many times, and has been wrecked 
 once, begins to tell her story over again, and wonders whether last 
 night's Aurora forebode storms. No ship in sight to-day no life 
 but sea-birds. 
 
 21st. Old lady very troublesome; has heard there is iron in the 
 ship as cargo, and is quite sure it is rolling about underneath her, 
 and that the ship will go down. Fore-cabin passengers and emigrants 
 very miserable ; all wet, and many sick. We went i.e., Mr and Mrs 
 Gurney and I after dinner to the middle deck with fruit for the 
 poor children. . . . 
 
 25th. Sunday morning, and as bright and beautiful as a Sunday 
 should be. The breeze fresh ahead ; the ship moving a little, but
 
 118 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. OT. 47. 
 
 running well ; every one thankful, and in good spirits. . . . Old 
 Captain said that he liked the Old Hundredth psalm, because it 
 always seemed to him that it went straight up to the masthead a 
 very simple description, but a very touching one, of his own honest 
 but unaffected devotion ; and many of us felt the mysterious sym- 
 pathy which links together those who are using the same beautiful 
 words and forms, however widely they may be separated from those 
 they love. These words meet up higher, somewhere higher than the 
 masthead and they go straight up there. 
 
 26th. ... I have not heard the old lady's bell for three days, 
 but there is a charming old maid and her canary, who are going 
 together to California, who have been very amusing. They came to 
 church together yesterday, and wherever she goes, he goes. 
 
 On the 27th they landed at Quebec, and, dining that 
 night with the Governor-General, the Earl of Dufferin, 
 Smith made the acquaintance of his host's private secre- 
 tary, Mr Jacob Luard Pattisson, a gentleman who in after- 
 years was to render him invaluable and devoted service. 
 
 Leaving Quebec on 30th, Smith went to Montreal, and 
 here is one of his earliest experiences there : 
 
 Simday, Sept. 1. I wanted a bath early, so I told the chamber- 
 maid last night, and she promised to speak to the man. No women 
 attend upon men in their bedrooms in Canada, but they look after 
 their rooms when they are out of them. At 7 I rang : boy answered. 
 " I want a bath." " Oh, do you ? Very well," and went away : at 
 20 minutes past no bath. I rang again. An old man came this 
 time. I said, " I ordered a bath a long time ago, and it has not come 
 yet." "Did you? How long?" " More than half an hour." "Oh, 
 I don't call half an hour a long time." " Don't you ? " said I ; " then 
 we do in our country." " Ah, but it is Sunday morning, you know." 
 "Well, never mind, bring the water and the towels." "You can't 
 have any towels. The chamber-maid keeps them, and she has gone 
 to breakfast." 
 
 Is not this a free country ? 
 
 ... I have spent a very quiet afternoon in my room, making use 
 of the church-service so long used by my dear love. . . . 
 
 2nd. I am learning a great deal, seeing very much that is interest- 
 ing, and making the acquaintance of every man of note almost in 
 Canada ; but with all this qualified enjoyment and sense of acquisi- 
 tion, I am looking forward so gladly and so hopefully to the bright 
 November day of my return. ... At present my watch is five hours 
 behind London time, so that writing now at 12 it is 5 P.M. with you, 
 and I often imagine to myself your engagements at the actual 
 moment I am looking at the time. . . . 
 
 4th. I have never seen anything approaching these Falls for gran- 
 deur as well as for beauty, for every variety of light and shade, for
 
 A.D. 1872.] AMERICAN JOURNAL. 119 
 
 every effect which they give in colour upon water. At one moment 
 there is a seuse of awe, of fear. The flow is so irresistible and tremen- 
 dous. It is too much to look at, as the gleams of light catch the edges 
 of the water, and they sparkle like the diamonds in a fairy palace, and 
 there at the bottom, eddying slowly away, lies the water, looking ex- 
 hausted and almost dead after its mighty leap. It is worth the 
 journey to America and back to see the Falls alone. . . . 
 
 5th. Niagara. . . . After dinner we were taking another stroll 
 on Goat Island, and we encountered the lady fellow-passenger of the 
 Moravian, who had the canary-bird which had always gone with her 
 wherever she went for 9 years, and which came to church in the cabin 
 on the Sunday. She gave us the gratifying news that the bird was 
 well so far. . . . 
 
 6th. ... As soon as I had finished my last letter, I started out 
 for another look at the Falls, to which one is drawn by an irresistible 
 fascination. It had rained heavily during the night, but the clouds 
 cleared away by 10 A.M., with a still air, steamy and hot, and a very 
 scorching sun, giving quite another effect to the Falls, all glistening 
 in the heat and light, with the cloud of steam or spray like a golden 
 veil suspended in front of them. 
 
 At mid - day off in the train to Hamilton city, en route for 
 Toronto. . . . 
 
 7th. . . . There I met a gentleman who reminded me he had 
 sat next to me at Drapers' Hall two years ago, and told me what I 
 had said to him. He took me up to Professor Goldwin Smith and 
 introduced me to him, and we had a long talk about the politics of 
 Canada and the United States. The Professor says Canada enjoys a 
 perfect constitution, complete liberty, and there is only the drawback 
 of corruption, which exists more or less everywhere. . . . 
 
 Sept, 9. I think I am learning a great deal, and taking in much ; 
 but really it is harder work than any one would suppose to look about 
 one with the intention of retaining recollection of things to ask 
 questions and to receive the amount of information which everybody 
 is disposed and glad to give. I am really quite lazily disposed some- 
 times at the end of the day, especially as we are now having great 
 heat again. 
 
 Wednesday, Sept. 11. Another warm day. It was a golden mist 
 in the morning, and was very thick over the lake. . . . Another 
 luncheon was to be ate to-day in public ! Champagne flowed freely. 
 The M.P. for Algoma proposed the health of the M.P. for Westmin- 
 ster, and the M.P. for Westminster had to propose prosperity to 
 Toronto, &c., &c. . . . 
 
 12th. What I am seeing here impresses me with a sense of the 
 great changes which are coming over society. Every man, woman, 
 and child can earn here much more than is necessary for food, lodg- 
 ing, and clothing, if they have fair health. The commonest labourer 
 will get 6 and 7 shillings a-day, and food is cheaper than it is in Eng- 
 land. The country appears healthy, but in one little town I visited 
 in the backwoods on Tuesday there were four doctors, all of whom 
 appeared to be living very comfortably. ... If it were not for the 
 different kind of houses they have, the distances between them, the
 
 120 LIFE OF W. II. SMITH. OT. 47. 
 
 very bad roads, some not paved or stoned at all, but simply the sand 
 and earth which has existed since the flood one would sometimes 
 imagine oneself at home. The people are very "English," live a 
 family life, conduct their religious services exactly as we do, dress as 
 we do, and with one or two additions to the course, they eat and 
 drink as we do. I am sure you would like them. 
 
 Monday, Sept. 16. Started at 7 A.M. by steamer for Montreal. 
 The banks of the river are very prettily wooded, and there are plenty 
 of wild-fowl about ; but the most curious feature at this season on 
 the Ottawa river is the rafts coming down from the interior. If they 
 are fortunate it takes them 2 months from the time they start be- 
 fore they arrive at Quebec, and the distances traversed by mighty 
 rivers in America can be realised when it is considered that these 
 rafts go floating on night and day with the stream for all this long 
 time. The people live on them in little wooden houses, and they 
 have generally a flag hoisted. . . . 
 
 At St Ann's encountered the famous rapids which gave birth to the 
 Canadian boat-song. A fine morning changed into rain here, and I 
 could only console myself by talking to backwoodsmen about their 
 hard but healthy life 
 
 We noticed that at the point where the Ottawa flows into the St 
 Lawrence the waters do not mix but flow on side by side, the Ottawa 
 dark brown, the St Lawrence bright green. Arrived at Montreal at 
 6.30 P.M. 
 
 Thursday, Sept. 19. Mr P., superintendent of schools, called for 
 me at 8.30 to take me the round of .the schools. I saw one opened 
 at 9, of 700 boys, by simply reading a chapter and repeating the 
 Lord's Prayer. The boys were of all ranks some gentlemen's sons, 
 some without shoes or stockings and yet the discipline appeared to 
 be most perfect. The head-master, one assistant, and sometimes two, 
 are men. All the other teachers are women, and they appear to be 
 really accomplished ladies, some of them quite young and good-look- 
 ing. I visited two of the large schools. ... I also visited numerous 
 libraries, Athenaeums, societies, and wound up with a careful look 
 into the Boston system of giving relief to the poor. 
 
 I have been going about seeing everything I can in the shape of 
 schools, charities, and public buildings, until my eyes ache, and both 
 my ears and my tongue are tired. . . . There is much to learn, to 
 see, to appreciate, and I may never have another chance, and so I 
 want to absorb all I can. 
 
 Friday, Sept. 20. Schools again, this time in very poor smelly 
 quarters, but the children for the most part come regularly. To the 
 High School for girls. It almost took my breath away to see girls 
 from 15 to 19, some hundreds of them, studying at work which was 
 beyond me. Some of them looked wan and dragged. None looked 
 fresh, like healthy English girls, and as I was asked to say a few 
 words, I told them English girls lived more in the open air than they 
 did, and I hinted pretty broadly that I thought they would be the 
 better for more fresh air and exercise, and a little less work. It was 
 confessed that the effect of this high training was to overstock the 
 market for teachers. . . .
 
 A.D. 1872.] AMERICAN JOURNAL. 121 
 
 The record of one day is very much like that of another : 
 this was no mere pleasure trip, but hard work from morning 
 to night schools, colleges, prisons, workmen's dwellings, 
 charities, churches, hanks, commercial houses, interviews 
 with public men and merchants, took up all the time. 
 
 From New York Smith went to Albany, thence returned 
 to Toronto, Niagara, and started on September 27 for the 
 Far West. He arrived at Chicago on Sunday 29th, and 
 noted that it was 
 
 the place that has had the biggest fire that ever was known. It 
 burnt an area covered with houses 5 miles long by 3 wide. 
 
 . . . The landlord of the hotel in which I stay had his house 
 burnt, and while the fire still raged he calculated from the course it 
 was taking that another large hotel would not be burnt. He went 
 to the owner, and then and there bought it. No doubt he parted 
 with it believing it would be burnt, but the fire stopped the next 
 day on the other side of the street, where some houses had been 
 blown up by gunpowder, and this is the house in which I am staying. 
 When the fire was out the seller wanted to get off the bargain, but 
 my landlord insisted on it, and gained the point. There are 16 huge 
 hotels now building in the city, which will lodge 7000 people. 
 
 All wooden houses are to be moved beyond what are called the 
 fire-limits of the city, and I saw one going down the street to-day on 
 rollers to its new location. 
 
 It would be quite impossible in England, and would have been 
 taken down to be rebuilt, but it is a business here to move houses as 
 we move furniture. I visited the water-works, which were burnt, 
 but at work again in a week. Fancy a city with the gas and water 
 works all burnt in one night ! 
 
 More corn and more pigs than in any other place I have ever seen ; 
 but I did not see one child at play, or one face without marks of care, 
 anxiety, and excitement the police only excepted, and they took 
 life easily. 
 
 Wednesday, Oct. 2. In the morning I found the hotel-car " West- 
 minister" was attached to our train, and so I had the pleasure of 
 breakfasting in Westminster before I crossed the Missouri on another 
 fine iron bridge, which was only completed this year, to Omaha in 
 the State of Nebraska. Here we changed into the Union Pacific 
 Company carriages, in which we were to pass three days and two nights. 
 
 There was another Mr Smith in the train, going to New Zealand 
 through San Francisco, and as the conductor was charged to be 
 specially careful of Mr Smith, he wished to know which of us it was 
 who could not take care of himself. I rejoiced in avowing my weak- 
 ness ! . . . Our pace from Omaha was not great, averaging less than 
 20 miles an hour, including stoppages. 
 
 Thursday, Oct. 3. We woke up on the borders of the desert to a
 
 122 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. OT. 47. 
 
 most lovely sunrise. Every hue that can be imagined in the sky, 
 and the earth in the dim light, as like the sea in a calm as can well 
 be imagined. 
 
 Bc-o-wa-e (?), Nevada, Oct. 5. We are passing through wonderful 
 scenery for the last two days it has been one prolonged pass, rivers 
 on one side, mountains close on the other ; oases here and there of 
 great loveliness, but generally utter wild barrenness ; and yet there 
 are human beings who, with millions of fertile acres lying waste, seem 
 to prefer this savage and grand solitude. 
 
 Plains again more alkali, more dust, more sage-brush, but no grass. 
 Still there are inhabitants, probably looking for silver and gold rather 
 than wheat or cattle. The Indians now appeared, and they were not 
 beautiful to look at. The men looked lazy, well fed and clothed, 
 with very black eyes and hair, but one-half of their faces covered with 
 vermilion ; the women dirty and miserable to a degree hardly human. 
 
 Oct. 6. Daylight broke upon us in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, 
 and here was magnificent scenery mountains of granite raising their 
 heads to the sky, with patches of snow here and there, and covered 
 up to the snow with magnificent pine. The summit station is 7200 
 feet above the sea, and we had forty-three miles of snow-sheds to pass 
 through before we reached the lower country. Unfortunately these 
 snow-sheds shut out much of the view, which, when we caught it, was 
 more like the Italian side of the Alps than anything I had seen in 
 America. 
 
 San Francisco, Oct. 7. How delightful to be still to have been in 
 bed to have had a bath not to hear the whir, whir, whir of the 
 train, or to feel the tremendous motion under one's feet ! . . . I pre- 
 sented my letters. The talk was of wheat, of diamonds, and of gold. 
 Why won't you believe we are the richest people under the sun ? I 
 politely believe my friend, but he is angry because all my friends do 
 not understand it. I looked on the water right away seaward towards 
 China, Japan, and Australia, and the sea broke on those rocks with 
 the same thud and spray as those waves nearer at home, of which I 
 was reminded. But for the sands close at hand, I might have closed 
 my eyes, dreamt, and opened them on Devonshire rocks. The trade- 
 wind brought its mist with it at 5 o'clock, and we drove along the 
 firm sand while the sun went down in the richest red glory I have 
 seen for years. It seemed to mark the sea with blood and it might 
 have been, for we passed the wrecks of two old ships deeply bedded 
 in the sand of gallant ships which had been. It was dark when we 
 got home. And after dinner I walked to the Chinese quarter of the 
 town. There are 25,000 Chinese here, and they live almost as com- 
 pletely, in a quarter by themselves as if they were in Canton. . . . 
 
 On October 9, Smith started with some American friends 
 for the Yosemite Valley, a region so thoroughly well known 
 from the accounts given by innumerable tourists, that quo- 
 tation from his minute description of the scenery may be 
 dispensed with. Returning on the 16th from Merced
 
 A. D. 1872.] AMERICAN JOURNAL. 123 
 
 A seven hours' railway journey takes us back to San Francisco, and 
 I stand on the platform of the train as we approach it, and open my 
 mouth wide to draw in the fresh cool breeze the trade-wind sends off 
 the sea. If you want to be grateful for fresh air, shut yourself up in 
 a large oven for a week, and provide a constant supply of the most 
 minute dust, which, after stopping up your nose, insists upon being 
 taken into your lungs through the mouth, and into the stomach as 
 well. The Yosemite is very lovely, very grand, but, as Mrs Cass said 
 to me, I say, I won't advise any lady to go there until after I have 
 forgotten the journey to it. ... 
 
 October 20. I part with my friends at Ogden, promising to meet 
 in New York ; they proceed east, I diverge a little south to Salt Lake 
 City, the capital of Mormondom. I went to the Tabernacle to morn- 
 ing service mid-day I should say. It is a very large, plain building, 
 holding 6000 people, the roof supported without a pillar or buttress, 
 of great span, resembling an inverted dish-cover. The organ is a 
 very fine one, built on the spot. There is a sort of low Exeter Hall 
 Orchestra raised step by step, one level behind the other. 
 
 There were three pulpits or stands, one on each step or stage, and 
 the preacher, Orson Pratt, took his place at the middle one. His 
 text was from the Word of God as revealed to Joseph Smith, page 
 so-and-so, on the 27th December 1832, and he read it. He said the 
 Latter-Day Saints believed the Bible which he had, the Revelations 
 to Joseph Smith, and the Book of Mormon, each and all, one as much 
 as the other, and he went on to a defence of polygamy on the grounds 
 that under the Old Testament dispensation it was permitted, and also 
 that as other Christians permitted widowers to marry again, and they 
 might therefore have two or three wives in heaven, it was certainly 
 right to have two or three on earth. Much more was said which I 
 shall not repeat, but the congregation received it all. 
 
 While the singing and preaching proceeded, bread and water were 
 partaken by the members as a sacrament. I never saw such women 
 as in that place, so plain, so vacant-looking, or so superstitious. Poor 
 creatures ! The system is described by those who have courage as a 
 hell upon earth ; and although the ground bears fruit and the valley 
 teems with produce, the human beings who have adopted the so- 
 called religion look either half-crazed or entirely knavish. 
 
 A meeting of Gentiles against Mormonism was held last Thursday 
 in the streets. It was the first open meeting. Threats had been 
 uttered that it would be broken up, and the chairman announced 
 that the first person disturbing the meeting would be shot. It was 
 known there was a body of men armed, prepared to obey his orders, 
 and so everything passed off peaceably. 
 
 I spent the evening quietly in my room. There was not much to 
 choose between the countenances of the Gentile miners who are at- 
 tracted to Salt Lake by the silver-mines near and those of the Mor- 
 mons. A stranger unarmed is perfectly safe. If you want to incur 
 danger show a six-shooter revolver, and instantly every man will 
 produce and cock his weapon. By the way, highway robbers are 
 called road-agents in these parts. Robbers is an offensive term. 
 And so two road-agents relieved the stage last week of the trouble
 
 124 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. [r. 47. 
 
 of carrying some bullion from the mines near Virginia City to 
 liens. . . . 
 
 Tuesday, Oct. 22. I have become quite intimate with my English 
 and Canadian friends in the next car the captain of H.M.S. Sparrow- 
 hawk, and Mr Fleming, the leader of the Canadian-Pacific Railway 
 exploring expedition. 
 
 They rode across the continent to the Pacific in two months, 
 averaging 40 miles a-day exclusive of Sundays, and this strong 
 exercise kept up for so long a time has made Mr Fleming apprehen- 
 sive lest a week on the railway should upset the health of his party, 
 one following directly on the other. He therefore orders all out 
 whenever the train stops, and every man runs for exercise in a man- 
 ner which alarms and amazes the Americans, who never make any 
 exertion which they can avoid. Captain Ross or Royds of the Spar- 
 rowhawk is a very heavy man, and he offered to carry the doctor of 
 the expedition, also a heavy man, 50 yards on his back, while a young 
 active fellow was running 100 yards, and to beat him. We had this 
 race on the summit level of the Rocky Mountains at Sherman, 8200 
 feet up. I had arranged with the conductor to keep the train a few 
 minutes longer for the purpose, and I was the starter. The fun was 
 very great : the Captain came in first with his load quite easily, but 
 running very fast. We then had another race of 100 yards between 
 three young fellows ; and after that the whole party played leap-frog 
 one over the other, each man giving his back in turn. 
 
 I don't know whether I laughed more at the fun itself than at the 
 surprise, the amazement, of the passengers in the train and the em- 
 ployees of the railway. They could hardly laugh. The exertion was 
 so utterly unnecessary. When I returned to the cars I was amused 
 at the reception I had something between pity and " We really can't 
 understand what sort of people you are. " One man said to me, " You 
 English always will be boys." I said, "Yes, to the very last." 
 
 I parted with my friends at Cheyenne, and took the train south- 
 wards to Denvir City, a new town at the foot of the mountains in 
 Colorado, which is now a great mining district. 
 
 I discussed Indian troubles with an American officer on the road, 
 and learnt that departments hi America are as dilatory, as weak, and 
 as obnoxious to those who serve under them in the New World as 
 they are hi the Old. . . . 
 
 Wednesday, Oct. 23. Nothing but rolling prairie for miles and 
 miles. Everybody is looking for the buffalo, and we saw many, alive 
 and dead. They are certainly grand animals, and it seems cruel to 
 shoot them simply for the pleasure of hunting, without using the 
 meat. 1 We saw antelopes, prairie-hens, and wild turkeys in great 
 
 1 This noble animal is now extinct, save for a small herd preserved 
 in the Yosemite Park. Twenty years ago it existed in migratory 
 herds of countless thousands ; but the combined avarice and cruelty 
 of man, aided by repeating-rifles, has prevailed to destroy the species 
 off the face of the earth. The bisection of the buffalo prairies by the 
 Canadian-Pacific Railway no doubt contributed to extermination, for 
 it interfered with the annual migration of the herds. Buffaloes have
 
 A.D. 1872.] AMERICAN JOURNAL. 125 
 
 numbers ; but for the first 300 miles every station at which we 
 stopped for water there were no passengers was protected by one 
 or two soldiers, who had formed for themselves a sort of underground 
 miniature fortress. The winds here are so tremendous, when they 
 blow over the prairie, that men are glad to excavate, dig out the 
 earth, and form a habitation which cannot be blown away. We looked 
 into one of these underground huts, of which walls, roof, and every- 
 thing were earth, and although it was very rough, it showed the 
 occupier was well-to-do. There was a profusion of firearms, saddles, 
 &c., and one or two large American trunks, holding clothes, &c. 
 
 Towards afternoon a tree or two became visible, and we approached 
 a small stream of water. Then large herds of cattle, some three or 
 four thousand in a herd, took the place of buffalo, and wooden shan- 
 ties became almost frequent. At 10 P.M. I arrived at Junction City, 
 where I had to leave the Pacific train in order to go south to Emporia. 
 The names are great, and the laying out of streets implies great ex- 
 pectations ; but at present backwood cities do not come up to the 
 Old World ideas of what constitutes cities. Here and there a brick- 
 and-stone house, a clay -built one, thirty or forty wooden shanties, 
 and a good many open spaces covered with weeds, and there is the 
 city before you. But there is always a milliner or two to be found, 
 several lawyers, a dry-goods store, and a schoolhouse. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 1873-1874. 
 
 The first Administration of Mr Gladstone now entered 
 upon its fifth year of existence with the shadow of unpopu- 
 larity deepening on its course. So many apprehensions 
 had been aroused, such powerful interests harassed, that it 
 might have seemed to Ministers that their only chance of 
 conducting affairs towards the natural term of the Parlia- 
 ment lay in avoiding sensational enterprise in legislation 
 and in allaying rather than rousing opposition. 
 
 Aliter visum ! In a fatal hour for the Government the 
 
 been known to destroy themselves by charging a railway train in 
 blind fury. At the present day the only traces left of them are piles 
 of whitening bones and horns.
 
 126 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. |>T. 48. 
 
 Prime Minister plunged once more into the troubled tide of 
 Irish politics. Already he had prevailed to destroy the 
 Irish Church and revolutionise the tenure of Irish landed 
 property; there remained a third question, the settlement 
 of which he had in his electioneering speeches of 1868 de- 
 clared to be essential to the conciliation of Irish disaffection. 
 Perhaps in doing so he had yielded to the temptation, irre- 
 sistible to less experienced orators, of casting rhetoric in a 
 triple mould : it is difficult to assign any other reason for 
 his having discovered in the state of Irish University Edu- 
 cation a grievance more crying than the irreconcilable vari- 
 ance of the Protestant and Eoman Catholic Churches in 
 temporal matters. Although he can hardly have calculated 
 on the complexity and multiplicity of opposition which 
 was to be called into existence by the mere mention of this 
 question in the Queen's Speech, it has ever been a charac- 
 teristic of this remarkable statesman never to be so happy 
 as when dragging hesitating and even reluctant followers 
 through the turmoil of parliamentary war to an issue which 
 they would fain avoid. 
 
 Such was the task he undertook in tabling his Irish 
 University Bill. The event proved that in essaying to 
 satisfy the claims of the Irish Roman Catholic clergy with- 
 out rousing alarm among his Protestant and Nonconformist 
 supporters in all three kingdoms, he had put his hand to a 
 work beyond his power to accomplish. 
 
 There is no need to dwell on what turned out to be an 
 abortive plan : enough to say that though the design was so 
 complete and elaborate as to command admiration for its 
 author, long before the day fixed for the Second Reading it 
 had become clear that Ministerialists were sharply divided 
 on its policy. Professor Henry Fawcett 1 led the Opposition 
 
 1 Postmaster-General in Mr Gladstone's second Administration, 
 1880-84.
 
 A.D. 1873.] DISRAELI DECLINES TO TAKE OFFICE. 127 
 
 against the biD, and was followed on the same side by Dr 
 Lyon Playfair 1 and Mr Horsman. As the debate proceeded, 
 the Government betrayed their weakness by offering to leave 
 several important points as open questions to be settled 
 in Committee, but that was a stage which this ill-starred 
 measure was destined never to reach. It was thrown out 
 on Second Beading by a majority of 3 287 votes to 284. 
 
 In consequence of this defeat the Government resigned, 
 but as Disraeli declined attempting to form a Cabinet, the 
 opinion went abroad that the only way out of the dilemma 
 was an appeal to the constituencies. A singular feature of 
 the situation was the promulgation by the rival leaders of 
 the reasons inducing each to adopt the course he did, by 
 means of letters addressed to the Sovereign. Mr Gladstone 
 in his letter contended warmly that an Opposition which 
 had overthrown a Government was bound to attempt the 
 administration of affairs, a view which Mr Disraeli in his 
 letter firmly repudiated. This correspondence formed the 
 subject of debate in the House of Commons, in the course 
 of which Mr Gladstone announced that the Government had 
 resumed its functions, and Ministers had returned to their 
 Departments. 
 
 Under these conditions matters settled down again, and 
 there was little more excitement within the walls of Parlia- 
 ment during the rest of that session. Smith's name will 
 be found in the annals of Hansard associated with various 
 educational and metropolitan objects of discussion. He 
 moved resolutions condemning the schemes promulgated for 
 the management of the Greycoat School and Guy's Hospital, 
 and called attention to some anomalies in the incidence of 
 local taxation. But the most important action which he took 
 
 1 Afterwards Postmaster- General in 1873-74, Chairman of Ways 
 and Means, 1880-83, and Vice-President of the Committee of Council 
 on Education in 1886 ; created Baron Playfair in 1892.
 
 128 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. [-BT. 48. 
 
 was in regard to the Budget resolutions. The Chancellor of 
 the Exchequer had a surplus, but it had been in great part 
 forestalled by the award of the Alabama Commissioners, under 
 which this country had been adjudged to pay an indemnity 
 of ,3,200,000. Half of this sum was to be paid during the 
 current year, the sugar-duties were to be remitted, and a 
 penny was to be taken off the income-tax. Smith's amend- 
 ment was to the effect that, before remitting indirect taxation 
 by the remission of the sugar-duty, the House ought to be 
 in possession of the views of the Government as to the ad- 
 justment of local and imperial taxation. 
 
 The Government have been urged to exempt altogether from 
 Income-tax the first 150 of everybody's income, and I believe that 
 that course will, if the Government are bent upon touching the 
 Income-tax at all, be much better than the course which they have 
 adopted. A justification might be found for that course, for there 
 is a large class among the artisans and labourers in this country who 
 are earning 150 a-year, and are not [only not paying Income-tax, 
 but whom it will be impossible, or if possible, very undesirable, to 
 compel to pay. I will venture to ask the House what the policy of 
 the Budget really is. The policy of the Budget is to swallow up 
 every farthing of surplus which can exist this year and next year. 
 The policy of the Budget is to deprive the House of Commons of 
 dealing with a question [Local and Imperial Taxation] which it has 
 already decided to be of very grave and serious import to the tax- 
 payers of the country. The policy of the Budget is, I venture to 
 think, to embarrass the hands of any right honourable member who 
 may next year or the year after stand in the position now occupied 
 by the Chancellor of the Exchequer. 
 
 The general tenor of his complaint against the financial 
 proposals of the Government was that, while giving relief 
 where it was not wanted, they did nothing to remedy an ad- 
 mitted grievance. Mr Lowe with great warmth resisted the 
 amendment, which he referred to as " a crowning insult " ; 
 but judging from comments on the debate in Ministerialist 
 journals, he earned little gratitude outside the House for 
 his exposition of the principles on which he had framed his 
 Budget. The matter dropped, and the session moved un- 
 eventfully to its close.
 
 A.D. 1873.] INCREASING BITTEKNESS IN POLITICS. 129 
 
 But if Ministers succeeded in holding their own in Par- 
 liament, the omens in the country were sinister. Since 
 1869 nine seats, all vacated by various Ministers appointed 
 to permanent places or removed to the House of Lords, had 
 "been captured by Conservatives ; six more had fallen into 
 the hands of the enemy during 1873 ; and against this 
 category of calamity the Liberals could only reckon gains at 
 Bath and Truro. There were known to be grievous dissen- 
 sions among Ministers themselves : Mr Baxter resigned the 
 Secretaryship of the Treasury because he could not agree 
 with the Chancellor of the Exchequer (Mr Lowe) ; Mr Lowe 
 was removed from the Treasury and appointed Home Sec- 
 retary ; and Lord Bipon and Mr Childers both resigned office. 
 
 All this, of course, was watched with satisfaction by the 
 Conservatives, who were biding their time ; but they too 
 were not without chill tremors of apprehension, arising from 
 the adverse effect on their prospects which secret voting 
 might have in a general election. Those in possession of 
 what are described, with somewhat grim humour, as the 
 " sweets of office " were far from happy, while their op- 
 ponents were weighed down by the prospect of worse 
 things which might come to pass. 
 
 Perhaps it is to this sense of uneasiness that must be 
 traced the beginning of that sharper acerbity and scanter 
 courtesy to opponents Avhich of late years has characterised 
 party politics. There was plenty of hard fighting in the 
 days when the House of Commons was spoken of as the 
 best club in London ; but a chivalrous understanding pre- 
 vailed between the two parties ; debates and divisions were 
 arranged to suit mutual convenience ; to snap a division on 
 a great question in the dinner-hour would have been re- 
 garded as a positive breach of good-breeding. How greatly 
 things are changed now many a weary member can sorrow- 
 fully testify.
 
 130 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. [JST. 48. 
 
 Perhaps the discredit for the first disregard of these un- 
 written laws may be laid to the door of the Conservative 
 party. It had been an immemorial custom with the Oppo- 
 sition of the day not to oppose Ministers seeking re-election 
 on taking office. Elated by their success at many by-elec- 
 tions, and anxious to score another win, the organisers of 
 the Tory party determined to oppose Sir Henry James at 
 Taunton on his appointment as Solicitor-General. They 
 failed to oust him, but a bad precedent had been set, which 
 in subsequent years has been the reverse of satisfactory in 
 its effects. 
 
 In the autumn of this year Disraeli chose to address a 
 letter on public affairs to Lord Grey de Wilton, in which 
 he spoke of the Government in terms which gave deep 
 offence to many of his own party. "Writing to his friend, 
 Mr Ford, on October 11, Smith passed the following melan- 
 choly comment on the incident : 
 
 Disraeli has ruined himself, and rendered reconstruction of parties 
 a new choice of leaders almost inevitable. I was going to speak 
 at a dinner at Hertford on Thursday next, but I have begged off. 
 I have no heart for it now, and I don't want to talk. 
 
 In the autumn of 1873 Smith found himself, much 
 against his will, committed to a second contest for re- 
 election to the London School Board. He expressed a 
 strong desire to retire, but his supporters would not hear of 
 it. Indeed his partner, Mr Lethbridge, was waited on to 
 induce him to persuade Smith to accept the Chairmanship 
 of the new Board. " That," said Mr Lethbridge, " Mr 
 Smith will not do, if I know anything of him at all" 
 Writing to his wife on this subject on December 2, he 
 says : " I said positively that nothing would induce me to 
 take it [the Chairmanship] permanently, and my friends 
 gave way, and I think I shall escape being nominated." 
 
 In spite of the general disfavour into which Ministers
 
 A.D. 1874.] DISSOLUTION OF PARLIAMENT. 131 
 
 had fallen, and the discouragement with which Mr Glad- 
 stone's Cabinet had to contend, the year 1874 opened upon 
 a kingdom pervaded with general apathy in regard to politi- 
 cal parties. There was no apparent reason why the Parlia- 
 ment should not run on to its full term, and no anxiety on 
 the part of the Opposition to challenge a direct issue with a 
 Government commanding a majority of 90 in the House of 
 Commons. People were still finding it so profitable to 
 attend to their own business, that they showed little con- 
 cern about the course of public affairs. Parliament had 
 been summoned to meet on February 5, but on January 
 24 there appeared a manifesto addressed by Mr Gladstone 
 to his constituents in Greenwich, in which, after referring 
 to the course of events in the previous session, he announced 
 the desire of the Government "to pass from a state of 
 things thus fitful and casual to one in which the nation will 
 have full opportunity of expressing will and choice as be- 
 tween the political parties." He rested the claims of the 
 Liberal party to a renewal of confidence partly on their past 
 performances, and partly on their intention of totally abolish- 
 ing the Income-Tax and relieving local taxation the very 
 points which Smith had urged in his speech on the last 
 Budget. He further indicated an intention of assimilating 
 the franchise in the counties to that in the boroughs. 
 
 The challenge, thus passionately and impulsively thrown 
 down, was promptly accepted by the Tory champion. 
 "Generally speaking," ran one sentence in Mr Disraeli's 
 counterblast 
 
 Generally speaking, I should say of the Administration of the last 
 five years, that it would have been better for all of us if there had 
 been a little more energy in our foreign policy, and a little less in our 
 domestic legislation. 
 
 Tbje state of parties in Westminster was considered to be 
 more favourable to the Conservatives than it had been in
 
 132 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. [J*?r. 48. 
 
 1868, and this impression was undoubtedly owing, in a 
 very large degree, to the hold Smith had obtained on the 
 confidence and respect of those whom he represented in 
 Parliament. Still, no one could foretell the result of house- 
 hold franchise exercised under secrecy of the ballot. If, as 
 was loudly claimed by the Liberal party managers, the 
 effect of the Ballot Act was to be the release of the artisan 
 and labouring classes from the alleged oppressive influence 
 and constraint of their employers, who were mainly Conser- 
 vative, there could not fail to be seen, in a constituency 
 like "Westminster, a heavy addition to the Liberal poll ; and 
 that this was the genuine faith and expectation of Mr Glad- 
 stone's colleagues had been abundantly shown by their ex- 
 treme impatience to abolish the immemorial custom of open 
 voting. Consequently, there was some hesitation on the 
 part of the "Westminster Conservatives to run more than 
 one candidate for the two seats. Smith, standing alone, 
 might be reckoned fairly secure of being returned ; indeed, 
 there came from the Liberals what was tantamount to an 
 understanding that the representation should be divided by 
 the unopposed return of Mr Smith for the Conservatives 
 and Sir T. Fowell Buxton for the Liberals. But Smith 
 himself could be brought to accept no such compromise, 
 and it was in consequence of his strong and repeated per- 
 suasion that Sir Charles Eussell agreed to come forward as 
 his colleague. 
 
 It was a bold and, as many thought, a hazardous enter- 
 prise to jeopardise the certainty of keeping one seat in order 
 to have the chance of winning both, for "Westminster had 
 been for generations part of the patrimony of the Whigs ; 
 but nobly did the ancient borough respond to the confidence 
 of its young member. 
 
 In his address to the electors, this time Smith anade 
 no allusion to Liberal-Conservativism : half-a-dozen years of
 
 A.D. 1874.] THE GENERAL ELECTION. 133 
 
 active political life had not been without effect in accentuat- 
 ing his political views, and his common-sense had led him to 
 realise how vain, if a man is to let his influence be felt, 
 must be all profession of independence of parliamentary 
 leadership. He now stood as an avowed member of the 
 Conservative party. 
 
 In concert with my political friends [ran one paragraph] I have 
 deprecated, and should continue to deprecate, great organic changes 
 in submission to the clamour of professional agitators, who aim at 
 destruction rather than reform. There is, in my judgment, ample 
 work for the energies of Parliament, without embarking upon great 
 constitutional changes which are not desired by the people. 
 
 The result of this, the first general election under the 
 ballot, came as a welcome surprise to the Conservatives as 
 an unlooked-for discouragement to their opponents. A 
 minority of 90 in the old Parliament was converted into 
 a majority of 50 in the new House of Commons, and no 
 part of the kingdom contributed to this result in a pro- 
 portion equal to the metropolis. In the deceased Parlia- 
 ment Mr Disraeli had been able, out of the twenty metro- 
 politan seats, to reckon but two as held by his followers ; 
 in the new one the representation was equally divided 
 between Conservatives and Liberals. The verdict con- 
 demning the late Administration was given in Westminster 
 with startling emphasis. The Whig ' Spectator ' for Febru- 
 ary 7, 1874, admitted and explained the greatness of the 
 victory. 
 
 The most tremendous of the Tory victories is that at Westminster, 
 where the two Tory candidates, Mr W. H. Smith and Sir Charles 
 Russell, have been returned, the former by a vote of close upon two 
 to one, and that over a candidate supported by the whole strength of 
 the Licensed Victuallers and of the religious philanthropists, as well 
 as of the Liberal Party in general Sir Fowell Buxton. The return 
 is as follows : 
 
 Mr W. H. Smith (C) 9371 
 
 Sir Charles Russell (C) 8681 
 
 Sir T. F. Buxton (L) 4749 
 
 General Codrington (L) 3435
 
 134 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. [Jer. 48. 
 
 Now on the last occasion Mr W. H. Smith polled only 7648 votes, 
 which is much fewer than Sir Charles Russell has polled on this 
 occasion, while Captain Grosvenor polled 6584 votes, nearly two 
 thousand more than Sir Fowell Buxton polls now. This is Con- 
 servative reaction with a vengeance ! 
 
 There was no getting over it. In 1868 Smith's success 
 had been accounted for by his opponents as the result of his 
 liberal expenditure of money there was no whisper of that 
 now. By the Ballot Act the working classes had been 
 freed alike from the oppressive dictation of employers and 
 the demoralising application of wealth, and here was the 
 use they had made of their freedom on the very first oppor- 
 tunity. A handsome acknowledgment of the fairness of 
 the conditions of battle came from one of the defeated can- 
 didates. 
 
 14 GROSVENOR CREST., Feb. 6, 1874. 
 
 DEAR MR SMITH, I must thank you for the courteous message 
 you sent me by Sir John Kennaway last night. I can assure you I 
 look back upon the late election with satisfaction on this ground, that 
 each side has appealed only to those higher issues, national and not 
 local or personal, which I am sure you feel with me ought alone to 
 guide the contests of parties. I remain, yours truly, 
 
 T. FOWELL BUXTON. 
 
 W. H. SMITH, Esq., M.P. 
 
 On Monday, February 16, Mr Gladstone's Cabinet met 
 to consider its defeat at the polls, and determine its 
 final act. The following day the Prime Minister laid 
 his resignation before the Queen at Windsor, who there- 
 upon summoned Mr Disraeli and charged him with the 
 duty of forming a Ministry. That statesman had been 
 justly credited with the faculty of discerning capacity 
 in new men : indeed, not long before the general election 
 he had observed in public that he "piqued himself on 
 recognising ability"; it was therefore a matter of common 
 expectation that among the new Ministers there would 
 be found more than one who had not previously filled
 
 A. D. 1874.] MR DISRAELI'S CABINET. 135 
 
 offices. But Disraeli's old chief, Lord Derby, had once 
 remarked that when an appointment was vacant he was 
 invariably urged to take in "new blood," and that, as 
 often as he followed this advice, he heard complaints 
 about "raw recruits." It must be the experience of 
 every Prime Minister that it is far easier to find new 
 men of capacity than to get rid of old colleagues ; con- 
 sequently, in Mr Disraeli's Cabinet of twelve, the only 
 new name which appeared was that of Mr Eichard 
 Assheton Cross, 1 who was appointed Secretary of State 
 for the Home Department. The reappearance in eleven 
 out of twelve of the great parts of actors whose services 
 had in former years been secured by the great impresario, 
 set at rest a great deal of speculation and some appre- 
 hension. Disraeli, though he had convinced people of 
 his ability for administration and dexterity as a parlia- 
 mentary leader, and though he was admitted to be the 
 only man in the House of Commons capable of con- 
 fronting Mr Gladstone, had at the same time failed to 
 secure the confidence of the entire Tory party. They 
 had followed him since the death of Lord Derby, not 
 because they trusted him, but because they feared Glad- 
 stone. The old country party had grave misgivings at 
 some of the things that had been said and done ; they 
 had not forgotten the "leap in the dark" of 1867, nor 
 forgiven the disasters in which it had landed them. The 
 statesman of whose attitude at this time most uncertainty 
 prevailed was the Marquis of Salisbury "the terrible 
 Marquis," as he was then called who, as Viscount 
 Cranborne, with the Earl of Carnarvon, had seceded 
 seven years before from Mr Disraeli's first Cabinet, on 
 the question of household suffrage in counties. "Would 
 Lord Salisbury and Lord Carnarvon go back to their 
 1 Created Viscount Cross, G.C.B., in 1886.
 
 136 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. |>T. 48. 
 
 old posts at the India Office and Colonial Office, or would 
 they remain outside the Government, a source of dis- 
 quiet and latent menace to any Administration which 
 the member for Buckinghamshire might collect together? 
 That was the question on the solution of which depended 
 the hopes and fears of the Conservative and Liberal 
 parties. "Was the Prime Minister to succeed in healing 
 old schisms, and take up the reins of power with a firm 
 hand and tolerably clear road before him, or was he 
 merely to put certain men into the offices at his disposal 
 and continue at the head of affairs till some fortuitous 
 combination of political sects should drive him from 
 place 1 
 
 The question was not long of settlement. Mr Glad- 
 stone resigned on Tuesday, February 18; on Friday 21, 
 the list, not only of the Cabinet, but of Ministers outside 
 the Cabinet, was complete. Lord Salisbury and Lord 
 Carnarvon were back at their old posts. No one could 
 suspect either of these two noblemen of having sunk 
 conscientious scruples to grasp any advantage that might 
 be gained from office : Lord Salisbury, especially, was 
 well known to be devoted to scientific and literary 
 occupation, and that he should have consented to destroy 
 his own leisure in order to take over the administration 
 of a department was accepted as a proof that an ex- 
 perienced statesman, absolutely independent of emolu- 
 ment and far above suspicion of selfish aims, recognised 
 Disraeli as his political leader, and was prepared to yield 
 him loyal support. 
 
 The result of the elections had been so decisive as 
 to enable Disraeli to anticipate Mr Gladstone's resignation 
 by preparing the way for this reconciliation of the wings 
 of the Tory party, and thus to the public and the press 
 there was afforded a period short almost beyond pre-
 
 A. D. 1874.] THE PRESS SUPPORTS SMITH. 137 
 
 cedent for discussing the process of Cabinet-making and 
 engendering the rumours which abound at such times. 
 The London papers had from the first fixed upon Smith 
 as one of the new men likely to be brought to the 
 front ; several of them were for placing him in the 
 Cabinet at once as Vice -President of the Council or 
 President of the Local Government Board, places sug- 
 gested by the part he had taken in discussions on edu- 
 cational matters and the reform of the Poor Laws. But 
 Disraeli knew him also as the head of a great and 
 successful commercial concern, and had early recognised 
 his fitness for another post. And here let it be said 
 that Smith's rise has sometimes been attributed to the 
 friendly notices of him which had, from his entry into 
 public life, appeared in newspapers of every shade of 
 politics, and the inference has been drawn that his 
 position as the leading newspaper agent contributed in 
 some measure to this display of favour by the press. 
 A paragraph from an article in the ' Spectator/ a Liberal 
 weekly journal of high standing, may tend to dispel this 
 impression : 
 
 We still hope earnestly for Mr Smith, the Member for West- 
 minster, as Vice-President, and we believe that hope would be very 
 loudly expressed indeed, but for a fact that it may be as well to deal 
 with at once. Mr W. H. Smith, though certain to rise some day, if 
 not now, into the Cabinet, has one extremely strong impediment in 
 his way. He is the greatest news-agent in the world, and the public 
 have a notion that he is always, and therefore, sure of newspaper 
 support. There never was a greater delusion. What he is sure of 
 is unnecessary neglect, a dead silence about his merits as a Member, 
 lest those who praise him should be suspected of wanting his goodwill. 
 He will find this a real obstacle in his career, a great impediment to 
 becoming known, and the fact may as well be stated plainly and at 
 once. The truth about him as a politician, however, is that he was 
 made for the Ministry of Education in a Conservative Ministry : that 
 he, and he only of the party, except poor Sir John Pakington, 1 pos- 
 sesses the needful knowledge, firmness, and moderation. 
 
 1 Sir John Pakington had lost his seat at the general election. He 
 was created Lord Hampton in 1874.
 
 138 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. [>r. 48. 
 
 This hope was not destined to fulfilment. Viscount 
 Sandon became Vice-President of the Council ; but there 
 was another post in the Ministry, requiring not less know- 
 ledge, firmness, and moderation than that of Minister of 
 Education, and, in addition, calling for business capacity in 
 a degree which might be more safely dispensed with in the 
 Privy Council Office. Into this post the Prime Minister, 
 with quick discernment, had already fitted his man ; accord- 
 ingly, forty-eight hours after Mr Gladstone had resigned 
 the seals of office, the office of Secretary to the Treasury 
 had been offered to and accepted by Smith. Probably 
 there never was a more admirable appointment made. 
 Upon the Financial Secretary of the Treasury devolves not 
 only the duty of receiving the Estimates from the various 
 Departments, whereby he is brought into constant com- 
 munication and consultation with all the executive heads, 
 and of bringing the Estimates into final form before presen- 
 tation to the House, but he is intimately concerned with 
 the financial policy of the Government, and responsible for 
 advice in guiding the Chancellor of the Exchequer in fram- 
 ing the Budget. Besides this, there devolves upon him the 
 arrangement of the Order-Book of the House of Commons, 
 and the task of keeping members on both sides in good 
 humour, the importance of which is not likely to be under- 
 valued when it is remembered how many excellent and 
 amiable schemes involving expense have to be met with a 
 firm but conciliatory " No ! " "With the single exception, 
 of late years, of the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant 
 of Ireland, there is no Minister, whether in or out of the 
 Cabinet, who has to get through such an amount of hard, 
 prolonged work as the Financial Secretary. 
 
 Nevertheless, admirably as Smith was qualified, by train- 
 ing, temperament, and business capacity, for this onerous 
 office, there were not wanting those who shrugged their
 
 A.D. 1874.] SECRETARY TO THE TREASURY. 139 
 
 shoulders and looked askance on this latest instance of 
 Disraeli's disposition to innovation. The author of ' Con- 
 ingsby' had not yet "educated" his party to the point 
 whence they could discern that the Tory party, if it was to 
 have its share in guiding the destiny of the kingdom, would 
 have to draw to it the confidence of other classes than that 
 which was "acred up to its chin," and the squirearchy 
 muttered unkind things about the Bookstall Man who was 
 thus brought into greater prominence than distinguished 
 class-men and persons of pedigree. On the whole, however, 
 the announcement of this appointment was well received ; 
 it was hailed with special favour by the great middle class, 
 and it is perhaps not generally recognised how great was 
 the direct influence it had in bringing them over to support 
 the Conservative party. 
 
 A few weeks later, Smith, writing to his old schoolfellow 
 and friend the Eev. William (now Canon) Ince of Christ 
 Church, says : 
 
 I am myself surprised at my position when I compare it with the 
 time to which you refer when we were hoth young together, and yet 
 I can say most confidently that I never set to work aiming at personal 
 advancement in the slightest degree. One circumstance has led to 
 another, and I have gradually found myself of more account in men's 
 eyes, simply from doing the work of the day as it presented itself 
 to me. 
 
 Smith found it necessary, on taking office, to give up a 
 part of the active share he had taken in philanthropic 
 schemes. Among others, he resigned his post as one of the 
 Treasurers of the Society for the Promotion of Christian 
 Knowledge, which he had held for seven years ; but he 
 remained Treasurer of the London Diocesan Council for 
 the Welfare of Young Men from its fcrandation until his 
 death.
 
 140 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. [*rr. 48. 
 
 CHAPTEE X. 
 
 1874-1876. 
 
 If the result of the general election had come as a sur- 
 prise, not less unexpected was its immediate effect upon the 
 Minister who was responsible for having brought it about. 
 Members of the Liberal Opposition were filled with dismay 
 one morning March 13, 1874 on taking up their news- 
 papers at the purport of a letter addressed by Mr Gladstone, 
 their leader in the House of Commons, to Lord Granville, 
 their leader in the House of Lords, in which he indicated 
 his approaching retirement from the leadership of his party. 
 
 Now Mr Gladstone was at that time but sixty-four, a 
 period of life certainly not beyond the normal limits of par- 
 liamentary activity, his health was understood to be unim- 
 paired, and the only construction to be placed upon this 
 precipitate act was that he was suffering from chagrin, if 
 not from pique, at the overthrow of his party. It cannot, 
 indeed, have been pleasant for him to reflect that, in dealing 
 with the Irish Church and in pressing the Ballot Act through 
 the House of Commons, he had, in order to secure support 
 for his party, thrown overboard principles which he had 
 cherished through many years of public life, and that, after 
 all this sacrifice, he had failed of his reward. Of course the 
 gain to Ministerialists was proportionate to the confusion 
 caused by this announcement in the ranks of their oppo- 
 nents. A leaderless Opposition is a transcendental state of 
 parties which a Prime Minister may see in his dreams, but 
 hardly ever hope to see realised. There was the more 
 reason for gratitude for this unlooked-for dispensation, be- 
 cause Ministers could not but be conscious that they came 
 on the boards without any very dazzling or seductive pro-
 
 A.D. 1871] WORK AT THE TREASURY. 141 
 
 gramme. The Chancellor of the Exchequer had inherited 
 a large surplus from his predecessors, and something might 
 be expected in the way of Income-Tax reduction and relief 
 of Local Taxation. But gratitude for relief from taxation 
 is altogether out of proportion to the unpopularity incurred 
 when it is necessary to increase it, and already the Opposi- 
 tion press was clamorous for a programme. Where are the 
 measures of the new Government? they asked, and made 
 reply themselves, that, like snakes in Ireland, there were 
 none. 
 
 But indeed the country was only too glad to be spared 
 fresh legislation of the heroic kind. Trade was active ; 
 prices were good ; to the farmers, if some of them had 
 already descried American competition in the offing, it 
 seemed no bigger than a man's hand. Nobody wanted 
 Ministers to devise an exciting programme of new laws. 
 Disraeli's tact was equal to the occasion : the Opposition 
 was downcast and perplexed, he was careful to give them 
 no point on which they could rally. The word was passed 
 along the Conservative benches that they were to treat their 
 opponents with forbearance no more taunts about " plun- 
 dering and blundering," no more recriminations, no chal- 
 lenges to fruitless trials of strength. 
 
 Smith settled steadily into harness at the Treasury. 
 Early training made those long office hours, which so 
 severely try the endurance of men brought up to habits of 
 country life and foreign travel, comparatively easy to him. 
 He had, however, to encounter one piece of bad luck, which 
 brought upon him a sharp rebuke from his leader. After a 
 long morning at the Treasury and some hours' attendance 
 in the House, the hard-worked Financial Secretary, seeing 
 matters going smoothly in the House, and reckoning on 
 the usual forbearance of the Opposition not to divide
 
 142 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. [>T. 48. 
 
 during the dinner-hour, went quietly home for an hour or 
 two in the evening. A snap division was taken, and the 
 Government was beaten. Next morning Smith received 
 
 the following reproof : 
 
 10 DOWNING STREET, WHITEHALL, 
 May 2, 1874. 
 
 Mr Disraeli presents his compliments to Mr W. H. Smith, aiid 
 much regrets to observe that he was absent on the division which 
 took place last evening at eight o'clk., on the motion of Mr Synan ; 
 on which occasion her Majesty's Government was, by reason of the 
 absence of its members, placed in a minority ; and he would beg leave 
 to point out how difficult it must become to carry on a Government 
 which cannot reckon on the attendance and support of its members. 
 
 To this the Secretary to the Treasury replied : 
 
 I have only two words to say with reference to your note of Satur- 
 day, and which I own was both just and necessary. I was excessively 
 annoyed at my absence from the Division, and I can fully enter into 
 your feelings of vexation. 
 
 If I had supposed it possible that a division could be taken, I should 
 have been in my place ; but I shall take very good care to avoid the 
 recurrence of such a mortification so long as I remain a member of 
 the Government. 
 
 In his immediate chief, Sir Stafford Northcote, Chan- 
 cellor of the Exchequer, Smith's lot was cast with one 
 with whom it was easy for him to work on terms of per- 
 fect accord. Sir Stafford was not less distinguished by 
 personal amiability than by capacity for financial business, 
 and the combination of these two qualities was present in 
 a remarkable degree in both these men. The lot which 
 brought them together in the same department formed the 
 foundation of an intimate friendship which lasted unim- 
 paired till the death of Northcote in 1887. 
 
 Smith passed the last day of 1874 at Bournemouth, 
 where Disraeli had summoned him to consult about the 
 business of the approaching session. Thence he wrote to 
 his wife : 
 
 BATH HOTEL, BOURNEMOUTH, Blst Dec. 1874. 
 
 I have a good fire in my bedroom, and a good sitting-room, 
 which I share with Mr Corry. Mr Disraeli came in to see me for a
 
 A.D. 1875.] WORK AT THE TREASURY. 143 
 
 few minutes, and to tell me there was another king in Europe a 
 King of Spain. He was very pleasant and cheerful. We are all to 
 dine together to-night Disraeli, the Lord Chancellor, and Northcote, 
 who has not yet come, having missed his train, poor fellow. To- 
 morrow I dine with Lord Cairns at his house. I have just called on 
 Lord Sandon. . . . 
 
 Jan. 1, 1875. 
 
 We had a pleasant party at dinner Lord Cairns, Northcote, Dizzy, 
 and Corry and I think the purpose for which I was asked to come 
 will be attained. At 11, when we parted, Disraeli said, "Well, we 
 have been holding a Cabinet Council, and we must meet again to- 
 morrow morning." I am expecting Lord Cairns and Northcote about 
 11 to go into details, and in the evening we dine together at Lord 
 Cairus's. ' 
 
 January is a busy month at the Treasury preparing for 
 the work in Parliament, and the busiest man in that de- 
 partment is always the Financial Secretary. 
 
 TREASURY, Jan. 12, 1875. 
 
 I travelled up very comfortably, and guards and station-master 
 were all very civil to Mr Smith, who seems to be too well-known. . . . 
 At Bristol I found Northcote in the tram. He was very cheery. To- 
 day I have seen Disraeli and Hunt. D. looks well and happy. ... I 
 am going now at 5 (or 6) to see Cross, and I shall have another hour 
 and a half before I leave. I am, I think, better less stiff. Work 
 agrees with me. 
 
 , Jan. 18. 
 
 I have had a busy day, commencing at 9.30 with G. at Hyde Park 
 St., and going on without cessation up to the present time, 6 P.M., 
 and I shall have at least another hour of it ; but much of the work is 
 very interesting, and so are the men who come to me. To-day, Sir 
 John Duffus Hardy, Dr Hooker, Mr Goulburn, Sir Geo. Elliot, Mr 
 Few, and a heap besides. 
 
 Jan. 14. 
 
 All well, but dirty, dull, depressing, damp, dyspeptic weather. 
 Everybody cross and grumpy except Cross. . . . The work accumu- 
 lates, but I think I am driving through it, and I shall be glad to get 
 down to you for a few days. 
 
 And now there came what seemed to be the fall of the 
 curtain on a remarkable public career. Shortly before the 
 meeting of Parliament for the session of 1875 a second 
 letter addressed by Mr Gladstone to Lord Granville ap- 
 peared in the newspapers, announcing that he could " see 
 no public advantage in my continuing to act as the leader
 
 1 44 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. [AT. 49. 
 
 of the Liberal party, and that at the age of sixty-five, and 
 after forty-two years of a laborious public life, I think my- 
 self entitled to retire on the present opportunity. This re- 
 tirement is dictated to me by my personal views as to the 
 best method of spending the closing years of my life." The 
 question was urgent, Who was to follow Mr Gladstone as 
 leader of the Liberal party ? If the journals of that day 
 are referred to, it will be seen that opinion was divided be- 
 tween Mr Forster, Mr Goschen, and Lord Hartington. A 
 meeting to decide on a choice was held at the Eeform Club 
 on February 3, which resulted in the election of Lord Hart- 
 ington to the leadership. 
 
 There was some heavy work to get through at the Treasury 
 in these days. A deficit of 700,000 was the result of a 
 scheme of a Sinking Fund for the gradual liquidation of 
 the National Debt, with which Sir Stafford Northcote's 
 name will for many years to come be associated. As 
 Northcote expressed himself in explaining his proposal to 
 the House 
 
 "I think we have arrived at a time when we may fairly say that, 
 having the means, we ought to devote some of our attention and 
 some of our wealth to a continuous effort to reduce the National 
 Debt." 
 
 Under this scheme the total charge to be provided annually 
 for the interest and redemption of the debt was fixed at 
 28,000,000, whereby the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
 calculated that in ten years 6,800,000 would be paid off; 
 in thirty years, 213,000,000. That it has proved a sound 
 and far-sighted proposal cannot now be disputed ; at the 
 same time it must be admitted that its weakness is the 
 temptation it leaves to every succeeding Finance Minister to 
 suspend the payment to the Sinking Fund in years of lean- 
 ness. It is so much easier to stop paying off debt than to 
 levy new taxes.
 
 A.D. 1875.] VISITS EDINBURGH AND DUBLIN. 145 
 
 The Budget was introduced on 15th April, and in moving 
 it Northcote paid a high compliment to the Financial Secre- 
 tary, alluding to the energy and capacity for business he had 
 shown in the examination of estimates submitted to the 
 Treasury, and acknowledging the care and ability with 
 which he had discharged his duties. 
 
 The best part of this session was taken up by lengthy 
 and angry discussions on the Peace Preservation Bill, 
 which the increasing disaffection and lawlessness of Ire- 
 land made it necessary to pass. Sir Stafford Northcote 
 carried his Act for the regulation of Friendly Societies, the 
 outcome of the Eeport of the Royal Commission ; and the 
 only other measure which calls for special notice as the 
 work of Mr Disraeli's Cabinet is the Agricultural Holdings 
 Act, for the purpose of giving the tenant better security for 
 capital invested by him in the soil. It was but a permis- 
 sive statute, but its acceptance by both Houses marked a 
 new departure in land legislation, by reason that it indorsed 
 a novel principle, the application of which has since been 
 made compulsory. 
 
 In December the Secretary to the Treasury paid an of- 
 ficial visit to Edinburgh and another to Dublin. As was 
 his invariable custom, he kept Mrs Smith informed of the 
 most minute details of his proceedings. 
 
 EDINBURGH, Dec. 2, 1875. 
 
 I have had a sort of levte. I dined last night with Sir James 
 Elphinstone, and this morning he breakfasted with me. Then came 
 the Lord Advocate and the Lord Clerk Register. At 11 I was carried 
 off to the Registry House and prosed to by Antiquarian Record- 
 keepers. After that the Lord Advocate carried me off to his offices, 
 and then I went to the Queen's and Lord Treasurer's Remembrancer. 
 I have seen the manager of two Banks doing Government business, 
 and now I am collecting myself by writing to you. I give a dinner 
 to-night to five heads of departments, at which Sandon will be 
 present. 
 
 DUBLIN, Dec. 5. 
 
 I telegraphed to you last night that we had reached Kingstown in 
 K
 
 146 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. [JET. 60. 
 
 safety. . . . We found wet snow in Dublin and frost in the Phoenix 
 Park. At the station Beach 1 met us. ... To-day we have been very 
 busy, and now, 5.30, I fairly confess I am tired. We called on the 
 Lord Lieutenant and have visited half-a-dozen public buildings, where 
 we were received by the several officials. Talking and standing for 
 six hours consecutively has fairly tired us all. To-morrow I dine 
 with the Lord Lieutenant, and on Thursday Beach has a dinner- 
 party. 
 
 Dec. 8. 
 
 Another busy day, and we Sandon, Beach, Donnelly, and I are 
 now at this moment consulting and settling the terms of transfer of 
 some of the large Institutions of Government. . . . S. , after dining 
 with the Irish " King," 2 will go down to Kingstown to sleep on board 
 the steamer and go across to-morrow morning early. I wish I could 
 go with him, but I have yet a great deal of work to do, and as much 
 as I shall get through during the next two days. 
 
 The session of 1876, Disraeli's last session in the House 
 of Commons, was opened by the Queen in person. The 
 question which had occupied the most anxious thoughts of 
 the Cabinet had been the proposed purchase by Great 
 Britain of the Khedive of Egypt's shares in the Suez 
 Canal, and Smith, though not in the Cabinet, was asked 
 to give his opinion from the Treasury point of view. This 
 he did in the form of a minute, expressing strong distrust 
 of the proposal that England should join the other Powers 
 in guarantee of the projected loan. 
 
 This was also the view taken by his chief, Sir Stafford 
 Northcote ; but other counsels prevailed, the transaction was 
 completed, and has proved to be a brilliantly successful 
 investment for the nation. 3 The .bill necessary to obtain 
 the money 4,080,000 was brought in by the Chancellor 
 of the Exchequer, and hotly opposed by two ex-Chancellors 
 Gladstone and Lowe. Northcote must have defended 
 
 1 The Right Hon. Sir Michael Hicks Beach, at that time Chief 
 Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. 
 
 2 Mr King Harman. 
 
 8 On June 16, 1893, a question was put in the House of Commons 
 to the Chancellor of the Exchequer (Sir W. Harcourt) as to the 
 present state of the account between this country and the vendors 
 of the Suez Canal shares. The reply of the right lion, gentleman was 
 an eloquent, though perhaps involuntary, tribute to the sagacity of
 
 A.D. 1876.] THE IRISH NATIONALISTS. 147 
 
 the policy of the bill with some misgiving and a good deal 
 of secret sympathy with the " Treasury minds " of its op- 
 ponents ; nevertheless, he did the work manfully, and when 
 Gladstone declared that to spend the money of the nation 
 in this way was " an unprecedented thing " " So is the 
 Canal," retorted Northcote. 
 
 More serious in its ultimate results was the organisation 
 and activity of the Home Rule party under Mr Butt, with 
 Messrs Parnell, Biggar, O'Donnell, and Callan as lieu- 
 tenants. Both the great parties united in resisting the 
 motion for Home Rule, and there was no difficulty in 
 throwing it out by a majority of more than four to one ; 
 but for the first time the Irish Nationalists showed a co- 
 hesion and power of debate, destined to make them the 
 formidable factor in Imperial politics which they have since 
 become. One of their number, Mr P. J. Smyth, enjoyed 
 a gift of eloquence which national fire and classical elegance 
 combined to distinguish beyond his colleagues ; and he used 
 it to some purpose, for the Government were placed in a 
 minority of 57 on his motion for closing Irish public-houses 
 on Sunday. 
 
 Left in London to finish up the work of the session when 
 his family went to Greenlands, Smith kept up the usual 
 constant correspondence with his wife : 
 
 HOUSE OF COMMONS, August 7. 
 
 One line, because it is pleasant to write to you, and to think a little 
 of home in the hurry and bustle of work. ... I am sitting at the 
 Table of the House listening to Northcote defending the Suez Canal 
 Bill. . . . 
 
 Lord Beaconsfield. It was made to the following effect : 
 
 Price paid in 1875 4,000,000. 
 
 Present value 17,750,000. 
 
 Amount of purchase-money now paid off . . 3,805,000. 
 
 Date at which we shall begin to draw dividend, July 1894. 
 Dividends payable during last three years, 17, 21, and 18 per cent. 
 Proportion of British tonnage to whole tonnage using Canal, 75 per 
 cent.
 
 148 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. [>T. 50. 
 
 August 10. 
 
 Everything went on well yesterday at the Whitebait Dinner ; both 
 Disraeli and the Lord Chancellor appeared and spoke. The evening 
 was most lovely, and the lights very pretty on the river ; no doubt 
 you are better off at Greenlands, but happily we can enjoy things as 
 they pass. 
 
 Smith spent part of September and October visiting ships 
 and dockyards with Mr Ward Hunt, First Lord of the Ad- 
 miralty ; and the repose at Greenlands which he so earnestly 
 longed for was further curtailed by work at the Treasury 
 during the autumn sittings of the Cabinet. 
 
 TREASURY, November 24. 
 
 I was very sorry to be obliged to run away from you, . . . but I 
 think it was my duty to come here, and the moment I arrived North- 
 cote sent for me and kept me discussing business for an hour. The 
 Cabinet then met, and they have adjourned without fixing any future 
 meeting, so that if I had not been here I should have been wanting in 
 some parts of my work. 
 
 November 28. 
 
 Another busy day, but each day's work now leaves less to be done, 
 and there is great satisfaction in getting through work. 
 
 Northcote goes away on Saturday, so I shall have much less to do 
 afterwards, as all talking with him will come to an end. 
 
 December 6. 
 
 I have had a busy day again, and have had several long interviews, 
 which have left me short time to write. Such a mixture of Post 
 Office, Revenue, Exchequer Bills, Foreign Affairs, Kew Gardens, S. 
 Kensington, Royal Society ! My mind is very like the cross readings 
 on a wall or a screen covered with scraps. 
 
 December 18. 
 
 I have been holding a levie to-day, or, as ladies would say, I have 
 " received," until at last I am tired of talking. I hope things look 
 peaceful, and at all events that we shall not be engaged in war. The 
 Cabinet are cheerful. 
 
 December 19. 
 
 I have been prowling about looking for presents, but I have not 
 satisfied myself yet. It really is difficult work. I am fearing I may 
 not be able to get down to-morrow night. ... I have had such a 
 stream of people here one after another, and so many difficulties to 
 smooth over, that I have not got on with my work as I hoped, and I 
 do not want to have a quantity sent down to me.
 
 A. D. 1876.] DISRAELI'S LAST SPEECH IN COMMONS. 149 
 
 I have been engaged incessantly up to this moment (6.40) by a suc- 
 cession of men and work, all wanting a last word or touch before 
 Christmas. ... I think I have bought everything excepting the 
 cane, but I shall come down laden with parcels like a Father to- 
 morrow. 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 1876-1878. 
 
 As the session of 1876 moved to a close, affairs began to 
 wear an unprosperous aspect for the Administration. The 
 Porte had been in difficulties with its subjects in Servia, 
 Montenegro, and Bulgaria, and in the repression of insur- 
 rection in the last-named country Turkish officials had 
 shown a ferocity which quickly awakened sympathy in this 
 country for the sufferers. Party politicians are ever on the 
 outlook for any occurrence, however remote, which may be 
 turned to the disadvantage of their opponents, and in the 
 Bulgarian atrocities Liberals were not slow to discern their 
 opportunity. Conservative policy had ever favoured the 
 strengthening of Turkey as a bulwark against the southward 
 advance of Russia, therefore the Conservative Government 
 must be called to account for the proceedings in Bulgaria. 
 Mr Evelyn Ashley took the opportunity afforded, according 
 to immemorial usage, by the Third Reading of the Appro- 
 priation Bill always the closing act of the session to call 
 attention to this matter, and it was in reply to him that 
 Mr Disraeli made his last speech in the House of Commons. 
 Next morning it was announced that ho had been sum- 
 moned to the House of Lords with the title of Earl of 
 Beaconsfield. 1 It had been known that his health had been 
 
 1 The secret had been well kept, for Disraeli loved coups de thtdtre. 
 Mr Evelyn Ashley happened to meet one of Disraeli's private sec-
 
 150 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. [xt. 50. 
 
 severely strained by the more arduous conditions under 
 which the House of Commons had begun to conduct its 
 proceedings, and no one was surprised that he had decided 
 to bring to a close his service of forty-three years as a mem- 
 ber of that House. His place as leader of the House of 
 Commons was taken by Sir Stafford Northcote. 
 
 The anti- Turkish agitation continued with great vehe- 
 mence during the autumn. Indignation meetings were held 
 in St James's Hall and in the country, urging the Govern- 
 ment to interpose on behalf of the oppressed nationalities. 
 
 On September 8, Smith wrote from Greenlands to the 
 Prime Minister : 
 
 DEAR LORD BEACONSFIELD, I cannot help saying I am very sorry 
 to have to address you in this way, but yet I am satisfied the step you 
 have taken was absolutely right and necessary, if we were to retain 
 your guidance and direction, for I am sure you could not have borne 
 the strain of another session in the House of Commons. 
 
 We shall, however, miss you very much, and the night will be dull 
 and triste without you. 
 
 To say this, however, was not my intention in writing. I was 
 asked to-day to go to a meeting at Slough to support Mr Fremantle, 
 but I thought it better not to go, as in the present critical condition 
 of affairs I could hardly have avoided reference to the East, and I do 
 not feel I have either the information or authority to speak. 
 
 In the present excited state of the public mind, one might easily 
 say too little to satisfy one's friends at home, and too much for the 
 difficult work in which the Foreign Office is engaged. 
 
 It is very possible I may be asked again, but I shall refrain unless I 
 have a hint from you. 
 
 If at any time you wish to see me, I can easily drive across the 
 country on receiving a note or a telegram ; but I am at the Treasury, 
 for the present, on Mondays and Thursdays. Believe me, yours very 
 truly, W. H. SMITH. 
 
 The EARL OP BEACONSFIBLD. 
 
 Perhaps precipitate folly and sagacious forbearance could 
 not be brought into sharper contrast than in the utterances 
 
 retaries, Mr J. Daly, on the morning after the debate, before the lat- 
 ter had seen the morning papers. " Well," said Mr Ashley, " you see 
 I drew your chief for his last speech in the House of Commons, and 
 he has had to take refuge in the Lords." It was the first intimation 
 received by Mr Daly of the intention of Disraeli.
 
 A. D. 1876.] ANTI-TURKISH AGITATION. 151 
 
 of two persons representing opposite views on this question. 
 " Perish our English interests," shrieked Mr Freeman in St 
 James's Hall, " and our dominion in India," rather than we 
 should protect the abomination of Turkish rule. Baroness 
 Burdett Coutts, on the other hand, than whom no individual 
 has ever shown wiser capacity for administering to the wants 
 of her fellow-creatures out of her opulence, wrote to excuse 
 herself from attending a meeting at the Guildhall on Sep- 
 tember 18, and employed words which, by their dignity and 
 thoughtfulness, deserve a high place in political literature. 
 
 If the voice of England be potential and can influence the world's 
 destiny, such a consideration should make us very careful as to how 
 far and for what definite results the voice of the people shall be raised. 
 As one of them, I feel the responsibility which rests upon us very 
 strongly. Naturally, as a woman, I must be timid as to the result of 
 this great agitation. I earnestly pray that in the measures taken to 
 alleviate distress we may be calmly led, and not increase, rather than 
 diminish, the distress of nations by urging on the Government an 
 amount of interference better calculated, perhaps, to light than to ex- 
 tinguish a firebrand a firebrand which may pass far beyond Europe, 
 or might even come near our own dear shores. 
 
 Mr Gladstone, who in taking part in the debates on 
 Eastern affairs had maintained an attitude generally favour- 
 able to Lord Derby's Eastern policy, and had undertaken a 
 defence of the policy which led to the Crimean War, sud- 
 denly dashed into the fray, unable, it would seem, to resist 
 the opportunity of taking the Government at a disadvantage. 
 He published an article in the ' Contemporary Eeview ' ad- 
 vocating the expulsion of the " unspeakable Turk, bag and 
 baggage," from Europe. The country was moved in such 
 sort as to make intelligible the fervour which, in an age 
 generally supposed to be less enlightened, made the crusades 
 possible. 
 
 Eetrospect upon these excited times must lead men to 
 credit Lord Beaconsfield with a singular degree of courage 
 in adhering to a line of policy which for the moment was 
 widely unpopular. He believed, and he manfully declared,
 
 152 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. OT. 51. 
 
 that the interest and honour of this country were alike in- 
 volved in refraining from embarrassing Turkey, and before 
 very long the tide turned in favour of a temperate and for- 
 bearing policy. People who had been carried away by the 
 heat of Mr Gladstone's invective began to reflect for them- 
 selves. Several Liberals of standing among others the 
 Duke of Somerset, Mr Forster, who had lately returned 
 from the East, and Lord Fitzwilliam pronounced firmly 
 against the " bag - and - baggage " scheme; and it was an- 
 nounced by the Prune Minister that a Conference of the 
 Powers was to be held at Constantinople, at which Great 
 Britain would be represented by Lord Salisbury. 
 
 The popular understanding of the Bulgarian difficulties 
 was not without its effect upon the majority of the Govern- 
 ment in the House of Commons. By the time Parliament 
 met for the session of 1877, five seats had been lost to the 
 Conservatives at by-elections. But there the reaction was 
 stayed; and although the Constantinople Conference had 
 failed, and Lord Salisbury was on his way home before the 
 Queen's Speech was delivered, the Government were able 
 to enter upon the parliamentary campaign without serious 
 apprehension. Mr Gladstone's motion of want of confidence 
 in Ministers was rejected by a majority of 131 votes. 
 
 On April 5, the Financial Secretary wrote to the Prime 
 Minister : 
 
 DEAR LORD BEACONSFIELD, I hope you will be satisfied with our 
 financial work. 
 
 The Chancellor of the Exchequer will have a surplus of 440,000 
 on the past year, and a safe estimate of the revenue for the coming 
 year will give a small surplus over the expenditure without any in- 
 crease of taxation. As this result is not expected out of doors, it will, 
 I think, be the more satisfactory to our friends and to the country. 
 Yours very truly, W. H. SMITH. 
 
 The note from the Prime Minister in reply was one of 
 those rewards which come to lighten a life of conscientious 
 toil :
 
 A.D. 1877.] VISIT TO FRANCE. 153 
 
 HUQHENDEN MANOR, April 7, 77. 
 
 MY DEAR MR SMITH, I thauk you for your Budget Report, & 
 heartily congratulate you & the country on the result. After forty 
 years' experience of parliamentary life, I can sincerely say that I 
 never knew the affairs of the Treasury conducted with more thorough 
 sense & efficiency than while they have been under your management 
 & control. Yours sincerely, BEACONSFIELD. 
 
 During all his foreign tours, it was Smith's practice to 
 send to some correspondent at home letters forming a con- 
 secutive itinerary. As is usually the case in such literature, 
 much of the interest is ephemeral ; but a few passages may 
 be quoted from his description of a visit to Normandy which 
 he paid with Mrs Smith in the Whitsuntide recess of this 
 year. In it he endeavoured, with but partial success, to 
 pose as an unwilling victim, and the document is entitled 
 
 THE JOURNAL OF A DISCONTENTED MAN. 
 
 May IS. My wife insists on a little holiday, and I must go with 
 her. Where will I go ? What trouble ! I do not care : just where 
 you please : only decide. Well, then, we will go to Normandy. I 
 ask for a deck cabin : they are all engaged. I go out to get some 
 money, and my eyes and mouth are filled with dust and dirt. The 
 high wind must make dirty weather in the Channel, and the boat is sure 
 to be crowded. No deck cabin, no shelter ; how miserable we shall be ! 
 
 We started. A crowd in Regent Street. Bohren's cab with the 
 luggage is passed the man driving slowly. He is sure to be late. 
 
 We arrived first at the station, and instantly fall on the R e, who 
 
 are also off to France for a holiday. It is impossible to be alone. We 
 talked, and then weary of each other three out of the four fall 
 asleep. I became more composed when I reflected on the miseries of 
 friendship and of society. 
 
 On board the steamer came a crowd, all of whom were disagreeable 
 to me, and some particularly so. I had deposited my wife on the 
 sofa in the ladies' cabin and secured a sheltered seat for myself, when 
 the steward came and intreated me to give it up for a lady. Of 
 course I consented ; what tyrannical power attaches to this fanatical 
 subserviency to the sex-female. Why should not a man retain a com- 
 fortable seat when he had once got it? . . . Half-way across, the 
 lady tottered up from her seat in some sort of trouble and made a 
 rush for the cabin. Presently the gentlemen sitting on either side of 
 me groaned and began to kneel on the seat with their heads doing 
 homage to the sea. . . . We got into harbour nearly an hour 
 late of course, and of course the water was low and we were landed 
 near the end of the jetty. When is the water high at Calais ? . . . 
 
 May 19. The lumbering carts bringing in market people filled my
 
 154 LIFE OF W. II. SMITH. [JKT. 51. 
 
 disturbed sleep with dreams, until I fairly woke under the influence 
 of the horrible cries of a quiet street in Calais. If half-a-dozen old 
 women were being squeezed to death, the screaming could hardly be 
 worse. My wife however slept like an Angel, as I am sometimes 
 inclined to think she is, so I smothered my resentment against the 
 sea, breakfasted, and descended into the street for a cigar. There I 
 instantly fell on another M.P., who would be a good fellow if he was 
 a Tory. We introduced each other's wives and parted smiling, only 
 
 to fall on another, the , Bart., who inquires how Mrs Smith could 
 
 leave her children, Lady - - having left hers. I gave him an 
 answer we did not speak again. 
 
 Our seats had been taken in the train by Bohren, but a very fresh 
 English husband and wife appropriated one of them, and although 
 roundly abused by the French guard, the woman retained the seat ; 
 but I had the satisfaction of looking straight at the husband all the 
 way to Amiens, and of making him feel uncomfortable. At all events 
 I began to be happier. 
 
 We ought to have had 20 minutes for luncheon at Amiens, but the 
 train was late, the Rouen train was waiting, and so we were hurried 
 into it without any food. Was I not right to be angry ? . . . And 
 now it rained heavily, and the country looked dreary and very like 
 England ? Does it not rain in England ? Was it necessary to leave 
 the comforts of home to see Rain ? 
 
 We reached Rouen everything wet, every place cold and dreary. 
 Our inn is, of course, Hotel d'Angleterre by way of sarcasm. Our 
 room is several inches lower at the door than at the window, and 
 there is not room to swing a cat. . . . We descend to dinner, hungry 
 and tired. Presently up trots a small French poodle, shaved up to 
 its neck, with very dirty hair over its head, and red, bleary, weak- 
 looking eyes. It looks at me, and exercising a sound discretion, 
 prefers my wife, jumps up on a chair by her side and begins instantly 
 to beg. This is intolerable ! 
 
 Of course the fish, the chicken, the meat, are all offered in succes- 
 sion to this insufferable dog. I say severe things, but it is of no avail. 
 How I hate most dogs, and all little ones ! A big hound walks in. 
 My wife offers it something and pats it. The little one a tenth of 
 its size jumps down and barks furiously at the hound, which slips 
 and flounders on the polished floor, turns round and goes out, chased 
 by the little poodle, who returns triumphant to the chair by the side 
 of my wife. 
 
 May 20. More rain. 
 
 May 21. No rain, but a sharp, cold north-east wind as cold as 
 England. Again I ask, Why should I travel to France to meet rain 
 and east wind, which are to be had plentifully in England ? Could 
 not get a carriage to-day, because it is a holiday and everybody is 
 out. These holidays are a nuisance. At last we are allowed by a 
 driver to get into his carriage, and we proceed slowly to Bonnesecours, 
 a church on a high hill two miles from Rouen, overlooking the Seine, 
 which is here about half as pretty as the Thames at Richmond. . . . 
 Many holiday folk in the cemetery, which is a cheerful way of spend- 
 ing a happy day. . . .
 
 A.D. 1877.] JOURNAL OF A DISCONTENTED MAN. 155 
 
 May 22. Oiice more rain, but we drove to the old clock in an 
 archery over the street, the Palais de Justice, which contains the old 
 I'.irl lament chamber, and through other old places to the railway, 
 whence we started to Caen. Rouen has a river, two quays, three old 
 churches, fair wide streets, an infinite number of narrow lanes and 
 old houses, and all round it are manufactories and tall chimneys. The 
 climate is detestable, and the people rough as Englishmen. From 
 Rouen to Caen more chimneys, more rain. At Caen still more 
 rain, bitterly cold. 
 
 From the hotel in a close carriage almost dark to the Church of 
 Ste Etienne, really a grand old Norman building, with grotesque 
 capitals to the round pillars, supporting the roof of a wide nave. In 
 the gloom before the high altar a plain slab marks the place where 
 William the Conqueror was buried. I am not discontented with this 
 church. It was worth coming to Caen to see ; but I now understand 
 why William came to England his own climate drove him away in 
 simple desperation. . . . We returned to a grand salon and poor 
 bedrooms, lighted up, however, by fires, round which we crouched. 
 Great enjoyment, which might possibly have been exceeded at home. 
 
 May 28. More rain more north-east wind. . . . Paid a heavy 
 bill, and off to the railway. The country green, hilly, with a river 
 running by the side of the line. Small fields, hedgerows, and cattle 
 like, but not so pretty as, Devonshire. It would be nice if the sun 
 ever shone, but it has been raining for eight months. My wife takes 
 refuge in sleep. I groan and grumble to myself. We arrived at 
 the junction for Villedieu, a capital buffet, and seated ourselves in 
 a dark room with three Frenchmen, a mother, a bonne, and a baby ; 
 all ate in a hurry ; all, the baby included, wore a sad and pre- 
 occupied air. . . . 
 
 May 25. I think we have seen Avranches. It is a healthy town, 
 sir, a clean town, sir ; it has fine air, sir, it is so high, and there are 
 many English living here. . . . Poor things ! I pity them, and almost 
 forget my discontent when I think of the perfect quiet of their lives. 
 How the ladies must dislike each other, and how thoroughly they 
 must know each other's faults and failings. ... I am thankful, and 
 so is my wife, that we are not obliged to live there. How dull with 
 no work, but to read and walk and talk eat, drink, and sleep. 
 
 We found a carriage to take us on to Granville with difficulty. . . . 
 The horses, poor things ! The coachman a sturdy red-faced Norman. 
 
 He did not know the way to where the live, . . . but 
 
 Bohren piloted him. Their cottage is a pretty one. . . . Poor Mrs 
 
 is, she says, quite tired of apple-blossom, and there is nothing 
 
 else. Her husband most anxious to hear of something to do any- 
 where and of any kind. I never met a man so eager to get away from 
 himself and his own society. I asked if his wife was coming to Eng- 
 land. " I will bring her at once, if I can find anything in the shape 
 of employment India, Turkey, anywhsre." 
 
 How much better it is to have too much to do than too little. 
 Never give up present employment, however disagreeable it may be, 
 until one has made sure of something else. Poverty with work is 
 Paradise compared with either riches or poverty without work. . . .
 
 156 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. [*r. 62. 
 
 Graiiville is a disappointment. There is a church an old one but 
 not interesting. . . . There are several dull streets without trotloirs, 
 many children crying in them, with women who appear to be scold- 
 ing each other. . . . Our hotel Hotel du Nord was comfortable 
 enough. We were waited upon by a Jersey woman who spoke Eng- 
 lish, talking incessantly, and always of her own good qualities and the 
 many merits of her family. ... So I have done and go home, more 
 content than I left home, and certainly the better of my absence. 
 
 Meanwhile the development of new methods of parlia- 
 mentary warfare began to be painfully apparent at this 
 time. Inordinate discussion upon votes in Supply, dilatory 
 motions for adjournment, and questions to Ministers upon 
 subjects of the most trivial parochial, and even personal, sub- 
 jects, formed part of the plan of campaign adopted by Irish 
 Nationalist members, in order, by bringing proceedings to a 
 deadlock, to force attention to their demands. If the legiti- 
 macy of their ambition be granted, their strategy and the 
 energy and patience with which it was pursued are deserv- 
 ing of admiration. This new reign of terror began in earnest 
 on Tuesday, July 31. The House met that afternoon at 4 
 P.M., and the sitting continued till past six on Wednesday 
 evening more than twenty-six hours. Mr Butt, nominal 
 leader of the Home Rulers, protested against the methods 
 favoured by his colleagues, Messrs Parnell and Eiggar, but 
 to no purpose ; and henceforward Parnell was de facto the 
 director of the policy of his party. The state of matters 
 was so serious as to bring about what has proved to be the 
 first in a long series of successive alterations in the rules of 
 Procedure, rendered more and more necessary as legislators 
 departed further and further from the reasonable practice of 
 a more decorous age. 
 
 After introducing the Navy Estimates, Mr Ward Hunt, 
 First Lord of the Admiralty, fell into such a state of health 
 as to oblige his going to Homburg, where he shortly after 
 died. 
 
 There is every reason to believe that the letter referred to
 
 FACSIMILE OF 
 
 LETTER FROM. THE EARL OF BEACONSFIELD 
 REFERRED TO AT PAGE l6l.
 
 (P.
 
 ^ 
 
 * *r -< <y?k<<fe
 
 A.D. 1877.] FIRST LORD OF ADMIRALTY. 161 
 
 in the following one, written to Mrs Smith, who was at 
 Homburg, came to Smith as a complete surprise : 
 
 HOUSE OP COMMONS, Aug. 3. 
 
 This morning as I was driving down to the Treasury I met Lord 
 Beaconsfield's messenger with this letter. I have accepted the office, 
 if the Queen approves. . . . The responsibility is very great, and 
 nothing would have induced me to seek it, but as I am told I am 
 deemed fit for the work, I do not think I ought to refuse it ... It 
 has not been offered to any one else. . . . Do not say one word to 
 any one about the story, until you see it in the papers, or hear from 
 me that you may talk. 
 
 The letter referred to is given in facsimile on the preceding 
 pages. 
 
 Two days later he wrote from Greenlands to his wife, 
 who was at Homburg : 
 
 It is a lovely day such rest and peace around and yet 1 am not 
 quite at rest, for I feel the weight of responsibility which I have in- 
 curred in accepting the Cabinet and the Admiralty. Until now, in 
 graver matters, I only advised. Now I must act on my own judg- 
 ment, and the sphere of that action concerns the country's honour 
 and its strength. I shall want all your help such help as you have 
 ever given me since we were happily made one in asking that I may 
 have wisdom and strength according to my need. I think I shall, 
 because we shall both ask. 
 
 There is a heavy drawback to this new duty. Beach tells me the 
 Cabinet have been warned that none of them must go out of reach of 
 a sudden summons to a meeting, so that while Foreign affairs are in 
 the present critical state, I could not go further from London than 
 this or the coast. 
 
 The ladder which brings a Minister from the Financial 
 Secretaryship into the Cabinet has frequently proved to be 
 a short one, but it has not Often led to an office the holder 
 of which, representing as he does the Lord High Admiral 
 of old, had up to this time been nearly always occupied by 
 some Peer of high rank, by a territorial magnate, or at least 
 by the scion of a noble house. That a London tradesman 
 should step into such an exalted sphere was an ascent al- 
 most as rapid and not less remarkable than Whittington's. 
 
 The first thing Smith did on receiving Lord Beaconsfield's 
 L
 
 162 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. OT. 52. 
 
 letter was to seek the advice of his old ally, Lord Sandon, 
 who urged him warmly to accept the offer. 
 
 The announcement of Smith's appointment to the Admir- 
 alty was favourably received by the public. There was, of 
 course, the usual degree of mild surprise at the working of 
 a system which places at the head of the naval and military 
 establishments individuals who by training, habit, and occu- 
 pation are least likely to have any technical or practical 
 acquaintance with the services ; but the press generally in- 
 dorsed the sagacity of the Prime Minister's choice. 1 Smith's 
 own friends, of course, were enthusiastic in congratulation, 
 and he possessed friends on both sides of politics. Sir 
 William Harcourt wrote : 
 
 I heard your writ moved to-day with great satisfaction, & greeted 
 it with an approving cheer. No one has better earned & deserved the 
 great post which you have reached in a comparatively short Parlia- 
 mentary career. Your opponents, no less than your friends, sympa- 
 thise in your well-merited success, and none more amongst them than 
 Yours sincerely, W. V. HARCOURT. 
 
 Mr Eathbone, another sturdy Liberal, gave his approval 
 thus : 
 
 I had no idea when speaking to you last night what a great dignity 
 I was addressing. I congratulate you most heartily, though as an ex- 
 Quaker I would rather your country had your services for the works 
 of peace than of war. As you have no doubt heard, it has been re- 
 ceived not only with pleasure but great approval on our side, as a very 
 good appointment richly deserved. 
 
 The unflinching Radical, Joseph Cowen, member for 
 Newcastle, was not behindhand : 
 
 You carry with you to your new office the good wishes & the sym- 
 pathy of the entire House of Commons. ... I have never voted for 
 
 1 The appointment is supposed to have suggested to the irreverent 
 fancy of Mr W. S. Gilbert the character of Sir Joseph Porter in the 
 opera " Pinafore," who, it will be remembered, " stuck to his desk 
 and never went to sea," yet became the " Ruler of the Queen's 
 Navee."
 
 A.D. 1877.] FRIENDLY CONGRATULATIONS. 163 
 
 a Conservative in my life ; but if there should be a contest in West- 
 minster (where I am an elector), you can safely calculate on at least 
 one radical recording his vote for you. 
 
 The voice of the navy found expression in a characteristic 
 note from Lord Charles Beresford : 
 
 Let me congratulate you & the Navy also at your appointment. 
 Don't think me rude if I say I was long enough Shipmates with you 
 in the House to appreciate what a real good appointment the Prime 
 Minister has made. 
 
 In a letter from Sir Stafford Northcote to Mrs Smith there 
 is a mingled strain of regret at losing his Financial Sec- 
 retary : 
 
 I must ask leave to send you one line of Congratulation and sym- 
 pathy, though, by the way, I can more easily sympathise with you 
 than you can with me, for you will not have to contend with the 
 mixed feelings which are distracting me. It is something like what I 
 felt when my daughter chose to go and marry herself off. I am as 
 troubled to know what to do without my right hand now as I was 
 then. . . . Nobody could have succeeded as your husband has done 
 in this office. He has had a very important, laborious, and delicate 
 task to discharge, and I don't think he has made a slip in the whole 
 three years. He carries with him the affection as well as the respect 
 and good wishes of us all. 
 
 An old friend of the family wrote to Smith : 
 
 When I first heard of your acceptance of the office of First Lord of 
 the Admiralty, the text came into my mind, " His sons come to honour 
 and he knoweth it not," as I thought of the high gratification the 
 knowledge of this appointment would have afforded to those who have 
 now passed away. 
 
 But Smith himself felt none of that confidence which 
 those who knew him best were most ready to repose in 
 him. 
 
 I am really almost sad [he wrote to Miss Giberne], for now I am 
 one of the 12 men who are responsible for the Government of the 
 country, and I am at the head of a great department in which it is 
 more easy to fail than to succeed ; but I look for strength and wisdom, 
 and I trust it may be given me. Don't you understand it is not mat- 
 ter for rejoicing witli me, except as it might be with a soldier charged 
 with a great work. He may fail and he may fall, but his country's 
 \vclfare depends in a manner on his performance of duty.
 
 164 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. [*r. 52. 
 
 Again, to his sister Augusta : 
 
 I wish my father had been alive. He certainly did not expect that 
 at 52 I should be a Cabinet Minister, and now I almost wish I had 
 never entered public life, for it seems impossible to stop or to refuse 
 work. ... I hope I may have strength and judgment to do it well, 
 and at the same time to preserve the love and affection of my family. 
 
 On August 13 he wrote to Mrs Smith : 
 
 I wrote to you this evening under difficulties, as I was trying to 
 listen to discussions in Cabinet and yet catch the post. I told you we 
 went down by a special train to Portsmouth with ceremony and 
 honour. Bishop Thorold was going down to do homage for his see, 
 with Lord Wriothesley Russell as Clerk of the Closet. They, Mr 
 Cross, Lord Coventry, Mr Sclater Booth, the Clerk of the Council, 
 and I, went in one saloon. . . . At Portsmouth the train went into 
 the dockyard, and drew up at the jetty, where we were received by 
 the Admiral. The Fire Queen was waiting, and we all steamed off, 
 taking the Duke of Richmond, who came from Goodwood, and Lord 
 Hertford, the Lord Chamberlain, with us. On our way we met the 
 Thunderer, which was going out for big gun practice, with the Prince 
 of Wales and some ladies on board. The carriages were not at the 
 pier when we landed, but they soon overtook us. . . . We had to 
 wait some time at the house, which reminds me very much of Denbies. 
 At last Lord Hertford called in Lord Coventry and myself. The 
 Queen was standing before a table. We knelt down rather by her 
 side. The oath of allegiance was read over to us. We kissed the 
 book on our knees, and then kissed her hand and rose up. Then 
 standing, the Privy Councillor's oath, which is a very long one, was 
 read, and we again kissed the book, and then I shook hands with all 
 the Privy Councillors present. The Queen then approved a number 
 of Orders in Council, the titles of which were read over to her ; the 
 Privy Councillors, not being members of the Cabinet, withdrew, and 
 then the Speech to be delivered to-morrow was approved. We then 
 withdrew, bowing with our faces to her the Queen smiling, but not 
 saying a word. ... A cab to Downing Street for the Cabinet at 5.45. 
 I was most kindly welcomed by all, sitting between Northcote and 
 Salisbury, opposite Lord Derby. 
 
 And on August 14 : 
 
 So much kindness brings a sense of sadness with it, of weight and 
 of fear lest failure should follow. My Patent has come to-day, and I 
 have taken my seat at the Board, who address me as " Sir " in every 
 sentence. It is strange, and makes me shy at first ; and I have to do 
 what I hardly like to send for them, not to go to them ; but I am 
 told they expect me, as their chief, to require respect. 
 
 Mrs Smith went to Honiburg during the autumn, and
 
 A.D. 1877.] BANQUET IN ST JAMES'S HALL. 165 
 
 her husband, detained in England by his official duties, 
 wrote as frequently and tenderly as he was wont to do. 
 Here is part of a letter written from Greenlands : 
 
 If I cannot look at you and talk to you, I can write to you, and that 
 la, I think, a very fit use to be made of half an hour on a Sunday 
 afternoon. . . . The swallows, which are flying very low and in great 
 numbers, just skimming the top of the grass, don't seem to miss you, 
 but it is another thing with us. 
 
 Smith's re-election for "Westminster on appointment to the 
 Admiralty had not been contested, but his friends and con- 
 stituents were not content to allow the distinction conferred 
 upon him to pass without special marks of approval and 
 congratulation. On November 29 he was entertained at a 
 banquet in St James's Hall, where Lord Henry Scott, M.P., 
 presided over a company of more than 500, assembled to do 
 honour to the First Lord. Smith, as every one knows, was 
 not an orator ; his speeches were never of a fiery order, but 
 he never spoke unless he had something to say, and always 
 succeeded in making that something intelligible, and in 
 convincing his hearers of his perfect frankness. In a few 
 simple sentences he conveyed on this occasion a clear im- 
 pression of the circumstances which had brought him into a 
 position of such dignity : 
 
 When I look back upon the past and it is only twelve years ago 
 when I was invited by some friends whom I now see around me to 
 offer myself as a candidate for the representation of Westminster 
 when I remember that I failed then (not disastrously and not dis- 
 gracefully) to obtain the object which they rather more than I had on 
 that occasion when I remember that again in 1868 you were patient 
 and kind enough to entertain the proposal that was made to you to 
 return me as your member for Westminster when I think of the 
 period of liberty, of freedom, and of comparative absence from respon- 
 sibility which I enjoyed as the representative of Westminster for the 
 five years that succeeded the election, I say that it appears like a 
 dream ; and I can hardly understand how it is I am here to-day, not 
 only wearing the blue ribbon of parliamentary representative of the 
 city of Westminster, but also as a servant of the Crown and of the 
 people. Frankly, I cannot tell you how it has come to pass, but it 
 has happened, that your exceeding kindness, and the sympathy and
 
 166 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. [JET. 52. 
 
 support of my friends, have pushed me forward into the position 
 which I should not have been tempted to seek for myself. Never 
 once did I entertain the idea of standing for Westminster until I was 
 asked to do so, and I did not again entertain the idea of seeking elec- 
 tion till I was pressed to do so. I did not seek office ; it has come to 
 me in a manner which, when I think of it, is surprising to myself, and 
 I feel deeply the responsibility which has fallen upon me. 
 
 Next morning the ' Times,' in a leading article on the prin- 
 cipal guest at this banquet, correctly defined the position 
 which Smith had attained to in the esteem of his country- 
 men : 
 
 Mr W. H. Smith is eminently representative of that special order 
 of men whom it is the boast of our political institutions to possess. 
 Neither an orator nor a man of genius, he has risen to the foremost 
 rank among his fellow- citizens by the excellent way in which he did 
 all the work before him, and by his sterling manly character. 
 
 Another critic remarked : 
 
 One of the chief reasons of the popularity the Ministry still enjoys, 
 and of the confidence it still commands, is that it numbers in its list 
 so many men of the Liberal type, and of the special type to which Mr 
 Smith belongs. Sir Stafford Northcote, Mr Cross, and Mr Smith are 
 all men who, without conspicuous oratorical power, or any claim to 
 originality, have raised themselves to the front rank by moderation, 
 honesty, skill in business, conciliatory manners, and a broad and genial 
 Liberalism. To Lord Beaconsfield much credit is due for having re- 
 cognised the merits of men so totally unlike himself. . . . They 
 import prudence and good sense into every Conservative gathering. 
 They are always, as it were, brightening up the boots of the party, 
 and making it look tidy and respectable when it appears before the 
 public. 
 
 Even 'Punch,' Liberal by tradition and practice, had a 
 kindly word for the new ruler of the Queen's Navy : 
 
 Of Mr W. H. Smith all parties may say, as a great opponent said of 
 Lord Palmerston, " We are all proud of him." . . . Never has man 
 or Minister more fairly earned the addition of " Right Honourable." 
 
 Some sentences in Smith's speech expressing his horror 
 of war and his earnest hope for the preservation of peace 
 were received with much satisfaction in the country ; for 
 all eyes were turning anxiously towards the East, where 
 there might happen any day that which might involve
 
 A.D. 1877.] WAR APPEARS IMMINENT. 167 
 
 Great Britain in the conflict which throughout the summer 
 and autumn had been raging on the Danube and the Black 
 Sea. 
 
 The refusal of the Porte to comply with the recommenda- 
 tions of the Constantinople Conference, and the consequent 
 failure of all attempts to bring Turkey into concert with 
 other European Powers, brought that country and Eussia to 
 the brink of war. On April 24, 1877, the Czar, who looked 
 upon himself as the ordained champion of Sclavonic nation- 
 ality, had issued a declaration of war against the Sultan, 
 without the customary formula of an ultimatum. English- 
 men have never been chary of chivalrous sympathy for a 
 weaker nation defending itself against invasion by a stronger; 
 the old feeling of comradeship, handed down from Crimean 
 days, began to revive in this country in favour of our ancient 
 allies, and was fanned into something like fervour by the 
 opening acts of the campaign. The gallantry and soldierly 
 qualities displayed by the Turkish troops, their successes at 
 Batoum on May 4, and at Sukhum Kale" on the 14th, their 
 stout defence of Kars, and the raising of the siege of that 
 oft-beleaguered city by Mukhtar Pasha, proved that far from 
 being an effete, spiritless race, the Turks were as capable as 
 ever they had been of splendid service in the field. The 
 Bulgarian atrocities faded into insignificance before the 
 brilliancy of the double victory gained by Osman Pasha 
 over the Eussians at Plevna in July, and the desperate 
 obstinacy of the defence of the Shipka Pass. But the 
 tide of victory turned in late autumn. The bravery of her 
 devoted soldiers could not save the territory of a State so 
 rotten as that of Turkey. Eussian victories in Asia were 
 followed by the fall of Kars and Erzeroum, not without 
 suspicion of treason ; blood-boltered Plevna was at last 
 taken, and the Shipka Pass occupied in January 1878, and 
 then the Porte sent a Circular Note to the Powers implor-
 
 168 LIFE OF W. II. SMITH. OT. 52. 
 
 ing them to extricate it from the disasters into which its 
 own obstinacy and indolence had plunged it. 
 
 On January 31 an armistice was signed at Adrianople, 
 and the preliminaries of peace formulated. 
 
 Parliament was summoned to meet a full fortnight or 
 three weeks earlier than usual on January 17 amid a 
 feeling of intense uneasiness and public excitement. The 
 Queen's Speech contained nothing to allay these : on the 
 contrary, the paragraphs referring to the Eastern situation 
 were of ominous import. After reciting how, when all 
 attempts to avert war had proved futile, her Majesty had 
 resolved to preserve strict neutrality as between the belli- 
 gerents, and the success of Eussian arms compelled the 
 Porte to bring hostilities to a close, the Speech went on to 
 describe how the Sultan, having appealed to the neutral 
 Powers for their good offices, and the majority of these 
 Powers not having been in favour of interfering, had ad- 
 dressed a separate appeal to her Majesty's Government. 
 Then followed sentences of which every one who had 
 heard or read them felt the solemn significance. 
 
 Upon this subject communications have taken place between the 
 Governments of Russia and Turkey, through my good offices, and I 
 earnestly trust that they may lead to a peaceful solution of the points 
 at issue, and to a termination of the war. No efforts on my part will 
 be wanting to promote that result. 
 
 Hitherto, so far as the war has proceeded, neither of the belliger- 
 ents has infringed the conditions on which my neutrality is founded, 
 and I willingly believe that both parties are desirous to respect them, 
 so far as it may be in their power. So long as these conditions are 
 not infringed, my attitude will continue the same. But I cannot 
 conceal from myself that, should hostilities be unfortunately pro- 
 longed, some unexpected occurrence may render it incumbent upon 
 me to adopt measures of precaution. Such measures could not be 
 adequately taken without adequate preparation, and I trust to the 
 liberality of my Parliament to supply the means which may be 
 required for that purpose. 
 
 Meanwhile the Eussians were at the gates of Constant! 
 nople : the prize for which they had so long panted was
 
 A.D. 1878.] RESIGNATION OF LORD CARNARVON. 169 
 
 within their grasp ; would they relinquish it at the bidding 
 of Great Britain 1 
 
 That the Cabinet intended to forbid the occupation of the 
 Sultan's capital was made certain by the notice given in the 
 House of Commons that a Vote of Credit for 6,000,000 
 was to be moved for immediately. Suddenly, on January 
 23, the startling news went abroad that the British fleet 
 had been ordered to the Dardanelles. The Earl of Carnar- 
 von, Secretary of State for the Colonies, announced in the 
 House of Lords that he had resigned office, and in explain- 
 ing the reasons which compelled him to do so, stated that 
 he had resisted the proposal, made to the Cabinet on Jan- 
 uary 12, that the fleet should be sent up the Dardanelles, 
 that he had resigned on the 15th when this course had been 
 decided on, but had consented to retain office when the 
 decision was rescinded. Now, however, that the action to 
 which he objected as dangerous and unnecessary had actu- 
 ally been taken, he had no course but to leave a Cabinet 
 with whom he found himself at direct issue. 
 
 It was understood that the Earl of Derby had also re- 
 signed, but, as he appeared on the Government bench with 
 his colleagues on this occasion, it was evident that he was 
 still a member of the Cabinet. 
 
 Smith had a difficult task to perform on this very day. 
 In the afternoon he and Sir Charles Adderley, President of 
 the Board of Trade, received the freedom of the Ancient 
 Company of Shipwrights, and were entertained at a public 
 banquet in the evening. It must have been no light prob- 
 lem how to speak as a Cabinet Minister for the Cabinet, 
 conscious as he was that the Cabinet was rent by dissension 
 on a question so momentous and beset with peril. One 
 sentence, and one only, he permitted himself to utter in 
 reference to the subject uppermost in the minds of all, and 
 it was one which Englishmen of all parties could receive
 
 1 70 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. [JET. 52. 
 
 with ringing cheers : " No greater disaster than to be en- 
 gaged in war could happen to the country, except the loss 
 of honour." 
 
 The view which Smith took at this most critical juncture 
 is expressed in two letters to Northcote, illustrating the 
 strain of anxiety which lay upon Ministers : 
 
 ADMIRALTY, Jan. 12, 1878. 
 
 DEAR NORTHCOTE, I wish you would see Lord Derby. I quite 
 understood yesterday that he agreed to the occupation of Gallipoli in 
 the sense you suggested, and although I have satisfied myself that 
 the Fleet can anchor there without serious risk, it would be a more 
 sensible operation to take possession of the lines. 
 
 You will remember, however, that the most formidable forts are at 
 the entrance to the Black Sea, above Constantinople. If a foreign 
 Power holds the City, it holds also the key of the Black Sea. 
 
 If we cannot come to an agreement on our policy on Monday in 
 certain events, it is a question whether it would not be more patriotic 
 to break up and resign now. It will not do to be fighting in the 
 House with the Opposition, and in the Cabinet with each other. 
 Yours sincerely, W. H. SMITH. 
 
 Then on 15th : 
 
 I hope the telegram will not be sent to-night if Lord Derby objects 
 to it. The delay of a few hours is important, but the loss of Lord 
 Derby would be a greater evil. 
 
 Nevertheless, man of peace as he was by training and in- 
 clination, there is the testimony of more than one of his 
 surviving colleagues in that Cabinet to prove that Smith 
 showed much firmness in this crisis. Though slow in 
 forming a judgment, he had the enviable gift, once it was 
 formed, of adhering to it without anxiety. 
 
 It was not to be expected that the Vote of Credit would 
 be granted without animated debate. The opposition to it 
 took the form of a motion of censure on the Government, 
 moved by Mr W. E. Forster. The debate is memorable for 
 this, if for nothing else, that it gave birth to a term which 
 has become the English equivalent of the French chau-
 
 A.D. 1878.] THE VOTE OF CREDIT. 171 
 
 viniste. 1 Sir Wilfrid Lawson, who is nothing if not hum- 
 orous, even when he is most in earnest, quoted a couplet 
 from a popular music-hall ditty of the day, which he said 
 exactly described the aggressive spirit of the Government's 
 policy : 
 
 " We don't want to fight, but by Jingo ! if we do, 
 We've got the ships, we've got the men, we've got the money too." 
 
 Henceforward the war party in our country, or the party 
 suspected of warlike sentiments, was to be distinguished by 
 the name of Jingoes. 
 
 It was Smith's duty in the debate to follow Mr Goschen, 
 who had called on the Government to say exactly how 
 much money they wanted and how they intended to 
 spend it. 
 
 The right hon. gentleman opposite says he desires to strengthen 
 the Government in the Conference in which we expect shortly to take 
 part. He is willing to give the great support of his name in favour 
 of the expression of our views in the Congress, but he thinks it right 
 to say that he refuses, on the grounds of precedent and financial 
 policy, to give the six millions. It appears that the right hon. 
 gentleman refuses to give the Government a cheque for six millions, 
 but he will give us a blank cheque, without money expressed, to be 
 filled up by ourselves at the right time. Now if the Government are 
 not to be trusted with the responsibility of spending so much as they 
 think necessary in making preparations for guarding their interests, 
 in strengthening themselves where they think strength is needed, 
 then I say they ought not to be trusted in going into the Conference to 
 speak for England and to commit her to the decision which will be 
 arrived at. I have taken part in financial questions during the past 
 few years, and I know no higher duties than to require the most 
 exact accounts for the administration of public money. But I think 
 the principles of high finance can be carried too far. It is the most 
 earnest desire and hope of her Majesty's Government that the issue 
 of war may be avoided, and none except those who have occupied 
 positions as Ministers of the Crown can conceive the amount of re- 
 sponsibility which rests upon a Minister when he expresses an opinion 
 on such a question. We believe that the course we are asking the 
 House of Commons to adopt is one which will tend in the most com- 
 
 1 Derived from Chauvin, a character in Scribe's 'Soldat Laboreur,' 
 one of Napoleon Buonaparte's veterans, and expi-essive of boastful and 
 aggressive patriotism.
 
 172 LIFE OP W. H. SMITH. [*r. 52. 
 
 plete and sure manner to save England from the horrors of war. 
 We believe that the making of such preparations as we may deein to 
 be necessary will be a security against war. 
 
 Despite these reassuring words, each day seemed to bring 
 nearer to Great Britain the necessity of a rupture with 
 Eussia. At last, on February 7, there arrived a telegram 
 from Mr Layard, our Ambassador at Constantinople, to the 
 effect that the Russian army had occupied that city. The 
 effect upon Parliament and the country was electric ; the 
 fighting spirit of the nation was afire ; Mr Forster withdrew 
 his amendment to the motion for the Vote of Credit, and 
 although the extreme Radicals insisted upon going to a 
 division, the Vote was carried that night by 295 to 96 a 
 majority of 199 for the Government. It turned out that 
 the telegram was untrue : Mr Layard had been deceived 
 by the presence of a number of Russian officers and men on 
 leave in the streets of Stamboul. Nevertheless, nothing 
 could be more threatening or critical than the situation, and 
 on February 8 part of the British fleet was moved up to 
 Constantinople as a precautionary measure. 
 
 Next came a message from the Sovereign announcing 
 that it had been deemed expedient to call out a portion of 
 the Reserves, and the Address in reply to this formed the 
 subject of another vote of no confidence in the policy of 
 the Government. But this was easily disposed of: the 
 Opposition, however deep and sincere might be their dis- 
 approval of the policy of Ministers, were resolved to adhere 
 to honourable tradition, and to let it be known that in 
 foreign policy there is one England and not two Englands. 
 The Address was agreed to by 310 votes to 64. 
 
 By an extract from the diary of one of the First Lord 
 of the Admiralty's daughters, a glimpse is afforded of the 
 anxious and disturbed state of affairs at this time : 
 
 Sunday, Feb. 10. Very excited and peculiar Sunday owing to tele- 
 grams on Eastern Question. Papa roused between 5 & 6 A.M. to
 
 A.D. 1878.] THE "JINGO" POLICY. 173 
 
 decipher telegrams ; not able to go to Ch. Going to see Sir S. 
 Northcote, Ld. Salisbury, also Ld. Beaconsfield at 10.15 P.M. Ld. 
 Tenterden 1 called at 5.30, & again a few minutes after 10. Capt. 
 Codrington 2 to lunch and dinner. Six ironclads have been sent to 
 the Straits to protect English life & property at Constantinople, but 
 Turks would not open them passage. 
 
 Military preparations in this country went forward amain : 
 arsenals and factories were working double time, and orders 
 were issued from the Admiralty to fit out every available 
 ship. All this time Mr Gladstone kept rather quiet within 
 Parliament ; but from time to time he addressed meetings 
 in the country, denouncing the policy of " Jingoism." At 
 length it appeared as if the promptness and vigour displayed 
 by the British Government were beginning to take effect. 
 The Czar, it was known, passionately longed for peace : he 
 could not but be impressed by the prospect of entering upon 
 war with a powerful enemy, wealthy, fresh, and determined, 
 after the terrible losses which his armies had endured in the 
 campaign of 1877. An agreement was come to that the 
 Russians should not occupy Gallipoli, provided the English 
 fleet withdrew from the immediate neighbourhood of Con- 
 stantinople. Negotiations, however, which had been set on 
 foot for a Congress of the Powers failed, owing to dissen- 
 sions in the English Cabinet. The Earl of Derby resigned 
 the seals of the Foreign Office, and was succeeded by the 
 Marquis of Salisbury. One of the causes which led to the 
 last-named occurrence, to avert which so many precautions 
 had been taken, was the ordering of 7000 Indian troops to 
 Malta, and this formed the subject of a second motion of 
 censure on the Government in the House of Commons. 
 
 Some idea of the intense anxiety of the situation may be 
 formed from the following despatches exchanged between 
 the First Lord of the Admiralty and the Admiral command- 
 
 1 Permanent Secretary at the Foreign Office. 
 
 5 Private Secretary to the First Lord of the Admiralty, who after- 
 wards married Mr Smith's step-daughter, Miss Leach.
 
 174 LIFE OF W. II. SMITH. [xrr. 52. 
 
 ing the Mediterranean Squadron. They afford an interest- 
 ing illustration of the effect which the means of rapid com- 
 munication have had in controlling and directing the actions 
 of armies and navy at great distances, and it suggests some 
 curious reflections that this duty should have been dis- 
 charged by one so pacific in training and character as W. H. 
 Smith. 
 
 The First Lord of the Admiralty to the Prime Minister. 
 
 Private. 
 
 ADMIRALTY, Sunday Morning, Feb. 10, 1878. 
 
 DEAR LORD BEACONSFIELD, We have had three messages from 
 Admiral Hornby during the night. The two first are more or less 
 unintelligible, and efforts are still being made to decipher them. 
 The last, dated 9 P.M., shows, I think, that Mr Layard has not yet 
 been able to communicate with him. Chanak is a very strong fort at 
 the entrance of the Narrows, and it was there that the Admiral 
 received the message on the 24th ordering him back to Besika Bay. 
 Yours sincerely, W. H. SMITH. 
 
 The Same to the Same. 
 
 ADMIRALTY, S.W., Feb. 10, 1878, 7.40 P.M. 
 
 DEAR LORD BEACONSFIELD, I have just received the telegram 
 enclosed from Admiral Hornby, dated this morning from Besika 
 Bay. 
 
 It is most singular that nothing has been heard from Mr Layard ; 
 . . . but I suppose we must wait for an answer to our telegram of 
 to-day before we give Hornby instructions. 
 
 I shall be ready to come over to you at any time you may require 
 this evening ; but I am afraid we can do nothing. Yours very 
 truly, W. H. SMITH. 
 
 Telegram from Vice-Admiral Hornby. 
 
 No. 10. 
 
 BESIKA, Feb. 10, 9 A.M. 
 
 Sent Salamis to Chanak yesterday, and weighed with ships ordered 
 at 6 P.M. When inside Koumkaleh, Salamis returned. No tele- 
 graphic communication with Ambassador : no Firman, and Pacha 
 protests against squadron entering. Anchored before Koumkaleh at 
 night. At 1 A.M. Pacha received answer from Constantinople : no 
 request made by British Ambassador to Porte : contrary to treaty for 
 squadron to enter: Pacha to enforce the treaty. Have returned 
 Besika Bay : no telegraphic communication yet from Ambassador. 
 
 Am I to proceed by night with ships named, or to force passage by
 
 A.D. 1878.] ADMIRALTY DESPATCHES. 175 
 
 day with whole squadron ? Squadron insufficient to begin the 
 
 [unintelligible] at once should be to pass the two lower forts and 
 
 silence Medjideh first, then return and silence the lower ones 
 
 if passage is to be kept open. Request instructions. 
 
 The First Lord of the Admiralty to the Prime Minister. 
 
 Private. 
 
 ADMIRALTY, Feb. 13, 1878, 1.15 P.M. 
 
 DEAR LORD BEACONSFIELD, I have a telegram from Hornby, dated 
 from the Alexandra at 1.30 this morning, stating his intention to 
 sail at daybreak with sis ironclads in pursuance of orders. Yours 
 sincerely, W. H. SMITH. 
 
 The Same to the Same. 
 
 Feb. 14, 1878, 9 A.M. 
 
 We have a telegram from the Vice-Consul at the Dardanelles that 
 " the six armoured ships passed through yesterday at 3 P.M. into 
 the Sea of Marmora, the Turkish authorities protesting but not 
 resisting." 
 
 Telegram from Vice-Admiral Hornby. 
 No. 18. 
 
 GALLIPOLI, 2 P.M., Feb. 14, 78. 
 
 Capt. Fife informs me the Russians are in force near Karak, twelve 
 miles from Bulair : they may have 50,000 men there to-morrow 
 evening : are believed to have a feasible plan to cross the Gulf of 
 Zeros and land in the rear of Bulair lines, while they attack hi front. 
 I recommend all ships at Besika Bay, except one, be moved to Zeros 
 with me to oppose any attack arising on this peninsula, and that 
 Rear- Admiral Commerell assist to defend Bulair lines, and if they are 
 (in) considerable force to destroy heavy guns in evacuating fort of 
 Dardanelles : also that I should return immediately (to) eastward end 
 of Marmora. Rear- Admiral remains at Gallipoli with Agincourt and 
 Swiftsure. I proceed immediately to Prince's Island. 
 
 Following sharply on this came an order from the 
 First Lord of the Admiralty to Vice-Admiral Hornby, 
 which seemed to shut out all hopes of the maintenance 
 of peace with Russia. 
 
 No. 23. 
 
 February 15. 
 
 All ships but one are to go from Besika Bay to Gulf of Xeros, with 
 orders to watch Russian troops, and if they observe preparations for 
 embarkation with a view to lauding on the peninsula of Gallipoli, they
 
 176 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. OT. 52. 
 
 are to warn Russian commander they have orders to prevent such land- 
 ing, and they are to oppose it by force if persevered in. W. H. S. 
 
 Telegram from Rear- Admiral Commerell to the First Lord 
 of the Admiralty. 
 
 GALLIPOLI, Feb, 15, 11.55 A.M. 
 
 I visited Gallipoli lines to-day with permission of Suleiman Pacha. 
 Was not favourably impressed with state of defences. Advanced post 
 of Russians at Kadikoi in sight of Bulair, from which place I am of 
 opinion that determined attack in force would carry Turkish position. 
 Am informed positively that large quantity of munitions are being 
 collected at Kadikoi. 
 
 Telegram from Vice- Admiral Hornby to the First Lord 
 of the Admiralty. 
 
 No. 24. 
 
 PRINCE'S ISLAND, Feb. 17, 8 P.M. 
 
 In reference to their lordship's telegraphic communication of yester- 
 day, I beg to report our force at Gallipoli is insufficient to destroy 
 heavy guns unless the Turks consent. If the Russians capture the 
 peninsula, the Turks would probably make better terms by leaving it 
 in their hands. I beg to urge upon their lordships that I consider the 
 position of Gallipoli to be most critical, and it cannot be assured with- 
 out a speedy understanding with the Turkish Government. ... It 
 seems certain that Suleiman Pacha cannot be replaced by a trust- 
 worthy general, and the positions held by the united forces of the 
 expedition under English and Turkish, or English alone. I need 
 hardly point out that the squadron would render very small service 
 if Gallipoli peninsula were lost. Your telegraphic communication, 
 No. 23 of 15th, received. Understand it to be answer to mine of 
 14th, No. 18, and have moved from Prince's Island to rendezvous, 
 seven miles S.S.W. of it temporarily, according to Ambassador's 
 wishes. 
 
 Please telegraph to Rear- Admiral Commerell at Gallipoli result of 
 Professor Abel's experiments on bursting guns. 
 
 Letter from Sir Stafford Northcote to the Prime Minister. 
 
 12 DOWNING STREET, WHITEHALL, Feb. 20, 1878. 
 
 DEAR LORD BEACONSFIELD, Will you call a Cabinet at twelve to- 
 morrow ? Smith has news which requires immediate attention. 
 Yours faithfully, S. H. N. 
 
 The news referred to is contained in the following tele- 
 grams :
 
 A.D. 1878.] ADMIRALTY DESPATCHES. 177 
 
 Telegram from Vice- Admiral Hornby to the First Lord of the 
 Admiralty. 
 
 PERA, Feb. 20, 6 P.M. (from Dardanelles). 
 
 Ambassador has informed me that the Russians have demanded 
 peremptorily Turkish fleet and to enter Constantinople with 30,000 
 men. Do my orders still hold not to interfere ? I have sent this by 
 sea to Dardanelles to avoid Russian telegraph station. 
 
 The Same to the Same. 
 
 TUZLA BAT, Feb. 20, 2.30 P.M. 
 
 Telegram number 28 of 19th received. No number 27 received. 
 One telegram of 18th in the vocabulary cipher received, not num- 
 bered. Russians reported to be advancing to M. San Stephano, thus 
 turning will get in rear of the last line of defence Moukhtar Pacha 
 was preparing for Constantinople. The city and Bosphorus will be 
 at then- mercy. 
 
 From Captain of Rakigh to the Same. 
 
 KOUMKALEH, Feb. 20, 6.30 P.M. 
 Rear-Admiral reports wire to Constantinople cut both sides. 
 
 Vice-Admiral Hornby to the Same. 
 
 TUZLA BAT, Feb. 21, 5 A.M. 
 
 Rear- Admiral Commerell reports good progress in strengthening 
 Bulair lines, but the assistance of ships to cover the flanks is indis- 
 pensable. If he might co-operate he thinks Russia would not pass. 
 This squadron might assist materially in preventing Russians entering 
 Constantinople, as it could command the best road for guns on each 
 flank. I think they could not enter if we assist Turks at once. 
 
 The Same to the Same. 
 
 ISMID, March 10, 4.10 P.M. 
 Secret. 
 
 . . . Bosphorus forts would probably not stop ironclads going into 
 Black Sea, but would stop all supplies. If in Russian hands and 
 strengthened by torpedoes, no squadron could pass without severe 
 loss. If there is any idea of moving in that direction, no time should 
 be lost in opening negotiations with the Turks. Without their help 
 the Straits cannot be saved, and the Turks seem daily succumbing to 
 Russian influence. 
 
 N.B. The group (of cipher) standing for "Black Sea" is still 
 doubtful. 
 
 TJie Same to the Same. 
 
 No. 64. 
 
 ISMID, March 23, 7.30 P.M. 
 
 Your telegram No. 48 of 22d received. The Rear- Admiral will 
 II
 
 178 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. OT. 52 
 
 decidedly require two powerful steam-vessels as long a.s he remains on 
 his present duty at Gallipoli. Rear- Admiral has observed two mer- 
 chant steam-vessels pass towards Dedeagatch under Russian merchant 
 colours. He ordered our cruisers in the Gulf of Zeros, in the event of 
 Russian troops embarking at Dedeagatch or elsewhere aboard any 
 steam-vessel for the purpose of passing Dardanelles, to follow such 
 vessel in an unobtrusive manner as far as Gallipoli ; and if any at- 
 tempt be made to land the troops, the cruiser is to act in pursuance 
 of Admiralty instructions communicated to me in your telegram of 
 Feb. 15. ... Ambassador, Constantinople, acquaints me that the 
 minister at Athens reports Greek Minister of Foreign Affairs has in- 
 formed him, on the authority of Italian Vice-Consul at Volo, that 
 Turks have pillaged and destroyed three villages near Mount Olympus ; 
 that they have murdered old men, women, and children, and that 
 some families escaped to the mountains, where, unless rescued, they 
 must perish. I have telegraphed to send Ruby to inquire, and if 
 necessary remove fugitives ; if not, she returns immediately. 
 
 The Same to the Same. 
 
 No. 71. 
 
 ISMID, March 31, 2.55 P.M. 
 
 Following telegraphic communication received last night from 
 Ambassador viz. : 
 
 " From British Consul I hear that from more than one source, but 
 give the information under reserve, that Generals Scobeleff and Gourko 
 have received orders to prepare to make a dash on Gallipoli in the 
 event of a war between England and Russia being imminent ; and 
 that a corps d'armde is to take possession at the same time of Kavak 
 near entrance of the Bosphorus. A Greek merchant who has been 
 a large contractor for provisions for the Russian army has received 
 orders to keep them at Constantinople." 
 
 In view of the gravity of the situation the Ambassador would like 
 two small vessels stationed at Constantinople. With Russians collect- 
 ing torpedoes at Rodosto, Rear- Admiral requires assistance, and Condor 
 is going to Gallipoli to him to-day. This leaves only three small ships 
 for this port and Constantinople, and to keep up communication be- 
 tween them. 
 
 I request instructions for guidance in the event of war being immi- 
 nent, observing that the ships cannot remain with safety in the Bos- 
 phorus at night whilst the north shore is in possession of an enemy 
 provided with Whitehead torpedoes. 
 
 The Same to the Same. 
 
 ISMID, March 31, 3.50 P.M. 
 
 Ambassador telegraphs following message, dated to-day, . . . from 
 Captain Fife, dated Gallipoli to-day : " Large bodies of Russians ex- 
 pected at Keshan to-day on the way of Cadi Keni from Adrianople. 
 Keshan ceased to reply by telegraph to-day."
 
 A.D 1878.] ADMIRALTY DESPATCHES. 179 
 
 The Same to the Same. 
 
 ISMID, April 2, 2.30 P.M. 
 
 Affairs at Constantinople said to be very critical. Grand Duke ob- 
 taining great influence with several military Pachas. Appointment 
 of Ministry favourable to Russia thought probable. General Dickson 
 tells me he thinks Bulair lines could be held by troops now there if 
 ordered to defend them, but recommends assistance of men and officers 
 from the fleet in the event of attack to prove to the troops that we 
 are in alliance with Turkey. 
 
 He fears orders would be given from Constantinople not to defend 
 the lines. In that case he thinks we should defend the lines by taking 
 General and troops into our pay. I concur with him, and submit that 
 the Rear-Admiral should have authority to do so if the Russians pre- 
 pare to attack. 
 
 Russians have lately been increasing their forces at Kadikoi. 
 
 Submit in future that treaty should be made with Turkish Govern- 
 ment to join us if we are forced into war with Russia. Our fleet 
 cannot stay in the Sea of Marmora or Black Sea for more than a very 
 few days unless some ports are open to us. If alliance with Turkey 
 could be formed, I submit that, if war is imminent, this squadron 
 should be withdrawn to Gallipoli or Besika Bay. 
 
 I cannot believe Turkey would defend Gallipoli for us, unless we 
 will do something for them as well as for ourselves. Time seems 
 precious. . . . Have ordered about 1500 tons of Welsh coal from 
 Malta. I think as precautionary measure equal quantity should 
 follow shortly : submit, therefore, that another steam collier should 
 be sent from England with agreement for delivery. 
 
 Telegram from Rear-Admiral Sir J. Commerell to the Same. 
 
 BESIKA, April 3, 12.5 P.M. 
 Secret and confidential. 
 
 I think First Pacha at Bulair would hail with delight an order from 
 Constantinople to surrender lines. Second Pacha is different man 
 altogether. 
 
 ? soldiers would defend them if First Pacha were away. 
 
 Of course if lines were given up, Hussein at Dardanelles would not 
 let me destroy guns on European side. The only way I can see to 
 
 ensure safety of Gallipoli is to order ? be given over : embark 
 
 the Maltese garrison in the Channel Squadron and Indian troop-ships : 
 cutting the wires and allowing no ships to touch there, and send the 
 ships to rendezvous in Gulf Xeros. They need not land until Rus- 
 sians make movement : excuse suggestion. 
 
 By this time the month of April the war-clouds were 
 beginning to break ; Count Schouvaloff had arrived in Eng- 
 land on a special mission from the Russian Court, the
 
 180 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. t-wr. 52. 
 
 Berlin Congress had been agreed on, and a second time the 
 House of Commons ratified the policy of Ministers by a 
 majority of 121347 votes to 226. 
 
 Needless to do more than allude to the result of the 
 Congress, the return of our Plenipotentiaries Lord 
 Beaconsfield and Lord Salisbury an event marked in 
 public memory by the speech made by the Prime Minister 
 from a window of his house in Downing Street, in which 
 he claimed, before an enthusiastic multitude, to have 
 brought back "Peace with Honour." 1 Eelieved from the 
 apprehension which had weighed so heavily on them 
 
 1 Lord Beaconsfield, it is said, piqued himself on his fluency in 
 French, but his idioms were rather intrepid than correct. He had 
 command of a copious vocabulary, but his accent was courageously 
 cis-pontine, a survival of that Anglo-Gallic which developed itself 
 among English officers during the Peninsular and Waterloo cam- 
 paigns. Some consternation, therefore, arose among the English who 
 accompanied him to Berlin, when they learnt that the British Prime 
 Minister intended to deliver his opening speech at the Conference 
 in French, and had already devoted much time to its preparation. 
 It would have been a delicate matter to explain to his lordship that, 
 while it was of the utmost importance that his speech should be 
 understood by the other Plenipotentiaries, that object could not be 
 attained unless he spoke in his native tongue. In this dilemma 
 recourse was had to the good offices of Lord Odo Russell, British 
 Minister at Berlin could he diplomatically convey to Lord Beacons- 
 field how necessary it was that he should speak in English ? 
 
 Lord Odo pondered for some moments, and then said 
 
 " Yes, I think I see my way. Leave it to me." 
 
 That afternoon he visited Lord Beaconsfield, and before taking his 
 leave, remarked 
 
 " By the by, I must tell you how much disappointment was felt 
 by the other Plenipotentiaries when it became known that your lord- 
 ship intended to address the Congress in French. " 
 
 " Why should they be disappointed ? " asked the Prime Minister, 
 putting up his eyeglass. " Is not French the language most generally 
 understood on the Continent ? " 
 
 " Undoubtedly, my dear lord ; but they had been looking forward 
 with the keenest anticipation to the pleasure of hearing English 
 spoken by its greatest living master, and, if I might venture to inter- 
 cede, I would beg you to give them this gratification. It is of some 
 importance, you know, to predispose them favourably to the consider- 
 ation of the questions which will arise." 
 
 " I think there is a good deal in what you say," observed Beacons- 
 field ; and, in the end, he complied with Lord Odo's suggestion.
 
 A.D. 1878.] TOUR TO CYPRUS. 181 
 
 for so many months, people were jubilant in their approval 
 of the success gained by English diplomacy. Great Britain 
 was rehabilitated in the eyes of Europe, and at the same 
 time delivered from the imminence of war. 
 
 Nevertheless, for the third time this session, the Govern- 
 ment had to defend themselves against a vote of censure, 
 moved by the Marquis of Hartington, and supported by 
 the impassioned oratory of Gladstone, Lowe, and Forster. 
 It was a false move in tactics, as the division list proved, 
 for the House acquitted the Administration of blame by 
 338 votes to 195 a crushing majority of 143. 
 
 CHAPTER XIT. 
 
 1878. 
 
 One result of the Berlin Congress had been the cession 
 of Cyprus to England, to be, as Lord Beaconsfield described 
 it, a " place of arms " in the Eastern Mediterranean. The 
 accounts of the capabilities, resources, condition, and popu- 
 lar feeling of this island were so conflicting that the First 
 Lord of the Admiralty and the Secretary of State for War 
 (Colonel the Hon. F. E. Stanley, M.P. 1 ) set out in the 
 autumn to inspect it for themselves. 
 
 The occasion was one not to be lost by that gentle satirist, 
 Mr Bromley Davenport, M.P., who, more suo, celebrated 
 the expedition in verse : 
 
 " The Chief of the Army and Lord of the Fleet 
 Have gone out to visit both Cyprus and Crete ; 
 The natives, delighted to see such fine stars, 
 Christened one of them Neptune, the other one Mars ; 
 
 1 Now sixteenth Earl of Derby.
 
 182 LIFE OF \V. H. SMITH. OT. 53. 
 
 They erected an altar to Stanley forthwith, 
 And put up a bookstall to W. H. Smith." 
 
 On the eve of his departure for the East, Smith received a 
 letter from H.E.H. the Duke of Cambridge referring to the 
 Eoyal Marines in terms which, as expressing the confi- 
 dential opinion of the Commander-in-Chief, cannot fail of 
 being pleasant reading to the members of that distinguished 
 branch of the service. 
 
 n . . GLOUCESTER HOUSE, PARK LANE, W., 
 
 Prwate - Sunday, October 20, 78. 
 
 MY DEAR MR SMITH, I returned late last night from a general tour 
 of inspections, & hearing that you are to start to-night for Cyprus with 
 Colonel Stanley, I write a line to say that I have had an opportunity 
 of seeing the four Divisions of Eoyal Marines at their respective Sta- 
 tions, and cannot speak in too high terms of their state of efficiency & 
 smartness. They are splendid fellows, in excellent military order, & 
 fit for any work that may be required of them. I am anxious to bear 
 testimony to their excellent condition, as I occasionally see rumours in 
 the public prints that there is some idea of reducing their numbers, 
 and some naval officers go even so far as to say that the Royal Marines 
 are now become a useless body. I hope you will never be induced to 
 listen to such views. All the old & valuable Officers of the Navy do 
 not share their opinions, & I trust they will not find any encouragement 
 on the part of the First Lord, who, after all, is the authority upon 
 whom these matters depend. I am not a Naval Man and know little 
 of Naval matters, but I have been a public servant of the Crown for 
 many years, & have gained some experience in that position, & I feel 
 satisfied that the Royal Marines are a valuable branch of our public 
 services, & as such deserve every encouragement & support, & certainly 
 not abolition, or even reduction. I remain, dear Mr Smith, yours most 
 sincerely, GEORGE. 
 
 To this the First Lord made the following reply : 
 
 H.M.S. HIMALAYA, off CYPRUS, Oct. 29, 78. 
 
 SIR, I had the honour to receive your Royal Highness's letter on 
 the subject of the Royal Marines on the day of my departure from 
 London, and as it was only a few minutes before the train started, I 
 was unable to reply. 
 
 I am really very much obliged to your Royal Highness for the in- 
 formation contained in the letter. It is most gratifying to us at the 
 Admiralty to have the very high authority of your Royal Highness 
 bearing testimony to the efficiency of the Marines. They have appeared 
 to me, with my very limited knowledge of discipline and drill, to be 
 in a satisfactory state, but I am perfectly assured now as to their con- 
 dition by the statement of your Royal Highness.
 
 A.D. 1878.] PAWS. 183 
 
 So far as the present Board of Admiralty are concerned, there is 
 certainly no foundation whatever for the rumours to which your Royal 
 Highness has referred. We have no intention of effecting a permanent 
 reduction in the numbers of the corps, still less of abolishing it. For 
 my own part I regard them as a very valuable reserve, capable of being 
 used at sea or on land, and until wars cease such a reserve certainly 
 should be retained. I have the honour to be, sir, your obedient humble 
 servant, W. H. SMITH. 
 
 As was always the case when duty obliged him to make 
 a prolonged absence from home, Smith felt the pain of 
 parting from wife and children in a degree which, to some 
 people, might appear disproportionate to the length of 
 the separation. But his was a warmly affectionate nature, 
 and he was not ashamed to give expression to his feelings 
 in the journal which he kept during his tour. 
 
 Monday, Oct. 21, 1878. Started from Greenlands for the 10.10 
 train. Did not " light up " in the brougham as we had been accus- 
 tomed to do. Neither of us cared for it. The two dear children had 
 our last good-bye as we drove rapidly through the gate, and although 
 we were not sad, we were, as once before, not talkative. The weather 
 cleared up, and we cleared up too, and we began to say to each other, 
 What a blessing it will be not to see a pouch 1 for perhaps a month ! . . . 
 
 The order was given, " Half speed ahead," the paddles turned, and 
 there was a good deal of dirty water, but no motion in the ship, and 
 so it went on for half an hour. At last we got off fairly ; the rain 
 had ceased, and we had a good but a slow passage across. On the 
 other side we found a carriage reserved for us, and we travelled com- 
 fortably to Paris, now and then saying a very few words to each other, 
 and they were very few, of those we loved. Some thoughts are too 
 precious to be given expression to. There is a sort of sacrilege in allow- 
 ing the birds of the air to listen to them. 
 
 Paris had been en f&te. There had been a great giving away of 
 prizes in the day, and flags on the houses and illuminations in the 
 streets ; but the people were returning home, and the gas-lustres were 
 out and the Chinese lanterns were going out, but still the place looked 
 cheerful and the people happy, lingering to see the last of the show. 
 
 We drove to the Hotel Bristol, and the Prince requested me to see 
 him. He told me he was almost tired of the functions he had to go 
 through. Prize-giving yesterday ; deputation to-day ; a ftte at Ver- 
 sailles at night ; it was too much. He said that his brother the Duke 
 of Edinburgh had been staying two days with him, and only left the 
 night before for Marseilles to join his ship, and he wished very much 
 I could have seen him. ' We parted. I returned with Codrington to 
 
 1 An official " pouch " : the leather bags in which papers and de- 
 spatches are sent from the public departments to Ministers.
 
 184 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. [JET. 53. 
 
 the hotel to write letters, and at 5 in came Mr Lawaon of the ' Daily 
 Telegraph ' to ask me what I thought of affairs. 
 
 Well, I did not think much ; what did Mr Lawson think ? He said 
 his wife had not seen Venice, and he was going there to-morrow for 
 three weeks. I was off that night to Cyprus. " Ah ! then you don't 
 think anything will happen jusfeat present?" "I hope not." "You 
 wouldn't go if you thought anything would happen ? " " Oh, certainly 
 not ! and it is just as well to show confidence." The 'Daily Telegraph' 
 and the First Lord shook hands and parted, with professions of pro- 
 found esteem and friendship ; and then we finished our letters, and 
 went out for a stroll, and to buy Tauchnitz for the journey. Up 
 and down the Rue de la Paix, lingering at the jewellers' windows, 
 admiring Sirandin's baskets, and the nattily dressed girls who pre- 
 sided over the sweetie-shop ; wondering whether the electric light 
 really was so wonderful ; thinking in between of home, and of all 
 that makes home lovely. . . . 
 
 So the real journey commenced, and we found ourselves a party of 
 seven, with four servants and a courier, Sir George Elliot, Sir Henry 
 Holland, 1 and Captain Fitzgeorge joining us at the station. 
 
 Thursday, 24th. . . . In Italy on the Adriatic coast a rich garden- 
 like country, with olive and mulberry trees planted in rows in the 
 fields. The sea is very Italian-like. Fishing-boats with the peculiar 
 Mediterranean sails, half red, half orange-colour, sitting like large 
 birds on the water. 
 
 . . . We passed Loretto, with its church built round the house in 
 which Joseph lived, which flew from the Holy Land first to Albania, 
 and then, not being appreciated there, to the opposite shore, alighting 
 on the hill now named Loretto. 
 
 On we go in heat, but, thanks to the late rain, not in dust. 
 
 At Foggia we left the sea and struck across a vast plain to Naples, 
 a five-and-a-half-hours' fast run. To the westward was a range of 
 very grand hills. There were some dark clouds about them, and as 
 the sun passed through them they seemed to divide, giving golden 
 fringes to their edges, and lighting up all below and around with a 
 golden haze which could be felt but not described. The plain was 
 mostly uncultivated, and houses few and far between. Troops of 
 horses here, some hundreds together, being driven home apparently ; 
 cattle in the same way, and now and then sheep. Darkness settled 
 upon us ; the stars came out brightly. We were all very tired, and 
 those who did not sleep thought again of home. . . . 
 
 It was very pleasant to find ourselves in the pinnace again, and 
 steaming out, we were soon on board the Himalaya, where we were 
 very heartily welcomed by our friends who had gone before. . . . 
 
 Friday, Oct. 25. A bath what luxury ! On deck, and the whole 
 Bay of Naples in sunshine before us ; Vesuvius smoking, but clear to 
 the top, the Observatory standing on a shoulder of the mountain, 
 olive-groves and vineyards clambering up its sides, and white houses, 
 surrounded by gardens, glistening. Description is out of the ques- 
 tion ; every variety of shape in rock, the sea deep blue, and the curves 
 
 1 Created Baron Knutsford in 1888.
 
 A.D. 1878.] VOYAGE TO CYPRUS. 185 
 
 where land and sea meet moulded by Nature as man could not mould 
 them. The Bay of Naples is very lovely, but, if I dare say it, it 
 wants the bright green of an English landscape. 
 
 The party on board the Himalaya, besides Mr Smith and 
 Colonel Stanley, consisted of Admiral George Wellesley, 
 C.B., First Naval Lord ; Sir Massey Lopes, Bart., M.P., a 
 Lord Commissioner of the Admiralty; Admiral Sir W. 
 Houston Stewart, K.C.B., Controller of the Navy; the 
 Hon. Algernon Egerton, M.P., Secretary to the Admiralty; 
 Captain Codrington, E.N., private secretary to the First 
 Lord ; Mr E. Dalyell, private secretary to Colonel Stanley ; 
 Captain Fitzgeorge, of the Intelligence Department of the 
 War Office ; Lord Colville of Culross ; Sir Henry Holland, 
 M.P.; and Sir George Elliot, M.P. 
 
 . . . Steaming away from Castellamare, we passed slowly out of 
 the Bay of Naples. We left Capri behind us, and gradually drew 
 away from the land, but still near enough to see its beauty. Vol- 
 canoes and earthquakes have tossed up the rocks into every conceiv- 
 able shape and form, but almost always peaked and rugged ; and then 
 tempests have scored out the softer particles of the rocks, and left the 
 harder in bold relief. We had just a few clouds to produce shadows, 
 light, and shade, and the deep blue of the sea formed a contrast and 
 pictures impossible to describe. For a long way we could trace a road 
 running terrace-like high up on the mountain-side, dipping from time 
 to time into orange and olive woods and emerging again. ... A 
 gorgeous sunset followed, and now I can understand pictures which 
 have hitherto appeared exaggerated and untrue. 
 
 We have now settled down to sea-life. I take my place at dinner, 
 with Wellesley opposite to me and Stanley on my right, it being 
 understood that others change about from day to day. Everything 
 appears well arranged, and everybody quite certain we are going to 
 have a very pleasant trip. Holland and Elliot do not appear the 
 worse for their long journey, and we all agree there is not a bad 
 fellow in the party. 
 
 At dinner I give H.M. the Queen, and our band strikes up, and we 
 all stand while the first bars of " God save the Queen " are played. 
 Before turning in I asked the captain to call me when we passed 
 Stromboli, if there was any fire visible. 
 
 Saturday, Oct. 26. Captain White, at 3 A.M., "Stromboli, sir, on 
 the starboard beam." It was very hot, and I had not been sleeping 
 very soundly, so I was quite glad to turn out, and for an hour I 
 watched the mountain, being rewarded by one flare, like a lurid 
 furnace at night in the Black Country. 
 
 In the morning we found ourselves close in to the shores of brigand
 
 186 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. [JET. 53. 
 
 Calabria, the same high mountains, tossed about, seamed, rugged, 
 convulsed, torn, and looking often bare, but, with a glass, vines and 
 olives could be discovered, and many villages and even considerable 
 towns perched up in commanding positions in the rocks. Sicily and 
 Mount Etna had been in sight for some time, and we steered rapidly 
 to the Straits of Messina, passing through Charybdis and close to the 
 famous Scylla. Off Messina we signalled to the Telegraph Station to 
 send word home that the Himalaya had passed. 
 
 Leaving Messina, our course was altered to the eastward, pointing 
 to Cyprus, and we soon left Sicily behind, keeping, however, nearer to 
 the end of Italy. Once I think I saw smoke issuing from Etna, and, 
 if that was so, I had seen three volcanoes smoking within twenty-four 
 hours. 
 
 Sunday, Oct. 27. A lovely morning. I had previously suggested 
 to Wellesley that the band should play hymn-tunes, and they ap- 
 peared with the crew at church-parade at 11 o'clock. We had two 
 hymns and a good sermon, in its way, from the clergyman, a Mr 
 Kavanagh. . . . Sunset again lovely ; a few clouds in the west to 
 take the golden light : the sun drops through them ; they seem to 
 open to let him go, and with a light too dazzling to look upon, he is 
 gone, and there remain a few light clouds which seem to have ab- 
 sorbed his light, and they seem for a few minutes only to float on the 
 sea in the horizon like the bright burning embers of a furnace. Then 
 succeeds rapidly every hue of which sky and water are capable. In 
 the east what appears to be a cloud of darkness quickly rises ; in the 
 west gold melts into deep red, red into orange, orange into bluish 
 green, and that into the colder blue of the zenith ; that again disap- 
 pearing before the darkness rising from the east ; and it is night in 
 a few minutes from daylight. 
 
 At 10 P.M. we are off Crete, and at 11 pass Cape Sparta. . . . 
 
 Monday, Oct. 28. I had sundry serious talks to-day with Stanley, 
 Wellesley, and others as to our work at Cyprus ; for it is, I hope, to 
 be real work. 
 
 . . . When we reach Larnaca we shall be 2^ hours in advance of 
 English time. I have kept my watch to "home" hours; and it is 
 very pleasant to turn to it and know perfectly well what is doing at 
 home. I see the boy 1 running out for a rose, and I almost hear the 
 gong, and I imagine the cold foggy mornings you have had, while we 
 are inclined to be languid from heat. . . . We are now drawing close 
 to Cyprus. Mount Olympus and the western range of hills have been 
 in view for some hours. ... I am afraid my journal may now be 
 interrupted for a few days, as we shall be busy looking about the 
 island, but I will try to pick up the threads. 
 
 Oct. 29. We saw a good deal of the island as we passed up. There 
 are many trees, and in some places forests ; on the side nearest 
 Limasol a gentle slope from the mountains, now looking brown where 
 there are few trees, but evidently green enough in winter. We could 
 make out Paphos, famous in ancient history, and we are coming on to 
 Atium or Shittim, spoken of in Solomon's time, when the island was 
 
 1 His son, Frederick.
 
 A.D. 1878.] LARNACA. 187 
 
 far more prosperous than it is now. It was 7.30 P.M. before we 
 dropped anchor at Larnaca last night. . . . At 10 P.M. Hornby, 
 Wolseley, and Lord John Hay, with their belongings, came on board, 
 and we had a friendly greeting. They looked well and cheery. We 
 arranged to go ashore for a ride through the town to the salt lakes, 
 to visit a mosque, and the camping-ground of the troops. At day- 
 light this morning, and before the sun rose, Stanley and I started. 
 We landed near Wolseley's place, and for the first time saw a Turkish 
 house. Horses were brought, and we mounted. The horses seemed 
 accustomed to the very broken ground, and to going up and down 
 steps. 
 
 Imagine an Italian town Orta or Lugano exaggerated, and you 
 have Larnaca, excepting that the houses are lower. Everybody is 
 up and taking coffee, and everybody is very respectful We ride 
 along dusty paths, and reach the salt lakes, which are a great source 
 of revenue, as the sun dries up the water in summer, and leaves a 
 crust of salt, which is gathered like a harvest. . . . 
 
 Wednesday, Oct. SO. Sir Garnet Wolseley, Stanley, and I, with 
 attendants, started on ponies to make the round of the Government 
 stores, offices, and hospitals. On our way we passed through 
 Printing-house Square, and by the Beaconsfield Chambers, Anglo- 
 Egyptian Street, and hosts of others newly named by the muni- 
 cipality. The Marina, from which we started, is a narrow ledge in 
 front of the houses on the beach here, and it is being widened by a 
 concrete wall built on the gravelly shingle between piles and a coffer- 
 dam, the ground inside being made good with stones. A motley 
 group they were at work Negroes, Arabs, Greeks, Turks. One was 
 reminded of " Parthians, Medes, and Elamites," people of every 
 nation and tongue. Every kind of costume was seen to almost none 
 at all, for the men worked in the water with little more than a shirt 
 and a waist-belt. It was curious to be saluted by Englishmen and 
 recognised as one passed up and down, the pony threading its way 
 over stones and through dust and dirt up and down steps. 
 
 The Commissioner, Colonel White, had always two zaptiehs, or 
 mounted police, in front, who rode on to make way, ordering bullock- 
 carts to stop and make way, swarthy fellows, all dressed differently, 
 wearing large boots, into which their baggy breeches of blue or brown 
 cotton were thrust ; then came a sash or belt, then perhaps a red and 
 white shawl, pattern shirt or waistcoat, and over that a gay tunic of 
 red, green, or yellow ; but, always contrasting with other colours, a 
 fez or turban covered the head. The commissariat stores were very 
 numerous, and it was curious to see camels standing outside and 
 mules picketed waiting for work. 
 
 . . . We went at a gallop through six inches of dust to old Larnaca, 
 to visit the hospitals, which are in two really nice old houses, with a 
 capital garden of oranges, citrons, and fig-trees attached. The people 
 came out to look at us in great numbers. The Turkish women 
 dressed entirely in white linen or muslin, covering their faces so that 
 only their eyes could peep through, but they were quite as curious as 
 the rest. . . . 
 
 Thursday, Oct. SI. We were on shore at daylight to start by
 
 1 88 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. [or. 5-3. 
 
 the waggonette for Nicosia. The carriage was really a good one, 
 holding eight comfortably inside. We started with two on the box, 
 and one, young Lopes, on the roof. We had a team of three ponies 
 harnessed abreast, and three mules in front of them. The' air was 
 quite cold before the sun was up, but by the time we reached Dew- 
 drop Inn, a tent pitched by an Englishman at the first change of 
 horses, it became very hot. The road was undulating and better 
 than I expected, but the country had an arid look from the want of 
 rain ; and, as much of the rock is limestone and very white, there is 
 a painful glare in the sun under the deep blue and absolutely un- 
 clouded sky. The desolate look too is increased by the fact that any 
 houses or villages you see are built of mud brick baked in the sun, 
 and of the same colour as the ground. The houses in the village 
 are mostly of one storey, with flat roofs, and from a distance they 
 look like an English stable or outhouse, but they are frequently com- 
 fortable, and have trees and gardens inside the enclosure. Away we 
 sped from the Dewdrop Inn, rising to the watershed between Nicosia 
 and Larnaca, about 800 feet up, from which we had a good view of 
 the plain which lies to the south of the crater or northern range of 
 mountains. Generally the ground was arid-looking, but there were 
 patches of green in considerable numbers, and it was evident that 
 wherever a stream ran there was great fertility and beauty. Wells 
 were numerous, and they resembled the pictures one has seen of 
 Jacob's well : a hole in the ground and stone basins into which the 
 water is poured when it is raised, from which and the stone troughs 
 around them the sheep and the cattle drink. 
 
 We arrived outside the walls of Nicosia at eleven, and were met by 
 the Commissioner, Colonel Biddulph, who ordered the driver to go 
 across some fields to the camp without entering the town, and we 
 passed for nearly a mile outside the walls, which are still in good 
 repair and very thick. At the camp I was put into a hut which was 
 divided in three compartments, first occupied by Stanley, the next by 
 Welles ley, and the last by me. The rest of the party were lodged in 
 the same way, the servants being under canvas. 
 
 In the afternoon we were all mounted on ponies and mules, and 
 went off, escorted by zaptiehs, to Nicosia. I rode on with Sir Garnet 
 and Colonel Stanley, the rest following. 
 
 Our way lay through the gate, passing the place where camels and 
 mules camped outside. On arriving inside the gate we were received 
 by a bodyguard of mounted zaptiehs. Two led the way, and the rest 
 followed us through the bazaar, or street of shops. There were quarters 
 of bootmakers and leather-sellers a great trade in Nicosia ; green- 
 grocers, butchers, silk-mercers, every trade keeping very much together. 
 The streets are paved very badly, and the horses, shod with a round 
 ring of iron, slid about. The people stared and gaped, frequently bow- 
 ing and touching their foreheads and chests as we passed by. The 
 mixture of colours and races, Turkish women in white from head to 
 foot ; Greeks with black hair, large eyes, and olive face, always having 
 contrasting colours to light them up ; men with turbans and green 
 jackets, some with a kind of long dressing-gown. All but ourselves in 
 Eastern as compared with European dress.
 
 A.D. 1878.] NICOSIA TO MATTYANI. 189 
 
 The streets were much shaded from the sun by vines trained on 
 lattices overhead or by matting with little openings overhead. . . . 
 
 Returning, we stopped for tea at Colonel Biddulph's house, where 
 I met the Financial Officer of the island, Mr Kelner, and the legal 
 adviser of Sir Garnet, Mr Cookson. 
 
 On our way back to camp we rode over a Turkish burial-ground, 
 which is quite unprotected, and past the battle-ground where Richard 
 Cceur-de-Lion fought and conquered just a few years ago, and as dark- 
 ness came on we returned to camp. 
 
 Dinner under canvas with Sir Garnet Wolseley and my colleagues. 
 
 Friday, Nov. 1. Very clear and very fine. Morning a little cold 
 before the sun was fairly up ; and we were all in the saddle by 6. 30 
 for a 35-mile ride to visit Mattyani camp and the 71st regiment, and 
 General Payn's camp at Dali. On our way we met many people going 
 into market at Nicosia. The route lay for some miles over a rich 
 plain, now burnt up except where there happened to be irrigation. 
 We crossed several water-courses, some quite deep and all rough, but 
 our horses seemed rather to like the climbing about. My pony was a 
 capital one, but it was smaller than Brownie, and sometimes when we 
 were cantering on broken ground I felt there was danger of my legs 
 getting mixed up with his legs. The country towards Mattyani was 
 very bare and rocky, and there was no shade. When we arrived at 
 the camp we saw breakfast laid out for us under a tent, and notwith- 
 standing heat, we set to work vigorously. Then we visited the tents 
 and huts, especially the hospital, and were very glad to find the regi- 
 ment healthy and in good spirits. We then started for General Payn's 
 camp, and lunched there. It was a striking sight. The horses tethered 
 under trees as their stables, and having no other shelter, the bed of 
 the river below quite dry, and, at the back of the tents, cotton plan- 
 tations and trees and wells. As we were lunching, a Bengal syce, used 
 as a postman, passed in front, and, with his copper-coloured face, black 
 hair, and white turban and dress, he looked, as he was, a striking evi- 
 dence of the variety of form England can bring to bear to discharge 
 her duties in the world. After lunch I mounted a fresh horse, and 
 rode home in the cool of the evening, passing few human habitations, 
 but many evidences of past prosperity. Dinner in ten b again and to bed. 
 
 Saturday, Nov. %. We were waited upon in camp by the chief 
 monk of the monastery, with attendant priests, to pay his respects 
 to the "Ministers." Sir Garnet uses a portion of the building for his 
 offices, and we are encamped on ground belonging to the monks. The 
 chief was a handsome old man, with a long white beard. He and his 
 friends appeared exceedingly anxious to express their delight at being 
 under English rule. After breakfast we rode into Nicosia, and paid 
 another visit to the bazaar. We made purchases of silk, and then 
 proceeded to Colonel Biddulph's house, until it was time to start in 
 the waggonette for Larnaca. We had to wait for a few minutes for 
 some of our party, and during that time a respectful but a curious 
 crowd gathered round. Away we went with our team of six, up the 
 rugged street and out through the massive gate, on which the winged 
 lion of St Mark still remains to mark Venetian rule. At the gate the 
 mounted zaptiehs formed as a guard of honour, and headed by their
 
 190 LIFE OP W. H. SMITH. [XT. 53. 
 
 captain, followed as an escort up to the top of the first hill, where 
 they saluted, wheeled, and returned to Nicosia. 
 
 Our journey down was as the journey up. We took a cup of 4 
 o'clock tea at sixpence apiece all round at the Dewdrop Inn, and found 
 the landlord cheery in his little bell-tent. An English friend of his, 
 who had just come over from Syria to pay him a visit, told us the 
 people there all thought themselves badly served that we had not 
 taken the mainland instead of Cyprus. Heat and dust, and yet it is 
 November 2d. . . . 
 
 Sunday, Nov. 3. Under weigh early. Church as usual at 10.30, 
 and this time the band played the usual chants for the psalms as 
 well as the hymns. I think we most of us enjoyed the service 
 thoroughly. 
 
 At 12 we were off Famagusta, where Admiral Hornby was already 
 anchored in the Helicon. We went inside the reef which runs from 
 the old harbour parallel with the land, so as to constitute a break- 
 water almost as good as that at Plymouth, within which large ships 
 can lie in perfect safety. 
 
 The town is surrounded by a very thick wall, and it is only ap- 
 proached from the sea by a water-gate. The ship's boat drew near 
 the shore, and we saw a crowd of people on the shore waiting our 
 arrival. On landing, we had to pass under the domed gateway some 
 hundred feet thick. Inside there were ponies and mules awaiting to 
 take us to see the ruins of the town. It was impossible to walk, for 
 the sun was hotter than we had before felt it. Our first work was 
 up to the top of the bastion commanding a view of the port. Such 
 desolation I had never before witnessed. Everything is a ruin, and 
 much of the ruin is as if it had been accomplished only a few months, 
 or at most years, ago. There are, they say, remains of forty churches 
 in the town, and not one perfect one remaining. The cathedral is 
 turned into the one mosque in the town, disfigured and dirty, with 
 tower and pinnacles gone, the pillars outside coated with whitewash 
 and green paint where the stone capitals should be, but still in its 
 mournful decay retaining externally in its doorways, windows, and 
 flying buttresses the most delicate and beautiful tracery, no one 
 window or pinnacle being like another. 
 
 We visited another splendid ruin, and on the walls of the roofless 
 apse we could trace perfectly mural paintings of the Agony, Crucifixion, 
 and other scenes in our Lord's Passion, the peculiarity being that the 
 drawing was perfect and the colours strong and good. The place was 
 the most mournful I have ever seen. It was literally a heap of ruins, 
 and from the good preservation in which some parts are found, man 
 and not decay must have created the havoc. We rode between the 
 remains of palaces and churches, and there are now only a few hovels 
 left, which are built out of the (Mbris of past greatness. The Com- 
 missioner, Captain Inglis, took us to the Konah, and it seemed to give 
 pleasure to the soldier-servants to see our faces. . . . 
 
 There are the remains of forty churches, and only 250 living men 
 in the town. Mr Millard, our surveying officer, navigated the ship 
 out of the harbour, and after a lovely sunset, we steamed slowly 
 round the land towards Kyrenia, where we arrived by daylight on
 
 A. D. 1878.] BAFFO. 191 
 
 Monday, Nov. 4- Fancy a range of hills, extending quite to the 
 height of Scottish hills, at the distance of from five to ten miles from 
 the shore, sloping from the last half of the distance gradually towards 
 the sea, with a somewhat thick wood as it appears from the sea ; but 
 when we got ashore we found they were fine carob-trees, olives, and 
 pines, thickly planted in fields which, although mostly bare now, are 
 all under cultivation. We landed at Kyrenia, an old Venetian port 
 with castle and walla still standing, and looking very picturesque from 
 the sea as the Union-jack floated from the ramparts. Passing through 
 the small town, we soon came to the camp of the 42d Highlanders, 
 the Black Watch. The poor fellows were in a very depressed state, 
 as they had had a good deal of fever and ague, which made them look 
 washed out, and they had no games or amusements ; but if all is well 
 they will soon be moved. There is one lady, a wife of an officer, but 
 there is only one other officer to call on her, so her life cannot be 
 very cheerful. 
 
 Some of our party went up to a monastery in the mountains, and 
 brought down beautiful flowers and fruit oranges, lemons. The 
 country appears to produce everything. In the evening we said 
 good-bye to Admiral Hornby, who returned to Constantinople, and 
 we sailed to Paphos or Baffo. 
 
 Tuesday, Nov. 5. Arrived at Baffo, and landed in a little harbour 
 full of rocks. There was a tower or castle there, in which death was 
 certain, it was so unhealthy. More zaptiehs and more receptions. 
 Negroes and Nubians seem especially to prevail here. 
 
 On our way round from Kyrenia, and while we were lying there, we 
 could see clearly the mountains of Asia Minor, and I shall therefore 
 have seen all the quarters of the world by the time I get home. 
 
 Landing at Baffo was a serious business. Our boat bumped on 
 rocks, and our poor coxswain trembled for the Enchantress pinnace. 
 At one time it appeared likely we should want the aid of an Arab boat, 
 but we got on shore safely. 
 
 Every description of steed met us English ponies, Arab horses, 
 mules, donkeys with a corresponding variety of saddles. . . . 
 
 Our road lay through ruins, marble and granite columns many 
 hundred years old lying by the wayside remnants of two separate 
 periods of civilisation, pagan and Christian. There were rock tombs 
 and one realises that Abraham was buried in a trough hewn out of 
 the rock and bits of arches and carvings of Christian churches. 
 
 So we proceeded, passing near where tradition Bays Venus arose out 
 of the sea, and a temple to Aphrodite was raised on to the ground on 
 which the camp of the 42d detachment stands. 
 
 The men were better and more in fettle than those at Kyrenia, but 
 Borne were unwell. We returned in a blazing sun and embarked for 
 Limasol, coasting along a rich country. 
 
 At Limasol we landed at a little pier covered with myrtle, and 
 carpeted in honour of our arrival. There was a crowd and a deputa- 
 tion. The municipality wished to present an address, which was read 
 to us with great emphasis by a gentleman in black and a top-hat. 
 When he finished there was " Zeto ! " or " Long live the Queen ! " 
 " Long live the Commissioner and the Ministers ! " in good round
 
 192 LIFE OF W. II. SMITH. [jet. 53. 
 
 cheers, and these were followed by " God save the Queen " in Greek, 
 sung by the schoolboys of the town. We hurried through the town, 
 for time was precious, to the castle, the kahn, and the jail ; and com- 
 ing out of that, we were met by another crowd and another address in 
 Greek, to which we listened gravely, not understanding a word, and 
 all agreeing that Mr Gladstone ought to be there to translate it. 
 
 We went on board, transferred Sir Garnet Wolseley and Lord Gifford 
 to the Humber, which was waiting, and started for Port Said. Poor 
 Sir Garnet felt our parting, but he said our visit had been a real com- 
 fort to him. Fine weather again favoured us, and on Wednesday, 
 November 6, we arrived at Port Said, the mouth of the Suez Canal. 
 There were ceremonies to be gone through a French admiral with his 
 flag-ship, the Governor of Port Said, the Admiralty agent, were all 
 come on board. We got through all this, and started for a short run 
 up the canal. It is much to the credit of France that M. de Lesseps, 
 persevering, accomplished the greatest work of the century in making 
 a navigable canal through the sands of the desert. We returned to 
 Port Said, and took a stroll in the town. There is an Arab lake 
 (dwelling) village just outside on piles over the Lake Menzaleh, which 
 might have been one of the Swiss lake villages of some hundred years 
 ago, now being discovered or uncovered. The town of Port Said is 
 most uninteresting, but it seems to embrace every kind of people and 
 language under the sun. The Arab boys were troublesome in their 
 attention to us, but a school we saw amused us much. All the children 
 made as much noise as they could. They, master and all, sat as Arabs 
 sit together, squatting on a mat, and as they said or learned their 
 lessons their bodies swayed to and fro like seesaws, the master, in 
 turban, using a bamboo stick for the heads of the most distant, if 
 they failed to jabber and to sway. We went on board, and sailed at 
 5 P.M. for Alexandria. 
 
 CHAPTEE XIIL 
 
 1878-1880. 
 
 When Smith's only son, Frederick, who had lately gone 
 to school, was home for the Christmas holidays in 1878, he 
 told a funny little story ahout his experience. The boys 
 had asked him if his father was the man who had the book- 
 stalls, to which he answered, " Yes." Then they asked him 
 if he did anything else. " Oh yes," replied Frederick, " he's
 
 A.D. 1879.] THE ZULU WAK. 193 
 
 First Lord of the Admiralty ! " a statement which was 
 received with shouts of incredulous derision. 
 
 By the time that Smith returned to England from the 
 East, war had been declared with Afghanistan, and Parlia- 
 ment was summoned to meet on 5th December. For the 
 fourth time during 1878 the Government were to be ar- 
 raigned on a motion of censure this time moved by Mr 
 Whitbread and the House was to be called on to declare 
 that it disapproved of the policy which had led to hostilities ; 
 for the fourth time the attack was to be repulsed : the 
 Government obtained a majority of 101 in a House of 555 
 members. 
 
 Although the shadow of war no longer lay upon the land 
 (for the affair in Afghanistan, though serious and deplorable 
 enough, was very light compared with the mighty conflict 
 into which Britain had so nearly been drawn in the year 
 that was past), the gloom of commercial depression, which 
 had set in with the crash of the City of Glasgow Bank 
 in September, weighed heavily on all classes. Agriculture 
 especially was in a languishing state : the pressure of com- 
 petition in corn and meat had begun to be formidable about 
 two years previously, and for the first time the effect of one- 
 sided free trade was making itself felt upon our principal 
 industry in addition to which the harvest of 1878 had 
 been a disastrous one. On the back of all this came news 
 of another frontier war in which Great Britain had become 
 involved, this time in South Africa, with Cetchwayo, King 
 of the Zulus. Not much interest was taken in it by people 
 in this country, absorbed as they were in their private 
 anxieties, until, on February 11, arrived messages describ- 
 ing the terrible calamity at Isandhlwana, where the English 
 column under Colonel Glyn had been cut to pieces. 
 
 It was under such circumstances as these that Ministers 
 met Parliament on February 13. The glow of exultation 
 
 M
 
 194 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. [or. 53. 
 
 which had followed the return of our Plenipotentiaries from 
 Berlin had given place to cold disapproval and anger at the 
 humiliation of our arms by a tribe of savages. Notwith- 
 standing all this, the House of Commons still, though with 
 a diminished majority, ratified the conduct of the Govern- 
 ment, and rejected a vote of censure (the fifth within twelve 
 months), moved by Sir Charles Dilke, by a majority of 60. 
 
 The Home Eulers were not slow to turn the circumstances 
 of the day to practical account. Agricultural distress, low 
 prices, and the ruin of the crops were availed of to foment 
 political discontent, and Parnell lent the full weight of his 
 new authority to the anti-rent agitation. 
 
 For Parnell was now leader of the Home Rule party. In 
 the previous session, a debate had taken place on the occa- 
 sion of the murder of Lord Leitrim, during which the line 
 taken by Messrs Parnell, Biggar, O'Donnell, and Callan, 
 the accusations made and the language used by them, were 
 made the subject of remonstrance and disclaimer by their 
 nominal chief, Mr Butt, who, when he found that he had 
 lost control over his followers, resigned the leadership. 
 Henceforward the policy of Irish Nationalist representa- 
 tives was to be that of sparing no charge, however odious 
 and unfounded, of respecting no custom or tradition of 
 Parliament, however venerable and honourable, with the in- 
 tention of making their presence at Westminster intolerable 
 to the House of Commons, and incompatible with its use as 
 a legislative assembly. 
 
 During the Whitsuntide recess, it fell to the First Lord 
 of the Admiralty to make an important speech at Bury 
 St Edmunds important, not because it marked an era in 
 oratory or gave birth to any of those phrases with which it 
 is the happy knack of some public men to tickle the fancy 
 of the public, but important because of the reassuring effect 
 it had upon the general anxiety which prevailed. The war
 
 A.D. 1879.] RECEIVES DEGREE OF D.C.L. 195 
 
 in Afghanistan had been brought to an end, and a treaty of 
 peace entered into with the Ameer. Sir Garnet Wolseley 
 had been sent out to South Africa, in order, as Smith 
 expressed it 
 
 To conduct the war wisely, with moderation, with a proper desire to 
 avoid unnecessary bloodshed, and with the resolution to bring it to a 
 speedy and safe conclusion. We should be wanting in our duty to our 
 country and to Englishmen in other parts of the world if we failed to 
 see that the peace which is to follow should be one which is not to be 
 again disturbed. 
 
 Now these were simple expressions, verging, it might be 
 thought, on commonplace : what was it that gave them so 
 much weight ? It was that people had learned already to 
 rely on the sound sense, courage, and moderation of the 
 speaker, and this is confirmed by many passages in the 
 journals of the day. 
 
 A few days after his speech at Bury St Edmunds, Smith 
 went to Oxford to receive the honorary degree of D.C.L., 
 which the University is wont to confer on men who rise to 
 distinction. Professor Bryce, 1 to whom, as Regius Pro- 
 fessor of Civil Law, was assigned the duty of introducing 
 the candidates in a Latin speech, described the First Lord 
 of the Admiralty as one " whose fleets covered the sea and 
 his newspapers the land; one to whom Britain had com- 
 mitted her trident, and one who had succeeded not only in 
 maintaining the efficiency of the Navy, but in the more 
 difficult task of pleasing the naval world in general" As 
 Smith passed to his seat among the Doctors, the under- 
 graduates struck up the Admiral's song from Gilbert and 
 Sullivan's opera " Pinafore. " Among the others upon 
 whom the degree was conferred on the same day were the 
 Crown Prince of Sweden, Earl Dufferin, 2 the Bishop of 
 Durham (Dr Lightfoot), the Right Hon. W. E. Forster, 
 
 1 Now the Right Hon. James Bryce, M. P. , Chancellor of the Duchy 
 of Lancaster. 
 
 3 Created Marquis of Dufierin and Ava in 1888.
 
 196 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. [JET. 54. 
 
 and Sir Frederick Leighton, President of the Royal 
 Academy. 
 
 During the First Lord's usual annual tour of the dock- 
 yards, he gives, in a letter to his eldest daughter, a good 
 description of a memorable ceremony the laying of the 
 foundation-stone of the new Eddy stone Lighthouse : 
 
 DEVONPORT, August 17, 1879. 
 
 Rain, rain, and more rain ! True Devonshire weather, say some, 
 and Lord Mount Edgcumbe, by way of parenthesis, observes, apolo- 
 getically, " but we do have some really fine weather sometimes ; only 
 whenever there is a function it is wet." The night was calm and dark, 
 and we slept quietly. 8 bells struck, and the watch was relieved. 
 No trouble appeared to be impending. Gradually the ship seemed to 
 be waking up. At 6 bells of the 2d watch we were roused from our 
 uneasy slumbers, and at 8 the word was given to get ready, and at 1 
 bell of the 3d watch the ship began to move. B. 1 would say to walk 
 through the water like a thing of life. I say nothing so absurd. It 
 was mizzly and thick, and the tops of the hills were covered ; but as 
 we passed out of the harbour under the stern of a German man-of-war 
 training-ship, the officers appeared on deck, and the band played " God 
 save the Queen." They answered, and we did the same until the 
 German band ended its labours, and we had then passed away. 
 
 Outside it was dark but not rough. We speedily lost sight of the 
 land, and when we saw it again near the Start a long roll or swell had 
 set in, which interfered with the dignity of your mother's walk, and 
 which consigned poor M. to a camp-stool just abaft the deck-house, 
 where she remained absorbed in contemplation with her face covered 
 with her hands. It rained, and then it lifted again, and then we 
 arrived off the lighthouse, and saw a crowd of steamers, yachts, and 
 small craft. 
 
 Presently the Galatea telegraphed first Lord and Sir C. Key to land 
 and attend the laying of the stone. The first cutter was lowered, and 
 in we jumped and pulled round to the rock on which the new light- 
 house is being built. There were moments when the sea seemed to 
 dispute our right to be there, and the water came right over and 
 drenched the men standing on the wall or coffer-dam built round the 
 foundations. 
 
 The two Princes landed and descended into the hole, and then the 
 Duke of Edinburgh, as Master of the Trinity House, taking the trowel 
 and mallet, went through the ceremony usual on such occasions. The 
 Vicar of Plymouth read a short prayer, and at that moment the rain 
 fell with peculiar violence, and washed all our heads. As soon as the 
 work was concluded, we crossed over in a boat to the old lighthouse, 
 
 1 His daughter Beatrice, now the Hon. Mrs A. Acland.
 
 A. P. 1879.] SECOND AFGHAN WAR. 197 
 
 and climbed up the face of the rock by a ladder to get into it, and from 
 the gallery outside at the top we surveyed the channel and the pleasure 
 craft crowded with umbrellas and mackintoshes. Descending, I wrote 
 my name in the lighthouse-book after the Prince of Wales, and before 
 the Duke of Edinburgh, and I followed the Prince out of the lighthouse 
 tower and down the ladder. The elements appeared especially desirous 
 of showing that he could not control them, and the ladder swung about 
 for a minute or two in a most delightful manner, until at last he was 
 taken or pulled on board in the arms of a sailor. 
 
 I lunched with them, and returned in the Galatea to the harbour, 
 the rain raining after the Devonshire fashion, and so our work ended ; 
 but we three are to dine on board the Osborne this evening. 
 
 So far as concerned England, peace had been preserved 
 in Europe, and restored in Asia and Africa, by the time the 
 holidays were reached ; but the troubles were not at an end, 
 for later in the autumn the call to arms came again. Sir 
 Louis Cavagnari and his escort had been massacred at 
 Cabul. The country was a second time involved in war 
 with Afghanistan. 
 
 As is always the case in a Parliament drawing to the 
 close of its natural life, great activity was shown by the 
 Opposition during the recess on platforms throughout the 
 country. The Government had held office for five years 
 and a half ; it was not likely that another twelve months 
 would pass without a dissolution. Among all the busy 
 critics who went from town to town denouncing the 
 "Jingoes," none was more active and merciless than the 
 Marquis of Hartington. But if he was fearlessly out- 
 spoken in denouncing the foreign policy of Lord Beacons- 
 field's Administration, there was one subject on which he 
 spoke equally plainly in unison with the Cabinet namely, 
 the resistance he was determined should be shown to Irish 
 disaffection. His words on this matter were, indeed, not 
 more forcible than those of other leaders of the Liberal 
 party at the time ; but his first public utterance in this 
 connection so clearly formulated the principles which one 
 wing of the Liberal party has since adhered to through
 
 198 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. [>r. 54. 
 
 good report and bad report, and another has cynically and 
 shamelessly thrown aside, that the passage ought not to be 
 forgotten. 
 
 Mr Parnell had, not long before, been glorying in a 
 public meeting on the success of obstruction in Parliament, 
 but added " we have another way of bringing the Whigs 
 to reason." Eef erring to these words, Lord Hartington said 
 at Newcastle : 
 
 If he means that we shall be ready to purchase his support, or the 
 support of any section of Parliament, by concessions which we think 
 fatal to the integrity of the empire, I can only repeat now in the 
 last year of this Parliament what I said in its first session that I 
 believe that those statesmen who should be so rash and foolish as to 
 offer any concession of this description, would thereby condemn 
 themselves to lasting exclusion from office. 
 
 But a more formidable champion of Liberalism than 
 Lord Hartington took the field in November. Mr Glad- 
 stone, whose relation to his own party in the House of 
 Commons since his overthrow in 1874 had been of a fitful 
 if not a fretful kind, now renounced all intention of stand- 
 ing again for Greenwich, and undertook to carry the war 
 against the doughtiest Tory in the north, by contesting the 
 seat of the Earl of Dalkeith, eldest son of the Duke of 
 Buccleuch. In that month he set out on the first of those 
 electioneering exploits which have since been known as the 
 Mid-Lothian campaigns. 
 
 Meanwhile Irish sedition was fermenting. The distress 
 caused by failure of the harvest was extremely serious. 
 The Eegistrar-General issued a report in which the defici- 
 ency of the crops was estimated at 1 0,000,000; the fall- 
 ing off in potatoes alone was set down at 6,000,000. It 
 was a golden opportunity for the political agitator. Mr 
 Parnell went to America to collect funds ostensibly for the 
 relief of distress ; but the true object of his mission that 
 of filling the coffers of the Land League might easily be
 
 A.D. 1880.] TWO TEST ELECTIONS. 199 
 
 discerned in his speeches. " If you want to help us," he 
 said to his American audience, " help us to destroy the 
 system which produces famine" that is, landlordism, the 
 strongest link that binds Ireland to England. 
 
 There was afforded to the Government at this time the 
 opportunity of one of those tests of public feeling which 
 reiterated experience has proved to be precarious and mis- 
 leading. The death of one of the members for Liverpool 
 on January 16 brought about a by-election in that important 
 constituency. Two candidates were in the field without 
 delay Lord Ramsay, eldest son of the Earl of Dalhousie, 
 championing the Liberal cause, and Mr Whitley, a local 
 solicitor, standing as a Ministerialist. The contest was 
 watched with the keenest interest throughout the country. 
 Lord Ramsay is said to have damaged his own cause by 
 pledging himself to vote for an inquiry into the expediency 
 of Home Rule ; but if he thereby alienated some of his own 
 party, he obtained in return the united support of the Irish 
 in Liverpool The poll was the largest ever recorded in the 
 United Kingdom, showing the prodigious total of 49,991 
 votes, of which 26,106 were cast for the Conservative, and 
 23,885 for the Liberal Thus the Government scored the 
 gain of a seat at the critical moment when Parliament was 
 assembling. 
 
 Not less decided was the voice of Southwark, where an 
 election followed immediately after Liverpool. It had been 
 a Liberal seat for forty-eight years, ever since the Reform 
 Act of 1832 ; and now, when Mr Clarke 1 was returned at 
 the head of the poll by a majority of 835, it seemed indeed 
 as if the flowing tide were with the Government. Sir 
 Stafford Nbrthcote spread his sails once more as leader of 
 the House of Commons under smiling skies and with a 
 favouring gale. 
 
 1 Now Sir Edward Clarke, Q.C., M.P.
 
 200 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. [JET. 54. 
 
 Nevertheless, the strain of anxiety was beginning to tell 
 upon Smith. In times of warlike preparation the pressure, 
 in a great maritime nation like England, falls with special 
 force upon the department of which he was the chief. 
 
 I sometimes envy [he writes to a friend on January 31] your per- 
 fect independence, and I should do so very much more if I had my- 
 self forged the chains which bind me to the oar. 
 
 The chief subject discussed on the debate on the Address 
 was the distress in Ireland, and the measure prepared by 
 the Government for its relief. It was proposed thereby 
 to advance money on easy terms out of the Irish Church 
 temporalities, through the Irish Commissioners of Public 
 Works, to Boards of Guardians, landowners, and other 
 local authorities, to enable them to employ people suffering 
 from the time of scarcity. This was vehemently opposed 
 by the Home Eulers, who declared that, under colour of 
 relieving distress, the Government were unduly favouring 
 the class of landowners. 
 
 Smith spoke on the second night of the debate, and 
 entered fully into the difficulties surrounding the problem 
 with which the Government had to deal. He reiterated 
 the view which he had so often expressed in regard to the 
 evil effects of indiscriminate outdoor relief, whether in Ire- 
 land or elsewhere. 
 
 The Local Government Board was charged by her Majesty's 
 Government to watch the progress of distress most narrowly ; but 
 we did not tell every Board of Guardians, or any Board of Guardians, 
 to relax the operations of the poor law until we saw that a real 
 necessity for it had arisen. . . . The Government have all along felt 
 that any vast system of public works was open to great objection 
 that it carried with it the impossibility of due supervision and con- 
 trol. Our object has been that relief should be given in the least 
 injurious form to the persons who received it. In the first instance, 
 we desired to stimulate applications from landlords who wished to 
 improve their own property, and who had a care for the people. In 
 the next place, we offered loans to the sanitary authorities and to 
 the presentment sessions, and insisted that the amounts should be 
 returned within a certain period of time. ... I do not think it
 
 A.D. 1880.] LORD BEACONSFIELD'S MANIFESTO. 201 
 
 necessary or desirable that I should follow my right hou. friend [Mr 
 W. E. Forster] in the remarks he made with reference to the events 
 of last week [the election contest at Liverpool]. We are here in 
 presence of a much more serious matter than anything which can 
 happen to a political party, and I think we can appeal not only to 
 gentlemen opposite, but to the country, to support the Government 
 in the duty which they have to discharge at this time, and that is, to 
 care for those poor people in the manner which will afford relief with 
 the least demoralising effect to those distressed fellow -subjects. 
 
 Things wore going smoothly enough to all appearance, 
 when, on March 8, there fell a bolt from the blue. No 
 whisper had leaked out of the surprise in store for both 
 Houses on that day in the announcement which was made, 
 that Parliament was to bo dissolved forthwith. Simul- 
 taneously there appeared in the newspapers a manifesto by 
 the Prime Minister, in the form of a letter to the Duke of 
 Marlborough, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, in which, as 
 many thought, he laid exaggerated stress on the gravity of 
 affairs in Ireland. After referring to the improved social 
 condition of that country, the distress prevailing therein, 
 and the measures taken to alleviate it, Lord Beaconsfield 
 went on to say : 
 
 Nevertheless, a danger, in its ultimate results scarcely less disas- 
 trous than pestilence and famine, and which now engages your Ex- 
 cellency's anxious attention, distracts that country. A portion of its 
 population is attempting to sever the constitutional tie which unites 
 it to Great Britain in that bond which has favoured the power and 
 prosperity of both. 
 
 It is to be hoped that all men of light and leading will resist this 
 destructive doctrine. The strength of this nation depends on the 
 unity of feeling which should pervade the United Kingdom and its 
 widespread dependencies. The first duty of an English Minister 
 should be to consolidate that co-operation which renders irresistible 
 a community, educated as our own in an equal love of liberty and 
 law. And yet there are some who challenge the expediency of the 
 Imperial character of this realm. Having attempted, and failed, to 
 enfeeble our colonies by their policy of decomposition, they may per- 
 haps now recognise in the disintegration of the United Kingdom a 
 mode which will not only accomplish, but precipitate their purpose. 
 
 The immediate dissolution of Parliament will afford an opportunity 
 to the nation to decide upon a course which will materially influence 
 its future fortunes and shape its destiny.
 
 202 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. [or. 54. 
 
 People were disposed to treat these paragraphs as a 
 hysterical reference to the proceedings of a handful of dis- 
 affected Nationalists : events have not only justified their 
 serious tone, hut, in view of the subsequent course of party 
 politics, have conferred on this letter the dignity of a State 
 document of the first importance. No part of it was more 
 indignantly resented than that which implied the possi- 
 bility of complicity between the Liberal leaders and the 
 Home Rulers, yet no part of it has proved more thoroughly 
 the penetration of the writer into the motives and char- 
 acters of Opportunist politicians. The honest incredu- 
 lity which the Marquis of Hartington hastened to express 
 in the candour of one who could make such a charge, has 
 since been amply vindicated by the manly steadfastness 
 which has guided his action in the Irish controversy, but it 
 betrayed that, at the time, he was inferior to his opponent 
 in foresight and knowledge of men. 
 
 No patriotic purpose [he said] is, in my opinion, gained by the use 
 of exaggeration in describing the Irish agitation for Home Rule. I 
 believe the demand so described to be impracticable. . . . The at- 
 tempt to arouse national jealousies and reawaken national animosities 
 by descriptions of dangers "worse than pestilence and famine," ap- 
 pears to me to be unnecessary and unwise. 
 
 On the eve of battle, while the opposing hosts were 
 scanning each other's position, and Europe was calculating 
 the strength of either army and the chances of victory, one 
 who had been until lately a conspicuous figure in the Con- 
 servative camp, and was still, though holding somewhat 
 aloof, reckoned among the Ministerialist forces, went over, 
 with all the influence at his command, and drew up under 
 the colours of the enemy. The Earl of Derby, whose pres- 
 tige whose character for deliberate judgment and never- 
 failing caution carried great weight even among electors 
 under household suffrage, declared himself henceforward a 
 foe to Lord Beaconsfield's Administration. In a letter to
 
 A.D. 1880.] LORD DERBY JOINS THE LIBERALS. 203 
 
 the Earl of Sefton he explained the reasons which made 
 him take this course : 
 
 I have been long unwilling to separate from the political connection 
 in which I was brought up, and with which, notwithstanding occa- 
 sional differences on non-political questions, I have, in the main, acted 
 for many years ; but the present situation of parties, and the avowed 
 policy of the Conservative leader in reference to foreign relations, leave 
 me no choice. I cannot support the present Government ; and as 
 neutrality, however from personal feelings I might prefer it, is at a 
 political crisis an evasion of public duty, I have no choice except to 
 declare myself, however reluctantly, ranked among their opponents. 
 
 Such a man was far above suspicion of time-serving or 
 self-serving : at an ordinary time the Conservatives would 
 not have been seriously weakened by the secession of one 
 of their leaders, who was unwilling to lead in the direction 
 in which the genius of the party pointed ; but coming as 
 it did at a critical moment such as this, it was undoubtedly 
 a heavy blow, and materially affected the result of the elec- 
 tions. It was natural that deep resentment should be felt 
 among Lord Derby's former colleagues at the selection of 
 this particular moment for changing sides, and that it 
 should find vigorous utterance among the ranks of his for- 
 mer followers ; but viewed dispassionately, as may be done 
 at this distance of time, no exception can be taken to his 
 action on the score of integrity or sense of duty. In separ- 
 ating himself, as his conscience and intelligence directed 
 him, from the party with whom he had so long been 
 associated, Lord Derby had the alternative of effacing him- 
 self and refraining from exerting any influence on public 
 affairs, or else of uniting his influence to that of the men 
 by whom, as he believed, the country might most safely 
 be governed. "Who is there that will not recognise the 
 latter as the more manly and patriotic line of conduct, or 
 hold that, having adopted it, Lord Derby did wrong to 
 choose the moment when his action would have most 
 effect.
 
 204 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. [>T. 54. 
 
 This accession of strength sent Mr Gladstone upon his 
 second Mid-Lothian campaign Avith abundant spirit. "I 
 mean," he exclaimed, rather with the radiant insolence of 
 a youth entering upon the battle of life than with the 
 weary misgiving of the veteran who, six years before, had 
 declared his resolve to spend his remaining years in rest 
 and retirement 
 
 I mean not only to secure the seat for Mid-Lothian, but my object 
 goes so far as to sweep out of their seats a great many other men who 
 now represent constituencies in Parliament, and to consign them to 
 the retirement for which they are more fitted, and of which I hope 
 they will make good use, and by reflection and study make themselves 
 more fitted than they are at present to serve their country. 
 
 In his address to the electors of Westminster, Smith 
 confined himself to little more than reciting the chief 
 points in which he claimed the Government, of which he 
 was a member, had earned the confidence of the people. 
 His expressions with regard to their foreign policy brought 
 him into the category of those who had been nicknamed 
 " Jingoes." 
 
 One, and not the least important, of the issues submitted to the 
 constituencies of the United Kingdom is whether that policy which 
 has averted war in Europe is to be reversed, and England is to retire 
 into a position of abstention and indifference as to European poli- 
 tics and affairs. I believe such a course would be an abnegation of 
 duty, and disastrous to the political and commercial interests of the 
 country. 
 
 Mr Smith and his colleague, Sir Charles Eussell, were 
 opposed by Sir Arthur Hobhouse and Mr John Morley. 1 
 The close of the poll showed Westminster, though staunch 
 to Conservative principles, had felt the influence of the 
 prevailing Liberal reaction, Smith's majority over the high- 
 est Liberal candidate having been reduced from 5522, at 
 
 1 Now the Right Hon. John Morley, M.P., Chief Secretary to the 
 Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.
 
 A.D. 1880.] CONSERVATIVE REVERSE. 205 
 
 which it stood in 1874, to 2529. The return stood as 
 follows : 
 
 Right Hon. W. H. Smith (C.) . . . 9093 
 
 Sir Charles Russell (C. ) . . . 8930 
 
 Mr John Morley (L.) .... 6564 
 
 Sir A. Hobhouse(L.) .... 6448 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 1880-18ST. 
 
 The success of the Conservative cause in "Westminster 
 and the rest of the metropolis awakened no sympathetic 
 echo in the provinces. From the results of the first few 
 days' polling it was evident that disaster had been lying 
 in wait for the Government. 
 
 The state of affairs [wrote Northcote to Smith on April 4] is gloomy 
 enough, and I don't feel at all sure that we have seen the worst even 
 yet. ... I don't feel cast down. We have been overwhelmed before, 
 and have recovered from it, and there will be plenty of work for us in 
 Opposition. But I am very sorry for the chief. There is much to 
 mortify him in this personal triumph of Gladstone's at what he must 
 feel to be the end of his own political career. He may count, I think, 
 on a reaction in his favour, but he will hardly again take office. 
 
 It would be difficult to assign any dominant reason for 
 the wave of Liberalism which swept away so many Con- 
 servative seats except the influence which sways vast 
 electoral bodies alternately from one side to the other, 
 and always tells with greater force against the party in 
 power, who have to reckon with all the individuals whom 
 it has been their fate to disappoint or offend, as well as 
 with the neutral residuum with no political bias or prin- 
 ciple, save a vague sense of equity instigating them to give 
 " the fellows on the other side a chance," or of mischief 
 prompting them to vote " agin' the Gov'ment."
 
 206 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. [>T. 54. 
 
 But besides these ordinary considerations there were 
 certain other factors in the situation, each of which con- 
 tributed momentum to the descending grade of the Tories. 
 The secession of the Earls of Derby and Carnarvon from 
 the Cabinet, and the recent adhesion of the former to 
 Mr Gladstone and Lord Hartington, no doubt carried great 
 effect. Then the dissolution had come as a surprise, and 
 people Englishmen especially dislike being surprised : 
 they feel that, unless special circumstances justify sudden 
 action, they have a right to be prepared beforehand to be 
 warned of what is expected of them. They resent being 
 "rushed," and are suspicious of anything which has the 
 appearance of a practical joke. 1 Undoubtedly the by- 
 elections of Liverpool and Southward had a good deal 
 to do with Lord Beaconsfield's choice of the moment to 
 dissolve : they afforded but one more instance of the utter 
 untrustworthiness of such indications of popularis aura. 
 
 1 In the autumn of 1880 Lord Beaconsfield produced his last novel, 
 and there occurs, in a letter to Smith from his frequent correspondent, 
 Mr William Ford, a passage curiously illustrating the jealousy with 
 which many of the middle class regarded such literary exploits : 
 
 "Lord Beaconsfield has, I regret to say, published a novel ! just at 
 this time. Brilliant as it is in many respects, it will not increase his 
 literary reputation, but it will vastly impair his political influence 
 with the middle class. He shows too plainly how the wires are pulled 
 by a few men and women. Sober-minded men don't believe in novel- 
 writing Premiers. As for the Dissenters and other religious sects of 
 the Nonconformist character, they will distrust him more and more. 
 The comparison of his literary labours with those of his great rival 
 marks the distinction the two men hold in the public mind. As a 
 novel, I have greatly enjoyed ' Endymion ' ; a professional novelist 
 could not have produced such a work. It bears the impress of the 
 author's unique experience of the select society of the chosen few, and 
 his fantastic appreciation of them in general ; but the reader cannot 
 refrain from the disagreeable conclusion that the writer holds the 
 world as a mere plaything for his special amusement and contempt 
 by turns." 
 
 There can be no doubt that this was but the expression of a very 
 general feeling towards Lord Beaconsfield in the minds of a substan- 
 tial portion of the community, and one that had found calamitous 
 utterance at the polls.
 
 A.D. 1880.] 
 
 CAUSES OF DEFEAT. 
 
 207 
 
 Next there was the more tangible and measurable element 
 of the Irish vote, which was cast solid against the Minis- 
 terialist candidates. The allusion made in his manifesto by 
 Lord Beaconsfield to disaffection in Ireland, however neces- 
 sary and sagacious, did not prove to be a tactical success. 
 It was met by a counter-manifesto from the Home Rulers, 
 in which Irishmen were called upon, " in presence of the 
 atrocious and criminal manoeuvre which has been attempted 
 . . . [to] vote against Benjamin Disraeli as they should vote 
 against the enemy of their country and their race." 
 
 Lastly, there was the extraordinary fervour aroused by 
 Mr Gladstone's northern tours. If the Earl of Rosebery 
 was not able literally to fulfil his vaunt of sending up all 
 the Scottish Tory members in a single first-class compart- 
 ment of a railway carriage (still less, as somebody suggested, 
 with room to put their feet on the opposite seats), he had 
 not been far amiss in his estimate, for only nine Conserva- 
 tives were returned from the whole of Scotland. In Ire- 
 land the Nationalist party triumphed everywhere except 
 in Ulster. The state of parties in the new House of Com- 
 mons, as compared with that in the old one, was thus : 
 
 Election 
 
 1874. 
 Conservatives .... 351 
 
 Liberals 250 
 
 Home Rulers .... 51 
 
 Conservative majority over"! _ 
 Liberals and Home Rulers/ 
 
 Election 
 
 1880. 
 Conservatives. . . . 243 
 
 Liberals 349 
 
 Home Rulers . 60 
 
 Liberal majority over Con- \ ... 
 servativesand Home Rulers / 
 
 The elections are all going against us [Smith wrote to his wife on 
 April 2], and it looks as if the Liberals would be as strong as they 
 were in 1868. I hope Cross will keep his seat, but at present the 
 wave for it is just like a tidal wave appears to be rising higher and 
 sweeping everything before it. 
 
 We know, however, that there is a Ruler, and that the wills of men 
 can be controlled by Him, and I am quite content. 
 
 Expressions such as these testify to the earnest view
 
 208 LIFE OF W. II. SMITH. [>T. 54. 
 
 taken by the writer of the principles at stake between the 
 two great parties. No one who regarded a general election 
 merely as a contest between two political sects could thus 
 have alluded to the Divine control of events without being 
 guilty of irreverence or hypocrisy, and these are the last 
 faults of which Smith can ever have been suspected. "With 
 all his tolerance for the opinions of those Avho differed with 
 him, he looked upon politics, not as a game, but as the 
 exercise of the highest duty men can perform to their 
 country. 
 
 On April 8 he wrote again to Mrs Smith : 
 
 ... I am thankful that Cross is in, but you see Egerton is out, 
 and our losses are most severe. However we shall survive them, and 
 find good work to do for the country ; and there is great consolation 
 in the hope of seeing more of one's wife and children than has lately 
 been possible. It is yet uncertain when we shall resign. The Queen 
 does not return until Saturday the 17th, but we shall probably have 
 a Cabinet on Tuesday. 
 
 During this year Mr J. L. Pattisson first came to Mr 
 Smith as his private secretary. It will be remembered that 
 the two gentlemen became acquainted when the latter was 
 travelling in Canada in 1872, and the former was secretary 
 to the Earl of Dufferin. On the first day Mr Pattisson was 
 on duty, Smith introduced him to several of his friends in 
 the lobby of the House of Commons, among others to Sir 
 Thomas Bateson, M.P., 1 who remarked aside to the new 
 private secretary " You are going to the truest gentleman 
 I know." Those who remember Sir Thomas and the rigid 
 meaning he attached to the term "gentleman," will appre- 
 ciate this testimony to Smith's character. Mr Pattisson 
 remained with Smith until his death, and no public man 
 was ever better served by a confidential lieutenant. 
 
 As soon as the result of the polls was known, it became 
 a matter of keen speculation who should succeed Lord 
 
 1 Created Baron Deramore in 1885.
 
 A.D. 1880.] MR GLADSTONE'S CABINET. 209 
 
 Beaconsfield as Prime Minister. The choice lay between 
 Earl Granville, the Marquis of Hartington, and Mr Glad- 
 stone. On Lord Hartington had fallen the chief weight of 
 opposition, though without Mr Gladstone's crusades the 
 end might have come in a different way. On April 22 the 
 Queen sent for Lord Hartington ; next day he and Lord 
 Granville had an interview with her Majesty, who there- 
 upon put an end to all doubts by sending for Mr Gladstone. 
 Lord Hartington became Secretary of State for War, and 
 Lord Granville took the seals of the Foreign Office. Mr 
 Forster was to go to the Irish Office as Chief Secretary, 
 and one day, just before his appointment was announced, 
 he happened to overtake Smith, who was walking with his 
 daughter in Pall Mall. The ex-First Lord of the Admiralty 
 offered his congratulations to the new Minister, and added : 
 " I remember six years ago you told me you were very glad 
 to leave office, and that after six years a man is ready and 
 glad to go back again." "Yes," replied Forster, rather 
 sadly, " that is quite true, and it was a true thing said by 
 some one, that a man has two happy days in his official 
 life, the first when he takes office the second, when he 
 leaves it." " I hear you are going to Ireland," said Smith ; 
 "you will have a nice house in the Phoenix Park." But 
 Forster made no answer except a shrug of his heavy 
 shoulders, and passed on. 
 
 It was under the depressing conditions of staggering 
 defeat that the Conservative party in both Houses of Par- 
 liament were summoned into council at Bridgewater House. 
 The scene must remain impressed on the memory of many 
 who were present on this occasion. Never was there a 
 warmer feeling of devotion felt for a chief than thrilled the 
 members of the party in this hour of overwhelming disaster, 
 and never did he rise more effectively to a trying occasion. 
 It so happened that as Lord Beaconsfield stood addressing 
 
 O
 
 210 LIFE OF W. II. SMITH. [.ET. 54. 
 
 the meeting with his late Cabinet seated round him, he was 
 placed immediately under a large picture by Murillo of the 
 Madonna. The colouring both of painted effigy and living 
 figure was of the same tone ; the sallow flesh tints, black 
 hair, and clothing were almost identical in both. One could 
 almost imagine that the Virgin was spreading her hands in 
 compassion over the fallen leader. Disaffected Tories laid 
 aside their grievances and rallied to their old chief : the 
 Earl of Carnarvon and Sir Robert Peel, erst recalcitrant, 
 spoke heartily and well ; only the Earl of Derby was absent, 
 and he had joined hands with the adversary. 
 
 On the very threshold of their undertaking, Ministers 
 were confronted with a problem of extreme delicacy and 
 complexity, and one destined to give birth to prolonged and 
 angry controversy. Mr Charles Bradlaugh, who had been 
 returned as one of the members for Northampton, was well 
 known (to use his own expression) as a " propagandist of 
 atheism," an advocate of systematic Malthusianism, and the 
 author of a work which the courts subsequently declared to 
 be immoral and ordered its suppression. Once a soldier in 
 the Dragoon Guards, Bradlaugh had, since leaving the 
 service, supported himself by delivering infidel and Eadical 
 lectures and by a fluent pen. This was the individual who 
 on April 29, when the new Parliament was being sworn in, 
 presented himself at the table and claimed to be allowed to 
 affirm, instead of taking the oath. Objection having been 
 taken to this, a Select Committee was appointed to inquire 
 into the matter, and, by a majority of one vote, decided 
 against Bradlaugh's claim. Upon this Bradlaugh declared 
 that he was prepared to take the oath, and if, in order to 
 discharge his duty to his constituents, he had to submit to 
 a form less solemn in his eyes than affirmation, so much the 
 worse for those who forced him to repeat words which, he 
 declared, were for him mere sounds, conveying no clear and
 
 A.D. 1880.] MR BRADLAUGH AND THE OATH. 211 
 
 definite meaning, and without any binding effect on his 
 conscience. 
 
 By this admission, in which he was. probably perfectly 
 sincere, Bradlaugh delivered himself into the hands of his 
 enemies, for, on his presenting himself a second time and 
 claiming to take the oath, Sir Henry Drummond "Wolff 
 interposed, and argued that, inasmuch as Bradlaugh had 
 declared that the terms of the oath were, in his opinion, an 
 empty form, that declaration, which would be sufficient to 
 prevent his sworn evidence being taken in any court of 
 law, ought also to debar him from swearing in the Court of 
 Parliament. 
 
 To get rid of the dilemma, the Prime Minister moved the 
 appointment of a second Committee, who found that Brad- 
 laugh could not legally take the oath, but ought to be 
 allowed to affirm at his own risk. On the report of the 
 Committee, Mr Labouchere, Bradlaugh's colleague in the 
 representation of Northampton, moved that affirmation be 
 permitted, to which Sir Hardinge Giffard moved an amend- 
 ment that Bradlaugh be neither permitted to affirm nor to 
 swear. The debate was heated and painful Mr Bright, 
 strongly advocating Bradlaugh's cause, declared that "the 
 working people of this country cared as little for the dogmas 
 of Christianity as the upper classes did for the practice of 
 that religion." On a division Sir H. Giffard's amendment 
 was carried by 275 votes to 230. 
 
 Thereupon ensued a scene of the wildest excitement. 
 Bradlaugh, a man of commanding stature and majestic 
 mien, strode to the table of the House and claimed to take 
 the oath. Being ordered by the Speaker to withdraw, he 
 said 
 
 " With great respect, sir, I refuse to obey the orders of 
 the House, which are against the law." 
 
 Then, on Sir Stafford Northcote's motion (for the leader
 
 212 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. [xt. 55. 
 
 of the House declined all responsibility in the matter), 
 Bradlangh was taken into custody by the Sergeant-at-Arms. 
 He remained that night in confinement in the Clock Tower, 
 but the following day was released by order of the House, 
 on Sir Stafford Northcote's motion. The question was 
 decided, for that session at all events, by a resolution passed 
 on July 1, permitting all persons whom the law allowed 
 to make affirmation instead of oath to do so on taking their 
 seats, subject to any liability by statute. 1 
 
 The whole of July was taken up with discussions on the 
 Compensation for Disturbance Bill, to prevent the eviction 
 of Irish tenants without compensation, even when they had 
 ceased to pay any rent. This measure was thrown out by 
 the Lords by a majority of more than 5 to 1, and a similar 
 course would have been taken in regard to the Ground 
 Game Bill, had not Lord Beaconsfield implored the Peers 
 not to court collision with the other House, except where 
 vital principles or matters of first importance, such as the 
 government of Ireland or reform of the land laws, were 
 concerned. 
 
 We have [wrote Smith to Mr Ford], I think, persuaded the Lords 
 to pass both the Employers and the Hares and Rabbits Bills. ... I 
 do not myself like the look of English politics. The transfer of rights 
 
 1 A curious illustration of Bradlaugh's testimony to the value of 
 an oath as binding the consciences of ordinary witnesses came under 
 my own observation in 1888. I was chairman of a Select Committee 
 in that year, of which Mr Bradlaugh was a member. During our 
 first or second sitting some startling evidence was given, implying 
 serious charges against certain persons in the discharge of fiduciary 
 duties. Mr Bradlaugh interrupted the proceedings, saying : " Mr 
 Chairman, I move that the room be cleared." This having been 
 done, he moved that, having regard to the gravity of the evidence we 
 had heard, all subsequent witnesses should be put upon oath : which 
 was agreed to and carried into effect. Having had occasion above to 
 refer to the painful circumstances of Mr Bradlaugh's entrance into 
 Parliament, I take this opportunity of observing that, in spite of the 
 detestation in which his opinions were held by the majority of the 
 House of Commons, he lived to secure general esteem for his inflex- 
 ible honesty, as well as for his industry and ability in business.
 
 A.D. 1880.] THE "FOURTH PARTY." 213 
 
 and property from a minority to a majority threatens to become 
 popular, and there is danger that one set of politicians will endeavour 
 to outbid the other in the effort to gain the popular voice. 
 
 The Conservative Opposition was generally in a limp and 
 disorganised condition throughout this session ; but a small 
 body of independent members below the gangway distin- 
 guished themselves by the intrepidity and persistency of 
 their resistance to the Government, so as to earn for them- 
 selves the title of the Fourth Party. These, as is well 
 known, consisted of Lord Eandolph Churchill as leader, Mr 
 Arthur Balfour, Sir John Gorst, and Sir Henry Drummond 
 Wolff. The apparent passivity of the occupants of the 
 Tory front bench drew upon them especially upon North- 
 cote, Cross, and Smith some stinging taunts from this 
 knot of free-lances; taunts which, so far as Smith was 
 concerned, were not deserved, for if it be admitted that 
 ISTorthcote, habitually gentle and forbearing, was sometimes 
 slow to take advantage of opportunity, it often fell to Smith 
 to stimulate him to more vigorous action. 
 
 But very often during this session the Tories had to fight 
 shoulder to shoulder with their historic foes against the 
 Irish. For instance, on August 28, Smith wrote home : 
 
 We have had a curious life to-day. It has been two days in one, 
 or one day prolonged into another. I went home last night shortly 
 after one, knowing that the Irish were going to keep it up all night ; 
 and at half-past six they sent for me to say that the House was still 
 sitting, and would I come down ? So I got up and had my breakfast, 
 and went down and sat in the House until half-past eleven, when I 
 went to a meeting at Seamore Place to see the Peers. They talked for 
 two hours, and on my return to the House I found the Thursday sit- 
 ting had been ended, and we had got into Friday. The poor Ministers 
 look fearfully fagged, and they will have a bad night again, but it is 
 very much their own fault, as they never lose an opportunity of 
 truckling to the rebels. 
 
 When at last the session was brought wearily to a close 
 on September 7, the seat of war was transferred to Ireland ; 
 and it becomes necessary, in order to follow the course of
 
 214 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. [JET. 55. 
 
 the politics of those days, to take note of the origin of a 
 system for which a special term had to be devised. Par- 
 nell, speaking at Ennis, exclaimed, "What is to be done 
 with a tenant bidding for a farm from which another tenant 
 has been evicted?" "Shoot him !" cried somebody in the 
 audience. ""No," replied Parnell, "I do not say shoot 
 him ; there is a more Christian and charitable way of deal- 
 ing with him : let him be shunned in the street, in the 
 shop, in the market-place even in the places of worship 
 as if he were a leper of old." 
 
 The first notable example of the execution of this cruel 
 advice took place at Lough Mask, where Captain Boycott, 
 the Earl of Erne's agent, had a large farm. He had earned 
 the displeasure of the Land League, and they issued orders 
 that he should be treated "as a leper of old." In conse- 
 quence all his men left him just as the crops were ready for 
 the sickle; tradesmen refused to supply goods; even the 
 postman was warned not to carry his letters. But Captain 
 Boycott was not the man to sit down under what many a 
 poor tenant had had to suffer in silence. He appealed for 
 succour, nor did he appeal in vain ; funds were collected, 
 and a hundred stout fellows set out from Ulster to do the 
 necessary work of the farm. The Government were on the 
 alert ; no fewer than 7000 cavalry, infantry, and police, 
 with two field-pieces, were employed to protect the Ulster- 
 men in their operations, and Captain Boycott's crops were 
 saved, under circumstances closely resembling civil war. 
 The affair made such an impression that henceforth the 
 English language was permanently enriched by the terms 
 "boycotting" and "to boycott." 
 
 The murder of Lord Mountmorres on September 25 was 
 another landmark in what was to prove a long and bloody 
 era of crime. Murder, maiming of men and beasts, moon- 
 lighting, and boycotting were practised almost with im-
 
 A. D. 1880.] DECLINES RAILWAY CHAIRMANSHIP. 215 
 
 punity; juries were afraid to convict, witnesses terrified 
 into silence : as a contemporary rhymester rendered it 
 
 " The difference 'twixt ' uioonlighb ' and moonshine 
 
 The people now well understand : 
 The first is the law of the Land League, 
 The other the law of the land." 
 
 The Government, recognising the hopelessness of ruling 
 Ireland under the ordinary law, resolved on the prosecution 
 of the Land League, and the introduction of special legisla- 
 tion to restore order. 
 
 In January 1881, Smith received a proposal which 
 testified to the esteem in which his business capacity was 
 held by those best able to form a judgment thereon. The 
 largest railway company in Great Britain, and therefore 
 the largest in the world, invited him to become their 
 chairman. 
 
 I had the offer of the chairmanship of the London and North- 
 Western Railway made formally to me yesterday. It is the unani- 
 mous wish of the Board that I should come to preside over them, and 
 they say they would do everything in their power to lighten my labours 
 if I would consent. They begged me to take time and not to answer 
 off-hand, and so I said I would give my answer on Monday. 
 
 He did so, in the negative, after consulting Lord Beacons- 
 field, who said to him : " Politics is a jealous mistress ; 
 hitherto you have been singularly successful ; it falls to the 
 lot of few men to be six years consecutively in office, and 
 during half that time in such a high and important office 
 as First Lord of the Admiralty." 
 
 Parliament was summoned to meet earlier than usual 
 this year, owing to the gravity of the situation in Ireland ; 
 and in order to be at his post at the commencement of 
 business, Smith had to hasten back through some extra- 
 ordinarily heavy weather from Beyrout, where he was
 
 216 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. [XT. 55. 
 
 cruising in the Pandora. The special business of Parlia- 
 ment was marked out in the Queen's Speech : 
 
 The anticipation with which I last addressed you, of a great dimi- 
 nution of the distress in Ireland, owing to an abundant harvest, was 
 realised ; but I grieve to state that the social condition of the country 
 has assumed an alarming character. Agrarian crimes in general have 
 multiplied far beyond the experience of recent years. Attempts upon 
 life have not grown in the same proportion as other offences, but I 
 must add that efforts have been made for personal protection, far be- 
 yond all former precedent, by the police, under the direction of the 
 Executive. 
 
 The Speech went on to advert to the frustration of justice, 
 owing to intimidation of witnesses and juries : 
 
 An extended system of terror has been established in various parts 
 of the country, which has paralysed almost alike the exercise of private 
 rights and the performance of civil duties. 
 
 This formed the justification of a new Coercion Bill for 
 Ireland, of which Mr Forster gave notice on the first night 
 of the session adequate, stringent, and lacking only one 
 element of efficiency, that it was limited to four years' dura- 
 tion. Forster hated having to bring in such a measure : the 
 probable necessity for it had been weighing on his mind 
 when he spoke so gloomily to Smith at the beginning of the 
 Administration ; and now that the attempt to govern Ireland 
 without extraordinary powers had ended in bloody failure, 
 he relished his task none the more because he could not 
 evade it. 
 
 The scenes of disorder and rampant obstruction to which 
 the discussion of Forster's bill gave rise were utterly beyond 
 anything recorded in the proceedings of the House of Com- 
 mons, and proved that the amended Eules of Procedure 
 were as useless in controlling licence of speech as to use a 
 Scottish proverb a boiled carrot would be to bar a door. 
 A sitting of twenty -two hours' duration was followed by 
 one of forty-one hours, and the latter was only brought to a 
 close by the Speaker taking the extreme course, which noth-
 
 A.D. 1881.] BEACONSFJELD'S LAST APPEARANCE. 217 
 
 ing but desperate circumstances could be held to warrant, 
 of refusing to call upon any more members to speak. 
 
 A meeting of the Conservative party was held at Lord 
 Beaconsfield's new house in Curzon Street, to consider the 
 Prime Minister's proposals to put down obstruction. It was 
 a scene very different from that of the last occasion when 
 Beaconsfield had addressed his followers. Instead of the 
 vast saloon at Bridgewater House, the sober colouring of 
 the walls and the mellowed gilding of the picture frames, 
 there was the newly upholstered drawing-room, tricked out 
 with blue and gold, and gaudily carpeted. Beaconsfield 
 stood upon a high stool placed at the angle between the 
 front and back rooms a lean, dark, feeble figure, against a 
 tinselly background. It was thus that the rank and file of 
 the Conservative party in great measure his own creation 
 were to look upon Benjamin Disraeli for the last tune. 
 Few of those present ever saw him again. 
 
 On the very day when Mr Gladstone's motion on Pro- 
 cedure was down for discussion February 3 a fresh object- 
 lesson was forthcoming of how little modern men were to 
 be restrained by ancient rules or traditions. The Home 
 Secretary, Sir William Harcourt, in answer to a question, 
 announced the arrest of Michael Davitt, a prominent Land 
 Leaguer. Mr Gladstone rose to move his resolution, and at 
 the same moment Mr John Dillon sprang to his feet. The 
 Speaker calling on Mr Gladstone, Mr Dillon cried out, " I 
 demand my privilege of speech." 
 
 There followed a scene of great confusion. Mr Dillon 
 stood erect, with arms folded, pale and determined. "Name 
 him ! name him ! " shouted members on both sides. 
 
 Then was solved a question which a former Speaker of 
 the House once declared himself unable to answer. " What 
 would happen," he was asked, " if a member persisted in 
 disregarding the ruling of the Chair 1 " " It would be the
 
 218 LIFE OF W. U. SMITH. [srr. 56. 
 
 duty of the Speaker to name that member," was the reply. 
 " And what would happen next ? " " Heaven only knows ! " 
 was all the answer the Speaker could give. 
 
 What happened on this occasion was that the Speaker 
 " named " Mr John Dillon. The Prime Minister then moved 
 that Mr Dillon be suspended from the service of the House, 
 which having been put and carried on a division, the offender 
 was directed to withdraw. This he refused to do, where- 
 upon the Speaker ordered the Serjeant-at-Arms to remove 
 him. The Serjeant, Captain Gossett, walked to where Mr 
 Dillon sat immovable, and touched him on the shoulder. 
 Still Mr Dillon sat motionless ; and the Serjeant, turning 
 towards the door, beckoned to his assistants, five of whom 
 obeyed his summons. It looked as if the House was to be 
 scandalised by a scene of physical force ; but just as this 
 seemed inevitable, Mr Dillon rose, and, after bowing to the 
 Chair, left the chamber in company with the Serjeant-at- 
 Arms. But the end was not yet. Thirty-six Irish members 
 proceeded, one after another, to defy the Speaker's authority, 
 and each in turn had to be suspended on the motion of the 
 Prime Minister. It was a painful and humiliating scene, 
 showing, as it did, how defective the best considered devices 
 of human government prove if there arises the determina- 
 tion of a minority to defeat them. After the ejection of 
 the Irish members, the House agreed to the rule of Urgency 
 of Debate proposed by its leader. 
 
 On April 19 the Earl of Beaconsfield breathed his last, 
 and in him the Conservative party lost a sagacious leader at 
 a time when they could ill afford to part with the only per- 
 sonage who could be matched with Mr Gladstone. Two days 
 later Smith wrote to his wife : 
 
 Lord Beaconsfield will be buried at Hughenden on Tuesday morn- 
 ing, and we shall all go down to his burial. I have seen him for the 
 last time, and he looked better in death than in life, but there was a 
 sort of evidence of struggle on his face which had ended. Northcote
 
 A.D. 1882.] ELECTION AT WESTMINSTER. 219 
 
 had been obliged to go to Hatfield, but I think it is arranged that I 
 shall not speak on Monday. I must, however, come up, as most of 
 my friends will be in town, and consultation is necessary. Already 
 men are asking who is to be the future Chief, and I am afraid that 
 question will have to be settled. 
 
 The question was settled by the appointment of a duum- 
 virate Lord Salisbury becoming leader of the Peers, as 
 Northcote already was of the Commons. 
 
 After the rising of Parliament, Mr Forster carried into 
 vigorous effect the new powers with which he had been 
 armed. Messrs Parnell, Sexton, Dillon, and O'Kelly, 
 Members of Parliament, were, with other officials of the 
 Land League, arrested and confined in Kilmainham Prison, 
 and the League itself was proclaimed as an unlawful associ- 
 ation. 
 
 CHAPTEK XV. 
 
 1882-1884. 
 
 Smith's colleague in the representation of Westminster, 
 Sir Charles Russell, was obliged to resign his seat at this 
 time owing to ill health, and the Conservative party in the 
 borough unanimously selected Lord Algernon Percy, second 
 son of the Duke of Northumberland, as their candidate. 
 The nomination took place on February 10, and, for the 
 first time in its history, Westminster elected a Conservative 
 without opposition remarkable evidence of the powerful 
 influence which Smith had established upon its political 
 character. It was the general belief that the electors would 
 have accepted any candidate whom their senior member had 
 chosen to suggest. 
 
 Smith, who had spent ten days in the autumn of 1881 in 
 cruising round the Irish coast, landing at various places, and
 
 220 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. [JET. 56. 
 
 by personal observation satisfying himself as to the condition 
 of the people, now returned to Ireland in order to push fur- 
 ther an independent inquiry into the land question, having 
 in view a plan of land purchase with money advanced to 
 the tenants by the State. 
 
 MARINE HOTEL, KINGSTOWN, April 6, 1882. 
 
 I have had an interesting day, commencing from last evening, when 
 Colonel Bruce, the deputy chief of the Constabulary, and Mr Lefanu, 
 of the Office of Works, dined with us. They told me a great deal 
 about the country, which was very interesting to me. This morning 
 Herbert Murray came to breakfast at 9, and as I went into Dublin, 
 Gibson 1 picked up four or five men with whom I had a hard talk for 
 an hour and a half on land rent-charges, mortgages, conveyances, and 
 other subjects of great interest to me, but I fear unintelligible to you. 
 From them Gibson carried me off to Trinity College, and I inspected 
 the library with the help of Dr Ingram, the librarian, and we then 
 lunched with the Provost, Dr Jellett, who is a very interesting old 
 man ; and after that I was handed over to a Mr Atkinson, who came 
 out with me to Kingstown in order to " talk." I am now writing my 
 letters in this very pleasant club, of which I am made free for a fort- 
 night ; and presently I am to go to the hotel to dress for dinner, and 
 go into Dublin to dine with Mr Holmes. 2 . . . 
 
 KINGSTOWN, April 8. 
 
 You would have thought of me to-day if you had known where I 
 was. Mr Barlow Smythe, whose sister-in-law was killed the other 
 day, is a friend of Mr Gibson's, and he wanted to see him ; so we 
 went down together to Mullingar by the 9 o'clock train, and drove 
 out in an open car to Barbavilla, over the very road where the out- 
 rage occurred. I saw Mr Smythe, and was much interested with 
 what he told us. It is hardly possible to imagine a more indulgent 
 landlord, or a more religious man ; but he is deeply moved by the 
 ingratitude of his tenants, almost all of whom have shown utter in- 
 difference to the wicked murder, or to the fact that it was intended 
 to kill him. The people are sullen, and during the entire drive out 
 and back there was not a single salute of any kind a smile or a 
 salutation from any one of them. We were in no danger, as we were 
 strangers ; but we were offered an armed constable to go up with us 
 if we had wished it. There is no doubt it was the act of Ribbonmen ; 
 but they have no evidence at present to fix any one with the crime, 
 although many people must know who did it. ... 
 
 1 Created Baron Ashbourne, 1885. 
 
 2 Afterwards Attorney-General for Ireland, and now one of the 
 Judges of the Queen's Bench in Ireland.
 
 A.D. 1882.] VIEWS ON IltlSH LAND TENURE. 221 
 
 ROYAL S. GEORGE'S YACHT CLUB, 
 KINGSTOWN, April 9. 
 
 Poor Forster ! I wrote to him saying I thought it better I should 
 not call on him, as everything would be known and get into the 
 papers, and be misrepresented. You see he agrees with me, but I 
 thought it only right to tell him that I was not deficient in regard 
 for the Chief Secretary. He has very serious and difficult work, and 
 not of a kind to suit his temperament ; but I am very thankful I have 
 no such responsibility. I have had a very quiet Sunday, and as 
 pleasant a one as I could have away from you and from home. I 
 could not help thinking of you all with great thankfulness. I almost 
 tremble when I think of the blessings we enjoy, and my eyes filled 
 this morning when I read the good accounts all round which F.'s x 
 masters give of him. 
 
 April 11. 
 
 I am starting off at 6.30 A.M. for a run of 200 miles in the west to 
 see poverty and wretchedness, and I shall not be back until 10.30 at 
 night. I must therefore write now, or you will not hear from me 
 before my arrival. ... A week's separation is a long one, and 
 especially at this season ; but I think it was right, and I have learned 
 a great deal in a short time. The days have been very full, so full 
 that it has been quite impossible to make notes of all I have heard 
 and seen ; but it has done me good. 
 
 The impression left on Smith's mind as the result of this 
 visit of inquiry was so strongly in favour of the establish- 
 ment of a peasant proprietary in Ireland, as the only means 
 of allaying chronic agrarian and consequent political dis- 
 turbance, that he undoubtedly brought a strong influence 
 to bear upon his colleagues in determining their future 
 land legislation for Ireland, as contained in Lord Ash- 
 bourne's Land Purchase Act and subsequent measures. 
 This impression was borne in upon him in spite of his 
 aversion to interference with the ordinary laws of free 
 contract and of supply and demand. 
 
 Immediately on his return to London he gave notice of a 
 Resolution in favour of a large measure of land purchase by 
 the State, but the terrible events which shortly after oc- 
 curred in Ireland forced him to give up the idea for that 
 session. Northcote refers to it on April 17 : 
 
 1 His son Frederick.
 
 222 LIFE OF W. II. SMITH. [JET. 56. 
 
 When can you and I and Gibson have a quiet talk over the Irish 
 question, and especially over the details of your motion ? It is very 
 important that we should be prepared, and I confess to sad unpre- 
 paredness at present. . . . We must, of course, have a Shadow Cabi- 
 net before you actually come on ; but I should like to have a general 
 acquaintance with the case before we come to that. 
 
 The session had not endured three months before dissen- 
 sions arose in the Cabinet as to the policy to be pursued in 
 Ireland. The protracted incarceration of Parnell, Dillon, 
 and 0' Kelly, not on any proven charge, but as " suspects," 
 was matter of great disquiet to the Government. Ministers 
 who had come into power loudly denouncing the coercion 
 employed by their predecessors, found themselves enforcing 
 a law many degrees more stringent than that which had 
 been allowed to lapse. The irony of the situation was 
 intolerable, and the conciliatory measure dealing with 
 arrears of rent did not promise to mend matters. Things 
 came to a crisis on May 2, when the startling announce- 
 ment was made that the Lord Lieutenant and his Chief 
 Secretary had resigned, and that the members imprisoned 
 in Kilrnainham were to be released. Lord Cowper and 
 Mr Forster made statements in their respective Houses, 
 leaving no ambiguity about the cause of their resignation. 
 Mr Forster' s speech, delivered in his peculiar rugged, almost 
 awkward, style, was impressive in the highest degree, not 
 only from the matter of it, but on account of his reputation 
 for honesty and courage. None who heard him could fail 
 to mark the deep emotion under which he laboured, or 
 realise the sharpness of the trial which he underwent 
 before separating from his colleagues. He was known to 
 be merciful and averse from severity ; the very nickname 
 which he had earned from the Irish " Buckshot Forster " 
 arose out of an order which he had given that the Con- 
 stabulary, when it was necessary to fire on disorderly mobs, 
 should use buckshot instead of ball-cartridge. His explana-
 
 A.D. 1882.] THE PHCENIX PARK MURDERS. 223 
 
 tion was listened to with painful attention, and at some 
 moments he seemed as if he were about to break 
 down. 
 
 Complete surrender had now been made to the party of 
 sedition and disorder. Henceforward the National League, 
 which, mutato nomine, was no other than the suppressed 
 Land League led by the same men, following the same 
 ends, and administering the same funds was to dictate its 
 own terms to her Majesty's Ministers. And the price paid 
 down by Ministers was the loss of two trusted colleagues, 
 to be recouped, as they vainly hoped, by the support of the 
 Home Rule party in Parliament. 
 
 But the reckoning was not yet complete. The first step 
 in this new policy of conciliation was marked by one of the 
 most terrible acts in modern history. 
 
 Earl Cowper and Mr Forster had been succeeded in the 
 Lord Lieutenancy and Chief Secretaryship by Earl Spencer 
 and Lord Frederick Cavendish. The last-named gentleman, 
 a brother of the Marquis of Hartington, after attending the 
 installation of the new Lord Lieutenant, took a car to drive 
 to the Viceregal Lodge. Overtaking Mr Burke, a perma- 
 nent official at the Castle, he left the car, and the two 
 gentlemen walked on together through the Phoenix Park. 
 It was a beautiful evening, between seven and eight o'clock; 
 the pair had approached within a short distance of the 
 Phoenix Monument when they were set upon by assassins 
 and stabbed to death, within sight of the windows of the 
 Viceregal Lodge. It was still almost broad daylight ; one 
 man saw what he thought were some roughs at horseplay, 
 he saw two persons fall, but took no heed to the circum- 
 stance ; another witness saw four persons drive off on a car 
 at full speed. This was the earliest reply made by the 
 people of Ireland to the message of conciliation. 
 
 On May 6 Smith visited Coventry to speak on behalf of
 
 224 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. OT. 56. 
 
 his party. There is a characteristic passage in a letter to 
 his wife describing the meeting : 
 
 The people were very warm in their reception yesterday. I had to 
 make two little and one considerable speech yesterday, and except 
 that one always says something that one ought not to have said, and 
 leaves something unsaid that ought to have been said, I am content, 
 for, on the whole, I was able, I think, to speak out in a useful sort of 
 way. It was my aim to bring people to think rather of what was 
 right, as distinguished from that which might be at the present 
 moment most conducive apparently to party interests. Of course I 
 may be wrong, and many of my friends may be wrong in our views ; 
 but it would be a great thing in politics if we could get men to believe 
 that running straight for what is in itself true and good is a better 
 and a wiser course than compromise with evil. 
 
 ... I am resting here to-day thoroughly sunning myself and 
 being quiet ; . . . but with a sense that much responsibility may rest 
 soon upon some of us. May God guide us and give us wisdom and 
 strength ! 
 
 Smith had returned from Ireland penetrated with a sense 
 of the hopelessness of restoring free contract between 
 owners and occupiers of the land, and convinced in a like 
 degree of the impossibility of matters continuing as they 
 were. 
 
 I never was in love [he wrote to Mr Penrose Fitzgerald l ] with 
 peasant proprietorship as the most economical and the best mode of 
 dealing with land. I should like to see free contract between owner 
 and tenant alike independent, but that is impossible now, and the 
 owner and tenant are brought into legal relations which must be un- 
 endurable. The only resource appears, and I say it with regret, to 
 make the tenant the owner. 
 
 The surest evidence of the material prosperity and pros- 
 pects of any country is afforded by the degree in which 
 capitalists show themselves ready to place their money in 
 it, and the inevitable effect of a mischievous policy is to 
 scare away investors. Smith had, some years before, been 
 on the point of buying a large estate in Connemara, part of 
 the property of the Martins of Ross; and although that 
 design had not been carried out, he had kept in view the 
 
 1 Now M.P. for Cambridge.
 
 A.D. 1882.] SPEECH ON ARREARS OF RENT BILL. 225 
 
 intention of acquiring land in Ireland, and, by judicious 
 and generous management, improving the condition of the 
 tenantry. But what he had seen for himself of the course 
 of affairs in that country, combined with the attitude of the 
 Government on the agrarian question, convinced him of the 
 hopelessness and imprudence of any such investment; and 
 from this moment he once and for all gave up the idea, and 
 turned his attention to the establishment of a peasant pro- 
 prietary. 
 
 Smith, as a commercial man, could not but feel indignant 
 at the dishonesty of the Government's Arrears of Eent 
 Bill, which was being pushed through with all speed a 
 bill dictated by the Parnellite party, providing for the 
 relief of debtors at the expense of their creditors. In the 
 course of the debate on the second reading, he said that in 
 his opinion 
 
 A moderate measure of well-considered migration or emigration would 
 afford the greatest possible relief to these poor tenants ; and for those 
 who remained at home there would be a much better chance of suc- 
 cess and prosperity. I have seen with my own eyes that, under pres- 
 ent circumstances, it is impossible for thousands of human beings to 
 find a livelihood among the stones and bogs of districts like Conne- 
 mara. I cannot see that the right hon. gentleman, the late Chief 
 Secretary, was right in saying that in those districts this bill would 
 afford relief. 
 
 Mr W. E. Forster. I said that nothing but emigration would relieve 
 them. 
 
 Mr W. II. Smith. I understood that the right hon. gentleman 
 meant that emigration is to be delayed until after the operation of 
 the bill on the arrears. 
 
 Mr W. E. Forster. What I said was that if the emigration was to 
 be the compulsory result of extensive evictions, it would not be emi- 
 gration conducted with the best chance of success. 
 
 Mr W. H. Smith. I quite agree with my right hon. friend, whom I 
 have misunderstood. ... I said last year, and I repeat it, that a 
 measure dealing with this question, in order to be successful, must be 
 kept beyond the range of party politics. For my own part, I am cer- 
 tainly unwilling to vote for a bill which appears to me unsound in 
 principle, likely to perpetuate most grave evils, and offering a distinct 
 premium on dishonesty. 
 
 The bill passed through the Commons and went to the 
 
 r
 
 226 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. OT. 57. 
 
 Lords, who amended it in such sort that when it came hack 
 to the lower House the Ministerialists restored it to its 
 original form, and returned it. 
 
 Lord Salisbury, conscious of the mischievous and inequi- 
 tahle nature of the measure, would fain have thrown it out, 
 but was unable to persuade the Peers to take that line. 
 But he placed on record his own detestation of such legisla- 
 tion, and some indication of the considerations which pre- 
 vailed with the Peers against his judgment may be found in 
 a letter from Smith to Northcote on August 7 : 
 
 llathbone came to me in great excitement just now, strongly urging 
 that the Arrears Bill should pass with a compromise understood and 
 arranged between high contracting parties. I said I was not aware 
 of any proposals or suggestions for a compromise. Rathbone said, 
 " Perhaps not, so far as you or Salisbury or Northcote are concerned, 
 but I know that the Duke of Abercorn had communications with a 
 member of the Government before he moved his amendment," and he 
 implied that this was a transaction. 
 
 Have you or Salisbury had any hint of this ? I think there is 
 something in it. 
 
 I have had an interesting communication with Errington on the 
 Arrears Bill, and I have asked him to put the substance of it in writing. 
 It amounts to this : that the bill is bad, but the clergy (R.C.) will 
 now go with the people, and there will be a fearful winter if it is not 
 passed. When I said, " But some day we shall have to stand out 
 against some bad bill which may be supported for similar reasons," 
 he could only express the belief that no such occasion would arise ! 
 at least he hoped not. 
 
 There reappeared about this time a phenomenon to which 
 Englishmen had long been strangers. Secretaries of State 
 and other public functionaries might be seen walking in the 
 streets or through the parks followed at a convenient dis- 
 tance by a couple of armed detectives. Threatening letters 
 had become so frequent, they had proved too often, when 
 disregarded, the heralds of assassination, that special pro- 
 tection had to be afforded to Ministers in their offices and 
 private houses. Nor was it only members of the Govern- 
 ment who received warnings. There is a grimly comical 
 little note from Lord Salisbury to Smith, enclosing a letter
 
 HATFIEID HOUSE . 
 HATFIELD, 
 
 HERTS 
 
 Ju 
 
 I 
 
 w 
 
 J 
 
 ^ 
 
 FACSIMILE OF NOTE REFERRED TO ON PAGE 228.
 
 228 LIFE OF W. II. SMITH. OT. 57. 
 
 from the Chief Constable of Hertfordshire, who said lie had 
 "received another communication, evidently from the same 
 source as that of last year, threatening to take your [Lord 
 Salisbury's] life and that of Mr W. H. Smith on Monday." 
 (See facsimile.) 
 
 The parliamentary history of 1883 may be passed over 
 briefly in so far as Smith took an overt part therein. 
 Doubtless his influence was not without its effect in the 
 tactics of the Opposition, though his staunch loyalty to Sir 
 Stafford Northcote involved him in responsibility for a 
 policy which the more pugnacious members of the party 
 complained of as Fabian. None the less is it certain that 
 it was very often Smith's part to stimulate Northcote to the 
 more belligerent duties of a leader of Opposition. North- 
 cote, by nature gentle and contemplative, showed himself 
 slow to adopt the stern practice of modern parliamentary 
 warfare, and used to exasperate the ardent spirits of his 
 followers by what they considered unnecessary deference 
 to Mr Gladstone's prestige; and in spite of the friendly 
 pressure put upon their leader by Smith, Sir Eichard Cross, 
 Mr Edward Gibson, and Sir Michael Hicks Beach to keep 
 him up to the proper combative mark, Conservative members 
 were becoming accustomed to turn for leading to that not- 
 able group of four which, sitting below the gangway, had 
 marked itself out for distinction as the Fourth Party. 
 
 The session of 1883 became memorable, however, for the 
 hardening of the lines accentuating the cleavage between 
 the Eadical party and what had hitherto been official 
 Liberalism. The last impress of Lord Palmerston's rule was 
 fast fading away; men began to foresee more clearly the 
 inevitable fusion between moderate politicians in either 
 camp ; each year more of the ground was crumbling away 
 from under the feet of the Whigs, and despite the war- 
 rant of their standing implied in the fact that the Marquis
 
 A. D. 1883.] LORD HA.ETINOTON LEADS THE HOUSE. 229 
 
 of Ilurtington was still Mr Gladstone's lieutenant in the 
 House of Commons, it was perfectly obvious that, should 
 anything happen to cause the retirement of the Prime 
 Minister, no other statesman could command the allegiance 
 of the Ministerialist following as it was then constituted. 
 
 It looked as if the crisis would have to be faced. Pre- 
 parations had been made for a third campaign in Mid- 
 Lothian, and all the world was looking forward to a revela- 
 tion of Ministerialist policy, when suddenly it was announced 
 that Mr Gladstone's health had given way, and that he had 
 been ordered to the south of Europe by his doctor. The 
 Prime Minister was then over threescore years and ten : 
 there was nothing surprising in the reason given for this 
 sudden change of plan ; but it was noted at the time that 
 his indisposition relieved him from the necessity of visiting 
 Mid-Lothian under circumstances of far greater difficulty 
 than when, as an independent chief, he had come to pour 
 the vials of his wrath on a Tory Administration. It is far 
 easier to gain plaudits by attack than by defence ; it had 
 been a simple matter to raise a laugh against Lord Beacons- 
 field on account of his description of the state of Ireland to 
 the Duke of Marlborough, or a groan against him because 
 of the defence of the "unspeakable Turk"; but it would 
 have been a far more serious task to explain the disastrous 
 course events had taken in Ireland, and to justify the bom- 
 bardment of Alexandria. 
 
 So the Prime Minister went abroad, and for some weeks 
 after the opening of Parliament the Marquis of Hartington 
 acted as leader of the House. Fortunate was the party in 
 being able to command the services of such a lieutenant, for 
 the Opposition, taking courage from the gain of a few seats 
 on by-elections, mustered in better spirits than at any time 
 since their overthrow in 1880. The debate on the Address 
 was prolonged over eleven nights, the chief matters discussed
 
 230 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. [JET. 57. 
 
 being the Egyptian and Irish policy of the Government. 
 Perhaps the most interesting speech in the course of it was 
 that of Mr Forster, who had so narrowly escaped assassina- 
 tion the year before. After entering more fully into the 
 reasons for his resignation than he had done at the time it took 
 place, he turned upon Mr Parnell with a vigour of gesture and 
 invective which those who witnessed will not easily forget. 
 He challenged Parnell to explain his knowledge of the 
 criminal acts acquiesced in, if not instigated by, the Land 
 League : 
 
 No mere disclaimer of connection with outrage will be sufficient. 
 We have had disclaimers before. Do not let the honourable member 
 suppose that I charge him with complicity with murder : but this I 
 do charge against the honourable member and his friends that he 
 has allowed himself to continue the leader and avowed chief of an 
 organisation which not merely advocated and ostensibly and openly 
 urged the ruin of those who oppose it by " boycotting " them, and 
 making life almost more miserable than death, but which prompted 
 or organised outrage and incited to murder. . . . The only ground 
 on which he can escape responsibility is utter ignorance of their con- 
 duct. ... I cannot believe in his absolute ignorance. ... I will re- 
 peat again what the charge is I make against him. Probably a more 
 serious charge was never made by any member of this House against 
 another member. It is not that he himself directly planned or per- 
 petrated outrages or murders, but that he either connived at them, or 
 when warned 
 
 " It is a lie ! " shouted Mr Parnell and Mr O'Kelly, and 
 the speech was interrupted by the Speaker " naming " the 
 latter member, and his suspension, after a division, on the 
 motion of Lord Hartington. 
 
 During 1883 a good deal of controversy arose in ecclesi- 
 astical circles over the Union of Benefices Amendment Bill, 
 the object of which was, briefly, the consolidation or re- 
 distribution of parishes to suit the altered conditions of 
 population. It was a question on which Smith held strong 
 views, supported by the result of personal inspection of the 
 various churches in London. He always advocated a few 
 well-manned churches as preferable to a large number of
 
 A.D. 1884.] THE UNION OF BENEFICES. 231 
 
 half-filled and ill-served ones. For instance, that church 
 in which he took so much interest and contributed so 
 largely to rebuild St Mary's, Portsea has a permanent 
 staff of ten curates under Canon Jacob. On this occasion 
 he had to defend himself from the censure of a gentleman 
 claiming to represent the Dean and Chapter of St Paul's 
 as well as the City churchwardens. Smith's reply was full 
 of temperate good sense : 
 
 Some years ago I made a round of the City churches on a Sunday 
 morning, and there were many in which there was not even an ap- 
 proach to a congregation. The streets were silent, houses had been 
 turned into warehouses, and the residential population was gone. 
 
 I thought, and still think, that it would be well if many not all 
 of these churches could follow the people to their new homes. 
 
 Every institution is more or less on its trial, and it is, I think, cer- 
 tain that large endowments existing only as sinecures will be swept 
 away, and taken by the strong hand from the uses to which they were 
 devoted by our ancestors. 
 
 This is the meaning of the alliance which is offered to the opponents 
 of the Bishop of London's Bill by the Liberationists. They are wise 
 in then- generation in cherishing what the general public will regard as 
 an abuse ; and in preventing a reappropriation of Church funds, until 
 they are strong enough to confiscate them for secular purposes, which 
 with your help they soon will be. Yours very sincerely, 
 
 W. H. SMITH. 
 
 Speaking at Exeter on January 18, 1884, Smith devoted 
 himself to a criticism of the policy of the Government, in 
 having first intervened to quell Arabi's rebellion against 
 the Khedive, and then, having shown vacillation, involving 
 risks of renewed disasters and massacre, in the management 
 of affairs in that country. He poured ridicule on the pro- 
 posal to confer by-and-by a representative constitution upon 
 Egypt. 
 
 I value [he said] free institutions, and I desire to see institutions 
 resting upon as hard a basis as possible ; . . . but to talk about a 
 free representative system in Egypt is about as wise as to talk about 
 a free representative system farther on in the middle of Africa. Ask 
 the people who are under the rule of the Mahdi to elect a House of 
 Commons and select a House of Lords, and you have a people quite 
 as ready, quite as capable, and quite as educated for the purpose of 
 constitutional liberty as you have in Egypt at the present time.
 
 232 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. [ST. 5& 
 
 The Government had just taken a new step in their 
 Egyptian policy. General Gordon " Cliinese " Gordon, as 
 he was called in honour of his services in China had been 
 summoned from Brussels, where he had gone to prepare for 
 a journey up the Congo, and despatched to Khartoum, 
 which he was directed to hold against the advancing 
 Mahdi. 
 
 The following week, January 25, Smith was the principal 
 speaker at an immense meeting in Dublin, and having dealt 
 with the Egyptian imbroglio in Devonshire, he proceeded 
 to discuss the other question which was destined to share 
 with Egypt almost the whole time of the approaching 
 session. He stated courageously his objection to the exten- 
 sion of household suffrage to Irish counties : 
 
 I find at present there are in Ireland 228,000 county electors, and 
 it is now proposed that every inhabitant of a house shall be a voter. 
 The census gives the number of good farmhouses at 422,241, out of 
 which come the 228,000 electors ; but it also gives, I grieve from the 
 bottom of my heart to say, 425,140 mud cabins, so that if the mud 
 cabins are enfranchised, the mud cabins will be the majority of the 
 electorate of Ireland. . . . And not only so, but in many counties 
 the majority of the electors will be of that class which are perfectly 
 illiterate. This is the proposal which is deliberately made with the 
 view of assuaging popular discontent, and preventing those who are 
 supposed to support Mr Parnell from having another victory. 
 
 Immediately after the meeting of Parliament early in 
 February, though not before the House had to undergo 
 that which had become an incident inseparable from the 
 opening of the sessions of this House of Commons namely, 
 an unseemly wrangle with Mr Bradlaugh the Government 
 were put on their defence on a motion by Sir Stafford 
 Northcote reflecting on their policy in Egypt, especially in 
 regard to the events which had brought about the massacre 
 of Hicks Pasha and his force. The majority in favour of 
 Ministers was only 19, in a House of 578 members. In 
 May a second vote of censure on the same subject was 
 rejected by a majority of 28.
 
 A.D. 1884.] THE NEW FRANCHISE BILL. 233 
 
 The debates on Foreign Affairs occupied much of the 
 time which the Government ardently desired to devote 
 to the realisation of the favourite scheme of Mr G. 0. 
 Trevelyan 1 the equalisation of the county and borough 
 franchise. This bill, which Mr Gladstone introduced on 
 February 29, was received by the Conservative party with 
 half-hearted disapproval. Undoubtedly their secret opinion 
 was that the franchise was already low enough and wide 
 enough to ensure representation of every class and interest. 
 Had they felt free to deal with the measure as their judg- 
 ment dictated, it would have been met with a direct negative ; 
 but they were hampered by the consideration that such a 
 course could not but end in defeat in the House of Commons, 
 and incur the hostility of the masses whom it was proposed 
 to enfranchise. Smith spoke on the second night of the 
 debate, opposing the bill on the ground of the terrible 
 danger involved in placing the balance of power in the 
 hands of the ignorant denizens of Irish mud-cabins : 
 
 It was avowed by hon. members from Ireland that they intended 
 to hold the scales and to determine the course of the policy of the 
 Government of this country. It would be unwise and foolish to give 
 such a power, knowing perfectly well how it would be exercised. . . . 
 The Prime Minister of England would have the satisfaction of having 
 done his best, at the end of his great career, to make parliamentary 
 government in England practically impossible. 
 
 Ultimately the Opposition took up their stand upon the 
 objection to passing a Reform Bill without knowing the 
 provisions of the ancillary measure for redistribution of 
 seats. By June 26 the bill had passed through all its 
 stages in the Commons, and in the House of Lords it 
 was received by an amendment by Earl Cairns, framed 
 in the complex and ponderous prose so dear to parlia- 
 mentary tradition, to the effect "that this House, while 
 
 1 Now the Right Hon. Kir Ocorge Trevelyan, Bart., M.P.
 
 234 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. [.fix. 59. 
 
 prepared to concur in a well-considered and complete 
 scheme for the extension of the franchise, does not think 
 it right to assent to the second reading of a bill having 
 for its object a fundamental change in the electoral body, 
 which is not accompanied by provisions which will ensure 
 the full and free representation of the people, or by any 
 adequate security that the bill shall not come into operation 
 except on an entire scheme." 
 
 The position was an anxious one, and it required all 
 the moral courage of the Peers to face it, for they were 
 loudly threatened with serious consequences if they ven- 
 tured to interfere. They rose to the occasion. They 
 refused to entertain Lord Granville's pledge on behalf of 
 his colleagues that a Eedistribution Bill would be brought 
 in next year. The Government might not survive till 
 next year ; or if they did, what guarantee was there that 
 redistribution would be planned on satisfactory and equi- 
 table lines? They were not going to enfranchise two 
 million new electors and trust to whatever "jerrymander- 
 ing" the Liberal party agent might devise for the con- 
 stituencies. Lord Salisbury declared picturesquely that 
 he was not going to consent to the discussion of redis- 
 tribution with a rope round his neck. So Lord Cairns's 
 amendment was carried, which had the effect of hanging 
 up the bill indefinitely. In the end, after many negotia- 
 tions and endeavours to arrive at a compromise, Parliament 
 was prorogued on August 14, on the understanding that it 
 was to meet again in the autumn, when the Franchise Bill 
 should be introduced again, coupled with a full scheme of 
 redistribution of seats. 
 
 The vacation which intervened, of little more than two 
 months, was one of little ease. Mr Gladstone harangued 
 the electors of Mid-Lothian ; many hard things were uttered 
 against the House of Lords in other parts of the country by
 
 A.D. 1884.] INTEREST IN NAVAL AFFAIRS. 235 
 
 his colleagues ; but when Parliament assembled on October 
 24, a modus vivendi had been arrived at. The Franchise 
 Bill was introduced in the same form in which it left the 
 House of Commons in summer, and a Redistribution Bill, 
 based on a compromise arrived at between the Government 
 and Opposition, and elaborated by consultations of the 
 Cabinet at which Lord Salisbury and Sir Stafford North- 
 cote attended, was read a second time in the House of 
 Commons. The Franchise Bill then passed through both 
 Houses, and the discussion of the Redistribution Bill having 
 been postponed till the following year, the House adjourned 
 on December 5. 
 
 During these years of opposition, although Smith was no 
 longer directly responsible for any part of the military or 
 naval defences of the country, he was incessantly in com- 
 munication, not only with officials in charge of our coast 
 defences and naval arsenals, but with our admirals in 
 foreign waters and with generals commanding British 
 forces in Egypt. He took as much pains to ascertain 
 the condition of our fortifications and the progress of 
 work in the dockyards as if he had been an intelligence 
 officer examining the armaments of an enemy. The cor- 
 respondence on these subjects is exceedingly voluminous, 
 and bearing as it does upon a state of things which alters 
 every year, would not bear quotation now, except to show 
 the extraordinary exertions which Smith, even while his 
 party were in Opposition, made to assure himself that the 
 public money was being profitably laid out. In acting 
 thus, an ex-Minister might be suspected of a desire to 
 obtain such information as might sustain an indictment 
 of his adversary's administration ; but no trace of such 
 a motive can be found in Smith's speeches during the 
 debates on naval affairs from 1880 to 1885. His criti- 
 cism was firm and sometimes severe, but he always showed
 
 236 LIFE OF W. TT. SMITH. [jnr. f>0. 
 
 an anxiety to assist rather than to thwart the Admiralty of 
 the day. 
 
 Sometimes the information supplied on the same subject 
 from different sources was a little perplexing. Two letters 
 written by separate officials at Portsmouth on March 11, 
 1885, were hard to reconcile with each other : 
 
 DEAR MR SMITH, Colossus is DEAR MR SMITH, The answers 
 practically complete ; the only to all your questions, I regret 
 work remaining to be done are to say, are most unsatisfactory, 
 the overhead runners for working Colossus is not ready for the 
 the magazines. ... It will only pendant. Her loading gear is 
 take us three or four weeks to fit not finished. I don't think it is 
 them after delivery. taken in hand yet by Elswick. 
 
 If all the mechanism for the four 
 guns was actually in the yard, 
 it would take at least two months 
 to get them fitted on board ready 
 for sea, and that with much pres- 
 sure. Her magazines and shell- 
 rooms are not complete. 
 
 It was by this means that, while free from the cares 
 of office, Smith kept himself in touch with the details 
 of administration, and made himself ready to resume, 
 should the occasion arise, the charge of one of the great 
 departments of State. 
 
 Incessant work was, however, beginning to tell upon 
 him. He gave himself no rest, and although not yet 
 threescore, an age at which, in some men, the physical 
 powers give little warning of diminution, Smith's letters 
 contain frequent reference to his failing strength. In 
 reply to a letter from his sister, Miss Augusta Smith, on 
 his birthday, he wrote : 
 
 June 24, 1884. 
 
 ... It is very pleasant to know that I have the warm affection 
 and that I am in the minds of my sisters. But I am getting older, 
 and I am also getting tired ; but I have wonderful health considering 
 the small amount of sleep I get. I am at work, with very little rest, 
 all day, and my day begins at 9 or 10, and goes on until past 2 or 3 
 in the morning.
 
 A.IJ. 1880.] PURCHASE OF THE PANDORA. 237 
 
 Again on December 24, to the same : 
 
 I wish to send you one word of Christmas greeting. As I get 
 older, and I am sensible I am getting older, it is useful to take 
 account of time, and compare season with season and year with year. 
 I remember when we were children together, and how we talked in 
 your bedroom over our projects and wishes. It seems a short time 
 ago, but there have been great changes since then, and my children 
 are now doing what we did together. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 1880-1885. 
 
 When Smith, having been re-elected in three successive 
 Parliaments for Westminster, had been for twelve years its 
 representative, and during six out of the twelve had been 
 called on to discharge the functions of two laborious offices 
 in addition to the ordinary work of a member, he found 
 that each year had added to the weight of the task, and 
 each year leisure to spend with his family had become less 
 and less. He had, on going to the Treasury in 1874, re- 
 signed his seat on the London School Board, and on 
 entering the Cabinet in 1877, he had retired from active 
 partnership in the firm of W. H. Smith & Son, though 
 still, and down to the close of his life, continuing to take a 
 warm interest in all that concerned its welfare. 
 
 When in 1880 he found himself relieved alike from the 
 strain of office and from constant attention to business, he 
 turned for recreation to that pursuit in which so many men 
 of English race find their delight one, too, which his ad- 
 ministration of naval affairs had made specially attractive 
 to him. He bought the steam yacht Pandora, 500 tons, 
 from Mr Penn, who had fitted her with powerful engines,
 
 238 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. [AT. 55. 
 
 made under his own superintendence, and for four successive 
 years she was commissioned for extended summer cruises. 1 
 Those who were privileged to take part in these excursions 
 invariably speak of them as delightful memories : some say 
 that none saw Mr Smith at his best except when procul 
 negotiis he got beyond reach of mails, telegrams, and 
 newspapers for days together. 
 
 In 1880 the cruise was in the Mediterranean. The 
 Pandora was sent to Venice, where, on September 10, Mi- 
 Smith and his party joined her. 
 
 After visiting the ports of the Adriatic, hospitably en- 
 treated by officers of Austrian and Italian war-ships, and 
 spending some time among the Ionian Islands, they arrived 
 at the Piraeus on October 13. Leaving on 18th, they 
 steamed up the Saronic Gulf, spent a day at Corinth, after 
 which they left for Nauplia. On 20th the yacht was 
 headed north, and leaving Marathon on the left, passed up 
 the enchanting channel between Euboea and the mainland, 
 through the straits of Chalcis, and dropped her anchor off 
 Salonica on 23d. Arriving on the 27th at Chanak, in the 
 Dardanelles, the authorities, misled by the white ensign of 
 the Eoyal Yacht Squadron, took the Pandora for a man-of- 
 war, an impression which was confirmed when they found 
 out that the owner was no less a personage than the late 
 First Lord of the Admiralty. Everything, however, having 
 been explained, the yacht steamed up to Constantinople, 
 where she lay till November 9. 
 
 The following extracts are from a memorandum which 
 was kept by Smith of his interviews with the Sultan : 
 
 16th November 1880. "We dined with the Sultan last evening, in 
 compliance with an invitation which his Majesty gave to Mr Goschen 
 and to myself personally at the interview which he gave us on Monday 
 the 7th, when he inquired particularly how many we were in family, 
 
 1 The Pandora had, previously to this, been well known as the 
 Thistle, belonging to the Duke of Hamilton.
 
 A.D. 1880.] INTEHVIEW WITH THE SULTAN. 239 
 
 and insisted on iny wife and Emily and Helen coming with me to the 
 dinner. . . . Our dinner yesterday almost took the character of a 
 State banquet. An A. D. C. came on board in the afternoon, begging 
 me to come in uniform if I had brought one with me, but if not, in 
 civil dress. The Ambassador, Mr Goschen, his private Secretary, and 
 Mr Jervoise, the Secretary, were in uniform. Said, the Prime Minister, 
 and the Foreign Minister, Musurus, and a number of other officials, 
 were present. The Sultan was in uniform, as also were the two little 
 Princes, and the party altogether must have numbered at least 30. 
 
 The Goschens, my wife and I, were received by the Sultan before 
 dinner. The others assembled in a room, and went direct to their 
 places at table, standing up to face the Sultan, when he walked in 
 with Mrs Goschen on his arm. . . . The Sultan's son and cousin 
 came on board next day, and we showed them the ship. An hour 
 later I went up to the Kiosk, and was at once shown in. Munier Bey 
 was waiting to receive me, and he began the conversation by saying 
 that his Majesty wished to confer a decoration upon me as a mark of 
 his favour and an expression of the pleasure our visit had given him. 
 I told him that I should be glad if his Majesty would allow me to de- 
 cline the honour, as although I was very sensible indeed of the kind 
 and gracious feeling which suggested the proposal, his Majesty would 
 see that it would be misunderstood in England, and that it would 
 embarrass us in speaking as plainly as I should wish on my return of 
 Turkish affairs. I added that I should be grateful to his Majesty if 
 he would give me his photograph and his autograph, and that I 
 desired nothing more. 
 
 Munier then began to speak of politics, and I said that my friends 
 with whom I acted, and the Conservative party, were most desirous 
 that Turkey should be maintained as a strong and well-governed 
 country, and that public opinion in England would certainly come 
 round to the side of Turkey if she carried out the engagements into 
 which she had entered. . . . The Sultan received me standing and 
 shook hands, and motioned me to a seat before him on the other side 
 of a table, Munier sitting next to me. The conversation began by 
 inquiries on his part after my wife and my daughters and the usual 
 compliments. The Sultan then said it gave him great pleasure to 
 receive me, not only on my own account, but also because I was a 
 member of a Government and of a party which had always been the 
 friends of Turkey. He had seen with great regret that the language 
 and the policy of Mr Gladstone had made public opinion in England 
 turn against Turkey, and he hoped that Mr Gladstone was now losing 
 his influence in England, and that my friends would soon be in power 
 again, for the good of England and of Turkey too. I said that . . . 
 the Tory party desired, as an article of their faith, the maintenance 
 of the ancient Empires of Europe, and they wished to see Turkey 
 prosperous, well-governed, and at peace. I said in England great im- 
 portance was attached to the performance of the obligations of the 
 treaties by which Turkey was bound, and if those treaties were carried 
 out, public opinion in England would come round in favour of Turkey, 
 and it would not be possible for Mr Gladstone to resist it. I said it 
 was possible there had been some change in our favour lately, but the
 
 240 LIFE OF W. II. SMITH. [AT. 55. 
 
 Parliament bad been only just elected, and unless some grave events 
 happened, it must be some years before a fresh election could occur 
 and before it was possible for the Conservatives to return to power, 
 and therefore I was afraid his Majesty must consider Mr Gladstone's 
 Government as the Government of England for some time to come. 
 . . . The Sultan replied at great length that he had worked incessantly 
 to keep his promise. First, he had sent Izzet Pasha to Dulcigno, and 
 he was an officer of great experience, and he hoped he would effect the 
 cession. Then he sent Riaz Pasha, who was known in England to be 
 a very good man ; and at last, as he had failed to come over the ob- 
 jections of the Albanians, he sent Dervish Pasha, who was very well 
 known for the services he had rendered in the defence of Batoum. 
 He could thoroughly depend upon him to carry it out as soon as pos- 
 sible, and he was a man who would obey not only the letter but the 
 spirit of instructions given to him. The Sultan spoke with great 
 animation, and apparently with great earnestness and sincerity. . . . 
 He thanked me with some warmth for coming to Turkey, begging me 
 to accept a small souvenir of my visit. . . . He handed this to me in 
 a paper envelope, which I could not open in his presence. . . . Munier 
 came with me into the room into which all visitors are shown, and on 
 opening the envelope I found that it contained a flat Turkish watch 
 with a guard chain. Munier assured me it was the watch his Majesty 
 was in the habit of wearing. . . . When I got into the carriage, Musurus 
 came to the side of it to wish me bon voyage, adding that he hoped 
 soon to be back in England and to find the Tories returned to power. 
 I told him there was no chance of that, but he said there was already 
 a change, and Gladstone was losing power. He had been very hard 
 to Turkey. I replied that his Government was the Government of 
 England, and that he must reckon with it as with England. It was 
 useless to entertain any other view. ... I said, " Carry out your en- 
 gagements, and the old feeling in favour of Turkey will return, and 
 even Mr Gladstone will not be able to go against it." I said the Sul- 
 tan's word was pledged. "Yes," he said, " to the Treaty of Berlin, but 
 not to the Conference to Dulciguo, but not to Greece." I admitted 
 the difference as an important one. " We have not signed the [result 
 of] the Conference," said he ; " we did sign the Treaty." " Well," I 
 said, "Turkey wants peace." "Yes," he admitted, "to develop her great 
 resources, her natural wealth, to make roads and railroads." "And," 
 I added, " to give her attention to the means necessary to the security 
 of life and property. While you are engaged in the questions of Dul- 
 cigno and Greece you are not at peace you have no time to consider 
 all these other matters, and pretexts remain for the interference of 
 one or other or all the Powers in your affairs, which you ought to 
 remove." He appeared to agree with me, and I drove off. 
 
 Other similar interviews took place with persons of less 
 importance, including Midhat Pasha, at other points of the 
 cruise, which was extended to Smyrna, Ehodes, Cyprus, 
 and Beyrout ; whence the party had a very stormy passage
 
 A.D. 1880.] THE PANDOKA IN A GALE. 241 
 
 to Alexandria. Mr Dickson, H.M. consul at Bey rout, 
 wrote to Mr Smith on December 16 : 
 
 We were exceedingly anxious about you after you left, as the storm 
 here was fearful, and our forebodings became still more gloomy when, 
 on Monday, a report spread through the town that the yacht was 
 seen to founder off Cyprus, and only one person was saved. . . . An 
 Italian vessel had gone ashore somewhere on the coast, and she might 
 have been confounded with the Pandora. 
 
 The yacht had indeed been in some peril, for a furious gale 
 was beginning when she left Beyrout, and the reason that 
 induced Smith to carry on was that Parliament had been 
 summoned to meet in January instead of February, and he 
 was anxious to be at his post in time. 
 
 The return voyage was by Malta and through the Straits 
 of Messina to Nice, which was reached on January 3, 1881. 
 
 The cruise of 1881 was also in the Mediterranean. The 
 party embarked at Nice on October 31, and in the voyage 
 to Palermo by Corsica the sea-going powers of the Pandora 
 were fully tested, for very heavy weather was encountered, 
 and to navigate the Gulf of Lyons in a storm is no child's 
 play. After lying at Palermo till November 6, they arrived 
 at Malta on the 8th, at Syracuse on 12th, and at Naples on 
 13th an earthly paradise which detained them till 23d. 
 Of course they visited Pompeii and Baise, and there is in 
 one of Smith's letters to a friend at this time a wistful ex- 
 pression of his lifelong regret at having been debarred from 
 a classical education. Referring to Pompeii he says : 
 
 It is an odd sensation to be walking over pavement 2000 years old, 
 with the marks of wheels and traffic fresh upon them, and to sit 
 down in houses whose owners are only known by the inscriptions 
 on the walls. One thing is clear, that in many respects our cultiva- 
 tion and taste for art has not improved since that time. We are less 
 cruel in our amusements, but the elegance of their buildings greatly 
 exceeded ours in many respects. While at Naples too we visited 
 Baifc, rendered famous by Horace, and saw evidences of past grandeur 
 and luxury which contrast strongly with present poverty ; but the 
 Bay is lovely, and may well have been a place of luxurious repose for 
 Emperors and Patricians in the palmy days of the Roman empire ;
 
 242 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. [JET. 56. 
 
 but I should weary you if I told you what we have seen. I sigh over 
 the indistinctness of my recollections of the small amount of classical 
 literature I read when I was young, and wish now I could people all 
 these places with the gods and goddesses and the perhaps stronger 
 men and women whose stories are told in our school-books. 
 
 But the right method of biography is not, to use Sir 
 Walter Scott's phrase, to present extracts from an indi- 
 vidual's conversation or correspondence with " a cocked hat 
 and a dress cane." Smith was one 
 
 " Qui mores hominum multoruin vidit et urbes," 1 
 
 and was wont to find far more interest in the events of the 
 present day, and in the condition and aspirations of living 
 people, than in reverie over the past. His mind was of 
 that practical kind which persons of the artistic tempera- 
 ment are in the habit of despising as " Philistine." A good 
 illustration of this, however much it may cause Philhellenes 
 to shudder, occurs in a letter written in 1880 from the 
 Piraeus to his step-daughter, Mrs Codrington : 
 
 It is a great pity, but I am not a poet or poetically inclined as you 
 are, and so I should not care to live in Greece or with Greeks. 
 Greece is a land of paradoxes. It is very mountainous, very arid, 
 and very hot, and yet in places where there are oliveyards and vine- 
 yards it is green and beautiful ; but at this season all is brown and 
 dusty, and the beauty of which poets rave is difficult to find. . . . 
 Sight-seeing is a dreadful business. . . . We spent the day in 
 museums and buying some half-dozen tinted figures dug up out of 
 graves 3000 years old. . . . Dr Schliemann really thinks he has 
 found Agamemnon's skull. I am not sure myself that Agamemnon 
 ever existed, except in Homer's imagination ; but don't tell Mr 
 Gladstone that if you meet him, or he will certainly have me put to 
 death. . . . We are all going to Mycenae to visit the tomb of Aga- 
 memnon to-morrow, and there is great danger if we go on this way 
 of the whole family becoming Pagan and believers in the new God 
 Gladstone. 
 
 But he drops this languid tone of dissatisfaction when he 
 turns to the social and political prospects of Greece : 
 
 Everybody is a soldier, and drilling and trumpeting is going on 
 every day all round. M. Tricoupi, the Prime Minister, told me they 
 
 " Manners and towns of various nations viewed."
 
 A.D. 1882.] CRUISE TO NORWAY. 243 
 
 would soon have 80,000 men enrolled, and said he, " Now we have got 
 them we must do something with them. We must either have 
 victory or defeat ; it is impossible to send them back without fight- 
 ing." And he spoke of defeat as lightly as of victory, apparently 
 thinking one as good as the other, for they say, " If we are beaten, 
 Europe must come to our help, and we are quite sure she will." 
 
 The homeward voyage in 1881 was by Civita Vecchia, 
 where they left the yacht and spent a week in Rome; 
 thence to Leghorn, whence excursions were made to Pisa ; 
 to Spezia, where there was much inspection of dockyards 
 and of the new ironclads, Duilio and Dandolo ; along the 
 Riviera to Genoa, Mentone, and Marseilles, where the 
 party left the yacht on December 13. 
 
 Six weeks of the late summer of 1882 were spent in 
 other seas. Leaving Cowes on August 9, the yacht was 
 headed eastward and then north up the coast to the Firth 
 of Forth and Aberdeen, and thence to the coast of Norway. 
 Smith well describes the scenery of the fjords in a letter to 
 his sister Augusta : 
 
 The Fjords, or salt-water lakes, run Up many of them 150 miles 
 into the mountains, . . . and it is frequently difficult to see how we 
 can get out of the mountain-locked lake into which we have thrust 
 ourselves. 
 
 There is every variety great softness and beauty hi some places, 
 witli verdure excelling Devonshire, and a few miles farther on bare, 
 sheer, stern rocks rising out of the water in precipices of 3000 or 4000 
 feet. At one moment we have vast snow-fields and glaciers, from 
 which the chilled wind comes down to us ; a turn of the ship and of 
 the Fjord, and we have the sweet-smelling hay and a timber-covered 
 slope more lovely than the Lauterbriinneu Valley. It has done us all 
 good. 
 
 They afterwards visited Copenhagen and Amsterdam 
 scenes strangely in contrast with the romantic landscapes 
 they had left behind them. Here is Smith's impression of 
 Holland, communicated in a letter to his step-daughter, Mrs 
 
 Codrington : 
 
 Somewhere on the canal between NIKU DIKP 
 and AMSTERDAM, Sept. 15, 1882. 
 
 Here we are hi Dutchlantl, with a Dutchman to regulate our move- 
 ments, and they are deliberate. We came in here by the Texel. Your
 
 244 LIFE OF \V. H. SMITH. [JET. 57. 
 
 husband will tell you all about it, but the land is chiefly remarkable 
 because it is usually covered with water. . . . We got into Nieu Diep 
 about 5 P.M. Then came the ceremony of going through the docks, 
 in which we were detained for half an hour while the captain was 
 closeted with the harbour-master, who, I believe, required to be in- 
 formed of the sex, age, and number of teeth of every person on board. 
 I don't think he inquired after grandchildren. Then we moored for 
 the night, and at 5 a great functionary, a King's Pilot, came on board 
 to take charge of the ship. We started at " Slow," and his first re- 
 mark was, " It is very fast ; it is too fast. " The captain wanted to 
 go at half -speed, but he was shocked, and said, "You would wash 
 away the country ; " and then he complained " she was too quick with 
 her helm." However, we got away, and my view from the bridge at 
 5. 30 was mist, through which the sun slowly tried to rise. Everything 
 was slow, flat, and quaint to the last degree. Over the watery and 
 green expanse little peat stacks apparently arose, which, as the light 
 became stronger, turned into houses, all exactly alike tiled, and 
 partially thatched over the tiles. . . . The water became less, and 
 villages and towns appeared. We passed Alkmaar, which is an in- 
 teresting place with many Churches, and some fine ones. Canals for 
 streets, and the banks of Canals for roads. It is very picturesque, 
 and very interesting to see once; but it is quite impossible not to pity 
 people, from one's own point of view, who live below the level of the 
 sea, however well-to-do they may be. And they are very well-to-do, 
 for there are more black and white cattle in the fields than we have 
 seen since we left England. Everything is in plenty except hills, and 
 we passed the only range, and they are called the Camperdown Moun- 
 tains, for they are quite 100 feet high in some parts. . . . Seven 
 times have I been interrupted by " The ship aground, sir. " The 
 Canal turns always at the narrowest part, and our Pilot stops the 
 engines, so that we have no steerage-way, and go helplessly bow on ; 
 but we get off again, and the only mischief done is to the camp- 
 shedding on the banks. 
 
 Then follows a little bit of professional sarcasm on Lord 
 Northbrook and Mr Campbell Bannerman, then First Lord 
 and Secretary to the Admiralty, who, it seems, had not 
 made the usual autumn tour of the dockyards : 
 
 I don't understand Northbrook and Bannerman not going round. 
 It is not politic, at least I think not, but these people are much 
 cleverer than I am, and know intuitively things which I could not 
 realise unless I saw them. 
 
 In December of that year the Pandora was lent to Sir 
 Stafford Northcote for a three months' cruise. 
 
 In August 1883 Copenhagen was revisited, and the 
 voyage was extended to Cronstadt. The Pandora could
 
 A.D. 1883.] CAPTAIN BLOW'S RECOLLECTIONS. 245 
 
 not bo taken up to St Petersburg, as there was at that 
 time not more than nine feet of water over the bar, but 
 most of the party went there. On 8th September they 
 arrived at Kiel, thence to Rotterdam, and returned to 
 Cowes Eoads on 15th. 
 
 Thereafter the yacht was again lent to Sir Stafford 
 Northcote. 
 
 It would be wearisome to record more about these pleasure 
 cruises, to which Smith used to look ardently forward, in 
 those broiling days when, by sheer exhaustion of legislators, 
 the session of Parliament creeps slowly to a close. But it 
 is not possible to write about the Pandora without mention 
 of Captain Blow, who sailed in her during all the years from 
 1880 to 1891, and gained the esteem and confidence, not 
 only of Mr Smith and his family, but of all who were 
 guests on board. He tells how Mr Smith knew every man 
 in the crew, even though he had not much personal inter- 
 course with them, and how he liked to have the old hands 
 re-engaged year by year. He speaks with special apprecia- 
 tion of the care which his master always showed that plenty 
 of time should be allowed to get up steam a point in which 
 some yachtsmen show scant consideration when in a hurry 
 to get under weigh and of the precautions he took to make 
 arrangements for the mails to meet the yacht at the various 
 places where she touched, so that every man on board should 
 get his letters as punctually as Smith did himself. These 
 may seem trifling points, but it is in trifles that men most 
 surely show consideration for those in their employment. 
 Captain Blow, like many another good sailor, is not a man 
 of many words, but there is a look in his eyes when he 
 speaks of his old master that tells of the confidence they 
 had in each other. Nor was Smith's confidence misplaced, 
 for in all the years he commanded the Pandora, Captain 
 Blow never encountered a serious mishap, though it is true
 
 246 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. 
 
 that in 1880, when Blow was serving as mate, the vessel 
 took the ground at Ergastoli, owing to a confusion in the 
 lights, in Cephalonia, and had to be lightened of 100 tons 
 of coal before she floated again. 
 
 CHAPTEE XVII. 
 
 1871-1891. 
 
 There is no landscape more profoundly tranquil none 
 more thoroughly English in character than that which 
 lies on either bank of the river below Henley -on- Thames. 
 Between that town and the village of Hambleden distant 
 from each other some four miles, the Thames, flowing north- 
 wards first through the well-known Henley reach, bends 
 sharply eastward and sweeps in a wide curve between level 
 meadows, bordered and sheltered on the north by the beech- 
 clad downs of Fawley and Hambleden. Southwards the 
 view stretches away over Eemenham, banded by heavy 
 hedgerows, to the gently swelling uplands of Wargrave and 
 Ashley. Just where the river-lawns are greenest and the 
 stream spreads itself into its glassiest reach, stands, on the 
 left bank, the modern house of Greenlands. A white build- 
 ing in the Italian style surrounded by sleepy elms and 
 solemn cedars casting broad swathes of shadow across the 
 velvety turf, and gay with its environment of flower-beds 
 led down to the very edge of the water there is little in 
 this place to commemorate the noisy conflict which once 
 roared around it for months together. But there are still 
 piled on the terrace some rusty round-shot, which from time 
 to time have been found buried deep in the park and
 
 A.D. 1644.] GIIRENLANDS HELD FOR THE KING. 247 
 
 garden, memorials of the long siege sustained in old Green- 
 land House by brave Sir John Doyley, who stood for the 
 King in 1644. Oxford and Wallingford remained staunchly 
 Eoyalist, but nearer Henley was garrisoned by the Parlia- 
 mentarians, when, about the New Year, Doyley began to 
 fortify his premises ; and the Lenten lilies had not blown 
 before he was closely beleaguered by Major-General Skippen. 
 The house, of which every vestige has long ago disappeared, 
 must have been of considerable strength, for its garrison 
 maintained an obstinate defence. General Skippen, riding 
 round it one dewy May morning, had his horse shot under 
 him ; and Essex wrote to him repeatedly, insisting on the 
 reduction of Greenland, as essential to the safety of his 
 army. In June a message came from the House of Lords 
 to the Commons, setting forth the necessity of the immedi- 
 ate despatch of a regiment or more on foot to join the forces 
 then before Greenland, " and that they might batter it from 
 the other side of the Thames." * Later, the Commons sent 
 to London to arrange for more troops being forwarded to 
 reduce Oxford and Greenland House, and the better securing 
 of these counties for Parliament. In fact, on the King's 
 return to Oxford, General Skippen thought it better to draw 
 off his forces before Greenland, and retired to Henley. But 
 in July arrived Major-General Brown, who, planting a 
 battery on the south bank of the river, and sending to 
 London for two siege-pieces and some petards, proceeded to 
 bombard the manor-house. Whitlock notes that thereafter 
 it was "almost beaten about the ears of the garrison." 
 
 In the same month of July the siege was again raised by 
 a party from Oxford and Wallingford. General Brown 
 once more retired to Henley, and the Royalist force went 
 back to Oxford, taking with them twenty-nine women, who 
 had been shut up in Greenland. But no sooner had the 
 1 Whitlock's Memorials.
 
 248 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. 
 
 Cavaliers disappeared in the summer woodland than General 
 Brown renewed the siege on Sir John Doyley's stronghold, 
 then under command of Colonel Hawkins. This tune 
 Brown brought his whole brigade, and renewed the bom- 
 bardment in such vigorous sort that the gallant Hawkins, 
 standing on a pile of smoking ruins, was fain to sue for 
 terms. He obtained them, and of such a kind as to prove 
 both his own prowess and the value set by the Parliamen- 
 tary leaders on the house of Greenland, for he and his brave 
 garrison were allowed to march out with the honours of 
 war, prisoners were exchanged, and the victors provided 
 transport for the vanquished as far as Wallingford. 
 
 Standing on a summer evening beside the tranquil stream, 
 watching the pleasure-boats floating past and listening to 
 the distant roar of Hambleden lasher it is difficult to 
 realise that this is the same scene where once the civil 
 conflict raged so fiercely, that the frequent round-shot 
 hurtled where the swallows now skim, and yonder tuneful 
 woodland echoed to hoarse battle-cries and clash of angry 
 steel. 
 
 Old Greenland House was levelled with the sward : Sir 
 John Doyley, his resources sadly drained by the expenses 
 of the war, parted with the estate. After that, it changed 
 hands pretty often, till, in 1871, it was bought by Mr Smith 
 from Sir Dudley Marjoribanks. 1 This was the quiet retreat 
 in which the weary man of affairs looked forward to spend- 
 ing the afternoon of life, this the angulus ille terrarum 
 which he set himself to beautify, and enrich with work on 
 the garden, the farm, the woods, and, above all, on the 
 workmen's cottages. He was not one to brook the existence 
 of those terrible contrasts, which are only to be endured by 
 habit, between the dwellings of the rich and poor : if his 
 own house, as befitted his means, was to be beautiful and 
 1 Created Baron Tweedmouth in 1881.
 
 LIFE AT GREENLANDS. 249 
 
 even luxurious, so much the greater urgency for the cottages 
 of his workmen to be bright and healthy and roomy enough 
 for decorous living. Every human being ay, and every 
 quadruped too that worked on his land, should be as 
 comfortably housed and liberally dealt with as patient 
 forethought could ensure. Of course this is something 
 beyond practical farming : a hard-working tenant, with a 
 rent to pay, has to see his way to get back whatever he 
 puts into the pockets of his workmen or down the throats 
 of his beasts ; but it was the kindly anxiety of a prosperous 
 man that everything on his ground should be comfortable 
 and well-to-do. Smith took special delight in his flock of 
 Sussex Down ewes, and used to listen sympathetically to 
 his shepherd dilating with professional pride on their level 
 backs, well-bred heads, and close ochrey fleecea 
 
 It was not, however, often that Smith spoke familiarly 
 with his servants. As a rule, he was reserved and silent 
 towards them ; never rude or hasty, but speaking no more 
 than the occasion required. One day he said to his valet : 
 " I don't speak much to you ; my mind is pretty full of 
 other matters, but remember, it is never so full that I cannot 
 listen to anything you want to say to me." 
 
 The reposeful purpose of the new owner of Greenlands 
 was, so far as concerned himself, destined to imperfect fulfil- 
 ment. Public life in the nineteenth century is niggardly in 
 opportunity of retirement for a Cincinnatus, and in addition 
 to the time devoured by the ever-growing business in the 
 Strand, in which Smith continued the leading active partner 
 till 1874, he had, at the time of his settling at Greenlands, 
 been for three years a metropolitan member, and few who 
 have not tried it are able to realise what incessant attention 
 that honourable position demands. 
 
 Still, he made it his country home ; there his wife and 
 children lived in the autumn and winter, and thither he
 
 250 
 
 LIFE OF W. II. SMITH. 
 
 r. 58. 
 
 betook himself as often and for as long as his parliamentary, 
 commercial, and other engagements would allow. He grew 
 very fond of the place, took a moderately active part in the 
 duties of a magistrate, of the Board of Guardians, and other 
 
 JfJ * F -*..' 
 
 .-? .*- . ( iV c\i *: 
 ^>" ^^-1^ 
 
 In the Grounds at Greenlands. 
 
 county business. To record all his kind and helpful acts 
 during the score of years he lived at Greenlands would take 
 a long time, and would, moreover, be the kind of catalogue 
 which he, of all men, would most have disliked to see in
 
 A.D. 1884.] ST MARY'S CHURCH, TORTSEA. 251 
 
 the hands of others. Never was there any one more con- 
 cerned in deluding his left hand as to the doings of his right, 
 of which no better illustration could be found than the part 
 he took in the building of St Mary's Church at Portsea. 
 The history of his connection with that enterprise affords a 
 sample of his method of patient preliminary inquiry, his 
 dislike of publicity, and his princely liberality when he had 
 satisfied himself that there was good occasion for it. 
 
 Admiral Codrington, the husband of Mr Smith's step- 
 daughter, held an appointment at Portsmouth in 1884. 
 Smith heard from Mrs Codrington of the project formed by 
 Canon Jacob, vicar of Portsea, to reconstruct or rebuild the 
 parish church, and the description which she gave of the 
 locality a large parish of 26,000 inhabitants, mainly of 
 the industrial order at once enlisted his sympathy in the 
 scheme. He made the acquaintance of Canon Jacob, and 
 at once gave him a subscription of 500. In doing so, 
 Smith expressed himself to Canon Jacob to the following 
 effect : " I am ready to help you further, but I am anxious 
 that in doing so I should not interfere with local effort 
 nor dimmish the local sources of supply. If I am satisfied 
 that your own people are doing their utmost to provide for 
 what is necessary in the parish, you may rely on me to help 
 you to make it a fine church. Let me know whenever you 
 are in want of funds, but do not let my name appear." 
 After that understanding had been thoroughly established 
 between them, Canon Jacob had no reason to complain of 
 the conditions. He and Smith became warm friends, but 
 their interviews were conduc* 'd under clandestine precau- 
 tions. So anxious was Smith to preserve the mystery 
 which shrouded the " friend " whose cheques were mentioned 
 so frequently in the subscription-lists, that when he called 
 on Canon Jacob he would not even ring the door-bell, but 
 walked straight into the vicar's study. From first to last
 
 252 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. 
 
 his donations to the building fund amounted to 29,000, 
 out of a total expenditure of .42,000. 
 
 The secret was well kept, and Canon Jacob and Mr 
 Smith had many a laugh over incidents in connection with 
 it. One evening Smith walked into the vicar's library 
 shortly after he had sent him a cheque for 15,000. Said 
 he 
 
 " I saw Ryder l this morning, and he said to me, ' I hear 
 Jacob has received a promise of 15,000 for his building 
 fund from some rich fellow. Now I don't want to dis- 
 courage him, but I don't think it would be safe for him to 
 act on it, unless good security is given him, and so I have 
 told him.' I told Eyder," Smith went on, "that I had 
 heard the same thing, and given Jacob exactly the same 
 advice." 
 
 Smith frequently visited the building during its progress, 
 and derived much pleasure from the work. The church, 
 which was designed by Sir Arthur Blomfield, is a fine 
 example of the perpendicular style a form of Gothic which, 
 though it does not satisfy the sense of most architectural 
 critics, has at least this distinction, that it is exclusively 
 English, being the form through which ecclesiastical archi- 
 tecture descended in our country when, on the Continent 
 and even in Scotland, it assumed the Flamboyant manner. 
 When the building was finished, Canon Jacob went over it 
 with Smith. 
 
 "I am simply delighted," said the latter. "I don't 
 know enough about architecture to criticise, but I am thor- 
 oughly pleased with what has been done." 
 
 During the intercourse which this building brought about 
 
 between them, Canon Jacob had many opportunities of 
 
 becoming acquainted with Smith's view of charity in 
 
 general, and the precautions he observed before contribut- 
 
 1 Admiral Sir A. P. Ryder.
 
 HIS METHOD IN GIVING. 
 
 253 
 
 ing to any scheme. When he was satisfied as to the object 
 aimed at and the means of attaining it, he used to give with 
 
 .- m >ai< n e 
 $ 
 
 
 Lych Gate, Hambleden. 
 
 no sparing hand, and largely in directions which never were 
 and never will be known. 
 
 With one philanthropic scheme which made much stir
 
 254 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. 
 
 during his later years General Booth's he would have 
 nothing to do. The excitement and vehemence of the 
 Salvation Army were foreign to all his religious instincts, 
 and, as a business man, he would not be induced to con- 
 tribute to a fund in the absence of good security that it 
 should be rightly administered. 
 
 The accomplishment of some of the chief improvements in 
 the neighbourhood of Greenlands was rendered possible by 
 means of Smith's liberal assistance. In the secluded village 
 of Hambleden, though it is not actually on the property 
 that was his, his name will long be affectionately remem- 
 bered. Nestling deep in a narrow green valley opening 
 from the Thames, it is just one of those immemorial little 
 communities where life slips uneventfully from generation 
 to generation, not without its patient tragedy, yet undis- 
 turbed by noisy crime with quiet enjoyment of such com- 
 forts as may be gathered in modest homes, but without 
 much splendour of expectation on the narrow horizon which 
 bounds it. 
 
 Happily the incumbent whom Smith found at Hamble- 
 den when he became a parishioner, the late Rev. W. H. 
 Ridley, honorary canon of Christ Church, was not only an 
 able and zealous pastor, but one with whom he was able to 
 work hand in hand in intimate friendship ; and by acting 
 in concert with him and the lord of the manor, and, after 
 Mr Ridley's death in 1882, with his successor the Rev. C. 
 M. Wetherall, he was able to assist in many changes and 
 improvements, both in the church and its surroundings. 
 People cling passionately to the plot of ground where, as in 
 Hambleden, they have been accustomed to lay their dead 
 since the days of the Heptarchy, where 
 
 " Beneath these rugged elms, that yew-tree's shade, 
 
 Where heaves the turf in many a mould'ring heap, 
 Each in his narrow cell for ever laid, 
 The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep."
 
 IMPROVEMENTS AT HAMBLEDEN. 255 
 
 But it became necessary to close the old churchyard, and a 
 new cemetery was enclosed outside the village, for which 
 Mr Smith gave the ground. He cordially co-operated in a 
 scheme whereby extensive repairs were carried out in the 
 fabric of the parish church and the tower was rebuilt, in 
 which were hung afresh the old peal of bells. Their melo- 
 dious chimes, echoing among the hanging beechwoods, and 
 overpowering 
 
 " The drowsy tinklings of the distant fold," 
 
 call to mind a bygone state of society, for the tenor bell 
 was won at cards by an eighteenth century incumbent 
 of Hambleden from the rector of a neighbouring parish, 
 who had previously staked and lost to him all that he 
 possessed. 
 
 Even the fairest rural scenes are subject to visitations 
 of fever and diphtheria, and to this the neighbourhood of 
 Henley and Hambleden was no exception. The difficulty 
 of isolating infectious cases was the subject of much concern 
 to Mr Smith, till, in 1889, he resolved to build a hospital to 
 supply the want. Mr Mackenzie of Fawley Court having 
 granted a suitable and valuable site in the Fair Mile, near 
 Henley, buildings were erected, with separate blocks, airy 
 corridors, and ample offices, under the direction of Mr 
 Keith Young. It was thoroughly furnished and equipped 
 with every instrument of comfort and relief, including a 
 large ambulance, and the whole must have cost the donor 
 not less than 11,000, but he did not live to see it 
 completed. 
 
 The part Smith had taken in educational legislation, and 
 his experience on the London School Board, inclined him 
 to take a practical interest in school matters in Henley and 
 Hambleden. He became one of the governing body of 
 Henley Royal Grammar-School, and exerted himself in pre-
 
 256 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. 
 
 paring and promoting a scheme to adapt that decaying 
 institution to the wants of a rural neighbourhood, rather 
 than bolster it up as a seat of classical learning. The 
 Charity Commissioners stepped in, and taking the matter 
 out of the hands of the governors, brought out a scheme 
 almost exactly on the lines proposed by Mr Smith, whose 
 last appearance among the new governing body was in 
 1891, when they met to inaugurate the reformed consti- 
 tution. 
 
 While he attended in these and other respects to the 
 wants of his poorer neighbours in the country, he by no 
 means neglected the beauty and comfort of his own home. 
 He added very largely to the original house at Greenlands, 
 and delighted in finding his children and children's children 
 assembled there with their friends when, at the end of a 
 hard week in Parliament and a Saturday sitting of the 
 Cabinet, he escaped to spend a quiet Sunday among the 
 deep woods beside the gentle stream. How often he longed 
 for such rest, how gratefully he enjoyed it when it came, 
 finds frequent expression in his letters. 
 
 One Sunday in 1889, being detained in London, he 
 writes to one of his daughters : 
 
 At luncheon at the Admiralty yesterday we were discussing our 
 several ideas of rest, and G. Hamilton and Goschen both declared in 
 favour of being allowed to stay at home on Sunday mornings when 
 their wives went to church. I said I almost enjoyed the quietness 
 and rest in the midst of work of being alone in the house, when I was 
 nearly tired out at the end of a session. 
 
 Those who visited at Greenlands remember how smoothly 
 everything went. 1 Some may think that making life in a 
 country house agreeable to guests is merely a question of 
 expenditure, and that nothing is easier than for a rich man 
 
 1 After a visit to Greenlauds in 1885, where there had been a garden 
 party, Dr (now Sir Henry) Acland wrote to Smith : "And now, what 
 am I to say concerning the last three days ? Well, to a quiet worn
 
 A WELL-ORDERED HOUSE. 257 
 
 with a good house to be a good host. But even the 
 wealthiest are not always successful in the art of enter- 
 taining especially those who have made wealth for them- 
 selves. The remarkable feature in the Greenlands menage 
 was the absence alike of fuss or ostentation : everything 
 went as evenly as on board a man-of-war ; and it is only 
 fair to say that this was owing in large measure to the fact 
 that Mr Smith's servants, like the officers of his yacht, 
 remained many years in his employ. Both here and in 
 Grosvenor Place people used to contrast the dinner-parties 
 favourably with the interminable feasts which some well- 
 disposed Amphitryons, especially of the political type, seem 
 to think inseparable from right hospitality. 1 Everything 
 of wine or food kind was the best that money could buy, 
 but there was a sort of modesty and graceful measure in 
 their use. Indeed the only respect in which his table 
 approached extravagance was in the display of flowers. 
 These were certainly supplied lavishly, but they were all 
 home - grown, for their owner had spared no expense on 
 his gardens. In the comparatively limited extent of the 
 grounds at Greenlands the flower-garden occupies but a 
 narrow wedge of land between the highroad and the river 
 
 creature of threescore years and ten such an occasion, in sucli a scene, 
 is certainly a revelation of a new sense. 
 
 ' Tears such as tender fathers shed, 
 For joy to think when they are dead 
 Their sons shall find the good their friend.' 
 
 Those words best express the state of mind I was in while wandering 
 in all your splendid hospitalities, that veiled, but not concealed, the 
 peace and family strength that reigned firm beneath them." 
 
 1 Touching the political dinner-parties which Smith used to give in 
 Grosvenor Place on Wednesday evenings during the session of Parlia- 
 ment, it must be well remembered by many who attended them how 
 careful he was to arrange them so that the younger members of the 
 Conservative party should be brought into easy acquaintance with 
 their leaders. It requires but a slight familiarity with political affairs 
 to know how greatly this contributes to the pleasure and harmony of 
 parliamentary life. 
 
 R
 
 258 
 
 LIFE OF W. II. SMITH. 
 
 a staff of thirty men were employed. There is a very large 
 range of glass-houses, in the planning and management of 
 which Mr Smith used to take much delight, and a constant 
 supply of choicest flowers and fruit was the result. His 
 
 ,->*s' r - c : 
 
 A Favourite Peep of the Thames. 
 
 favourite flower (it is the fashion to record the preference 
 of statesmen for certain flowers Disraeli's primrose, the 
 third Napoleon's violet, Boulanger's carnation, are instances 
 in point) was lily of the valley, and means were employed
 
 HOME PLEASURES. 259 
 
 to ensure a long succession of that plant, from the earliest 
 forced blooms in January to the latest in July, artificially 
 retarded by being grown on beds of ice. 
 
 Horticulturists may find some interest in the fact, that in 
 the whole range of the vineries at Greenlands there is not a 
 single specimen of the " Gros Colman " grape a deserved 
 favourite for its profuse yield, beautiful clusters of large 
 raisins, and unsurpassed keeping qualities, which generally 
 prevail to counterbalance its deficiency in flavour. 
 
 If there was one part of his possessions in regard to which 
 Smith used to yield to that weakness of country gentlemen 
 which Disraeli, in one of his novels, calls the "Sunday- 
 afternoon-pride-of-proprietorship," it was his garden; for 
 though he was without technical knowledge of the art of 
 horticulture, he enjoyed the fragrance and beauty of flowers 
 so thoroughly that he loved to bring his friends to do the 
 same. His favourite place for a confidential after-dinner 
 talk with a friend was the large conservatory opening off 
 the drawing-room, and the love which he never lost for 
 music used to be gratified at the same time by the strains 
 from the organ, played by one of his daughters in an ad- 
 joining room. 
 
 It was a thoroughly peaceful home, and the only draw- 
 back to Smith's complete enjoyment of it was his frequent 
 absence, caused by the incessant and ever-increasing calls of. 
 public duty. The perfect harmony which always endured 
 among the members of this family was owing in large 
 measure to the gentle nature of its head. Weary, harassed, 
 suffering in body and anxious in mind as he often was (for 
 he was very far from possessing the excellent constitution 
 and easy temperament of his old idol Palmerston), neither 
 wife, nor child, nor colleague, nor friend, nor servant ever 
 heard him speak a hasty or angry word. Naturally re- 
 ticent, he was yet always ready to receive the confidence
 
 260 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. 
 
 of others, and there was at no time between him and any 
 of his children that freezing awe which sometimes hedges 
 a father and makes him the last to whom his children turn 
 in their sorrows or perplexities, small or great. And, in 
 return, the warmth of his affection was never chilled by 
 their neglect, nor his heart saddened by their faults or 
 mistakes, so that a few weeks before his death he was 
 able to write in all truth to Miss Giberne, " What cause 
 for thankfulness have we not got ! I am sixty-six, and 
 have no sorrow with any one of my children." There 
 was no difference in degree in the affection that bound 
 him to each member of the family. Thus in 1882 lie 
 wrote on his birthday to his step -daughter, Mrs Cod- 
 rington, " So long as I have the warm affection of wife 
 and children, birthdays will be happy; but life is not 
 worth living without love." Even in the closing weeks 
 of a weary session, when his family had moved to Green- 
 lands and he remained to struggle through the drowsy 
 dog-days alone, he never failed to write each night to 
 Mrs Smith from his place in the House. Love-letters 
 have often been penned amid strange environment from 
 dungeons and garrets, from towering seas, from Arctic 
 wastes and torrid African sands ; but surely none were 
 ever more tender or more true than those written by 
 Smith to his wife from the Treasury Bench, amid the 
 din of debate or the languor of obstructive talk. One is 
 tempted to quote some of their simple, fervent language, 
 if it were but to show that, in spite of many sorrowful 
 instances to the contrary, public men may foster and enjoy 
 the most delicate private affection, and the most devoted 
 politician may remain perfect as a husband and father. 
 Ugly stories about those in high places spread quickly 
 among a public over-ready to believe evil of those in 
 authority : it would be well to put in evidence some of
 
 DISLIKE OF PUBLICITY. 261 
 
 these words of pure and lasting devotion, but it is not 
 possible to parade the innermost feelings of one who has 
 so lately gone from among us. Nevertheless, a sentence 
 or two from Smith's letters to his wife may be chosen, 
 showing the spirit of all the rest. In 1887 : 
 
 I have had a very nice letter from the Queen, which I will show 
 you to-morrow evening if, as I hope, I am able to get clown to you, 
 and this must come to you as my first greeting on the Anniversary of 
 that happy day when we became one. ... God has blessed us, and 
 and we do owe very much to Him, for all our trials have brought us 
 closer to each other and to Him, and every day I realise more and 
 more of the strength and guidance which you ask and help me to 
 gain. . . . The debate is going on in a dull way, and Childers is now 
 speaking, but our Irish Attorney-General, Mr Holmes, made a very 
 good speech indeed in opening. 
 
 Again, in August of the following year : 
 
 Here I am sitting listening to Arthur Balfour, who is answering Mr 
 J. Morley, and I have ears for him and thoughts for you and my very 
 dear ones at home. ... I hope we shall get our votes all right to- 
 night, and that I may get away to-morrow by the 6.20. 
 
 Another letter, written in the same week as the last, 
 bears evidence that however ready Smith always was to 
 welcome visitors to his home, he was exceedingly jealous 
 of a betrayal of its privacy. Eeaders of " society " journals 
 must be familiar with the series of " Celebrities at Home " 
 which have been continued for many years in the ' World ' 
 newspaper. The editor wrote to Smith asking him to give 
 him a sitting for one of these pen-portraits, and alluding 
 to some half-dozen of his colleagues in the Cabinet who 
 had already done so. The reply to this letter is charac- 
 teristic : 
 
 10 DOWNING STREET, WHITEHALL, 
 Qlh Aug. 1888. 
 
 MY DEAR MR YATES, I am very sensible of the valuable services 
 you have rendered to the Party, and I would gladly do anything in 
 my power to recognise them, but I have almost a superstitious horror 
 of any publicity in matters concerning the private life of my Family. 
 
 Everybody is welcome to see everything I have got, to walk about
 
 262 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. 
 
 my place, and to enjoy it as much as I do when I can get away from 
 my work, but I am most anxious to preserve the inviolability of my 
 home. 
 
 Pray forgive me for this fancy. Yours very truly, 
 
 W. H. SMITH. 1 
 
 In the general amusements of a country gentleman Smith 
 took a moderate part. He was never what his namesake, 
 Sydney Smith, termed a "pheasant-minded man," but his 
 preserves were well stocked with game, and he liked to 
 provide sport for his guests, and sometimes took a gun him- 
 self. 2 But the impression generally left on the minds of 
 visitors was that their host was inclined rather to silence 
 than to conversation ; that although he was ready to listen 
 sympathetically to what others had to say, his own mind 
 was too fully occupied with his work to be curious about 
 the concerns of others. He had no time for " fads " or 
 amateur pursuits, and never showed any disposition to 
 trespass on the province of science or literature. It is 
 possible that early and close concentration upon business 
 
 1 It is not often possible to turn the tables on an interviewer least 
 of all if he represents an American journal but Smith once succeeded 
 very well in doing so. The proprietor of one of the principal New 
 York dailies being in London, wrote to request an interview with the 
 First Lord of the Treasury. Smith had minuted the letter, " Express 
 regret," when he changed his mind, and said to his secretary " No, 
 let him come ; he can give me the information I want aboub the mu- 
 nicipal institutions of New York." (The Local Government Bill was 
 under consideration in the House of Commons at the time.) An ap- 
 pointment was made, the interview took place, and for a quarter of 
 an hour the great journalist was kept busy answering Mr Smith's ques- 
 tions. Then the next appointment was announced, the visitor was 
 bowed out, and it flashed on him that for once a Britisher had out- 
 witted a Yankee. " I guess," he remarked to the private secretary 
 as he picked up his hat, " I guess that Mister Smith has inter- 
 viewed me." 
 
 2 In this respect he was more effective than his friend and col- 
 league, Northcote, whose short sight prevented him from being even 
 a fair shot. I once happened to be staying in a country house in 
 Scotland where Sir Stafford was also visiting. After breakfast our 
 host was arranging for our amusement, and turning to Northcote 
 said, " Do you shoot, Sir Stafford ? " " Intransitively I do," was the 
 reply.
 
 BOOKS AND HCTUIIES. 263 
 
 had robbed his facilities of some of that elasticity which 
 generally causes men who are eminent in one department 
 of activity to make excursions into the domain of others. 
 On the other hand, his thoroughly practical nature may 
 have convinced him that there is sound sense in the adage, 
 " The cobbler to his last and the gunner to his linstock," 
 and that no satisfaction is derived from handling too many 
 irons. 
 
 Some evidence of a man's character and taste is sure to 
 be found in his bookshelves, and thus Smith's busy life, his 
 practical application to affairs, and his ample means, all 
 found reflection in his library. A glance round the room is 
 enough to show that here was no haunt of a book-lover or 
 book-hunter : for the weaknesses of the first its owner 
 enjoyed too little leisure ; for those of the second he had 
 drawn from his hurried and unsatisfactory education no 
 consuming passion. Nevertheless there are books, several 
 thousands of them, well cared for and well ordered : books 
 of modern travel and useful information predominate, but 
 fiction and poetry are liberally represented also; and the 
 fastidious bibliophile can gratify his passion with the con- 
 tents of a case, consisting of sumptuously bound classics, in 
 folio and quarto, mainly purchased at the sale of the cele- 
 brated Syston Park collection. 
 
 But the luxury which Smith allowed himself most 
 latitude in indulging was the purchase of good pictures. 
 He made no claim to a discriminating knowledge of art ; in 
 making his purchases he relied very much on the judgment 
 of Mr Woods, a partner in the well-known firm of Messrs 
 Christie, Manson, & Woods. Under the guidance of that 
 gentleman, he acquired some beautiful works of art notably 
 a ploughing scene, by Rosa Bonheur, which hangs on the 
 staircase at 3 Grosvenor Place, and two exquisite portraits
 
 264: LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. 
 
 by Romney, of the sisters Ramus (one of whom became 
 Lady Day and the other Madame de Noailles), now at 
 Greenlands. 
 
 He was also a good friend to living artists, and commis- 
 sioned some of the most noted of them to paint the por- 
 traits of some of his colleagues in the Cabinet. In the 
 dining-room at Grosveuor Place there hang likenesses of 
 Lord Iddesleigh painted by Long, of Lord Cross by H. 
 Herkomer, of Lord John Manners by Ouless, of Mr Arthur 
 Balfour by Alma Tadema, and of Lord Beaconsfield and 
 Lord Salisbury by Sir John Millais. Concerning the last- 
 named, Millais wrote to Smith in 1882, while the picture 
 was in progress : " I have found him more difficult than 
 most of the portraits I have painted." In spite of this 
 difficulty, the portrait is admitted to be one of the best that 
 accomplished artist has ever achieved. 
 
 Besides these, there are hung in other rooms excellent 
 examples of Turner, Copley Fielding, Cooke, David Cox, 
 Stansfield, Landseer, and other masters ; and Mr Smith's 
 own portrait by Richmond is in the morning-room. 
 
 In addition to his Greenlands estate, Mr Smith invested 
 upwards of 450,000 in the purchase of land in Suffolk and 
 Devonshire. In the former county he bought about 6000 
 acres in various parcels between 1877 and 1891. The 
 Rewe and Silverton estate near Exeter, extending to about 
 900 acres, was acquired at different dates between 1876 
 and 1889, and large sums were spent here in rebuilding 
 cottages in the village of Rewe, Lastly, in 1890 and 1891, 
 the Moreton-hampstead estate, a tract of rough pasture 
 on the edge of Dartmoor, was bought from the Earl of 
 Devon.
 
 DILEMMA OF THE GOVERNMENT. 265 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 1885. 
 
 The tone of leading articles in the 'Times' a journal 
 which up to that date had uniformly given independent 
 support to whatever Government happened to be in power 
 became ominous of the general displeasure entertained at 
 the beginning of 1885 on account of the way the affairs of 
 this country were being conducted. The outcome of five 
 years' administration of foreign affairs by Lord Granville 
 had been to leave Great Britain almost without a friend 
 among the great Powers. Italy, it is true, had been concili- 
 ated by the conclusion of a treaty under which England 
 agreed to favour that country in the formation of a colony 
 at Massowah, in the Red Sea, and in the annexation of 
 territory on the west coast of Africa, in return for which 
 "Italy would assist England in her enterprises in Egypt, 
 and would raise her voice on behalf of England in the 
 European Council for the settling of the Egyptian question, 
 on every occasion when England should appeal to her." 
 But France was still malcontent with the continued occu- 
 pation of Egypt by British troops. Russia had persisted in 
 pushing forward her advance-posts towards the Afghan 
 frontier in spite of Lord Granville's remonstrance, and in 
 contemptuous disregard of treaties ; and the steady concen- 
 tration of troops and warlike material in the direction of 
 Merv seemed intended as a direct menace to Great Britain. 
 Lastly, a state of angry tension had developed itself between 
 the Foreign Departments of Great Britain and Germany in 
 regard to certain events connected with the development of 
 Prince Bismarck's policy of Colonisation in Africa and New
 
 266 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. OT. 59. 
 
 Guinea, and the conclusion of a treaty between the German 
 Emperor and the King of Samoa. 1 
 
 But a still deeper shade of gloom fell on the outlook of 
 Ministers by the announcement, in a telegram from Sir 
 Charles Wilson on February 5, that Khartoum, which 
 General Gordon had been holding against the Mahdi for 
 ten months, had fallen, and the Government had to endure 
 the bitter shame of having delayed succour to a gallant offi- 
 cer till it was too late. The Prime Minister only deepened 
 the disgrace of himself and his colleagues when, on the 
 opening of Parliament on February 19, he tried to palliate 
 it by declaring that " General Gordon contentedly forbore 
 indeed, more than contentedly, he determinedly forbore 
 to make use of the means of personal safety which were at 
 all times open to him." The expression of displeasure with 
 which these words were received by the House was so 
 intense, that Mr Gladstone withdrew them ; but the impres- 
 sion remained that an unmerited slight had been put upon 
 Gordon's devoted service. On a vote of censure moved by 
 Sir Stafford Northcote, in terms all too mild to satisfy 
 the general feeling among Conservatives, the Government 
 narrowly escaped overthrow by a majority of 14 votes 
 302 to 288. 2 
 
 1 Bismarck, addressing the German Parliament on March 2, gave 
 blunt expression to the irritation engendered by Lord Granville's 
 mode of conducting business. " We have received," he said, " since 
 the summer of 1884, no less than 128 English despatches, containing 
 altogether 700 or 800 pages. We did not receive so much from all 
 the other foreign Governments together in the twenty-three years I 
 have been Foreign Minister. Every Nation and Government has the 
 right to do business in the manner it considers useful ; but a foreign 
 policy chiefly made up of printed and published notes, sometimes 
 written in order favourably to influence your own Parliament, entails 
 the danger of writing somewhat to impress Parliament and not ex- 
 clusively the foreign Governments. " 
 
 2 Smith had written to Northcote on February 22, endeavouring to 
 convey to him the dissatisfaction among the Tories at the terms of 
 his resolution, and hinting at the necessity for more vigour in attack : 
 " There is a feeling amongst our friends that very plain, strong speak-
 
 A.D. 1885.] DISCONTENT OF THE TORIES. 267 
 
 The disheartening effect of disunion among the Minis- 
 terialists had a remarkable counterpart at this time among 
 the ranks of the Opposition. Dissatisfaction towards North- 
 cote's somewhat timid leadership was enhanced by com- 
 parison with the brilliant onslaughts led by Lord Randolph 
 Churchill against the Government policy, not only in the 
 House of Commons, but on platforms throughout the coun- 
 try. This feeling found pretty plain utterance at a meeting 
 of the Conservative party held at the Carlton on February 
 24, and developed into something like open revolt on March 
 17, when, in discussing the Eedistribution of Seats Bill, 
 Sir Michael Hicks Beach stated that he was entirely unable 
 to agree with the line his leader had taken in supporting the 
 Government's proposal to increase the number of members 
 of the House, and led the " rapier and rosette " party of the 
 Conservatives into the lobby against him. 
 
 This, and much more like it, was plainly directed against 
 Northcote's generalship. The peaceable, cultivated country 
 gentleman was not one to inspire confidence when desperate 
 fighting against heavy odds was to be done, and no one 
 knew this better than Smith himself, who knew also what 
 serious warnings his friend and colleague had received about 
 the state of his health. Nevertheless, neither by word nor 
 sign did he show the slightest wavering in his loyalty to 
 Northcote ; and though secretly stimulating him to more 
 spirited action, Smith never shrank from sharing the obloquy 
 which the impetuous Fourth Party poured on the bourgeois 
 placemen who sat on the front Opposition bench. 
 
 Meanwhile negotiations with the Eussian Government on 
 
 ing is necessary in this debate. They say our resolution is deficient 
 in force, and that the country demands almost passionate action. I 
 tell you this for what it is worth. I think I recoil from extremes in- 
 stinctively ; but the condition of affairs is so very serious that, come 
 what may, I think it is the duty of men to speak out and to say what 
 they think."
 
 268 LIFE OF W. II. SMITH. OT. 59. 
 
 the Afghan frontier question had been laboriously progress- 
 ing till, on April 8, came news which seemed to put the 
 maintenance of peace out of the question. General Kom- 
 aroff had attacked and routed a body of Afghan troops with 
 heavy loss. Smith describes the prevalent anxiety in letters 
 to his wife : 
 
 HOUSE OF COMMONS, April 9. 
 
 The news this afternoon is very serious indeed much more so than 
 any I have heard for a long time. It looks very much as if Russia has 
 played a deliberately treacherous part, and in a contemptuous, defiant 
 manner. I am afraid we have embarked on a very serious war, which 
 will task all the resources of the country. 
 
 10th AprU. 
 
 We are all in a state of deep concern. There is no excitement, no 
 alarm, but just that gravity which men exhibit when they feel great 
 events are occurring. There is no fresh news this morning, and I 
 hardly expect to hear anything now before Monday ; but I am very 
 glad we did not go away, for if we had I should have felt very uneasy 
 and very selfish. ... I am, as you may suppose, rather busy and 
 rather anxious, but I trust all will go well with us this evening. 
 
 Mr Gladstone described to the House what had taken place 
 in a tone and terms which made a deep impression on all 
 who heard him : 
 
 The House will not be surprised when I say, speaking with measured 
 words in circumstances of great gravity, that to us, upon the state- 
 ments I have recited, this attack bears the appearance of an unpro- 
 voked aggression. 
 
 Little did the House of Commons or the country under- 
 stand what lay behind the Prime Minister's speech. Con- 
 veying, as it undoubtedly did, a firm determination to stand 
 by our treaty engagements to the Afghans, and resist en- 
 croachment upon our Indian frontier, Mr Gladstone was 
 cheered to the echo from every part of the House. It was 
 not till several weeks later, after the Vote of Credit for 
 XI 1,000,000 had been asked for and obtained, that it be- 
 came known that at the very moment he had uttered these 
 brave words, he had been conscious that the British Com- 
 missioner, Sir Peter Lumsden, had been recalled, and that
 
 A.D. 1885.] DEFEAT OF LIBERAL GOVERNMENT. 269 
 
 at the same time as the Eussian Government, who knew 
 how to encourage faithful service, were sending out a sword 
 of honour to General Komaroff. 
 
 The Redistribution Bill having been read a second time 
 in the House of Lords, it was generally understood that the 
 remaining business was to be got through in time for an 
 early dissolution of Parliament. But there was an unex- 
 pected fate awaiting Mr Gladstone's Administration. The 
 Budget of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr Childers, 
 provided for an increase in the duties on beer and spirits, a 
 proposal to which Sir Michael Hicks Beach moved a hostile 
 amendment. This was carried against the Government by 
 a majority of 12 votes, and on June 12 the Prime Minister 
 announced that the Ministry had tendered their resignation 
 to the Queen. Next day her Majesty telegraphed from 
 Balmoral accepting the resignation, and sent for the Marquis 
 of Salisbury, who, returning on June 15, began the difficult 
 task of forming a Cabinet. The difficulty he had to encoun- 
 ter was twofold, for not only would the remaining business 
 of the session, including a new Budget, have to be transacted 
 in face of a hostile majority, but the Tory revolt against 
 Sir Stafford Northcote had to be dealt with. This last was 
 accentuated by an incident which took place in the House 
 of Commons on the very day of Lord Salisbury's return 
 from Balmoral. Mr Gladstone that evening proposed that 
 the House should take into consideration the Lords' amend- 
 ments on the Redistribution of Seats Bill, and in doing so 
 he received the support of Northcote and the "official" 
 Opposition. But the Fourth Party resisted the considera- 
 tion of contentious matter during the interregnum. Sir 
 Michael Hicks Beach, to the surprise of many, threw his 
 weight into the scale of Lord Randolph Churchill, and 
 voted with him in the minority of 35 against 333. The 
 significance of this numerically trifling secession from North-
 
 270 LIFE OF W. II. SMITH. [JET. 59. 
 
 cote's leading consisted in the fact that it contained the 
 combative section of the Tory party, whom it had been 
 sought to classify by the ridiculously paradoxical title of 
 Tory Democrats, and the effect of it was manifest in the 
 formation of the new Ministry by the translation of North- 
 cote to the House of Lords, with the title of Earl of Iddcs- 
 leigh and the office of First Lord of the Treasury, the 
 appointment of Beach as Chancellor of the Exchequer, 
 and the admission, per saltum, of Lord Eandolph to the 
 Cabinet as Secretary of State for India. 
 
 Smith's services undoubtedly warranted the expectation 
 that he would be offered high office, but the domestic con- 
 dition of the Conservative party made him quite prepared 
 to be left out in the cold. His letters to his daughter 
 Emily at this time give an almost consecutive account of 
 
 events : 
 
 June 9. 
 
 I have been down to the House to hear Gladstone move the ad- 
 journment until Friday, " as the Cabinet had thought it their duty 
 to submit a humble communication to the Queen, the nature of which 
 he did not feel at liberty to disclose," but which meant the Govern- 
 ment had resigned. It has come very quickly indeed ; much more 
 suddenly than I expected, but I fancy the Government themselves 
 rather look for it as a relief from their troubles. ... I suppose by 
 the time you return a government may be in course of formation, 
 and I may or may not be in it. I shall not put myself forward for 
 it ; but I shall take it if it comes and if I like the berth. 
 
 June 10. 
 
 I have no news and little gossip to tell you. ... I have seen some 
 of the Ministers walking and driving, and they all appear to be in 
 roaring spirits at their escape from the intolerable position in which 
 they found themselves. 
 
 June 11. 
 
 I have had a talk with two or three men to-day. At one time I 
 did not think I should be in the new Conservative Cabinet if one is 
 formed, as room must be found for two or three new men, and I am 
 far from being a ready debater, but it does seem now more probable 
 that I shall be included. I pity the man who has to form the new 
 Government, but he must cast aside all personal feeling, and make 
 the best piece of machinery that he can for the sake of the country, 
 which really is in a bad way I fear. . . .
 
 A.D. 1885.] LETTERS TO HIS DAUGHTER. 271 
 
 June 13. 
 
 Nothing settled yet, so far as I know, but rumours of all kinds are 
 flying about, with the foundation of the inner consciousness of the 
 rumour maker. 
 
 I have been hard pressed, however, this morning, for, as we were 
 at the Queen's ball last night, I would not have breakfast until ten 
 this morning, and from that time until now I have had a succession 
 of visitors. . . . 
 
 ... I ought to have gone to Mr Strutt's organ party at Brixton, 
 but as I have to dine at the Trinity House on Tower Hill at seven, 
 and to propose prosperity to the Corporation, and the health of 
 H.R.H. the Master, I shall have a fair day's work. 
 
 June 14. 
 
 I was at the Trinity House grand dinner last night, with the Duke 
 of Edinburgh in the chair, as Master. The Prince of Wales, Prince 
 George of Wales, the Duke of Cambridge, and Prince Edward were 
 there. The speakers were the two princes, the Duke of Cambridge, 
 Sir Stafford Northcote, Lord Northbrook, Harcourt, Lord Derby, and 
 myself so we were judiciously sandwiched. It was a very pleasant 
 party, but droll from the singular relations in which we stood to each 
 other side by side one set out and the other set not in. 
 
 CARLTON CLUB, June 16. 
 
 I have come down here to get the news, for I heard nothing from 
 
 anybody during the morning which was news. . . . came in 
 
 this morning, looking very much disturbed and anxious. He was 
 surprised, I think, to find that I was taking things very coolly, and 
 going out for a walk with the girls. ... I am still very uncertain 
 if I shall have office at all, although many people say I shall, but I 
 shall not be at all sorry to be left out of any combination at present. 
 A position of greater freedom and less responsibility will be very far 
 from disagreeable to me. By 12 to-morrow, when we meet again at 
 Arlington Street, I suppose I shall know something decisive ; and as 
 I know you will be curious to hear, I will telegraph to the Pandora 
 at Falmouth. 
 
 How perfectly sincere Smith was in these expressions of 
 indifference to personal advancement is proved by a letter 
 which earlier in the same year, February 22, he had written 
 to Northcote in view of the possibility of the Opposition 
 being called to office. It referred to the imminence of that 
 time when moderate and earnest men of all parties, actuated 
 by a loftior principle than merely to 
 
 " Pursue the triumph and partake the gale,"
 
 272 
 
 LIFE OF W. II. SMITH. 
 
 should draw together in the formation of a Constitutional 
 party. This, ever since the death of Palmerston, had been 
 Smith's chief hope for the future of his party, to realise 
 which he was perfectly willing to sacrifice his own public 
 career : 
 
 I have not taken any step with regard to Goschen, and I shall not 
 do so. It is for you and Salisbury to consider whether the circum- 
 
 THE IDEAL. 
 
 Fancy German Portrait of General Sir Smith, the British 
 Secretary of State for War. 
 
 stances of the times require that an effort should be made to unite 
 all strong men in the endeavour to save the country. . . . Goschen 
 has weight in the country, if not in the House, and if one of the 
 difficulties in approaching him was to make room in the Cabinet for 
 him, and perhaps another, I am perfectly ready to stand aside alto-
 
 A.D. 1885.] SECRETARY OF STATE FOR WAR. 
 
 273 
 
 gether, and to give you from the back benches all the help I can to 
 bring things round. We have a very dark and stormy future before 
 us, and no personal interest or personal ambition ought to stand in 
 the way of doing the best that is possible. 
 
 But Smith's old colleagues knew too well his value to 
 entertain this offer. He was appointed Secretary of State 
 for "War, his old post at the Admiralty being filled by Lord 
 
 THE REAL. 
 
 The Reality 
 U'. II. Smith, Esq., War O/ict. 
 
 George Hamilton. The contrast afforded by Smith's pacific 
 personal appearance and staid demeanour to the formidable 
 attributes of his new office proved irresistible to the pungent 
 but not unfriendly satire of 'Punch.' a 
 
 1 Messrs Bradbury & Agnew, publishers of ' Punch,' have kindly 
 3
 
 274 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. OT. 60. 
 
 My office [he wrote to Miss Giberne] is nominally superior to the 
 Admiralty, but I should have preferred the old post. I have taken, 
 however, that which the Chief thought best for me and for the 
 Government. We have great responsibilities before us, and I can 
 only hope and trust that we may have wisdom and strength enough 
 to do our work to the advantage of the country. If it were not that 
 men and things are in the hands of a higher power, I should be in- 
 clined to despond as to the future ; but with that sense of unseen 
 strength, I hope that all will come well for our country. 
 
 The new Ministry met Parliament for the first time on 
 July 6, and set their hand to the heavy work which had to 
 be transacted before prorogation. 
 
 I have been sitting [writes Smith to his wife half an hour after 
 midnight on July 27] on the bench since 4.15, without moving from 
 it for more than twenty minutes to get some soup and some cold 
 meat, but I have got all my votes, and got them well. However, I 
 really could not write to you, as I had to speak or to watch what 
 other men were saying all the time, and now I seize the first moment 
 to send a line to you, but it will only be for the second post. 
 
 But Parliament showed how it can transact business when 
 it is in the mood for it. The new Budget, the Indian 
 Budget, and the whole of the Votes in Supply, were finished 
 within six weeks; and on August 14 that House of Com- 
 mons which Mr Bright had once declared to be " the best 
 ever returned," sat for the last time to receive the Queen's 
 message proroguing Parliament. 
 
 The autumn of 1885 is not one likely to be forgotten by 
 those who were candidates at the general election. From 
 the moment when the Gladstone Ministry resigned, the 
 country rang with platform speeches from the Cassiterides 
 to Ultima Thule from the Naze to Cape Clear. The 
 anxiety to secure support from the newly enfranchised rural 
 labourers gave prominence to Mr Jesse Collings's formula of 
 " three acres and a cow," which became the battle-cry of the 
 Liberal party ; while, on the other hand, the importance of 
 the Irish vote in many English and Scottish borough con- 
 consented to the reproduction of these caricatures, which were pro- 
 duced at the time by Mr Harry Furniss,
 
 A.D. 1885.] EVE OF THE ELECTIONS. 275 
 
 stituencies undoubtedly seduced some Conservative candi- 
 dates into a dangerous dalliance with the Parnellitc pro- 
 gramme, and led some to hamper themselves with glib 
 pledges about " equal law for England and Ireland," which 
 subsequent events have made it difficult for them to 
 redeem. 
 
 The key-note of Mr Gladstone's appeal to the country 
 was sounded in his first speech delivered in Edinburgh to 
 the Mid-Lothian electors. He passionately urged his party 
 to hold together, in order that, above all things, they should 
 return a Liberal majority so considerable as to make it 
 independent of the Irish vote in the House of Commons. 
 He expressed the hope " that from one end of the country 
 to the other there will not be a single representative returned 
 to Parliament who for one moment will listen to any pro- 
 position tending to impair the visible and sensible empire. 
 Whatever demands may be made on the part of Ireland, if 
 they are to be entertained they must be subject to the con- 
 dition that the unity of the empire shall be preserved." 
 
 Mr Parnell was not slow or ambiguous in reply. On 
 November 21, the eve of the elections, the Irish Nationalist 
 Council issued a manifesto, calling on their fellow-country- 
 men in England and Scotland to vote everywhere against 
 the Liberals, who had " coerced Ireland and deluged Egypt 
 with blood." No doubt this had its effect in contributing 
 to the unexpected success of the Conservatives in that part 
 of the electoral field where, of old, they had been weakest, 
 but it could not account for it all. There had manifestly 
 taken place in urban constituencies a notable growth of that 
 kind of moderate opinion of which Smith had been the 
 foremost exponent, almost the pioneer, when he carried 
 Westminster in 1868. 
 
 But the time had come for Smith to sever his connection 
 with that historical borough. Redistribution, which had
 
 276 LIFE OF W. II. SMITH. [KT. 60. 
 
 left intact the City of London, abolished the double repre- 
 sentation of Westminster, and divided the constituency into 
 three single seats "Westminster, St George's, and the 
 Strand. Leaving the first two to the care of Lord Algernon 
 Percy and Mr Burdett-Coutts, Mr Smith carried his vic- 
 torious colours into the Strand district, where he had little 
 difficulty in routing his adversary, Mr Johnson, by a 
 majority of 5645 against 2486. 
 
 The ground gained by the Conservatives in the boroughs 
 was lost, and more than lost, in the English counties; 
 whereupon Parnell, whose object it was to keep parties so 
 evenly balanced as to leave any Government at the mercy 
 of the Irish vote, became alarmed at the threatened prepon- 
 derance of the Tories, and circulated fresh instructions that 
 Irishmen were to vote Liberal. 
 
 Had that astute politician possessed absolute power of 
 regulating the result of the elections exactly to suit the 
 purposes of his party, he could not possibly have adjusted 
 it with greater nicety, for the number of Liberals returned 
 335 was precisely the same as that of the Conservatives 
 249 and Home Rulers 86 added together. Mr Glad- 
 stone's entreaty for independence had been refused, and 
 both the great parties were left at the mercy of the Irish 
 vote in Parliament. It looked as if an impasse had been 
 reached ; but rumours, treated at first as incredible, got into 
 circulation that the Liberal chief was about to perform a 
 change of front transcending any feat of opportunism ever 
 attempted by an English statesman. These rumours first 
 took definite shape on December 16, when there appeared 
 in some of the newspapers an outline of a scheme of Home 
 Rule for Ireland attributed to Mr Gladstone. That gentle- 
 man immediately circulated a telegram to the following 
 effect : 
 
 The statement is not an accurate representation of my views, but
 
 A.D. 1885.] WARLIKE ItUMOUKS. 277 
 
 is, I presume, a speculation OH them. It is not published with my 
 knowledge or authority, nor is any other beyond my own public 
 declarations. 
 
 It is not too much to say that nobody attached any im- 
 portance to this Delphic utterance : people had learned by 
 experience that its author never committed himself to a 
 statement that was not open at both ends. Before the 
 close of the year it came to be generally understood that 
 Mr Gladstone, determined to regain office at any cost of 
 political honour to himself, and at any hazard to the 
 security of the kingdom, had purchased the Irish vote by 
 undertaking to formulate a complete measure of Home 
 Kule. 
 
 It was no holiday task to which Smith had set his hand 
 at the War Office. War had been averted, it is true, but 
 the storm was still rumbling in the East, and England could 
 not afford to relax precautions. On November 15, Smith 
 writes to his daughter Emily : 
 
 I am anxious and low-spirited about Eastern affairs. It looks very 
 much as if the great war was about to break out, and the troubles and 
 calamities which may result from it. God only knows, and He only 
 can deliver this country from great misfortunes. 
 
 On December 23 came a letter from H.RH. the Com- 
 mander - in - Chief, urging the necessity, in view of the 
 threatening aspect of affairs, of a large increase in the army, 
 and enclosing a letter from Sir Frederick Stephenson, com- 
 manding in Egypt, giving a discouraging description of the 
 outlook there. To this the Secretary for "War replied as 
 follows : 
 
 I have read General Stephenson's interesting letter. It is not a 
 cheerful one, but it has the great merit of discussing the situation 
 with complete frankness. 
 
 I have taken the liberty of sending a copy of it to Lord Salisbury, 
 as he is in the daily receipt of messages from Sir H. D. Wolff praying 
 for a reoccupation of Dongola
 
 278 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. [JET. 60. 
 
 We did not come to any final decision at our meeting yesterday ; 
 but my colleagues recognised the extreme difficulty of increasing the 
 strength of the army by any sudden spurt. It appears to be clear 
 that if the time-expired men are allowed to go, we cannot at the pres- 
 ent rate of recruiting add more than 8000 men in each year to the 
 total strength. I have therefore inclined to the conclusion that we 
 must first of all fill up our existing cadres, and provide sufficiently 
 strong depots to meet the case of Eegimeuts with both battalions 
 abroad. This will absorb, I think, the whole addition which we can 
 hope to get in the course of the coming year, and I am doubtful 
 whether it will be possible to do so much. I shall not be afraid to 
 say on paper what I should wish to do if men could be got, but we 
 must wait, I think, for the formation of the new cadres until at least 
 some men are available for them. 
 
 CHAP TEE XIX. 
 
 1886-1887. 
 
 It would be hard to say to which, of the two great parties 
 the events of 1886 were destined to prove the more lasting 
 in their consequences, and the immediate position was 
 almost equally perplexing to both. Lord Salisbury was 
 Prime Minister, but as the Government could only reckon 
 249 supporters among the 670 members of the House of 
 Commons, it was but a question of how many weeks or 
 days after the meeting of Parliament should run before the 
 inevitable downfall of the Administration. But no indica- 
 tion had been given by their adversaries of a definite policy 
 on the dominant question of the day the government of 
 Ireland. The project attributed to Mr Gladstone, of con- 
 ceding Home Eule in such measure as would secure to him 
 the support of the Irish party at Westminster, remained as 
 nebular and hypothetical as when it was first bruited in 
 December. 
 
 The Earl of Carnarvon's resignation of the Viceroyalty of
 
 A.D. 1886.] APPOINTED IRISH SECRETARY. 279 
 
 Ireland was followed by that of his Chief Secretary, Sir 
 William Hart Dyke. This office, which had of late years 
 become the most onerous in the Government, could no 
 longer be adequately filled by a Minister outside the 
 Cabinet. But it was a post which possessed less attrac- 
 tions than any other. During the late Administration it 
 had been filled by three successive Ministers in five years : 
 of these the first had resigned because his colleagues would 
 not suffer him to carry out his policy ; the second had been 
 assassinated ; of the third, anxiety and worry had changed 
 his comely black beard and hair to snowy white. To whom 
 could Lord Salisbury turn at this most trying juncture but 
 to the man who had never failed in any trial to his War 
 Minister, W. H. Smith? 
 
 Confidential. HATFIELD HOUSE, Dec. 17, '85. 
 
 MY DEAR SMITH, As you know, lias refused the Lord Lieu- 
 tenancy. But now comes a new complication. Last night Dyke 
 came to Beach, & afterwards to me, & explained that he did not want 
 to go on as Irish Secretary. . . . Now it is possible to go on without 
 a Viceroy by the help of Lords Justices, but it is not possible to go on 
 without an Irish Secretary. Are you disposed to take it ? supposing, 
 of course, that we are not immediately turned out. I need not tell 
 you how much confidence such an appointment would give to the 
 party & the country. It is not a question whether the acceptance of 
 this proposal would be an advantage to the country of that there 
 can be no doubt but whether you will take it. It is the post of 
 difficulty now, & therefore the post of honour. . . . The difficulties 
 are formidable : I am afraid you are the only person who can avert 
 them. Ever yours very truly, SALISBURY. 
 
 The offer made in these frank terms was accepted from a 
 plain sense of duty. Everybody understood Smith's motives 
 in doing so, none more clearly than his own colleagues. 
 
 One line [wrote Lord George Hamilton from the Admiralty] to say 
 how I admire your patriotism, self-sacrifice, and courage for under- 
 taking the Irish Secretaryship. It is an act as gallant & self-denying 
 as any that has won the V.C. in action. . . . You have extricated the 
 Government from a really serious embarrassment. 
 
 From the Board of Trade came a letter from the Eight
 
 280 LIFE OF W. H. SMITrt. '[*:T. 60. 
 
 Hon. E. Stanliope, who was soon to succeed him at the 
 War Office: 
 
 If the news I see be true, all I can say is that you are the most 
 'public-spirited man in England. But for our sake, & for the sake of 
 'the country, I most heartily rejoice. 
 
 Brief as Smith's authority was to be at the Irish Office, 
 it lasted long enough to give indication of the policy on 
 which he and his colleagues had resolved as necessary for 
 the maintenance of order in Ireland. The Coercion Acts 
 of Mr Gladstone's Government had lapsed with the close of 
 1885 ; it was supposed that the late Viceroy, Lord Car- 
 narvon, had favoured an attempt to rule Ireland by the 
 ordinary law. But Smith could see no security in such 
 an experiment. On January 23 he went to Dublin to be 
 sworn in ; l on the 26th the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
 gave notice that on the Chief Secretary's return he would 
 introduce a bill for the suppression of the National League 
 and other dangerous associations, and for the better protec- 
 tion of life and property in Ireland. 
 
 In speaking to the motion for the Address, Mr Gladstone, 
 without revealing the whole extent of his conversion to 
 Home Rule, adroitly conveyed an intimation of his desire 
 to confer with the Government on the solution of the 
 dilemma, and endeavoured to throw upon them the re- 
 sponsibility of refusing co-operation. 
 
 And then, as if conscious of the futility of evading the 
 curiosity as to his intentions which the December rumours 
 had aroused, he pronounced a sentence memorable alike for 
 
 1 A trifling mishap which occurred between the railway station and 
 the Chief Secretary's lodge would assuredly have been accepted in an 
 earlier age as an adverse omen. The Chief Secretary's sword, which 
 with the rest of his luggage was being conveyed on a car, fell off, and 
 getting between the wheel spokes, was snapped in two. And the ful- 
 filment of this evil augury would as surely have been recognised when, 
 on his return home on January 26, Smith received the news of the fall 
 of the Government during his absence.
 
 A.D. 1886.] MK GLADSTONE'S ATTITUDE. 281 
 
 its unusual candour, and as the most cynical declaration of 
 opportunism that ever fell from the lips of a British states- 
 man in the first rank of politics : 
 
 I do not intend ... to have it determined for me by others at 
 what time and in what manner I shall make any addition to the 
 declaration I laid before the country in the mouth of September. I 
 stand here as a member of this House, where there are many who 
 have taken their seats for the first time on these benches, and where 
 there may be some to whom possibly I may avail myself of the 
 privilege of old age to offer a recommendation. I would tell them of 
 my own intention to keep my counsel and reserve my own freedom, 
 until I see the occasion when there may be a prospect of public bene- 
 fit in endeavouring to make a movement forward, and I will venture 
 to recommend them, as an old parliamentary hand, to do the same. 
 
 The basis upon which the Government were invited to 
 confer with the leaders of the Opposition was not one upon 
 which they could descend. It was only too manifest that 
 the occasion had arisen when the sole hope of Parliament 
 maintaining control over its own proceedings and authority 
 in all parts of the realm lay in the coalition of Liberals and 
 Conservatives. But to seek that coalition in discussing a 
 scheme the establishment of a separate Legislature in 
 Ireland which both parties had always uniformly held as 
 beyond the limits of discussion, was a proposal which Lord 
 Salisbury and his colleagues could not entertain. The coali- 
 tion was to take place, but not by following Mr Gladstone 
 in his abandonment of settled principles. 
 
 Smith's report from Dublin, and the notice ensuing upon 
 it of a new Coercion Bill, at once decided the attitude of the 
 Parnellite party in the House of Commons. The Govern- 
 ment were henceforward at the mercy of the Opposition 
 leaders, who could now reckon on the Home Rule vote. 
 The period of suspense was not long. Mr Jesse Collings 
 had on the paper an amendment to the Address, expressing 
 regret that the Queen's Speech contained no proposal for 
 the provision of allotments and small holdings for agricul-
 
 282 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. |>T. 60. 
 
 tural labourers. This amendment was the celebrated " three 
 acres and a cow " in dress clothes, and the Opposition leaders 
 gladly availed themselves of a question upon which they 
 could take issue with the Government, without explaining 
 their own scheme for the settlement of Home Rule. There 
 was, indeed, nothing in Mr Collings's amendment, which 
 was very skilfully drawn, to which the Conservative party 
 could offer resistance in principle ; but it is well understood 
 that no Government can suffer an addition to, or abatement 
 from, the programme of legislation set forth in the Queen's 
 Speech, hence every amendment involves a vote of no con- 
 fidence in Ministers. The division, taken on January 25, 
 showed 331 for the amendment and 252 against it, leaving 
 the Government in a minority of 79. 
 
 The resignation of Lord Salisbury's Cabinet was immedi- 
 ately announced. Smith, in a letter to one of his sisters, 
 written a few days later from Torquay, whither he had gone 
 to get rid of a troublesome cough, alluded briefly and 
 modestly to an interesting circumstance connected with 
 his leaving office : 
 
 The Queen was very gracious to me on Saturday when I gave up 
 the Seals, but I am sure you will be glad to know I remain, by my 
 own strong wish, plain Mr Smith. 
 
 The process of Cabinet-making upon which Mr Gladstone 
 now entered was enveloped in more than the usual amount 
 of uncertainty. If it were true, as was shrewdly surmised 
 and confidently asserted, that the " old parliamentary hand " 
 had purchased the support of Mr Parnell and his following 
 by roundly promising to satisfy their aspiration for Home 
 Rule, then, it was clear, he was not in a position to give the 
 assurance demanded by Lord Hartington and Mr Goschen, 
 or even the less complete assurance asked for by Mr Cham- 
 berlain and Mr Trevelyan. Moreover, it was difficult to
 
 A.D. 1886.] A NEW POLITICAL PARTY. 283 
 
 understand how either Sir William Harcourt (who only a 
 few weeks previously had been taunting the Tories with 
 "stewing in their Parnellite juice"), Mr Campbell Ban- 
 nerman, and other former Ministers under Mr Gladstone, 
 could so soon renounce the emphatic assurance they had 
 given before their constituents, that they would resist the 
 demands of Irish Nationalists. It turned out in the end 
 that, while the Prime Minister had been able to allay the 
 suspicions of the Radical Unionists Mr Chamberlain and 
 Mr Trevelyan his former Whig colleagues the Marquis 
 of Hartington, the Earl of Derby, and Lord Selborne 
 had felt compelled to stand aloof. On the other hand, Sir 
 William Harcourt and Mr Childers showed no scruples 
 sufficiently strong to prevent them entering the Cabinet 
 the first as Chancellor of the Exchequer, the other as Home 
 Secretary. 
 
 When Parliament met on February 18, the Prime Min- 
 ister announced that before the end of March he hoped to 
 be able to lay before the House his proposals for the future 
 government of Ireland. The Conservatives showed no slack- 
 ness in preparing the minds of the people for what was in 
 store for them. There was, at this time, no one in the 
 ranks of the Opposition approaching Lord Randolph Churchill 
 in fire and vigour of oratory, or in the enthusiasm he was 
 able to rouse among his numerous audiences. On March 3, 
 in a speech delivered at Manchester, he made an eloquent 
 appeal to Liberals to join with Conservatives in forming a 
 new political party, which he named Unionist, to " combine 
 all that is best of the Tory, the Whig, and the Liberal 
 combine them all, whether they be principles or whether 
 they be men." He said that if among the Tories there 
 were persons with whom the Whigs would find difficulty 
 in serving, "those persons would cheerfully stand aside";
 
 284 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. OT. 60. 
 
 and ho warned his hearers against the policy of the Separa- 
 tists, "which would be equivalent to a restoration of the 
 Heptarchy." 
 
 In the interval of suspense which preceded Mr Glad- 
 stone's declaration as to his Irish scheme, there was no 
 ambiguity in the utterances of the Whig leaders, and he 
 was made perfectly aware that, if his bill should be one to 
 confer a practically independent Legislature on Ireland, he 
 must prepare for opposition not only from them and the 
 Tories, but also from Mr Chamberlain and Mr Trevelyan, 
 his colleagues in the Cabinet. As time went on, rumours 
 of a schism multiplied, till, on March 26, the resignation of 
 the last-named gentlemen was announced, and there re- 
 mained no room for doubt as to the sweeping changes 
 involved in the coming measure. 
 
 At last, on April 8, Mr Gladstone moved for leave to 
 bring in his bill. The present House of Commons, which, 
 for some inscrutable reason, is only constructed to contain 
 it Avould be ludicrous to say accommodate some 400 out 
 of its 670 members, had on no former occasion been so 
 crowded. Every one wanted to hear, and it was clear that 
 everybody couldn't. Chairs were set on the floor of the 
 House, by which means 70 or 80 additional seats were 
 provided, but the rush for places was scarcely consistent 
 with the decorum usually observed in the legislative 
 Chamber. 
 
 Smith spent the Easter recess at Cadenabbia, whence he 
 wrote the following letter to his yachting friend, Mr Pen- 
 rose Fitzgerald, M.P. : 
 
 April 27, 1886. 
 
 I have been studying the new Home Rule and the Land Purchase 
 Bill in the quiet which is afforded by the Lake of Como, and if these 
 bills pass I am very much inclined to clear out of the old country 
 altogether, with such means as I can cany away with me, and find a 
 home clear of the dishonour of English politics. But we are not 
 beaten in the tight yet only one's indignation grows.
 
 A.D. 1886.] PARLIAMENT DISSOLVED. 285 
 
 It is not necessary to follow the initial stages of a con- 
 troversy which is still pending ; l it is enough to record that 
 the division on the second reading took place on June 8, 
 with the following result : 
 
 For the Second Reading . . .313 
 
 Against ...... 343 
 
 Majority against Government . . 30 
 
 The tellers for the majority were both Liberals, the Hon. 
 Henry Brand and Mr Caine a combination of names which 
 suggested to the Home Rulers sinister allusions to the 
 "brand of Cain." 
 
 Ninety-three Liberal members followed Lord Hartington 
 into the " No " lobby ; and thus, as in 1885, the second week 
 in June saw the downfall of a Gladstone Administration. 
 
 Three days later the announcement was made in both 
 Houses that the Queen had been advised to dissolve Parlia- 
 ment All contentious business was withdrawn, the neces- 
 sary supplies were voted, and the shortest Parliament of 
 Queen Victoria's reign was dissolved on June 25. 
 
 If the appeal to the constituencies was at short notice, 
 the answer was not capable of being misinterpreted. The 
 net result of the general election was to increase the ma- 
 jority of 30 by which Mr Gladstone's bill had been thrown 
 out of the old House of Commons, into one of 113 in the 
 new House. Mr Smith had to encounter a farcical opposi- 
 tion in the Strand Division, where the result of the poll 
 was 
 
 Smith (C.) 5034 
 
 Skinner (L.) 1508 
 
 Majority for Smith .... 8526 
 The Queen sent for Lord Salisbury, who approached Lord 
 
 1 Parliament has, during the present year (1893), been engaged in 
 the discussion of Mr Gladstone's second Home Rule Bill.
 
 286 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. [JET. 60. 
 
 Hartington with the view of forming a Coalition Govern- 
 ment, to whom he expressed his willingness either to take 
 office under him, or, he and his colleagues standing aside 
 altogether, to give him loyal support as the head of a 
 Liberal - Unionist Cabinet. This overture was declined, 
 and a purely Conservative Ministry was formed, in which 
 Smith held his old office of Secretary of State for War. 
 
 The leading part borne by Lord Randolph Churchill in 
 the events which led to the overthrow of the Gladstonian 
 Ministry the enthusiasm with which he was regarded by 
 Conservative electors throughout the country above all, 
 the devotion shown towards him by his party in the House 
 of Commons had prepared the public for his appointment 
 as Chancellor of the Exchequer and leader of the House of 
 Commons. It was a dazzling position for so young a states- 
 man (he was then only thirty-seven) ; but the vast prepon- 
 derance of opinion indorsed his promotion, and none of his 
 elder colleagues gave more generous approval than Smith, 
 who, in the Parliament of 1880, had sometimes had to 
 endure sharp and scarce friendly criticism from the member 
 for Woodstock. He wrote to Mrs Smith on August 20, 
 the morning after the first sitting of the new Parliament 
 for the despatch of business : 
 
 Well, you see we passed through our first night pretty well, and all 
 our friends seem to be satisfied. Randolph spoke very well, with great 
 care, a great sense of responsibility, and some nervousness ; but he was 
 withal clear and strong, and the House generally was satisfied. The 
 Irish threaten a long debate, but I am hopeful, as the tone after 
 Randolph was low and poor. . . . 
 
 A week later he expressed himself not quite so cheer- 
 
 fully :- 
 
 August 26. 
 
 We have had a nasty night not injurious to ourselves, but trouble- 
 some, and I have had to sit almost constantly in the House. The 
 heat has had something to do with it, I think, and I am beginning to 
 have less hope of getting down early in September ; but we must
 
 A.D. 1886.] LOKD RANDOLPH CHURCHILL RESIGNS. 287 
 
 work on and do our best. The House is thoroughly factious that is, 
 the Opposition and so we all get cross together, but I am keeping 
 well. 
 
 And when the autumnal equinox arrived, and summer 
 was bidding farewell to an imprisoned Parliament, his tone 
 acquired a tinge of despair : 
 
 Sept. 22. 
 
 It is simply beastly. Here I am at 6.45 writing to you instead of 
 taking a quiet turn round the garden with you ; and it has been talk, 
 talk, and worry, worry all the afternoon, for no purpose whatever 
 which can have any useful end ; but as a member of the Government 
 I have been obliged to stay with the other members, or our support- 
 ers would have had a right to complain and would have gone away. 
 . . . Although I am very much disappointed at not being with you, 
 perhaps it is as well that I don't make a rush down and a rush back 
 again to-morrow morning, for I am very tired. 
 
 Parliament was prorogued on September 25, and the 
 dominant feeling among Ministerialists was admiration for 
 the skill with which Lord Randolph had discharged the 
 delicate duties of leader. But proportionate to the warmth 
 of this feeling was the shock caused by an event which 
 occurred before the close of the year. A leading article in 
 the ' Times ' of December 23 announced the resignation of 
 Lord Randolph Churchill, who had disagreed with his col- 
 leagues on the question of Army and Navy expenditure. 
 
 Such an act on the part of the leader of the House of 
 Commons, occurring within a few weeks of the beginning 
 of a new session, must have been a severe strain on the 
 stability of any Ministry; much more so to one which 
 relied for its majority in the House on an alliance cemented 
 in haste with a section of its hereditary foes, brought about 
 by the pressure of extraordinary and possibly temporary con- 
 ditions, and tested thus far by the experience of no more 
 than a six weeks' session. Add to all this that France and 
 Germany on the one hand, and Russia and Austria on the 
 other, armed to the teeth, were watching each other jealously; 
 that it seemed to require but a trifling occurrence to bring
 
 288 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. [JET. 61. 
 
 about a mighty war ; and that nearer home the leader of the 
 Opposition had championed the cause of Irish disaffection, 
 and it will be seen that this season of peace and goodwill 
 was one of misgiving and apprehension to all who had at 
 heart the welfare of England. 
 
 Lord Palmerston once expressed the opinion that the life 
 of the strongest Parliamentary Government was never worth 
 more than three months' purchase; but when it became 
 known that the negotiations which had been at once re- 
 newed with the view of inducing the Marquis of Harting- 
 ton to take office had failed, and that he had resolutely 
 refused to do so, few people would have been found so 
 speculative as to reckon on the endurance of the Unionist 
 Administration over a single month. That Lord Harting- 
 ton, contrary to the opinion of those most strongly opposed 
 to Mr Gladstone's policy, acted wisely on this occasion, will 
 be realised when the action at that time of Mr Chamberlain 
 and the Eadical wing of the Liberal Unionists is considered. 
 Mr Chamberlain asked, seeing that the Liberal Unionists 
 were at one with Mr Gladstone on every question except 
 the Irish one, and even on the Irish question agreed with 
 him on three points out of four, why it should be impossible 
 to agree upon a line of policy, and settle their differences 
 sitting at a round table. Thereupon came the proposal 
 for a conference, heartily indorsed by Mr Gladstone ; and 
 when Mr Chamberlain and Sir George Trevelyan as Union- 
 ists, and Sir William Harcourt and Mr John Morley as 
 Home Rulers, met on January 13, under the Chairmanship 
 of Lord Herschell, at the celebrated Hound-Table Confer- 
 ence, it seemed as if the " old parliamentary hand " was on 
 the point of Avinning back the allegiance of half the Liberal 
 Unionists. 
 
 At this critical moment Mr Goschen decided to throw in 
 his lot with Lord Salisbury, and accept the office vacated
 
 A. a 1887.] BECOMES LEADER OF THE HOUSE. 289 
 
 by Lord Kandolph Churchill. But, having failed in his 
 candidature for an Edinburgh seat at the general election, 
 he was without a seat in the House. However, a way out 
 of the dilemma was provided by Lord Algernon Percy's 
 retirement from the representation of St George's, West- 
 minster, for which seat Mr Goschen was elected. 
 
 The difficulties of the situation, however, were far from 
 being at an end here. The question had to be settled who 
 was to lead the Unionist party in the House of Commons. 
 Under ordinary circumstances, when the Prime Minister is 
 in the House of Lords, the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
 becomes leader of the House of Commons. But Mr 
 Goschen was a Liberal, 1 and the great majority of Unionists 
 were Conservatives. It was pretty plainly to be under- 
 stood that they would not work cordially except under a 
 man of their own party. 
 
 Under these peculiar circumstances all eyes turned upon 
 W. H. Smith, who, despite the mediocrity of his oratorical 
 power, was felt to be the one safe man to whom the lead 
 could be assigned. Like every other advancement which 
 befell him, he sought it not it came to him, and, with 
 much misgiving in his ability for the duty, he ceased to be 
 Secretary of State for War, and became First Lord of the 
 Treasury and leader of the House of Commons. A single 
 sentence from a letter written at this time to the Rev. 
 Canon Nisbet clearly expresses his own feelings about 
 it: 
 
 You are kind enough to speak of the honour attaching to my new 
 position. I shrunk from it, as it involves the use of qualities which 
 I have not a claim to possess ; but it was presented to me as a duty, 
 and I felt bound to endeavour to do what I could for my Colleagues 
 and for the Country. 
 
 1 He did not formally join the Conservative party and become a 
 member of the Carlton Club till 1893. 
 
 T
 
 290 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. [*rr. 61. 
 
 To his constant correspondent, Miss Giberne, he wrote 
 three days later : 
 
 . . . My ground of hope and trust not confidence is that I be- 
 lieve I am doing my duty. I could not help it, unless I had shirked 
 for fear of personal consequences to myself ; and it does not matter 
 what happens to me or to my reputation if for the time being the 
 work is going on. 
 
 So I trust that all my real friends, such as you are, will pray God 
 to give me the wisdom, the strength, and the courage I need for the 
 great work thrust upon me, and I comfort myself in the belief that I 
 shall have all that is good for me. 
 
 This advance of Smith to the highest place in the House 
 of Commons coincided with an event which gave him deep 
 pain. The Earl of Iddesleigh, as Sir Stafford Northcote, 
 had been the first departmental chief under whom he had 
 served a kind of political godfather to him : there had 
 grown up between these men a warm personal friendship. 
 
 The course of events had now brought about Lord Iddes- 
 leigh's retirement from the Foreign Office, in order to 
 facilitate the changes in the Cabinet consequent on Lord 
 Eandolph Churchill's retirement, and there was some talk 
 of his leaving public life altogether. On January 9 Smith 
 wrote to beg him not to do so : 
 
 I see by the ' Western Morning News ' that there is some doubt 
 whether you will remain in the Cabinet. As an old friend, will you 
 let me say what pain it would give me if you went from us ? I hold 
 on, greatly against every personal feeling and inclination. I do not 
 like the work I am called upon to do. I distrust my own powers to 
 do it, and I remain and try, probably facing political death because I 
 am told it is my duty. I do not attempt to use such language to you. 
 I do not know, for Salisbury has not told me having intentionally 
 kept away while all these changes have been going on what he has 
 said to you, but I am quite sure of this, that it would be a real sorrow 
 to us all if we were not to meet you again in Cabinet. 
 
 Three days later, on January 12, Lord Iddesleigh came 
 to London to take leave of his subordinates at the Foreign 
 Office. He called at the chambers of the First Lord of the 
 Treasury in Downing Street, and, while his arrival was 
 being announced to Lord Salisbury, was seized with an
 
 A. D. 1887-1 DEATH OF LORD IDDESLEIGH. 291 
 
 affection of the heart, and died in the course of twenty 
 minutes. The circumstances were such as deeply to move 
 his friends, and indeed the whole country, for it could not 
 but appear as if an old and faithful servant of the State 
 and of his party had been gently shelved to make way 
 for younger and bolder men. 
 
 You have heard the news [Smith wrote on the same day to one of 
 his daughters] : it is very sad, and yet it is not an unhappy ending 
 for the man. I hear that Lord Iddesleigh appeared at the Foreign 
 Office to be in exceedingly good health and spirits, and he said good- 
 bye to Sir James Fergusson very cheerfully, implying that it was 
 only for a time, and that he was coming back again to the Govern- 
 ment. He then left the Foreign Office, crossed Downing Street to 
 No. 10, and walked up-stairs to the vestibule of Lord Salisbury's 
 room, was seen by Henry Manners 1 to stagger, and was caught by 
 him before he fell, and placed on a sofa, from which he never rose or 
 spoke. He lived 20 minutes, and in the time three doctors were 
 brought to him, but they could do nothing, and Dr Granville, his 
 own attendant, said he was not at all surprised, for he knew, and the 
 whole family knew, that the end might come at any time in this way. 
 
 Just before I heard of this I had a really touching letter from 
 Salisbury on one I had sent him, enclosing a letter from Harry North- 
 cote about his father and himself. It will be of historical value, as 
 it will really prove conclusively how tenderly Salisbury wished to 
 deal with his old friend and colleague. It is doubtful if we go down 
 to Osborne under the circumstances. Salisbury was to have gone by 
 the 3.40 train, but under the strain he postponed his departure, and 
 telegraphed to the Queen. She was probably out driving at the time, 
 as no answer had been returned half an hour ago ; but I will write 
 by the late post if I do not go down. 
 
 Smith was, as may be supposed, deeply affected by this 
 event : 
 
 It is very sad, is it not [he wrote on 13th to another correspon- 
 dent] ? and yet mainly for us, the survivors and spectators of the 
 abrupt termination of an honourable, an useful life useful to the 
 end. 
 
 And again on 16th to Miss Giberne : 
 
 I am writing to you in very low spirits, for here in this house died 
 only four days ago one of my oldest political and personal friends. 
 It was not an unhappy death for him, for he had shown only a few 
 minutes before by his manner and his conversation that he was at 
 peace with all men, and he had done his work with all his might up 
 
 1 Now Marquis of Granby, M.P.
 
 292 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. [*. 61. 
 
 to the end. But still it was a great shock to us all, and although I 
 have known for years that there must be a sudden close to his life, 
 yet the termination of a protracted dread is a shock and blow. 
 
 CHAPTEE XX. 
 
 1887. 
 
 It was under the discouragement of the events narrated 
 in the last chapter that Smith had to enter upon his duties 
 as leader of the House of Commons. Parliament assembled 
 on January 27, and it immediately became evident that the 
 Opposition had drawn encouragement from what had taken 
 place since the autumn. Their spirits were further raised 
 by the speech of Lord Randolph Churchill, who, taking an 
 early opportunity to explain the causes of his resignation, 
 dwelt not only on having been unable, as Chancellor of the 
 Exchequer, to become responsible for the Estimates pre- 
 sented to him by the heads of the Admiralty and War 
 Office, but added that there were other important questions 
 on which he was at variance with his colleagues. 
 
 When Lord Randolph Churchill had delivered his per- 
 sonal explanation and sat down, Smith rose to make his 
 first speech as leader of the House, and prefaced his obser- 
 vations on Lord Randolph's statement by a few deprecatory 
 words, almost homely in their simplicity : 
 
 I have, sir, on rising, to make an appeal to the House. Placed in 
 the position in which I am, I desire to appeal to lion, members for 
 their indulgence and for that favourable interpretation of all my 
 actions which are necessary to one who feels deeply his own de- 
 ficiencies in following in the steps of the many great men who have 
 held the important position which I now fill. I appeal to them in 
 the hope that by the cordial support of my hon. friends on this side 
 of the House, and by the generous interpretation of my acts by right 
 hon. and hon. gentlemen opposite, I may be enabled, to the best of 
 my ability, to maintain the order and decorum of the proceedings of 
 this House, and the decencies of debate.
 
 A.D. 1887.] MR BALFOUR MADE HUSH SECRETARY. 293 
 
 As it turned out, the hopes of the Separatists, alike in 
 the future action of Lord Eandolph Churchill and in the 
 fruits of the Round-Table Conference, were destined to dis- 
 appointment. In the meantime, however, they sufficed to 
 inspire the Opposition with extraordinary activity, and the 
 debate on the Address was prolonged till February 17, and 
 even then it was only by application of the closure that it 
 was brought to an end. 
 
 There was yet another trial in store for Ministers. Sir 
 Michael Hicks Beach, who occupied the post of Irish 
 Secretary, was compelled, by a serious malady of the eyes, 
 to resign his office on March 3 ; and the appointment of Mr 
 Arthur Balfour to succeed him conveyed little confidence to 
 the Unionists in general, to whom as yet he had only been 
 known as one of the less forward members of the extinct 
 Fourth Party. Those who knew him intimately had better 
 hopes, because they were aware of the " grit " which lay 
 under his languid demeanour; but even they must have 
 felt some misgivings when they saw committed to him a 
 task which had already within seven years severely taxed, 
 and in some cases overtaxed, the endurance and moral 
 courage of no fewer than eight statesmen of the first rank : 
 and this all the more because the first piece of work for the 
 new Chief Secretary was to be the odious one of introducing 
 a new Crimes Bill ; and the second almost as onerous and 
 almost more delicate the passage of a bill dealing with the 
 ulcerated question of land tenure in Ireland. 
 
 But Mr Balfour justified, and more than justified, the 
 confidence reposed in him. The session of 1887 has become 
 memorable as the most trying that has ever taken place, 
 whether from the acrimony of the debates or the late hours 
 to which the sittings were prolonged. In addition to work 
 in the House, Ministers were called on to take part in a 
 number of functions connected with the celebration of her
 
 294 LIFE OF \V. II. SMITH. [*T. 61. 
 
 Majesty's Jubilee, and the labours of this summer left a 
 lasting mark on the constitutions of more than one member 
 of the Government. Smith's letters abound in references 
 to the harassing experience he had to undergo : 
 
 HOUSE OF COMMONS, May 10. 
 
 You seem to have plenty to do, and to find amusement in doing it. 
 I have plenty to do, but the amusement well, that is not much. . . . 
 We had a rough night last night. I put the closure on two or three 
 times, and only reported progress in Committee at past 4, getting 
 into bed at about ^ past 5. To-night things have been quiet, but quite 
 as obstructive as ever, and we shall have to do something more yet to 
 get the Bill through. This morning I drove for an hour in the open 
 carriage, for I was tired. We called at Arklow House, and pojr Beres- 
 ford Hope is, I fear, dying. ... It is now just 11. I shall not stay 
 up so late to-night. 
 
 May 11. 
 
 . . . We have had another dreary day 5 \ hours in Committee, and 
 we have hardly advanced as many words in the bill ; but I used the 
 closure again, and got majorities of 100. It is very sickening work, 
 and if it were not duty I should throw it up ; but the people behind 
 me are very warm, and very good. 
 
 May 12. 
 
 We had asked Sir F. Stephenson and Sir F. Grenfell both from 
 Egypt -to come to a 9.45 breakfast, and they talked very pleasantly ; 
 and it was very pleasant to me to go back on my old War Office ex- 
 periences. They left at 11, and my day began again. I came down 
 to Downing Street about 1, and had more than my ordinary share of 
 work. I lunched at the United Service Club, and there saw admirals 
 and generals who seemed glad to recognise me ; and then at our meet- 
 ing here we read the Duke of Connaught's Leave Bill a second time 
 by 318 votes against 45. The House is now going on droning over a 
 quantity of motions which mean little or nothing, and about 2 I hope 
 we shall get the Jubilee Vote. 
 
 May 13. 
 
 It is really very pleasant to know that you are enjoying your treat- 
 ment. 1 I cannot say I very much enjoy mine, but it has to be borne, 
 and the work must be done. To-night we are still on that weary first 
 clause of the bill, and Mr Gladstone is staying and dining here to be 
 ready to make a speech against us, but he will not inflict much, if any, 
 harm. You see we finished the work we had cut out for ourselves 
 last night. On Monday we take Supply again, and I hope then we 
 shall get all that we want before the holidays begin ; but I am still 
 in a very anxious state as to the condition of public business. The 
 obstruction of the two Oppositions now united in one is beyond any- 
 thing that has been seen in this House, and unless it gives way under 
 
 Written to his daughter, who was at Aix.
 
 A.D. 1887.] THE TWO OPPOSITIONS. 295 
 
 the pressure of public opinion, very drastic measures will have to 
 be taken. 
 
 Here I am again droning on, while the Irish and their allies spit 
 and splutter and obstruct. It is desperate work, unmitigated ob- 
 struction, utterly regardless of all consequences to Parliament or 
 the country. We have now been 8 days over one clause, and we 
 have not finished it yet. The country is getting very angry, and 
 is beginning to say that the Government is " deplorably weak " 
 in not insisting on faster procedure. I got to bed at 4 this morning, 
 and had a fair night. To-day we three went to the wedding, at 
 S. Margaret's, of Lord Cranborne. Literally everybody was there, 
 and it went off very well indeed. I went from the church to Down- 
 ing Street, where I found enough to do, and then came down here, 
 when I moved that we all go to church next Sunday, 1 and Gladstone 
 seconded me, and it was carried unanimously. 
 
 May 19. 
 
 I am writing again from my seat while Healy is speaking. It is 
 not lively, but I have to bear it. 2 We have had a somewhat better 
 evening. The famous Labouchere moved the adjournment at the 
 meeting of the House, and I put on the closure at \ past 6. They 
 were very angry, but it did them good. Since then we have had the 
 Criminal Bill, and we have had 5 divisions, and have made some 
 progress. Now they are obstructing at ^ past 1 in the morning the 
 Report of Supply, but I hope we shall get it in another hour. 
 
 May 20. 
 
 I really think I may get to bed by 2 o'clock this morning, and it 
 seems so early as to be almost incredible ; but I had to get out 
 of Committee with the Crimes Bill shortly after 12 in order to take 
 the Duke of Connaught's Bill before the half hour, and the Duke was 
 not opposed when it was clear he could not be successfully, so that 
 business was quickly got through. ... I have been sleeping better. 
 Thanks for your kind inquiries ; but my nights have been short, and 
 I am a little tired, but otherwise quite well. 
 
 May 22. 
 
 E. M. and I went to St Margaret's this morning. E. and F. I put 
 into the Church on my way to the House, M. went with Mrs Peel, 
 who had been kind enough to ask you or one of them to go to the 
 Speaker's house to see the procession, and then by a short cut get into 
 
 1 To attend the Jubilee Thanksgiving Service at St Margaret's. 
 
 2 Mr Healy, if he was not lively, was at least forcible, and may 
 be credited with having brought some novelties into parliamentary 
 rhetoric. Alluding to the circumstances of Mr O'Brien's imprison- 
 ment, he introduced the following flower of oratory : 
 
 "I declare before heaven that if I am put in jail, if I am treated 
 as my hon. friend has been, if I am compelled to do the disgusting 
 things which my hon. friend has been compelled to do, I shall save up 
 a bucket of slops and carry it across the floor of this House and fling 
 it into the face of the Irish Secretary as he sits upon that bench."
 
 296 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. OF. 62. 
 
 church before we arrived. The procession was headed by Mr Erskine 
 in full court dress with the mace, then came the Speaker in his gold 
 robe, then the Clerks of the House in wig and gown, and the first row 
 of the members consisted of Hartington, Courtney, Gladstone, and 
 myself ; the other members of the Government and Privy Councillors 
 following next. Ordinary members followed in fours. The ground 
 was kept by the Westminster Volunteers and police, and there was a 
 great crowd behind. The clergy and choristers met us in Westminster 
 Hall, and walked before us across the road to the church. Within the 
 altar rails were the two archbishops and the Abbey dignitaries. The 
 service lasted 2 hours, the sermon, which was most eloquent, f an 
 hour. The whole was most interesting but somewhat fatiguing. 
 
 May 22. 
 
 My last letter to you before I start for Aix. I am tired very tired 
 but the thought of rest and of joining you refreshes me. I have 
 been a little brutal to-night. The House does not want to meet to- 
 morrow, but the Opposition wishes to advance business as little as 
 possible, and I have put it to them gently : Pass the clause, and I 
 will move the adjournment this evening ; don't pass it, and I won't 
 and I think we shall get it, for we have made very fair progress, tak- 
 ing everything into account. 
 
 July 4. 
 
 I was tired this evening, and I had to sit on the bench without 
 moving until 8.20, watching and waiting to bark and to bite ; but in 
 the end I got my motion by a large majority. There was, however, 
 some very hard hitting all round, and we came off like a pack of 
 schoolboys who had had a real row. 
 
 July 8. 
 
 I am all right to-day, and less tired. The House sat until ^ past 4 
 this morning, but I went to bed at 3. We had our Cabinet at 12, 
 and parted at 2.30, and since then I have been pretty busy, as I shall 
 be, I think, until the end of the session approaches. We are to divide 
 fairly early this evening, and then go to bed, for every one is tired, 
 and the heat is very great indeed. It is knocking up some of our 
 men, and one is wicked enough to hope it may have an equal effect on 
 the other side. 
 
 August 22. 
 
 As I grow older I realise that I am getting nearer to the end my- 
 self ; and while the close of life loses any terror it once had, the duty 
 of being useful to all around me of so using my powers and my life 
 as to do every day the very best I can under the circumstances in 
 which I find myself, comes home to me every day with greater 
 strength. So I must not disable myself by fretting, or so entirely 
 turn my thoughts in one direction as to find myself diverted from the 
 daily work of life. . . . Help me, as you do, I know, in prayer, and 
 be assured that for me and for others whom you love, you have the 
 petitions which you make to Him who is all Wise as well as all Good. 
 My love and my prayers go out to and for you. He will bless and 
 keep all we love in all that is really good for them.
 
 A. a 1887.] SLOW PROGRESS. 297 
 
 August 26. 
 
 The debate was a very good one for us last night, and Balfour and 
 the Scotch Solicitor - General 1 spoke extremely well; and to-day 
 Webster, the Attorney-General, did very well in answer to Trevelyan, 
 whom he thoroughly exposed ; but we had a very late night. It was 
 5 when I got into bed, and I am surprised I am not very tired indeed ; 
 but I am very well, I am thankful to say. Help me, ... as I am 
 helping you. 
 
 Sept. 1. 
 
 The Irish broke out again this evening, and have been as nasty as 
 they could be. They are now talking wildly on a motion for adjourn- 
 ment, and are giving as much trouble as they can ; but I do not lose 
 all hope of finishing Supply early next week. I am not nearly so 
 tired to-night, after my good sleep last night. 
 
 Sept. 2. 
 
 I, in my turn, have little to say to you this evening. We had a 
 bad night, and excessive annoyance from the Irish. To-day things 
 look a little better ; but it is very galling to have to endure insult 
 and provocation from these men, and to be quite unable to cast it 
 back again, except at the cost of prolonging our suffering. 
 
 Sept. 8. 
 
 We are not making much progress yet this evening, but the mem- 
 bers may become reasonable as the evening goes on ; but prorogation 
 before Friday is almost impossible. 
 
 In writing to older friends he permitted himself to be- 
 tray deeper anxiety than he ever allowed to appear in letters 
 to his children. In truth his temperament was the reverse 
 of sanguine, and sometimes it seemed as if he must have 
 given way under the pressure on him. Miss Giberne was 
 one of those to whom he was wont to write most freely : 
 
 March 20. 
 
 We have great anxieties and great responsibilities, but we can l>c 
 carried through them all to the issue which shall be right for this 
 people by God's help, and by His alone. Pray now that we may have 
 the wisdom we need. I believe we shall succeed if we are aided in 
 this way. 
 
 May 11. 
 
 I have been wonderfully supported hitherto, but every now and 
 then I feel depressed at the prospect before me and the burden I 
 have to bear ; but I am going on looking for guidance and strength 
 from day to day. You cannot tell, however, what doubte and anxi- 
 
 Mr Robertson, now Lord Justice- General of Scotland.
 
 298 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. OT. 62. 
 
 eties overtake me from time to time, as to whether on this or on that 
 question, to be decided suddenly, one is right. It is, however, a great 
 comfort and a great support to feel that unseen help is coming to me ; 
 and I earnestly hope it may never be withdrawn. I must fail some- 
 times, and it may be good for me that I should do so ; but I know I 
 am greatly helped and sustained by the prayers of those who ask that 
 right may be done. 
 
 This constant reliance on a higher Power, though it found 
 no direct expression in Smith's speeches or general conversa- 
 tion, was undoubtedly perceptible in his bearing and actions, 
 and he had not been very long the foremost man on the 
 Treasury Bench before one of those happy expressions 
 which take their rise no one knows where, but survive 
 because everybody realises their fitness, attached itself to 
 him. His sobriquet was " Old Morality " conferred in no 
 unkindly spirit, but in recognition of qualities respected 
 by all. 1 
 
 Smith's colleagues in the Cabinet allude to one feature in 
 his conduct of parliamentary business at this time, which 
 distinguished him from former leaders of the House of 
 Commons. He was always remarkably explicit in laying 
 before the Saturday council a clear programme of work to 
 be done in the following week. 
 
 The session was dragged to its close on September 16. 
 Smith's leadership had proved successful beyond dispute. 
 One afternoon, in the privacy of the smoking-room, a well- 
 known member of the Opposition defined the source of this 
 success. Addressing a supporter of the Government, he 
 said wistfully, "You know you have an immense advan- 
 tage over us, for your fellows hate the Grand Old Man ; but, 
 confound it ! who can help liking Old Morality ? " 
 
 The respect which was willingly paid to the leader of the 
 House by all sections of the Opposition had its counterpart 
 in a much warmer feeling among men on his own side. 
 
 1 The genial fancy of Mr H. W. Lucy is the putative parent of this 
 and many other " to-names " of public men.
 
 A.D. 1887.] HIS MANNER AS LEADER. 299 
 
 There was in Smith a complete absence of that hauteur 
 which men in high places often unconsciously suffer to 
 chill their intercourse with subordinates in office, and he 
 possessed the innate tact which preserved him from the 
 opposite error of making elaborate efforts to be considerate 
 or polite. His manner to all was perfectly natural and 
 suave ; access to him was surrounded by no difficulty and 
 little ceremony ; men learnt to consult him as a wise friend 
 even on their private affairs ; would that it were permissible 
 to recount some of the innumerable instances of his gener- 
 osity and liberality. Those whose duties brought them into 
 official relations with him will not readily forget the kindly 
 greeting with which he always received them, whether at 
 the Treasury or in the First Lord's room behind the Speaker's 
 chair. Even when he was most worried by the exasperat- 
 ing obstruction of business in the House, or in suspense 
 about the result of a coming critical division, or, as was the 
 mournful case during the last two years of his life, tor- 
 mented by painful and irritating disease, the pleasant smile 
 and cheering word were never looked for in vain. 
 
 His intercourse with the rank and file of his party was 
 always easy and unaffected. It happened once that two 
 members were discussing some point in the side lobby dur- 
 ing a division, when Smith happened to walk by. " Here 
 is the head-master," said one of them, " let us refer it to 
 him." "Ah ! don't call me that," rejoined the leader of the 
 House, "I am only one of the big boys." 
 
 That was the secret of the power which, from the first 
 day he undertook to lead it, Smith exercised over that 
 sensitive, impatient, paradoxical assemblage, the House of 
 Commons. Bold and ingenious policy, sustained by ex- 
 citing oratory, will always ensure for a time the meed of 
 popular applause; but the House of Commons loves gov- 
 ernment by common-sense and good humour, and prefers
 
 300 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. [JET. 62. 
 
 honesty to ingenuity. There is no doubt that Lord Ean- 
 dolph Churchill, had he been so minded, might as it had 
 been expected he would by many during this session have 
 inflicted irreparable damage on the Unionist party : a rup- 
 ture so sudden as that which had severed him from the 
 Cabinet could not take place without leaving some soreness 
 between old friends. But those who credited him with 
 harbouring resentful malignity against his former colleagues 
 forgot that English gentlemen are actuated by feelings and 
 habits which it is difficult to explain to those who have 
 embraced the methods of unblushing Opportunism of all 
 creeds the most cynical the most at variance with all that 
 is great in British statecraft the most certain, even if it 
 exacts deference, to forfeit respect. 
 
 If the expectation of the Gladstonian section of Liberals 
 had been disappointed by the attitude maintained by Lord 
 Randolph Churchill, they had been not less so by the outcome 
 of the Round- Table Conference. The negotiations had 
 ended in leaving both sections of the Liberal party in the 
 positions they had occupied at the first meeting. Sir George 
 Trevelyan, it is true, had seceded from the Liberal Unionist 
 party, and carried with him three or four men of less note, 
 but the result of the deliberations had been to accentuate 
 the difference between the policies of Union and Separation, 
 to close up the ranks of the followers of Lord Hartington 
 and Mr Chamberlain, and to compact more firmly the alli- 
 ance between them and Lord Salisbury's Government. With- 
 out doubt the position of the Unionist Administration rested 
 on a far more solid foundation at the close of the year than 
 it had done at its beginning. 
 
 Mr Balfour, by his resolution and tact in the government 
 of Ireland, had restored confidence to the Loyalists in that 
 country, and the two wings of the Unionist party in Par- 
 liament had learnt to depend on each other to a degree
 
 A.D. 1887.] CHURCH PATRONAGE. 301 
 
 which few people had thought it possible to bring about 
 to which the bitterness of reproach aimed by Gladstonian 
 speakers against the Liberal Unionists largely contributed. 
 
 The departmental duties of First Lord of the Treasury 
 are, of course, very much lighter than those of the heads of 
 the spending departments, and, when not associated with 
 the office of Prime Minister, their discharge may be made 
 to occupy a very short time in each day. But Smith was 
 of far too conscientious a nature to get through his work in 
 a perfunctory way. In the matter alone of patronage (of 
 which, though it amounts to far less than what it was 
 before the establishment of the competitive system, a con- 
 siderable share falls to be administered by the First Lord on 
 behalf of the Crown) he was exceedingly scrupulous, and 
 took a degree of pains by patient inquiry and correspondence 
 which has very rarely been bestowed upon it. 
 
 His principles in the selection of clergymen to fill Crown 
 livings were very different to those which had sometimes 
 guided his predecessors in office. Appointments were made 
 almost wholly independent of his own views on Church 
 matters, which, though the reverse of indifferent or lati- 
 tudinarian, were exceedingly tolerant. He was anxious 
 above all things to secure internal peace in diocese and 
 parish, and he always endeavoured to suit the Church views 
 of the locality, and to appoint clergymen who should be in 
 harmony with their bishops on the one hand and their 
 people on the other. He once remarked to a friend that 
 the administration of ecclesiastical patronage caused him 
 more anxiety than any other part of his duty. He had 
 numerous correspondents among the clergy, some of whom 
 he relied on as understanding and sympathising with his 
 object ; but he did not rely on them alone : he would often 
 send down one of his private secretaries to report on any 
 parish in which a vacancy had occurred, to ascertain the
 
 302 LIFE OF \V. II. SMITH. [r. 62. 
 
 prevalent religious views and the social condition of the 
 congregation. At other times he used to send his confiden- 
 tial shorthand writer to attend the services of clergymen 
 who might he suitable for the vacancy, and hring him ver- 
 hatim reports of the sermons, with confidential memoranda 
 of their appearance, views, ability, and other details. It 
 was only after carefully examining this information that he 
 would proceed to make the appointment. 1 
 
 Smith was equally conscientious in awarding the Civil 
 List Pensions, though his administration of this fund was 
 at one time sharply criticised in the press. It had come to 
 be assumed that these pensions had originally been intended 
 for the reward of literary or artistic merit, and complaints 
 were heard, not only that persons who were unable to claim 
 on these grounds had been pensioned, but that the First 
 Lord of the Treasury had shown a want of feeling in caus- 
 ing to be set forth in the published returns a statement of 
 the reason existing for each award, as for instance, " Mrs 
 , in consideration of her inadequate means of support." 
 
 Now these complaints were founded on a complete mis- 
 apprehension of the origin and intention of these pensions 
 and the regulations affecting them, and were caused, in fact, 
 by Smith's scrupulous care in observing and adhering to them. 
 
 He was able to prove when the question was raised in 
 the House of Commons, the Act under which this bounty is 
 administered, so far from limiting the award of pensions to 
 
 1 Before Smith became First Lord of the Treasury, and had the 
 disposal of ecclesiastical preferment, recourse was had to his judg- 
 ment and known discretion in Church matters ; but the affairs of 
 the Church militant sometimes got mixed up with those of the War 
 Office. Thus in 1885, when Smith was at the head of the latter de- 
 partment, Lord Salisbury (then First Lord of the Treasury and Foreign 
 Minister) wrote to Smith : 
 
 " I telegraphed to you to ask what were the qualifications of 
 for preferment. You reply to me that the Bashi-bazouks made diffi- 
 culties, but they were overcome. I fear our cyphers don't match ! 
 Can you answer my question ? I rather think of him for ."
 
 A.D. 1887.] CIVIL LIST PENSIONS. 303 
 
 persons connected with literature or art, declares that they 
 shall be given " to such persons only as have just claims on 
 the Royal beneficence, or who, by their personal services to 
 the Crown, by the performance of duties to the public, or 
 by their useful discoveries in science, or attainments in 
 literature and the arts, have merited the gracious considera- 
 tion of their Sovereign and the gratitude of their country." 
 
 Further, the Select Committee of the House of Commons, 
 appointed in 1838 to inquire into the administration of the 
 Civil List, reported, inter alia, " that in the case of all 
 future Civil List Pensions, the warrant or other instrument 
 of appointment should set forth distinctly the reason and 
 motive of the grant." 
 
 It was precisely the pains which Smith took to carry out 
 the spirit of the Act and the recommendations of the Select 
 Committee which brought on him the ire of some of the 
 quill-driving fraternity. The amount available for award in 
 each year is .1200 ; and if the warrants issued during 
 Smith's administration of this patronage be examined, it 
 will be seen that he showed great tenderness to indigent 
 authors and their families. In former years, instances have 
 occurred wherein these pensions have been granted to per- 
 sons already enjoying military or diplomatic pensions. In 
 1880, 500 a-year was given to the two daughters of a dis- 
 tinguished nobleman who had for many years drawn a salary 
 of 8000 a-year, and thereafter retired on a handsome pen- 
 sion emoluments which, it might be supposed, would have 
 enabled him to provide for his surviving family. No such 
 abuse, nor anything of similar nature, can be charged against 
 Mr Smith's administration of the fund; but it is easy to 
 lay a finger on instances to the contrary. In 1885 appli- 
 cation was made to Mr Gladstone, when First Lord of the 
 Treasury, for the grant of a pension to that favourite writer, 
 Mr Richard Jefferies, and was refused. When Smith came
 
 304 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. [*rr. 62. 
 
 to the Treasury in 1887, Jefferies was beyond reach of a 
 pension, but 100 a-year was awarded to his widow during 
 her life. 
 
 The public is peculiarly jealous and rightly so of the 
 manner in which this kind of patronage is administered : it 
 is well, therefore, to put on record the principles uniformly 
 observed by Smith in regard to it during his tenure of office. 
 
 The account of Smith's leadership of the House of Com- 
 mons would not be complete without some description of 
 the life in his room at the House of Commons. Opening 
 upon the long corridor which runs outside the chamber be- 
 hind the Speaker's chair are several private rooms. One of 
 the largest of these is allotted to the Leader of the House, 
 with a smaller one opening off it for his private secretary. 
 The Leader of the Opposition occupies another room in the 
 same passage, and the rest are assigned to various Ministers. 
 It may be easily understood that although the room occu- 
 pied by the Leader of the House is private, it is by no 
 means a solitude. Its privacy is liable to incessant inter- 
 ruption by deputations from outside the House, or by con- 
 sultation between the Leader's colleagues on emergencies, 
 which so often arise suddenly in the course of a debate. 
 The senior Government Whip is also a frequent visitor. It 
 is his part not only to keep his chief in touch with all the 
 phases of content and discontent among the members of the 
 party generally, but also to warn him of dangers ahead. 
 Sometimes a restive supporter of the Government is invited 
 to an interview with his Leader, or an eager one is admitted 
 at his own request. K"o one ever failed, while Smith occu- 
 pied that room, to meet with a kindly reception, or to find 
 his inquiry, " Can I have a word with you ? " met with a 
 reply less cordial than " Come in, my dear fellow; sit down ; 
 what is it 1 " 
 
 Then there took place in that room occasional amicable
 
 A.D. 1887.] THE LEADER'S ROOM. 305 
 
 conferences between the Leader of the House and the 
 Leader of the Opposition, and it used to be remarked by 
 any one else who happened to witness the meeting how 
 gracefully Mr Smith, as the younger man, showed deference 
 to Mr Gladstone as the elder, and how courteously the latter 
 seemed to appreciate the compliment. 
 
 All this probably has gone on much the same under 
 former Leaders, but in one respect Smith made an innova- 
 tion on the traditions of this room. The vehemence and 
 persistence of debates, which have increased so much of 
 late years, have rendered necessary the more constant 
 attendance both of Ministers and unofficial members, and 
 a far larger number dine in the House than was contem- 
 plated at the time of its construction. Smith, unwilling to 
 be absent from his post even for an hour, began the custom 
 of having dinner served in his private room, and continued 
 to do so until his last session, so that he was ever at hand 
 when wanted. The table was always laid for six, and the 
 party was generally made up of one or more of his colleagues 
 in the Cabinet, Mr Akers Douglas, one or more of his 
 private secretaries, and any member specially connected 
 with the business under discussion in the House. The 
 room was a long way from the kitchen, which had a pre- 
 judicial effect on the viands, added to which was the risk 
 of their being still more cooled down by the interruption of 
 a division or a " count." But if the fare was no more than 
 mediocre, the company was always and under all vicissi- 
 tudes cheerful. Chaff abounded, and sometimes verged 
 upon wit; and those little parties of hard- worked men 
 remain in memory as bright interludes in a daily routine, 
 inclining, in other respects, to painful monotony. 
 
 After dinner, if no debate of an urgent kind was going 
 on, Smith would, for the first time since the morning, have 
 a quiet hour to himself, and begin his daily despatch to the 
 
 U
 
 306 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. [JET. 62. 
 
 Queen, to be sent off at midnight. Then came Mr Akers 
 Douglas and Mr Jackson, the Secretaries to the Treasury, to 
 settle the order of business for the following day. 
 
 CHAPTER XXL 
 
 1888. 
 
 It too often happens that the exactions of public life 
 prevail to sever a politician from the enjoyment of home 
 and withdraw his thoughts from the guidance of his chil- 
 dren, but no one ever succeeded more completely than 
 Smith in maintaining the closest bonds of confidence with 
 his family. It is pleasant to read of his happiness in this 
 respect as expressed in his intimate correspondence. 
 
 To Miss Giberne, January 16, 1888. 
 
 Your letter of the 9th invited an answer, and as I have a few 
 minutes before post this evening, I think it better to seize the oppor- 
 tunity, which may not recur again very soon, as we begin work for 
 the year seriously to-morrow. 
 
 Frederick left us at Pau on Monday, and came straight home to 
 Grosvenor Place, where he arrived on Tuesday evening, to Mabel and 
 John's 1 delight, as they are keeping house there until their own 
 house is ready for them. He had to look after some business here, 
 which I am gradually throwing upon him as the "young master," 
 and to get to Oxford for the beginning of term on Friday. The boy 
 has grown tall and broad, two or three inches taller than his Father, 
 and he is at present strong and well and manly, but I think he ia 
 gentle and good. . . . We got home [from the Continent] quite 
 comfortably, and found John and Mabel waiting for us. This morn- 
 ing B. and Alfred 2 started for London and for work, and John and 
 Mabel have done likewise ; BO here Emily and I are left with one 
 child only (Helen) to keep house, but it is a great blessing to feel that 
 the others are all, without exception, pursuing their way through 
 life happily not without trials, of course, as in Mary's case, but yet 
 
 1 Mr and Mrs Ryder, his son-in-law and daughter. 
 
 a His daughter and son-in-law, Mr and Mrs A. Acland.
 
 A.D. 1888.] " BLOODY " BALFOUR. 307 
 
 happily even in her sorrow, for she is comforting and being comforted. 
 Now I have said a great deal more about ourselves than I had in- 
 tended ; but I thought as I went on that it would please you to hear 
 just how we have passed the last week. 
 
 When Parliament reassembled on February 9, Mr Bal- 
 four's firm yet considerate administration in Ireland had 
 begun to have its effect upon that country, for he had 
 already attained, in a great degree, to the ideal of states 
 manship, by making the new powers Avith which he had 
 been invested a terror to evil-doers and the praise of them 
 who do well ; while abroad Lord Salisbury's influence had 
 contributed to bring about a more pacific outlook than had 
 been witnessed since the war between France and Germany 
 in 1870. In the House of Commons the debate on the 
 Address turned chiefly on an amendment moved by Mr 
 Parnell, directed against the alleged harsh administration of 
 the Crimes Act. Nine Irish members were at the time in 
 prison for offences under the Act, and the same resentful 
 feeling which had caused the by-name of " Buckshot " to be 
 applied to Mr Forster, now conceived for the Chief Secretary 
 the sobriquet ludicrously inappropriate to his character 
 of " Bloody Balfour." The division on this amendment was 
 anticipated with interest, because it would show the extent 
 to which Sir George Trevelyan's influence had prevailed to 
 detach Liberal Unionists from support of the Goverment 
 The result was encouraging to Ministers : three only of Lord 
 Hartington's party seceded to Home Rule, and one Con- 
 servative (Mr Evelyn), which left a majority of 88 for the 
 Government. 
 
 For the seventh time the House then devoted itself to 
 the consideration of new Rules of Procedure. The experi- 
 ence of the "Jubilee Session " was fresh in the memory of 
 members. In vain had been all previous cobbling at the 
 rules of debate : all that had been hitherto effected had 
 served, in the words of Peter Pindar, only to
 
 308 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. [JET. 62. 
 
 " Set wheels on wheels in motion such a clatter ! 
 To force up one poor nipperkin of matter ; 
 Bid ocean labour with tremendous roar 
 To heave a cockle-shell upon the shore." 
 
 It was clear that if any except men gifted with constitutions 
 of iron or india-rubher were to take a full share in legisla- 
 tion, some further modification was necessary, and the 
 House, as a whole, thankfully agreed to a Standing Order 
 bringing its sitting to a close at midnight. The relief 
 afforded by the adoption of this rule was indescribable, but 
 while it did not practically interfere with adequate discus- 
 sion of measures and votes, it did undoubtedly add to the 
 responsibility of the Chair by making necessary the more 
 frequent application of the closure. 
 
 Meanwhile the Government had to wince under the loss 
 of several seats at by-elections. At Southampton the 
 Unionist majority of 342 had been turned into a Gladstonian 
 one of 885 ; and now the Ayr Burghs followed suit by 
 replacing a Unionist, whose majority at the general election 
 had been 1175, by a Separatist, whom they preferred to the 
 extent of 53 votes to the Hon. Evelyn Ashley. 
 
 From the Right Hon. W. H. Smith to Mrs Smith. 
 
 May 7, 1888. 
 
 ... I have been ollic/ed to accept an appointment on a Royal Com- 
 mission on the Administration of the Army and the Navy, with Hart- 
 ington in the chair. Salisbury thought there was no one else to do 
 it from amongst us, and as I can only be at work all day, I may as 
 well do one thing as another. And it is all work in the highest sense 
 of the word, the discharge of duty, and that gives me strength. 
 
 June 25. 
 
 ... I travelled up quite comfortably to-day, and arrived in time 
 at Charing Cross, and then had a good day for work at Downing 
 Street. Letters of course but nothing very remarkable. Here the 
 debate of censure began with a rather lame speech from J. Morley, 
 which was answered by Goschen. Part of his speech was very effec- 
 tive, and I think the papers will speak very well of it in the morning, 
 but there has been a good deal of warmth on both sides. On the
 
 A.D. 1888.] LETTEtt FROM LORD STANLEY. 309 
 
 whole, however, I think we have had the best of it. ... I hope you 
 will get this note before you leave. I had intended to write for the 
 first post, but I could not leave the bench, as the first two speeches 
 occupied three hours. 
 
 July 7. 
 
 ... I walked down with Helen, B., and Freddy to Downing Street, 
 after having had visits from the Duke of Cambridge, Lord Harrowby, 
 and Col. Gzowski, so that I had plenty of work, and the day has been 
 full since. Now Harcourt is mouthing, declaiming, and denouncing 
 us in violent language, and the Attorney-General in particular. Good 
 night. God bless and keep you and my dear children ! And pray 
 for me every day, that I may have wisdom and strength to do what 
 is right. It is a hard and difficult task. 
 
 To Miss Giberne. 
 
 There are also great anxieties in Government great responsibilities, 
 and who is able for these things? Help us, my dear friend, by prayer. 
 I should be dismayed and faint if it were not that I believe my God 
 is very near to guide and strengthen me, and to give me the wisdom I 
 need, and to comfort and sustain those who are in sorrow and sickness 
 and need. But two or three should ask. The work is heavy and the 
 burden great, and you and others who are far off can ask and believe 
 that you have the petitions which you make. 
 
 I am amazed when I look around me and realise some of the causes 
 for thankfulness which exist, and I tremble for myself and for my 
 wife and my children lest any of us should fail to live up to our duty, 
 and to the right use of the talents intrusted to us. . . . All I say is, 
 God help me to do my work, and take me out of it when I am no 
 longer fit for it. 
 
 Lord Stanley of Preston, 1 who had been Smith's colleague 
 ever since he entered the Government in 1874, was at this 
 time appointed Governor-General of Canada. Circumstances 
 prevented his meeting with Smith before sailing, so, without 
 any suspicion, it may be believed, that this was to prove 
 their last parting on earth, he wrote his farewell in terms 
 which testify to the feeling between the two men : 
 
 Let an old friend, and a very sincere one, rejoice in your success in 
 & with the House, & in the praise justly given to the Leader whose 
 patience & tact have done much to bring back the good old parlia- 
 mentary ways of business. . . . Good-bye, my dear Smith whatever 
 happens one is glad to think that our long personal & political friend- 
 ship has never been marred by a difference of any kind. I shall always 
 look back to the times when we have worked hard together with 
 
 Now sixteenth Earl of Derby.
 
 310 LIFE OF W. II. SMITH. [r. 63. 
 
 something of a better feeling for the political world which gave me 
 such a staunch & kind friend, & such a true & loyal colleague. . . . 
 God bless you. 
 
 An action for libel brought by Mr O'Donnell, formerly a 
 Home Rule member of Parliament, against the 'Times,' 
 revived at this time the whole question of the " Parnellism 
 and Crime " papers in their bearing upon the Irish party. 
 On July 6 Mr Parnell rose to make a personal explanation, 
 and repeated his repudiation of the facsimile letter, and 
 repelled the other charges made by the ' Times ' writer. Six 
 days later he asked the First Lord of the Treasury if the 
 Government would consent to the appointment of a Select 
 Committee to go into the question of the authenticity of 
 certain letters read by the Attorney-General at the trial of 
 O'Donnell v. Walter. Smith replied that in the opinion of 
 the Government a Select Committee appointed, as was the 
 custom, with reference to party politics, and on the recom- 
 mendation of the party Whips, was a most improper tribunal 
 to try charges of such gravity ; but that he was willing to 
 introduce a bill appointing a Commission, with full power 
 to inquire into the allegations made against certain members 
 of Parliament in the late trial. This bill, he declared, was 
 offered for the acceptance of Mr Parnell and his colleagues, 
 and that the Government were not disposed to press it if it 
 should not be acceptable to the Irish party. 
 
 But when introducing the bill on July 16, Smith an- 
 nounced a significant change in the attitude of the Govern- 
 ment, who, he said, were now resolved to proceed with it at 
 all hazards. This brought the Cabinet under suspicion of 
 having resolved to make political capital out of the charges 
 against their opponents. Smith was taxed with having 
 received a visit from Mr Walter of the ' Times ' while the 
 question was under consideration of the Cabinet, and frankly 
 admitted that he had done so "as an old friend." Upon
 
 A.D. 1888.] LORD K. CHURCHILL'S REMONSTRANCE. 311 
 
 this Sir William Harcourt roundly charged the Government 
 with having acted in collusion with the ' Times ' a charge 
 that received poignancy in the fact that the Attorney- 
 General, whose duty it was to give legal advice to the 
 Government, had also been counsel for the ' Times ' in the 
 recent trial. 
 
 On the whole, the action of the Government in offering 
 and then insisting upon the Commission had hearty approval 
 from the Unionist party, and this feeling was strengthened 
 when it was seen how anxiously the Irish Nationalist 
 members strove to limit the scope of the inquiry. But there 
 was at least one important exception to unanimity in the 
 matter. Lord Eandolph Churchill viewed intervention by 
 the Government in the least favourable light, and conveyed 
 to Smith his reasons in an ably drawn Memorandum, which 
 he afterwards described as a "strong but friendly protest 
 against the measure." 
 
 The Charges and Allegations Bill passed through both 
 Houses, and the Commission met on October 17. " The pro- 
 ceedings," as a contemporary chronicler observes, " speedily 
 assumed the appearance of a case in which the ' Times ' 
 appeared as plaintiff and the Irish members as defendants." 
 But the presence of the Attorney-General as leading counsel 
 for the 'Times,' and of Sir Charles Eussell for the Irish 
 members, gave the trial all the appearance of an impeach- 
 ment or indictment of Mr Parnell and his colleagues by the 
 Government. And unfortunately the popular impression 
 prevailed that the existence of the Ministry depended on 
 the charges being substantiated. 
 
 Parliament, which had been adjourned on August 13, 
 was to meet again in November to finish up the work of 
 the session. Speaking at the Mansion House on August 8, 
 the Prime Minister alluded to this in that vein of irony in 
 which he so much excels. " It is impossible," he said, "not
 
 312 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. [MI\ 63. 
 
 to feel that the wisdom of Parliament is great, and that the 
 eloquence of Parliament is great ; but the eloquence is get- 
 ting in the way of the wisdom." 
 
 Smith joined his wife at Aix-les-Bains, where she had 
 gone for the benefit of her health, and he wrote thence 
 in good spirits on September 1 to his daughter, Mrs A. 
 Acland, with suggestions for the names to be given to her 
 baby. 
 
 Wilhelmina Henrietta Frederica quite lovely but lovelier still if 
 you add Beatricia Alfrida Skeggs. My dear, I am glad your spirits 
 are good, and I hope they will be better when you have received this 
 brilliant suggestion for the names of the granddaughter. I am going 
 deliberately to set to work to spoil and make her quite an anxiety to 
 her Parents. . . . There are all sorts of people here, but I am not much 
 amused with them. Some of the Americans are astonishing. It is 
 difficult to believe they are not large butterflies. Their colors are as 
 brilliant, and some of the loose things they wear resemble wings, but 
 they have feet and they have voices, which butterflies have not. 
 Yesterday Lord Hartington came to see me, dressed as a seedy, shady 
 sailor, but he sat down and talked politics for half an hour, and he 
 said it was pleasant in a place like this to have some work to do. 
 
 On his return to England, Smith took a full share in 
 those platform labours which the growing practice of these 
 latter days has made more and more oppressive upon public 
 men. In doing this he was acting against the advice of his 
 doctors, and had also to overcome his own misgivings as to 
 his oratorical power. 
 
 I have been sent [he writes to Mr Penrose Fitzgerald] by the Whips 
 to Gloucester, and I am going for the same masters to Salford. This 
 is all I can do before 6th Novr., and after that date I really do not 
 know what I can do. My present impression is that I ought not to 
 speak anywhere at all : old Jenner 1 is very strong against it. I can- 
 not believe that a speech of mine would help any fellow, but I would 
 rather give you a lift up than any other man in the House. 
 
 Among Mr Smith's papers there has been preserved a 
 cutting from the 'Birmingham Daily Post' of October 10, 
 
 1 Sir William Jenuer, Bart., G.C.B., M.D.
 
 A. D. 1888.] END OF A LONG SESSION. 313 
 
 1888, commenting upon a discrepancy between the report 
 of his speech at Gloucester given in the ' Times,' and those 
 reports which appeared in other papers. The writer ob- 
 served that no doubt " Mr Smith, according to custom, gave 
 the manuscript of his address to the ' Times ' representative 
 beforehand, and was so affected by his feelings of gratitude to 
 the Liberal Unionists as he went on that he added the sen- 
 tence to which attention has been drawn." The sentence 
 referred to was one in which he expressed his willingness 
 to retire in favour of a Liberal Unionist leader, if that 
 would strengthen the Unionist party, and the journalist 
 went on to point out that this was only another illustration 
 of the danger incurred by a political leader, when he not 
 only writes his speech but hands it to the reporters in 
 advance. The moral, however, was wasted in this instance, 
 for Smith has written the following comment in red ink in 
 the margin "Amusing. I never wrote out a speech in 
 my life, and could not do it. W. H. S." 
 
 It was hoped when Parliament reassembled on November 
 6 that the business remaining over would be quickly got 
 through, but the introduction of a bill to extend the pur- 
 chase powers of Lord Ashbourne's Irish Land Act roused 
 the ire of the Opposition, who prolonged the debates on 
 Supply, in order to thwart the benevolent intentions of the 
 Government towards Ireland. By Lord Ashbourne's Act, 
 passed in 1885, five millions had been advanced for the 
 purchase of their holdings by tenants. It had been a com- 
 plete success : of the 90,000 of instalments accruing for 
 repayment on the suins advanced, only 1100 was in arrear. 
 It was now proposed to increase the sum for buying out 
 the Irish landlords from 5 to 10 millions. The fight over 
 the bill was a hard one, and the prorogation was not 
 achieved till Christmas Eve. 
 
 Smith's health had suffered so much from these pro-
 
 314 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. [an. 63. 
 
 longed proceedings that on December 15 he was obliged 
 to leave for the South of Europe, where he remained till 
 February 4, 1889. 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 1889. 
 
 That which distinguished Smith more than anything else 
 among the common run of politicians was the constancy 
 with which he kept in view the interests of the country 
 and of that party by which he believed the country might 
 best be served, to the absolute exclusion of his own career. 
 The following correspondence is an example of this. 
 
 Private. MARSEILLES, Feb. 3, 1889. 
 
 MY DEAR SALISBURY, You referred a few days ago to the violence 
 and unscrupulousness of the Opposition, and to their readiness to 
 avail themselves of any weapon which they may find ready to their 
 hands, no matter what the consequences may be. 
 
 The extension of the suffrage has brought us face to face with the 
 most grave possibilities. It has made the extreme Radicals masters 
 of the Liberal party, and men support a policy now from which they 
 would have shrunk with horror ten years ago. There is also this 
 strange peculiarity in the English mind to be taken into account. 
 Men who are strictly honest in their transactions with their neigh- 
 bours have come to regard Parliament as an instrument by which 
 a transfer of rights and property may equitably be made from the 
 few to the many ; and there is yet another feature of the present day 
 which is disgusting, and that is, that familiarity with crimes against 
 property, or a class which is not their class, gradually deprives these 
 crimes of the nature of crime in the eyes of the multitude, and even 
 seems to create a sympathy for them. 
 
 To deal with public affairs with such an Opposition and in such a 
 state of the public mind, the Government requires the judgment, re- 
 source, and eloquence of the strongest men that can be found in the 
 House of Commons and in the country. 
 
 I do not think it possible to exaggerate the gravity of the struggle 
 in which we are engaged, and I have never disguised from you my 
 view that in such a fight it is really the duty of the chief to put those 
 men in the most prominent position who are best fitted to do the 
 work. I am much stronger for my holiday, but I am not more ready
 
 A.D. 1889.] OFFERS TO RESIGN LEADERSHIP. 315 
 
 of speech than I was, nor am I likely to be ; and I am therefore most 
 anxious you should thoroughly understand that, whether my health 
 be good or bad, I am quite ready to give place to another leader, as a 
 simple matter of duty for the good of the country, now or whenever 
 it appears to you desirable to make a change. 
 
 I shall not refer again to the matter when we meet, unless you do 
 so. I am with you where I am as long as you really think it best on 
 all accounts that I should remain, and no longer. Yours very sin- 
 cerely, W. H. SMITH. 
 
 This letter was forwarded to the Queen with the follow- 
 ing note in Lord Salisbury's handwriting added to it in red 
 ink : 
 
 Lord Salisbury has written to Mr Smith to say that, in his judg- 
 ment, it would cause the gravest prejudice to your Majesty's service 
 if Mr Smith were to retire from the leadership of the House. 
 
 There was no ambiguity or hesitation in Lord Salisbury's 
 rejoinder to Smith's offer : 
 
 Private. Feb. 5, 1889. 
 
 MY DEAR SMITH, I am very sensible of the generous and consider- 
 ate spirit in which your letter is written, & I thank you heartily for 
 it. But if you had heard the general expression of consternation 
 with which the apparent failure of your health was watched by the 
 principal men of the party, you would have had no doubt that in 
 their judgment your retirement from the lead in the House of Com- 
 mons would be one of the heaviest blows that could befall it. 
 
 I agree in all you say as to the gravity of our present condition. 
 We are in a state of bloodless civil war. No common principles, no 
 respect for common institutions or traditions, unite the various groups 
 of politicians who are struggling for power. To loot somebody or 
 something is the common object, under a thick varnish of pious 
 phrases. So that our lines are not cast in pleasant places. Yours 
 very truly, SALISBURY. 
 
 Some rumour of Smith's readiness to retire may have 
 reached his constituents : indeed paragraphs appeared in 
 the newspapers announcing that he did not intend to seek 
 re-election. Somebody wrote to ask if this was the case, 
 and his reply through his secretary shows conclusively 
 that, though willing to resign his leadership or his seat in 
 the Cabinet, he had no intention of leaving the House of
 
 316 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. [arr. 63. 
 
 Commons, either by accepting a Peerage, as the gossips had 
 it, or by retiring into private life : 
 
 Mr Smith wishes me to assure you that unless he actually breaks 
 down in health, he has no intention of resigning his seat. 
 
 On the contrary, he hopes to offer himself again at the next general 
 election. 
 
 He thinks it would be well if you would let his friends know this, 
 if there is any doubt on the subject. 
 
 Smith was subject to great depression and gloomy fore- 
 boding about the future course of events in England. A 
 friend with whom he was walking one day asked him if he 
 intended to put his son Frederick into Parliament. 
 
 " No, " replied Smith, " I shall certainly not put him 
 there. Let him get acquainted with business first, and 
 then it is possible events may lead him into Parliament, 
 but I shall not set it before him as an object. England," 
 he continued, in a tone of great gravity, "is going to be 
 governed by three classes of men, by roughs, by men of 
 business, and by those aristocrats who have heads on their 
 shoulders, and can use them. Freddy is not a rough, and 
 he is not an aristocrat ; if he is to go into Parliament, let 
 him become a good man of business first." 
 
 When Smith returned to take command of the allied 
 forces of Ministerialists, there were signs in Parliament of a 
 change from the traditions of government by party. It 
 seemed as if the hazardous system of government by 
 groups, so prevalent in the democratic legislatures of other 
 countries, was about to establish itself at Westminster. 
 That the policy of the Conservative Cabinet had already 
 been notably modified and broadened in deference to their 
 Liberal-Unionist supporters, had been abundantly manifest 
 in their Local Government Act, and was to be made still 
 more apparent during the session of 1889 by the similar 
 Act for Scotland, wherein it was provided that 246,000 
 a-year, derived from probate and licence duties, should be
 
 A. D. 1889.] DEBATE ON THE ADDRESS. 317 
 
 applied to making education gratuitous in public elemen- 
 tary schools, thus carrying into effect a favourite cry of the 
 Kadical party. But if the Ministerialists were classified in 
 two groups, each with its separate organisation and Whips, 
 the Opposition, already made up of Gladstonians and Par- 
 nellites, was henceforward to have a third leader in the 
 person of Mr Henry Labouchere, who placed himself at 
 the head of the advance party of Eadicals, named " Jaco- 
 bins," after Mr Jacoby, one of their Whips. Hitherto it 
 had been part of the recognised symbolism of the House of 
 Commons that, while members in general wore their hats in 
 the Chamber and precincts of the House, the Whips, whose 
 duties lie for the most part in the lobbies, should perform 
 their functions bareheaded. The multiplication of parties 
 involved the multiplication of Whips ; so the unfamiliar 
 sight was now witnessed of a number of gentlemen 
 Conservatives, Liberal-Unionists, Gladstonians, Parnellites, 
 and Jacobins going about bareheaded ; a trivial phenome- 
 non, it may seem, yet significant of the change which the 
 times had wrought in the old party discipline. 
 
 It was to be a " Scotch session " so it was said ; but in 
 the treatment of Mr O'Brien, M.P., in prison, where, hav- 
 ing refused to don the prison garb, he had been deprived, 
 not without stratagem, of his normal habiliments, was found 
 sufficient material for the Opposition to carry on a debate in 
 both Houses upon the Address. As Lord Salisbury re- 
 marked in the Lords, it was really very difficult for any 
 one to preserve a sufficiently tragic air over " Mr O'Brien 
 struggling for his clothes, or Mr Harrington mourning over 
 liis moustache." 
 
 During the debate in the Commons remarkable evidence 
 was given of the effusive confidence now established be- 
 tween ex-Ministers and the Irish Nationalists. When Mr 
 Parnell rose to speak he was received with prolonged cheer-
 
 318 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. [jer. 63. 
 
 ing all the Opposition, including the front bench, standing 
 up and waving their hats. The amendment under discus- 
 sion, moved by Mr John Morley, was rejected by 339 to 
 260 votes, showing a majority of 79 for Ministers. 
 
 The Government had undoubtedly sustained a severe 
 shock in the breakdown before the Parnell Commission of 
 the most serious charges made against the Irish members. 
 The celebrated fac-simile letter had been pronounced to be 
 the copy of a forgery by the worthless Pigott, and, rightly 
 or wrongly, the Government were held responsible for hav- 
 ing entertained a belief in its genuineness. Their Attorney- 
 General, in accepting a brief for the 'Times,' had acted 
 according to professional precedent ; nevertheless, he had 
 thereby involved his colleagues in the Ministry in the 
 appearance of partiality, and of giving undue facilities to 
 one of the parties in the trial. Naturally, the most of this 
 was made by Opposition speakers both in and out of Parlia- 
 ment, and the result on by-elections was distinctly un- 
 favourable to Government. The attack in the House upon 
 the Attorney-General was led by Mr W. Redmond, who 
 moved to reduce his salary by 1000; but the motion was 
 thrown out by a majority of 80 votes. 
 
 Smith felt the anxiety of all this very keenly, and his 
 health began to give serious warning of the strain upon it. 
 To Miss Giberne he wrote on February 24 : 
 
 I have just entered in a sense on my New Year of anxious work and 
 responsibility. ... I have never felt myself strong enough for the 
 work I have to do, and I should not have dreamt of putting myself 
 forward for it. It is a burden and an anxiety, a cross, but it is diffi- 
 cult sometimes to see for one's self the plain line of duty. Is one fit 
 or unfit for the work ? or is the burden of responsibility and care, 
 which is heavy where there is no personal ambition to help a man to 
 bear it, warping one's judgment and making one long to escape and 
 be at rest ? Perhaps it is ; at all events I will wait patiently, and go 
 on with my daily task until the change comes. 
 
 " In quietness and confidence shall be my strength ; " but who can 
 be strong enough in himself in these days for the work which falls to 
 me?
 
 A.D. 1889.] ' THE BURDEN OF RULE. 319 
 
 I would say with Solomon, " Give me now wisdom and knowledge," 
 so long as it pleaseth Thee to continue me as Thy servant in the work 
 which Thou hast given me to do. But, my dear friend, how can I tell 
 that my judgment or decision is the wisdom I long for and desire to 
 apply for the good of the country ? I cannot tell. All sorts of human 
 frailties, prejudices, and passions are always passing h'ke mists through 
 a man's mind. But I can say, God help me ; and " in quietness and 
 confidence shall be my strength." He will take me out of my work 
 when I am no longer required, and then will come rest. Meanwhile 
 you, my friend, can help me. 
 
 On March 17 he wrote to Mrs W. Acland : 
 
 We have trouble in politics, and I am very weary ; but I must go 
 on doing my daily work as best I can, looking for guidance and wisdom 
 where alone it can be had, until my rest comes. I hope it is not wrong 
 to long for it. 
 
 His friends began to take alarm lest he should break 
 down altogether. Dr Acland l wrote from Oxford on April 
 29, in the double character of physician and friend : 
 
 MY DEAR SMITH, I cannot help breaking silence now your short 
 rest is over to send you my expression of earnest desire, nay, prayer, 
 that you may have strength for your work, or resolution to break 
 from it. ... Two things are believed by me 1st, that owing to the 
 firm, steady, quiet determination of the Government, the country is 
 becoming more calm, and less moved by exaggeration & misconduct ; 
 and 2d, that you might relinquish the " leadership," and otherwise 
 remain the same. These are the opinions of a quiet John Bull, with- 
 out, of course, any special knowledge or opportunity. Said John 
 Bull is not an optimist, for in truth I think the problem of human 
 affairs in general, and this nation in particular, becomes more intricate 
 than ever. . . . Always gratefully yours, HY. W. ACLAND. 
 
 On the other hand, encouragement to persevere was not 
 wanting. Eumours of Smith's retirement from public life 
 having been persistently circulated, his followers determined 
 to express the warmth of feeling towards him which per- 
 vaded their ranks. Accordingly, on March 28, the Eight 
 Hon. Sir John Mowbray, Sir John Colomb, and Mr Robert 
 Hanbury waited on him in his private room at the House 
 of Commons and presented the following address, signed by 
 254 unofficial members of Parliament : 
 
 1 K.C.B. in 1884, and created a Baronet in 1890.
 
 320 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. [.ET. 63. 
 
 As members of the Conservative party, we desire to express to you 
 our cordial appreciation of the manner in which, in the face of extra- 
 ordinary difficulties, you have acted as leader of the House of Com- 
 mons ; and recognising the great importance to the country and the 
 party of your leadership, we trust that this assurance of full con- 
 fidence and hearty support will in some measure assist you in the 
 continued discharge of your high, but most arduous, duty. 
 
 Smith's reply was brief and simple : after expressing 
 gratitude for the support and encouragement conveyed in 
 the address, he assured his hearers that, as long as his health 
 would permit, and so long as he retained the confidence of 
 his friends, he would continue to fulfil the duties of his 
 office. 
 
 In reply to Sir Eainald Knightley, who wrote to express 
 regret at his absence when the address was presented, he 
 wrote : 
 
 It is very reassuring to know that, making no attempt at oratory 
 and indeed avoiding anything of the kind, I meet the present neces- 
 sities of the party in the House. 
 
 While they want me I am bound to stay and do the work to the 
 best of my ability, but there are moments, as you can well imagine, 
 when one would be glad to disappear altogether from the wild turmoil 
 of faction, and find rest in obscurity for the remainder of one's life. 
 
 To Admiral Sir Alexander Milne, Smith replied : 
 
 It has always been interesting to me to do work for the country, 
 but every post which I have filled in succession, from my first ap- 
 pointment as Secretary to the Treasury in 1874 up to the present 
 time, has been offered to or imposed upon me. I could not apply 
 and have not applied for office at any time, but I have not felt myself 
 at liberty to shrink from it when I have been called upon to under- 
 take it. 
 
 My particular work now is far less congenial to me than the Ad- 
 ministration of a great Department, and I have often felt faint and 
 sick at the prospect before the country with the furious rage of 
 faction in the House of Commons, and I have greatly doubted my 
 own especial fitness for the part I have to play in the struggle ; but 
 I am " on duty," and I must go on as long as I can and do my best. 
 In due time I shall be relieved. 
 
 This ceremony was shortly followed by a more public 
 manifestation of the esteem Smith had won from his fellow- 
 countrymen. On April 10 he was entertained at a banquet
 
 A.D. 1889.] CKANBROOK AMONG THE PROPHETS. 321 
 
 given in the Merchant Taylors' Hall by merchants, bankers, 
 and business men connected with the City. In addressing 
 the very numerous assembly, Smith approached more 
 nearly to eloquence than he was often able to do. 
 
 My friend Mr Gibbs [the chairman] has spoken of the circumstances 
 under which I was placed in the position I now occupy. He has told 
 you that I stepped into the breach to discharge a duty which was 
 imposed upon me. I simply responded to the call which was made 
 upon me by my colleagues and friends, who told me that my services 
 were required in that position. I claim no honour for doing that 
 which was simply an Englishman's duty under the circumstances in 
 which he found himself, and it is one of the mysteries of my life 
 one of those things which I have been unable to solve for myself 
 how it is that, having proceeded from among you, being one of you 
 a man of business I have now come to be placed in a position of 
 great responsibility, and perhaps of authority. God knows, I did not 
 seek that position for myself. I have never sought office or honour, 
 but I have never felt myself at liberty to decline to undertake a duty 
 which has been imposed upon me. My lords and gentlemen, when I 
 come to consider what it is that I am called upon to do I may well be 
 conscious of inability to discharge fitly the task imposed upon me. I 
 find myself placed in the position of leader of the first Legislative 
 Assembly in the world, of that which has been, so to speak, the 
 cradle of the liberties of this country. ... I say most feelingly that 
 if at times there has been weariness, if at times a sense of disgust at 
 the difficulties with which one has to contend in the absence of that 
 complete devotion to the country which one has a right to look for in 
 the representatives of the people if there has been that feeling at 
 times, circumstances like these the appreciation of one's fellow- 
 citizens, the sense that they desire to do honour to one who had no 
 expectation of receiving it, the sense that the verdict of his fellow- 
 citizens is that he has deserved well of his country, all this is a 
 reward amply sufficient to cover all the sacrifices, all the sorrows, all 
 the difficulties through which he has passed. 
 
 Lord Cranbrook, in speaking to one of the toasts, made a 
 happy hit in political prophecy. His place at table was 
 between Mr Smith and Mr Arthur Balfour, and he alluded 
 to himself as " standing between the present and the future." 
 He little knew how soon the younger man was to step into 
 the place of the elder, as Leader of the House of Commons. 
 
 There was more to come : Smith's own constituents were 
 determined not to be outdone by the Conservative party in 
 the House of Commons and his friends in the City, so on 
 
 X
 
 322 LIFE OF \V. H. SMITH. |>T. 64. 
 
 July 3 they also entertained him at a banquet in St James's 
 Hall, and presented him with an address. 
 
 One more mark of special honour was to be shown to the 
 First Lord of the Treasury during this year, in a most un- 
 likely place and unexpected way. It is necessary, in order 
 to mention it here, to pass over the events of the session 
 of Parliament, which, indeed, offer little upon which it is 
 important to dwell. 1 It took place in a scene very different 
 from the clattering, crowded precincts of Westminster, or 
 the thronged thoroughfares of the City. It was among the 
 melancholy green islands of Orkney, Avhither the Pandora 
 had carried her owner and his family over seas on which 
 the silence of late summer still brooded, to seek solitude 
 and repose. When the yacht arrived at Kirkwall, the 
 worthy Provost, who kept the principal shop in the town, 
 perceived the opportunity for his ancient burgh to do 
 honour where he rightly believed honour was due. Hastily 
 summoning his bailies together, they agreed unanimously 
 to offer the freedom of their town to their distinguished 
 visitor. Time pressed ; Mr Smith and his party were per- 
 suaded by the Provost to make an excursion in the interior 
 of the narrow domain : they were waylaid on their return 
 and carried off to the Town Hall, where, in presence of the 
 
 1 From the Right Hon. W. H. Smith to Sir Henry Acland. 
 
 August 23. 
 
 ... I hope you have not followed our parliamentary work. It has 
 been very dreary a very poor kind of acting or making-believe. All 
 this week we have had Ireland to the fore indignant patriots declaim- 
 ing in burning language of violent indignation at one moment, and 
 the next laughing in their cheeks [sic] at the hollowness of the whole 
 performance. And this is the working of the British constitution in 
 1889, and a scientific system of Government ! but perhaps it is as 
 good in its results as anything that could be devised only it is 
 impossible not to recognise an enormous waste of power and vital 
 strength, which might conceivably be applied to better uses in the 
 interests of the country. Forgive me : I am inclined to be despondent 
 sometimes.
 
 A.D. 1889.] SUCCESS AS A PARLIAMENTARY LEADEE. 323 
 
 Town Council, Provost Peace handed the burgess's ticket to 
 the First Lord. " Very amusing," runs Miss Helen Smith's 
 note on the occasion, " and more or less alarming, for we 
 were quite unprepared and very untidy ! " Taken thus 
 unawares, Smith was not without fitting words of acknow- 
 ledgment : 
 
 I came here with my family, seeking the rest and refreshment 
 which are to be found in this northern region, after a period of toil 
 and anxiety which I think justified the desire for rest. . . . When 
 the Provost met me in the Cathedral, he found a stranger who ad- 
 mired, valued, and respected the memorials of the past, which you 
 have preserved with such loving care and fidelity. ... I thank you, 
 because you have not made this distinction one which is attached to 
 a particular party or creed, and because you have honoured one who 
 has simply been the servant of the country and the servant of his 
 Queen, in the discharge of the duty which has fallen upon him from 
 day to day. Every one has duties to perform : every one of you has 
 the sense of what is right and what is wrong : and it is the sense of 
 what, humbly speaking, I believe to be right which has carried me 
 through so many difficulties. 
 
 Before closing the record of Smith's work in the House 
 of Commons during 1889, independent testimony to his 
 success as a parliamentary leader may be quoted from the 
 pen of a well-known parliamentary chronicler, 1 who, though 
 a stout adherent of Mr Gladstone in all his labyrinthine 
 courses, and for a time editor of the 'Daily News,' yet 
 possesses the intellectual detachment essential to true 
 criticism : 
 
 After Lord Randolph Churchill came Mr W. H. Smith, a more 
 striking transformation-scene even than the appearance of Sir Stafford 
 Northcote in the seat of Mr Disraeli. It is no secret that Mr Smith 
 was selected for the office, not because he was at the time the best 
 man, but because he was the best possible man. . . . He has now held 
 the post through three sessions, and has worked upon the House 
 of Commons the same charm which operated to his advancement in 
 the inner councils of the Conservative leaders. The House, it is true, 
 sometimes laughs at him. But there is nothing malicious in the 
 merriment, for it recognises in him an honest, kindly, able man, who, 
 free from all pretension, unaided by personal prestige or family in- 
 
 1 Mr H. W. Lucy, known to thousands of readers as ' Punch's ' Dog 
 Toby.
 
 324 LIFE OF W. II. SMITH. [an. 64. 
 
 fluence, has conducted the business of the House of Commons with a 
 success that will bear comparison with any equal period of time under 
 more famous leaders. 
 
 On November 4 Smith paid a visit to Sir Archibald l 
 and the Hon. Lady Campbell at Blythswood a mansion of 
 which the hospitality has been experienced by almost every 
 one who has taken an active part in the politics of Lowland 
 Scotland. Next day he attended a Conservative conference 
 in Glasgow, and in the evening addressed an immense 
 meeting in St Andrew's HalL The Conservative party in 
 Glasgow have hitherto made but indifferent headway 
 against the enormous Irish vote in that city ; nevertheless, 
 it contains many of the leading citizens, and it had, before 
 Smith's visit, received a strong reinforcement of Liberal- 
 Unionists. 2 To the thoughtful, practical Conservatism of 
 this great northern city Smith's reputation for business-like 
 qualities and resolute common-sense made him peculiarly 
 acceptable, and he was received with a degree of enthusiasm 
 which a more powerful platform orator might have failed to 
 excite. His speech was worthy of his reputation. It con- 
 tained an earnest protest against the doctrine of oppor- 
 tunism : 
 
 Allow me to draw your attention to a peculiarity in these days 
 which attaches to politicians. They say : " It is not a question 
 whether we think disestablishment is right, or nationalisation of land 
 is right, or confiscation of houses is right, or the equal distribution of 
 property is right ; but the question is whether the majority of the 
 people of the country wish it to be so ; and if they do, of course it 
 must come to pass, and we will offer no opposition in other words, 
 we will facilitate the progress of measures which in our consciences 
 we believe to be destructive and injurious, of which we personally 
 disapprove, but which nevertheless must pass, because the people 
 will it." Now I am very far indeed from saying that the people 
 through their representatives ought not to have expression given to 
 their desires. But this is a new doctrine. A politician, a statesman, 
 
 1 Created Baron Blythswood in 1892. 
 
 2 At the general election of 1885 all the seven seats returned 
 Liberal representatives ; in 1886, and again in 1892, three out of the 
 seven seats were captured by the Unionist party.
 
 A.D. 1890.] THE PARNELL COMMISSION. 325 
 
 whose duty it is to lead, not to follow, whose duty it is to have a 
 definite view on questions of the highest importance to the people at 
 large, whose duty it is to instruct the people I say it is a new 
 doctrine, and a very evil one, that a politician being placed in the 
 post of leader, abdicates that position, and follows where he ought 
 to guide. I say that in old times in the House of Commons, . . . 
 if a man could not stay a movement which he believed to be wrong, 
 he did not place himself at the head of it and lead on to the 
 attainment of the object of which he disapproved. He stepped on 
 one side. He said : " I will have nothing whatever to do with it. 
 1 cannot interfere with you. I cannot prevent the attainment, of 
 this, which I believe to be wrong, but I will at all events leave it 
 to you or others to take that course which you think right." ... A 
 course of that kind would have an enormous influence over the 
 masses of the people, who have right instincts, and who desire to be 
 taught and led ; who, instead of being led by statesmen, are led 
 nowadays by demagogues, or by persons who, as I said just now, 
 give away liberally the property of others without sacrificing their 
 own. 
 
 On November 19 Smith was at the opposite end of the 
 kingdom addressing a meeting at Exeter, and another at 
 Truro on the 21st. On the 25th he spoke at Plymouth, 
 after which he returned to Greenlands to get a few weeks 
 of well-earned repose before facing the labours of another 
 year. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 1890. 
 
 The prospect before Ministers at the opening of 1890 
 was dark and lowering. The Parnell Commission had not 
 yet reported ; but inasmuch as their proceedings had, from 
 the first, worn the appearance of a State trial, in which the 
 Irish members were arraigned at the instance of the Govern- 
 ment, the exposure of Pigott's villany, and the enforced 
 abandonment of that part of the charge which depended on 
 the genuineness of letters alleged to have been written by
 
 326 LIFE OF W. II. SMITH. [xr. 61. 
 
 Parnell, had told with tremendous effect against the Unionist 
 party. 
 
 A statement went the round of the papers to the effect 
 that, as a consequence of the collapse of the case of the 
 forged letters, Smith intended to resign his office. To a 
 correspondent who wrote to ask the truth about this story, 
 he replied through his secretary that he would have no 
 peace if he were to contradict all the silly statements about 
 him. 
 
 Parliament having met on February 11, Sir William 
 Harcourt, before the debate 011 the Queen's Speech was 
 begun, raised the question of privilege, of which, he main- 
 tained, a breach had been committed against the House by 
 the ' Times ' in the matter of the charges against the Irish 
 members, and the diminished majority by which his motion 
 was rejected 58 testified to the loss of prestige incurred 
 by the Government as a consequence of their supposed 
 connection with the case. 
 
 The Eeport of the Parnell Commission was made on 
 February 13, and their judgment, though exonerating the 
 Irish members from some of the charges made against them 
 in the ' Times,' certainly brought home to them others in- 
 volving heinous complicity with guilt ; yet it was hailed by 
 the Irish press and by Gladstonian speakers in Great Britain 
 as rapturously as if it had been a complete acquittal. It 
 speaks well for the lofty reputation of the English Bench 
 that amid the storm of angry controversy and recrimination 
 which broke out immediately on the delivery of judgment, 
 not a word was heard impugning the integrity of the Com- 
 mission. Even the 'Daily News,' leading organ of the 
 Opposition, frankly admitted that one result of the inquiry 
 had been " to vindicate the absolute impartiality of the 
 Special Commissioners." 
 
 On March 4, Smith, in conformity with a notice he had
 
 A.D. 1890.] DEBATE ON THE REPORT. 327 
 
 given on the publication of the Eeport of the Commission, 
 rose to move that " this House adopts the Eeport, and 
 thanks the Commissioners for their just and impartial 
 conduct in the matters referred to them, and orders that 
 the said Report be entered on the journals of this House." 
 
 In support of this resolution he spoke at much greater 
 length than it was his custom to do, and in a tone of gravity 
 and studied moderation. Referring to an amendment of 
 which Mr Gladstone had given notice, he said : 
 
 Sir, I think few will deny that these are grave charges, and cannot 
 permit a " clean bill " to be given to the respondents. The amend- 
 ment of the right hon. gentleman would practically be a condonation 
 of crime. ... I have no doubt I shall be asked why the Government 
 intend to proceed no further than the resolution I move to enter the 
 judges' report on the journals of the House. My answer is, because 
 it was no part of our intention at any time to constitute a Commission 
 for the purpose of obtaining evidence to inflict punishment. The 
 primary object was to obtain the truth whether the charges were 
 true or false, and the bill specially provided that all who gave witness 
 of the truth would receive indemnity for so doing. ... I ask the 
 House to adopt the report without colour, without adding a word by 
 way of preface. I ask the House, in the second place, to give its 
 thanks to the judges, who have so ably and laboriously discharged 
 their duties. 
 
 The conclusion of Smith's speech was a forcible piece of 
 invective : 
 
 Are all the experiences of past generations to be set at naught ? Is 
 the mandate of an illegal association alone to determine whether legal 
 obligations shall or shall not be discharged, which have not only been 
 the result of contract, but have received the approval of the State 
 itself ? 
 
 Sir, this prospect, afforded by the alliance of a great party with 
 doctrines which can only be regarded as anarchical, is one which must 
 make a man pause and hesitate. If political necessities compel them 
 to imperil the very existence of society, it may become a question 
 whether even the maintenance of party government in this country, 
 which has in the past done so much to advance and develop our 
 parliamentary institutions, may not be regarded in these latter days 
 as a curse rather than a blessing. If, only a few years ago, I or any 
 of my hon. friends had ventured to prophesy that the Liberal party 
 would be found ranging itself on the side of those whose language 
 they denounced whose acts they alleged to be, and believed to be,
 
 328 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. OT. 64. 
 
 criminal no words of condemnation would have been too strong in 
 the mouths of our political opponents in denouncing us for such 
 anticipation. Alas ! it has come to pass ; and I can only hope and 
 believe that the people of this country, and even the people of Ireland, 
 will come to realise how dangerous to the best interests of the State 
 are the temptations to which the right hon. gentleman and his friends 
 have succumbed. ... I hope the House will not be carried away by 
 party passions. I entreat the House to consider the grave interests 
 which are at stake, to vindicate the reputation of this House as 
 supporting peace, prosperity, and good order in all parts of her 
 Majesty's dominions, and to maintain those principles without which 
 all our prosperity will certainly pass away. 
 
 On March 11 the debate, which had oscillated between 
 passages of great warmth and periods of depressing languor, 
 was fanned into conflagration by a speech from Lord 
 Eandolph Churchill, who bitterly inveighed against his 
 former colleagues, and reproached them with what he held 
 to be the abortive and ominous result of the Special 
 Commission. All this, of course, won him loud plaudits 
 from the Opposition. It was perfectly consistent with the 
 opinion he had expressed all along, from the first moment 
 the Commission had been proposed, and no one could ques- 
 tion his right to state his view of the case, however un- 
 favourable might be the effect on the prospects of his 
 own party. But the immediate result of his speech had 
 not been foreseen. Lord Eandolph had no more faithful 
 follower, through evil report and good report, in sunshine and 
 in shower, than the late Mr Louis Jennings, then member 
 for Stockport. He was one of a small knot of friends who, 
 as was said, had followed the noble lord into the desert, and 
 held an independent attitude in supporting the Government. 
 This gentleman now rose to express the embarrassment in 
 which he was placed by Lord Eandolph's speech. " It is 
 said that I derive my opinions from my noble friend ; but 
 occasionally and at intervals I am capable of forming opinions 
 of my own, and such an interval has occurred now." He 
 went on to dissociate himself from any attempt to " stab his
 
 A.D. 1890.] INCREASING WEAKNESS. 329 
 
 party in the back," and declared his loyalty to the Govern- 
 ment in this most difficult question. 
 
 The majority of the Government in the division which 
 followed was 62. Their position, both in Parliament and 
 in the country, as by-elections continued to show, bore testi- 
 mony to the damaging effect of the Special Commission 
 upon their reputation. 
 
 Anxiety now began to tell its tale upon Smith's health. 
 It was he who, as leader of the House, had to bear the 
 brunt of defending the course taken by Government in 
 appointing the Commission, and he felt acutely the imputa- 
 tions made as to the motives of that policy. He was suffer- 
 ing at the time from persistent attacks of eczema, and began 
 to despair of being able to continue at his post. He spent 
 the Whitsuntide holidays cruising along the south coast in 
 his yacht, and on May 31 addressed the following letter to 
 his chief : 
 
 MY DEAR SALISBURY, I am afraid I may not be fit for my work 
 when I get home. The Doctor here does not give me much hope, but 
 I have asked Sir William Jenner to see me on my way through South- 
 ampton on Monday, if he is in those parts. If I am not fit, I should 
 not like to stay on while another man has all the labour and the re- 
 sponsibility. It would not be fair to him, to you, or to my other 
 colleague?. 
 
 It may be only a matter of a few days, but taking one week with 
 another, I have gone back steadily so far as the eczema is concerned, 
 and the recent attacks have been so severe that they have deprived 
 me of the power to do any work ; but I shall see you on Tuesday at 
 the Cabinet under any circumstances. Yours very truly, 
 
 W. H. SMITH. 
 
 But he could not be spared yet, and had to struggle on. 
 In vain his colleagues begged him to let them lighten his 
 labours to leave the House betimes in the evenings, and 
 suffer a deputy to conduct the business. He would not 
 consent so long as he remained leader de jure to be any- 
 thing less than leader de facto. The torment of eczema, 
 outward sign of deeper-seated evil, increased as the summer
 
 330 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. O.T 65. 
 
 went on, depriving him of sleep at night and allowing him 
 no repose by day. 
 
 On June 8 Smith wrote to Miss Giberne : 
 
 I am not very bad, but the irritation, like some other mental irrita- 
 tion to which I am subjected in my work, is a little trying, but it will 
 all come right ; and when I look around me at the multitude of gifts 
 and blessings which I enjoy, I at least have no right to complain. 
 
 My only difficulty is always to know what is best to be done. Emily 
 would wish me to give up public work more than I feel I can do at 
 present, and my doctors are exacting, and my difficulties in my work 
 are great ; but alt these things trouble me less than they did, as I 
 have complete trust that a higher Power will give light and guidance 
 from day to day. . . . God bless you, my dear old friend. 
 
 He wrote again to this lady on June 29 in much the 
 same strain. His constant reliance on, and entreaty for, the 
 prayers of others may seem almost monotonous in its repe- 
 tition ; but it was of the man's very nature : 
 
 D . . GREENLANDS, HENLEY ON THAMES, 
 
 Pnmte ' 2Qth June 1890. 
 
 MY VERY DEAR FRIEND, Emily wrote to thank you for your very 
 kind note, and I only add one line to say I value very highly your 
 remembrance of me. 
 
 I am loaded with blessings more than I could ever have dreamt 
 of ; but I have great responsibilities and heavy duties, which I can 
 only discharge by God's help. Pray daily for me that I may have the 
 true Wisdom to guide me. I think I have been led and guided in the 
 past. I say it reverently ; but I am in great need now of guidance, 
 and I believe He will lead me in the way I should go. But let us all 
 ask, and believe that we have the petition the answer we desire. 
 Yours very affectionately, W. H. SMITH. 
 
 Meanwhile the difficulties of the Government showed no 
 diminution. Formidable agitation was got up against the 
 licensing proposals of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and 
 the Government, like many of their predecessors, had cause 
 to lament the day when they attempted to deal with this 
 thorny subject. 
 
 The second reading of the Local Taxation Bill was carried 
 by a majority of 73 ; but the troubles of the Government 
 were not yet at an end. The discussion occupied five more
 
 A. D. 1890.] HIS VIEWS ON TEMPERANCE. 331 
 
 days before the Whitsuntide adjournment, and was resumed 
 after the holidays on June 16, when evidence was given of 
 the pressure which had been brought to bear on members in 
 the interval. The majorities in favour of the clause sank 
 to below 40, and at length, on June 19, the Government 
 came perilously near defeat. It was "Ascot Thursday," 
 always a day of anguish to Conservative Whips, for the 
 attractions of the race for the Cup generally prove stronger 
 to many members than the calls of duty. Defeat seemed 
 inevitable, and was only averted by the timely arrival of 
 half-a-dozen Ministerialists from Ascot. But practically the 
 majority of 4, which saved the Government, sounded the 
 knell of the licensing clauses, which being withdrawn on 
 June 26, left an unsightly scar on the reputation of the 
 Cabinet. 
 
 It is interesting to read Smith's vindication of the policy 
 of the Government on the liquor laws. On June 14 he 
 wrote to a correspondent who had taken him severely to 
 task : 
 
 Nothing is more painful to me than to be obliged to persevere in a 
 course which men like you view with apprehension. The Government 
 have introduced the provisions into the Local Taxation Bill which are 
 objected to in order to diminish the temptations to intemperance, and 
 they believe they will have that effect. 
 
 Ought we with this conviction to yield to the opposition of Mr 
 Caine and his friends, which proceeds from what I can only describe 
 as an hallucination of which our irreconcilable opponents are only too 
 glad to avail themselves ? 
 
 If nothing is gained to the cause of Temperance by decreasing the 
 number of public-houses, then I admit I have made a mistake ; but I 
 have always believed myself that to shut up one was to remove one 
 source of temptation. Yours very truly, W. H. SMITH. 
 
 Smith's health was again giving discomfort to himself 
 and anxiety to his friends. On July 10 he wrote to his 
 doctor : 
 
 You let drop the words yesterday, " Is the game worth the candle?" 
 suggesting to me, as I thought at the moment, to consider whether I 
 ought to go on with my present work in the Government ; and you
 
 332 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. [JET. 65. 
 
 then went on to say that I had a very small reserve of power (or 
 balance at my banker's, so to speak), which might be very easily over- 
 drawn. 
 
 My position is that I am what I am in the House of Commons from 
 no personal ambition. I fill a place in the machine of Government at 
 the desire of my colleagues, and I am perfectly willing to drop out of 
 it whenever in their judgment it is no longer necessary that I should 
 remain ; but a sense of loyalty to them and to the country keeps me 
 with them so long as they want me to stay, and I am at all able to do 
 the work. 
 
 Now it is for you to say if I am able. It would be folly and worse 
 than folly if I cut short my life by staying on a few weeks or a few 
 months longer as leader of the House ; but if I have only to bear per- 
 sonal discomfort and wearisomeness, I should not be justified in with- 
 drawing, at the cost of serious difficulty to the Government, at the 
 present time. 
 
 The reply he received to this letter left Smith in no 
 doubt as to the imminence of the risk incurred by per- 
 severance, though it gave him hopes that, if timely pre- 
 cautions were taken, the trouble might yet be overcome, 
 and he might be spared to many years of usefulness. 1 He 
 was recommended to go to La Bourboule, near Royat, where 
 Lord and Lady Salisbury already had gone ; and this 
 advice he followed, though, unhappily, not till more than a 
 month had elapsed. He reached La Bourboule on August 
 14 with Mrs Smith and his daughter Helen, and remained 
 till September 9. The waters did him a great deal of good, 
 and he was able to join the Pandora at Venice, whence the 
 party cruised down the Adriatic and up the coast of Italy, 
 landing at Toulon on October 13. But Smith got a chill 
 
 1 No one understood better than Smith the irreparable effects of 
 overwork on a man's constitution. A few months before his last 
 illness he happened to meet Mr Reginald Lucas, just returned from 
 abroad, where he had been sent to recruit his health, which had 
 suffered from his duties as private secretary to one of Smith's 
 colleagues. After inquiring about the effect of his foreign trip, he 
 warned Mr Lucas against working too hard in the future. Mr 
 Lucas made the natural remark that Mr Smith's own practice was 
 at strange variance with his precept. 
 
 " I am an old man now," replied Smith, " and can't last long in any 
 case. You are a young man, and must take care of yourself : what- 
 ever you do, avoid overwork, and take plenty of holidays."
 
 A.D. 1890.] OFFER OF 100,000. 333 
 
 there ; by the time he reached Paris he was very poorly, 
 and a month after arriving in England he was plunged into 
 a sea of anxiety on behalf of other people by the affairs of 
 Barings' Bank, and the consequent imminence of widespread 
 disaster in the City. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, 
 Mr Goschen, held a consultation at the Bank of England on 
 November 10, and firmly declared that the only condition 
 on which Government support could be permitted was that 
 the Bank should satisfy themselves that Barings would 
 prove solvent, were time allowed for realisation of assets. 
 This was a momentous step to take on the part of the 
 Treasury, and, having made his decision, Mr Goschen left 
 London to fulfil some political engagements in the North. 
 The Bank having reported satisfactorily on the question 
 submitted to them, it fell to Smith, as First Lord, in the 
 absence of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, to carry out 
 the negotiations necessary to avert the threatened calamity. 
 The following letter from Mr Lidderdale, at that time 
 Governor of the Bank of England, was written after Mr 
 Smith's death to Mr J. L. Pattisson, his private secretary : 
 
 8th October 1891. 
 
 I have not the honour of being acquainted with Mr Smith's family, 
 & therefore I cannot express to them direct my deep personal regret 
 at a loss the seriousness of which will, I feel sure, be felt hereafter 
 more than it is even now when regrets are general. Until the day 
 I came to Downing St. about the Baring crisis I had not met your 
 chief, but my intercourse with him on that occasion & afterwards led 
 to a feeling on my part towards him of high respect & personal re- 
 gard, such as I have never experienced before on so limited an ac- 
 quaintance, & such as I have very rarely entertained for a public man. 
 Mr Smith impressed me with a strong sense of his soundness of 
 judgment & steadfastness, & gave me, in addition, a marked illustra- 
 tion of his public spirit & generosity. When I was led by some 
 remark of his to say, " I fear, sir, you do not appreciate the gravity 
 of the position," he replied, " You are mistaken ; & to prove this I 
 will myself send you a cheque for 100,000 to-morrow morning, if you 
 tell me to do so." 
 
 This 100,000 was to be Mr Smith's contribution towards averting 
 the danger with which our finance was threatened, & it was offered 
 some hours before the Guarantee Fund was started.
 
 334 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. |>T. 65. 
 
 A letter written by Smith to Mr Lidderdale, on Novem- 
 ber 21, 1890, shows on what conditions and in what 
 expectation this offer was made : 
 
 My motive in offering a guarantee of 100,000 was entirely a public 
 one. I thought it would have been a national misfortune if Barings 
 had gone down, and I was willing to incur a private risk to avert that 
 disaster ; but since I have been a member of the Government since 
 1874 I have never asked for an allotment of shares in a company, or 
 taken part in speculation, in order that as a Minister or ex-Miuistcr 
 it may be impossible for any one to impute interested motives to me 
 in any transaction I may have with people out of doors on behalf of 
 the Government. 
 
 Following this rule, I should not ask for any share in the New 
 Barings, but I do regard it as of great public importance that the 
 business of the House should be kept together and carried on on the 
 old lines (not the recent ones), and if it was necessary to that end 
 that I should subscribe, I am prepared to do so ; but for the reasons 
 I have given, I had rather not as a matter of course and of policy. 
 
 Parliament was prorogued on August 12, on the under- 
 standing that it was to be summoned together again before 
 Christmas, in order to take up the Irish Land Bill and the 
 Tithes Bill, which it had been found necessary to abandon. 
 Opposition speakers during the recess indulged their 
 audiences with animated forecasts of the fate which lay 
 in wait for a discredited Government in the autumn session, 
 and Ministerialists themselves looked forward with little 
 equanimity to what promised to be a time of difficulty and 
 possible disaster. But all this was changed before the day 
 of meeting. The divorce suit brought by Captain O'Shea, 
 formerly a Parnellite member of Parliament, against his 
 wife, and Mr Parnell as co-respondent, had been prejudged 
 by Gladstonians and Parnellites as another vile conspiracy, 
 similar to that of the forged letters, to destroy Parnell's 
 character and wreck the cause of Home Rule ; and this 
 impression was strengthened, as it had been in the trial 
 before the Special Commission, by the retention of the 
 Unionist Solicitor-General, Sir Edward Clarke, as counsel 
 for Captain O'Shea. But to the dismay and perplexity of
 
 A.D. 1890.] FALL OF PAKNELL. 335 
 
 all his friends and political allies, no appearance was made 
 on the part of Mr Parncll, who allowed judgment to bo 
 given against him without offering any defence. 
 
 This took place just a week before the meeting of Parlia- 
 ment on November 25. Its effect upon the standing of 
 Parncll as a politician, and on the fortunes of the party 
 which he led, was such as could have ensued on similar 
 circumstances in no other country under the sun. Nowhere 
 except in England is the public standing and influence of 
 a statesman subject to irretrievable damage on account of 
 his private irregularities. For sixteen years Parnell had 
 maintained undisputed supremacy in the councils of the 
 Irish party ; he had led them in Parliament as they had 
 never been led before ; his ascendancy had quelled all minor 
 rivalries austere, sagacious, and resolute, he had brought 
 Home Eule, once a wild impracticable dream, to the brink 
 of accomplishment. The Irish members were themselves 
 the first to prove their conviction that Parnell could not be 
 spared : they held an enthusiastic meeting in Dublin on 
 November 20, and vowed unabated confidence in their 
 great leader. 
 
 But the English Nonconformists and Scottish Presby- 
 terians had to be taken into account Without their support 
 Mr Gladstone would be helpless, and Home Rule would 
 sink hopelessly out of sight. They made known their 
 irrevocable determination not to work for Home Eule so 
 long as Parnell remained at the head of the Irish party, and 
 this was followed by an open letter from Mr Gladstone to 
 Mr John Morley, in which he said : 
 
 I thought it necessary, viewing the arrangements for the com- 
 mencement of the session to-morrow, to acquaint Mr M'Carthy with 
 the conclusion at which, after using all the means of observation and 
 reflection in my power, I had arrived. It was, that notwithstanding 
 the splendid services rendered by Mr Parnell to his country, his con- 
 tinuance at the present moment in the leadership would be pro-
 
 336 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. [JST. 65. 
 
 ductive of consequences disastrous in the highest degree to the cause 
 of Ireland. 
 
 It is not necessary to refer in this place to the stormy 
 scenes which disturbed the consultations of the Nationalist 
 members in Committee Room 15, further than as they ended 
 in the violent rupture of the Irish party into two factions. 
 The majority of them, forty-five in number, notwithstanding 
 their recent renewal of fealty to Parnell in the Leinster 
 Hall, appeared overawed by Mr Gladstone's disownment of 
 Parnell as the future Irish leader, and, renouncing the 
 authority of the latter, elected Mr Justin McCarthy " Ses- 
 sional Chairman " in his place ; but twenty-six members 
 remained firm in allegiance to their old and trusted chief. 
 For all practical purpose, the Irish Opposition was wrecked 
 for the time being. 
 
 But this was not alL Parnell was not the sort of man to 
 lie down under punishment from Mr Gladstone. He had 
 something in store for the leader of the Liberals, and he was 
 not long in revealing his method of vengeance. He issued 
 a manifesto to the Irish people, in which he declared that 
 Mr Gladstone's interference for the purpose of influencing 
 the Irish people in their choice of a leader, and the threat 
 in his letter, "repeated so insolently on many English plat- 
 forms and in numerous British newspapers," compelled him 
 " to put before you information which until now, so far as 
 my colleagues are concerned, has been solely in my posses- 
 sion, and which will enable you to understand the measure 
 of the loss with which you are threatened, unless you con- 
 sent to throw me to the English wolves now howling for my 
 destruction." 
 
 Parnell then went on to describe certain transactions that 
 took place during his visit to Mr Gladstone at Hawarden in 
 November 1889. He said that there he had laid before 
 him, in a conversation lasting two hours, " mainly mono-
 
 A.D. 1890.] MR PARNELL RETALIATES. 337 
 
 polised by Mr Gladstone," a detailed scheme of Home Eule, 
 to be put in effect as soon as the Liberal party returned to 
 office; but that, pending the general election, absolute 
 silence was to be preserved on the question of retaining the 
 Irish members all or any of them at Westminster. 
 Further, Mr Parnell described how Mr Morley expressed 
 perplexity at the "avowed absence of any policy on the 
 part of the Liberal leaders and party with regard to the 
 land question," and how he (Parnell) was persuaded at 
 length, though he thought it false strategy, to meet Mr 
 Balfour's Land Bill with 'a direct negative. 
 
 Finally, he gave the details of an interview he had had 
 with Mr Morley a few weeks previously, in which, he said, 
 he had persuaded that gentleman to adopt the "oblique 
 method of procedure " in opposing the Land Bill 
 
 But, in addition, he made me a remarkable proposal, referring to 
 the probable approaching victory of the Liberal party at the polls. 
 He suggested some considerations as to the future of the Irish party. 
 He asked me whether I would be willing to assume the office of Chief 
 Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, or to allow another 
 member of my party to take the position. He also put before me 
 the desirability of filling one of the law offices of the Crown in Ireland 
 by a legal member of my party. 
 
 There was enough in this startling document to withdraw 
 the attention of the Liberal party from the proceedings of 
 the Government, and to put them on their defence before 
 the people whom they aspired to rule. Its publication was 
 immediately followed by letters from Mr Gladstone and Mr 
 Morley, denying the accuracy of Mr Parnell's version of the 
 Ha warden negotiations. 
 
 While this tempest was raging, business in the House of 
 Commons had begun with unusual tranquillity. Smith 
 wrote to Mr Gladstone on November 25, informing him 
 that it was his intention, as soon as the Address had been 
 voted, to ask the House to give the Government the whole 
 of its time up to Christmas for the consideration of the 
 
 Y
 
 338 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. [MI. 65. 
 
 Tithes and Land Purchase Bills. In reply Mr Gladstone 
 observed, " You will not require to be told that I view it 
 with regret." It was expected that Mr Smith's proposal 
 would be hotly contested, but there was no spirit left, for 
 the time being, in the Opposition, and it was carried with- 
 out difficulty. The Tithes Bill and the Land Bill were read 
 a second time, the latter giving the first opportunity of 
 accentuating the split in the Irish party, for while the 
 anti-Parnellites went with Mr Gladstone into the lobby 
 against it, Parnell and his faithful followers voted with the 
 Government. Both bills were afterwards allowed to pass 
 into the Committee stage, to be resumed after the Christmas 
 holidays, and Parliament was adjourned on December 9 until 
 January 22 the autumn session, which had been approached 
 with so much trepidation by Ministers and eager anticipation 
 of victory by the Opposition, having lasted less than a fort- 
 night. The Government was saved from the consequences 
 of unskilful administration, as a Scotsman might say, " mair 
 by luck than gude guidin'." 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 1891. 
 
 Always a frequent and profuse letter-writer, Smith main- 
 tained a constant correspondence throughout the ill-health 
 which constantly oppressed him during 1891. Here is a 
 letter to the Duke of Eutland, who was prevented by gout 
 from attending the January Cabinets : 
 
 3 GROSVENOR PLACE, S.W., 19th Jan. 1891. 
 
 MY DEAR DUKE, It was very good of you to write to me at such 
 length. I waited to reply until we had had our first Cabinet after
 
 A.D. 1891.] LEADERSHIP OF THE IRISH PARTY. 339 
 
 Salisbury's return, and although you may possibly hear from others 
 of our colleagues, I will tell you shortly what we did if Cabinets 
 ever do anything. We considered somewhat alarmist telegrams from 
 the Cape. The Boers are supposed to be about to trek into Mashona- 
 land and set up a republic, with the connivance of the Transvaal 
 Government. . . . We agreed a telegram should go warning the 
 Transvaal Government that the threatened incursion would be un- 
 friendly, hostile, and a breach of the Swazi Convention. . . . The 
 Budget was of course considered, and your views as to the Income- 
 tax were debated, but it was felt that, having included Assisted Edu- 
 cation in the Queen's Speech, provision must be made for, it, and a 
 reduction of Income-tax postponed. Both cannot be done this year. 
 It is, I think, certain that if we proposed to postpone the former to 
 the latter, we should be met by an amendment which would unite all 
 the men on the Liberal benches with some of our own men against 
 us. Every member now has his eye on the General Election, and 
 every vote is given from an Opportunist point of view. The payers of 
 school fees are more powerful from a voting point of view than the 
 payers of Income-tax 1 
 
 The vote on Opium shows the demoralisation of the House. Men 
 could not be induced to vote against Pease. They were terrorised 
 by the cry of immorality raised by the Sentimental and Dissenting 
 Agitators. . . . 
 
 On resuming work in Parliament on January 22, Minis- 
 ters found themselves confronted by a disorganised and 
 perplexed Opposition. The question of the Irish leadership 
 was still under discussion at Boulogne, between Mr Parnell 
 on the one hand, and, on the other, Mr Dillon and Mr 
 O'Brien, the latter having been summoned from America to 
 act as peacemaker between the two sections. In these 
 negotiations Parnell held a position of great power, inas- 
 much as a large proportion of the funds of the National 
 League were locked up in his name, and could only be 
 released on his order. 
 
 Meanwhile the conflict between Parnellites and anti-Par- 
 nellites had assumed the character of one between the ecclesi- 
 astical and the purely revolutionary forces in Ireland. It 
 was not until the majority of the Irish parliamentary party 
 had declared against Parnell, that the authorities of the 
 Roman Catholic Church pronounced against the recognition 
 of his leadership, or, as Lord Salisbury expressed it in the
 
 340 LIFE OF W. II. SMITH. [>T. 65. 
 
 House of Lords, " gently descended on the right side of the 
 fence." 
 
 In some respects this Boulogne conference offered a 
 parallel to the Bound-Table Conference of 1887 : similar 
 hopes were entertained of reconciliation between the rup- 
 tured sections of a once united party : the chances seemed 
 in each case to be favourable to reunion : in each case the 
 negotiations broke down, and left the breach wider and 
 more accentuated than before. 
 
 On February 4 Mr Gladstone moved the second reading 
 of a bill which he had introduced to remove the disability 
 which prevents Eoman Catholics holding the appointments 
 of Lord Chancellor and Viceroy of Ireland, but severing 
 from the first-named office the right of administering the 
 ecclesiastical patronage of the Crown. It appeared to some 
 persons that the right hon. gentleman's motive in moving in 
 this matter at that particular time was mainly a personal 
 one namely, to enable him, in the event of a return of his 
 party to office, to appoint two of his most prominent sup- 
 porters, who happened to be Eoman Catholics, one to the 
 woolsack, the other to the Lord Lieutenancy. Be that 
 as it might, it was open to Smith, upon whom devolved 
 the duty of moving the rejection of the bill, to argue that 
 although Mr Gladstone was now so much impressed with 
 the importance of the question, and so convinced of the 
 existence of a grievance, that he had been impelled to take 
 the course, most unusual in an ex-Premier, of personally 
 introducing a bill, yet it had never occurred to him to take 
 action in the matter at a time when, being in office and 
 responsible for the policy of the Cabinet, he might have 
 done so to some effect. 
 
 I do not wish [said Smith] to enter at any length upon the details 
 of the measure ; but I want to point out this one thing either the 
 measure is necessary, or it is not necessary. If it is not necessary, it
 
 A.D. 1891.] KELIGIOUS DISABILITIES BILL. 341 
 
 is open to the objection which the right lion, gentleman himself in- 
 dicated that it does impose a new disability. And the point I wish 
 to draw the attention of the House to is, that while it disqualifies the 
 Lord Chancellor from exercising ecclesiastical patronage, and from 
 discharging any trust of any corporation or institution which may 
 attach to the Church of England, it leaves him open to declare the 
 law and policy affecting such trusts, so that the Lord Chancellor is to 
 be rendered incapable of discharging an executive duty within the 
 plain direction of the trust ; . . . but he is not debarred from dis- 
 charging the duties affecting the policy and the legal interpretation 
 of such trusts. I can hardly regard that as either wise or satisfac- 
 tory. It is, I can only repeat, the setting up of a new scheme of 
 disability, declaring at one moment that a Roman Catholic lawyer is 
 to be fully capable of discharging the duties of Lord Chancellor, and 
 the next moment cutting off from him a very large proportion of the 
 most important duties which devolve upon him. 
 
 I am not, I believe, straining a point at all in saying that the right 
 hou. gentleman must have contemplated all these consequences with 
 reference to the future government of Ireland by the light of the 
 book which he has written 1 and the opinions he has expressed 
 therein. I regard this bill as most unfortunate and inopportune. I 
 do not know why it is proposed, unless it be in connection with the 
 scheme of Home Rule with which the right hon. gentleman is 
 identified. We have fellow-subjects of the Roman Catholic faith in 
 all parts of the world. We trust them ; we rely upon them to dis- 
 charge their several duties ; and there is no disability of any kind 
 upon them other than those to which reference has been made in this 
 bill. It seems to me that those who stir questions of this kind incur 
 a grave responsibility. The revival of religious controversy is a 
 matter that ought to be avoided by all who have any regard for the 
 peace and wellbeing of the country. We are in peace, and I earnestly 
 hope that the House and country will allow us to remain so, and that 
 this bill may not pass into law. 
 
 In effect the bill was rejected by a majority of 47, 27 
 Conservatives voting in the minority against the Govern- 
 ment. 
 
 The Catholic Union of Great Britain took umbrage at 
 the action of the Government in resisting Mr Gladstone's 
 measure, and forwarded through their President, the Duke 
 of Norfolk, to Mr Smith a copy of a resolution expressing 
 "deep pain at the recent rejection by the House of Com- 
 mons of the Religious Disabilities Removal Bill," and pro- 
 testing " against the slur thereby cast upon the loyalty and 
 
 1 The Vatican Decrees.
 
 342 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. [J2T. 65. 
 
 patriotism of the Catholics of this country." In reply, 
 Smith wrote the following letter to the Duke : 
 
 10 DOWNING STREET, WHITEHALL, Feb. 26, 1891. 
 
 MY DEAR DUKE OF NORFOLK, Pray accept my apologies for delay 
 in acknowledging your letter of the 19th inst., enclosing the resolu- 
 tion passed at the recent meeting of the Catholic Union of Great 
 Britain ; but I have been overwhelmed with work during the last 
 week. 
 
 I am very sorry that the meeting should have considered the 
 action of the House of Commons, hi regard to the Religious Dis- 
 abilities Removal Bill, as in any way a slur upon the loyalty and 
 patriotism of her Majesty's Roman Catholic subjects. Not only did 
 I take pains in my speech to emphasise the fact that no one who 
 knows English society could doubt the perfect loyalty of the Roman 
 Catholics, but I pointed out that the constitution of her Majesty's 
 Government at the present time was in itself a complete answer to 
 such a suggestion. Believe me, my dear Lord Duke, yours very 
 truly, W. H. SMITH. 
 
 There were, however, some members of the Catholic 
 Union who by no means approved of the action taken by 
 that body on this occasion, as is proved by the following 
 extract from a letter written to Mr Smith by a member of a 
 distinguished Eoman Catholic family : 
 
 Feb. 23, '91. 
 
 DEAR MR SMITH, In common with other Catholics who are sup- 
 porters of Tory principles, I am extremely grieved to hear that a 
 resolution has been sent to you from the Catholic Union, which 
 proves that certain influential gentlemen have fallen into the trap so 
 cleverly laid for them by Mr Gladstone. It is well you should know 
 that there were only about fifty present at the meeting. ... I 
 know several equally influential men who are as opposed to this 
 resolution as I am ; and tho' no doubt the rank & file in Lancashire 
 have been taken in & use will be made of it by Gladstonians, I am 
 quite sure such a resolution would not have been carried as it was if 
 the meeting had been more representative. I never received notice 
 of it. 
 
 Early in the session, on January 27, the House of Com- 
 mons entered for the last time upon the consideration of the 
 law of the Parliamentary Oath as it affected Mr Charles 
 Bradlaugh, the member for Northampton. That member 
 had put upon the paper a notice calling upon the House to
 
 A.D. 1891.] THE LAST OF MR BRADLAUGH. 343 
 
 expunge from its Journals the resolution of June 22, 1880, 
 whereby he was debarred from taking the oath or making 
 affirmation, such resolution " being subversive of the rights 
 of the whole body of electors of this kingdom." But when 
 the day appointed for the discussion arrived, Mr Eradlaugh 
 was lying on what proved to be his death-bed, and Dr 
 Hunter moved the resolution in his place. 
 
 The relations of Mr Bradlaugh with the House, and the 
 feeling towards him among members of all parties, had 
 greatly altered since the exciting scenes attendant upon his 
 first appearance in Parliament, and Smith made handsome 
 allusion to this in declaring the line which the Government 
 intended to pursue in dealing with the motion : 
 
 I must express for myself, and, I am sure, for all my hon. friends 
 on this side of the House, the great regret we feel at the illness of the 
 hon. member for Northampton. He is undoubtedly a warm partisan. 
 He takes a strong view on all points on which he thinks it right to 
 give expression to views in this House ; but he has been undoubtedly 
 a valuable addition to this House, not only from the freedom and in- 
 dependence with which he has expressed his views, but from the 
 manner in which he has conducted himself here. ... I have considered 
 very carefully the suggestion which has been made by the hon. and 
 learned member for Aberdeen. We remain of the opinion expressed 
 in the resolution of 1880. We believe that the House at that time 
 did its duty. . . . But, sir, the circumstances are entirely changed. 
 There is no longer any necessity for maintaining on the Journals of 
 the House this resolution ; and in all the circumstances in which we 
 find ourselves, and bearing in mind that Mr Bradlaugh has been a 
 useful member of this House for six or seven years, I shall not resist 
 the motion, upon the understanding [which had been advocated by 
 Mr Gladstone] that the last words, impugning the authority and con- 
 trol of this House, are struck out. I could not under any circum- 
 stances consent to say that the House in 1880 exceeded its duty 
 that it did anything contrary to the law of Parliament, or anything 
 in derogation of the rights and privileges of the people. But if it is 
 merely the desire that the resolution of 1880 should be erased from 
 the records, I shall offer no opposition. 
 
 This was agreed to, and thus the House of Commons 
 performed a gracious act towards one of its members, with- 
 out in any degree reflecting upon the motives or wisdom of
 
 344 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. [>T. 65. 
 
 those who had been compelled to deal with very difficult 
 circumstances. 
 
 On February 16 Mr John Morley moved a vote of cen- 
 sure on the Government in regard to the administration of 
 the law in Ireland. To this Mr T. W. Russell moved an 
 amendment, to the effect that the Tipperary prosecutions 
 and other proceedings " had been rendered imperative by 
 the existence and activity of an illegal conspiracy against 
 the rights of the people, who had been cruelly persecuted, 
 and that the House rejoiced in the successful vindication of 
 the law." The omission of the words of Mr Morley's reso- 
 lution, in order to insert* Mr Russell's amendment, was 
 carried by 75 votes, and the debate was resumed. At one 
 o'clock in the morning Smith rose to reply to Sir William 
 Harcourt, who had seconded Mr Healy's motion for the 
 adjournment of the debate. He rallied Sir William on 
 the attempt he had joined in to evade the meaning of the 
 decision at which the House had just arrived, and at half- 
 past one the debate was adjourned, never more to be 
 resumed. 
 
 This was the last direct attack upon the Government in 
 which Smith was ever to take part as one of the defending 
 party. 
 
 The most important provision in Mr Goschen's Budget 
 was one to redeem the reference in the Queen's Speech to 
 the alleviation of " the burden which compulsory education 
 has in recent years imposed on the poorer portions of the 
 people." " I have," said the Chancellor of the Exchequer, 
 " two millions at my disposal, in one sense ; but there sits 
 on the Treasury Bench another despoiler of the public 
 purse my right hon. friend the Vice-President of the 
 Council." To make elementary education free in England, 
 Ireland, and Wales, as had already been done in Scotland,
 
 A.D. 1891.] REGARD FOR MR GLADSTONE. 345 
 
 would swallow up the whole surplus ; but the Government 
 had made up their minds, and the thing was done. 
 
 On the vexed question of the Sunday opening of museums, 
 Smith made the following reply to one who had addressed 
 inquiry to him : 
 
 March 20, 1891. 
 
 I know there is difference of opinion between men who all earnestly 
 desire to promote the happiness of their fellow-creatures, as to the 
 opening of picture-galleries and museums on Sundays. I do not 
 presume to find fault with those who differ from me, but I remain of 
 opinion that on the whole it would be harmful to the interests of the 
 working classes, as it would involve the compulsory employment by 
 the State of many of these servants on Sundays, and set an example 
 to private employers of labour in the direction of amusements. 
 
 I am of opinion that a Sunday rest is invaluable to the working 
 man, and I am anxious to protect it for him as much as I can. Yours 
 very sincerely, W. H. SMITH. 
 
 Stoutly as Smith had opposed, time after time, the policy 
 of Mr Gladstone on many subjects, and plainly as he some- 
 times expressed his disapproval at the inconsistency of that 
 statesman's course with the principles which, as Smith held, 
 should lie at the base of all government, it is pleasant to 
 record an instance of the personal regard which endured to 
 the end between these political opponents. On March 28 
 Smith wrote to the Right Hon. Akers Douglas, M.P., the 
 Patronage Secretary : 
 
 Harcourt asks me to dinner on April 15 to meet Gladstone, and I 
 am very much inclined to go. Would it frighten our friends ? 
 
 Three months later, on June 28, he observed in a letter 
 to Sir Henry Acland : 
 
 Gladstone is more kindly in his personal relations than I have ever 
 known him, but he is physically much weaker, and the least exertion 
 knocks him over. 
 
 Smith had thoughts for gentler subjects than political 
 strife, as is shown by the following letter, written on April 
 4, to the Duke of Rutland :
 
 34:6 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. [XT. 65. 
 
 This is the last of my so-called holidays ; but every day has brought 
 its three or four hours' work. It is however a most restful change to 
 write my letters in full view of trees and hills, which to-day are 
 refreshed by their first April shower. ... I have long wanted to ask 
 you to do me a kindness while there is yet time. I have a great 
 desire to put the proper names to Disraeli's characters in his political 
 novels. . . . Would you mind doing it for me ? I would put it by as 
 a literary treasure in my library : not to be opened for any number of 
 years that you might stipulate, if you thought it desirable to do so. 
 Baillie-Cochrane is gone, and there is no one I know of who can supply 
 the information but yourself. . . . Cranbrook writes to me to-day to 
 say that he has seen it stated in the papers that Michael Davitt has 
 been placed on the Royal Commission on Labour. I wrote at once to 
 say there was no truth in the story. Justin M'Carthy, who has been 
 at Cannes, wrote and telegraphed asking that he (Davitt) might be put 
 upon it to represent the late Parnell party, but I telegraphed in reply 
 that it was impossible. . . . Lord Granville's death is a real loss, 
 although he had got very old lately. The bench opposite to you in the 
 House of Lords will not be at all the same without him. 
 
 One more distinction and mark of his sovereign's favour 
 was to be bestowed on Smith, and one which probably gave 
 him more gratification than any of the honours he had 
 already received. On May 1, 1891, after Lord Granville's 
 death, Lord Salisbury wrote to him to say that he had sub- 
 mitted his name to the Queen for the Wardenship of the 
 Cinque Ports : 
 
 It is a semi-naval position, & you have been since 1878 always ex- 
 ceedingly popular with naval people : & I think the Dover people 
 would feel complimented at the Leader of the House of Commons 
 taking it. I enclose the Queen's answer. 
 
 Will you take it ? 
 
 The Queen to the Marquis of Salisbury. 
 
 WINDSOR CASTLE, May 1, 1891. 
 
 The Queen highly approves of Mr Smith's being offered the office of 
 Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports. No one deserves it more than he 
 does. 
 
 Some foolish comments were made at the time on Smith's 
 acceptance of this office. It was murmured that it was a 
 post which should have been reserved for some Minister in 
 circumstances other than affluent, who had not, like Smith, 
 a country residence of his own. How little these critics
 

 
 14 OCT. 1920 
 
 &/T.CAU-
 
 A.D. 1891.] AN AMBITIOUS OFFICE. 347 
 
 understood the motives which had led to the offer being 
 made and accepted ! So far from the Wardenship being 
 an office of profit, Lord Salisbury wrote about it : "I made 
 a mistake in thinking it should be reserved as an assistance 
 to a poor man. It is a white elephant of the whitest kind." 
 In former days it was indeed a lucrative post, and the Lord 
 Warden used to derive 3000 or 4000 a-year from the 
 proceeds of wreckage; but latterly there has been no in- 
 come of any sort, but on the contrary a heavy expenditure 
 in upkeep and household charges. 
 
 The usual letters of congratulation poured in, but there 
 was a touch of pathos in them, arising from the precarious 
 state of the new Lord Warden's health. 
 
 May you and yours [wrote Sir Henry Acland] long enjoy the peace- 
 ful retreat, looking from the Great Duke's window over the Downs 
 and imbibing the lovely sea-breeze that ever moves along the shore. 
 
 Among the many letters of congratulation which Smith 
 received was one from a naval officer of high rank, contain- 
 ing an amusing anecdote : 
 
 In 1870 I was lying in the Downs with two other ships. Mr Glad- 
 stone, then Prime Minister, was stopping at Walmer Castle with your 
 predecessor, and they intimated their intention of visiting the senior 
 officer, who at once turned to the Regulations to see what honours a 
 Prime Minister was entitled to on visiting a man-of-war, and nothing 
 could be found. Here was a dilemma ! but fortunately it was found 
 that the Ld. Warden is entitled to 19 guns in his own jurisdiction, so 
 yards were manned & the salute fired, and Mr Gladstone stood up and 
 graciously bowed, & took to himself what was really meant for the 
 Lord Warden. 
 
 According to the archaic rule which compels all members 
 accepting office under the Crown to vacate their seats and 
 offer themselves for re-election, Smith had to go through 
 the form of an appeal to the Strand electors. lie was not 
 opposed, and the manner of his reception by the House on 
 taking his seat is best shown by an extract from the parlia- 
 mentary report of an evening paper, the ' Pall Mall Gazette,'
 
 348 LIFE OF W. II. SMITH. [JKT. 65. 
 
 at that time strongly Eadical in politics, and surely not pre- 
 disposed in favour of the Tory leader : 
 
 " Members desiring to take their seats will now come to the table," 
 shouts the Speaker in stentorian tones, and behold ! there marches 
 
 W. H. Smith in his new character as Warden of the Cinque Ports 
 and Constable of Dover Castle.' 1 
 
 up to the table a member whom we seem to have seen before. He 
 blushes, but he is not in the first bloom of his manhood : he smiles 
 nervously in response to the ringing cheers that greet him from all 
 parts of the House, but he goes through the ceremonies of introduc- 
 
 1 Reproduced from ' Punch ' by permission of the proprietors.
 
 A.D. 1891.] LAST APPEARANCE IN THE HOUSE. 349 
 
 tion not with the awkwardness of a new member, but with all the 
 grace and ease of one who has known them from his childhood up. 
 And the curious thing is this, though he is obviously a Tory member, 
 the whole House joins in his welcome, and grins from ear to ear with 
 satisfaction, as at the coming of some very dear old friend. Curious ? 
 it is not at all curious ; for who should this member be but the most 
 popular man that has led the House of Commons for the last twenty 
 years Mr W. H. Smith. 
 
 This was on May 12 : on the 14th Smith went to spend 
 the short Whitsuntide recess at Cadenabbia, whence he re- 
 turned on May 27. A month later he was laid low by an 
 attack of gout. Though unable to be in his place in the 
 House of Commons, he managed with great difficulty to 
 attend a meeting of the Cabinet on June 20. 
 
 Gout has seized on my right ankle [he wrote to Miss Giberne on 
 his birthday, the 24th], but I am told it is good for me, which I 
 believe, and that I shall be better in a day or two. Meanwhile I 
 cannot go to the House or to Windsor, where I am summoned to-day, 
 and so I have rest to a certain extent. 
 
 Every one is very kind and very good to me, and I think I am 
 as careful as I can be if I go on with my work, which I don't see my 
 way, as a matter of conscience, yet to throw up. . . . 
 
 The last words spoken by Smith in the House of Com- 
 mons were on July 10, in reply to a question by the Hon. 
 Philip Stanhope, who asked him if her Majesty's Govern- 
 ment would convey to the French Government an invita- 
 tion to the President of the French Republic to visit Eng- 
 land. Mr Smith replied that it was not in accordance with 
 usage for her Majesty's Ministers to convey invitations of 
 this kind ; but the head of the French Republic or of any 
 other friendly nation would always receive a cordial welcome 
 in this country. 
 
 On July 1 1 he was well enough to go to Hatfield to meet 
 the German Emperor, but many who spoke to him there 
 were shocked with his wasted, worn look. This was, in- 
 deed, his last appearance in public, and though the symp- 
 toms of his malady became much more serious, he made 
 light of them in writing to Mrs Smith. In the letter which
 
 350 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. [>T. <J6. 
 
 ho addressed to her from Hatfield, there was brought to a 
 close the long and sympathetic correspondence which had 
 endured throughout their wedded life : 
 
 HATFIELD HOUSE, 12th July 1891. 7 P.M. 
 
 MY DEAKEST WIFE, Everything has gone off wonderfully well 
 to-day. The weather has been perfect for Hatfield. The place 
 is looking beautiful, and everybody says so, which must be very 
 satisfactory to the Salisburys. 
 
 They have been very kind to me, and, observing I looked tired last 
 night, Lady Salisbury urged me to go to bed early, which I did, and 
 to-day I have rested a great deal in my room. The house is so 
 crowded that many of the guests are sleeping out in the town, and 
 amongst them George Hamilton and Stanhope, but I am lodged 
 comfortably in a quiet corner of the house. 
 
 I am still uncomfortable, and am clearly not yet fit for the iron, 
 which I shall not take again until I have seen Powell. 
 
 I hope it has not been an unhappy day for you. It would have 
 been happier for me if I had been with you, but I think it was right 
 to come under the circumstances. Your loving husband, 
 
 W. H. SMITH. 
 
 Mr Balfour, observing how ill he looked, urged Smith to 
 send for a doctor, but he, well knowing that he would have 
 been ordered to lay up at once, would not consent to do so. 
 He returned to London on the 13th exceedingly ill, and for 
 a day or two his condition was very grave. Needless to say 
 that he lacked nothing that medical skill or loving care 
 could provide, and the more acute symptoms were allayed, 
 but it was nearly six weeks before he could be moved from 
 his house in Grosvenor Place. This severe illness was not 
 suffered to interfere with an annual fete Avhich Smith used 
 to provide for the police attending at the House of Com- 
 mons, and for the messengers, doorkeepers, and others em- 
 ployed there. He directed arrangements to be made as 
 usual, and the excursion to Greenlands took place towards 
 the end of July, just as if the owner of that beautiful place 
 had been strong and well. 
 
 Mr Gladstone called personally to make a last inquiry 
 before leaving London for the recess, and sent a kindly
 
 A.D. 1891.] 
 
 GOES TO WALMEE. 
 
 351 
 
 message up-stairs to the rival leader of the Commons ; but 
 Smith was too ill at the time to see any except members of 
 
 h ' ' 
 
 In the Gardens, Walmer Castle. 
 
 his own family. Just before leave was given by the doctors 
 to attempt the move to Walmer, Lord Salisbury and one or
 
 352 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. [JST. 66. 
 
 two intimate colleagues were admitted to take a short fare- 
 well. 
 
 On August 20 Mr Smith travelled to Walmer with his 
 wifa 
 
 Much was hoped from the change, but it was still some 
 time before much benefit was apparent. Smith remained 
 quite unable to walk, and could only take the air in short 
 drives in a carriage or bath-chair. His one wish was to get 
 afloat The Pandora lay at anchor off the castle, and to get 
 him on board was a risky undertaking, for the beach at 
 Walmer is still as bad to embark from as Nelson found it 
 when he visited Pitt. Deal Pier, besides being at some 
 distance, was not much better, for there were the slippery 
 steps down which the invalid would have to be carried; 
 and Dover Harbour was too far away. At last, however, so 
 strong was the desire of the patient, that on September 11 
 he was conveyed on board in a litter, and several hours were 
 spent cruising in the Channel. Thereafter, whenever the 
 weather was favourable, these excursions were repeated, and 
 his strength seemed to be slowly returning. He became able 
 to take short turns on deck, leaning on a friendly arm ; but 
 his chief pleasure was to sit or lie, with wife or daughter 
 beside him, watching the shipping of all nationalities pass- 
 ing up and down the Channel ; and he would have the 
 yacht steered close to any vessel of remarkable beauty or 
 interest, such as a four-masted clipper under full sail. One 
 day, to his great delight, he was accompanied in his cruise 
 by Mr Jackson l and Mr Akers Douglas, the two Secretaries 
 to the Treasury, who were deeply moved with sympathy for 
 the condition of their beloved chief. 
 
 All this time, in spite of his weakness, Smith found 
 
 1 The Right Hon. W. L. Jackson, M.P., succeeded Mr Balfour as 
 Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland when the latter 
 became First Lord of the Treasury on Mr Smith's death.
 
 A.D. 1891.] LAST CRUISE IN THE PANDORA. 353 
 
 resolution to transact with his secretary, Mr Pattisson, such 
 business as came by post. Faithful to old habits, he wrote 
 many letters to his friends, and settled several questions of 
 patronage and other matters belonging to the office of First 
 Lord of the Treasury. 
 
 On Thursday, October 1, he felt so much better that, at 
 his special desire, those members of his family who had 
 visiting engagements prepared to carry them out. Accord- 
 ingly Mr Smith was left alone with his wife and Mrs 
 Codrington, and by the doctor's advice a house was taken 
 in Torquay for the winter months. 
 
 On Friday, October 2, there was a rough sea on, but he 
 was carried down over the beach, and with some difficulty 
 placed in the gig. " Ah ! this is like life itself," he ob- 
 served to Captain Blow, as he felt the motion of the boat ; 
 "your treatment is doing me good. I feel some hopes 
 now." It was the last time he was on board his beloved 
 yacht. The casket of Pandora did not fail to yield him 
 hope, but it was a hope to be realised in another world : he 
 had done with the hopes, loves, cares, and anxieties of this 
 one. 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 1891. 
 
 On Monday, October 5, Smith was up and dressed in 
 the drawing-room overlooking the Downs. He asked Mr 
 Pattisson if there was anything in his letters requiring 
 attention, who replied that there was one from Lord George 
 Hamilton on a rather difficult question, and suggested de- 
 ferring it to another day. Smith, however, desired that it 
 
 z
 
 354 
 
 LIFE OF W. II. SMITH. 
 
 [JET. 66. 
 
 should be read to him, and dictated a sentence "bearing on 
 the point raised; but, feeling unequal to the exertion, he 
 
 
 Drawing-room, Walmer Castle. 
 
 gave it up, saying, " No : tell George I am not well enough 
 to deal with it." 
 
 He then gave instructions to prepare submissions to the 
 Queen in regard to two vacant Crown livings, and, lastly,
 
 A.D. 1891.] HIS DEATH. 355 
 
 to get ready for his signature two cheques on his private 
 account to pay his doctors' fees. Mr Pattisson, noticing 
 that he was in great pain, suggested that they should be 
 paid out of his (Mr Pattisson's) account, so as to save his 
 chief the exertion of signing them. But he, smiling, said, 
 " No ; it is a little compliment to them if I sign my own 
 cheques, and I should like to do so." The cheques were 
 accordingly drawn on his own account, and thus the last 
 occasion he ever put pen to paper was characteristic of 
 his whole life, for it arose out of a desire to show consider- 
 ation for others. 
 
 On the following morning, Tuesday, October 6, an alarm- 
 ing change took place. Dr Wethered, who had been called 
 in between 6 and 7 A.M., found that the heart's action 
 was failing. Telegrams were sent to the absent members 
 of the family, but they were too distant to be recalled in 
 time to see their father alive. 
 
 Shortly after one o'clock Dr Douglas Powell and Mr 
 Tom Smith (the well-known surgeon) arrived from London, 
 but they could only confirm Dr Wethered's melancholy 
 diagnosis. 
 
 Mr Smith's mind, even now, remained quite clear, and 
 once more a kindly thought for another made him send a 
 business instruction to Mr Pattisson. The doctors had 
 withdrawn but a few minutes, leaving Mrs Smith alone 
 with her husband, save for the presence of the nurse and a 
 faitliful valet, when they were called back. 
 
 Mr Smith passed away at ten minutes to three. 
 
 Newspapers of every section and shade of politics gave 
 testimony next morning to the respect borne to the per- 
 sonal character of Mr Smith, and the admiration which his 
 sterling qualities had secured from all classes of his fellow- 
 countrymen.
 
 356 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. 
 
 From the Queen came a gracious telegram to Mrs 
 Smith : 
 
 I cannot find words to express my sorrow at the unexpected news 
 of the loss of your beloved husband. The country and his Sovereign 
 lose in him one of the wisest and best statesmen and kindest and best 
 of men. To you the blow must be terrible and the loss irreparable. 
 
 V. R. I. 
 
 This was followed by a letter which conveyed more fully 
 her Majesty's sympathy with her bereaved subject : 
 
 BALMORAL CASTLE, Oct. 7, 1891. 
 
 DEAR MRS SMITH, As I telegraphed, it is quite impossible for me 
 to express how deeply grieved and shocked I was at the unexpected 
 news of dear Mr Smith's suddenly increased illness, to be followed so 
 soon by the very sad news that he had passed away. I feel most 
 deeply for you, and fear that his unceasing devotion to his country 
 and Sovereign has shortened his most valuable life ! I cannot suffi- 
 ciently express my sense of gratitude to him for his invaluable ser- 
 vices, or how deeply I mourn his loss, which is so great to the coun- 
 try. He has left behind him a bright example, and will be deeply 
 mourned and regretted by all. 
 
 But to you, dear Mrs Smith, the loss is the greatest and the blow 
 is the heaviest, and I pray God to support you and enable you to sub- 
 mit to His dispensation ; but it is very difficult to say, " Thy will be 
 done." 
 
 Asking you to convey to your children the expression of my sym- 
 pathy, pray believe me always, Yours most sincerely, 
 
 VICTORIA R. /. 
 
 Other letters of condolence streamed in, and among the 
 scores of telegrams there was one of extreme simplicity, in 
 form and significance equally classical and Christian, con- 
 sisting of three words only : 
 
 Bcatus Me. GEORGB. 
 
 The funeral was extremely simple. The body was con- 
 veyed from Walmer Castle to Henley on the morning of 
 Saturday, October 10, and thence by the Mario w road to 
 Hambleden Church. Among other offerings of affection and 
 respect there was a wreath sent by the Queen, bearing, in 
 her Majesty's autograph, the inscription
 
 A.D. 1891.] PEERAGE CONFERRED ON MRS SMITH. 357 
 
 A mark of sincere regard and gratitude for devoted services to his 
 Sovereign and country from VICTORIA R. I. 
 
 It was a day of mournful rain, yet many followed the 
 bier of their friend and benefactor to the new cemetery at 
 Hambleden. There they laid him in the grave, and before 
 it closed over him the clear voices of the choir raised a strain 
 of confident hope in the hymn : " The saints of God, their 
 conflict past." 
 
 More stately, though not more impressive, was the 
 Memorial Service in Westminster Abbey, by which the 
 nation did honour to the memory of its departed servant : 
 of the vast number assembled there that day, none can have 
 forgotten the hymn which closed the service "Now the 
 labourer's task is o'er." 
 
 On October 1 2 the Queen wrote once more : 
 
 DEAR MRS SMITH, I am most desirous, as you will easily believe, 
 to give a public mark of my deep sense of the services your beloved 
 Husband rendered to me and to his country services which I fear 
 shortened his valuable life. 
 
 I wish therefore to offer to you, his devoted wife, a Peerage a 
 Viscountcy which I hope you will feel inclined to accept for his 
 sake. Truly thankful am I to hear that you are able to bear up 
 under your overwhelming affliction, and trust that the universal 
 mourning for your dear Husband's loss, and the equally universal 
 appreciation of his services and character, will be soothing to you. 
 Believe me always, yours most sincerely, VICTORIA R. I. 
 
 Had Mrs Smith consulted her own inclinations, she 
 would have preferred to continue to bear that name 
 which was associated so closely with the happiness and 
 pride of her life ; but the Queen's offer, couched in lan- 
 guage so gracious and warmly appreciative of the services 
 of the departed, was one that could hardly be declined, and 
 Mrs Smith, taking her title from the village and parish 
 where her husband had been so well known and loved and 
 where his mortal part had been laid, became Viscountess 
 Hambleden. 
 
 Mr Smith's old constituents in the Strand also exerted
 
 358 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. 
 
 themselves to do honour to his memory by selecting his son, 
 the Hon. W. F. D. Smith, to represent them in Parliament, 
 and elected him by a majority of 3006 votes over his Glad- 
 stonian opponent, Dr Gutteridge. 1 
 
 In estimating the standing of William Henry Smith 
 among British statesmen, one is tempted to. alter the judg- 
 ment passed by Sydney Smith upon Joseph Hume, " He 
 was an extraordinarily ordinary man," into one of very 
 different significance, though almost identical form, " He 
 was an extraordinary ordinary man." 
 
 A life of almost uncheckered prosperity and integrity, as 
 steadfast in the transaction of public affairs as it was con- 
 stant in commercial concerns and domestic relations, does 
 not in itself suffice to account for the universal regret felt 
 and expressed among all degrees of people, and all groups 
 of politicians, at the news of Smith's death. Men felt, as 
 they laid his body in the quiet little wayside cemetery at 
 Hambleden, among the dripping autumn woods, that they 
 were parting with one of the truest servants that ever 
 undertook a trust, one of the staunchest friends that ever 
 clasped a hand. More puissant statesmen have been taken 
 from their places, and left a sense of lighter loss. When 
 Sir Robert Peel's horse fell with him on Constitution Hill, 
 when the reins of government slipped from the firm adroit 
 hand of Lord Palmerston, when the bold and earnest 
 hoarseness of John Bright's voice was hushed for ever 
 there was national mourning, deepened by that which never 
 fails to add poignancy to regret, that all of these died at 
 their posts ; but scarcely (if memory is to be trusted after 
 many years) was the acclaim " Well done ! " pronounced for 
 
 1 Mr Frederick Smith's nomination at the general election of 1892 
 was unopposed.
 
 HIS CHARACTER. 359 
 
 them in such full accord as for the modest-minded English- 
 man, whom these had far outshone in brilliancy and legis- 
 lative achievement. 
 
 Smith was so far from coveting advancement, that Mr 
 George Curzon once said of him at a public meeting that he 
 was the only modern leader who was a leader because his 
 followers sought him out and insisted on following him. 
 
 Wherein, then, is to be found that quality which dis- 
 tinguishing Smith above other public men of whose gifts 
 we are proud, whose careers we cherish as part of the 
 grandeur of our history, who have endeared themselves by 
 personal qualities or ennobled themselves by high achieve- 
 ment secured for him the approval of those whom he re- 
 sisted, as well as those with whom he worked? To learn 
 the secret one must ponder over the definition which Plato, 
 with astounding fore-reach and penetration, laid down of the 
 chief essential to perfect government, and made the key- 
 note of his ideal state his Perfect City KoXXtVoXis. 
 The faculty of just rule lies in the magnanimity and lofty 
 altruism which move a man, so far from seeking public 
 office as a reward, to accept it as a duty, even at the sacri- 
 fice of the inclinations he cherishes most closely. 
 
 Whom then will you compel to proceed to the guardianship of the 
 city save those who, being wisest of all in regard to the conditions of 
 her highest welfare, are themselves possessed of privileges of another 
 order, and a life better than the politicians ? . . . For in that city 
 alone will those be rulers who are in very deed rich. But if poor 
 men, hungering after their private good, proceed to public offices, it is 
 not possible ; for the ruler's office becoming an object of contention, 
 the sort of battle which results, being at home and internal, destroys 
 them along with the community. 1 
 
 1 Plato's ' Republic,' 520. The whole passage deserves reading 
 again and again, for it shows how the great philosopher mistrusted 
 that sordid logic which seems to be driving us at this time towards 
 payment of members of Parliament, and ultimately, by the same 
 reasoning, to that of every one who undertakes duty for the State, 
 the county, or the parish.
 
 360 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. 
 
 If ever there was a temper in man fitted for Plato's ideal 
 Philadelphia, that temper was found in William Henry 
 Smith. He possessed, as has been amply shown, "privi- 
 leges of another order and a life better than the politician's." 
 He was an instance of a wealthy man rising above his 
 material environment into loftier levels of thought upon 
 which those who have riches shall hardly enter. With 
 ample and ever-increasing means, and none of that habit of 
 parsimony which so often forbids self-made men to enjoy 
 their money with a home circle undisturbed by the faintest 
 echo of discord and unshadowed by the lightest cloud of 
 distrust with a constant longing for the society of his wife 
 and children there could be no suspicion of self-seeking in 
 Smith's advance from one public office to another. Un- 
 doubtedly there are men, even in these days of opportunism, 
 who, penetrated with the true public spirit, take a manful 
 part in the struggle ; just as there are others who, despairing 
 of serving usefully, refrain from the scramble of politics and 
 efface themselves : but both of these may fail to impress the 
 public with a sense of their disinterestedness. 
 
 " Scire tuum nihil est, nisi te scire hoc sciat alter, " 
 
 it is of no avail to be conscious of high principles unless 
 you can convince others you are carrying them into effect. 
 
 Smith commanded confidence and gratitude because it was 
 understood that he was serving no private end in accepting 
 office. Latterly it was also well known that he remained at 
 his post at the risk of his life, and that he was suffering, 
 not from the vengeance of a constitution overtasked in the 
 indulgence of material pleasure or vitiated by descent from 
 a plethoric ancestry, but because he could not bring himself 
 to heed repeated warnings that his task was beyond his 
 powers. 
 
 The House of Commons, with all its faults and absurdity,
 
 HIS CHARACTER 361 
 
 remains, probably, the justest tribunal in the world in the 
 matter of estimating character. A man must have ill luck 
 far beyond his fellows if he falls into unmerited disgrace or 
 distrust in that assembly, for the opinion of the House of 
 Commons is the epitome of public opinion, and if the State 
 is healthy, error of public instinct is rarely more than 
 temporary. But it may seem strange that unselfishness 
 or disinterestedness should be the foundation of repute in 
 Parliament, where, the more one sees of its inner working, 
 the deeper grows the conviction that ninety-nine hundredths 
 of party men are directly actuated by self-interest. "If 
 you don't look after yourself no one else will trouble himself 
 about you," is the all but universal maxim, as any Patronage 
 Secretary could state from his daily experience. Why then 
 should unselfishness obtain ascendancy and command ap- 
 proval among persons notoriously almost confessedly 
 self-seeking ] For the same reason, it may be believed, that 
 in the transpontine drama virtue is always made to triumph 
 more signally than in theatres where the audience is drawn 
 from levels of greater refinement ; because it is found from 
 experience that those whose environment makes them most 
 familiar with actual violence and overt lawlessness are most 
 readily pleased by the discomfiture of villany. It may seem 
 cynical to suggest it, but perhaps the reason why politici- 
 ans paid involuntary homage to Smith for his altruism was 
 that they were conscious how rare a quality it was among 
 themselves. 
 
 Not less conspicuous than Smith's unselfishness and want 
 of personal ambition was his honesty. Nobody in the House 
 of Commons ever suspected him of insincerity. " There is 
 no art to find the mind's construction in the face," yet such 
 a countenance as his could hardly have shaped itself into 
 the mask of treachery or double meaning. " Duty " was the 
 word that came most familiarly to his lips ; and men learned
 
 362 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. 
 
 to know that with him it was no conventional term, but the 
 index of the thought ever uppermost in his mind. " It is 
 my duty in the interests of the public service " " it is our 
 duty to the country and to tins House" these phrases 
 occurred so often in his speeches from the Treasury Bench 
 as to raise, in the early days of his leadership, a good- 
 humoured titter among the Opposition, and were even the 
 cause of occasional impatience among followers accustomed 
 to the brilliant oratory and formidable sallies of his imme- 
 diate predecessor. But it Avas not very long before men of 
 all sections came to recognise in these words the expres- 
 sion of an inflexible principle on which all his action was 
 moulded. The word Duty sounds coldly, even harshly, in 
 some ears : it is a guide which takes a man along rough 
 roads, often to lodging of little ease a numen which has 
 exacted many a martyrdom. The sacrifice is sometimes 
 made in dramatic circumstance : the soldier on the blood- 
 soaked field the seaman on the sinking ship the fireman 
 on the crumbling wall ay, even the familiar policeman on 
 his beat may present a spectacle to touch us more shrewdly 
 than this elderly English gentleman, homely in features and 
 simple in speech, sitting hour after hour, night after night, 
 encouraging his party by his presence to endure the endless 
 repetition of frivolous verbosity, and violent, at times vulgar, 
 invective. Not the less was Smith spending his health and, 
 as it turned out, his life, in the cause of duty. He had put 
 his hand to a task which was none of his own seeking, 
 because he conceived it to be his duty, and he would not 
 risk its failure by sparing himself, even at the repeated 
 entreaty of his colleagues. In vain they used to beg him to 
 go home at times when, long after midnight, no urgent or 
 critical business remained to be discussed ; and those who 
 can recall to mind his appearance that night in July when 
 he sat on the Treasury Bench for the last time, his legs
 
 HIS CHARACTER. 363 
 
 wrapped in a black nig, suffering acutely, yet patiently 
 attentive to an interminable discussion in Committee of 
 Supply, possess a recollection of self-sacrifice which, though 
 it might easily be more picturesque, could not be more 
 pathetic or inspiring. 
 
 Lastly, there were two qualities which helped almost as 
 much as those already described to ensure to Smith the 
 confidence of his party in the House and outside it, and 
 the respect of his opponents. One of these was that he 
 was known to be deeply and earnestly religious, and there 
 is still enough of Puritan heredity among our people to 
 incline them to trust their affairs to the keeping of a sincere 
 Christian. Even the most active enemies of faith feel that 
 from one who embraces and endeavours to carry into effect 
 the pure morality of Jesus Christ, without concerning him- 
 self about doctrinal controversy, they are sure to receive the 
 best he has to give. An instance of the mutual respect 
 borne by honest men for each other occurred during the 
 autumn of 1886. Smith was then Secretary of State for 
 War. Mr Fleetwood Wilson, his private secretary at the 
 War Office, happened to be travelling down to Greenlands 
 to shoot. In the same compartment sat Mr Charles Brad- 
 laugh, who was going to fish in the Thames. They entered 
 into conversation, and when Bradlaugh heard what was Mr 
 Wilson's destination, he said, in his usual energetic way, 
 " Ah, you're going to stay with Mr Smith ; well, I don't 
 suppose there is a man in the House of Commons or in 
 England with whom I am more widely at variance on many 
 subjects, yet there is none for whom I have a more profound 
 respect." After dinner, Mr Wilson happened to mention 
 to his host that Bradlaugh had been his fellow-traveller 
 from London. " Indeed," replied Smith : " well, it's a 
 strange thing, I don't believe there is a man whose 
 opinions I hold in greater abhorrence than Bradlaugh, but
 
 364 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. 
 
 I cannot help feeling that there is not an honester man in 
 Parliament." 
 
 The other quality alluded to as contributing to Smith's 
 influence as a party leader was his strong common-sense. 
 It may have been that people turned to him for guidance 
 all the readier because they were bewildered by the meteoric 
 rise and sudden eclipse of Lord Randolph ChurchilL Tired 
 of surprises, they looked about for one on whom they might 
 rely for plain, plodding discharge of necessary work. And 
 they gratefully placed that reliance on Smith. 
 
 The House of Commons and the people of England were 
 content to dispense with eloquence and other brilliant qua- 
 lities which contribute to the fame of a statesman, and ac- 
 cepted in lieu the unselfishness, uprightness, sincerity, and 
 excellent business qualities the common-sense which dis- 
 tinguished Smith among many others who have shone with 
 far more dazzling light in the offices held by him. 
 
 Smith was a good party man, and such solidarity as the 
 modern Conservative party can boast of is owing almost as 
 much to his unostentatious influence as to the more patent 
 guidance of Beaconsfield or the dashing polemics of Lord 
 Eandolph Churchill. But this quiet, thoughtful statesman 
 cherished a higher ideal of politics than the mere predomi- 
 nance of one party over another. He looked upon that 
 merely as the rude means to a good end, but he yearned 
 for a more rational and business-like system. During his 
 first term of office in the Cabinet, he was walking home 
 with Dr (now Sir Henry) Acland of Oxford. They had 
 been dining at Grillons a quaint old club of a few mem- 
 bers, of which Dr Acland's father had been one of the 
 founders in 1810. The conversation turned on the state 
 of parties, and Smith expressed regret that all the best 
 efforts were made on behalf of party instead of for the 
 country, according to the conclusions of the best men.
 
 HIS CHARACTER. 365 
 
 " How much better it would be," suggested Acland, " if 
 an administrative committee could be agreed on, including 
 the best men on each side in Parliament" 
 
 Smith cordially agreed in this idea, and immediately 
 named six men, of whom W. E. Forster and Northcote 
 were two. 
 
 Some years later a correspondent made grateful acknow- 
 ledgment for some remarks which had fallen from Smith : 
 
 I cannot conclude without expressing my gratitude that you should 
 have said frankly this morning that there is something higher and 
 better than party viz., country and that the country's interests 
 and the country's welfare must be, and ought to be, the first consid- 
 eration in this and all things. I so entirely share your views on this 
 point, I so abominate what is called " opportunism " hateful word 
 and I have found so few politicians who have the courage to utter 
 these sentiments, that I cannot adequately express to you my feeling 
 of pleasure and satisfaction at what fell from yourself this morning. 
 
 If any success has attended the writer's attempt to ex- 
 plain the straightforward, unaffected character of this man, 
 it must have been apparent how far it was from his nature 
 to disguise from himself his connection with the commercial 
 middle class, or attempt to make other people forget it. 
 Even when the duties of the public offices which he suc- 
 cessively filled had brought him into frequent and some- 
 times intimate intercourse with persons of most exalted 
 rank, he found time to keep up the associations of his 
 early life and original calling. Thus in 1887 he had the 
 honour of receiving at Greenlands a distinguished party 
 of guests, including the Kings of Denmark and Greece, 
 the Prince and Princess of Wales, and other royal per- 
 sonagea Not long after it fell to him to preside, as one 
 of their number, at the annual dinner of the Prince of 
 Wales's tradesmen. Though he had raised his life to a 
 higher level than can be attained by more than very few 
 individuals, he never suffered himself to neglect or ignore 
 his early associates.
 
 366 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. 
 
 Every one who has filled political office under the Crown 
 must have been penetrated in greater or less degree by a 
 sense of the devoted service rendered by the permanent 
 officials in the various public departments. Ministers come 
 and go, as the popular breath wafts this or that party in or 
 out of power ; but the permanent secretaries and clerks 
 continue at their posts, and are expected, and, it may truly 
 be said, never fail, to yield patient and laborious aid to 
 those men, necessarily inexpert, whom the turn of events 
 places in brief authority over them. They may have ambi- 
 tion, yet their duty lies within fixed bounds which they may 
 not transgress. A Chancellor of the Exchequer reaps re- 
 nown when he produces a brilliant Budget, but no popular 
 applause reaches those upon whom has fallen the labour of 
 working out the complicated details, and, it may be, of con- 
 structing the financial scheme. They may have keen poli- 
 tical sympathies, yet these must be rigidly kept in abey- 
 ance ; and often it has happened that they are called on to 
 construct the framework of a measure odious to their private 
 judgment. The Civil Service of Great Britain modest, 
 incorruptible, indefatigable is one of the most perfect 
 systems that has ever existed on the face of the earth. 
 It can boast no Trafalgar or Waterloo, but in duty man- 
 fully done it is excelled by neither of the militant services 
 of the Crown. 
 
 No one ever recognised this more heartily than Smith, no 
 one was more watchful in endeavouring to lighten and assist 
 their toil, and no Minister ever received in return a fuller 
 measure of their confidence. Not even the humblest mem- 
 ber of the Civil Service escaped his attention, as the follow- 
 ing instance may tend to prove. When Smith was at the 
 War Office, his private secretary, Mr Fleetwood Wilson, 
 noticed that at the end of a week's work, when his chief 
 was preparing to leave for Greenlands on Saturday after-
 
 HIS CHARACTER. 367 
 
 noon, he used to pack a despatch-box with the papers he 
 required to take with him, and carry it himself on his jour- 
 ney. Mr Wilson remarked that Mr Smith would save him- 
 self much trouble if he did as was the practice of other 
 Ministers leave the papers to be put in an office " pouch " 
 and sent by post. Mr Smith looked rather ashamed for a 
 moment, and then, looking up at his secretary, said " Well, 
 my dear Wilson, the fact is this : our postman who brings 
 the letters from Henley has plenty to carry. I watched him 
 one morning coming up the approach with my heavy pouch 
 in addition to his usual load, and I determined to save him 
 as much as I could." 
 
 It has sometimes been said that Smith was deficient in 
 imagination, but the power of perceiving small opportuni- 
 ties such as this to lighten the work of one's fellow-men 
 depends primarily on a sensitive imagination. 
 
 The narrative of this life is no history of a sovereign in- 
 tellect, wrestling with tyrannical power or formidable oppo- 
 nents, maimed in action and thwarted in council by the 
 timidity or treachery of colleagues, and tormented by the 
 allurements which too often prevail to bring frail humanity 
 to ruin : it is but the plain tale of wise conduct, fulfilled 
 duty, and warm affection, continued till the vital powers 
 gave way under the stress of labour imposed upon them. 
 
 Surely never was a life more blamelessly led or more 
 happily ended ended too soon, as many believed, for the 
 good of his country and his party, yet ended before the 
 scope of usefulness had begun to contract, or the tide of 
 affection to slacken. He was spared the mortifying pang 
 which often embitters the closing years of public men, aris- 
 ing either from conscious failure of the powers which have 
 led their possessor to high station, or from some turn of 
 events which has diverted the stream of popular confidence. 
 There is a pathetic saying of Robert Lowe in his declining
 
 368 LIFE OF W. H. SMITH. 
 
 years, treasured up by one of his surviving friends, who 
 once asked him about the state of his health. He shook 
 his white head sadly, and replied, " There is just this differ- 
 ence between me and " (naming a former colleague who 
 
 has since died) ; " I am going mad and I know it : he is 
 going mad and he doesn't know it." 
 
 "William Henry Smith died at the age of sixty-six. He 
 approached his end in full consciousness : the mind up to 
 the last hour never lost its calm, resolute purpose to per- 
 severe ; though its companion, the body, drooped wearily 
 and moaned for rest, the higher and immortal part remained 
 as steadfast as in the sumuiertide of life. Of physical suf- 
 fering he had endured large measure the vengeance of a 
 constitution sorely overtaxed. The silver cord was deeply 
 frayed ere it parted, but the lamp of love and intelligence 
 beamed clearly to the end, and of him it may more surely 
 be written than of many who have held high place : 
 
 TU VERO FELIX 
 NON VIT.E TANTUM CLARITATE, 
 
 SED ETIAM 
 OPPORTUNITATE MORTIS.i 
 
 1 Yet wert thou happy, not only by the radiance of thy life, but also 
 by the circumstance of thy death.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Abbots Langley, residence of W. 
 H. Smith at Cecil Lodge, near, 
 88 note. 
 
 A eland, Dr, afterwards Sir Henry 
 Wentworth Acland, letter to 
 W. H. Smith by, on life at 
 Greenlands, 256 note letters 
 to W. H. Smith from, 319, 347 
 letters of W. H. Smith to, 
 322 note, 331, 345. 
 
 Acland, Hon. Mrs A., nte Beatrice 
 Smith, letter of W. H. Smith to, 
 312. 
 
 Acland, Hon. Mrs W., nSe Emily 
 Smith, letters of W. H. Smith 
 to, 23, 196, 319. 
 
 Address, presentation of, to W. H. 
 Smith, from unofficial members 
 of Parliament, 320. 
 
 Admiralty, appointment of W. H. 
 Smith as First Lord of the, 161. 
 
 Afghanistan, outbreak of war with, 
 193, 197 Russian operations in, 
 268 recall of British Commis- 
 sioner from, ib. 
 
 Alabama award, the, 128. 
 
 America, political visit of Mr Par- 
 nell to, 198. 
 
 American journal of W. H. Smith, 
 the, 119-125. 
 
 Arrears of Rent Bill, the, 225 
 debate upon, on second reading, 
 ib. action of House of Lords re- 
 garding, 226 Lord Salisbury on, 
 
 Attorney-General, the, as counsel 
 for the ' Times ' in trial before 
 the Parnell Commission, 311, 
 318 attack by Mr Redmond up- 
 on, 318. 
 
 Balfour, Arthur, appointment of, 
 as Irish Secretary, 293 success 
 of Government of, 300 sobriquet 
 of " Bloody Balfour" applied to, 
 307 disclosures of Parnell re- 
 garding opposition of Irish party 
 to the Laud Bill of, 337. 
 
 Ballot, proposed provision for 
 voting by, in Education Act, 105 
 bill for parliamentary voting 
 by, 111, 114 first parliamentary 
 election under, 133. 
 
 Barings' Bank, the affairs of, 333 
 W. H. Smith's efforts regarding, 
 ib. 
 
 Beach, Sir Michael Hicks, appoint- 
 ment of, as Chancellor of the Ex- 
 chequer, 270 resignation of Irish 
 Secretaryship by, 293. 
 
 Beaconsfield, Earl of. See Disraeli, 
 Mr. 
 
 Beal, Mrs, letters of, to W. H. 
 Smith, 16, 18 letters to, by W. 
 H. Smith, 16, 19, 26. 
 
 Beal, Rev. William, tutor to W. 
 II. Smith, 6 marriage of, to 
 Miss Smith, 7 appointed head- 
 master of Tavistoek grammar- 
 school, ib. W. II. Smith pupil 
 
 2 A
 
 370 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 with, ib. 8 letter from, to W. 
 H. Smith, on attending Church 
 of England services, 10. 
 
 Beresford, Lord Charles, letter of, 
 on appointment of W. H. Smith 
 to Admiralty, 163. 
 
 Berlin Conference, the, result of, 
 180 anecdote of Lord Beacons- 
 field at, ib. note. 
 
 Bishop of London's Fund, institu- 
 tion of, 65 W. H. Smith on 
 committee of, 66. 
 
 Bismarck, Prince, strictures of, on 
 Lord Granville's mode of con- 
 ducting business, 266 note. 
 
 Blow, Captain, recollections of the 
 Pandora by, 245. 
 
 Blythswood, visit of W. H. Smith 
 to Sir Archibald and Lady Camp- 
 bell at, 324. 
 
 Boulogne Conference, the, as to 
 leadership of Irish party, 339. 
 
 " Boycotting," origin of the term, 
 214. 
 
 Bradlaugh, Charles, refusal to take 
 the oath by, on his return for 
 Northampton, 210 altered feel- 
 ings towards, in the House of 
 Commons, 343 anecdote of W. 
 H. Smith and, 363. 
 
 Bridgewater House, memorable 
 meeting of Conservative party 
 with Lord Beaconsfield at, 209. 
 
 British fleet, movements of the, in 
 war between Turkey and Russia, 
 169, 174-179, passim. 
 
 Bryce, Professor, afterwards Bight 
 Hon. James Bryce, introduction 
 of W. H. Smith by, at Oxford 
 University, to receive degree of 
 D.C.L., 195. 
 
 " Buckshot Forster," origin of the 
 name, 222. 
 
 Burke, Mr, assassination of, in Phoe- 
 nix Park, 223. 
 
 Butt, Mr, organisation of Home 
 Rule party under, 147 protest 
 against Nationalist methods in 
 Parliament by, 156 leadership of 
 Nationalist party resigned by, 194. 
 
 Buxton, Sir T. Fowell, defeat of, 
 for Westminster, 133 letter from, 
 to W. H. Smith, 134. 
 
 Cadenabbia, visit of W. H. Smith 
 to, 284, 349. 
 
 Cambridge, Duke of, letter to W. H. 
 Smith from, 182 letter of \V. 
 H. Smith to, 277. 
 
 Canada, visit of W. H. Smith to, 
 118 et seq. 
 
 Carnarvon, Lord, secession of, from 
 Cabinet, 169 resignation of 
 Viceroyalty of Ireland by, 278. 
 
 Catholic Union of Great Britain, 
 attitude of the, towards the Re- 
 ligious Disabilities Removal Bill, 
 341. 
 
 " Cave of Adullam," the, formation 
 of, 83 attack on Disraeli's Re- 
 form Bill by members of, 85. 
 
 Cavendish, Lord Frederick, assassi- 
 nation of, in Phoenix Park, 223. 
 
 Chamberlain, Mr, proposals of, for 
 a "round-table" Conference, 
 288. 
 
 Chapman & Hall, Messrs, railway 
 novels of Messrs W. H. Smith & 
 Son published by, 52. 
 
 Charges and Allegations Bill, the, 
 offer of, to Parnellite party, 310 
 change in attitude of Govern- 
 ment towards, ib. passing of, 
 311 report of Commission ap- 
 pointed by, 325. 
 
 Chinese quarter, the, in San Fran- 
 cisco, description of, 122. 
 
 Church Patronage, administration 
 of, by W. H. Smith, as First Lord 
 of the Treasury, 301. 
 
 Churchill, Lord Randolph, leader- 
 ship of Fourth Party assumed by, 
 213 becomes Secretary of State 
 for India, 270 appointment of, as 
 Chancellor of the Exchequer and 
 leader of the House of Commons, 
 286 resignation of, 287, 292 
 speech by, in House of Commons, 
 on report of Paruell Commission, 
 328. 
 
 Cinque Ports, W. H. Smith ap- 
 pointed Lord Warden of the, 346. 
 
 Circulating library, Messrs W. H. 
 Smith & Sou's foundation of the, 
 50 et seq. 
 
 Civil List Pensions, awarding of, by 
 W. H. Smith, as First Lord of the 
 Treasury, 302. 
 
 Codrington, Captain, afterwards 
 Rear - Admiral Codrington, no- 
 tices of, 173 and note, 183 et seq. 
 passim.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 371 
 
 n, Mrs, itt'r. Miss Leach, 
 letters of W. 11. Smith to, 242, 
 243. 
 
 Coercion Bill for Ireland, a new, 
 216 si'fiu-s in House of Commons 
 on introduction of, ib. 
 
 Coramerell, Hear - Admiral, de- 
 spatches to First Lord of Ad- 
 miralty by, during Russo-Turk- 
 ish war, 176-179. 
 
 Constantinople Conference, the, 
 152. 
 
 Cooper, Mary Anne, marriage of 
 W. H. Smith, sen., to, 6 chil- 
 dren of, ib. 
 
 Coutts, Baroness Burdett, on anti- 
 Turkish agitation, 151. 
 
 Cowen, Joseph, letter of, on ap- 
 pointment of W. H. Smith to 
 Admiralty, 162. 
 
 Cowper, Lord, resignation of, as 
 Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, 222. 
 
 Crimes Bill for Ireland, introduc- 
 tion of a new, 293 charges 
 against administration of, 307. 
 
 Cumulative voting, introduction of, 
 in school-board elections, 105. 
 
 Cyprus, W. H. Smith's journal of 
 a tour in, 181-192. 
 
 Danvers family, notices of the, 62. 
 
 Derby, Lord, Administration of, 
 84 secession of, from Conserv- 
 ative party, 202. 
 
 Disestablishment of Irish Church, 
 debates in Parliament on, 97 et 
 seq. 
 
 Disraeli, Mr, Reform Bill of, 85 
 Cabinet of, 134 et seq. elevation 
 of, to peerage, as Earl of Beacons- 
 iield, 149 and note letters of 
 W. H. Smith to, 150-152 pub- 
 lication of last novel by, 206 
 note last meeting of Conserv- 
 ative party with, 217 death of, 
 218. 
 
 Kddystone Lighthouse, W. II. 
 Smith's description of laying 
 foundation-stone of, 196. 
 
 Edinburgh, official visit of W. H. 
 Smith to, 145 speech in, by Mr 
 <;iadstone, to Mid-Lothian elec- 
 tors, 275. 
 
 Elementary Education Bill, the, in 
 House oi' Commons, 104 et seq. 
 
 proposed provision for voting by 
 ballot in, 105. 
 
 Fiills of Niagara, W. H. Smith's 
 description of the, 118. 
 
 Financial Secretary of Treasury, 
 W. H. Smith's appointment as, 
 138. 
 
 First Lord of the Admiralty, ap- 
 pointment of W. H. Smith as, 
 161 banquet in his honour on 
 appointment as, 165. 
 
 First Lord of the Treasury, ap- 
 pointment of W. H. Smith as, 
 165. 
 
 Fitzgerald, Peurose, letters of 
 W. H. Smith to, 224, 284, 
 312. 
 
 Ford, William, letters from W. H. 
 Smith to, 108, 130 letter from, 
 to W. H. Smith, on Lord Beacons- 
 field as a novel-writer, 206 note 
 letter of W. H. Smith to, 
 on outlook of English politics, 
 212. 
 
 Forster, W. E., Elementary Edu- 
 cation Bill introduced by, 104 
 Ballot Bill introduced by, 111, 
 114 appointment of, as Irish 
 Chief Secretary, 209 new Coer- 
 cion Bill for Ireland introduced 
 by, 216 officials of Land League 
 sent to Kilmainhain prison by, 
 219 resignation of, on release of 
 "suspects," 222. 
 
 Fourth Party, the, rise of, 213 
 growing importance of, 228. 
 
 Franchise Bill, Mr Gladstone's, 
 introduction of, 233 passing of, 
 through both Houses, 235. 
 
 German Emperor, reception of the, 
 at Hatfield House, 349. 
 
 Giberne, Miss, letters of W. H. 
 Smith to, 82, 96, 163, 274 et seq. 
 passim. 
 
 Gladstone, Mr, speech by, on in- 
 troduction of Earl Russell's Re- 
 form Bill, 82 Disestablishment 
 of Irish Church moved by, 97 
 early sentiments of, regarding 
 Home Rule for Ireland, 112 re- 
 tirement of, from leadership of 
 Liberal party, 140, 143 Mid- 
 Lothian campaigns of, 198, 204, 
 275 purchase of Irish vote by,
 
 372 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 277 formation of Cabinet by, 
 282 downfall of Administration 
 of, 285 letter to Mr Morley by, 
 on Mr Parnell's continued leader- 
 whip of the Irish party, 335 re- 
 taliation of Mr Parnell on, 336 et 
 seq. personal regard between W. 
 H. Smith and, 345 anecdote re- 
 garding, 347. 
 
 Gordon, General, despatch of, to 
 Khartoum, 232 Mr Gladstone's 
 announcement to Parliament of 
 the fate of, 266. 
 
 Goschen, Mr, reception of, by the 
 Sultan of Turkey, 238 accept- 
 ance of office of Chancellor of the 
 Exchequer by, 288 provision in 
 Budget of, for free education in 
 Ireland, England, and Wales, 344. 
 
 Granville, Lord, appointment of, 
 to Foreign Office, 209 adminis- 
 tration of foreign affairs by, 265 
 strictures on, by Prince Bis- 
 marck, 266 note. 
 
 Greenlands, situation of, 246 pur- 
 chase of estate of, by W. H. 
 Smith, 248 life at, 256 the gar- 
 dens at, 257 the books and 
 pictures at, 263. 
 
 Grey de Wilton, Lord, letter from 
 Mr Disraeli to, 130. 
 
 Grosvenor, Captain, Liberal can- 
 didate for Westminster, 74 seat 
 won by, 79 again contests 
 Westminster, 88 defeat of, ib. 
 
 Ground Game Bill, passing of the, 
 212. 
 
 Hambleden, part taken by W. H. 
 Smith in effecting improvements 
 on the village of, 254 et seq. 
 building of hospital at, 255 
 W. H. Smith buried in new 
 cemetery at, 357 Mrs Smith 
 takes her title from, ib. 
 
 Hambleden, Viscountess. See 
 Smith, Mrs W. H. 
 
 Hamilton, Lord George, appoint- 
 ment of, to Admiralty, 273 
 letter to W. H. Smith from, 279. 
 
 Harcourt, Sir William, letter of, to 
 W. H. Smith, on appointment 
 to Admiralty, 162 question of 
 breach of privilege raised by, 
 against ' Times,' 326. 
 
 Hartington, Marquis of, attitude 
 
 of, towards Irish disaffection, 
 198, 202 becomes Secretary of 
 State for War, 209 leadership 
 of House of Commons by, 229 
 refusal of, to take office in 
 Coalition Government, 286, 288. 
 
 Hatfield House, W. H. Smith's 
 meeting with the German Em- 
 peror at, 349. 
 
 Henley Royal Grammar-School, W. 
 H. Smith on governing body of, 
 255. 
 
 Holland, W. H. Smith's impres- 
 sions of, 243 et seq. 
 
 Home Rule for Ireland, beginning 
 of agitation regarding, 112 
 organisation of parliamentary 
 party in favour of, 147 Mr 
 Gladstone's change of front on 
 question of, 276 introduction 
 of Mr Gladstone's first bill to 
 give, 284. 
 
 Hornby, Admiral, despatches be- 
 tween, and First Lord of the 
 Admiralty, during Russo- Turk- 
 ish War, 174-179, passim. 
 
 Hunt, Leigh, letter of, to W. H. 
 Smith, sen., 5. 
 
 Hunt, Ward, death of, 156. 
 
 Iddesleigh, Lord. See Northcote, 
 Sir Stafford. 
 
 Ince, William, afterwards Canon 
 Ince, letters of, to W. H. Smith, 
 23 letters of W. H. Smith to, 
 23, 139. 
 
 Ireland, beginning of agitation re- 
 garding Home Rule for, 112 
 debate in House of Commons on 
 distress in, 200 boycotting and 
 moonlighting in, 214 new Coer- 
 cion Bill for, 216 semi-official 
 visit of W. H. Smith to, 219 
 et seq. 
 
 Irish Church, opposition of W. H. 
 Smith to Disestablishment of, 87 
 debates on Disestablishment of, 
 97 et seq. division on bill to dis- 
 establish, in House of Lords, 100. 
 
 Irish Land Act, Lord Ashbourne's, 
 success of, 313. 
 
 Irish Land Purchase Bill, the, 103, 
 284 vote of Irish party on, 338. 
 
 Irish members, ejection of, from 
 House of Commons, 218. 
 
 Irish Nationalist party, the, grow-
 
 INDEX. 
 
 373 
 
 ing power of, 147 parliamentary 
 tactics of, 156, 194 leadership of, 
 assumed by Mr Paruell, 194 suc- 
 cess of, in election of 1880, 207 
 purchase of vote of, by Mr Glad- 
 stone, 277 reception given to 
 Mr Parnell in House of Commons 
 by, 317 effect of judgment in 
 O'Shea divorce case on, 335 et 
 seq. Conference at Boulogne as 
 to leadership of, 340. 
 
 Irish Secretary, Mr Forster be- 
 comes, 209 fate of Lord Freder- 
 ick Cavendish as, 223 appoint- 
 ment of W. H. Smith as, 279 
 appointment of Arthur Balfour 
 as, 293. 
 
 Irish University Bill, the, 126. 
 
 Jacob, Rev. Canon, co-operation 
 of W. H. Smith with, in recon- 
 struction of St Mary's Church, 
 Portsea, 251 et seq. 
 
 "Jacobins," rise of the, in Parlia- 
 ment, 317. 
 
 Jingoes, origin of the name of, 171 
 W. H. Smith brought into the 
 category of, 204. 
 
 "Jubilee" session, the, exhausting 
 character of, 293 letters of W. 
 H. Smith on, 294 et seq. 
 
 Jubilee thanksgiving service, the, 
 in St Margaret's Church, 295. 
 
 Kilburn House, residence of W. 
 H. Smith, sen., at, 25 removal 
 of Smith family from, 88 note. 
 
 Kilmainham Prison, officials of 
 Land League sent to, 219 release 
 of "suspects " from, 222. 
 
 King's College Hospital, W. H. 
 Smith's services to, 38, 62. 
 
 Kirkwall, presentation of freedom 
 of, to W. H. Smith, 323 speech 
 of W. H. Smith at, ib. 
 
 Knightley, Sir Rainald, afterwards 
 Baron Knightley, letter to W. H. 
 Smith from, 320. 
 
 Komaroff, General, attack on Af- 
 ghan troops by, 268 honour paid 
 to, by Russian Government, 269. 
 
 La Bourboule, W. H. Smith's stay 
 
 at, 332. 
 Labouchere, Mr, leadership of 
 
 "Jacobins" assumed by, 317. 
 
 Land League, prosecution of, by 
 Government, 215 officials of, 
 sent to Kilmaiuham Prison, 219 
 complicity of, in Phceuix Park 
 murder, 230. 
 
 Laurie, Rev. Sir Emilius, notes by, 
 on benefits conferred on St John's 
 parish, Paddingtou, by W. H. 
 Smith, 67. 
 
 Lawson, Mr, afterwards Sir Ed- 
 ward Levey Lawson, conversa- 
 tion between Lord Palmerston 
 and, regarding W. H. Smith's 
 candidature for Parliament, 71 
 W. H. Smith's bets with, 72 note 
 attitude of, as editor of ' Daily 
 Telegraph,' in W. H. Smith's 
 first contest for Westminster, 74 
 W. H. Smith interviewed by, in 
 Paris, 184. 
 
 Leach, Auber, marriage of Miss 
 Emily Danvers to, 63 death of, 
 ib. 
 
 Leach, Mrs. See Mrs W. H. 
 Smith. 
 
 Leader of the House of Commons, 
 appointment of W. H. Smith as, 
 289 first speech of W. H. Smith 
 as, 292 his manner as, 299 
 life in his official room as, 304 
 his offer of resignation as, 314 
 address from unofficial Mem- 
 bers of Parliament on his con- 
 duct as, 319 testimony of Mr 
 H. W. Lucy to his success as, 
 323. 
 
 Lethbridge, William, at Tavistock 
 grammar - school, 7 admitted 
 partner into firm of Messrs W. 
 H. Smith & Son, 43. 
 
 Lever's novels, copyright of, ac- 
 quired by Messrs W. H. Smith 
 & Son, 52. 
 
 Lidderdale, Mr, Governor of Bank 
 of England, letter of, regarding 
 W. 11. Smith's active interest in 
 allair of Barings' Bank, 333 
 letter of W. H. Smith to, 
 334. 
 
 Liverpool, poll of 1880 at, the lar- 
 gest on record, 199. 
 Local Government Bill, the Scot- 
 tish, 316. 
 
 Local Taxation Bill, the, introduc- 
 tion of, 330 abandonment of 
 licensing clauses in, 331 W .11.
 
 374 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Smith's support of licensing 
 clauses in, ib. 
 
 London poor, W. H. Smith's work 
 amongst the, 107, 110 Poor Law 
 administration amongst the, 110. 
 
 London School Board, the, institu- 
 tion of, 106 return of W. H. 
 Smith to first, 109 question of re- 
 ligious education solved in, ib. 
 second election of W. H. 
 Smith to, 130 resignation by 
 W. H. Smith of his seat on, 237. 
 
 Lowe, Robert, debate on Budget of, 
 128 pathetic saying of, 368. 
 
 Lucy, H. W., sobriquet of "Old 
 Morality" conferred on W. H. 
 Smith by, 298 and note testi- 
 mony of, as to success of W. H. 
 Smith as a parliamentary leader, 
 323. 
 
 Magee, Dr, speech on Irish Church 
 Bill by, 99 and note. 
 
 Marlborough, Lord, letter of Lord 
 Beaconsfield to, on Irish Nation- 
 alist tactics, 201. 
 
 M'Carthy, Justin, election of, by 
 Irish party, as " Sessional Chair- 
 man" in room of Mr Parnell, 
 336. 
 
 Merchant Taylors' Hall, the, ban- 
 quet in, to W. H. Smith, 321 
 speech of W. H. Smith at, ib. 
 
 Metropolitan Board of Works, W. 
 H. Smith elected to, 62. 
 
 Mid -Lothian Campaign, Mr Glad- 
 stone's first, 198 his second, 204 
 postponement of third, 229 
 his third, 234 his fourth, 275. 
 
 Mill, John Stuart, Radical candi- 
 date for Westminster, 74 defeat 
 of, for Westminster, 79 second 
 defeat of, 88 Liberal press on 
 conduct of, 89. 
 
 Milne, Admiral Sir Alexander, 
 letter of ~N. H. Smith to, 320. 
 
 Montreal, visit of W. H. Smith to, 
 118, 120. 
 
 Morley, John, letter of Mr Glad- 
 stone to, on Mr Paruell's con- 
 tinued leadership of the Irish 
 party, 335 disclosures regard- 
 ing, by Mr Parnell, 337 vote oi 
 censure on Government by, 344. 
 
 National Debt, Sir Stafford North- 
 
 cote's scheme for liquidation of 
 the, 144. 
 
 Newspapers, early taxes on, 3 
 effect of repeal of stamp-duty 
 on, 39 daily despatch of, by 
 Messrs W. H. Smith & Son, 51 
 et seq. former difficulties of 
 firm in despatch of, 59 sum- 
 mary of business done in, by 
 Messrs W. H. Smith & Son, 
 during a single day, ib. 
 
 Norfolk, Duke of, letter of W. II. 
 Smith to, 342. 
 
 Normandy, visit ofW. H. Smith to, 
 153 et seq. 
 
 Northcote, Sir Stafford, friendship 
 between, and W. H. Smith, 142, 
 290 scheme of, for reduction of 
 National Debt, 144 Friendly 
 Societies Act of, 145 Bill for pur- 
 chase of Suez Canal shares in- 
 troduced by, 146 leadership of 
 House of Commons assumed by, 
 150 conduct of leadership of Op- 
 position by, 228 vote of censure 
 moved by, on fall of Khartoum, 
 266 and note dissatisfaction with 
 leadership of, 267, 269 trans- 
 lation of, to House of Lords, a.s 
 Earl of Iddesleigh, 270 letter 
 of W. H. Smith to, on formation 
 of Cabinet, 272 retirement of, 
 from Foreign Office, 290 sud- 
 den death of, 291. 
 
 Norway, cruise of W. H. Smith 
 in, 243. 
 
 O'Donnell, Mr, prosecution of the 
 
 ' Times ' by, 310. 
 O'Shea, Captain, the divorce sxiit 
 
 of, 334 political results of 
 
 judgment in, 335 et seq. 
 Oxford University, honorary degree 
 
 of D.C.L. conferred on W. H. 
 
 Smith by, 195. 
 
 Palmerston, Lord, physical phe- 
 nomenon at death of, 80. 
 
 Pandora, the, purchase of, by W. 
 H. Smith, 237 cruises of, in 
 the Mediterranean, 238 et seq. 
 visits in, to Norway, Holland, 
 &c., 243 et seq. Captain Blow's 
 recollections of, 243 cruise of, 
 to Orkney, 322 last cruises of 
 W. II. Smith in, 352 et seq.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 375 
 
 Parliamentary and Municipal Elec- 
 tions Hill. ,s'<;.! Ballot. 
 
 rariR-ll Commission, the, appoint- 
 ment of, 310 report of, 326 et 
 xi '/. -speech by W. H. Smith on 
 (k-liate in House of Commons on 
 report of, 327 effect of labours 
 in connection with, on health of 
 W. H. Smith, 329. 
 
 Parnell, Mr, leadership of Nation- 
 alist party assumed by, 156, 194 
 political visit to America of, 
 198 " boycotting " advice of, 214 
 challenge of, by Mr Forster, 
 regarding 1'ho'iiix Park murders, 
 230 repudiation by, of charges in 
 ' Times,' 310 reception of, by the 
 Irish Nationalists, in the House 
 of Commons, 317 finding of Par- 
 nell Commission regarding, 326 
 divorce suit of Captain O'Shea 
 against, as co-respondent, 334 
 effect of judgment in divorce 
 .suit on standing of, as a politic- 
 ian, 335 et seq. deposition of, as 
 leader of the Irish party, 339. 
 
 Puttisson, J. L., first meeting of W. 
 H. Smith with, 118 becomes pri- 
 vate secretary to W. H. Smith, 208 
 letter of Governor of the Bank 
 of England to, regarding W. H. 
 Smith's interposition in the affair 
 of Barings' Bank, 333 last busi- 
 ness transactions of W. H. Smith 
 with, 353 et seq. passim. 
 
 Peace Preservation Bill, the, 145. 
 
 Peasant proprietorship, W. H. 
 Smith's views on establishment 
 of, in Ireland, 221, 224. 
 
 I'ho'iiix Park murders, the, 223. 
 
 Police protection, special, for mem- 
 bers of Parliament, 226. 
 
 Political dinner-parties, the, of W. 
 H. Smith, at Grosveiior Place, 
 257 note. 
 
 Pompeii, visit of W. II. Smith to, 
 I'll. 
 
 Postal department, the, of A! 
 W. II. Smith & Son, 60. 
 
 ' Punch,' congratulations of, on 
 W. H. Smith's appointment to 
 the Admiralty, 166. 
 
 (Jueen, the, proffered honour to W. 
 II. Smith by, 282 letter to the 
 Marquis of Salisbury from, on 
 
 oiler of Wardenship of the CIIHJ m: 
 Ports to W. H. Smith, 346 tele- 
 L'lam to Mrs Smith from, on death 
 of W. H. Smith, 356-letter to 
 Mrs Smith from, ib. peerage con- 
 ferred on Mrs Smith by, 357. 
 
 Railway advertising, first stages of, 
 44 tenders for, secured by 
 Messrs W. H. Smith & Son, ib. 
 
 Railway bookstalls, early condition 
 of, 29 efforts of W. H. Smith to 
 improve, 30 article in 'Times' 
 on, quoted, ib., 34 extension of, 
 by Messrs W. H. Smith & Son, 
 33 et seq. 
 
 llailway novels, production of, by 
 Messrs W. H. Smith & Son, 52 
 success of enterprise in, ib. issue 
 of, stopped, 53. 
 
 Rathboue, Mr, letter of, on appoint- 
 ment of W. H. Smith to Admir- 
 alty, 162. 
 
 Reform Bill, Earl Russell's, 82 de- 
 feat of Earl Russell's, 84 Mi- 
 Disraeli's, introduction of, ib. 
 passing of Mr Disraeli's, sf>. 
 
 Religious Disabilities Removal Bill, 
 Mr Gladstone's, 340 speech of 
 W. H. Smith on, ib. rejection 
 of, 341 Roman Catholic opinion 
 on, ib. et seq. 
 
 Ridley, Rev. W. H., co-operation 
 of, with W. H. Smith in elid- 
 ing improvements at Hamblc- 
 den, 254. 
 
 Round-Table Conference, the, 288, 
 293 parallel between Boulogne 
 Conference and, 340. 
 
 Royal Marines, the, letter of Duke 
 of Cambridge regardin;:, 182 
 reply of First Lord of Admiralty 
 on subject of, ib. 
 
 Rules of Procediyre, commence- 
 ment of alterations in, 156 
 Standing Order regarding, 308. 
 
 Russell, Dr W. H., appointment 
 of, as first war correspondent, 40. 
 
 Russell, Earl, Reform Bill of, 82 
 defeat of, 84. 
 
 Russell, Lord Odo, anecdote of 
 Lord Beaconsfield and, at Berlin 
 Conference, 180 note. 
 
 Russell, Sir Charles, return of, for 
 Westminster, 133 resignation of 
 seat by, 219.
 
 376 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Russia, threatened war between, 
 and Turkey, 167 expected rup- 
 ture between Great Britain and, 
 168 hostilities in Afghanistan 
 with, 268. 
 
 Rutland, Duke of, letter of W. H. 
 Smith to, 346. 
 
 Salisbury, Marquis of, joins Dis- 
 raeli's Cabinet, 136 return of, 
 from Berlin Conference, 180 
 attitude of, to Arrears of Rent 
 Bill, 226 offer of Irish Secretary- 
 ship to W. H. Smith by, 279 
 letter of W. H. Smith to, regard- 
 ing resignation of leadership, 314 
 reply of, 315 second letter to, 
 on resignation of leadership, 329 
 W. H. Smith appointed to 
 Wardenship of Cinque Ports by, 
 346 letter of the Queen to, re- 
 garding appointment, ib. last 
 farewell of W. H. Smith taken 
 by, 351. 
 
 Salt Lake City, visit of W. H. 
 Smith to, 123. 
 
 San Francisco, visit of W. H. 
 Smith to, 122. 
 
 Sandifer, Mr, charge of the pro- 
 duction of a new series of railway 
 novels taken by, 52. 
 
 Saudon, Lord, afterwards Earl of 
 Harrowby, on Committee of 
 Bishop of London's Fund, 65 
 friendship between, and W. H. 
 Smith, 66 letter from, to W. H. 
 Smith, ib. 
 
 Secretary of State for War, ap- 
 pointment of W. H. Smith as, 
 273 his reappointment as, 286. 
 
 Sefton, Earl of, letter of Lord 
 Derby to, on his secession from 
 the Conservative party, 203. 
 
 Sercombe, Mrs, nte Louisa Smith, 
 letter of W. H. Smith to, 12. 
 
 Smith & Son, Messrs W. H. , found- 
 ing of business of, under the 
 name of Messrs Smith, 3 first 
 partners of, ib. W. H. Smith, 
 jun., becomes junior partner in 
 firm of, 25, 27 railway book- 
 stalls taken up by, 30 et seq. 
 growth of bookstall business of, 
 33 effect of abolition of news- 
 paper stamp-duty on business of, 
 39 advertising at railway sta- 
 
 tions taken up by, 44 circulating 
 library founded by, 50 copy- 
 rights of standard novels acquired 
 by, 52 new buildings of, 53 
 postal department of, 60 retire- 
 ment of W. H. Smith from firm 
 of, 237. 
 
 Smith, Augusta, letters of W. H. 
 Smith to, 15, 27, 46, 65 et seq. 
 passim. 
 
 Smith, Caroline, parentage of, 6 
 marriage of, ib. note. 
 
 Smith, Emily, letters of W. 11. 
 Smith to, 270, 271, 277. 
 
 Smith, Frederick, birth of, 82 
 anecdote of, 192 choice of a pro- 
 fession for, 316 return of, for 
 the Strand, 358 and note. 
 
 Smith, Henry Edward, sen., part- 
 ner in business of Messrs Smith, 
 3 retirement of, from the busi- 
 ness, 4 death of, ib. note. 
 
 Smith, Henry Walton, sons of, 
 set up business of "newsmen." 
 3. 
 
 Smith, Mary Anne, parentage of. 6 
 marriage of, 7. 
 
 Smith, Mrs W. H., nee Emily 
 Danvers, marriage of, to Mr 
 Auber Leach, 63 early widow- 
 hood of, ib. marriage of W. H. 
 Smith to, 64 letters of her hus- 
 band to, 78, 88, 107, 117 et seq. 
 passim telegram from the Queen 
 to, on the death of her husband, 
 356 letter from the Queen to, ib. 
 peerage conferred by the Queen 
 on, 357. 
 
 Smith, surname of, origin of, 36 
 note. 
 
 Smith, William Henry, birth of, 6 
 early years of, ib. desires to 
 prepare for Holy Orders, 9 
 accedes to his -father's wish to 
 go into business, ib.. joins the 
 Church of England, 10 his deep 
 religious feeling, 19 becomes 
 junior partner at the Strand, 27 
 extracts from private journals 
 of, 47 elected to Metropolitan 
 Board of Works, 62 his mar- 
 riage, 64 invited to stand for 
 Westminster, 73 his defeat, 79 
 death of his eldest son, 82 
 birth of his second son, ib. 
 again contests Westminster, 86
 
 INDEX. 
 
 377 
 
 gains the seat, 88 petition 
 against his return, 90 declared 
 duly elected, 92 his maiden 
 speech, 93 elected to first Lon- 
 don School Board, 109 visit of, to 
 Canada and the United States, 
 11 6 et seq. returned for Westmin- 
 ster at first general election under 
 Ballot Act, 133 appointed sec- 
 retary to the Treasury, 138 
 appointed First Lord of the 
 Admiralty, 161 sets out for 
 an official tour in Cyprus, 183 
 et seq. degree of D.C.L. con- 
 ferred by Oxford University on, 
 195 re-election of, for Westmin- 
 ster, 205 visit of, to Ireland, 
 to inquire into the land question, 
 220 purchase of Pandora by, 237 
 purchase of Greenlands by, 248 
 improvements at Hambleden 
 made by, 254 appointed Sec- 
 retary of State for War, 273 
 elected for the Strand, 276 
 appointed Irish Secretary, 279 
 declines proffered honour by the 
 Queen, 282 re-election of, to the 
 Strand Division, 285 again be- 
 comes Secretary of State for War, 
 286 appointed First Lord of the 
 Treasury and Leader of the 
 House of Commons, 289 life in 
 room of, at House of Commons, 
 as Leader, 304 address to, from 
 unofficial members of Parliament, 
 320 appointed Lord Warden of 
 the Ciuque Ports, 346 last 
 words of, in the House of Com- 
 mons, 349 moves to Walmer 
 Castle, 352 his death, 355 
 funeral of, 356 estimate of his 
 character, 358 et seq. 
 
 Smith, William Henry, sen., juni- 
 or partner in business of Messrs 
 Smith, 3 marriage of, 6 his 
 character, 14 his rule in the 
 Strand house, 28, 41 his retire- 
 ment from business, 64 his 
 di-:ith, 81. 
 
 'Spectator,' the, on alleged news- 
 paper support of W. H. Smith, 
 137. 
 
 St John's parish, Paddington, bene- 
 fits conferred by W. H. Smith 
 on, 66. 
 
 St Mary's Church, Portsea, aid 
 
 given by W. H. Smith in re- 
 building of, 251 et seq. 
 
 Stanley, Col. , now Earl of Derby, 
 letter to W. H. Smith from, 
 309. 
 
 Strand Division, the, W. H. Smith 
 elected for, 276 his re-election 
 for, 285 unopposed election of 
 W. H. Smith for, on appoint- 
 ment as Warden of the Cinque 
 Ports, 347 Hon. W. F. D. 
 Smith returned for, 358. 
 
 Sultan of Turkey, interview of W. 
 H. Smith with, 238 et seq. 
 
 Tavistock grammar-school, W. H. 
 Smith at, 7, 8. 
 
 Taylor, Col., the Conservative 
 Whip, letter of W. H. Smith 
 to, 76 note. 
 
 Thames Embankment, the, W. H. 
 Smith's efforts to secure, for the 
 people, 107, 115 settlement of 
 question regarding, 116 note. 
 
 ' Times.' the, article in, on rail- 
 way bookstalls, quoted, 30, 34 
 Messrs W. H. Smith & Son be- 
 come special agents for, 40 first 
 war correspondent sent out by, ib. 
 leading article in, on W. H. 
 Smith's appointment to the Ad- 
 miralty, lb'6 action for libel 
 by Mr O'Donnell against, 310 
 case of parliamentary Commission 
 regarding Parnellite articles in, 
 311, 326. 
 
 Tory Democrats, use of name, as 
 a political designation, 270. 
 
 Trevelyan, G. 0., afterwards the 
 Right Hon. Sir George Trevel- 
 yan, new franchise bill of, 233 
 resignation of, from Mr Glad- 
 stone's Cabinet, 284 secession 
 of, from Liberal Unionist party, 
 300. 
 
 Unionist party, formation of the, 
 
 283. 
 United States, visit of W. H. Smith 
 
 to, 120 et seq. 
 
 Wulmer Castle, removal of W. II. 
 
 Smith to, 352 his death at, 355. 
 Ward & Lock, Messrs, issue of 
 
 railway novels by, 53. 
 Wardeuship of the Cinque Ports,
 
 378 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 W. H. Smith appointed to the, 
 346. 
 
 Wesleyan body, the, Smith family 
 members of, 7 W. H. Smith, 
 jun., leaves, 10 loss of W. H. 
 Smith, sen., to, 81. 
 
 Westminster Abbey, memorial ser- 
 vice in, in honour of W. H. 
 Smith, 357. 
 
 Westminster, first candidature of 
 W. H. Smith as Conservative 
 member for, 73 et seq. defeat 
 
 of W. H. Smith for, 79 his 
 second contest for, 86 becomes 
 member for, 88 petition against 
 Mr Smith's return for, 90 et seq. 
 his re-election for, 133 again 
 returned for, 205 election of 
 Lord Algernon Percy for, 219 
 division of constituency in, 276. 
 Wolseley, Sir Garnet, troops at 
 Cyprus under command of, 187 
 et seq. passim mission of, in 
 Zulu war, 195. 
 
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