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 ENGLAND UNDER 
 GLADSTONE 
 
 1880-1SS5 
 
 BY 
 
 JUSTIN HUNTLY MCCARTHY, M.P. 
 
 SECOND EDITION, REVISED AND ENLARGED 
 
 IT n b It 
 
 CHATTO & WINDUS, PICCADILLY 
 
 1885 
 
 IThe right of translation is reserved'\
 
 PRINTED BY 
 
 SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE 
 
 LONDON
 
 ^ 
 
 y^ 
 
 
 
 M 
 
 SbO 
 
 ^ TO 
 
 ^ SIE JOHN POPE HENNESSY, K.C.M.G. 
 
 -, i GOVEENOR OP MAUEITIUS 
 
 § pebictttc 
 
 THIS RECORD OF EVENTS 
 OVER WHICH WE HAVE OFTEN TALKED 
 
 AS A TOKEN OP FRIENDSHIP AND REGARD
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 <:HArTER 
 
 I. The Fall of Lord Beaconsfield 
 
 II. The New Men 
 
 III. Mb. Beadlaugh— The Foueth Party 
 
 IV. Afghanistan .... 
 V. The Boer "War 
 
 VI. The Irish Difficulty 
 
 VII. Coercion 
 
 VIII. Mr. Disraeli— Lord Beaconsfield. 
 
 IX. The Land Act. . . . , 
 
 X. Paeliamentaey Kefoem . 
 
 XI. Ireland in 1882 
 
 XII. The Sixth op May .... 
 
 XIII. Egypt 
 
 XIV. Teouble at Home and Abroad 
 
 XV. The Soudan 
 
 XVI. The Eefoem Bill .... 
 
 XVn. The Fall of the Administeation 
 
 PAGE 
 
 1 
 
 15 
 
 38 
 
 51 
 
 fi8 
 
 01 
 
 115 
 
 136 
 
 142 
 
 173 
 
 185 
 
 201 
 
 223 
 
 251 
 
 296 
 
 325 
 
 349 
 
 INDEX . 
 
 355 
 
 a
 
 England under Gladstone. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE FALL OF LORD BEACONSFIELD. 
 
 On March 8, 1880, Lord Beaconsfield addressed a letter to 
 the Duke of Marlborough; in which he announced his inten- 
 tion to dissolve Parliament and ' afford an opportunity to the 
 nation to decide upon a course which will materially influence 
 its future fortunes and shape its destiny.' Rarely in the century, 
 the letter Avent on to say, had there been an occasion more 
 critical. The peace of Europe and the ascendency of England 
 in the European councils depended upon the verdict she would 
 now be called upon to give. But it was not upon any question 
 of foreign policy that Lord Beaconsfield avowedly appealed to 
 the country. It was the condition of Ireland which prompted 
 him : the condition of Ireland was the first topic touched upon 
 in the last letter of political importance he was ever destined 
 to write. The Home Rule movement represented to Loi-d 
 Beaconsfield a danger ' scarcely less disastrous than pestilence 
 and famine.' It had been insidiously supported by the Liberal 
 party, who tried to destroy the ' imperial character ' of England 
 by a ' policy of decomposition ' which Lord Beaconsfield called 
 upon all ' men of light and leading ' to struggle against. The 
 letter professed to attack the opponents of the Government for 
 their desire to disintegrate the empire : it really called upon the 
 English people to set the seal of their approval on the whole 
 course of that policy which Lord Beaconsfield and Lord Salisbury 
 delighted to style ' imperial.' 
 
 B
 
 2 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 That same INIonclay, before Lord Beaconsfleld's letter had yet 
 been published, Sir Stafford Northcote rose to make a minis- 
 terial statement in the House of Commons. He spoke of the 
 grave inconvenience that would be experienced by the members of 
 that House if they went into the country for Easter without 
 knowing the intentions of the Government with respect to the 
 dissolution of Parliament. The moment that the leader of the 
 House of Commons mentioned the woi'd dissolution there was 
 a literal flight of members from the chamber. Every man knew 
 that the stroke had fallen, and every man Avas eager to send at 
 once to his constituents the firtt news of the intended appeal 
 to the country. In a few minutes the tidings were borne by 
 a thousand wires to every electorate in the kingdom. It was 
 computed, for the benefit of those who love the small statis- 
 tics of great events, that some seven hundred and twenty 
 telegrams were wired from the House of Commons on that 
 night. 
 
 Tlie dissolution, though sudden, was scarcely unexpected. 
 The Government had lived an unusually long life ; six years had 
 gone by since it came into power, and it could at the utmost 
 only have endured for another twelvemonth. Since the begin- 
 ning of the sixteenth century only eleven had lived so long, and 
 only four had endured for a longer period. Mr. Gladstone 
 and the Liberal party had been arguing vehemently for some 
 time before the dissolution that no Government ought to com- 
 pletely exhaust their mandate by holding office to the last 
 syllable of their recorded time. Whether they ought or ought 
 not to do so, it was clear that they had a perfect right to remain 
 in for the rest of their seventh session if so they pleased ; but it was 
 scarcely less clear that they would not act wisely in so doing. 
 Ever since Lord Beaconsfield and Lord Salisbury came back 
 from Berlin to delight shouting multitudes with their stately 
 phrases about peace and honour, the popularity of the Conserva- 
 tive Ministry had been slowly, steadily, dwindling away. 
 
 The Government could only live on success or the show of 
 success. The fatal bi'and Althaea burned did not bear closer pro- 
 portion to ' the prince's heart of Calydon ' than did noisy triumph
 
 TEE FALL OF LORD BEAC0N8FIELD. 3 
 
 {incl gaudy surprise to the wellbeing and tlie popularity of the 
 Government. If Lord Beaconsfield had appealed to the country 
 immediately after the return from Berlin the Conservative party 
 might have come back to power with an undiminished majority, 
 Jbut in the year that lay between that more than Roman triumph 
 and the opening of the session of 1880 many things happened, 
 all of which told against the popularity of the Government. lu 
 Afghanistan the revival of the Afghan policy of 1840 brought 
 with it a hideous repetition of the massacre of 1841. Sir Alex- 
 ander Burnes had been killed in 1841 by an Afghan mob in- 
 dignant at England's eflbrts to force a British envoy upon them 
 against their will. For the same cause (Sir Louis Cavac;navi 
 was murdered in the same way in the autumn of 1879. Once 
 more England had a murdered envoy to avenge, once more Cabul 
 had to be occupied by an English army. In South Africa there 
 were even more serious troubles. We had gob into a war with 
 the Zulu king Cetewayo, and we had sustained one terrible 
 defeat at Isandlana, where an English force was surrounded 
 and literally cut to pieces by the Zulus. England was unac- 
 customed to such defeats, and the news of the disaster sent a 
 profound shock of horror and dismay throughout the country. 
 Of course victory could not be long doubtful or long delayed. 
 Cetewayo was entirely defeated, his lands divided, and he him- 
 self captured and imprisoned. But the ministerial policy in 
 Afghanistan and in South Africa did not increase the popularity 
 of the IMinistry. It was not perhaps so much the injustice of 
 the policy itself that was condemned as its ill-success, and the 
 bloodshed of English soldiers that accompanied it. 
 
 There were other influences of a more domestic nature work- 
 ing against the Government as well. Sir Ptichard Cross, the 
 Home Secretary, had identified his name and the name of the 
 Government with a Water Bill, in which an arrangement was 
 made with the City companies which was by no means popular 
 Their Water Bill helped to drive them to the country. Not 
 that a Water Bill of some kind or other was unneeded. The 
 London water-supply is very bad and very dear ; perhaps at 
 once the dearest and the impurest water supply in the country. 
 
 b2
 
 4 t:NGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 Sir Richard Cross — lie was then only Mr. Cross — proposed ia 
 the summer of 1879 to bring in a Bill which should enable the 
 Government to buy up the water companies and distribute pure 
 water to the metropolis. In answer to Mr. Fawcett, he an- 
 nounced that the Government, in treating with the water com- 
 panies, 'would take the stocks as they found them on such a day 
 - — the last day of the half-year — and that no speculative change 
 in the value of the stocks would have the smallest weight with 
 the Government.' Nothing could be more comforting than 
 these assurances ; nothing more disappointing than to find in 
 the autumn that, as a matter of fact, the Government were 
 prepared to pay the water companies a very much larger 
 price than the market value of the shai'es in August, from 
 Avhich they had very considerably risen in the ensuing months. 
 A sum of nine millions was sufficient to cover the original 
 cost of the waterworks ; their market value in the August 
 o;. Mr. Cross's reassuring speech was i;nder nineteen millions. 
 Yet Mr. Cross, on the basis of extraordinary calculations 
 which wholly failed to impress not merely the public mind 
 but the mind of the majority of his own party, proposed 
 to pay the water companies very nearly thirty millions. The 
 country railed and laughed at the new measure. Conserva- 
 tive adherents warned their leaders that they would not vote 
 for it. This was bad ; but it was not all. It was felt 
 for some time that the Budget would be unsatisfactory, and 
 unsatisfactory it proved to be. The preceding years had not 
 been years of signal prosperity ; the foreign policy of the Prime 
 INIinister had made many exceptional demands of the heaviest 
 kind upon the resovu"ces of the country. Wars in all directions, 
 and the ostentatious preparations for wars which never took the 
 field, had swelled the total of the deficit to an alarming degree, 
 while the revenue had not risen in anything like a proportion- 
 ate measure. The receipts were only some eighty millions odd ; 
 the expenditure exceeded that sum by over three millions. An 
 accumulated deficit of some eight millions of outstanding bonds 
 and bills Sir Stafford Northcote proj)osed to meet by renewing 
 bills for two millions, and creating terminable annuities to be
 
 THE FALL OF LOFB BEACONSFIELD. 5 
 
 paid off at the end of 1885 to cover the remaining six millions. 
 In order to liquidate these six millions during the five years, 
 Sir Stafford Northcote required an annual payment of 
 1,400,000^. to cover principal and interest. To meet this annual 
 payment the Chancellor of the Exchequer added 800,000^. 
 to the National Debt, and seized upon the sinking fund which " 
 he had himself established for the purpose of slowly but surely 
 reducing the National Debt. The Budget depressed the Conser- 
 vatives and delighted the Liberals. It afforded Mr. Gladstone 
 some of the best weapons with which to assail the Government. 
 Sir Stafford Northcote's proposal to increase the succession 
 duties on personal property, and to leave the smaller duties on 
 landed property untouched, was especially attacked by Mr. 
 Gladstone. The exemption of land from succession duties had 
 long been looked upon with fierce disfavour by the majority, 
 who were not landholders. Mr. Gladstone pointed out that 
 while under the old arrangement the tradesman and the farmer 
 paid three times as much succession duty as the landlord, by the 
 new arrangement they would have to pay four times as much. 
 
 Under such conditions, with shattered prestige and faded 
 laurels, the Tory Government decided to make that appeal to 
 the country which, one year earlier, might not have been made 
 in vain. The more hopeful among the Liberals rejoiced in the 
 prospect of the struggle. Mr. Grissell, imprisoned in Newgate 
 for offence against the majesty of Parliament, rejoiced too, for 
 the dissolution to him meant liberty. But it may be doubted 
 whether there was much sense of rejoicing in many Tory bosoms. 
 The more prudent among them must have regarded the election 
 with doubt and dread. It is now certain that the Tory whips 
 were much misled as to the prospects of the party, and that 
 Lord Beaconsfield himself was unwittingly misled in consequence. 
 However, the plunge was made. The Government huiTiedly 
 passed the Corrupt Practices at Elections Bill, which heightened 
 the expenses of elections by repealing the provision which made 
 it illegal for candidates to pay the cost of carriages employed 
 to bring voters to the poll. Then they went into the field and 
 faced their enemies.
 
 6 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 The elections soon showed that the Conservative Ministry 
 had indeed outlived its popularity : election after election went 
 in the Liberal interest, constituency after constituency declared 
 in favour of a new Government and against the old, seat after 
 seat changed from blue to buff. Never before in the history of 
 the reign had a Ministry remained in power so long to fall from 
 power so disastrously. When the elections were fairly over, 
 the Liberals were found to have the lai-gest majority on record 
 in our time — a majority of one hundred and twenty. The 
 reasons for this gi-eat victory were plain enough. There was 
 the inevitable law of political reaction, which always makes 
 a large number of persons vote one way because on the pre- 
 vious occasion they had voted another. There were the mis- 
 fortunes of the Conservative Government : they had taxed the 
 temper of the country very severely ; their ' imperial ' bubble, 
 when swollen to its biggest, had been pricked and shattered by 
 some humiliating blunders and some bloody defeats; most of 
 all, there was the eloquence of Mr. Gladstone. Months before 
 the ap2Jeal to the country he had made his famous Midlothian 
 campaign, pouring out speech after speech of scorn and con- 
 tempt and invective against the Ministry ; and every word he 
 uttered was carried to every corner of English land, and carried 
 conviction along with it to some minds unconvinced before. 
 The Midlothian speeches were brilliant — almost, it may be 
 said, too brilliant. Mr. Gladstone can hardly have counted 
 upon cari'ying the country before him in the way he did when he 
 poured forth speech after speech of glowing phrase and passionate 
 denunciation. The speeches literally swept the Conservatives 
 away ; but it must be admitted that the occasional extravagance 
 Avhich lent them their value as artistic efforts, and perhaps even 
 as political weapons, was often made the cause of considerable 
 uneasiness to Mr. Gladstone when he was once again in office. 
 The Midlothian speeches were a little like the famous memo- 
 i-ial which Gil Bias drew up for that Count d'Olivarez whose 
 melancholy face frowns from the canvas of Velasquez in the 
 gallei-y of Madrid. It was the duty of Gil Bias to present the 
 Spanish people with a very unpleasant account of the manage-
 
 THE FALL OF LOBD BEACO^'SFIELD. 7 
 
 ment of affairs under the previous Prime Minister, the Duke 
 de Lerma, ' It is necessary now/ said the Count d'Olivarez, 
 ' to bring before the eyes of court and town the wretched state 
 to which the monarchy is reduced. A picture must be painted 
 Avhich shall impress the people, and prevent them from regret- 
 ting my predecessor.' Gil Bias, it will be remembered, acting 
 upon these instructions, did paint a most alarming picture of 
 the. condition of the kingdom, with its finances dissipated, its 
 revenues squandered, its marine ruined, the very monarchy 
 imperilled by the faults of the previous ruler. After having 
 drawn a sufficiently fearful i^epresentation of the evils which 
 threatened the kingdom, Gil Bias proceeded to raise the hopes 
 of the people by describing the Count d'Olivarez as a refoi-mer 
 sent by Heaven for the safety of the nation, and promised 
 marvels in his name. It may be admitted by Mr. Gladstone's 
 warmest admirers that something of the spirit of Gil Bias 
 lingered along the lines of the Midlothian speeches. But for 
 the time they were com])letely successful : they stirred the 
 country from end to end, and shook Lord Beaconsfield's govern- 
 ment to its very centre. When the elections came on, Mr. 
 Gladstone went down into Midlothian again, of course, and 
 made more speeches, no less vigorous, no less impassioned, no 
 less eloquent than their predecessors ; and once more they 
 triumphed, not alone in Midlothian, but it might almost be 
 said in every constituency which i-eturned a Liberal candidate, 
 certainly in every constituency wl)ich overturned a Tory 
 representative and put a Liberal in his place. It would indeed 
 be difficult to overestimate the eifect of those Midlothian 
 speeches upon the English people and, in consequence, upon 
 the Tory administration. It must be admitted, however, that 
 their influence afterwards was in more than one case injuiious 
 to the Government they had called into power, and embarras • 
 sing to the statesman Avho uttered them. 
 
 Some share of the victory was undoubtedly in many cases 
 due to the influence and the assistance of the Irish vote. Lord 
 Beaconsfield's letter to the Duke of Marlborough began 
 with a direct attack upon the Irish Nationalists, and the Ii'ish
 
 8 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 Nationalists in the House of Commons retorted by calling upon 
 the Irish voters everywhere to rally to the Liberal standards, and 
 lend a hand to hurl the Conservatives from office. The appeal 
 was eagerly responded to : in almost every case the Irish vote 
 was all but unanimously given to a Liberal candidate, and in 
 not a few constituencies the Irish vote was big enough to turn 
 the balance one way or the other. Undoubtedly the sympathies 
 of the bulk of the Irish electors in Enorland was on the whole 
 with the Liberal leaders ; but they were now for the first time 
 obeying a call to vote for the Liberal party, not so much because 
 it was Liberal, as because it was not Tory. 
 
 The Liberals once in power, the question then came up who 
 was to be their leader. In the popular mind there was no 
 doubt at all. Through all the struggle that had resulted in the 
 Liberal triumph, one man was as conspicuous on the Liberal 
 side as Lord Beaconsfield was on the Tory side — the man who 
 had been the peer and antagonist of Lord Beaconsfield for 
 twenty years. Practically eveiy one, friend or foe, felt that 
 Mr. Gladstone was the chosen leader of the Eoglish Liberal 
 party. But for a moment it seemed as if the great Liberal 
 victory was to be followed by an absurd anticlimax. The 
 great battle had been fought and won, and, lo ! the wreath of 
 laux-el was to be placed upon the head, not of the conquering 
 general, but of some respectable lieutenant, who bad done his 
 little share of the business very creditably along with half a 
 score of others. It was hinted that Mr. Gladstone was un- 
 popular at Court. Lord Hartington was sent for and invited 
 to form a Ministry. The eyes of all England were metaphoric- 
 ally upon Lord Hartington, as he walked in the drizzling rain 
 from Vrindior Station to Windsor Castle in obedience to the 
 royal summons, and walked back again, still in the rain, 
 having declined to accept the responsibility of forming a 
 Ministry. Lord Hartington may not unreasonably be accused 
 of political ambition, for he has devoted himself with a patient 
 persistence to a political life that must, it may be well ima- 
 gined, have been exceedingly uncongenial, has conquered many 
 difficulties and many defects, and has succeeded in earning
 
 , THE FALL OF LORD BEAC0N8F1ELD. 9 
 
 distinction, and in mai-king out for himself a career. It sj)oke 
 well for his ability to play the part of a statesman that he was 
 able to refuse the temptation to become Prime Minister, to see 
 that a Hartington administration was not what the country 
 was just then calling for-. Lord Hartington being out of the 
 question, the Queen sent for Lord Granville. Lord Granville, 
 in all his long political career, had never been Prime Minister. 
 In 1855 he had tried, and failed, to form a Ministry, Lord 
 Granville was an able man who might in other times, and 
 under other conditions, have made an excellent Premier. His 
 sweet intellectual nature; his long political experience; his 
 exquisite facility for understanding men and questions — all com- 
 bined to make him an admirable candidate for the first office of 
 the State. Sir Henry Taylor, in his essay on ' The Statesman,' 
 urges the importance of general knowledge, ' if it were only to 
 enaljle the statesman to escape the charge of general ignorance 
 which men, perhaps more generally ignorant themselves, but 
 armed with a specific knowledge, may otherwise be led to 
 advance.' Lord Granville's statesmanship was of a kind which 
 would deserve the approval of Sir Henry Taylor. He is one 
 of the most cultured of statesmen; he is what the Prince 
 Consort was, and what the late Lord Brougham wished to be, 
 a man who excels in many branches of knowledge. Sharp, the 
 Abolitionist, thought he had discovered in the great Napoleon 
 the verification of the prophecy of the Little Horn in Daniel, 
 and he tried to communicate his theory to Fox. ' Would you 
 believe it % ' exclaimed the indignant Abolitionist to a friend 
 after the interview. ' He did not so much as know what the 
 Little Horn was.' 
 
 • It would probably not be easy to find a subject — even the 
 Little Horn — about which Lord Granville did not know 
 something. Indeed, at one time Lord Granville was thouo-ht 
 to be almost too cultured to find himself at home in the rough 
 field of practical politics. The impression was a mistaken one. 
 In one of Eugene Sue's stories there is a slender delicate young 
 man, so slender and delicate that he can easily pass in feminine 
 garb for a woman, and yet, in moments of danger, he displays
 
 10 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 tremendous strength, and fells pi'actised bullies and bruisers to 
 the ground with the ease of Ajax. Like Sue's hero, Lord 
 Granville seemed too delicate, too gracious, for the rough and 
 ready business of parliamentai-y life, but he soon showed that 
 at the right time he had as strong a grip, and could hit as hard, 
 as the best. Just now we seem to have passed away from 
 that order of things in which exceedingly young men played 
 the parts of Prime IMinistcrs and leaders of Opposition. Our 
 statesmen now are for the most part elderly. Lord Beacons- 
 field's brilliant saying about the world being made by young 
 men would not hold good at all were it not for Lord Ran- 
 dolph Churchill, But among elderly statesmen Lord Gran- 
 ville is conspicuous for his youth. Some years ago, speaking 
 of his youthful days, he prettily said, ' No one ever was so 
 young as I was once.' Something of this air of unparalleled 
 youth still clings about Lord Granville, and makes people feel 
 that, if he has not yet been Prime Minister, there is still plenty 
 of time. Lord Granville is cerbxinly of the stuff from which 
 Prime Ministers are made, and well made. But, in the early 
 spring of 1880, it was obvious that there was only one possible 
 Prime Minister, and that he was not Lord Granville, The 
 inevitable had to be accepted; the inexorable was not to be 
 argued with. 
 
 The task which lay before the new Premier was not over- 
 easy. Had it been in his power to form a Ministry three times 
 the size of that which custom and precedent permitted, he 
 would have found it difficult to satisfy the crowd of politicians 
 who thought themselves entitled to take office. There were, to 
 begin with, a certain number of men who must obviously be in- 
 cluded in any luijiisterial scheme that could possibly be formu- 
 laled ; men whose commanding position in the party, or whose 
 signal services in former days, gave them the right to belong to 
 the new Government. The names of Lord Hartington, Lord 
 Granville, Sir William Harcourt, Mr, Bright, and others 
 leaped at once to the lips of every man in England -who 
 planned out — as who did not? — the 2^^^'sonnel of the embryo 
 Ministry, Then there were men who had been in office before, 
 and who seemed to think that they had a sort of prescriptive
 
 THE FALL OF LORD BEACONSFIELD. 11 
 
 right to some position in the new Ministiy. These were often 
 respectable fourth and fifth-class men of average vestry ability, 
 but who had given their full parochial measure on former occa- 
 sions, and were not worth trying again. Then there were the 
 novi homines, the new men, who had come prominently to the 
 front during the long years of opposition, the free-lances from 
 below the gangway who had marked themselves out as candidates 
 for office whenever the Liberals should sit on the right hand of 
 Mr. Speaker again. Sir Charles Dilke, Mr. Chamberlain, Mr. 
 Leonard Courtney, Mr. Fawcett, Lord Edmond Fitzmaurice — 
 these were among the most conspicuous of these free companions. 
 From all these various elements a Ministry had to be combined 
 and a Cabinet evolved. The task was neither light nor pleasant. 
 A satiric poet, a Juvenal or a Churchill, might have found 
 excellent material for pungent and pitiless railleiy in the 
 struggles, the intrigues, the heart-burnings, the hatreds, the 
 jealousies, and the despairs, the hopes, and fears that animated 
 the breasts of all the mob of candidates for each and every place 
 that it was in Mr. Gladstone's power to bestow. Some poli- 
 ticians who were well known to have little love for Mr. Glad- 
 stone — who had indeed openly avowed that they would never 
 again consent to take office under him — found the winter of their 
 discontent melting away under the glorious summer of suc- 
 cess, and showed themselves wdlling to waive their objections and 
 enrol themselves once more beneath Mr. Gladstone's banner. 
 
 At first the process of Cabinet-making went smoothly enough. 
 There was no difficulty in assigning the most important offices 
 to the most obvious men. Lord Granville, Lord Hartington, 
 Lord Northbrook, Lord Selborne, Mr. Childers, and Mr. Forster 
 were easily apportioned off. Then came the critical question of 
 the Radical strength. The Whigs as a matter of course did not 
 like the idea of any Radical element being allowed to mix in 
 the composition of the Cabinet. For them Mr. Bright, Mr. 
 Forster, and Mr. Gladstone himself were quite revolutionary 
 enough, and they wished to have nothing to do with the fiery 
 spirits below the gangway. Even Mr. Gladstone, while ready 
 to recognise the Radicals by giving them places in the Ministry,
 
 12 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 was said to be unwilling to allow men as yet unti-ied in office to 
 enter the Cabinet at once. But the Radicals were determined 
 to have a representative in the Cabinet. Their leaders made a 
 resolute stand. Some one of their number — it did not much 
 matter which — but some prominent Radical must have a place 
 in the new Cabinet, or they would laiow the reason why. They 
 had a perfect right to make this demand, and to take their 
 stand upon it. In the years that had elapsed since Mr. Glad- 
 stone went out of office in 1874 Radicalism had been growing 
 more and more powerful every day. In Scotland, in the north 
 of England especially, Radicalism and not Liberalism was the 
 antafTonist of Conservatism. The Radicals of Birmingham, of 
 Manchester, of Newcastle-on-Tyne, and all the great towns of 
 the noi'th had learnt to organise, had become by organisation 
 the most powerful body of opinion in the country. Of these men 
 jMr. Chamberlain was the chosen captain. Sir Charles Dilke was 
 the champion in especial of the Radical working-men of London. 
 One or other of these two must be given a seat in the Cabinet : 
 so the Radical fiat had gone forth, and Mr. Gladstone could 
 not, had he been inclined, have affijrded to disregard that fiat. 
 The idle gossip of the hour, the many-tongued rumour that ran 
 during those eventful weeks through club-rooms and drawing- 
 rooms and editors' rooms, said that Sir Charles Dilke and Mr, 
 Chamberlain had joined their foi'tunes, had packed cards to- 
 gether, had entered into a solemn league with a seat in the 
 Cabinet for its object, and that each was pledged to support with 
 all the strength of his influence and his following the one who 
 should be chosen. Whether this were so or not, the strong 
 voice of Radicalism had declared that one of its two clnefs 
 should be chosen, and Radicalism was likely to have its way. 
 
 Sir Charles Dilke declined to accept any office unless some 
 representative of the Radical members below the gangway found 
 his way into the Cabinet. He himself suggested Mr. Cham- 
 berlain, as a man whom all the Radicals would be glad to 
 see chosen. There was a distinct pause in the process of foi-ma- 
 tion. Conference after conference was held ; at the clubs in- 
 tense excitement prevailed, rumour after r\imour in turn took
 
 thS fall of LOBD BEACONSFIELB. 13 
 
 possession of tlie public mind. The excitement was well 
 warranted. The situation almost deserved the dignity of a con- 
 stitutional crisis. Were the Radical party already strong enough 
 with the country to be able to dictate to a Ministry and demand 
 a place in the Cabinet % It was soon shown that they were. 
 After some eventful days of expectancy and much going to and 
 fro of ambassadors from the two camps, it became known that 
 the Radicals had carried their point, and that Mr. Gladstone 
 had accepted the situation and offered Mr, Chamberlain a seat 
 in the Cabinet. It was judged wiser to risk offending the 
 Whigs than to reject the Radicals, 
 
 At last, in the end of April, the Cabinet was formed and 
 the Ministry completed ; so many ambitions had been gratified, 
 so many encouraged, so many more had been frustrated, Mr, 
 Gladstone took the two offices of First Lord of the Treasury 
 and Chancellor of the Exchequer, The Great Seal and the 
 Lord High Chancellorship were intrusted to Lord Selborne. 
 Lord Granville became Foreign Secretary, Sir William Har- 
 court became Home Secretary, Lord Hartington became Secre- 
 tary for India, Mr. Childers went to the War Office, Lord 
 Kimberley undertook the affairs of the Colonies, Mr, Bright 
 accepted the Chancellorship of the Duchy of Lancaster, Mr, 
 Foi'ster was made Chief Secretaiy to the Lord-Lieutenant, Mr. 
 Chamberlain represented Radicalism in the Cabinet as President 
 of the Board of Trade. The Duke of Argyll as Privy Seal, 
 Mr. Dodson as President of the Local Government Board, and 
 Lord Spencer as Lord President, of the Council completed the 
 roll of the Cabinet. 
 
 Outside the Cabinet, the most important members of the 
 Ministry were Sir Charles Dilke as Under Secretary for Foreign 
 Affairs, Mr. Fawcett as Postmaster- General, and Sir Henry 
 James as Attorney-Geneial. Mr. Grant Duff, a politician of 
 brilliant promise and scant performance, of wide information 
 which he seemed unable to turn to much account, of abilities 
 which would have made the fortunes of half a dozen other men 
 and of which he made little enough, was Under Secretary 
 for the Colonies. Mr. Adam, who had long been famous for
 
 14 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 liis services as Whip to the Liberal party, sought I'est in the 
 Department of Public Works, only to weary soon enough of what 
 he called ' looking after flower-pots,' and, after seeking once 
 more fit service for his energies in the administration of 
 Madras, to die a too early death. Mr. Shaw Lefevre, an able 
 politician, who knew something more about land tenure than 
 most people, and was valued accordingly, became Secretary to 
 the Admiralty ; Sir Farrer Herschell was Solicitor-General. 
 IMr. Mundella undertook the education department as Vice- 
 President of the Council. One man whose name was con- 
 spicuously absent from the composition of the new Ministry, 
 Mr. Stansfeld, was absent, not by omission, but by his own 
 choice. His former services included him in the list of those 
 to whom pi'offer of .some place is inevitable, but the condition 
 of his health did not allow him to enter once more into the 
 harness of oflice. He remained outside the Ministry, and the 
 Government, as some sign of recognition of his ability and his 
 claims upon their consideration, afterwards nominated him as 
 a member of an important commission to inquire into the 
 working of the English land system. 
 
 Elevation to the peerage consoled or was expected to con- 
 sole some statesmen whom for various reasons it was not 
 convenient to include in the Cabinet, or even in the Ministry. 
 Eoremost among these was iMr. Lowe, who was sent to the 
 Upper House under the title of Lord Sherbrooke. Mr. Lowe 
 was a man of splendid gifts, profoundly cultured, a brilliant 
 and bitter speaker, of wide and original ideas, but he was 
 not a man whom it was easy for any statesman, or any body of 
 statesmen, to get on with. He was not to be relied on as an 
 invariable supporter of his chief ; he was crotchety, even eccen- 
 tric, in some of his views; and he was incapable of sacrificing 
 his own opinions, or abandoning his own ideas, to any one. 
 So his fiery light was allowed to shine fitfully in the House of 
 Lords — very fitfully and faintly indeed, for Lord Sherbrooke 
 appeared to find the company of the Peers oppressive, and 
 seldom roused himself to address them. Another and a very 
 different man, for whom a seat was found on the scarlet benches,
 
 THE FALL OF LOUD BEACOXSFLELD, 15 
 
 was Mr. KnatcLbull-Hugessen, now Lord Brabourne. Mr. 
 Knatchbull-Hngessen had earned some deserved distinction 
 outside the House of Commons as a writer of very graceful and 
 pretty fairy stories for children ; inside the House of Commons 
 he had not made himself very conspicuous. He would, it was 
 said, have much preferred a place in the Ministry to a peerage, 
 but he had to take the peerage. He was afterwards accused of 
 being ungrateful for the gift, of going out of his way as Lord 
 Brabourne to attack the chief he had served as Mr. Knatchbull- 
 Hugessen. A silly squabble arose much later in the journals as 
 to whether Lord Brabourne had or had not bound himself to 
 Mr. Gladstone by ostentatious place-hunting. One who professed 
 to know, writing under the name of an ' Old Whip,' said he had. 
 Lord Brabourne fiercely retaliated that he had not. In the end 
 the * Old Whip ' apologised. It was made clear that Lord Bra- 
 bourne had not rashly committed himself in writing. He had 
 been made a peer ; but a man is not supposed to owe any servile 
 gratitude to the Minister who gives him a title, at least not 
 since the days of Sir Robert AValpole. But Lord Brabourne 
 did undoubtedly become to the best of his ability a somewhat 
 hostile critic of Mr. Gladstone's policy. If any reasons other 
 ihan honest conviction need be sought for, perhaps being 
 shouldered out of the Ministry into the House of Lords might 
 aflford an explanation. Mr. Knatchbull-Hugessen thought he 
 was a statesman, and statesmen have not nowadays a very dis- 
 tinguished part to play in the Peers' Chamber. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE NEW MEN. 
 
 The Prime Minister who had just triumphantly returned to 
 power might well be pardoned for a little human exultation over 
 his victory. Six years before, acting on an impulse of political 
 pique, he had dissolved Parliament and fallen hopelessly into 
 minority and the cold shades of Opposition, ISTot long before the 
 election Punch had a cartoon representing Mr. Gladstone as a
 
 16 . ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 jockey urging his horse over the dangerous and difficult fence of 
 the Irish University Bill. When the rejection of the measure 
 had practically decided the fate of the Ministry, Punch completed 
 its allegory by another cartoon, in which the horse and its rider 
 lay thrown and prone on the other side of the hedge, with the 
 legend ' Come a cropper.' Mr. Gladstone had indeed come a 
 cropper. There is a story told in some of the Indian mythologies 
 of one of the gods who was flung by some superior deity so high 
 into heaven that though he has been falling down to earth ever 
 since, he has never j-et come back again. Conversely, Mr. 
 Gladstone was hurled so far down into the abyss of defeat that 
 for a time it seemed as if he would never scale his way to the 
 upper air and behold the stars again. For a while he still remained 
 leader of the Opposition. Then he suddenly took it into his 
 head to retire in a measui-e from public life. He had got in- 
 volved in a theological discussion with Cardinal Newman ; all 
 the fiery impetuosity of his nature appeared to be wholly 
 wrapped up in the questions of Catholic and Protestant dogma; 
 he announced that he would no longer lead the Opposition in the 
 House of Commons. Some younger man must be found for that 
 duty. His followers tried in vain to dissuade him ; and then 
 the younger man was found in the person of Lord Hartingtou. 
 The career of the eldest son of the Duke of Devonshire is a 
 remarkable instance of what dogged determination to succeed 
 in an ungrateful task may accomplish. A Roman gentleman of 
 the pre-Coesarian period, were he as wild as Catiline and his 
 companions, was sm^e to take a hand in the great game of 
 politics, Milo was. eager for his consulship ; Clodius took at 
 least as much trouble to get his pragtorship as to slip in among 
 the women at the Bona Dea ceremony. The young patricians 
 of the age of Anne and her Hanoverian successors took as 
 kindly to politics as to horse-racing, and duelling, and beat- 
 ing the watch, and making the ' grand tour.' But, unless 
 popular impression was even more mistaken than usual, 
 Lord Hartington did not take kindly to politics or to poli- 
 tical life. He had his own ideas of enjoyment; he was 
 very fond of horses and theatres, and o'her bright and lively
 
 THE NEW MEN. 17 
 
 pleasures ; and he found, it was confidently asserted, the busi- 
 ness of political life a dreadful bore. No sign of this whispered 
 weariness was ever shown in Lord Hartington's political career. 
 He entered Parliament very young; he was early put into 
 the service of the State. Long before any minister dreamed of 
 offeiing a place in his ministry to Mr. Bright, Lord Hartington 
 had served his apprenticeship in the routine of office. A hard 
 apprenticeship it must have been. Lord Hartington would have 
 been infinitely happier, no doubt, if he could have passed his 
 time in his own way in more congenial pursuits than in reading 
 blue-books, and addressing Mr. Speaker. But he was the son 
 of a great Whig Duke, and the political Parcse had decided that 
 he must play a part in the statesmanship of England. He set to 
 work to learn his lesson with the same unswerving persever- 
 ance that he would no doubt have shov/n if he had been called 
 upon in duty to his House to become a soldier, or a sailor, or a 
 divine. For a long time he did not seem to possess any capa- 
 city for political life beyond patience. He was put through 
 grade after grade of ministerial office, without manifesting more 
 ability than nine out of eveiy ten members of the House of 
 Commons would have shown in his place. He was not at first, 
 nor for long enough, even a moderately good speaker. But he 
 had patience, and he had determination. Steady practice gave 
 him in the end a certain distinct gift of speech, not indeed elo- 
 quence, or pretending to eloquence, but a debating facility that 
 of late has approached to excellence in its kmd. Long, however, 
 before he had shown any skill as a politician, he had been 
 looked upon as a future leader of the Liberal party, because, 
 whatever his merits or defects as a statesman, he was the heir 
 of the Duke of Devonshire. But in 1874 he had already shown 
 sufficient signs of capacity to justify his party in choosing him 
 as their leader, even if he had more possible rivals in the field 
 than either Mr. Forster or Mr. Lowe. Lord Hartington be- 
 came accordingly the leader of the Liberal Opposition in tho 
 House of Commons, and led it very well. His position was. not 
 altogether an easy one. Mr. Gladstone, in spite of his pro- 
 claimed retirement from the fervid courses of politics, in spite 
 
 c
 
 18 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 of his apparent absorption in theological argiimentation, was 
 not altogether a Hieronymus in Bethlehem. He came out of 
 his monastic retreat occasionally ; he laid down the Fathers 
 and took up blue-books ; he was scarcely less in the House of 
 Commons than of old, and he very often forgot that he had 
 abdicated the post of leader of the Liberal party. Few things 
 are more embarrassing to the leader of a pai'ty than the unex- 
 pected interference of an older and more influential politician 
 than himself; and of this emban-assment Lord Hai'tington had 
 his full share during the term of his captaincy. It soon be- 
 came recognised that Mi\ Gladstone had by no means gone into 
 the wilderness ; that questions of foreign and domestic polity 
 were still to the full as interesting for him as the subtlest argu- 
 ments deducible from the Council of Nicsea, or the weakest 
 points in the polemical armour of the Angelic Doctor ; that, in 
 fact, Mr. Gladstone was still actually, if not nominally, the 
 leader of the Liberal party. He gave very good proof of his 
 leadership at the time when the Beaconsfield Ministry was 
 declining to its fall, drifting from peace and honour to dispeace 
 in Afghanistan and dishonour in South Africa. Mr. Gladstone 
 made the famous Midlothian campaign. He went from town 
 to town speaking against the Government with all his eld elo- 
 quence and more than his old success. ' The pit rose at me,' a 
 great actor once exclaimed, exulting on the conclusion of some 
 great night of triumph. The country literally ' rose at ' Mr. 
 Gladstone. "Wherever he went he was greeted with enthusiasm, 
 with homage, with acclamation. Six years before, when he 
 talked in the driving rain to his Greenwich electors, and, emu- 
 lating the swan who dies in singing, composed his playful 
 verses about the Straits of Malacca, most persons thought he 
 had touched his zenith ; he appeared to have reached his nadir a 
 few years later, when he was hustled by a gang of jingo rowdies 
 in Cavendish Square, and had to take refuge — he and his wife 
 — from their brutal violence in the house of his friend Dr., now 
 Sir, Andrew Clarke. The Midlothian campaign seemed to 
 show that every one was wrong, that Mr. Gladstone had never 
 been so popular before ; the general election made it certain.
 
 THE NEW MEN-. 19 
 
 The most remarkable thing connected with the new Ministry 
 was the way in which the Liberal piqiiPAte had been strengthened 
 by an infusion of Radical grape-juice. The men below the 
 gangway were represented by Mr. Chamberlain in the Cabinet, 
 and Sir Charles Dilke and Mr. Leonard Courtney in the Min- 
 istry. Mr. Chamberlain was a remarkable type of the advanced 
 Eadical. He represented Birmingham in company with Mr. 
 Bright, who had at one time seemed so terrible a reformer in 
 the eyes of the steady-going politician, but whose Badicalism 
 showed wan and pale indeed by the side of the stronger colour 
 of Mr. Chamberlain's ideas. Indeed, of late, Mr. Bright 
 appeared little better than a Conservative by the side of the 
 tiery young men and advanced middle-aged men who were 
 guiding Liberal opinion in all directions, and Avho were now 
 climbing into the Ministry ; actually creeping into the sacred 
 core of the Cabinet itself to frighten Whig dukes with their 
 north country ideas and their ti'ansatlantic democracy. Most 
 of the real political strength of England lies now in the sturdy 
 northern manufactui-ing towns, which only came into political ex- 
 istence with the Reform Bill of 1832 ; and Mr. Chamberlain was 
 the recognised exponent of north country opinion. 
 
 Mr. Chamberlain was not in the strictest sense a very young 
 man when he first began to count as an influence in politics. 
 He was boi-n in 1836. He maybe said roughly to have floated 
 into the ken of those who watch the political heavens for the 
 appearance of any new planet in 1874, when he retired from the 
 business in which he made a fortune, and was for the first time 
 of thi'ee successive times elected Mayor of Birmingham. He 
 was forty years old before he first entered Parliament in the 
 June of 1876, but in our time and with our notions a man of 
 forty is a mere boy in political life, with practically all his career 
 before him. The diff^^erence between jjolitics and almost every 
 other human pursuit is one that lends a special attraction to 
 politics. At an age when a man in art of any kind hopes to 
 have made himself a name and reputation, or in commerce has 
 at least dreamed of retiring into private life and enjoying the 
 fruit of his labours, he finds himself fitted to begin the game 
 
 c2
 
 20 ENOLANB UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 of politics from the laeginning with as fair a chance as if he were 
 a boy of twenty. No man becomes a poet or a painter who has 
 passed his third decade without shaping a sonnet or sketching a 
 haystack. Nor, except in the rarest cases, does the merchant 
 or the tradesman who has devoted some twenty years of man- 
 hood to one branch of commerce turn on the mid pathway of 
 his life to essay some other. Few men * wait till they come 
 to forty years ' to become soldiers or sailors, or to enter 
 the Church, or to study for the Bar. But in politics, in Parlia- 
 mentary life, the middle-aged man almost realises the wish of 
 the hero of Oliver Wendell Holmes' pathetic little poem, and 
 becomes a boy again, and goes to school with at least the possi- 
 bility of winning many prizes, and of climbing to the head of 
 his form. ]\Iere youth has perhaps never been of so little value 
 as in the successive parliaments of the Victorian age. Perhaps 
 it would be fairer to say that the term Youth has never received 
 a more liberal interpretation. INIr. Chamberlain, the success- 
 ful Birmingham manufacturer, with one career behind him, 
 entered Parliament to renew his youth, and to find a new and 
 far greater career before him. Mr. Chamberlain's appearance, 
 and something in Mr. Chamberlain's character, fostered the 
 general feeling of his youth. William of Orange was said never 
 to have been young, and to have sat at eighteen among the 
 fathers of the Commonwealth seemingly as old as the oldest 
 among them. Mr. Chamberlain, on the other hand, seems to 
 have something of perennial youth about him. He sits among 
 the fathers of the Commonwealth with a quiet au' of juvenility 
 which recalls the Arcadian days of Prime Ministers of one-and- 
 twenty, and youthful politicians smuggled surreptitiously into 
 the House before they had even attained their majority. His 
 face is young ; there is a youthful neatness in his attire, a youth- 
 ful pride in the rare flowers that bloom in his button-hole, 
 a youthful heat and impetuosity occasionally; all of which 
 combine together to bid defiance to time. For with all his 
 shrewdness and his tact — and Mr. Chamberlain is one of the 
 shrewde.'^t as well as one of the ablest of living statesmen — he 
 has occasionally given way to impulses of passion which seem
 
 TEE NEW MEN. ^\ 
 
 strangely out of accord with his habitual grave demeanour. 
 Before he ever entered the House of Commons he made a famous 
 attack upon Mr. Disraeli in which he accused him of mendacity 
 with a bluntness that is not habitual in English political dis- 
 cussion. For this, however, he afterwards apologised very much 
 as Lord Durham once apologised for a fierce attack he had made 
 upon the Bishop of Exeter. Like Lord Durham, Mr. Chamber- 
 lain had been tortured by domestic loss. Those who most re- 
 gretted the attack admitted that the apology only did Mr. 
 Chamberlain honour, and it may be not unsafely assumed that 
 the object of the attack was the very last to bear it in unchari- 
 table memory. 
 
 Once again, after Mr. Chamberlain had been for some time 
 a member of the House, he allowed himself in a moment of 
 political passion to break through his self-control, this time to 
 the horror of the graver and more solemn members of his own 
 party. It was during a memorable night of the memorable 
 flogging debates of the last Parliament. Lord Hartington, then 
 leader of the Liberal Opposition, was not going as far against 
 the Government as some of his nominal followers below the 
 gangway thought that he ought to go. Mr. Chamberlain j umped 
 to his feet, and in an angry speech spoke of Lord Hartington as 
 the ' late leader of the Liberal party.' The speech, and the 
 attitude of Mr. Chamberlain's companions, had the effect of 
 bringing Lord Hartington to take up the line of action desired 
 below the gangway, but its effects upon the minds of respectable 
 Whigs may be easily imagined. No doubt that it rankled in 
 many Whig minds when the Whig Liberals did theii- best in 
 1880 to keep the speaker out of the Cabinet. 
 
 During the compar-atively short time in which Mr. Chamber- 
 lain has been prominently before the world he has certainly 
 succeeded in winning for himself a very i-emarkable position. 
 There is a story told of him that once, some few years ago, 
 when he was travelling in Iceland with a brother Badical, who 
 was also a brother member, he got into talk with a schoolmaster 
 in one of the small Icelandic towns. The schoolmaster displayed 
 a considerable knowledge of English political life, and observed
 
 22 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 that there was one rising politician whose career he was follow- 
 ing with great attention : could the travellers tell him anything 
 about this man ? his name was Joseph Chamberlain. The story- 
 is a fair illustration of the way in which Mr. Chamberlain has 
 succeeded in identifying himself with the purposes and the aspi- 
 rations of the Radical party. Swift once said of Bolingbroke 
 that he wanted something of the alderman to be a successful 
 statesman. Something of the alderman, using the word in its 
 best sense, in the sense which made an Athenian archon proud 
 of his archonship, there is in the character of Mr. Chamberlain. 
 It is the presence of this quality, this almost Hellenic feeling of 
 love for ' the city,' which won his way in Birmingham, and 
 raised him to the l&\dership of Englidi Radicalism. Ambitious, 
 masterful, profoundly politic, occasionally impulsive, he is at 
 the present moment one of the most interesting as well as one 
 of the most gifted of English representatives. 
 
 When Lord Beaconsfield, out of office, solaced liimself by 
 publishing ' Endymion,' he made one of his characters, Walder- 
 share, become Under Secretary for Foreign Affairs, with a chief 
 in the House of Lords. Waldershare declares that in these 
 conditions he is * master of the situation ; ' and he is anxious to 
 form a gallery of the portraits of all the great men who in theii' 
 time had been Under Secretaries for Foreign Affairs, Avith chiefs 
 among the peers. There could be no doubt as to whom Lord 
 Beaconsfield had in his mind when he wrote those lines. Sir 
 Charles Dilke had just become Under Secretary for Foreign 
 Affairs ; he had a chief in the Upper House, and he was 
 certainly 'master of the situation.' Sir Charles Dilke was 
 obviovisly pleased to be Secretary of State, and he played the 
 part with all the enjoyment with which Sulpice Vaudrey, in 
 Jules Claretie's clever novel, ' M. le Ministre,' enjoyed the 
 sensation of finding himself Minister of the Interior. Not 
 quite ten years before, Sir Charles Dilke had been one of the 
 best abused men in England. He was an open and avowed 
 Republican. Republicanism is not an ungi-acefid addition to 
 the attractions of a clever young politician with a comfortable 
 income. The well-to-do Republican can assume to himself all
 
 THE NEW MEN. 23 
 
 the picturesqueness of a Camille Desmoulins, or a fiery intrepid 
 St. Just, without incurring the slightest suspicion of being 
 spurred into a democracy by a desire for a livelihood. Eabagas 
 is a rowdy who haunts humble cabarets, but the Phrygian 
 cap of liberty sits becomingly enough on the forehead of Lord 
 Magnus Charters, and Eepublicanism with ten thousand a year 
 generally ceases to be obnoxious. Yet Sir Charles Dilke suc- 
 ceeded in making his Republicanism and himself exceedingly 
 obnoxious to a very large number of people. It was not that 
 Sir Charles Dilke's Republicanism was so very red : it was red 
 rather by contrast than sanguine-hued of set purpose. But when 
 Sir Charles Dilke first came prominently into public notice, 
 the rise and fall of the Paris Commune had frightened a good 
 many people in England into alarm at any kind of democratic 
 agitation. There had been a decided growth of Republican 
 feeling in England before the Commune ; there was an equally 
 decided reaction and falling oft' after the Commune. 
 
 Sir Charles Dilke had made himself conspicuous by going 
 about the country and delivering stirring speeches of a more 
 or less Republican kind, and attacking the way in which the 
 income and allowances of the Crown were spent. There were 
 generally rows, and occasionally broken heads at his meetings, 
 and he was called 'citizen Dilke,' and made fun of in theatres 
 and by newspapers, and was denounced in drawing-rooms, and 
 worshipped in working men's clubs. His opponents practically 
 challenged him to repeat in the House of Commons what he 
 had been saying in the country, and he at once accepted the 
 challenge. In March 1872 he brought forward a motion in 
 the House of Commons for inquiring into the way in which 
 the money of the Crown was spent. Sir Charles Dilke said 
 what he had to say quietly and composedly, and the House 
 listened to him with wonder and anger, and he was replied to 
 very bitterly by Mr. Gladstone. The Prime Minister brought 
 all the force of his eloquence and his invective to bear upon the 
 young member. He attacked him with as much bitterness as 
 Walpole could have used to some Jacobite Shippen, scheming 
 to overthrow the monarchy altogether. He seemed to point
 
 24 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 him out to the House and to the country as an object of scorn 
 and indignation. "When he sat down, leaving the object of his 
 assault apparently alone and without a friend, Mr. Auberon 
 Herbert rose. Mr. Auberon Herbert was a young politician 
 of good family and advanced ideas, to whom at ordinary times 
 the House was pi-epared to listen ; but it was not prepared now 
 to listen to what Mr. Auberon Herbert had to say, for Mr. 
 Herbert had risen to support Sir Charles Dilke, and to avow 
 himself, too, as a Republican. The House of Commons lost 
 its head completely; it howled and yelled, and shouted at Mr. 
 Herbert. The long-forgotten cockcrow rang its shrill clarion 
 through the din of the chamber, making itself audible above 
 the bellowings of respectable country members, and the 
 shrieks of startled supporters of the jMinistry. Mr. Herbert 
 held his ground, but he could not obtain a hearing. The 
 Speaker, usually so authoritative, could not calm the House; 
 his appeals for order wei-e as vain as the kingship of Knut 
 against the waves of the Channel, or the mop of Mrs. Partington 
 against the waters of the Atlantic. 
 
 That night Su* Charles Dilke's unpopularity reached its 
 height ; from that night he began slowly but surely to become 
 popular once more. He never put himself forward again so 
 markedly as a Republican, and he gi-adually became a favourite 
 among those politicians who like, with Zenobia, to know rising 
 young men who will probably become Cabinet ministers. At 
 the very time when Sir Charles Dilke was most unpopular, 
 in those March days of 1872, a political observer predicted that 
 in ten years Sir Charles Dilke would be an under-secretary. 
 The prediction overleaped its time ; in eight years Sir Charles 
 Dilke was in a Ministry ; in ten years he was destined to be 
 in the Cabinet. In opposition Sir Charles Dilke distinguished 
 himself especially by his profound knowledge of foreign politics. 
 He let Republicanism alone for the time. Some people said 
 that he found that Liberty's red nightcap could be worn 
 just as well under the arm like a crush-hat as plucked de- 
 fiantly forward upon the forehead. In reality, no doubt. Sir 
 Charles Dilke saw that the time was not come for revolutionary
 
 THE NEW men: 25 
 
 display ; that the democratic cause advanced best in England 
 by being left to itself. No one was surprised when Sir Charles 
 Dilke became a member of the Gladstone Ministry ; one or 
 two were surprised that he consented to remain out of the 
 Cabinet. 
 
 Of Mr. Bright, as of Mr. Gladstone himself, it is not neces- 
 sary to say much. It is curious, however, to note the difference 
 that time had made in his political position since the days when 
 he first took office, as President of the Board of Trade, in 1868. 
 Then Mr. Bright was looked upon as an extremely advanced 
 politician, whom it was at least venturesome if not reckless to 
 admit into a Cabinet. In the twelve years that had gone by 
 the tone of English Badicalism had altered greatly. The 
 Radicalism of 1868 was but the Liberalism, even the Whiggism, 
 of 1880. Mr. Bright, indeed, had never been by nature a very 
 Radical politician. He was much less of a Radical than his 
 friend Cobclen, for example. He had become associated with 
 some great measures of reform, which were far in advance of the 
 general political feeling of the time in which they were intro- 
 duced. But he was very far from being an advanced Radical, or 
 from being in sympathy with advanced Radical projects which 
 involved great changes. There was always a very strong Con- 
 servative element in Mr. Bright's nature, even in the days 
 when he was denounced by his opponents as a revolutionary 
 demagogue. Now, however, his place in a Liberal Cabinet 
 seemed reasonable ; no one felt any alarm about that. It was 
 the younger men, the advanced Radicals, the Chamberlains 
 and Dilkes, who were stirring up public action and party alarms 
 by their advances vipon a Cabinet where Mr. Bright's presence 
 was, if anything, regarded as a pledge of safety against the 
 impetuosity of youthful and ardent Radicalism. 
 
 Mr. Fawcett was one of the most remarkable men in the 
 Administration. "Weighted at the very beginning of his man- 
 hood by a misfortune that might well have paralysed his hopes 
 and withered his ambition, he met his calamity with a patient 
 resolution which may fitly be called heroic. He made up his 
 mind to go on in the career he had marked out for himself in
 
 26 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 spite of his terrible affliction. He was fortunate indeed in 
 having the worldly means which allowed him to pursue without 
 privation, and without the anxiety of poverty, the path he had 
 chosen in the days before his darkness. But he was still more 
 fortunate in the possession of a mind strong with that proud 
 patience which the gods are said to love — calm, fixed, and reso- 
 lute. He met one of the deepest misfortunes that can befall any 
 man with a lofty resignation, but he did not resign himself to 
 despair or to inaction ; he determined still to live an active and 
 a useful life, and he kept his purpose well. Before he entered 
 the House of Commons he had won an honourable name as a 
 political economist. In the House of Commons he soon rose 
 to eminence ; his inflexible independence of thought prevented 
 him from ever becoming that poorest of political creations, the 
 mere party man. His leaders soon learnt that they could never 
 count upon passive obedience or tacit submission from his eager 
 and energetic spirit ; his mouth always spoke from the fulness 
 of his heart ; he was always on the side of what he believed to 
 be honest and just and honourable, without a thought as to the 
 result of his attitude upon the temper of a minister or the num- 
 bers of a division lobby. On Indian affairs, in the complex 
 ramifications of Indian finance, he showed himself to be an 
 especial master. Long before Mr. Fawcett entered the House 
 of Commons the days had gone by when all debates on Indian 
 affairs were conducted by a few officials and one or two special- 
 ists or crotcheteers in a deserted chamber. Debates on India 
 had come to command universal attention ; men of all parties 
 and moods made it their business to study India and harangue 
 on Indian questions. Among the best informed of these Mr. 
 Fawcett soon rose to distinction; but he never became, as 
 many men have become, so fascinated by the wealth and variety 
 of subjects which are included in the one word ' India ' as to lose 
 his interest in, or his grasp over, other topics. Conspicuous for 
 his variety of information on Indian questions, even among 
 Indian specialists, he never became a mere specialist himself, 
 never became absorbed in one set of political problems to the 
 exclusion of all others. "When it was made known, therefore,
 
 TEE NEW MEN. 27 
 
 in 1880 that Mr. Fawcett had been chosen to fill the office of 
 Postmaster-General, most persons felt that a good choice had 
 been made, and that Mr. Fawcett woiald find himself as much 
 at home in the Post Office as he had been in the chair of Politi- 
 cal Economy in Cambridge. But it may be confidently asserted 
 that no one, even of Mr. Fawcett's warmest admirers and 
 closest friends, could have expected that he would win the signal 
 success which he has won in the first office that he ever filled 
 vinder the Crown. 
 
 The new Home Secretary was not the most popular member 
 of the new Government, even with his own party. His ability 
 was unquestioned, but certainly not his sincerity. People 
 charged him with want of political morality; hinted that 
 he fought neither for principle nor for party, but solely for 
 himself; that he was the adventurer of administrations. He 
 was never called a trimmer, as one of the most able writers in 
 the Liberal party called Mr. Forster a trimmer, but he was 
 quietly accused of want of conviction. He gave his services to 
 the Liberal party as a De Bracy or a John Hawkwood lent his 
 lances to king or kaiser. As far as the virtues of a free com- 
 panion went, he was of sterling service ; while all was going 
 well with the Ministry of which he formed a part, his bitter 
 speech and hard blows were always at the command of his chief. 
 But when the foi-tunes of the political war began to wane, then, 
 some said, it was no more safe to rely upon him than it would 
 have been to trust to a condoUiere when the money was all 
 gone, and there were no tall towns to take. Men had not for- 
 gotten how, when the position of jMi\ Gladstone seemed low 
 indeed. Sir William Harcourt had turned upon his captain and 
 his comrades, and had delivered himself of what Mr. Gladstone 
 mockingly called 'portentous erudition ' on the Public Worship 
 Bill. He was whispered to entertain a very cordial dislike for his 
 leader, but he was essential to the Ministry all the same. There 
 was something of the Copper Captain, of the Alsatian Ti-ojan, 
 about his eloquence, which would have made Sheridan smile and 
 Burke shiver, but it was none the less exceedingly effective. 
 There were few men in the House of Commons who could be called
 
 28 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 Sir William Harcourt's match in boisterous debate ; few men 
 who could stand against him when he was hitting his hardest, 
 and return him blow for blow undismayed. When he assailed 
 an opponent, he fell upon him with all his force, and literally 
 whirled him away. He had not the slightest skill in sarcasm, 
 and, to do him justice, rarely employed it; but in sheer invec- 
 tive he was unsurpassed, and, within the limits of parliamentary 
 discourse, almost unsurpassable. His thunder was not perhaps 
 the purest Olympian ; it was more like the clattering bronze of 
 Salmoneus, but it often frightened its immediate hearers as effec- 
 tually as if it had really rumbled from the sacred mountain. He 
 was a power in the House, therefore, and the minister who had 
 him in service felt safer. Nobody could smash an antagonist 
 more effectually ; nobody could be more noisily indignant, 
 more obstreperously virtuous, more loudly humorous. Some- 
 times he got into difficulties from not taking the trouble to 
 learn the intentions of a Ministry, and vociferated one line of 
 policy only to be instantly contradicted by some fellow-minister, 
 who had to assure the House that the Government meant the 
 very opposite of what the Home Secretary had been saying. 
 But nobody minded these mistakes much ; least of all the 
 Home Secretary himself, who lilied to make a rattling speech, 
 and be cheered by somebody, and cared very little for the effect 
 of his words five minutes after he had uttered them. 
 
 The new Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant had 
 hitherto been a man of failures. His friends said that he had 
 never yet got the chance of showing his real ability as a states- 
 man ; his enemies hinted that he had already made the very 
 most of the abilities he was endowed with. Among his own 
 party Mr. Forster was not universally admired. Mr. P. H. Hill, 
 the author of ' Political Portraits,' perhaps the most remarkable 
 political satires since the Letters of Junius, is himself a distin- 
 guished supporter of the Liberal party. He has described Mr. 
 Forster as the most dexterous trimmer of his day, as the states- 
 man who has taken Mr. Facing-Both-Ways as his poHtical model. 
 * Like some barbarous tribes, who sacrifice to the evil spirit be- 
 cause they feel that the benevolence of the good spirit is theirs
 
 THE NEW MEN. 29 
 
 already, Mr. Forster has neglected his Libei'al friends for his 
 Conservative adversaries. . . . The resentment which these 
 tactics have created is confined to a section of the Libei'al party. 
 The distrust which they have inspired is far more widely 
 spread, and, unless it be dispelled by a different line of conduct, 
 must affect for the worse Mr. Forster's political prospects and 
 career,' in spite of qualities ' which might insure Mr. Forster 
 a noble career, if he could unlearn his practice of manoeuvring 
 with his adversaries against his friends.' These words, written 
 in 1873, while Mr. Forster was still in office, give an excellent 
 idea of the estimation in which Mr. Forster was held by the 
 supporters of his own party a decade since. But one of the 
 most skilful strokes in this Political Portrait is where, dwelling 
 on Mr. Forster's histrionic ])owers, the writer describes him as 
 'the best stage Yorkshireman, whether in the parliamentary 
 or any other theatre, of his day.' This is an excellent presenta- 
 tion of Mr. Forster's character. His statesmanship is all stage- 
 play. His is the part of heavy vii-tue, and he rather overdoes 
 it. He has little tricks of manner, little bits of 'business,' 
 which are always being brought into his interpretation of what 
 a rough but honest minister ought to be. He is always 
 costumed, figuratively if not actually, as the bluff stage farmer, 
 whose word is his bond ; who may be rough indeed, but is 
 astoundingly honest. He is the ' Elephant ' of Scott's ' Count 
 Robert of Paris,' who has abandoned the garb of a Byzantine 
 stoic for the attire of a stage Yorkshireman. It is not difficult 
 to imagine Mr. Forster adapting to himself those lines in 
 Virgil's story which tell of the duty and destiny of imperial 
 Rome. Mr. Forster may whisper to himself that not for him 
 are the graces of one minister, or the Homeric culture of 
 another, the social distinction of a third, or the eloquence of a 
 fourth. For him, however, it is reserved to rule the world with 
 awful sway, to tame the pi'oud, to set free the fettered slave. 
 These are imperial arts, and worthy of the honourable member 
 for Bradford. Somehow or other Mr. Forster was not quite 
 equal to this exalted dignity. He was too anxious to have the 
 applause of the House. He was too eager to pose as the great
 
 80 Ey GLAND UXBER GLADSTONE. 
 
 and good before both parties. He was not content with being 
 a prophet for his own country alone, and hence his ill-success. 
 Mr. Forster's own majestic way — majestic in the sense which 
 gave Henry VIII. the title of Bluff, and threw a curious lustre 
 over "William IV. — became too well kno-\vn in St. Stephen's. 
 He would begin generally by going on the lines of common 
 sense. He would put forth his own views with much display 
 of sturdiness, generally baiting them -s^-ith some ingenious 
 phrase that took a Tory cheer or two, and occasionally throwing 
 in a rough and ready joke of the farmer's feast order, to show 
 that thei'e is an element of dry humour lurking in his rugged 
 nature. "WTien this action did not produce its due effect, Mr. 
 Forster generally turned to the pathetic, seemed to lament a 
 world in which virtue is misprized, and in which the deeds of 
 men who love their land are harshly understood. Tired of 
 beholding desert a beggar born, and simple truth miscalled — 
 not, indeed, simplicity — he would imply that he was eager to 
 be gone fi'om all this, but that he felt that he could not leave 
 his love the Commonwealth alone. ]Mr. Forster was no less 
 happy in his imperious moods than in the pathetic. To beard 
 the lion in his den and the Douglas in his hall would appear 
 not half so desperate a deed as to cross Mr. Forster in this 
 most impressive part of his performance. All this was excel- 
 lent, very ' witty and comedy ' of its kind, but it seemed some- 
 how to lack sincerity. Nobody believed in it, either on Mr. 
 Forster's own side, which he had so often abandoned, or in the 
 Tory camp, whose sweet voices he had so often and so success- 
 fully solicited. He was applauded for his mimetic qualities, 
 not for his candour, nor his disinterestedness. 
 
 Mr. Mundella is one of the men to whom the Panglosses of 
 our political system are wont to point as a proof of the perfec- 
 tion of existing mode of government. He is their standing 
 reply to any complaints upon the inequality of a form of admin- 
 istration which is based largely upon the aristocratic principle. 
 Mr. Mundella, they urge eagerly, is not an aristocrat. He 
 does not belong to any of the old country families which are 
 in themselves an aristocracy. He is hardly an Englishman :
 
 THE NEW MEN. 31 
 
 he began life very humbly ; he has worked his way up ; he has 
 won a political position j he is now in the Ministry. How, 
 therefore, can it be said that the English method of governing 
 is unequal in its distribution of political prizes % Without admit- 
 ting the validity of the argument, it may be at once admitted 
 that, in the existing condition of things, a Ministry is so much 
 the better which numbers Mr. Mundella among its members. 
 The peculiar circumstances attending his rise in the world have 
 happily saved him from a too complete subservience to anti- 
 quated routine. He brings with him into the Cabinet an ele- 
 ment of freshness of thought which is welcome. He is not a 
 Radical of the new school, it is true, but neither is he a Whig of 
 the old school. He represents, if only vaguely and faintly, the 
 new order, before which the old is rapidly giving way. He 
 has ideas and abilities beyond the proportion which have 
 hitherto been considered sufficing for many ministers of high 
 position under the Crown ; and as an example of the rapidly 
 decreasing section who formed what may be called the left 
 centre of the Liberal party, he possesses a peculiar interest of 
 his own. 
 
 Among the men of second-i*ate administrative ability, Mr. 
 Childers stood high, and Mr. Dodson low. Mr. Childers was 
 one of those sensible, steady-going, hard-working politicians 
 who are of considerable service in a Ministry formed after the 
 feshion of an English Ministry. He might alwavs be relied 
 upon to do reasonably well whatever work was set him to do ; 
 and though in the nearly twenty years that have gone by since 
 he first experienced office as a Lord of the Admiralty in 18G4, 
 he has not illuminated his record with any brilliant, or even 
 bright achievements, he has made no egregious blunders, and 
 few conspicuous mistakes. He is an eminently safe, if not 
 eminently interesting politician. Yet in comparison with his 
 colleague Mr. Dodson, who is endowed with verv much the same 
 kind of political virtues, j\Ir. Childers seems to rise to the level of 
 a Richelieu or a Colbert. Mr. Dodson is an estimable and 
 painstaking man, with a certain capacity for figures such as is 
 in all probability enjoyed by nine out of every ten clerks in the
 
 32 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 kingdom. There is not the faintest reason why he should be a 
 Cabinet minister ; no arguments to support his claims can be 
 adduced from anything he has ever done, or from i-easonable 
 speculation as to what he is likely to do. He is simply one of 
 the anomalies of our constitutional system. The best that can 
 be said for him is that he is no worse than many others who 
 have, during the present reign, held high and responsible office ; 
 the worst, that he represents the traditions of respectable medio- 
 crity in an epoch when that tradition has become wearisome to 
 the temper of mankind. 
 
 Sir Henry James is, perhaps, a rather more successful man 
 than impartial students of political life had expected him to 
 be. * Le petit ira loin,' says a chaa-actcr in one of Balzac's 
 novels of another. ' C'est selon,' is the answer, ' mais il ira.' 
 Such a conversation, with Sir Henry James for its subject, 
 might very well have taken place when Sir Henry James first 
 appeared in political life. If the cautious observer could not 
 absolutely endorse the pi'ophecies of enthusiastic friends that 
 the representative of Taunton would go very far on the path- 
 way of Parliamentary success, he might safely admit that he 
 would certainly go some way. He has probably gone farther 
 than most persons would have been willing to predict. He is 
 an indispensable and valued member of any Liberal Govern- 
 ment ; he is excellent in opposition. Behind his bland exterior 
 and smooth sentences there is an acridity of attack, a pungency 
 of epigram which make him a redoubtable ally and a singulai'ly 
 disagreeable opponent. The Woman's Eights party have never 
 forgiven him for his barbed sayings about them, sayings 
 which cut, perhaps, all the more sharply for the faint feminine 
 element of spitefulness with which they were feathered. Yet, 
 curiously enough, there is something in Sir Henry James's 
 manner, at once caiessing and reassuring, familiar and yet 
 deferential, which vaguely suggests the ladies' doctor, 
 
 Mr Grant Dufl", on the other hand, has certainly not ful- 
 filled, or even nearly fulfilled, the promise of his youth. There 
 was a time when almost anything seemed possible for the 
 brilliant and highly cultured young man for whom destiny had
 
 THE NEW MEN. 33 
 
 SO agreeably smootliened the road towards distinction. It is 
 difficult to say why Mr. Grant Duff's career is a disappointing 
 one. Whatever he has ti-ied to do — and he has tried many 
 things — he has done well, and sometimes excellently. He can 
 make good speeches ; he can write clever books. His ' Studies in 
 European Politics ' is probably not much read now. It is not 
 twenty years old, and yet the period of which it treats is 
 almost as much ancient history as the wars of the third 
 Thothmes ; the conditions of the political game then are as 
 different from the conditions of the game now as they were 
 from the conditions of the game as played by Pericles. Yet 
 ' Studies in European Politics ' is in many respects a brilliant 
 book. It deserves to be read, if only as an example of the way 
 in which political question after political question may be 
 treated with a freshness and grace that can be called nothing 
 less than fascinating. One can hardly help thinking that if 
 Mr. Grant Duff had written more he miofht have made a greater 
 name. As it is, the part he plays is a small one. There are 
 still a few people who believe profoundly in Mr. Grant Duff, 
 who follow his utterances with anxiety, to whom he is indeed 
 Trophonius ; but their number is not increasing. 
 
 Lord Selborne Avas a much more prominent poHtician when 
 he sat in the Lower House as Sir Roundell Palmer. He had 
 been a Conservative, and he came over to the Liberal side of 
 politics, but he never seemed quite to belong to or be wholly 
 absorbed in the Liberal party, as he indeed shows by calling 
 himself to this day a Liberal-Conservative. At one time it 
 was the fashion to speak of him as one of the finest speakers 
 in the House of Commons, but the fame of his oratory has 
 greatly fallen away of late years. He had always the worst 
 defects of the Peelite school, all the faults of voice and manner 
 which the adherents of Sir Robert Peel seemed to consider 
 themselves bound to adopt together with the principles of their 
 leader. Sir Roundell Palmer always made his speeches in a 
 tone of voice which suggested that at any moment the emotions 
 of the speaker might prove too much for him, and he would 
 
 D
 
 34 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 burst into a flood of tears. Lord Selborne is essentially a theo- 
 logical politician. He may be likened to a Church of England 
 version of Thackeray's Jesuit Father Holt disguised as a soldier. 
 Lord Selborne is a Church of England divine disguised as a 
 Lord Chancellor ; but his theology is not illiberal. He strongly 
 opposed the passing of the Ecclesiastical Titles Bill in 1851. 
 The predominance of the Churchman over the lawyer was 
 shown in him when he severed himself from Mr. Gladstone on 
 the question of the Irish Church, and seemingly cut himself 
 adrift from all possibility of political preferment. Virtue was 
 not all its own reward in his case. Events were propitious to 
 him, and entrustetl him with the Great Seal ; but while he has 
 always shown himself a skilful lawyer, a sound theologian, and 
 an honourable politician, he has never succeeded in proving 
 himself a statesman. 
 
 The Duke of Argjdl seemed a little out of his element in a 
 Cabinet which included INIr. Chamberlain, in a Ministry which 
 numbered Sir Charles Dilke among its members. "When, 
 thirty-eight years before, he had as a boy of nineteen taken 
 upon himself to lectui-e the House of Lords in his pamphlet 
 ' Advice to the Peers ' he promised to be a very advanced politi- 
 cian indeed. For a time he kept up the character. He supported 
 Dr. Chalmers in the great Scottish Church question. In the 
 House of Loi'ds he distinguished himself for his impetuosity, 
 and for the irreverent indifference with which he assailed 
 established statesmen. The Duke of Argyll was undoubtedly 
 clever ; he made clever speeches, he wrote clever books on all 
 kinds of topics, he said clever things, he soon got into the 
 groove of office and kept in it, but he never quite justified 
 his early reputation ; and now in the new Cabinet he dis- 
 tinctly belonged to what might be called the reactionary 
 party. 
 
 Lord Kimberley would have been described by Ancient 
 lago as ' a worthy peer.' He has always been holding high 
 offices, and has never made any great mark in any of them. 
 He has fulfilled his duties respectably; has never been con- 
 spicuous for genius or remarkable for any glaring blunders.
 
 THE NEW men: 35 
 
 Like tlie members of the House of Lords in Mr. Gilbert's 
 
 ' lolanthe,' he always — 
 
 Did nothing in particular, 
 And did it very well. 
 
 Ever since he began his career as Under Secretary for Foreign 
 Affairs, under Lord John Russell in 1852, he has regularly 
 been accommodated with office whenever a Liberal Government 
 has come into power, and he has always remained serenely indif- 
 ferent to any desire for distinguishing himself. The patient ox, 
 which by the borders of the Nile walks its unceasing circle in the 
 sahhieh that draws water from the river for the irrigation of the 
 fields, has as much ambition for the changeful life of the desert 
 camel as Lord Kimberley has to make himself in any way con- 
 spicuous among statesmen. Destined to be in office and in 
 opposition in stirring times, Lord Kimberley never condescended 
 to distinguish himself by any display of administi'ative talent 
 while in office, or statesmanship out of office. 
 
 One of the most remarkable episodes of the electoral cam- 
 paign was the conversion of Lord Derby. The conversion can 
 hardly be said to have been very sudden or very startling. For 
 some time it had been evident that Lord Derby was falling slowly 
 away from the faith of his fathers. When he resigned his 
 position in Lord Beaconsfield's Government, shortly before the 
 fall of the Tory Ministry, Lord Salisbury assailed him with a 
 savage vehemence, which he no doubt justified to himself by the 
 certainty that Lord Derby was leaving not merely the ]\Iinistry 
 but the party. It takes a very impetuous and unbridled 
 nature to allow a minister to compare with Titus Gates a man 
 with whom it may be necessary in future years to act in concert. 
 Lord Dei'by was an able and a conscientious man ; his warmest 
 admirers would never have called him a brilliant politician. 
 He was curiously unlike his father, still more curiously unlike 
 the great statesman from Avhom he fell away in 1878. His 
 mind was as free from passion or emotion, or any of what may 
 be called the artistic feelings, as if it had been the coldly logical 
 machine desired by some of our scientific men. His father was 
 as fond of scholarship — not very exact scholarship, indeed — as if 
 
 1)2
 
 36 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 he had been a Fox or a Bolingbroke ; the son never showed 
 more affection for arts or letters than did the elder Walpole or 
 the younger Pitt, but he had a marvellous capacity for getting 
 up facts and figures and understanding statistics. The father 
 found time to translate Homer ; the son undei-took to prove to 
 the world that even a Tory lord might understand something of 
 political economy. 
 
 Lord Derby was a slow, ineffective speaker. Of poor de- 
 livery in his youth, he never really brightened into anything 
 even approaching eloquence. He pofsessed a curious power of 
 reducing everything, even the uncommon, to the commonplace, 
 eo that when he said, as he often did, things wise and sensible, 
 and even new, he invariably, or almost invariably, so clothed 
 and uttered them as to make them appear like the sheerest and 
 tritest truisms. He was frigidly methodical, drily, somewhat 
 drearily, accurate, with nothing about hitn to harass and perplex 
 his party and his partisans ; he could do what Disraeli could 
 never do, he could be intelligent and seem dull, and so in some 
 ways he was the very man the Tories wanted when he first 
 took ofiice under his eloquent, gifted, showy father. Once he 
 had shaken off the chains of office, he was felt to be drifting 
 day by day nearer and nearer to straightforward recognition 
 of Liberalism. At length came the letter to Lord Sefton 
 which announced what every one was expecting, that he had 
 definitely broken with the Conservatives, and had made up his 
 mind, ' however reluctantly,' to be known henceforward as a 
 Liberal peer. Kot a few of his former friends and followers 
 regarded him from that day as if he had really been the Titus 
 Gates that Lord Salisbury had painted. They forgot, or they 
 did not care to remember, that their own chief had been a 
 Radical, or had at least allowed others to think him a Kadical, 
 and that it is not always fair to consider the change of political 
 opinion the same thing as political apostasy. 
 
 Two other members of the new jMinistry have yet to be 
 mentioned, Mr. Hibbert and Mr. George Osborne Morgan. 
 Mr. Hibbert had been in ofiice before, the same office to which 
 he was now reappointed, that of Parliamentary Secretary to the
 
 THE NEW MEN. 37 
 
 Local Government Board. The most remarkable event of his 
 political career is his connection with the Municipal Franchise 
 Act. Mr. Osborne Morgan is chiefly connected in the public mind 
 with the Burials Bill, but there was a time when he thought 
 moi-e of the laurel than the cypress. In his youth he cultivated 
 the Muses, not unsuccessfully, so far as the winning of a New- 
 digate pi-ize for verse can be called success ; but he soon aban- 
 doned poetry for the law, and it is not likely that he has ever 
 regretted his choice. Lucian once in a dream was wooed by 
 Art and Philosophy, to choose between them ; and the prudent 
 Greek ranged himself by the side of Philosophy, who seemed to 
 promise him the most comfortable existence. It is not probable 
 that Mr. Osborne Morgan would have added much to the 
 poetry of his century. At least, there is no certainty that he 
 would do so assured in the opening lines of his ' Settlers in 
 Australia ' : — 
 
 "\^Tio that has wandered by the ocean shore, 
 His full soul echoing to the wild waves' roar, 
 Feels not their spirit as a thrilling bond 
 Luaking his fancy to the worlds beyond ; 
 Till his rapt thoughts, exulting, yearn to stray 
 With the wan billows glimm'ring far away ? 
 Earth has her barriers, but thou, mighty Sea, 
 Bidd'st man be one, divisionless, like thee. 
 
 It is not very easy to imagine Mr. Osborne Morgan now 
 desirous of wandering by the ocean shore, and allowing his full 
 soul to echo, or his rapt thoughts to stray. Certainly a youthful 
 ambition to be divisionless is most unfortunately answered by a 
 manhood passed largely in the division lobbies of the House of 
 Commons. But although Mr. Osborne Morgan has forsworn 
 the Muses, it is possible, if not very likely, that he sometimes 
 sighs for the recreations of his youth, and dreams of fashioning 
 a madrigal or hammering out an ode when his more immediate 
 business is the drafting of a measure or the emendation of a 
 clause. But if any such ideas ever harass him, he allows no sign 
 of it to appear in his demeanour. There is as little display of 
 poetry in Mr. Osborne Morgan's language as there is of eccen- 
 tricity in his garb.
 
 38 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 MIt. BRADLAUGH — THE FOURTH PARTY. 
 
 Parliame^'t met on Thursday, April 29, and the House of 
 Commons re-elected Mr. Brand as Speaker. The next few days 
 were devoted to swearing in the members. A ceremony which 
 invariably takes several days was destined on this occasion to 
 prove less monotonous and more momentous than is usual, 
 and to beget a ' question ' which was destined to be a torment 
 to the Government all through their career, and the cause of 
 several severe Ministerial defeats. Among the new members 
 returned to the House of Commons by the general election was 
 ]Mr. Charles Bradlaugh as one of the representatives, in com- 
 panionship with Mr. Henry Labouchere, of Northampton. 
 Mr. Bradlaugh's had been a strange and strenuous career. He 
 was born poor ; he had educated himself ; he h.ad fought against 
 many diiliculties, and overcome them. He had been a jii'ivate 
 soldier ; he had been in a solicitor's office ; he had been the 
 editor of free-thinking newspapers. He had made a sort of re- 
 ligion of free-thought, and went about preaching it everywhere, 
 often at great personal risk to himself, always with aggressive 
 hostility to religious belief in general and the Christian belief 
 in particular. He was connected with the struggle for Italian 
 independence ; he was on terms of intimacy with many of the 
 leaders of the Fenian movement of 1867 ; he played a prominent 
 part in the agitation which led to the Hyde Park meetings and 
 the passing of the lieform Bill of 18GG. He had tried unsuc- 
 cessfully before to enter Parliament. He was undoubtedly au 
 orator of gi-eat ability and power. He represented a large body 
 of opinion in England politically as well as philosophically. He 
 was well known to entertain objections to taking any oath 
 which implied belief in Christianity, and in his many struggles 
 with the law he had fought this point again and again. Natu- 
 rally the greatest curiosity was felt as to the course he would
 
 MR. JBRABLAUGH—THE FOURTH PARTY. 39 
 
 pursue when he entered the Commons' chamber. On Monday, 
 May 3, Mr. Bradlaugh came to the table of the House of 
 Commons and handed a paper to the chief clerk, stating his wish 
 to be allowed to make affirmation instead of taking the oath in 
 the usual manner. This he claimed the right to do under the 
 Parliamentary Oaths Act. The Speaker threw himself upon 
 the judgment of the House, and Lord Frederick Cavendish rose 
 and moved the appointment of a select committee to inquire 
 into the case. Sir Stafford Northcote approved of this com-se. 
 The Government were destined to be unlucky in every stage of 
 this qiiestion. AVhen the House met again on Wednesday, the 
 5th, Lord Richard Grosvenor brought down no small indigna- 
 tion from the Opposition by proposing to add to the select com- 
 mittee the names of men who at the time were not members of 
 Parliament. The names were those of ministers who had to 
 stand again after taking office ; and though there was every 
 probability of their re-election, still they were not members of 
 the House, and there was at least the possibility that they might 
 not be members. There was some wranglmg over this point, 
 and at last the House was adjourned till the following Monday, 
 when due notices of the names could be given, and the com- 
 mittee formed on the following day. On the Tuesday Lord 
 Richard Grosvenor moved his committee. It was vigorously 
 opposed by Sir Henry Wolff, who maintained that until the 
 Queen had explained the cause of calling Parliament no business 
 beyond the swearing in of new members and the issuing of new 
 writs could be entertained. In asking why the Government 
 were in such a hurry he hit at once the weakness of the Ministry, 
 They did undoubtedly seem far too much in a hurry, far too 
 eager to ' rush things.' A sharp debate followed, but the 
 Government carried their point, and the committee was nomi- 
 nated. The committee was composed of Mr. Walpole, its 
 chairman, Sir Gabriel Goldney, Major Nolan, the Attorney- 
 General, the Solicitor-General, Mr. Watkin Williams, Sir 
 Henry Jackson, Mr. Serjeant Simon, Mr. Whitbread, Mr. John 
 Bright, Mr. Massey, Sir John Holker, Mr. Grantham, Mr. 
 Staveley Hill, Mr. Pemberton, Mr. Hopwood, Mr. Chaplin, Mr.
 
 40 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 Beresford Hope, and Lord Henry Lennox. The committee 
 decided against Mr. Bradlaugb, though, only by the casting vote 
 of the chairman. The committee decided that Mr. Bradlaugh 
 did not belong to the class of persons who, like Quakers and 
 Moravians, are exempted by law from the necessity of taking 
 the oath. The Government had no doubt hoped that the de- 
 cision of the committee would have been favourable, for both 
 its law officers voted in favour of the relief of Mr. Bradlaugh ; 
 the Opposition perhaps fancied that they would get rid of Mr. 
 Bradlaugh by the refusal. 
 
 After the committee had reported against Mr. Bradlaugh, 
 Mr. Bradlaugh declared himself ready to take the oath, came 
 into the House on May 21, and demanded to be sworn according 
 to the invariable custom. But the Opposition was ready for him. 
 Sir Henry Wolif interposed between Mr. Bradlaugh and the 
 Clerk of the House. He insisted that the House ought to 
 refuse to accept Mr. Bradlaugh's oath. The position was in- 
 deed perplexing. So far as we know, the whole records of 
 Parliamentary life do not aiford a single precedent for refusing 
 to allow a member to take the oath. The circumstances of the 
 case itself, however, were without precedent. Mr. Bradlaugh 
 had previously objected to take the oath. His claim to be 
 allowed to affirm in Parliament, as he had been allowed to 
 affirm in law courts, implied that the oath was not binding 
 vipon him. Moreover, Mr. Bradlaugh had issued a manifesto 
 after the refusal to allow hira to affirm, in which he declared to 
 the world and to the city that the oath contained unmeaning 
 words, and the like. "What was to be done % The best that 
 the ingenuity of Parliament could devise was to suggest the 
 formation of a new committee to consider this new feature of 
 the problem. A committee was accordingly formed which, 
 after much deliberation, came to the conclusion that Mr. 
 Bradlaugh could not be allowed to swear, but hinted that it 
 would not really be a bad plan to let him affirm, and take 
 whatever legal consequences, if any, would fall upon him by so 
 doing. Perhaps of all the ways of getting out of the difficulty, 
 this was about the worst. The House had first refused to
 
 MB. SRADLAUGH—THE FOURTH PARTY. 41 
 
 allow Mr. Bradlaugh to affirm ; now it was proposed that lie 
 should be allowed to affirm as an interesting experiment in 
 political and legal science, while a be^vildered senate stood by 
 to see what happened. Such as the advice was, the Ministry 
 did not then decide to act upon it. Mr. Labouchere, Mr. Brad- 
 laugh's colleague in the representation of Northampton, met 
 the decision of the committee by moving on June 21 a re- 
 solution that Mr. Bradlaugh be allowed to affirm. 
 
 Mr. Henry Labouchere was one of the most interesting 
 men in the new Parliament. As his name implied, he was of 
 an old French family. Huguenots, who had settled in England. 
 He had passed his youth in the diplomatic service. He had 
 travelled widely, and had a profound acquaintance with men, 
 women, and manners in every capital of the world, from Con- 
 stantinople to Washington. A thorough man of the world in 
 that sense of the time-honoured phrase which means that the 
 man to whom it is applied has made himself perfectly acquainted 
 with all the weaknesses and follies of humanity, Mr. Labouchere 
 delighted to play the part of an easy-going, imperturbable, 
 suave-lived cynic. Had he lived in Athens under Alexander, 
 he would have been sure to make friends with Diogenes, 
 and would certainly have irritated the tubbed philosopher 
 beyond measure by the easy superiority and wider scope of his 
 own consummate disbehef in all that the 'dog' affif^cted to dis- 
 beheve. In the Rome of Nero he would undoubtedly have en- 
 chanted Petronius by what the arbiter would have called the 
 ' curious felicity ' of his criticisms on humanity ; while even the 
 chronicler of Neronic Rome might have been surprised, if not 
 abashed, by the corrosive scepticism of his companion. Mr. 
 Labouchere had played many parts, and done many things, in 
 his varied career. He had been a diplomatist. He had been 
 a financier. He had been a politician of very advanced Liberal 
 politics in Parliament for a year, from 1867 till 1868. He had 
 owned theatres. He had gained great distinction as a journal- 
 ist by living in Paris during its siege, and sending really 
 brilliant descriptive letters about his expeiiences to the Daily 
 News, of which he was one of the proprietors. He was one of
 
 42 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 tlie original founders of the World, when that herald of society 
 journals was started, and, after a while, he withdrew from the 
 World in order to start a society journal of his own. Truth is 
 one of the instances on record of a journal whose popularity and 
 existence depend entirely on one man. It is read wherever the 
 English language is spoken by people who are anxious to know 
 what Mr. Labouchere thinks of things in general. Often 
 enough, no doubt, utterances and articles are accepted as Mr. 
 Labouchere's with which he has nothing whatever to do ; but, 
 none the less, it may be taken as certain that Truth would be 
 as impossible without Mr. Labouchere's cool frankness and 
 demure, merciless cynicism as the Tatler woiild have proved if 
 Steele had handed it over to some dullard like the editor of the 
 True Patriot. Truth has been cruel, but it has been the terror 
 and the scourge of a crowd of swindlers, and charlatans, and 
 rascals ; and if the butterfly scandals of society have been 
 pinned on its pages, these pages have alrvaya been open to the 
 chivalrous defence of the oppressed, the \mpopular, the unjustly 
 j udged. Of all Ids various experimen s and experiences, that 
 of political life appeared to aflFord Mr. I abouchere the greatest 
 pleasure, for in 1874 he stood again for Parliament, and was 
 defeated. At the general election of 880 he stood again for 
 Northampton, and was returned at tht head of the poll. He 
 made himself at once the champion of his colleague's case. His 
 resolution that Mr. Bradlaugh be allowed to aflirm was sun- 
 ported by the Prime Minister ; it was rejected on June 22 by 275 
 votes to 230. Mr. Bradlaugh on the rollowiug day, "Wednesday, 
 June 23, presented himself at the table to be sworn. The Speaker 
 gravely informed him of the resolution iA the House, and called 
 upon him to withdraw. He claimed to be heard at the bar of 
 the House, and heard at the bai he accordingly was for the 
 firfjt, but not the last, time. After an eloquent speech, he once 
 more announced his intention of seeking to be sworn, and 
 advanced towards the table. The serjeant-at-arms touched him 
 on the shoulder, and Mr. Bradlaugh at once retired below the 
 bar, only to come forward once and appeal energetically, fi'om the 
 floor of the House, against the decision of the Commons. The
 
 MB. BRADLAUGH—THE FOUBTH PABTY. 13 
 
 Speaker then, having done all that lay in his own power to do, 
 appealed to the House itself, and Sir Stafford Northcote moved 
 that Mr. Bradlaugh be arrested. The warrant was immediately- 
 made out, and Mr. Bradlaugh was confined at once in the clock 
 tower. 
 
 It was felt only too keenly, however, that the House had 
 gained nothing whatever by this step. They had only placed 
 themselves in a false position, from which, as a matter of fact, 
 they had to retreat almost immediately. They had indeed got 
 Mr. Bradlaugh under lock and key, but it was simply impos- 
 sible that they could keep him so. He was not in the least 
 likely to abandon the position he had taken upj his claim, 
 whether legally right or wrong, was one which had a gi-eat deal 
 of sympathy, not only in the country, but in the House itself. 
 There was nothing for it but to release Mr. Bradlaugh as soon 
 as possible from his confinement in the clock tower. Then the 
 Government took a curious step. On Thursday, July 1, Mr. 
 Gladstone introduced a resolution allowing any one claiming 
 the privilege to make affirmation instead of taking the usual 
 oath, the person so affirming to be subject to any statutory, 
 penalties if it were afterwards decided that he had broken the 
 law by the act. This lame resolution was adopted on division 
 by 303 to 249 votes, and gave Mr. Bradlaugh the right of 
 Avhich he availed himself on the following day to come to 
 the table of the House, make affirmation, and take his seat 
 as a member. In point of fact tlie Ministry, remembering 
 the ingenious advice of the second committee, had suggested 
 that Mr. Bi-adlaugh should be allowed to affirm at his own 
 risk, as it were. In other -s^-ords, they said, ' We will not 
 allow you to take the oath ; to affirm is probably illegal, but 
 we wUl allow you to affirm, and see if any one will sue you 
 for so doing.' In this spirit the Government allowed Mr. 
 Bradlaugh to athi-m, and so for a season Mr. Bradlaugh found 
 himself really representing Northampton. An action, however, 
 was immediately brought against him to recover heavy penalties 
 for having sat and voted without previously taking the oath. 
 As the legal penalty is 500Z. for each offence and as Mr.
 
 44 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 Bradlaiigh voted incessantly during his biief occupation of his 
 seat, the sum claimed from him rapidly assumed gigantic pro- 
 portions. 
 
 The Opposition can hardly be said to be to blame for all 
 this muddle. They were bitter over their big defeat; they 
 had seemed to be engaged in a hopeless struggle with the 
 great Liberal Ministry with its gigantic majority ; and lo, at 
 the very beginning of the session fortune put into their hands 
 an unexpected way of harassing their triumphant foes. On 
 the Bradlaugh question the quick-witted among the Tories saw 
 that the Liberal majority was unmanageable, could not be 
 counted on. The disheartened took courage ; the depressed 
 became animated ; they struck out at the Government, and 
 found that their blows told. It would be too much to expect 
 such an Opposition to forego the chance of revenge that one 
 election had thus afforded them. At least they did not, and 
 again and again in the history of the Parliament they were 
 able to strike at their enemies with tremendous effect whenever 
 the question of the representation of Northampton came up for 
 discussion. Undoubtedly Mr. Bradlaugh himself was in some 
 measure to blame for what happened. If it was against his 
 conscience to take the oath, it was clearly his duty not to 
 take it, and abide the consequences. We know, however, that 
 Mr. i\lill did not consider it hypocritical for even an unbeliever 
 to take the oath of allegiance in its entirety. 
 
 The Bradlaugh episode had one curious influence upon the 
 House of Commons — it consolidated, it might, indeed, be said 
 to have created, the Fourth Party ; and it brought a new man 
 prominently forward into political life. Lord Randolph 
 Churchill had been half a dozen years in Parliament when Mr. 
 Bradlaugh was elected member for Northampton, but up to 
 that time he had played practically no part in the House. 
 When he spoke he was listened to because he was the son of a 
 gi'eat Tory duke ; but nobody paid much attention to what he 
 said, and it occurred to nobody to regard him as a political influ- 
 ence. Mr. Bradlaugh's advent was Lord Randolph Churchill's 
 opportunity. He made himself at once conspicuous as the
 
 mh. brablaugh—tre fourth party. 45 
 
 opponent of Mr. Bradlangh and the atheistic Government who 
 supported him, Burke, flinging the dagger of the Jacobites on 
 the floor of the House of Commons, found a modern imitator in 
 Lord Randolph Churchill trampling under foot some printed 
 wi'itings of the member for Northampton. The House had 
 laughed at Burke ; it also laughed at Lord Randolph Churchill ; 
 but it soon began to discover that Lord Randolph Churchill 
 was not a young man to be put down or disconcerted by any 
 amount of laughter. He asserted himself again and again; 
 he spoke as often as he pleased ; he treated the recognised 
 leaders of his party with a frank indifierence which was not 
 a little shocking to established Conservative traditions. He 
 began alone, but he soon found companions. Like King John 
 in Anthony Munday's play, he held up his sword, and bade 
 ' those that intend as I, follow this steely ensign lift on high.' 
 Three other persons were found to ' intend ' as Lord Randolph 
 Churchill intended — Sir Henry Wolff", Mr. Gorst, and Mr. 
 Arthur Balfour. These four gentlemen found themselves 
 agreed as to the necessity of lending new vigour to the Tory 
 cause, and their own fate-appointed duty to lend that vigour. 
 They formed a little party together, a small Tory cave, soon 
 nicknamed in the slang of the House the Fourth Party, as the 
 party of Parnellites had already been called the Third Party. 
 At first the House was hardly inclined to take the Fourth 
 Party seriously. It thought the thing was only a joke, and 
 rather a poor and impertinent joke. But Lord Randolph 
 Churchill soon made it clear to the House of Commons that he 
 was not, in their sense, a humourist. He had not formed a 
 party j)ou,r rire, but a party that was destined to become a 
 decided power in debate ; and it was a party of which he was 
 the acknowledged leader. At first the Government and its sup- 
 porters, and even the gentlemen in opposition above the gang- 
 way, were inclined to smile scornfully whenever Lord Ran- 
 dolph rose to inform the amused Commons of his intentions, 
 and the intentions of those who acted with him. But in a 
 little while the Government and its followers, and the gentle- 
 men in opposition above the gangway, began to perceive that
 
 46 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 Lord Randolph's attitude was not quite so comic as it had 
 appeared at first. With happy political insight he had per- 
 ceived a want in the composition of the House of Commons, 
 and with happy political audacity he determined to fill that 
 want himself. The Conservative party had lost all its passion 
 and most of its vitality since its chief had gone to the House of 
 Lords. Undei" the gentle and genial guidance of Sir Stafibrd 
 Northcote, the chief chai-acteristic of the Conservative pai-ty 
 appeared to be a comprehensive amiability. With felicitous 
 inspiration Lord Randolph Churchill conceived the formation 
 of an advanced Tory party, obeying his orders, and i-epeating 
 the tactics of the advanced Liberals below the gansfwav, Avhich 
 had done their own party such simple service daring the 
 previous Parliament. It soon became evident that Lord 
 Randolph was the leader of a little Tory cave ready to accept 
 the adherence of any of the discontented and the distressed who 
 would join his fiag. The Government found itself suddenly 
 opposed by a new and eccentric element in the political battle. 
 Sir Stafford Northcote's method of opposition had led them to 
 expect a more peaceful occupation of office than fate and the 
 Fourth Party had in store for them. Lord Randolph charged 
 upon the Government with all the energy of Don Quixote, when 
 he fancied that he saw before him the armies of King Agra- 
 mant. Whenever there Avas a chance of annoving the Liberal 
 leaders, whenever there was an opportunity of harassing them 
 in their plans, or of disturbing their arrangements. Lord Ran- 
 dolph was sure to do it. The Government were more em- 
 barrassed than they would have liked to admit by Lord Ran- 
 dolph and his friends. The Government could not always 
 count with perfect security upon the adherence of all their own 
 followers, but they could always feel assured of the unresting 
 hostility of Lord Randolph Churchill and his fellows of the 
 Fourth Party. The ranks of the IMinisterialists could not 
 furnish forth any champion so audacious, so self-reliant, so 
 indifferent to opinion as Lord Randolph Churchill. Lord 
 Randolph Churchill's party may be looked upon as in some 
 sense the revival of the Young England movement with which
 
 MR. BRADLAUGH—THE FOURTH PARTY. 47 
 
 Lord Beaconsfield's youth was connected. It was, however, a 
 Young England movement suited to the spirit of the age. It 
 had not the poetry, the sentiment, the romance which coloured 
 the career of the party of which Mr. Bailie Cochrane and Lord 
 John Manners were the illustrious ornaments. But it had an 
 energy, we might even say a ferocity of purpose, which was 
 much better suited to the matter-of-fact temper of the House 
 of Commons of to-day. It aimed straight for political success, 
 but it fought for it on the good old Tory lines which had been 
 abandoned. It opposed to the growing spirit of Radicalism, 
 not the temperate and mild-mannered Conservatism of Sir 
 Stafford Northcote, nor the fantasies of Lord Claud Hamilton, 
 but a vigour and determination, a fixity of purpose, akin 
 to that which of old deserved the title of stern and un- 
 bending. 
 
 Hostile critics described Lord Randolph Churchill and his 
 little band as ' political Mohocks,' or compared them with the 
 cabal formed by Mr. Bertie Tremaine in Lord Beaconsfield's 
 ' Endymion.' Friends likened it to the gallant quadrilateral 
 of musketeers in Dumas's story who were united by destiny to 
 accomplish great deeds. If we were to accept this parallel, 
 Lord Randolph Churchill is of course the D'Artagnan of the 
 party. He has all the audacity, all the serene belief in his own 
 ultimate success, which was characteristic of the famous Gascon 
 who started in life with the assurance that gi'eat things were 
 awaiting him, and who ended his career at Malplaquet with the 
 marshal's baton in his hand. A man who means to succeed, 
 and who has in him the stuff for success, cannot often perhaps 
 do better than to pose confidently before the world as a man for 
 whom fortune reserves laurel victory. Lord Randolph Churchill 
 did thus pose as the heir expectant of fair fortune. He never 
 allowed himself or his audience to forget that he was the leader 
 of an important party, and the bearer of a mighty mission. 
 The greatness of the party was not always obvious, the mean- 
 ing of the mission was sometimes occult ; but still there was the 
 party, and somewhere in its midst lay the mission, like the 
 heart of the Bruce, none the less sacred because it was not visible.
 
 48 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 *It must be night for Friedland's star to shine,' says "Wallen- 
 stein in Schiller's great play. In the existing political night 
 Lord Randolph Churchill's star is shining with remarkable 
 brightness in the Parliamentai'v firmament. 
 
 If Lord Eandolph Chiirchill was the D'Artagnan of the party, 
 Sir Henry "Wolff might in many respects fairly claim to be its 
 Aramis, just as Mr. Gorst would naturally become its Porthos, 
 and ]\Ir. Arthur Balfour gracefully interpret the part of Athos. 
 Ml". Gorst was a rapidly rising lawyer, who had passed much of 
 his life in New Zealand, and had written a book upon the Maoris. 
 He had been in Parliament for Cambridge from 1866 to 1868 ; 
 at the general election he lost his seat, and did not enter Parlia- 
 ment again until 1875, in which year he became at once member 
 for Chatham and a Queen's Counsel. Mr. Arthur Balfour was 
 a curious contrast to the bustling, energetic law^-er. He intro- 
 duced into Parliamentary life that air of languid indifference 
 which Lord Melbourne once tried' to make fashionable, and 
 Avhich was pardonable in a young man who had sought distinc- 
 tion on the different paths of diplomacy and philosophy before 
 he was two-and-thirty. The great problems of existence remaiu 
 unchanged by Mr. Balfour's ' Defence of Philosophic Doubt.' The 
 European balance has scarcely undergone any finer adjustment 
 from Mr. Balfour's presence in Berlin in the summer of 1878. 
 Still, to have played any part in these two different and diverse 
 siibjeets is something in itself. But the most fortunate move 
 Mr. Balfour ever made was when he withdrew his virtus from 
 its efforts in the philosophical aether, and joined himself to 
 the ranks of the Foiirth Party. 
 
 Sir Heniy "Wolff plays an important part in the economy of 
 the Fourth Pai-ty. He has had more experience in the game of 
 statesmanship than Lord Randolph Churchill, and his counsel 
 is of great value to the energetic leader, who is too wise to 
 believe that the capacity for leadership is above the necessity of 
 learning. Sir Henry "Wolff is eminently skilled in those moves 
 of sfcitesmanship which belong to diplomatic action. He was 
 not indeed born to the diplomatic purple. The bearer of an 
 honoured name, which recommended him to the attention and the
 
 MR. BRAJDLAUGH—TIIE FOURTH PARTY. 40 
 
 sympathy of statesmen, he gained, early in life, that practical 
 education in statesmanship and diplomacy, that knowledge of 
 foreign countries and of foreign courts, and, above all, that 
 close acquaintance with the trouble of all politicians — the 
 Eastern question — which made him an invaluable ally to the 
 founder of a new school of Toryism. Intimate acquaintance 
 with foreign countries and foreign modes of thought naturally 
 descended to him from his father. A generation ago the name 
 of Dr. Wolff was familiar and honoured in all the capitals of 
 Europe. A distinguished traveller and an eminent scholai-, 
 Dr. Wolff deserves special remembrance for the noble efforts 
 w^hich he made to rescue the captive English officers, Stoddart 
 and Conolly, who died a cruel death at the hands of a Bokhara 
 tyrant. The intrepitUty which was characteristic of the father 
 is scarcely less characteristic in other fields of the son. He is 
 a man of pronounced ideas and of belligerent tastes. He likes 
 ])olitical battle for the sake of battle, and he is therefore emi- 
 nently in his right place in the Fourth Party. 
 
 The new party was formed in undoubted opposition to Sir 
 Stafibrd ISTorthcote. Sir Stafibrd ISTorthcote was not a leader 
 after the hearts of the Tories below the gangway of the Fourth 
 Party, and of men who, like Mr. Chaplin, were allies, if not 
 adherents, of the Fourth Party. The men below the gangway 
 wanted battle, and Sir Stafford Xorthcote was not warlike ; they 
 wanted aggression, and Sir Staffoixl ISTorthcote was not aggres- 
 sive. He would not attack the Government as Lord Bandolph 
 Churchill loved to attack it; he would not summon Sir 
 Richard Cross and Lord John Manners to rise and assist him 
 in harrying the Prime Minister. The fact that he had been 
 Mr. Gladstone's secretary was in itself enough to create a 
 certain alliance between himself and his political opponent, 
 which for long did much to calm the trouble of debate. Who- 
 ever else might wrangle and call names, Sir Stafibrd Northcote 
 and Mr. Gladstone were faithful to their ancient amity. They 
 resembled Homeric heroes, who recognise some guest-friend in 
 the lines of war, and hold theu^ hand and exchange civiHties 
 •while the fight rages around them. Sir Stafford Northcota 
 
 E
 
 50 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 always slione in the amenities of debate. There was no one more 
 ready to reply to an antagonist in words of kindly sweetness • 
 no one to whom it was more pleasant for a foe to pay a com- 
 pliment, since he was sure to get his gracious words returned 
 in yet more gracious fashion. In one of Marryat's sea novels, 
 the young midshipman listens with dismay to the way in which 
 sailors call each other names and indulge in profuse profanity. 
 He reflects that it would be much easier and pleasanter for 
 them to address each other in the forms of polite society ; to 
 say ' if you please,' and * will you be so good,' and ' thank 
 you,* instead of the more forcible, but sadly inelegant 
 vernacular, of which they had so complete a command. Sir 
 Stafibrd Northcote is somewhat like Marryat's young midship, 
 man. He is convinced that political discussion would be far 
 pleasanter if there were no disagreeable interchange of stinging 
 phrases and hostile teims. If Pailiament were to be managed 
 according to his ideas, it would run in something of this fashion. 
 Every one would assume that every one else was acting with the 
 best possible intentions, and was inspired only by the loftiest 
 purposes. Every one would begin his speech by praising the 
 manner, if not the mattei", of his opponents' arguments. Dif- 
 ferences of opinion should be expressed in a regretful tone, as 
 if the speaker was pained to disagree with any one, and was 
 only forced to do so by an overmastering sense of pu.blic dvity. 
 Little compliments might be lightly exchanged. A gentle 
 banter should be the nearest appi-oach to anything like person- 
 ality. Under such a mild and benignant sway the Saturnian 
 age was to return to the earth, or at least to that portion of it 
 called Westminster. Then politicians of all parties should 
 abide in peace, ' a golden race on earth of many languaged 
 men,' who should live — 
 
 With calm, untroubled mind, 
 Free from tlie toil and anguish of our kind. 
 
 Some such shape Sir Stafibrd ISTorthcote's political Utopia Avould 
 take ; but if he dreamed of realising it at St. Stephen's, the 
 dream was not fulfilled. For such a system of brotherly love,
 
 3m. BBADLAUGH—THE FOURTH PARTY. 51 
 
 more was needed than the personal example of an ex- Chancellor 
 of the Exchequer, no matter how amiable. The guerillas below 
 the gangway would not fall in with Sir Stafford Northcote's 
 ideas. He wanted peace, and they wanted war ; so the warriors 
 seceded and formed the Fourth Party. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 AFGHANISTAN. 
 
 On the Continent, in Central Asia, and in South Africa the 
 Government were involved in the complications left unfinished 
 when Lord Beaconsfield's Ministry fell from power. One com- 
 plication, however, which might have proved serious was 
 entirely the property of the new Administration. This was 
 the difficulty with Austria. In one of his Midlothian speeches, 
 that of the second series delivered in Edinburgh on Wednesday, 
 March 17, 1880, Mr. Gladstone alluded to an account given 
 in the London papers of some observations of the Emperor of 
 Austria. ' Did you see,' asked Mr. Gladstone, ' that the 
 Emperor of Austria sent for the British ambassador. Sir Henry 
 Elliot, and told Sir Henry Elliot what a pestilent j)erson he 
 considered a certain Mr. Gladstone to be, as a man that did 
 not approve of the foreign policy of Austria ; and how anxious 
 he was — so the Emperor of Austria was condescendingly pleased 
 to say— for the guidance of the British people and of the electors 
 of Midlothian. How anxious he was, gentlemen, that you 
 should all of you give your votes in a way to maintain the 
 Ministry of Lord Beaconsfield ! Well, gentlemen, if you 
 approve of the foreign policy of Austria, the foreign jDolicy that 
 Austria has usually pursued, I advise you to do that very 
 thing. . . . Whathas that policy of Austria been ? . . . Austria 
 has been the steady, unflinching foe of freedom in every country 
 in Europe. Russia, I am sorry to say, has been the foe of 
 freedom too, but in Russia thei'e is one exception — Russia has 
 been the friend of Slavonic freedom ; but Austria has never 
 been the friend of Slavonic freedom. Austria trampled Italy 
 under foot, Austria resisted the unity of Germany, Austria did 
 
 E 2
 
 52 EiSfGLANB UNDER GLABSTONA 
 
 all she could to prevent the creation of Belgium, Austria never 
 lifted a finger for the resreneration and constitution of Greece. 
 There is not an instance, there is not a spot upon the whole 
 map where you can lay your finger and say, " There Austria 
 did good." ' Statements like these were undoubtedly unfortu- 
 nate, coming at such a time and from such a man. Even the 
 most enthusiastic of Mr. Gladstone's admirers may admit that 
 a man who was seeking to be Prime Minister of England, who 
 had been Prime Minister, and who, it was then evident, would 
 be Prime Minister again, had need to be very guarded in the 
 language which he used in condemnation of a foreign power's 
 foreign policy. To have allowed himself to be piqued into 
 retoi-t by some observations of the Emperor of Austria would 
 have been unlucky enough, but at least he should have been 
 very sure that the words were really uttered by the Emperor 
 of Austria before proceeding to reply to them in a tone of 
 acrimony. As a matter of fact Sir Henry Elliot at once con- 
 tradicted the statement that the Emperor of Austria had used 
 any such words to him, or had made to him any statement 
 bearing any resemblance to the alleged words. Unfortunately 
 Mr. Gladstone aggravated the original difiiculty by practically 
 repeating his attack on Austria's foreign policy again, in his 
 eighth Midlothian speech, delivered on Wednesday, March 24, 
 1880. ' I have,' said Mr. Gladstone, * condemned the foreign 
 policy of Aiistria. I have said that outside of Austria, making 
 no reproach as to what is inside of it — that outside of Austria 
 the name of Austria has, upon all occasions known to me, been 
 the symbol of misgovernment and oppression in other countries. 
 That neither in Germany, nor in Belgium, nor in Greece, nor 
 in Italy, where most of all she was concerned — for she was the 
 vu'tual mistress of Italy until Italy was made a kingdom — in 
 no one of these is her name known, except in conjunction with 
 the promotion of what you and I believe to be wrong, and the 
 repression of what you and I believe to be right.' Mr. Glad- 
 stone then declared that he discerned ' menacing signs that the 
 Austrian Government of to-day, and especially the Hungarian 
 portion of its subjects, . . . is engaged in schemes for repressing
 
 AFGHANISTAN. 53 
 
 and putting down the liberty of the lately emancipated com- 
 munities in the Balkan peninsula, and for setting up her own 
 supremacy over them, whether they like it or not.' All 
 this was sevei-e language to a nation with w'hom we were at 
 peace, with whom we were often obliged to confer, with whom 
 we might at any moment be in alliance. Whatever might be 
 thought of Austria's foreign policy in the past, such a sweeping 
 attack upon it from one who was soon to be at the head of the 
 English Government was little likely to promote good feeling 
 between the two countries. But it was doubly unfortunate 
 when it became a sermon preached on the text of a reported 
 conversation wdth the Emperor of Austria, the accuracy of 
 which was denied by one of the principal actors in the alleged 
 dialogue. Not unnatui'ally, there was considerable dis- 
 content in Austria at Mr. Gladstone's statements, and when 
 Mr. Gladstone became Prime Minister the Government felt 
 that something must be done to allay the irritation. Mr. Glad- 
 stone accordingly wrote a letter to Count Karolyi, the Austro- 
 Hungarian ambassador, which was practically a letter of apology 
 to the Emperor of Austria, * At the moment,' said Mr. Glad- 
 stone in this letter, ' when I accepted from the Queen the duty 
 of forming an Administration, I forthwith resolved that I 
 would not, as a minister, either repeat or even defend in argu- 
 ment polemical language in regard to more than one foreign 
 Power which I had used individually when in a position or 
 greater freedom and less responsibility,' After some assurances 
 that he entertained no hostile feelings towards Austi-ia, but, 
 on the contrary, wished her well in the task of consolidating 
 her empire, Mr. Gladstone w^ent on, ' With respect to my ani- 
 madversion on the foreign policy of Austria, at times when it 
 was active beyond the borders, I W'dl not conceal from your 
 Excellency that grave apprehensions had been excited in my 
 mind lest Austria should play a part in the Balkan peninsula 
 hostile to the freedom of the emancipated populations, and to 
 the reasonable and warranted hopes of the subjects of the 
 Sultan, These apprehensions were founded, it is true, upon 
 eecondary evidence, but it was not the evidence of hostile
 
 54 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 witnesses, and it was the best at my command.' Acknowledging 
 the assurance of Count Karolyi that Austria bad no intention 
 of extending the rights it had acquired under the treaty of 
 Berlin, Mr. Gladstone went on, ' Had I been in possession 
 of such an assurance as I have now been able to receive, I 
 never would have uttered any one of the words which your 
 Excellency justly describes as of a painful and wounding cha- 
 racter. Whether it was my misfortune or my fault that I was 
 not so supplied I will not now attempt to determine, but will 
 at once express my serious concern that I should, in default of 
 it, have been led to refer to transactions of an eai'lier period, or 
 to use terms of censure which I can now wholly banish from 
 my mind.' Mr. Gladstone concluded by saying, * I think that 
 the explanation I now tender should be made not less public 
 than the speech which has supplied the occasion for it ; and as 
 to the form of such publicity, I desire to accede to whatever 
 may be your Excellency's wish.' 
 
 There could be no doubt in the mind of any Austrian or 
 any English politician of the completeness of this apology. It 
 must be admitted that it did not give much satisfaction in 
 England. Even those who felt most keenly the rashness of 
 Mr. Gladstone's attack upon Austria were not inclined to 
 rejoice over the manner in which Mr, Gladstone had made 
 amends. If the charges against Austria had been exaggerated, 
 surely there was no small exaggeration in the tone of the reply. 
 How, for example, people asked, did the fact that Austria had 
 no aggressive intentions with regard to the peoples of the 
 Balkan peninsula enable Mr. Gladstone to wholly banish from 
 his mind the terms of censure which he had employed against 
 Austria % Mr. Gladstone had challenged his hearers to point to 
 any spot on the map of Europe where Austria bad done good : he 
 had with great justice complained of her action with regard to 
 Belgium, to Greece, and above all to Italy. How could Mr. 
 Gladstone banish these censures from his mind because Austrian 
 statesmen now engaged themselves to keep within the limits of 
 the treaty of Berlin % It may have been ill-advised to choose 
 such a time and place as a general election and a Midlothian
 
 AFGHANISTAN. 56 
 
 hustings for censuring Austria Avith regard to her foreign policy 
 of old ; but her declaration of future policy could not obliterate 
 the past, or make Mr. Gladstone's censures upon it the less de- 
 served because they were untimely. The apology was felt to 
 be too complete, too comprehensive. Not a few persons were 
 ready to urge that an apology of any sort was a mistake ; that 
 an English Prime Minister had no right to apologise for his 
 utterances as a private individual, because he could not, so long 
 as he held office, make his apology entirely of" an individual 
 character, but unavoidably lent it something of a national value. 
 Into that subject it is not necessary to go. Mr. Gladstone had 
 certainly acted indiscreetly in his Midlothian speeches in attack- 
 ing the Austrian Emperor for words he had not used, and de- 
 nouncing a policy that was not going to be put into action. An 
 apology clearly was due, and there is nothing unbecoming in a 
 frank and honourable apology. Frank and honourable Mr. 
 Gladstone's apology undoubtedly was, but in his anxiety to make 
 all amends he went too far, and apologised for much that needed 
 no apology. Whether right or wrong, the fact that the apology 
 had to be made was unlucky for the new Ministry. It was a 
 small thing perhaps, but omens are usually small things, and 
 there was certainly something of evil omen to a new Ministry 
 in having to begin its career with such an apology for such a 
 cause. 
 
 The Austrian episode being thus disposed of, there were other 
 European questions to occupy the attention and tax the ingenuity 
 of the new Ministry. The treaty of Berlin had bound the 
 Ottoman Empire to certain concessions, which she did not now 
 appear at all anxious to carry out. An extension of frontier 
 had been promised to Greece, a cession of territoi-y to Monte- 
 negro ; and the Hellenes and the Montenegrins were loudly com- 
 plaining that their claims were being neglected. In the case of 
 Greece the Porte was taking no steps whatever ; and towards 
 Monteneerro the Porte had acted in a manner that was worse 
 than inaction. Turkey had withdrawn all her troops from the 
 territories that had been assigned to Montenegro, and had 
 allowed the Albanians to forestall the Montenegrins and occupy
 
 56 EJVGI.ANB UNDER OLADSTONE. 
 
 the territories themselves. This the Montenegrins naturally 
 regarded as a breach of contract. Turkey was pledged to hand 
 over the assigned territories to Montenegro, not merely to with- 
 draw her troops and let any one who pleased run in and take 
 possession. As the matter stood, Montenegro would either have 
 to fight for her land with the Albanians, or go without all she 
 gained by so much hard fighting at the Congress of Berlin. The 
 English Government at once took action. Mr. Goschen was 
 sent to Constantinople as a special ambassador, during what was 
 diplomatically described as the absence of Sir Henry Layard on 
 leave. Mr. Goschen was empowered to put the opinion of 
 England very clearly before the Porte, and to express in the 
 strongest terms the necessity for Turkey to carry out the pledges 
 entered into by her at the Congress of Berlin. Lord Granville 
 further issued a circular note addi-essed to the great signatory 
 Powers of the Berlin treaty, calling upon them to join in concert 
 in impressing upon Turkey the necessity of setthng the Monte- 
 negrin and Greek questions. A conference was called at Berlin 
 to consider the protocol to the Berlin treaty which laid down 
 the claims of Greece. With regard to Montenegro the Porte 
 pursued for a considerable time its favourite policy of delay. It 
 neither refused nor promised to do anything ; it simply listened 
 and did nothing. A collective note was addressed to the Poi-te, 
 and was met as usual with excuses, half-promises, and entii'e in- 
 action. At last the Powers, losing patience, announced 
 definitely that the town and district of Dulcigno should be 
 peacefully surrendered to Montenegro by a certain date. If at 
 that time the Porte had not complied with the wishes of the 
 Powers, it was announced that the concerting Powers would take 
 some means of enforcing their demands. The Porte, whether 
 from lazy fatalism or a profound disbelief in the joint action 
 of the great Powers, regarded this ultimatum with in- 
 difference, and did nothing. Then the great Powers joined to- 
 gether in a naval demonstration against Turkey. Seldom, per- 
 haps, has any combined action on the part of European Powers 
 been made the subject of such general European merriment. 
 The conditions under which the naval demonstration took place
 
 AFGHANISTAN. 57 
 
 were indeed sufficiently grotesque. The fleet which assembled at 
 Ragusa under the command of Sir Beauchamp Seymour was 
 sent there to demonstrate, but it could do nothing more than 
 demonstrate. The European Powers could not agree upon any 
 definite line of action, and the fleet was therefore definitely bound 
 to make no overt act against anybody. If the Montenegrins 
 attempted to occupy Dulcigno, and were assailed by the hostile 
 Albanians, the admiral of the fleet was expressly forbidden to 
 ofier any assistance to the little state. The fleet had been sent 
 there to demonsti-ate, but for any value the demonstration had 
 under such conditions, the ships of the fleet might as well have 
 been sheltered in their European harbours as lying at anchor 
 opposite Ragusa, or drifting idly in the waters of the Adriatic. 
 Naturally the Porte Avas not greatly alarmed by such a 
 hollow demonstration. A child may be frightened at first by a 
 pantomime mask ; but when it discovers that the misshapen 
 features are no ogre, but mere painted cardboard, concealing 
 some pacific countenance, its terror soon disappears. The 
 demonstration was as unreal as a Christmas monstei", and it did 
 not terrify Turkey, but it made her very angry. She announced 
 that she would take no steps whatever in the surrender of 
 Dulcigno until the naval demonstration was pvit a stop to. 
 Of course Turkey was well aware of the dissensions of the 
 European Powers, and the want of a common European policy, 
 which rendered the European concert really of little worth. 
 Then the British Government proposed to change the scene of 
 the naval demonstration from Ragusa to Sinvrna. Here at 
 once the European concert fell asunder. Russia and Italy were 
 willing enough to join in a demonstration against the Homeric 
 city at the foot of the slopes of Tmolus, but Austria and 
 Germany were most reluctant to take the responsibility, and 
 France refused point-blank to have anything to do with the pro- 
 posed expedition. But though the war-ships of the six Powers 
 never rode at anchor in the soft waters of Smyrna Bay, beneath 
 the worn and ragged walls of the ancient citadel of the Byzantine 
 emperors, the threat to do so had its eflect. It seemed at one 
 time by no means certain that England would not herself, of
 
 58 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 her own responsibility, send her fleet into Smyi'na Harbour, as 
 the Venetians did in the end of the seventeenth century. 
 Turkey prepared to come to terms ; the dissensions in the 
 European concert gave her heart of grace enough to bluster and 
 delay a little longer while the combined vessels idly patrolled 
 the sea. The terrors of an Albanian rising were dwelt upon by 
 Ottoman statesmen without producing any efiect upon England, 
 and at last the Porte put the business into the hands of Der- 
 vish Pasha, and bade him carry out the decrees of Europe as 
 quickly as might be. Dervish Pasha was a stout soldier and a 
 brave man ; he mocked himself of the Albanian threatenings, 
 forced his way into Dulcigno, and handed the hill town over 
 to the delighted Montenegrins. For the time the quarrel was 
 over ; the fleet that had been the cause of so much inextinguish- 
 able laughter at first, and of the cession in the end, dispersed, 
 and the foreign flags no longer floated together in menacins; 
 combination on the pleasant Adriatic. 
 
 There was of course still the Greek question left to settle, 
 but that had to stand over for the time. European diplomacy 
 had by strange chance been able to agree upon the claims of 
 Montenegro, and to act in agreement ; but on the claims of 
 Greece it was hopeless just then to expect any such agreement. 
 The great Powers had acted together wonderfully well for a little 
 while ; to expect them to act together for long was to form ex- 
 pectations based upon no precedents. In vain did the King ot 
 the Hellenes go on the stump through Europe from one great 
 capital to another, urging that what the Berlin treaty had 
 promised the Berlin signatories should give. Turkey would not 
 come to terms, and the great Powers would not unite to compel 
 her. France had apparently adopted a thorough -going policy 
 of abstention ; she was in general sympathy with the cause and 
 the claims of the Greeks, but just now she would take no active 
 part in supporting them. Austria and Germany were equally 
 averse to action, and without these three Powers there was no- 
 thing to be done. For a time it seemed as if the Greeks would 
 take the matter into their own hands, and try once more a fall 
 with their old foe in the brave squares of war. All over Greece
 
 Afghanistan: 59 
 
 the war fever Avas burning ; crowds would come together on the 
 great square of the Constitution in Athens, and stand opposite 
 the ugly white palace of Bavarian Otho and clamour for war 
 against the Turks. The Ministry of Tricoujois, which appeared 
 vacillating, was overthrown ; the speeches of the King assumed a 
 warlike tone, and his popularity rose accordingly. In ^olus and 
 Hermes streets, in the smiling islands of the ^gean, in the classic 
 cities of Peloponnesus, the desire to fight the Turk was growing 
 stronger day by day. Men hummed the old Klephtic war-songs 
 and looked to their rifles. The army was swollen with daily re- 
 cruits. At the Cafe Solon men talked and thought of war. It 
 may be admitted that behind all this warlike display there was 
 in the minds of the leaders at least a very keen sense of the 
 difficulty of the situation, and a well-developed diplomatic pur- 
 pose. It was not likely that the Greeks could ever wrest from 
 the Turks what they wanted by force of arms, but it was still 
 less likely that the Powers of Europe could look on at Greece 
 fighting at desperate odds against the Otfcomite and not put 
 forth a hand to help her. On this the leaders calculated not 
 unwisely. Turkey saw the danger of the scheme well enough. 
 She knew that if Greece went to war the Sublime Porte would 
 never be allowed by Europe to send her ironclads under the 
 command of Hobart Pasha to the Pirseus to play again the 
 part of the Persians, So Turkey called upon Europe to inter- 
 fere first instead of last, to use its influence with Greece to pre- 
 vent the Hellenes from going to war. Europe accordingly did 
 iise its influence. Pressure was brought to bear upon the 
 Greek Ministry. War was deferred until diplomacy had once 
 more tried its hand at a settlement of the claims. 
 
 There were difiiculties in India, too. When the new Go- 
 vernment came into power, the Viceroy of India, Lord Lytton, 
 at once resigned. Lord Lytton's had been a singular viceregal 
 career. Anthony in Egypt or Verres in Sicily appeared to be 
 the model he had chosen to govern his actions by; and if he was 
 scarcely less unpopular than Verres, it must also be admitted 
 that he was scarcely less picturesque than Anthony. Lord 
 Lytton was a poet before he became a politician, and he was
 
 60 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 eager it may be for the satrapy of India, because there and 
 there alone perhaps it would be possible for him to realise at 
 least something of the gorgeous Oriental splendour with which 
 he surrounds and delights in surrounding his own Alexius. In 
 India, the haunted land of luxury, might be realised those 
 'domes of purple, populous with star on star of silver;' those 
 floors ' carpeted with deep, thick-tufted crimsons, soft as summer 
 sleep under the footsteps of delicious dreams ; ' and those ' dim 
 gardens green and deep,' where minsti'els should sing of Caesar's 
 splendour and Caesar's state, ' that doth Olympian glories emu- 
 late,' In the ' gold-crowned Orient ' of India all that was im- 
 possible now for the cold ' iron Occident ' was possible ; the 
 power of a proconsul, pageants that might put to shame all 
 that the mind of Mantcgna dreamed for a triumphant Ctesar ; 
 durbars which might rival in splendour of colour and jewelled 
 bravery the glories of the courts of Byzantium. If we qii ietly put 
 on one side for the moment all questions of political morality or 
 expediency, we may admit that the opportunity was a fascinating 
 one for a poet, and that from a merely artistic point of view 
 Lord Lytton was not unworthy of it. Had Catullus been made 
 Praetor of Bithynia instead of Caius Memmius, we can imagine 
 that he would have conducted himself in some such fashion, 
 would have been pleased with the display of splendour about 
 him, have enjoyed the idea of making a war on his own account, 
 and so aggrandising the empire and immortalising his name, 
 would have rejoiced to strike gold medals in honour of some 
 fair and shapely queen of the arena. But if poets were not 
 likely to make good governors of provinces even in the Augustan 
 age, they were still less likely to do so in the age of Victoria. It 
 Avas a fascinating part to play, and one which other writers of 
 verse and dreamers of old dreams may sympathise with, or even 
 envy. But it was too costly, too unreal, and too much out of 
 date to please the cold politician and the burdened taxpayer. It 
 was, indeed, only possible while Lord Beaconsiield was at the 
 head of affairs. The man who created the brilliant Sidonia 
 might very well pardon the son of his old friend for reproduc- 
 ing Sidonia in the land of the Great Mogul. But when Lord
 
 AFGHANISTAN. 6l 
 
 Beaconsfield fell from power it was clear that the rule of Lord 
 Lytton in India was over too, Mr. Gladstone and his friends 
 would not appreciate a representative who played at Haroun 
 al Raschid in the gardens of the East, and strove to recall some 
 gleams of his golden prime in Calcutta or Bombay or the cool 
 ranges of Simla, So Lord Lytton at once resigned his ofl&ce, 
 and Lord Eipon was sent out to India as Viceroy in his stead. 
 
 Lord Ripon had all the qualities that go to make a success- 
 ful administrator. He was able, he was eloquent, he had learnt 
 in his own person the necessity for religious as well as political 
 tolerance. Some years befoi^e he had gone over to the Catholic 
 faith, and his change of religion aroused the greatest indigna- 
 tion among English politicians. Had he committed some act of 
 shame he could hardly have been more fiercely assailed by the 
 newspapers, and the pubHc opinion of the drawing-rooms and 
 clubs. It was confidently announced as an axiom which 
 needed no discussion, that of course after this Lord Ripon could 
 never hope to play any further part in English politics, could 
 never dream of holding any office in any English Ministry. It 
 was assumed as a matter of course that a statesman and a peer 
 who so changed his religion must of necessity be at once rele- 
 gated to the obscurity, and something more than the obscurity, 
 of private life. Political society was agreed that Lord Ripon's 
 career was closed, but in the years that elapsed since Loixl 
 Ripon's conversion political opinion appeared to have altered ; 
 the indignation and alarm had cooled down, and people saw 
 Lord Ripon go out to India as Viceroy without any apprehen- 
 sion that the end of the world was coming, and Judgment 
 Day at hand. Out in India, Lord Ripon needed all the ability 
 he possessed to deal with the situation of afiairs. Our inherit- 
 ance in Afghanistan was perplexing enough. 
 
 The Treaty of Gandamak was signed on May 5, 1879. It 
 bound the English Government to pay the Ameer Yakoob 
 Khan 60,000^. a year, and to support him against any foreign 
 enemy with money, arms, and men. In return, Yakoob Khan 
 consented to grant the demand which had always been the 
 point of quarrel with Afghanistan, namely, to allow a British
 
 62 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 envoy to reside in Cabul. Fuitlier, the Ameer ceded what 
 came to be known, in the words of Lord Beaconsfield, as the 
 'scientific frontier.' Then came the Cabul massacre of Louis 
 Cavagnari and his staff. British troops a second time fought 
 their way to the ill-omened city. The sullen and feeble Yakoob 
 Khan surrendered himself, abdicated, and was sent a prisoner 
 to Lidia. "We held Cabul ; the question remained what we 
 were to do with it. ]\Iohammed Jan, a scheming sirdar, one of 
 Yakoob's generals, and a man of great influence with the wild 
 "Wardak section of the southern Ghilzais, rose up against the 
 British. Many of the fierce tribes rallied to his standard; 
 many a white-clad Ghazi, frenzied to fanaticism by Moollah tales 
 of English insult to religion and to women, devoted himself on 
 the Koran to aid Mohammed Jan to exterminate the hated 
 Kafirs, the thrice accursed British, The English troops had 
 withdrawn at the approach of winter into the Sherpur canton- 
 ments. Mohammed Jan, with an army of more than ten tliou- 
 sandmen, swept down upon Cabul, occupied the city, set up Musa 
 Khan, the youthful son of Yakoob Khan, as nominal Ameer, 
 and proceeded to besiege Sherpur. Mohammed Jan seems 
 for a time to have really believed that he was in the position of 
 Akhbar Khan in 1841, and had an Elphinstone to deal with 
 who must come to terms. He demanded the immediate release 
 of Yakoob Khan, the surrender of two British ofiicers as host- 
 ages until this Wcis done, and the immediate retirement of the 
 British force into India. But the men cooped up in the 
 Sherpur cantonments defied Mohammed Jan's beleaguerment. 
 Reinforcements arrived, and in the end of December Mohammed 
 Jan reth-ed from Cabul, which was once more left open to the 
 British. Another candidate for the Afghan crown tlien came 
 forward under Bussian auspices — Abdurrahman Khan. Abdur- 
 rahman Khan was the son of Mohammed Afzul Khan, Dost 
 Mohammed's eldest son. He was born in 1830. Dost Mohammed 
 bequeathed the succession to his favourite son, Shere AH. 
 Afzul Khan and his son Abdurrahman, with another son of 
 Dost Mohammed, Azim Khan, conspired unsuccessfully against 
 Shere Ali. After fighting and scheming for five years Abdur-
 
 AFGHANISTAN. 63 
 
 rahman Khan was completely defeated by his nephew Yakoob 
 Khan, and hurriedly retreated into Tashkend in 1869. Since 
 then he had lived with the Russians at Samarcand, striving vainly 
 to induce General Kauffman to aid him to regain his rule, and 
 saving his money for the time, which he believed must come at 
 last, for his return to Cabul. There was yet a third foeman in 
 the field, in the person of Ayoob Khan, the hero of Afghan poets. 
 Ayoob Khan, one of the ablest of Shore All's sons, was born in 
 1851. He took his brother's part in the quarrel between Yakoob 
 Khan and Shere Ali. When Yakoob fell into his flither's 
 hands Ayoob fled to Persia, where he remained the honoured 
 guest of the Shah until the fall of Shere Ali inspired him with 
 new hope of empire. He returned to Herat, where he was 
 welcomed as the son of Shere Ali. Here he soon raised an 
 army and bided his time. That time now seemed to him to 
 have come, and he was now leading a large, if somewhat irre- 
 gular, force from Herat against our garrison at Candahar, 
 where Lord Lytton had recognised Shere Ali Khan — namesake 
 of the son of Dost Mohammed — as independent Wall. The 
 position of England in Afghanistan was not unlike that of the 
 king in the ' Arabian Nights,' who is informed by successive 
 scouts that armies are advancing from every point of the com- 
 pass towards his capital. In the Arabian story, however, the 
 advancing armies are soon found to be of peaceful purpose ; 
 while, in the case of England, the various claimants of the 
 Afghan crown had, or appeared to have, the one common pur- 
 pose of hostility to Great Britain. It was absolutely necessary 
 to diminish the number of the opponents. Of the various com- 
 petitors, Abduri-ahman seemed to have the best chance of suc- 
 cess ; and we entered into negotiations with him through Mr. 
 Lepel Griflin, who came to Cabul to consider the situation. 
 
 In the meantime the English arms suffered a revei'se near 
 Candahar as terrible as any in the chronicle of our connection 
 with Afghanistan. Candahar, the Iskandahar of Alexander 
 the Great, was under the command of General Primrose — a 
 brave and popular officer, some sixty years of age, with con- 
 siderable expeiience in dealmg with Asiatic peoples. It was
 
 C4 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 not the sort of place which a small force would willingly undei*' 
 take to hold against a large force. It stands on a cultivated 
 j)Iain at the foot of the Tarnak Valley, in the midst of fruit 
 orchards, of coi'n-fields and cocoa groves watered by numerous 
 canals. On three sides of the plain rise high hills ; to the east 
 stretches the rocky, almost waterless desert. The town is sur- 
 rounded for some four miles in circumference by wretched walls 
 of sun-baked mud and chopped straw, not thirty feet in 
 height, flanked here and there with towei-s, and defended by a 
 ditch ten feet deep and twenty-four feet wide. The citadel, in 
 the centre of the northern face, was in fairly good condition. 
 In 1842, wretched though the place was. General Nott had 
 succeeded in holding it against the Afghans, and General 
 Primrose was now expected to repeat the heroic feat under 
 similar conditions of terrible disproportion between attackers 
 and attacked. Yet, in spite of the terrible weakness of the 
 force in Candahar, it was decided by the authorities in India 
 that some portion of this small force should be despatched from 
 Candahar to meet the advance of Ayoob Khan and give him 
 battle. There are few things in military history more sur- 
 prising than the blunder which sent General Burrows, at the 
 head of a foi"ce of little more than two thousand men, to en- 
 counter the whole strength of Ayoob 's army. 
 
 Ayoob Khan's forces had been under-estimated. Large 
 numbers of the troops of the Wall of Candahar, estimated at 
 four thousand men, deserted to the army of Herat ; how far 
 with the guilty cognizance of Shere Ali will probably never 
 be known. Thus General Burrows, instead of acting with 
 his little force as a support to the Wall's army, found 
 himself left to encounter Ayoob alone on the undulating 
 ground between Kushk-i-Nakhud and Maiwand. An enfjace- 
 ment took place on July 27. General Burrows led a force 
 of less than 2,500 men of all arms. Of his 1,500 bayonets, 
 only 500 were British, men of the 'Old Berkshire' 66th. 
 The rest were Sej^oys of the 1st Bombay Grenadiers and 
 the 30th Bombay Native Infantry, known as * Jacob's 
 E-Lfles.' Some 600 sabres were chiefly made up of the well-
 
 AFGHANISTAN: 65 
 
 horsed Bombay Cavalry and tlie Scinde liorse, wliose long light 
 bamboo lance has proved one of the most terrible and deadly of 
 military weapons. There Avere besides some Royal Horse 
 Artillery, and a company of native sappers. To add to the ex- 
 tremity of the odds against General Burrows' force the Indian 
 companies are said to have been under-officered, an error to 
 which some measure of the disastrous result was attributed.- 
 Among the disadvantages of the little force it must be mentioned 
 that General Barrows, thousrh a brave man and most canable 
 official, had never, we believe, been in action before. 
 
 The enemy, on the contrary, was exceptionally strong. 
 Swollen in its march from Herat by tribal levies and the 
 desei'ters from the Wali's ranks, it probably numbered at least 
 12,000 men. With the British there were only twelve guns, 
 six of which were smooth bores ; while the enemy had about 
 three times the number, and used them Avith terrible efiect. 
 After some six hours' engagement it was clear that the British 
 had lost the day. The English troops fought splendidly, but 
 the Sepoys of Jacob's rifles were inexperienced soldiei's, some of 
 whom it is said had never fired ball cartridges before. A panic 
 seized the Sepoys, they broke and surged in confused flight upon 
 the 66th. From that moment the chance of success was gone. The 
 Sepoy rifles could not be rallied, the Sepoy sabres were in their 
 turn overmastered by fear. The Grenadiers of the 66th fought 
 bravely in the now bewildering medley, and were cut down by 
 hundreds. A remnant made a desperate rally behind some 
 mud walls for a while, and for a little time managed to check 
 the Ghazis, who surged after their standard-bearers in wave 
 after wave of yelling triumph upon the few, the unhappy few, 
 the band of brothers who were trying to retrieve the fortunes 
 of the day. At last, as the ammunition began to run out, as 
 the numbers thinned, and the panic of the native troops spread, 
 General Burrows gave orders for the retreat to Candahar. The 
 retreat began slowly and in good ordei-, but as the victorious 
 Afghans pi-essed up the retreat became a rout. There were 
 fifty miles between the fugitives and Candahar. The pursuit 
 of the enemy appears to have only lasted some few miles, after 
 
 J?
 
 G6 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 which they returned to loot General Burrows's camp, but all 
 the villagers and hill men along the Girishk Eoad turned out 
 upon the track of the flying men with teriible effect. The 
 British and Sepoys fell under the harassing Afghan fire, or 
 were despatched by the Afghan knives. Many dropped to the 
 earth from fatigue and thirst, whom no Afghan steel or bullet 
 reached. All the horrors of the march through the Jugdulluk 
 Pass in 1842 were repeated. Along the road, slippery with 
 blood, a bewildered mass of men and officers, mules and camels, 
 fled and fell before the merciless pursuers. By some mistake, 
 the wrong road for retreat — the ' lower ' or main road, abso- 
 lutely waterless in the summer months — had been taken instead 
 of the ' upper ' road ordered by General Burrows. In conse- 
 quence of this fatal error all along the line of the retreat no 
 water was to be obtained, and the demoralised men refused to 
 follow General Burrows from this main road into the countiy 
 on either side in search of water. To within a few miles of 
 Candahar the fight and flight went on, every mile of the road 
 being marked with the dead bodies of English and Indian 
 soldiers. When the wretched remnant of the little force 
 reached the banks of the Argandab many of the suffering 
 soldiers di'ank water for the first time for two days, while 
 General Burrows hastened on to Candahar to tell tlie tidings of 
 his defeat, and the loss of half his men. General Brooke, who 
 was himself afterwards killed in a sortie, sent out with some 
 cavalry and conducted the unhappy survivors safely into can- 
 tonments. There was no further cjuestion of attacking Ayoob 
 Khan. The parts were i^eversed. Candahar was besieged. 
 
 The news of the defeat was received in England with 
 dismay and anger. Afghanistan had indeed been an accursed 
 country to England. Like the Oriental monarch who desu-ed 
 never again to hear the sound of the name of the race that had 
 again and again defeated him in battle, the English people 
 might well have prayed never to hear the name of Afghan king 
 or Afghan city again. Not just then, though, not until the 
 hateful memory of Maiwand was effaced by some English victory, 
 as in 1842 the triumph before the broken walls of Jellalabad
 
 AFGHANISTAN. 67 
 
 did somethinsr to obliterate the horror aud shame of the Jus- 
 dulluk Pass. The situation at Candahar was tei'rible. General 
 Primrose was shut up there with a small force and the rem- 
 nant of the men who had fought at Maiwand, Before them 
 were the victorious swarms of Ayoob's followers, flashed with 
 their victory over an English army. Military counsel at Cabitl 
 decided on one bold stroke ; if that failed, then indeed the 
 position of the British, not only in Afghanistan, but over all the 
 continent of India, was perilous indeed. General Sir Frederick 
 Roberts, with a force of some 10,000 men, British, Ghoorkas, 
 and Sikhs, the utmost that could be spared him, was sent from 
 Cabul to relieve Candahar and revenge Maiwand. He marched at 
 the head of his little band out into the trackless regions between 
 Cabul and Candahar, out into impenetrable darkness and 
 silence, as far as those were concerned who in every Indian and 
 every English community waited in hope and fear for news. 
 For three weeks nothing whatever was heard or known of 
 Sir Frederick Roberts and his 10,000. He disappeared as 
 Sherman disappeared when he plunged into the south on his 
 famous march to the sea. At length it was known that Sir 
 Frederick E-obex-ts had come to still untaken Candahar, had 
 hurled himself against Ayoob Khan and totally defeated him. 
 Everything had depended upon that chance, and it had been 
 won ; the English hardly dared to ask themselves, now it was 
 all over, how would it have been if they had lost % 
 
 In the meantime, while Roberts was on his way to Can- 
 dahar, the new Emir had been received as sovereign of Afghan- 
 istan. After much consultation v/ith his astrologers, Abdur- 
 rahman had learnt the lucky day for his entry. The stars, it 
 sterns, had written, too, that Abdurrahman must wear an 
 emerald ring on his finger on the fateful day, and in defiance of 
 Pliny's warning that an emerald must never be engraved, a 
 ring was accordingly prepared, bearing his name and the date 
 from the Hegira graven upon it. Before the auspicious day 
 when Abdurrahman, with the ring, might enter Cabul the last 
 of the British troops had left the Sherpur cantonments, and 
 followed General Stewart on the ^'ay to India. The line of 
 
 f2
 
 68 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE 
 
 inarch lay thi'ough the passes which had been soaked ia blood 
 in 1842. The march was now peaceful enough, the hill tribes 
 were quiet ; the oppressive heat was the most serious antagonist 
 the troo^Js had to meet. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE BOER WAR. 
 
 Difficulty and disaster in Afghanistan wore balanced by 
 diiEculty and disaster in South Africa. Difficulties with the 
 native tribes there had been ever since English colonists had 
 settled at the Cape, but the present difficulty was not with 
 Zulus, but with the Dutch settlers of the Transvaal. During 
 the whole history of the South African colony the relations 
 between the English and the original Dutch settlers had never 
 been cordiiil, had often been warlike. The Cape had originally 
 been a purely Dutch settlement, founded by the Dutch East 
 India Company in the middle of the seventeenth century. In 
 1795 it was taken by the British, under Admiral Elphinstone, 
 during the French war, only to be restored again at the Peace 
 of xYmiens. In 1806, when England and France were again 
 at war, the importance of the Cape as a military and naval 
 station induced the English to recapture it, after a brave and 
 vain resistance on the j^art of the Dutch. From that time the 
 colony remained a dependency of the British Crown. The early 
 history of the colony is a record of the struggles of the settlers, 
 both English and Dutch, against the despotic system of govern- 
 ment established by Lord Charles Somerset ; of Kaffir wars, in 
 which the colonists were often hard put to it to hold their 
 own; and of the struggle for the liberty of the Press, sustained 
 with success by John Fairbairn, and Thomas Pringle, the poet of 
 South Africa, the Ovid of a self-chosen exile. For a time the 
 Dutch and English settlers lived in peace and amity together, 
 but the EngUsh eftbrts to alleviate the condition of, and finally 
 emancipate the slaves, severed the two races. The Dutch 
 settlers held the old Biblical notions about slavery, and they
 
 THE BOER WAB. 69 
 
 resented fiercely the law of 1833 emancipating all slaves 
 throughout the colony in 1834. The Boers at once determined 
 to ' trek,' to leave the colony which was under the jurisdiction 
 of the English law, and find in the South African wilderness, 
 where no human law prevailed, food for their flecks, and the 
 pastoral freedom of Jacob and of Abraham. The Boers would 
 live their own lives in their own way. They had nothing in 
 common with the Englishman, and they wished for nothing in 
 common. In the intensity of his religious feeling the Boer 
 presented a close parallel to the unbending Puritans who 
 founded New England. Next to his religion the Boer loved 
 isolation. He wished for personal as well as political independ- 
 ence. He likes, says Mr. Thomas Fortescue Carter, who knows 
 the race well — * he likes to be out of the sight of his neighbour's 
 smoke ; to live fifteen or twenty miles from any other man's 
 dwelling is a source of satisfaction rather than dissatisfaction 
 to him.' The patriarchal customs of the Boers, which invari- 
 ably led their children to settle in the vicinity of their parents, 
 pi^evented this isolation from being actually companionless. 
 They were a primitive people, farming, hunting, reading the 
 Bible, pious, sturdy, and independent \ and the colonial Govern- 
 ment was by no means willing to see them leaving the fields and 
 farms that they had colonised, in order to found fresh states 
 outside the boundaries of the newly acquired territory. But 
 the Government was powerless ; it tried, and tried in vain, to 
 prevent this emigration. There was no law to prevent it. 
 The Boers themselves might not have unreasonably challenged 
 the law, if it had existed, to bind them. They were Dutchmen, 
 not English ; their Dutch Government might cede its broad 
 lands in the Cape to England, but it could not cede the citizen- 
 ship and the liberties of the dwellers on the lands. They were 
 free to go where they pleased; they were no serfs bound by 
 unalienable ties to the soil they tilled. Even if it had been 
 argued that the lapse of time had practically made them 
 British subjects, there could be no means of hindering British 
 subjects from seeking, when they pleased, their fortunes else- 
 where thaii within the narrow limits of the Crown colony. So,
 
 70 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 ■witli their waggons, their horses, their cattle and sheep, their 
 guns, and their few household goods, the hardy Boers struck 
 out into the interior and to the north-east, in true patriarchal 
 fashion, seeking their promised land, and that ' desolate freedom 
 of the wild ass ' which was dear to their hearts. They founded 
 a colony at Katal, fought and baptized the new colony in their 
 own blood. The Zulu chief, Dingaan, who sold them the terri- 
 tory, murdered the Boer leader, Peter Eetief, and his seventy- 
 nine followers as soon as the deed was signed. This was the 
 beginning of the Boer hatred to the natiA'e races. The Boers 
 fought with the Zulus successfully enough, fought with the 
 English who came upon them less successfully. The Imperial 
 Government decided that it would not permit its sulijects to 
 establish any independent Governments in any part of South 
 Africa. In 1843, after no slight struggle and bloodshed, the 
 Dutch republic of Natal ceased to be, and Natal became part 
 of the Bi'itish dominion. Again the Boers, who were un- 
 willing to remain under British rule, ' trekked ' northward ; 
 again a free Dutch state was founded — the Orange Free State. 
 Once again the English Government persisted in regarding them 
 as British subjects, and as rebels if they I'efused to admit as 
 much. Once again there was strife and bloodshed, and in 1848 
 the Orange settlement was placed under British authority, 
 while the leading Boers fled for their lives across the Vaal 
 Biver, and, obstinately independent, began to found the Trans- 
 vaal Bepublic. After six years, however, of British rule in the 
 Orange territory the Imperial Government decided to give it 
 back to the Boers, whose stubborn desire for self-government, 
 and unchanging dislike for foreign rule, made them practically 
 tuimanageable as subjects. In April 1854 a convention was 
 entered into with the Boers of the Orange territory, by Avhich 
 the Impei'ial Government guaranteed the future independence 
 of the Orange Free State. Across the Vaal River the Trans- 
 vaal Boers grew and flourished after their own fashion, fought 
 the natives, established their republic and their Volksraad. 
 But in 1877 the Transvaal republic had been getting rather 
 the worst of it in some of these struggles, and certain
 
 THE BOER WAR. 71 
 
 of the Transvaal Boers seem to have made suggestions to 
 England that she should take the Transvaal republic under her 
 protection. Sh- Theophilus Shepstone was sent out to investi- 
 gate the situation. He seems to have entirely misunderstood 
 the condition of things, and to have taken the frightened desires 
 of a few Boers as the honest sentiments of the whole Boer nation. 
 In an evil hour he hoisted the English flag in the Transvaal, and 
 declared the little republic a portion of the territory of the 
 British Crown. As a matter of fact, the majority of the Boers 
 were a fierce, independent people, very jealous of their liberty, 
 and without the least desire to come under the rule, to escape 
 which they had wandered so far from the earliest settlements of 
 their race. But in 1877 the republic was in a very crippled 
 condition from the Secocoeni wars and bad administration, 
 and no immediate resistance was made to the annexation. 
 There were even among the leaders of the national movement 
 many Boers who, at the time, accepted without a murmur the 
 rule of Sir Theophilus Shepstone. But the dissatisfaction was 
 none the less deep. The Boers of the Transvaal sent deputa- 
 tion after deputation to England to appeal, and appeal in vain, 
 against the annexation. Lord Carnarvon had set his whole 
 heart upon a scheme of South African confederation; his 
 belief in the ease with which this confederation might be 
 accomplished was carefully fostered by judiciously coloured 
 official reports. Lord Carnarvon believed that his dream was 
 about to become reality, and he was deaf or indifferent to 
 appeals which seemed to interfere with or prove obnoxious to 
 his cherished design. English representatives at the Cape made 
 it clear to the Boers again and again that they must not enter- 
 tain any hope of being allowed to return to their independence. 
 Sir Bartle Frere, ' as a friend,' advised the Boers ' not to beHeve 
 one word ' of any statements to the effect that the English people 
 would be willing to give up the Transvaal. ' Never believe,' he 
 said, 'that the English people will do anything of the kind.' 
 When the chief civil and military command of the eastern 
 part of South Africa was given to Sir Garnet AVolseley, Sir 
 Garnet Wolseley was not less explicit in his statements. He
 
 72 EXGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 proclaimed that the ' Transvaal tenitoiy shall be, and shall con- 
 tinue to be for ever, an integral portion of her Majesty's dominions 
 in South Africa.' With Napoleonic brusqueness of epigram, 
 he ainaounced, on another occasion, ' So long as the sun shines 
 the Transvaal will remain British territory.' The utterance of 
 such brave maxims as these was part of the Civil Commif^sioner's 
 official duty, but Sir Garnet Wolseley was compelled to admit, 
 in a despatch to the Colonial Office dated October 29, that there 
 was grave discontent in the Transvaal; that it seemed to be the 
 intention of the Boers to fight for freedom, and that * the main 
 body of the Dutch population are disaffected to our rule.' 
 
 In spite of the announcements of Sir Bartle Frere, Sir 
 Garnet Wolseley, and Sir Owen Lanyon, the disaffected Boers 
 were not without more or less direct English encouragement. 
 The Boer deputations had found many friends in England, 
 and when they came back to the Transvaal with their dis- 
 appointment they could at least tell their fellows that if the 
 zeal of confederation had eaten up Lord Carnarvon in England 
 and Sir Bartle Frere at the Cape, there were those in England 
 who sympathised deeply with the Boers in their hunger and 
 thirst for freedom. One of those who thus sympathised was 
 Mr. Gladstone. In his Midlothian speeches he denounced 
 again and again tlie Conservative policy which had led to the 
 annexation of the Traansval, ' a free Eurojoean Christian 
 republican community ; ' and had endeavoured to ' transform 
 republicans into subjects of a monarchy,' against the will of 
 more than three-fourths of the entire people. ' The Transvaal,' 
 Mr. Gladstone declared on November 25, 1879, 'is a country 
 where we have chosen, most unwisely, I am tempted to say 
 insanely, to place ourselves in the strange predicament of the 
 free subjects of a monarchy going to coerce the free subjects of 
 a republic, and to compel them to accept a citizenship which 
 they decline and refuse.' ' Is it not wonderful,' he asked again 
 on December 29, 1879, 'to those who are freemen, and whose 
 fathers had been freemen, and who hope that their children 
 will be freemen, and who consider that freedom is an essential 
 condition of civil life, and that without it you can have nothing
 
 THE BOER WAR. 73 
 
 great and nothing noble in political society — that we are led 
 by an administration, and led, I admit, by Parliament, to find 
 ourselves in this position, that we are to march upon another 
 body of freemen, and against their will to subject them to 
 despotic government % ' While all the winds of the world were 
 carrying Mr. Gladstone's words to every corner of the earth, it 
 is not surprising that the Boers of the Transvaal, a people 
 ' vigorous, obstinate, and tenacious in character even as we are 
 ourselves,' said Mr. Gladstone, should have caught at these 
 encouraging sentences, and been cheered by them, and animated 
 by them to rise against the despotism denounced by a former 
 Prime Minister of England, who seemed even then on the 
 highway to become again Prime Minister. They had talked of 
 freedom before, and seen their leaders imprisoned; they had 
 seen a military administrator, Sir Owen Lanyon, put over 
 them in the place of Sir Theophiliis Sbepstone ; now they 
 meant to act. For some time there seemed to be no reasonable 
 chance of liberty, but in the end of 1880 the Boers saw their 
 opportunity. They had seen the English defeated at Isand- 
 Ihana ; they had seen with how much difBculty the English had 
 at last succeeded in conquering and capturing Cetewayo. 
 Now in the end of 1880 they saw the Cape colonists engaged 
 in an uncertain struijfrle with a native race. The colonists 
 had ordered the disarmament of the Basuto tribe, and 
 were unsuccessfully endeavouring to carry out their decree 
 upon the rebellious natives. There were few troops in the 
 Transvaal. The Boer hour had come. As in most insurrec- 
 tions, the immediate cause of the rising was slight enough. A 
 Boer named Bezhuidenot was summoned by the landdrost of 
 Potchefstrom to pay a claim made by the Treasury oflScials 
 at Pretoria. Bezhuidenot resisted the claim, which certainly 
 appears to have been illegal. Curio visly enough, Bezhuidenot 
 was the son of a Bezhuidenot who sixty years before was shot 
 for resisting the law in Cape Colony, and was the cause then of 
 a Boer rising. The son was destined to be the herald of a new 
 insurrection. The landdrost attached a waggon of Bezhuide- 
 not's, and announced that it would be sold to meet the claim.
 
 n ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 On November 1 1 the waggon was brouglit into the open square 
 of Potchefstrom, and the sheriff was about to begin the sale, 
 when a number of armed Boers pulled him off and carried the 
 waggon away in triumph. They were unopposed, as there was 
 no force in the town to resist them. The incident, trifling in 
 itself, of Bezhuidenot's cart was the match wliich fired the long- 
 prepared train. Sir Owen Lanyon sent some troops to Potchef- 
 strom ; a wholly unsuccessful attempt was made to arrest the 
 ringleaders of the Bezliuidenot affair ; it was obvious that a 
 collision was close at hand. While the English authorities 
 were delaying, uncertain how to act, the Boers were doing their 
 best to expedite the crisis. On Monday, December 13, 1880, 
 almost exactly a month after the affair of Bezhuidenot's 
 waggon, a mass meeting of Boers at Heidelberg proclaimed the 
 Transvaal once again a re[)ublic, established a triumvirate 
 Government, and prepared to defend their republic in arms. 
 The triumvirate, Paul Kvuger, P. Joubert, and M. "W. Pre- 
 torius, were remarkable men. The first who signed his name 
 to the proclamation which re-created the republic was Stephen 
 John Paul Kruger, * Oom ' Paul (Uncle Paul), as his people 
 fondly called him, a black-haired, black-bearded man of some 
 sixty years, of middle height, stooping, and round-shouldered, 
 with defective speech. He was one of the original emigrants 
 from the old colony, and a member of the strict Protestant 
 Dutch body known as ' DopperS:' He had been eminent in 
 many of the Boer and native wars, and seems, like many other 
 historical loaders of men, to be under the superstitious convic- 
 tion that he is invulnerable, and cannot be hit by any hostile 
 bullet. Next comes Peter Jacob Joubert, a low-set, stout, 
 coarse-looking man, with sharp dark eyes beneath beetle brows, 
 ruddy foce, and full beard and whiskers of a blackish brown. 
 He was younger than Ivruger, and entirely self-educated. He 
 was brought up like a Covenanter on Bible and Psalm book for 
 all literature, and never so much as saw a newspaper until he 
 was nineteen years of age. Like Kruger, he learned how to 
 fight in Kafiir wars. Max'tin "Wessel Pretorius was an elderly 
 man of great administrative ability, who had studied how to
 
 THE BOER WAR. 75 
 
 rule as alternate president of the Transvaal and the Orange 
 Free State. Between these two states it was the great but 
 unsuccessful idea of his life to bring about a complete political 
 and social union. Besides this triumvirate, two other Boers 
 call for mention — Dr. E. F. Jorrissen, a divine from Holland, 
 deeply learned and fierce of temper and spirit, one of the prin- 
 cipal authors and organisers of the insurrection ; and W, 
 Edward Bok, the secretary of the new republic, a young man 
 of about thirty, a master of English, studious, tlioughtful, and 
 genial, likely to make himself a name. 
 
 The news of the insurrections aroused the Cape Govern- 
 ment to a sense of the seriousness of the situation. Movements 
 of British troops were at once made to put the insurgents down 
 with all speed. It is still an unsettled point on which side the 
 first shot was fired. There were some shots exchanged at 
 Potchefstrom on December 15, when a large party of armed 
 Boers entered the town in order to get their proclamation 
 printed. In this affair the Boers maintain that the English, 
 the English assert that the Boei'S, were the first to commence 
 hostilities. In any case, the first blood was drawn, and the 
 first victory gained, by the Boers. As soon as the republic 
 was proclaimed the triumvirate had sent a letter to Sir Owen 
 Lanyon, calling upon him to imitate the action of the Transvaal 
 Government in 1877, and yield up the keys of the Government 
 offices without bloodshed. Previously to this the- 94th regiment 
 had marched from Leydenberg to reinforce Pretoria on Decem- 
 ber 5, and had reached Middleburgh about a week later. On 
 the way came rumours of the Boer rising, and many of the 
 residents of Middleburgh were unwilling to allow the regiment 
 to leave. Colonel Anstruther did not regard the rumours 
 very serious, and set out with his regiment for Pretoria. It 
 was not for some days later, until the legiment was camped by 
 the Oliphants Ptiver, that the reports received any serious belief 
 in the minds of its officers. Colonel Anstruther seems to 
 have felt convinced that the force he had with him was quite 
 strong enough to render a good account of any rebels who might 
 attempt to intercept its march. The whole strength of his
 
 76 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 force, however, officers included, did not amount to quite 250 
 men. The troops crossed the Oliphants River, left it two days' 
 march behind them, and on the morning of the 20th were 
 marching quietly along with their long line of waggons and 
 their band playing ' God save the Queen ' under the bright glare 
 of the sun. Suddenly, on the rising ground near the Bronk- 
 horst Spruit a body of armed Boers appeared. A man galloped 
 out from among them — Paul de Beer — with a flag of truce. 
 Colonel Anstruther rode out to meet him, and received a 
 sealed despatch warning the colonel that the British advance 
 would be considered as a declaration of war. Colonel An- 
 struther replied simply that he was ordered to go to Pretoria, 
 and that he should do so. Each man galloped back to his own 
 force, and firing began. In ten minutes the fight, if fight it 
 can be called, was over. The Boers were unrivalled sharp- 
 shooters, had marked out every officer ; every shot was aimed, 
 and every shot told. The Boers were well covered by trees on 
 rising ground ; the English were beneath them, had no cover 
 at all, and were completely at their mercy. In ten minutes all 
 the officers had fallen, some forty men were killed, and nearly 
 double the number wounded. Colonel Anstruther, who v.-as 
 himself badly wounded, saw that he must either surrender or 
 have ail his men shot down, and he surrendered. The wounded 
 and the survivors were taken prisoners. While the fight was 
 going on, and defeat was inevitable, conductor Egeiton, a 
 brave and gallant gentleman, hid the regimental colours under 
 his coat, and so concealed them from the eager eyes of the 
 victorious Boers. Egerton got permission to go to Pretoria 
 for medical assistance, but he was refused a horse, and allowed 
 to carry no weapon. There were forty miles between him and 
 Pretoria. For eleven hours he marched along, keeping often 
 out of the main road for fear of being surj^rised by parties of 
 Boers with the precious colours around his body. All that day 
 and part of the night, for eleven weary hours Egerton marched, 
 and in the early morning, with feet blistered and bleeding from 
 his tramp, he staggered into Pretoria with the news of the 
 defeat, but with the colours safe about him. The rescued
 
 THE BOER WAR. 77 
 
 colours were given to Colonel Gildea of the Royal Scots 
 Fusiliers, who with graceful courtesy wound them inside those 
 of his own regiment. 
 
 Sir Bartle Frere called this affair a ' treacherous surprise ' 
 and ' a massacre,' but such terms were hardly fair. The 
 accounts of the affair given by Colonel Anstruther and con- 
 ductor Egerton on the one side, and by Paul de Beer on the 
 other, show that fair warning was given of the Boers' deter- 
 mination to regard the British advance as an act of war. The 
 Boers' victory was due to their superior nuuibers and Ijetter 
 position, but above all to their excellence in shooting, which 
 enabled them like Swiss marksmen to make every shot tell. 
 Colonel Anstruther, who afterwards died of his wounds, boro 
 high tribute in his despatch to the kindness and humanity of 
 the Boers when once the fight was done. 
 
 A. few days after the defeat of the O-ith the fiercest indig- 
 nation was aroused among the English by the news that one of 
 the prisoners in the hands of the Boers, Captain Elliott, the 
 paymaster of tlie defeated regiment, had been murdered while 
 crossing from the Transvaal into the Orange Free State. Cap- 
 tain Elliott, with Captain Lambart of the 21st Royal Scots 
 Fusiliers, who had been captured by the Boers a couple of days 
 before the engagement at Bronkhorst Spruit, had been liberated 
 on giving their words of honour that they would leave the 
 Transvaal at once, and not bear arms against the Dutch again 
 during the war. They were conducted to the Orange River, and 
 while trying to cross it at night their escort fired upon them, 
 instantly killing Captain Elliott. Lambart swam for his life, 
 climbed the opposite bank, and ran, the escort firing at him 
 whenever the lightning showed his retx'eating figure. He 
 managed to escape unhurt, however, to tell his tale. Sir 
 George Colley, the Military Commissioner, at once wrote to 
 the Republican Government, who immediately disclaimed all 
 knowledge of the murder, but pi-omised to do their utmost to 
 bring the offenders to justice. At the same time the Boer 
 triumvirate protested bitterly against the British shelling of 
 Potchefstrom, the order of Colonel Bellairs to fire on all ai-med
 
 78 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE 
 
 parties approaching his position, whether under a flag of truce 
 or no, the actually firing on a burgher, C. Bodenstein, outside 
 Potchefstrom, while under a 'flag of truce, and of the language 
 habitually used by the British leaders towards the rebellion 
 and concerning the fight at the Bronkhorst Spruit. 
 
 Sir George Colley struggled bravely for a while to make 
 head against the Boers. At Lang's Nek and Ingogo he did 
 his best, and the men under him fought gallantly, but the 
 superior positions and marksmanship of the Boei's gave them 
 the advantage in both fights. Under their murderous fire the 
 ofiiccrs and men fell helplessly. Oflicer after officer of a regi- 
 ment would be shot down by the unerring aim of the Boers 
 while trying to i-ally his men, while the British fire did com- 
 paratively slight damage, and the troops seldom came to 
 sufliciently close quai"ters to use the bayonet. But the most 
 fatal battle of the campaign was yet to come. Sir Evelyn 
 Wood had arrived at the Cape with reinforcements, had met Sir 
 George Colley, and had gone to Pietermaritzburg to await the 
 coming of further reinforcements. On Saturday night, Feb- 
 ruaiy 26, Sir George Colley with a small force moved out of the 
 camp at Mount Prospect, and occupied the Majuba Hill, which 
 overlooked the Boer camps on the flat beyond Lang's Nek. 
 Early next morning the Boers attacked the hill ; there was 
 some desultory firing for a while, under cover of which three 
 Boer storming parties ascended the hill almost unseen. The 
 British were outflanked and surrounded, a deadly fire was 
 poured in upon them from all sides. The slaughter was exces- 
 sive. As usual tlie ofiicers were soon shot down. Sir George 
 Colley, who was directing the movements as coolly as if at 
 review, was killed just as he was giving orders to cease firing. 
 The British broke and fled, fired upon as they fled by the 
 sharpshooters. Some escaped ; a large number were taken 
 prisoners. So disastrous a defeat had seldom fallen upon 
 British arms. The recent memory of Maiwand was quite 
 obliterated. That was the last episode of the war. General 
 Wood agreed to a temporary armistice. There had been nego- 
 tiations going on between the Boers and the British before the
 
 THE BOER WAB. . 79 
 
 Majuba Hill defeat, which need never have occurred if there 
 had not been a delay in a reply of Kruger's to a letter of Sir 
 George Colley's. The negotiation's were now resumed, and 
 concluded in the establishment of peace, on what may be 
 called a Boer basis. The republic of the Transvaal was to 
 be re-established, with a British protectorate and a British 
 Resident indeed, but practically granting the Boers the self- 
 government for which they took up arms. There was some 
 clamour in England at the terms made with the Boers. The 
 curtain ought not, so some argued, to have been allowed to 
 come down upon a British defeat. Many even who were 
 willing enough to grant the Boers their liberty were still of 
 opinion that the disaster of Majuba Hill should have been 
 eflaced by some signal victory over the Boers ; that we ought 
 not to treat with them at all until they had been severely 
 punished for their successive victories. On the other hand, the 
 Boers were fighting for the freedom which a very large pro- 
 portion of Englishmen thought they deserved ; they may now 
 be admitted to have fought fairly and well. It was known 
 that the British Government intended to grant their demand ; 
 why then should the concession have been preceded by an act 
 of savage retaliation ] The misfortune was that the Govern- 
 ment had not seen their way to come to terms with the Ti-ans- 
 vaal Boers before Bronkhorst Spruit, Lang's Nek, Ingogo, and 
 Majuba Hill fights. It was a pity that Mr. Gladstone had 
 declared shortly after the rising that the demands of the Boers 
 could not possibly be granted while they were in arms against 
 the authority of the Queen. The Liberal policy had all along 
 been opposed to the annexation of the Transvaal. It would 
 have been truer to itself, and have saved the lives of many brave 
 men, if it had acted on its principles at once when it had the 
 power, and not have waited until victory after victory of the 
 Boei'S gave some colour to the suggestion that the liberty of the 
 Transvaal had been wrung from England by force of arms; that 
 the Liberal Government had granted to military success what 
 it would not grant to justice. Of course, no one doubts that 
 in the end the English would have been victorious. A soldier
 
 80 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 like Sir Evelyn "Wood, with the forces that England would have 
 been able to send out, could, of course, have inflicted crushing 
 defeats upon the Boers. But it would have necessitated the 
 presence of a large standing army to keep the Boers in subjec- 
 tion, and their independence would hare to be granted sooner or 
 later. Better sooner, then, without any further loss of brave 
 lives, any further waste of blood. 
 
 The history of each of the towns besieged by the Boers 
 would b3 in itself a little Iliad of gallant defence. In every 
 case the beleaguered garrison behaved with a courage that 
 recalled and rivalled the records of Jellalabad and Cawnpore. 
 Outside Pretoria a military camp was formed, and the town 
 abandoned by its inhabitants, who came within the British 
 lines. This camp, under the command of Colonel Bellairs, held 
 its own from December until March and the proclamation of 
 peace. The hardships of the siege appear to have been con- 
 siderably lightened by the genial preseneeof ]\Ir. Charles Du-Val, 
 a wandering showman, who happened to be touring in the Trans- 
 vaal when the war broke out, and who threw in his lot with 
 those who held the camp at Pretoria. He promptly set up a news- 
 paper, ' The News of the Camjj,' a journal occupying as curious 
 and as interesting a place in periodical literature as ' The Can- 
 dahar News,' with which some of the companions of General 
 Primi'ose amused their imj^risonment. The Potchefstrom garri- 
 son were less fortunate though no less heroic than the Pre- 
 torians. When the Boers came x-iding in to the market square 
 to get their proclamation printed, Major Clai-ke and a few men 
 occupied the court-house ; some others occupied the gaol ; the fort 
 outside the town was held by Colonel Winsloe. The Boers oc- 
 cupied the buildings in the market square, and a running fire was 
 maintained for three days between them and the holders of the 
 gaol and court-house. Then when the Boers were about to fire 
 the coui't-house ]\Iajor Clarke surrendered, and he and his men 
 were made prisoners. The occupants of the gaol managed, under 
 cover of a wet night, to make their escape to the fort, inside 
 which many of the townspeople had taken refuge. There were 
 English women and children in the fort. A few of the women
 
 THE BOER WAR. 81 
 
 were at first allowed by the Boer commandant Cronje to return 
 to the town ] then, in spite of the repeated requests of Colonel 
 Winslow, he refused to allow any more to come out. One of 
 the Englishwomen died in the fort from the sufferings of the 
 siege ; one of the English girls was killed, another wounded by 
 the Boer fire. For three months the besieged held out under 
 terrible privations from want of water. Then they surrendered 
 with all the honours of war. This surrender was afterwards 
 very properly reversed by the Boer Government, as it had been 
 made after the conclusion of the amnesty, all knowledge of 
 which had been carefully kept from Colonel Winslow by 
 Cronje. Cronje alleged that the British destroyed their 
 ammunition and spiked their cannon before surrendering, con- 
 trary to the Geneva rules; and, on the other hand, Winslow 
 complained of the Dutch use of explosive bullets. Of the other 
 forts, Standerton on the north bank of the Vaal River held out 
 till the armistice, under Mnjor Montague ; so did Leydenberg, 
 under Lieutenant Long ; so did Marabastadt, under Captain 
 Brooke; so did Rustenberg, under Captain Auchinleck and 
 Lieutenant Despard, and Wakkerstrom, under Captain Saunders. 
 Utrecht and INIiddleburg had been seized by the Boers without 
 resistance on the beginning of hostilities. It would have been 
 quite impossible to defend them. After peace was made n. 
 convention was concluded at Pretoria which was not considered 
 satisfactory by the people ot either country. We may a.i well 
 here somewhat forestall events in order to bring this portion of 
 our story to a conclu'-ion. For some years incessant negotia- 
 tions were carried on between the Home Government and the 
 new rulers of the Transvaal. It was not until many ideas had 
 been exchanged, and Boer delegates had crossed the seas to 
 interview Lord Derby at the Colonial Office, that anything like 
 a solution of the difficulty was ai-rived at. At last, on At.\y 
 Wednesday, Februaiy 27, 1884, the anniversary of the battle 
 of Majuba Hill, a new Transvaal convention was signed at the 
 Colonial Office by Sir Hercules Robinson as representing the 
 Queen, and by the delegates of what was henceforward to be 
 called the South African Republic, By the convention the 
 
 a
 
 82 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 South African Republic obtained Tvhat was practically, though 
 not absolutely, complete independence. All the rights which 
 the Boers exercised over the Transvaal previous to the visita- 
 tion of Sir Theophilus Shepstone were conceded, under cei'tain 
 conditions. These conditions prohibited the introduction of 
 slavery into the country, prescribed complete religious liberty, 
 and stipulated that the native races should be allowed the right 
 to buy land and to have access to the courts. The Transvaal 
 debt was reduced fi'om 385,000^. to 250,000/., and a sinking fund 
 was established to jirovide for its extinction altogether in a 
 quarter of a century. Furthermore the British Government 
 reserved to itself a right of veto over any treaties that the 
 South African Eepublic might conclude with any foreign Power. 
 The Home Government was especially anxious to secure the 
 rights and well-being of the border tribes of native race. The 
 Eev. Mr. Mackenzie, a strong sympathiser with the native 
 laces, although not a very popvilar jDerson with the aggressively 
 anti-black Africanders, was appointed British Resident in 
 Bechuanaland. The resuscitated republic was further required 
 to pledge itself not to make any treaties with native races to 
 east or west of its territoi'ies without the sanction of the British 
 Government. 
 
 To these terms the Boers not unnaturally agreed. The in- 
 dependence for which they had fought so well and so success- 
 fully was practically conceded to them, for the Crown's 
 nominal right to veto was but u slight check, possibly never to 
 be used against the now formally recognised * republic* On 
 the other hand, the restraint put upon their encroachments into 
 the lands of the native races was undoubtedly irksome to the 
 Boers. But upon that point the Government was firm. It 
 was willing to give up the suzerainty for which it had waged 
 so unfortunate a war ; it was willing to abandon its ' British 
 Resident ' in the Transvaal ; but it would not abandon the 
 native tribes of Goshen and Stcllaland, Zulu and Swaziland, 
 to the mercy of the freebooters of the ' Afrikaner Traditie.' 
 On these terms, tlien, and for the time being at least, the 
 Boers and the British were friends again.
 
 THE BOER WAR. 83 
 
 The new Ministry was not able to do very mucli in the way 
 of domestic legislation. Other questions occupied the greater 
 part of the broken session which the Liberals had left to them 
 of the year. Still they accomplished something. The fii'st busi- 
 ness of importance was the Supplementary Budget, introduced 
 by IVIr. Gladstone on Thursday, June 10, 1880. The revenue had 
 been fixed at 82,260,000^., and the expenditure at 82,076,000?., 
 leaving a surplus of 184,000?., which had, however, been swal- 
 lowed up by 200,000?. of supplementary estimates. He was 
 then unable to make any definite proposal with regard to the 
 claim in connection with the Indian deficiency. The Govern- 
 ment proposals were to reduce the duties on light foreign 
 wines ; to exchange a beer tax for the existing malt tax ; to 
 meet any loss occasioned by these measures by an increase of 
 one penny to the income tax ; with a plan for increasing and 
 adjusting the licence duties for the sale of alcoholic liquors. 
 The general result of the Budget was that 1,100,000?. of revenue 
 was sacrificed by the abolition of the malt tax, and 233,000?. by 
 the reduction of the wine duties, which, with the 200,000?. sup- 
 plementary made an expenditui^e of 1,533,000?. On the other 
 side, the addition to the income tax was reckoned at 1,42.5,000?., 
 and the increased licence duties at 30-5,000?., which, with the 
 surplus of 184,000?. provided by Sir Stafford Northcote, made 
 an addition to the revenue of 1,914,000?., leaving a final svirplus 
 of 381,000?. The Budget was, on the whole, satisfactory to 
 the followers of the Government, and was accepted with but 
 slight modification. Some of the Irish and Scotch members had 
 objections to raise to the unequal taxation of alcohol in whisky. 
 The wine duty clauses, being dependent upon the successful 
 negotiation of a new commercial treaty with France, were 
 withdrawn. Of course the additional penny on the income tax 
 caused considerable grumbling. The absence of any statement 
 with regard to the Indian deficiency was felt to be somewhat 
 unsatisfactory by many who, like Sir George Campbell, were 
 curious to laiow where the money was to come from. 
 
 The Indian Budget was not formally inquired into until 
 August 17, but it was known to Parliament long before that it 
 
 G 1
 
 84 EXGLANB UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 was to prove alarmingly disappointing. The cost of the war in 
 Afghanistan down to the end of the financial year 1879-80 was 
 shown to have been under-estimated by the Government of 
 India, and by its Finance Minister, Sir John Strachey, by 
 several millions sterling. The estimated six millions had now 
 swelled into something like fifteen millions, which, if the frontier 
 railway charge were to be included, would be still further swelled 
 to some eighteen millions. Lord Hartington declined to make 
 any definite statement as to how he proposed to meet this great 
 deficiency so long as the exact amount of deficit remained un- 
 ascertained, but he pledged the Government to make some con- 
 tribution towards meeting the war expenses from the Imperial 
 Treasuiy, without, however, making any specific statement as 
 to what form the contribution would take. Indian finances 
 apart from the war chai-ges were not unpleasing. In the three 
 years from 1878 to 1880 there was an aggi'egate surplus of over 
 eleven millions. This surplus, however, as well as a projected 
 famine fund, were, of course, devoured by the increased war 
 estimates. A curious example of the loose management of 
 Indian finance Avas shown by the fact that some five millions 
 and a half of the excess over the estimate had already been paid 
 by the Indian Government before it was known that it was due. 
 The deficit that remained was to be met, at least temporarily, 
 by the means of loans. 
 
 A Burial Bill was brought forward in the Upper House by 
 the Lord Chancellor, to permit the celebration of Nonconformist 
 services in churchj'ards. This had long been a strong point 
 with Dissenters, and it had formed the basis, of Mr. Osborne 
 Morgan's measure which had been rejected ^ in the former 
 Ministry. Some attempts wei'e made in the Lords to narrow 
 the scope of the Government measure by ingenious amendments 
 limiting the working of the Bill to places where no separate pro- 
 \asion was made for burying Dissenter-s ; but these amendments 
 were smoothed away when the Bill passed into the Lower House, 
 and the Lords made no attempts to put them back again. 
 
 Mr. Dodson introduced a Vaccination Bill for the remission 
 of cumulative penalties; but it met with so much opposition,
 
 THE BOER WAR. 85 
 
 both inside the House and out of doors, that Lord Harting- 
 ton had to announce, at the beginning of the second week 
 of August, that the Government had made up their minds 
 to abandon the measure. There still remained the Ground 
 Game Bill, which was the chief piece of legislative work accom- 
 plished during the session. This was Sir William Harcourt's 
 measure, and it was destined to cause a great many debates 
 indeed before it finally became law. The Bill proposed to give 
 farmers a right to kill ground game concurrent witli that of 
 the landlords, and inalienable by contract. The measure had 
 the support of the farming classes generally, but the landlord 
 party were, as a whole, opposed to it on the grounds of its 
 interference with territorial privilege, with rights of property, 
 with freedom of contract, and the like. The second reading 
 was moved for on June 10, but it was not obtained for many 
 weeks later; and when the Bill was finally carried to the Lords, 
 it was not suffered to pass without remonstrance and ineffectual 
 opposition. Two amendments were added — one limiting the 
 rights of shooting to the tenant or to one other person to be 
 named by him ; and another amendment proposed to establish 
 a close time from March to August, during which no shooting 
 was to be allowed. When the Bill came back to the Commons 
 this close time was rejected, and the right of shooting was ex- 
 tended to the tenant and one other person authorised by him. 
 In these final changes the Loixls quietly agreed. 
 
 The Employers' Liability Bill, introduced by Mr. Dodson, 
 was more fortunate than his vaccination measure. It proposed 
 to alter the legalised relations existing between master and 
 workman, by which at that time an employer was pi^actically 
 free from all responsibility towards his workpeople in case of 
 accident, unless it was proved that his own personal negligence 
 was the cause of the injury. The Bill proposed to amend the 
 condition of the law by making the master responsible in cases 
 where his immediate delegate, or any person impKed to be such, 
 was the cause of the accident, though this did not go far enough 
 to please the advocates of the working men. When the Bill 
 went to the Lords in August, Lord Beaconsfield introduced an
 
 8G ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 amendment limiting its duration to two years, but this limita- 
 tion was extended in the Commons again to seven years, and 
 the extension was not opposed by the House of Lords. 
 
 Other measures passed during the session were Mr. Faw- 
 cett's Bill for the extension of the Postal Savino;s Bank 
 system, and the introduction of Postal Notes. Mr. Pawcett, 
 since his appointment to the Postmaster-Generalship, had been 
 studying his new office very carefully, and distinguished him- 
 self by the rapidity with which he was able to introduce two 
 new and valuable measures of reform. The Bill for extending 
 the system of Post Office Savings Banks proposed to allow 
 single depositors to deposit sums to the amount of 300^. 
 instead of the existing limitation of 200Z., and to increase 
 the total sum that might be deposited by any one person in a 
 single year from 30^. to \QQl. The Bill further proposed to 
 give depositors certain focilities for the conversion of a portion 
 of theii- savings into Government Stock under certain limita- 
 tions. It contained certain other changes as well. When the 
 Post Office Savings Banks were established in 1861, the Com- 
 missioners for the Reduction of the National Debt were bound 
 to allow the trustees of the old previously established private 
 savings banks interest to the amount of 3j per cent, on the 
 money that they had transferred to the new banks. This was 
 what might be called a fancy interest, much higher than the 
 Government could properly afford to give; they only gave 
 their own depositors 2^7 per cent., and there had been a finan- 
 cial deficiency slowly growing up in consequence. This it was 
 now proposed to meet by reducing the interest of the trustees to 
 3 per cent. This slight reduction was regarded by the trustees 
 and their supporters with much disfavour, while on the other 
 hand it was considered not nearly large enough by the advo- 
 cates of the younger system of banking. The Post Office 
 Money Orders Bill proposed to inci'ease the facilities for the 
 interchange of small sums which the Post Office Order system 
 had established, by issumg notes for various small sums, rang- 
 ing from one shilling to one pound, at prices ranging from a 
 halfpenny to twopence per note, and which were changeable at
 
 THE BOER WAR. 87 
 
 sight lite an ordinary cheque. It really did in fact, in some 
 measure, establish a paper currency of small denominations. 
 Both these measures became law and have since worked ex- 
 ceedingly satisfactorily. 
 
 Census Bills for taking the census of the three kingdoms in 
 1881 were also carried. In the Irisli measure the inquiry into 
 religion was made optional, while in the English and Scotch 
 Bills it was as usual excluded. A Grain Cargoes Bill was also 
 passed, and the Expiring Laws Continuance Bill, including the 
 renewal of the Ballot Act. 
 
 Two extraneous debates are worth noticing in this session. 
 One was on a motion brought forward by Mr. Biiggs, condemning 
 the erection of a tablet to the memory of the Prince Imperial 
 in "Westminster Abbey Public opinion was much stirred by 
 this question, and all the anti-Bonaparte feeling in the country 
 was aroused. Mr. Swinburne wrote a brilliant and bitter sonnet, 
 in which he bade ' scorn everlasting and eternal shame ' to ' eat 
 out the rotting record ' of Dean Stanley's name for proposing 
 to erect a monument in England's abbey to the heir of the 
 Napoleons. Mr. Briggs carried his motion, and the tablet was 
 not erected. The other debate was raised by Mr O'Donnell 
 on the nomination of M. Challemel Lacour as ambassador of 
 France to England. Mr. O'Donnell attacked M. Challemel 
 Lacour for his acts during the Commune, Mr. Gladstone 
 moved that Mr O'Donnell be no longer heard, and this revival 
 of a custom that had fallen out of use for some couple of 
 centuries provoked a long and wrangling debate. 
 
 In the end of July Mr. Gladstone was seized with a slight 
 fever. For a few days there was great anxiety as to his health, 
 and there were incessant inquiries at the house in Downing 
 Street, Lord Beaconsiield's name being conspicuous amongst 
 the callers. Then it was announced that Mr. Gladstone had 
 recovered, but his medical advisers would not allow him to 
 return to political life for a time. Mr, Gladstone went for a 
 cruise in the ' Grantully Castle,' one of Sir Donald Carrie's 
 vessels, and did not return to Parliament until September 4, 
 three days before the session ended. During his absence the
 
 8S ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE 
 
 position of leader of the House of Commons was naturally 
 taken by Lord Hartington, who managed the duty as he had 
 managed it before during Mr. Gladstone's polemical retirement, 
 with the sturdy determination characterioiic of him, and which, 
 if not representative of the highest order of statesmanship, is 
 certainly not undeserving in its way of admiration. 
 
 Two days before the year came to an end, on Wednesday, 
 December 29, 1880, one of the greatest novelists of the nine- 
 teenth century passed away. The impression that ' George 
 Eliot ' had made upon her age was profound and lasting ; to a 
 really large number of thoughtful people, men and w^omen, her 
 novels supplied not merely a philosophy, but a religion. The 
 tendency of her admirers to regard George Eliot thus as a 
 teacher and prophetess rather than as an artist and romancist, is 
 perhaps to be regretted because of the impression it produced 
 upon her later work. The devotees of the George Eliot cult 
 were inspired by an almost Bacchic frenzy of enthusiasm, ready 
 at all times to turn and rend, as Agave and her companions 
 rent Pentheus in the weird Cadmeian forest, any adventurer 
 bold enough to find any fault with the idol. All this was bad 
 for the idol, and its evil effects are painfully visible in her later 
 works. George Eliot was a great novelist as Thackeray and 
 Dickens and Jane Austen were great novelists. Her Tullivers 
 andPoysers and Bedes and iNIarners, even her fifteenth-century 
 Florentines, these are precious possessions in the illimitable 
 Avorld of fiction, rare and welcome presences in the cloud 
 country of romance. She was essentially a great novelist, a 
 wonderful delineator of certain kiuds of characters, an excellent 
 teller of a certain kind of story, a deep thinker in certain veins 
 of thought. The mistake of her admirers — of the admirers, that 
 is, who did not know what to admire her for — was to attempt 
 to make her a scientific ^Nloses the lawgiver, a feminine London 
 Socrates. As well attempt to reason out a system of domestic 
 ethics from the early verses of Mr. Swinburne, or to discover 
 the hidden principles of political government in the romances 
 of Charlotte Bronte. To George Eliot the story-teller, the 
 inimitable painter of character, let us be grateful with all our
 
 THE BOER WAR. 89 
 
 hearts, as in the one case we are to the compilers of the 
 ' Thousand and One Nights,' whose names have perished, or in 
 the other to the author of the ' Comedie humaine.' But to 
 George Eliot the Positivist, the scientific thinker, the expounder 
 of life-hxws and life-theoi"ies, we might have been grateful had 
 she written scientific treatises or vokimes on ethics, instead of 
 allowing these faculties to spoil her later stoi'ies. Let us, in- 
 deed, be thankful that in her list there are not many novels 
 like ' Daniel Deronda,' even while we regret that we have not 
 more like 'Silas Marner,' 'Adam Bede,' 'The Mill on the 
 Floss,' and ' Romola.' 
 
 Many striking names, if no other very great name, disappear 
 from the list of the living in 1880. Two belong to politicians of 
 widely different types. Lord Stratford de RedclifTe was a very 
 old man, ninety-two, when he died. The school of diplomacy 
 to which he belonged had practically passed away long before 
 him ; at least, all the conditions of diplomacy in the fields which 
 were peculiarly his own had altei'ed almost beyond recognition. 
 During his long career Lord Stratford de Redclifie was able to 
 render many valuable services to his country, and none more 
 valuable than that which he gave when he saw through the 
 Bussian schemes in the Vienna note of 1853. Lord Stratford 
 de Redclifle had the cui'ious fortune to win the profound 
 admiration of one clever literary man, and the profound dislike 
 of another. To Mr. Kinglake Lord Stratford de Eedcliffe was 
 scarcely less than inspired, and the historian of the Crimean 
 war writes of the ' great Eltchi ' as some enthusiast might 
 write of one of the Hebrew prophets. Mr. Grenville Murray, 
 the once renowned ' Boving Englishman,' saw no such merits 
 in the Constantinople ambassador ; he presented portraits of 
 him in his writings which resulted in something like a public 
 scandal, and in the withdrawal of Mr. Grenville Murray from 
 the diplomatic post he held at that time. 
 
 Lord Hampton was a statesman of a very different kind. 
 He was known as Sir John Pakington during that part of his 
 political career which had any importance, though his import- 
 ance was never very great, and was generally unfortunate for
 
 90 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 his party. He was chiefly lemarkable for a genial alacrity in 
 accepting any office that might come in his way, without any 
 self-searchings as to his own peculiar capacity or incapacity for 
 the post. On only one occasion was he ever very conspicuously 
 brought before the eyes of his countrj'men, and that was in 
 1867, when his mai-vellous incapacity for keeping a secret told 
 the story of the Ten Minutes Bill, and revealed the whole of 
 the hidden history of the struggles of Mr. Disraeli and his 
 colleagues with the Reform qu'^stion. 
 
 Among the other eminent men who died diiring the year 
 perhaps Sir Alexander Cockburn was the most remarkable. 
 From the day of the fierce debate over Don Pacifico and Lord 
 Palmerston's policy of Roman citizenship in 1850, the career of 
 J\lr. Cockburn was a scries of successes. The speech he de- 
 livered in that debate Avas the brilliant preface to a brilliant 
 career. la a career that vf&s henceforward all of brightness, 
 one or two episodes shine out with special distinctness. One 
 was when he delivered his charge to the Grand Jury in the 
 historic Jamaica trials. Carlyle, with his characteristic hatred 
 of 'niggers,' might write from Chelsea to tell Alexander Cock- 
 burn that, far before and above the British law, there was a 
 martial law which privileged the white man to flog the dark 
 man and the dark woman, but the world Avill remember in Sir 
 Alexander Cockburn's charge one of the finest and most 
 eloquent defences of civil law against outrage and violence that 
 was ever deli veered from the judicial bench. 
 
 By the death of Mr. Tom Taylor, dramatic literature lost 
 a copious and creditable wi-iter. and Punch a conscientious 
 editor. Literature of a certain kind lost J. R. Planche, Pierce 
 Egan the younger, and W. H. G. Kingston, the boys' novelist. 
 Natural science suffered by the death of Mr Frank Bnckland, 
 who had earned honourable distinction as a naturalist, and 
 rendered good service to his country in his work as Commis- 
 sioner of Fisheries. 
 
 A career which had at one time seemed promising came to 
 a poor conclusion in this year. Dr. Kenealy, wlio had got into 
 the old Parliament as an advocate of the case of the 'Claimant,'
 
 THE BOER WAR. 91 
 
 and as the representative of the Magna Cbarta Association, had 
 stood again for Stoke at the General Election and been de- 
 feated. He did not long survive his defeat. He was a man 
 of considerable natural abilities, who had at one period 
 promised to do well and to go far. In his youth he had 
 been an almost brilliant speaker ; he had a fair acquaintance 
 with a variety of languages, and could turn off clever trans- 
 lations and imitations that were not much inferior to those 
 of his witty countryman, Father Prout. He had written 
 verse which had nothing very remarkable in it, and had pre- 
 faced one of his efforts mth a dedication to Mr. Disraeli, 
 which might well have been called fulsome, and which was re- 
 called to Dr. Kenealy's disadvantage in after years when he had 
 made himself conspicuous by tlie offensive virulence of his 
 attacks upon his former hero. In the House of Commons he 
 was a complete failure. The showy oratory of his youth had 
 quite deserted him ; he was heavy, dull, and uninteresting. He 
 had entered the House of Commons with great announcements 
 of what he was going to do, and he did nothing He subsided, 
 and was almost forgotten before the General Election brought 
 about his defeat, and was followed by his death. His dispo- 
 sition was an unhappy one, which had always led him into 
 quarrels and dissensions, and had animated him apparently only 
 with an intense desire for notoriety of any kind, and at almost 
 any price. In his private and his public life he contrived for 
 a time to make himself conspicuous. He may be regretted for 
 his wasted life, and for the abilities which, had they been better 
 employed, might have earned him honourable and deserved 
 distinction. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE IRISH DIFFICULTY. 
 
 Early in its career the Ministry had a more serious difficulty 
 to encounter than the question of a member's right to affirm. 
 The new Ministry might without great exaggeration be said to
 
 92 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 have scai'cely been in ofSce many hours before they were con- 
 fronted by the Irish question, and under conditions Avhich 
 rendered it especially difficult to deal with. 
 
 In order to properly understand the exact position of affairs 
 in Ireland at the moment when Mr. Gladstone took office in 
 1880, it is necessary to consider some of the events that took 
 place under the preceding Ministry, and even earlier. When 
 Mr. Gladstone went out of office in 1874, he had passed two 
 great Irish measures, and had tripped himself and his adminis- 
 tration up over a tliird. The measui-e which overthrew him 
 was the Irish University Education Bill ; the measures which 
 he carried disestablished the Irish Church, and created the Land 
 Act of 1870. "With the land question before the passing of 
 that Act we have here nothing to do. The Act had recognised 
 that there was need of reform in the Irish land system, and 
 it strove to effect that reform. The Land Act of 1870 en- 
 deavoured, first, to give the tenant some security of tenure ; 
 second, to encourage the making of impi-ovements throughout the 
 country ; and third, to promote the establishment of a peasant 
 proprietorship. It sought to further the first and second of 
 these aims by legalising the Ulster tenant right on farms where 
 it already existed, and by allowing compensation for disturbance 
 and for improvements to evicted tenants on farms where the 
 Ulster tenant-right system did not prevail. Up to this time 
 the Ulster tenant-right custom was not recognised by law, and 
 as it differed widely in different estates, it was not very easy to 
 define strictly. Eoughly speaking, however, it maintained, for 
 those who were bound to it by time and tradition, first, that 
 the tenant was not to be evicted so long as he paid his rent 
 and acted properly, his landlord having indeed the right of 
 raising the rent from time to time, though not so high as to 
 destroy the tenant's interest; second, that the tenant who 
 wished to leave his holding had a right to sell his interest in 
 the farm, subject to the landlord's consent to receive the new 
 purchaser as a tenant ; third, that if the landlord wanted to 
 take the land himself, he must pay a fair sum for the tenant 
 right. It may be fairly said that wherever the Ulster tenant-
 
 THE IRISH DIFFICULTY. 93 
 
 right custom existed the relationsliiiD between landloid and tenant 
 were reasonably good. On estates where the custom of any- 
 thing like it did not prevail, the tenant had practically no rights 
 as against the landlord. The majority of Irish tenancies were 
 tenancies from year to year. These might at any time be 
 ended by the landlord after due notice. A comparatively small 
 proportion of tenancies were let on leases which gave the 
 tenant security of possession for a considerable period, so long as 
 he could pay the yearly rent, or the landlord did not press too 
 heavily for arrears. In neither case had the tenant any right 
 to claim on eviction compensation for disturbance, or for any 
 improvements he might have made in the land ; and in Ireland, 
 except on a few ' English-managed ' estates, the improvements 
 are always made by the tenants. In the yearly tenancies the 
 landlord had always the power of raising the rent when he 
 pleased ; in estates held on lease he could raise it at the expira- 
 tion of the lease, and, as a rule, the landlord or his agent always 
 did so raise the rent whenever the exertions of the tenant had 
 made the land of more value than when he had entered it. 
 Undoubtedly one of the reasons for the wretched condition of 
 so many Irish farms and ctibins was that the tenant feared, and 
 often justly feared, that the smallest sign of well-being, the 
 least evidence of improvement of any kind, would be taken by 
 the landlord or his agent as a sure sign that he might safely 
 raise the rent. Raising the rent was the one great dread of the 
 tenant. So great was the poverty of the average tenant, that 
 in many cases it was almost impossible to pay any rent at all, 
 and the prospect of having the existing rent raised was terror. 
 The Irish peasant is as a rule profoundly unwilling to emigrate. 
 He loves his land with a passion which defies starvation, and 
 he will make any sacrifices and run any risks to remain at 
 home. Of those who do emigrate, the majority always dream 
 of returning, and manj^ do return, to their native land. The 
 land is the love, but it is also the life of the Irish peasant. If 
 he remains in Ireland, he has nothing else to live upon, and he 
 is ready to take the land on any terms the landlord chooses to 
 make, trusting to- Providence to see him safely through with his
 
 94 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 rent at the due time, or hoping that the landlord may be found 
 easy-going and unexacting. Fui-thermore, the Ii-ish peasant is 
 in his heart convinced tliat the land is reallv his ; that the 
 landlord to whom he pays his rent and the agent to whom he 
 touches his hat are alike, whatever their nationality, the repi-e- 
 sentatives of an alien rule, of a coercion Avhich is no conquest. 
 
 Evictions were the great miseiy of the peasantry. Evic- 
 tions were often for non-payment of rent, often because the 
 landlord wished to clear the ground, and was anxious to get rid 
 of his tenants whether they paid their rent or no. In the years 
 from 1849 to 1882 inclusive, the evictions have been on an aver- 
 age of more than three thousand families a year. The highest 
 rates of eviction were in 1849 and 1850, the two years imme- 
 diately following the rising of 1848, when the rates were 
 16,686 and 19,949 families in each year. The rate was at its 
 lowest in 1869, when the number of evicted families was 
 only 374. From 1865 to 1878 inclusive, the number of evic- 
 tions never got into the thousands; in 1879 they were over 
 1,000; in 1880, over 2,000; in 1881 and 1882, over 3,000. 
 The Land Act of 1870 did not lessen evictions, as gre;it 
 numbers of the tenantry in all parts of the country were in 
 heavy arrears of rent. In many estates it was practically com- 
 pulsory for the rent to be in arrears by a process known as the 
 hanging gale, by which the tenant had always a year's or half a 
 year's rent duo and hanging over him, thus giving him com- 
 pletely into the landlord's power as regarded eviction. 
 
 One of the objects of the Land Act of 1870 was to create a 
 peasant proprietary, through the clauses known by the name of 
 Mr. Bright. Something of the kind had already existed on a 
 very small scale. When the Irish Church was disestablished, 
 the Church Temporalities Commissioners Avere given the power 
 to aid occupying tenants of Church lands in purchasing their 
 holdings when it was wished. These tenants were allowed, 
 on payment of one-fourth of the purchase-money, to leave 
 three-fourths of the pui-chase-money on mortgage at four 
 per cent., the principal and interest to be repaid in half- 
 yearly payments, extending over a period of thirty-two years.
 
 THE IRISH DIFFICULTY. 95 
 
 Nearly three-fourths of the tenants occupying Church lands did 
 in fact tlius purchase their holdings. It was -with the intention 
 of increasing such facilities for the purchase of holdings that the 
 Bright clauses were introduced. A landlord and a tenant 
 might come to an agreement under the Act hy which the tenant 
 could purchase his holding, and receive a Landed Estates Court 
 conveyance. The very fact, however, that a Landed Estates 
 Court conveyance is absolutely binding in. its character, and 
 gives its possessor an absolute title to the land acquired, to the 
 disregard of any subsequent claims that might be made after 
 the sale was eflfected, made the process a costly one. To prevent 
 any mistake in the transfer of the land, or injury to any third 
 parties, careful investigations had to be made, and elaborate re- 
 quirements gone through, all of which made the process of 
 transfer costly and troublesome. The expenses were often from 
 ten to thirty per cent, of the price of the farm ; in some extreme 
 cases the cost of the transference was very considerably greater 
 than the actual price of the purchased land. Moreover, the 
 tithe-rent chai'ges, quit-rents, and drainage charges, to Avhich 
 most Irish estates are subject, remained with the land instead 
 of being transferred to the money in. court, and were a fruitful 
 source of trouble to the new purchasers. 
 
 All these various conditions combined to make the working 
 of the Bright clauses far more limited and unsatisfactory than had 
 been intended by their framers. Thus the Act failed practically 
 to establish a system of peasant proprietorship on anj^thing like 
 an extended scale, or indeed on any scale large enough to judge of 
 its working by. It did not give the ordinary tenant any great 
 degree of security of tenure. It allowed him, indeed, the pri- 
 vilege of going to law with his landlord, but as in most cases 
 the tenant had little or no money, while the landlord could fight 
 out the case from court to court, appeal to the law was a privi- 
 lege of no great vabae to the tenant. The chief thing actually 
 accomplished by the Act was the legalising of the excellent 
 Ulster custom. 
 
 The passing of the Land Act, instead of settling the Land 
 question in Ireland, was destined to give it a fresh impetus.
 
 96 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 The year that saw it passed saw also the formation of an Irish 
 organisation which was to be the cause of bringing every phase 
 of the Irish question more prominently before the notice of 
 England than at any time since O'Connell, if not, indeed, since 
 the Union. On May 19, 1870, two months and a few days 
 before the Land Act became law, a meeting was held in Dublin 
 of representative Irishmen of all opinions, and of all political 
 and religious creeds. The object of the meeting was to form an 
 organisation to advocate the claims of Ireland to some form of 
 Home Government. The words ' Home Rule ' were used by some 
 one, and they became at once the shibboleth of the new party. 
 
 At the General Election of 1874 some sixty Irish members 
 were returned pledged to Home Rule principles, and to maintain 
 a separate and distinct party in the House of Commons, under 
 the leadership of Mr, Isaac Butt, an eminent Protestant lawyer, 
 who, in his yovith, had been strongly opposed to the O'Connell 
 movement. It is not necessary here to enter into any explanation 
 of the Home Rule demand. It is enough to say that a Home 
 Rule motion was annually brought forward by Mr, Butt in the 
 House of Commons, and annually outvoted. The more active 
 among the Home Rulers became dissatisfied with Mr. Butt's 
 leadership, and began to cast about for a new leade)'. They 
 found him in a young man who had been an unnoticed member 
 of the House for a year or two, ]\Ir. Charles Stewart Parnell. 
 
 Mr. Parnell was a Protestant, of English descent — he was 
 of the family of the poet Parnell, and of Sir Henry Parnell, 
 afterwards Lord Congleton, the reform ally of Lord Grey and 
 Lord Melbourne — a Cambridge man, of apparently Conservative 
 tendencies. In 1871, after some years of travel, in America 
 among other places, he settled down on his estate at Avondale in 
 Wicklow, within whose boundaries is to be found Moore's Vale 
 of Avoca with its meeting watei's. His first attempt to enter 
 political life was doubly a failure. He failed to get elected for 
 Dublin, and he broke down completely in his first attempt to 
 make a public speech. In 1875 he was elected for Meath, but he 
 attracted no notice in the House of Commons until 1877, when 
 he became the head of a small party of advanced Home Rulers
 
 THE IRISH DIFFICULTY. 97 
 
 who endeavoured to prevent the introduction of Government 
 measures at late hours of the night by ingenious and systematic 
 obstruction. The Irish members did not invent obstruction. 
 It had been practised often before for special purposes by 
 Liberals and Tories alike. But they applied the method with 
 considerable ingenuity and consistence. The obstructionists 
 became popular in Ireland in exact proportion to their un- 
 popularity in the House of Commons. It was soon evident 
 that the Butt Gironde was being greatly embarrassed by the 
 IMountain party which was forming under the headship of 
 Mr. Parnell. The early obstruction was on English measures, 
 and was carried on often with the active support and co-opera- 
 tion of the more advanced members of the Liberal opposition. 
 One of the fiei-cest nights of obstruction was on the South 
 African Bill, when the Irish party were ably and energeti- 
 cally supported by the Radicals ; and not a few Englishmen 
 would now Avish that the obstruction had then been sufficient 
 to defeat that unlucky measure. Mr. Parnell, moreover, car- 
 ried many useful amendments to the Factories and Work- 
 shops Bill of 1878, the Prison Code, and the Army and Navy 
 Mutiny Bills. It may be faii-ly said that his efforts con- 
 tributed very appreciably to the abolition of flogging in the 
 army. 
 
 Meanwhile all dispute or discvission with regard to the 
 leadership of Mr. Butt was settled by the death of Mr. Butt 
 himself in 1879, and Mr. Shaw was chosen leader in his stead. 
 ]\Ir. Shaw became leader in difficult times. The land question 
 was coming up again. Mr. Butt shortly before his death had 
 predicted its reappearance, and been laughed at for his prophecy, 
 but he was soon proved to be right. The condition of the 
 peasantry was still very bad, their tenure of land precarious. 
 A new land agitation was inaugurated by a new man. Mr. 
 Michael Davitt was the son of an evicted tenant. He had 
 lost his arm while a boy in a machine accident in Lancashire. 
 When a young man he joined the Fenian movement, was 
 arrested, and sentenced to fifteen years' penal servitude. Seven 
 
 H
 
 98 EXGLAXB UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 yeai'S later he was let out on ticket of leave. During his im- 
 prisonment he had thought much of the means of bettering the 
 condition of Ireland, and had come to the conclusion that by- 
 constitutional agitation, not by force of arms, the improvement 
 could be best accomplished. Mr. Davitt went to America, 
 planned out there a scheme of land organisation, and returned 
 to Ireland to put it into practice. He found the condition of 
 the Irish peasant very wretched. For three years the harvest 
 had been going from bad to worse, and there was danger of a 
 serious famine. Mr. Davitt and his friends organised land 
 meetings in various parts of Ireland ; the new scheme was 
 eagerly responded to by the tenant farmers in all directions. 
 In October 1879 the Irish National Land League was formed. 
 Mr. Davitt and some other Land Leaguers were prosecuted for 
 speeches made at some of the land meetings, but the prose- 
 cutions were abandoned. Mr. Parnell went to America to 
 raise funds to meet the distress ; the Lord Mayor of Dublin, 
 Mr. E. D. Gray, M.P., raised a fund at home, so did the 
 Duchess of Marlborough. The Government passed certain 
 relief measures. The severity of the famine was stayed, but 
 neither the Goveimment nor the public and private relief was 
 able to prevent a great amount of suffering. Such was the 
 condition of affairs in Ireland when Lord Beaconsfield wrote 
 his letter to the Duke of Marlborough, in which he attacked 
 the Liberal party for their compromises with Irish faction and 
 disaffection. As we have seen, the Irish vote in England was 
 in consequence given in almost every case to the Liberal 
 candidates. In Ireland the Home Rule party were largely 
 increased, and in the party itself the section that followed 
 Mr. Parnell were soon found to bo numerically the strongest. 
 At a meeting in Dublin Mr. Parnell was formally chosen 
 leader of the party in the place of ]Mr. Shaw ; and in the House 
 of Commons the Parnellites, as the advanced party of Irish 
 members were now called, took their seats on the Opposition 
 side below the gangway, while the moderate Home Pulers 
 under the direction of Mr. Shaw ranged themselves on the 
 Liberal benches.
 
 THE IRISH DIFFICULTY. 9D 
 
 The new Irish party which followed the lead of Mr. Parnell 
 has been often represented by the humourist as a sort of 
 Falstaffian ' ragged i-egiment,' and its members as rivals of 
 Lazarus in the painted cloth, to whom the mere necessities of 
 civilised life were luxuries, to obtain which they would follow 
 any leader and advocate any cause. From dint of repetition this 
 has come to be almost an article of faith in some quarters. 
 Yet it is curiously without foundation. A large proportion 
 of Mr. Parnell's followers were journalists. Journalists unfor- 
 tunately seldom amass large fortunes, but the occupation is 
 not considered cUshonourable, and the journalists who belonged 
 to the Irish party were sufficiently intelligent to be able to 
 obtain their livelihood by their pens. Mr. T. P. O'Connor, for 
 example, was a young Irishman who had come to London, and 
 was making his way in English journalism. He was a strong 
 Radical, and had written an exceedingly able, if exceed- 
 ingly one-sided, ' Life of Lord Beaconsfield.' Mr. Sexton, who 
 was destined to prove himself one of the foremost debaters 
 in the House of Commons, began life in the employment 
 of the Waterford and Limerick Hail way Company. When 
 he was some twenty years of age he became a writer for 
 the Nation, a newspaper which had upheld through long years 
 and under disheartening conditions the traditions of National- 
 ism which had made it famous in 1848. He had been a writer 
 for the Nation for some years when the General Election came. 
 Mr. Sexton, like most young Irish journalists who ever wrote 
 for the Nation, had taken the keenest interest in Irish politics. 
 He was sent to Sligo to oppose Colonel King Harman, an in- 
 fluential landlord and nominal Home Ruler. So great was the 
 popular feeling for the growing Nationalist party that the 
 almost unknown young writer with the eloquent tongue was 
 returned by a triumphant majority over the wealthy landlord, 
 his opponent, who had come to regard a seat for Sligo as an item 
 of his personal property. Mr. T. D. Sullivan was another Irish 
 journalist, the owner of the Nation, eminent in Ireland, and not 
 only in Ireland, as a true poet of the people. Mr. Healy was 
 not returned to Parliament at the General Election. He did not 
 
 u 2
 
 100 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 enter the House of Commons until November 1880, but lie may 
 fairly be described with the party which he was so soon to join, 
 and of which he was already a valuable adherent. Mr. Healy 
 came to England at sixteen years of age, a poor young man, with 
 his way to make in the Avorld. Almost self-educated, he had 
 taught himself, beside French and German, Pitman's shorthand, 
 and through his knowledge of phonography he obtained a situ- 
 ation as shorthand clerk in the office of the superintendent 
 of the North-Eastern Railway at Newcastle. Later on he 
 came to London as the confidential clerk of a floorcloth manu- 
 factory, and as the weekly correspondent of the Xation. In 
 this Ciipacity he made the acquaintance of Mr. Parnell, whom 
 he accompanied on his American tour in 1879. From that 
 time Mr. Ilealy became one of the most prominent of thej-oung 
 men who were working for the Nationalist cause. He was soon 
 to become one of the most prominent and the most important 
 of the Irish Parliamentary party. Mr. James O'Kelly was a 
 journalist who had been a soldier and a special correspondent in 
 all parts of the world. He served in the Foreign Legion of the 
 French army against the Arabs at Oran, under Maximilian in 
 Mexico, and had narrowly escaped being shot by the Spaniards 
 in Cuba. After accompanying the Emperor of Brazil on his 
 tour through America, and following the fortunes of the Avar w-ith 
 the Sioux chief, Sitting Bull, Mr. O'Kelly came to England, 
 and at once took an active part in the Home Rule movement 
 then inaugurated by Mr. Butt. Another journalist, one of 
 the most able among the Irish members, was Mr. E. D. Gray, 
 the proprietor of the FreemarCs Journal, probably the most 
 valuable newspaper property in Ireland. 
 
 Those who were not journalists in the Irish party w'cre 
 generally what is called well-to-do. Mr. Dillon had inherited 
 property from his father. jNIr. Biggar had retired from a very 
 successful connection with the North of Ireland bacon trade. 
 Mr. Richard Power w-as a country gentleman of position ; so 
 was Mr. Mulhallen Marum ; so was Mr. Redmond ; so was 
 Mr. Metge. Mr. Arthur O'Connor had been in the War 
 Office for many laborious years, and had retired upon a
 
 THE IRISH DIFFICULTY. 101 
 
 pension. Dr, Commins was a successful Liverpool lawyer. 
 Mr. John Barry was a prospei"Ous business man; so was Mr. 
 Dawson. Mr. Leamy was a solicitor of independent means. 
 Colonel Nolan was an artillery officer of distinction. 
 
 One of the most remarkable figures in the ranks of the 
 Irish party was Colonel The O'Gorman Mahon, whose hand- 
 some white-haired head and tall form made him conspicuous 
 in the Plonse. The O'Gorman Mahon had played a prominent 
 part in Irish politics long before most of his present colleagues 
 were born. He had brought O'Connell forward at tlie time 
 of the Clare election. He had been in Parliament some fifty 
 yeai's before his connection with Mr. Parnell's party. The in- 
 tervening half-century he had spent in all parts of the world, 
 soldiering, sailoring, travelling, enjoying adventure for its own 
 sake. He had taken a considerable share in making the 
 history of one of the South American republics. Rumour said 
 of him that at one time he was not merely Loi-d High Admiral 
 of its fleet and Generalissimo of its army, but actually Arch- 
 bishop of its Church. This latter statement,, however, must be 
 regarded as the merest exaggeiation. He was in Pailiament 
 again from 1847 to 1852 ; he came in for the third time in 1879. 
 His friends were fond of rallying him on his supposed antiquity, 
 but there was no young man in the Irish party, or indeed in 
 the House of Commons, who carried his head more erect, 
 walked with a firmer step, or showed less evidence of the weight 
 of years than The O'Gorman Mahon. 
 
 At first there seemed no reason to expect any seiious dis- 
 union between the Irish members and the Liberal party. In 
 the previous Parliament the Irish members and the Radical 
 members had been thrown into frequent alliance ; during the 
 General Election the bonds of sympathy between the English 
 Radicals and the Irish people seemed to have been strength- 
 ened. The Irish vote in England had been given to the 
 Liberal cause. The Liberal speakers and statesmen, without 
 committing themselves to any definite line of policy, had mani- 
 fested friendly sentiments towards Ireland; and though indeed 
 nothing was said which could be construed into a recognition
 
 102 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 of the Home Rule claim, still the new Ministry was known to 
 contain men favourable to that claim. The Irish members 
 hoped for much from the new Government ; and, on the other 
 hand, the new Government expected to find cordial allies in all 
 sections of the Irish party. The appointment of Mr. Forster 
 to the Irish Secretaryship was regarded by many Irishmen, 
 especially those allied to Mr. Shaw and his following, as a 
 marked sign of the good intentions of the Government towards 
 Ireland. 
 
 From the earliest days of the session, however, it was 
 obvious that there would be but little possibility of the Govern- 
 ment and the Irish Mountain working together. The Queen's 
 Speech announced that the Peace Preservation Act would not 
 be renewed. This was a very important announcement. Since 
 the Union Ireland had hardly been governed by the ordinary 
 law for a single year. Exceptional coercive legislation of all 
 kinds had succeeded, accompanied, and overlapped each other 
 with regular persistency since the beginning of the century. 
 Now the Government were going to make the bold experiment 
 of trying to rule Ireland without the assistance of coercive and 
 exceptional law. The Queen's Speech, however, contained only 
 one other reference to Ii-eland, in a promise that a measure 
 would be introduced for the extension of the Irish borough 
 franchise. This was in itself an important promise. The 
 Irish borough franchise was very much higher than in 
 England ; was based upon the old principle which still exists 
 both in English and Irish counties. In England every house- 
 holder in a borough has a right to vote, no matter what the 
 value of the dwelling he occupies. Any place in which he and 
 his family live, any lodging, any room separately held, gives 
 him the right to record his vote. In Ireland, on the contrary, 
 a house must have a certain value, must have a certain rental, 
 before its owner is allowed the privilege of voting. No house 
 in an Irish borough under the rate of 4Z. a year rental carries 
 with it a qualification to vote. In England and Ireland alike 
 there is a standard of value which has to be reached before 
 an occupier has the privilege of voting. This condition of
 
 THE IRL-iH DIFFICULTY. 103 
 
 things the advocates of the new Reform Bill propose to 
 change. But extension of the borough franchise did not 
 seem to the Irish members in 1880 the most important 
 form that legislation for Ireland could take just then. The 
 country was greatly depressed by its recent suffering ; the 
 number of evictions was beginning to rise enormously. The 
 Irish members thought that the Government should have made 
 some promise to consider the land question, and above all 
 should have done something to stay the alarming increase of 
 evictions. Evictions had increased from 463 families in 1877 
 to 980 in 1878, to 1,238 in 1879 ; and they were still on the 
 increase, as was shown at the end of 1880, when it was 
 found that 2,110 families were evicted. 
 
 An amendment to the Address was at once brought for- 
 ward by the Irish party, and debated at some length. The 
 Irish party called for some immediate legislation on behalf of 
 the land question. Mr. Forster r-eplied, admitting the neces- 
 sity for some legislation, but declaring that there would 
 not be time for the introduction of any such measure that 
 session. Then the Irish membei's asked for some temporary 
 measure to pi^event the evictions which were undoubtedly 
 rapidly on the increase, and appeals were made to the Govern- 
 ment not to lend landlords military aid in cari-yiug out evic- 
 tions; but the Chief Secretary answered that while tlie law 
 existed it was necessary to carry it out, and he couid only 
 appeal to both sides to be moderate. Matters slowly drifted on 
 in this way for a short time, the Secret Service Vote and the 
 Ii-ish Relief Bill affording opportunities of sharp debates, in the 
 course of Avhich Mr. Forster more than once expressed his 
 belief that the improved condition of Ireland would obviate the 
 necessity for many of the old-fashioned methods of managing 
 the country. 
 
 Evictions steadily increased, and Mr. O'Connor Power 
 brought in a Bill for the purpose of staying evictions. Then 
 the Government, while refusing to accept the Irish measure, 
 brought in a Compensation for Disturbance Bill, which adopted 
 some of the Irish suggestions. This Bill authorised county court
 
 104 EKGLAXD UXDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 judges in Ireland till the end of 1881 to allow compensation to 
 tenants evicted for non-payment of rent in cases where failure 
 of crops had caused insolvency. This was explained by Mr. 
 Forster as a mere extension of the Act of 1870, by making 
 the eviction for non-payment of rent in cases where tenants 
 were really unable to pay a disturbance within the meaning of 
 that Act. On Friday, June 25, the second reading of the Bill 
 was moved by Mr. Forster, who denied that it was a concession 
 to the anti-rent agitation, and strongly denounced the outrages 
 which were taking place in Ireland. At the same time he 
 admitted that the rate of evictions for the year had already 
 more than doubled the annual average rate previously 
 to 1877. 
 
 This was the point at which difference between the Irish 
 party and the Government first became marked. The increase 
 of evictions in Ireland, following as it did upon the widespread 
 misery caused by the failure of the harvests and the partial 
 famine, had generated — as famine and hunger have always 
 genei-ated — a certain amount of lawlessness. Evictions were 
 occasionally resisted with violence; here and there outrages 
 were committed upon bailiffs, process-servers, and agents. In 
 different places, too, injuries had been inflicted upon the cattle 
 and horses of landowners and land agents, cattle had been 
 killed, horses houglied, and sheep mutilated. These offences 
 were always committed at night, and their perpetrators were 
 seldom discovered. There is no need, there should be no 
 attempt, to justify these crimes. But while condemning all 
 acts of violence, whether upon man or beast, it must be re- 
 membered that these acts were committed by ignorant peasants 
 of the lowest class, maddened by hunger, want, and eviction, 
 driven to despair by the sufferings of their wives and children, 
 convinced of the utter hopelessness of r-edress, and longing for 
 revenge. It was diiEcult to get these poor peasants to believe in 
 the good intentions of the Government at any time, and unfor- 
 tunatelyjust then thegood intentions of the Government were not 
 very actively displayed. The Compensation for Disturbance Bill 
 was carried in the Commons after long debates in which the Irish
 
 THE IRISH DIFFICUITY. 105 
 
 party strove to make its principles stronger, while the Opposition 
 denounced it as a flagrant infringement of the rights of property. 
 It was sent up to the Lords, where it was rejected on Tuesday, 
 August 3, by a majority of 231. The Government answered 
 the appeals of Irish members by refusing to take any steps to 
 make the Lords retract their decision, or to introduce any similar 
 measure that session. From that point the agitation and strug- 
 gles of the past four years may be said to date. It is impossible 
 to estimate how much suffering misjlit have been avoided if the 
 Government had taken a firmer line with the House of Loids 
 in August 1880. The House of Lords is never a serious oppo- 
 nent to the will of a powerful and popular Ministry ; and if it 
 had once been shown that the Government were determined to 
 carry some measure for the relief of evicted tenants, it would 
 have soon ceased to make any stand against it. But though 
 the Government, through the mouth of Mr. Forster, had ad- 
 mitted the alarming increase of evictions and the agitated con- 
 dition of the country, they refused to take any further steps 
 just then. They promised, indeed, to bring in some compre- 
 hensive measure next session, and they appointed a committee 
 to inquire into the condition of the agricultiu-al population of 
 Ireland. On this commission they absolutely refused, in spite 
 of the earnest entreaties of the Irish members, to give any place 
 to any representative of the tenant farmer's cause. This was a 
 curious illustration of the Irish policy of the Government 
 during the early part of its rule. Though the Irish members 
 who followed Mr. Parnell might surely have been regarded as 
 expressing at least the feelings of a vei'y large section of the 
 Ii'ish people, their wishes were as little regarded as if they had 
 1 epresented nothing. It seems difficult to believe that during 
 the whole of Mr. Forster's occupation of the Irish Secretaryship 
 he never once consulted any member of the Parnellite party on 
 any part of his Irish policy; never asked their advice or even 
 their opinion on any Irish affairs whatever. It is still stranger 
 that he pursued almost the same principle with regard to the 
 Irish members who sat on his own side of the House — moderate 
 men like Mr. Shaw and Major Nolan.
 
 106 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 The speeches of the Land League leaders became more and 
 more hostile to the Government, At a meeting in Kildare in 
 August Mr. John Dillon made a speech in which he advised 
 Boycotting, called upon the young farmers of Ireland to defend 
 evicted Leaguers threatened with eviction. He looked forward 
 to the time when there would be 300,000 men enrolled in the 
 ranks of the Land League ; and when that time came, if the 
 landlords still refused justice, the word would be given for a 
 general strike all over the country against rent, and then * all 
 the armies in England would not levy rent in that country.' 
 On Tuesday, August 17, Sir Walter Barttelot called the atten- 
 tion of the Chief Secretary to this speech. Mr. Forster de- 
 scribed it as wicked and cowardly ; but, while he declined to 
 prosecute Mr. Dillon for it, he announced that the Government 
 were watching the Land League speeches very carefully. Mr. 
 Dillon immediately came across fi'om Ireland to reply to the 
 Chief Secretary's attack. Mr. Dillon was one of the most re- 
 markable men in the National movement. He was the son of 
 John Dillon, the Young Irelander and rebel of 1848, whom Sir 
 Charles Gavan Duffy describes as ' tall and strikingly handsome, 
 with eyes like a thoughtful woman's, and the clear oHve com- 
 plexion and stately bearing of a Spanish nobleman.' When the 
 * Young Ireland ' rising failed, John Dillon the elder escaped to 
 France, and afterwards to America, and in later years he came 
 back to Ireland, and was elected to Parliament for the county of 
 Tipperary. He earned an honourable distinction in the House 
 of Commons, where his great aim was to strengthen the alliance 
 between the Irish members and the English Eadicals, and he 
 won the cordial admii'ation of Mr, John Bi^ight. Mr. Bright 
 has paid eloquent tribute to the memory of John Dillon in a 
 speech which he delivered in Dublin at a banquet which Mr. 
 Dillon had organised to Mr. Bright. Mr. Dillon was to have 
 presided at the banquet, but he died suddenly a few days before 
 it took place. * I venture to say,' said Mr. Bright, ' that his 
 sad and sudden removal is a great loss to Ireland. I believe 
 amongst all her worthy sons Ireland has had no worthier and 
 no nobler son than John Blake Dillon.' Mr. Dillon, the son,
 
 THE IRISH DIFFICULTY. 107 
 
 was a mncli more extreme man than bis fatliei\ He did not 
 display the sympathy with English Radicalism which his father 
 felt, and he appeared to have little or no belief in Parliamentary 
 action. He was quite a young man, and had been elected for the 
 county of Tipperary at the General Election while absent him- 
 self in America. 
 
 Mr. Dillon rose in the House of Commons on Monday, 
 August 23, and moved the adjournment of the House in order 
 to reply to Mr. Forster's attack upon him. The manner of his 
 speech was no less remarkable than its matter — quiet, perfectly 
 self-possessed. With a low, passionless voice and unmoved 
 face Mr. Dillon met the charges against him. He professed 
 his absolute indifference as to what the Irish Secretary 
 might choose to call him ; but he denied that his speech was 
 wicked in advising the farmers of Ireland to resist an unjust 
 law. He laid at Mr. Forster's door the difficulties and the pos- 
 sible bloodshed that might be caused by the increasing evictions 
 and the unjust covirse the Government was pursuing. Mr. 
 Forster replied by analysing the Kildare speech, and repeating 
 his former charges. He accused Mr. Dillon of advising his 
 hearers not to pay their rents, whether they could afford to or 
 not ; he charged him with something like sympathy with the 
 mutilation of animals, because, instead of denouncing the 
 houghing of horses and cattle that had taken place, he had said 
 that if Mayo landlords put cattle on the lands from which they 
 could get no rent, the cattle would not prosper very much. He 
 quoted sentences from Mr. Dillon's speech, that ' those in 
 Parliament faithful to the cause of the people could paralyse the 
 hands of the Government, and prevent them from passing such 
 laws as would throw men into prison for organising themselves. 
 In Parliament they could obstruct, and outside of it they could 
 set the people free to drill and organise themselves ; ' and that 
 * they would show that every man in Ireland had a right to a 
 rifle if he liked to have a rifle.' A long and bitter debate fol- 
 lowed, in which Irish, Liberal, and Conservative members took 
 part. The Irish members, in almost every case, appealed to the 
 Government even now to do something for the tenants : the
 
 108 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 Liberals replied, justifying the action of the Government. The 
 next day, Tuesday, the 24th, another Irish debate arose on a 
 motion of ]Mr. Parnell's on the Parliamentary relations of Eng- 
 land and Ireland. On the following Thursday, in Committee of 
 Supply, another Irish debate arose on the vote for the Irish con- 
 stabulaiy estimates. This was in many ways a memorable debate. 
 It was from the defence Mr, Forster made in this debate of the 
 use of buckshot as ammunition for the Ii'ish constabulary that 
 the nickname of ' Buckshot ' arose, which will, in all probability, 
 be associated with his name as long as his name may be remem- 
 bered. Furthermore, this debate was the first of several famous 
 all-night sittings which mark at intervals the career of the 
 administration. The debate had begun on Thursday afternoon ; 
 it was protracted all through Thursday night and over Friday 
 morning, and only came to an end shortly before 1 p.m. on the 
 Friday, when the Government consented to an adjournment of 
 the debate until the following INIonday. On the Monday, after 
 further debate from the Irish members, the vote was finally 
 carried. The Irish case against the constabulary was in some 
 measure recognised by Mr. Forster, who stated that, although 
 it was quite impossible then for the Executive to consent to the 
 general disarmament of the constabulary force, yet her Majesty's 
 Government felt bound not to rest until they had placed Ireland 
 in such a position as no longer to need the presence of this 
 armed force. In some of Mr. Forster's speeches there were 
 menacing allusions to the possibility of the revival of the aban- 
 doned coercive measures; but, on the other hand, Mr. Forster 
 declined to promise to urge the calling of a winter session in 
 case the evictions increased, in order to deal with the question. 
 On September 7 the House was prorogued. 
 
 The rejection of the Compensation for Disturbance Bill 
 and the inaction of the Government gave fresh impulse to the 
 agitation in Ireland. Evicting landlords, encouraged by the 
 failure of the Government measure, swelled the list of evictions ; 
 and, on the other hand, all landlords, good and bad alike, became 
 the objects of popular antipathy. The Land League leaders, 
 members of Parliament and others, advised the tenants' passive
 
 TBE IRISH DIFFICULTY. 109 
 
 resistance of eviction and non-payment of rent, in the hope that, 
 by a sort of general strike on the part of the tenantry, evictions 
 might be delayed until the following session saw the intro- 
 duction of the promised Ministerial measure. In fact, the Land 
 Lcajrue advised the tenants to form a sort of tenant trades 
 union, for resisting not merely evictions, but the exactions of 
 what they considered an unjust amount of rent above Griffith's 
 valuation. 
 
 Griffith's valuation played such an important part in the 
 politics of this time, and was so frequently alluded to, that it 
 may be well to give some idea of what it was. The valuation 
 of Ireland was undertaken in 1830 on the recommendation of 
 a select committee of the House of Commons in 1824. To 
 ensure uniform valuation an Act was passed in 1836 requu'ing 
 all valuations of land to be based on a fixed scale of agricultural 
 produce contained in the Act, The valuators w^ere instructed 
 to act in the same manner as if employed by a principal land- 
 lord dealing with a solvent tenant. The average valuation 
 proved to be about twenty-five per cent, under the gross rental 
 of the country. In 1844 a select committee of the House of 
 Commons was appointed to reconsider the question, and an Act 
 passed in 1846 changed the principle of valuation from a 
 relative valuation of town lands based on a fixed scale of 
 agricultural produce to a tenement valuation for poor law 
 rating to be made ' upon an estimate of the net annual value 
 .... of the rent, for which, one year with another, the same 
 might in its actual state be reasonably expected to let from 
 year to year.' The two valuations gave substantially the same 
 results. In 1852 another Valuation Act was passed, returning 
 to the former principle of valuation by a fixed scale of agii- 
 cultural produce ; but Sir Eichard Griffith's evidence in 1809 
 shows the valuation employed was a ' live-and-let-live valuation, 
 according to the state of prices, for five years previous to ' the 
 time of valuation. 
 
 Griffith's valuation was indeed but a rough and ready way 
 of estimating the value of land. In many cases it was really 
 above the worth of the land ; in other cases it was below it.
 
 110 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 Still it was a reasonable basis enough, certainly far more 
 reasonable than the rates of the rack-rents. The Land Leagiie 
 speakers condemned all rents above Griffith's valuation — only, 
 it must be remembered, in the period of probation while the 
 Government was preparing its Laud measure — and under their 
 direction a practical strike was oi-ganised against the landlords 
 extortiug high rents. It ought to be borne in mind that the 
 failui'e of the Government to pass its Compensation for Dis- 
 turbance Bill, coupled with its announcement that it practically 
 intended to reopen the land question and introduce a new Land 
 Bill, had driven the bad landlords in Ireland to desperation. 
 They thought that the intei'val between the measure that had 
 failed and the measure that was to come was the only time left 
 to them, and they went to work vigorously to get all the 
 money they could out of the land before the crash came, and 
 the Government, in the formulas of the Opposition, ' interfered 
 with the rights of property.' It certainly did seem hard that 
 the tenants should have been left by the Government at the 
 mercy of landlords who were incited to make the most out of 
 their tenancies befoi'e the new Land Act fell upon them. But 
 as the Government had done nothing, the Land League advised 
 the people to stand out for themselves ; to pay no rent, and 
 passively resist eviction. The supporters of the Land League 
 had another enemy beside the landlord in the person of the 
 land-grabber, the man who took a farm from which his neigh- 
 bour had been dispossessed. The strike was supported by a 
 form of action, or rather inaction, which soon became his- 
 torical. Captain Boycott was an Englishman, an agent of 
 Lord Earne, and a farmer at Lough Mask, in the wild and 
 beautiful district of Connemara. In his capacity as agent he 
 had served notices upon Lord Earue's tenants, and the tenantry 
 suddenly retahated in a most unexpected way by, in the 
 language of schools and society, sending Captain Boycott to 
 Coventry in a veiy thorough manner. The population of the 
 region for miles round resolved not to have anything to do 
 with him, and as far as they could prevent it not to allow any 
 one else to have anything to do with him. His life appeared
 
 THE IRISH DIFFICULTY. Ill 
 
 to be in danger; he had to claim pohce protection. His 
 servants fled from him as servants fled from their masters in 
 some plague-stricken Italian city ; the awful sentence of excom- 
 munication could hardly have rendered him more helplessly 
 alone for a time. No one would work for him ; no one would 
 supply him with food. He and his wife had to work in their 
 own fields themselves in most unpleasant imitation of Theo- 
 critan shepherds and shepherdesses, and play out their grim 
 eclogue in their deserted fields with the shadows of the armed 
 constabulary ever at their heels. The Orangemen of the north 
 heard of Captain Boycott and his sufierings, and the way in 
 which he was holding his ground, and they organised assist- 
 ance and sent him down armed labourers from Ulster. To 
 prevent civil war the authorities had to send a force of soldiers 
 and police to Lough Mask, and Captain Boycott's harvests were 
 brought in, and his potatoes dug by the armed Ulster labourers, 
 guarded always by the little army. When the occupations of 
 Ulstermen and army were over, Captain Boycott came to 
 England for a time, but in the end he returned to Lough Mask, 
 where, curiously enough, he is once again at peace with his 
 neighbours, and is even popular, perhaps because he showed 
 that he was a brave man. 
 
 The events at Lough Mask, however, gave rise to two 
 things — to Boycotting on the part of the Land League, and 
 to the formation of a body known as Emergency men, chiefly 
 recruited from the Orange lodges. The business of the 
 Emergency men was to counteract, wherever it was possible, 
 the operations of the League, by helping Boycotted landlords 
 and land agents to gather in their harvests. Boycotting was 
 freely employed by the League. It meant the practical ex- 
 communication of rack-renting landlords, evicting agents, and 
 land-grabbers. No sympathiser with the League was supposed 
 to have any dealings with the Boycotted individuals : they 
 were not to be worked for, bought from, sold to. The principle 
 of Boycotting was not aggressive ; nothing was to be done to 
 the obnoxious person, but also, nothing was to be done for him. 
 This was strictly legal. The law cannot compel a man to buy
 
 112 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 or sell with one of his fellows against his will. The responsible 
 leaders of the Land League never countenanced other than 
 legal agitation. Mr. Michael Davitt again and again put on 
 record in public speeches his uncompromising opposition to all 
 intimidation. * Our League does not desire to intimidate any 
 one who disagrees with us,' he said ; ' while we abuse coercion 
 we must not be guilty of coercion ; ' and he made frequent 
 appeals to his hearers in diffei-ent parts of Ireland to ' abstain 
 from all acts of violence, and to repel every incentive to outrage.' 
 ' Glorious indeed,' he said, ' will be our victory, and high in the 
 estimation of mankind will our grand old fatherland stand, if 
 we can so curb our passions and control our actions in this 
 struggle for free land, as to march to success through privation 
 and danger without resorting to the wild justice of revenge, or 
 being guilty of anything which could sully the character of a 
 brave and Christian people.' 
 
 Unfortunately these good counsels were not always obeyed. 
 Famine and eviction had sowed evil seed ; men who had been 
 evicted, men who were starving, who had seen their fomilies 
 and friends evicted, to die often enough of starvation on the cold 
 roadside — these men were not in the temper which takes kindly 
 to wise counsel. Outrages have invariably followed in the track 
 of every Irish famine, and they followed now this latest famine. 
 There were murders in different parts of the country, there 
 were mutilations of cattle. These outrages were made the 
 veiy most of by the enemies of the Land League. Scattered 
 agrarian murders were spoken of as if each of them were a link 
 in the chain of a widely planned organisation of massacre. 
 People found their deepest sympathies stirred by the sufferings 
 of cattle and horses in Ireland, who never were known to feel 
 one throb of compunction over the fashionable sin of torturing 
 pigeons at Hurlingham. But while most of the persons who 
 acted thus knew little and cared less for the real condition of 
 Ireland, there was one man who was studying the country wath 
 all the sympathy of one of the noblest natures now living on 
 the earth. General Gordon — then known best to the world as 
 'Chinese' Goi'don, destined now, perhaps, to be remembered 
 chiefly as * Soudan ' Goi'don — was in Ireland examining the
 
 THE IRISH DIFFICULTY. 113 
 
 Irish question for himself with kind, experienced eyes. He 
 wrote a letter to a friend, which was published in the Times on 
 December 3, 1 880. ' I have been lately over the south-west of 
 Ireland,' General Gordon wrote, ' in the hope of discovering how 
 some settlement could be made of the Irish question, which, like a 
 fretting cancer, eats away our vitals as a nation.' After speaking 
 of the ' complete lack of sympathy ' between the laiidlord and 
 tenant class, Genei'al Gordon went on, ' No half-measured Acts 
 which left the landlords with any say to the tenantry of these 
 portions of Ireland will be of any use. They would be rendered 
 — as past land Acts in Ireland have been — quite abortive, for 
 the landlords will insert clauses to do away with their force. 
 Any half-measures will only place the Government f;ice to face 
 with the people of Ireland as the champions of the landlord 
 interest.' General Gordon then proposed that the Government 
 should, at a cost of eighty millions, convert the greater part of 
 the south-west of Ireland into Crown lands, in which landlords 
 should have no power of control. ' For the rest of Ii'eland I 
 would pass an Act allowing free sale of leases, fair rents, and a 
 Government valuation. In conclusion, I must say from all 
 accounts, and my own observations, that the state of our fellow- 
 countrymen in the parts I have named is worse than that of 
 any people in the world, let alone Europe. I believe that these 
 people are made as we are, that they are patient beyond belief, 
 loyal, but at the same time broken-spirited and desperate, living 
 on the verge of starvation in places where we would not keep 
 our cattle. . . . Our comic prints do an infinity of harm by theii' 
 caricatures. Firstly, the caricatures are not true, for the crime 
 in Ireland is not gi-eater than that in England : and secondly, 
 they exasperate the people on both sides of the Channel, and 
 they do no good. It is ill to laugh and scoff at a question 
 which affects our existence.' It is impossible to avoid reflecting 
 with melancholy bitterness on the different aspect that the Ii'ish 
 question would now wear if a man like Chinese Gordon could 
 have been sent to administrate the country in the place of the 
 egotistical and ill-conditioned politician who succeeded to and 
 was more noxious than famine.
 
 lU ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 Still there were outrages, and Ireland was disturbed. The 
 Land League claimed that it did much to prevent outrage; 
 that the unavoidable violence consequent upon tlie famine and 
 the evictions would have been far greater but for them ; that 
 secret conspiracy and midnight outrage were notably diminished 
 by their open agitation. The Government, on the other hand, 
 declared that the Land League was guilty of inciting to out- 
 rage. A State prosecution was commenced against the officials 
 of the League— Mr. Parnell, M.P., Mr. Dillon, M.P., Mr. T. D. 
 Sullivan, M.P., Mr. Sexton, M.P., Mr. Biggar, M.P., Mr. 
 Patrick Egan, Treasurer of the Land League, Mr. Thomas 
 Brennan, Secretary of the Land League, and some eight others — 
 on the charge of seditious conspiracy. The jury were unable to 
 asrree, and the trial came to nothinij. In the meantime the 
 country was becoming daily more agitated, and Mr. Forster 
 daily more unpopular. His appointment had at first been 
 hailed with satisfaction by many of what may be called the 
 popular party, and with anger and alarm by the landlords, who 
 regarded him as the herald of startling land changes. But iMr. 
 Forster soon became as unpopular with the National party in 
 Ireland as ever Castlereagh had been. They alleged that he was 
 completely under Castle influence ; that he only saw through 
 the eyes and heard through the ears of Castle officials; that he 
 came out prepared to be popular and settle everything at once, 
 and that his vanity was keenly hurt by the disappointment ; 
 that, finding the forces he had to deal with were difficult and 
 complex, he could only propose to deal with them by crushing 
 them down. He was soon known to be in favour of a levival 
 of the policy of coercion. Lord Cowper, the Lord Lieutenant, 
 was an amiable but by no means a strong man; in the Cabinet 
 he feebly echoed Mr. Forster's opinions, and in the Cabinet Mr. 
 Forster was able to carry the day on Irish matters when he 
 proposed the revival of coercion. It Avas soon blown abroad 
 that the Government intended to bring in a Land Bill for 
 Ireland, and to balance it with a Coercion Bill ; furthei'more, 
 that they intended to bring in the Coei'cion Bill first and the 
 Land Bill afterwards.
 
 COERCION. 115 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 COERCION. 
 
 Parliament met on Thursday, January 6, 1881. It found the 
 Hadicalism of the Ministry strengthened by the appointment 
 of Mr. Leonard Courtney as Under Secretary for the Home 
 Department. The Queen's Speech was able to announce the 
 conclusion of the Afghan war, and the intention not to occupy 
 Candahar, an intimation that sounded most unpleasantly in 
 the ears of the Imperial party. The Boer war was spoken of; 
 the Greek frontier was declared to be under the consideration 
 of the great Powers ; mention was made of certain measures of 
 domestic interest, chief among them being the Bills for the 
 abolition of flogging in the army and the navy. But undoubt- 
 edly the most important part of the royal speech referred to 
 Ireland. The riultiplication of agrarian crimes, and the inse- 
 curity of life and property, demanded the introduction of coercive 
 measures; while, on the other hand, the speech admitted that 
 the condition of Ireland called for an extension of the Land 
 Act principles of 1870. A measure for the establishment of 
 cou.nty government in Ireland was also mentioned. 
 
 The debate on the address in the House of Lords was 
 chiefly remarkable for a brilliant and bitter speech from Lord 
 Beaconsfield. In the eight months that had elapsed since the 
 new Ministry had come into power, much had happened to 
 embarrass them and dim their triumph. Lord Beaconsfield was 
 naturally not willing to spare his antagonists the recapitulation 
 of their difiiculties. In the lifelong duel between Mr. Gladstone 
 and Lord Beaconsfield there came in the end to be an amount 
 of accusation and recrimination of so personal a nature as to re- 
 call the worst traditions of the days of Bolingbroke and Walpole. 
 Mr. Gladstone's Midlothian speeches had struck hard at Lord 
 Beaconsfield, and Lord Beaconsfield was not now likely to let 
 slip the chance of retaliation upon his antagonist. He dwelt 
 with scornful emphasis upon the complete repudiation of Tory 
 
 I2
 
 116 EXGLAXn UXDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 policy which had been so loudly trumpeted when Mr. Gladstone 
 came into office. What had their principles of repudiation 
 brought the Government? he asked. Retreat from Afghanistan, 
 abandonment of Candahar, a Berlin conference which had re- 
 opened the closed Eastern question and nearly plunged Europe 
 into war. But Lord Beaconsfield was naturally most exulting 
 when he came to the relations of the Government with Ireland. 
 He had been mocked at for his prognostication of danger ; the 
 new Ministiy were satisfied with the condition of Ireland, and 
 were prepared to govern it without the worn-out Tory methods 
 of Peace Preservation Acts ; and now, after little more than half 
 a year of trial, the Government w'ere coming before the House, 
 confessing thcii- failure, and seeking to be strengthened once 
 again by those coercive measures which they had so lightly re- 
 jected with every other portion of the policy of their predecessors. 
 Lord Beaconsfield had a clever case, and he made the most of 
 it. With a brilliant maliciousness which recalled the days 
 when Mr. Disraeli was still a young man with the world before 
 him, Lord Beaconsfield appealed to the Lords not to do anything 
 in this juncture which might weaken the Administration in 
 their late eflbrt to deal with their Irish difficulty. 
 
 Almost at the same time that Lord Beaconsfield was 
 attacking the policy of the Government in the Lords, Mr. 
 Gladstone was defending it in the Commons. He dwelt upon 
 the happy conclusion of the Montenegrin difficulty; he was 
 hopeful of a fortunate settlement of the Greek difficulty ; 
 he passed lightly over the Afghan war, touched upon the 
 Boer war, and justified the Govex'nment in not making 
 the Basuto war — with which they had nothing to do, and 
 for which they were in no measure responsible — their own. 
 But the chief point of Mr. Gladstone's speech, as indeed of 
 every speech delivered then and for a long time to come, was 
 of course the Irish question. The Prime Minister denied that 
 the Ministry had any reason to feel humiliation at what had 
 taken place. He justified them in not calling Parliament to- 
 gether earlier, on the ground that they were determined to do 
 their best with the existing law before appealing for stronger 
 measures. In a few remarkable sentences he censured the late
 
 CO EEC I ox. 117 
 
 Government for the manner in wbich they had chosen to act 
 upon the existing law : they put the law into effect against 
 four men, three of whom were utterly insignificant, ' one of 
 them, indeed,' Mr. Gladstone added, thinking of Mr. Davitt, 
 
 * has since proved himself to be a man of great ability, but was 
 not then of much note.' 'The late Government did not aim 
 their weapons at the chief offenders, but contented themselves 
 with charging comparatively insignificant men, and, having 
 charged them, did not bring them to trial.' ' The method of 
 thi-eatening without striking is in our opinion,' said Mr. Glad- 
 stone, amid the loud cheers of his party, ' the worst course of 
 action that could have been adopted ; ' and he pointed to the 
 State trials then going on as a proof of the more decided action 
 and stronger purposes of the new Ministry, He considered that 
 they had done their duty in watching the country for a while 
 under the operation of the ordinary law. He thought they had 
 now waited long enough, but could not admit that they had 
 waited too long, though he declined to allow that the coei-cion 
 which he thought necessary was any remedy for the grievances 
 of Ireland. Hence the announcement with i-egard to the new 
 Land Act. He claimed that the Land Act of 1870 had not 
 been a failure ; but he confessed that the provisions of the Act 
 
 * have not prevented undue and frequent augmentations of rent 
 which have not been justified by the real value of the holding, 
 but have been brought in in consequence of the superior strength 
 of the landlord.' 
 
 Mr. Forster had given notice before Mr. Gladstone spoke of 
 the introduction of bills for the better protection of persons and 
 property in Ireland, and to amend the law relating to a carry- 
 ing and possession of arms ; and Mr. Gladstone had announced 
 his intention of moving that these bills should have priority 
 over all other business. But these bills were not destined to 
 be introduced for some days to come. The address was still to 
 be disposed of, and there were many amendments to it to be 
 considered and discussed, several of these being moved by Irish 
 members and relating to Irish affairs. But as, according to 
 Thackeray, even the Eastern Counties' trains come in at last, so, 
 too, the debate on the address came to an end at last. On
 
 118 EXGLAND UNDER GLADSTOXE. 
 
 Thursday, Janiiary 20, after eleven clays of debate, the report of 
 the address was agreed to amid general cheering. But already 
 the Irish members had roused the anger of the Government. 
 Most of the speeches on the address had been Irish speeches, the 
 speeches of Irish members on the various Irish questions. Be- 
 fore the debate had concluded. Lord Hartington had attacked 
 the obstructive policy of the Irish members, and warned them 
 that their action might compel the House to come to some un- 
 derstanding by which the process of business should be facili- 
 tated. If every day added to the debate on the address staved 
 off the introduction of coercion, so too. Lord Hartington ui'ged, 
 it delayed the introduction of the promised Land Act. Lord 
 Edmond Fitzmaurice and jNIr. Thorold Eogers formed themselves 
 into a sort of amateur committee on obstruction. They plunged 
 into records of old rulings, they became learned in antique prin- 
 ciples of procedure and venerable points of order, and they 
 addressed to the Times, three days before the debate on the 
 address concluded, a long letter in which they pointed out the 
 existence of certain seventeeth century orders of the House, 
 One of these ruled that ' if any man speak impertinently, 
 or beside the question in hand, it standeth with the order of the 
 House for Mr. Speaker to interrupt him, and to know the 
 pleasure of the House whether they will further hear him ; ' an 
 order which was sanctioned and strengthened by later rulings. 
 
 On Monday, January 24, 1881, Mr. Forster introduced his 
 first coercion measure. ]Mr. Forster made out a long and ela- 
 borate case in justification of the measure. He presented a 
 return of outrages to the House of Commons which looked alarm- 
 ing at first, but which j\Ir. Labouchere showed to be somewhat 
 cx;riously manufactured. In many cases outrages were of the 
 simplest description ; in many more the number was swelled 
 by an ingenious process of subdivision, so that one outrage was 
 made to stand for several, by the simple process of multiplying 
 any given offence by the number of men committing it. The 
 total number of agrarian outrages in Ireland in the year 1880 
 Avas 2,590. Eeturns of agrarian eiimes in Ireland had been 
 made since 1844, but not before, and the highest return since
 
 COERCION. 119 
 
 that date was for tlie year 1845, the first yeai' of the great 
 famine, in which year the list of outrages numbered 1,920, or 
 thirty-five per cent. less than in 1880. Excluding threatening 
 letters, the number of outrages in 1880 was 1,253, as contrasted 
 with 950 in 1845, or thirty-two per cent, higher. Moreover, as 
 the population of Ireland was only 5,000,000 in 1880, to 
 8,000,000 in 1845, the proportion of outrages in 1880 was 
 really more than double the proportion of outrages in 1845. 
 There were, indeed, few cases of murder, or attempts at murder; 
 the outrages were chiefly intimidation by personal violence, by 
 injury to property and cattle, and by threatening istters. The 
 number of outrages of this kind had greatly increased dui-ing 
 the last three months of 1880, and the area of intimidation was 
 extending. One hundred and fifty-three persons were under 
 the personal protection of two policemen on the first day of the 
 new year, and 1,149 persons were watched over by the police. 
 Mr. Forster urged that the existing law was not strons: 
 enough to grapple with this system of intimidation. The 
 instruments of this intimidation were, however, well known 
 to the police ; they were generally old Fenians and Ribbon 
 men, the mauvais svjets of their neighbourhood, dissolute 
 ruffians, and village tyrants. The new Bill would give the 
 Lord Lieutenant power by warrant to arrest any person rea- 
 sonably suspected of treason, treasonable felony, or treasonable 
 practices, and the commission, whether before or after the Act, of 
 crimes of intimidation or incitement thereto. By this means 
 tlie Government would be able to lay their hands upon the 
 7)iauvais sujets, the village tyrants, and, by depriving the Land 
 League of its police, render it powerless. Naturally an ani- 
 mated debate followed. The Irish Nationalists, of course, 
 opposed the measure. Moderate Irishmen, like Dr. Lyons, Mr. 
 Givan, Mr. Richardson, and Mr. Litton, either opposed the 
 precedence of coercive to remedial measures, or urged the intro- 
 duction of a Bill to stay unfair eviction pending the introduc- 
 tion of the reniedial legislation. Mr. Bradlaugh did not con- 
 sider that a case had been made out for a Coercion Bill. The 
 Conservative party, of course, supported the Government. The
 
 120 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 debate was adjourned on the Monday night, and its resumption 
 was interriipted for a couple of days by the first all-night sit- 
 ting of the year. On the day after Mr. Forster's introduction 
 of the Coercion Bill, Mr. Gladstone moved to declare urgency 
 for the Coercive Bills, and so give them precedence over 
 all other public business. The Irish Nationalists at once set 
 themselves to opposing this by every means in their power. 
 The new standing order prevented the taking of many divisions, 
 as it allowed individual members only two motions for adjourn- 
 ment ; so the Irish members confined themselves to making 
 speeches, which were incessantly interrupted by calls to order 
 from the chair. Mr. Biggar, at a comparatively early period 
 of the debate, got into a conflict with authority which led to his 
 being suspended from the sitting ; whereupon he immediately 
 withdrew, and, ascending the heights of the strangers' gallery, 
 watched the conflict with unwearying interest from that eleva- 
 tion, as Ivanhoe followed from his turret the fortunes of the 
 Black Knight and his fellows. The struggle, indeed, was suf- 
 ficiently intei-esting to be worth sitting out. It was fought — ■ 
 this being but a first essay for the year — with sufiicient good- 
 humour on both sides. The hours waned ; but there came no 
 waning in the animation of the speakers on both sides. Mem- 
 bers came and went ; ingenious little plans of relays for reliev- 
 ing guard were arranged. Morning came, and brought with it 
 a fog scarcely less obscure than night. It was not bright 
 enough till eleven o'clock to extinguish the gas. Very dismal 
 the chamber showed when daylight did come, as imwashed, 
 unbrushed, with weary, sleepy faces and tumbled clothes, the 
 members faced each other. For three hours more the fight 
 went on, and then, at two o'clock, Mr. Gladstone's motion was 
 agreed to, and the House, not unnaturally, immediately ad- 
 journed to wash, eat, and sleej?. 
 
 This was but the prelude to a series of stormy scenes in the 
 House, each one surpassing its predecessors in bitterness and 
 unpleasantness. The debate on the Coercion Bill was resumed 
 on the Thursday, and was remarkable for a speech from Mr. 
 Bright. Mr. Bright had kept silence — with the exception of a
 
 COERCION. 121 
 
 protest against obstruction — since the beginning of the session, 
 and it had been whispered that he was so silent because he was 
 not in accord with his colleagues on the Irish question. He was 
 roused from his silence by a speech of The O'Donoghue's. The 
 O'Donoghue was at this pei-iod of his varied political career an 
 ardent supporter of Mr. Parnell . He sat in opposition to Govern- 
 ment, and made himself conspicuous as an aggressive patriot and 
 unfailing opponent of the Govei-nment. He declared that the 
 Land League differed in no respect from the Anti-Corn Law 
 League, and taunted Mr. Bright by asking what trials followed 
 the agitation and the denunciations of landlords which belonged 
 to the movement of which Mr. Bright and Mr. Gobden were 
 the heads. A little later in the debate Mr. Bright rose and spoke. 
 In a speech of great bitterness Mr. Bright attacked the conduct 
 of the Irish Parliamentary party. He denied angrily that any 
 parallel existed between the action of the Land League and the 
 Anti-Corn Law League. With all the indignation of which Mr. 
 Bright is a master, and with more than his usual vehemence, he 
 flung himself in a very fury of passionate oratory upon the Irish 
 opponents of the Government. It almost seemed as if Mr. Bright 
 were determined to make it plain, by the very rage and whiil- 
 wind of his passion, how completely unfounded were those 
 rumours which hinted that he was at odds with his colleagues 
 in the Cabinet on the Irish question. He assailed his oppo- 
 nents with all the eloquence at his command ; and though the 
 speaker was now old, the strength and power of that eloquence 
 were still sufficiently impressive, even to those at whom all its 
 fierce invective was levelled. 
 
 The severance of the extreme Irish party and the Govern- 
 ment was now complete. Mr. Bright, who had often supported 
 Ireland before, and was looked upon as a true friend by the 
 Irish people, was now one of the bitterest opponents of the 
 Avhole national movement and of its Parliamentary leaders. 
 The Irish national press was fiercely exasperated to find Mr. 
 Bright supporting coercion for Ireland. He had indeed voted 
 for coercion before in his younger days, but he had always been 
 eloquent against it, and his utterances were brought up against
 
 122 EXGLAXD UXDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 Ijim by the Irish papers. They reminded him that in 1866 he 
 had described coercion for Irehmd as an ' ever-failing and ever- 
 poisonous I'emedy ; ' and they asked him why he recommended 
 the unsuccessful and venomous legislation now. They pointed 
 to his speech of 1849, in which he said, ' The treatment of this 
 Irish maladv remains ever the same. "We have nothing for it 
 still but force and alms.' They quoted from his speech of 1847 : 
 ' I am thoroughly convinced that evei'ything the Government or 
 Parliament can do for Ireland will be unavailing unless the 
 foundation of the work be laid deep and well, by clearing away 
 the fetters under which land is now held, so that it may become 
 the possession of real owners, and be made insti'umental to the 
 employment and sustentation of the people. Hon. gentlemen 
 opposite may fancy themselves interested in maintaining the 
 present system ; but there is surely no interest they can have in 
 it which will weigh against the safety and prosperity of Ireland,' 
 Such a passage as this might have served, it was urged, as a 
 motto for the Land League itself. What other doctrine did 
 the Land League uphold but that the land should become the 
 possession of real owners, and be made instrumental to the em- 
 ployment and sustentation of the people ? Might not the Land 
 League have fairly asked the Government what interest it could 
 have in the present system of land which would Aveigh against 
 the safety and prosperity of Ireland? Had not Mr. Bright told 
 them, too, in 18G6 that ' the great evil of Ireland is this : that the 
 Irish people — the Irish nation — are dispossessed of the soil, and 
 what we ought to do is to provide for and aid in their restora- 
 tion to it by all measures of justice ' 1 He disliked the action of 
 the Irish members now because they were acting against the 
 Liberal party ; but had he not said in 1866 also, * If Irishmen 
 were united, if you hundred and five members were for the most 
 part agreed, you might do almost anything that you liked ; ' 
 and further said, ' If there were a hundred more members, the 
 representatives of lai"ge and free constituencies, then your cry 
 would be heard, and the people would give you that justice 
 which a class has so long denied you ' 1 ' Exactly,' repUed his 
 Irish critics. ' We have now a united body of Irishmen, the
 
 COERCION. 123 
 
 largest and most united the House has ever s'een, and you do 
 not seem to look kindly upon it. You do not seem to be acting 
 up to your promise ma,de in Dublin in 1S6G.' ' If I have in 
 past times felt an unquenchable sympathy with the sufferings 
 of your people, you may rely upon it that if there be an Irish 
 member to speak for Ireland, he will find me heartily by his 
 side.' At the same speech in Dublin, Mr. Bright said, * If I 
 could be in all other things the same, but in birth an Irishman, 
 there is not a town in this island I would not visit for the pur- 
 pose of discussing the great Irish question, and of rousing my 
 countrymen to some great and united action.' ' This is exactly 
 what we are doing,' said his Land League critics ; ' why do you 
 denounce us now % Why do you vote for Coercion Acts to 
 prevent the discussion of the great Irish question % ' 
 
 The next day, Friday, January 28, while the impression of 
 Mr. Bright's speech was still fresh in the minds of the House, 
 Mr. Gladstone made a speech which, viewed as a piece of Parlia- 
 mentary attack, certainly far surpassed it. With all his elo- 
 quence Mr. Gladstone flung himself against his enemies, justified 
 the introduction of coercion in the disorganised condition of 
 Ireland, and bitterly denounced many of the speeches of Mr. 
 Parnell and Mr. Biggar. From a dramatic point of view the 
 scene in the chamber was singularly impressive. If the sheer 
 force of eloquence and anger and the support of a powerful and 
 enthusiastic majority could have done it, the opposition would 
 have come to an end then and there, and the Coercion Bill 
 been carried at once. Never since the night when Sir Charles 
 Dilke made his famous speech, and Mr. Auberon Herbert 
 announced himself too as a republican, had the House wit- 
 nessed such a scene, though since then stormy scenes have 
 been less infrequent. Mr. Gladstone was inlaying the part of 
 Jupiter suppressing the revolted gods. Wine, says Macaulay, 
 was the spell which unlocked the fine intellect of Addison. 
 Passion is the spell which most surely unlocks INIr. Gladstone's 
 skill as an orator of attack. The fury of his indignation swept 
 over the House and stirred it to its depths, arousing tumultuous 
 enthusiasm in the majority of his hearers, and angry protest
 
 124 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 from the minority he Avas assailing. The pale, unmoved face 
 of Mr. Parnell occasionally showed through the storm as he rose 
 to correct the Prime Minister in his quotations from his 
 speeches, and was howled and shouted, if not into silence, at 
 least into being inaudible. 
 
 Vague rumours floated about the House of Commons on the 
 Monday evening that there would be troublesome work ere 
 night, but at first there seemed no promise of the excited and 
 strenuous fighting which kept the weary Commons awake 
 through successive days. The Ii'ish members were determined 
 to resist the Coercion Bill in every stage to the utmost. They 
 challenged fate, in the shape of the Ministry, to come into the 
 lists and fight it out, and the result was the longest sitting then 
 on record. The hours came and went, the grey dawn stole on 
 the heels of night, and ugly night again came breathing at the 
 heels of day, and found the Commons still wrangling, still 
 dividing, still calling to order, still stupidly sleeping or vainly 
 trying to follow the arguments of the various speakers. The 
 scene was full of interest to those — and there were some — who 
 had the coui-age to see it out from the watch-towers of the 
 Speaker's gallery. As the time went on, the appearance of the 
 House was not without elements of humour. One member of 
 the Third Party, as the Irish party were called, found the atmo- 
 sphere cold, and insisted upon addressing the House in a long 
 ulster, resembUng the gaberdine of Noah in the toy-shop arks. 
 On the Treasury Bench Lord Hartington, grimly erect, doggedly 
 surveyed the obstructives. He was curiously in contrast with 
 Mr. Forster, who sat doubled, or rather crumpled up, in an 
 attitude of extreme depression. The occupants of the front 
 Opposition bench wore an air of bland unconcern. * This is not 
 our fault,' they seemed to say, ' but it is not uninteresting, and 
 we do not mind seeing you through with it.' 
 
 At ten minutes to five o'clock on the Tuesday morning the 
 Speaker left the chair ; the clerk at the table gravely informed 
 the House of the unavoidable absence of Mr. Speaker, and his 
 place was taken by Mr. Lyon Playfair. Still the debate went 
 on. Irish member succeeded Irish member in lengthy speeches,
 
 COERCION. 125 
 
 interrupted by incessant calls to order from all parts of the 
 House and from the chair. Somewhere about six o'clock the 
 motion for the adjournment of the debate was defeated by 141 
 to 27: majority 114. The debate was then resumed on the 
 original motion, and Mr. Healy immediately moved the adjourn- 
 ment of the House. At twenty-five minutes past one on 
 Tuesday afternoon the deputy-chairman left the chair, which 
 was reoccupied by the Speaker. A small side discussion sprang 
 up at this point, Mr. Parnell contending that, by the standing 
 orders of the House, the Speaker had not the right to return to 
 his place after that place had been taken by the deputy-chair- 
 man until the next sitting of the House, a point which the 
 Speaker ruled was based on a misconception of the order. At 
 ten minutes to three the motion for the adjournment of the 
 House was divided upon, and was lost by a majority of 204 : 
 the numbers being — ayes 21, noes 225. Still the debate 
 went on, without any sign of flagging determination on either 
 side. The adjournment of the debate was then moved by Mr. 
 Daly, and this question was fought out for some time and 
 divided upon — 23 to 163 : majority against, 140. The debate 
 was then resumed on Dr. Lyon's amendment to the main 
 question, and the adjournment of the House moved. At 
 half-past eleven on the Tuesday night the Speaker again lefb 
 the chair, and his place was again taken by Mr. Lyon Playfair. 
 At midnight Sir Stafford Northcote appealed alike to the chair 
 and the Government to do something to put an end to the 
 obstruction. A little later on the debate was enlivened by a 
 wordy wrangle between Mr. (novr Sir Frederick) Milbank and 
 Mr. Biggar. Mr. Milbank complained that Mr. Biggar had used 
 offensive language to him in the chamber, and, in consequence, 
 Mr. Milbank, later on, in the lobby, addressed opprobrious 
 terms to Mr. Biggar. Mr. Biggar denied having used the words 
 attributed to him, whereupon Mr. Milbank apologised to the 
 House. By this time a fresh division had been taken, and the 
 motion for adjournment negatived by 22 to 197 : majority, 175. 
 At ten minutes to five on Wednesday morning the second 
 unsuccessful attempt to count the House was made. At nine
 
 126 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE 
 
 o'clock the Speaker resumed the chair, and, immediately rising, 
 made perhaps one of the most remarkable speeches ever de- 
 livered from the chair. The Speaker observed that the motion 
 to bring in the Bill had been under discussion for five days, and 
 that during that time most of the opposition was purely 
 obstructive. By the existing rule nothing could be done to 
 stop this obstruction ; but the Speaker was prepared to take 
 upon himself the responsibility of ending it by declining to call 
 upon any more members, and by putting the questions at once 
 from the chair. This announcement was received with 
 tumultuous cheering, and tho Speaker then put the motion for 
 Dr. Lyon's amendment, which was defeated on a division by 
 164 to 19 — majority, 145. The Speaker then proceeded to 
 put the main question. An Irish member rose, but the 
 Speaker refused to hear him. Then the whole Irish party 
 stood up, shouted for some seconds the cry of ' Privilege ' — 
 which had not been heard in the House since the day when 
 Charles I. came looking for his five members — and, bowing to 
 the chair, loft the chamber in a body. The Bill was immediately 
 brought in by Mr. Forster. Mr. Forster then explained to the 
 House that on the previous Friday he had given into the hands 
 of Mr. Gladstone a speech which he believed to be by Mr. 
 Pai-nell, and which ]\Ir. Gladstone quoted from as being by 
 ]\Ir. Parnell, but which was, as a matter of fact, delivered by 
 another person. The House then adjourned until twelve o'clock 
 of the same day, when it met again to discuss the second reading 
 of the Coercion Bill. The Irish members who had left the 
 House in a body that morning did not, however, intend to 
 follow the example set them by Pulteney and his followers in 
 the eaidy part of the last century, and secede from the House 
 for any length of time. When the House met again at mid- 
 day, they returned to their places in order to criticise the action 
 of the Speaker in bringing the debate to a close on his own 
 motion. The Speaker, however, ruled that the matter was not 
 a question of privilege, and could not be discussed then, but 
 must be brought forward on a specific motion. The adjourn- 
 ment of the House was then moved by Mi*. A. M. Sullivan,
 
 COERCION. 127 
 
 and supported by Mr, Joseph Cowen, Mr. Laboncliere, Loid 
 Randolph Churchill, and Mr. Shaw, and argued upon vintil 
 nearly six o'clock, when it was defeated on division by 278 to 
 44 : majority 234 ; after which, it being six o'clock, and the day 
 being Wednesday, the House of necessity adjourned. 
 
 The next day, however, witnessed a still more exciting scene, 
 compared with which any mere prolongation of debate seemed 
 tame and colourless. At question time Mr. Parnell suddenly 
 rose and asked if it was true that Mr. IMichael Davitt had been 
 arrested that day at one o'clock. There was a murmur of sur- 
 prise, followed immediately by a deep silence as Sir William 
 Harcourt rose to reply. ' Yes, sir,' was the answer of the Home 
 Secretary, amid the wildest cheering from both sides of the 
 House. Had some new conquest or some great victory been 
 announced, it could not have been greeted with greater I'apture. 
 Human nature and human voices have their limits, and cer- 
 tainly the limits of human voices were severely taxed that day 
 when it was definitely announced that Michael Davitt was once 
 again in prison. When the cheering abated, Sir William Har- 
 court went on to state that the Irish secretary and he, after 
 consultation with their colleasfues and the law oflicers of the 
 Crown, had come to the conclusion that Mr. Davitt's conduct 
 was incompatible with the conditions of his ticket of leave. 
 Mr. Parnell tried to find out what condition of ticket of leave 
 Mr. Davitt had broken, but the Speaker called upon Mr. 
 Gladstone, who was waiting to submit to the House his Urgency 
 motion. Mr. Gladstone had risen and begun to speak when 
 Mr. Dillon rose also to a point of order. What the point of 
 order was the House was not fated to hear ; for amid much 
 noise and shouting from all parts of the House, the Speaker 
 rose and declared Mr. Gladstone in possession of the House. 
 Mr, Dillon instead of sitting down when the Speaker rose, and 
 then rising again to make his point of order clear, remained 
 standing with folded aims facing the speaking Speaker, and de- 
 manding his privilege of speech. A few seconds of excited con- 
 fusion followed, few members of the House remaining silent. 
 The majoi'ity shouted against Mr. Dillon. The Irish minority
 
 128 EXGLAXD UXBER GLADSTONE. 
 
 shouted scarcely less loudly for him. ' Name him,' vociferated 
 English members ; to which the Irish members responded by 
 shouting', ' Point of order.' Then the Speaker gravely named 
 INIr. Dillon for disregarding the authority of the chair, not, as 
 he afterwards explained, for rising to a point of order while 
 Mr. Gladstone was speaking, but for remaining on his feet 
 after the Speaker had risen. Mr. Dillon now sat down, and 
 Mr. Gladstone, rising, immediately moved the usual formula, 
 familiar enough even then, but destined within the next half- 
 hour to become much more familiar, that the offending member 
 should be suspended from the service of the House for the re- 
 mainder of the sitting. A division was taken, and Mr. Glad- 
 stone's motion carried by .395 to 33 : majority 362. The Speaker 
 then called upon Mr. Dillon to withdraw. Mr. Dillon rose 
 again and strove to speak, but the shouts with which he was 
 greeted rendered him pi-actically inaudible. He was understood 
 to announce that he refused to withdraw. The Speaker im- 
 mediately called upon the serjeant-at-arms to remove Mr. 
 Dillon. At first 3Ir. Dillon refused to move, but at a signal 
 from the serjeant sevei-al attendants advanced into the House, 
 whereupon, as if accepting this as symbolic of sufficient foice 
 to remove him by physical strength, Mr. Dillon got up and left 
 the House. All that happened immediately after was an 
 incoherent medley. Mr. A. M. Sullivan spoke amid vehe- 
 ment clamour against the Speaker, who explained that he had 
 named Mr. Dillon not for interrupting Mr. Gladstone on a call 
 to order, but for remaining on his feet when the Speaker rose. 
 Mr. Gladstone now made a further effort to go on with hia 
 speech, and was at once interrupted by The O'Donoghue, who 
 loudly moved the adjournment of the House. The Speaker 
 taking no notice of this, Mr. Parnell jumped up and called out 
 that he moved that Mr. Gladstone should be no longer heard. 
 Amid stentorian cheers from his own party and indignant shouts 
 from the rest of the House, Mr. Parnell reiterated his motion 
 in defiance of the warning of the Speaker, and was immediately 
 named. Mr. Gladstone again made the motion for expulsion, 
 which was carried by a majority of 405 to 7, the Irish mem-
 
 COERCIOIsr. ■ 129 
 
 b6rs refusinff to leave their seats and vote. On the reassemblins 
 of the House Mr. Parnell refused to withdraw until the 
 serjeant-at-arms had gone through the same ceremony with 
 him as with Mr. Dillon, when he retired amid the plaudits 
 of his party. It must here be remarked that, whatever may 
 be the opinion as ta the wisdom, policy, or propriety of Mr. 
 Parnell's conduct on this occasion, there was absolutely nothing 
 * disorderly ' in the Parliamentary sense aljout it. Bat a little 
 time before, Mr. Gladstone had moved, and moved successfully, 
 that a member should be no longer heard, and it had been 
 urged in defence of that motion that it was perfectly permissible, 
 although it had not been made in Parliament for something 
 like a couple of centuries. Now, if it was permissible for Mr. 
 Gladstone to put this venerable rule into action against an 
 Irish member, it was equally permissible for an Irish member 
 to put it into practice agiiinst Mr. Gladstone. We are not 
 speaking now of the good or bad taste of such a line of action, 
 nor do we need to be reminded of the impossibility of carrying 
 on the business of any legislative assembly if any member might 
 interrupt it by motions that other members be not heard. But 
 the Prime Minister had himself revived this antiquated form ; 
 he had drawn it out from the dust of centuries iii order to 
 silence an unwelcome speaker ; it had received the full sanction 
 of Parliament, and until Parliament repealed or altered it, it was 
 in full force. As the rules binding the House of Commons 
 affect all membeis equally — as no member, whether he be at the 
 head of the Govei'nment or not, has any privilege whatever of 
 making any motion which is denied to any other member — it is 
 clear that Mr. Parnell was as much in his Parliamentary right 
 as Mr. Gladstone in moving that a member should iiot be 
 heard. So much for the mere question of the motion, the re- 
 vival of which Mr. Gladstone was himself probably the first to 
 regret. 
 
 After the division had been taken, and the leader of the 
 Irish party removed. Lord Richard Grosvenor, the Liberal 
 Whip, announced that the Irish members had refused to leave 
 
 K
 
 130 EXGLAXD UXDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 theii" seats and entei' tbe division lobby, a line of action whicb 
 Mr. Gladstone immediately expressed a hope that the Speaker 
 would find some means of dealing with. He was, however, once 
 more intei-rupted, this time by Mr. Finigan, member for Ennis, 
 who, following the examj)le of Mr. Parnell, again proposed that 
 Mr. Gladstone should be no longer heard. The Speaker 
 named Mr. Finigan ; Mr. Gladstone, for the third time, made 
 the suspension motion, and a division was again taken, 
 and the motion carried by 405 to 2, the Irish members again 
 exi)ressing their protest against the whole proceeding by re- 
 maining in tlieir seats and refusing to vote. The Speaker 
 cautioned them that he would i-egard this abstention as defiance 
 of the authority of the chair, and the Clerk of the House took 
 down their names. When Mr. Finigan had been removed from 
 the House, after the same fashion as JNIr. Dillon and Mr. Parnell, 
 the Speaker called the attention of the House to the condvict 
 of the Irish members, and ' named ' them at once. There 
 were twenty-eight of them in all. Mr. Gladstone immediately 
 rose and moved for their suspension in a body, and the motion 
 was carried by 410 to 6, the abstaining members, as before, 
 refusing to vote. Then came a strange scene, such as had never 
 been witnessed in the House of Commons before. The name 
 of each member was read out in turn by the Speaker, as he 
 called upon him to withdraw. Each member called upon 
 answered to his name Avith a short speech condemning the 
 action of the Government, and refusing to go unless removed 
 by superior force. To each member making such announce- 
 ment, the serjeant-at-arms advanced and touched him solemnly 
 on the shoulder. In most cases the member so touched at once 
 rose and walked out ; one or two exceptionally stalwart mem- 
 bers, however, refused to go until the sei'jeant-at-arms ap- 
 proached them with such a muster of attendants as made it 
 evident that he commanded sufficient force to compel with- 
 drawal. For half an hour this process of naming, speech- 
 making, and removal went on. At length the bulk of the Irish 
 members were expelled, and had rallied in the conference room, 
 where they drew up an address to the people of Ireland, ui'ging
 
 coercion: . 131 
 
 item to remain quiet in spite of the indignity offered to their 
 representatives. Then, for the fourth time, Mr. Gladstone ro&e 
 and essayed to go on with his motion. But, iu the meantime, 
 some few Irish members who had not been present hitherto in 
 the House had arrived, and through their opposition shared their 
 comrades' fate. First Mr. O'Kelly, and then Mr. O'Donnell, 
 moved that Mr. Gladstone be no longer heard, and were named, 
 suspended, and removed, while three others — Mr. Molloy, Mr. 
 Richard Power, and Mr. O'Shaughnessy — went through the 
 same process for refusing to take part in the division, and 
 remaining in their seats while the division went on. Then, 
 none of the Irish members who followed the lead of Mr. Parncll 
 being left in the House, Mr. Gladstone began his urgency motion 
 for the sixth time, and proceeded with it without further in- 
 terruption. 
 
 After the coiq:) d'etat by which the Speaker brought the 
 debate on the introduction of the Coercion Bill to an end, the 
 Government felt the necessity of altering the rules of the House 
 so far as to meet with such emergencies in the future in a more 
 legal manner. A set of rules was accordingly drawn up, 
 nominally by the Speaker, for the regulation of the business of 
 the House when the state of public business should be declared 
 urgent. These rules limited the occasions and the scope of 
 motions for adjournment of either the House or the debate, 
 gave the Speaker power of calling the attention of the House 
 to continued tediousness and irreleviincy on the part of a mem- 
 ber, and of taking the general sense of the House on any debate, 
 and, if supported by a three-fourths majority, of putting the 
 question withovit further debate. The rules further preA^ented 
 the possibility of debate on the motion for the House to go 
 into committee on any matter declared urgent, and limited 
 members to a single speech. These rules were laid on the tab.e 
 of the House by the Speaker on Wednesday, February 9, 1881. 
 The long argued-about principle of cloture — or closure, to give 
 what has become an English institution its English name — was 
 of course conceded in the rule which allowed the Speakei-, when 
 presiding over a debate governed hy the urgency rules, to 
 
 K 2
 
 132 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE 
 
 appeal to the general sense of the House, and, if supported by 
 a three-fourths majority, to put the question at once from the 
 chair without any further debate. 
 
 The debate on the Coercion Bill was not concluded very 
 rapidly. On Wednesday, February 23, 1881, the Bill was 
 still in committee, and Mr. Gladstone, in order to accelerate its 
 progress, moved that on the next day at seven the debate 
 should come to an end, and the third reading be moved 
 without discussion on any amendments that might be left 
 unconsidered at that time. There was no debat3 permissible 
 upon this motion, which was moved by Lord Hartington in 
 the absence of Mr. Gladstone, who was confined to his room 
 for a few days by an accident — he had slipped on the ice near 
 his house, and hurt his head — and was carried by 371 to 53 : 
 majority, 318. At seven o'clock, accordingly, the debate was 
 cut short by the Speaker: the remaining amendments were 
 divided upon without debate, and the third reading moved for 
 by jNIr. Forster. The third reading was carried in the Com- 
 mons the next day, Friday, February 25, by 281 to 36 : majority, 
 245. The Bill was then sent up to the House of Lords, where 
 it passed rapidly through all its stages ; Avas read a third time 
 on Wednesday, March 2, and received the royal assent by com- 
 mission on the same day. 
 
 The Arms Bill was introduced in the Commons on Tuesday, 
 March 1, by Sir William Harcourt, in the absence of IVlr. 
 Forster ; and its third reading was carried on Friday, March 11, 
 Dy 236 to 26 — majority 210 — and was passed in the Lords on 
 the following Friday. During its passage through the Com- 
 mons there were some heated debates on the relationship of 
 the American Fenians with the Irish Land Leaguers, in one of 
 which, on Thursday, March 3, Mr. Healy sufiered suspension for 
 charging the Home Secretary with breaches of truth and usual 
 disingenuousness. Mr. O'Donnell was suspended on Tuesday, 
 IMarch 8, after a dispute with Mr. Playfair on a point of order. 
 
 In the meantime the excitement in Ii'eland was increasing. 
 While the coercion debates were going on, Mr. Parnell had 
 gone across to Paris, accompanied by Mr. O'Kelly, and obtained
 
 COERCION. 133 
 
 an interview with M. Victor Hugo, who was expected to issue 
 some manifesto in Ireland. M. Victor Hugo compared Ireland 
 to Poland struggling against Russia, but he wrote nothing on 
 the subject, either in prose or verse. The interview, however, 
 provoked a remonstrance from the great Catholic organ, the 
 Univers, which warned Mr. Parnell that it was not well for the 
 leaders of a Catholic cause and country to seek for the alliance 
 of men like Victor Hugo and his friends. Mr. Parnell had an 
 interview with M. Kochefort on the one hand, and with the 
 Archbishop of Paris on the other. Just at that moment, when 
 jDeople were saying that there would be a split between the 
 Nationalists and the Catholic clergy on account of the friend- 
 ship of M, Eochefort, an event occurred which served to show 
 how much the Irish priests and the Irish people were in agi'ee- 
 ment as to the Land League and the national cause genei-ally. 
 In Ireland a Ladies' Land I^eague had been formed, with Miss 
 Anna Parnell — a sister of Mr. Parnell — for its president. 
 Its object was to assist the existing Land League in every 
 possible wa)', by raising funds, by inquiring into the cases of 
 eviction, and by affording relief to evicted tenants. As soon as 
 this new organisation came into existence it was assailed by 
 Archbishop M'Cabe of Dublin. In an angi-y pastoral he 
 denounced the paiticipation of women in the strife of politics 
 as at once immodest and wicked. Mr. A, M. Sullivan, one of 
 the most Catholic of Irish Catholic members of Parliament, 
 immediately wrote a reply defending the Ladies' Land League, 
 and justifying and approving of the manner in which the women 
 of Ireland j^roposed to come to the assistance of their husbands, 
 fathers, and brothers. Mr. A. M. Sullivan's letter had not 
 long been written when the Ladies' Land League found a still 
 stronger ally, and Archbishop M'Cabe a still more formidable 
 opponent, in Archbishop Croke, of Cashel. From the rock 
 which has reminded so many travellers of the Athenian Acro- 
 polis, Archbishop Croke launched an epistle which Jerome 
 might have envied for its vigorous directness. The Arch- 
 bishop of Cashel had nothing but praise for the Ladies' Land 
 League, and for theii' eloquent champion. In a moment Arch-
 
 134 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 bishop Croke was the hero of the National party in Ireland. 
 They greeted him with joy as a proof that the Church was on 
 their side ; and when he went shortly after on a sort of tour of 
 inspection through a great part of Ireland, he was received 
 everywhere with a display of the most enthusiastic homage and 
 devotion. Long before Archbishop Croke had come so pro- 
 minently to the front, many of the priests had shown their 
 svmpathy with, and approval of. the Laud League doctruies, 
 but after the action of the Archbishop of Cashel their sympathy 
 and approval became more openly and more markedly dis- 
 played. Day by day the ranks of the League were swelled by 
 Irish ecclesiastics of all orders. It might be fiui-ly said that, 
 rou'Thly speaking, all the younger priests throughout the coun- 
 try were in cordial sympathy with the Land League, and a 
 very large number of the elder priests as well. It was this 
 sympathy between the priests and' the people which gave the 
 Land League a great part of its strength ; it was the eagerness 
 of the people to be in accord with their priests which made 
 them receive Archbishop Croke's pronouncement with so much 
 delight, and listen to his counsels with as much readiness as if 
 they had come from the lips of Parnell or Davitt. 
 
 When the Coercion Acts were carried, Mr. John Dillon 
 went over to Ireland and began a series of speeches in different 
 parts of the country, supporting the League and assailing the 
 Government. Ou the one side the League was being upheld 
 from pulpit and platform ; on the other, the executive was 
 choking its prisons with its arrests of ' suspected ' Land 
 Leaguers. Evictions had not decreased, and there were fre- 
 quent collisions between the police and the people, and blood 
 was spilt on both sides. At first the Government arrests were 
 confined to members of the League, who, although prominent 
 enough in their own localities, were little known outside of 
 Ireland. But IVIr. John Dillon's action soon attracted the 
 notice of the Government, and after a speech which he de- 
 livered at Grangemaller, near Clonmel, in May, which coun- 
 selled an extreme form of boycotting, he was arrested and put 
 into prison. A short while befox'e, the Government had I'oused
 
 COERCION. 135 
 
 great indignation among the Irish ecclesiastics by arresting and 
 imprisoning Father Eugene Sheehy, of Kilmallock. These 
 were the most important arrests made at' first under the new 
 Coercion Acts. The Land League was still flourishing. Mr. 
 Sexton, M.P., hurried to Dublin from London to take Mr 
 Dillon's place at the head of the League in Ireland. 
 
 Wlien the Coercive Acts had passed into law, every one's 
 thoughts turned at once to the promised Land Act. But there 
 were some other matters to be disposed of before the new Land 
 Bill could be introduced. There was a debate on Candahar. 
 The Army Discipline Bill, definitely abolishing flogging for 
 soldiers, had to pass through its various stages. Then there 
 was the Budget. On Monday, April 4, Mr. Gladstone made 
 his financial statement in a speech of over two hours. It was 
 not a very startling or original Budget. The estimated ex- 
 penditure for the ensuing year was figured at 84,705,000/., 
 and the revenue at 85,990,000/. This showed a surplus of 
 1,285,000/., which was, however, reduced to l,185,000by a vote 
 for the extinguishment of the loan for barracks. The Prime 
 Minister proposed to reduce the income tax to fivepence. This 
 reduction created a deficiency which he jiroposed to meet by an 
 adjustment of the surtax on foreign spirits. The process of dis- 
 tillation, as practised on Avines, would be applied to them, and 
 a uniform surtax of fourpence per gallon would be charged on 
 the standard of strength. By this tax, and some changes in 
 the probate, legacy, and administration duties, Mr. Gladstone 
 hoped to have a total gain of 570,000/., which would convert the 
 deficit of 275,000/. into a surplus of 295,000/. The Budget 
 being disposed of, the ground was now clear for the Land Bill, 
 which was introduced accordingly by the Prime Minister on 
 Thursday, April 7, 1881.
 
 136 ENGLAND TJNDLR GLADSTONE. 
 
 CHAPTER YIII. 
 
 MR. DISRAELI — LORD BEACON'SFIELD. 
 
 * The bi'&aking of so great a thing should make a greater 
 crack,' bays the triumphant Octavius, in magnanimous tribute 
 to his dead rival ; ' the round world should have shook lions 
 into civil streets, and citizens to their dens.' Some such 
 thought must have come into the minds of many men when 
 they heard, on that chill April morning of 1881, that Lord 
 Beaconsfield was dead. ' The death of Anthony is not a single 
 doom : in the name lay a moiety of the world.' The English 
 world, the world of politics, and the romantic world of fiction, 
 had lost a moiety of itself by the death of Lord Beaconsfield. 
 Seldom, indeed, had a rarer spirit steered humanity; and as 
 for the faults he had, even his enemies were not likely to 
 think too deeply upon them just then. The gods will give us 
 some faults to make us men ; and whatever the errors of Lord 
 Beaconsfield's career, they had no need to be remembered in his 
 epitaph. 
 
 His had not been a long and protracted illness. Towards 
 the end of March 1881 it became known that Lord Beacons- 
 field was slightly ailing. Then it was announced that he was 
 suffering from a severe attack of bronchial asthma, but was 
 progressing favourably. As the days went by the reports 
 announced no diminution of the illness, but the bulletins were 
 still hopeful. Indred, no alarm was felt generally until close to 
 the end, though crowds of visitors of all kinds came every day 
 to the house in Curzon Street to read the bulletins and testify 
 their sympathy. But the third week of April began with 
 bitter winds — the fatal east winds that had killed Cobden, and 
 that were now to kill Lord Beaconsfield. On the night of 
 Monday, April 18, he sank into a deeji stupor, from which he 
 never awoke. At half-past four on the morning of Tuesday, 
 the 19th, he died, very quietly, without a sign of pain, without
 
 3TE. DISRAELI— LORD BEACONHFIELD. 137 
 
 a -u-ord. We liave all heard and read much of the death-! )eds 
 and the death- words of great men : we like to think of Goethe's 
 dying lips murmuring something about a beautiful woman's face 
 and hair, of Napoleon thinking of the head of his army. Lord 
 Beaconsfield j^assed away in silence, but we learn from those 
 who stood about him that some quarter of an hour before 
 his death he raised himself a little in his bed, stretched himself 
 out in the old familiar way that was his wont when rising to 
 reply in debate, and that his lips moved in silence. Perhaps 
 the dying statesman's brain was dimly conscious of his former 
 struggles and triumphs, of those speeches Avhich the House of 
 Commons at first refused to hear, and which afterwards the House 
 of Commons was so often willing to hear, and to admire, and to 
 obey. It was fitting that his last thoughts should have been given 
 to the great arena in which he had fought so long and so well. 
 
 ' How will it be with him when all is retrospect % ' Cobden 
 had once asked a friend, speaking of Mr. Disraeli and his bril- 
 liant career. It is a grim question to ask about the life of any 
 man, and very hard to answer. To the pure, simple soul of 
 Cobden there was much in the career of Lord Beaconsfield, as 
 there must have been much in the career of every great states- 
 man the world has seen, that was repellent. Cobden may be 
 said to have been almost devoid of personal ambition. His 
 whole soul was absorbed in carrying out his task, in executing 
 the mission for the good of his fellow-men which he believed 
 himself called upon, and indeed was called upon, to fulfil. But 
 it would be indeed unfair and unjust to test the characters and 
 careers of great statesmen by the life of so exceptional a man as 
 Cobden — unfair and unjust to assume that ambitious men had 
 no sense of duty to the world and to humanity. Tested by the 
 standard of the Sermon on the Mount, where is the statesman, 
 where is the leader of men, that can be praised ] Pericles is 
 no purer than Bolingbroke, "Washington scarce nobler than 
 Richelieu, when tried before that court. If we judge Lord 
 Beaconsfield severely, we must judge others severely as well, 
 and we shall find that he will not want companions in con- 
 demnation. If it is sinful to be ambitious, to make wars, to
 
 138 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 extend empii-e, other statesmen have been ambitious, and war- 
 like, and aggressive. Let us believe, even those of ns who 
 are least in sympathy with the policy and the politics of Lord 
 Beaconsfield, that he no less than others was animated by the 
 consciousness of his own righteousness of purpose ; that he 
 sought the welfare of his countrymen and the honour of his 
 country ; and that if his way was not our wny, we need not, in 
 the serenity of our own infallibility, be too severe upon him. 
 
 Lord Beaconsfield may fairly be culled a great man, on his 
 own definition of a great man as ' one who afiects the mind of 
 his generation ; whether he be a monk in his cloister agitating 
 Chi'istendom, or a monarch crossing the Gianicus, and giving 
 a new character to the Pagan world.' Lord Beaconsfield 
 certainly afllected the mind of his generation, and the part he 
 chose to play in doing so was more akin to that of Alexander 
 than that of a Jerome or a IMartin Luther. Indeed, the diffi- 
 culties that the young Disraeli had to encounter in his career 
 were scarcely less imposing than those which opposed, but did 
 not retard, the progress of the Macedonian king ; nor were the 
 victories of the one less splendid than the triumphs of the 
 other. The young Disraeli began life as a Jew, when to be a 
 Jew meant to be deprived of every social and civil advantage 
 that makes a public career Avorth striving for. The position of 
 a conquered Samnite in a world of Roman citizens was scarcely 
 more galling than the position of a Jew in England in the early 
 part of the present century. He was not, it is true, any longer 
 tortured at the pleasure of prince or noble ; he was no longer 
 condemned to dwell in a ghetto, or wear garm.ents of peculiar 
 cut or colovu' ; but all or almost all chances of political promotion 
 were closed against him in his adopted country. He might amass 
 fortune, he might win distinction in letters and the arts, but 
 he could not place his foot on the lowest i-ound of the ladder 
 that led to political distinction. These difficulties did not long 
 restrain and impede the young Disraeli. He had been brought 
 up a Christian. Asa Christian he could enter the Parliament 
 which it was then impossible for a Jew to enter; and once in 
 Parliament, he felt that his career was clear before him, and his
 
 MB. DISBAELI—LORB BEACOXSFIELD. 139 
 
 success certain. But though he never professed the religion of 
 his race, Disraeli never forgot his reverence for that race, nor his 
 love for the people from whom he sprang. In his writings, in 
 his speeches, in all the actions of his life, he was the champion, 
 and a most powerful and effective champion, of the Jewish 
 people. Into the mouth of his favourite character, Sidonia, he 
 puts an eloquent tribute to the genius and the glory of the 
 Jewish race, which represents his own convictions, and the 
 principles which governed him during the whole of a career 
 that was in itself the most eloquent tribute to the genius of his 
 people. 
 
 Here and there throughout the history of the world a few 
 poets, and politicians who might have been poets, have recognised 
 with just pride their own genius and certain immortality. 
 Horace, writing lyrics more enduring than brass; Shakespeare, 
 serenely confident that neither marble nor the gilded monu- 
 ments of princes could outlast the powerful rhyme in which he 
 praised his nameless hero — these are examples that leap to the 
 lips at once. The young Disraeli, shouting to a mocking and 
 hostile House that the time would come when they should hear 
 him, is a no less remarkable example of justifiable self-glorifica- 
 tion. He had entered the House in 1837, the year of the Queen's 
 accession. He had already made a name, or at least a notoriety 
 for himself outside the House. He had made the grand tour ; 
 he had been in the East, at a time Avhen Eastern travel was 
 very much less common than it now is. He had wi'itten 
 * Vivian Grey,' one of the most brilliant novels of its time, and 
 one of the most remarkable examples of precocious genius on 
 record. He had written ' The Young Duke,' which, in spite of 
 the scorn of Thackeray, may well be considered clever ; and 
 ' Contarini Fleming,' which has at least in its earliest chapters 
 something of the romantic charm and adventurous attraction 
 of ' Gil Bias.' He had made use of his acquaintance with the 
 East in the wondrous ' Tale of Alroy.' His ' Ixion in Heaven ' 
 was one of the most humorous bits of burlesque writing of the 
 age. He had essayed to stand with Dante and with Milton in his 
 'Revolutionary Epic,' and had certainly not succeeded. As a
 
 ~ HO ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 political pamphleteer he had vindicated the British Constitution, 
 and penned the ' Letters of Runny mede.' He was thus a 
 sufficiently conspicuous character when in 1837, after three 
 unsuccessful efforts, he found himself at last in the House of 
 Commons. 
 
 It is not quite easy to understand why that famous first 
 speech was so hopeless a failure. The recorded costume of the 
 orator was odd enough to us, but in 1837 a bottle-green frock 
 coat, a white waistcoat laced with chains, and large fancy 
 pantaloons, would not of themselves have been enough to move 
 the House of Commons to mirth. The speech itself, as we read 
 it now after the lapse of nearly half a century, appears an ex- 
 ceedingly clever speecli ; and the House of Commons is usually 
 disposed to listen to clever speeches, whatever may be the view 
 they express. His skill in political phi-ase-making was well 
 foreshadowed in his description of the Irish Liberal Fund as a 
 ' project of majestic mendicancy,' We smile and feel that the 
 speaker is making good strokes when he speaks of ' the new 
 loves and the old loves, in which so much of passion and 
 recrimination was mixed up between the noble Tityrus of the 
 Treasury bench and the learned Daphne of Liskeard,' and 
 alludes to the * amantium irce, which had resulted in the amoris 
 integratio, notwithstanding a political duel had been fought, in 
 which more than one shot was exchanged, but in which recourse 
 was had to the secure ai'bitrament of blank cartridges.' All 
 this is youthful, but it is bright enough ; it certainly is not dull, 
 and it does not seem ridiculous. But the House of Commons 
 would have none of it, and laughed and jeered and hooted the 
 speaker into a sudden blaze of anger. ' I have begun many 
 things, and I have succeeded often at last ; ay, sir, and thovigh 
 I sit down now, yet the time will come when you will hear me.' 
 
 It is not here necessary to tell again the story of Loi-d 
 Beaconsfield's life. It has been told many times — on two 
 occasions very bitterly and brilliantly by his enemies ; and, un- 
 fortunately, generally very badly and drearily by his friends. 
 Few books would be more welcome to the world than Lord 
 Beaconsfield's fiutobiogi-aphy. It would, no doubt, deserve a
 
 .¥7?. DISRAELI— LOIi I) BEACONSFIELD. 141 
 
 place on the slielf where stand ' Dichtung nncl Wahrhcit ' and 
 ' Les Confessions.' The life of Lord Beaconsfield has yet to be 
 written. To be done fittingly, its writer should be, if possible, 
 committed to neither of the great political parties ; but if ab- 
 solute impartiality v/ere impossible, then the chronicler should 
 have a bias of affection and of sympathy towards the subject 
 of his record. Those biographies are cold reading which find 
 their inspiration in hatred or contempt of the life they are re- 
 cording. The biography of the admirer is like the votive 
 wreath placed about the monumental pillar ; the biography of 
 the adversaiy reminds us only of the actions of those Egyptian 
 kings who eilaced the hieroglyphics of their rivals from shrine 
 and temple, and hoped to attain immortality by substituting 
 their own. 
 
 In the Upper House Lord Beaconsfield delivered some 
 telling speeches, even after the fall of his Government and the 
 triumph of his rival. The last speech he ever delivered, that on 
 the Central Asian question and the abandonment of Candahar, 
 had something in it of the youthful fire and the youthful audacity 
 of Mr. Disraeli. He was speaking of the key of India, ' The 
 key of India,' he declared, ' was not at Merv. It was not at 
 
 Candahar. It was not at -' here for a moment the speaker 
 
 paused ; he could not recollect the name of Herat. Another 
 man might have been discomposed, but Lord Beaconsfield 
 coolly went on, ' the key of India is not the place of which I 
 have forgotten the name ; the key of India is in London.' It 
 was characteristic of Lord Beaconsfield that his career should 
 close with such a speech, remarkable alike for the cool indif- 
 ference with which he was always ready to treat the details of 
 the most important subjects, and for the brilliantly paradoxical 
 saying which concealed a profound political truth. Not many 
 weeks later Lord Beaconsfield was dead. The world had lost 
 one of its most interesting figures, and England one of the 
 most remarkable in the long roll of remarkable statesmen who 
 have given their allegiance and their genius to the service of the 
 House of Brunswick.
 
 142 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE LAXD ACT. 
 
 The history of the new Land Bill was curious. The measure 
 which Mr. Gladstone laid before the House on April 7 
 was not the measure which the Government had originally in- 
 tended to offer to Parliament. Another Bill had been prepared, 
 of a less comprehensive nature. The draft had been submitted 
 by a member of the Ministry to a Liberal member, who was 
 very properly regarded as an authority on the land question in 
 Ireland, with the request that he would make any suggestions 
 he thought fit as to its possible improvement. The member 
 consulted returned the draft Bill promptly, saying that the only 
 improvemexit he could suggest would be to put the proposed 
 measm-e behind the fire. The Government apparently acted 
 upon this summary advice ; at least, they speedily prepared a 
 new and more advanced measure. Even the new Bill was 
 mild enough, and bore very little resemblance to the form it 
 came to assume later on. Mr. Glad.stone introduced the Bill 
 on April 7, 1881, in a long, elaborate, and exceedingly eloquent 
 speech, on what he not inappropriately called ' the most difficult 
 and the most complex question ' which he ever had to deal with 
 in the course of his public life. Roughly speaking, the Bill 
 proposed to deal with the Irish land question on the basis of 
 what was known as the three F's — fau' rent, fixity of tenure, and 
 free sale. Mr. Gladstone denied that either the iniquity of the 
 existing land laws, or any sympathy with the extreme views of 
 some of the Irish land reformers, or the bad conduct of Irish 
 landlordism in general, called for the new attempt at legislation. 
 It was the ' land hunger,' or rather the land scarcity ; it was 
 certain defects in the Land Act of 1870, and it was the rack- 
 renting and evictions of a limited number of landlords which 
 had inspired the action of the Government. 
 
 The Government was not in want of guidance in the step it
 
 THE LAND ACT. 143 
 
 was taking. A commission — the Richmond Commission — had 
 been appointed by the previous Government to inquire into the 
 land question. Another commission — the Bessborough Com- 
 mission — had been appointed by the existing Government for 
 the same j)urpose. These two commissions had begot, not two 
 reports, but a perfect ' litter ' of reports. There was naturally 
 an agreeable diversity of opinion among these various reports. 
 One member of the Richmond Commission, Mr. Bonamy Price, 
 was for applying, ' in all their unmitigated authority,' the prin- 
 ciples of abstract political economy to the very exceptional land 
 question of Ireland, ' exactly as if he had been proposing to 
 legislate for the inhabitants of Saturn or Jupiter.' Of the four 
 commissioners who made up the Bessborough Commission, only 
 two agreed to sign what may be called the main report : Mr. 
 Shaw signed one collateral report. The O'Conor Don signed 
 another, and Mr. Kavanagh signed a third. Out of tliis multi- 
 plicity of counsel, however, Mr. Gladstone found that, with the 
 exception of Mr. Bonamy Price, the whole body of both com- 
 missions were agreed in supporting the constitution of a court 
 for the purpose of dealing with the difierences between landlords 
 and tenants in Ireland with regard to rent. 
 
 The establishment of such a court was to be then one of 
 the principal features of the new measure. Appeal to this 
 court was to be optional, and not compulsory. Every tenant 
 from year to year coming under the description of ' present 
 tenant ' could go before the court and have a judicial rent fixed 
 for his holdiiig. This judicial rent was to last, in the first 
 instance, for fifteen years, during which no eviction would be 
 possible, except for non-payment of rent or distinct breach of 
 specific covenants. When the fifteen years expired, landlord 
 or tenant might apply to the court for a revision of the 
 rent. If the tenancy were renewed, the same conditions as to 
 eviction were to hold good. In the case, however, of th„ 
 tenant wishing to sell his tenant-right, the privilege of pre- 
 emption, at the price fixed by the court as the value of tlae 
 tenant-right, was reserved to the landlord. The Bill acted 
 retrospectively with regard to tenants against whom process
 
 Ui ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 of ejectment had been begun but not concluded. The Ulster 
 tenant, while remaining under the privilege of his custom, 
 ■\*^as to be allowed the protection of the general provisions of 
 the Bill for controlling augmentation of rents. The new 
 court, which was also to perform the functions of a land com- 
 mission, was to consist of three members, one of whom was 
 always to be a judge or ex-judge of the supreme court. It 
 was empowered to appoint sub-commissions as courts of first 
 instance, to hear applications and fix fair rents. 
 
 The second part of the Bill passed entirely from the region 
 of the three F's into the difficult question of peasant proprie- 
 tary. The court as a land commission was empowered to assist 
 tenants to puichase their holdings, and furthermore to pur- 
 chase itself estates from willing landlords, for the purpose of 
 reselling them when three-fourths of the tenants were ready 
 to buy. The court might advance three-fourths of the purchase- 
 money to tenants, and was not to be prohibited from advancing 
 the whole sum when it saw fit. Tenants availing themselves 
 of these purchase clauses would obtain a guaranteed title, and 
 would only have to pay a very small sum for legal costs. 
 Emigration was to be included among the purposes for which 
 advances miglit be made. Such were the more striking features 
 of the new measure. 
 
 The Bill was read a first time withov;t opposition, and 
 immediately after, on the following day, the House adjourned 
 for the Easter recess. When it reassembled on April 25 the 
 second reidina; of the Lind Bill was moved at once. The 
 debates were long and bitter. The Conservative party as a 
 body opposed the Bill with unwearying vigilance and vehe- 
 mence. They characterised it again and again as a measure 
 of communism, of socialism, of brigandage ; and they exhausted 
 their ingenuity in efforts, if not to defeat the Bill altogether, at 
 least to delay it as long as possible, and to minimise as much 
 as might be its ' revolutionary ' nature. The Irish members, 
 on the other hand, were no less energetic in their efforts to 
 widen the scope of the Bill, and make it of a character more 
 markedly beneficial to the tenant class. Their efforts were
 
 THE LAND ACT. 145 
 
 more successful than those of the Conservative party. The 
 general principles of the Bill remained the same, but its scope 
 was widened, and its powers of application strengthened to 
 a surprising degree. The Bill in the final form in which it 
 was presented to the House of Lords in the end of July, after 
 months of protracted debate, might be not unfairly characterised 
 as in lai'ge part the creation of Mr. Healy and the Irish party, 
 of Mr. Charles Bussell and certain of the Ulster members. The 
 sleeper in the Arabian story scarcely underwent a more remark- 
 able metamorphosis when he assumed the care and dignity of 
 the Kalif than was experienced by the new Bill in its passage 
 from the Treasury bench to the Upper House. It is only neces- 
 sary to compare the original draft of the Bill with its final form 
 to see how important these alterations were. The famous Healy 
 clause was constructed to exclude altogether the valuation of 
 improvements made by the tenant in estimating the amount to 
 be fixed as a judicial rent. On the other hand, an amendment 
 by Mr. Heneage was agreed to, excluding what are called 
 * English -managed ' estates from the operation of the Healy 
 clause. The court was empowered by another provision to 
 quash leases contracted since 1870 which might be shown on 
 examination to have been drawn up with a view to dodging 
 or defeating the objects of that measure. The emigration pro- 
 posals, which were extremely obnoxious to the Irish party, 
 were very lai'gely modified. The total expenditure for this 
 purpose was limited to 200,000/., not more than a third of 
 which was to be f-pent in any single year. A clause was intro- 
 duced allowing the commissioners to make advances to tenants 
 for the purpose of clearing off arrears of rent which had accrued 
 for three years. 
 
 On July 29 the Bill was read a third time in the House of 
 Commons, and was carried up to the House of I-ords, where it 
 was read a first time for form's sake without opposition the 
 same evening. After two nights' debate it was read a second 
 time without division, in obedience to Lord Salisbury's counsels. 
 In committee, however, the majority in the Lords fell upon 
 
 L
 
 146 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 the measure. They reduced the Bill to a nullity by compre- 
 hensive interpolations and additions. They altered, they 
 amended, they substituted, till the Bill resembled Wallenstein's 
 horse as shown to Brown, Jones, and Robinson. The head, 
 legs, and part of the body are new, all the rest is the real horse. 
 The Bill in this ' real hoi'se ' condition was returned to the 
 Commons. The Ministry accepted a few of the least important 
 amendments, modified some others, and firmly rejected those 
 which struck at the vitality of the measure. It was sent back 
 to the Lords again, and once again the Lords, with that mar- 
 vellous infatuation which is the peculiar privilege of the Upper 
 House in its struggles with the Commons, proceeded to make 
 the measure useless by reinstating the objectionable amend- 
 ments and interpolations. The Bill was then sent down to the 
 Commons. The Ministry made a further pretence of considering 
 the question. The more dangerous amendments which the Lords 
 had restored were struck out, but the Ministry made certain 
 concessions. In the first form of the Healy clause, for instance, 
 the Government had insisted upon a j^roviso that the tenant 
 should not be allowed the value of improvements for whicli he 
 had been paid by the landlord. The Government nov/ con- 
 ceded the addition ' or otherwise compensated.' Under these 
 words Irish courts can, as in the case of Adams and Dunseath, 
 rule that length of enjoyment is to be taken into account as an 
 element in considering the value of a tenant's improvement. 
 The Bill was then handed back to the Lords. By this time 
 public feeling was thoroughly aroused at the prospect of a 
 serious constitutional strutmle between the two Houses. Liberal 
 meetings were held in all pai-ts of the country, at which the 
 Government were vigoi'ously encouraged to make no con- 
 cessions, to fight the fight out to the end. The Lords blustered, 
 but their courage was shaken. Two of the most compre- 
 hensively destructive of the Lords' amendments had been 
 moved by the Duke of Argyll and Lord Lansdowne. On 
 August 16, when the Bill came before the Lords for the tliird 
 time. Lord Salisbury still assumed a semi-defiant attitude. 
 Perhaps on the whole, he said, their lordships had better accept
 
 THE LAND ACT. 147 
 
 the Bill, unless indeed the Duke of Ai"gyll and Lord Lansdowne 
 pressed their amendments. In that case Lord Salisbury would 
 certainly vote for them, and for resistance to the imperious 
 Commons. But the Duke of Argyll was conveniently absent. 
 Lord Lansdowne sat in his seat and made no sign. Lord 
 Salisbury had sounded his trumpet, and no knight challenger 
 gallojied into the arena. So with something of an ill grace Lord 
 Salisbury bade those of his inclining hold their hands, and 
 the Land Bill of 1881 became law. The House of Lords had 
 gained nothing by their opposition, but for the moment at least 
 they were saved from the consequences of direct collision with 
 the Commons. 
 
 In the meantime the Bradlaugh case had come up again. 
 Mr. Bradlaugh, as we have seen, had taken the affirmation and 
 his seat under all the penalties that might come upon him if 
 his so doing were decided to be illegal. He was at once sued 
 for penalties by a man named Clarke, who, as was afterwards 
 shown, was a mere man of straw sustained by INIr. Newdegate. 
 The judge of the court of law in which Mr. Bradlaugh was sued 
 decided that the statute allowing affirmation to be made in certain 
 cases in lieu of taking the oath did not apply to Mr. Bradlaugh's 
 case, and did not, therefore, exempt him from the obligation of 
 taking the usual oath, and from the penalties consequent upon 
 his failure to do so. The case was brought before the Court of 
 Appeal, where the judgment of the lower court was confirmed. 
 Mr. Labouchere moved for a new writ. Mr. Bradlaugh stood 
 again for Northampton, and was re-elected by a majority of 132 
 over his Conservative opponent, Mr. Corbett, on Saturday, April 
 0, 1881. On Tuesday, April 2G, Mr. Bradlaugh presented him- 
 f-elf in the Houss of Commons, and offi?red to take the oath. He 
 had been escorted to the table by Mr. Labouchere and Mr. Burt, 
 and the clerk was proceeding to administer the oath, when Sir 
 Stafford Northcote got up to interpose. The Speaker immediately 
 rose, and announced that although under ordinary circumstances a 
 member presenting himself to comply with the legal formalities of 
 the House was entitled to do so without interruption, yet, having 
 regard to the former resolution of the House, and the reports of 
 
 L 2
 
 H3 EXGLAyS rNBER GLADSTONE 
 
 the two select committees, lie did not think it his duty to with- 
 hold from the House an opportunity of expressing its opinions on 
 the new conditions. He accordingly desired Mr, Bradlaugh to 
 retire while the question was being considered by the House, 
 and Mr. Bradlaugh accordingly retired, after asking that the 
 House would not decide upon his case before it had heard him 
 speak in his own defence. An active debate, led by Sir Staiford 
 Northcote, immediately followed. The Opposition maintained 
 that the House could not look on and allow any one to go 
 throvigh the solemn formality of taking the oath after having 
 publicly proclaimed that the essential conditions which made 
 such an oath binding were absent from his mind. The Minis- 
 terial speakers, on the other hand, argued that they had nothing 
 whatever to do with Mr. Bradlaugh's belief or disbelief; and 
 that if the newly elected member for Northampton was 
 ready to take the oath the House had no alternative but to 
 allow him to do so, in spite of any declarations he might 
 have made as to the binding nature of the obligation. Mr. 
 Bradlaugh was heard at the Bar during the course of the 
 debate, urging his case with energy and with eloquence, and 
 warning the House that to deny him his legal right would 
 throw him back on agitation. The Opposition, however, carried 
 the day. Sir Stafford Northcote had put his protest into the 
 form of a motion that, having regard to the former resolution 
 and the reports of the committees, Mr. Bradlaugh should 
 not be permitted to go throvigh the form of repeating the 
 words of the oath prescribed by the statute. This motion was 
 carried by a majority of 33^208 to 175. AVhen the numbers 
 were declared Mr. Bradlaugh again advanced to the table. He 
 was immediately called upon to withdraw by the Speaker, but 
 he refused to obey, declaiing that the order was illegal. There 
 was great confusion in the House, members of all parties shout- 
 ing out their opinions more or less inarticulately. The Speaker 
 usked the noisy House for instructions as to how he should 
 proceed. The Tories yelled for Mr. Gladstone to get up ; the 
 Liberals shrieked back indignant refusal. After an interval 
 of confused clamour, during which Mr. Bradlaugh stood in the
 
 THE LAND ACT. 149 
 
 centre of the House before the table, Hke the hero of Flaubert's 
 * Salammbo ' among his Carthaginian enemies, Sir Stafford 
 Northcote rose with bland curiosity to inquire whether the 
 Prime Minister intended to take any steps in regard to the 
 resolution that the House had just agreed to. The Prime 
 Minister replied in a studiously composed tone that he had voted 
 with the minority, and that it was the duty of the majority, and 
 not of the Ministry, to carry out the resolution. Sir Stafford 
 Northcote accordingly, promptly assuming the leadership of the 
 House, moved that Mr. Bradlaugh be ordered to withdraw. 
 The motion was, of course, carried, and the Speaker ordered 
 Mr. Bradlaugh to retire. Mr. Bradlaugh refusing as before, 
 the serjeant-at-arms was called in to enforce the order of the 
 House. In company with Captain Gossett Mr. Bradlaugh 
 retired to the Bar of the House, only to rush forward again to 
 the table. The serjeant-at-arms then called to his aid a little 
 army of messengers, who forced Mr. Bradlaugh — offering, how- 
 ever, no i-esistance, and protesting against the use of physical 
 force — back to the Bar. As he seemed determined to fight 
 his way again to the table, the Speaker once more appealed to 
 the House for guidance. A scene of shai-p recrimination fol- 
 lowed, Sir Stafford Northcote taunting the Government with 
 abetting Mr. Bradlaugh in his action, and Mr. Gladstone 
 warmly denying the accusation. Mr. Cowen interrupted the 
 strife by a motion for adjournment of the House, which was 
 promptly carried. 
 
 The next day, Wednesday, April 27, 1881, Mr. Bradlaugh 
 again presented himself at the table, again demanded to be 
 sworn; again was ordered by the Speaker to withdraw, and 
 again refused to do so, until the serjeant-at-arms came to take 
 him by the arm. A new debate sprang up, the Opposition and 
 the Ministerialists rejDeating their old ai'guments, and the con- 
 victions of everybody remaining entirely unchanged. At length 
 a sort of general understanding seemed to be arrived at, ac- 
 cording to which the Government would bring in, as soon as 
 might be, some measure for remedying the law which regulated 
 the formalities of the Parliamentary oath ; and on this under-
 
 loO ENGLAND VNLEIl GLADSTU^E. 
 
 standing it was announced by Mr, Labouchere that Mr. Brad- 
 laugh would refrain from presenting himself at the table of the 
 House for the present. As a consequence of this understanding 
 the Attorney- General, on Monday, May 2, moved for leave to 
 introduce the Parliamentary Oaths Bill, allowing members to 
 make affirmation. But the Bill was vigorously opposed, and 
 several nights passed without any progress being made with the 
 measure. Mr. Bradlaugh thereupon made his appearance in the 
 House again on Tuesday, May 10, when the now familiar cere- 
 mony was gone thi'ough. Mr. Bradlaugh offered to take the 
 oath, was ordered to withdraw by the Speaker, and refused to 
 do so until the serjeant-at-arms brought the semljlance of phy- 
 sical force to bear upon him. Then Sir Stafford Northcote, 
 once more assuming his function of leader of the House, moved 
 that the serjeant-at-arms should exclude Mr. Bradlaugh from 
 the House until he should engage not to disturb the proceedings 
 of the House further — a motion which was carried without a 
 division. 
 
 For some weeks nothing further was heard of the Bradlaugh 
 question in the House of Commons. On July 4, however, Mr. 
 Gladstone announced that the Govei'nment did not intend to 
 proceed Avith the Parliamentary Oaths Bill that session. Mr. 
 Bradlaugh immediately wrote to the Speaker, announcing his 
 intention of presenting himself again and claiming his right to 
 take the oath and his seat. The Speaker read the letter to the 
 House, and informed the House that he had given special direc- 
 tions to the sei jean t-at- arms to carry out the resolution of May 10. 
 Mr. Bradlaugh did not, however, follow up his letter imme- 
 diately. He attended meetings in various places, occupied him- 
 self in obtaining a summons at Bow Street against Mr. New- 
 degate for ' maintenance ' in giving indemnity for costs to the 
 man who prosecuted him, and seemed in no hurry to claim his 
 seat. On Wednesday, August 3, however, Mr. Bradlaugh made 
 the attempt. He held a great meeting in Trafalgar Square 
 on Tuesday, August 2, at which he announced his intention 
 of proceeding to the House of Commons and taking his seat. 
 Under the impression that he was about to do so then and there,
 
 THE LAND ACT. 151 
 
 a cheering, excitable crowd of some five thousand persons 
 poured down Whitehall and through Parliament Street into 
 Parliament Square, and tried to flood Palace Yard with noisy 
 humanity. A strong body of police were, however, in readiness ; 
 and though some score or so of people succeeded in getting in, 
 the gates were speedily closed, and the shouting crowd efiectually 
 excluded. It soon became understood that the next day's demon- 
 stration was to be more serious. Long before midday on Wednes- 
 day, August 3, a crowd, at least as large as that of the preceding 
 day, had collected in Parliament Square, cheering for Mr. Brad- 
 laugh, and greeting with loud acclaim the various deputations 
 that came up bearing petitions praying that Mr. Bradlaugh be 
 allowed to take his seat. Palace Yard was guarded care- 
 fully by a very large force of police, and the bulk of the crowd 
 were kept outside the gates in perfect order. But the bearers 
 of petitions were allowed to come inside the gates, and to range 
 themselves in order in Westminster Hall. At about twenty 
 minutes to twelve JNIr. Bradlaugh, accompanied by his friend 
 Dr. Aveling, arrived before the gates of Palace Yard, and was 
 at once admitted, amidst the wildest enthut^iasm on the part of 
 the crowd. Once inside Palace Yard, j\Ir. Bradlaugh was met 
 by Inspector Denning, who quietly asked him what he proposed 
 to do. Mr. Bradlaugh as quietly answered that he had come to 
 take his seat ; and entering Westminster Hall, w^here the ranged 
 lines of petitioners greeted him lustily, he passed in through the 
 members' entiance, and so into the lobby, and to the very door 
 of the Chamber. Here Mr. Bradlaugh stood and waited until 
 the Speaker should take the ciiair, the central figure of a crowd 
 of excited and wondering members. The scene was strange 
 enough. Across the door the sei jean t-at- aims and his assistants 
 were langed, and near them were several of the House messen- 
 gers, and some dozen policemen. The lobby was crowded by 
 curious members — and by members only, as the strictest orders 
 had been given and obeyed that day to let none but members 
 and officials of the House into the inner lobby. As soon as the 
 Speaker had taken the chair, Mr. Bradlaugh, who had been 
 standing perfectly self-possessed in the middle of the lobby,
 
 152 ENGLAND TINDER GLADSTONE, 
 
 advanced to the door of the Chamber. His path was immediately 
 barred by Mr. Erskine, who courteously enquired what he 
 wanted. By those who crushed about and craned forward to 
 hear the remarkable dialogue, Mr. Bradlaugh was heard to reply 
 that, as the duly elected member for Northampton, he had come 
 to take the oath and liis seat. Mr. Erskine answered that he had 
 received orders not to admit Mr. Bradlaugh, and Mr. Bradlaugh 
 responded that such orders were illegal, and that he had a right 
 to enter. Once again Mr. Bradlaugh urged his right of entry, 
 and once again Mr. Erskine pleaded his orders, and refused him 
 admission. The conversation was carried on gravely and decor- 
 ously on both sides, but the greatest excitement governed the 
 crowd who surrounded the pair, and who listened to the dialogue 
 while watching the well-guarded door. When Mr. Erskine made 
 his final refusal to allow Mr. Bradlaugh passage, Mr. Bradlaugh 
 immediately stepped forvvai'd as if to push his Avay into the 
 Chamber. He was at once stopped by the officials ; he offered 
 resistance to their efforts, and in a moment was engaged in a 
 sort of scuffle with one of them. Then followed probably one 
 of the most extraordinary and painful scenes that the House of 
 Commons had ever witnessed since Cochrane, the gallant Dun- 
 donald, the last of the Sea Kings, was haled from the House 
 fighting with all the strength of his giant frame. The police- 
 men who had been waiting in readiness seized Mr. Bradlaugh, 
 and proceeded to drag him away from the entrance to the 
 Chamber. Mr. Bradlaugh is a man of great physical strength, 
 and he exerted himself to the utmost to free himself from those 
 who held him. The spectators in the lobby hurriedly made 
 way, and in the midst of the policemen Mr. Bradlaugh, offering 
 a vigorous resistance, was hurried through the door of the lobby 
 and down the stairs leading to the members' entrance, and so 
 out into Palace Yard, where he Avas released, hatless, breathless, 
 with his coat torn from the violence of the struggle that had 
 just ensued. The police, it must be stated, did all that was 
 possible under the conditions of the struggle not to hurt Mr. 
 Bradlaugh ; but it was impossible that the strife could have 
 been other than severe and exhausting, when a man of powerful
 
 THE LAND ACT. ' 153 
 
 build was being carried, struggling with all his might, down- 
 stairs and through narrow passages. For a moment there was a 
 danger or at least the possibility of a conflict between the police 
 and the crowd, as Mr. Bradlaugh stood there disan-ayed, exhaus- 
 ted, and excited, in the sight of bis followers. Men of all kinds 
 were present in the crowd of Mr. Bradlaugh's supporters that 
 day, inside and outside the gates of Palace Yard, who would 
 have been willing enough to use force to assist their leader. 
 One man at least in that crowd deserves special consideration, 
 James Thomson, true poet and brilliant writer, author of ' The 
 City of Dreadful Night,' a poem whose profound pessimism is 
 illumined by a melancholy beauty, and of some even more valu- 
 able songs of the joys and pleasures of the poor. Thomson 
 had been of old a friend and follower of Mr. Bradlaugh ; their 
 ways of thougbt had varied of late, and their paths had separated ; 
 but here, in the moment of difficulty, Thomson came to do all 
 he could for the cause which he believed to be just, the cause 
 of his old friend. Thomson's wild genius and splendid gifts 
 came to a sad end some eighteen months later, when he died 
 sviddenly in a hospital, still a young man, leaving behind him 
 only a brilliant memory and some verses of great fulfilment and 
 greater promise. His career was not unlike that of Henri 
 Murger, or some of his clever, eccentric companions. Like 
 Murger's, it was erratic, fitful, full of gifts and of promise; like 
 Murger's, it came to an end too soon, and very sadly ; like 
 Murger's, it was much regretted. 
 
 Mr. Bradlaugh, however, made no appeal to his followers to 
 come to hisaid. Those vrho clustered about him were dispersed by 
 the police, Mr. Bradlaugh drank some water and waited peace- 
 ably talking to Inspector Denning, until he received information 
 that the House had, by its vote, approved of the action that had 
 been taken. He then drove across to Westminster police covu't, 
 to ask for a summons for formal assault against Inspector 
 Denning. The magistrate, Mr. Sheil, found the case involved 
 too many technicahties and complications to admit of his granting 
 the summons just then; and Mr. Bradlaugh withdrew by the 
 magistrate's door leading into Vincent Square, at the request of
 
 154 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 the police authorities, in order to avoid a scene with the crowd 
 outside. 
 
 In the meantime much had been doing inside the House 
 of Commons. As soon as Mr. Bradlaugh had been removed, 
 Mr. Labouchera complained in the House of the treatment of 
 his colleague, and made a motion censuring the serjeant-at- 
 arms and the officials of the House for the manner in 
 which they had interpreted and acted upon the resolution of 
 May 10. The motion was seconded by Mr. Ashton Dilke, 
 and an active debate immediately sprang up, which was 
 chiefly remarkable for a speech made by Mr. Bright, in which 
 he spoke feelingly of the way in which Mr. Bradlaugh had been 
 used, and warned the House that if it persisted in its present 
 course, it would bring itself into some most unfortunate and 
 calamitous position. In the end J\Ir. Libouchere's motion was 
 defeated by 191 to 7 — mnjority of 184; and an amendment of Sir 
 Henry Holland's, pledging the House to approval of the action 
 of INIr. Speaker and of the officers of the House acting under 
 his order, was agreed to without a division. 
 
 Save for the Coercion and the Land Act, the session was un- 
 fruitful in Government legislation. With the exception of the 
 Army Ilegulations Bill, which complemented Lord Cardwell's 
 Army Organisation Bill by linking every regiment to a particular 
 locality, and finally did away with flogging in the army, and the 
 Naval Discipline Amendment Act Amendment Bill, which abo- 
 lished flogging in the navy, all the other legislative measures pro- 
 posed by the Government were withdi'awn. Some measures, how- 
 ever, introduced by private members became law. One was Earl 
 Cairns' Conveyancing and Law of Property Bill, for simplifying 
 and improving the practice of conveyancing, with its pendant, 
 the Solicitors' Remuneration Bill, providing for a uniform system 
 of charges for conveyancing. Another was Mr. Hutchinson's 
 Newspaper Libel Bill, making an important change in the law 
 of libel by extending a privilege to the reports of meetings law- 
 fully held, and by making the permission of the Attoj-ney- 
 General a necessary preliminary to a criminal information for 
 libel. A Bill introduced and carried by Mr. Roberts enacted
 
 THE LAND ACT. . 155 
 
 that in Wales all premises in which intoxicating liquors were 
 sold should be closed daring the whole of Sunday. There were 
 some changes in the Administration. Mr. Grant Duff" was ap- 
 pointed to the Governorship of Madras. Mr. Leonard Courtney 
 went to the Colonial Office. Mr. Herbert Gladstone came into 
 the Ministry as a supernumerary Lord of the Treasury. 
 
 The Land Act had not disposed of Irish discontent or settled 
 the Irish question. When Parliament rose, a great convention 
 was held in Newcastle, at which Mr. Joseph Cowen spoke. 
 Mr. Cowen was a brilliant speaker ; he might fairly be called 
 the foremost of all the younger generation of Parliamentary 
 orators. Thackeray once spoke of writing down the names of 
 all his real friends on a very little piece of paper. A little piece 
 of paper would be quite sufficient to write down the names of 
 all the orators in St. Stephen's. After Mr. Gladstone and Mr. 
 P>right comes j\lr. Cowen. When he made his first speech in 
 the House of Commons on the Bill which proposed to 
 add the title of Empress of India to the dignities of the 
 sovereign, all who heard it knew at once that a new and 
 jDowei-fal force was added to the Parliamentary debates, From 
 that hour Mr. Cowen took high rank as a political influence. 
 The music of his phrases, the passion of his language, 
 the grace and beauty of his sentences, and the honourable 
 independence of thought which inspired all his utterances never 
 failed to make the majority of his hearers forget for the moment 
 not merely the rough northei-n accent of the speaker, but the 
 unpopularity of the opinions which he was expressing. It has 
 been Mr. Cowen's fortune generally to support, in the House of 
 Commons, causes unpopular to the majoi-ity in the House. Like 
 Hal o' the Wynd, in Scott's story, Mr. Cowen has always fought 
 for his own hand. His was the most serious attack upon the 
 Queen's Title Bill, much more seiious, for example, than the 
 speech of vitriolic bitterness in which Mr. Lowe refused to have 
 the lisjiiugs of the nursery foisted upon the House. Yet he made 
 the best defence of the foreign policy of Lord Beaconsfield. 
 
 Mr. Cowen has, in fact, what some people would very likely 
 call old-fashioned notions of the duties of an independent
 
 156 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 member. He dees not believe it to be a part of tlie duty of 
 a member to accept the guidance of his political chief in all 
 his actions, or to uphold that chief by voice and vote in every 
 demand which he may make on the House of Commons and 
 the country. He considers it to be the business of an inde- 
 pendent politician to think for himself. When he imagines 
 that his own party are in the wrong he is neither ashamed 
 nor afraid to say so, and he L> willing to admit that even a 
 political enemy may at times have justice on his side, how- 
 ever unpalatable such an admission may be to his own com- 
 jDanions. Such a man is seldom greatly loved by any political 
 party. The Treasuiy bench likes men upon whom it can 
 always fully rely. Ministers are not veiy fond of being told 
 their duty by their followers. They like absolute obedience, 
 and unhesitating readiness to follow them into the division 
 lobby. Such a follower Mr. Cowen cannot be, and his sturdy 
 independence becomes important when it is accompanied by a 
 gift of eloquence now rare in the English Houses of Parlia- 
 ment. No Ministry cares much for the independence which 
 can only express itself in a few brief, faltering, unimportant 
 sentences. But it is comj)elled to care very much for the inde- 
 pendence which can express itself with the passion, the beauty, 
 and the purpose which men know they have now to expect 
 from Mr. Cowen. Mr. Cowen's early life brought him into 
 close contact with men like Herzen, and Kossuth, and Louis 
 Blanc. His youth was closely linked with the man whose 
 name hung like a shadow over Europe for a season, with Joseph 
 Mazzini. To his association with these men and their like Mr. 
 Cowen owes certain of the ideas which have made him stand 
 somewhat alone in Pai'liament and in political life. But he 
 has not borrowed his eloquence from them, or from any one 
 else. He is an orator by nature, but it is his own earnestness, 
 his own enthusiasm, his own unswerving honour and honesty, 
 and no copying of the thoughts or the words of other men, 
 which have given him a place among the comj^aratively few 
 orators of the first class that the Victorian age has pro- 
 duced.
 
 THE LAND ACT. 157 
 
 Mr. Cowen had been a persistent opponent of the coercive 
 policy of the Government. He had spoken against it again and 
 again ; he had supported the Irish members time after time 
 with his voice and with his vote in opposing the Bills, At the 
 meeting in Newcastle-on-Tyne on Monday, August 29, 1881, 
 he attacked the Government with all his energy and all his 
 eloquence. It had been found useless, he said, to argue with 
 the master of many legions, even when that master argued on 
 the extraordinary paradox that the only way in which the law 
 could be maintained in Ireland was by its being superseded. 
 The Land Act had failed as a means of pacification. It was 
 too abstruse and comphcated for plain men to understand, and 
 its fair proportions were hidden by the repulsive screen of the 
 Coercion Act. While he strongly condemned the wild writings 
 and wild threats of the American Fenians, he attributed the 
 fault of such writings and threats mainly to the action of the 
 English Government itself. ' No more barbarous or inhuman 
 treatment had been attempted against political prisoners in 
 modern days in Western Europe than was meted out by the 
 English Government to the Fenians. ... By their treatment 
 we converted men who might have been our friends into foes.' 
 The outrages in Ireland, on accoiint of which the Government 
 had demanded coercion, were, Mr. Cowen contended, shame- 
 fully exaggerated. The i-eason for the exaggeration was this : 
 the Irish executive feared that a Liberal Parliament would not 
 pass a Coercion Bill, and that they could only get it by showing 
 that the countr}' was greatly disturbed, and laAv superseded. 
 They therefore made no attempt to use the ordinary law with a 
 view to restrain incipient excess, and their strategy succeeded. 
 There was no constitutional country in Europe, Mr. Cowen 
 concluded, in which such a state of things obtained as it did in 
 Ireland. It was a scandal to our civilisation, and a disgrace to 
 our statesmanship. 
 
 The convention at Newcastle was followed up by another 
 convention in Ii-eland, in the Dublin Eotunda, a convention 
 of delegates from the various branches of the Land League all 
 over Ireland. The convention represented the public feeling of
 
 X58 ENGLAND UNDEB GLADSTONE. 
 
 Ireland, as far as public opinion ever can be represented by a 
 delegated body. The descendants of the Cromwellian settlers 
 of the north sat side by side Avith men of the rebel blood of 
 Tippcrary, with the impetuous people of the south, with the 
 strong men of the midland hunting counties. The most re- 
 markable feature of the meeting was the vast number of priests 
 who were present. A great number of priests, young and old, 
 spoke at the convention ; all were warm in sympathy with the 
 League and its leaders ; all were ready to deal with the Bill as 
 these leaders wished. Mr. Parnell explained his views to the 
 convention. He announced that the League was willing to use 
 the Bill as far as it went, but that the existence of the Bill did not 
 put an end to the work of the Land League ; it had still to be 
 vigilant ; it had to experiment upon the newly founded land 
 courts with test cases, and in every way to watch over the in- 
 terests of the tenant farmers. Not of the tenant farmers alone ; 
 the Irish labourers were to be thought of as well. The con- 
 dition of the labourers in Ireland was very bad, and their 
 complaints had gradually been taking organised shape. They 
 were now formally recognised by the League, which became 
 henceforward a Land and Labour League. The convention 
 was singularly quiet ; the speeches were all moderate in tone ; 
 the attitude of the League as represented by its delegates was 
 pacific and constitutional. But the country undoubtedly was 
 in a disorganised state. The fierce anger that the Coercion 
 Acts and their operation had aroused was creating a wide- 
 spread disorder, with which it seemed at first as if coercion 
 itself could not successfully cope. The Land League leaders 
 maintained always that they had the country entirely under 
 their control, and that as long as they were to the front they 
 could keep the disorder and violence in check. How far they 
 could have carried this out — how far they could have over- 
 mastered the forces that were now at work in Ireland — it is 
 impossible to say, for they were not given the opportunity of 
 carrying out their promises. 
 
 The action of the Government during the couple of mouths 
 following upon the rising of Parliament is wholly inexplicable.
 
 THE LAND ACT. 159 
 
 Tliey cannot have thought that the condition of the country 
 was dangerous, for they saw fit to set free Father Sheehy, a 
 step which it is difficult to believe they would have taken if 
 they considered the country to be seriously disturbed. Yet, 
 before the release of Father Sheehy, Mr. Parnell had received 
 in Dublin the greatest tribute of popular enthusiasm that had 
 been accorded to any Irish leader since the days of the Libe- 
 rator. He bad been attending meetings in the country. He 
 returned to Dublin one night towards the end of September. 
 He was met at the station by an enthusiastic crowd bearing 
 torches, and was drawn through the Dublin streets to the 
 Land League offices in Sackville Street. From the windows of 
 these rooms Mr. Parnell and Mr. Sexton delivered speeches to 
 the vast excited audience, y>4io choked the whole of Sackville 
 Street; and on the speeches made that night part of the Govein- 
 ment case was afterwards made to rest. Yet it was after this 
 demonstration and after those speeches that the Government 
 thought j)roper to set Father Sheehy at liberty, although they 
 must have known that he was scarcely likely to remain quieter 
 after his experiences of a prison than he was before he entered 
 it. Is it to be credited that the Government considered the 
 country to be seriously disorganised and disturbed, and yet 
 deliberately let loose among such elements of revolution an 
 agitator who was doubly popular, and therefore doubly danger- 
 ous, because he was a priest, and was regarded by the people 
 as a martyr? Father Sheehy at once commenced a vigorous 
 crusade against the Government, and his entry into Cork, in 
 company with Mr. Parnell, resembled a Roman triumph. 
 
 For a while after the session came to an end there appeared 
 to be a lull in political excitement. The session had been so 
 stormy, that it was not unnaturally hoped that it might l)e 
 succeeded by a lengthened period of repose. One or two bv- 
 elections took place, without any marked result upon the condi- 
 tions of parties. Even political foes as well as fi-iends were not 
 displeased when Mr. James Lowther returned to the Parlia- 
 mentary field as member for North Lincolnshire. His majority 
 might be a matter for Liberal regret, for it ran to 471 ; but if a
 
 ICO ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 Tory -vrere to be returned at all, why, then Mr. James Lowther 
 ■was not unwelcome. He had not been a very successful Chief 
 Secretary for Ireland under the late Government, because his 
 genial indifference to the cares of office, and light-hearted con- 
 tempt for official routine, were not calculated to render him a 
 shining success in perhaps the most difficult post in the Admin- 
 istration. But as a free-lance he was known to be excellent. 
 His humour and his good-humour lent an air of piquancy to 
 his most glaring schemes of obstruction, which robbed them of 
 half their horror, and his bitterest attacks upon his opponents 
 were delivered with a schoolboy bonhomie which prevented 
 them from being offensive even when they were most annoyiug. 
 Few people seemed to enjoy the fun of political life more 
 heartily than Mr. James Lowther, and for the sake of an 
 assembly that wanted all the light-heartedness it could get, 
 Mr. Lowther was welcomed back to "Westminster. In North 
 Durham Sir George Elliot was returned in the place of the late 
 Colonel Joicey, a Liberal. In Cambridgeshire, Mr. J. R. 
 Bulwer, Q.C., was elected without opposition in the room of 
 Mr. Kodwell, Q.C., who had resigned. In the county of 
 Tyrone, in Ireland, there were three candidates in the field 
 rendered vacant by the appointment of Mr. Litton to a land 
 commissionership — Mr. Dickson, a Liberal, Colonel Knox, a 
 Conservative, and Mr. Rylett, a Land League candidate. Mr. 
 Dickson came to the head of the poll by a large majority. Mr. 
 Dickson had been in Parliament before, but had been thrown 
 out at the General Election, which returned his son to Parlia- 
 ment with the proud distinction of being the youngest of its 
 uicmbers. Mr. Dickson the younger had little moi^e than 
 barely come of age when he was returned to Parliament. 
 
 On Monday, September 19, 1881, General Garfield, the 
 President of the United States, died. He had been fired at 
 some weeks before by a crazy assassin named Guiteau, and had 
 lingered for a long time, with varying hope of recovery. The 
 assassination of the Czar Alexander 11. in March had caused 
 great horror in England ; the death of Garfield created a pro- 
 found sense of regx*et. Seldom, perhaps, has the death of the
 
 THE LAND ACT. 161 
 
 chief magistrate of one country been recognised with so many 
 public evidences of sympathy and sori-ow in another country. 
 On the day of the funeral, many persons in London, who were 
 not American citizens, Avore some sign of mourning in their 
 dress, and in all the principal streets the shops displayed 
 emblems of mourning. There was something especially tragic 
 about the death of a brave soldier, an able man and statesman, 
 by the hands of a semi-insane mui'derer, for whose crime no 
 possible reason or shadow of a reason could be alleged. The 
 murderer Guiteau was put on his trial. National patience 
 has rarely been more sorely tested than that of the American 
 public was, during the course of this protracted case, by the un- 
 seemly conduct of the unhappy wretch who had fired the shot. 
 The highest praise is but their due for the quiet patience with 
 which they endured all, and gave the murderer eveiy privilege 
 that the law allowed him. Months after Garfield was in his 
 grave the trial was concluded, and Guiteau was executed. 
 
 Up to this time nothing new had taken place in Ireland. 
 The convention had been held, and had passed off quietly. Mr. 
 Parnell had spoken in Cork and Dublin ; the Land League was 
 advising the tenant farmers to wait for the submitting of their 
 cases to the land courts until the test cases of the League had 
 been decided ; the Land League itself was in full activity, and 
 seemed more popular than ever. Suddenly a series of events 
 took place with great ra})idity, which were more startling in 
 their character than anything that had preceded them. Early 
 n October Mr. Gladstone entered upon what was called his 
 Leeds campaign. It was, in point of fact, a campaign against 
 the Irish Parliamentary party, and against Mr. Parnell in 
 particular. On Priday, October 7, 1881, Mr. Gladstone was at 
 Leeds receiving an address from the Mayor and town council, 
 and he made a speech. This speech was remarkable for the 
 manner in which it singled out a political ojiponent for all the 
 energy of Mr. Gladstone's powers of attack. Mr. Gladstone 
 began by replying to the Conservative taunts over their victory 
 at Durham. In Durham the victory had been won, it Avas 
 said, by the Irish vote, and Mr. Gladstone at once turned to
 
 162 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 the Irish question. After declaring that the condition of 
 Ireland for generations, perhaps for centuries, its prosperity 
 and happiness, or its loss of all rational hope of progress, de- 
 pended upon its reception of the Land Act, Mr. Gladstone pro- 
 ceeded to draw a contrast between the conduct of politicians 
 of the school of 1848, like Sir Charles Gavan Duify, and even of 
 some advanced men of to-day like Mr. John Dillon, with the 
 conduct of Mr. Parnell and his followers. Sir Charles Gavan 
 Duffy was delighted with the new legislation ; Mr. John Dillon, 
 rather than attempt to plunge his country into disorder by 
 intercepting the operations of the Land Act, had withdrawn 
 from politics ; while Mr. Parnell, in carrying out his policy of 
 j)lunder, was doing his best to arrest its action. ' Mr. Parnell,' 
 said Mr. Gladstone, slightly confusing his Scripture history in 
 the vehemence of the moment, desired ' to stand, as Moses 
 stood, between the living and the dead, but to stand there not, 
 as Moses stood, to arrest, but to spread the plague.' 
 
 Such a speech, made at such a time, natur-ally created the 
 greatest excitement. Lord Salisbury attended a meeting at 
 Newcastle-on-Tyne on the following Tuesday, in which he 
 pointed out humorously that Mr. Gladstone was unjust to 
 Mr. Parnell. ' When Mr. Gladstone complains that Mr, 
 Parnell has deserted him, I think he forgets that it is mainly 
 due to the organisation over which Mr. Parnell presides that he 
 is now Prime Minister of England. . . . Mr. Gladstone's com- 
 plaint of Mr. Parnell for preaching the doctrine of public 
 plunder seems to me a strange application of the old adage that 
 Catiline should not censure Cethegus for treason.' In such 
 terms the head of the Opposition bantered the head of the 
 Government; but in Ireland the speech aroused rejilies that had 
 little spirit of banter in them. At a meeting in Wexford on 
 the Sunday following Mr. Gladstone's speech at Leeds, Mr. 
 Parnell delivered a speech of vehement attack upon the Prime 
 Minister. It was a curious duel of words, unlike anything that 
 English political life had been accustomed to ; a Prime Minister 
 levelling a bitter personal attack upon a political opponent, and 
 the opponent retorting in terms of equal fierceness. Mr. John
 
 TEE LAND ACT. 163 
 
 Dillon was not behindhand in replying to the Prime Minister, 
 Mr. Gladstone had held him up as an honourable contrast to 
 the conduct of Mr. Parnell, and Mr. Dillon angrily and scorn- 
 fully repudiated the compliments of the Prime Minister. He 
 had not, he assured the Prime Minister, retired from politics to 
 allow free play to the Land Act. On the contrary, he deeply 
 regretted that he had not been able to stand between his 
 country and the Land Act altogether. 
 
 Mr. Gladstone's speech had aroused the greatest excitement 
 in Ireland, and indeed in England too. People felt that such a 
 pronouncement could not have been uttered merely 2'>our rire — 
 that something more was to come of it ; and something more 
 came. A few days after Mr. Parnell and Mr. Dillon had replied 
 to the attack, the Government replied by a veritable co2ip d'etat. 
 A descent was made upon all the prominent Land League 
 leaders in Dublin on Thursday, October 13. Mr. Parnell was 
 arrested in Morrison's Hotel, and conveyed to Kilmainham 
 early in the morning. Mr. Sexton, M.P., Mr. O'Kelly, I\I.P., 
 Mr. Dillon, M.P., Mr. O'Brien, and jMr. J. P. Quinn, secretary 
 of the Land League, were arrested in rapid succession, and con- 
 veyed to Kilmainham Prison. Warrants were out for Mr. 
 Biggar, Mr. Healy, and Mr, Arthur O'Connor, Mr, Biggar 
 and Mr. Arthur O'Connor got over to England, Avhere Mr, 
 Healy was, and orders were conveyed to them from their leader 
 not to return to Ireland to certain arrest, but to remain in 
 England, v/here they might be useful in keeping the agitation 
 alive. 
 
 These wholesale ai-rests startled the whole civilised world. 
 Continental countries, used to struggles with revolutionary par- 
 ties, congratulated themselves on the discovery that England, the 
 proud mother of free nations, had her difficulties as well as they, 
 and could only meet them with the old methods. In England 
 itself the coio2) d'etat was received with satisfaction, almost with 
 rejoicing, by the generality of the supporters of the Government, 
 though it is hardly necessary to say that advanced Radicals liko 
 Mr. Jesse Collings, Mr, Thompson of Durham, Mr, Labouchere, 
 Mr. Storey, and Mr. Joseph Cowen did not share in this satis- 
 
 Jl 2
 
 164 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 faction, and that the rejoicing was not unanimous even in the 
 Cabinet. Mr. Gladstone was present at an entertainment given 
 by the Corporation of the City of London at the Guildhall on 
 October 13. Mr. Gladstone made a speech which might be 
 regarded as the epilogue to his Leeds address. In the middle of 
 an eloquent appeal to the principles of law and order the Prime 
 Minister produced a telegram which he had just received, and 
 in tones of triumphant exultation announced to his hearers 
 the arrest of Mr. Parnell. The effect was curious. Had Mr, 
 Gladstone informed his audience of the conquest of some foreign 
 foe, of the successful conclusion of some long and hazardous war, 
 or the consummation of some honourable and long-looked-for 
 peace, his words could not have aroused a greater frenzy of 
 enthusiasm. Every man in the crowded hall sprang to his feet 
 and cheered till he could cheer no longer. ' Our enemies have 
 fallen, have fallen,' said Mr. Gladstone ; and the tumultuous 
 applause with which he was greeted from political opponents, 
 as well as political allies, must have assured him that he had 
 wrestled well, and overthrown more than his enemies. 
 
 Across the Irish Sea everything was confusion. Arrests 
 followed arrests ; excited meetings were held all over the 
 country; a Ladies' Land League, even a Children's Land League, 
 and a Political Prisoners' Aid Society strove to keep the agita- 
 tion alive ; there were slight riots here and there ; the Govern- 
 ment took the most elaborate precautious against a possible 
 popular rising. Suddenly the walls of Dublin ^vere placarded 
 by a proclamation calling upon the Irish people to pny no rent 
 while their leaders were in prison. . This document was signed 
 by Charles S. Parnell, President, Kilmainham Gaol ; A, J. 
 Kettle, Honorary Secretary, Kilmainham Gaol ; Michael Davitt, 
 Honorary Secretary, Portland Prison; Thomas Brennan, 
 Honorary Secretary, Kilmainham Gaol ; John Dillon, Head 
 Organiser, Kilmainham Gaol ; Thomas Sexton, Head Organiser, 
 Kilmainham Gaol ; Patrick Egan, Treasurer, Paris. 
 
 The No-Pent Manifesto was dramatically effective, but it 
 was not generally acted upon ; its framers can hardly have 
 expected that it would be. The clergy were entirely against it,
 
 IRE LAND ACT. 165 
 
 Even the most National of Irish ecclesiastics, Archbishop Croke 
 of Cashel, condemned it unhesitatingly. A general strike of 
 rent all over Ireland might have been a great political move if 
 it had been possible, but it was not possible. The N"o-Eent 
 Manifesto was a direct challenge to the Government, and the 
 Government retaliated by declaring the Land League an illegal 
 body, by proclaiming its meetings, and by arresting its remain- 
 ing official, Mr. Dorris, and sending him to Dundalk Prison. 
 Many women, members of the Ladies' Land League, were put 
 into prison in different parts of the country. The most ad- 
 vanced of the National newspapers, United Ireland, vi-A^ shortly 
 afterwards proscribed, and for the time beiug practically sup- 
 pressed. It carried on a fitful existence, pi'inted now in Paris, 
 now in Liverpool, and smuggled over as well as might be to 
 Ireland, where it was sold surreptitiously, and seized by the 
 police whenever they could lay hands upon it. The Government 
 had done their best to stifle the Land League, to crush it out of 
 existence altogether, and they appeared to have succeeded. They 
 really seemed to think that by abolishing an association and 
 suppressing a newspaper they could silence a national agitation, 
 and summarily dispose of a complicated and vexatious problem. 
 As soon as Mr. Parnell was imprisoned the Lord Chancellor 
 removed his name from the Commission of the Peace for the 
 county of Wicklow. An effort was immediately made by the 
 National section of the Dublin Corporation to confer the free- 
 dom of the city upon Mr. Parnell and Mr. Dillon. After a 
 stormy discussion, in which Mr. Gray, M.P., and Mr. Dawson, 
 M.P., led the National party, ngainst Mr. Brooks, M.P., who 
 opposed the proposal, the motion was lost by the casting vote 
 of the Lord Mayor, Dr. Moyers. The proposal was only de- 
 layed. With the new year a new Lord Mayor was elected, 
 Mr. Charles Dawson, INI. P., a strong Nationalist. This time the 
 National pai-ty in the Corporation were in a large majority, 
 and by a large majority the customary vote of thanks to a re- 
 tiring Lord Mayor was refused to Dr. Moyers for the part 
 he had taken in defeating the freedom of the city proposal. 
 This proposal was now revived and carried successfully. Such
 
 166 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE 
 
 an act on the part of the corporation of a city that had always 
 been remai table for what was called its 'loyalty,' which meant 
 its subservience to Castle influence, was in itself deeply signifi- 
 cant of the hold the National leaders had got upon the heart of 
 the country. But a message from heaven would not have 
 appeared significant to Mr. Forster if it had not accorded with 
 his pre-ostablishcd opinions of the way Ireland ought to bs 
 governed. 
 
 The suppression of the Land League did not make Ireland 
 quiet. The imprisonment of the responsible leaders of the 
 National party had removed all check upon the fierce and 
 dangerous forces Avhich are always at work under the surface 
 of Irish politics. The secret societies, which had almost ceased 
 to operate during the rule of the Land League, came into play 
 again the moment the restraining influence of a popular, con- 
 stitutional, and open movement was removed. Outrages in- 
 creased daily, and w^ere exaggerated out of all proportion to 
 their increase, uutil to those at a distance Ireland appeared to 
 be sinking into a condition of hopeless anarchy. The Chief 
 Secretary had had his way ; he had put into prison men, women, 
 priests, according to bis pleasure, and yet an obstinate island 
 and an ungrateful people refused to justify him by being pacified. 
 Order did not reign in Warsav/. 
 
 The year 1881 was rich in its record of illustrious dead. 
 On February 5 Thomas Carlyle quietly passed away, at the age 
 of eighty-five, in the little house in Cheyne Row, Chelsea, where 
 he had lived the greater part of his troubled, laborious, un- 
 happy life. How unhappy that life was, few of those who most 
 admired Carlyle had any conception at the hour of his death. 
 It was left to Mr. Froude to drag the miseries and meannesses 
 of Carlyle's private life into the cold, cruel light of publicity, 
 and to drive for a time a disagreeable trade in the errors and 
 the weaknesses of his dead friend and master. The reading 
 Avorld had long learned to look upon Carlyle as the preacher 
 and expounder of gi'im, composed, almost Promethean resigna- 
 tion. 'Argue not with the inexorable.' That was the eternal 
 text of Carlyle's homilies. ' It is an everlasting duty, the duty
 
 THE LAND ACT. 167 
 
 of being brave.' ' All things considered, what right hast thou 
 even to be ] ' '0 my brother, be not thou a quack. Die rather, 
 if thou wilt take counsel ; 'tis but dying once, and thou art 
 quit of it for ever.' Carlyle's writings are full of such maxims 
 as these, counselling resignation, renunciation, and that proud 
 patience which the gods are said to love. Epicurus in his garden, 
 •' the halting slave who in Nicopolis taught Arrian, when Ves- 
 pasian's brutal son cleared Rome of what most shamed him,' 
 the Emperor Stoic Aurelius, never counselled firm and unfiling 
 fortitude more eloquently or more persistently than Carlyle. 
 No man was ever more scornful than he of the feebleness or 
 the faint-heartedness of others. Thousands of human beings, 
 since Carlyle began to write, must have found comfort, conso- 
 lation, and courage, in his heroic philosophy. It is difficult 
 to imagine a troubled, world-wearied spirit not learning some 
 lesson of true nobility, nor deriving some fresh purpose for the 
 fight of life, from the unconquerable manhood of ' Sartor Resartus.' 
 Undoubtedly the feeling of the civilised world in the end of 
 that fii'st week in February was that a great and good philo- 
 sopher had faded from the earth. Undoubtedly ever since that 
 time the persistent and repeated eflforts of the dead master's 
 pupil have been to remove that impression, to teach the wor- 
 shippers that their idol was not the least among the shams that 
 he was always so bitter in assailing. In Carlyle's writings we 
 find one man, in his life and letters we find another. Mr. 
 Fronde shows us a pitiful, querulous, feverishly impatient 
 being, consumed and wasted by a devouring envy of all his 
 intellectual peers and superiors, fretted by petty jealousies, 
 mean hatreds, and morbid vanities. The words with which he 
 has put on record his feelings towards his fellows eat like cor- 
 rosive acid into their genius and their fame. He appears to 
 have been almost incapable of an honest or honourable admira- 
 tion for anything. The exquisite humour, the sweet and kindly 
 spirit of Lamb stirred him only to a cankerous pity. ' This is 
 not genius,' he snarls; ' it is sheer diluted insanity. Please take 
 it away.' The pure, star-like soul of Mill — of Mill to whom 
 he owed so much — rouses only a malign envy and a malign
 
 168 ENGLAND LNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 contempt. ' Pool' Mill,' he says again and again scoffingly of 
 the man who was in many things so immeasurably his superior. 
 
 He seems, indeed, in all the hideous, dismal pages of his 
 self-recorded life to have been animated by a malignant jealousy 
 of others, which crippled within him the philosophy he preached 
 so loudly for others. The sceva indignatio of Swift was at 
 least dii'ected against injustice, against untruth, against oppres- 
 sion ; the ' fierce indignation ' of Carlyle seems to have been 
 directed against those who were successful, against those who 
 had superior parts, against those who were more fortunate or 
 more unfortunate than himself. He admires no one — except, 
 indeed, here and there some member of the aristocracy, one of 
 them a woman for whose sake he was quite willing to make his 
 wife very miserable. The sufferings and misfortunes of others 
 wake in him no gleams of pity ; but his Stoicism only extends to 
 the ills of others. The preacher of fortitude, of patience, of 
 endurance, complains with querulous iteration of the smallest 
 personal discomfort. The least annoyance, the minutest irregu- 
 larity in the routine of his daily life, seems to have driven this 
 last of the Stoics into a condition of impotent frenz}\ The 
 woman whom he married, and whom he succeeded in imbuing 
 with something of his own scornful pity for every human being 
 who was not Thomas Carlyle, suffered terribly at his hands. 
 On her own showing, on his own showing, he made her life a 
 misery. Thackeray has drawn a powerful, terrible pictui-e of 
 Swift, ' the lonely, guilty wretch, shuddering over the grave of 
 his victim.' The picture finds its parallel in Cai-lyle's own 
 agonies of pitiable remorse, in his wailings — occasionally in 
 the Spanish language — over the life he had embittered, and the 
 devotion he had disregarded. 
 
 It is difficult to see what purpose, not merely mercantile or 
 merely cynical, was served by Mr. Fronde's publication of the 
 letters and papers of Carlyle and his vnie. The familiar story 
 of Socrates under the judgment of the physiognomist is indeed 
 valuable. It is good to know that in the nature of the best 
 and wisest Athenian lurked fierce tendencies to crime and 
 passion. It is good to know this, because it is good also to
 
 THE LAND ACT. 169 
 
 know that Socrates so conquered these evil inclinations that 
 none of those about him suspected their existence, and were for 
 laughing the expounder of character to scorn until the conscious 
 teacher checked them. Bat it is not easy to see what good 
 service can be rendered to the woi-ld by making it clear that 
 the stern Stoic, the lofty tea 'her, was after all only a * self- 
 torturing sophist,' crammed to the lips with envy, malice, and 
 all uncharitableness, the heedless, heartless tyrant of the woman 
 who loved him, a man whose clamours for strong men and 
 strong methods of government were only the utterances of a 
 feeble nature, harassed by dyspepsia. 
 
 'Truth, though the sky fall,' Mr. Froude might perhaps 
 answer with his master. But how far is it truth ? The con- 
 fession of the repentant is often a darker i-ecord than the charge 
 of the accuser. The business of the world was with Carlyle 
 the author, not with Carlyle the hecmtontimorumenos, not 
 with Carlyle the suffering invalid. It seems like treachery to 
 take the world into such confidences. They are suh shj'dlo ; 
 they are not fair evidence for or against. So long as the world 
 remains imperfect, so long as we do not live in a palace of truth, 
 so long as men write and say of their fellows more than they 
 exactly mean, and more than they would care to have repeated 
 to the objects of their criticism, so long it will be unftxir to 
 judge a character like Carlyle's wholly by the records he may 
 leave behind. Only wholly, however : partially he must be 
 judged out of his own mouth; and to Mr. Froude, therefore, 
 is due such credit as he may deserve for having successfully 
 lowered the character of Carlyle the writer of books by too 
 comprehensive revelations about Carlyle the man. 
 
 A thinker and teacher of a very different type from Carlyle 
 died within the year. Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, Dean of 
 AVestminster, was one of the most remarkable ecclesiastics 
 that the Church of England in the nineteenth century had 
 produced. Born in 1815, he was only sixty- six years old when 
 he died ; but those sixty-six years were years of unceasing 
 acti\'ity, which put more of life into them than many men put 
 into lifetimes extending far beyond the limitations of the
 
 170 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 Psalmist. Important as the pai-t was which Dean Stanley 
 played in the ecclesiastical history of his time, he will perhaps 
 be most remembered for the books with which he enriched the 
 literature of his age. His poem on the * Gipsies/ with which 
 he won the Newdigate prize in 1837, has indeed gone the way 
 of most Newdigate prizes, and been forgotten. But his ' Memo- 
 rials of Canterbury,' with its varied and glowing picture of the 
 fortunes of the English metropolitan church ; his ' Sinai and 
 Palestine,' which is perhaps the most fascinating of all records 
 of Syrian travel ; his picturesque, if somewhat partial and one- 
 sided, study of the ' Eastern Church,' and of the ' Jewish 
 Church,' these will be remembered, these will form his fitting 
 monument. 
 
 Over in Ireland another great Churchman died — John 
 McHale, Archbishop of Tuam, ninety years of age. The penal 
 laws were in force during his childhood ; he was seven years 
 old when the rebellion of '98 against those laws and the 
 principles they represent broke out. Under those laws the 
 future archbishop, the future scholar, received his earliest 
 education, at those * hedge schools ' which kept alive the light 
 of learning and religion in Ireland, in times most evil for the 
 country and her faith. The old ecclesiastical scholarship for 
 which Ireland was famous found its fittest modern represen- 
 tative in Archbishop McHale ; while his profound piety and 
 saintly life would have done honour to the proudest epoch in 
 the history of the Church of the West. 
 
 In the same year died George Borrow, the once famous 
 author of the ' Romany Rye,' and of ' Lavengro.' The present 
 generation had somewhat forgotten Borrow ; he had fallen 
 away from public attention, and chose to live a quiet and 
 isolated, if not a lonely life. But the news of his death came 
 like a shock to many who perhajjs up to that moment were 
 hardly aware that he was alive. He has given somewhere a 
 curious picture, in verse, of himself as a 'man who twenty 
 tongues can talk, and sixty miles a day can walk;' who, ' though 
 averse to strife, could fight with pistol, sword, or knife,' and 
 who could 'drink at a draught his quart of rum, and then
 
 THE LAND ACT. 171 
 
 be neither sick nor dumb.' He was undoubtedly a man of 
 many and varied gifts ; he had lived through an adven- 
 turous and restless manhood into a long and quiet old age ; 
 and he faded out of a world in which his name had long been 
 little more than a memory. Another life, no less restless and 
 adventurous, ended in August, and removed one of the last of 
 those who ' once saw Shelley plain.' Edward John Trelawney 
 was one of the survivoi's of that matchless company of men 
 with whom it was his good fortune to be intimate, one of the 
 last links that bound the present generation to the time of 
 Byron and Shelley. Trelawney will always be remembered as 
 one of the few who psrformed Shelley's Roman rites by the 
 shore of Spezia Bay, as one of the few who stood by the death- 
 bed of Byron. Another wanderer, author, adventurer, who 
 died this year, was Grenville Mun^ay, once familiar in all men's 
 mouths as the ' Roving Englishman.' He did a great many 
 things very well, but nothing superlatively well. He wrote 
 novels so very clever that they were sometimes mistaken for 
 the works of greater men ; he was a rattKng, vivacious special 
 correspondent in days when special correspondence meant less 
 than it means in the days of Archibald Forbes, of MacGahan, 
 and Edmund O'Donovan. He was a bright essayist, a good 
 story-teller, an incomparable Jldneur. For many reasons he 
 found it convenient to exile himself from England during the 
 latter part of his life. His tastes and sympathies were always 
 much more Continental than insular, and he died, not inappro- 
 priately, in the city which he probably loved best of all cities, 
 the city by the Seine. Among a crowd of othei's of less note 
 may be mentioned John Hill Burton, the Scotch historian, the 
 book-lover, the chronicler of the age of Anne ; Mrs. S. C 
 Hall, an authoress of some gentle and pleasant stories of Irish 
 life ; Mrs. Ward, Nelson's adopted daughter, the ' little Horatia' 
 of his letters ; James Speddiug, the Baconian scholar and 
 critic ; Samuel Sharpe, the Egyptologist ; William Rathbone 
 Greg, the essayist; Mr. Edward Miall, the Nonconformist, 
 and E. A. Sothern, the actor, to be remembered in the 
 annals of the stage as the inventor of Lord Dundreary. Out
 
 172 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 in Madras died Adam, former Liberal whip, and for a short 
 time Commissioner of "Works under the new Government. 
 His health had been failing when he accepted the Governorship 
 of Madras ; the change of climate came too late to save him. 
 He was more, perhaps, sincerely regretted in the political world 
 than is often the lot of minor politicians. 
 
 One young and promising career came to an untimely con- 
 clusion in this year. Mr. Arthur O'Shaughnessy had early taken 
 a prominent place among the constellation of young poets who 
 grouped themselves around the central sun of Mr. Swinburne. 
 He was an official of the British Museum, like Theophile 
 Marzials and E. W. Gosse ; like Russian Ralston and Assyrian 
 Suiith ; like Mr. Richard Garnett, most erudite of librarians; 
 most scholarly of critics, most graceful of translators.
 
 173 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 PARLIAMENTARY REFORM. 
 
 The yeai' 1882 opened with a grim sense of disquiet every- 
 where. In Ireland aifairs were more disturbed than ever; 
 Blr. Forster's policy of imprisoning the Land League leaders 
 had completely failed in restoring anything like order to the 
 country, and the general sense of England seemed to consider 
 that he had made a mistake. For the moment, however, a 
 feeling of helpless despondency with regard to Ireland existed 
 in England. The chief topic of popular discussion was the pro- 
 posed reform of the rules and regulations of debate in the 
 House of Commons. Both the great political parties were 
 agreed that some change was necessary, though they differed 
 as to the nature and degree of the proposed alterations. Natu- 
 rally any suggestion of change in Parliamentary institutions that 
 had stood the test of centuries was in itself a proposition of 
 such magnitude as to cause uneasiness even in the minds of 
 those who most advocated the necessity for some alteration. 
 The speeches of public men, the thoughts of private men, were 
 chiefly occupied by the condition of Ireland, and the talked-of 
 changes in the Parliamentary machinery which had in some 
 measure been the outcome of the Irish question. There was 
 one other topic, too, on which men's minds were agitated. Our 
 relationsliips with Egypt were becoming more complicated 
 every day. 
 
 Parliament met on February 7. The Queen's speech began 
 by announcing the intended marriage of Prince Leopold, Duke 
 of Albany, with the Princess Helen of Waldeck and Pyrmont. 
 The successful cession of Thessaly to the Greek Government 
 was next mentioned ; the afiairs of Egypt were touched upon 
 with no suggestion of alarm ; the progress of the proposed new 
 commercial treaty with France was alluded to. The condition 
 of Ireland was declared to show some signs of improvement.
 
 174 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 Proposals were mentioned for the establishment in the English 
 and Welsh counties of the systems of local self-government 
 ■which had been so long enjoyed by the towns ; for the reform of 
 the Corporation of London; for the introduction of Bills dealing 
 ■with bankruptcy, ■with corrupt practices at elections, the 
 criminal code, the consolidation of the patents la-ws, and the 
 conservancy of rivers. 
 
 The Bradlaugh question immediately came up again with 
 the meeting of the House. As soon as the new members 
 who had been elected during the recess had come forward and 
 taken the oaths and their seats, jNIr. Bradlaugh presented 
 himself at the table, and demanded to be sworn in his turn. 
 The resolution which had kept him from the precincts of the 
 House being merely a sessional order had no longer any force, 
 and Mr. Bradlaugh was perfectly free to enter the Chamber. 
 £ir Stafford Northcote immediately rose and urged that the 
 conditions of things were in no way altered, and he moved in 
 consequence a resolution of a very similar nature to that of 
 April 26 of the preceding year. Sir William Hai'court, as the 
 representative of the Government in the absence of Mr. Glad- 
 stone, moved the previous question, and supported his motion 
 by arguing that the House had no power either to alter the 
 provisions of the statute under which Mr. Bradlaugh desired to 
 De sworn, or to make any inquiry into the religious belief of 
 d;\ly elected members. Mr. Bradlaugh was then allowed once 
 again to address the listening Commons from the bar. An 
 orator of ability, pleading for a cause that had considerable 
 public sujDpoi't, could hardly wish for a better rostrum than the 
 bar of the House of Commons, or a more interesting auchence 
 than its medley of members. Mr. Bradlaugh, addressing the 
 attentive Commons, may have felt something of the emotions of 
 Talma addressing his ixirterre of ' i:>rinces orgulous.' It was 
 admitted, even by those who were most opposed to INIr. Brad- 
 laugh, that in his difficult position he comported himself with 
 dignity and with eloquence ; that, regarded simply as a piece of 
 oratoiy, his defence of himself was worthy of the occasion. It 
 ^as the more difficult for him to be at all impressive in his
 
 PARLTA^IENIARY REFORM. 175 
 
 appeal, because it was not the first, nor even the second time 
 that he had found himself there addressing the House of 
 Commons from the Commons bar. The House of Commons 
 does not love repetitions, and it is so much the more to Mr. 
 Bradlaugh's credit, artistically, that he was able to repeat once 
 and again his part of pleader for his rights before the Commons 
 without making his hearers either impatient or indifferent. 
 
 Mr. Bradlaugh urged that he had been misunderstood and 
 misrepresented. If he were allowed to take the oath he should 
 consider it as binding both upon his honour and his conscience. 
 But he warned the House that he was determined to present 
 himself again and again to demand his rights, unless indeed 
 the Government were prepared to bring in some measure for 
 the alteration of the existing law, in which case he would wait 
 in patience till such law were passed. Mr. Gladstone, who 
 had by this time come into the House, maintained his formerly 
 expressed opinion that the matter was one with which the 
 courts of law alone were properly competent to deal. The 
 previous question being negatived by 286 to 228, Mr. Brad- 
 laugh again advanced to the table. The Speaker ordered him 
 to withdraw. Mr. Bradlaugh declined. The Speaker appealed 
 to the House. Sir Stafford Northcote moved that Mr. Brad- 
 laugh be directed to withdraw. The motion was carried without 
 a division, and Mr. Bradlaugh withdrew under protest to his 
 familiar seat under the clock on the Liberal side, a seat which, 
 being below the bar, and therefore not technically in the 
 House, he was at liberty to occupy. 
 
 He soon asserted his claim again. On February 21 his 
 colleague in the repi'esentation of Xoi-thampton, Mr. Labou- 
 chere, moved for a new writ for Northampton. This was 
 refused by the House by a large majority. No sooner was the 
 division taken than Mr. Bradlaugh, who had been watching 
 the proceedings, hurried up the floor of the House, stood before 
 the table, and, taking from his pocket a New Testament, 
 proceeded in a loud tone of voice to swear himself in. The 
 respectable inhabitants of Yeii, who were assembled in their 
 temple on that auspicious day when the priest announced
 
 176 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 victory to him who should make the impending sacrifice, could 
 hardly have been more surprised when Camillus made his 
 sensation leap through the floor, and performed the rite, than 
 were the assembled Commons at beholding Mr. Bradlausrh 
 standing at the table and calmly administering the oath to 
 himself. Stupefaction held them still, as Mr. Bradlangh, 
 having sworn himself in to his own satisfaction, produced a 
 paper announcing that he had duly taken the oath, signed 
 this document, and ];ud it gravely on the table. By this 
 time the House had shaken ofi" its stupor, and was howling 
 and shouting with inarticulate rage as Mr. Bradlaugh took a 
 seat with the calm appearance of a man who had now suc- 
 ceeded in satisfying all scruples and pleasing all parties. Im- 
 mediately a bewildering, confused debate sprang up. Lord 
 Randolph Churchill argued vehemently that the extraordinary 
 action which the House had just witnessed in itself vacated 
 the seat. The law officers of the Crown disagreed, and could not 
 see their way to declaring that any statute had been broken. 
 Loi'd Randolph Churchill then asked if the insult to the House 
 was to be passed over in silence ; but upon the counsel of 
 Mr. Gladstone the discussion of the matter was postponed till 
 the next day, Wednesday, February 22. 
 
 The next day, accordingly, the wrangle began again. After 
 much expostulation on the part of the Ministry, who evidently 
 did not know what to do, and much fierce invective from the 
 fierier Conservative spirits, Mr. Labouchere, by way of bringing 
 everything to a genial termination, proposed that Mr. Brad- 
 laugh should be heard in his own defence. It may be that 
 Mr. Bradlausfh thought he had now addressed the House 
 sufficiently often from the bar of the House. It is certain that 
 the repetition of such speeches from the bar could not but 
 prove injurious to any cause and to any orator. Whatever 
 may have been his reasons, Mr. Bradlaugh was not going this 
 time to keep within the old lines. He boldly entered the 
 House, took a seat below the gangway, and argued with the 
 Speaker his right to state his case from that position. This 
 made the House more angry than ever. A stringent motion
 
 PARLIAMENTABY REFOBM. 177 
 
 for expulsion was at once brought forward by Sir Stafford 
 Northcote, and carried by 297 to 80. Mr. Bradlaugh being 
 thus formally expelled from the House, a new writ was im- 
 mediately moved for, and granted without division. About the 
 same time that Mr. Bradlaugh was thus being turned adrift 
 from the Commons, the case of Clarke v. Bradlaugh was being 
 argued over in the Court of Appeal, and the decision of the 
 lower court, granting a new trial in Clarke v. Bradlaugh, was 
 reversed. Mr. Bradlaugh once more came forward as a candi- 
 date for Northampton, and was once more triumphantly re- 
 elected, defeating Mr. Corbett, who again opposed him, by a 
 majority of 108 votes. 
 
 Once more, therefore, the House of Commons and Mr. 
 Bradlaugh were opposed. On March 6 Sir Stafford Northcote, 
 determined to do his best to keep Mr. Bradlaugh out this time, 
 moved a stern resolution that the House, having ascertained 
 that Mr. Bradlaugh has been re-elected for Northampton, 
 affirmed the sessional resolution of February 7, and directed that 
 he be not permitted to take the oath. To this Mr. Maijoribanks 
 moved, as an amendment, a resolution urging a modification of 
 the existing law, which would allow every elected member to 
 take the oath or to affix'm according to his option. This 
 amendment was supported by Mr. Gladstone, who considered 
 Sir Stafford Northcote's resolution of too aggressive a charac- 
 ter, and believed that legislation would relieve the House from 
 a painful position. The resolution, however, was carried by 
 257 to 242 : majority, 15. The Government thereupon went 
 through the now familiar performance of pretending to regard 
 the leadership of the House in this matter as entirely in Sir 
 Stafford Northcote's hands, and allowed it to be understood 
 that they had no intention of bringing forward any legis- 
 lation on the matter. They assumed, in fact, the attitude 
 which of all others is perhaps the least becoming to a Govern- 
 ment — that of the small boy who announces that he ' won't play 
 any more,' because he thinks he has been badly treated by his 
 companions in the game. A sort of understanding, however, 
 was arrived at with Mr. Bradlaugh himself by virtue of which
 
 178 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 he was allowed a seat on one of the benches below the clock, 
 on condition that he did nothing to disturb the House, and 
 made no effort to share in its debates. 
 
 Strife over the Bi'adlaugh question was not confined to the 
 Commons alone. In the Upper House as well there was 
 wrangling, and peer opposed to peer on the great question of 
 oath or no oath. Lord Redesdale began the war by bringing 
 in a Bill to exclude all atheists from Parliament ; but it was 
 defeated on its second reading, on March 23, by Lord Shaftes- 
 bury moving the previous question. For a while the Govern- 
 ment made no reply to this attack, but three months later, on 
 July 4, tlie Duke of Argyll made an effort to solve the difficulty 
 by bringing in an Affirmation Bill of his own, which was 
 promptly thrown out, on Lord Carnarvon's motion, by 138 
 to 62. 
 
 The Thanes were flying from Mr. Gladstone. One after an- 
 other the old Whigs were dropping from his standard, and 
 cither holding aloof or formally going over to the enemy. In 
 
 1881 Lord Zetland had formally seceded from the Liberal party, 
 an insignificant herald of more significant secessions. Early in 
 
 1882 Lord Grey cut himself off from Liberalism, and went over 
 with much pomp and solemnity to the enemy. Lord Grey 
 expressed himself as much alarmed by the harm Mr. Gladstone 
 was doing to the land laws in Ireland, and was no doubt 
 scheming to do to the land laws in England. He, at least, 
 vvould not support Mr. Gladstone in a policy to which he no 
 doubt thought — for he almost said so — that Lord Beaconsfield's 
 expression of ' plundering and blundering ' was singularly 
 appropriate. With Lord Zetland Lord Grey refused * to go on 
 supporting a man who on every really important question acts 
 against the old opinions of all the great Whig leaders in the old 
 days, when the Whigs were a party to which I for one Avas 
 proud to belong, and of which I will not give up the traditions 
 because a set of men choose to call themselves the successors of 
 a party with which they have really nothing in common.' Sc 
 wrote Lord Grey angi'ily to Colonel Dawnay, brother of the 
 man who was just about to be returned for the North Biding
 
 PARLIA3IENTARY REFORM. 179 
 
 by a comparatively small majority over Mr. Rowlandson, the 
 representative of the Farmers' Alliance, Nobody paid any great 
 attention to Lord Grey's retii'ement or to Lord Grey's pro- 
 nouncement. The days of the old Whigs, to which he so fondly 
 alluded, ■were as much a part of the past as the reigns and 
 records of Egyptian Thothmes or Assyrian Assurbani-Pal. No 
 human being was ever to be stirred again by any appeal to the 
 venerable party cries and i^olitical watchwords which had done 
 good service in the days when the house of Hanover was yet 
 young in England, and "VValpole was setting an example to 
 commoner Prime Ministers. Lord Grey was an eccentric 
 statesman, who had long ceased to play any part of the least 
 importance in politics. He was the son of that Lord Grey, the 
 friend of Fox, the father-in-law of Lord Durham, who had been 
 so much under the domination of his strenuous, great-hearted 
 son-in-law. The present Lord Grey was determined not to 
 understand that the world had advanced at all from the days of 
 the first Reform Bill. He lived entirely among the traditions 
 of the past, in that peaceful time before energetic Eadicalism 
 had reared its head high ; he still fondly imagined the world to 
 be in the Saturnian age of politics. He was out of tune with 
 the modern mind, to whom the Whig is almost as much an 
 anachronism as the mastodon, or the men in armour of a Lord 
 Mayor's Show. He did not see that the strife henceforward 
 was not between Whig and Tory, but between Tory and Radi- 
 cal ; that the moderados of both parties, the Whig on he one 
 hand and the Conservative on the other, were boimd to dis- 
 appear from the bustle and stiife about them, and to take their 
 proper place as the curiosities of a museum. 
 
 On March 20, 1882, the debate on the proposed alterations 
 of the new rules of Parliamentary debate may be said to have 
 practically begun. The first resolution had actually been moved 
 by Mr. Gladstone on February 20, and Mr, Marriott, Q.C, the 
 Liberal member for Brighton, had brought forward his famous 
 amendment ; but the Bradlaugh episode, and the quarrel with 
 the Lords, and the necessity of obtaining Supply, had inter- 
 im 2
 
 180 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 vened, and occupied Parliamentaiy time to the exclusion of 
 other lousiness for the succeedincf month. 
 
 The first rule gives the Speaker, or the chairman of a com- 
 mittee of the whole House, the power of informing the House 
 when he considers it to be the evident sense of the House, or 
 of the committee, that the debate should close ; whereupon a 
 motion ' that the question be now put ' might be at once decided 
 in the affirmative, if supported by more than two hundred 
 members, or opposed by less than forty members, and supported 
 by more than one hundred members. The second rule restricts 
 the making a motion for adjournment before the orders of the 
 day or notices of motion have been entered into. The third 
 limits the debate on such motions strictly to the matter of the 
 motion ; and prohibits any member sjieaking to such a motion 
 from moving or seconding a similar motion during the same 
 debate. The fourth rule allows the Speaker, before a dilatory 
 division, to call upon the members challenging it to rise in their 
 places, and if they are less than twenty to declare the deter- 
 mination of the House without a division. By the fifth rule 
 the Speaker may call the attention of the House to continued 
 irrelevance or tedious repetition on the part of a member, and 
 direct him to stop speaking The sixth decides that, in com- 
 mittee on a Bill, the preamble shall stand postponed without 
 debate until after the consideration of the clauses. The seventh 
 allows the chairman of a committee, who has been ordered to 
 make a report to the House, to leave the chair without the 
 question being put. The eighth amended the half -past twelve 
 o'clock rule of February 18, 1879, by declaring that the rule 
 should not apply to the motion for leave to bring in a Bill, nor 
 to any Bill which has passed through committee. The ninth gives 
 the Speaker, after naming a member, the power of putting the 
 question for his suspension without any debate, and rules that 
 any member suspended under this order should be suspended 
 on the first occasion for a week, on the second for a fortnight, 
 and on the third for a month. The tenth allows the Speaker 
 to put the question at once, whenever he considers any motion 
 of adjournment to be made for the purpose of obstruction.
 
 PARLIAMENTARY REFORM. 181 
 
 The eleventh and twelfth provide for considering an amended 
 Bill, and for going into Committee of Supply under certain 
 conditions without putting any question. Then followed 
 some rules empowering the formation of two grand committees 
 — one on law and justice, and the other on trade, shipping, 
 and manufacture, to which Bills belonging to either of these 
 divisions were to be committed. It was soon made evident 
 that these innovations were not to be accepted without a severe 
 and protracted struggle. Notices of amendments to all these 
 various proposals literally were showered upon the order books. 
 The amendment which was first considered, that of Mr. 
 Marriott, was one of the most important, because it came from 
 a supporter of the Government, and because it struck at once 
 at the chief principle of the new proposals. Mr. Marriott's 
 amendment declai-ed that no change in the rules of debate 
 could be considered satisfactory which gave to a majority in 
 the House of Commons the power of closing a debate. Mr. 
 Marriott did not limit his censures to the proposals; he freely 
 attacked the manner in which he considered that the proposals 
 had been forced on the House by the machinery of the caucus, as 
 applied by Mr. Chamberlain, and he vigorously attacked the 
 dangerous influence which, according to him, Mr. Chamberlain 
 exerted in the Cabinet. This was the point at which the 
 Government had arrived, when first Mr. Bradlaugh, then the 
 Peers, and finally Supply, had interfered with its further 
 progress. 
 
 When the discussion on Mr. Marriott's amendment to the 
 first of the procedure resolutions was resumed on March 20, 
 Lord Hartington, as the spokesman of the Ministry, announced 
 that the Government were determined to stand by the principle 
 of closure by a bare majority. This principle was not merely 
 obnoxious to the whole body of the Opposition ; it was vigor- 
 ously assailed from within the Libei'al ranks. Mr. IMarriott 
 himself had declared his opposition by his amendment, while 
 supporters of the Government like Sir John Lubbock, and even 
 Mr. AValter, were urgent in advising the Government to yield 
 to some compromise, such as that of a two-thirds majority. For
 
 182 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 ten nights the debate on this question was carried on, in which 
 both sides displayed an ingenuity of argument that was not a 
 little bewildering to the unprejudiced student;, whose opinions 
 wavered one Avay as he heard Sir Michael Hicks-Beach point 
 out the horrors of the tyranny which the Government were 
 about to impose upon a once free Commons, and veered back in 
 the other direction as he listened to Mr. Bright painting the 
 reign of peace which would be sure to follow upon the success- 
 ful adoption of the Ministerial proposal. When the division 
 was taken on March 30, the numbers stood 318 in favour of the 
 Government to 279 against it — a decidedly lai-ger majority than 
 the Ministerialists had really ventured to hope for. When the 
 rules had reached this point the House adjourned for Easter, in 
 the full confidence that the discussion would be soon resumed 
 and soon finished. But it was decided by the destinies that, 
 with the exception of a single discussion on May 1, the new 
 rules were not to be heard of again till the end of the session. 
 
 Early in March Parliament was able to congratulate the 
 Queen on her escape from the attack of a madman. The Mini- 
 sterial proposal to increase Prince Leopold's allowance of 
 10,000/. to 25,000/. in view of his approaching marriage was 
 carried on March 23, after some sharp Radical oi")position, 
 by 387 to 42, the minority being the largest ever recorded 
 ngainst a grant to a royal prince. On March 24 the old 
 sijiiit of protection, which was deemed to have been exorcised 
 and laid long ago, strove to rise from its grave and display itself 
 in all its terrors to an undismayed majority. Mr. Ritchie, it is 
 true, did not avowedly call himself a protectionist ; he merely 
 moved for a committee, in the interests of fair trade, to consider 
 the oj)eration of foreign tarifis on British commerce. But it 
 needed a vei-y slight display of the arguments of Mx. Ritchie 
 and his supporters to show that new fair trade was indeed but 
 old protection writ short. Sir Stafford Northcote, it is true, 
 who had once been looked upon as the staun chest Conservative 
 opponent of protection, and who had shown himself such on the 
 protection motion of two years before, now declared himself 
 ready to vote for Mr. Ritchie's inquuy. In spite, however, of 
 this exami)le, only 89 members supported Mr. Ritchie, as
 
 PARLIAMENTARY REFORM. 183 
 
 opposed to 140 who declined to have any dealings with pro- 
 tection, however cunningly dioguised. 
 
 Parliament i-eassembled on October 24 to discuss the rules 
 of procedure. Lord Eandolph Churchill immediately attacked 
 the Government for departing from constitutional usage by 
 assembling for the discussion of business after passing the 
 Appropriation Bill. The Appropriation Bill, Lord Randolph 
 Churchill urged, was almost invariably kept for the last measure 
 of a session, in order to preserve the privileges of members after 
 Supply had been closed. By abandoning this principle, Lord 
 Randolph Churchill declared that the Government were putting 
 the House at their mercy. Mr. Gladstone, in rej^ly, admitted 
 that it was unusual for Parliament to reassemble after the pass- 
 ing of the Appropriation Bill, but that the course was not un- 
 precedented; as in 1820, when Queen Caroline was tried, the 
 House adjourned three times after passing the Appropriation 
 Act, and transacted public business each time. Sir Stafford 
 ISTorthcote pointed out that the cases were not parallel, as the 
 Government in 1820 only kept the House sitting for the pur- 
 pose of the Queen's trial, and l^rought forward no business of 
 their own. Lord Randolph Churchill's motion for adjournment 
 was defeated by 209 to 142. 
 
 The debates on the Procedure Rules were long, and it must 
 be confessed wearisome. There was vigorous opposition offered 
 to all the Ministerial proposals, b\;t on the strength of its great 
 majority the Government was unwilling to make many con- 
 cessions, and in most cases carried its point triumphantly. The 
 great battle of the protracted debates was fought on the question 
 of closure by a majority pure and simple, or by a propoi-tional 
 majority of two-thuxls, or some other ingenious device. Com- 
 pared with this question, in which the whole principle of closure 
 was involved, all the other portions of the Ministerial proposals 
 were comparatively unimportant, and on this question the 
 opinion of the House was widely divided. The majority of the 
 Conservative party, following Sir Stafford Northcote's lead, de- 
 clared themselves opposed to the introduction of closure at all. 
 Still, if closure they must have, let it be the proportional closure, 
 as being on the whole less mischievous than the closure by a
 
 184 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE 
 
 pure and simple majority. To this Lord Randolph Churchill 
 and the extremer members of the Tories below the gangway 
 disagreed. Bad as closure was, proportional closure was worse. 
 Closure by a bare majority would be more likely to bring the 
 system into contempt than the more speciously fair- seeming 
 system of proportional closure. The vast majority of the Liberals 
 were in favour of the absolute closure. The really advanced 
 Radicals, as represented by Mr. Labouchere, wished to see closure 
 frequently employed against even the formal and recognised 
 opposition. The 'democratic creed,' as expounded by Mr. 
 liabouchere, was ' that there ought to be very frequent elections, 
 say once every three yeai's ; that certain measures ought to be 
 presented to the people at these elections ; that there should be 
 a plebiscite with regard to them ; and that if the people made 
 up their minds that they should pass, the Ministry representing 
 the majority having received an imperative mandate to carry 
 them through, discussion was therefore useless.' The Govern- 
 ment received further the somewhat rare support of the Irish 
 members, who, as a party, voted for closure pure and simple, on 
 the ground that the two-thirds scheme was aimed at the Irish 
 party alone, while by the Government plan the measure would 
 be ineted out to the Opposition as well as to the Irish party. 
 Mr. Gibson's two-thirds amendment was defeated by 322 to 238, 
 a much larger majority than the supporters of the Government 
 liad ventured to hope for. The Opposition made various other 
 attempts to amend and oppose the first rule, but the final division 
 on it was taken on November 10, when by a majority of 44 — 
 the numbers being 304 to 260 — the principle of closure familiar 
 to Continental parliaments was for the first time introduced into 
 the procedure of the English House of Commons. The passing 
 of the other rules was a mere question of time. Six weeks after 
 the House had met for its autumn session the new rules were 
 finally disposed of, and had become a part of the institutions of 
 Parliament. But tinkering of this kind was of very little use. 
 The Parliamentary machine was well-nigh worn out. The con- 
 duct of the Conservative opposition in 1884 made it quite 
 clear that its antiquated forms and formalities had had their
 
 PARLIAMENTARY REFORM. 185 
 
 day, and were now only impediments to the progress of public 
 business. 
 
 A further effort to shorten the time devoted to public busi- 
 ness was made by the creation of the two grand committees, 
 one to deal with Bills relating to law and justice, the other to 
 consider measures relating to trade, shipping, and manufactures. 
 Each committee was to be composed of not more than eighty and 
 not less than sixty members, twenty to form a quorum. Their 
 sittings were to be public, and were not to be carried on while 
 the House was not sitting unless by special order. These com- 
 mittees were empowered to consider all Bills entrusted to them, 
 to debate upon and amend according to all the rules of the 
 House. Measures considered by them would be then sent to 
 the House, which had the power of re-discussing the whole 
 measure point by point. It was, however, hoped that the House 
 would not invariably make full use of this privilege, and that 
 the grand committee would therefore materially facilitate busi- 
 ness. The experiment was limited at first to one session ; rooms 
 were fitted up in the House for the reception of the new insti- 
 tutions, These rooms had all the appearance of mimic parlia- 
 ments — toy parliaments, their opponents contemptuously called 
 them — with their Ministerial and Opposition benches, or rather 
 rows of chairs, their gangway, and their table for chairman and 
 clerks. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 IRELAND IN 1882. 
 
 As far as the Commons were concerned, it seemed at first as if 
 the session was not to be devoted to the Irish question so com- 
 pletely as the previous sessions had been. The Irish questions 
 had, indeed, been discussed in the Lower House during the 
 debate on the address. Mr. Gray had attacked the Government 
 for imprisoning the Irish leaders, and had moved unsuccessfully 
 for a committee of inquiry. Mr. Justin M'Carthy, as leader 
 of the Irish party in the absence of Mr. Parnell, had arraigned
 
 186 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 tlie Irish policy of Mr. Forster, and the Chief Secretary had 
 made his defence. Mr. P. J. Smyth, an Irishman of the '48 
 school, who was as unpopular now in Ireland as he had been in 
 England in his younger daj^s, moved an amendment of his own, 
 supporting a restoration of the Irish Parliament, and had been 
 defeated after offering to withdraw his amendment. Mr, James 
 Lowther, delighted to find himself once more in Parliament, 
 and happier in opposition than in office, had made a rattling 
 attack upon Mr. Gladstone and the Ministry generally, ac- 
 cusing them of making use of agitation and of outrage for the 
 purpose of coercing Parliament. The Irish members had called 
 upon Mr. Gladstone to explain his speech upon Mr. Smyth's 
 amendment, in which he had uttered some words which bad 
 seemed to indicate sympathy with the demand for Home Rule. 
 Mr. Gladstone had replied that he had always been of opinion 
 that a demand from Ireland for some form of local government 
 was not too dangerous to be considered, but that up to this 
 time no case, properly formulating the Irish claim, and 
 including needful precautions for the preservation of the 
 supremacy of the British Crown, had been presented. But 
 all these various discussions of the various points of the Irish 
 question had passed over without much difficulty, and for a 
 moment it seemed as if Ireland were not to be the all-engross- 
 ing tojiic of the session, when suddenly, from the quarter where 
 it might least have been expected, the whole question was raised 
 anew and with aggravated intensity. This new quarter was the 
 House of Lords. On Friday, February 17, Lord Donoughmore 
 moved for a select committee to inquire into the working of 
 the Land Act. The step was undoubtedly extraordinary and 
 unusual. The Land Act had only been some four months in 
 actual working operation, and here was a proposition gravely 
 made among the peers to inquire into its workings and reopen 
 the whole land question and perhaps the land agitation again. 
 The Government fought despei-ately against the jn-oposal, but 
 wholly in vain. Many of the peers had regretted bitterly the 
 way in which they had been forced to accept the Land Act ; 
 many, perhaps, fancied that after all, if they had stood out
 
 IRELAND IN 1882, 187 
 
 firmly at the time, they might have successfully rejected the 
 Bill, and possibly destroyed the Ministry. They saw now that 
 the ]Ministry was embarrassed ; they believed that it was un- 
 popular ; time and the hour seemed ripe for their revenge. The 
 landlord party, always strong in the House of Lords, denounced 
 the partiality of the new land commissioners and sub-commis- 
 sioners. They attacked Mr. Gladstone for his observations 
 about Home Rule, in which they detected darksome schemes 
 for the entire destruction of landlordism in Ireland. But most 
 of all, perhaps, they dwelt upon a certain pamphlet which had 
 just been issued Avith the official approval of the Irish Land 
 Commission. This pamphlet, which had for title ' How to 
 become Owner of your own Farm; why Irish Landlords should 
 Sell, and Irish Tenants should Purchase ; and how they can do 
 it under the Land Act of 1881,' consisted of a reprint of a series 
 of articles which had appeared in the Freemmi^s Journal. The 
 pamphlet was written by Mr, George Fottrell, a Dublin solicitor 
 of position, who had been appointed secretary to the Irish Land 
 Commission. It skilfully and strenuously defended peasant 
 proprietorship ; described the Land League as ' the most wide- 
 spread, the most powerful, and in its effects, we believe, the 
 most enduring organisation of our time;' and spoke of the cause 
 for which ' Parnell and Dillon and Davitt laboured and suf- 
 fered.' This was one of the pieces of ill luck that had pursued 
 the Government ever since they had taken office. No blame 
 was attachable to Mr. Fottrell. He had written to the 
 Freeman his opinions on the land question ; he had thought 
 that their republication would be of service to the Land Com- 
 mission, by making its powers and its purpose more easily in- 
 telligible to landlord and to tenant; he was a well-to-do man, 
 who had nothing to gain by his secretaryship to the Commis- 
 sion, which he immediately resigned as soon as the pamphlet 
 became a cause of quarrel and was withdrawn from official cir- 
 culation. But the pamphlet, of course advocating extreme 
 views, commending an organisation that the authorities had 
 suppressed as illegal, and praising men who were at that 
 moment in prison by order of the executive, gave the Lords
 
 188 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 an opportunity of attacking the Government, of which they 
 gladly made use. Lord Donoughmore's motion was carried by 
 96 to 53, no less than twelve Liberal Peers voting in the 
 majority. 
 
 The Govei-nment met this challenge, which was practically 
 a recantation of the consent of the Lords to the Land Act, and 
 a direct censure upon the Ministry, by refusiBg to recognise 
 the committee, or have anything to do with it. Unabashed 
 and undismayed the Peers went on. Lord Donoughmore moved 
 the appointment of his committee, consisting of fourteen Peers, 
 a few of whom were Liberal in name, like Lord Dunraven and 
 Lord Brabourne. Lord Salisbury sounded some notes of defiance 
 against the Ministry ; Lord Gi'anville i^rotested futilely, and the 
 commission was appointed without a division. The Prime 
 Minister answered defiantly this defiance from the Upper House. 
 He at once moved what was practically a vote of censure on the 
 Lords for their conduct. He brought forward on February 27 
 a resolution showing that any Parliamentary inquiry into the 
 Avorking of the Land Act at so early a period of its career must 
 be injurious to its successful action, and to the administration 
 of govei'nment in Ireland. The debate lasted for several nights, 
 during which various hopes of a compromise of some kind were 
 frequently raised, to be as frequently destroyed. Finally, on 
 March 9, Mr. Gladstone's resolution was carried by 303 to 235. 
 
 In the meantime the condition of Ireland was in no wise 
 improving. Mr. Forster had been entrusted with tremendous 
 powers ; he had imprisoned men by hundreds ; he was practi- 
 cally as much the master of Ireland as Mouraviefi" was of 
 Lithuania, and yet it was being admitted on all sides that 
 he had wholly failed to pacify the country. When he had fii'st 
 asked for coercive powers he had distinctly led the House 
 and the country to understand that he knew exactly the men 
 who were causing agitation, and who ought to be arrested, 
 and he left the logical inference to be tmderstood that, these 
 men once ariested, agitation would of necessity cease. Agita- 
 tion had not ceased. There wei'e 918 arrests under the 
 Coercion Acts up to April 18; there were over 600 men in
 
 IRELAND IN 1882. 189 
 
 prison, including the Parliamentary leaders of the Land League, 
 and j'et the country was more dangerously disturbed than ever. 
 Wliile the Land League existed, and was drawing into its open 
 agitation all the discontent of the country, the secret societies had 
 practically ceased to exist. The moment the open agitation was 
 13ut down by the strong hand of the Government, that moment 
 the secret societies found new strength, and began to thrive and 
 flourish. The horrors and terrors of the days of the tithe war were 
 revived again. From all sides arose a demand for some altera- 
 tion in the treatment of Ireland. The advanced Radicals called 
 for a marked change in the Irish executive ; the Liberals who did 
 not go so far as this felt that the Forster policy could be pur- 
 sued no longer. The Conservatives themselves became impressed 
 by the real magnitude and importance of the Irish question, and 
 were prepared to make concessions to Irish demands. Mr. W. H. 
 Smith brought forward a proposal for a large establishment 
 of peasant proprietors in Ireland, which was a practical deve- 
 lopment of Mr. Bright's theories on the subject, and a great 
 advance upon the purchase clauses of the Land Act of 1870. 
 Lord Salisbury gave his cordial support to Mr. AV. H. Smith's 
 proposals. At a meeting in Liverpool on April 1 2, Lord Salis- 
 bury declared that it was necessary to alter the Land Act, and 
 that the alterations could only take place in a forward direction. 
 Lord Salisbury saved himself from any accusation of change of 
 ground with great skill. ' I am not one of those,' he said, ' who 
 believe that after a revolutionary step you can go back. It is 
 one of the curses of revolution that it separates you by a chasm 
 from the past which you have left — a chasm which you can 
 never recross.' But he went on to say that the only hope of 
 establishing peace and contentment in Ireland lay in the effort 
 to bring the ownership of the land back again into single hands. 
 The utterances of the Conservative chief were repeated in all 
 directions by the Conservative clansmen, and the Government 
 soon found themselves in the awkward position of either having 
 their hand forced, or being outbid by their political opponents. 
 On April 20 a sharp debate sprang up in the House on the 
 conduct of an Irish resident magistrate, Mr, Clifford Lloyd, one
 
 190 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 of Mr. Forster's favourite subordinates in the carrying out of 
 the Coercion Acts. Mr. Clifford Lloyd was special magistrate 
 at Clare. He was perhaps the most unpopular magistrate in 
 Ireland, where he was as disturbing an element as he has since 
 proved in Egypt. As it was believed that his life might be 
 endangered every precaution was taken to afford him protec- 
 tion. All ordinary precautions of covirse it was the duty of 
 ]\Ir. Clifford Lloyd and of the police under him to provide, but 
 in one instance a subordinate took extraordinary precautions. 
 A circular was issued by the county inspector of Clare to the 
 sub- inspectors under his command, warning them to be on the 
 alert to prevent any attempt to assassinate Mr. Clifford Lloyd. 
 'Mea proceeding on his escort should be men of great deter- 
 mination as well as steadiness, and even on suspicion of an 
 attempt should at once use their firearms, to prevent the bare 
 possibility of an attempt on that gentleman's life.' This mar- 
 vellous document concluded by assuring those to whom it 
 was addressed that ' if men should accidentally commit an 
 error in shooting any person on suspicion of that person being 
 about to commit murder,' this county inspector was prepared 
 to ' exonerate them by coming forward and producing the 
 document.' Now this document was, on the face of it, wholly 
 illegal. There is nothing whatever in the British constitution 
 which allows any one, even a county inspector of police, to 
 exonerate any one else from the responsibility of kOling an 
 innocent person. The law does not recognise the capacity of 
 one citizen to take upon himself the responsibility for another 
 citizen's act of murder or of manslaughter. But, aj^art from 
 the gross illegality of the circular, it was a terrible document 
 to issue at such a time. An armed policeman, primed by the 
 perusal of such a circular, would not be likely to reflect very 
 profoundly upon its legality, would not be likely to waste 
 much time in considering whether, after all, his superior 
 oflicer had the j)ower of exonerating him from any of the 
 effects of his own rashness. In the excited condition that the 
 disturbed districts of Ireland were then in, a policeman might 
 fancy he discerned signs of an intent to murder in any wayside
 
 IRELAND IN 1882. 191 
 
 beggar or worker in the fields, or peaceful pedestrian, and open 
 fire upon him witliout hesitation, confident of complete absolu- 
 tion at the hands of his county inspector for any unfortunate 
 mistake. Of coiu'se the executive could not tolerate such a 
 cii'cular. It was shown that the inspector issuing it was an 
 excitable man, who lost his head in the presence of danger. 
 The debate got mixed up with other questions as to the right 
 to erect Land League huts for evicted tenants, but the circular 
 itself was kept steadily in view throughout the debate, and 
 was condemned on all sides. During this debate, one statement 
 was made which deserves quotation as throwing a curious light 
 upon the manner in which Mr. Forster conducted his govern- 
 ment of Ireland. Mr. Redmond, member for New Ross, had 
 said that Mr. Forster was in the habit of consulting Mr. Shaw, 
 member for Cork county, upon his coercive policy ; a little later 
 Mr. O'Connor Power rose and commented upon this statement. 
 * I also,' said Mr. O'Connor Power, ' have been reputed to share 
 the distinguished honour of the political confidences of the 
 right honourable gentleman.' In order to appreciate the full 
 importance of Mr. Power's succeeding remarks, it is necessary 
 to have clearly before one's mind the exact position both of 
 Mr. Shaw and of Mr. O'Connor Power. Mr. Shaw was a 
 conspicuously moderate man. lie had lost the leadership of 
 the Irish Parliamentary party because of his studied modera- 
 tion ; he had been opposed in the county he represented by a 
 Land League candidate ; he was a man of means, of position ; 
 his good sense and shrewd ability had often won him warm 
 Ministerial praises ; he was a strong Liberal, and a staunch 
 supporter of the Government. When the Irish extremists 
 sat in opposition, he remained resolutely in his old seat below 
 the gangway on the Opposition Liberal side. Here was a man 
 whom one would have thought a Chief Secretary for Ireland 
 would be glad to consult with. IMr. O'Connor Power was a 
 man also of great ability, who had begun his political career 
 as a man of extreme JSTational views, but who had been 
 gradually outstripped in extreme opinions by others, until 
 he now ranked as a moderate Home Pvuler. He was very
 
 192 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 unpopular with the Land League; he was very popular with the 
 Liberal party, to whom his really remarkable gift of eloquence 
 had been more than once of signal service. He, too, might bo 
 taken, like INIr. Shaw, as representing the opinions and express- 
 ing the demands of the really moderate men of Ireland. They 
 were the Gironde, they were something less than the Gironde, 
 of Irish discontent. If England was to pay any attention at 
 all to any Irish claims or any Irish grievances, these were the 
 very men whom one would imagine the head of an Irish exe- 
 cutive most anxious to consult, and most eager to understand. 
 Yet, ' I am able to say,' said Mr. O'Connor Power, * on behalf 
 of the honourable member for Cork county, Mr. Shaw, as well 
 as for myself, that the right honourable gentleman, the Chief 
 Secretary for Ireland, has not thought either of us worthy of 
 being consulted. Nor, indeed, has the right honourable gentle- 
 man taken into his confidence a single representative of Ireland 
 with regard to his Irish policy.' Mr, O'Connor Power further 
 related a conversation he had with a member of the House, who 
 had been returned by a large Irish constituency as an avowed 
 supporter of the Liberal Government, and said that the member 
 had assured him that Mr. Forster had never asked him a single 
 question about the Government of Ireland since he had taken 
 his scat on the front Government bench. Any comment upon 
 such conduct on the part of a Chief Secretary trying to deal 
 with an agitated country would be indeed superfluous. The 
 dry statement is in itself as cutting as the keenest satire or the 
 bitterest condemnation. 
 
 The case of Major Traill was very different. Major Traill 
 was a resident magistrate in Mayo. It was unfortunate that 
 the career of the most conspicuous of the resident magistrates 
 engaged in cari-ying out the Coercion Act was not altogether 
 irreproachable. Major Traill had been cai:)tain in the first 
 battalion of the 19th Foot, and while in that capacity had 
 been reprimanded by the general commanding the brigade at 
 Aldershot, in the presence of his brother officers, and his com- 
 manding officer had, in consequence, represented the desirability 
 of his removal from his battalion. He afterwards retired from
 
 IRELAyD IN 1882. 103 
 
 the army, and received the honorary rank of major on being 
 appointed to his resident magistracy by the late Government. 
 Major Traill had the reputation of being a som*ewhat eccentric 
 magistrate, and it was said of him that on one occasion he 
 drove into the town of Claremorris, and threatened to arrest 
 his shoemaker under the Coercion Act, because he had not 
 mended a pair of his old shoes. Bub he was determined to 
 preserve his own life, and to teach others to do the same, taking 
 for his text the legal words, ' No punishment or foi-feiture shall 
 be incurred by any person who shall kill another by misfor- 
 tune, or in his own defence, or in any other manner without 
 felony.' In accordance with this principle Major Traill always 
 went about with a guard of two policemen, one armed with a 
 Winchester repeating rifle, carrying twelve rounds ready and 
 fifte^ rounds in reserve; the other provided with a double- 
 barrelled gun loaded with buckshot, and carrying eight rounds 
 in reserve. He himself carried a revolver and six extra cart- 
 ridges, and his groom was similarly armed. ' The man who 
 attempts my life,' Major Traill wrote in the letter which de- 
 scribed his precautions, 'and lives to be tried by a jury, is entitled 
 to their meixiful consideration as a brave man.' Against any 
 such precautions as these there was nothing to be said. A man 
 had a perfect right to defend himself thoi'oughly against attempts 
 at assassination, and to be at all times prepared to make any 
 would-be assassin pay dearly for his attempt. But the circular 
 which had been issued with regard to the safety of Major Cliffoi'd 
 Lloyd was of a wholly different nature. 
 
 In the meantime Mr. Parnell had occupied himself in his 
 prison by drafting a Bill to meet the difficulty of the arrears of 
 rent under which the tenant farmers were weighed dow-n. This 
 Bill was sent out of Kilmainham to the Irish Parliamentary 
 party, and was put into the hands of Mr. Redmond. It pro- 
 posed to relieve distressed tenants of all arrears of rent up to 
 the time of the passing of the Land Act, in August 1881, and 
 to apply the funds of the Irish Church to the payment. This 
 Bill was brought forward in the House, and was favourably 
 criticised by the Prime Minister. Ho did not, indeed, accept
 
 19i ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 the measure as it stood, but he hailed it as an expression of the 
 (Ipsire of the Irish party to make the Land Act effectual, and 
 he allowed it to be understood that if the Irish party consented 
 to withdraw the measure — which, of course, they had not the 
 slightest chance of passing unassisted — the Government would 
 see its way to introduce a measure of some similar purport to 
 deal with the question of arrears. This announcement on the 
 part of the Government was only the herald to a series of more 
 surprising concessions. It was on the face of it inconsistent 
 that the Government should be accepting with approval Irish 
 schemes of legislation whose authors were at the time in prison. 
 It soon became rumoured abroad that the Iiish policy of the 
 Government was about to undei-go a radical change ; that there 
 were great dissensions in the Cabinet in consequence, and that 
 strange things might be looked for. The strange things came 
 to pass. 
 
 Undoubtedly the Government were very much embarrassed 
 by their position. They could not keep some hundreds of 
 * suspects ' perpetually in pi'ison ; neither could they hold Mr. 
 Parnell, Mr. Dillon, and Mr. O'Kelly always in Kilmainham. 
 Private overtui^es of liberation had indeed been made to the three 
 imprisoned members of Parliament on the part of the executive 
 on condition of their leaving the country for a time. The offer 
 was refused, and was renewed in another form. The imprisoned 
 members wei'e offered liberty if they would even consent to 
 leave the country for a very short term — if they would only cross 
 the water to France, free to return when they pleased. The 
 prisoners steadily refused these offers. They had been un- 
 fairly imprisoned, they considered, and they would come out 
 under no compromise. Early in April it suddenly became 
 known throughout Ireland that Mr. Parnell had been released, 
 and every village in Leinster, Connaught, and Munster blazed 
 into bonfires at the news, only to flicker down again when it 
 became known that the release was merely temporary — a libera- 
 tion on parole to allow Mr. Parnell to go to Paris for a few days 
 to attend the funeral of a relative. Mr. Parnell was bound by 
 the terms of the parole to take no political action of any kind
 
 IRELAND IN 18S2. 193 
 
 during his brief period of liberty, and of course the engagement 
 was strictly observed. There was a faint feeling, half hope, half 
 fear, among some of the Castle clique in Dublin that Mr. Parnell 
 would not return to Kilmainham ; but any such feeling was 
 quieted by Mr. Parnell's return to his prison on April 24. It 
 was felt pretty generally, however, that this temporary release 
 was only the herald of final freedom, and this feeling was 
 confirmed by the reception Mr. Gladstone accorded to the 
 Irish Arrears Bill, On Monday, May 1, the first definite 
 sign that something had taken place vras given by Lord 
 Salisbury in a question, or rather a string of questions, which he 
 addressed to Lord Granville in the House of Lords. Lord 
 Salisbury sought some explanation of ' the pj'odigies which have 
 appeared in the political sky.' In other Vvords, he wished to 
 know if it was true that the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Earl 
 Cowper, had resigned ; that Lord Spencer had taken his place ; 
 and that there was a change of policy indicated by the change 
 of ofiicers. Lord Granville declined to reply to the questions 
 till the next day. On May 2, therefore, Lord Salisbury repeated 
 his questions, and then Lord Granville made his answer. The 
 answer was full of surprises. Lord Granville announced that 
 Lord Cowper had resigned — had, in fact, done so some weeks 
 previously, but had left it to the option of the Prime Minister 
 when the resignation should take efiect. Lord Spencer was 
 appointed in his stead. Furthermore — and this was the most 
 impoi'tant and the most surprising part of the answer — the 
 Government had made up their minds to liberate the three 
 imprisoned members, and to examine into the cases of other 
 suspects. Finally, the Government intended legislation on the 
 arrears question and on the ' Bright clauses ' of the Land Act. 
 
 In the House of Commons the same day Mr. Gladstone made 
 a similar statement. Seldom in the history of Parliament, 
 seldom certainly in our own time, has a Ministerial declaration 
 so important and so unexpected been given from the Treasury 
 bench. Perhaps the nearest parallel we can find to it is when 
 Sir Robert Peel announced that his Government had abandoned 
 the principles of protection, and come round to the views of the 
 
 o 2
 
 196 ENGLAND UXDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 Anti-Corn Law League. The news was certainly of a nature 
 calculated to take away the breath of those unprepared for it. 
 Ever since their accession to power the Government had been 
 pursuing a certain line of poHcy Avith respect to Ireland. Sud- 
 denly, after having carried that policy out in the most extreme 
 manner, the Government changed its front without warning, 
 and inaugurated a diametrically opposite line of policy. Under 
 such conditions Mr. Forster's resignation was inevitable. The 
 Ministeiial change was in effect, though unavowedly, a direct 
 and severe censure upon his hopeless failure to deal with the 
 Irish difficulty, and a direct admission on the part of his chief 
 of the incapacity of the subordinate. Mr. Forster had of 
 course failed hojielessly. How hopelessly he had failed was 
 not known then, nor for nearly a year later. We know now 
 that the result of his extraordinary policy was to increase in- 
 stead of diminishing agitation and disaffection in Ireland. 
 While he was proudly boasting that he had all the discon- 
 tented and the dangerous in prison, safe under lock and key, 
 the real danger existed unknown to him, striking at his own 
 life. While he was confident that he had manufactured a peace 
 upon the method of Agricola, he only escaped from the blows of 
 assassins, of whose existence he was helplessly ignorant, by a 
 series of chances Avhich can be called little less than miraculous. 
 Ireland has had in her time a series of Chief Secretaries of 
 many kinds and various abilities ; but it may fairly be said that 
 she never had any one so incapable of attaining even a dim and 
 shadowy understanding of the conditions of the problem with 
 which he had to deal as Mr. Forster. It might well be 
 written of him, in paraphrase of what was once written of 
 L( rd Eldcn, that it had been given to no human being to do 
 so much good in Ireland as he had prevented. It has been 
 happily said that, under the new Government, Ireland had 
 suffered from three things— famine, the House of Lords, and 
 the administration of Mr. Forster. Of the three, the last was 
 the worst, for famine could not be more blind nor the House of 
 Lords more prejudiced than Mr. Forster. It is easy to under- 
 stand, it is even easy to pity Mr. Forster's position. He had
 
 IRELAND IN 18S2. 107 
 
 gone over to Ireland convinced that the Irish question had been 
 reserved for him and him alone to settle ; that the hom^ had 
 brought the man. He believed that he would be received 
 with joy by a grateful people, that he would return in triumph, 
 a sort of new and vastly superior Cicero, to tell his country 
 that there had been an Irish question. When he found that the 
 difficulties of centuries were not to be removed by a wave of 
 his hand, he lost his temper and his head. He became hope- 
 lessly entangled in the meshes of the Castle nets ; he learned 
 to see only with Castle eyes, and hear only with Castle ears. 
 The position of Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant is at 
 all times thankless enough ; to succeed in it is almost an 
 impossibility ; not to fail altogether i-equires infinite patience, 
 infinite moderation. Mr. Forster had no patience and no 
 moderation. When he found that everything would not go at 
 once as smoothly as he wished, he tried to force it his own wny. 
 Alexander, unable to disentangle the Gordian knot, and cutting 
 it with his sword, has remained to all time a satire upon petulant 
 impatience. But Ireland was not the knot of Gordius, and INIr. 
 Forster was not Alexander. His methods, alike of I'epression 
 and conciliation, were clumsy, capricious, almost ludicrous, had 
 not their effects been so disastrous. 
 
 The surprises were not quite over. On May 4 Mr. Cowen 
 asked Sir William Harcourt if the Government were willing 
 to order the release of Mr. INIichael Davitt. The Home Secre- 
 tary answered that the Government had decided to release 
 Mr. Michael Davitt unconditionally. A little later the same 
 day Sir Henry Wolff asked a question which was the ominous 
 herald of many a long and weary wrangle. He wished to know 
 whether the i^eleases were made in consequence of any assu- 
 rance received by the Government from the leaders of the Land 
 League that the 'No-Rent' circular would be withdrawn. In 
 reference to the long and vexed question which arose out of 
 this matter, it should be borne in mind that Mr. Gladstone, iu 
 his statement of May 2, had said that the measures of the 
 Government had been taken by them upon their own responsi- 
 bility entirely, ' after gathering all the information which it was
 
 108 UXGLA^'D UXDER GLADSTOXB. 
 
 in their power to extract, either through the medium of debate 
 in this House, or by availing themselves of such communica- 
 tions as were tendered to them by Irish representatives;' and 
 was ' an act done Avithout any negotiation, promise, or engage- 
 ment whatsoever.' Now, in answer to Sir Henry Wolff's ques- 
 tion, Mr. Gladstone said, * The intentions which are entertained 
 in regard to the "No-Kent" circvilar, which are important, 
 form a portion of the subject to which I have already alluded 
 when I stated that her Majesty's Government had received 
 information tendered to them which they deemed to be of 
 great importance, which justified and mainly prompted their 
 conduct in the matter of the recent releases,' Sir Heni-y "Wolff, 
 seeiuing to consider the reply unsatisfactory, announced that 
 lie v.-ould repeat his question in the next week. The moment 
 he had sat down, Mr. John Dillon, who had just come across 
 from Ireland, from prison, rose and asked the Prime Minister 
 if he meant to say that any information had been sent to him 
 from him (John Dillon) with reference to the 'No-Rent' 
 manifesto. Mr. Gladstone bad not heard Mr. Dillon's name 
 used in any information that had been conveyed to him on 
 the subject. Mr. O'Kelly immediately rose, and repeated ]Mr. 
 Dillon's question, applying it to himself, and was immediately 
 followed by Mr, Sexton, who, as another signatory to the ' No- 
 Hent' manifesto, wished also to know if his name had been 
 mentioned to the Prime Minister. As these members rose one 
 after another to question the Prime Minister thus, the House 
 became painfully excited. Something was evidently coming ; 
 what revelations would now take place 1 Mr, Gladstone, with 
 an appearance of sui'prise, answered that no name of any of the 
 members who had just spoken had been separately mentioned 
 to hhn., but that he was bound to say that he had heard state- 
 ments which appeared to him to include them. In a House 
 more excited than ever, but holding its breath to lose nothing 
 of what might be forthcoming, Mr. Dillon rose to assure the 
 Prime INIinister and the country that if his name was included 
 it was without his authority, knowledge, or consent. Mr. 
 O'Kelly made the same statement; Mr. Sexton, too, disclaimed it.
 
 IRELAND IN 1S82. 199 
 
 Sit Michael Hicks-Beach immediately rose, and put the wonder 
 and curiosity of the House into spoken words, asking the Prime 
 Minister from whom he had received the statements. Mr. 
 Gladstone replied slowly that he had received statements from 
 members of that House, one of Avliom was not in his place, 
 whose duty it was to consider when or whether they should 
 make an explanation on the subject to the House. For himself 
 he stood by his statement that the Government had had infor- 
 mation voluntarily tendered to them with regard to the inten- 
 tions of the Irish members, on which they had acted. Several 
 other questions were at once showered upon the Prime Minister 
 but he declined to make any further answer until the members 
 responsible for the communication upon which the Government 
 had acted should have made whatever explanation they thought 
 fit to the House. 
 
 A few minutes later Mr. Forster rose to make his personal 
 explanation of his resignation. In a speech which seemed 
 studiously contrived, under the appearance of candour and 
 rugged honesty, to injure as much as possible the Government 
 he had left, Mr. Forster defended his present position and his 
 past career. He had advocated the imprisonment of the three 
 members; he was now opposed to their liberation. They had 
 been arrested, not merely because they Avere obstructing the 
 carrying out of the Land Act, but because they were trying to 
 carry ou.t their unwritten law to a degree that would have left 
 the Government a sham, and made Mr. Pai-nell in reality what 
 he was called by many of his friends, the uncrowned king of 
 Ireland. To the late Chief Secretary's mind there were three 
 conditions in virtue of which he would have consented to the 
 liberation of the imprisoned members, but to his mind not one 
 of these three conditions had been fulfilled. There should have 
 been a public promise on their part ; or Ireland quiet ; or the 
 acquisition of fresh powers by the Government. Had the three 
 members promised to make no further attempt to set up their 
 will acjainst the law of the land, he would have taken their 
 word. ' The honourable member for Cork knows how I differ 
 from him ; he knows what a wonder and surprise it is to mo
 
 200 EXGLAXD UXDER GLABSTOXS. 
 
 that he can bring himself to do what he has done ; but he is 
 not only a gentleman in station, he is a man of honour, and 
 I would have taken his word.' This condition had not been 
 obtained, nor was Ireland quiet. Its condition was better than 
 it had been. Tlie Land League had been defeated , Boycotting 
 checked; outrages had, on the whole, diminished Still the 
 battle of law against lawlessness was not won, and there never 
 was a time, in Mr. Forster's opinion, in which it Aves more 
 dangerous to relax the authority of the law. The tliird con- 
 dition — the passing of a fresh Act — was, indeed, in the mind of 
 the Government, but it was to be postponed until the passing 
 of the Procedure Hules, instead of taking, as it should, prece- 
 dence of all other measures. 
 
 So far Mr. Forster, who sat down amidst enthusiastic Con- 
 servative cheers. He was immediately followed by Mr. Glad- 
 stone. He was evidently strongly impressed with the painful 
 nature of the situation, and of the difficulty in which Mr. 
 Forster's well-planned attack had placed him. After paying 
 an eloquent tribute to the services and ability of his late Chief 
 Secretary, the Prime Minister regretted that he should have 
 allowed himself to charge the Government with giving Pro- 
 cedure precedence of all other questions, indifferent as to the 
 grave condition of Ireland. He proceeded to parry with great 
 skill the strokes of his late colleague. He fully admitted his 
 i-esponsibility for the liberation, as for the arrest, of Mr. 
 Parnell and his friends. But he refused to admit that he 
 or the Government had any right to question Mr. Parnell and 
 his companions for any avowal c^ change in their views. That 
 would be something like, in effec , asking for a penitential con- 
 fession. ' I am not the man to go to any member of the House 
 and ask him for a statement involving his won humiliation.' 
 To ]\[r. Forster's appeal to the Government not to buy obedience 
 to the law by paying any blackmail of concession, the Prime 
 IMinister replied by assuring the House there was no arrange- 
 ment between the Government and Mr. Parnell. ' There is no 
 bargain, no arrangement, no negotiations ; for nothing has been 
 asked, and nothing has been taken.' The promised Arrears Bill
 
 IRELAND IX 1882. 201 
 
 had nothing to do with the release of Mr. Parnelh When it 
 had been promised, the Government had not received the infor- 
 mation which had since come to their knowledge. ' We received 
 information upon evidence which we knew to be most ti'ust- 
 worthy "Was it possible for ministei's of the Crown, pos- 
 sessed of such information in regard to persons whose honour 
 we have no title to dispute, to treat it as if it had never 
 reached them, and to continue them in their confinement ? ' 
 
 Mr. Parnell then rose to assure the House that in any com- 
 munications, verbal or written, to his friends on the state of 
 Ireland, w^hich may have come to the attention of the Govern- 
 ment, the question of his own release or the release of his 
 colleagues had never been entered into. He had, however, both 
 said and Amtten that a settlement of the arrears would have an 
 enormous effect in the restoration of law and order in Ireland. 
 He was followed by Mr. Dillon and Mr. O'Kelly, who dis- 
 claimed having made any suggestion of any sort for release, or 
 any conditions of any kind with the Government. Then Sir 
 Stafford Northcote moved the adjournment of the House to 
 discuss the situation, and a lengthy debate sprang up, in which 
 the Conservatives bitterly attacked the Government, whose 
 conduct was defended by Sir William Harcourt and Lord 
 Hartington. 
 
 CHAPTEE XII. 
 
 THE SIXTH OF MAY. 
 
 For the first time since the Liberal Government had taken 
 office the aspect of Irish affairs was really hopeful. The mis- 
 understanding between the Liberal party and the Irish party, 
 which had grown wider and more embittered during the past 
 two years, seemed to have passed away for good. The Govern- 
 ment appeared to have at last resolved to act upon Fox's prin- 
 ciple of governing Ireland according to Irish ideas ; it looked 
 as if a golden age had actually arrived in Irish politics. Then
 
 203 EXGLAXB UXDER GLADSrOXK 
 
 came the terrible tragedy which suddenly shattered all those 
 fair hopes, and made the dark history dai-ker just at the 
 moment when men were fondly fancying that the new era had 
 begun. 
 
 On Saturday, May 6, Lord Frederick Cavendish arrived in 
 Dublin. He came out full of hope to deal with the difficult 
 problem, under the new and better conditions that now appeared 
 to govern it. He took part in the procession which attended 
 the entry of the new Viceroy, Lord Spencer. It was said at 
 the time that at one point in the journey to the Castle a man 
 out of the crowd that filled the streets came to the carriage 
 in which Lord Frederick Cavendish was seated, and asked 
 which was the new Chief Secretary ; and that. Lord Frederick 
 answering, the man looked at him long and curiouslj', and 
 then disappeared into the crowd. Afterwards, it was thought 
 that this incident, if it ever took place, had something to do 
 with the dismal story — a belief in the end disproved when it 
 became known that the murder of Lord Frederick was un- 
 intentional. When the inaugural ceremony was over. Lord 
 Frederick Cavendish walked towards the residence appointed 
 for him in the Phcenix Park. On the road he was overtaken 
 by Mr. Burke, a Castle oflicial of long standing and of great 
 impopulaiity. ]\Ir. Burke stopped his car, got ofi", sent the 
 car away, and, joining Lord Frederick Cavendish, walked with 
 him through the long broad road that leads through the park 
 past the viceregal lodge. It was a bright, beautiful summer 
 evening ; the time was between seven and eight, and the light 
 was scarcely less clear than at noonday. The park was not 
 lonely or deserted ; there were many j^eople in it enjoying the 
 fine summer evening. What happened would seem to be im- 
 possible were it not too terribly true. On the wide highway 
 of the park, with grass-grown spaces at each side, with trees 
 indeed here and there, but none in such niimber as to in any 
 place darken or cover the spot ; in the vivid light of a IMay 
 evening, with many people about ; these two men were killed, 
 almost cut to pieces, by a band of armed assassins. Some men 
 on bicycles, who were riding through the park, passed Lord
 
 THE SIXTH OF MA Y. 203 
 
 Frederick Cavendish and Mr. Burke walking together within a 
 few yards of the Phcenix monument. The bicyclists went 
 round the monument : coming back, they met an outside car 
 with four men on it driving rapidly away. A little further 
 on they found two bodies lying on the ground, covered with 
 wounds and soaking in blood. From the windows of the 
 viceregal lodge, which lies to the right of the road. Lord 
 Spencer himself and his friends had been looking out. They 
 had seen some sort of scuffle going on in the road some hun- 
 dreds of yards away, and had thought unconcernedly that they 
 were looking at some rough horse-play. A man who was 
 walking with his dogs at some little distance from the scene of 
 the murder beheld what he too thought was rough horse-play, 
 saw two men fall to the ground, and the rest drive away, with- 
 out any thought that he was AvitnessLng a terrible murder. The 
 assassins themselves had made their escape. The car and its 
 occupants had driven rapidly oft' in the direction of Chapelizod, 
 the Dublin suburb that takes its name from that Belle Isoud, 
 who was daughter of the fabulous King Anguish, of Ireland — 
 a monarch most appropriately named. They seemed to have 
 wholly disappeared ; darkness apparently had swallowed them 
 up for ever from the eyes of men. 
 
 It would be difficult to exaggerate the horror that fell upon 
 England on that Sunday morning in May when the news was 
 known. The crime was without a parallel in the recent history 
 of England and Ireland ; it was as unexpected as it was terrible. 
 The manner in which the murder was done, with knives — and 
 the knife was hitherto almost unknown in all cases of outrase 
 in Ireland — the escape, the absolute disappearance of the 
 assassins, the moment chosen for the crime, at a time when the 
 hostility of two years seemed at an end, the fact that the chief 
 victim was the herald of the new policy of peace ; all these 
 things combined to make the deed of especial blackness. It 
 should never be forgotten that at a time when England and all 
 the world were thrilled with horror at the murder, at a time 
 when the passions of the coolest men might well be stirred to 
 their worst, the tone of English opinion and of the English
 
 201 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 press was with rare exceptions just and moderate. No howl of 
 hate was raised ; no wild cry for indiscriminate revenge. In 
 the face of the awful catastrophe the English leaders and the 
 English people were able to govern their anger, and to meet the 
 situation with honourable dignity and composure. 
 
 The three chief Irish leaders, Mr. Parnell, Mr. Davitt, and 
 Mr. Dillon, held a hun-ied meeting together. Mr. Davitt had 
 come out of Portland Prison the previous night, had been wel- 
 comed joyously by his friends, but all joy in his release faded 
 before the news of the murder. He and his two friends pre- 
 pared a hurried address to the Irish people, expressing in their 
 own heart-stricken grief the sorrow and shame of the party and 
 the people they represented. The document concluded, ' We feel 
 that no act has been perpetrated in our country during the 
 exciting struggles for social and political rights of the past fifty 
 years that has so stained the name of hospitable Ireland as this 
 cowardly and unprovoked as.sassination of a friendly stranger ; 
 and that until the murderers of Lord Frederick Cavendish and 
 Mr. Burke are brought to justice, that stain will sully our 
 country's name.' At meetings all over the country the crime 
 was no less bitterly denounced. A meeting in Cork, composed 
 chiefly of Nationalists and Land Leaguers, passed unanimously 
 a resolution declaring ' that this meeting of the citizens of Cork, 
 spontaneously assembled, hastens to express the feelings of in- 
 dignation and sorrow with which it has learned of the murders 
 of Lord Frederick Cavendish and Mr. T. H. Burke last night ; 
 to denounce it as a crime that calls to Heaven for vengeance; to 
 repudiate its authors, Avhoever they may be, with disgust and 
 abhoiTence, as men with whom the Irish nation has no com- 
 munity of feeling; and to convey our condolence with the 
 families of the murdered.' The Corporation of Dublin passed a 
 resolution declaring that, until the perpetrators of the crime 
 were brought to justice, all Irishmen must feel dishonoured. 
 Resolutions of l^indred nature were passed in all parts of Ire- 
 land, and the deepest sorrow and indignation appeared to prevail 
 throughout the country, but no trace of the assassins was dis- 
 coverable. Many arrests were made, but nothing could be
 
 THE SIXTH OF MA Y. 205 
 
 proved against the men arrested. Some few madmen in different 
 parts of the world accused themselves of the criiue, as is always 
 the case when any such crime is committed, and were found on 
 investigation to be insane. For a time it seemed as if the 
 authors of the crime had succeeded in hiding themselves for ever 
 from the pursuit of law. 
 
 The Government at once decided to abandon for the moment 
 the Procedure question, and to bring forward Bills for amend- 
 ing and extending both the Land and the Coercion Acts of 
 the previous session. All this was resolved at a harried 
 Cabinet Council called on the Sunday succeeding to the murder. 
 A new Chief Secretary, too, was to be appointed. The names of 
 Mr. Chamberlain and Sir Charles Dilke at once occurred to 
 many minds. It was generally believed that either of them 
 would have accepted the ofler of the post without the slightest 
 hesitation, in spite of the terrible fate of Lord Frederick 
 Cavendish ; but neither Mr. Chamberlain nor Sir Charles Dilke 
 would accept the position of Chief Secretary unless the post 
 was accompanied with the privilege of a seat in the Cabinet. It 
 is in the highest degree probable that the appointment of either 
 of these statesmen might, at that critical point in Irish affairs, 
 have been productive of great good. Both were men of wide 
 and profound political knowledge, both were distinctly in ad- 
 vance of the conventionalities of party politics; both were known 
 to have great sympathy with the grievances of Ireland. The 
 Government, however, did not see their way to appointing either 
 of the only two men who could possibly have been able to deal 
 with the Irish question in a spirit of broad and comprehensive 
 statesmanship. It is of course possible that the conditions of 
 the place are too severe for any ability ; it is possible that either 
 Mr. Chamberlain or Sir Charles Dilke would have injured in 
 vain a brilliant reputation and marred a distinguished career by 
 the effort to manage the affairs of Ireland from within the walls 
 of Dublin Castle. It is difficult to imagine either Mr. Chamberlain 
 or Sir Charles Dilke submitting tamely to the sordid routine and 
 stubborn officialdom of Dublin Castle. It is easier to believe 
 that the Castle clique would have found a master and not a
 
 206 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 servant, a rod and not a tool. The Government, however, was 
 determined not to allow a seat in the Cabinet to go with the 
 Irish secretaryship, and the post was given to Mr. George Otto 
 Trevelyan. 
 
 Mr. George Otto Trevelyan's career is a cnrious example of 
 the infatuation with which the passion for political life can 
 inspire its victims. Mr. Trevelyan was a clever man in a 
 variety of ways, but he was, beyond and above all, a really 
 brilliant man of letters. He had written very few books, but 
 among that few some were certainly among the best that hLs 
 time had j^roduced. His ' Cawnpore ' is an honourable example 
 of beautiful English prose worthily applied. Seldom has a sad 
 and simple story of suffering and heroic deeds found fairer in- 
 terpretation. The record of that desperate siege, of the courage- 
 ous defence, of the fatal catastrophe, and of the bloody, swift re- 
 venge, reads with something of the strength of an Homeric 
 rhapsody, with something of the vivid genius which records the 
 taldng of the Bastille. Yet ' Cawnpore ' must rank second to 
 ' The Early Years of Charles James Fox.' In those pages the 
 wild youth who was to be one of England's greatest statesmen 
 lives again. He is as real there as Harry Esmond, or George 
 Warrington, or Sydney Carton ; as truthful as any last century 
 chronicle written in the acid speech of a Hervey or the courtly 
 slanders of a Chesterfield. All the last century lives in those 
 delightful pages, in which the author seems to have inherited 
 his uncle's marvellous prose, and to have adopted the kindly, 
 loving keenness of insight with which Thackeray gazed upon 
 the dim and faded canvases of last century heroes and beauties 
 and statesmen. It is deeply to be regretted that the early 
 life alone of Fox is told. The gain to English literature 
 would have been great indeed had Mr. Trevelyan con,sented to 
 carry that resplendent career, from its wild Tory boyhood, 
 through those years of a statesmanship in advance of its epoch, 
 into the grave over which Freedom might well have wept ! 
 But we are given to understand that the unfinished window in 
 Aladdin's palace is destined to remain unfinished. Mr. Trevel- 
 yan, uniting the rare qualifications of being a man of fortune
 
 THE SIXTH OF MAY. 207 
 
 and a man of genius, chooses rather a life of Parliamentaiy 
 drudgery and narrow official distinction to the honour of being 
 one of the foremost authoi-s of his time. He prefers that instead 
 of teaching men to say of him, He wrote the Life of Fox, they 
 shall say instead. He served without much notice in Parliament 
 for many years, and filled some small offices unworthy of his 
 name, in order that he might become an unsuccessful Irish 
 secretary, and walk the streets of Dublin or of London with an 
 armed detective at his heels. 
 
 Other Ministerial changes took place. Mr. Leonard Court- 
 ney was given Lord Frederick Cavendish's Financial Secre- 
 taryship of the Treasury ; Mr. Campbell Bannerman Avent from 
 the War Office to the Admiralty, and was succeeded by Sir 
 Arthur Hayter. Mr. Couitney's Under-Secretaryship of the 
 Colonies was taken by Mr. Evelyn Ashley, whose place at the 
 Board of Trade was given to Mr. J. Holms, while Mr. Herbert 
 Gladstone and Mr. E. AV. Duff were advanced to Treasury 
 vacancies. Later on Mr. Gladstone resigned the Chancellor- 
 ship of the Exchequer to ]Mr. Childers. Lord Hartington 
 came to the War Office. Lord Kimberley took the India 
 Office. Lord Derby became Colonial Secretary. Sir Charles 
 Dilke entered the Cabinet as President of the Local Govern- 
 ment Board in the place of Mr. Dodson, who became Chancellor 
 of the Duchy of Lancaster on the resignation of Mr. Bright. 
 
 Parliament met on May 8 to pay tribute of regret to the 
 memories of Lord Frederick Cavendish and Mr. Burke. Lord 
 Granville spoke in the Upper and Mr. Gladstone in the Lower 
 House. Mr. Parnell expressed, on the part of his friends and 
 on the part, as he believed, of every Irishman, in whatever 
 part of the world he might live, his unqualified detestation of 
 the horrible crime which had just been committed in Ireland. 
 He wished to state his conviction that the crime had been 
 committed by men who absolutelj^ detested the cause with which 
 he was associated, and who devised and carried out the crime 
 as the deadliest blow which they had it in their power to deal 
 agains^ the hopes of the Irish party, in connection with the new 
 course on which the Government had entered.
 
 208 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 The House met on May 11 at nine in the evening, aftei' the 
 funeral of Lord Frederick Cavendish had taken place at Chats- 
 worth. The first reading of the new Prevention of Crime Bill 
 ■was at once introduced by Sir William Harcourt. The new 
 measure contained some startling proposals. To meet the diffi- 
 culty of punishing crime caused by the intimidation of jurors, 
 who might be afraid to return, at the peril of their lives, a 
 condemnatory verdict, it was proposed that where the Lord 
 Lieutenant was of opinion that a just and impartial ti'ial could 
 not be had of persons charged with treason, murder, and crimes 
 of exaggerated violence, he might appoint a Special Commission, 
 consisting of three judges of the Supreme Court. This court 
 would sit without a jury, and decide the questions of law and 
 fact, and their judgment would have to be unanimous. To 
 meet some of the objections that would be raised against such 
 an unusnal tribunal, an appeal was to be allowed in all cases 
 tried before such a court to the Court of Criminal Cases Re- 
 served, in which a quorum of five judges decided cases brought 
 before them by a majority. The second part of the Bill gave 
 the police power, in proclaimed districts, to search houses by 
 day or night for the secret apparatus of crimes. Another 
 clause provided for the arrest of persons found prowling about 
 at night and unable to give a projDer account of themselves. To 
 meet the importation of crime from abroad, it was decided to 
 reviv'e the Alien Act, giving power to arrest and to remove from 
 the country foreigners who might be considered dangerous to 
 the public peace. All kinds of intimidation would be sum- 
 marily punished; the Govei-nment would be empowered lo 
 seize all newsjiapers inciting to crime ; and the Lord Lieutenant 
 was given sj^ecial powei's to deal with unlawful assemblies by 
 a Court of Summary Jurisdiction, consisting of two resident 
 magistrates. The duration of the Act was to be for three 
 years. The measure was received with something like enthu- 
 siasm by the majoi-ity of the House, only one English member, 
 Mr. Joseph Cowen, speaking against it. Mr. Parnell expressed 
 his deep regret that the Government should have found it 
 necessary to introduce such a measure, which could only result
 
 THE SIXTH OF MAY. 209 
 
 in more disastrous failure than the failure of the previous 
 coercive policy. On a division the Bill was read for the first 
 time by 327 to 22, only two English members, Mr. Joseph Cowen 
 and Mr. J. C. Thompson, of Durham, voting in the minority. 
 Opposition to certain portions of the Bill came from a more 
 unexpected quarter than that of the Irish members. The Irish 
 judicial bench publicly proclaimed their unwillingness to accept 
 the new duties which the Government Bill would have pvit 
 upon them. So grave a change in the principles of the adminis- 
 tration of justice was most unwelcome to the majority of the 
 Irish judges; and one of them in especial, Justice Fitzgerald, 
 •was conspicuous for the opposition he offered to the Ministerial 
 proposal. 
 
 Before the new Coercion Bill was brought forward for its 
 second reading, the question of the negotiations between the 
 Government and the imprisoned Irish members came up again, 
 negotiations which about this time received the name of the 
 'Treaty of Kilmainham.' On May 15 Mr. Puleston asked the 
 Prime Minister if he would produce the documentai-y evidence 
 of the intentions of the recently imprisoned members of Parlia- 
 ment with reference to their conduct if I'eleased from custody. 
 Mr. Gladstone declined, on the gi'ound that the production of 
 the letters which had passed between certain members of the 
 House might tend to diminish the responsibility of her 
 Majesty's Government. The moment Mr. Gladstone had 
 finished speaking, Mr. Parnell rose and offered to read the 
 letter which he understood to be the documentary evidence 
 alluded to. The letter, which was dated from Kilmainham on 
 April 28, 1882, was addressed to Captain 0')Shea, member for 
 Clare, and ran as follows : — 
 
 * I was very sorry that you had left Albert Mansions before 
 I reached London from Eltham, as I had wished to tell you 
 that after our conversation I had made up my mind that it 
 would be proper for me to put Mr. M'Carthy in possession of 
 the views which I had previously communicated to you. I 
 desire to impress upon you the absolute necessity of a settle- 
 ment of the arrears question, which will leave no recurring sore 
 
 P
 
 210 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 connected ■witli it behind, and whicli will enable us to show the 
 smaller tenantry that they have been treated with justice and 
 some generosity. The proposal you have described to me, as 
 suggested in some quarters, of making a loan over however 
 many years the payment might be spread, should be absolutely 
 rejected, for reasons which I have already fully explained to you. 
 If the arrears question be settled upon the line indicated by us, 
 I have every confidence — a confidence shared by my colleagues — • 
 that the exertions which we should be able to make, strenuously 
 and um-emittingly, would be effective in stopping outrages and 
 intimidations of all kinds. As regards permanent legislation of 
 an ameliorating character, I may say that the views which you 
 always shared Avith me as to the admission of leaseholders to 
 the fair-rent clauses of the Act are more confirmed than ever. 
 So long as the flower of the Irish peasantry are kept outside the 
 Act there cannot be the permanent settlement of the Land Act 
 which we all so much desire. I should also strongly hope that 
 some compromise might be arrived at this session with regard 
 to the amendment of the tenure clauses of the Land Act. It is 
 unnecessary for me to dwell upon the enormous advantages to 
 be dei-ived from the full extension of the purchase clauses, which 
 now seem practically to have been ado^Dted by all parties. The 
 accomplishment of the programme I have sketched out to you 
 Avould, in my judgment, be regarded by the country as a prac- 
 tical settlement of the land question, and I believe that the 
 Government at the end of this session would, from the state of 
 the country, feel themselves thoroughly justified in dispensing 
 with further coercive measures.' 
 
 Mr. Parnell read this letter, not from the original, but from 
 a copy furnished by Captain O'Shea, who had misquoted the 
 last paragraph. Mr. Forster immediately called attention to 
 the misquotation, and put into the hands of Captain O'Shea 
 a copy of the letter, in which the concluding paragi-aph ran 
 thus : — ' The accomplishment of the programme I have sketched 
 out to you would, in my judgment, be regarded by the country 
 as a practical settlement of the land question, and would, I 
 feel sure, enable us to co-operate cordially for the future with
 
 THE SIXTH OF MAY. 211 
 
 the Liberal party in forwarding Liberal principles; and T 
 believe that the Government at the end of the session would, 
 from the state of the country, feel themselves thoroughly justified 
 in dispensing with future coercive measures.' For the moment 
 the matter dropped ; but the same evening Captain O'Shea, 
 speaking on the first reading of the Ai^ears of Eent (Ireland) 
 Bill, made an explanation of the negotiations, and the part he 
 had played in them. In considering the condition of Ireland in 
 April, Captain O'Shea had come to the conclusion that the 
 country was in a state most conducive to the proposal of a 
 truce, and to the ultimate hope of a permanent peace. He 
 accordingly wrote to the Prime Minister, oflfering to submit 
 to him a statement on Irish afiaii's as they appeared to him. 
 • While he was waiting for a reply, Mr. Parnell, who was out 
 of prison on parole, called upon him on April 11. The two 
 conversed on Irish questions, and Mr. Parnell appeared anxious 
 that Captain O'Shea should exert all his influence with the 
 Government to get the question of arrears practically adjusted. 
 Captain O'Shea then asked whether, in the event of the arrears 
 question being satisfactorily settled, Mr. Parnell would not 
 consider it his duty to use his immense personal influence for 
 the purpose of assisting in the preservation of law and order in 
 Ireland; to which Mr. Parnell had replied, 'Most undoubtedly.' 
 Captain O'Shea received a letter next day from the Prime 
 Minister, in reply to which, on the 13th, Captain O'Shea sent 
 the statement on Irish affairs, and also mentioned having seen 
 Mr. Parnell, but that Mr. Parnell was unaware of his intention 
 to write. The Prime Minister replied in a letter expressing his 
 warm desire for the pacification of Ireland. Captain O'Shea 
 had also written to Mr. Chamberlain, enclosing a copy of his 
 letter to the Prime Minister ; and Mr. Chamberlain had replied, 
 concurring with his view that it was the duty of the Govern- 
 ment to make themselves acquainted with i'ej)resentative oi^inion 
 in Ireland ; but urging, on the other hand, that the leaders of 
 the Irish party should pay attention to public opinion in England 
 and Scotland. Inspired with confidence by these two letters 
 Captain O'Shea had many conversations with members of the
 
 212 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 Government, including Mr. Forster. Through Mr. Forstev he 
 was enabled to correspond pi'ivately with Mr. Parnell in prison, 
 and Mr. Forster gave him the pass which allowed him to visit 
 Mr. Parnell in Kilmainham. On April 30 he handed Mr. 
 Forster the letter from ^Nlr. Parnell which had been read to the 
 House. After he had done so it occurred to him that one phrase 
 in that letter might be misunderstood by the only persons whom 
 he could have supposed would ever see it. He accordingly saw 
 a Cabinet minister, and stating to him that he considered his 
 authority extended to the use of his own judgment in such a 
 matter, asked that the sentence in question should be ex- 
 punged. Mr. Parnell had kept no copy of the letter, and when 
 he accordingly asked Captain O'Shea for a copy to read to the 
 House, Captain O'Shea wrote out what he believed to be a true 
 copy and gave it to Mr. Parnell, who had no idea that there 
 was any omission whatever in the letter. 
 
 Mr. Forster then made an explanation. According to the 
 late Chief Secretary he had had an interview with Captain 
 O'Shea after his return from Kilmainham, and had made a 
 memorandum of the conversation. According to this memo- 
 randum Mr. Forster was dissatisfied with Mr. Parnell's letter 
 to Captain O'Shea, who offered to get other words, but said 
 that what was obtained was ' that the conspiracy which had 
 been used to get up Boycotting and outrages will now be used 
 to put them down.' Here Captain O'Shea interposed, ob- 
 jecting to the word 'conspiracy.' Organisation, was, he believed, 
 the word used. Mr. Forster went on to say that Captain O'Shea 
 said that Mr. Parnell hoped to get back from abroad a released 
 suspect named Sheridan, who would be able to help him to put 
 down agitation, ' as he knew all its details in the west.' Mr. 
 Forster began to regret that he had had anything to do with 
 the negotiation, and resolved that he would have notliing more 
 to do with it. 
 
 Now came ."Mr. Parnell's turn, and the House listened to 
 his explanation with the greatest curiosity. The letter he had 
 written to Captain O'Shea was marked ' private and con- 
 tidential,' and was never meant to be shown to Mr. Forster.
 
 THE SIXTH OF MAT. 213 
 
 If Captain O'Shea had made use of any suggestion about an 
 organisation which had been used to promote outrages being 
 used again to put them down, it was on his own responsibility, 
 for he (Mr. Parnell) had used no such words and conveyed no 
 such impression. With regard to Mr. Sheridan, all Mr. Parnell 
 had asked was ' that Mr. Sheridan and Mr. Egan might be per- 
 mitted to come back in the event of this question being settled ; 
 he also mentioned Mr. Davitt's name, saying that it was oi 
 great importance that Mr. Davitt should be released. Mr. 
 Sheridan was — and he had so told his honourable friend — one 
 of the chief organisers of the Land League in Connaught. He 
 had told his honourable friend that if Mr. Sheridan were per- 
 mitted to retuiTi to Ireland, he believed he would be able to use 
 his influence to discourage the commission of outrages, and to 
 induce the tenantry to accept this settlement of the arrears 
 question.' He had no reason to believe that Mr. Sheridan had 
 ever incited to the commission of any crime. There was some 
 further slight discussion that day, but the matter was renewed 
 the following day, Tuesday, IGth, when Sir Stafford Northcote 
 asked the Piime Minister what other members of the Govern- 
 ment besides the Prime Minister and Mr. Forster had communi 
 cation, direct or indirect, with Mr. Parnell before his release ; 
 whether these communications were made known to the Govern- 
 ment as a whole, or to Mr. Forster in paiticalar ; whether any 
 members of the Government had personal interviews with Mr. 
 Parnell before his release, and how far the release of Michael 
 Davitt was stipulated for in the communications. Mr. 
 Gladstone replied, pointing out that the House was already 
 aware that Captain O'Shea had had communication with Mr. 
 Chamberlain as well as with himself and Mr. Forster. With 
 regard to the second question, Mr. Gladstone had no knowledge 
 of the matter except what was in possession of his colleagues 
 in the Government as a whole, and such he believed to be the 
 case with regard to Mr. Chamberlain and Mr. Forster. No 
 members of the Government had had personal interviews with 
 Mr. Parnell, and no stipulations had been made for the release 
 of Mr. Michael Davitt. After some desultory wrangling, Mr.
 
 214 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 A. J. Balfour moved the adjournment of the Housa, and attacked 
 the Government for having made a compromise Avith Mr. Par- 
 nell hy which Mr. Parnell was to get his release and legislation 
 as to arrears, while the Government was to obtain in return 
 peace in Ireland and Parliamentary support. Mr. Gladstone 
 angrily replied that there was not one word of truth in Mr. 
 Balfour's accusation from beginning to end, and defied him to 
 prove his chai\ges. Mr. Gibson then followed with a long speech, 
 in Avliich he described the letter sent by Mr. Parnell to Captain 
 O'Shea as a protocol — * a despatch sent by an engaging and 
 attractive ambassador, who had the usual diplomatic direc- 
 tion as to leaving a copy with the other party, and giving any 
 further explanation that might be demanded.' This letter, as 
 addressed to shrewd capable men, and not to simpletons, dis- 
 tinctly disclosed three considerations which were to move from 
 the Government, and two that were to move from the member 
 for Cork. The question of the release of the Avi'iter was not 
 mentioned, because it Avas too obvious to be stated. No Govern- 
 ment entertaining such a letter would keep its writer in custody 
 twenty-four hours afterwards. Sir William Harcourt answered 
 with a slashing, hard-hitting defence of the Government, deny- 
 ing the existence of any secret understanding, and delivering 
 a clever side stx'oke at Mr. Forster for having read a memoran- 
 dum of a private conversation, without going through the usual 
 diplomatic practice of first submitting it to the other party to 
 the conversation, in order to know whether he admits the accuracy 
 of it. ]\Iore futile debating, if indeed profitless recrimination 
 could be called debating, followed, and then Mr. Chamberlain 
 gave an explanation. With regard to the famous omitted 
 sentence in the Parnell letter, Mr. Chamberlain said that 
 Captain O'Shea had indeed expressed his wish to have one 
 sentence of it withdrawn, but Mr. Chamberlain had not paid 
 much attention to this desire : first, because he could not see 
 what avithority Captain O'Shea had to withdraw any part of the 
 letter ; and next, because he did not consider the matter of suf- 
 ficient importance. In fact, it so entirely escaped his memory, 
 that when the letter was read out by Mr. Parnell, he had not
 
 THE SIXTH OF 3IAY. 215 
 
 the slightest idea that any sentence had been withdrawn from 
 it. As to Mr. Forster's memorandum, with Mr. Parnell's pledge 
 to use the organisation which had been emjjloyed in getting up 
 outrages to put them down again, he had never attached much 
 importance to it, because it appeared to him on the face of tilings 
 absolutely impossible to suppose that Mr. Parnell, whom every- 
 one knew to be a man of great ability, ' would have committed 
 the supreme folly of making such an incriminating confession. 
 Mr. Chamberlain therefore assumed that these words, if used at 
 all, had been used by Captain O'Shea ; in which case they were 
 of small importance, because Captain O'Shea was not a member 
 of Mr. Parnell's party, nor even a follower of Mr. Parnell, and 
 would undoubtedly regard the Land League with very diflerent 
 eyes from Mr. Parnell. This debate did not definitely close the 
 Kilmainham question, it still kept cropping uj) every now and 
 then, often in debates w^here it was least expected, still more 
 often in the form of ingenious questions to members of the 
 Government. It made one of its latest appearances when Mr. 
 Reginald Yorke tried to interrupt the progress of the procedure 
 rules by moving for a committee to inquire into the whole busi- 
 ness, and the motion was talked out. But nothing further came 
 of questions or debates, and indeed just then the public mind 
 was somewhat diverted from any question of the Kilmainham 
 compacts by the two important Irish measures which imme- 
 diately occupied the attention of the House, the new Coercion 
 Bill and the Arrears Bill. 
 
 It is not necessary to go at any great length into the detail 
 of the debates on these two measures. The Irish members 
 opposed the Coercion Bill by all the means which the forms of 
 the House allowed them. On June 30 the obstruction came to 
 a head over the manner in which the assessment on the rate- 
 payers of any district for compensation where crime had been 
 committed. Early in the afternoon rumours of an all-night 
 sitting began to circulate through the lobbies. It was said that 
 the Government were determined to force down the Ii-ish opjoo- 
 sition ; that arrangements for relays had been arranged by the 
 Ministerialist whips ; that the Ii'ish, on their side, were busily
 
 216 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 organising their plans for an enduring struggle. The expecta- 
 tions were not disappointed, and the curious who had the courage 
 to remain in the galleries of the House all through the long hours 
 of that debate may boast that they had witnessed one of the mof-t 
 exciting of the historical all-night sittings. Jane passed away 
 and became July ; the warm lights of the chamber were extin- 
 guished, and the grey summer morning lit up the dreary scene, 
 and still the debate went on. Chairman after chairman had 
 swayed, or tried to sway, the committee ; Irish member after 
 Irish member had spoken again and again on motion after 
 motion ; there had been scenes of fierce attack and stormy 
 recrimination, followed by long lulls of dull debate, during 
 which the Commons seemed to have fallen into an apathy as 
 complete, if not as pleasant, as that of the dwellers in the 
 Castle of Indolence. At last, about nine o'clock on the Satur- 
 day morning, ]\Ir. Playfair suddenly I'ose in the middle of a 
 speech by Mr. Ptedmond, and warned the House that for the 
 last three days the progress of business had been retarded by 
 systematic obstruction, and that he should soon have to indicate 
 to the committee who were the members engaged in it. Mr. 
 Hedmond resumed his speech, but the warning had spread 
 through the House, and the almost empty Chamber began sud- 
 denly to fill up again in expectation of something new. From 
 upper lobbies, w^here they had been trying to sleep, from the 
 dining-rooms, where they had been seeking to recruit their 
 strength with hurried breakfasts, supporters of the Govern- 
 ment, members of the Opposition, and followers of Mr. 
 Parnell, came hurrying into the chamber in obedience to the 
 summons of scouts, who had rushed out after Mr. Playfaii^'s 
 warning to collect their forces. Mr. Playfair had a good 
 audience when he rose again, interrupting Mr. Redmond, who 
 was still speaking. Mr. Playfair announced that the time had 
 come to stop the systematic obstruction, and he read out, amid 
 loud and indignant protests from Mr. O'Donnell, who had just 
 come, the names of fifteen Irish members, whom he accused of 
 taking part in it. Di-amatically, the stroke was a fine one ; 
 artistically speaking, it lacked rehearsal, for, whereas Mr.
 
 The sixth of mat. 217 
 
 Play fair read out the names of only fifteen Irish members to the 
 House, Mr. Childers, whose duty it was to move their suspension, 
 quickly inserted another name, and moved the suspension of 
 sixteen. On a division the suspension was carried by 12G to 27, 
 and the sixteen members immediately left the House. But the 
 storm and stress was not over. Mr. Playfair then reported INIr. 
 O'Donnell for having insulted the chair by his interruption when 
 his name was read in the list of those suspended. Mr. Joseph 
 Cowen gave notice of a vote of censure on Mi\ Playfair. The 
 Irish members still left unsuspended carried on the debate with 
 vigour unabated, until at about seven on the Saturday evening 
 Mr. Playfair named nine more Irish members, whose suspen- 
 sion was carried by 128 to 7. There being then practically no 
 Irish members left to carry on the debate, the Government 
 ran through the amendments with great rapidity, passed the 
 thirtieth clause, and progress was reported, after a continuous 
 sitting of some twenty-three hours. On Monday, July 3, Mr. 
 O'Donnell's case was brought forward, and Mr. O'Donnell 
 was suspended from the service of the House for fourteen 
 days. On Tuesday, July 4, Mr. Gladstone moved and carried, 
 by 402 to 19, a motion that the business of the House was 
 urgent. The Speaker then immediately rose and laid on the 
 table the urgency rules that had been in force the previous year, 
 supplemented by an additional rule, under which closure could 
 be enforced by a majority of three to one. Mr. Justin M'Carthy 
 then rose and read a resolution, drawn up by the Irish party, 
 condemning the conduct of the Government ; after which the 
 Irish party immediately left the House, to take no further part 
 in the coercion discussion. One result of the withdrawal was 
 a Ministerialist defeat on July 7, on a Government amendment 
 to clause fourteen, regulating the right of the jjolice to make 
 midnight searches. The defection of many of the Whigs was 
 the primary cause of this defeat. They were hostile to any 
 amendment which in any way lessened the stringency of the 
 Coercion Bill ; and they preferred to risk a change of Ministry 
 to allowing the Government to carry a conciliatory amend- 
 ment. There were wild rumours at once of resignations,
 
 218 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 of great Cabinet changes, even appeals to the country. No- 
 thing, however, of the kind happened. Mr. Gladstone explained 
 that under ordinary circumstances he would have gone no fur- 
 ther with the Bill, but that he could not do so in the existing 
 condition of Ireland, nor would he resign. 
 
 Once sent to the Lords, the Crimes Bill soon passed into law. 
 The amended Arrears Bill was then carried after long debates 
 in the Commons, and sent to the Lords, who did not give it the 
 same warm welcome that they had afforded to the Crimes Bill. 
 Coercion is always congenial work to the Peers, but amelio- 
 rative legislation of any kind is o])posed to their tastes and 
 their traditions, and the Arrears Bill was soon sent back to the 
 Commons, cumbered with some heavy amendments that practi- 
 cally rendered it valueless. Mr. Gladstone took the challenge 
 of the Lords very composedly. The serious amendments which 
 involved any radical change in the nature of the measure he 
 calmly declined to accept. For the sake of compromise he 
 consented to accept some trifling amendment which scarcely 
 altered anything, and so the Bill was returned to the Upper 
 House. The Ministry were playing the part of Falconbridge 
 to the modern Lord Salisbury. 
 
 Put up thy sword betime, 
 
 Or I'll so maul thee and thy toasting iron 
 
 That you shall think the devil is come from hell, 
 
 are the words with which Shakespeare's Falconbridge meets the 
 anger of Lord Salisbury. ]\Ir. Gladstone's reply to Lord Salis- 
 bury's successor was not couched in the same vehement terms, 
 but it conveyed something of the same idea. The Lords felt 
 that they had gone too far. The country never in the end 
 encourages the Lords to offer any prolonged resistance to the 
 will of the Commons. Lord Salisbury, it is said, was all for 
 fighting the matter out to the bitter end. Perhaps his warlike 
 ardour was not diminished, but he was certain that his followers 
 were not so bellicose as he, and that he might therefore be bold 
 enough without any fear of causing a Ministerial complication, 
 or provoking battle between the two Houses of Parliament. The
 
 THE SIXTH OF 3IAT. 219 
 
 Arrears Bill was accepted without division, and became law on 
 Aicgust 10. 
 
 The Arrears Bill and the Crimes Bill were the only import- 
 ant measures Avhich the Government were able to deal with 
 during this protracted session. The Corrupt Practices Bill had to 
 be abandoned ; the Ballot Act, instead of being improved, had 
 to be bundled at the last moment into the Expiring Acts Con- 
 tinuance Act, The Bankruptcy, County Government, and 
 Municipality of London Bills never made their appearance at all. 
 The Electric Lighting Bill was carried by Mr. Chamberlain ; it 
 gave municipalities the right to adopt the electric light for street 
 and other purposes by the permission of tlie Board of Trade alone, 
 instead of a local Act of Parliament. Mr. Fawcett cari-ied his 
 Parcels Post Bill, enabling the Post Office to convey and deliver 
 parcels up to a prescribed limit of weight at a settled charge, 
 without regard to distance. The Married Women's Property 
 Bill, introduced by the Lord Chancellor, practically placed married 
 men and married women on an equality before the law as far as 
 regarded their private income, earnings, or inheritance. The 
 Municipal Corporation Act and the Bills of Exchange Act, 
 Earl Cairns's Settled Lands Bill, removing many of the restric- 
 tions in dealing with entailed estates, and a new education code 
 "were the principal other performances of the session. 
 
 On April 24 Mr. Gladstone had brought forward a respect- 
 able, if somewhat colourless budget. On July 24 he intro- 
 duced a supplementary budget to meet the cost of the Egyptian 
 War. He asked for a vote of credit for 2,300,000^., of which 
 900,000^. was for the arm}^ and 1,400,000/. for the navy. I\Ir. 
 Gladstone proposed to meet this by increasing the income tax 
 from 5cZ. to 8f/. in the pound, which, as two quarters had already 
 been collected on the lesser rate, was equal to the levy of a tax 
 of Q\d. for the whole of the year. 
 
 On August 15 a great national celebration took place in 
 Dublin. The Exhibition of Irish Arts and Manufactures was 
 opened. Foley's statue of O'Connell, which had been sot up at 
 the lower end of Sackville Street, opposite to what was once 
 called Carlisle, and is now called O'Connell Bridge was unveiled.
 
 220 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 The peculiarity of the Dublin Exhibition was its entirely national 
 character. For the first time in the history of Dublin since the 
 Union an enterprise was carried out which disdained the 
 patronage of the Castle, and appealed directly to popular support. 
 To the great disappointment of the Castle clientele the exhibition 
 was a success. The building, skilfully and pleasingly composed 
 of that combination of glass and iron which Sir Joseph Paxton 
 was the first to apply to the purposes of exhibitions, was erected 
 at the back of the Rotunda. Inside, it was crowded with the 
 productions of Irish art and of Irish manufacture, which were 
 the most convincing arguments of the commercial possibilities 
 of the country whenever her resources were proj^erly woiked. 
 This day of national celebration deserves to be commemorated 
 for the perfect peace and order with which it passed ofi". There 
 had been gi-ave apprehensions in England, and in Ireland as 
 well, that the celebration would be made the occasion for wild 
 outbreak of some kind. The purely national character of the 
 pi'oceedings, the numbers of persons from the country round 
 about the city who would flow into Dublin on the day, the 
 excited condition of the people — all these were brought forward 
 as arguments in favour of the probability of some dangerous 
 distui-bance taking place. The authorities deserve commenda- 
 tion for the way in which they made no outward sign of being 
 ufiected by any such rumours. The surest way to have pro- 
 voked some collision on such an occasion would have been 
 to make an overawing demonstration of military or police foi'ce. 
 The executive wisely did nothing of the kind. Every precau- 
 tion was taken to meet any sudden emergency of unexpected 
 riot, but no evidence of these precautions was made visible. 
 In Sackville Street, which was of course the theatre of that 
 day's events, Avith its exhibition at one end and its statue 
 at the other, there were practically no police. As far as could 
 be judged by the outward appeai-ance of the city, its safety 
 and welfare, its j^eace and order, were left in charge of the 
 people themselves. The people acquitted themselves of their 
 trust admirably, and thoi'oughly justified the authorities in 
 acting with an unfortunately too rare sense and prudence.
 
 THE SIXTH OF MAY. 221 
 
 There was no rioting, no disturbance of any kind. The great 
 procession of Dublin trades and guilds, headed by carriages con- 
 taining the popular Irish members, went its appointed way all 
 through the city in perfect quiet and order. The statue was un- 
 veiled; the exhibition was opened, all in peace. There was enthu- 
 siasm everywhere, but it was perfectly law-abiding enthusiasm. 
 The next day the freedom of the city was conferred on Mr. 
 Parnell and Mr. John Dillon. The same day another popular 
 Irish member, Mr. Edmond Dwyer Gray, M.P., owner of the 
 FreemavbS Journal and High Sheriff of Dublin, was committed 
 to Richmond Prison, O'Conn ell's old prison, on a charge of 
 contempt of court, which was afterwards the cause of a Par- 
 liamentary inquiry into the exercise of that curious judicial 
 privilege. Mr. Gray had written in the FreemarCs Journal 
 some censures on the conduct of a jury whose verdict had sen- 
 tenced a man to death. The jury had been accused of spending 
 the night previous to the finding of the verdict in a condition of 
 noisy intoxication in the Imperial Hotel. Mr. Justice Lawson, 
 the judge before whom the case had been tried, immediately 
 summoned Mr. Gray before him, sent him to prison for three 
 months, and fined him 500/. After two months' iuiprisonment 
 Mr. Gray was released; the fine was paid by public subscription 
 in a few days. There was great excitement in Dublin when the 
 news of the arrest was made known, and the fears of disturbance 
 were at once revived ; but a proclamation, signed by the Lord 
 Mayor, Mr. Dawson, and by Mr. Parnell, was distributed 
 through the city, urging the people to make no disturbance, an 
 order which was implicitly obeyed. Some of the Irish members 
 in Dublin Avent back to London, where Parliament was just 
 drawing to its end, to put the case before the House. Mr. 
 Gladstone, however, pointed out that the House of Commons 
 was powerless to take any action in the matter. It could not 
 possibly release Mr. Gray, and therefore he judged it best to 
 leave the matter over for consideration until the House met in 
 October. When later in the year the whole question was made 
 the subject of an inquiry of a committee of the House of 
 Commons, it was decided that no action could be taken, as 
 Judge Lawson was within his legal right in what he had done.
 
 222 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 "When the Land League was suppressed the secret societies 
 began to thrive again. In some parts of L-eland an organisa- 
 tion known as Moonlighters, headed by a mysterious Captain 
 Moonliglit, committed various ciimes for some time in secret, 
 until a man was arrested who seemed to be, and said he was, 
 Captain Moonlight himself This man turning informer, many 
 arrests were made. But the kind of outrages which moon- 
 lighting represented did not cease. Nor did the accounts of 
 outrages that never took place. The record was gloomy 
 enough without the busy voices and tongues of rumour being 
 allowed full licence to spread abroad the wildest exaggerations. 
 Archbishop Croke declared that many of the outrages were 
 either invented or exaggerated vrith the intent to rouse hostile 
 feeling against the Land League and the National movement. 
 
 Early in January two bailiffs named Huddy, an old man 
 and his grandson, were murdered in Joyce's country, Conne- 
 mara, and their bodies thrown into Lough Mask. In February 
 an informer named Bernard Bailey was shot dead in the streets 
 of Dublin. In April an attempt was made to murder Mr. 
 Smythe, an unpopular landowner in Westmeath. The shots 
 fired missed Mr. Smythe, and killed his sister-in-law, who was 
 sitting in the carriage with him. In May came the Phoenix 
 Park murders. In June Mr. Walter Bourke and his military 
 escort were shot dead. In the same month Mr. John Henry 
 Blake and his steward Mr. Keene were both shot dead near 
 Lough Pea. In August, a fresh murder in the Joyce country 
 was supposed to reveal the authors of the murders of the 
 Huddys. This murder took place in Maamtrasna, on August 
 17. A fiimily of the name of Joyce were murdered by a party 
 of men, their neighbours, Avho feared that the victims knew 
 and would betray the murderers of the Huddys. The 
 alleged murderers of the Joyces were arrested, tried, con- 
 victed ; three of them were hanged. One of the three, Myles 
 Joyce, was declared by his companions to be innocent. The 
 evidence against him was terribly unreliable, but though 
 an inquiry was often asked for it was always refused. 
 Five others pleaded guilty, and were sentenced to death, 
 but the death penalty was commuted. In November a man
 
 THE SIXTH OF MAY, 223 
 
 was arrested for an attempt to assassinate Justice Law son. 
 Towards the end of the same month an attack was made. 
 There was a scuffle in Abbey Street between some detectives 
 and some armed men whom they were watching, and one of 
 the detectives was killed. The next night, November 26, a 
 man named Field, who,had been a juryman in the trial of a man 
 named Walsh, who was executed for the murder of a policeman 
 at Letterfrack, was attacked outside his house in Frederick 
 Street, and dangerously vrounded. His assailants escaped for 
 the time, and their victim, though severely wounded, recovered. 
 
 CHAPTER XITI. 
 
 EGYPT. 
 
 To understand the position in which England found herself 
 placed with regard to Egypt, it is necessary to look back a 
 little into the history of modern Egypt, and examine the causes 
 which led to the present crisis. 
 
 As far as we are immediately concerned, the Egyptian 
 question began when Mehemet Ali flung off the complete 
 control of the Porte, and finally established himself as a vassal, 
 indeed, but only of a nominal vassalage, to the Turkish Empire. 
 Mehemet Ali had made himself master of Syria, and he and 
 his adopted son, Ibrahim Pasha, inflicted defeat after defeat 
 upon the armies of Turkey. In 1839 a series of events com- 
 bined to give over Egypt into the hands of Meheuiet Ali. 
 Ibrahim gained a great triumph over the Porte. The Sultan 
 Mahmoud died. The Turkish Admiral with all his fleet went 
 over to the caiise of Egypt. Had he been left to himself, 
 Mehemet Ali would not even have allowed the Ottoman Empire 
 to keep any semblance of authority ; but the Powers of Europe 
 interfered then, as they have interfered since, with Egyptian 
 politics. England, Austria, Prussia, and Russia combined to, 
 restrain the Porte's rebellious vassal. France alone, swayed 
 by the jealous spii-it of Thiers, who dreaded an English plot
 
 224 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 to lay hold of Egypt, held aloof from the alliance, and was at 
 one time not very far from going to war with England. Two 
 treaties, signed in London in the Julys of 1840 and 1841, 
 arranged the affairs of Egypt, and compelled Mehemet Ali, 
 sorely against his will, to give up his Asiatic possessions, and 
 to accept the suzerainty of the Porte. But he demanded, and 
 demanded successfully, the hereditai-y transmission of the vice- 
 royalty to the eldest male heir of his own line, and a degree of 
 independence which left the Sultan little more than the shadow 
 of command. The most varied judgments have been formed of 
 the character of Mehemet Ali. All historians are compelled to 
 agree upon the ferocity which crushed the power of the Mame- 
 lukes by a more than Elizabethan treachery ; but Mehemet 
 Ali appears to some historians as on the whole, for an Oriental, 
 a great and just ruler. lie seemed to Richard Cobden nothing 
 more than ' a rapacious tyrant.' 
 
 Cobden, who saw Mehemet Ali at Cairo in 1836, when 
 the Pasha was still dreaming of the future of Egypt and himself, 
 wrote thus : — ' Mehemet Ali is pursuing a course of avaricious 
 misrule which would have torn the vitals from a country less 
 prolific than this, long since. As it is, everything is decaying 
 beneath his system of monopolies. . . . The Pasha has by dint 
 of force and fraud possessed himself of the whole of the pro- 
 perty of the cotmtry. I do not mean that he has obtained 
 merely the rule of the Government, but he owns the whole of 
 the soil, the houses, the boats, the camels, etc. There is some- 
 thing quite unique in finding only one landowner and one 
 merchant in a country in the person of its Pasha.* Cobden 
 goes on to describe the magnificent cotton works which Mehemet 
 Ali had built, and the miserable way in which they were 
 allowed to go to ruin. ' All this is not the work of Mehemet 
 Ali. The miserable adventurers from Europe who have come 
 here to act the parasites of such a blood-stained despot — they 
 are partly the cause of the evil. But they know his selfish 
 nature and his lust of fame, and this is only their mode of de- 
 luding the one and pandering to the other.' The opinion of a 
 man like Eichard Cobden on such a matter is of the profoundest
 
 EGYPT. 225 
 
 poHtieal importance, but we who are his warmest admirers may 
 well believe that the picture drawn by the young traveller of 
 thirty-three years was somewhat highly coloured; that the 
 peculiar characteristics of all Oriental rule were not sulEciently 
 taken into account in estimating the character of Mehemet Ali. 
 At least he tried to make Egypt great as he had made her in- 
 dependent, and lie failed only because he attempted to raise 
 Egypt at once to the level of a great power. In 1848, when 
 madness deprived Eg}'pt of her strange ruler, the succession 
 came to his son, Ibrahim Pasha, whose statue stands in the 
 Cairo Square, to remind the traveller from afar, and the Arab 
 who lounges at its base, that Egypt had a past, and may yet 
 have a future. But the hero of Koniah and Nezib was not 
 destined to be famovis as a Pasha of Egypt. He died within 
 four months of his accession, and was succeeded by Abbas 
 Pasha, the son of that son of Mehemet Ali whose tragic end is 
 told by Warburton. Ismail Pasha, Mehemet All's second son, 
 was burnt to death by a Soudan chief, Nemmir, ' the tiger,' 
 King of Shendy, fx-om whom he had too imperiously demanded 
 tribute. Under Abbas Pasha nothing was done to advance 
 Egypt. A Tacitus or a Suetonius is needed to fitly present this 
 Egyptian copy of the degraded Cfesars. He lived like a later 
 Pioman Emperor, a vicious, fearful life, ever dreading the death 
 by assassination which came at last in 1854, and handed over 
 Egypt to Said Pasha. The contrast between Said and Abbas 
 Pasha is as great as between Marcus Aurelius and Nero. 
 Where Abbas was lonely, hostile to foreigners, and unable to 
 speak any of the alien tongues, Said was hospitable, closely 
 linked with Europeans, whose life he carefully imitated, and he 
 was a brilliant French scholar. He encourasred foreisrn immi- 
 gration, inaugurated the custom of employing Europeans in all 
 the important administrations, and he greatly advanced the 
 genei'al condition of the country by removing many of the 
 meaningless restrictions upon trade and commerce, and by 
 seeming to recognise that the Egyptian laboui-er was something 
 more than a mere beast to be worked and taxed to death. 
 Through the influence of England, the railroad system had 
 
 Q
 
 226 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 been established in Egypt during the rule of Abbas. Under 
 Said's prospering reign railways and telegraphs were extended 
 over Egypt. The Suez Canal was begun. Machinery of all 
 kinds became familiar to the Egyptian mind, and the finances 
 showed an increased revenue of six millions a year. But while 
 Abbas, with all his faults, left Egypt not only agriculturally 
 prosperous, but clear of debt. Said, with all his virtues, left her 
 the beginning of that public debt which is now of such intense 
 interest to the outer world. A series of strange chances 
 allowed Ismail Pasha, warrior Ibrahim's second son, to become 
 the immediate successor of Said Pasha, and with his accession 
 in 1863 begins the particular condition of things which we 
 i'amiliarly speak of as the Egyptian question. Under the 
 foreign policy of Nubar Pasha, Ismail succeeded in 1866 in 
 obtaining from the Porte the title of Khedive, and the direct 
 descent of the title from fither to son, on consideration of 
 increasing the annual tribute from nearly four huncbed thousand 
 pounds to nearly seven hundred thousand pounds. Again, in 
 1872, the Khedive obtained the privilege of making treaties 
 with foreign Powers, of owning vessels of war, and of raising 
 troops. Indeed, the whole of Ismail's reign was marked by 
 steady and incessant aggrandisement of the power and the 
 position of Egypt, and the weakening of the chains which 
 bound her to the Ottoman Empiie. But for every step which 
 Egypt thus took, for every link she severed in the Turkish 
 chain, she had to pay a heavy price to court and courtiers at 
 Constantinople. 
 
 If the Khedive was prepared to spend money freely for his 
 own personal advancement and authority, he was no less lavish 
 for the advancement of his country. Improvements of all 
 kinds were carried out ; the Suez Canal was completed — by the 
 corvee — railroads and telegraphs increased rapidly. Ismail was 
 going too fast. Egypt prospered socially and commercially; 
 financially it was a great failure. With all his talent, Ismail 
 Pasha lacked several of the qualities necessary for a great finan- 
 cier, and between his fingers the money of Egypt ran like 
 desert sand. Cotton fell. Ismail became deeply in debt to the
 
 EGYPT. 227 
 
 European Pov.'ers, most of all to France and England, and 
 anxiety for the security of the shareholders furnished these 
 two Powers with justification for a close iuquiiy into the 
 financial condition of the country. 
 
 The first decade of Ismail Pasha's reign showed an appa- 
 rently widespread prosj^erity, and a corresponding increase in 
 the public debt. The 1864 loan of 5,700,000^. was supplemented 
 in 1868 and 1870 by further loans for 3,000,000^., 1,200,000^., 
 and 2,000,000^., and in 1873 there was another for 32,000,000^. 
 in Mr. Dicey's round numbers. The Khedive's private loans 
 were about 11,000,000/., and the floating debt represented from 
 25,000,000/. to 26,000,000/. Up to 1876 the regular payment 
 of the high rate of interest kept good the credit of Egypt. 
 But the Kusso-Turkish war, while it revealed the emptiness 
 of the Ottoman treasury, served also to unsettle men's certainty 
 of the credit of Egypt. Unable to raise fresh loans, or to meet 
 the demands upon him, the desperate Khedive sold all his shares 
 in the Suez Canal to England for the sum of four millions in 
 November 1875. The idea of buying the Khedivial shares belongs 
 to Mr. Frederick Greenwood. It was hailed with general delight 
 at the time, though it was then, and has since been, savagely 
 attacked by a certain kind of Liberal politicians. Mr. Dicey 
 points out that it is certainly a financial success, as the shares 
 are now worth more than double the price we paid for them. 
 Assuming the importance of a control of the Suez Canal to 
 England, it is difficult to see how she could have done better 
 than buy of the well-nigh bankrupt Khedive. The politicians 
 who were most bitterly opposed to the purchase would have 
 been still more unwilling to see England set a corporal's guard 
 at Port Said, and hoist the Union Jack in the Egyptian Delta. 
 At all events, England had her shares, and the Khedive his 
 four millions, but he did not keep them long. Four millions 
 were soon swallowed up in the whirlpool of his debts, and money 
 was as much needed as ever. The Khedive turned aijain to 
 England. A nation who was so ready to buy might no less 
 readily lend, but the Khedive was shrewd enough to know that 
 she would not lend without security. He invited England to 
 
 Q 2
 
 228 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 stufly tbe state of his finances before advancing, and England in 
 reply sent out the late Mr. Cave, at the end of 1875. 
 
 The revenue was drawn from direct taxes on land, on date 
 trees, on trade licences ; from indirect taxation in the form of 
 custom and tobacco duties ; from the Moukabaleh, the village 
 annuities, from railway profits, and miscellaneous dues. The 
 Moukabaleh, which means compensation, was a fancy measure 
 introduced in 1871 ostensibly to redeem half the land tax, in the 
 hope of paying off the floating debt. The Government under- 
 took to give the Egyptian landholders, who had no regular title- 
 deeds, indefeasible titles, and to reduce permanently the land 
 tax by one-half, in consideration of tlieir paying six years' land 
 tax in advance ; a financial operation which has introduced ter- 
 rible complications into the duty of unravelling the Egyptian 
 finances. 
 
 Mr. Cave made his famous report, showing that nothing 
 could be done Avithout accepting lieavy pecuniary responsibility. 
 Then lie returned home, and 31r., now Sir Ilivers Wilson, the 
 controller of our own National Debt Office, went out to advise 
 the Khedive, only to be recalled soon after. The Khedive had so 
 far failed to draw England, and at last, in May 1876, he calmly 
 issued a decree of repudiation. This was rendered a dead letter 
 by the international courts, tribunals which had been substituted 
 by the European Powers for the old consular jurisdiction, and 
 which had great authority in Egypt. These courts decided that 
 the Khedive had broken his contract to his foreign creditors, 
 and his 31ay decree took no effect. The French bondholders 
 then proposed a scheme of their own for the consolidation of the 
 debt, which fell through owing to the objections of the Englisli 
 bondholders. The two parties then agreed to send out a joint 
 mission to negotiate with the Khedive, and Mr. Goschen and 
 M. Joubert proceeded to Egypt at the end of 1876. The 
 Khedive agreed with them to pay an annual sum, as interest 
 and sinking fund, of about, in round numbers, seven per cent, 
 on a capital of 100,000,000/. But Ismail, who, when the 
 question was one of borrowing money, had contrived to show 
 marvellously good revenue statements, was equally dexterous
 
 EGYPT. 229 
 
 in showing bad statements when the question was how much 
 the State coukl j^ay on its deht. In less than a year, he de- 
 clared that this arrangement was based upon highly untrust- 
 worthy returns, that the debt must be reduced, or Egypt would 
 be ruined by the taxation enforced to pay the interest, and 
 once more he demanded a fresh commission. 
 
 When a country has once accepted an investigation of its 
 finances by foreign Powers, and given the practical control of 
 its treasury into the hands of foreign representatives, its clyim 
 to independence can hardly fail to be regarded as signally 
 diminished ; and it is hardly surprising that both England and 
 France began to think themselves something more than the 
 mere friends and advisers of the Khedive. A suspicion of the 
 Khedive's honesty led the French Government to decide that 
 any inquiry now set on foot should apply itself, not only to 
 ascertaining the resources of Egypt, but the causes which 
 brought about Egypt's embarrassments. In this demand Eng- 
 land was induced to join, and the Khedive was forced to allow 
 a commission to practically place him upon his trial. It was 
 soon shown that the Khedive had become the owner of one- 
 fifth of the entire cultivated land of Egypt, and tliat the funds 
 oppressively raised fi-om this vast monopoly were, in ]\Ir. Dicey's 
 words, ' so miserably administered as to result in a loss, not only 
 to the country at large, but to the Khedive himself.' A threat 
 of the Khedive's that he would be unable to pay interest on the 
 Unified Debt in full forced matters to a crisis. France insisted 
 on the interest being paid in full, and somehow or other paid in 
 full it was. This strong action on the part of a European Power 
 may have convinced the Khedive of the hopelessness of his 
 position. At last he met the report of the commission, which 
 declared that real financial reform must commence with the 
 concession of his estates, by yielding up a million of acres of 
 Daira land to the creditors of the State. 
 
 The next step in the work of the commission — the inquiry 
 as to what amount the country could afibrd to pay annually in 
 respect of its debts, without injury to its own interests and 
 to those of its creditors — was interrupted by the Khedive's
 
 230 EXGLAXD UXBEIl GLABSTOXE. 
 
 unexpected summons of ISTubar Pasha from exile to form a 
 Ministry, in which the portfolio of finance was to be entrusted 
 to Mr. Rivers Wilson. Mr. Rivers Wilson was controller-general 
 of the English National Debt, and he succeeded in obtaining 
 permission from his own Government to retain this office while 
 accepting the portfolio offered him by the Khedive. This per- 
 mission aroused the gravest suspicion in France, where it seemed 
 to statesmen as if England, after all her pledges, was seeking 
 by .underhand means to obtain comjilete supremacy in Egypt ; 
 and, in order to satisfy the complaints of France, M. de 
 Bligni^res was appointed, much against England's will, as the 
 colleague of Mr. Rivers Wilson in the new Nubar Ministry. 
 
 Having yielded thus far, and made such concessions, the 
 Khedive was seized again Avith a despotic mania, which led 
 him, on the strength of a small army emeute, to dismiss Nubar 
 Pasha, and shortly after to dispense with the services of his 
 French and English ministers. The dismissal of the Anglo- 
 French ministers caused greater annovance even to France 
 than to England, and the French Government proposed to 
 compel the Khedive by armed force to reinstate Mr. Rivers 
 Wilson and INI. de Blignieres. The arguments of England, 
 however, prevented this step, and strong despatches alone were 
 addressed to the Khedive. This action convinced the Khedive 
 that he was perfectly safe in doing as he liked, and naturally 
 he did not reinstate his Ministry. His former clique of 
 Pashas were restored to power, Nubar and Riaz Pashas were 
 exiled, and money was raised in the old evil ways. The 
 warnings of England and France were despised, and he finally 
 issued a decree, leaving entirely in his own hands the regula- 
 tion of the liabilities of Egypt. The Khedive appeared to be 
 entirely triumphant, and France and England seemed content 
 to do nothing, when the sudden intervention of Germany forced 
 them into action. The German consul at Cairo informed the 
 Khedive that the German Government was prepared to defend 
 the interests of German subjects at all hazards. Then England 
 and France joined together, and accepted the offer which had 
 been made before by the Sultan tj depose the Khedive. The
 
 EGYPT. 231 
 
 moment the order came, the power and triumph of Ismail 
 Pasha vanished into nothingness, and the bold deiier of imited 
 England and France hurried away as rapidly as he could to , 
 Naples with his harem and his ill-gotten treasure, leaving his 
 son Tewfik on the throne. 
 
 After the fall of Ismail the Anglo-French influence was re- 
 established, M. de Blignieres was reinstated, and Mr. Baring, 
 who was afterwards succeeded by Mr. Colvin, took the place of 
 Mr. Rivers Wilson. They were given great authority. They 
 had tlie right to be present on the ministerial council, to advise 
 on all financial questions, to appoint resident inspectors and 
 receive their reports, and they were irremovable save with the 
 consent of England and France. But in the face of their trying 
 task even such powers seemed slight. Their diiEculties lay not 
 alone in Egypt ; Austria, France, and Italy insisted that any 
 financial settlement must be arranged by an international com- 
 mission, in which other Powers besides France and England 
 should be represented ; and such a commission was at length 
 appointed, with French, English, German, Austrian, and Italian 
 members. The powers of the commission were theoretically 
 unlimited ; practically they had many limitations. They could 
 not, like ordinary liquidators, bring the bankrupt whose estate 
 they were considering to reason. So long as the European 
 Powers were not agreed together in compelling the Khedive to 
 accept the advice of the commission, the commission had to wait 
 his consent for any arrangement they made. As Mr. Dicey 
 shows, the bankrupt was able to estimate his own revenue, to 
 fix his own allowance, and to appropriate the bulk of an eventual 
 surplus, after which the liquidators were allowed to distribute 
 the sum which the bankrupt considered available for the pay- 
 ment of a composition to his creditors. The Moukabaleh claims 
 were quietly shelved after a fashion much more agreeable to the 
 Egyptian Government than to the claimants. To Mr. Dicey 
 the liquidation seems ' not in any sense a comprehensive settle- 
 ment of the Egyptian financial problem ; ' and he maintains that 
 * the consolidation of all Egyptian loans into one stock, paying 
 one uniform rate of interest, and tho collection of the revenua
 
 232 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 by one central administration, are tlie essential conditions of 
 any effective and permanent reorganisation of Egypt.' 
 
 In the meantime, however, there had been growing up in 
 Egypt a spirit of hostility to the European intervention. A 
 party calling itself the National party began to lift its head 
 against foreign rule. ' Egypt for the Egyptians * was its cry ; 
 it refused to tolerate ministers representing some special Euro- 
 pean influence; it demanded for Egypt the right to govern 
 itself in its own way. The doctrines of the party, at first cir- 
 culated by stealth, soon became more widely known ; it was 
 pi-esently to be discovered that it had the army at its back. A 
 bloodless insurrection, the famous ' insunection of the Colonels,' 
 suddexdy gave the National party a position and a leader. This 
 leader was Arab! Bey, who for a time appeai'ed to hold the for- 
 tunes of the Egyptian Government, as Kossuth held the destinies 
 of the House of Hapsburg, in the hollow of his hand. From 
 the day when the soldiery of the citadel pronounced against 
 the Khedive, the star of Arabi Bey was in the ascendant. The 
 so-called Egyptian Parliament was no sooner summoned than 
 it found its real master in the Colonel, and not in the Khedive. 
 Tewfik's Ministry fell before his dictation : the Ministry that 
 took its place was practically in his hands. A wondering world 
 began to ask whether Arabi Bey was the Cromwell of a great 
 movement agamst an Egyptian C-harles; the Garibaldi of a 
 struggle for national liberty against a foreign rule ; a scheming 
 political adventurer, fighting for his own hand like Hal of the 
 A\^ynd, or only a puppet, whose actions were guided by myste- 
 rious, unseen strings. Sir William Gregory, who was in Egypt 
 at this time, told the world in a letter to the Times what he 
 thought of the practical dictator of Egypt. He saAv in Arabi 
 Bey a man of great and patriotic ideas, with the eloquence of 
 Sophocles' Antigone, and inspired by the loftiest love of his 
 country. This opinion was practically shared by another 
 Englishman, whose name is associated with Egyptian politics, 
 Mr. W. S. Blunt, who, having sung of many loves under the 
 name of Proteus, found sterner pleasure in the struggles of the 
 Egyptian democracy.
 
 EGYPT. 233 
 
 Tiiere were no visible signs of danger in Egypt in the end 
 of 1881 or the beginning of 1882. European tourists lounged 
 lazily on the verandah at Shepheard's, and consented to be 
 amused by the snake-charmers, ape-leaders, and juggling-girls, 
 who made merry for them in the street below. They rode o\it 
 to the citadel, or across the lion-guarded biidge which led to the 
 Pyramids, mounted on the stout fleet donkeys that are the 
 delight of the Englishman in Egypt. They haggled in the 
 bazaars, and stared at the wonders of Boulak with listless 
 wonder, and di^ove in the Shoubra to catch a glimpse of the 
 pale face of the Khedive as he passed by. They — the males of 
 them — -made little excursions at night into the depths of the 
 town, spent a few minutes in a hasheesh den, or a dancing- 
 house, or flung away a five-franc piece at ' Eldorado,' and fondly 
 fancied that they were seeing life, and would return to England 
 as thoroughly Orientalised versions of Tom and Jerry. To aid 
 this transformation they, of course, bought tarbushes and 
 colossal amber mouthpieces. They were quite happy and secure, 
 enjoying themselves along the Nile, and in what their ances- 
 tors called Grand Cairo — very muck like the grand seigneurs 
 and fair ladies revelling in Versailles before Paris marched 
 upon them, or like those old Eomans in the theatre, to whom 
 the startled actress shrieked out that she saw the Gauls coming. 
 And yet there was danger about them. There was revolution 
 iu the air. Tourists starting off for a run down to Luxor, or 
 the first cataract, would laughingly wonder if ' the revolution ' 
 would break out before their return. People who had lived 
 long in Cairo or Alexandria shook their heads, and said that 
 anything might happen. Everybody seemed to expect some- 
 thing ; nobody seemed to be alarmed. There is a loud shouting 
 in the street, and a carriage drives by, surrounded by a crowd 
 of running footmen, and greeted by the Oriental crowd with 
 loud acclaim. It only contains a soldier-looking man, no longer 
 young, in Egyptian uniform. The languid people on the Shep- 
 heard piazza get up to see ; the lounging British and French in 
 the street stop and look round to watch Arabi Bey whirl by, 
 and talk to each other of him when he is out of sight. Is he
 
 23i EXGLAyD UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 going to dethrone the Khedive ? Will the Khedive imprison 
 him ? When will the revolution come % Yes, everybody seems 
 to expect the revolution, and yet nobody, except perhaps a few 
 of the old hands who have lived long in the East, seems at all 
 frightened. Who would be alarmed by talk of a i-evolution at 
 Margate ; of the danger of a popular movement in Pegwell 
 Bay 1 All these donkey riders, these Mouski haunters, these 
 drifters down the Nile in dahabiehs or steamers managed by Cook, 
 regard Alexandria and Cairo very much as they would regard 
 jSIargate or Pegwell Bay, or Boulogne-sur-Mer. They have been 
 there often ; most of the people they know have been there. It 
 is as easy to get to Cairo as to Paris. Mr. Cook will see you 
 there and back, and you need never, if you so please, hear a 
 word of any tongue but English, or move among other associates 
 than the tweed-clad travelling Briton. Egypt was a pleasant 
 ground for Englishmen, and though the Egyptians might come 
 to blows among themselves, no harm could possibly happen to 
 the tourist in his pith helmet, who bought tarbushes and cheap 
 attar of roses, and was beloved by Egyptian donkey-boys. 
 The British or French tourist was not alarmed, because neither 
 the British tourist nor his French companion could possibly 
 believe that he was in the slightest danger. 
 
 People at home were scarcely less self-confident in a some- 
 what difierent way. We had put up the Khedive, it was 
 argued, and of course no one in his senses, Arabi Bey or 
 another, could dream of trying to knock him down again. 
 Arabi Bey was only an adventurer after all ; he had no follow- 
 ing whatever, except a few discontented colonels in the army ; 
 and as for the people, the fellaheen neither knew nor cared 
 for the name of the authority to whom they paid their taxes. 
 There was no National party at all. It was only the dream of 
 a few well-meaning English sympathisers, and a few needy 
 speculators. The British Ministry seemed to be saturated with 
 this kind of sentiment. To the very last they persisted in 
 regai'ding Ahmed Arabi as a mere military adventurer, Avith 
 little or no real influence, and practically no adherents. Never- 
 theless it did become obvious, as the days went on, that some-
 
 EGYPT. 235 
 
 thing would have to be done to keep Egypt in oixlei'. 1881 
 had faded into 1882, and 1882 was getting on in its youth, and 
 things had not quietened down in Egypt, and Arabi had not 
 disappeared. The English Government kept their counsels 
 and their aims very close. The Opposition persisted in trying 
 again and again, always unsuccessfully, to find out what steps 
 the Government really meant to take with regard to what was 
 now known as the Egyptian question, when it was not called 
 the Egyptian diflBculty. 
 
 The curious attempt to introduce Parliamentary insti- 
 tutions into Egypt was not very successful. In the old days 
 of the fox'mer Egyptian Parliament it was impossible to carry 
 on the little game, owing to the refusal of any member to 
 play at being in opposition. Ismail is said to have suggested, 
 entreated, bribed, and threatened in vain ; he could not by 
 any means get up even a decent show of opposition to his 
 Ministry and himself. Tewfik's assembly of Notables had not 
 proved quite so futile. It had encouraged and supported the 
 military party ; it had strengthened Arabi's position as repre- 
 sentative of the claims of the malcontent colonels. England 
 had favoured the formation of the Egyptian Parliament ; but 
 she now got alarmed at the result of the experiment, and made 
 ready, if the worst came to the worst, to put down the military 
 party by force. But befoi'e anything could be done by anybody 
 thei-e had to be a vast amount of diplomatic negotiations 
 between the representatives of the great Powders of Europe. 
 The chief difficulty to any settlement from outside of the afiairs 
 of Egypt lay in the peculiar relations between France and 
 England in that country. However much Mr. Dicey, and the 
 political school which he represents, might regret that England 
 had ever allowed France to obtain a foothold in Egypt, there 
 appeared to be no use in wasting time in regret now. 
 France was in Egypt ; it seemed most unhkely that she would 
 consent to any independent action on England's part, as such 
 consent would practically give to England the supremacy in 
 Egypt which she had lost by the establishment of the dual 
 control. It appeared, therefore, at first that notliing could be
 
 236 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 done by England without the active co-operation of France. 
 This view was supported on January 8 by the presentation of 
 an identical note from the British and French Governments 
 addressed to the Khedive, in which the two Powers expressed 
 their determination ' to Avard oft' by their united eftbrts all 
 causes of external or internal complications which might 
 menace the regime established in Egypt.' This was practically 
 an announcement that the two Powers were determined to 
 support the existing dual control and the position of the 
 Khedive. But the menace— for it must be looked upon as a 
 menace — was disregarded, if not defied, by the Chamber of 
 Notables. On January 18 the Chamber claimed the right of 
 regulating the national Budget. The controllers objected, but 
 the Chamber held firm. The National party were with them ; 
 the Sultan, jealous of European interference in his suzerainty 
 of Misr, was with them ; perhaps, too, they knew that the 
 difficulty of getting France and England to agree to any joint 
 action was also with them. Cherif Pasha resigned, despairing 
 of finding a middle road of conciliation. The Khedive left the 
 formation of a new Ministry to the Chamber. The adminis- 
 tration was under the nominal rule of Mahmoud Samy, sur- 
 named el Baroudi, the powder-maker. It was really under the 
 control of Arabi, who immediately became War Minister. The 
 tone adopted by the new Ministry was almost aggressively 
 defiant to the control ; and France, as represented by M. 
 Gambetta, was eager in urging upon England some joint action 
 to support the old order which was crumbling away so rapidly. 
 But while England Avas hesitating, unable to make up its 
 mind whether Arabi and his followex's were really leading a 
 National party, and ought therefore to be put down by the 
 strong arm or no, one of the frequent ministerial changes took 
 place in France, and, by a sudden alteration in her foreign ' 
 policy, deprived her of the opportunity of retaining her hold 
 upon the destinies of Egypt. M. Gambetta fell from power, 
 and was succeeded by M. de Freycinet, who was as much 
 opposed to active interference in Egypt as M. Gambetta was 
 in favour of it. Arabi and his followers were not slow to
 
 EGYPT. 237 
 
 perceive the aclvantage which the disunion between France and 
 England gave to them ; they continued to assert their right to 
 settle the Budget ; the controllers continued to protest to the 
 Khedive, and to their Govei'nments, against this change, which 
 would undoubtedly alter very greatly the position of the two 
 Powers in Egypt. Another joint note was addressed to the 
 Khedive, but notliing came of it. M. de Blignieres, finding, ifc 
 may be, his position untenable, resigned his post, Arabi Bey 
 was made a Pasha. The representatives of the National party 
 were loud in their complaints against the control, and against 
 the great number of foreign officials who were settled upon the 
 country. 
 
 Arabi Pasha now appeared to be master of the situation. 
 It is evident that he thought himself so, but it is not quite 
 eas}' to understand the course which he took. From this period 
 he acted as if it were certain either that En£;land would 
 not have the courage to interfere, or would be prevented by 
 other foreign Powers ; or, if she did interfere, could be easily 
 coped with by the Egyptian army. In April, a plot on the 
 part of certain Circassian officers in the army to murder Arabi 
 was discovered, or said to be discovered. Some thirty-one 
 Circassian officers were arrested on the charge of desiring to 
 overthrow both Tewfik and Arabi, and restore Ismail Pasha, 
 were tried in secret, and condemned to degradation and exile 
 for life. The Khedive, acting on the advice of Sir Edward 
 Malet, refused to sign the deci'ces of the courts. Mahmoud el 
 Baroudi hinted that the Khedive's refusal would be answered 
 by massacres of foreigners, but denied the threats when called 
 upon for explanation by the representatives of England and 
 France, English and French ii-onclads were at once ordered to 
 Alexandria. The English and French consuls urged that 
 Arabi and his immediate allies should be compelled to quit the 
 country. Arabi, who had been making terms with the sheiks 
 of the Bedouins, refused, and he and his Ministry tendered 
 their resignations. Tewfik accepted the resignations, and at- 
 tempted, unsuccessfully, to form a new Ministry. The army, 
 as represented by Toulbah Pasha, announced that it refused to
 
 238 ENGLAI^D UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 obey the joint note, and would only recognise the authority of 
 the Porte. 
 
 For the first time, perhaps, it became evident that the situa- 
 tion wasindeed dangerous. Alexandria was being rapidly fortified. 
 The greatest alarm now existed among the European inhabitants 
 of both Cairo and Alexandria, where menaces of massacre were 
 not infrequent. Mr. Cookson, the English consul in Alexandria, 
 wrote home warning the Government that there was danger of 
 bloodshed in Alexandria, as the Egyptian soldiery were being 
 stimulated against the Em-opean inhabitants. The arrival of 
 Dervish Pasha from Constantinople as Turkish commissioner 
 produced no pacifying effect. It may be assumed that Arabi 
 himself could have had no interest whatever in any massacre of 
 Europeans. From the merest motives of policy, such action 
 could in no way further his hopes or better his position. But in 
 a town like Alexandi'ia, with a considerable European popula- 
 tion filled with a not unreasonable alarm, and a native population 
 stirred to the wildest excitement by the condition of afiaii'S and 
 the inflammatory cries of the native Press, some sort of collision 
 was perhaps inevitable. Given panic on one side, and suspicion, 
 hate, and anger on the other, some explosion was almost un- 
 avoidable. On June 11 the crisis came. It is practically 
 impossible now to know the exact beginning of the riot which 
 broke out, or who struck the fiiAt blow and fired the first shot. 
 The disturbance began someliftw in some quarrel between the 
 natives and Europeans ; a good many people, including French 
 and English subjects, were killed, and our consul, Mr. Cookson, 
 was dragged from his carriage, seriously hurt, and narrowly 
 escaped with his life. The immediate result of this was a 
 general flight of Europeans from Cairo and Alexandria. Every 
 train from Cairo was loaded with Europeans hurrying from 
 what they regarded as a doomed city ; every ship that sailed 
 from Alexandria's hax'bour was crowded with refugees eager to 
 save their lives at the expense of their property. 
 
 Diplomacy was still struggling on. A conference of Euro- 
 pean Powers at Constantinople had been proposed, and the 
 proposition had come to nothing. The British Government, -
 
 EGYPT. 239 
 
 even after the riot of June 11, were unwilling to land troops, 
 though they announced that they would protect Tewfik's life and 
 position against Halim Pasha or any other pretender favoured 
 by Arabi Pasha. The Khedive and Dervish Pasha had by this 
 time left Cairo and come to Alexandria, where the Khedive set 
 up his court. Here the influence of Germany and Austria 
 seemed to be in the ascendant. In obedience to the advice of 
 the Consuls-General of these two Powers, Ra-ghed Pasha was 
 entrusted with the formation of a Ministry in which Arabi Pasha 
 was once more War ]\Iinister. The patronage of the Porte was 
 ostentatiously bestowed upon Arabi; he was decorated with 
 the Order of the Medidjie, His defiance of England and France 
 increased ; the defences of Alexandria, which had been aban- 
 doned for a time, were resumed and pushed on with great rapid- 
 ity. Up to this point the gi'eat aim of the British Ministry 
 appeared to be to keep well in accord with France, and to in- 
 fluence Egypt by the combined weight of a European concert. 
 Now, howevei', quite suddenly, they resolved to act alone. 
 Admiral Sir Beauchamp Seymour was ordered to forbid the pro- 
 gress of the Alexandrian fortifications; and when Sir Beauchamp 
 Seymour's orders produced no efiect, he was ordered by telegram 
 on July 10 to give notice that, unless the forts commanding the 
 harbour were surrendered for the purpose of being disarmed, 
 the English fleet would commence action. Up to that moment 
 the influence of the Turkish Government appeared to have been 
 chiefly devoted to retarding any solution of the difiiculty. But 
 when the British admiral delivered his ultimatum to the military 
 commander, Turkey made one final appeal for more time. Give 
 but twenty-four hours more, and all should yet be well. Those 
 twenty-four hours were never obtained. Most of the European 
 subjects had by this time got safely out of Alexandria, on every 
 vessel that could take them. At nightfall on July 10 the 
 British fleet withdrew from the inner harbour to take up its 
 position. The French fleet showed its determination to take no 
 share in the work by steaming away to Port Said. The British 
 fleet consisted of eight ironclads and five gimboats, with a total 
 force of 3,539 men and 102 guns.
 
 210 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 At seven in the moi-ning of July 1 1 the fight began. A 
 shot was fired from one of the British ships, and was at once 
 replied to from the Egyptian forts. The fight was not of long 
 duration, nor was its result for a moment doubtful. The Egyp- 
 tians certainly handled their guns better than was expected. 
 Some idea of the popularity of Arabi with the people may be 
 learned from the fact that women and even children could be 
 perceived by glasses from the ships to be serving the guns against 
 the fleet. By evening, however, all the forts were silenced, and 
 in many cases had been entered by spiking parties. The bom- 
 bardment began again on the morning of July 12, as no message 
 of surrender had come from Alexandria. After a few shots a 
 flag of truce was hoisted in the town, whereupon an envoy was 
 sent from Admiral Seymour to demand the immediate surrender 
 of the forts at the entrance of the harbour before any negotia- 
 tions were entered into. Toulbah Pasha, Avho received the 
 British envoy, declared that he could not do this without the 
 Khedive's sanction. A truce until half-past three o'clock was 
 agreed to, but no reply coming from the town^vhen the time 
 had expired,^ring was commenced again. Another flag of 
 truce was immediately seen flying from the town, and once again 
 the Admiral sent an envoy, who I'eturned with the news that 
 under cover of the flags of truce Arabi and his troops had aban- 
 doned the entire line of fortifications, and that the city was in a 
 state of the wildest confusion and anarchy. 
 
 It was singularly unfortunate that the Admiral had to begin 
 the bombardment without having a sufiicient force to occupy 
 the town as soon as the forts were silenced and abandoned. 
 The result was that for two days Alexandria was left to the 
 mercy of the mob, and plunder, murder, and arson raged 
 through the city. The city was fii-ed in several places ; bouses 
 were broken into and plundered ; and upwards of 2,000 
 Europeans, chiefly Levantines, were massacred. The beautiful 
 city, with its great square in which Mehemet Ali rode in 
 bronze, its stately houses and handsome gardens, its crowded 
 busy streets, its palaces and bazaars, was all a ruin, smokfng, 
 smouldering, blood-stained. A new Isaiah would have found
 
 EGYPT. 2U 
 
 melancholy subject to bewail the buvdea of Egypt in this new 
 ' City of Destruction.' Every battle of the warrior is, indeed, 
 ■with confused noise and gai*ments rolled in blood, but this was 
 with ' burning and fuel of fire.' 
 
 At length, when the condition of the city became fully 
 known to the fleet, the Admiral consented to land blue-jackets 
 and marines, who lost no time in suppressing with sharp stern- 
 ness all the burning and plundering that was going on. All 
 offenders caught in the act of robbing were shot on the spot ; 
 others implicated in the outrages were promptly conveyed to 
 prison to await more formal trial. Order was restored; the 
 city was patrolled ; the Khedive was escorted back from Eamleh 
 to E,as-el-Tin, and guarded by a force of 700 marines. The 
 position of the Khedive during the bombardment had nob 
 been agreeable. He had retii-ed from Alexandria to his 
 palace at Ramleh as soon as the firing began. Eamleh is a 
 pretty part of the country, about four miles outside Alexandria. 
 Here he would seem, as far as can be ascertained from the con- 
 fused and contradictory accounts, to have been practically a 
 prisoner. It was s;\id that he was in fear of his life ; that on 
 the day when Arabi retired from the fortifications, Arabi sent 
 down some 500 men to Ramleh with instructions to kill the 
 Khedive. Some of those about the Khedive were eager, so 
 the story goes, to resist by force the new-comers, but the 
 Khedive deprecated all violence. He dissuaded his bellicose 
 companion. Dervish Pasha, from carrying out his intention of 
 shooting do^vll the leader of the five hundred as a rebel and 
 traitor. Tewfik advocated more diplomatic measures. There 
 chanced to be in the Eamleh Palace a considerable quantity of 
 Turkish orders of various grades and degrees, which Dervish 
 Pasha had brought with him from Constantinople. By lavish 
 distribution of these orders, and by ready promises of money, 
 the Khedive succeeded in winning over first the officers and 
 finally the men of the five hundred who had been sent to kill 
 him. It is further told that after he had thus bought off his 
 would-be murderers, he lulled the susi^icions of Arabi by tele- 
 graphing to him that he was coming to Cairo, and so gained time 
 
 B
 
 242 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 until the entry of the English and the presence of the 700 
 bluejackets secured his safety at Ras-cl-Tin. How far this 
 story is accui-ate there is no means of knowing. It does not 
 seem very likely that Arabi, having failed iu his first effort to 
 hold Alexandria against the British, would deliberately try to 
 ruin his cause and himself in the eyes of Europe by the purpose- 
 less murder of the Khedive. His own safety, and the principles 
 of Egyptian liberty for which he professed to be fighting, would 
 alike be endangered by such crimes as sanctioning the destruc- 
 tion of Alexandria, the massacre of Europeans, and aiming at 
 Tewfik's life. Without oflering any opinion on the complicity 
 or non-complicitj^f Arabi in these crimes, it may at least be 
 said that if he was implicated in the massacres and the attempted 
 murder of the Khedive, then the remarkable ability and states- 
 manlike qualities, of which he had shown himself to be possessed 
 up to the time of the retirement from Alexandria, would seem 
 to have completely deserted him at the moment when he needed 
 them most. 
 
 Alexandria was now nominally in our possession ; but no 
 time was to be lost in pouring in reinforcements of troops to 
 make good our hold, and to, as the phrase went, assist the 
 Khedive in putting down his rebels. The term rebels seems 
 curiously misapplied to the soldiery Avho ".vere with Ai-abi. 
 They were the Khedive's soldiers; all the Khedivial army was 
 with Arabi; up to the very last moment the Khedive had 
 been, nominally at least, acting in concert with Arabi. At no 
 time had Tewfik made any application to thej British or French 
 fleets to come to his assistance in any way. It must be ad- 
 mitted that our action in conquering Egypt for the Khedive 
 had in it something of the quibbling spirit which inspired 
 Cromwell's Ironsides to declare that they were fighting for the 
 king. The Khedive had made no appeal to us for aid ; up to 
 the moment when we sent our first shot a</';iinst the low line of 
 Alexandrian forts, he and Arabi wei-e ov.itw^ardly in complete 
 accord. It would seem as if some subtle spirit of intuition, 
 almost akin to the supernatural, had miade the Government 
 acquainted with the moving of the Khediv ial mind, and had told
 
 EGYPT. 243 
 
 tliem at what particular moment tlie whole Egyptian army had 
 ceased to be the soldiers of the Khedive and had become rebels. 
 However, it had been settled in some mysterious way to the satis- 
 faction of the Ministry, firstly, that the followers of Arabi were 
 rebels against the Khedive ; and secondly, that it was England's 
 duty to assist the Khedive against these rebels with British 
 ships and British bayonets. Troops were poured into Alex- 
 andria, where »Sir Garnet Wolseley himself soon arrived to com- 
 mand the operations. The result of the struggle, never doubtful, 
 was not long delayed. The safety of the canal was fortunately 
 secured. The English troops marched out against Arabi; the 
 decisive battle took place before Arabi's entrenched position 
 at Tel-el-Kebir. With Sir Garnet were some 11,000 bayonets, 
 2,000 sabres, and 60 guns. There wei-e no means of precisely 
 estimating the strength of the Egyptians entrenched behind 
 Arabi's earthworks, but they greatly outnumbered the attacking 
 force. At about half-past one on the morning of September 1 3 
 the British advance began. Just as dawn was beginning to 
 show the van came upon the Egyptian entrenchments. The 
 Egyptians, taken completely by surprise, opened a desultory 
 fire, but could not stoj) the rush of the assailants. The British 
 charged with the bayonet, and carried the first line of defences 
 at a rush. The Egyptians fought desperately enough, but never 
 rallied from the eflect of the first wild charge of the British. 
 In twenty minutes the right and left of Arabi's position were 
 in the hands of the assailants ; in little more than half an hour 
 the Egyptian army was hopelessly disorganised and in full 
 retreat, and Tel-el-Kebir was won. Without delay the main 
 strength of the cavalry and mounted infantry struck out across 
 the desert for Cairo. There is something really heroic in the 
 story of this forced march, and of the appearance of the wearied 
 troopers under the walls of Cairo. A handful of travel-stained 
 men, tired with fighting and forced marching, drew rein before 
 a city full of troops, and called ujDon it to sun-ender. Like 
 the knight-errants of the old tales of chivalry, these Amadises 
 in jack-boots ordered the city to yield, and it obeyed their 
 summons. Had any resistance been made there were soldiers 
 
 XI 2
 
 2U ENGLAND UXDER GLADSTON'E. 
 
 enough in Cairo to annihilate the little band of British who 
 rode triumphantly into the town and received the sword of 
 Ai-abi. The next day Sir Garnet Wolseley with more troops 
 entered Cairo. The war was over. Arabi was a prisoner. 
 
 It was not a victory to make much of a work about. No- 
 body expected that the Egyptian levies would fight as the 
 Afghans or the Sepoy mutineers fought. But ^ery credit is 
 due to Sir Garnet Wolseley for the manner in which he accom- 
 plished his task. The war was not a great war, but it presented 
 many difficulties and dangers, all of which Sir Garnet Wolseley 
 had practically surmounted before he landed in Alexandria. He 
 had surveyed the situation, had decided where he would fight, 
 and fixed the length of the campaign before he left for the scene 
 of war, and everything fell out as he had expected. The place, 
 the time he had specified, were fulfilled to the letter. People 
 who delight in diminishing, or in trying to diminish, the repu- 
 tation of a great man, are fond of calling Sir Garnet Wolseley 
 a lucky soldier. What they call luck is military genius. Mere 
 luck never yet made a warrior ' famoused for fight.' The mind 
 which can arrange beforehand all the details of a campaign, can 
 say where and when the decisive blows shall be struck, is a 
 mind of the highest order in the soldier's craft. 
 
 After the fall of Cairo the rest was easy. The other strong- 
 holds of insurrection surrendered. The re-embarkation of 
 British troops at once began, some ten thousand men being, in 
 Sir Garnet's opinion, a sufficient force to keep the country in 
 order. Baker Pasha, who bad hurried from Constantinople for 
 the purpose, was entrusted with the formation of a gendarmerie. 
 The Khedive and a new Ministry, with Cherif Pasha at the 
 head, retuiuied to Cairo. The trials of the prisoners began at 
 once. At first the advisers of the Khedive were eager to try 
 and punish their enemies as quietly and as quickly as possible. 
 But in England and in Europe there was little faith put in 
 Egyi:)tian methods of procedure with fjillen foes. The hostility 
 to Arabi in England had subsided the moment after his defeat, 
 and all pai-ties in England were detei-mined to secure him a fair 
 trial. Arabi was defended by TMr. Broadley, into whose hands
 
 EGYPT. 245 
 
 Arabi entrusted various important documents. There were no 
 startling revelations at the trial, however, which was finally- 
 brought to a conclusion by what looked like an ingenious ar- 
 rangement between the English and Egyptian Governments. 
 Arabi pleaded guilty of rebellion, and was sentenced to death. 
 The sentence was immediately commuted by the Khedive to 
 perpetual exile, and Arabi, with a few of his fellow-rebels, 
 went to Ceylon, after giving his parole of honour to the British 
 Government that he would not make any attempt to withdraw 
 from his place of exile. There Mr. Henry W. Lucy saw him 
 not long since, when he stopped at Ceylon on his way round 
 the world. Mr. Lucy found Arabi apparently contented, 
 learning EngUsh, very grateful to his English friends, and 
 waiting upon ' Kismet,' which may bring him back to Egypt 
 and to authority again, one of these days. 
 
 The Egyptian war was the direct cause of the death of one of 
 the most brilliant and most profound of English Oriental scholars. 
 Professor Edward Palmer was one of those rare men who pos- 
 sess what appears to be an almost incredible facility for learn- 
 ing languages. He was well-nigh the ideal scholar, devoted to 
 learning for learning's sake, yet never tainted by the faintest 
 tinge of pedantry, pride, or afiectation. The story of his life has 
 been told by his close friend, attached admirer, and Htei-ary col- 
 league, the well-known novelist, Mr. Walter Besant. It is a 
 touching and a thrilling record of marvellous accomplishments, 
 of brilliant performance, of patient determined struggle towards 
 success, of success achieved, of honours won, of firm friendships, 
 and a peaceful, happy home— and all ended by a sudden, terrible 
 death in the Wady Sudr. In the summer of 1882, Professor 
 Palmer agreed to go out for the Government to Egypt to prevent 
 any alliance between Arabi and the Bedouin tribes of the 
 desert. It seems strange that so precious a life should have 
 been risked on such an errand, though Professor Palmer's know- 
 ledge of the languages of the East was proverbial. It is not 
 very surprising that when he and his party were captured by 
 hostile Arabs their doom should be death. It is certain that 
 short work would have been made of any emissary from Arabi
 
 2i6 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 who was caught attempting to interfere with the relations exist- 
 ing between some English general and, say, an Indian regiment. 
 We shall, perhaps, never exactly know the story of the tragedy 
 near Nakl, It is certain, however, that Palmer and his com- 
 panions were captured, through the treachery of the sheikh 
 Meter Sofieh, who was their guide, and that Palmer, Captain 
 Gill, and Lieutenant Charrington wei'e shot. Some thirteen of 
 the Arabs of the tribe that killed Palmer and his companions 
 were afterwards captured, brought to trial, and five of them 
 were hanged at Zagazig on February 28, 1883. The remains of 
 Palmer, Gill, and Charrington were recovered, carried to Eng- 
 land, and interred in St. Paul's Church. 
 
 The death-roll of 1882 is studded with some famous names 
 ■ — and many remarkable names. On April 9 died Dante 
 Gabriel Pwossetti, painter and poet, and one of the strongest 
 influences upon the painting and the poetry of his age. He, 
 with a few others, Millais and Holman Hunt among them, was 
 the founder of the Pre-Eaphaelite Brotherhood, which strove 
 to break away from the hideous conventionalities of the art then 
 existing, and to find fresh iiispii'ation in the works of the greater 
 Plorentines, and in a closer and truer appreciation of nature. 
 As a school the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood did not last very 
 long. It was short-lived, like the magazine, the Germ, in which 
 its founders sought to express their pictorial and literary theories, 
 and whose few numbers are -now among the most precious of a 
 modern book-lover's possessions. Each of the brethren went his 
 own wild way, whither that led him. One it led to long wan- 
 derings in the East, and to the cr-eation of pictures with reli- 
 gious subjects treated from the standpoint of the Syria of to-day. 
 Another sought popularity and success, and found it, and was, 
 perhaps, content. Dante Rossetti went on as he had begun, 
 living for the two arts, in certain phases of each of which he 
 was so consummate a master. "With the bier, bustling, stru<?- 
 gling world about him he had little or nothing to do. He had 
 no need for travel to stir his imagination. Much as he loved 
 his mother Italy, much as he chei'ished that loveliest of all 
 books of love, the ' Vita Nuova/ much as his fancy delighted to
 
 EGYPT. 217 
 
 live with Dante and Beatrice, he never, we believe, visited Italy, 
 never saw the flower-city of his dreams and of his pictures. 
 Nor did he ever covet society or the voices of society, its praise 
 or its patronage. He lived his own life in his own way. He 
 painted his sad, beautiful faces, and clad his wonderful witch- 
 women in exquisite harmonies and subtle contrasts of colour, 
 till the sense ached at their strange, luxm-ious loveliness; he 
 wrote his passionate, melancholy sonnets, which enshrine and 
 embalm the emotions of a soul born out of its time, or the tragic, 
 fantastic ballads, in which the spirit of a departed time lives 
 like a rekindled flame, and held aloof from the noisy world, and 
 was proud, and patient, and unhappy. When his young wife, 
 the wife of his youth and his love, died, he had laid the manu- 
 script of bis poems in her coffin, and they vf ere buried under the 
 earth. Years after, the entreaties of friends persuaded him to 
 disentomb his poems, and they were given to the world, and the 
 world made much of them both in praise and blame. Their 
 influence upon contemporary poetry and contemporary thought 
 was profound. Many years aftex', shortly before his death, 
 Mr. Rossetti brought out a fresh volume of poems, only less 
 beautiful than the first because it was not the first. It 
 showed no sign of changed mood or method ; it was not an 
 advance, as it was not a falling off, from the earlier volume. 
 We may rest assured that Dante Rossetti's too early death has 
 not at least been injurious to his fame as a poet. He had given 
 the world his best. 
 
 In the same month, ten days later, Charles Robert Darwin 
 died, greatest of the naturalists of his epoch, the founder of the 
 modern scientific school. It matters little to his fame that the 
 so-called Darwinian theory was in some measure anticipated 
 theoretically by others, by Oken of Jena, and by Goethe. Darwin 
 devoted to the principle a laborious lifetime of research. The 
 problem on which he worked may have been guessed at by 
 a great poet, or dimly conceived of by a Privatdocent of 
 Gottingen, but it was Darwin who carried out the problem, who 
 traced it to its conclusions, who made it his own by more than 
 forty years of patient, unwearying study. He was buried in
 
 218 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 "Westminster Abbey. Science, that bad lost her oldest servant 
 in Darwin, suffered much, a little later, by the loss of one of 
 her youngest, Professor E. M. Balfour, one of the many victims 
 annually offered vip to the worship of Mont Blanc. Mr. 
 Balfour was looked upon as one of the ' coming men ' in science. 
 He was just thirty years old. Mr. Stanley Jevons, Avho was 
 drowned while bathing off St. Leonards in August, had earned 
 a considerable position as a logician and political economist. 
 He owed his success in life largely to Mr. Mill's generous re- 
 cognition of his ability as a young man, and it was regrettable 
 that he should have devoted much of the latter part of his life 
 to a futile and ungrateful attempt to lower Mill's reputation as 
 a thinker and a philosopher. 
 
 Literature and art lost Harrison Ainsworth, whose stories 
 have been the delight of generations of schoolboys, and of 
 more than schoolboys; Denis Florence M'Carthy, the Iiish 
 patriotic poet, the translator of ' Calderon ; ' Mr. "VV. B. Rands, 
 essayist and author of ' Lilliput Levee,' a dainty book of child- 
 lyrics ; Mr. James Rice, Mr. Besant's colleague in a whole 
 series of popular novels; Dr. John Brown, the sweet-spuited 
 author of 'Horse Subsecivre,' and of *Rab and his Friends;' 
 Hablot Knight Browne, the once fiimous, lately somewhat for- 
 gotten 'Phiz;' John Linnell, the landscape painter; Cecil Law- 
 son, a young landscape painter of brilliant promise and brilliant 
 performance; and Benjamin Webster, the actor. The deaths of 
 Longfellow and Emerson in America were equally regretted on 
 boih shores of the Atlantic. With Dr. Piisey died the founder 
 of the school of ecclesiastical thought which, advancing from 
 the circle of the Church of England, paused halfway upon the 
 journey towards the Church of Rome. 
 
 In December Mr. Anthony Trollope died, at the age of sixty- 
 seven. He has left on record in his autobiography, published 
 after his death, the method of working at his novels, and the 
 somewhat formal and mathematical regularity of his method 
 has left its mark upon the character of his books. Mr. Trol- 
 lope made something like an effort to do for English society 
 what Balzac did for French in his * Human Comedy.' Some
 
 EGYPT. 219 
 
 of his characters, Planty Palliser and others, permeate a whole 
 series of his stories, as Rastignac and Maxime de Traill do 
 those of the French novelist. But Mr. Trollope had not the 
 genius though he almost rivalled the fecundity of Balzac; and 
 while Balzac's novels have already become classics, it is not 
 probable that Mr. Trollope's novels will occupy any enduring 
 place in literature. In the telling of a story, which after all is 
 one of the first purposes of fiction, from the days of the Sindbad 
 Nameh or the ' Thousand and One Nights,' to those of 
 M. Fortune du Boisgobey, he was not, except in one or two 
 instances, very successful. It is on his study of character that 
 his fame will rest ; he was the apostle of the commonplace, 
 but he was occasionally something more than commonplace. 
 There are some at least who think that * Nina Balatka ' and 
 ' Linda Tressel,' two of his least known stories, are worth all the 
 ' Chronicles of Barset ' put together. 
 
 The political world dropped a link with the past in the 
 death of Sir George Grey. For many years he had played no 
 part in public life. Nor was the part he played in former days 
 a very great one. His name is most likely to be remembered 
 in connection with the measure passed in 1857, Avhich abolished 
 transportation. The Tory party lost one of its ablest lawyers 
 by the death of Sir John Holker in May. Mr. Bernal Osborne 
 was chiefly conspicuous for his remarkable power of saying bitter 
 things, and the impartiality with which he exercised the power. 
 One of his latest and bitterest sayings was occasioned by the 
 death of Lord Beaconsfield. The length of time during which 
 Lord Beaconsfield lingered offered Mr. Bernal Osborne an op- 
 portunity which he could not miss. ' Overdoing it as he overdid 
 eveiything,' was his kindly comment on the dying statesman. 
 The death of Mr. Edwin James reminded London for a moment 
 of what once promised to be a successful political and legal 
 career. He first became prominent by his skilful defence of Dr. 
 Bernard in the Orsini business of 1858, and he shortly after 
 entered Parliament. His talents had almost won for him the 
 position of Solicitor-General, when money difficulties caused him 
 to quit England and go to America, where he made some way
 
 250 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 at the American Bar. He returned to London in later years 
 to find himself almost forgotten, and to fail in the attempt to 
 make a new career for himself. Captain Hans Busk, the in- 
 ventor of the Volunteer movement ; Sir Henry Cole, inventor 
 of the South Kensington Museum, and Joseph Aloysius 
 Hansom, who invented the Hansom cab, died in this year. 
 
 During the summer of 1SS2 London was delighted by the 
 presence of a curious guest. London is made as happy as ever 
 old E,ome was by the visit of some barbaric or semi-barbaric 
 sovereign. It forgot its hon-or of the Cretan massacres in its 
 eagerness to welcome the ill-fated Abdul Aziz ; it went wild over 
 the Shah of Persia and other Oriental potentates. Now it was 
 rejoicing over the Zulu king Cetewayo. Cetewayo, after being 
 dethroned and kept in long confinement was brought on a visit 
 to England and entrusted to the care of Mr. Whiteley, the 
 world-renowned 'universal provider,' who has given an amusing 
 account of his experiences in providing for an African monarch. 
 Cetewayo with some of his companions was installed in an 
 ' jBsthetic ' red brick house in Melbury Boad, where he was fed 
 on overdone beefsteak, where he drank lai-ge quantities of 
 champagne, and where he received endless visitors who came to 
 pay theii" respects and to converse with him through the medium 
 of his interpreter, Mr. Shepstone, Sir Theophilus Shepstoue's 
 son. After a while London got tired of Cetewayo ; it was felt 
 that he had been sufficiently impressed by the greatness of the 
 British Empire, and by the charms of Mr. Whiteley 's cham 
 pagne, and he was sent back to Africa, and for a time restored 
 to his dominion. He soon got into a war with another chief 
 and was defeated ; it was reported that he was killed. The 
 rumour of his death proved to be unfounded just then. He 
 gave himself up to English authority again, and died not long 
 after — of heart disease, it was said. Possibly successive dis- 
 appointments, and an inability to understand the policy of the 
 Government, had something to do with the ill-starred king's 
 decease.
 
 TROUBLE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 251 
 
 CPIAPTER XIY. 
 
 TROUBLE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 
 
 The new year 1883 opened sadly enough. The sorrow was 
 more another nation's than ours, yet it had its echo here. 
 The man who had died in France just as the old year was fad- 
 ing into the new, had begun to play a great part in history, 
 and his influence had counted for something in the politics of 
 England. All over London, on the Monday which was the first 
 day of the year, the placards of the evening paper-s announced 
 that M. Gambetta was dead. He had been ill some time, 
 through a mysterious accident, with regard to which many 
 vague and meaningless rumours were in circulation, as such 
 rumours always circulate when a great statesman is struck 
 down. He had somehow wounded himself with a pistol; the 
 wound was slight in itself, but Gambetta's health was bad, and 
 suddenly, almost before people were aware that he was in serious 
 danger, he was dead. Seldom perhaps has the irony of existence, 
 the vanity of success, been more grimly accentuated. Gambetta 
 was on the threshold of a great career; he was already the 
 greatest statesman in France, the one man in whom people re- 
 cognised a spirit that was not unworthy to cope with that of the 
 German Chancellor. He had become almost suddenly famous 
 in France. The war gave him his opportunity to show himself 
 a soldier, a statesman, and an orator. He seemed to be walking 
 with a sure tread to the highest successes that a political life 
 can dream after and attain. He had the rare gift of patience ; 
 he knew how to wait. He was content, if needs were, to stand 
 aside for a while and watch the play; quietly confident that 
 when his cue came he could strike in again and fill the stage 
 with his presence, and cause all the other actors to be forgotten. 
 And now, long before the play was played out, while it was 
 but beginning, the great actor was gone. The effect was strange, 
 startling, even ghastly. The drama has been going on, and the
 
 252 EXGLAXB UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 audience have been applauding ; in scene after scene the actor 
 has appeared and been successful, and suddenly, while all are 
 looking for greater things yet, the curtain is rung down, and we 
 are told that the great actor has died while waiting to come on 
 the stage. He is dead, and the play will never be finished. M. 
 Gambetta had many bitter enemies. The bitterest of them might 
 be willing to admit that there was something profoundly melan- 
 choly, something inexpressibly tragic in that swift, untimely, 
 meaningless conclusion to a great career. If life were indeed, 
 in the words of Mr. George Meredith, ' a supreme ironic proces- 
 sion, with laughter of gods in the background,' there might well 
 be immortal mirth over such an ambition coming to such an 
 end. M. Gambetta died at Ville d'Avi-ay, a little country 
 place not far from Paris, in the villa called ' Les Jardies,' which 
 had once belonged to Balzac, and which had been a cause of 
 much pride and much torment to the great French novelist. 
 There was everything in the career of Gambetta to excite the 
 admiration of the old master of ' Les Jardies,' and sometliing in 
 its futile farewell of which he, pei'haps best of all men who have 
 ever written, could have imderstood the pity and pathos. 
 
 On February 10, 1883, the representatives of Germany, 
 Au.stria, France, Italy, Russia, Turkey, and Great Britain 
 met at the Foreign Office, to hold a series of conferences re- 
 specting the navigation of the Danube. They had actually met 
 two days previously, but had adjourned out of compliment to 
 the Turkish Ambassador, Musurus Pasha, who had not then 
 received the full powers enabling him to take part in the con- 
 ference. The question which the conference had to decide upon 
 Avere not only of the highest international interest, but were of 
 especial importance to British commerce. By the Treaties of 
 Paris of 1856 and 1857 Russia ceded to Turkey the Avhole of 
 the islands at the mouth of the Danube, fi'om the Belgarod or 
 most northern outlet of the Kilia branch, down to the St. 
 George's or most southern mouth, with the addition of the Isle 
 of Serpents. Thus every navigable outlet of the Danube into 
 the sea passed from the conti'ol of Russia to that of the Porte. 
 The contracting parties to the Treaty of Paris placed all matters
 
 TROUBLE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 253 
 
 connected with the improvement and navigation of the Danube 
 undei- two Commissions, In the first oi- European Commission, 
 each of the contracting parties was to be represented by a 
 delegate, and the duties of the Commission were to put the 
 mouth of the Danube into the best possible state for navigation, 
 and to settle the fixed duties which should be levied to defray 
 the expenses connected with these works. It was expected 
 that this Commission would have completed its task in two 
 years, and in the meantime a permanent Riverain Commission 
 was to be formed of delegates from the various riverain states 
 of the Danube, to whom the improvement of the river and the 
 regulations of navigation throughout its entire course were to 
 be entrusted. The Eiverain Commission never acted. The 
 European Commission was unable to accomplish its work in the 
 proposed two years. The work it had to carry out proved to 
 be of a much more serious character than was at first expected, 
 and its existence was renewed from time to time by prolonga- 
 tions in 1866 of five years, and in 1871 of twelve years. Before 
 this latter period of twelve years was little more than half ex- 
 pired, Russia's victory over Tui-key gave her the opportunity of 
 eflfacing the very last of the humiliations that had been inflicted 
 upon her by the Crimean Avar, The forty-fifth article of the 
 Treaty of Berlin compelled Roumania to restore to Russia the 
 greater portion of the Bessarabian territory which Russia had lost 
 by the Treaty of Paris in 1856. Thus all the Kilia mouths of 
 the Danube, with the exception of that of Stary Stamboul, were 
 comprised within the Russian frontier. By the forty-sixth 
 article the islands forming the Delta of the Danube, including 
 the Isle of Serpents, were added to Roumania. By the fifty- 
 third article Roumania as an independent power was granted 
 a representative on the European Commission. 
 
 The Em-opean Commission, through a committee of its 
 members, drew up certain draft regulations for that portioii of 
 the river between the Iron Gate and Galatz, and recommended 
 the formation of a permanent mixed Commission, consisting of 
 representatives of Austria, and of the Riverain States of 
 Roumania, Bulgaria, and Servia, to enforce these provisions.
 
 2)4 EXGLAND UXDER GLALSTOXE. 
 
 It was farther proposed that the Austrian member, out of 
 courtesy to a great Power, should be president of this mixed 
 Commission. These proposals met with many objections. 
 Roumania was opposed to the presence of any Austrian member 
 on the Commission, Austria not being a riverain state. Bul- 
 gai'ia objected to the presence of either Austrian or Roumanian 
 members on the mixed Commission on the ground that these 
 Powers were already represented on the Euroj^ean Commission 
 by permanent members. The Fi-ench commissioner on the 
 European Commission, M. Camille Barrere, then proposed that 
 Austria, Roumania, Servia, and Bulgaria should each be repre- 
 sented on the mixed Commission, and that each of the members 
 of the European Commission should s?rve on the mixed Com- 
 mission successively for six months at a time, in the alphabetical 
 order of the countries they represented. This proposition was 
 eventually agreed to and signed by all the commissioners and 
 delegates, with the exception of Roumania, The English 
 Government in the end of 1882 issued invitations to France, 
 Germany, Austria, Italy, Russia, and Turkey, to assemble their 
 representatives in conference at London, with a view to decid- 
 ing upon the confirmation of these regulations, and the extension 
 and prolongation of the powers of the European Commission. 
 On this conference the riverain states who were especially 
 interested were not represented at all. All that the plenipo- 
 tentiaries would concede to the riverain states was that re- 
 presentatives from Roumania and Servia might be admitted to 
 the conference with a consultative voice, and that the Bulgarian 
 representatives might be present at the confei-ence and hear all 
 that was said, but would only be suffered to speak themselves 
 through the mouth of the Turkish ambassador. These con- 
 cessions were naturally very galling to the pride of the riverain 
 states, and though Servia accepted them, both Roumania and 
 Bulgaria refused, and declared that they would not be bound by 
 any decisions that might be taken without their participation. 
 
 In all this the riverain states, and Roumania especially, 
 appear to have been somewhat roughly nsed by the great 
 Powers. Prince Georges Bibesco, in his valuable book 'Histoire
 
 TROUBLE AT HOME A^^D ABBOAD. 2."55 
 
 d'line Frontiere ; la Eoumanie sur la rive droite du Danube,' has 
 given a very clear and fair account of the hard treatment 
 Roumania had to undergo at the Congress of Berlin, where the 
 independence conceded to her was certainly made as bitter as 
 possible by the conditions demanded and the concessions enforced. 
 In the question of the navigation of the Danube, she would 
 certainly seem to be geographically entitled to a voice in the 
 matter; but at the London conference of 1883 her rights were 
 ignored, or at least recognised in such a manner as made the 
 recognition almost more humiliating than a direct refusal. Lord 
 Granville was very bland and very gracious, and if he suffered 
 Eoumania to be dealt with at the pleasure of the great Powers, 
 his attitude was polished and courteous. There was, un- 
 doubtedly, a considerable feeling of opposition to the riverain 
 states in this country. The Associated Chambers of Commerce, 
 bodies of great influence, believed that the representatives of 
 the riverain states on the proposed permanent mixed Com- 
 mission would endeavour to restrict the coastinsr trade of the 
 upper portion of the river to their own vessels. As such a 
 condition of things would be highly injurious to the trade and 
 shipping of this country, the Associated Chambers of Commerce 
 had memorialised Lord Granville in the April of L882, urging 
 him to ensure to English shipping all the rights and privileges it 
 then enjoyed as regarded the free navigation of the Danube. 
 Though it is by no means certain that Roumania had any such 
 intentions as were set forth in this appeal, the appeal would 
 undoubtedly have great weight with Lord Granville. 
 
 The result of the conference was practically to gratify all the 
 demands made by Russia. Russia carried her point about being 
 allowed, in conjunction with Roumania, to have the free super- 
 vision of the Kilia branch, and constructing in that branch and 
 its embouchures works of a commercial nature for the purpose 
 of improving the navigation. Russia, moreover, had the right 
 to levy tolls intended to cover the expenses of any such works 
 undertaken by her ; in fact, the principal result of the con- 
 ference was to yield to Russia all the concessions she demanded, 
 and to place Roumania very materially under Russian influence
 
 25G ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 and Russian authority. The nature of the mixed Commission 
 was agi-eed upon. The powers of the European Commission 
 were extended to Ibraila. The powers of the European Com- 
 mission were prolonged for a period of twenty-one years; and on 
 the expiration of this term it was further decided that the Com- 
 mission shouhl continue to exercise its functions for periods of 
 three yeai's, unless, one year before the expiration of one of these 
 terms of three years, any one of the contracting Powers gave 
 notice of a wish to propose modifications in the constitution or 
 powers of the Commission. A date of six months later than 
 the conference was assigned for the exchange of the ratifications 
 of this treaty, which accordingly took place at the end of 
 August 18S3. 
 
 Parliament opened on Thursday, February 15, 1883. The 
 Queen's Speech expressed satisfaction at the settlement of the 
 Egyptian struggle, announced that a confei^ence of the great 
 Powers had assembled in London to consider the questions 
 relating to the navigation of the Danube, and pointed out the 
 revival of disturbances in Zululand. Several measures of legis- 
 lation were announced — for the codification of the criminal 
 law, for the establishment of a Court of Criminal Appeal, for 
 the amendment and consolidation of the laws relating to 
 bankruptcy and patents, for preventing corrupt practices at 
 elections, for perpetuating and amending the Ballot Act, for 
 the better government of London, and for general reform in 
 the local government of the country. Bills were also promised 
 dealing with the conservancy of rivers and the prevention of 
 floods, with the police and universities of Scotland, with education 
 in Wales, and compensation to tenants for agricultural improve- 
 ments in England and Scotland. The Speech concluded with 
 the hope that Parliament might be able to deal with some of 
 the legislative wants of Ireland for which provision had not 
 yet been made. 
 
 In conformity with the habit of Parliament under the new 
 administration, a long debate sprang up upon the address. 
 People who objected to the policy of the Government in Egypt 
 and in Zululand, or who objected to other actions of the Govern-
 
 TROUBLE AT SOME AND ABROAD. 257 
 
 ruent, or wlio wished to point out what the Government ought 
 to do, expressed their opinions with sufficient copiousness. Mr. 
 Gorst was the first to bring Ireland prominently forward by an 
 ingenious amendment, expressing a hope that no further con- 
 cessions would be made to lawless agitators in that country. 
 This at once aroused all the old Kilmainham treaty excitement. 
 In these debates Mr. Gibson and Mr. Plunket are always in 
 their element. Like the great twin brethren who were always 
 supposed to have a special eye to the safety of Home, and to 
 interfere in person where the fortunes of the ' Nameless City ' 
 were going badly, Mr. Gibson and Mr, Plunket are ever in the 
 van of the Conservative battle when an Irish question gives 
 them the chance of showing that the Conservative party really 
 have some of the old fighting spirit left in them. The Kil- 
 mainham treaty has been the greatest of blessings to these two 
 gentlemen. The curious resemblances that exist between them 
 increase their likeness to the Dioscuri, and lend a piquant attrac- 
 tion to any of their united attacks upon the Ministry accused of 
 unholy compact with the Third Party. Both represent the same 
 constituency, both are clever la'wyers, both are exceptionally able 
 speakers, both have peculiarly eighteenth-century faces, both 
 pride themselves on their gifts of satiric speech, both are en- 
 dowed with a certain quality of theatrical display which enables 
 them to make the very most of even the slightest rhetorical 
 opportunity, both were law officers of the Crown under the late 
 Administration. But just as Castor was not wholly like Pollux, 
 or Pollux like Castor, so Mr. Gibson and Mr. Plunket have 
 certain points of difierence, which serve perhaps only to heighten 
 the general similitude. Mr. Gibson is, perhaps, the harder hitter; 
 Mr. Plunket the more poetically minded. Mr. Plunket is more 
 showy than solid ; Mr. Gibson more soHd than showy. On this 
 occasion both speakers were in full force. Mr. Gibson attacked 
 everybody fiercely— the Govei'nment, the Irish members, and 
 especially Mr. Herbert Gladstone, who had made a speech at 
 Leeds which stirred Mr. Gibson to a passion of indignation. 
 The Dioscuri raised the Kilmainham ghost again, showed that 
 it had been neither laid nor exorcised by all the debates that
 
 258 ENGLAND TJNLER GLADSTONE. 
 
 had been devoted to it, and succeeded in bringing up Mr. 
 Forster. Mr. Forster bas a peculiar affection for the Kilmain- 
 ham treaty topic. It allows him to figure, like Eogue Rider- 
 hood, as 'a honest man,' and if enables him to gratify his sense 
 of injury against the colleagues who did not properly appreciate 
 his worth and his ability. Mr. Forster's speech was a long 
 attack upon Mr. Parnell, interrupted at one point not un- 
 dramatically. Mr. Forster had used words which, whatever 
 they were meant to convey, gave to their hearers the impression 
 that he charged Mr. Parnell with conniving at murder. Mr. 
 O'Kelly impetuously interrupted him by crying out thrice, 
 ' You lie ! ' and was immediately suspended. This debate took 
 place on Thursday, the 22nd, and the next day Mr. Parnell 
 replied in a brief speech, in which he coldly repudiated Mr. 
 Forster's insinuations. In the course of the debate some in- 
 genious use was made by Mr. Forster's opponents of former 
 utterances of his own, and journalistic comments upon them. 
 Mr. Forster had made a speech in March 1864. defending 
 Mazzini as a man of high character, whose friend he should 
 not be ashamed to be, as he was not ashamed to be his acquaint- 
 ance. This declaration was made after long quotations had been 
 read in the House from Mazzini's letter on ' The Theory of the 
 Dagger,' in which he had written, 'Blessed be the knife of 
 Palafox; blessed be in your hands every weapon that can 
 destroy the enemy and set you free. The weapon that slew 
 Mincovitch in the arsenal initiated the insurrection in Venice. 
 It was a weapon of irregular warfare, like that which three 
 months before the republic destroyed the minister Rossi in 
 Rome.' These were the utterances of the man whom Mr. 
 Forster considered of high character, whose friendship he would 
 not repudiate. The quotation of these passages was appropriate. 
 They were not brought forward to convey the idea that Mr. 
 Forster approved of political assassination; that, of course, 
 would have been absurd. The intention was to show how easily 
 such accusations are trumped up, and also how liable English 
 statesmen are to commend, or at least to condone, principles of 
 revolution in foreign states, Avhich they view, and rightly view
 
 TROUBLE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 259 
 
 then, in a very different light when they are applied at home. 
 The Kilmainham treaty was not heard the last of in this 
 debate. It came up again and again. "Whenever adventurous 
 membex'S of the Opposition had nothing better to do or to talk 
 about they turned to the Kilmainham treaty, and made it the 
 sempiternal text for attacks upon the Government. But no 
 amount of indignant inquiries or pertinacious onslaughts suc- 
 ceeded hi eliciting any further facts as to the alleged ' treaty.' 
 The Government had given its explanation, and declined to 
 amplify it to suit the sensational and mysterious suggestions 
 of an incredulous Opposition. 
 
 Once more the Bradlaugh question came prominently to the 
 front. During the recess Mr. Bradlaugh had been going about 
 the country addressing meetings, and had brought an un- 
 successful astion against the serjeant-at-arms for expelling 
 him from the House. On the day when Parliament met a 
 great meeting was held in Trafalgar Square to support jMr. 
 Bradlaugh's claims, at which Mr. Bradlaugh announced that 
 unless the Government brought in some Bill that would allow 
 him to affirm, he would take his seat as before. The Queen's 
 Speech, as we have seen, contained no reference to any Bill of the 
 kind suggested by Mr. Bradlaugh, but it war; nevertheless noised 
 abroad that the Government did propose to introduce legislation 
 on the subject. In answer to an appeal from Mr. Labouchere, 
 Lord Hartinoton announced that the Government intended to 
 bring in a Parliamentary Oaths Amendment Bill, which would 
 enable members objecting to the oath to affirm. In consequence 
 of this pledge, which aroused promises of the fiercest opposition 
 from the Conservative party, Mr. Bradlaugh consented to defer 
 further action on his part until the fate of the measvire was 
 decided. The decision was not long delayed. Before it came 
 Mr. Bradlaugh gained a victory over Mr. Newdegate after two 
 years of litigation. ]\Ir. Newdegate, in the person of his ' man of 
 straw,' named Clarke, had brought an action against Mr. Brad- 
 laugh, to recover penalties for his having sat and voted without 
 taking the oath. Mr. Clarke gained his case, and the verdict 
 was supported by the Coiu-t of Appeal, but was reversed by the 
 
 6 2
 
 260 EAWLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 House of Lords on tlie ground that the right of action lay only 
 ■with the Crown, and not with a common informer. Mr. Brad- 
 laugh's legal success was not ominous of like success in the 
 Commons. The Conservatives kept their promise to ofTer to 
 the Bill uncompromising opposition. Nor was opposition to 
 the Bill confined to the Tory benches. Within the Liberal 
 ranks some of the angriest opponents of the measiu-e avowed 
 themselves. On April 23 the second reading was moved by 
 the Attorney-General. A bitter debate, prolonged over several 
 days, came to an end on May 3. Shortly after midnight the 
 division was taken, amid a scene of excitement which recalled 
 to many members that wild night in 1866 when Mr. Lowe 
 and the Adullamites defeated a Reform Bill and overthrew a 
 Government. 289 members voted for the Affirmation Bill, 
 292 against it. The Government were defeated by a majority 
 of 3. Defeat was, indeed, inevitable. The forces allied for 
 the moment against the measure were so sti'ong, that the small- 
 ness of the majority was more remarkable than the fact that 
 there was a majority against the Government. But the Govern- 
 ment declined to go out. Foreseeing the possibility of defeat 
 from the beginning, they had taken cai'e to make it known that 
 they did not stake their existence on the fortunes of the Bill. 
 They chose to regard it as a matter for the House to decide 
 upon instead of a vital Ministerial measure, and they remained 
 in office. But the defeat was damaging, none the less. Re- 
 garded by itself the Government could afford to neglect it, but 
 it was Sb factor in the sum of troubles which was every day 
 becoming more bewildering to the political arithmetic of the 
 Administration. As soon as the Bill was defeated. Sir Stafford 
 Northcote moved his famihar resolution that Mr. Bradlaugh be 
 not permitted to take the oath ; and after Mr. Bi'adlaugh was 
 heard once more from the bar of the House in his own defence, 
 the motion was carried, and the difficulty was shelved for 
 another year. 
 
 An attempt was unsuccessfully made to include Mr. Brad- 
 laugh in a remarkable trial for blasphemy which was conducted 
 in February. This was the trial of the editor and publishers of a
 
 TROUBLE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 261 
 
 periodical called the Freethh^her, for the publication of a series of 
 pictures described as a 'New Life of Christ,' for which the editor, 
 Mr. George William Foote, was sentenced to twelve months' im- 
 prisonment. The trial aroused the greatest public interest, and 
 many efforts were made to obtain a remission of the sentence by 
 persons who believed that the law had been strained, and who 
 considered that Mr. Foote, as a man of education and ability, 
 had been harshly treated for what was after all only an exagge- 
 rated expression of opinion. But, without entering into the 
 grave religious questions involved, it is surely obvious that 
 human society would become intolerable if it were permissible 
 for any one who pleased to insult publicly and coarsely the re- 
 ligion of the vast majority of his fellows. The illustrations 
 complained of were disgusting and disgraceful ; would have 
 been disgusting and disgraceful if the Chi'istians of England 
 were but as ten for every thousand. It is scarcely conceivable 
 that an educated man, as Mr. Foote undoubtedly was, could 
 have believed that he was serving any cause by these monstrous 
 caricatures of what even the bitterest unbelievers have agreed 
 to regard with reverence, the life of Christ. At the expiration 
 of the year Mr. Foote was released, and announced his inten- 
 tion of seeking a seat in Parliament to protest against religious 
 persecution. 
 
 On April 2 Lord Randolph Churchill, judging that the time 
 had come for him to take a yet more active part in politics, 
 addressed a manifesto to the City and the world. The mani- 
 festo took the form of a letter to the Times. ' The position of 
 the Conservative party,' wrote Lord Randolph, 'at present is 
 hopeful and critical.' But, like the angry hive of bees iu 
 Warwick's simile, the Conservative party wanted a leader. 
 Three names at once presented themselves to Lord Randolph's 
 mind. ' If the electors are iu a negative frame of mind, they 
 may accept Sir Stafford Northcote ; if they are in a cautious 
 frame of mind, they may shelter themselves under Lord Cairns ; 
 if they are in an English frame of mind, they will rally round 
 Lord Salisbury.' Salisbury w^as, indeed, the burden of Lord 
 Randolph's letter. * Honourable rescue and defence ' foi* the
 
 262 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 Tory party * cried out upon the name of Salisbury,' and, likeLewia 
 of France, Lord Eandoli)h appealed to renowned Salisbury to 
 lift up his brow, and with a great heart heave away the inaction 
 of party due to the conduct of the ' Junta ' of leaders of Oppo- 
 sition in the House of Commons. Lord Randolph was dis- 
 mayed at the ' series of neglected opportunities, iiusillanimity, 
 combativeness at wrong moments, vacillation, dread of respon- 
 sibility, repression and discouragement of hard-working fol- 
 lowers, collusions with the Government, hankerings after coali- 
 tions, jealousies, commonplaces, and want of perception on the 
 part of the former lieutenants of Lord Beaconsfield,' All this 
 Avas due to the want of real leadership, and to the way in which 
 the opportunities of the party were 'handled by third-rate 
 statesmen, such as were good enough to fill subordinate oflSces 
 while Lord Beaconsfield was alive,' The Conservative party, 
 Lord Eandolph declared, was formed for better ends than 'the 
 short-lived triumph and speedy disgrace of " bourgeois " place- 
 men, " honourable " Tadpoles, hungry Tapers, Irish lawyers.' 
 Lord Salisbury alone could retrieve the party ; Lord Salisbury 
 alone could save the country. 
 
 The country, it must be admitted, smiled a good deal at 
 Lord Randolph's effort to save it, but it smiled good-humouredly. 
 There was something not displeasing in the cool audacity with 
 which Lord Randolph postured as the Elisha of the mantle of 
 Lord Beaconsfield, as the patron of the House of Cecil, and as 
 the saviour of his country, which disarmed any feelicg angrier 
 than amused interest. The immediate followers and allies of 
 Sir Stafibrd Northcote must be excepted from this sense of 
 amused interest. They were annoyed, indignant, incoherent. 
 Lord Salisbury himself did not appear to be greatly elated by 
 Lord Randolph's homage. In the phraseology of childhood. 
 Lord Randolph had spoken one word for Lord Salisbury, and 
 two for himself. Lately, Lord Randolph Churchill and Lord 
 Salisbury have almost parted company. It was easy to see, 
 even then, that, under all the respectful revei'ence for the 
 ' English ' leadership of Lord Salisbury, Lord Randolph 
 Churchill cherished the complacent conviction that the Tory
 
 TROUBLE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 2G3 
 
 party need not go to the UpjDer Hovise to find the needed new 
 leader. But the country is always good-humouredly tolerant of 
 youthful ambition, even of youthful audacity. Lord Randolph 
 was evidently playing a part learned from the life of the young 
 Disraeli, and the country perhaps remembered that its merri- 
 ment over the young Disraeli had not been particularly happy. 
 At any rate, it recognised Lord Randolph's right to prophecy, 
 even while it made merry over his prophecies. Lord Randolph 
 cared very little for the mirth of his opponents or his political 
 allies. ' Laugh, but hear me/ he might have said, paraphrasing 
 the well-worn classic story. He had been steadily advancing 
 more and more into the public view ever since the new Parlia- 
 ment; his letter made him more conspicuous than ever. It 
 provoked a counter-demonstration in favour of Sir Stafford 
 Northcote, in the shape of an address signed by two hundred 
 members of the Conservative party, assuring him of their alle- 
 giance. It called down angry letters, which Lord Randolph 
 Churchill took with great composure. In a second letter to 
 the Times he expressed himself as ' only too happy to bear the 
 brunt of a little temporary efiervescence, and to be the scape- 
 goat on which doomed mediocrities may lay the burden of 
 their exposed incapacity.' If Lord Salisbury declixaed to follow 
 his advice, then it became his duty to save the party and the 
 country himself; and Lord Randolph promptly assumed for him- 
 self, with no timid hesitation, the position of Lord Beaconsfield's 
 successor. 
 
 Lord Salisbury ^narle speeches in different parts of the 
 country, attacking the Government ; he even went to Birming- 
 ham to beard Radicalism by its own hearthstone, Birmingham 
 Radicalism was not disposed to take this Tory invasion patiently. 
 On March 30, 1883, Mr. Chamberlain delivered a counterblast 
 to Lord Salisbury. * Lord Salisbury surveys the Liberal policy 
 with jaundiced eyes, through glasses which are coloured by 
 temper and by prejudice. He exaggerates failures, he creates 
 defects where he does not find them, he ignores altogether 
 everything which is favourable and satisfactory, and by deej^en- 
 ing the shadows and altering the light produces a picture
 
 264 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 which is not a portrait, but a gross caricature,' What would 
 Lord Salisbury and his party have done with Ireland \ ' No 
 remedial legislation ; more bayonets ; more police ; the Irish 
 leaders in gaol ; full rents for Irish landlords ; and eviction for 
 Irish tenants. But that is a policy which has been tried for 
 generations, and failed conspicuously. . . . Force is no remedy 
 for discontent. . . . Our task .vill never be completed until we 
 have succeeded, by just and equal laws, by wise administration, 
 in enlisting on the side of the English Government and the 
 English people the interest and the influence of the bulk of the 
 Irish nation.' Then came the passage which made this speech 
 one of the classics of the administration by its uncompromising 
 presentation of the position of the Radical party. ' Lord Salis- 
 bury cares nothing for the bulk of the Irish nation. . . . He 
 has no sympathy .... for the poor tenants who for years, 
 under the threat of eviction and the pressure of starvation, have 
 paid the unjust rents levied on their improvements, and extorted 
 from their desperate toil and hopeless poverty. I say that on 
 this matter, as on many others, Lord Salisbury constitutes him- 
 self the spokesman of a class — of the class to which he himself 
 belongs, " who toil not, neither do they spin ; " whose fortunes, 
 as in his case, have originated in gi-ants made in times long gone 
 by for the services Avliich courtiers rendered kings, and have 
 since grown and increased, while they have slept, by levying an 
 unearned share on all that other men have done by toil and 
 labour to add to the general wealth and prosperity of the 
 country of which they form a part.' 
 
 It is no exaggeration to say that this speech roused the 
 greatest excitement throughout the country. Advanced Radi- 
 cals hailed it as a declaration of war against a profitless and 
 costly aristocracy. Whigs and Conservatives, dubious Liberals 
 and desperate Toi-ies, huddled together in the common union of 
 angiy panic. From the shores of the ' tideless, dolorous, midland 
 sea,' from the myrtle groves of Cannes, the Duke of Argjdl wrote 
 an indignant protest on behalf of his class against the utterances 
 of the President of the Board of Trade. There was nothing of 
 the rose-scented wind of Provence in the tone and temper of
 
 TROUBLE AT H02IE AND ABROAD. 265 
 
 the Duke's letter. It blew with the angry, acrid breath of the 
 mistral. The Duke of Argyll is nothing if he is not omniscient. 
 He hurled portentous blocks of political economy at the Bir- 
 mingham Trojan, He quoted Carlyle, he quoted Lord Bacon, 
 he alluded to the career of James Nasmyth, he volunteered the 
 superfluous statement that he was not ' a Communist.' All 
 this was entertaining enough, but it can hardly have impressed 
 Mr. Chamberlain very profoundly, or have caused the Radicals 
 of Birmingham and elsewhere to veil abashed foreheads. It 
 had, indeed, nothing to do with the matter in hand. Every one 
 knew of course that the Duke of Argyll was not likely to con- 
 sider a wealthy aristocracy a useless feature in a State system, 
 "What Mr. Chamberlain complained of was the heartless in- 
 difference with which the chief champion of a wealthy and idle 
 body had regarded the sufferings of some millions of less fortunate 
 fellow-men. Nobody had accused, nobody could accuse the 
 Duke of Argyll of idleness. His activity might not be very 
 profitable to the State, but it was undoubted. He was always 
 writing books or letters, and displaying the varied range of his 
 acquirements^ prompt at all times to enter the lists against 
 Radicalism, ever ready to break a lance with progress, to defend 
 the old order that was rapidly giving place to the new. 
 
 On April 19 a bronze statue of Lord Beaconsfield was un- 
 veiled in Parliament Square, in the presence of Lord Salisbury, 
 Sir Stafford Northcote, and a large number of Lord Beacons- 
 field's relations, friends, and admirers. Among the friends was 
 Sir John Pope Hennessy, one of Mr. Disraeli's favourite lieu- 
 tenants in former days. Sir John Pope Hennessy had just 
 come from his old governorship of Hong Kong, and was making 
 a brief stay in London before starting for his new governorship 
 of Mauritius. When Sir John Hennessy was a young man 
 making his way in Parliament, Mr. Disraeli, who always 
 sought the alliance of young men of political promise, mani- 
 fested the warmest friendship and affection for him, and it was 
 a curiously appropriate chance which allowed him to be present 
 dt a ceremony in honour of his old frier^d and leadei\
 
 266 EXGLANB UNBER GLADSTONE. 
 
 In the second week of July 1883 the Government found 
 itself in a new difficulty, which threatened at one time to prove 
 the most serious they had yet encountered. The Suez Canal 
 had for some time been proving itself insufficient to meet the 
 increased demands made upon it as a waterway, and various 
 susfQiestions were made from time to time for affordins; mcreased 
 facilities of transit to the Ease. At one time there was some 
 talk of a canal, founded on British capital, and worked by a 
 British company, being cut by Alexandi'ia and Cairo. Nothing 
 much was heard of this scheme. Then it became known that 
 M. de Lesseps had a plan of his own for increasing the means 
 of communication across the isthmus. M. de Lesseps's position 
 was somewhat peculiar. In 1856, M. Ferdinand de Lesseps 
 came to England with a great project for cutting a ship canal 
 across the Isthmus of Suez. Any one who glances at a map will 
 see at once what immense advantages to the commerce of the 
 world, and especially to the commerce of England, such a canal, 
 if really feasible, offered. The way to our Indian empire, to our 
 Australian colonies, instead of encii-cling the whole African 
 continent, might be enormously abridged by the proposed canal. 
 Yet in England M. de Lesseps's proposal was received with in- 
 diffei'ence if not with contempt. It coiild not be made; if 
 made it could not possibly pay; if it did pay, and proved a 
 success, it would be a serious danger to British interests. 
 M. de Lesseps had an interview with Lord Palmerston, who 
 regarded the scheme with whole-hearted hostility; and Lord 
 Palmerston in his love and hate was always whole-heax'ted. 
 M. de Lesseps was in no wise discouraged. He appealed to his 
 own countrymen, and found that they were more easily impressed 
 with the feasibility of the scheme than the engineering race of 
 England. French patience, French energy, and French per- 
 severance overcame all obstacles and cut the canal. Then the 
 English people began to discover that they had made a great 
 mistake. Lord Beaconsfield, in 1875, did something to retrieve 
 the mistake by the famous purchase of the shares of the ruined 
 Khedive, amounting in number to nearly half the 400,000 
 original shares jr). the cf^nal. The pm^chase was enthusiastically
 
 TROUBLE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 267 
 
 praised and wildly condemned ; it may now be admitted to have 
 been a clever and successful stroke of policy. 
 
 There were three courses open to ]M. de Lesseps and his 
 energetic son Charles in 1883, when the new canal scheme was 
 talked of. Either the existing canal might be widened and 
 enlarged genei-ally, so as to allow of greater traffic between its 
 banks ; or a new canal might be cut alongside through the land 
 already belonging to the company at whose head M. de Lesseps 
 was — a plan, however, which, owing to the limitations of the 
 land actually at the disposal of the company, would entail many 
 disadvantages, among others the necessary junction of the two 
 canals at cex-tain points. The third plan was, to obtain from 
 the Egyptian Government concessions for an entirely new canal 
 on entirely new ground in the isthmus. Such a new canal 
 would undoubtedly be the best of all ; and by using one canal 
 for up and the other for down ships, the traffic might be at 
 once greatly increased and greatly accelerated. "Why then, it 
 may be asked, should not England, with all her money and her 
 engineering skill, build this second canal for herself? There 
 were many complaints of the Avay in which the old canal 
 was managed ; of the heavy tolls exacted ; of the absence of 
 British influence in its management ; of the completely French 
 nature of its pilotage and officialdom generally. Why should not 
 England, who had now learned the value of a canal, and regretted 
 her old hostility to it, build this second canal, and pay no heed 
 to the two Lesseps and their demands ? M. de Lesseps's answer 
 was simple enough. The company, of which M. de Lesseps is 
 the head, have a monopoly on the isthmus. The original grant, 
 Avhicb allowed them to undertake the task of cuttincf a water- 
 way through the isthmus, and linking together the Mediter- 
 ranean and Red Seas, gives into their hands all rights of canal- 
 cutting on the isthmus. Either the new canal must be cut by 
 jSL de Lesseps and his company, or it cannot be cut at all. On 
 the face of it, it must be admitted that there was a good deal in 
 this way of stating the case. It was hardly conceivable that 
 any man would go to work at such a business without some 
 such monopoly to protect him. What would be the nse of his
 
 2G8 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 expanding his genius and his life, and all the funds he could 
 raise to the cutting of a canal through the isthmus, if, the 
 moment it was completed, and he had shown that the task could 
 be dene, any other nation could step in, and, profiting by his 
 eTparience and his example, cut another canal by the side of 
 his, and practically render his valueless ? No railway company 
 would run a line joining two towns unless they possessed some 
 monopoly which ensured them against any knot of adventurers 
 who pleased, and who could collect money enough, starting a 
 rival line between the same two towns within a week after the 
 first line had been established. It seemed reasonable, therefore, 
 to assume that M. de Lesseps had obtained such a monopoly. 
 Factsj however, and not probabOities, were wanted. People in 
 England wanted to know, not what M. de Lesseps ought for his 
 own security to have done, but what M. de Lesseps really had 
 done. Had he secured from Egypt a monopoly of canal-cutting 
 rights over the Isthmus of Suez to the exclusion of all other 
 competitors 1 AVhen the question of the second Suez Canal 
 came up, and the English Government began to inquire into 
 the matter, in the hope of obtaining some solid securities for 
 British interest in the new venture, they answered in the 
 aflSrmative. They at once conceded the claim of M. de Lesseps 
 to an exclusive right to make a second canal through the 
 Isthmus of Suez. They chose to regard themselves as coming 
 to buy from a seller who did not wish to sell, and to whose 
 terms they had practically to agree. In their interpretation of 
 the grant of Said Pasha they were supported by the opinion of 
 the law ofiicers of the Crown, and of the Lord Chancellor him- 
 self. In this spirit the British Government went to M. de 
 Lesseps and made certain provisional arrangements with him, 
 subject, of course, to the approval of Parliament. By these 
 arrangements the British Government were to advance M. de 
 Lesseps a sum of eight millions sterling, to assist him in cutting 
 the new canal. In return for this loan M. de Lesseps was to 
 make certain concessions and efiect certain alterations in the 
 dues and management of the two canals. On July 10 the 
 heads of a provisional agreement were signed in London by
 
 TROUBLE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 269 
 
 Sir C. Rivers Wilson and Mr. J, Stokes as representatives of 
 the British Government, and by M, Charles Aime de Lesseps 
 for the president of the Suez Canal Company. By this agree- 
 ment England agreed to lend the company, by instalments, a 
 sum of eight millions at three per cent, interest, with a sinking 
 fund, not to commence until after the completion of the works, 
 calculated to repay the capital in fifty years. The Government 
 also pledged themselves to use their good offices to obtain from 
 the Egyptian Govei'nment concessions — first, for the land re- 
 quired for the new canal and its appi^oaches ; secondly, for a 
 sweet-water canal between Ismailia and Port Said ; thirdly, 
 for an extension of the terms of the original concession for so 
 many years as would make a new term of ninety-nine years 
 from the date of completion of the second canal. In considera- 
 tion of such an extension the company were to pay annually to 
 the Egyptian Treasury from the commencement of this new 
 term of ninety-nine years one per cent, of the total net profits, 
 after the statutory reservation. The Canal company on its 
 side agreed to construct the canal so that its width and depth 
 should satisfy the English directors. A reduction of the transit 
 dues was agreed to on the basis that every increase of profits 
 should be shared with the shipowners. In other words, an in- 
 crease of profits would always mean a decrease of transit dues 
 down to a minimum of five francs per ton ; while, on the other 
 hand, a decrease of profits would mean an increase of transit 
 dues on the same scale. No second increase or decrease of transit 
 dues was to take place in the same year. From Januaiy 1, 
 1884, ships in ballast were to pay twenty-two francs per ton 
 less than ships with cargo. It was hoped that pilotage dues 
 would be got rid of altogether by January 1, 1887. An exist- 
 ing grievance in the use of exclusively foreign pilots was to be 
 got rid of by the employment of a fair proportion of English 
 pilots. The agreement further included the appointment of an 
 English officer, selected by her Majesty's Government, to be 
 called Inspecteur de la Navigation, to whom the captains of 
 English vessels could address themselves in cases of complaint, 
 or of desired communication with the company. Finally, it
 
 270 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 was agreed that one of the Euglisli directors was always to be 
 a vice-prasident of the company. 
 
 Such were the terms agreed to between the rejiresentatives 
 of the British Government and the President of the Suez 
 Canal Company. When they were made known in England 
 they were greeted with almost unanimous disapproval. From 
 the Chambers of Commerce all over the country a chorus of 
 angry discontent was raised. In Pai'liament Sir Staflbrd 
 Northcote immediately gave notice of the hostility of the 
 Opposition to the proposed agreement, and it soon became plain 
 that in the Liberal ranks there was no slight dislike to the 
 new plan. The Government suddenly found themselves in- 
 volved in a serious and imexpected difficulty. They met it by 
 quietly abandoning the whole affair. The arrangement was 
 undertaken, Mr. Gladstone said in effect, for the benefit of the 
 country ; if the country did not approve of it — and the country 
 had undoubtedly shown that it did not approve of it — there 
 was nothing for it but to give the business up and leave M. de 
 Lesseps and his son to their own devices. Sir Stafford North- 
 cote very successfully spoilt the really strong position which the 
 agitation had given him by bringing forwai'd a motion which, 
 while ostensibly directed against M. de Lesseps, was of a nature 
 that M. de Lesseps himself would have cordially agreed to. Sir 
 Stafford Northcote's motion combated the assumption which 
 nobody had raised, that M. de Lesseps had a monopoly in tha 
 making of canals to join the INIediterranean and the Red Sea. 
 M. de Lesseps's most enthusiastic advocates never claimed such 
 a monopoly for him ; his most impassioned antagonists never 
 alleged that he had claimed any such a monopoly. All that 
 M. de Lesseps did claim was the monopoly of piercing tho 
 Isthmus of Suez : this point the Government had conceded to 
 him ] this claim the Opposition objected to ; but this claim was 
 not combated or indeed alluded to in Sir Stafford Northcote's 
 motion. At one time the Opposition seemed to have the game 
 entirely in their own hands; bvxt Sir Stafford Northcote's motion 
 gave it back at once into the hands of the Government. An 
 amendment was brought forward from the Ministerial side of
 
 TROUBLE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 271 
 
 the House, setting forth the condition of things in a clearer 
 fashion, and was of course carried. 
 
 In Ireland things were unquiet. Early in January Mr. 
 Davitt, Mr. Healy, and Mr. Quinn were tried before the 
 Queen's Bench in Dublin, on account of speeches they had de- 
 livered, and were ordered to find securities for their good be- 
 haviour, or to go to prison for six months. They chose im- 
 prisonment, and were accordingly committed to Richmond 
 Prison on the second week of February. In January, also, 
 the Irish executive began an action for libel asrainst Mr. 
 William O'Brien, editor of United Ireland., for an article 
 which he had written against Lord Spencer. At the time of 
 the action Mr. William O'Brien was standing as a candidate 
 for the town of Mallow, which had become vacant through the 
 acceptance by the Solicitor- General for Ireland of a place of 
 profit under the Crown. Mallow was a constituency which 
 seemed very unlikely to return a National candidate. Once 
 before it had returned a very moderate Home Buler, Mr. John 
 George MacCarthy, to the great surprise of everybody. But it 
 was generally looked upon as a safe seat for an Irish Govern- 
 ment official. This time, however, the condition of things 
 was changed. Mr. William O'Brien, extreme among extreme 
 Nationalists, was returned at the head of the poll by a majority 
 of 72 over the new Solicitor-General for Ireland, ]\Ir. Naish, 
 On February 9 the new member for Mallow was put upon his 
 trial for the alleged libel, and the next day the trial came to an 
 end, as the jury were unable to agree. 
 
 All other causes of public interest in Ireland, however, 
 were destined for some months to sink into comparative insig- 
 nificance when compared with the excitement aroused by cer- 
 tain inquiries that were going on at Kilmainham Court-house. 
 On January 13 the Dublin police made a sudden raid upon 
 several houses in the town, and arrested seventeen men. Two 
 days later three other arrests were made, and on the 20th the 
 prisoners were brought into the Dublin Court-house, and for- 
 mally charged with being associated in a conspiracy to murder
 
 272 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 Government ofiBcials. INIost of these men were of the artisan 
 class, stonecutters, compositors, van-men, and masons : one ■was of 
 better position, James Carey, a well-to-do contractor and builder 
 who had been a suspect, and was recently elected to the 
 Dublin Town Council. Of all the prisoners this man carried 
 himself most coolly, protested the loudest against the injustice 
 of his arrest, and the inconvenience it caused him. On the 20th 
 he stepped out of the prison van, smoking a cigar, carefully 
 dressed to represent a thriving tradesman who was proud of 
 civic honours, ostentatiously, even aggressively, composed in 
 bearing. Offers of bail for any of the prisoners were rigorously 
 refused. The doubts — and they were many — as to the value of 
 the police raid were soon dispelled. One of the arrested men, 
 Farrell, i)roraptly turned informer. He did not know much. 
 Little that Farrell told about the Fenian organisation itself, 
 its Bs and Cs, its subscriptions and distributions of arms and 
 secret drilling, was either new or important. It was when he 
 came to describe the ' inner circle ' formed for the purpose of 
 assassinating Government officials that interest began to thicken. 
 Farrell was not himself a member of this inner circle, and its 
 existence has been frequently denied and frequently affirmed 
 since. The ' member of the Fenian brothei'hood ' who in the 
 February and March of 188-i wrote letters on the subject of the 
 I. R. B. to the Pall Mall Gazette, admitted its existence, and 
 described some of its acts. Its existence and its acts were im- 
 mediately flatly denied by another correspondent of the same 
 jom-nal, who wrote under the signature of ' One who Knows.' 
 Farrell gave minute descriptions of a series of attempts to assas- 
 sinate Mr. Foi-ster, all of which failed almost in the very moment 
 of execution through some chance which seemed little short of 
 miraculous. He also offered hearsay evidence as to the attack 
 on Mr. Field, in which five men, Brady, Kavanagh, Kelly, 
 Dwyer, and Hanlon were implicated. Later in the month 
 another of the prisoners, Michael Kavanagh, turned informer, 
 and on his evidence Brady, Kelly, James Carey, Michael Fitz- 
 harris, Hanlon, Joseph Mtdlett, James Mullety, Delaney, 
 Edward O'Brien, John Moroney, Peter Carey, Daniel Delaney,
 
 TROUBLE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 273 
 
 Patrick Whelan, and Michael Fagan were formally accused of 
 taking part in the murders in the Phoenix Park on May 6 in 
 the preceding year, Kavanagh declared that he drove Joe 
 Brady, Tim Kelly, Patrick Delaney, and one other who was not 
 in the dock, to the Phoenix Park on the evening of May 6. There 
 they found James Carey waiting. There he saw the victims 
 approaching, saw James Carey give a signal by waving a hand- 
 kerchief, saw one of the victims fall, and drove off with the four 
 men whom he had brought there. On February 27 he drove 
 Brady and Delaney to the spot where they attacked Mr. Field, 
 and after the attempt drove off with Brady and Kelly. The 
 excitement of such evidence as this was soon surpassed by the 
 appearance on the table of another, a far more remarkable in- 
 former, James Carey himself. This man was, on his own show- 
 ing, a bloody and I'emorseless villain. He was the guiding 
 spirit of the murder organisation which called itself the Irish 
 Invincibles. He organised the plans of assassination against 
 Mr. Forster; his influence led his fellow-prisoners into the 
 schemes ; he planned the murder in the Phoenix Park ; he 
 gave the signal for the crime, and composedly witnessed its 
 execution. He afterwards had the almost unparalleled heart- 
 lessness to propose a motion of condolence with the widow 
 of Lord Frederick Cavendish. History does not afford many 
 examples of so complete a villain; fewer still of villains 
 composedly giving testimony to their own infamy. Carey's 
 evidence was the practical conclusion of the trials. Some 
 effort was made to compromise the Land League as a body by 
 his evidence, but the attempt failed. Men who were also 
 members of the Land League were criminated by his evidence, 
 but no proof whatever was adduced that the Land League 
 organisation had any connection with the schemes of crime, 
 or that the mysterious Number One, who, according to 
 Carey, was the prompter of the whole business and the finder 
 of funds, was in any way associated with the Land League. 
 Carey declared that the woman who brought over the knives 
 with which the Phoenix Park assassinations were committed 
 from London was Mrs. Frank Byrne, the wife of an official 
 
 T
 
 274 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 of the English branch of the Land League ; but when she was 
 arrested and confronted with him, he failed to identify her. 
 Another proof, if proof were really needed, of the wide gulf 
 between the leaders of the National party and the members of 
 secret societies was afforded by one of the prisoners. This man 
 kept a diary, which formed part of the evidence that convicted 
 him, and in this diary he put on record his unmitigated con- 
 tempt for constitutional agitators like Mr. Parnell. Those who 
 really knew Irish affairs were of course aware that the secret 
 societies regard the Parliamentary agitation with unconcealed 
 contempt and dislike. The diary of James Mullett was only 
 one additional piece of evidence towai'ds what might be con- 
 sidered an obvious fact. 
 
 Brady, Curley, Michael Fagan, Caffrey, and Timothy Kelly 
 were convicted, sentenced to death, and hanged. Delaney, 
 Fitzharris, and Mullett were sentenced to penal servitude for 
 life; the others to various periods of penal sei-vitude. True 
 bills were found against Walsh and P. J. Sheridan, who had 
 escaped to America, and against a man named Tynan, said to 
 be ' Number One,' who had also got aw^ay to America. The 
 fate of James Carey was dramatic. For a time he was kept 
 in Kilmainham, until the authorities should decide what to do 
 with him. He blustered a good deal of his determination to 
 remain in Dublin, and his intention to take his place as usual on 
 the Dublin Town Council. Then he suddenly disappeared. It 
 was assumed that the Government would ensure his removal to 
 some safe place, establish him in some Crown colony, or 
 appoint him warder in some prison, where, under a changed 
 name, he might defy detection, and never be heard of again. 
 Suddenly, in July, came the startling new^s from the Cape that 
 James Carey had been shot dead on board ship at sea by a man 
 named O'Donnell. The story was disbelieved at first, but it 
 was soon confirmed. O'Donnell was brought to London, tried, 
 found guilty, and hanged. The evidence did not make it cer- 
 tain whether he killed Carey in a sudden fit of indignation at 
 finding himself with the detested informer, or was sent as the 
 special emissary of a secret society to make away with him.
 
 TROUBLE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 
 
 'Zi-.i 
 
 Towards the end of the year the old Orange and Green feud 
 ■was revived in Ireland with peculiar animosity. It had never, 
 indeed, died out, but of late years its old ferocity seemed to 
 have faded. Ever since 1795, when the first Orange lodge 
 was founded in Armagh, after the ' Btittle of the Diamond,' 
 Orangeism had become an important factor in the political 
 situation of Ireland. The Orangemen were the legitimate sue- 
 cessors of the old English ' garrison,' of the chivalry of the Pale, 
 of the Cromwellians of the plantations, of the Scotch ' settlers.' 
 The guiding principle of Orangeism was antagonism to Catho- 
 licism. It supported the penal laws while they still existed ; 
 it struggled hard against their repeal ; it represents to-day the 
 spirit which animated and inspired the penal laws. The enter- 
 taining inspector of police who has introduced himself to 
 contemporary literature as ' Terence M'Grath,' gives in his 
 'Pictures from Ireland' a sketch of a typical Orangeman which, 
 coming from such a source, cannot be considered to be biassed 
 by any undue prejudice against the Orange institutions. 
 'Erom the time when he was old enough to throw a stone at 
 a Catholic procession on Patrick's Day, the most stirring in- 
 cidents of McGettigan's life have been connected with the 
 annual commemoration of the two victorious eno;asfements 
 fought by the much-lauded and sorely execrated monarch. . . . 
 The village of Juliansboi-ough is a well-known Protestant 
 stronghold ; and though a Roman Catholic chapel stands about 
 half a mile away, no one of that benighted faith would have the 
 audacity to pass through the village to his devotions during the 
 month of July. . . . The principles of the Orange Society 
 are " civil and religious liberty," and McGettigan flatters him- 
 self that he adopts them to the fullest extent. . . . But with 
 " Papishers " it is a different thing. Tliat every one of these 
 followers of the Scarlet Woman is destined to eternal perdition 
 is as firm an article of behef with William McGettigan as that 
 the evening and the morning were the first day ; and he feels 
 that in doing all that in him lies to obstruct the I'eligious prac- 
 tices of Popery, and otherwise make the lives of the Papishers a 
 burden to them, he is simply doing his duty as a good citizen.
 
 27G ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 .... Patrick's Day j)assed, McGettigan bears no violent 
 malice against his Catholic neighbours. He has even walked 
 to market on more than one occasion with members of that 
 faith. But with the heat of June his sentiments become less 
 dormant, and with the first of July sets in a period of intoler- 
 ance that for thu'ty days at least subverts his reason. During 
 this time a Sister of Mercy with a cup of water in the desert 
 would be an unwelcome sight ; and a general inclination to 
 wade knee-deep in Catholic blood is accompanied by a worship 
 of the Orange lily as real as the " idolatry " that he so bitterly 
 condemns. . . . The clergyman of his chvirch has a certain 
 influence with him, but it is in exact opposition to that pastor's 
 attitude towards the Orange Society. The basis of his faith is 
 the warrant and rules of his lodge ; and while cursing his 
 Roman Catholic opponents he never imagines that his religion 
 is as much a rehgion of hatred as the gloomy frenzy of the 
 Pui-itans or the tribal ferocity of the ancient Jews. ... In 
 his political principles he is torn by conflicting emotions. , . . 
 He approves of tenant I'ight, fixity of tenure, freedom of sale, 
 and vote by ballot. So far he is Liberal, but he votes with the 
 Conservatives ; for is not the extension of the franchise a 
 Libei'al proposal that would, in proportion to the lowness of 
 level at which the line is drawn, increase the number of 
 Catholic votes'? And did not the Liberals disestablish the 
 Church that seemed to McGettigan an evidence of Protestant 
 ascendency that gratified his vanity, and assented to the prin- 
 ciples of the Orange Society, in which all sections of Protest- 
 ants could meet on common gi-ounds ] McGettigan calls 
 himself a thorough Loyalist, but his feelings towards England 
 are exactly identical with bis feelings and attitude towai'ds the 
 Church. He is loyal to Protestant England because she re- 
 presents to him Protestantism versus Popery. If she became 
 Roman Catholic he would hate her with all his heart ; and if 
 she grants Home Rule he will vote for the removal of the 
 Union Jack from Orange processions.' Such is the picture, 
 drawn in no unfriendly spu-it by a writer as bitterly opposed to 
 ^\\e National party as McGettigan himself, of the Orange agita-
 
 thotjble at home and abroad. 277 
 
 tion of the north of Ireland, the member of a secret society as 
 fatal in its way to the well-being of the country as the Ribbon 
 Lodges themselves. How little the loyalty of the Orange 
 Society could be depended upon was shown in 1835, when tbe 
 Orange plot to place the Duke of Cumberland upon the thi'one 
 instead of Queen Victoria was discovered and defeated. 
 
 Towards the end of the year the old Orange and Green feud 
 was revived with peculiar animosity. The direct cause of this 
 revival was a crusade which Sii- Stafford Northcote carried 
 on in the north of Ireland against the Government. In one 
 of his national ballads Thomas Davis expresses a belief that 
 Orange and Green will join together. * "William and James are 
 turned to clay,' he says, and it is time for faction and feud to 
 pass away like them, * The Irish vinite, and Orange and Green 
 will carry the day.' But there seemed less prospect than ever 
 of Orange and Green uniting after Sir Stafford Northcotes 
 Ulster campaign. Su* Stafford Northcote was never meant to 
 be an agitator, nor were his crusade speeches in themselves of 
 a very dangerous character. But they succeeded in arousing all 
 the old party passions. The Monaghan election had been a 
 severe blow to the Orange garrison in Ulster, and they were 
 eager to efface its recollection by any means in their power. 
 Orange riots followed Sir Stafford Northcote's progress through 
 the north of Ireland. In one of these a convent in Belfast was 
 attacked, and the lady superior, who was ill, died of the alarm 
 and the excitement. Sir Stafford Northcote and the speakers 
 who accompanied him inflamed the Orange mobs they addressed 
 not merely against the Nationalist party, but against the 
 Government which supported, abetted, and basely yielded to 
 the demands of the National party. The Orange party were 
 inspired by the double pui-pose of fighting the Nationalists and 
 harassing the Government. Whenever a National meeting 
 was announced to be held in Ulster the Orange party imme- 
 diately organised a counter-meeting to oppose what they choso 
 to call the invasion of their county. To appreciate properly the 
 situation, it must be remembered that even in Orange Ulster 
 something like half of the population are Catholics, and that
 
 278 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 when the new franchise comes into effect the majority of votes 
 will no longer be the privileged possession of the supporters of 
 the Orange lodges. The Nationalist leaders always found in 
 Ulster large audiences of Nationalists ; Mr. Healy's election 
 for Monaghan showed that Orangeism could not always turn the 
 scale against the men who had made the land agitation. It was 
 perfectly clear that if National and Orange meetings were held 
 on the same day and in the same locality without precautions, 
 it would be impossible to preserve peace. The Orange leaders 
 wrote and spoke in a way which showed that they were deter- 
 mined to rival the wildest utterances ever made on the National 
 side. A National meeting was announced to be held in Rosslea, 
 in Fermanagh, on October 16, 1883. Lord Eossmore, the 
 Grand ]Master of the Orangemen of the county ]Monaghan, and 
 a justice of the peace, signed a pi'oclamation callmg upon the 
 Orangemen to oppose the meeting. It was evident that a crisis 
 was at hand, and the Irish executive poured a large force of 
 military and police into the district, who succeeded in keeping 
 the two crowds apart in spite of the attempts of Lord Kossmore 
 to brina: about a collision. 
 
 The account of the proceedings of the Orange meeting on 
 that day is extraordinary. ' Some pistol-shots were fired into 
 the air in the outskii'ts of the crowd, and immediately the fire 
 was taken up by several hundred persons throughout that vast 
 assemblage. Pistols and revolvers were produced on all sides, 
 and a continuous fusillade was maintained for nearly fifteen 
 minutes. The leaders endeavoured to stay the deafening dis- 
 charge, but for some time without efiect.' Lord Crichton and 
 other Orange leaders on the platform were obliged to stoop 
 down for fear of being shot by their own adherents. ' When 
 the excitement subsided several Protestant clergymen came to 
 Lord Crichton, and asked him could he prevail on the Orange- 
 men to stop firing. Lord Crichton, spi-eading out his hands, 
 called out in as loud a voice as he was able to command, " For 
 God's sake, men, will you listen to what I say, and stop the 
 Sring ] " ' Lord Ptossmore's speech, which was interrupted at 
 one point for some ten minutes by the filing of hundreds of
 
 TROUBLE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 279 
 
 revoivei-s, was specially violent. * He thought it was a great 
 pity that the so-called Government of England stopped loyal 
 men from assembling to uphold their institutions here, and had 
 sent down a handful of soldiers, whom they could eat up in a 
 second or two if they thought fit.' For Lord Eossm ore's con- 
 duct he was removed from the commission of the peace by the 
 Gcvernment, to the great indignation of the Orange lodges and 
 their leaders. The tenor of Orange talk became more violent. 
 A circular, signed by Captain Charles Alexander, advised the 
 Orangemen in every district to enrol themselves into an armed 
 voluntser force, to provide stores of arms, and to create, in fact, 
 a complete secret military organisation. Lord Enniskillen, the 
 Orange Grand Master, repudiated the circular on the ground 
 that it contained 'proposals of an illegal character;' but the fact 
 that such a circular could have been issued, and such proposals 
 seriously entertained, is in itself sufficiently curious. 
 
 Counter-meetings were held at Dromore, in Tyrone, on 
 January 1, 1884. Police and military held the ground to 
 prevent hostilities; but several attacks were made upon the 
 Nationalists by the Orangemen, who had to be driven back by 
 the bayonets of the police and the sabres of the cavalry. In one 
 of these encounters a young Orangeman named GifFen, who had 
 been brought in — like many others — from another district to 
 swell the Orange levees for the occasion, was mortally wounded 
 and died shortly after. The Government then adopted the 
 plan, whenever Orange and Green counter- meetings were an- 
 nounced, of proclaiming both meetings ; breaches of the peace 
 were thus prevented, though the Nationalist party sti'ongly 
 I^rotested against a policy which allowed the Orangemen to 
 silence any National meeting by merely announcing opposition, 
 and thus calling down a Government proclamation on both 
 alike. 
 
 In April 1883 a measure was introduced and passed into law 
 with almost unrivalled rapidity. This was the Bill for amend- 
 ing the law relating to explosives, which was introduced by 
 Sir William Harcourt on Monday, April 9, passed through all 
 its stages in the Commons in less than two hours, was sent to
 
 280 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 the Lords, and received the royal assent the next day. There 
 was reason for this unusual haste. Much had been saic and 
 written for some time by a section of Irish Americans in New 
 York about the introduction of dynamite into the political 
 difficulties betw-^een England and Ireland. Threats to blow up 
 London buildino;s were uttered at meetings of the advoca^.es 
 of dynamite, and printed in tLieir journals, but at first little 
 heed was paid to these utterances. On the night of Thursday, 
 March 15, 1883, however, an attempt was made to blow up 
 the offices of the Local Government Board at the corner of 
 Whitehall and Charles Street. No great damage was done, 
 and no lives were lost, but a great many windows were broken. 
 The wall and one room of the Local Government Offices were 
 considerably shattered, and for a time considerable alarm was 
 created. A simultaneous attempt to blow up the Times office 
 failed through the fortunate accidental overturning of the 
 infernal machine used, which prevented it from operating. The 
 same attempted explosions by dynamite in Glasgow appeared 
 to be in fultilment of these threats, but they did not arouse 
 much public excitement. The Government immediately offered 
 the reward of a thousand pounds for the apprehension of the 
 criminals, but no clue was obtained, and no information given. 
 It was confidently expected that the attempts would be 
 repeated, and every precaution was taken. At all the public 
 offices, important public buildings, and the residences of states- 
 men, a military guard was placed, or where it existed before 
 was doubled. For some little time after the event London 
 presented an unwontedly military air. The presence of so 
 many soldiers in places where formerly no other guardianship 
 than that of the policeman was required lent London something 
 of the appearance of a Continental city. These precautions, 
 however, were not long maintained, and in a short while 
 London resumed its wonted aspect. The dynamite difficulty 
 was not at an end, unfortunately. In the first week in April 
 1883 the police succeeded in discovering a conspiracy, in 
 arresting eight men concerned, and in seizing a large quantity 
 of nitro-glyceiine, which was manufactured in Birmingham,
 
 TROUBLE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 281 
 
 and was being secretly conveyed to London. It was impossible 
 to identify the men arrested with, the perpetrators of tho 
 attempt upon the Local Government Board and the Times 
 office. But their connection with the Irish-American advocates 
 of djTiamite was clearly established. To meet what seemed 
 like a wide-spread conspiracy the Explosives Bill was hurried 
 through Parliament. Four of the prisoners were sentenced to 
 penal servitude for life ; two were acquitted. These sentences 
 and the comprehensive powers of the new measure did not, 
 however, prevent further dynamite crimes. The police made 
 seizures of nitro-glycerine in Leicester, and in Cupar, in Fife. 
 Men were arrested in Glasgow on the chai-ge of being concerned 
 in the outrages of January. Four men were sentenced to penal 
 servitude for life for introducing explosive substances into 
 England at Liverpool. On October 30, 1883, two explosions 
 took place on the Metropolitan Railway ; one between West- 
 minster and Charing Cross, the other between Praed Street and 
 Edgware Boad. Both occurred almost at the same time, 
 about eight o'clock in the evening; both did considei^able 
 damage to property, and many human beings were injured, 
 though no one fatally. No trace of the perpetrators of this 
 outrage was discovered. Towards the end of February in 1884 
 a yet bolder outrage was attempted, which happily only 
 partially succeeded. At a little after one on the morning of 
 Tuesday, February 26, an explosion took place in the luggage 
 room of Victoria station, which wrecked a large part of the 
 station, and destroyed a considerable amount of property. 
 Though it was at once assumed that this was part of a dynamite 
 plot, the destruction of everything in the luggage room was so 
 great that absolute proof might have been dilficult to obtain. 
 The discovery of infernal machines at Charing Cross, Ludgate 
 Hill, and Paddington stations supplied the necessary proofs. 
 In the luggage room of each of these stations a portmanteau, 
 was discovered containing a large quantity of dynamite con- 
 nected with a pistol, and a clock timed to go off at a cei^tain 
 hour. In each of these cases the defective nature of the 
 machinery employed had happily prevented catastrophes which
 
 282 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 ■would in all probability have been far more dangerous than that 
 at Victoria station. An attempt was made later on Blackfriars 
 Bridge. Early in 1885 two explosions took place in Westmin- 
 ster, one in the great hall and one in the chamber of the House, 
 which did great damage and seriously injuied two policemen. 
 
 No language can be too strong in condemnation of these 
 criminal attempts. The freedom and the future of Ireland are 
 not to be worked out by means abhorrent to all Christian men. 
 Every Nationalist, every one who believes that the hour of 
 Ireland's regeneration is daily, even hourly, drawing nearer, who 
 believes that in the immediate future the Parliament of Ireland 
 will be restored to her, can only feel horror at such deeds. The 
 cause of Ireland is not to be served by the knife of the assassin 
 and the infernal machine of the dynaraitard. 
 
 In Ireland the Nationalist party had received some important 
 advantages. The Mallow election has already been mentioned. 
 Mr. Harrington was elected for Westmeath in March, while 
 undergoing unjust imprisonment under the Crimes Act. In the 
 same month Mr. John Dillon resigned his seat on account of ill- 
 health, and the vacancy was tilled by another Nationalist, Mr. 
 Mayne. A contest for Dublin county resulted in the return of 
 the Conservative candidate, Colonel King Harman, and the elec- 
 tion for Portai'lington gave a victory to the Opposition. Later 
 on in June Mr. Healy, who with Mr, Davitt and Mr, Quinu 
 had just been released from Richmond Prison, after the three 
 had served the larger part of their term of imprisonment, 
 icsigned his scat for Wexford, and came forward as a candidate 
 for Monaghan in the place of Mr. Givan, who had received an 
 appointment from the Government. Monaghan's position as 
 an important Ulster constituency gaA^e a peculiar interest to 
 the struggle which ended in the return of Mr. Healy. A week 
 or two later, Wexford, the seat which Mr, Healy had vacated, 
 was won by the National candidate, Mr. Redmond the younger, 
 against Liberal and Tory opponents. 
 
 The new Chancellor of the Exchequer introduced his Budget 
 on April 5, 1883. Mr. Childers began by explaining that his 
 recent assumption of olEce did not allow him to attempt any
 
 TROUBLE AT ROME AND ABROAD. 283 
 
 striking alteration of taxation. The revenue for 1882-83 -R-as 
 over 89,000,000/., or rather more than 4,000,000/. more than 
 was originally estimated. The total expenditure, including the 
 cost of the Egyptian war, was a little more than 88,000,000/., 
 so that there was a surplus of some 98,000/. The surplus for 
 the cuiTent year, 2,691,000/., alloAved Mr. Childers to propose 
 the devotion of 135,000/. to the abolition of the passenger duty 
 on all railway fares of a penny a mile and under; of 170,000/. 
 to the establishment of the sixpenny telegrams; of 2,135,000/. 
 towards removing from the income tax the Egj^ptian three- 
 halfpence. 
 
 One of the latest financial efforts of the jMinistry in the 
 fading session of 1883 was the introduction of the National 
 Debt Bill, Mr. Childers moved the second reading, and ex- 
 plained the principles of the Bill, on Tuesday, August 7. The 
 Bill proposed to reappropriate — with the exception of some 
 million pounds — all the amounts then devoted to the reduction 
 of debt, and to fix the bulk of it for that purpose until no debt 
 should be left. The Bill provided, first, to convert 40,000,000/. 
 of Chancery Stock into twenty-year anniiities; secondly, to 
 cancel about 30,000,000/. of Savings Bank Stock by the creation 
 of three annuities of five, ten, and fifteen years; and thirdly, to 
 cancel the unpaid balance of most of the existing annuities by 
 the issue of a fresh twenty years' annuity. By these means the 
 Chancellor of the Exchequer hoped to cancel 133,000,000/. of 
 stock within the twenty years. As the Bill jorovided for the 
 creation of fi-esh annuities as the shorter ones fell in, so as to 
 keep the permanent charge of the debt at about 28,000,000/., 
 as well as maintaining the Sinking Fund established by Sir 
 Stafford Northcote in 1875, Mr. Childers expected that in the 
 same period of twenty years the total cancelment of permanent 
 annuities would exceed 177,000,000/. 
 
 The new Bill was practically based upon the Act of 1875 
 introduced by Sir Stafford Northcote. That Bill settled the 
 amount of principal and interest of the National Debt to be 
 paid off annually at 28,000,000/., that figure being selected 
 on the average observed from 1815 to 1860. The Sinking
 
 284 EXGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 Fund system which Su' Stafford Northcote then devised, and 
 into which he broke under pressure of financial difficulties in 
 1880, was expanded and strengthened by Mr. Childers's pro- 
 posals. For the series of terminable annuities, exceeding 
 6,000,000/., which were to fall in in 1885, a system of termi- 
 nable annuities was to be substituted, in which each new annuity 
 would be larger than the old by the amount of the interest on 
 the extinguished annuity; so that the amount of debt paid off 
 Avould increase year by year. The new system did not offer the 
 same temptations that the Sinking Fund which they superseded 
 offered. Though annuities — that is, fixed annual payments for 
 a limited time, made up of interest and instalment of principal 
 upon the debt which the annuity represents — are, indeed, in 
 themselves a Sinking Fund, successive Governments ■ and Par- 
 liaments have abstained from making the depredations on them 
 to which Sir Stafford Northcote's Sinking Fund was exposed, 
 and from which it suffered. The Bill met with some opposition, 
 chiefly, curiously enough, from Sir Stafford Northcote himself. 
 The arguments which he must have thought excellent in 1875 
 seemed suddenly to have grown unpalatable in 1883. He even 
 ui'ged that the new Government were ti-ying to pay off the 
 National Debt too rapidly. But in spite of the antagonism of 
 a foi'mer Chancellor of the Exchequer to a Bill brought in by 
 his successor on the lines of a measure of his own, the second 
 reading of the National Debt Bill was carried by 149 to 95. 
 
 The chief measure of the session was Mr. Chamberlain's 
 Bankruptcy Bill, which became law towards the end of August. 
 By this Bill official receivers of the Board of Trade were em- 
 ployed to make inquiries into the circumstances of each bank- 
 ruptcy, and to make reports thereon. Over the Agricultural 
 Holdings Bills for England and Scotland, strife like that over 
 the Land Act of 1881 was revived between the Lords and 
 Commons. The object of the measure was to compel landlords 
 to compensate outgoing tenants for improvements effected by 
 the tenants. After much wrangling the measures passed the 
 Commons, only to meet with the fiercest opposition in the 
 Lords from Lord Salisbury and his party. Had the Billa
 
 TROUBLE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 285 
 
 emhodied every principle of tliat 'revolution' which is Lord 
 Salisbury's political bugbear, he could not have opposed them 
 with more fervour — a fervour which in the end many of his 
 adherents declined to emulate. Twice was the Bill, mangled 
 out of all meaning, sent back to the Commons, and twice the 
 Commons retm*ned it restoi-ed to its original form. Then Lord 
 Salisbury gave way. His colleagues would not support him in 
 further defiance of the Lower House. He held his hand, but 
 not his peace, and with Lord Salisbury's ban upon it the Agri- 
 cultural Holdings Bill, with its fellow Scottish measure, became 
 law on the last day but one of the session, August 24. 
 Another important measure, the Corrupt and Illegal Practices 
 Prevention Bill, was passed in this session, to become law on 
 the 15th of the October following. The measure represented a 
 determined effort on the part of the Government to enforce purity 
 of election. By this Bill any candidate found guilty of corrupt 
 practices was disabled from ever representing the constituency in 
 which the offences were committed, and from becoming a member 
 of the House of Commons, holding any public office, or voting at an 
 election for a. term of seven years. If, however, the offences are 
 committed through his agents, the candidate will only be disabled 
 from representing that particular constituency for the term of 
 seven years. A maximum expenditure for legitimate expenses 
 was allowed by the Act, beyond which neither the candidate nor 
 his agent would be allowed to go. The old custom of carrying 
 voters to the poll in conveyances was made illegal. Undue in- 
 fluence, the use of bribery, and treating were made misdemeanours 
 punishable by fine and imprisonment. Personation was declared 
 to be felony, and was punishable by impi-isonment with hard 
 labour. Mr. Chamberlain's Patents for Inventions Bill did 
 something towards remedying the unfairness of the existing 
 laws towards patentees. Some measures of what is generally 
 called paternal legislation had their origin in the House of 
 Lords, and became law. One of these measures prohibited the 
 payment of wages in public-houses; another looked after the 
 sanitary condition of workshops and factories. From the Lords, 
 too, came a measure dealing with the grievances of trawlers in
 
 286 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 the North Sea. The Government wei'e oblisred to abandon 
 their Criminal Appeal Bill and the Criminal Code Bill, the 
 former proposing to establish a Court of Appeal in capital 
 cases, the latter introducing many striking changes into the 
 legal system. 
 
 The Tramways and Public Companies BOl was a measure 
 of considerable importance to Ireland, only second in value, 
 according to Mr. Parnell, to the Land Act and the Arrears Act. 
 Its main object was the promotion of tramways in Ireland, but it 
 also aimed at a^^sisting emigration, and at extending some of the 
 provisions of the Land Act to public companies. Emigration 
 was exceedingly unpopular with the Irish pai'ty and with the 
 Irish people, and a system of migi'ation from an overcrowded 
 pai't of Ireland into thinly populated districts was advocated by 
 INIr. Parnell and his followers. Unexpected difficulties, indeed, 
 had arisen against the emigration schemes of the Government. 
 The United States proved to be as unwilling to receive pauper 
 emigrants as the Australian colonies had once been to receive 
 convicts. America simply refused to receive emigi-ants whose 
 presence would prove a burden on the country ; some emigrants 
 were actually sent back, and notifications were addressed to all 
 the steam companies warning them that the landing of paupers 
 was prohibited. In Ireland, too, public opinion was strongly 
 against emigration. The Boman Catholic bishops joined in a 
 resolution protesting against it and warmly advocating migra- 
 tion. In the end the Government agreed to use some portion 
 of the sum set apai-t for emigration for the furtherance of 
 migration. 
 
 The Irish Labourers' Bill, introduced by Mr. T. P. O'Connor, 
 empowered the sanitary authorities in rural districts to provide 
 dwellings for laboui'ers by means of Treasury loans, and with 
 the assistance of the Board of "Works. Another measure affect- 
 ing Ireland, the Sea Fisheries Bill, which proposed to encoiu-age 
 Irish fisheries by building piers and harbours by means of money 
 advanced from the Irish Church Surplus Fund, was passed early 
 in August. 
 
 The Indian Criminal Procedure Amendment Bill, better
 
 TROUBLE AT HOME AND ABBOAD. 287 
 
 known as the Ilbert Bill, was wildly agitating Indian and 
 Anglo-Indian society, and tlie agitation was soon as keen in 
 London as in Calcutta. In the January of 1882 Mr. B. L. 
 Gupta, a distinguished native official of the Bengal Civil Service, 
 pointed out the injustice of the existing law, by which native 
 magistrates and sessions judges were forbidden to try Euro- 
 peans except in the Presidency towns. The Indian Govern- 
 ment, after inquiring into the matter, decided that the law 
 called for alteration, and the result was Mr. Ilbert's Bill. Mr. 
 Ilbert's Bill proposed to extend the power of trying Europeans 
 to all justices of the peace, whether European or native. The 
 Bill aroused the wildest indignation in the Anglo-Indian com- 
 munity. Had Mr. Ilbert's proposal been to revive the East 
 India Company, or to restore the kingdom of Delhi to the last 
 descendant of the Grand Mogul, it could not have aroused a 
 fiercer or more angry opposition. Its sujDporters came to the 
 rescue of the imperilled measure with equal vehemence ; and 
 India and England were alike agitated on public platforms and 
 in the press by the fiercest controversy that had stirred India 
 since the days of the Mutiny. 
 
 What the Bill proposed to do was not veiy daring. Its 
 opponents habitually spoke of it as if it were about to concede 
 for the first time to Indian natives the right to try European 
 settlers, and as if the concession involved with it the ruin of 
 the Indian Empire. As a matter of fact, native judges already 
 possessed, in the Presidency towns, the right of trying EurojDean 
 ofienders, and the Ilbert Bill only proposed to extend this exist- 
 ing privilege into other portions of the Indian Empire. It is 
 clear that existing civilisation will no longer tolerate the govern- 
 ment of an empire like India on the good old-fashioned principle 
 which gave everything into the hands of the white adventurer, 
 and reduced the people of the country to a condition of practical 
 servitude. The opponents of the Bill, however, even wi.en 
 they were willing to concede theoretically the right of the 
 Hindoo to equality with the European, contested that practi- 
 cally the application of the theory would not work at present, 
 In the Presidency towns, perhaps, where all legal proceedings
 
 288 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 were carried on in full publicity, and where injustice of any 
 kind could be easily detected, it was allowable to have Euro- 
 peans tried by native judges. But in distant country districts 
 there could be no such surety against injustice. The Indian 
 mind was not yet, the opponents of the Bill gravely urged, 
 awakened to that fine spirit of equity which is so characteristic 
 of English rule in India, and a^l sorts of injustice to Europeans 
 might confidently be expected if British subjects in Hindostan 
 were deprived of their time-honoured privilege of trial by British 
 subjects, and handed over to the corrupt mercies of a Hindoo 
 tribunal. 
 
 For months the agitation went on, and the clamour against 
 the Bill increased. The Indian Government made a fresli 
 effort to complete the expression of opinion from all the various 
 local authorities. Koughly speaking, all native Indian ofiicials 
 were in favour of the measure ; the majority of European 
 officials were opposed to it ; a very large proportion were in 
 favour of some modification of its principles. The Bill was then 
 referred to a select committee, which introduced several im- 
 portant amendments as the means of effecting a compromise 
 between the out-and-out supporters of the Bill and the Anglo- 
 Indian Defence Association, The new amendments, while re- 
 cognising the general principle of the measure, introduced one 
 or two alterations intended as safeguards for European interests. 
 The old Eux'opean privilege of being judged by Europeans alone 
 was removed, but in its place a new privilege was created, by 
 which a European charged before a district magistrate or before 
 a sessions court would have the right to require a jury, of which 
 not less than one-half should consist of Europeans, or Americans, 
 or both. Although this compromise brought the question of 
 race distinction more prominently forward than ever, and though 
 it invested Europeans with an important privilege not allowed 
 to natives, it was accepted by the Legislative Council, and the 
 measure became law in January 1884. The Maharajah of 
 Durbungah expressed his regret that the new privilege had not 
 been extended to natives; Mr. Evans, on behalf of the opponents 
 of the Bill, declared that they still refused to recognise its so-called
 
 TROUBLE AT HOME AKB ABROAD. 289 
 
 'principle,' and hatl only accepted a settlement for tlie sake of 
 peace ; Lord Ripon closed tlie debate, declaring that the natives 
 had lost nothing, and had gained the vindication of a great 
 principle. 
 
 Another important Indian measure was the Bengal Tenancy 
 Bill, based on the recommendations of the Bengal Rent Com- 
 mission appointed in 1879, This Bill was practically the first 
 important attempt to define the relative rights of zemindars 
 and cultivators in the most populous Indian provinces. The 
 struggles between the ryots or labourers and the zemindars or 
 landlords, which occupy so large a space in the history of 
 British India, are practically a repetition on Indian soil of the 
 landlord and tenant difiiculty of Ireland, and the Bengal 
 Tenancy Bill is in some measure the fellow of the Irish Land 
 Act of 1880. It proposes on the one hand to give reasonable 
 security to the tenant in the enjoyment and occupation of his 
 land, and on the other hand to afiord the landlord reasonable 
 facilities for the settlement and recovery of his rent. 
 
 A difficult question in connection with the Australian 
 colonies arose in 1883. This was the formal annexation on 
 the part of the Government of Queensland of the island of New 
 Guinea. For years the Australian colonies had been anxious 
 to secure the authority of England in New Guinea and in the 
 islands of New Britain, New Ireland, and the Solomon and 
 Santa Cruz Islands, which lie eastward of New Guinea, as 
 they urged that the occupation of these islands by any foreign 
 Power would be injm^ous to themselves and to the trade of 
 Great Britain. The English Government were quite willing to 
 see these annexations carried out in 1875, if the Australian 
 colonies could agree to act together; but this common agree- 
 ment was wanting, and the scheme for the time fell through. 
 In the March of 1883, however, the Government of Queensland 
 decided to act on its own responsibility, without the assistance 
 of the other Australasian Legislatures. Alarmed by rumours 
 of possible annexation by France or Germany, Queensland took 
 the bold step of sending an agent to New Guinea to hoist the 
 British flag at Fort JMoresby. This act was declared null and 
 
 u
 
 290 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 void by the Home Government, as one out of tlie powers of a 
 colonial Government. The disallowment roused a strong dis- 
 play of public feeling in all the Australian colonies. In the 
 words of Admmistrator Sir A. H. Palmei', of Queensland, it 
 was ' undoubtedly the opinion throughout the whole of the 
 Australian colonies that Great Britain should be supreme, 
 and have no rival in the Southern Pacific' Mr. Service, the 
 Premier of Victoria, wrote to express the profound regret 
 of his Government at the decision of the Home authorities, 
 'a regret Avhich I do not hesitate to say is echoed by the 
 Governments and people of Australia. It has been a serious 
 and irreparable error to allow of French intrusion amongst us 
 in Kew Caledonia.' Mr. Service went on to say, ' For New 
 Caledonia has been constituted a penal settlement, and the 
 ex2)ense of our penal establishments is already appreciably 
 swelled by the re-convictions here of escapees and expirees from 
 that colony. . . It has been assumed that Great Britain avoided 
 responsibility by declining possession of these islands. It seems 
 to me that the responsibility lies wholly in the other direction, 
 and that if the united voice of Australia declares that the an- 
 nexation is a measure essential to our welfare and safety, there 
 is a great responsibility in disregarding that voice.' The 
 South Australian ministers were no less eager in their support 
 of the annexation of New Guinea, of the New Hebrides, and 
 the adjoining islands. The Premier of Queensland, Mr. T. 
 Mcllwraith, in a memorandum laid before the Executive 
 Council of Queensland, declared that the action of her Majesty's 
 Government justified ' some decided and concerted action on the 
 part of the Australian colonies. . . . In 1875 Lord Carnarvon, 
 while not discouraging the idea of extensive annexation, assigned 
 as one reason why he could not act on the representations of 
 the Australian colonies, that the British taxpayer could not, 
 and would not, bear the expenditure. Lord Derby advances 
 the same reason now. . . . The expense need not be great, and 
 we now know that the Australian colonics will undertake this 
 expense, or shai-eit with her Majesty's Government if required 
 to do so. . . . If her Majesty's Government does not feel that
 
 TROUBLE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 291 
 
 the annexation of New Guinea or of the islands adjacent to 
 Australia is of so much importance to the empire at large as it 
 is to the Austx-alian colonies, let some means be devised by 
 which those islands may be held and governed for the benefit 
 of the Australian people. . . . The circumstances of the present 
 case seem to point to a necessity for combination among the 
 Australian colonies — a combination for both legislative and 
 executive purposes.' 
 
 While the Australian Premiers and people were agitating 
 on the subject of annexation, an association was being got 
 up in London under the title of ' The New Guinea Exploration 
 and Colonisation Company,' the purpose of which was to or- 
 ganise a company of ' adventurers ' — we use the word in its 
 old Elizabethan sense — who would make a descent upon New 
 Guinea and found a colony after the good old fashion of six- 
 teenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth century colonisers. The 
 head and front, the promoter and inspirer of this ingenious 
 scheme, was a remarkable man. Brigadier-General H. R. 
 Maclver was an excellent type of the soldier of fortune. He 
 had served in his time — he was now still a compiratively young 
 man — under no less than fourteen flags. He had fought when- 
 ever and wherever there was an opportunity for him to lend his 
 sword to any cause that pleased him. He had fought for the 
 Confederates in the American civil war ; he had fought for the 
 Greeks against the Turks; he had fought for Don Carlos in 
 Spain. General Maclver was not a revolutionary warrior of 
 the type of General Cluseret. Sprung from an old Scottish 
 family, he inherited all the Highland traditions, and was a firm 
 believer in Divine right. The ' revolution' only inspired him 
 with horror, but the magic words ' the king ' could always con- 
 jure up in him the spirit of loyalty which gave so many gallant 
 hearts to the cause of the Old and the Young Pretender. But 
 though Captain Mayne Reid or M. Fortune du Boisgobey might 
 have found an excellent subject for romance in the career of 
 Brigadier-General Maclver, he did not quite commend himself 
 to the Colonial Ofiice as the very man to whom the colonisation 
 of New Guinea might best be entrusted. Lord Derby was 
 
 u 2
 
 292 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 peremptory in Lis refusal to allow General Maclver to cany out 
 his scheme. ' If an attempt should be made to carry out the 
 project described in your prospectus, her Majesty's Government 
 will be under the necessity of instructing the High Com- 
 missioner for the Western Pacific, and the officer commanding 
 her Majesty's naval forces on the station, to interfere for the 
 protection of the native inhabitants of the islands.' 
 
 "With all his military experience and love for adventure, 
 General INIacIver was not prepared to wage war against the 
 British Government. He promptly informed the Colonial 
 Office that he had converted his organisation into a peaceful 
 trading company. Loi-d Derby would have none of the trading 
 company, however, and when the general went so far as to hint 
 at floating the company under a foreign flag, he was signiBcantly 
 warned that ' the use of a foreign flag would not exempt the 
 proceedings of the company's managers and pi'omoters from 
 control.' This fettled the matter. Nothing more was heard of 
 the oi'ganisation, and General Maclver sought occupation for 
 his restless spirit in other pursuits. But the incident was in 
 itself remarkable, and gave a further stimulus to the Atistral- 
 asian desire to obtain the government of Kew Guinea and the 
 other islands themselves, and no longer leave them open to 
 domestic or foreign enterprise. 
 
 In July 1S83 it became definitely known that the Govern- 
 ment of India had undertaken to pay Abdul Rahman, the 
 Ameer of Cabul, a yearly subsidy of 120,000/. The subsidy 
 was to be raised by a tax upon the people of India, and for the 
 first time in the history of our connection with Central Asia, a 
 subsidy to a Central Asian chief became a regular item of Budget 
 expenditure. This was not absolutely a new departure, indeed ; 
 only the permanent natiu-e of the proposed subsidy was novel. 
 Ever since England became mixed up with the afiairs of 
 Afghanistan, she has found it necessary to make over large sums 
 to the various rulers of the country. All our relations with 
 Afghanistan have been based on the assumption that some sort 
 of alliance with that country is necessary in order to preserve 
 ourselves from the machinations of a foreign foe. Of late years,
 
 TROUBLE AT HOME AND ABROAD. 293 
 
 and for long enough back, the assumption has of course been 
 that that foreign foe was Russia. But such was not the assump- 
 tion in 1809, when Elphinstone conducted the first English 
 mission to Cabul. The foreign foe against whose machinations 
 we had to guard ourselves then was France. Elj^hinstone's 
 treaty with the then Ameer of Cabul was framed to resist a 
 possible invasion of France in co-operation with Persia. But the 
 dread of French arms in Afghanistan soon passed away and was 
 forgotten. Russia in 1828, by the Treaty of Turcomanchai, 
 obtained great influence at Teheran, and from that time forward 
 her influence in Central Asia became the nightmare of English 
 statesmen. 
 
 By the death of John Richard Green, in March 18S3, 
 England lost one of her foremost historians. He first became 
 famous by his ' Short History of the English People,' ' a history,' 
 in the words of its author, ' not of English kings or English 
 conquests.' The book at once passed into a great number of 
 editions ; it was read by everybody ; it became adopted as a 
 text-book in schools ; it gave new life to the popular apprecia- 
 tion of English history. The fame of its author was established, 
 and for eight years he enjoyed his fame, writing, studying, de- 
 voted to his work. Then on the threshold of a great career he 
 suddenly died, at the age of foity-five, leaving behind him an 
 enduring name and an enduring regret. A few days later in 
 the same month another remarkable man died a too early death. 
 Mr. Ashton Wentworth Dilke was only thirty-three years old, 
 but he had already won himself a ])rominent place amongst the 
 most advanced Radicals, and a distinguished political career 
 seemed ensured to him. He had travelled widely, he knew 
 Central Asia well, he was a varied and accomplished linguist, 
 he knew Russian as few Englishmen know it, and had trans- 
 lated T yurgueniefi''s latest novel into English. He entered 
 Parlia jient under the new Gladstone Ministry as member for 
 Newcastle, but the pressure of ParKamentary life proved too much 
 for his health, which was never strong. He went to Algiers in 
 the hope of recovery, but the hope was not fulfilled. He was 
 sincerely i-egretted, in the truest sense of those famihar words,
 
 294 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 by all who knew him. Shortly before his death he had resigned 
 his seat in Parliament, and his place was taken by Mr. John 
 Morley, for whose success Mr. Ashton Dilke sent his cordial 
 wishes with what was almost his dying breath, from the pleasant 
 African shore whither he had gone to die. 
 
 In June died Henry S. Leigh. His life, also too early 
 shortened, for he was only forty-six years old, must be called in 
 some measure a wasted life. He Avas a true poet ; he had rare 
 abihty, but his talents were squandered on work imworthy of 
 his hand, on the librettos of comic operas and the like, and his 
 memory as a poet depends upon a few out of his too few verses. 
 His poetry belonged to that order which has been given the 
 absurd title of Vers de Societe, a title which is supposed for 
 want of a better to include such widely different writings as 
 those of Mr, Frederick Locker and jNIr. Austin Dobson. Mr. 
 Leigh's verse was not the refined, urbane, polished society verse 
 of Mi\ Locker; it had not the exquisite grace and dainty 
 scholarship of INIr. Dobson's Dresden muse. It was the verse 
 of a Londoner who loved London, and its theatres and its pleasant 
 Bohemian clubs, and many of its men, and some of its women. 
 One can hardly help thinking that if Mr. Leigh had chosen, 
 he might have been such a poet of London itself as London 
 has never yet had. It was said that an early disappointment 
 had made him indifierent of success, and it may be so; certainly 
 there were few men who, with such apparent certainty of success, 
 took so little pains to win it. There is one of his poems, written 
 years and years ago, when he was a very young man, called 
 ' Little "\Vhat's-her-name,' addressed to some fair priestess of the 
 temple of burlesque. It seems exceedingly light-hearted, and is 
 intensely pathetic. If it had been written in Augustan Latin 
 by a singer of the Sacred Way, or in Parisian argot by some 
 haunter of the Ponime de Pin, it would have delighted scholars 
 and bookworms who now, perhaps, have never heard of it. ' I 
 would ask no higher honour,' he says at the end, ' I would seek 
 no higher fame, than a corner in the memory of "Little What's- 
 her-name." ' It is no concern of ours or of any one's to inquire 
 who * Little What's-her-name ' was or is ; but it is to be hoped,
 
 TROUBLE AT HOME AND ABBOAD. 295 
 
 for the sake of her singei^'s request, that she did keep a corner 
 of her memory for Henry Leigh. 
 
 Father Thomas Bnrke, the great Dominican preacher, the 
 eloquent adversary of Mr. Froude's histoi-ies, the man who most 
 of all his time deserved the title of Chrysostom — the new 
 ' Golden-mouth ' — died in this year ; so did E. B. Eastwick, the 
 Orientalist, dear to so many who have first directed their un- 
 certain steps through the perfumed paths of the rose-garden 
 of Saadi of Shiraz; so did Rawdon Brown, the editor of the 
 ' Calendar of Venetian State Papers,' who went to Venice once for 
 a visit, and loved it so well that he never left it ; so did Payne 
 Collier, the Shakespearian critic — not j^rematurely — ninety -four 
 years old, likely to be remembered especially for his notorious 
 ' Perkin's Folio ' and for his spiteful diaries ; so did Captain 
 Mayne Beid, beloved by boys. John Brown, the Queen's 
 servant, died in March. The Duke of Marlborough died in 
 July, and was succeeded by his eldest son, Lord Blandford, Avho 
 occupied in the Upper House tlie unique position of being the 
 only peer who was an avowed advocate of home rule for Ire- 
 land. Sir George Jessel, the Master of the Bolls, who died 
 in March, was the first Jew made a judge in England. A 
 promising career was brought to an untimely end by the death 
 of young Mr. Frank Hatton, who was killed out in Borneo by the 
 accidental discharge of his own gun. Though he had not left his 
 majority long behind him, he had already made himself a name, 
 and was like to have gone very far indeed had he lived. Some 
 deaths that were not dii-ectly connected with England must 
 not be suffered to pass unchronicled. In Germany died the last 
 of the Goethes, Wolfgang von Goethe, a grandson of the poet. 
 A little later the great musician, Richard Wagner, died. With 
 Karl Marx died the head and front of Socialism, the greatest 
 name in German revolution since Lassalle. France lost Gus- 
 tavo Dore, who was as popular, personally and pictorially, in 
 London as in Paris. The death of the Count de Chambord, 
 the devotee of the White Flag, shattered the hopes of the French 
 Legitimists, and gave new hope to the Orleans party. In his
 
 296 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 self-chosen exile in France died Toui'guenieff, the greatest of 
 Continental novelists since Balzac. Over in Damascus died 
 Abd-el-Kader, the gallant Emii-, whose bright sword had so 
 often held its own against the arms of France, and whose coiu-age 
 and chivalry did so much to save Christian lives during the 
 Lebanon massacres of 1860. In Sir Salar Jung India lost a 
 great statesman, and England one of the most valued of her 
 counsellors in the government of the country. The death of 
 Prince Gortschakoff removed one of the most interesting figui-es 
 of Continental diplomacy, but England can scarcely be said to 
 have lost a friend. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THE SOUDAN. 
 
 For the hour we were fixed in Egypt. Nominally we were 
 remaining merely to support the Khedive's authority ; actually 
 we were temporarily the masters of the country. The Khedivial 
 Government could not have held together without vis. The 
 life of the Khedive would not have been worth a handful of 
 paras half an hour after the last British soldier had embarked 
 at Alexandria. We had had our own way in Egypt. After a 
 period of inaction, even of inanition, we had bestirred oui'selves, 
 and at the cost of bombardment and a bloodless campaign we 
 had overthrown the ingenious system of the dual control which 
 we had been at such pains to set up some few years earlier. The 
 dual control was an absurdity which it was undoubtedly for the 
 welfare of England to abolish. But in abolishing it we had 
 taken the responsibility of setting Egypt straight, and the 
 responsibility was sufficiently severe. The country was hope- 
 lessly disorganised, hopelessly in debt, hopelessly demoralised. 
 It was like some child's puzzle, all the different portions of 
 which were tumbled into bewildering medley, from which it was 
 our task to sort the chaos and to piece together a complete and 
 presentable scheme of government. The task was not im-
 
 THE SOUDAN. 297 
 
 possible, nor even appalling. It i"equired time, temper, and 
 trouble ; but the desired end did not appear to be distant, and 
 ministers were confidently predicting the hour when the last of 
 the British bayonets should shine in the Egyptian sun, when 
 the machinations of an obscure fanatic in a distant desert dis- 
 turbed all plans, and succeeded for a time in delaying the long- 
 talked-of regeneration of Egypt. 
 
 The region of the new trouble was the Soudan. Out in 
 the Soudan a religious rebellion was simmering. On the maps 
 of Africa the name Soudan is given to a vast tract of undefined 
 desert, stretching across the centre of the upper portion of 
 the continent. It Avas formerly called Nigritia, the country of 
 the blacks, and included, roughly speaking, all the region from 
 Sahara on the north to the Nyanza Lakes on the south, from 
 the Red Sea on the east to the Atlantic on the west. But the 
 Egyptian Soudan is confined in more narrow limits ; it stretches 
 from Egypt on the north to the Nyanza Lakes on the south, 
 from the Bed Sea on the east to the western boundary of 
 Dai'four on the west. The casual traveller in Egypt who has 
 drifted up the Nile in his dahabieh, or steamed up it in Mr. 
 Cook's steamers, as far only as Assouan, has just touched upon 
 the fringe of the Soudan region. He has approached what was 
 once, and what apparently will be again, one of the greatest 
 slave marts in the world; he has looked with unconcerned 
 eyes over the desert stretches which have lately occupied the at- 
 tention of all the civilised world. Up to a year ago the Soudan 
 was a vague, unmeaning term in the ears of most men ; it has 
 now assumed a very terrible identity. In 1819 the conquering 
 spirit of Mehemet Ali turned itself upon the Soudan, then in a 
 chaotic condition of anarchy and ti'ibal warfare. He sent his 
 son Ismail Pasha with a large army to seize the countiy. 
 Ismail got to Khartoum, and became for a season lord of the 
 Soudan. "We have spoken already of his tragic end. He 
 offended !N'emmii% the ' Tiger ' King of Shendy, by too im- 
 periously demanding tribute. The story is powerfully told in 
 that book which would stand first on Eastern travel if 'Eothen' 
 had never been written, ' The Crescent and the Cross ' of
 
 298 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 Warburton. Nernmii" invited Ismail Pasha, his officers and 
 friends to a feast, surrounded the tent in which his guests were 
 revelling with wood and straw, set fire to it, and burned them 
 all to death. Ismail was avenged, and the rule of Egypt was 
 set up over Kordofan. A generation came and went, during 
 which such civilisation as Egypt represented made slow progress 
 in its new territory. Then Said Pasha thought of abandoning 
 the country in despair, but was dissuaded by the tribal sheikhs. 
 The history of the Soudan for the next ten years is a monotonous 
 record of vinsuccessful attempts at reform, of successive governors- 
 general, of wars with Abyssinia, and internal insurrections. In 
 1865 a serious mutiny of negro troops at Tokha called forth all 
 the energies of the Egyptian Government to suppress it. It 
 was suppressed, and the Soudan was gairisoned with Egyptian 
 troops. In 1870 Sir Samuel Baker conquered for Egypt the 
 equatorial provinces, and ruled as governor of the tribes in 
 Upper Egypt. In 1874 Sir Samuel Baker was succeeded by 
 Colonel Gordon — 'Chinese' Gordon — and a new departure in 
 the history of the Soudan began. 
 
 Chinese Gordon is one of the most remarkable men of our 
 age. If one imagines a combination of a fifteenth century 
 condottiere with a fourth century Father of the Church, one 
 gets perhaps the nearest approach to a description of Chinese 
 Gordon. He is Sir John Hawkwood, but he is also Jerome; he 
 is in the noblest sense of the word an adventurer, but his ' pure 
 soul ' has always served ' beneath the colours ' of ' his captain, 
 Christ,' like Shakespeare's Norfolk. Charles Goi^don was born 
 on January 28, 1833, of a good old Scottish family. The 
 Gordons were a race of soldiers ; two of the same kin fought on 
 opposite sides at Preston Pans. Charles Gordon's gi-andfather 
 fought in the North American Avar, and served under Wolfe on 
 the Plains of Abraham. ' For a century and a half,' says Mr. 
 Hake in his ' Story of the Life of Chinese Gordon,' ' the family 
 has been a family of soldiers, and that without threatening 
 extinction, for there is a new generation in the service.' Charles 
 Gordon fought in the Ci'imean war. In 1860 he was ordered 
 to China, and was present during the assault of Pekin and the
 
 THE SOUDAN. 299 
 
 destruction of the Summer Palace. The Tai-Ping rebelKon broke 
 out. The Chinese authorities asked for a British officer to 
 command the imperial forces ; Gordon was nominated. Under 
 his command the forces which were called the ' ever- victorious ' 
 army deserved their title. He carried all before him, annihi- 
 lated the rebellion, and left China as poor as when he had entered 
 it, richer alone by the titles which the Emperor insisted upon 
 giving him, and by that name of ' Chinese Gordon,' by which 
 he is best known to his fellow-coxTntrymen. For six happy 
 years he stayed in England working at Gravesend on the con- 
 struction of the Thames defences. ' To the world,' says Mr. 
 Hake, ' his life at Gravesend was a life of self-suppression and 
 self-denial ; to himself it was one of happiness and pure peace. 
 He lived wholly for others. His house was school and hospital 
 and almshouse in turn, and was more like the abode of a mis- 
 sionary than of a colonel of engineers. The troubles of all 
 interested him alike ; the poor, the sick, the unfortunate were 
 ever welcome, and never did suppliant knock vainly at his 
 door.' In 1874, as we have said, he succeeded Sir Samuel 
 Baker in the government of the Soudan, after a couple of 
 years of work as English commissioner on the Danube. 
 
 General Gordon is a man of strong and peculiar religious 
 views; with a fervid Christianity is blended a curiously Oriental 
 fatalism, and a fixed belief in the pre-existence of the soul. 
 ' I think,' he once wrote, ' that this life is only one of a series 
 of Hves which our incarnated part has lived. I have little doubt 
 of our having pre-existed ; and that also in the time of our pre- 
 existence we were actively employed.' Everything is pre- 
 ordained, but Heaven is still willing to give some sign to those 
 who seek for guidance. It seems that sometimes General 
 Gordon finds this sign in the toss of a coin, and accepts the 
 decision thus arrived at with absolute fidelity. "Whenever, by 
 the cast of a coin or otherwise, his mind is made up as to the 
 course he is to follow, he will follow that course though it led 
 him to his death. General Gordon's Christianity is tenderly 
 tolerant of other faiths. He is said to have replied to John of 
 Abyssinia's question, ' You are an Englishman and a Christian ?'
 
 300 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 with the answer, ' I am an Egyptian and a Mussulman.* If 
 General Gordon ever made this answer, it is obVious that he 
 only meant what he wrote once in another place : ' I find the 
 Mussulman quite as good a Christian as many a Christian, and 
 do not believe that he is in any peril.' One of his favourite 
 books is the ' Imitation of Christ.' He finds consolation and 
 comfort in the lofty teachin^^s, the abnegation and self-con- 
 tempt of the founder of the brotherhood of common life. How 
 little really Oriental is in his nature may be found in his words 
 upon the future life : * It must be a life of activity, for happi- 
 ness is dependent upon activity.' There is no sympathy in this 
 mind with Buddhist Nirvana or Maliommedan Paradise. 
 
 Sir. Samuel Baker had worked hard to suppress the slave 
 trade : this task was now the duty of General Gordon. Euro- 
 peans first, and Arabs after them, had made the teeming re- 
 gions of the Nile one huge slave mart. Chief of all the Arab 
 slave-drivers was Zebehi', who came to be called 'the scourge of 
 Central Africa.' When the Khedive Ismail tried to put him 
 down he defeated the Khedive's army. For a while the 
 Khedive accepted defeat, and even took Zebehr as his ally in 
 his invasion of Darfour. Once again the Khedive grew 
 alarmed at Zebehr's strength, and resolved to put down him 
 and his slavers. For this purpose he had sent out Baker ; for 
 this purpose he now sent out Gordon. For three years Gordon 
 worked in the Soudan, opening up the country from Cairo to 
 the Lakes, and crushing out the slave trade with an iron hand 
 wherever he could. He came back to England in 1876, only to 
 go out again with greater powers to the Soudan in 1877. 
 For more than two years Gordon toiled, fighting with the 
 prince of the power of the air almost alone. He w^orked with the 
 strength of ten ; he was here, there, and everywhere, sweeping 
 across the desert on his fleet camel, breaking alone and unpro- 
 tected into robber camps, and extorting submission from hostile 
 chiefs, upon whose cut-throat mercy he was entirely dependent. 
 He seemed to bear what old beliefs would have called a 
 charmed life. While disease and battle and privation thinned 
 his following, he alone went on his way, apparently unconquer-
 
 THE SOUDAN: 301 
 
 able. Zebehr's son rose in desperate revolt, was defeated, 
 captured, and shot by Gordon's orders. Zebehr himself waa 
 tried in Cairo, and sentenced to death, bnt the sentence was 
 never carried out. On the contrary, he received a pension of one 
 hundred pounds a month, and was suffered to live in honour- 
 able semi-captivity in Cairo. When the European Powers de- 
 posed Ismail Pasha, Gordon left the Soudan. He summed 
 up his own woi'k in a few words : ' I am neither a Napoleon 
 nor a Colbert ; I do not profess either to have been a great 
 ruler or a great financier ; but I can say this, I have cut off" the 
 slave dealers in their strongholds, and I made the people love 
 me.' What governor could desire a finer record ? 
 
 On his return Gordon accepted an appointment as secretary 
 to Lord Eipon, the new Viceroy of India. While people were 
 wonderiug, grumbling, or rejoicing, according to their mood, 
 news came that General Gordon had resigned his appointment 
 immediately upon his arrival in India. Naturally people 
 wondered still more, but Gordon had made a mistake in 
 accepting the post, and he acted wisely in throwing it up 
 the moment he discovered that he had made a mistake. He 
 went straight to China, then almost on the eve of a war with 
 Ptussia, and gave her some counsels for her future guidance in 
 war in a letter which has become historical. Ten months were 
 passed in Mauritius as commanding Eoyal Engineer; five months 
 were wasted in 1882 in South Africa, striving to settle questions, 
 while all his plans were hampered by the petty policies of inferior 
 men. Then at last came a term of rest. He went to the East, 
 to Jerusalem, to study the story of the Bible on its own ground, 
 happy and peaceful in his own way for a while. 
 
 After Gordon left the Soudan, the comparative order and 
 rule he had introduced soon fell to pieces. He left behind him 
 able officers to cope with the slave dealers, Gessi Pasha, the con- 
 queror of Zebehr's son, Emin Bey, Lupton Bey, an Englishman, 
 and others. But Gessi Bey died in the French hospital in Suez 
 in 1881, of fever caught on the Bahr Gazelle Piver, and the 
 slave dealers began to hold their heads high again. The new 
 Egyptian Government reversed Gordon's policy, disallowed his
 
 302 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 subsidies to the religious teachers in the Soudan, frowned upon 
 his old officials ; Turks, Circassians, and Bashi-Bazouks were 
 let slip upon the unhappy Soudanese. The condition of the 
 country was so disgraceful, that the outraged inhabitants were 
 perfectly justified in rising against the iniquitous rule of Cairo. 
 All they wanted was a laader, and suddenly that leader ap- 
 peai"ed amongst them. LieutcEant-Colonel Stewart in his report 
 has drawn a grim picture of the way in which the Soudan 
 was harried. The administration of what was called justice was 
 fantastically corrupt. Tax-gathering was entrusted to Bashi- 
 Bazouks, compared to Avhom Cossacks are courteous, and 
 Trenck's Pandours men of light and leading. These taxes 
 were so heavy, that famine and ruin followed upon their 
 infliction. 
 
 Early in 1881 it was known that a man who proclaimed 
 himself as the Mahdi foretold by Mahommed had made his 
 appearance in the Soudan, and was declaring a religious war 
 against the Egyptian Government, and against all who opposed 
 him. Such a proclamation was not in itself very surprising. 
 The Mussulman world is always ready for the coming of 
 Al-Mahdi, announced by Mahommed, who will avenge the blood 
 of slain Mahommedans, and restore the reign of righteousness. 
 There have been claimants to the position of Al-Mahdi before. 
 There probably will be again. It is said that the Sheikh 
 Mahommed-as-Sanusy is waiting in Tripoli till he has attained 
 his thirty-ninth year to declare himself Al-Mahdi, thirty-nine 
 being the age of Mahommed when he began his mission. 
 The IMiLSSulman belief in the coming of Al-lMahdi is based, not 
 upon the Koran, but upon sayings attributed to the Prophet 
 and to his immediate descendants, according to which Al-Mahdi 
 must be a descendant of Mahommed, and must accomplish 
 various vague and obscure predictions. According to some 
 eminent authorities, the true Mahdi was born in the year of the 
 Hegira 255, Anno Domini 8G9, and Avas shut up in a cave by 
 his mother, Avho still watches over him until the appointed 
 time, when he shall reappear again to overthrow Antichrist, 
 and to join the Christians and Moslems in one true faith. 
 
 J
 
 THE SOUDAN. 303 
 
 The new claimant to the authority of Al-Mahdi was a 
 native of Dongola, the son of a carpenter, by name Mahommed 
 Achmet. He had received religious education at Khartoum and 
 Berber, and after 1870 set up as a faki on his own account. 
 He lived in a cave for a long time in the island of Abba, on the 
 White Nile, and soon became fiimous for his piety. By well- 
 arranged marriages he contrived to ingratiate himself with all 
 the principal tribes, and to amass considerable wealth. In 
 May 1881 he announced himself to his brother fakis as Al- 
 Mahdi. The title was at once recognised by a large number of 
 chiefs, and his position was considered sufficiently important to 
 arouse considerable alarm at Cairo in the minds of the Egyptian 
 Government. The Ulemas of Cairo and Khartoum pronounced 
 against him, and an army was despatched to put him down. 
 Not unnaturally the Soudanese recognised the Mahdi as their 
 champion against the oppression of Egypt, and rallied round 
 his standard in great numbers to oppose the unwilling Egyptian 
 levies, raised by proscription. In his first engagements with 
 the Egyptian troops the Mahdi was defeated in the south of 
 Sennaar, and retreated up the Blue Nile; but he soon rallied, 
 raised fresh forces, crossed the White Nile, and invaded the 
 Bahr Gazelle, In July 1882 he defeated and massacred six 
 thousand Egyptian soldiers under Yussuf Pasha. For some 
 months more the Mahdi held his course with varying foi-tunes, 
 now winning victories and massacring his opponents, now being 
 defeated by the Egyptian General Abd-el-Kader. In January 
 the town of El Obeid in Kordofan capitulated to the Mahdi, 
 who took up his residence there, and after one or two defeats 
 from Abd-el-Kader it seemed as if his influence was entirely 
 limited to Kordofan beyond the White Nile. Here it seemed 
 the wisest policy to allow him to remain. 
 
 Early in April 1883 Lord DuiFerin, at that time England's 
 representative in Cairo, gave serious advice to Ibrahim Bey, the 
 chief of the Bureau appointed by the Egyptian Government for 
 superintending the affairs of the Soudan. He counselled him 
 to recommend the Egyptian Government to confine itself to 
 establishing its authority over Sennaar, and not to attempt to
 
 304 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 extend the dominion in the Sondan beyond the White Nile. 
 This modest policy would, Lord Dufferin urged, gi"eatly diminish 
 the drain on the Egyptian treasuiy, while the substitution of a 
 beneficent and humane administration for the cruel misgovern- 
 ment that had prevailed in Dongola, Khartoum, and Sennaar, 
 Avould, no doubt, lead in time to the easy recovery of so much 
 of the abandoned territories as it might be desirable later to 
 reannex. The Egyptian official listened politely, with that bland 
 appearance of acquiescence with which Oriental statesmen are 
 so skilful in masking their determination to do exactly the 
 opposite of what they are being advised to do. Lord Dufierin 
 left Egypt in the firm conviction that his policy was being acted 
 upon, and that the Egyptian Government would content itself 
 for the time with the re-establishment of its authority over 
 Sennaar. 
 
 The Egyptian Government, however, had no thought of so 
 contenting itself. They had in their service an English officer, 
 Geiiei'al Hicks, who had been successful so far in the Soudan 
 operations. They now decided to send him to invade Kordofan. 
 England's representative in Egypt at this juncture was Sir 
 Edward Malet, who carried the principle of English non-inter- 
 ference in the affiiirs of Egypt to its utmost possible limit. It is 
 truly pitiable to read the despatches and telegrams addressed by 
 Hicks Pasha to Sir Edward Malet, whom he very naturally re- 
 garded as a power in Egypt, imploring again and again for more 
 authority, more soldiers, or for permission to withdraw from the 
 business altogether. All these communications Sir Edward Malet 
 solemnly handed over, one after another, to Cherif Pasha, with 
 the same unvarying assurances to the Egyptian minister that 
 General Hicks's action or appeals were in no sense whatever 
 endorsed by the British Government. General Hicks might 
 write as often as he liked to the English representative in Cairo : 
 that functionary would do nothing more than hand the letters 
 over to the head of the Egyptian Ministry, ' without any com- 
 ment or expression of opinion ' upon their contents. It must be 
 admitted, however, that Sir Edward Malet was only the mouth- 
 piece of Lord Granville in this policy of abject irresponsibility
 
 THE SOUBAiY. 305 
 
 and ludicrous non-interferonce. The Foreign Seci'etary warned 
 our representative again and again tliat lie was to ' offer no 
 advice' to the Egyptian Government on the question of the 
 Soudan. In other words, though England had interfered in 
 Egypt by force of arms to keep the Khedive on his throne, though 
 Cairo was occupied by English soldiers, though it was clearly 
 in England's power and in her right to counsel the Egyptian 
 Ministry as to the course they should pursue in the most diffi- 
 cult of all Egyptian questions, the Ministry still affected to 
 keep up the absurd pretence of exercising no influence upon the 
 councils of Egypt. 
 
 nicks" Pasha had to obey his orders. "With a wretched 
 army, insufficient in numbers, deficient in stamina, half con- 
 quered beforehand by dread of the Soudan and superstitious fear 
 of Al-Mahdi, he crossed the White Nile, and marched upon 
 El Obeid. With his army there was, as correspondent for the 
 Dcdhj News, Mr. Edmund O'Donovan, one of the most remark- 
 able travellers then living. Mr. O'Donovan was one of those 
 men who, like Mr. Archibald Forbes, or Mr. MacGahau, arc 
 specially made for the trade of war correspondent ; men whose 
 love of the adventurous is combined with a marvellous capacity 
 for carrying their adventure thi^ough successfully, of going 
 whithersoever they want to go, seeing whatever they want to 
 see, and coming back in triumph. But Mr. O'Donovan had 
 what Mr. Forbes had not — a gift of acquiring foreign tongues, and 
 especially Oriental tongues, akin to that of Burton of Mecca, of 
 E. H. Palmer, and of Floyer of Beloochistan. He was the son of a 
 distinguished Irish scholar and author. In his early youth he had 
 taken part in the Fenian organisation. He became a journalist, 
 then a special correspondent. He first became famous for his 
 expedition to Merv, and for the brilliant letters which he wrote 
 to the Daily JVeivs from that strange Central Asian city. The 
 people of Merv made a hero of him : when he at last left them, 
 he went away as their accredited representative to all the king- 
 doms of the world, and they only suffered him to go on the 
 solemn assurance that he would return, and soon. O'Donovan 
 made his way to Europe; created a sensation in Constantinople
 
 306 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 by delivering his first lectui'e on Merv there, and by being 
 imprisoned for speaking treason against the Sultan in a Pera 
 cafe, and so came to London, whei-e he was for a time the 
 lion of the season. He staj^ed in London until he brought 
 out his book on Merv. But he soon wearied of civic life, and 
 longed to be wandering. When the Soudan trouble grew pro- 
 minent, he offered to go and accompany Hicks Pasha's army 
 for the Daily News. His letters home were read with the 
 greatest interest. The sufferings, the difficulties, the privations, 
 the dangers of the route of the ill-fated army were brought 
 vividly before London, before England, before the world. 
 Gradually the letters grew gloomier, more desponding in tone. 
 One of his very last letters, dated from the camp of El Duem on 
 September 23, was written to a private friend, and was not 
 published vmtil after the catastrophe. It is a curiously pathetic 
 letter ; the shadow of coming death is upon it. He writes of a 
 friend whose death he had just learned, ' I shall sadly miss him 
 when I return to London, if ever I do. I am writing this 
 under circumstances which bring me as near to death as it is 
 possible to be without being under absolute sentence of execu- 
 tion, or in the throes of some deadly malady, and yet I speak of 
 
 poor as if I were going to live for ever. It would be odd 
 
 if the next intelligence from this part of the world told that T, 
 too, had gone the way of all flesh. However, to die even out 
 here, with a lancehead as big as a shovel through me, will meet 
 my views better than the slow, gradual sinking into the grave 
 which is the lot of so many. . . . You know I am by this time, 
 after an experience of many years, pi-etty well accustomed to 
 dangers of most kinds, even some extra. Yet I assure you I 
 feel it terrible to face deadly peril far away from civilised ideas, 
 and where no mercy is to be met with, in company with cravens 
 that you expect to see run at every moment, and who will leave 
 you behind to face the worst. I send you a flower plucked from 
 a shrub growing at my tent door.' 
 
 The present writer met Mr. O'Donovan for the first time in 
 Constantinople at the time when he first arrived as ' ambassador 
 from Merv,' from the Central Asian desert. To know him at
 
 THE SOUDAN: 307 
 
 all was to love him, for O'Donovan's was a singularly lovable 
 nature, and tliere could be few whose affections could resist his 
 bright, boyish manner, his kindly, sympathetic spirit, and the 
 strong fascination of his brilliant varied talk, and his animated 
 descriptions of his wandering life. He had faults, indeed, which 
 stood sometimes in his way, which he might have conquered as 
 he grew older; but of him we may say in the noble, pathetic words 
 of Johnson upon Goldsmith, ' He was wild, but he is no more.' 
 The collecting of personal relics is, perhaps, one of the weakest 
 of human weaknesses, and yet we may well be permitted to 
 envy the possessor of the faded flower which the hands of a 
 brave man gathered for his friend in the desert, in the valley of 
 the shadow of death. 
 
 Hicks Pasha's army never got within sight of the minarets of 
 El Obeid. On November 5, 1883, a battle took place at Kashgate, 
 and Hicks Pasha's army was literally annihilated. The General 
 himself fell fighting bravely. Mr. O'Donovan was killed near 
 him. No European seems to have escaped except a Prussian 
 sergeant, who had deserted to the enemy some days before the 
 fight. All the EgyjDtians were massacred. The news was 
 brought to Khartoum by a Coptic official, disguised as a der- 
 vish, more than a fortnight after the event, and was telegraphed 
 on, to cause dismay in Cairo and London. The inevitable had 
 come to pass, and the Soudan a^ipeared to be irreparably lost. 
 
 The position of the Egyptian garrisons in the Soudan was 
 now perilous in the extreme. At Khartoum, where the "White 
 and Blue Niles branch asunder. Colonel de Coetlogen, an 
 English officer, was left with 4,000 Egyptians to hold a town 
 which would require, in ordinary conditions, a far larger force 
 to man its ramparts. Now the conditions were not ordinary, 
 for the large black population of the town were expected at any 
 moment to turn upon their nominal defenders, and destroy them. 
 At Sinkat, in the Eastern Soudan, Tewfik Pasha and a small force 
 were shut up. Tokha was besieged, ana on the very day after the 
 defeat at Kashgate a force of Egyptians, commanded by Captain 
 Moncrieff, was surrounded by the rebels while attempting to 
 relieve it, and cut to pieces. At Berber and Dongola, at Kassala 
 
 X 2
 
 308 EXGLAXD UNDER GLADSTOXE. 
 
 and Amandel, at Fashoda and Sennaar, there were garrisons, 
 not as yet beleaguered, not as yet in immediate danger, but 
 which might at almost any moment be put into immediate 
 danger. What was to be done 1 The Egyptian Government 
 appeared to be paralysed : so for a moment did the English 
 Government. Sir Evelyn Baring was now England's representa- 
 tive in Cairo. While the fate of Hicks Pasha's armv was still 
 uncertain he wrote home for instructions. Lord Granville 
 telegraphed that the Government could not lend either English 
 or Indian troops to assist the Egyptian Government, and 
 advised Sir Evelyn Baring, * if consulted,' to recommend the 
 abandonment of the Soudan within certain limits. ' If con- 
 sulted ! ' The absurd pi'etence was still being kept up that the 
 presence of England in Egypt meant nothing, that her influence 
 in the councils of Egypt was merely nominal ; that counsel was 
 never to be volunteered, only given if by any chance an in- 
 dependent Egyptian Government might ask for it. Even 
 when the news of the defeat of Hicks Pasha was certain, even 
 when Coetlogen was telegraphing in desperation from Khartoum 
 that he could not hold the jilace against a hostile population 
 and a victorious rebel with a small army, mostly old and blind, 
 nothing was done. Lord Granville could only iterate that 
 * her ]\Iajesty's Government could do nothing in the matter 
 which would throw upon them the responsibility of operations 
 in the Soudan.' The Government which had not hesitated to 
 interfere to put down one set of rebels against the Khedive, 
 were now displaying a ludicrous delicacy about interfering to 
 put down another set of rebels. Yet the danger to the safety 
 of Egypt was at least as gi'eat from a victorious Mahdi as from 
 a victorious Arabi. Days drifted by. The Egj^tian Govern- 
 ment did nothing; the English Government did nothing. 
 Coetlogen could not evacuate Khartoum because the route to 
 Berber was not open, and his appeals to have that route opened 
 by a movement from Berber and Suakim were not answered. 
 Had he attempted to do so with the forces at his disposal, he 
 would have merely ensured a massacre on the road. Suakim 
 on the Bed Sea was only safe bscause it was protected by the
 
 THE SOUDAN. 309 
 
 presence of British gunboats in the harbour. After a while the 
 Egyptian Government seemed to make up its mind to attempt 
 to hold Khartoum, to open the road to Berber, and to call 
 in the aid of Turkish troops. The English Government saw no 
 objection, as they — this was December 13 — had ' no intention 
 of employing British or Indian troops in the Soudan.' But they 
 recommended the abandonment of all territory south of Assouan, 
 or at least of Wady Haifa, and they announced that they would 
 be prepared to assist in maintaining order in Egyjjt propei", in 
 defending it, as well as the jDorts of the Red Sea. At last, in 
 the beginning of 1884, the Government took a decided tone 
 with the Egyptian Ministry. ' It is indispensable,' wrote Lord 
 Granville, ' that her Majesty's Government should, as long as 
 the provisional occupation of the country by English troops con- 
 tinues, be assured that the advice which, after full consideration 
 of the Egyptian Government, they may feel it their duty to 
 tender to the Khedive should be followed. It should be made 
 clear to the Egyptian ministers and governors of provinces, that 
 the responsibility which, for the time, rests on England, obliges 
 her Majesty's Government to insist on the adoption of the policy 
 which they recommend ; and that it will be necessary that those 
 ministers and governors who do not follow this course should 
 cease to hold their offices.' Here was English interference with 
 a vengeance. In a moment the graceful theories about the inde- 
 pendence of Egypt were cast to the winds, and a policy of the 
 directest dictation adopted. The English Government an- 
 nounced that the Soudan must be abandoned, and that some 
 English officer of high authority should be sent to Khartoum 
 with full powers to make arrangement for the future govern- 
 ment of the country, and to withdraw all the garrisons. Cherif 
 Pasha's Ministry resigned rather than follow out this policy, 
 and a new and more supple Mijiistry was immediately formed 
 under Nubar Pasha. Then came the question who was to be 
 sent out to Khartoum. 
 
 This point was decided not so much by the Government 
 as by the Pall Mall Gazette. That enterprising journal had 
 decided that General Gordon was the man for Khartoum. He
 
 310 EXGLAXD UXDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 was passing througTi London on liis way from Jerusalem to 
 Beloium to take charge of an anti-slavery expedition of the 
 head-waters of the Congo. A representative of the Pall Mall 
 Gazette interviewed him, and elicited his views on the situation. 
 Then, day after day, the Pall Mall insisted that General 
 Gordon should be sent to settle the affairs of the Soudan. The 
 idea was taken up by every one, even by the Government, and 
 in the end the Government decided to send him out. He was 
 actually on his way to Belgium to arrange about the Congo 
 expedition, when he was recalled and ordered to the Soudan. 
 With the promptness which has always characterised him he 
 set off at once. The mission he was sent on was in direct 
 opposition to his own ideas. He was not in favour of the 
 abandonment of the Soudan or the evacuation of Khartoum. 
 He was sent out to facilitate the evacuation of Khartoum and 
 the abandonment of the Soudan. In his own expressive 
 phrase, he was sent to cut the dog's tail off.' There are few 
 events in contemporary history more thrilling than this expe- 
 dition of General Gordon's. He hastened to Egypt in company 
 with Colonel Stewart, an English officer with great knowledge 
 of the East whom he had chosen as his companion. He appeared 
 for a moment in Cairo, where he had an angry interview with 
 his old enemy Zebehr, who refused to be reconciled. Then he 
 disappeared into the desert. For a time he was absolutely lost 
 to sight. He would only go with an army or go alone ; and as 
 there was no army to give him, he went practically alone upon 
 his terribly dangerous mission. The eyes of the world may be 
 said to have been fixed upon the desert tract which General 
 Gordon was crossing on his swift dromedary. At last it was 
 known that he had arrived in safety at Khartoum, and that 
 so far all was well. Gordon was received by the population 
 of Khax'toum with the greatest enthusiasm. They hailed him 
 as Sultan, Father, and Saviour of Koi'dofan. He at once pro- 
 ceeded to simplify the situation in his prompt, imperious man- 
 ner. All the Government books recording the debts of the 
 overtaxed people, all the whips and other instruments of oppres- 
 sion, were solemnly burned befor-e the palace. The prison was
 
 THE SOUDAN. 311 
 
 visited, the different cases examined into, and most of the 
 prisoners released. Colonel de Coetlogen was thanked for his 
 services, and told that there was no further need of his presence. 
 ' Kest assured you leave this place as safe as Kensington Park,' 
 wrote Gordon to him. 
 
 Gordon immediately issued a series of proclamations, each 
 perhaps more surprising than the others. He began by pro- 
 claiming the Mahdi as Sultan of Kordofan, an act of concilia- 
 tion which did not have the immediate effect of bringing the 
 warlike prophet to terms. Another proclamation directly and 
 emphatically sanctioned slavery in the Soudan. Gordon was 
 exceedingly anxious to appoint Zebehr as ruler of Khartoum 
 and the country around, but the Home Government would not 
 consent to the appointment. It was bad enough to be com- 
 pelled to recognise slavery in the Soudan after all the heroic, 
 helpless efforts that had been made to put it down, but to 
 consent to the appointment of the very head and front of the 
 slave-drivers as ruler of the country was more than they could 
 stomach. People began to ask themselves if General Gordon 
 had taken leave of his senses in sanctioning slavery, and seeking 
 a ruler for Khartoum in the ' scourge of Central Africa.' He 
 had not taken leave of his senses : he was sent out to perform 
 a certain task, and he at once recognised the only conditions 
 on which that task could be performed. It was useless to 
 prohibit slavery if we did not intend to enforce the prohibition. 
 If we would not govern the Soudan, we ought to entrust it to 
 some one who could ; and of all men Zebehr seemed to Gordon 
 the most capable for the purpose, Gordon did not like Zebehr ; 
 he had described him often enough as one of the curses of the 
 country; but neither did Gordon like evacuating the Soudan. 
 If the one dislike had to be swallowed, there was no use in 
 making a wry face over the other. Zebehr was said to be 
 delighted at the proposal. He had a blood feud with Gordon — 
 over this they had quarrelled during the Cairo interview. But 
 with the prospect of becoming ruler of Khartoum he forgot all 
 about the blood feud. Gordon was his brother ; he himself 
 was a much-injured and shamefully maligned maii. In terms
 
 312 EXGLAXD UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 that would be grotesquely comic if the situation had not been 
 so serious, Zebehr declared that he hated slavery, that he never 
 had anything Avhatever to do with the slave trade. It seemed 
 that Gordon and the world in general had been much mistaken 
 about Zebehr all this while ; that he was in reality a sort of 
 Central African Wilberforce, the very man whom Mr. Chesson 
 and the Aboriginal Society ought to hold in special regard. 
 However, the Government were not convinced, and they declined 
 to sanction the appointment of Zebehr. The refusal was curious. 
 If they Avere willing to lend themselves to any juggling with 
 the slave trade, if their one aim on earth was to get out of the 
 Soudan at any cost, and with any sacrifice of principle, it is 
 difficult to see why they were so resolute in opposition to 
 Zebehr. Gordon's chances of succe-s in his task depended, 
 too, very largely upon his having a fi'ee hand ; and if he ad- 
 vised the appointment of Zebehr, he imdoubtedly did so after 
 due consideration of the difficulty of the situation. However, 
 the Govei-nment would have none of Zebehr, and Gordon's 
 difficulties began to thicken. The insurgent tribes did not 
 display that eagerness to rally round him which was at first 
 expected. We hear of another proclamation of Gordon's, this 
 time somewhat angry in tone, threatening the recusants with 
 prompt punishment if they do not make j^eace ; and there 
 is talk of sending for British forces. Shortly after this pro- 
 clamation telegraphic communication with Khartoum is cut off, 
 and for a time General Gordon and his doings are involved in 
 complete darkness. At intervals the veil lifts. Messengers 
 succeed in making their way out with the news that General 
 Gordon has been engaged in conflict with the rebels, has 
 been victorious ; but that more rebels remain unconquered — 
 that, in fact, Khartoum is surrounded. Then the veil drops 
 again. Colonel de Coetlogen arrived in Cairo on March 24, 
 having made his way from Khartoum, after Gordon's ' Ken- 
 sington Park ' assurance, without any difficulty. We con- 
 sidered that the place could be easily taken by the enemy, but 
 doubted whether there was any immediate danger. General 
 Gordon's plan was to get the garrison away, hand over his own
 
 THE SOUDAN, 313 
 
 to the best native avithority available, and withdraw. The 
 southern garrisons were supposed to be making for the coast. 
 Colonel de Coetlogen's news was not very reassuring, but it 
 was all that was to be had. Nothing was to be done but to 
 remember Gordon's own words before leaving London, ' ISTo 
 panic,' and wait upon events. According to Colonel de Coet- 
 logen it would be impossible to send a relieving army to 
 Khartoum even if Gordon wished it, and Gordon did nob 
 wish it. 
 
 In the meantime the condition of the beleaguered garrisons 
 at Tokha and Sinkat was growing desperate. Messages came 
 from Tewfik telling piteous tales of the distress to which his 
 gallant little garrison was reduced by privation. The Egyptian 
 Government sent Baker Pasha, with what they were pleased to 
 call an army, to Suakim, in order to attempt the relief of the 
 garrisons. His force was composed chiefly of fellaheen, raised 
 by conscription, many of them brought into Cairo in chains — 
 these were called volunteers — all unwilling to go into the 
 dreaded Soudan. With such men as these — as feeble as, nay, 
 far more feeble than the levies of Tel-el-Kebir — Baker Pasha 
 was expected to set free the imprisoned gari Lsons, and defeat the 
 Mahdi's fierce lieutenant in the eastern Soudan, Osman Digna. 
 On February 4 General Baker advanced from Trinkitat to relieve 
 Tokha. His force numbered in all 3,000 men, most of them 
 Egyptians, though some were black troops. A handful of English 
 oflicers accompanied him. Colonel Burnaby — Burnaby of Khiva 
 — was with him, utilising his leave by hurrying to the spot where 
 there was promise of excitement, of danger. The war corre- 
 spondents of the chief London papers of course rode with the 
 relieving force. In the present day the position of the Avar 
 correspondent is scarcely less perilous than that of the soldier 
 in the van. The enemy came soon in sight ; there was some 
 • skh'mishing with the advanced cavalry ; then a wild attack A^as 
 made by the Arabs upon the Egyptians. An attempt had been 
 made by the officers to make the square formation, but the 
 ill-drilled, untrained, timorous Egyptians were unable to keep 
 their ranks. In sheer panic they broke and fled. From that
 
 314 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 moment the foi'tune of the fight was settled. The Arabs carried 
 everything before them, and swept furiously after the flying 
 Egyptians, stabbing and spearing the fugitives without mercy. 
 The miserable fellaheen could not even fight for their lives ; when 
 they were overtaken by their fleet pursuers they would fall on 
 their knees and receive the cou2y de grdce meekly, with clasped 
 hands. Baker Pasha, Colonel Burnaby, and his staff made a 
 desperate effort to save the day, trying to rally their men, and 
 even shooting some of the nearest fugitives. It was all in vain. 
 Before the savage fury of the Arabs, the manhood, such as it 
 was, of the Egyptians literally withered away, and the prophet 
 himself could not have rallied them then had he appeared 
 amongst them. They fled and fell all along the way back to 
 Triukitat. Some European oflicers who stood by the guns were 
 cut down after fighting desperately. When it was certain that 
 there was no hope General Baker, Colonel Burnaby, and their 
 companions rode right thi'ough the surrounding Arabs un- 
 harmed, and made their way to Trinkitat, where they exerted 
 themselves heroically to pacify the panicstriclien runaways, and 
 to get the troops on board — a task in which they i^eceived no 
 assistance from the unfortunate Egyptian oflicers. Luckily for 
 the remnant who escaped the rout, the Arabs did not push their 
 victory to Trinkitat, deterred no doubt by the fear of the Biitish 
 gun-boats, or probably not one man would have escaped from 
 that day's business. Many gallant deeds were done, many 
 thrilling tales ax'e told of acts of individual bravery, in that 
 wild flight. One officer. Major Harvey, put his wounded servant 
 upon his own horse and biought him out of danger, holding the 
 horse by the bridle and running alongside of it. 
 
 The defeat at Teb practically settled the question of English 
 interference in the Soudan. General Baker was, indeed, only 
 an English officer in the Egyptian service, but it was impossible 
 to expect that the insurgent Arabs would understand this im- 
 portant distinction. All that they would consider was that now 
 for the third time the armies of the Mahdi or his lieutenant 
 had met a hostile army arrayed under the leadership of 
 English officers, and defeated them hopelessly. In every bazaar
 
 THE SOUDAN. 815 
 
 in the East, from Constantinople to Smyrna, in every Nilotic 
 mud town between Assouan and Cairo, in every Mussulman 
 community in Hindostan, in every Central Asian Khanate, the 
 news would fly that the arms of England were falling into the 
 dust before the green banner of Islam. England had fought 
 Arabi before on the ground that she must preserve her road to 
 India ; if she wished to preserve her 2^'>'esfige in those Mahom- 
 medan countries which she ruled, she must fight and conquer 
 Osman Digna now. At home in England the greatest excite- 
 ment prevailed. The news of Baker Pasha's defeat had arrived 
 on the very day that Parliament met. The following day came 
 the news that Tewfik Pasha, the gallant defender of Sinkat, 
 had been cut to pieces with his valiant garrison, in an attempt 
 to force their way through the besiegers' lines. The story was 
 doubted at first, but it was soon verified. Logically the fate of 
 the Soudan garrisons entailed no responsibility on England. 
 She had not put them there; their blood would not be upon her 
 head. But England had chosen to interfere in the aflfairs of 
 Egypt ; nay, more, she had insisted that the Soudan should be 
 abandoned ; it was her duty to see that the unhappy gai'risons 
 were not left to perish in obedience to that dictation. She had 
 compelled the Egyptian ruler, sorely against his will, to give up 
 the Soudan; it was her mission to ensure the accomplishment 
 of the task without the sacrifice of lives perilled in obedience to 
 another policy and another principle. It was clear that the 
 feeling of the vast bulk of public opinion in England was in 
 favour of doing something to settle the Soudan question, to 
 rescue the imperilled garrisons, and to retrieve the shaken 
 prestige of England. The time for inaction had gone by; it 
 never had had any logical excuse from the day when Admiral 
 Beauchamp Seymour opened fire upon the Alexandria forts. 
 In defiance of all the principles and all the traditions of Liberal- 
 ism, a Liberal Government had intervened between a foreign 
 ruler and a foreign rebel. They had lent the arms and the 
 influence of England to crush the National movement in Egypt, 
 and for the moment they had crushed it. It was a blunder, and 
 like most blunders it entailed other blunders to follow it. It
 
 316 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 "was impossible for the Government to sit any longer with folded 
 hands and watch Egypt falling to pieces before their eyes. The 
 memory of Telel-Kebir forbade them to regard El Teb as an 
 Egyptian matter to be settled by Egyptian measures and an 
 Egyptian Ministry. 
 
 On Sunday, February 10, it was proclaimed at Suakim that 
 Admiral Hewett, with the consent of England and at the re- 
 quest of the Khedive, had assumed the supreme control, and 
 that England had undertaken to defend Suakim. On Mondav, 
 the 18th, the 'Jumna' steamed through the reefs of Suakim 
 harboiu', the largest ship that had ever entered its waters, with 
 the 10th Hussars (Baker Pasha's old regiment) on board, and 
 the Irish Fusiliers. On Friday, the 24:th, General Graham 
 himself arrived, just in time to hear the news that Tokha, after 
 long holding out, had surrendered to the enemy, and that the 
 garrison and rebels had fraternised. Osman Digna's star seemed 
 to be in the ascendant. An Austrian merchant of Suakim, Mr. 
 Levi, who got into Osman's camp under the pretence of becoming 
 a Mussulman, and who only escaped with difficulty with his life 
 from his perilous adventure, described the Mahdi's lieutenant 
 as a common-looking man, dressed in a dirty shirt and straw 
 hat, who spent most of his time in exciting his followers by 
 reading to them rehgious books about the Mahdi, with comments 
 of his own. Undoubtedly Osman possessed the power of in- 
 s})iring his followers with an implicit belief in him and his cause. 
 He scornfully rejected all overtures of truce, and announced 
 that he was determined to sweep Suakim into the Eed Sea, 
 with every soul it contained, whether Egyptian or English. 
 This was the man whom it was General Graham's duty to put 
 down, now that it was too late to do anything for Sinkat or 
 Tokha. 
 
 On the last day of February General Graham's force, some 
 four thousand stiong, began its march from Trinkitat. Five 
 hundi'ed yards to the windward side of the spot where the 
 decomposing corpses of Baker Pasha's Egyptians lay in hideous 
 confusion by hundreds, the Arabs attacked the British, opening 
 fire upon them with the Krupp guns they had captured at
 
 THE SOUDAN. 317 
 
 El Teb. A splinter from one of the shells •woxinded Baker 
 Pasha badly in the face, but he insisted on going on as soon as 
 his wound was bound up, About three miles from Fort Baker 
 the enemy had set up some kind of earthwork, on which guns 
 were mounted, over which their flags were flying. On these 
 earthworks the British advanced steadily, the Gordon High- 
 landers leading the way to the shrill tune of their bagpipes, and 
 marching as coolly as if on parade. There was a short artillery 
 duel, and then the British chai'ged the earthworks and carried 
 all before them. Colonel Burnaby was one of the first over the 
 parapet, firing at the Arabs with a double-barrelled gun, and 
 receiving some ugly woiinds. The Arabs fought heroically, 
 flinging themselves again and again u])on the British line, falling 
 in hundreds before the rain of bullets and the bayonet charge. 
 Even Avhen defeat was inevitable they would not acknowledge 
 it, b\it retired sullenly, fighting to the last, often making 
 wild charges upon certain death with undaunted heroism. 
 The next day General Graham continued his march and took 
 possession of Tokha. 
 
 Though the ostensible purpose of the expedition had been 
 accomplished by the relief — too late, indeed — of Tokha, 
 military operations were not suspended. Osman Digna's fol- 
 lowers were called upon to abandon him and disperse. Osman 
 Digna had retired to his encampment at Tamanieb, and as his 
 followers still held by him, and he himself was still defianb, 
 it was determined to advance against him. On the early morn- 
 ing of Thursday, March 13, General Graham's army marched 
 out against Osman Digna's encampment, in the military forma- 
 tion of two squares. The gi-ound was thick with bush, and 
 afibrded every opportunity for the concealment of the enemy, 
 who undoubtedly succeeded in drawing the first squai-e into 
 what was very like an ambuscade. The wild Arab attack was 
 for the moment ii-resistible, the order of the advancing square 
 was broken, a sea of Arabs broke in iipon it, stabbing and 
 spearing. The British fired and retreated, fighting desperately, 
 and leaving their guns in the enemy's hands. For a moment 
 it seemed as if the day was lost, as if the massacre of the
 
 318 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 first battle of Teb would be repeated, with British instead of 
 Egyptian soldiers for victims. Only for a moment, however. 
 The second square had preserved its formation perfectly, and 
 came to the rescue of the first, which was already rallying from 
 its first fatal shock. A few minutes more of desperate fighting, 
 and the day so nearly lost was won, the Arabs were in full 
 retreat, the captured guns retaken. General Graham pushed 
 on to Osman Digna's encampment and destroyed it. 
 
 After this second victory Admiral Hewett issued a pro- 
 clamation offering a reward of five thousand dollars for the 
 capture of Osman Digna, dead or ahve. This extraordinary 
 manifesto, based upon principles of war that had been aban- 
 doned for centuries, aroused the utmost surprise in England. 
 At first the Government refused to believe in its authenticity ; 
 the moment it was confirmed orders were telegraphed for its 
 immediate withdrawal. Osman Digna was as much the 
 undoubted commander of the insurgent Arabs as Admiral 
 Hewett was commander at Suakim. He had shown himself, 
 up to this time, a brave, resolute, and dauntless soldier, fighting 
 for a cause which had commanded a very large amount of 
 sympathy in England and all over the civilised world. Even 
 his alleged execution of two messengers sent to him by Admiral 
 Hewett did not justify the Admiral in offering what was practi- 
 cally a reward for his assassination. Admiral Hewett no doubt 
 believed himself to be acting within his right ; it is one of the 
 unfortunate necessities of savage warfare that it seems to deaden 
 the moral sense and warp the conduct of the bravest men, till 
 they begin to act against their opponents upon the principles of 
 savage, not of civilised, morality. The issue of the proclamation 
 was most unfortunate, and even its immediate withdrawal 
 could not efface its recollection or prevent it from doing harm 
 to the British cause. 
 
 One further advance finally dispersed Osman Digna's re- 
 maining adherents, and then, to the surprise of every one and 
 to the dismay of most. General Graham was ordered to retire, 
 to embark his troops with all speed, and, in fact, to get out of 
 the country as quickly as possible. General Gordon had asked
 
 THE SOUDAN. 319 
 
 for two squadrons of cavalry to be sent to Berber to open a way 
 of escape for two thousand women and children sent down from 
 Khartoum. This request was not granted ; Sir Evelyn Baring 
 angered Gordon by talking of negotiations with Arabs to open the 
 road. To the outer world, not learned in the secrets of Ministerial 
 policy, it looked grimly like leaving General Gordon to his fate. 
 Just then, too. General Gordon's position was peculiarly critical. 
 The veil that hid the doings at Khartoum had again lifted, and 
 the world had to learn another lesson of defeat. General Gordon 
 had sallied out from Khartoum on March 16 to attack the fol- 
 lowers of the Mahdi who had assembled on the opposite bank 
 of the river, opposite to the windows of the palace. After a 
 short conflict Gordon's troops, Egyptians of the kind who fled 
 from Baker at the first battle of Teb, broke and ran in helpless 
 panic, almost without firing a shot. The successful Arabs seem 
 to have been some sixty in number; Gordon's army more than 
 a thousand. Gordon's force lost some two hundred men in 
 their mad flight ; about four of the victorious Arabs are said to 
 have been killed. It is only fair to say that the panic was partly 
 due to the treachery of two black pashas under Gordon's com- 
 mand, Hassan and Said, whom Colonel de Coetlogen had for- 
 merly suspected of treachery. They gave the signal for fliglit 
 by galloping back from the enemy, they broke up the square of 
 their own men, and they with their own hands killed some of 
 their own artillerymen. When the troops routed got back to 
 Khartoum General Gordon had the two pashas arrested, tried 
 by court-martial, and shot. To add to Gordon's difiiculties, the 
 Mahdi wholly refused to be mollified by Gordon's oflfer of the 
 Sultanship of Kordofan. Three dervishes ai^-ived in Khartoum, 
 bearing back the robes of honour sent by Gordon. With their 
 hands upon their swords they delivered their message, and 
 called upon Gordon in the Mahdi's name to become a Mussul- 
 man, and to put on the i-obe of a dervish. With Gordon in 
 this position, defeat outside Khartoum, and treason within the 
 walls, the Government ordered the withdrawal of the British 
 troops from Suakim. To the looker-on at the political game 
 the order appears an act of inexplicable folly. Was it worth
 
 320 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 while to send out an army to tbe Red Sea littoral, merely to 
 slaughter a few thousand Ai-abs and then come back again? 
 Did the Government think that a couple of inevitable defeats of 
 Osman Digna settled tlie Soudan diiEculty ? Not to have gone 
 to the Soudan at all would have been intellisrible enou2fh : but 
 to complicate the matter still further by going, by having a 
 hattue of Arabs, and then huniedly coming away again, seemed 
 a policy only worthy of the Duke of York in the nursery rhyme, 
 and not of a serious and responsible Ministry. 
 
 Just at the moment when the Ministry were most perplexed 
 by the difficulties in Egj'pt, most harassed by the pertinacity of 
 the attacks of the Opposition, a new element of trouble was iu- 
 troduced into their situation. Late in February it was made 
 known that Merv had become a part of the ever-increasing 
 Russian dominion in Central Asia. The news was absolutely 
 unexpected. Russia had given a sort of vague understanding 
 that she would not go to Merv, which had quieted even the 
 most suspicious of Central Asian alarmists. But Russia had 
 in no sense pawned her future conduct in the case of Merv 
 coming to her — and Merv had come to her. Of their own 
 accord, so the account ran, with no prompting, no instigation, 
 the people of Merv had voluntarily desired to be enrolled in 
 the long list of foreign races who recognise the Czar as their 
 father. Russia had accepted the trust thus offered her, and 
 Merv was henceforward part and parcel of the Russian Empire. 
 The neAvs aroused the fiercest indignation against Russia the 
 deceiver, and the deceived English Ministry, in the minds of all 
 those who saw in Russia's action in Central Asia part of a plot 
 with our Indian Empire for its object. 
 
 What is generally called the Central Asian question means, 
 when translated, the relative positions of Russia and England in 
 those districts of Central A^ia that lie between Russia and the 
 English Empire in India. It may be very happily expressed in 
 a quotation from Mr. Mackenzie "Wallace : ' It is pretty cer- 
 tain that the Russian and British frontiers in Central Asia will 
 gome day meet. Where they will meet depends upon ourselves. 
 If we do not wish our rival to overstep a certain line, we must
 
 THE SOUDAN. 321 
 
 ourselves advance to that line.' As to the point where the two 
 frontiers are to meet, there are two distinct schools of poli- 
 ticians. The one school maintains that it is not for us to 
 concern ourselves with the advance of Russia. If she chooses 
 to aggi-andise her empire among the petty khanates of Central 
 Asia, that is her affair, not ours ; nor need we stir ourselves to 
 meet an imaginary danger on our Indian frontier until Russia 
 makes some distinctly overt act of aggression. The other school 
 upholds a directly contrary doctrine. It sees in Russia's steady 
 advance a distinct threat against the integrity of our Indian 
 Empire, a steady, measured accomplishment of the will of Peter 
 the Great, w^hich, whether authentic or not, represents ex- 
 cellently the purposes of the Russian people, and the ambitions 
 of Russian statesmen. It is not, therefore, for England to 
 wait, this school urges, until Russia, having accomplished her 
 aims and undermined our strength, abandons her stealthy 
 encroachment and avowedly menaces our power in India. 
 Some of the arguments on this side are thus put by Mr. 
 Marvin : — 
 
 ' The Central Asian question as it at present stands resolves 
 itself into this : In a very short space of time the empires of 
 England and Russia in Central Asia will touch each other; 
 query, where shall the frontier line be drawn ? . . . Should 
 Russia succeed in establishing a regular waterway between the 
 Black Sea and the Caspian, and thence, by means of the Oxus, 
 across the desert to Bokhara and Afghanistan, it is obvious that 
 the river Oxus will acquire immense commercial importance : 
 because it will tap the trade of Central Asia. , . . We said for 
 years that Russia should never annex Khiva ; she has got it. 
 We said she should never domineer over Kashgar ; her troops 
 to-day not only occupy passes a few marches from the city, but, 
 by the treaty signed by Tchoon Kow in 1879, Russia has the 
 right to establish agents throughout Eastern Turkestan, from 
 which we ourselves are excluded. We said that Persia should 
 always be preserved from encroachment ; the Shah to-day 
 wears a Cossack's uniform, and the Atrek region is becoming a 
 second Turkestan. We said that Russia should never re-possess 
 
 Y
 
 322 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 Bessarabia and the mouth of the Danube, "We said that 
 Batoum, the best port on the Caucasian coast, should never 
 become a Russian prize. We said that Kars, the key of Asia 
 Minor, should never fall into the hands of the Muscovite. Yet 
 these three great possessions were secretly signed away to Russia 
 by Lord Sahsbury.' 
 
 Undovibtedly, too, a great many English statesmen had 
 always been saying, a great many English politicians always 
 been urging, that Russia shoiild never get Merv, and now un- 
 doubtedly she had got it too. Any one who takes up the sketch 
 map of the advances of Russia in Centi*al Asia in ' Captain 
 Burnaby's ride to Khiva ' has practically the Central Asian 
 question before him. He will see what the Russian frontier 
 was in 1836, and how steadily it has been advancing lustre by 
 lustre, and decade by decade, absorbing into its huge empiie 
 the wealthy states and independent provinces of Central Asia. 
 Early in the present century Russia had extended her realm 
 far out into Western Siberia, till the Avhole of that vast 
 country came into the Russian power. On the other side she 
 reached down from Orenbui-g to Orsk, and the north of the Sea 
 of Aral to Fort Perovsky. The cession of some of the best 
 pasture lands of the Kirghiz of the Little Horde to Cossacks 
 roused retaliation on the part of the Central Asian nomads, 
 and these acts of retaliation were made the excuse for fresh 
 advances on the part of conquering Russia. Khokhand and 
 Khiva took the alarm, and prepared to meet the advancing 
 Muscovite with arms. They made frequent raids upon the 
 newly acquii'ed Russian territory, and the Russians in return oc- 
 cupied their sti'onghold of Ak-Mechet, which was thenceforward 
 called Fort Perovsky from the successful general. At Kasala, 
 and' on the sites of two other Khokhand forts, were built the 
 Russian forts, Nos. 1, 2, and 3. 
 
 The Crimean war which broke out interrupted for a season 
 the advance of Russia. But only for a season. With the pro- 
 clamation of peace Russia's ambition again asserted itself, and 
 the preparations for the conquests of Khokhand and Bokhara 
 were resumed. In 1864, General Tchernaieff took possession
 
 TEE SOUDAN. 323 
 
 of Chemkent, and a little later conquered with some difficulty 
 the large town of Tashkent, quite in defiance of Prince Gort- 
 chakoff's famous despatch, which pointed out to the Central 
 Asian states that ' Russia is not their enemy, that she entertains 
 towards them no ideas of conquest, and that peaceful and com- 
 mercial relations will be more profitable than reprisals and 
 permanent warfare.' It was explained that Russia was serving 
 the interests of civilisation and humanity, and had the right to 
 count on an equitable and loyal appreciation of the steps which 
 it took, and the principles by which it was guided. In pur- 
 suance of this policy, the next step of General Tchernaieff was to 
 capture Fort Niazbek, and further to storm, and finally capture, 
 Tashkent on July 14, 1865. 
 
 The ambitious General then turned his thoughts to the 
 conduct of the Ameer of Bokhara, who had the audacity to 
 act upon Russian principles, and occupy the town of Hodjent. 
 General Tchernaiuif ordei-ed all the Bokharans in the district 
 he governed to be arrested. The Ameer retaliated by arrest- 
 ing all the Russian merchants who happened to be in his city ; 
 but he did not so far gratify Tchernaieff's purposes as to 
 declare war. On the contrary, he sent a mission to St. Peters- 
 burg to remonstrate against the action of the Russian Gover- 
 nor. The mission was met at Fort No. 1 by General 
 Kryzhanovsky, who refused to allow the mission to go to St. 
 Petersburg, and detained the embassy. Then General Tcher- 
 naieflT sent a Russian mission to Bokhara The Ameer thought 
 it would be only appropriate to retaliate by arresting the Rus- 
 sian agent. What Russia might do to Bokhara, Russia was 
 not prepared to allow Bokhara to do to her, and Tchernaieff 
 promptly marched against the Ameer, A battle ensued, in 
 which the Russian General had distinctly the worst of it. He 
 was recalled,, and his place taken by General Romonovsky, 
 through whose fairer fortunes the army of the Ameer was cut 
 to pieces, and the Ameer himself had to fly for safety to Samar- 
 cand. The Ameer proposed peace, but Russia demanded an 
 immense indemnity. Bokhara refused to pay, and Genei'al 
 KaufFmann, who had replaced Romonovsky in 1867, invaded
 
 324 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 the country, and after a fierce struggle Bokhara passed under 
 Russian rule. Kauffmann, who died on May 12, 1882, without 
 accomplishing his ambition of seeing all Central Asia, including 
 Afghanistan, under Russian rule, was the most enterprising of 
 all the Central Asian invaders, with the exception of Skobeleff, 
 who only survived him by not quite two months. The next 
 step was to annex Khokhand. Khokhand was perfectly 
 friendly to Russia; but, nevertheless, to the far-seeing Russian 
 mind it wanted Russianising. Some sixty natives of the place 
 were induced to petition for annexation to Russia, and their 
 request was promptly acceded to. In 1873 Russia had made 
 her preparations for an expedition to Kashgar, then held by 
 Yakoob Beg, but the despatch of an English embassy to his 
 State interfered with the Russian plans, and the expedition was 
 countermanded. Since then the Chinese have re-conquered 
 Kashgar. Yakoob Beg has died, and Eastern Turkestan has 
 practically become again a Chinese province. Then came Kauff- 
 mann's expedition, which brought Khiva under Russian au- 
 thority. Merv was the next step in the logical completeness 
 of Russian advance, and that step has now been taken. 
 
 What Russia thinks of the Central Asian question has been 
 told us — and very frankly told us — by Madame Olga de Novi- 
 koff, in a communication to the Pall Mall Gazette — everyone 
 communicates with the Pall Mall Gazette. ' Our position is 
 clear,' says Madame de Novikoff. ' Korth of the Oxus, outside 
 the boundaries of Afghanistan, Russia has a free hand. She will 
 advance or retreat, establish gaiTisons, or agents, or residents, 
 annex or protect, or do whatever she pleases, according to the 
 dictates of her own interests and the interests of her Asiatic 
 subjects. We shall do our duty without asking anybody's 
 leave, and we shall as soon think of making explanations 
 about the occupation of Merv as England did about the 
 occupation of Candahar.' * Russia, I hope,' INIadame de Novi- 
 koff goes on to say, ' has definitely broken with the foolish 
 habit of giving assurances whenever the EngUsh get into a 
 fidget about our advances. A rising tide can as soon be con- 
 trolled by Canute as the Russian advance, even by imperial
 
 THi; SOUDAlsr. 323 
 
 declarations. Autocrats are not almightj, and circumstances 
 are stronger than emperors. The most imperative orders have 
 been issued in vain. The same law that forced England from 
 Calcutta to the Khyber has driven us from Orenburg to Merv. 
 
 Es ist eine alte Geschicbte, 
 Doch bleibt sie immer neu, 
 
 as Heine says on some other occasion, not referring exactly to 
 the Oxus.' Here we have an exposition of Russian i^olicy in 
 Central Asia, freely and frankly put forward by one who has 
 every right to speak with authority. The argument is clear 
 enough : ' We Russians have done once for all with explanations 
 and assurances. We are going to do as we like with the 
 Central Asian states, with the exception of Afghanistan. 
 There we recognise England's right to exert her influence. But 
 elsewhere, whether at Bokhara or Samarcand, or Khiva, or 
 Merv, from the fairest city of the proudest khan to the humblest 
 aoul of the Akkal Tekkes, we intend to act as we choose, 
 responsible to ourselves, and to ourselves alone.' Taken as it 
 was, it was an honest and open declaration, and as such it was 
 well worth having. Henceforward, any reproaches addressed to 
 Russia would not be merely vain — they would be ridiculous. 
 
 CHAPTER XVL 
 
 THE KEFORM BILL. 
 
 The session opened on Tuesday, February 5, 1884. The 
 Queen's speech spoke of harmonious relations with foreign 
 Powers, of the settlement of the Madagascar difficulty, of the 
 Congo question, of commercial treaties or revision of treaties 
 with Turkey, Spain, Japan, and Corea. The condition of Egypt 
 was described without comment ; a favourable issue to the Trans- 
 vaal question was hoped for. Ireland was said to continue to 
 exhibit features of substantial improvement. The address in 
 reply to the speech from the Throne was moved and seconded
 
 32G ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 by Lord Tweeddale and Lord Vernon in the Lords, and Mr. 
 Eliot and Mr. Samuel Smith in the Commons. These speeches 
 of ceremony, chiefly I'emarkable for the hopeful view they ex- 
 pressed of the Egyptian question, were still going on in the 
 Lords, and had not begun in the Commons, Avhen the news 
 arrived that Baker Pasha's miserable little armv for the relief 
 of Tokha had been fallen upon by the hostile chief Osman 
 Digua and cat to pieces. 
 
 The reception of this news produced very different effects in 
 the two Houses. In the Upper House Lord Salisbury was in- 
 spired by the ' sinister news' to -make a fierce and comprehen- 
 siv'e attack upon the complacent optimism of the Queen's 
 speech. The attack was too comprehensive. Pindar said of the 
 fair poetess Erinna, that she sowed with the sack, and not 
 with the hand ; that she showered the mythological allusions, 
 of which Pindar himself was so profligate, with needless 
 prodigality. Lord Salisbury sowed his charges against the 
 ]\Iinistry with the sack rather than the hand. There was, as 
 Lord Granville said afterwards, a want of chiaroscuro in Lord 
 Salisbury's picture of the depravity of the Government. On 
 the Egyptian question, undoubtedly, Lord Salisbury had a fine 
 theme for attack. The Egyptian policy of the Government was 
 almost defenceless, but the attack came with exceptionally 
 bad grace from the lips of Lord Salisbury. Many of the 
 Government's misfortunes were due to the lamentable weak- 
 ness which had prevented them from breaking away at once 
 from the foreign policy of their predecessors. For that policy 
 Lord Salisbury and his party were responsible, and what they 
 attacked the Ministry for doing was the miserable but legiti- 
 mate conclusion of their own principles and their own practice. 
 
 But Lord Salisbury ignored all such responsibility. His 
 method was like that of the theatrical manager in the story 
 who divided the history of the world into two parts, the period 
 of sandals and the period of buff" boots. Everything went well 
 in Egypt in the epoch of sandals — in the time, that is, of Lord 
 Beaconsfield's administration. Everything went ill with Egyjit 
 in the age of buff boots — that is. in the time of Mr. Gladstone's
 
 THE REF0R3I BILL. 327 
 
 administration. Lord Granville had no great difBculty in an- 
 swering svich a speech with cool, good-humoured, slightly con- 
 temptuous argument. Biit it would have taken an abler man 
 than Lord Granville to make the Egyptian policy of the Govern- 
 ment appear a presentable and creditable policy just then. 
 
 The news of the Soudan disaster produced what may be 
 called a political catastrophe in the Lower House. The speeches 
 moving the address in the Commons were characterised by the 
 same complacent optimism with legard to Egypt, which un- 
 doubtedly did seem ludicrous, if not horrible, in the face of the 
 news that had just come in. But speeches in support of an 
 address are more or less set performances, rehearsed beforehand, 
 and quite too unwieldy to be adapted to unexpected emergencies. 
 The Government, in the person of the mover and seconder of 
 the address, congratulated itself upon a speedy solution of 
 Egyptian troubles, while every man in the House who was 
 listening to the debate knew that one of the most important 
 events of the whole disastrous campaign had just taken place, 
 and that the blow which had been dealt at English prestige in 
 Egypt by the defeat of Baker Pasha had no less surely struck 
 a heavy blow at the very existence of the Government. When 
 the seconder of the address had sat down, Mr. Bourke rose to 
 move an amendment, condemning the Egyptian policy of the 
 Ministry. In a speech quite as telling as Lord Salisbury's, Mr. 
 Bourke made his long seiies of charges against the Government, 
 from the occupation of Egypt to the moment when Baker 
 Pasha's hopeless, helpless army was cut to pieces. The attack 
 was bitter, forcible, and, from the Tory point of view, complete. 
 Mr. Bourke sat down amid the cheers of his party, to await the 
 apparently inevitable Ministerial reply. To the surprise of 
 almost every one, no one rose from the Treasury bench. The 
 House had not been very full when Mr. Bourke began his 
 speech, for the number of private bills introduced, and the 
 length of the speeches on the address, had driven him into that 
 fatal epoch of the House for an important speech — the dinner- 
 hour. The men who thought of dining whUe Edmund Bui-ke 
 was speaking have always successors in the House of Commons.
 
 328 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 Not all the vigour of Mi\ Bourke's attack, not all the tragic 
 importance lent to it by the tidings from the Soudan, could keep 
 a full House at the dinner-hour. When Mr. Bourkesat down, 
 the benches on both sides of the House were very thinly peopled. 
 Mr. Gladstone had quitted the Treasury bench, Sir Charles 
 Dilke and Lord Edmond Fitzmaurice remained, and Sir Charles 
 Dilke had been taking notes of the speech, so that it was 
 confidently expected that he would rise in reply. But Sir 
 Charles Dilke made no sign. There was an awkward pause ; 
 the Speaker had actually risen to put the question, when Baron 
 de Worms flung himself heroically into the debate with a lively 
 attack upon the Government for their reticence, the ' conscious 
 silence of guilt.' But Baron de Worms could not hold out long. 
 By the time he had concluded, Sir Charles Dilke too had taken 
 up his notes and gone away ; ]\Ir. Gladstone had come in and 
 interjected a reply to some of Baron de Worms' remarks, and 
 had gone away again. The sole occupant of the Treasury bench 
 was Lord Edmond Fitzmaurice, and Lord Edmond Fitzmaurice 
 showed no intention of saying anything. By this time Sir Stafibrd 
 Northcote had perceived the importance of allo%ving the Govern- 
 ment, if they liked, to take a division without answering the 
 charges of the Opposition. Word was rapidly passed round the 
 Conservative ranks to let the division be taken immediately. 
 The order was immediately obeyed, though with great reluctance 
 by some of the younger and wilder adherents of the party. 
 These chose to believe that Sir Stafford Northcote was making 
 a lamentable display of Aveakness in the face of the enemy ; 
 they did not see till afterwards that Sir Stafford Northcote had 
 shown himself an abler general and better leader by that single 
 stroke than by any other act of his since the fall of Lord 
 Beaconsfield. 
 
 It was in vain next day that the Prime Minister tried — on a 
 motion of Lord Randolph Churchill's for the adjournment of the 
 House — to explain the occurrence away. It was in vain that 
 he assured the House that the Ministerial silence was absolutely 
 unintentional and regrettable ; that it was owing entirely to a 
 mistaken impression that the Conservative party intended to
 
 THE ItEFORM BILL. 829 
 
 keep the debate going for some time, and that it would be better 
 for the Government reply to come after all the charges had 
 been made. The mischief was done ; the Government had 
 placed itself in a painfully false position. It really seemed as 
 if the news of the calamity at Teb had stricken them into silence. 
 No explanations could get over the fact that charges of the most 
 serious kind had been brought against the Government, and 
 that not merely prudence but conventional courtesy had been 
 set aside by the extraordinary reticence of the Treasury bench. 
 The Conservatives were so much encouraged that they now 
 announced their intention not to content themselves with 
 an attempt to revive the question upon the i-eport to the 
 addiess, but to bring forward a solemn vote of censure uj^on the 
 Government in both Houses. The terms of the vote were 
 curious ; both Houses were invited to declare their opinion that 
 ' the recent lamentable events in the Soudan are due in a great 
 measure to the vacillating and inconsistent policy pursued by 
 her Majesty's Government.' It is, to put it mildly, not often 
 that a vote of censure is moved on so comparatively light a 
 charge as vacillation and inconsistency. The serious opponents 
 of the Government undoubtedly thought that the conduct of 
 the Ministry had been something more than merely vacillating 
 and inconsistent. A man, Lord Granville had said in the de- 
 bate on the address, might perhaps be accused of inconsistency if 
 he opened his umbrella Avhen it was raining, closed it when the 
 rain stopped, and reopened it when the shower began again. The 
 course of a vessel compelled to tack might be called vacillating. 
 It is presumable that the Opposition worded their vote of cen- 
 sure in so guarded a manner in the hope of entangling Liberal 
 malcontents who could hardly be expected to endorse by vote, 
 or by abstention from voting, any more pronounced expression 
 of Tory hostility. For the same reason, presumably, they limited 
 the subject of their censure to affairs in the Soudan. They 
 knew that many Liberals who were heartily with the conduct 
 of the Government in Egypt up to a certain point were exceed- 
 ingly dissatisfied with the way in which the Soudan question 
 had been bungled. The vote of censure may be taken, thei-efore,
 
 330 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 as cunningly addressed to the sweet voices of all the discontented 
 and all the distressed on the Ministerial side of the House. Of 
 course it came to nothing. It was carried in the Lords and re- 
 jected in the Commons in the middle of Februaiy. Its fiercest 
 supj)orters were well aware that the Government majority 
 would prove faithful, but it served to harass the Ministry well 
 enough. In Egypt they were most vulnerable, and on Egypt 
 then the Opposition unceasingly assailed them. Unluckily for 
 the Government, they never did anything in Egypt until it was 
 almost too late, until it appeared as if they had only been driven 
 into it by the clamours of an indignant and patriotic Opposition. 
 The Opposition were simply making use of Egypt as they would 
 have used any other weapon which fate offered them wherewith 
 to wound the party in power-. But the unhappy policy of the 
 party in power sharpened the weapon that was directed against 
 themselves. All through the early months of the new ses- 
 sion the Opposition brought forward Egypt whenever they 
 could, and demanded incessant explanations of the Government 
 ];)olicy. 
 
 On Monday, February 11, Mr. Bradlaugh made his re- 
 appearance. He had consented to wait so long after the 
 opening of the session in order not to harass the Government 
 by interference with the progiess of the debate on the Queen's 
 speech. The junior member for Northampton had every 
 reason to believe that the interest aroused by his case was in 
 no way abated. The House was crowded as it only is crowded 
 on great occasions. INIembers packed themselves into the seats 
 under the gallery which are not technically within the precincts 
 of the House. They crouched uncomfortably on the steps of 
 the gangway. They overflowed into the galleries above. They 
 thronged about the bar. They grouped themselves behind the 
 Speaker's chdir. Wherever there was room to sit, squat, or 
 stand, members huddled together. Natiu'ally enough on an 
 occasion when every one was anxious to come to the expected 
 event as soon as possible, the questions occupied a longer time 
 than usual. There were forty-four questions on the paper, and 
 these must have been increased at least a third by additional
 
 THE REFORM BILL. 331 
 
 questions arising o\it of unsatisfactory Ministerial answers. 
 The two final questions brought up the difficulties in Egypt. 
 A shower of interrogations were at once hurled from all parts 
 of the House upon the Prime Minister. Mr. Forster, with the 
 ill- concealed malice of a defeated statesman, who seizes eagerly 
 upon every opportunity of injuring his former colleagues, was 
 anxious to know if the Government were, or were not, going 
 to leave the garrisons of Sinkat and Tokha to their fate. Mr. 
 Fovster's cue was promptly taken up by the Opposition, always 
 delighted to assist Mr. Forsterin damaging the leader of his party. 
 For a quai'ter of an hour Mr. Gladstone was baited by the Opposi- 
 tion with questions which he refused to answer respecting the 
 intentions of the Government with regard to the beleaguered 
 garrisons. But the final question was put at last. Then Mr. 
 Bradlaugh, who had been waiting below the bar for some time in 
 company with Mr. Labouchere and Mr. Burt, advanced solemnly 
 to the table. While the Speaker rose to his feet and the air 
 shook with shouts of ' Order,' Mr. Bradlaugh produced a written 
 document and a gilt-edged Testament, read the oath himself, 
 kissed the book, and signed his paper. Then, gravely bowing 
 to the Speaker, Mr. Bradlaugh withdrew to the bar. The 
 Speaker thereupon, with some hesitation, as if he were not quite 
 certain how to proceed, or as if the preparation which had un- 
 doubtedly been made by most parties to that day's business had 
 been but imperfectly mastered by him, called upon Mr. Brad- 
 laugh to withdraw while the House considered upon his conduct. 
 Mr. Bradlaugh immediately retired to the seat below the bar 
 of the House which he had occupied all through question time. 
 An awkward pause was interrupted by Sir Staiford Northcote, 
 who rose and proposed the familiar resolution that Mr. Brad- 
 laugh be not permitted to go through the form of repeating the 
 oath. Upon this resolution, which appeared somewhat lame 
 and ludicrous after Mr. Bradlaugh had, in a measure, taken the 
 oath, a very acrimonious debate, or rather wrangle, rose. Mr. 
 Gladstone defended the inaction of the Ministry, and announced 
 that as the courts decided that a friendly action could not be 
 brought against Mr. Bradlaugh to determine the legality of his
 
 332 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 voting, tlie Government had resolved that they would apply the 
 test themselves through the law officers of the Crown. Mr. 
 Labouchere defended Mr. Bradlaugh in a speech which, by its 
 contemptvtous treatment of the whole question of the oath, 
 roused the angriest interruption from the Opposition, and a re- 
 pudiation by Mr. Forster of any sympathy with the opinions of 
 Mr. Labouchere, though he intended to vote on his side. Many 
 Irish members rose on points of oi'der to know whether Mr. 
 Bradlaugh, in seating himself below the bar of the House, had 
 fully obeyed the Speaker's order to withdraw. The Speaker 
 ruled that he had. Mr. Sexton proposed an amendment to the 
 motion, which by its terms would prevent Mr. Bradlaugh from 
 voting. But as it was shown that Mr. Bradlaugh could vote 
 on this very amendment, it was withdrawn. The division was 
 taken, but before the numbers were reported Mr. Healy moved 
 that Mr. Bradlaugh 's vote be expunged from the records of the 
 House. Although the Attorney-General pointed out that this 
 woiild have no bearing on the legal aspect of the case, as the 
 very fact of the vote being disallowed would show that it had 
 been given, the Opposition insisted upon dividing, and cai'ried 
 the. motion by 258 to 161 : majority 97. The numbers for the 
 original motion were then read, with the correction ordered by 
 Mr. Healy 's motion. They were 280 for, 167 against Sir 
 Stafford Northcote's motion : majority 113. Sir Stafford North- 
 cote then moved a resolution * that the serjeant-at-arms do 
 exclude Mr. Bradlaugh from the precincts of the House until he 
 shall engage not further to disturb the proceedings of the House.' 
 After some further debate the resolution was cax-ried by 228 to 
 120 : majority 108. Mr. Bradlaugh, having voted once more in 
 this division, then left the House, driving away amidst the cheers 
 of the crowd, who had waited oiitside to learn the result of the 
 business. He immediately applied for the Chiltern Hundreds, 
 stood again for Northampton, and was re-elected by a larger 
 majority than before. As soon as the writ was returned to the 
 House Sir Stafford Northcote moved his usual notice, excluding 
 Mr. Bradlaugh from the House, which was as usual carried by 
 a large majority.
 
 THE REFORM BILL. 333 
 
 As soon as the debate on the address came to an end, a 
 change took place in the government of the House of Commons. 
 Sir Henry Brand resigned the Speakership, and his place was 
 taken by Mr. Arthur Peel. It had been known for some time 
 that Sir Henry Brand was anxious to abdicate his ofBce. He 
 was no longer young, and the duties of a Speaker, always 
 onerous, were made heavier than ever by the new conditions of 
 Parliamentaiy life and the introduction of the new rules. On 
 Monday, February 25, Sir Henry Brand said farewell to the 
 House over which he had presided for twelve years, Mr. Par- 
 nell, on behalf of his party, explained that they could not 
 support the vote of thanks, in consequence of the unconstitutional 
 action of the Speaker on the night of the coup cVetat, but that 
 they would not press their objection so far as to take a division. 
 The leader of the House and the leader of the Opposition vied 
 with each other in tributes to the retiring official. Sir Heniy 
 Brand acknowledged the vote of thanks in a simple and affecting 
 speech. In alluding to the protest of the Irish party he ex- 
 pressed his belief that they were acting from a sense of duty, 
 and trusted that they believed him to have acted under a similar 
 impulse in that part of his career which brought him into con- 
 test with them. He shortly after retired from the Commons, 
 and went to the Upper House as Lord Hampden. 
 
 Mr. Arthur Peel, the new Speakei', succeeded in surprising 
 the House very agreeably on the day of his nomination. Mr. 
 Peel was a younger son of Mr. Gladstone's master and Mr. 
 Disraeli's old enemy. Sir Robert Peel. He had been in the 
 House nearly twenty years Avhen he was chosen to succeed Sir 
 Heniy Brand, and during all that period he had spoken so 
 seldom as to be fairly counted among the most resolute 
 of the House's silent members. There were many members of 
 the House who had never heard him speak, who might very 
 well have doubted whether the son of one of the greatest of 
 Parliamentary orators had it in his power to make a speech. 
 To what may fairly be called the unanimous surprise of the 
 House, however, he made a speech on the acceptation of his new 
 dignity, which, without exaggeration, might well be counted
 
 334 ENGLAND UNDER GLAD SI ONE. 
 
 as one of the most remarkable that had been delivered in St. 
 Stephen's in the present Parliament. In firm, dignified, ex- 
 pressive, really eloquent words the hitherto silent member 
 expressed to a bewildered and delighted House his conception 
 of the duties of a Speaker, and his own earnest aspu'ations in 
 some measure to fulfil them. Croesus saved from the pyre by 
 the miracle-stirred voice of the dumb child could hardly have been 
 more amazed than the majority of the House of Commons were 
 on that evening late in February when they discovered for the 
 first time that the man who seemed as silent as Athelstane was 
 almost a Windham, and that they had made the discovery just 
 as he was assuming an office which would practically render it 
 impossible for him to make any further use of his unexpectedly 
 displayed ability. 
 
 At half-past six on Thursday, February 28, 1884, Mr. Glad- 
 stone rose to introduce the new Reform Bill. The Bill, IMr. 
 Gladstone explained, might be regarded under any one, and 
 indeed under all of three distinct and several aspects. In the 
 first place, it was the redemption of a pledge long made by the 
 Liberal paii;y that they regarded Parliamentary reform as a vital 
 part of the mission of the present Parliament. In the second 
 place, it was intended to satisfy the general desii-e of the country 
 for the extension of the franchise. In the third place, and 
 above all, it was a proposal to add strength to the State, ' I 
 take my stand,' said Mr. Gladstone, on the broad principle 
 that the enfranchisement of capable citizens, be they few or be 
 they many — and if they be many, so much the better — gives an 
 addition of strength to the State.' The Bill thus introduced 
 was as simple and straightforward a measure as any measui'e 
 dealing with a highly complicated franchise system, which it 
 did not completely alter, could possibly be. Mr. Gladstone did 
 not propose to 'reform it altogether.' He had no desire to 
 abolish the old existing systems ; and speaking roughly, the new 
 Reform Bill left them undisturbed. Only roughly speaking, for 
 in certain special instances modifications wer-e introduced by the 
 new measure into the principles of existing franchises. But in 
 general, rather than in particular language, the Prime Minister's
 
 TBE REFORM BILL. 335 
 
 Bill introduced a variety of new franchises, and left the old ones 
 unchanged. The existing borough franchise — leaving certain 
 ancient rights which the Bill did not touch out of the question 
 — was of three kinds. These were, first, the ten-pound occupa- 
 tion franchise established by the Reform Act of 1 832. Secondly, 
 the household franchise, created by the Eeform Bill of 1867. 
 Thirdly, the lodger franchise. The household franchise and the 
 lodger franchise in boroughs remained practically unaltered. The 
 ten pounds clear yearly franchise was extended to the occupation 
 of land without buildings. 
 
 One of the main features of the new measure was the intro- 
 duction into the borough franchise of a right of voting which 
 Mr. Gladstone christened * Service Franchise.' This franchise 
 conferred a vote upon persons who, under certain conditions, 
 occupy premises without being either the owners or the tenants 
 of them. This franchise, said Mr. Gladstone, was a far-reaching 
 franchise. It included on the one hand men of high class, 
 inhabiting valuable houses as the officers of great institutions, 
 and on the other hand men of humble class, servants of gentry, 
 servants of farmers or other employers of labour, who, without 
 being themselves tenants, fully fulfilled the ideal of responsible 
 inhabitants of houses. In the counties the existing franchise 
 was also of three kinds. There was the fifty-pound rental 
 franchise, created by the Chandos clause of the Reform Bill of 
 1832. There was the twelve-pound occupation franchise of 
 the Reform Bill of 1867. There was the property franchise, 
 including freehold, copyhold, and leasehold. The fifty-pound 
 franchise was to be abolished, as any one with that holding 
 v/ould obtain the franchise in other ways. The rating franchise 
 was to be reduced from twelve pounds rateable value to ten 
 pounds clear yearly value. All the borough franchises, house- 
 hold, lodger, and ' service,' were to be ' imported ' into the 
 counties. The property franchise remained untouched. Pre- 
 cautions were taken in oi'der to prevent the multipHcation of 
 fictitious votes. ' There are fagots and fagots,' says the 
 Avoodcutter in Moliere's famous comedy. ' There are places,' 
 said Mr. Gladstone, * where one of the staple manufactui-ers was
 
 336 ENGLAND UADER GLADSTONE. 
 
 a manufacturer of fagot votes.' ' I have in my possession,' said 
 the Prime Ministei-, amidst the laughter of the House, * a 
 photograph of an hereditament, a certain structure not very 
 imposing in itself, occvipied by a single person and conferring 
 one occupation franchise, but held by forty-five owners, every 
 one of whom stands on the register in virtue of his forty-fifth 
 part of this building which qualifies only a single occupier.' 
 Re -distribution was not touched upon iu the present Bill. That 
 question Mr. Gladstone proposed to deal with in another measure 
 at another time. 
 
 One of the most important passages in INIr. Gladstone's 
 speech was that in which he assured the House and the country 
 that it was a vital and essential part of the measure that Eng- 
 land, Ireland, and Scotland should be treated on a principle of 
 absolute equality. In words of special and earnest emphasis, 
 Mr. Gladstone announced that nothing would induce the 
 Government to depart from its determination to keep their 
 measure complete in area. ' All the three countries have a case 
 for enfranchisement arising out of the insufiiciency of the present 
 constituencies as com^iared with what they might be ; but of 
 the three the strongest is that of Ireland.' The Government 
 had taken up their position with regard to Ireland, and would 
 not recede from it. They would make no compromise, attempt 
 no half- measures. ' I could bear no part in the responsibility of 
 passing, perhaps, a Refoi-m Bill for England and for Scotland, and 
 then leaving a Reform Bill for Ireland to take its chance.' These 
 words were addressed to the House of Commons, but they were 
 levelled at the House of Lords. The Prime Minister made it 
 clear to the Upper Chamber that the Government had taken its 
 stand on the inclusion of Ireland in the new measure, and that 
 they were prepai-ed to champion that principle to the uttermost. 
 At the conclusion of his speech Mr. Gladstone turned to the 
 crowded Liberal benches. In words unusually powerful and 
 eloquent even for him, he asked them to put to themselves the 
 question whether the Bill as a whole was worth having ; and if 
 it was worth having, to ignore all minor differences in the one 
 great and united purpose of bringing it to success. ' What we
 
 THE REFORM BILL. S37 
 
 Want to carry the Bill is union, and union only. What will 
 defeat it is disunion, and disunion only.' The cheers that rose 
 from the Liberal party as Mr. Gladstone concluded were a suffi- 
 cient answer as to the union in their ranks; while the unwonted 
 sight of spectators in the gallery joining in the applause that is 
 only the privilege of members, seemed to answer for the unity of 
 the vast majority outside the House. 
 
 The Egyptian difficulty and the necessity for obtaining 
 Supply prevented the second reading from being moved until 
 Monday, March 24. Mr. Gladstone was not able to attend the 
 Hovise in order to move the second reading. He had been 
 absent from the House for some days, sufFei-ing from a violent 
 cold, which he had caught one evening when leaving a reception 
 at Lady Hayter's house. The cold proved more serious than 
 had been expected ; the Prime Minister lost his voice for a time 
 completely, so that even conversation had to be forbidden ; a 
 term of absolute rest was insisted upon by the doctors, and even 
 Cabinet Councils had to be held without his presence. Of course 
 the wildest rumours flew abroad. It was confidently asserted by 
 members of the Opposition and by the organs of the Opposition 
 that sickness of body was a mere pretence, and that sickness of 
 heart and soul was the real cause of the Prime Minister's 
 absence from his duties, A nger and mortification at the failure 
 of his purposes and the thwarting of his plans were the reasons 
 for his retirement alleged by one section ; despair at the turn 
 things had taken in Egypt, and at having to yield to his col- 
 leagues in sanctioning the war in the Soudan, were the reasons 
 adduced by others : there were not even wanting some to hint 
 that the causes of his absence were of the same natui^e as those 
 which, according to rumour, caused for a time the retirement of 
 Chatham and, in later days, of Lord Brougham for a season 
 from public life. 
 
 In the absence of the Prime Minister it fell to Lord Hart- 
 ington to move the second reading, which he did in silence, 
 simply raising his hat when the measure was called from the 
 chair. Lord John Manners immediately moved an amendment, 
 declaring that the House refused to proceed fui'ther with a 
 
 z
 
 338 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 measure 'having for its object the addition of two million 
 voters to the electoral body of the United Kingdom,' until it 
 had before it the entire Ministerial scheme, re-distribution and 
 all. Loi'd John Manners' speech was almost entirely founded 
 upon a speech made by Lord Derby when he was Lord Stanley 
 and a Conservative, against the Reform Bill of 1866. Lord 
 John IManners was replied to by Mr. Bright. Mr. Bright had 
 not spoken very often in the new Parliament, and even when 
 he had his speeches were not of a kind to give those who had 
 not heard him of old any idea of the marvellous eloquence 
 which had once made him famous. His reply to Lord John 
 IManncrs in this instance was not at first very promising. He 
 seemed but the shadow of his former self; his words came 
 slowly ; his thoughts seemed vague and colourless. He warmed 
 up, however, when he came to that part of the new measure 
 which treated of Ireland. At one time Mr. Bright had been 
 looked upon in Ireland as the especial champion of the griev- 
 ances of the Irish people. He had lost that character of late ; 
 his action on Coercion had made him extremely unpopular ; now 
 once more for the moment he was resuming his old j^art. Mr. 
 Bright eloquently protested against any principle of re-distri- 
 bution which should materially alter the proportion of seats in 
 Ireland. The Act of Union specially provided that Ireland 
 should be allowed 100 members, at a time when the population 
 was, roughly speaking, much the same as it is at the present 
 time, when she is represented by 103 members. Mr. Bright 
 earnestly protested against any interference with the Act of 
 Union to Ireland's injury. It had, indeed, been interfered with 
 when the disestablishment of the Church took place, but the 
 principle which governed the one interference did not apply to 
 the other. Mr. Bright went on to show that as the Act of 
 Union was forced by a strong upon a weak country, the strong 
 country had a right to relax any hard condition, but had no 
 right to abolish a condition specially introduced in the interests 
 of the weaker nation. 
 
 Perhaps the most important of all the speeches on the Bill 
 was that of jMr. Chambei-lain, on Thursday, March 27. Ever
 
 TBE REFORM BILL. 339 
 
 since the new Ministry had entered into office Mr. Chamber- 
 lain had been steadily growing in power in the country. It 
 had seemed something of a daring step to include Mr. Chamber- 
 lain in the Cabinet when it was first formed ; now it was obvious 
 that any Liberal Cabinet which not merely did not include Mr. 
 Chamberlain, but did not fully recognise his great importance 
 and authority, would be an absurdity. Mr. Henry George, in 
 one of his speeches, had said that if the English republic came 
 soon Mr. Chamberlain would be its first President; and the 
 remark showed acute political insight. Mr. Chamberlain was 
 as much the representative of the Eadical as Mr, Gladstone 
 was of the Liberal party; and the Eadical party are clearly 
 destined to be the ruling force in English politics. Perhaps 
 one of the greatest tributes to Mr, Chamberlaiu's success and 
 to his influence is paid him by the unconcealed dislike that the 
 "Whigs and the so-called Liberals cherish against him. One 
 morning the political world was surprised and amused by a 
 curious expression of this dislike. Mr. Marriott, the member 
 for Brighton, had rushed into print in a pamphlet form, after 
 the fashion of eighteenth -century politicians, to vilipend and 
 denounce Mr, Chamberlain, The pamphlet, as a mode of 
 political warfare, is almost as antiquated as the Brown Besses 
 of Eamillies and Blenheim ; but Mr, Mai-riott's pamj)hlet had 
 almost as much success as 'The White Stafi^,' or some un- 
 usually bitter number of the Craftsman. It assailed Mr, 
 Chamberlain with unmitigated and it must be added vmmean- 
 ing abuse. The world was told a great deal about the orchids 
 which Mr. Chamberlain chooses to wear in his button-hole, and 
 it was held up as a terrible example of the inconsistency of 
 politicians that a Eadical should have a liking for flowers. 
 Shortly after this eccentric display of piivate and political pique 
 Mr. Marriott went over to the Conservative party, to whom he 
 by right belonged, resigned his seat, stood again, and was suc- 
 cessfully re-elected. There wns nothing at all wonderful in the 
 re-election. Brighton never was a town of advanced political 
 ideas. It was generally Liberal, as Lady Tippins's husband 
 was knighted, by mistake. No one ever looked upon Brighton
 
 UO ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 as a strongliolcl of Liberal opinion, a sort of Birmingliam Baite ; 
 and when the electors of Brighton exj)ressed their hostility to 
 the Radical party by returning Mr. jNIarriott, nobody was or 
 ought to have been in the least surprised. Yet if the Brighton 
 election had heralded the fall of the Ministry, the Conservative 
 party could not have displayed a noisier delight. 
 
 The point of Mr. Chamberlain's speech on the second reading 
 of the Franchise Bill was a comparison between the position of 
 the country in 1867 and the position of the country now. ' The 
 old order has given place to the new.' That was the text of 
 Mr. Chamberlain's homily; those were Mr, Chamberlain's 
 words. With remarkable force and power Mr. Chamberlain 
 put forward the case of the agricultural labourer, in the face of 
 the most persistent inteiTuption on the part of the Opposition. 
 ' They have been robbed of their lauds ; they have been robbed 
 of their rights in the commons ; they have been robbed of their 
 open spaces. . . . The agricultural labourers are still being 
 robbed. You cannot go into a single country lane in which 
 you won't find that the landowners on each side have enclosed, 
 or are enclosing, land which for centuries belonged to the 
 people.' Mr. Chamberlain went on to speak of the abuse of 
 endowments for the poor. * I am not,' he said, ' bringing any 
 charge against any party in this House with regard either to 
 the robbery of land or the robbery of endowments. I take 
 shame to the Liberal party quite as much as to the Conservative 
 pai-ty. What I argue is that these wrongs would never have 
 been committed if the agricultural labourers could have spoken 
 for themselves in this House.' With regard to the inclusion of 
 Ireland, Mr. Chamberlain replied to Lord John Manners' 
 statement that the Bill would make Mr. Parnell the grand 
 elector for four-fifths of Ireland, and declared that that rather 
 happily described Mr. Parnell's present position, * I am not by 
 any means certain that this BUI will make any change in his 
 great influence ; but whether it does or not, unless this House 
 is prepared to abandon all idea of constitutional treatment of 
 the Irish question, unless it is prepared to abandon all idea of 
 a representative system in Ireland, it should take care that the
 
 THE REFORM BILL. 341 
 
 representative system there is a reality and not a sham, not a 
 mere fraud and imposition. "We may or may not like the 
 opinions held by the majority of the Irish people, but we can- 
 not suppress them ; and it is to our interest, it is in accord with 
 statesmanship and good policy, that those opinions, however 
 unpopular, should be represented — that we should tempt the 
 people of Ireland to bring their grievances to a constitutional 
 test, and not drive them to secret conspiracy.' 
 
 Mr. Gladstone made a i-eappearance in the House for a 
 brief time on Monday, March 31. The occasion was a melan- 
 choly one. On the previous Friday the Queen's youngest son, 
 Pi'ince Leopold, the Dake of Albany, had died at Cannes, quite 
 suddenly, in an epileptic fit. The popular voice is always pre- 
 disposed to the praise of princes ; but in the case of the Duke 
 of Albany the praise and the regret appear to have been un- 
 usually genuine and unusually deserved. Dr. Johnson once 
 said to Burke, who had praised a man for having gentle man- 
 ners, ' Su-, you need say no more ; when you have said a man 
 of gentle manners, you have said enough.' The Duke of 
 Albany appears to have been pre-eminently a prince of gentle 
 manners. His physical health had been feeble from his youth, 
 and had debarred him from the custom of many exercises in 
 which Englishmen especially delight, and in which his brothei-s 
 distinguished themselves. But he found compensation in 
 studious and literary tastes. In Miss Grace Greenwood's ' Life 
 of Queen Victoria ' she says that Dr. James Martineau once 
 described the Duke of Albany to her as ' a young man of very 
 thoughtful mind, high aims, and quite remarkable acquire- 
 ments.' The words might fitly serve as the young Prince's 
 epitaph. Not quite two years before, in Apiil 1882, he had 
 been married to the Princess Helen Predeiika Augusta, of 
 Waldeck-Pyrmont, to whom he appears to have been tendei'ly 
 attached. 
 
 The address of condolence to the Queen, and message of 
 sympathy to the Duchess of Albany, were moved in the Lords 
 by Lord Granville, and seconded by Lord Salisbury ; the address 
 in the House of Commons was moved by Mr. Gladstone, and
 
 342 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE, 
 
 seconded by Sir Staflford North cote. The coudition of the House 
 was peculiar. It might be said to have met for the discharge 
 of a melancholy duty under exceptionally distressing conditions. 
 Mr. Gladstone, as we have said, had come back to the House 
 after a serious illness, had almost risen from his sick bed, to be 
 at his place to move the address. The Speaker was so ill that 
 it was quite impossible for him to leave his room. The Deputy- 
 Speaker, Sir Arthur Otway, was in almost the same condition, 
 and under ordinary circumstances would not have attended the 
 House. But it is one of the beauties of our Parliamentary 
 system that it is assumed that the Sj)eaker and the Deputy- 
 Speaker never could both be ill at the same time. No provision 
 has been made to meet the contingency, and in consequence 
 the House, if deprived of its Speaker and his deputy, would be 
 compelled to adjourn. In this emergency Sir Arthur Otway 
 literally rose from a sick bed to assist the perplexed Commons. 
 To add one further complication to the difficulties of the situa- 
 tion. Sir Erskine IMay, the clerk of the House, was almost as 
 ill as Sii* Arthur Otway, and like Sir Arthur Otway was so 
 weak and hoarse that he could hardly make his voice be heard. 
 For the first time within the memory of man members of the 
 House, to spare their Chairman's voice, rose and put theii' ques- 
 tions without being called upon by name. 
 
 Affairs in Egypt kept on drifting from bad to worse. The 
 Opposition peppered the Ministry with' unsuccessful votes of 
 censure on their Egyptian policy. This policy, a policy of 
 ruling and not ruling Egypt, soon set them at odds with Nubar 
 Pasha. The Government set great store by the appointment 
 of Nubar Pasha, and Nubar Pasha was now only increasing 
 their difficulties by threatening to resign if he did not have 
 everything his own way. The financial situation of Egypt too 
 was gloomy. The law of liquidation as it stood forbade any 
 further borrowing by Egypt. But Egypt's liabilities were 
 pressing. Some four and a-half millions were owing for the 
 Alexandrian indemnities alone ; and, if these indemnities were 
 to be paid, the law of liquidation would have to be modified. 
 The Government accordingly invited the Great Powers to con-
 
 THE REFORM BILL. 343 
 
 sider the expediency of summoning a Conference in order to 
 induce the signatories of the treaty of liquidation to consent to 
 a modification of the law. Important as this proposal was, it 
 was almost lost sight of in the far greater public interest taken 
 in the fortunes of General Gordon, Gordon was surrounded 
 in Khartoum. * I can only feel trust in God's mercy/ he wrote 
 to a friend, ' for there is nothing else.' Indeed there did seem 
 to be nothing else. The policy of the Government appeared to 
 be one of masterly inaction. The Times, the Telegraph, the 
 Morning Post, and the Pall Mall Gazette received incessant 
 letters from all quarters and all classes, urging the setting on 
 foot of some subscription in order to form an expedition for the 
 relief of General Gordon. In the midst of the excitement the 
 Government, in justification of its policy, published the Egyp- 
 tian correspondence relating to Gordon. It can hardly be said 
 that the correspondence proved a very satisfactory justification 
 of the Government policy, but as a collection of historical 
 documents it was of almost unrivalled interest. The com- 
 munications from Gordon at Khartoum are the most important 
 part of the correspondence. It must be admitted that Gordon's 
 policy occasionally appears somewhat erratic. Again and again 
 he makes urgent appeals for assistance, and curious suggestions 
 about sending Turkish troops to relieve Khartoum. "We hear 
 of his sending out scouts to see if some army of relief is coming. 
 ' He evidently thinks he is to be abandoned,' telegraphs Sir 
 Evelyn Baring on April 18 to Earl Granville, 'and is very 
 indignant.' There is an unconscious satire in those few words 
 of Sii- Evelyn Baring's which really deserves immortality. 
 Gordon was in a place of peril, where he was attempting, 
 almost alone, to accomplish a well-nigh impossible task. He 
 thought, perhaps unreasonably, that his suggestions Avere dis- 
 regarded and his appeals for help neglected. Yet it appears 
 surprising to the official mind that under these conditions he 
 should consider himself abandoned, and be indignant at the 
 abandonment. 
 
 There was plenty to occupy men's thoughts at home as well 
 as abroad. In London society much sympathy was felt for
 
 344 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 Mr. Edmund Yates, in bis undergoing a sentence of four months' 
 imprisonment for a libel wbicb bad found its way into tbe 
 World without bis knowledge. Tbe returns of Mr. Henry- 
 Irving and Miss Ellen Terry from their unrivalled successes 
 in America, had about them something of the dignity of inter- 
 national episodes. Every Londoner took sides and fought 
 fiercely over Sir "William Harcourt's long-talked-of London 
 Government Bill. The Bill proposed to put an end to the 
 anomalous and divided methods by which tbe huge city, or 
 rather collection of cities, which is called London is administrated. 
 Boughly speaking, Sir William Harcourt's measure proposed to 
 extend tbe jurisdiction of tbe Corporation of London, which at 
 present only rules over what is technically termed ' the City,' to 
 the whole of the metropolis. All the powers of the Metro- 
 politan Board of Works were to be transfen^ed to the Corpora- 
 tion. The Corporation itself underwent no small alterations. 
 Every householder was to become a citizen under the same quali- 
 fications that regulate citizenship in other municipalities. The 
 Common Council elected by tbe votes of tbe citizens was to have 
 its authority expanded from the City wards to the whole area 
 of London, and to have everything connected with the metro- 
 polis under its control except the poor laws, tbe police, and 
 education. The Maycjr and Sheriffs were to be elected by the 
 Common Council, and a comprehensive system of district 
 councils was proposed for carrying out tbe work. One startling 
 reformation tbe Home Secretary's measure meant to accomplish. 
 It proposed to annihilate the time-honoured, long-satirised, 
 much laughed-at office of London Alderman. 
 
 On Thursday, April 24, Mr. Cbilders brought forward his 
 Budget. It contained no striking remissions of taxation ; no 
 very fascinating and original financial readjustments. Mr. 
 Childers only coimted upon a surplus of 268,000Z., out of which 
 he proposed to give some slight relief to the taxation on car- 
 riages for hire. In order to deal with the perplexing question 
 of light gold, tbe Chancellor of the Exchequer proposed the 
 issue of a ten-shilling gold piece, containing only nine shillings' 
 Avorth of eold and being, therefore, a token coin, Hke the
 
 TEE REFORM BILL. 345 
 
 crown and half-crown. The profit on the issue of this piece 
 would allow of the withdrawal of all the existing light gold 
 coinage, without inconvenience to the public or expense to the 
 taxpayer. The new token would be only legal tender for a 
 limited amount. Mr. Childers also proposed to create a two 
 and three-quarters per cent, stock with quarterly dividends, 
 liable to redemption in the fifth year of the next century, and 
 a two and a-half per cent, stock with no such liabihty. He 
 proposed to efiect the conversion of the existing Consols and 
 Reduced Three Per Cents, into one or other of these newly 
 created stocks, the profit of the reduction thus eflfected to be 
 devoted to the relief of taxation. The way had, it was thought, 
 been sufiiciently prepared for this operation by the great rise in 
 the pi-ices of the Thi-ee Per Cents., and the existing Two-and- 
 a-Half Per Cents., that had taken place during the pi-evious 
 two years. 
 
 On the last day of April the Government made a concession 
 to Ireland. Mr. Dickson had brought in a measure to amend 
 the purchase clauses of the Land Act of 1881. Mr. Parnell 
 did not consider Mr. Dickson's bill strong enough, and to the 
 surprise of the majority at least of the House, Mr. Trevelyan 
 appeared to agree with Mr. Parnell. The Irish Secretary an- 
 nounced that the Government had for some time been matur- 
 ing a more comprehensive scheme for dealing with the purchase 
 clauses of the Land Act, and could not therefore accept Mr. 
 Dickson's slighter measiTre. 
 
 Early in the year the Times lost its editor, and Oriental 
 scholarship one of its most remarkable members, by the death 
 of Mr. Thomas Chenery. Mr. Chenery was succeeded in the 
 editorship of the Times by Mr. Buckle. Mr. Milner Gibson at 
 the time of his death had passed almost entirely out of public 
 view. At one time he played a prominent part in politics 
 as an ally of Cobden and Bright. He was defeated at the 
 General Election of 1868, and rethed into private life. Music 
 lost Mr. Hullah, mathematics Dr. Isaac Todhunter, law Mr. 
 Benjamin, Q.C., and literature Mr. Blanchard Jerrold, 
 Douglas Jen-old'g son. In the beginning of March Pi. H,
 
 346 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 Home died, at a very advanced age, at Margate. At one time 
 he seemed likely to make himself a great name as a poet, but 
 somehow or other he never quite made it, and of late years 
 both he and his work might be said to be practically forgotten. 
 Few people ever read now, few people ever did read, the famous 
 ' Farthing Epic,' the * Orion,' which Edgar Allan Poe admired 
 so much. . Mr. Home lived a curious, wandering, lonely life ; 
 he died a lonely death. His was not a very lovable nature, 
 but he found people to love and befriend him to the end, and 
 much of his later life was brightened by the aftectionate kind- 
 ness of one of the youngest of our young poets, Mr. Baddeley. 
 Home's one wish was to be laid by the side of Charles Lamb 
 at Edmonton, but for some reason or other the wish was not 
 carried out and he was buried at Margate, where he died. Of 
 all that he wrote, and ho wrote much, his * Death of Marlowe ' 
 best deserves to be remembered. There is a grim power and 
 passion in this one-act tragedy, which is not imworthy of the 
 poet it celebrates. INIarlowe's dying words — 
 
 Oh, full and orbed heart., 
 Flee to thy kindred sun, rolling on high. 
 Or let the hoary and eternal sea 
 Sweep me away and swallow body and soul ! 
 
 have in them some echo of the mighty music of ' Faustus.' 
 
 On April 24 Madame Taglioni died in Marseilles. Though 
 she was not indeed English her name was once so famous in 
 England, and she had lived in England so long after her fame 
 had passed away, that her death deserves at least a passing 
 mention. She made her first appearance in London in 1829, 
 and at once became the rage. People raved about her, wrote 
 about her, almost worshipped her. Forty years later a quiet 
 old woman was to be met in certain London houses who was 
 poor, and who maintained herself by giving dancing lessons. 
 This quiet old woman was all that was left of Taglioni. ' Here's 
 a sermon,' as Madame de Berstein said when she showed Harry 
 Wariangton what her face was like in the days when she was 
 called Beatrix Castlewood. Taglioni is said not to have been 
 so beautiful as Cherito, nor so dramatic as Fanny Essler whom
 
 THE REFORM BILL. 347 
 
 Theophile Gautler idolised, whom, tlie second Napoleon adored, 
 and wlio loved Frederick von Gentz. But in her own way she 
 was without a peer. 
 
 On April 1 1 Mr. Charles Reade died. If Mr. Reade was not 
 quite in the front rank of the novelists of the Victorian age, he 
 was undoubtedly not very far removed from the front rank. If 
 his name cannot be written with those of Thackeray, of Dickens, 
 or even of George Eliot, it undoubtedly must be written imme- 
 diately after them. Mr. Charles Reade has been very truly 
 said to have developed for himself an entirely new branch of 
 the art of novel- writing, the special gift of which was to con- 
 vert a Parliamentary blue-book into a work of fiction. But 
 although Mr. Reade rendered sterling service alike to literature 
 and humanity by these glorified blue-books, his greatest works 
 did not come under that head. The tender charm of ' Christie 
 Johnstone ' fascinates without inculcating any theory. ' Peg 
 Woffiugton ' almost deserves to stand as an exqviisite re- 
 creation of the last century by the side of ' Esmond.' ' The 
 Cloister and the Hearth ' is the most masterly historical novel 
 that has been written since Scott. The character of Denys of 
 Burgundy is worthy of the creator of Dugald Dalgetty. His 
 cheery watch-cry of ' Courage, camarade, le diable est mort,' 
 rings in our ears like the speech of a friend. How many, by 
 the way, we wonder, of Mr. Charles Reade's admirers are 
 aware that the original of this very watch-cry is to be found, 
 in Italian, notin French, in one of Dryden's plays, from whose 
 recesses Mr. Reade disentombed it and gave it a chance of 
 immortality. 
 
 In the same month died Henry J. Byron, dramatist and 
 actor, and Mrs. Alfred Wigan, wife of one of the foremost 
 actors of light comedy, as she was herself one of the foremost 
 actresses in the same style, of what may almost be called a past 
 generation. Many changes have come over the stage and all 
 connected with it since the days when Mr. and Mrs. Alfred 
 Wigan were at the height of their success. We are in a new 
 dramatic epoch, and they belonged to the old. To the younger 
 school of playgoers they are little more than a memory. The
 
 348 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 death of Mr, Michael Thomas Bass should not pass uncom- 
 memorated, for his was a name, like that of Dr, Guillotin, 
 ' like to outlive Ciiesar's.' Sir Michael Costa, who died at the 
 end of April, took from the world of music one of its most 
 remarkable figures. ' Ten thousand eyes,' says Mr. Haweis, 
 writing of him, * for half a century at every gi'eat festival have 
 been riveted upon that figure. We shall see him no more ; 
 but he leaves to art an open secret, a bright achievement, and 
 an unsullied name.' 
 
 In Sir Bartle Frere the country lost a statesman whose 
 successes as an Indian official are pleasanter to dwell on than 
 his failures in South Africa. Law lost Sir Watkin "Williams ; 
 literature Mr. Mark Pattison, a scholar of a curious type, who 
 left behind him some disagreeable memoirs. In Mr. Alexander 
 Martin Sullivan, Ix^eland lost a true Nationalist, a gifted writer 
 and a brilliant orator. On November 6 Mr. Fawcett died. 
 His illness was sudden ; many hardly knew that he was ill till 
 they heard of his death. 
 
 The efiect of the news of the death of Mr. Fawcett was very 
 marked in the House of Commons. The sad tidings did not 
 arrive uutil after question-time, and were only known at first 
 to a few members of the Government ; but they soon spread, 
 and within half an hour were known to every member. It is 
 not too much to say that the reception of the news of the 
 calamity Avrought a distinct change in the outward appearance 
 of the House and the bearing and demeanour of its occupants. 
 In lobbies and corridors, in tea-room and dining-room and 
 smoking-rooms, voices were lower than their wont, and the 
 almost schoolboyish merriment which is at all times character- 
 istic of the House of Commons, even during the most serious 
 political crises, Avas hushed indeed. It was difficult at first to 
 realise that the stalwart form, with the kindly face and the 
 cheeiy voice, would never again make its appearance on the 
 arm of his secretary or of some familiar friend in the place with 
 which he had been so long and so honourably associated. Every 
 one recognised that in the whole course of his public career he 
 ■^^as an honourable, upright, and gifted gentleman, whose life.
 
 iHE HEFOUM BILL. 349 
 
 darkened as it was by the terrible privation of blindness, pre- 
 sented to the public view the example of an antique fortitude, 
 and to his private friends a dignified and lovable resignation. 
 It may indeed be said of him, as of Milton's Lycidas, that in 
 his own wny of life he ' hath not left his peer.' He was suc- 
 ceeded in the office of Postmaster-General by Mr. Shaw-Lefevre. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIT. 
 
 THE FALL OF THE ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 The year 1884 faded into 1885, and found the Government 
 getting deeper and deeper into difficulties. The Irish question 
 was as vexed as ever. Mr. "William O'Brien had succeeded in 
 the face of many difficulties in bringing to light the offences of 
 certain officials of Dublin Castle. A little later Mr. Trevelyan, 
 weary of a post in which there was no honour to be gained, 
 became Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, and Mr. 
 Campbell Bannerman was made Chief Secretary to the Lord 
 Lieutenant in his stead. But the chief difficulty of the Govern- 
 ment was in Egypt, w^here the Mahdi was still defiant, and 
 where Gordon was still shut up in Khartoum, Eor a long 
 time the Government seemed disposed to take no steps to aid 
 him in his sore need. In the end, however, a relief expedition 
 was fitted out under the command of Lord "Wolseley, Lord 
 Wolseley had been so often successful that he came to be regarded 
 in the English mind as a genei'al who must always be successful. 
 But the difficulties which lay in Lord Wolseley's path in 
 relieving Khartoum were such as in all probability, under the 
 conditions in which he acted, would have baffled a Caesar or an 
 Alexander. The expedition moved its slow way along by the 
 Nile route. The eyes of the world may be said, without 
 exaggeration, to have been fixed upon that comparatively small 
 body of men making their way through the desert to relieve 
 Khartoum and to save Gordon. Evil fortune attended upon
 
 350 EX GLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 the exjDedition. Bad news trod on the heels of bad news. There 
 were many desperate battles "svith the Arabs and much blood- 
 shed, and many gallant lives lost on both sides. One of the 
 most conspicuous names amongst the dead was that of Colonel 
 Bumaby. Colonel Burnaby occupied a remarkable position in 
 the eyes of his country. He had done a great many daring and 
 desperate things. He was famous for that kind of reckless 
 courage whose delight in attempting any desperate adventure 
 increases in direct ratio with the danger it incurs. He seemed 
 to bear acharmed life, for he had carried it safely away from so 
 many perils. Among the Khanates of Central Asia, in his wild 
 ballooning expeditions, in his wanderings in all parts of the 
 world, and, last of all, in his battles in the desert beyond Suakim, 
 he had braved death many times in many ways and had escaped 
 the danger. His turn had come, however, and he fell fighting 
 bravely at Abu Klea, and sleeps beneath the yellow sand of the 
 desert. He could hardly have wished for a more appropriate 
 end to the fiery, fitful life. We are told that his health was 
 such that he might at any time have fallen dead without any 
 Avarning. He, at least, would have judged it better to die a 
 soldier's death far oitt in Egypt than to drop dead suddenly on 
 the steps of a London club or on the pavement of a London 
 street. 
 
 There were deaths in the expedition, and deaths among 
 those whom the expedition was sent to save. There came a 
 I'umour that Stewart, Gordon's chosen companion on his event- 
 ful ride to Khartoum, and Frank Power, the gallant, reckless 
 Irishman who acted as the Times correspondent at Khartoum, 
 had been killed away from the city by treachery. The rumour 
 was soon confirmed. Gordon was left alone in the city, which 
 he was defending so well against such odds. At last one day 
 came the final and fateful news. The advanced part of the 
 expedition had pushed its way through many dangers within 
 sight of Khartoum, only to find the banners of the Mahdi fiying 
 over the conquered city, and to be hailed by the fire of the 
 Mahdi's followers. The advance expedition had to beat back 
 in imminent peril ; and in a few hoiu-s the whole world knew
 
 THE FALL OF THE ADMINISTRATION. 351 
 
 that one of the most remarkable sieges in history was over at 
 last, that Khartoum had fallen, that Gordon was no more. 
 Seldom within the memory of living man has London shown 
 more distinct marks of public excitement than on the afternoon 
 when the posters of the evening papers announced the news of 
 the fall of Khartoum and the probable death of Gordon. 
 
 Many persons had confidently predicted that the death of 
 Gordon and the fall of Khartoum would bring with it the fall 
 of Mr. Gladstone's Ministry. These prophets were not justi- 
 fied. Although the certainty of Gordon's death, in spite of 
 occasionally conflicting rumours, soon became established 
 beyond any reasonable doubt, although Khartoum had fallen, 
 the Ministry still held firm. They were able not merely to 
 endure the fall of Khartoum, but to announce the abandon- 
 ment of the Soudan Expedition, and the withdrawal of the 
 troops from Upper Egypt — not, indeed, without bitter opposi- 
 tion and hostile criticism, but without Ministerial reverse. This 
 decision left the Mahdi practically the master of the situation. 
 It told England's Mohammedan subjects everywhere that a 
 Mohammedan prophet had proved victorious over the armies 
 of England, had killed one of her chiefest soldiers, and had 
 planted the green banner of Islam on the walls of the belea- 
 guered city whose siege had been followed by so many myriads of 
 eyes in every Eastern bazaar. It told them that the English army 
 which had been sent to smash the Mahdi was rapidly retiring 
 from the dominions over which the Mahdi held sway. All 
 these facts stirred the Mohammedan world to its centre, but 
 did not shake — or did not appear to shake — the strength of 
 Mr. Gladstone's Government. Even the fiei'ce wrangle over 
 Penjdeh, which seemed for one exciting week destined to fling 
 England and Russia into a war the end of which must be 
 difficult to predict, but the result of which must certainly have 
 been disastrous to all concerned, did not obviously impair the 
 strength of the Government. Vote of censure after vote of 
 censure was showered by a furious and despairing Opposition 
 upon the Ministry without the slightest effect. Appeal after 
 appeal to the certain test of the division-lobbies only recorded
 
 352 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 successive victories for the Government, successive assurance^ 
 of the confidence of the House of Commons in the conduct of 
 its leaders. Suddenly, almost startlingly, there came a change. 
 The great scheme of reform had come almost to a conclusion. 
 The Kedistribution Bill — establishing something like electoral 
 districts with a single member for each electoral di^Tision, except 
 in a very few cases, where the old form was preserved — had only 
 to receive the final consent of the Lords, Then the Government 
 that had accomplished this great task, and successively bi-aved 
 so many dangers, met its fate. Mr. Childers's Budget was the 
 ostensible cause of the fall of the Gladstone Ministry. Excep- 
 tion was strongly taken in the House of Commons, and outside 
 it, to tlie proposals of the Chancellor of the Exchequer to in- 
 crease the beer and spirit duties. The opposition was strong ; 
 the Chancellor of the 'Exchequer made some concessions, but 
 not enough, and the opposition was kept up. It did not seem to 
 be a matter in which the fate of the Ministry was likely to be 
 involved ; but whisky was destined to prove as deadly to Mr. 
 Gladstone's Government as water had proved to the Adminis- 
 tration of Lord Beaconsfield. On Monday, June 8, a crowded 
 House had listened to the long-drawn conclusion of the debate 
 on the disputed point. To the general surprise of the House, 
 two speeches — one by Sir Chai'les Dilke, and one by Mr. 
 Gladstone — converted the debatable matter into a Cabinet 
 question. Even then, at that eleventh hour, the House had 
 no idea of what was about to happen. 
 
 The present Parliament has been fruitful in scenes of all 
 kinds, but it has never witnessed a more striking or more 
 startling scene than that which hailed the fall of the Gladstone 
 Government. Cui-iously enough, up to the last moment there 
 was practically no impression in the House that the Govern- 
 ment were going to be defeated. Sanguine members of the 
 Opposition showed by ingenious tabulation of figures that the 
 Government would only have a majority of some five or six, 
 and would therefore suflTer a moral defeat. Hopeful Minis- 
 terialists, on the other hand, demonstrated that the Government 
 could count upon a safe majority of twenty-seven to thirty. It
 
 THE FALL OF THE ABMINISTBATION. 353 
 
 was only when the division was well-nigh over, and the benches 
 had pretty well filled, that any inkling of what was about to 
 happen dawned upon the Senate. The keen eye of one well- 
 known Conservative suddenly discovered that the men from the 
 " Aye " lobby were almost all in, while the " No " lobby was still 
 pouring a steady stream of members into the House. On the 
 Treasury bench one or two of the younger and less experienced 
 members were observed casting anxious glances towards the 
 door through which the followers of the Ministry were making 
 their way back to their places. Rumour ran rapidly along the 
 Conservative benches that the Government would have next 
 to no majority — would have no majority at all — would be in a 
 minority. Lord Kensington came in hurriedly, with a face 
 set into determined absence of expression, and sat down by 
 Mr. Gladstone. A few moments more, and the paper was 
 handed to Mr. Winn amid the loudest outbreak of cheerina: 
 that the House of Commons has heard for more than a genera- 
 tion. Wild with delight, Lord Randolph Churchill actually 
 leapt on to the bench, waving his hat with the enthusiasm of a 
 schoolboy. His friends clustered round him, caught at him, 
 drew him down, but could not restrain him from the vehement 
 expression of his delight. The example was contagious. .The 
 whole House to the left of Mr. Speaker roared and shouted, 
 and thundered, and waved its hats, and clapped its hands in a 
 frenzy of genuine delight. Their hour at last had come, and 
 the fate of the Ministry was sealed. 
 
 Mr. Gladstone immediately rose. For some seconds it was 
 useless for him to attempt to speak, so long and loud were the 
 triumphant cheers and cries of his opponents. When at length 
 he was suffered to speak, he announced that in consequence of 
 the vote that had just been given it would be necessary for the 
 Ministry to consider their position, and he accordingly moved 
 the adjournment of the House. The next day he informed the 
 House that he had placed his resignation in the hands of the 
 Queen. Then followed an interregnum of odd uncertainty. 
 Mr. Gladstone had gone out, but it was by no means certain 
 that the Conservatives would come in. There were many 
 
 A A
 
 354 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 among the Opposition who strongly disliked the idea of their 
 party coming into office under such conditions. The Queen 
 sent for Lord Salisbury. For a few days it seemed uncertain 
 whether Loi'd Salisbury would accept the difficult trust. There 
 were troubles to contend with in his own party as well as 
 outside it. Lord Randolph Churchill was known to have a 
 strong objection to the ' old gang,' as he irreverently styled 
 the time-honoured and somewhat slow-going politicians of the 
 Opposition front bench. Lord Randolph desired to see younger 
 men of the party given some opportunity of distinguishing 
 themselves. This was one difficulty. Another was the ques- 
 tion of coercion. That was a question Mr. Gladstone's Govern- 
 ment would have had to deal with almost immediately if they 
 had remained in office. Mr. Chamberlain and Sir Charles 
 Dilke were known to be strongly opposed to any further 
 coercive legislation, and it is probable that the Ministry would 
 have gone to pieces over coercion if it had not tripped over the 
 Budget. Among the Conservatives, too, opinions differed on 
 the coercion question. Lord Randolph Churchill was not an 
 advocate of coercive legislation. These and the obvious dis- 
 comfort of accepting office with a minority for a time disturbed 
 the Conservative councils. For some days all was suspense. 
 Active negotiations were carried on between Lord Salisbury 
 and Mr. Gladstone, between Lord Salisbury and Lord Randolph 
 Churchill. The situation was epigrammatically expressed by 
 Mr. Gibson. ' For a fortnight,' Mr. Gibson declared, ' the 
 Liberals were in a state of suspended animation and the Con- 
 servatives in a state of animated suspense.' At last a definite 
 conclusion was arrived at. Lord Salisbury accepted office, 
 after allowing Loi-d Randolph Churchill to have well-nigh his 
 own way in the composition of the new Cabinet. On Wednes- 
 day, June 24, 1885, the two parties changed sides in the House 
 of Commons, and Mr. Gladstone addressed the chamber from 
 the front Opposition bench. Mr. Rowland Winn moved for 
 most of the new writs for the i^e-election of the new Ministers. 
 After a stormy existence of a little more than five years, the 
 Gladstone Administration had come to an end.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 ABB 
 
 Abbas Pasha, 225 
 
 Abd-(1-Kader, 296 
 
 Abdurrahman Khan, G2-63 ; 67 ; sub- 
 sidy to, 292-21)3 
 Adam, Mr., 1.3-14; death of, 172 
 Afghanistan, 3 ; war in, 61-G8; 292- 
 
 293 
 AgTarian Crimes, Forster's return of, 
 
 118-119 
 Agricultural Holdings Bill, 285 
 Ainsworth, Harrison, death of, 248 
 Albania and Dulcigno, 56-58 
 Albany, Duke of, see Leopold 
 Albert" Prince, 9 
 Alexander II., assassinated, 160 
 Alexander, Cai)tain, and Orange 
 
 circular, 279 
 Alexandria, riots, 2.38 ; bombarded, 
 
 239-240 ; fired, 241 
 Anstruthers, Colonel, at Bronkhurst 
 
 Spruit, 75-76 ; death, 77 
 Appropriation Bill, 183 
 Arabi Pasha, 232-245 
 Argyll, Duke of, 13; career of, 34; 
 
 Affirmation Bill, 178 ; and Mr. 
 
 Chamberlain, 265 
 Arms Bill, 132 
 Army Discipline Bill, 135 
 Army Regulations Bill, 154 
 Arrears Bill, 193-195 ; 218-219 
 Ashley, Evelyn, 207 
 Auchi'nleck, Captain,at Eustenberg, 81 
 Austi-alasian Colonies and New Guinea, 
 
 289-291 
 Austria and Gladstone, 51-55; naval 
 
 demonstration, 57; andDauubian 
 
 Conference, 252-256 
 Ayoob Khan, 64-67 
 
 Baker Pasha, 244 ; at El Teb, 313- 
 316 ; at second battle of Teb, 
 317, 326 
 
 BOY 
 
 Baker, Sir S., in Soudan, 298, 300 
 
 Balfour, A. J., and Fourth Party, 4S; 
 ' Kilmainham Treaty,' 214 
 
 Balfour, Y. M., death of, 243 
 
 Ballot Act, 87 
 
 Bankruptcy Bill, 284 
 
 Bannerman, C, 207 ; Chief Secretary, 
 349 
 
 Baring, Sir E., and Gordon, 343 
 
 Barrere, Camille, and Danubian Con- 
 ference, 254 
 
 Barry. John, 101 
 
 Barttelot, Sir W., 106 
 
 Bass, Mr., death of, 348 
 
 Basutos, disarmament of, 73 
 
 Beaconstield, Lord, letter to Duke of 
 Marlborough, 1 ; and Ireland, 7- 
 8 ; and Dilke, 22 ; and Lytton, 
 60 ; and Gladstone, 115 ; death of, 
 136-141 ; statue to, 263 
 
 Beer, Pavil de, at Bronkhurst Spruit, 
 76-77 
 
 Bellairs, Colonel, at Pretoria, 77-80 
 
 Bengal Tenancy Bill, 289 
 
 Benjamin, Mr., death of, 347 
 
 Bessborovigh Commission, 143 
 
 Bezhuidenot and Boer war, 73-74 
 
 Bibesco,Prince George, and Roumauia, 
 255 
 
 Biggar, J. G., 100, 114, 120, 125, 163 
 
 Bills of Exchange Act, 219 
 
 Blake, Mr., murdered, 222 
 
 Blandford, Lord, only Home Rule 
 Peer, 295 
 
 Bligniferes, M., and Egypt, 230-231, 
 237 
 
 Blunt, W. S.. and Arabi, 232 
 
 Boer War, 68-82 
 
 Bok, E., and Boer war, 75 
 
 Borrow, George, death of, 170-171 
 
 Bourke, Mr., murder of, 222 
 Bourke, R., and Egypt, 328 
 Boycotting, 110-112 
 
 A A 2
 
 336 
 
 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 BRA 
 
 Braboume, Lord, 15 
 
 Bradlaugh, C, 38 ; in 1880, 39-44 ; 
 
 and coercion, 119 ; in 1881, 147- 
 
 154; in 1882, 174-178; in 1883, 
 
 259-261; in 1884,331-333 
 Brand, Sir H,, resigns speakership, 
 
 333-334 
 Brennan, T., 114, 164 
 Briggs, Mr., and tablet to Prince 
 
 Imperial, 87 
 Bright, J., and new ministry, 10, 11, 
 
 13, 17 ; and radicalism, 19 ; 
 
 politics of, 25 ; and John Dillon 
 
 the Elder, 106 ; Coercion, 120- 
 
 123 ; Reform Bill, 338-339 
 Broadley, Mr., defends Arabi, 244 
 Broukhurst Spruit, tight at, 75-76 
 Brooke, Captain, at Marabastadt, 81 
 Brougham, Lord, 9 ; 337 
 Brown, Dr. J., death of, 248 
 Brown, John, death of, 295 
 Brown, Rawdon, death of, 295 
 Browne, H. K., death of, 248 
 Buckland, F., death of, 90 
 Buckshot, nickname for Mr. Forster, 
 
 108 
 Budget, Northcote's, 1880, 4-5 ; 1880, 
 
 83; 1881, 135; 1882, 219; 1883, 
 
 283 ; 1881, 341-345 
 Bulgaria & Danubian Conference, 254 
 Burial Bill, 84 
 Burke, Father, death of, 295 
 Burke, Mr., murder of, 202-205 ; trial 
 
 of murderers, 271-274 
 Bumaby, Colonel, in Soudan, 313-314, 
 
 317 ; Central Asia, 322 ; death 
 
 of, 350 
 Burrows, General, at Maiwand, 64-66 
 Burton, Captain, 305 
 Burton, J. II., death of, 171 
 Busk, Hans, death of, 250 
 Butt, Isaac, 96-97 
 Byron, H. J., death of, 347 
 
 CAiENS,LoRD,andRandolphChurchi]l, 
 262 
 
 Cairo, Europeans in, in 1881, 233- 
 234 ; surrenders, 244 
 
 CarcA-, James, 272-274 
 
 Carlyle, death of, 166-169 
 
 Carnarvon and South African Con- 
 federation, 71 ; opposes Affirma- 
 tion Bill, 178 
 
 Carter, Mr. T. F., on Boers, 69 
 
 Cavagnari, Sir Louis, murder of, 3, 62 
 
 COM 
 
 Cave, Mr., in Egypt, 228 
 
 Cavendish, Lord Frederick, and 
 Bradlaugh Committee, 39 ; mur- 
 der of, 202-205; trial of mur- 
 derers, 271-274 
 
 Census Bills, 87 
 
 Central Asia, 321-325 
 
 Cetewayo, 3, 250 
 
 Chamberlain, Joseph, and New Minis- 
 try, 11-13; character, 19-22; 
 aiid Mr. Marriott, 181 ; Irish Sec- 
 retaryship, 205 ; ' Kilmainham 
 Treaty,' 211-215; Electric Light- 
 ing, 219 ; attacks Salisbury, 
 264-265 ; Bankruptcy Bill, 284 ; 
 Patents for Inventions, 286 ; 
 Reform Bill, 339 ; and Mr. Mar- 
 riott, 340 ; and Reform, 341 
 
 Chambord, Count De, death of, 296 
 
 Chaplin, Mr., and Fourth Party, 49 
 
 Charrington, Lieutenant, death of, 
 246 
 
 Chenery, Thomas, death of, 345 
 
 Cherif Pasha resigns, 236 ; New 
 Ministry, 244 
 
 Childers, Mr., 11,13,31; Chancellor 
 of Exchequer, 207 ; Budget, 1883, 
 283 ; National Debt Bill, 283- 
 284 ; Budget, 1884, 344-345 
 Budget, 1885, 352 
 
 Churchill, Lord Randolph, forms 
 Fourth Partv, 44-48 ; and Brad- 
 laugh, 176 ; New Rules, 183-184 ; 
 Conservative Party, 261-263, 329; 
 Ministerial defeat, 353-354 
 
 Clarke, Major, at Potchefstrom, 80-81 
 
 Closure, 131-132, 181-184 
 
 Cobden, Richard, 121, 137 ; on Mche- 
 met Ali, 224-225 
 
 Cockburn, Sir Alexander, death of, 90 
 
 Coercion abandoned, 102 ; Forster on, 
 103; Revived, 114, 117-118; 
 Debates, 1.19-120 ; Bright and, 
 120-123 ; Gladstone and, 123 ; 
 obstruction of, 124-127 ; carried, 
 132 ; New Crimes Bill, 208-209, 
 215-218 
 
 Coetlogen, Captain de, at Khartoum, 
 308-309 ; leaves Khartoum, 311 
 
 Cole, Sir Henry, death of, 250 
 
 Collev, Sir George, and Boer War, 
 77 ; death of, 78 
 
 Collier, Paj-ne, death of, 295 
 
 Collings, Jesse, and Irish arrests, 163 
 
 Cohnn, Mr., in Egj-pt, 231 
 
 Commins, Dr., 101
 
 INDEX. 
 
 357 
 
 COM 
 
 Compensation for Disturbance Bill, 
 103-104 ; rejected by Lords, 105 
 
 Convej'ancing and Law of Property 
 Bill, 154 
 
 Cookson, Consul, injured in Alexan- 
 dria, 238 
 
 Corrupt and Illeafal Practices Preven- 
 tion Bill, 285 
 
 Corrupt Practices at Elections Bill, 5 
 
 Costa, Sir M., death of, 348 
 
 Courtney, Leonard, 11, 115, 207 
 
 Cowen, Joseph, and Irish Question, 
 155-157 ; and Irish arrests, 163 ; 
 opposes Crimes Act, 209 ; cen- 
 sure on Mr. Playfair, 217 
 
 Crichton, Lord, and Orangism, 278 
 
 Croke, Archbishop, defends Ladies' 
 Land League, 133-134 ; con- 
 demns No Rent Manifesto, 165 
 
 Cronje, Commandant, and Siege of 
 Pochefstrom, 81 
 
 Cross, Sir Richard, Water Bill, 3-4,49 
 
 Daxubian Conference, 252-256 
 
 Darwin, C, death of, 247-248 
 
 Davitt, Michael, 97-98 ; opposes in- 
 timidation, 112 ; arrest of, 127 ; 
 and No Rent Manifesto, 164 ; 
 released, 197 ; address on Phcenix 
 Park murders, 204 ; imprisoned, 
 271 ; released, 282 
 
 Dawson, C, 101, 165 
 
 Debate, Rules of, 131-132, 180-185 
 
 Derby, Lord, career, 35-36 ; Trans- 
 vaal Convention, 81 ; Colonial 
 Office, 207 ; and General Mac- 
 Iver, 292 
 
 Dervish Pasha and Dulcigno, 58 ; in 
 Egypt, 238-239, 241 
 
 Despard, Lieutenant, at Rustenberg, 81 
 
 Dicey, Mr., and Suez Canal Shares, 
 227 ; and Khedivial lands, 229 ; 
 and bankrupt Khedive, 231 ; 
 France in Egpyt, 235 
 
 Dickson, Mr., elected Tyrone, 160 ; 
 and Purchase Clauses, 345 
 
 Dilke, Ashton, and Bnullaugh case, 
 154 ; death of, 293-294 
 
 Dilke, Sir Charles, and Xew Ministiy, 
 11-13, 19 ; career, 22-25 ; Irish 
 Secretaryship, 205 ; in Cabinet, 
 207 ; speech on Budget, 1885,352 
 
 Dillon, John, the elder, 106 
 
 Dillon, John, the younger, 100; speech 
 at Kildare, lOG ; speech in Com- 
 
 FEN 
 
 mons, 107; prosecuted, 114; 
 arrest of Davitt, 127 ; suspended, 
 128 ; arrested, 134 ; praised by 
 Gladstone, 162 ; arrested, 163 ; 
 No Rent Manifesto, 164 ; Freedom 
 of Dublin, 165-106 ; released, 
 194-195; 'Kilmainham Treaty,' 
 198-199, 201 ; address on Phoenix 
 Park murders, 204 ; Freedom of 
 Dublin, 221 ; resigns, 282 
 
 Dobson, Austin, 294 
 
 Dodson, Mr., 13, 31-32 ; Vaccination 
 Bill, 84 ; Employers' Liability 
 Bill, 85, 207 
 
 Donoughmore, Lord, and Land Act, 
 186 
 
 Dore, Gustave, death of, 296 
 
 Dorris, Mr., arrested, 165 
 
 Duff, Mr. Grant, 13, 35-33 
 
 Duff, R. VV., 207 
 
 Dufferin, Lord, at Cairo, 304 
 
 Duffy, Sir C. G., 162 
 
 Dulcigno, Cession of, 55-58 
 
 Du-Val, Charles, at Pretoria, 80 
 
 Dynamite outrages, 280-282 
 
 Eastvvick, E. B., death of, 295 
 
 Education Code, 219 
 
 Egan, P., 114, 164 
 
 Egan, Pierce, the younger, death of, 90 
 
 Egerton, Conductor, at Bronkhurst 
 
 Spruit, 76 
 Egypt, Sketch of Modern, 223-232 ; 
 Arabi, 232-239; the war, 240- 
 245 ; Suez Canal difficultv, 266- 
 270; Soudan, 296-320; debates 
 on in House, 327-330, 342-344 
 Electric Lighting Bill, 219 
 Elliott, Sir Henr}-, and Austria, 51-52 
 Eliot, George, death of, 88-89 
 Elliott, Captain, murder of, 77 
 Emerson, R. W., death of, 248 
 Emigration,hostility to, in Ireland,286 
 Employers' Liability Bill, 85 
 Enniskillen, Lord, and Orange circu- 
 lar, 279 
 Expiring Laws Continuance Act, 87 
 Explosives Act, 279-280 
 
 Factories and Workshops Bill, 97 
 Fawcett, Mr., 11, 13 ; career, 25-27; 
 
 postal reforms, 86, 219 ; death of, 
 
 348-349 
 Fenian organisation, 272
 
 358 
 
 ENGLAND UNDER GLADSTONE. 
 
 FIB 
 
 Field. Mr., attempt to assassinate, 223, 
 273 
 
 Finigan, J, L., ISO 
 
 Fitzmaurice, Lord E., 11 ; and obstruc- 
 tion, 118 
 
 Floyer, E. A., 305 
 
 Foote, ilr., and Blasphemy Trial, 261 
 
 Forbe?, Archibald, 171, 305 
 
 Forster. \V. E., 11, 18, 17; charac- 
 ter, 28-30 ; and Irish party, 102 ; 
 on coercion, 103 ; evictions, 105 ; 
 does not consult Irish members, 
 105; attacks Dillon, 106-107; 
 nicknamed ' Buckshot,' lOS ; con- 
 trasted with Chinese Gordon, 
 113 ; unpopular, 114 ; revives 
 coercion, 117-119 ; all night 
 sitting, 124 ; attributes wrong 
 speech to Parnell, 126 ; Freedom 
 of City, 166 ; poKcv arraigned, 
 186 ; arrests, 188-189 ; seldom 
 consults Irish members, 191-192; 
 resigns, 196-197 ; explains resig- 
 nation, 199-200 ; and ' Kilmain- 
 ham Treaty,' 210-215 ; and 
 Mazzini, 258-259 ; plots against 
 life of, 272 ; and Egypt, 331 
 
 Fottrell, George, pamphlet of, 187-188 
 
 Fourth Partv, 44-51 
 
 France and Egypt, 223-224, 229-232, 
 235-239 ; Danubian Conference, 
 252-256 
 
 Frere, Sir Bartle, 71-72, 77 ; death of, 
 348 
 
 Frevcinet, M., and Egvpt, 236 
 
 Froude, J. A., and Caflyle, 166-169 
 
 GAJinicTTA and Egypt, 236 ; death of, 
 251-252 
 
 Garfield, death of, 160-161 
 
 Garnett, Richard, 172 
 
 Germany and Naval Dcmonstration,57 
 
 Gibson, E., and 'Kilniainham Treaty,' 
 214 ; and Mr. Pluiiket, 257-258 ; 
 and Ministerial defeat, 354 
 
 Gibson, Milner, death of, 345 
 
 Gildea, Colonel, and colours of 94th, 77 
 
 Gill, Captain, death of, 246 
 
 Gladstone, Herbert, 207 ; speech at 
 Leeds, 257 
 
 Gladstone, W. E., length of Parlia- 
 ments, 2 ; Xorthcote Budget, 5 ; 
 Midlothian speeches, 6-7 ; said 
 to be unpopular at Court, 8 ; 
 hostile politicians, 11 ; First Lord 
 of Treasury and Chancellor of 
 
 GRA 
 
 Exchequer, 13 ; and Lord Bra- 
 bourne, 15 ; retires from leader- 
 ship, 16 ; Midlothian campaign, 
 18; and Dilke, 23; Bradlaiigh 
 question, 43 ; and Northcote, 49 ; 
 and Austria, 51-55 ; Boers, 72— 
 73, 79 ; Budget, 1880, 83 ; and 
 O'Donnell, 87 ; illness, 87-88 ; 
 and Beaconsfield, 115 ; and 
 Government policy, 116-117 ; 
 coercion, 123 ; attributes wrong 
 speech to Parnell, 126 ; arrest of 
 Davitt, 127 ; suspension of Irish 
 members, 128-129 ; accident, 132 j 
 Budget, 1881, 135; Land Act, 
 142-147; attacks Parnell, 161- 
 162 ; at Guildhall, 164 ; Brad- 
 laugh,175,177 ; and Lords Zetland 
 and Grey, 178 ; new rules, 179 ; 
 Appropriation Bill, 183; Homo 
 Eule, 186 ; Lords' Committee, 
 188 ; Arrears Bill, 195 ; change 
 of Irish policy, 195-196 ; Forster's 
 resignation, 200-201 ; resigns 
 Chancellorship of Exchequer, 
 207 ; ' Kilmainham Treaty,' 213 ; 
 Ministerial defeat, 217 ; and 
 Salisbury, 218; Budgets, 1882, 
 219 ; Suez Canal, 270 ; Ministerial 
 silence on Egvpt, 329 ; Reform: 
 Bill, 334-337 ;" illness, 337 ; and 
 Duke of Albany's death, 341 ; de- 
 feat, 352 ; resignation, 353 ; ia 
 opposition, 354 
 
 Goethe, W. von, death of, 295 
 
 Gordon, Chinese, on Ireland, 112 ; ca- 
 reer, 298-302 ; sent to Khartoum, 
 309-13 ; defeat by Mahdi— refusal 
 of iladhi to submit, 319 ; at Khar- 
 toum, indignant at abandonment, 
 343-344 ; 340 ; death of, 350-351 
 
 Gorst, Mr., and Fourth Party, 48 
 
 Gortschakoff, Prince, death of, 296 ;. 
 Central Asia, 323 
 
 GoschcD, Mr., at Constantinople, 56 j 
 in Egvpt, 228 
 
 Gosse.E. W., 172 
 
 Graham, General, defeats Osman 
 Digna, 316-318 
 
 Grain Cargoes Bill, 87 
 
 Grand Committees, 185 
 
 Granville, Lord, 9-10, 11, 13; and Dul- 
 cigno, 56 ; Irish policy, 195 ; Dan- 
 ubian Conference, 255 ; Soudan, 
 308-309 ; and death of Duke of 
 Albany, 341 ; and Gordon, 343
 
 INDEX. 
 
 3i'J 
 
 GRA 
 
 Gray, E. D., famine fiinrl, 98 ; and 
 Irish pnrty, 100 ; Freedom of 
 City, 165 ; imprisonment of mem- 
 bers, 185 ; arrested, 221 
 
 Greece and Turkey, 55, 58-59 
 
 Green, J. R., deatli of, 293 
 
 Greenwood, Mr., and Suez Canal 
 Shares, 227 
 
 Greg, W. R., death of, 171 
 
 Gregory, Sir W., and Arabi, 232 
 
 Grey, Lord, abandons Mr. Gladstone, 
 178-179 
 
 Grej', Sir George, death of, 249 
 
 Griffith's valuation, 109-110 
 
 Grosvenor, Lord R., and Bradlaugh 
 Committee, 39 
 
 Ground Game Bill, 85 
 
 Guiteau executed, 161 
 
 Gupta, Mr., and Ilbert Bill, 287 
 
 Hake, A. E., on Chinese Gordon, 298- 
 299 
 
 Hall, Mrs. S. C, death of, 171 
 
 Hampton, Lord, death of, 89 
 
 Hansom, J. A., death of, 25i) 
 
 Harcourt, Sir William, 10, 13 ; 
 character, 27-28 ; Ground Game 
 Bill, 85 ; arrest of Davitt, 127 ; 
 Arms Bill, 132 ; Irish policv, 
 201 ; New Crimes Act, 208 ; 
 ' Kilmainham Treaty,' 214 ; Lon- 
 don Government Bill, 344 
 
 Harrington, T., 282 
 
 Hartington, Lord, 8-10, 13 ; leader- 
 ship, 16-18; and Chamberlain, 21; 
 India Budget, 84; Ynccination 
 Bill, 85 ; leader, 88 ; obstruction, 
 118 ; all night sitting, 124 ; 132; 
 Closure, 181 ; Irish policv, 201 ; 
 War Office, 207 ; Reform Bill, 338 
 
 Hatton, Mr. Frank, death of, 295 
 
 Haweis, H. R., on death of Costa, 848 
 
 Hayter, Sir A., 207 
 
 Healy, T, M., 99-100 ; suspended, 
 132 ; Land Act, 145 ; warrant 
 out for, 163 ; imprisoned, 271 ; 
 elected for Monaghan, 277, 282 ; 
 and Bradlaugh case, 332 
 
 Hennessy, Sir John Pope, 265 
 
 Herbert, Auberon, 24 
 
 Herschell, Sir Farrer, 14 
 
 Hewett, Admiral, at Suakim, 316 ; 
 proclaims Osman Digna, 318 
 
 Hibbert, Mr., 36-37 
 
 Hicks Pasha, 304-305 ; killed, 307 
 
 LAB 
 
 Hill, F. IL, author of ' Political Por- 
 traits,' on Mr. Forster, 28 
 
 Holker, Sir J., death of, 249 
 
 Home Rule Movement, 96 ; Gladstone 
 and, 18(3 
 
 Home, R. H., death of, 345 
 
 Huddys, murder of, 222 
 
 Hugessen, Mr. Knatchbull, see Bra- 
 bourne, Lord 
 
 Hugo, Victor, and Ireland, 133 
 
 Huilah, Mr., death of, S45 
 
 Ibrahim Pasha, 225 
 
 Ilbert Bill, 287-289 
 
 Ingogo Fight, 78-/9 
 
 Irish Labourers Bill, 286 
 
 Irish University Bill, 16 
 
 Irving, Mr. Henry, 344 
 
 Ismael Pasha, 226-231 ; his Parlia- 
 ment, 235 
 
 Italy and Naval Demonstration, 57; 
 and DanubianGonfereuce,252-256 
 
 James, Edwix, death of, 249 
 James, Sir Henry, 13, 32 
 Jerrold, Blanchard, death of, 345 
 Jessel, Sir George, death of, 295 
 Jevons, death of, 248 
 Jorrissen, E. F., and Boer War, 75 
 Joubcrt, M., and Egypt, 228 
 Joubert, P., and Boer War, 74 
 Joyces, murder of, 222 
 Jung, Sir Salar, death of, 296 
 
 Karolyi, Count, and Gladstone, 53 
 Kauffmann and Central Asia, 324 
 Kenealv, Dr., death of, 90-91 
 ' Kilmainham Treatv,' 197-199, 209- 
 
 215, 257 
 Kimberlev, Lord, 13 ; character, 34- 
 
 35 ; India Office, 207 
 Kingston, W. H. G., death of, 90 
 Knatchbull-Hugessen, see Brabourne, 
 
 Lord 
 Kruger, Paul, and Boer War, 74 
 
 Labouchere, H., elected for North- 
 ampton, 38; character, 41-42 ; and 
 Forster's Agrai-ian Crimes Return, 
 118 ; Bradlaugh case, 150. 154 ; 
 Irish arrests, 163 ; Bradlaugh 
 case, 175, 176 ; New Rules, 184,, 
 259, 331
 
 3G0 
 
 ENGLAND UNDER GLALSTONE. 
 
 LAC 
 
 Lacour, Challemel, and Mr. O'Donnell, 
 87 
 
 Ladies" Land League, 133, 164 
 
 Lambart, Captain, and Boers, 77 
 
 Land Act, 142, 147 ; Purchase Clauses, 
 345 
 
 Land League founded, 98 ; suppressed, 
 105 ; and trials, 273 
 
 Lang's Nek, 78-79 
 
 Lanyon, Sir Owen, and Boers, 72-74 
 
 Lawson, Cecil, death of, 248 
 
 La-wson, Justice, 221, 223 
 
 Layard, Sir Henrj', 56 
 
 Leamy, E., 101 
 
 Lefevre, Shaw, 14 
 
 Leigh, H. S., death of, 294 
 
 Leopold, Prince, marriage of, 173, 
 182 ; death, 341-342 
 
 Lesseps, F. de, 260-270 
 
 Linnell, J., death of, 248 
 
 Lloyd, Clifford, I'JO, 193 
 
 Locker, Frederick, 294 
 
 London Government Bill, 344 
 
 Long, Lieutenant, at Leydenberg, 81 
 
 Longfellow, death of, 218 
 
 Lords reject Comptnsation for Dis- 
 turbance Bill, 105 ; and Land 
 Act, 145-147; Committee on 
 Land Act, 186-188; Arrears Bill, 
 218-219; and Agricultural Hold- 
 ings Bill, 284-285 ; and Trawlers 
 in North Sea, 285 
 
 Lowe, Mr., 14, 17 
 
 Lowther, James, in Parliament again, 
 100 ; attacks Glad>tone, 186 
 
 Lucv, H. W., sees Arabi at Ceylon, 
 '245 
 
 Lytton, Lord, in India, 59-61 
 
 MacIver, Brigadier-General, and 
 New Guinea, 291-292 
 
 Mackenzie, Mr., at Bechuanaland, 82 
 
 Mahdi, The, 302-303 ; defeats Hicks, 
 307-308 ; and Gordon, 311 ; de- 
 feats Gordon, 319 ; refuses to sub- 
 mit, 319; 349-51 
 
 Mnhmoud Samy El Baroudi, 236-237 
 
 Mahon, the O'Gorman, 101 
 
 Maiwand Battle, 64-66 
 
 Majuba Hill, 78-79 
 
 Malet, Sir Edward, 237 ; and Hicks 
 Pasha, 304 
 
 Manners, Lord John, 47, 49, 338 
 
 Marlborough, Duchess of, Famine 
 Fund, 98 
 
 KOR 
 
 Marlborough, Duke of, 1 ; death of, 
 
 295 
 Man-ied Women's Property Bill, 219 
 Marriott, Mr., and New iRules, 179- 
 
 181 ; and Mr. Chamberlain, 340 
 ilartineau, James, on Duke of Albany, 
 
 342 
 Marum, M., 100 
 IMarvin, Mr., and Central Asia, 821- 
 
 322 
 Marx, Karl, death of, 295 
 JIarzials, Theophile, 172 
 M"Cabe, Archbishop, 133 
 M'Carthv, D, F., death of, 248 
 McCarthy, Justin, 185, 217 
 M'Hale,' John, Archbishop of Tuam, 
 
 death of, 170 
 Mehemet Ali, 223-225 
 IMerv, O'Donovan at, 305-306 ; taken 
 
 by Russia, 320 
 Midlothian Speeches, 6-7,1 8 ; and Aus- 
 tria, 51-55 ; and Boers, 72-73 
 Mill, J. S., and Oath of Allegiance, 
 
 44 
 Milbank, Sir F., and Mr. Biggar, 125 
 Mohammed Jan, 62 
 Monaglian Election, 277, 282 
 Moncrieffe, Captain, killed in Soudan, 
 
 307 
 Montague, Major, at Standerton, 81 
 Moonlight, Captain, 222 
 Morgan, Mr. G. 0., 37, 84 
 Mundella, Mr., 14, 30-31 
 Munici|ial Corporation Act, 219 
 Murray, Grenville, death of, 171 
 Mutiny Bills, 97 
 
 Napolf.on, Prince Louis, tablet to, 
 87 
 
 National Debt Bill, 283-284 
 
 Naval Discipline Amendment Bill, 
 154 
 
 Newdegate and Bradlaugh, 260 
 
 New Guinea, Annexation of, 289- 
 292 
 
 Newman, Cardinal, and Mr. Glad- 
 stone, 16 
 
 Newspaper Libel Bill, 154 
 
 Nolan, Colonel, 101, 105 
 
 No Rent Manifesto, 164-165 
 
 Northbrook, Lord, il 
 
 Northcote, Sir Stafford, 2; Budget, 
 4-5 ; Bradlaugh Case, 39, 43 ; 
 Fourth Party, 49-51 ; and Brad- 
 laugh, 174-i77; protection, 182 ;
 
 INDEX. 
 
 361 
 
 NOR 
 
 Irish Policy, 201 ; ' Kilmainham 
 
 Treaty,' 213 ; and Lord R. 
 
 Churchill. 261-262 ; Suez Canal, 
 
 270 ; Ulster Campaign, 277 ; 
 
 National Debt, 283-284 ; 329; 338; 
 
 death of Duke of Albany, 342 
 Novikoff, Madame de, on Central 
 
 Asia, 324-325 
 Nubar Pasha, 226, 230, 342 
 
 O'Brien, W., 163, 271, 349 
 O'Connor, Arthur, 100, 163 
 O'Connor, T. P., 99, 286 
 O'Donnell, F. H., 87, 131, 217 
 O'Donnell kills James Carey, 274 
 O'Donoghue, The, and Coercion, 121 
 O'Donovan E., 171 ; death, 305-307 
 O'Kellv, James, 100, 131, 132, 163, 
 
 194, 198, 201, 258 
 'Old Whip,' The, and Lord Bra- 
 bourne, 15 
 Orange Disturbances, 275-279 
 Osborne, Bernal, death of, 249 
 O'Shaughnessy, Arthur, death of, 172 
 O'Shea, Captain, and ' Kilmainham 
 
 Treaty,' 209-215 
 Osman Digna, 313-318 
 Otway, Mr. Arthur, illness of, 342 
 
 P^ii Mali. Gazette, 272, 309- 
 310, 324-325 
 
 Palmer, E., death of, 245-246, 305 
 
 Parcels Post, 219 
 
 Parliament, meeting of, 115, 173, 
 256, 325 
 
 ParneD, C. S., 96-101, 105 ; Home 
 Rule motion, 108 ; speech attri- 
 buted to by Mr. Forster, 126 ; and 
 arrest of Michael Davitt, 127- 
 129 ; in Paris, 132-133 ; in 
 Dublin, 159 ; attacked by Glad- 
 stone, 161-162; arrested, 163- 
 165 ; Arrears Bill, 193-194 ; 201 ; 
 address on Phoenix Park mur- 
 ders, 204; 'Kilmainham Treaty,' 
 209-215 ; freedom of Dublin, 221 ; 
 Tramways BiU, 286 ; pxu'chase 
 clauses, 345 
 
 Pamell, Miss Anna, 133 
 
 Patents for Invention Bill, 285 
 
 Pattison, Mark, death of, 348 
 
 Peel, Mr. Arthur, 334, 342 
 
 Penjdeh dispute, 351 
 
 Planche', J. R., death of, 90 
 
 Playfair, Lyon, 124-125, 216-217 
 
 Plunket, Mr., 257 
 
 SAL 
 
 Postal notes, 86 
 
 Postal Savings' Bank Bill, 86 
 
 Power, Frank, death of, 350 
 
 Power, O'Connor, 103, 191 
 
 Power, Richard, 100, 131 
 
 Pretorius, M. \V., and Boer War, 74 
 
 Price, Mr. Bonaray, and Irish Land 
 
 Question, 143 
 Primrose, General, at Candahar, 63- 
 
 64, 67, 80 
 Prison Code, 97 
 
 'Privilege,' cry of, revived, 126 
 Punch and Mr. Gladstone, 15-16 
 Pusey, Dr., death of, 248 
 
 Queen's Speech, 1881, 115; 1882, 
 
 173 ; 1883, 256 ; 1884, 326 
 Quinn, J. P., 163, 271, 282 
 
 Raghed Pasha, 239 
 Rands, W. B., death of, 248 
 Reade, Charles, death of, 347 
 Redcliffe, Lord Stratford de, death of, 
 
 89 
 Redesdale's, Lord, measure against 
 
 Atheists, 178 
 Redmond, J., 100, 191 
 Redmond, W., 282 
 Reform BID, 334-341 
 Reid, Mayne, death of, 295 
 Rice, J., death of, 248 
 Ripon, Lord, in India, 61 ; and Ilbert 
 
 Bill, 289; and Gordon, 301 
 Ritchie, Mr., revives protection, 182 
 Roberts, General, relieves Candahar, 
 
 67 
 Robinson, Sir Hercules, and Trans- 
 vaal Convention, 81 
 Rogers, Thorold, and obstruction, 118 
 Rossetti, D. G., death of, 246-247 
 Rossmore, Lord, and Oraugeism, 278- 
 
 279 
 Roumania and Danubian Conference, 
 
 253-256 
 Russell, Charles, and Land Act, 145 
 Russia and naval demonstration, 57 ; 
 
 and Danubian Conference, 252- 
 
 256 ; takes Merv, 320 
 
 Said Pasha, 225-226 
 
 Salisburj-, Lord, 1-2 ; and Lord 
 Derby, 36 ; Land Act, 145-147 ; 
 Gladstone and Parnell, 102 ; Land 
 Act, 189 ; Irish policy, 195 ; 
 Arrears Bill, 218 ; and Randolph 
 Churchill, 261-263 ; attacked by
 
 362 
 
 ENGLAND UNDEU GLADSTONE. 
 
 SAU 
 
 Mr. Chamberlain, 263-264; 265; 
 
 Agricultural Holdings Bill, 285 ; 
 
 Central Asia, 322 ; battle of Teb, 
 
 826 ; death of Duke of Albany, 
 
 341 ; accepts office, 354 
 Saunders, Captain, at Wakkerstrom, 
 
 81 
 Scobelefl' and Central Asia, 324 
 Sea Fisheries Bill. 286 
 Selborne, Lord, 11, 13, 33-34 
 Servia and Danubian Conference, 254 
 Settled Lands Bill, 219 
 Sexton, T., 99, 114, 135, 159, 163, 
 
 164, 198, 332 
 Seymour, Sir Beauchamp, 57-58, 239- 
 
 241 
 Shaftesbury, Lord, 178 
 Sharpe, S., death of, 171 
 Shaw, Mr., 97-98, 102, 105, 143, 
 
 191-1 9-2 
 Shechy, Father, 159 
 Shepstone, Sir T., 71 
 Smith, W. IL, 189 
 Smythe, Mrs., murder of, 222 
 Solicitors' Eemuneration Bill, 154 
 Sothern, G. A., death of, 171 
 Soudan, 296-320, 326-331, 342-344 
 South Africa Bill, 97 
 Spcdding, J., death of, 171 
 Spencer, Lord, 13, 195 
 Stanley, Dean, Swinburne on, 87 ; 
 
 death of, 169-170 
 Stansfeldt, Mr., 14 
 Stewart, Lieutenant-Colonel, 302, 310; 
 
 death of. 350 
 Storey, Mr., 163 
 Strachey, Sir J., 84 
 Suez Canal, 266-271 
 Sulljyan, A. M., 133 ; death of, 348 
 Sulliyan, T. D., 99, 114 
 Swinburne, A. C, and Dean Stanley, 
 
 87 
 
 Tagliom, Mme., death of, 346-347 
 Tamanieb, battle of, 317 
 Taylor, Tom, death of, 90 
 Tchnernaieff, and Central Asia, 323- 
 
 324 
 Teb, battle of, 313-315, 317, 326 
 Tel-el-Kebir, battle of, 243 
 Terrv, Miss Ellen, 344 
 Tewfik Pasha, Khediye, 231-244 
 Tewfik Pasha at Sinkat, 307 ; killed, 
 
 315 
 
 ZET 
 
 Thompson, Mr., 163, 209 
 
 Thomson, James, 153 
 
 Todhunter. J., death of, 345 
 
 Toulbah Pasha, 240 
 
 Tourguenieff, J., death of, 296 
 
 Traill, Major, 192-193 
 
 Tramways and Public Companies 
 Bill," 286 
 
 Transvaal, war in, 68-82 ; Conven- 
 tion, 82 
 
 Trelawnev, E. J., death of, 171 
 
 Trevelyan, G. O., 206-207 ; purchase 
 clauses, 347 ; resigns, 349 
 
 Tricoupis, 59 
 
 Trollope, Anthony, death of, 248-249 
 
 Truth. 42 
 
 Turkey and Dulcigno, 55-58 ; and 
 Greece, 58-59 ; and Danubian 
 Conference, 252-256 ; and Egypt, 
 223, 239 
 
 United Ireland suppressed, 165 
 Urgency rules, 131-132 
 
 Vaccination Bill, 84 
 
 Wagner, R., death of, 295 
 
 Wallace, Mackenzie, and Central Asia, 
 320 
 
 Ward, Mrs., death of, 171 
 
 Water Bill, 3-4 
 
 Webster, death of, 248 
 
 Wigan, Mrs. A., death of, 347 
 
 Williams, Sir Watkin, death of, 348 
 
 Wilson, Sir Rivers, 228-230, 269 
 
 Winslow, Colonel, at Potchefstrom, 81 
 
 Wolff, Dr., 49 
 
 Wolfi; Sir Henry, 39-40 ; and Fourth 
 Party, 48-49; and 'Kilmainham 
 Treaty-,' 197 
 
 Wolselev, Lord, and Boers, 71-72 ; in 
 Egypt, 243-244 ; Khartoum Ex- 
 pedition, 349-351 
 
 Wood, Sir Evelyn, and Boer War, 
 78, 80 
 
 World, 42 ; libel case, 344 
 
 Worms, Baron de, 328 
 
 Takoob Bey and Kashgar, 324 
 Yates, Mr. Edmund, 344 
 
 Zebehr Pasha, 300-301, 312 
 Zetland, Lord, and Mr. Gladstone, 
 178 
 
 Spottiiwoode 4c Co. Pi-inters, Hev-stieet Square, London.
 
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 MORTIMER & FRANCES COLLINS. 
 Blacksmith and Scholar. 
 The Village Comedy. 
 You Play me False. 
 
 BY WILKIE COLLINS. 
 
 Antonlna. 
 Basil. 
 
 Hide and Seek. 
 The Dead Secret. 
 Queen of Hearts. 
 My Miscellanies. 
 Woman in White. 
 The Moonstone. 
 Man and Wife. 
 Poor Miss Finch. 
 Miss or Mrs. ? 
 
 BY DUTTON COOK. 
 Paul Foster's Daughter. 
 
 BY WILLIAM CYPLES. 
 Hearts of Gold. 
 
 BY ALPHONSE DAUDET. 
 Port Salvation. 
 
 BY JAMES DE MILLE. 
 A Castle In Spain, 
 
 New Magdalen. 
 The Frozen Deep. 
 The Law and the 
 
 Lady. 
 TheTwo Destinies 
 Haunted Hotel. 
 The Fallen Leaves 
 Jezebel's Daughter 
 The Black Robe. 
 Heart and Science 
 I Say No.
 
 28 
 
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 Piccadilly Novels, continued — 
 BY J LEITH DERWENT. 
 Our Lady of Tears. I Circe's Lovers. 
 
 BY M. BETHAM-EDWARDS. 
 Felicia. 1 Kitty. 
 
 BY MRS. ANNIE EDWARDES. 
 Arcliie Lovell. 
 
 BY R. E. FRANCir.LON. 
 Olympla. I One by One. 
 
 Queen Copiietua. 1 A Real Queen. 
 
 Prefaced by Sir BARTLE FRERE. 
 Pandurang Harl. 
 
 BY EDWARD GARRETT. 
 The Capcl Girls. 
 
 BY CHARLES GIBBON. 
 Robin Gray. ' For Lack of Gold. 
 In Love and War. 
 What will the World Say? 
 In Honour Bound. 
 Queen of the Meadow. 
 The Flower of the Forest. 
 A Heart's Problem. 
 The Braes of Yarrow. 
 The Golden Shaft. Of High Degree. 
 Fancy Free. 1 Loving a Dream. 
 
 BY THOMAS HARDY. 
 
 Under the Greenwood Tree. 
 BY JULIAS HAWTHORNE. 
 
 Garth. I Ellice Quentin. 
 
 Sebastian Strome. 
 
 Prince Saroni's Wife. 
 
 Dust. I Fortune's Fool. 
 
 Beatrix Randolph. 
 
 Miss Cadogna. 
 
 Love — or a Name. 
 
 DY SIR A. IIELFS. 
 
 Ivan de Biron. 
 
 BY MRS. CASHEL IIOEY. 
 The Lover's Creed. 
 
 BY MRS. ALFRED HUNT. 
 Thornicroft's Model. 
 The Leaden Casket. 
 Self Condemned. 
 
 BY JEAN INGELOW. 
 Fated to be Free. 
 
 BY HARRIETT jAY. 
 The Queen of Connaught 
 
 BY HENRY KINCSLEY. 
 Number Seventeen. 
 
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 BY E. LYNN LINTON. 
 Patricia Kemball. 
 Atonement of Leam Dundas. 
 The World V/ell Lost. 
 Under whicli Lord ? 
 With a Silken Thread. 
 The Rebel of the Family 
 " My Love '." \ lone. 
 
 BY HENRY W. LUCY. 
 Gideon Fleyce. 
 
 BY yusTiN McCarthy, m.p. 
 
 The Waterdale Neighbours. 
 
 My Enemy's Daughter. 
 
 LInley Rochford. | A Fair Saxon. 
 
 Dear Lady Disdain. 
 
 Miss Misanthrope. | DonnaQulxote. 
 
 The Comet of a Season. 
 
 Maid of Athens. 
 
 BY GEORGE MACDONALD. 
 Paul Faber, Surgeon. 
 Thomas Wingfold, Curate. 
 
 BY MRS. MACDONELL. 
 Quaker Cousins. 
 
 BY FLORENCE MA FRY AT. 
 Open ! Sesame ! | Written In Fire. 
 BY D. CHRISTIE MURRAY. 
 Life's Atonement. Coals of Fire. 
 Joseph's Coat. Val Strange. 
 
 A Model Father. Hearts. 
 
 By the Gate o.' the Sea 
 The Way of the World. 
 A Bit of Human Nature. 
 
 BY MRS. OLIPHANT. 
 Whiteladles. 
 
 BY MARGARET A PAUL. 
 
 Gentle and Simple. 
 
 BY jfAMES PAYN. 
 Lost Sir Massing- ; A Confidential 
 
 berd. 
 Bsst of Husbands 
 Fallen Fortunes. 
 Halves. 
 
 Walter's Word. 
 What He Cost Her 
 Less Black tlian 
 
 V/c'ra Painted. 
 
 By Proxy. 
 High Spirits. 
 Under One Roof. 
 Carlyon's Year. 
 
 Agent. 
 From Exile. 
 A Grape from a 
 
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 For Cash Only. 
 Some Private 
 
 Views. 
 Kit : A Memory. 
 The Canon's 
 
 Ward. 
 The Talk of the 
 
 Town.
 
 CHATTO S- WIN BUS, PICCADILLY. 
 
 29 
 
 Piccadilly Novels, continued — 
 BY E. C. PRICE. 
 Valentina. | The Foreigners. 
 
 Mrs. Lancaster's Rival. 
 
 BY CHARLES READE. 
 It Is Never Too Late to Mend. 
 Hard Cash. 
 Peg WofTlngton. 
 Christie Johnstone. 
 Griffith Gaunt. I Foul Play. 
 The Double Marriage. 
 Love Me Little, Love Me Long. 
 The Cloister and the Hearth. 
 The Course of True Love. 
 The Autobiography of a Thief. 
 Put Yourself in His Place. 
 A Terrible Temptation. 
 The Wandering Heir. I A Simpleton. 
 A Woman Hater. | Readiana. 
 
 Singleheart and Doublcface. 
 The Jilt. 
 
 Good Stories of Men and other 
 Animals. 
 
 BY MRS. J. n. RIDDELL. 
 Her Mother's Darling. 
 Prince of Wales's Garden Party. 
 Weird Stories. 
 
 BY F. ]V. ROBINSON. 
 Women are Strange. 
 The Hands of Justice. 
 
 BY JOHN SAUNDERS. 
 Bound to the Wheel. 
 Guy Waterman. 
 Two Dreamers. 
 One Against the World. 
 The Lion in the Path. 
 
 Piccadilly Novels, continued — 
 BY KATHARINE SAUNDERS. 
 Joan Merryweather. 
 Margaret and Elizabeth. 
 Gideon's Rook. I Heart Salvage. 
 The High Mills. I Sebastian. 
 
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 The Mysteries of Heron DyUe. 
 
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 The Afghan Knife. 
 
 BY BERTHA THOMAS. 
 Proud Maisie. | Cressida. 
 The Violin-Player. 
 
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 The Way we Live Now. 
 Frau Frohmann. | Marlon Fay. 
 Kept in the Dark. 
 Mr. Scarborough's Family. 
 The Land Leaguers. 
 
 BY FRANCES E. TROLLOPE. 
 Like Ships upon the Sea. 
 Anns Furness. 
 Mabel's Progress. 
 
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 Diamond Cut Diamond. 
 
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 Stories from Foreign Novelists. 
 
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 What She Came Through. 
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 Br WALTER BESANT. 
 All Sorts and Conditions of fvlon. 
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 Camp Notes. I Savage I ife. 
 Chronicles of No-man's Land.
 
 30 
 
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 BUCHASAN. 
 The Martyrdom 
 
 of Madeline. 
 Annan Water. 
 The New Abelard. 
 
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 An Heiress of Red Dog. 
 The Luck of Roaring Camp. 
 Californlan Stories. 
 Gabriel Conroy. | Flip. 
 
 Maruja. 
 
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 The Shadow of 
 
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 A Child of Nature. 
 God and the Man. 
 Love Me for Ever. 
 
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 Surly Tim. 
 
 BY MRS. LOVETT CAMERON. 
 Deceivers Ever. | Juliet's Guardian. 
 
 BY M ACL A REN COBBAN. 
 The Cure of Souls. 
 
 BY C. ALT.STON COLLINS. 
 The Bar Sinister. 
 
 BY WILKIE COLLINS. 
 Antonina. Miss or Mrs.? 
 
 Basil. New Magdalen. 
 
 Hide and Seek. The Frozen Deep. 
 The Dead Secret. Law and the Lady. 
 
 Queen of Hearts. 
 My Miscellanies. 
 Woman In White. 
 The Moonstone. 
 Man and Wife. 
 Poor Miss Finch. 
 
 TheTwo Destinies 
 Haunted Hotel. 
 The Fallen Leaves. 
 Jezebel's Daughter 
 The Black Robe. 
 Heart and Science 
 
 BY MORTIMER COLLINS. 
 Sweet Anne Page. I From Midnight to 
 Transmigration. | Midnight. 
 A Fight with Fortune. 
 
 MORTIMER & FRANCES COLLINS. 
 Sweet and Twenty. | Frances. 
 Blacksmith and Scholar. 
 The Village Comedy. 
 You Play me False. 
 
 BY DVTTON COOK. 
 Leo. I Paul Foster's Daughter. 
 
 BY C. EGBERT CRADDOCK. 
 The Prophet of the Great Smoky 
 Mountains. 
 
 By WILLIAM CYPLES. 
 Hearts of Gold. 
 
 BY ALPHONSE DAUDET. 
 The Evangelist; or, Port Salvation. 
 
 BY JAMES DE MILLE. 
 A Castle in Spain. 
 
 BY J. LEITH DERIVE NT. 
 Our Lady of Tears. | Circe's Lovers. 
 
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 Sketches by Boz. 1 Oliver Twist. 
 Pickwick Papers. | Nicholas NIckleby 
 
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 Roxy. 
 
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 Bella Donna. | Never Forgotten. 
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 Polly. 
 
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 Filthy Lucre. 
 
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 Pandurang Marl. 
 
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 The Capel Girls. 
 
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 Robin Gray. | Queen of the Mea- 
 
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 The Flower of the 
 
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 A Heart's Problem 
 The Braes of Yar- 
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 The Golden Shaft 
 Of High Degree. 
 
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 In Honour Bound. 
 The Dead Heart. 
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 In PasturesGreen 
 
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 Dick Temple. 
 
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 Under the Greenwood Tree. 
 
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 Garth. I Sebastian Strom* 
 
 Ellice Quentln. | Dust. 
 Prince Saroni's Wife. 
 Fortune's Fool. | Beatrix Randolph. 
 
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 Ivan de Biron. 
 
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 A Golden Heart. 
 
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 The House of Rnhy.
 
 CHAtTO &- tV.NbUS. PICCADILLY. 
 
 31 
 
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 The Hunchback of Notre Dame. 
 
 BY MRS. ALFRED HUNT. 
 Thornicroft's Model. 
 The Leaden Casket. 
 Self-Condemned. 
 
 BY JEAN INGELOW. 
 Fated to be Free. 
 
 BY HARRIETT JAY. 
 The Dark Colleen. 
 The Queen of Connaught. 
 
 BY HENRY KINGSLEY. 
 Oakshott Castle. 1 Number Seventeen 
 
 BY E. LYNN LINTON. 
 Patricia Kemball. 
 The Atonement of Learn Dundas. 
 The World Well Lost. 
 Under which Lord ? 
 With a Silken Tliread. 
 The Rebel of the Family. 
 "My Love!' | lone. 
 
 BY HENRY W. LUCY. 
 Gideon Fleyce. 
 
 BY JUSTIN McCarthy, m.p. 
 
 Dear LadyDlsdain 
 The Waterdale 
 
 Neighbours. 
 My Enemy's 
 
 Daughter. 
 A Fair Sajcon. 
 
 BY GEORGE MACDONALD. 
 Paul Faber, Surgeon. 
 Thomas Wingfold, Curate. 
 
 BY MRS. MACDONELL. 
 Quaker Cousins. 
 
 BY KATHARINE S. MACQUOID. 
 The Evil Eye. | Lost Rose. 
 
 BY IV. H. MALLOCK. 
 The New Republic. 
 
 BY FLORENCE MARRYAT. 
 
 A Little Stepson. 
 
 Open! Sesame! 
 A Harvest of Wild 
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 Fighting the Air 
 Written in Fire. 
 
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 Half-a-dozen Daughters. 
 
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 Touch and Go. | Mr. Dorllllon. 
 
 BY D. CHRISTIE MURRAY. 
 ALlfe'sAtonement ; By the Gate of the 
 
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 Val Strange. 
 Hearts. 
 
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 Joseph's Coat. 
 Coals of Fire. 
 
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 Whiteladies. 
 
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 Phcebe's Fortunes 
 
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 Linley Rochford. 
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 Lost Sir Massing- 1 Like Father, Like 
 
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 Moths. 
 
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 Valentina. | The Foreigners. 
 
 Mrs. Lancaster's Rival. 
 
 BY CHARLES READE. 
 It Is Never Too Late to Mend 
 Hard Cash. | Peg Wofflngton. 
 
 Christie Johnstone. 
 Griffith Gaunt. 
 Put Yourself in His Place. 
 The Double Marriage. 
 Love Me Little, Love Me Long. 
 Foul Play. 
 
 The Cloister and the Hearth. 
 The Course of True Love. 
 Autobiography of a Thief. 
 A Terrible Temptation. 
 The Wandering Heir.
 
 32 BOOKS PUBLISHED BV CHATIO &- WWDVS. 
 
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 By Charles Readh, continued. 
 
 A Simpleton. I A Woman Hater. 
 
 Readiana. \ The Jilt. 
 
 Singleheart and Doubleface. 
 
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 Her Mother's Darling. 
 
 Prince of Wales's Garden Party. 
 
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 Fairy Water. 
 
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 Women are Strange. 
 The Hands of Justice. 
 
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 Sl<ippers and Shellbacks. 
 
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 Round the Galley Fire. 
 
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 A Levantine Family. 
 
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 Gaslight and Daylight. 
 
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 Bound to the Wheel. 
 One Against the World. 
 Guy Waterman. 
 The Lion in the Path. 
 Two Dreamers. 
 
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 Joan Merryweather. 
 Margaret and Elizabeth. 
 The High Mills. 
 
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 Rogues and Vagabonds. 
 
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 A Match In the Dark. 
 
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 New Arabian Nights. 
 
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 Tales for the Marines. 
 
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 Marion Fay. 
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 John Caldlgate. 
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 Like Ships upon the Sea. 
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 Mabel's Progress. 
 
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 What She Game Through. 
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 Cavalry Life, i Regimental Legends. 
 
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