T P O'Connor: Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman

Presetted to the
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PROFESSOR
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Depart incut of Eti^lish

LI iiiversitr
College
SIR
HENRY CAMPBELL-BANNERMAN
Sir
Henry
Campbell-Bannerman
BY
T.
p.
O'CONNOR,
M.P.
HODDER AND STOUGHTON

LONDON MCMVIII
i'
i:
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tHV
103550''
Sir
Henry Campbell- Bannerman

of the great and mournful summaries of
to
Two
life
familiar
the world
naturally
rise
to
one's thoughts in presence of such a tragedy as
the death of Sir
Henry Campbell-Bannerman
within a brief period of his reaching almost the highest

"
and most potent of earthly

"
is
dignities.
"
Vanity of Vanities
;
the one
;
Youth a
blunder
is
manhood
a struggle
old age a regret,"
the other.
The second epitaph
of
life
comes
as the first
is
from one of the Jewish race and
a faithful echo of the original through the

of years which separate the
many thousands
two philosophers and the two epochs.
youth of obscurity
;
manhood of ungift
recognised struggle
and then, when every

first
of fortune crowned the old age,
a devasta-
SIR
and then a sudden striking
sure approach
ting domestic sorrow
down
followed
;
by the slow but

is
of death
this
summary
of the career of
the late Prime Minister.

in
That dramatic irony

richer than the
which Life
is
so
much
most
the
daring dramatists, almost obtrudes

sight of this
itself in
man
at the very height of
fame and
power, seated in a chair, propped up by pillows,
and with the outwork of
his
frame
first
assailed
and then the centre

in a
citadel taken
by slow
assault
is
top room
in the plain
building which
the
core of a world-wide Empire.

of the
The splendour
the very centre
general environment
their historic
in
of the house from which the
Rulers of the
Empire reach
decisions
and world-moving
all
with
the haughty palaces

is
around
Foreign
world
from which
India
ruled
and our
in
relations touching
every nation
then
:
the
are
inspired
and
this
room of sickness
is
and pain and death

those
here
new
text for
all
who preach
up
the futility in which

in
things
are crumpled
face of the approach of the
SIR
fell
Death.
sergeant
Though
the record has
to be a career of great
and unexpected prosis
perity
and
success, there
room here
It is
for tears
and the wringing of hands.

of
final
the tragedy
it
and mighty success coming when

;
can no longer be enjoyed
the goal
reached,
but after the struggler has ceased to have the
power
taste.
to
keep or to
relish
its
sweetness of
If there be
anything that might appear as

for this tragic
some compensation
which the
life
contrast in
of Sir
Henry Campbell-Bannerit
man
finally
culminated,
would
be
in
the
national outburst of grief and

his taking-off
sympathy which
would be
foolish
has evoked.
It
even
in
the softening presence of the pallid

face of the
in
and appealing
dead to compare
his
Campbell-Bannerman
the
greater
intellectual gifts with
men who have been

but
in
prede-
cessors in his high office;
one respect
;
he stood, perhaps, above any of them
and that
was
in
his
extraordinary personal
popularity.
SIR
In times of
Foe
as well as friend loved him.
fierce political
excitement, of course, he had to
endure the passionate resentment which must

always be
felt
by one party against another,

against
in
its
and
but
especially
chief
figurehead
the
feeling
his
case
was never
per-
sonal.
That constitutes the
difference between
him and many other men who have held the
same high
people
place.
For
instance,
there
were
at
who would have
been
delighted
life
any day to hear of the departure from
of
in
Mr. Gladstone at certain stormy moments

his career
;
and though no man could inspire
such vast multitudes of

tious
men
with such infecas
and stormy enthusiasm
Mr.
Glad-
stone, there
was no man,
also of his time,
who
could inspire such devastating and even cruel

resentment.
Men
of
my
generation
who went
all
through
the storm of the controversy
when Russia and
Turke}' were at war, will remember the terrible
Sunday when stones were thrown
at the
house
SIR
in
and
Harley Street which Mr. Gladstone then

;
occupied
when
doubtless
if
he
himself
would have been assaulted
he could have
been caught hold of by the exasperated mob.
And
tory
print
here
let
I
me
tell
little bit
of secret his-
which
before
think
has
never
very
appeared
in
about that
occurrence
those
on
that very
in
Sunday.
Among
who were
entire
sympathy with
that
anti-Gladstone
mob were
his
sisters.
Charles Stewart Parnell and one of

Parnell was
then quite a young
and inexperienced man, but he had an idea that one of the first things he had to do to
bring
into
being
the
fighting
independent
Irish Party,
which afterwards he created, was

all faith
to break
down
in
;
any English Party

and that
as Glad-
or
any English statesman

and
his
stone
party were the most trusted,
Gladstone and his party were to be the most

feared and the most violently attacked.
And
thus
it
was that he and
his sister
who
entirely
shared his views
walked
along Harley Street
SIR
HENRY CAMPBELL-BAXXERMAN
pockets bulging
with stones they
with
their
were prepared to throw

hated Liberal leader.
Sir
at the
windows of the
Henry
Campbell-Bannerman
fierce
excited
none of those
either
in
feelings
in
any section
opinion.
his
public
or
Parliamentary
On
own
the other
followers
hand, he
enjoyed
to
among
speak,
an
intimacy, so
of
personal
affection
which
in
Mr.
Gladstone
did
not
command
is
even
the
days of
his power.
There
the
the difference between the attitude of
ordinary
feel
man
to
the
two leaders which
you
towards the different beauties of the
Alps and the Pyrenees.

bleak
the
As you gaze on
gigantic
the
and
lonely and
or
in
splendour of
is
Jungfrau
the
Matterhorn, there
;
certain
awe
your admiration
when you
gaze on
of
those
mountains between the south

the
F"rance
and
north
rise
of
Spain,
which
gradually and slowly
from sunlit meadows
and short
trees to
is
the
craggy and snow-clad
heights, there
a certain homeliness in your
SIR
affection
it
is
free
from the stunning emotion
of grandeur
and of awe.
to
And
the
so
Gladstone
near him
had
the
power
to
awe
men
rather
than
a
win
them, and
of the
love.
fear
ahvays
casteth out
Httle
There was
Sir
no sense of awe with regard
to
Henry
Campbell-Bannerman.
too
gentle,
He was
a
this
too brotherly,
to
too
familiar
spirit
suggest
any such
reasons
feeling.
And
an
was one of the

as
why he was regarded

powerful
asset
so extrahis
ordinarily
of
party,
and why he exercised such a strange ascendency

in the present
House of Commons.
was
one
of
That
ascendency
of
the
most
oldest
remarkable
experiences
even
if
the
it
Parliamentarian.
And, indeed,
had not
been
for Sir
very hard to
Henry Campbell-Bannerman it is know what would have become

House of Commons
in its first
of the present
hours of inexperience
tion.
and intolerant exultais
With a huge
;
majority, which
always
each
danger
with
groups
divided
from
SIR
men new
other by tremendous differences, especially as

to
life,
tactics
with
to
Parliamentary
and dreaming great dreams of impossible

the
things,
Liberal
into
for
Party
a
might well
have
if
been
it
shattered
score
of fragments
had not been
the
all
immense cohesive
around from the
influence which radiated
personality of
its
leader.
Even the
sternest
member
of
the
Independent
Labour
Party
relaxed his grimness
when
the
Premier got
on
his
feet.
The
Irish
Nationalist
had
an
affection for him, such, probably, as he never

felt for
any Prime Minister
before.
is
The most
difficult
man
in
this
House
the ultra-Non-
conformist, but even he
could
be brought to
smile
something
like
reason
Sir
by
and
humorous word from
Henry.
of this
What was
It
the
secret
ascendency
honesty honesty
all
was
mainly
This
the
transparent
of
the
man.
transparent
was
written by Nature's legible

face.
hand
over the
The broad and
somewhat short and
SIR
typical
Scotch
face,
;
with good
humour and
shrewdness combined
knit figure,
the stout, robust, wellthe

large
lucid,
above
all,
eyes
light
and
blue or grey, and
open,
fearless,
steady
all
these things
proclaimed that this
was not one of
those subtle,
complex, and
uncertain spirits that are never to be trusted

to
give the direct
Aye
or
the
direct
Nay.
Everybody knew what Sir Henry CampbellBannerman thought about every great question
of
public
interest
and
when
he had
taken up a position he was never known to
abandon
it.
When,
therefore,
he recommended a certain
of
course to the
House
Commons, he
started
out with the enormous advantage of his big

reserve of faith and confidence in the breasts
of the
men he
lot.
addressed.
Then
his
modesty
helped a
He
once described himself as

;
a politician devoid of ambition

a
fair,
and that was
though a
self-applied, description of his
place and part in politics.
He
never did push
10
SIR
;
himself forward
a
for years after
he had become
member
of the Cabinet he was content to be

;
known simply as a head of a department and when he did attain to the leadership, it was
because
it
was almost thrust upon him, and

other competitors had got out of
because
the way.
all
And
few
people then realised that
the leadership was one which would ultimately
land him in the lofty position of the Premiership.
Indeed, up to almost
the
last
moment
it
seemed
still
possible that
I
he would not have
attained the great prize.
have heard of
efforts
being
made
within a few
moments of
the last
General Election to bo)'cott him and to refuse
him
all
recognition.
This
is
also one
of the
secret,
though perhaps unconscious, reasons of
the hold he had on his followers.
They knew
Party
how he continued
to lead
the
Liberal
through those days
of darkness
and division
which followed the disappearance of Gladstone
and the
terrible fissures created in the ranks
by
SIR
They knew,
too, of the
ii
the Boer War.

to rob
attempts
;
him of the place he had won so gallantly
and
this
gave his friends the temptation to try
and pay him back by the abounding gratitude

of to-day for
all
the rebuffs, the soreness, the
hardships of the bitter past.
The
ancestry of Sir
as
nerman was
character.
Henry Campbell-Banessentially Scotch as his own

father
The
of
the
future
Prime
Minister was one of those hardy and daring
Scotch provincials
who
early in the nineteenth

in
century migrated to Glasgow,

anticipation
to which
some dim
wealth
of the gigantic size and

city
the
was by and by
to attain.
in
He came
and with
from the Port of Monteith
1805,
his brother William, started the firm
of James and
William Campbell.
This old
James Campbell was a man of

tive,
force, of initia-
and of something of the same kind of
obstinate self-will which characterised his son

in higher spheres.
He was
a draper by trade
in
he found that drapery shops
those
far-off
12
SIR
stuck to the spirit of haggling which
in
days
still
was universal once

in Oriental lands.
Europe and
still
subsists
intro-
Old James Campbell

the
is
duced a reform
way
in
which he was
induced to do so
of his race.
characteristic of
his brother sat
him and
He and
under the
great Presbyterian preacher, Dr. Chalmers, and
one of the topics which Dr. Chalmers chose

one of
his
for
Sunday
deliverances,
was the system

it
of haggling.
He
roundly denounced
to
as
dishonest especially
the
poor.
The two
young tradesmen
listening to
him were deeply
impressed, went back to their shops, and from

that time forward
set
forth
the exact prices
of their goods, and
neither asked
more nor
a
took
less.
They were rewarded by

their business,
great
increase
in
and soon they beof Glasgow
came one
of the great houses
removing from
street to street as their business
prospered and new and more central quarters
became necessary.
In time
James Campbell entered the Munici-
SIR
and
in
13
pal Council,
time became Lord Provost
of his adopted city.
Again,
in the public career
of the father, one can trace some of the dominating features in

that
of his son.
Twice
in
succession Lord Provost Campbell was censured
by the Council of which he was the chief
officer
Once
it
was
the
in
connection with his efforts to

;
improve
water supply of Glasgow

it
on
another occasion
was because he had the
good sense and the courage to defy the narrow

and
irrational formalities of the law.
He was
one of those who had agitated
for the extension

;
of the boundaries of the city
but before he
could attain his purpose, a
fire
broke out
in
large mill just outside the then city boundaries.
When
of the
that
application was
fire
made
for the assistance
brigade
it
was refused on the ground

no right to do duty
the
brigade had
beyond the
city boundaries.
Application was
at
his
made
to
;
the
Lord
Provost
private
residence
he brushed aside the cobwebs of the

fire
law, ordered out the
brigade on his
own
14
SIR
make assurance doubly
first
responsibility, and, to
sure,
mounted himself the

to the
of the engines
severely
to
go
burning
mill.
He was
censured, one
if
Town
Councillor declaring that
the Lord
Provost repeated his offence, he
should be taken into custody.
Of
this
stock
Henry
in his
Campbell
Premier was known

born
in
in
young
as the days was
the year 1836.
His place of birth was
Kelvinside, then a rural suburb considered
far
enough from the centre of the

in
city as
to
be a retreat
almost
full
country.
Indeed,
Sir James Campbell as the prosperous Lord Provost had become used annually to remove
his family
in
the
summer from
to
his
place
as
of
business
in
Bath Street
does
Kelvinside,
to
Londoner
from
London
Margate.
Kelvinside House was the
name
first
of the mansion
where the future Premier

it
saw the
ago.
light
was
demolished
some
years
The
miles
boundaries of Glasgow extend
several
now beyond
that spot which sixty or seventy
SIR
considered
of
a
15
years ago was
country
resort.
The
were
early
years
young Henry Campbell

Glasgow
like those
of millions of other
boys that have preceded and succeeded him.
His education became the prime duty of

parents,
his
and
his
width of reading
in after-life
was
one of the
many
proofs
how
well
his
parents performed this

the
work.
He
started
at
High
School of
Glasgow
an
excellent
school,
with
numerous and industrious
and
ambitious young students preparing for their

future struggles with the thoroughness of their
race.
It is
some testimony
to the ability
that,
and
the industry of
young Campbell
to
though
already destined
great wealth, he
became
in
the dux as the Scotland of most
leading
boy
is
called
of his classes.
Then when
he entered the University of Glasgow, he was

equally distinguished
classics
;
:
he took a high place
in
Greek, curiously enough, was one of

;
his strongest subjects
he won the
Cowan gold
medal
at
Blackstone examination
prize
i6
SIR
which was considered by Glasgow University

students the blue ribbon of the Greek class of
those times.
The Scotch
wealth,
student,
if
he be the child of
to
generally
emigrates
to
one
his
of
the
English
tion.
universities
complete
educathe
Young
;
Henry Campbell followed
tradition
he went to
Cambridge University.
Here again
he proved that he was no idle

;
or perfunctory student
and he took up matheIn
matical as well as classical studies.
1858
he was a Senior Optime

tripos,
in
the mathematical
and
time.
took
classical
this
honours
in
at
the
same
sity
But
stay
the
Univer-
of
Cambridge
had
effects
much more
"
"
decisive
than a mere increase of his knowit
ledge
was then that he was

political,
converted
in
the
not
the
his
religious
father,
sense.
Sir
James
Campbell,
his
life
remained
throughout
promising
an
ardent
so
and
uncom-
Conservative, and
long as his
in
son had been
under home influences
Glas-
SIR
to
17
gow he adhered
in
the
paternal
faith.
But
Cambridge he and
two Glasgow
friends,
who had accompanied him, were

and
it
transformed,
was
the
then
that
Campbell-Bannerman
creed
to
adopted
adhered
political
which
he
all his
days afterwards.
Evidently the difference thus created in their

political
opinions
did
It
not alter the relations

did
of
father
and
son.
not affect their
relations even
political
life.
when
the son resolved to enter
And
yet
the
two
were
for
years
in
close
contact, for
immediately after
the close
of
his
university career
his father's
Campbell-
Bannerman entered
ness,
house of busi-
and was
at his desk there every
morning
for nearly ten years, with the
same punctuality
as the typical Scotch
man
of business.
One
of the
differed
little
things in
old,
which the young
man
epoch
from the
was that
at
this
of his existence, young Campbell followed the
mode then among young men by wearing

single
eyeglass.
He was
short-sighted in his
i8
SIR
when he was old he had
close
to
his eyes after the
;
youth, and
his
to hold
notes
the
manner
of
short-sighted
he
had,
however, the
in
compensation
able
life
of
the
short-sighted
glasses
at
being
to
read
without
a time of
when most men
require such aid to read
anything.
significant
glimpse
is
given
into
the
character
of
both father
and son, and into
their relations
with each other, by the terms

election
of
the
first
address
which
young
Campbell addressed
to his
:
fellow-countrymen.
Here
"
I
is
an extract
am
the son of a
staunch
in
Tory, and
am
fact,
not here to say a word
excuse
for that
or to apologise for being the
son of
my
I
father.
On
the
contrary, there
is
nothing
am
land
prouder of than
my
close connection with

in
one who has always been respected

even
Scot-
by
those
who have been most

But
if
bitterly
opposed to him.
you wish
to
draw any augury from
my
close
connection
SIR
with
Sir
19
James Campbell,
this
would have
staunchness
inherit his
you
believe
that
possibly
I
the
may
run in the blood, that
may
tenacity without his principles,

father,
and that as
life,
my
through
long
evil
public
through
good report and

and
foul,
report, in
fair
weather
has
so
stuck
his
to
his
in
party
and
his
will
principles,
son,
like
manner,
stick to his."
Everybody
courage
politician
will
admit the candour and the

declaration
of
;
this
is
of
in
the
young
as
it
proof
is
that
father
politics,
elsewhere,
the
boy
the
to
the
Sir
man.
Whatever were
demerits of
as
Henry
Campbell-Bannerman
a politician, nobody
ever denied him courage and consistency.
This
first
attempt to gain a seat in Parliabut

a
ment
failed,
few
months
;
afterwards
the
came
the General Election of 1868
young
man was
and
for
then elected for the Stirling Burghs,

the
to Stirling
Burghs
he
remained
This be-
member
the end
of his days.
20
SIR
HEXRY CAMPBELL-BANNERMAN
man
he
ginning of his Parliamentary career was the
end
of
his
career
as
business
retired
from his
father's place,
and from that
time
forward
he was a politician, pure and he
simple.
This career
was able
to
pursue
the more easily as he

several
inherited
not one but

his father,
fortunes
fortune
from
another from his uncle on the paternal, a third
from an
uncle
on the
maternal
to
his
side.
His
addition of
Bannerman
was due
original
name
of Campbell
to the last
fortune, as
his bene-
Bannerman was the name of one of

factors.
Among
uncle
other possessions he inherited

a
beautiful
from
Kent.
an
country
seat
in
So
far,
therefore, as pecuniary circumstances

his
life
were concerned,
of ease
for
;
had always been one
and
that,
perhaps, partly accounted
the geniality
and equanimity of temper
which were so characteristic of him.

out his
life
Through-
he never knew the small and squalid

bitter personal struggle
wants and the
which so
SIR
often
darken the
early,
21
and sometimes even
blight the closing, years of so
many
politicians.
Campbell-Bannerman was
was pointed out was
rich,
just the
man who
for office at
an early age.
He
but
he was well married, he was eminently

he entertained largely.
in
discreet,
He was
three years
Parliament when he was ap-
pointed Financial Secretary of the
War
Office,
thus beginning an association with that depart-
ment which was destined

times later on.
1874,
to be
renewed several
he retired
in
With
his party,
and again when

in
his
party returned to
power
1880 he went back to the
War
Office.
When
to
in
Sir
George Trevelyan was

Secretaryship
foolish
enough
leave the
of the
Admiralty
order to take up the killing and thankless

of Chief Secretary for Ireland, Sir
to succeed
in
office
Henry
was chosen
him
at the Admiralty.
Another change
the fortunes of Sir George

in
Trevelyan produced a change
those of Sir
Henry.
When
Sir
George
left
Ireland, a pre-
maturely broken and grizzled man, and at the
22
SIR
things
be,
very
moment when
looked nearly as
black as they could
Campbell-Bannerman
stepped
into the place.

is
The
office
one which, as everybody knows,

still
severely tests men, and this was
more true
some years
turbed, and
Party,
ago,
when
Ireland was fiercely disIrish
when a powerful and united
under Mr. Parnell, was so effective a
force in the
his
House of Commons.
Considering
love of ease, his
geniality of temper, his
hatred of violent
measures, Campbell-Bannerpublic spirit in accept-
man showed enormous

ing
this
office.
There are several
amusing
Irish
stories told of the feeling with
which the
members
ment.
received the
news of the new appointone of the most proIrish
At
that period
minent and able of the

the late
the
members was
Edmund Dwyer
Gray, proprietor of
Dublin Freeman's Journal, then, as now,

in
the most important Nationalist organ

land.
Ire-
Absorbed
in
in
other
the
occupations,
Mr.
Gray's attendance
House of Commons
SIR
irregular, with
23
was rather
did
the
result
that
he
not
sight.
know well-known
colleagues,
even
by
One
afternoon he formed a group
of three
men, who were discussing the new

"
Chief Secretary.
At
all
events," said
is
Gray,
suffi-
"everybody seems agreed that he

ciently dull man."
One
of the group of three
was Campbell-Bannerman himself!

nobody,
however,
There was
heartily as
who would more
laugh at such a joke at his
own expense
Campbell-Bannerman
deal happier over
it
he was certainly a good
than poor Gray,
who never
told the story afterwards without visibly colouring,

in
his vivid
recollection of his confusion
when he heard
of his mistake.
Another
Irish
member put
even
Irish
in
the prevalent feeling of the party

In
stronger language.
at
the very
first
debate
which
Campbell-Bannerman
said
appeared, this
member
the
Government
First
reminded him of a beleaguered

they tried stone
fortifications,
capital.
then they tried

at
guns
finally
they
resorted
the
last
ex-
24 SIR
For a while the nick-
tremity to a sandbag.
name
known
Irish
stuck,
and
Campbell-Bannerman
was
as the sandbag Chief Secretary.
That
member
became
friends
lived
to
regret
the
incident,
and
one
of
Campbell-Bannerman's
It
is
warm
and admirers.
this
he whose
hand has written
memoir.
Irish-
In spite of these things, however, the
men found
that
they had
in the
met with a very
tough antagonist
new man.
When
they
were confronting Mr. Forster, they could make

even that rough and rude giant writhe as they
denounced
would
his
rigime.
Mr. Trevelyan's face

visible pain
shrivel
up almost with
he
himself said that he would sooner face a battery
than these furious and eloquent Irish benches
and
it
was expected that Campbell-Bannerless
man, much
reputation,
known, with a much smaller

prove
a
far
would
easier
prey.
But the
real
Campbell-Bannerman
Irishmen
to
this
was
un-
known
to
the
and
time
to
the
House
had
generally.
Up
people
SIR
of
25
in-
thought
dustrious,
him
simply as one
of
the
painstaking,
dull
eminently
respectable,
and eminently
officials
who
are
chosen
by every Government
the
official
for the smaller places in

It
hierarchy.
was expected that

unimagina-
he would meet
tive answers,
Irish wit with dull,
and that he would
be, so to speak,
roasted alive.
What
turned out to be the fact

as ready
was that Campbell-Bannerman had wit

as that of
any of
his opponents,
;
that
all,
he had
that he
immense
force of character
above
had unfathomable, unreachable depths of imperturbability.

fidence,
it
It
might have been

indifference
;
self-con-
was probably
but there
was no human being who seemed so absolutely

impervious to attack.
after the Irish
One
night, for instance,
members had been hammering

he calmly got up and
of Chief Secretary as
to
away
at
him
the
for hours,
described
position
one
eminently
discipline.
calculated
improve
one's
moral
One was taught
to penetrate
through one's own self-esteem, and to discover
26
SIR
;
one's hidden iniquities

to
and then he proceeded
give a
plain,
unvarnished account of the
transaction
which
from
had
his
evoked
thunders
of
denunciation
opponents
opposite.
There was nothing to be done with a Chief

Secretary like
tion
;
this.
He
laughed at vitupera-
he was jaunty under a cyclone of attack.

the end of the duel
it
What would have been

it is
impossible to say, for
was brought
to a
sudden and abrupt conclusion by the defeat

of
the
Gladstone Government on the

8,
night
of June
1885,
by
the
famous combination
between the Conservatives and the Parnellites

against the
Budget of Mr. Childers.
When
may
may
of
next Campbell-Bannerman and the

met,
it
Irishmen
It
it
was as
allies
and not as
in
foes.
have been his experiences
Ireland,
have been
free
his strong
;
and
instinctive
love
institutions
whatever the reason, he was

first
one of the very
to give in
his
adhesion
to Mr. Gladstone's policy of
Home
Rule.
He
was, indeed,
the inventor
of a
phrase which
SIR
popular.
27
became
Asked
by
the
late
Mr.
Mundella, whose views with regard to
Home
Rule were undergoing a transformation, what

he thought about he
It
"
it all,
his
"
answer was that
had found salvation
six
months
before.
was a phrase quite

it
characteristic of the
man,
and
so aptly described the curious, and in
some
that
cases rapid, conversion of

it
many
Liberals,
familiar
was caught up, and became the
cry of the
especially platform
Rule.
among
for
the
enemies of
of
his
Home
Another consequence
Irish
experience
was
that
ever
afterwards
inflexible
Campbell-Bannerman remained an
Home
make
Ruler.
One who knew him

was no subject which
and so prompt
well declared that there
seemed
to
so
strong
an appeal to his innermost convictions
and
warmest sympathies
as the subject of Ireland,
of which central fact in Campbell-Bannerman's

political
life
proof
will
often
appear
in
the
course of this narrative.

In
the
new Cabinet which Mr. Gladstone
28
SIR
after
formed
the
General
Election
of
1885
for
in
Campbell-Bannerman
War, and that
office
became
Secretary
he continued to hold
the next Liberal Administrations as well.
He
was a highly popular

probably,
administrator partly,
because he was entirely free from

eagerness for change.
Fuss, worry,
any wild
loquacious zeal all
these things to
him were
a torment and a bore. In
the
Government
of
Lord
Rosebery,
Campbell-Bannerman again was a prominent

figure.
He
rent
had been rather on the side of
Sir William Harcourt in the domestic quarrel
which
the
for
;
Liberal
leaders
when
the
to
moment came
Mr. Gladstone
choosing the successor
but
when
the
decision
was
made,
he
loyally
tie
stood
by Lord Rosebery.
nationality
The
well
strong
as,
of a
common
as
perhaps, a strong sense of the main-
tenance of discipline
initial
made
his
him get over the

chief,
difference
with
and
he be-
came one of Lord Rosebery's most
confiden-
SIR
tial
and
advisers.
29
friends
There are several
scenes from that period between the two
men
which are characteristic of them.

ing on the
When, speak-
Home
Rule question, and depenvotes

for
dent on the Irish
existence,
Lord
Rosebery made the

utterance
as
to
famous
and
infelicitous
the
predominant
partner,
friends
Campbell-Bannerman was one of the

to
whom
the
he unburdened himself, and

in
whom
he asked,
of
some bewilderment, the meaning

storm which
unexpected
had begun
politician
after
re-
to rage about his ears.
The younger
pointed out
all,
that
what he had said was,

to
true.
Campbell-Bannerman used
story
count
the
with
great
amusement
as
an instance of the ingenuousness of the Peer

not trained in
of
a the
It
atmosphere of the House

showed, he
said,
Commons.
distance
how
small
in
Lord
Rosebery had gone

education defence
!
his
political
and Parliamentary
it
when
of
he
thought
sufficient
it
any
public utterance
that
was true
30 SIR
Another scene between them took place on a more eventful occasion. The Government of
Lord Rosebery was
in a
very
difficult position,
as everybody will remember.
Their majority,
forty,
which began with a nominal

ally diminished until
it
had gradu-
sometimes ran down to

it
ten or even seven.
In addition,
was honeybetween
Harcourt
file,
combed by
Lord
disaffection, the
struggle
Rosebery
and
Sir
William
having descended down to the rank and
and there being
besides,
among
the unofficial
members of
their
the party, plenty of
men who had

Lord Roseit
own
scores to
pay
off with
bery,
Under
these circumstances,
was
evi-
dent that the

sealed,
doom
of the
Government was
it
and that some

find itself
in
fine night
would wake
Until the
up and
a minority.
memoirs of
this generation
are published, the
whole story of the intrigues which followed will not be known, but sufficient is known already
to justify the statement that there
clear,
if
was a very
though
unspoken, and a very
definite,
SIR
a
31
certainly unwritten,
understanding between
the enemies of the
Government of Lord Rosesupposed

friends, to bring
bery and some of
its
about the defeat of the Government.
The end
a
came
small
in
a very
unexpected way, and on

the
affair.
Among
items
in
the
War
Estimates was one for cordite.
Cordite was a
form of ammunition on which there had been a
good deal of
newspaper
keenly
the
litigation
and a good deal of
controversy.
Nobody
except,
felt
very
about
the
subject
perhaps,
to
inventor,
who was supposed
have
Office
suffered
by the action of the

;
War
experts
that
it
but, all the same, the idea got
abroad
would be a good subject on which to
try a throw with the Government.
The
plans
were well
laid.
In that terrible Parliament of
1892-95 members had to attend to their duties

with an assiduity unknown and unprecedented.
Any
division
might mean
the
end
of
the
Government, and divisions were taking place

every hour of the day and night.
Members who
32
SIR
HENRY CAMPBELL-BANXERMAN
found themselves entering Palace Yard at a

quarter-past three o'clock, went to their places
with their hearts
in
their
mouths
lest
their
absence
for
even a quarter of an hour might

destruction
or
mean
the
the escape
of
the
Government.
on cordite
;
A
but
surprise division
it
was prepared
was not an easy matter,

vigi-
under such circumstances, to escape the

lance
of the
Government Whips,
so,
It
is
said
that, in
order to do
number
of Unionists
whose presence was not expected, were taken

into
the
House through an
;
unusual
and a
back entrance
that
when
the division was unif
expectedly called, they appeared as
they
had sprung from
the earth, and
so
put the
Government
in
a minority of seven.
The
fatal division
took place comparatively
early in leaders
their
the evening, and
when
after
it
the
to
Liberal
met immediately
in
decide on
course
this
crisis,
was Campbell-
Bannerman
probably the
who made
one
the observation that

in
man
London
at
that
SIR
did not
33
moment who
know
of the
fall
of the
!
Government, was the head of the Government
The
justice
of
the
observation
was immedi-
ately seen,
and Campbell-Bannerman was im-
mediately sent off to discover Lord Rosebery.

It
was
understood,
voice,
it
is
generally
the
which
finally
decided
certainly
Government on
to
resignation.
He
and
was resolved
a vote
take
the
vote on cordite as
if
of censure
on
on,
it
himself,
the
to
Government went
go on without him.
tion,
would have had
This decided the quesof the
and
the resignation
It
Government
followed.
may
have
been that Campbelljoined the
Bannerman had himself

those
ranks
of
who were comparatively
indifferent to
the fate of the Administration.
He
had been
cherished
baulked
in
an ambition which he
ambition
warmly an
the existence of which

his closest
was not even suspected by
friends.
When Lord
Peel announced that he could no
longer delay his resignation
of the laborious
34
SIR
Speaker,
it
office
of
was
announced
that
Campbell-Bannerman was one of the candidates for

the vacant
place.
Everybody was
astounded.
serious
For the Campbell-Bannerman of

convictions,
iron will,
purpose, strong
yet
revealed
had
not
himself to the world.

a
As he was then judged, he was

wealth,
a
lover of ease,
man
of
cool
and cynical
man
of
the world,
fond of his dinner, of his

of his
persiflage,
friends,
of
all
his
vacation,
secure in
the gifts that fortune can bestow,
and
it
seemed incredible that such
man
should crave the laborious duties, the terrible

hours, the
awful
boredom, the solemnities of

!
the Speaker's chair

to be quite true.
at
And
yet
it
turned out
The
report
was circulated was
the
time that
Campbell-Bannerman
not eager for the place, and that his
name had
but
been
put
forward,
not
by
himself,
by
over-zealous friends.
true.
But
this report
let
it
was not
Campbell-Bannerman
all
be distinctly
intimates
understood by
those
who were
SIR
and
HENRY CAMPBELL-BANNERMAX
whom
and
he
trusted
that that
35
he
wanted
it
the
office,
even
he wanted
badly.
And
there was no doubt that he

it.
could easily
have had
for
The
a
Liberals
would have voted
him
to
man, the Unionists would not

;
have opposed him
there was but one obstacle,
and
that
was
Sir
William
Harcourt.
The
it
Leader of the House took the
view that
was inconsistent with the position of a Cabinet

Minister to accept the office of Speaker, and
he stuck to
until
Mr. Courtney as
in his turn office
his
candidate,
Mr. Courtney
was prevented
his
from accepting the
by the action of
own
friends.
Campbell-Bannerman may
have
resented
the action of his leader, but he was too easy-
going and too good-tempered a

this
man
;
to allow
or anything
else
in
to
rankle
and when
attended
his
party
was
opposition,
he
regularly in his place
and took
his share of all
the
work that was going.

the
He
adopted
the
in
opposition
same
attitude
to
War
36 SIR
In one of his speeches he
Office as in office.
poured considerable ridicule on the Committee

of
Public Safety,
called
by which he meant
watch and
Office
;
what
was
the
Service
Committee, that had

to criticise the
appointed
itself to
conduct of the
War
and he gave but
a lukewarm support to the
many and
varied
projects of reform on which his successors
had
entered.
Up
to
this
the career of Campbell-Bannersteady, prosperous, and some-
man had been

a Minister
what undistinguished.
as
People thought of him

to his
who attended
did
own Deor
partment,
others
position
and
not
worry
else.
himself
about
anything
His
social
and reputation were stronger, perhaps,

political.
than his
scribed
liked
Here
b}'
is
how he was
de-
at
;
the time
one
who knew and

is
him
though
to
the
description
in his
somepha.ses,
what inapplicable
it
him
final
is
worth reproducing
as
indicating what
was thought of him
generally even
by
tho.se
SIR
to
his circle
37
his
who belonged
opinions
"
:
and
shared
said to be
He
is
fond of the pleasures of

is
the
table,
;
but
that
he
is
gourmet
say,
in
rather
loves
than
gourmand
to
he
quality
much more
his
than quantity
both his food and
wines.
in
He
has a splendid and spacious

his
little
house
dinners
Grosvenor Gardens, and

big
receptions
are
and
well-known
features in every
London
by
his
season.
wife,
He
whom
is
is
ad-
mirably
hearted
assisted
most kindhe
is
and hospitable
lady, to
greatly attached.
like
In appearance he
character.
rather
his
inner
His
head
if it
would
have been called a bullet head

large
were not
enough
to
is
be almost called a cannon
head.
The
face
broad and short
he wears
;
the mutton-chop whiskers of the
official
his
is
eyes are large, deep blue, and
bright
he
somewhat
above the middle height, and of

;
large but not stout build
he walks with the
slow
stride
of
the
easy-going
man
of
the
38 SIR
world.
He
has not a particle of snobbery
;
in
it,
his disposition
he enjoys
little
life
and laughs
it."
at
and perhaps a
despises
In politics, as every active politician knows,

it
is
the great
the
god Chance that ultimately

of
of
politicians.
political
decides
destinies
fact
Never
was
that
central
adventure
in
more
remarkably brought out

the career
than
the
sudden turn which
of Campbellin
Banncrman
took
at
the
epoch
his
life
which has now been reached.

Front
too
Seated on the
but
not
Opposition
Bench, regularly
only
frequently,
speaking
when a War
and then
Office
vote was
under
discussion,
speaking
phasis,
with
hesitancy,
without
much emprestige
and without any of the

position
of
great
and
never
attracted
commanding oratory, he to the House a large

a
its
audience,
never
raised
ripple
of
;
disturb-
ance or enthusiasm on
surface
and when
the dinner-hour came, and
there was nothing
associated with his old departmental activities
SIR
home and
39
under discussion, he quietly slipped away and
went
off to
his
his
friends.
The
prevalent opinion
illustrated
about him
quotation
may be
from
an
further
article
by
which was written about him by Mr.

Stead.
for
W.
T.
Mr.
Stead
who
is
always
famous
almost brutal frankness of speech
wrote
be
put
that
Campbell- Bannerman
diet for
ought
to
on a vegetarian
some
years,
and that
then he might be expected to do some really

active
fact,
work
there
for
his
party.
As
matter
of
in
was considerable exaggeration
these ideas of C.-B.'s devotion to the pleasures
of
the
table.
As
has
been
said,
he
was
gourmet rather than gourmand
liked
the
a good
cook and good cookery, liked a good glass of

wine,
and
liked,
above
all,
intellectual
commerce of the good dinner

rarely
did,
party.
But he
indulged
in
champagne, and when he

for
he suffered he
either
immediately, and
abstained
many
years
from
stimulants
altogether
or
confined himself to those light
40 SIR
Danube.
and sour wines which come from the Moselle

or
the
But
still
the
idea
of
his
;
indolence and love of pleasure was universal

and,
in
fact,
it
was
probably
true
to
the
extent
require
that
he was
pressure
one
of
of
the
men who
of
the
opportunity and
responsibility to bring out their qualities.

to himself, he
Left
in
would have ambled on
his
easy-going, modest, unambitious Scotch
way
too
rational
for
impossible,
too
modest
for
exalted, hopes.
The
was
condition
in
which the Liberal Party
left
by the disappearance of Gladstone,
gave the stimulus which Campbell-Bannerman

required.
For the division

in
in the
Liberal Party,
which began
in
the
Home
Rule struggle, and
the
disappearance of the dominating and,
therefore, reconciling personality of Gladstone,
was opened wider rather than healed by the

disastrous
and short
Sir
lived
Administration
Harcourt,
failure
of
Lord Rosebery.
never ceased
to
William
his
who
reach
resent
to
SIR
the
41
Premiership
and
it
was natural that a

such
brilliant
politician of so
many and
and
prolonged services to his party should look to

the highest reward
say, found
Sir
William Harcourt,
that
his
personal differences with
Lord Rosebery were aggravated and widened
by
difference of political opinion, or, to be

Sir William
more
Har-
correct, political tendencies.
court
brought up Whigs was what

Englander.
in
the
old
school
called
of the
a
Little
would
be
He
it
always repudiated
will
the
term
himself,
but
suffice
as
an
indication
of
political
tendencies
as
they were
under-
stood in his day.

as
Lord Rosebery was quite

a
emphatically
Liberal
at
Imperialist
he
believed in
Democracy
;
home and
Imperial-
ism
abroad
in
other words, while in
most
domestic
affairs
he was
in
favour of the most
advanced reforms, he
differed very slightly in
foreign affairs from the views of his political
opponents.
These differences were accentuated by events
43
as
SIR
time
went
on
all
such
cleavages
It
have
always the tendency to grow greater.

the
was
the
Armenian massacres which

Mr.
brought
old,
crisis.
Gladstone
retired,
dying
slowly from a painful
disease
was
dragged
out
of his
retreat
by the old
appeal of the
Christians subject to the Turkish
Power
and
he began an agitation against Turkey which

bore some
faint
and spectral resemblance to
the agitation which swept like a cyclone over
England
in
the 'seventies
and the
'eighties.
Lord Rosebery, sympathising with the denunciations of the massacres, thought that the agita-
tion
was fraught with great

;
perils to the
peace
in
of Europe
and
finally, in a great
meeting
Edinburgh, resigned from the leadership of the

Liberal Party.
These
fissures in
a party do not always or a

single
resignation.
Sir
usually end
with
William
Harcourt
felt
that his
;
position
also
re-
had become impossible

sponsibilit)' without
that he
;
was
left
power
and that the
effect
SIR
Rosebery's
resignation would
43
of Lord
leave
be to
him the leadership of a divided and

to
broken party, and therefore
throw
upon
him the
the responsibility and the odium of
defeat which would undoubtedly overcome the
Liberal
Party
at
General
Election.
Mr.
views Morley, sharing Sir William Harcourt's

of
antagonism, both to
of
the
policy
and the
forces
action
Lord Rosebery, united

friend,
his
with those of his old
and
the
world
was
startled
one day by the announcement

politi-
on the part of both these distinguished

cians that they
had
retired from the leadership
of the Liberal Party, and would no longer be

responsible for
its
policy
or
its
action.
And
then
it
was that
C.-B.'s great
chance came.
file
Looking round, the Liberal rank and

were puzzled to know
to the vacant throne.
whom
they should raise
Mr. Asquith and other
men who
afterwards
became notable
in
the
Liberal ranks, were as yet too

little
young and too
known
to
command
the adhesion of the
44
SIR
;
whole party
rather
and by a process of elimination

of
It
than
choice,
is
Campbell-Bannerman
of the general
to
was
elected.
significant
impression
held
with regard
him
at
the
time that one of the things which was noticed
and was afterwards commented upon

a
his
as almost
phenomenon, was the

speech
fact
that
in
making
in reply after his election,

it
he raised
his right
arm and brought

on
the table
in
down with some

room of
the
emphasis
the
Reform Club where the

For a speaker
to
raise
election
his
took place.
is
arm
no great
muscular or intellectual
eloquent
strain,
nor any very

but
in
it
it
proof of abounding activity,

to
was held
case of a
be something wonderful
so
the
man
so
easy-going, and, as
It
was
thought,
incurably indolent.
might be
also urged in
favour of the election of
Camp-
bell-Bannerman at the
time that
the crown
which was placed on
his
head was a pretty

in
empty
tion
one.
His party had been

;
Opposiin
for )'cars
seemed destined
to remain
SIR
for
45
Opposition
many
years more
was helppassing
lessly divided at the
moment
in
fact,
through the valley of the shadow.

it
Never did
or
future
in a
stand lower
it
in
present
fortune
hope than
spirit,
it
did at the
moment when,
half of despair and
half of exhaustion,
its
put Campbell-Bannerman at
head.
The
even
estimate prevalent with regard to him,

his
among
own
friends,
;
was proved
after-
wards to be inaccurate
after his
but for several years

to
election
it
seemed
be only too
well justified
by
events.
For, on top of other
sources of division, a
national
came the Boer War.

is
Such
emergency
always calculated to
divide
men even
of the
all
same party
national
passion
in
submerges
minor emotions.
But
the case of the Boer
War
this division
was
made
the more natural and inevitable by the
tendencies
which
had
already shown them-
selves so distinctly
and had already produced

manifestations
of
three
such strange
as
and momentous
from
the resignation
leadership
46
SIR
and
Mr.
such important figures as Lord Rosebery, Sir
William
Harcourt,
John
Morley.
Though he was
life,
detached from active party

still
Lord
in
Rosebery was
great
force,
even
the ranks of Liberalism, and his view
was consistently that the Boer

table
it
;
War was
of
inevi-
or at least that
if it
had been provoked,

the
British
It
was not through the
fault
Government. people, but of the Boer
was
a further personal factor in the situation which
then
arose
that
Lord
Milner,
on
whom
so
much
of the brunt of the war and the events

fell,
before the war

to
was a personal
political
friend,
and
some extent even a
friend, of the
followed the lead of group of Liberals who Lord Rosebery. He was entertained by them
when he went out
to take
in
High Commissioner
up the position of South Africa, and he
was entertained again by them when he rushed
home
for
short vacation
during the agony
of the struggle.
This original difference of opinion was only
SIR
in
47
accentuated by the disasters

began.
which the war
John Bull
set his
teeth,
and resolved
to see the thing out to the
bitter end.
And
at
whatever were the merits

the
start,
of the
contest
everything was
people
forgotten
by
that
the the
majority of the
in the
idea
war should be pushed

the might of the
there
until
the
prestige and
Empire were
restored.
Then
came a twofold
ranks.
influence
to
divide the
like
Liberal
There were some who,
Lord Rosebery and
others, thought both that
the war was justified
and that
;
it
should
be
fought out to a finish
there were others who,

their
though they might have

first
doubts on the
issue,
were quite clear with regard to the
second.
This
scission
of
opinion
was
aggravated
the section numerically very much the favour of the ending of the war. stronger
section
in
by the violence of view taken by the other
This section was indicated sufficiently by the
name
or, rather,
the nickname
of
pro-Boers,
48 SIR
upon
it
which was bestowed
in
the
heated
nomenclature of the time.

so clear
Between opinions
sides,
;
and so
fierce
on both
it
was
impossible to
it
make any compromise
and thus
was that the Liberal Party became publicly
and violently divided.

fact
if
proclamation of this
proclamation were required

public
was given
the Liberal
it
to
the
by the foundation, under

Rosebery,
of
the
for
auspices
of Lord
League.
This was open mutiny,
meant
that, in addition to difference of opinion, there
was
also to be conflict
and
rivalry
of organi-
sations
within
the
Liberal
Party.
These
differences spread themselves, like an infectious
disease
as
all
is
over
the rule with internecine struggles
the operations of the Liberal forces.

there
Whenever
was a by-election
the
two
;
sections fought over the choice of a candidate
and even before that contingency

constituencies were approached
sations
arose, the
by the organi-
of the
two
of
sections,
and over a conthe

Imperialists
siderable
area
country
SIR
in
49
succeeded
getting their nominees
accepted.
This success naturally exasperated the other

section
;
and such
success
was made, of
course, the
more
intolerable,
it
from their point
of view, because
represented a minority of
votes but a majority of wealth.
This was the party which was
left
to Sir
Henry Campbell-Bannerman when he took on

the duties of leadership.
it
It will
be seen that
would
be very hard to have had a more

or a
difficult
more thankless
task.
If
in
his
later years
Campbell-Bannerman seemed
magnified
to be
his
raised,
honoured, and
it is
beyond
deserts,
to be attributed to the fact that he

stress
had so many years of

pass through
;
and
in
difficulty to
that he
showed
these years
extraordinary courage,
tenacity,
and
at
last
consis-
tency
and that when he did

he had
reach
victory,
more than earned the palm.

difficulties
it
To
understand these
was only
necessary to drop into the House of
Commons
during any of the evenings when the Boer

5
War
so SIR
proceeding.
was
still
The
front
benches, by
the unwritten rules of the
House of Commons,
supply open object-lessons as to the condition

of
parties
and Parliamentary
is
leaders.
Super-
ficially,
there
no such thing as a settled

for
place
for
one leader more than
another.
Broad and long, the front benches stretch with

no sign or partition or anything
off
else to
mark
one man's place from another; the Ministers

the Treasury bench, the leaders
who occupy
of
the
Opposition
who occupy
the
front
Opposition bench, hustle against each other as
though they were strap-hangers

train.
in
a District
But there
which
are,
nevertheless,
enormous
distinctions
at
once strike the eye of

life
those accustomed to the inner

of
of the
House
Commons.
It
is
always easy,
for instance,
to tell
who
is
either the leader of the

;
House
sits
or
the leader of the Opposition
each
in
front of one of the
two boxes which stand on
the table in front of the Speaker's chair.
When
bench
you
looked
at
the
Front Opposition
SIR
51
during the
epoch of the Boer War, you saw

;
Campbell-Bannerman opposite the box that marked him out as leader of the Opposition.
short time before that seat had been occupied

Sir
by the mantling form of
William Harcourt
figure both physically and mentally bulky

to
fill
enough
a great
space and to leave a
great void.
It
was
indicative, however, not only
of his departure from the place of leader, but

also
of
his
in
detachment
^self-imposed from
any share
guiding the policy of the Liberal
Party that Sir

taking
a
seat
William Harcourt, instead of

immediately
at
the
side
of
just
Campbell-Bannerman, had taken a seat

last
but one
as
his
on the
next-door
seat
Front Opposition.
neighbour
He
had
occupying
the very last
on the front bench

manifest,
Mr
con-
John
Morley.
The
avowed,
spicuous isolation of these two former Liberal

leaders from the existing leadership could not
be proclaimed more openly to the inner world

of
politics.
It
might
be
added
that
the
52
SIR
of Sir William
his
largeness
his
Harcourt's
three
all
figure
of
head, with
six-foot
or
four
height, rising above those of
the
men around
him, and a certain characteristic pose of Mr.

Morley's
head which
seemed
and
to
suggest
persistent air of rebuke
isolation
added a
further proclamation,
if
that were possible.

;-
But
this
was not
all
Sir
William Harcourt
and Mr. Morley were detached, but they were

not hostile.
There were others of those who

to
were
supposed
be Campbell-Bannerman's
colleagues in the Liberal leadership
who were
The
Mr.
not
only detached, but openly
hostile.
most notable of these was Mr. Asquith.

Asquith had
Secretary in
stone and
held
the the high
office
of
Home
administration of Mr. Glad;
of
Lord Rosebery
had
already
marked himself out
for the greater distinction
he has since attained by the great oratorical
and debating
and, as
gifts
which he had displa)'ed
we now know, was
destined later on to
be one of Campbell-Bannerman's most powerful
SIR
HENRY CAMPBELL- BANNERMAN

the the
53
lieutenants and universally accepted successor.
But
soul
for
moment he belonged
Rosebery and
Liberal
heart
and
to
Liberal
Imperial
section
of the
Party, declared
his
over
and over that the hands of

clean,
country were
and
defended the Boer

till
War and
the
continuance of the war

quered.
the Boers were con-
second
and
equally
important
member
Sir
of the Liberal
Imperialist
group was
Edward Grey an able, self-restrained, and eminently House of Commons figure who had
his following.
A
large
third
was Mr.
at
Haldane
barrister
in
practice
the
Chancery
speaking
Bar a
the
great
student
and
scholar,
language of Germany as fluently as his
own,
and credited even with the power of

Hegel and Schopenhauer, and,
for
understanding
what was more important
Parliamentary
purposes, credited also with unrivalled powers

in the art of political wire-pulling.
There were others

to
less
important but also

with
be seriously reckoned
as
is
every
54 SIR
politics
man
in
who happens
to be the
enemy
of the particular policy or particular leader for the
time being of his own
party.
Against
solicitor
Campbell-Bannerman were Mr. Perks, a

of large practice and
immense wealth;
Sir
Henry
former
Fowler, a former Cabinet

partner of Mr. Perks
also like Mr. Perks, a
in
Minister a
his
law business, and,
man
of widespread influ;
ence
among Nonconformists and there were men also of such known powers and promising
Lawson Walton and Mr. Robson
they were then
future as Mr.
as
destined
later
on to be
Finally,
Campbell-Bannerman's law
officers.
the mutiny had reached even the subordinate
men who were around Campbell-Bannerman on

the Front
Opposition Bench
Mr. McArthur
and
Mr.
Munro Fergusson, two

"
"
ex-Whips,
separated themselves from their nominal leader
and refused now and then

for
to
tell
in divisions
which
respon-
sible.
When
a debate took place under these con-
SIR
55
ditions in reference to the
South African War,

its
the Liberal Party, and especially

leader,
tion.
unfortunate
were placed
in
a very humiliating posihis
Campbell-Bannerman had by
side
but one of the
many
colleagues of olden times
Mr.
up
Bryce
and Mr. Bryce, though a man
of very high gifts and acquirements, had not,
shown any distinguished ParIt was always liamentary debating powers. possible that Mr. Asquith, or some other of
to that time,
the Liberal Imperialists, would rise and say the
very opposite
to
what Campbell-Bannerman
If,
himself had laid down.
on the other hand,

in
he displayed any lack of fervour
denouncing
the war, he had to count with Mr. Lloyd George
and Lord Loreburn, as well as with Mr. Morley,
who were
as
vehement on the one side as Mr.

his
Asquith and
result,
friends
on the other.
The
of course, was that
when
the
division
came the weakness of
the Liberal Opposition

;
was proclaimed more loudly than ever there were abstentions to lower still lower the number
56
SIR
HEXRY CAMPBELL-BAXXERMAX
and
to
of the small Opposition
augment
still
higher the majority of the Ministerialists.
By and by
subjects. land,
differences developed
on other
for Ire-
The question
first
its
of
Home
Rule
which had
rent the Liberal Party in

integrity even again, years
twain, threatened
after
Gladstone had committed the party to the

as
principle
whole.
Lord
Rosebery
had
announced a change of conviction which had

practicalh' converted
him
into an
in
opponent of
the
Liberal
policy,
Home
Rule.
His
followers
Imperialist
camp
did not adopt the
same
;
but they advocated a change of tactics
in
other
words, they suggested that
Home
Mr.
all
Rule should
be proposed by instalments instead of at once,

as Gladstone
had
done.
Asquith,
Mr.
Haldane, Sir Edward Grey,

in
made speeches
them
full
the
country which
part in
pledged
against
taking any
proposing a
Home
Rule
be
the
measure
elected
in
any Parliament that was
to
for
some
time.
This
serious
brought
conflict
Liberal
Imperialists into
with
SIR
the
Liberal
57
Home
Rulers,
and
Campbell-
Bannerman had
to try
and repair the further
scission in his ranks
which such a quarrel was
calculated to produce.
It is
not surprising that, under the circum-
stances, he
and
his friends
should have been
ignominiously beaten when the General Election
came
in
1900.
Each Liberal
leader gave
to his supporters a different policy.
divided
army
is
nearly always a beaten army, and this
fact alone
apart
still
altogether from the fever of
the
war
going
on
would
have
been
sufficient to
account for the great defeat which

sustained.
Campbell-Bannerman
the defeat
it
In
the
end
became such a complete rout that

Everybody
said
grew
it
to be almost farcical.
that
was an
electoral disaster
which could
political
never be repeated
one
of the
many
prophecies which stand out

falsification.
in history
by
their
Campbell-Baimerman became the

of attack in this campaign, and,
chief object
indeed, throughout
the whole of the struggle
58 SIR
The
the
over the Boer War.

could
claim
to
Liberal ImperiaHsts
be on
same
side as the
majority of their countrymen for the moment,
but
it
was
different with
Campbell-Bannerman.
He
not only was hostile to the war, but once
or twice uttered words of condemnation which
were bitterly resented.

of
"
In
one case he spoke

"
methods of barbarism
acts of the
up,
it
in
reference
to
some
British troops.
for the
The phrase
was caught
and
time being the
man
who
tion.
istic,
uttered
was
visited with fierce reprobais
The
history of the phrase

light
character-
and throws
on Campbell-Bannerit
man's character.
Before he used
he had had
an interview with Miss Hobhouse, a lady with

strong
pro-Boer sympathies who had visited
the concentration camps.
She recounted
felt
;
to Sir
Henry what she had seen and

worked upon
for all his
the recital
his
emotions, and his emotions,
outward phlegm, were always prompt

in
and ready
response to any story of wrong
or suffering; and while fresh under the impres-
SIR
sion
of Miss
59
Hobhouse's narrative he made
his speech,
and dropped on the phrase which
created so
much angry comment.

long
association
As
a matter
of
fact,
his
with
the
War
as
Office
would have prevented him from passing

British
soldiers
any condemnation on
whole, and
it
was understood afterwards that
he was talking only of certain duties
such
as
house-burnings and the concentration camps
which
the
grim
of the
necessities
officers
is
of war and
the
commands
them.
into
had
forced
upon
The episode
the
valuable as a glimpse
other
side
of Campbell-Bannerman,
which was so long ignored

conviction, his
his
strength
of
power of profound emotion and

not altogether usual
certain
impulsiveness,
in his tone or suspected in him.

It
it
seems curious, considering the sequel, but

true that
at
is
that particular
moment
the
star
of Sir
nadir,
Henry Campbell-Bannerman was

and
his
that,
at
its
on the other hand, the
one
man on
side
who
at
that
moment
6o SIR
had any hold on the confidence of the nation
was Lord Rosebery.
When,
for
instance,
it
was announced that Lord

address a meeting at
Rosebery was to
that
little
Chesterfield,
Derbyshire town became the centre of

tion
attrac-
and
interest for all parts of the
kingdom.
An
any
audience ten times as large as that which

hall in the
town could accommodate would

to
have been
glad
get
admission,
in
it
and
the
speech was reported verbatim

in
every journal
the kingdom.
For a time
were destined
seemed
to
force
as
if
the
Boer
War
back
upon Lord Rosebery the crown which he had

once worn and then thrown away.
pool, after
In Liver-
Lord Rosebery had made a speech

eloquence, Sir
of
commanding
Edward
Russell,
editor of the Liverpool. Daily Post,

sistent as
and a conhad
well as brilliant Liberal writer,

feeling
voiced the general

the time,
among
and
Liberals at
"
when he
rose up
said,
Let us
a critic
in
acclaim him as our leader."
At once
of the methods of the Unionist
Government
SIR
HENRY CAMPBELL-BAXNERMAN
6i
dealing with the war
and
to
their mistakes,
or
the mistakes for which the}- had the responsibility, laid
them open
abundant attack
at
con-
once a
critic
of the methods of the Government

its
and an advocate of the war and of

tinuance to
to hit
final victory,
Lord Rosebery seemed
the via
media on which the minds of

set
most of the people were
that
it
is
to say, a
continuance of the war, but a change of the
men and
the methods by which
was being
conducted.
It
was only natural
under
these
circumto bring
stances that attempts should be
made
together the two
men.
No
Liberal was for-
getful of the fact that
Lord Rosebery exercised

his
an enormous influence on
social station, his
countrymen.
his
His
wealth,
great
gifts
especially as an orator
and
his fervid patriot-
ism,
seemed
to
plainly
mark him out
as just
the figure which might exercise a magnetic and

inspiring influence
pecially a
on a democracy
and
es-
democracy which largely
consists of
62
SIR
still
that vast middle class that
retains
some-
thing of the old respect for

wealth.
title,
station,
and
There was no idea
at that
time that
Campbell-Bannerman could ever be anything

like
a strong
rallying-point
for
the
masses.
His powers, though they had developed, had

yet
shown
none
of
the
strikingly
popular
forms which dazzle a crowd, and the divisions

in
his party
and
its
weakness were naturally

his
thrown back upon

themselves had
co-operation.
head.
The two men

feeling
no
personal
against
They remained on friendly terms

;
They were both Scotchmen they were both endowed with some of the characteralways.
istic
virtues of their
countrymen.
But though
the plat-
they addressed to each other from
forms friendly messages and polite invitations,
they never seemed
to
get
to
close
quarters.
Adopting
their
in
the theological phraseology dear to
countrymen, they spoke of worshipping

tabernacles.
different
The
truth
was that
they were separated by irreconcilable opinions
SIR
63
on some things and by

on nearly everything.
It
is
irreconcilable tendencies
impossible to say what

issue
might
duels
the
have
if
it
been
the
of their
for
friendly
had
not
been
the
advent of
great
Free Trade
issue.
When, amid
silence
that deadly
and
almost
visible
that
it
marks
the
sense of an audience
that
is
hearing and
witnessing epoch-making events, Mr. Chamberlain
avowed
to
his
conversion one afternoon

of
Tariff
in
It
in
1905
the
doctrine
Reform,
whole new chapter was opened

of
the history
English
political
parties.
divided
for
it
the
moment
the
Unionist
all,
Party,
and
divided,
more than
the Unionist Ministry,
Before
lain
many months had

had
left
passed Mr. ChamberMinistry

;
himself
the
he
was
followed in
succession
by Mr.
later on,
Ritchie,
Lord
George Hamilton, and

of Devonshire
;
by the Duke
and there came into the camp

into
sec-
of
the
Conservatives that division
tions
Free
Fooders, as they were called, and
64 SIR
HENRY CAMPBELL-BAXXERMAN
Tariff Reformers
differences
which
the
corresponded to the
pro-Boers
between
and
the
Liberal ImperiaHsts in the Liberal Party.
On
this
the Liberal
Party, of course, the effect
was quite
different.
The Boer War had by

;
time been concluded

there
what divisions of
Liberals
;
opinion
that
had
been
among
on
this
great
issue
issue
had
been
healed
all
and
new
on which they were

to
in
complete
agreement, gave
them a welcome oppor-
tunity to emerge from their divisions into the

full
and blazing day of perfect accord.
Be-
tween Lord Rosebery and Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, between Mr. Morley and Mr.
Asquith, there was not one particle of
differ-
ence of opinion
or
tendency
they could go
now
together, honestly, whole-heartedly, to the
end of the struggle.
This
change
in
their
own
was
position, this closing
up of
to
their
ranks,
natural
incitement
greater,
more
the
united,
more enthusiastic
;
effort
among
Liberals
and
this
tendency was, of course,
SIR
by the
their
65
the
enormously helped
divisions divisions
spectacle
of
among
political
opponents,
which broke up
combination of
test
different elements that
had withstood the
of stormy times for quite twenty years.
The
at
promised
last in
land
of
after
office
and
power was
sight,
years of weary and

in the chilly
ap-
parently hopeless wanderings
and
sandy deserts of Opposition.
For a time
reason
it
looked as
if
there were no
why
this
combination
between
Sir
Henry Campbell-Bannerman and Lord Rosebery,
which had been sighed

years,
for
during
pass
;
so
many
Tariff
It
should not
come
in
to
they
spoke with equal fervour

Reform,
still
denunciation of
in
advocacy of Free
Trade.
was
a possibility that
Lord Rosebery
would
be
chosen as Commander-in-Chief of
forces,
the Liberal
as
his
with Campbell-Bannerman
lieutenant in the
it
House of Commons.
up
to almost the last
Thus
happened
that,
moment,
6
future
lay
66 SIR
in
trembling
get
the
balance
either
he might
first
the dazzling supremacy of the
place
;
or the comparative mediocrity of the second
between
gulf.
the
two there yawns a very wide
There was one other

as formidable even as
rival
who
some
stood
in
way
in
respects
Lord Rosebery,
Lord
Spencer had served the Liberal Party
in posts
of great difficulty and terrible peril for

years.
his
life
many
taken
He
in
had
his
twice
in
succession
hands by accepting the Lord

at
Lieutenancy of Ireland
disturbance
in
moment when
country
of
that
to
unhappy
had
civil
reached
almost
the
proportions
war
he
had
never
swerved
from
Liberal
principles with regard to
Ireland once he had

in
thrown
great
in
his
lot
with Mr. Gladstone

;
the
Home
his
Rule upheaval of 1885

esteemed
for
;
he was
his
universally
his
simplicity,
honesty,
consistency
and
he
had
the
advantage of a great
title,
great possessions,
SIR
great
HENRY CAMPBELL-BANNERMAX
traditions
67
from former Liberal chiefs
and,
unlike
Campbell-Bannerman,
had
said
nothing during the Boer
War
which anybody
In that
desire
could resent as unpatriotic.

for
compromising on an individual which is characteristic of all political parties, there was

a
strong
set
for
Lord
Spencer.
But
just
about the time when his claims were to come
up
for
consideration
Lord
Spencer
unexby
the
pectedly,
illness,
suddenly
was
struck
down
from
and he was removed thus

in
running
first
a race
where with many he was
favourite.
illness
What
had done
in
the shape of re-
moving one
his
rival, difference
of conviction and
other.
own hand
did
with
the
In
the
course of the speech-making which

the General Election,
preceded
carried
Lord Rosebery
in
on
an
active
campaign
the
West
of
in
England.
this very
There were many circumstances
campaign which seemed

destined
to
to point to
him
as
be the leader and the
68
SIR
Minister,
Prime
Everywhere Lord Rosebery

in
its
got a reception which was regal

siasm, in
in
enthuit,
the multitudes
who took
part in
the fanatical admiration which his inspired
utterances excited everywhere he spoke.

intoxication
in
The
the air which always precedes

inclines
and accompanies a General Election
men
to
dream dreams, and already many saw

in
Lord Rosebery once more
the Premiership
but
and
as
in
the Premiership, not as the helpless
slave of impossible
conditions and
as
in
rebellious
hostile chief lieutenants
1903, but
commander
of
great
party
and
as
acknowledged and powerful chief of a body

of assistants rather than colleagues.
Anyhow
ascendant,
Lord Rosebery's
star
was
in
the
and the struggle between him and Campbell-
Bannerman
for
supreme power seemed to be
leaning towards his side.
good
many
other
things,
besides
the
merely personal struggle between the two men,

lay trembling in the balance at that
moment.
SIR
HENRY CAMPBELL- BANK ERMAN
69
For the success of Lord Rosebery would have

involved an entirely different attitude on
subjects, but
many
most of
all
on the question of
Ireland.
virtually
As
has been seen, Lord Rosebery had

his opinions
changed
Rule
;
on the question
of
Home
to all intents
It
and purposes he
had become a Unionist.
was true that some
of his most powerful friends and associates had
not imitated
him
in
this
respect
they had
joined him in thinking that
Home
Rule should
be approached by very different methods from

those of Mr. Gladstone, but none of them had
shown any
that
desire to
withdraw from the position
Home
Rule must be the ultimate solution
of the Irish difficulty.
At
the
it
same
time, one
can see what a difference

in
would have made

in
if
the
political
situation
and
the the
whole
temper
Minister
of
the
Government
Prime
had
-
been Lord
Rosebery and not
Campbell
Bannerman. and
as
The
head
of
of
any
an
organisation,
especially
British
such
organisation
the
Cabinet,
must
70 SIR
even
always exercise a powerful and
domi-
nating influence on the whole policy and temper

of
the
organisation.
This
is
especially
and
peculiarly
the
case with
such a body as the
British Cabinet.
Bismarck used constantly to

his
complain
Ministry
that
in
position
as
head of the
Germany
contrasted unfavourably
in
with that of the head of the Government
England
this
and the chief reason he gave

in
for
complaint was that
Germany
of
the Prime
Minister
Ministers,
was
only
one
several
other
practically
independent
of
him
while
in
England
the
Prime
Minister
was
given the right to choose his
own
colleagues,
and
to
if
they differed
that
from him, had the right
ask
they should go while he could

be seen, therefore, that
to
if
remain.
It will
Lord
Rosebery had been called

the Government, the
the headship of
Government would have

;
had to wear
his
colours
and one of these
colours was hostility to the Gladstonian policy
of
Home
Rule.
SIR
71
With Campbell-Bannerman as its head, on the Ministry, of course, would the other hand
;
have been of an entirely different complexion.
There were several of the old comrades
of
it
Lord
Rosebery
who would
have
found
impossible to serve under him again, especially

if
the
the
abandonment of
conditions.
of
Home Rule were one And there would have

in
been a further complication
the
situation
by the
effect
which a Rosebery Premiership

to
would be certain
Nationalist Party.
have had on the

party, as
is
Irish
That
known,
has a considerable following in Great Britain

as
well
as
in
Ireland.
It
is
computed that
there are something like

Irish
two millions of an
;
population in Great Britain
and most
of these are dwellers in great populous centres.
In
several
constituencies
;
they have a large
voting power
and that power would certainly

if
have been doubtful,

Premiership
not hostile,
created.
if
a Rosebery
had
been
The
restive.
Irish
Nationalists had already
become
For,
72
SIR
Home
of
while not repudiating
Rule as an
the
friends
ulti-
mate
solution,
several
and
adherents of Lord Rosebery
among
the leaders
of the Liberal Party had proclaimed that they
would not only not support but would
resist
any attempt
in the
to introduce a
Home
Rule measure
Parliament that was about to be elected

in
by the constituencies
It
the coming Election.

I
was under these circumstances that
had
an interview with Campbell-Bannerman of any

length for the last time.
He
invited a friend
It
is
and me
little
to breakfast
with him.
since
but a
;
over
two
years
it
that
!
meeting
and yet how remote
seems now
CampbellBelgrave
Bannerman
Square.
had
just
moved
into
For years he had occupied the vast

at
mansion which stands

in
one of the corners

close to
Grosvenor Place
just
Hyde Park
The house
Gate.
For some reason or other he had moved
into a house in Belgrave Square.
was
still,
more or
;
less,
in
the
hands of the
certain
air
decorators
and
this
gave a
of
SIR
73
preparation
and of setting up housekeeping
under new conditions, which corresponded with

the coming change in the fortunes of the owner.
There was,
further,
that
air
of
rush
which
always proclaims the rising of a new sun, and

all
the crowds of
satellites
orbit.
that
seek to be
gathered into the
There were constant

;
knockings at the door

be
telegrams seemed to
;
coming every second
and
hall.
cards
It
were
piling
as
if
themselves up in the
seemed
one were entering not a private dwelling-
house, but a great public department.
Campbell-Bannerman
the early hours
in vacation
times had
and the plenteous breakfasts

of
his
which
It
is
are
characteristic
to
countrymen.
needless
say
that
he was an ideal
host simple,
cordial,
and,
when
it
came
to
an exchange of views, frank.

of views was
brief,
This exchange
for
there
policy
was
and
complete
tactics.
agreement
as
to
both
for
There was no need

possibility as the
discussing
any such
Rule
abandonment of
Home
74 SIR
;
by Campbell-Bannerman
would have been an
to
have
done
so
insult to his
intelligence
and to
his
honesty.
One
point only could
be suggested
for discussion,
and a few words

little
if
showed that even that required
indeed
any
discussion.
A
that
smile,
half-amused, half-
canny,
showed
Campbell
Bannerman
had not the

self
slightest idea of
embarrassing himall
and
his
friends
and
the
friends
of
the
National cause of Ireland by such

ordinances
in
self-
denying
proposal
against
Home
as
Rule
the coming
Parliament
had
been uttered by some of
his future colleagues.
One
that
little
personal
and curious incident

breakfast
I
of
to
me
had
memorable
all
recall.
When we
dishes
disposed of the excellent
which make up the Scotch breakfast,

at
Campbell-Bannerman, looking
me
wistfully,
and evidently with a desire

the
to
show
to
me
a
generous
to
and amiable
an
at
hospitality
of
Scotchman
Irishman,
remarked
there
that
a
when
he
was
Cambridge
was
SIR
Would
sure
I
75
curious custom of finishing up breakfast with
a glass of strong old

revive
C.-B.
ale.
I
like to
the
custom
am
if
that
poor
would have suffered

;
had accepted
the invitation
so
had
to
refuse,
and C.-B.
repeated
left
then
remarked that he had
never
the Cambridge tradition since he had

University, and
that
I I
the
am
sure was quite grateful
had not compelled him to do so on
this occasion.
It
was shortly
speech
after
in
this that
he made his
the
historic
Stirling.
That was
speech in which he laid down the policy that

while Ireland might not expect to get at once
a
measure
of
complete
in
Home
Rule,
any
measure brought
should be consistent with
and leading up
declaration was
to the larger policy.

all
Such a
that the Irish Nationalist
Party
could have expected at that moment,
and
at
it
enabled them to give their

elections
to
full
support
the
in
the
Liberal
Party.
But
down
Cornwall and on Lord Rosebery the

effect.
speech had quite the opposite
76
SIR
HEXRY CAMPBELL-BAXNERMAN
and
In one quarter of an hour the whole situation

for
him
for
for ever.
changed, and changed
Taking up the
speech which Campbell-Bannerman had made

in
Scotland,
Lord Rosebery denounced
it
as
meaning the advocacy again of

and
" "
Home
Rule,
under that banner," added Lord Rosebery

I
emphatically,
will
not serve."
Lord Roseor
bery
either
singularly
miscalculated
was
carried
away by
the intensity of his convictions

;
into over-emphatic utterance
whatever was the
reason, this
little
speech sealed his fate as the

Liberal
leader
of
the
for
Party and as
;
Prime
leaders
Minister
that
epoch
the
Liberal
were
all
against him in principle, however
much
some of them may have sympathised with him

in
tactics,
and
Campbell-Bannerman,
Mr.
Morley, and other powerful

the rank and
file
men, as well as
of the Liberal Party, would

to the
never have consented
abandonment of
there
Home
Rule.
In
addition,
was
the
formidable body of eighty-two Irish Nationalist
SIR
it
77
members, without whose assistance

impossible
carried
himself,
for
seemed
to be
any Liberal Government
on,
and, in short. Lord Rosebery cut

his speech, adrift
by
from the Liberal
Party and from the Liberal leadership. Thus, then,
by a
series
of
events,
some
of them accidental,
some of them unexpected

for
by certain
Chance
as the
gifts
which were unsuspected

life
three-fourths of his political
above
all,
by
the ultimate throw of the dice by the great god
Campbell-Bannerman
man who had
to be
was pointed
to
summoned by
new
the
King, when the duty devolved on the monarch

of calling for the formation of a
Cabinet.
That duty came,
in the end,
unexpectedly.
Mr.
Balfour had shown such extraordinary power

of conducting an
Administration in the face
of almost impossible conditions, had survived

so
many
separations
of
powerful
colleagues,
had so obstinately refused to be forced

political
by
his
opponents
into
the
resignation
of
power
until a majority of the
House of Com-
78
SIR
against him, that
it
mons decided
likely that he
seerned quite
would face yet another session
of Parliament.
He had
closed the
that
session
of
1905
with
the
announcement
he would
bring in
during the following session a new

Bill,
Redistribution
one of the chief features of

in the
which was to be a considerable reduction

representation
of Ireland.
But
this
proposal
did not suit his party.

as
his
It was, in
fact,
it
almost
unwelcome
political
to his
;
own
friends as
was to
foes
not so
much, indeed, that
they disagreed with the policy of such a proposal in

itself
as with
it
the
timeliness
of the
moment when
view of those
to
was brought forward.

given
The
who had
their adhesion
Tariff
Reform was
in
that that question
had
the
been
placed
the
very
forefront
of
Unionist programme, and that to introduce any

other
question
especially
of
so
provocative
and
to
difficult a
character as Redistribution
was
un-
divert
the attention of the party from the
great and supreme to the minor and the
SIR
79
essential.
This section of the Unionist Party
besides,
had already come to the conclusion
that the longer the appeal to the country
was
postponed,
the
more complete would be the
defeat of the Government.
To
his
this conviction
Mr.
ledge
Chamberlain,
with
in
immense knowgave
still
and
instinct
electioneering,
utterance several times while Mr. Balfour
held on to
office.
This period in the career
of Mr. Balfour will always be one of the most

interesting interesting
at the time
psychological studies
life.
even
in
his
The
that,
general theory accepted
was
having been deserted by

to
so
many
people, he
was resolved
;
show that
he could get on without them
and certainly
he did surprise everybody by the tenacity and

the power he displayed.
But
in
the end his
Cabinet had been reduced to something very

like
Cabinet of
head
clerks
and
private
friends.
Some
of these, too, were
not very
much enamoured
partly responsible
of Tariff Reform, and were

for
the
attempt to
"side-
8o SIR
raising the Irish
track" that issue by

tion in an acute form. to
Ques-
But an end was put

tangled
tactics
these
dilatory
and
by
speech of Mr. Chamberlain's, which so clearly

called
for
the
clearing of the
left
situation
that
in
4,
Mr. Balfour was

his resignation.
no choice but to hand
This he did on December
1905.
Thus
in
it
was that
a
England
Ministerial
festivities
found
crisis
herself
just at
the middle of
the epoch
when the
of
the
and the family

dispose
life.
gatherings
Christmastide
all
men
to forget the struggles of public
The
of
Liberal leaders had been lectured by

their followers for
office before
many
months on the
evil of
;
taking
it
the appeal to the country
was
pointed out in a thousand leading articles that

this
would be a
tactical
mistake
that
it
would
give the Conservative Party the advantage of
changing from the place of responsibility and

attack into that of irresponsibility and criticism,
and
it
was
even
reported
that Mr.
Balfour
SIR
8i
himself had justified his resignation, and the
consequent exchange of
nents, on the
roles
with his oppo-
ground that he would thereby
gain or save thirty seats.
But
all
these arguments were not even heard
of when the King sent to Sir
Henry Campbell-
Bannerman
the request that he would form an

Sir
Administration.
Henry
at
once accepted
the task, and set to work.
His task was not

a
very
never
easy that
is.
of
forming
Government
Mr. Gladstone, who could sleep anyat
where and
any time
in
normal circumstances,
declared that this task was the only one which

ever cost
him a night's
sleep.
In the case of Sir
Henry Campbell-Bannerman that difficult task was made more difficult by the existence of the
two sections among
his nearest
comrades.
issue had,
The
to
Free Trade controversy
which
now rushed
the front as the main political

true,
it is
done much
to
unite
the scattered
and
broken ranks of the Liberals.
They had found

in
an even more
effective
and potent bond

7
the
82
SIR
all
prospect of a great victory, with
that such a
victory involved of fame, and salary, and power.
But
Boer
still,
the recollections of the split over the
War
were
still
fresh,
and the
feelings of
all
exasperation between the two sections had

the bitterness which
is
always conspicuous
in
the quarrels of friends.
And
the Irish Question
raised above the gestation of the
new Govern-
ment
result
its
menacing and haggard form.

that
The
new
pro-
was
the
formation
of
the
Government
by
Campbell-Bannerman
for
ceeded somewhat slowly, and
some
three chief
days
it
was almost
at a standstill.
The
difficulty
in
was the Liberal

the
Imperialists.
file
Small
of the
number among
rank and
Liberal Party, the Liberal Imperialists had, on
the
other
hand, the enormous
advantage of
for-
having as leaders the most powerful and
midable Parliamentarians of the whole party,
and
it
is
well
known
to all students of political

politicians,
manoeuvres that a body of
though
in
they have comparatively few adherents
the
SIR
HENRY CAMPBELL-BAXNERMAM
file, is
83
rank and
ful
often disproportionately powerit
from the
fact that
has
its
leaders within
the very heart of the citadel,
or, to
use the less

its
reverent x^merican expression, that
leaders
have more or
less
control of the
"
machine."
Mr. Asquith, Sir Edward Grey, Mr. Haldane
here were three powerful men, whose absence
from the leadership and counsels of the Liberal

Party might exercise an extremely prejudicial
effect.
And
all
the negotiations,
it
must be
su-
remembered, were
overshadowed by the
fact
preme and dominating

that the
of the
moment,
to enter
new Government would have

all
immediately on
" "
the perils, uncertainties, and
hecklings
that
of a great General Election, and
nothing
their
could
be
more
calculated
to
damage
chances than to present to the
world the spectacle of a party divided against

itself
party divided against

fall
itself is
never
as sure to
battle,
as
when
the
it
reaches to a pitched
or
at
either in
field
the
polling
booths.
84
SIR
If
it
had not been
for this decisive fact
it
is
quite possible that the
Government of Camp-
bell-Bannerman would have been of quite a

different
character.
Neither section was parother, either person-
ticularly
enamoured of the
ally or politically,
and there was, indeed, even
an approach to strong personal dislike between
Campbell-Bannerman
prominent
Sir
and
one
of the
most
group.
of the
Liberal
Imperialist
in
Edward Grey
in
who
was
manner the
discreet,
in
most mild,
speech the
most
demeanour the most
correct of
all
the group
turned out
trouble,
to be the
for
one who gave the most
and
days the question was at issue

If
whether or not he would join the Ministry.

he had not joined the Ministry
it
would have
been
difficult
for
either
Mr. Asquith or Mr.

so,
Haldane
to
have done
and
in
that case,
though the Government would, of course, have

been ultimately formed,
it
would have been of

It
quite a different complexion.
might have
is
been more powerful, or
less
that
a matter
SIR
of
85
conjecture
but
it
would certainly
fact
have
been
dififerent.
The
also
remains
it
must be dwelt upon,

situation
for
it
governed the whole
that
the
Government was formed
before the General Election was fought.
In the last resort a politician, even more than

the average man,
is
controlled
by
his personal
and
his party interests

;
more than by
his private
politicians
sentiments
are able to
and men who are true

for a
work
common
political
purpose
even with
men
they dislike.
have anticipated, the
As anybody might tangled web of negotiation

in
and intrigue was unravelled

the Liberal
the end, and
Imperialists received
some of the
Mr. Hal-
highest places in the
new
Ministry.
to the
dane was supposed to look

cellorship
;
Lord Chan-
but
Campbell-Bannerman had no
intention of leaving the charge of his personal
and
political
views in one House of the Legis-
lature in the
hands of anybody
whom
man
he could
not implicitly trust as both a personal

political
and
adherent; and such a
he found
86 SIR
in
Sir
Robert Reid
an
even more pronounced
who during the war had expressed even more pronouncedly

Radical than himself, and one
his views.
But Mr. Haldane found consolation

Secretary for War.
in the great office of
Mr.
Asquith was made Chancellor of the Exchequer,
which meant among other high privileges that

of being Deputy Leader of the
House of Com-
mons, while Sir Edward Grey obtained the

great office of Foreign Secretary.
There was a sigh of
relief in all Liberal circles
when
at last the long negotiations

it
came
to an
end, and
was known that the King once

to carry
more had a Government

of the
country.
in all
on the
affairs
There was an outburst of

Liberal ranks, and never did
enthusiasm
a
new commander-in-chief approach a decisive battle with troops more wildly enthusiastic for
their
chief
Then came
the splendid sunset

career.
of
At once
discovered and revealed discovered by others,

revealed by himself
energetic, not
easy-going
SIR
;
87
serious, not insouciant
with hot, not tepid, con-
viction
triumphant over powerful enemies and

friends, over
powerful
years
;
of neglect, mis-
understanding, underrating
he was personally,
as well as officially, the great outstanding per-
sonality
of
the
all
new
Ministry,
Sir
dwarfing
and
submerging
the others.
Henry was not
long in justifying this enthusiasm by announcing
some measures on which

Liberal
the
voice
of
the
rank
and
file
had been thunderous.
The
first
of these questions which most deeply
excited their fiercest feelings was that of Chinese
Labour. This comparatively small question was

elevated by the hereditary hatred of Englishmen
for
anything that
may be
regarded
as
even
approaching
slavery by
the vindictive dislike
of the mining magnates

fortunes,
who had amassed huge
and were credited with having dragged
the country into the gigantic expense and the
many
war
humiliations and the futile issue of the
by
many
other
facts,
including
brilliant
speeches, writings and inspired cartoons
this
88
SIR
question was elevated into almost as great an

issue of the General
Election as Free Trade.

it
Less important than Free Trade,

ever,
was, how-
more picturesque, more
lurid,
had made a
more
direct appeal to the popular imagination

;
and the popular heart and passion
and
it
thus
loomed so large upon the horizon

blot out
all
as to almost
fact
other issues.
This
must be
remembered
to account for the almost frenzied

first
excitement of the
great popular meeting

It
which Campbell-Bannerman attended.
took
place at the Albert Hall, and the vast hall was

filled
in
every seat, while enthusiasm reigned
almost to frenzy.
beside
itself
This gathering went almost
when Campbell-Bannerman an-
nounced that the importation of Chinese labour

into
South Africa had been already brought to

It
an end.
turned out that the announcement

or exaggerated,
was
to
some extent premature

had been given
for
for permits
the admission
of a further and a big batch of coolies in the

final
hours of the late Government, and the new
SIR
89
Secretary for the Colonies
Lord
Elgin
found
;
that he could not interfere with these warrants
and
so
the entrance
of Chinese labour conafter the creation of the

for the
tinued for
some time
new Government.
But
moment
people
did not stop to inquire, and the
new Premier
at the first
was acclaimed as the man who had,

possible
moment, righted
a great
wrong.
The
position to which
in his
Campbell-Bannerman
party
is
had now attained
an interesting
study of the vicissitudes and the uncertainties,

the ever-ready surprises, of political
life.
For
years derided as a small, feeble, ineffective politician,
now and
then
lifted
from
this
contemp-
tuous level to one of fierce national resentment,
regarded even by some of his

lacking
in
own
friends as
force
and magnetism, and looked

of the
down upon by some

which are showy and
been
underrated.
men he
afterwards
chose as colleagues, with none of the qualities

inspiring,
he had
for years
Now
that he had
reached
the pinnacle almost of
human power and human
90 SIR
was a violent
reaction,
glory, there
and he came
to be eulogised
and appraised with something

as
of the
same exaggeration
in
had been formerly

With-
shown
deriding and underrating him.
out, of course, Gladstone's imperious,

ing,
command-
and almost affrighting personality, the new

to the
Prime Minister made an appeal
man
in
the street by the qualities which appeal most to

the
man
in
the street.
Simplicity,
candour,
honesty, and good humour just that

of commonplaceness which
little
touch
makes the whole

;
world of
men
in
the street kin
he was able to
affection
inspire a personal devotion
and
which
might have been impossible to men of more
commanding and dominating
powers.
To
made
son
the Radical section of his supporters he a more special appeal. of a
Born
to wealth,
Tory
in
father,
highly educated, coshis

tastes,
all
mopolitan
instinct
some of
;
he was by
in
Radical
and on
questions
sections
which
the
always
confront
conflicting
of
Liberalism
and
oppose each other,
SIR
it
91
Campbell-Bannerman,
was
known,
would
thus
come down on
arose the the
the Radical side.
There
Campbell-Bannerman legend, what

call
Germans
a certain schwdrmerei about
his personality;
and, like
it
all
popular legends
and enthusiasms,
other
gave
to
him a power which
men
could not possess, and which was
more
gifts.
effective
and useful than any
intellectual
This was
the
attitude
of the
public
to
Campbell-Bannerman when he entered on the General Election which was to decide whether he
was
It
to
have
office
with or without real power. with his

rivals.
was quite
different
The
length of the years during which they had held

office,
the bitter aftermath of the Boer War, the
division in their ranks over Tariff Reform, the
vast accumulation of mistakes, real or imaginary,
which can always be
laid at
the door of the

partial
Government
of
the day, the
disable-
ment
cryptic
of
Mr.
Chamberlain,
the
somewhat
dread
utterances of Mr. Balfour, the
92
SIR
HENRY CAMPBELL-BANNLRMAN
of the dear loaf which Protection was expected

to bring, the f:inatical hatred of Chinese labour
all
these
things
combined
to
make
when
the
the
Unionists extremely unpopular, and
General Election was over,
it
was found that
the Liberal Party had gained a victory more

crushing,
more overwhelming, more widespread, than even they had anticipated in their most
sanguine anticipations.
There was no doubt
about
the
it
the country had determined to give
new Prime
Minister
not only office but
power.
On
the other hand, of his opponents,
never were so
the dust.
many
chiefs of a party laid in
Mr.
Balfour
was beaten
at
Man-
chester, Mr. Lyttelton at

in
Warwick, Mr. Long

in
Bristol,
Mr. Brodrick
Surrey.
The one
region that remained
faithful
to the Unionist
party was
the
small
region
of Birmingham,
where once more Mr. Chamberlain vindicated

his extraordinar)-
ascendancy above
his neigh-
bours and townsmen.

in
Every
single constituency
his
Birmingham was retained by him and
friends.
SIR
93
Rarely had a leader to face a more
difficult
assembly than that which confronted the new
Prime Minister
the elections.
excessive
after the
wondrous victory of
All
Parliamentarians dread an
It
majority.
has not the cohesion

majority
together.
It
which keeps a
small
tends to the fissiparousness which comes from

over-confidence and from the sense that a
man
may
safely rebel, an
attitude which combines
the Parliamentary advantages of personal self-
advancement without injury

flagrant
to
the
party or
In
disregard
of
party
discipline.
addition, the majority
was composed, not only
of different, but even of conflicting elements.
There came into
this
House of Commons
force as
to
new
portent,
and with such
make
the whole old world of politics and Parliament

aghast, and to place
all
normal processes out

This was the
Here,
it
of date and out of calculation.

sixty
to
seventy
Labour
Members.
indeed, was an upheaval which made

possible for
im-
anybody
to foretell
the future of
94 SIR
the the
And
new
portent was further
it
new Assembly from any precedents of

past.
this
complicated by the fact that

against
itself,
also
was divided
and the two

party,
sections, as always,
of the
same
were farther apart from
each other than

opponents.
from outsiders and avowed

section
One
followed
the
tra-
ditional lines of
Socialist
Trades Unionism, not avowing
opinions,
and
generally relying on
its
the Liberal
Party to
section,
carry out
called
purposes.
The
other
the
Independent
Labour Party, was

Socialistic,
for the
most part avowedly

itself as
and instead of regarding
the ally of the Liberal Party, ranged itself in

opposition
to
it,
and,
indeed,
spoke
of
it
generally as
the
more formidable enemy

parties.
in
the two great
middle-class
This In-
dependent Labour section

its
signified sufficiently
view
;
by
opposing
in
several
Liberals
at
elections
and
the
House of Commons
followed the example set

the
Irish
many
years ago by
created,
in
Party,
which
Parnell
SIR
its
95
taking
place on the Opposition side of the

Irish
House.
Like the
Nationalist
"
Party,
it
thereby proclaimed
itself as
always
agin the
Government,"
and
without
any
distinction
between a Government that was Liberal and one that was Conservative.
It
was
this state of things in the
House of
Commons which
brought out the qualities of

his very
Campbell-Bannerman and gave him

peculiar position.
His
personality never
was
capable of exciting any really violent personal

antipathies.
It
was supposed that there was
no love
neither
lost
between him and Mr. Balfour, but

capable of anything like fierce
hostility.
man was
and active personal
Then Campbelladvantage
of
;
Bannerman had
the enormous
being regarded as honest and straightforward
and
this
counts for a good deal
in
an assembly
are
like the
House of Commons, where men

little
constantly making
deals, bargains, under-
standings, compromises, the possibility and the
potency of which are
largely
dependent
on
96 SIR
Finally,
mutual trust and goodwill.
Campbell-
Bannerman was always inclined to compromise, having his own opinions pretty deeply laid
on some questions, but by temperament and
long years of Parliamentary training, always
ready
It
for a deal.
was
that
curious
this
and almost
incredible
sight
when
got up
plain, uninspired,
easy-
going man
in the
House of Commons,
difficulties
immediately
many
The
of the
of
an
apparently perilous and

disappeared.
ciled
;
impossible
situation
discontented became recon-
the
;
rancorous
the rebels
were
transformed
to the
into
fold.
if
geniality
came back
Of
course, this
would have been impossible
there had not been the conviction that
Campas
bell-Banner man
politician
was
more
advanced
a
in
than some of his colleagues
if,
other words, the Prime Minister was not considered

say,
better
than
his
Cabinet
that
of
is
to
better
from the Radical point

the
view.
Besides, with
more
irreconcilable groups,
SIR
97
he had greater influence than any other man.
Even the Independent Labour Party had

certain
softness
of
heart
towards
him,
and
they
Irish
are
not
soft-hearted
politicians.
The
NationaHst Party was even more devoted
to him.
The
consistency and the daring with

to their cause in season
which he had adhered
and out of season, had given him certainly

the right to their loyal trust.
Sometimes he
drafts
was
able, accordingly, to
make
on these
natural-born rebels, which would not have been
honoured
if
put forward by any other politician.

first
In the very
session of the
new Parliament
the
Mr.
Haldane
was
attacked by
extreme
very
bril-
economists, led
liant
by Colonel
Seely a
;
and resolute young Parliamentarian, with
a splendid military record

certainly
and Mr. Haldane

defeated,
would have been

driven
and perCampbell-
haps
even
from
office,
if
Bannerman
had not intervened.

in
There was
to
something comic
Mr.
Haldane having
rescue on a rely for Parliamentary
man whom
98
SIR
for so
he had opposed
is full
many
years, but politics
of these comic ironies.
Even the speech

it
of Campbell-Bannerman, strong though

as
was
plea,
it
would not have saved the
situa-
tion if
had not been
for the additional fact in
that a private appeal

to the Irish
was made
his
name
members not
to intervene in this
struggle
of the
War
Secretary for existence.

to a
The
Irish
members
;
anti-militarist
but
it
man
to
did not intervene
was only Campbell-
Bannerman
adopt
that could have induced
them
this self-denying ordinance.
The
is
leadership
of the
House of Commons
a position which
makes an immense tax on
the qualities of even an able and experienced

Parliamentarian.
sufficient
The
physical
task
alone
is
to
shatter
the
health
of
any man
intellectual
who
gifts
is
not a robust
man.
The
which are required are great and peculiar
readiness, perfect
promptitude
in
command
of temper,
good
humour, a certain dash of

repartee.
wit,
a facility and
At question time
SIR
all
99
every evening
these qualities are put to a
very
severe strain.
For an hour or so every

all
Minister
is
but
most of
the
in
Minister
who
Leader of the House
is
the position of
a witness under cross-examination by a merciless
advocate on the other
side.
The Leader
of the
House has
to fight not
;
merely the open

other words, he
attack, but the
ambush
or, in
has not only to answer the printed question on

the paper, but also any question arising out of
it
on the spur of the moment, and therefore

to
not to be anticipated or responded

a well-prepared impromptu.
with
No
Leader of the House ever performed

of
this
portion
success.
the
Leader's duties
with
greater
This
man,
with
the
characteristic
broad and
of
fact,
serious Scotch face, had, as a matter
a very deep and, indeed, inexhaustible

peculiar
call
"
fund of the
his
like
kind of humour which
countrymen
so
pawky."
The humour,
him, had a
many
other things about
certain eighteenth-century, Edinburgh, and, in
100
SIR
It
is
a sense, Voltairian quality.

give in
print
difficult to
specimens
of wit,
to
even
when
they have roused everybody both

fair
laughter on
is
sides,
when spoken
but the following
specimen of the kind of thing Campbellto say.
Bannerman used
When
he formed his
all
Ministry he issued an order that
Ministers
should surrender their directorships of public
companies.
There were some exceptions, and
two of these were Mr. Hudson Kearley and

Mr. Lough, both chairmen of prosperous provision
and grocery companies,

article
in
which
tea
was the chief
of consumption.
When
Campbell-Bannerman was pressed as

tions,
to excep-
he replied
that,
of course, a Minister could
not be expected to give up a family directorship

or a directorship in a philanthropic institution.
Is the
sale
of tea
philanthropic
business?
questioner.
asked
"
the
persistent
Unionist
That," replied Campbell-Bannerman promptly;
"
depends
on
the
in
tea."
No
is
assembly
of
human
beings
the world
so grateful for
SIR
a
amusement
as the
loi
little
House of Commons
is
no member, whatever his position,

as the humourist
just recorded,
;
so popular
and such an answer as that
makes a whole House of Comit
mons
kin
reconciles
attack.
all
enemies
of
it
confounds
all
Some
Campbellto be
Bannerman's witticisms did not disdain

at
the expense a
of
some
of
his
colleagues.
thrilling
When
known
great controversy
in
was
and
rending Scotland
as
"
reference
"
to
"
what were
The Frees
and the
Wee
Frees,"
Campbell-Bannerman asked why so and so an eminent colleague had not been heard of
the colleague
referred
to
was supposed
to be
"
very fond of the gentle art of intrigue.
Oh,"
was the
reply,
"his heavy footfall was heard

stairs."
descending the back
This
was
an
answer
over the terms of which
Campbell-
Bannerman would
fondness.
linger with almost unctuous
Undoubtedly,
then,
Campbell-Bannerman
in
justified his success,
and proved equal
many
102
SIR
had
respects to the great position to which he

attained.
graver,
bilities
Whether he was equal to the higher, more difficult, and less seen responsiposition,
tell.
of his great
nobody outside
It is
his
Cabinet can as yet

still
only when
in
the memoirs which
lie
hidden
drawers
are given to the world that the inside history on

this point will
be revealed to the world.

it
At
the
that
same
time,
is
already possible to say
the vices which
pursue
all
coalitions
of the
somewhat
action
discordant
elements
marked
of the Government on
several critical
occasions.
sible
for
Indeed,
it
is
nearly always imposto be strong
any Government
its
which
domiof
has not at
head a
man
of almost
neering personality.
The whole tendency

is
our system of government

Minister more or less to his
as
real
to
confine
each
;
own Department
a result to keep
influence
his
colleagues
from any
on
him and
on his working
within his
to
own
sphere, and, at the
same
time,
is
rob
iiim
of
much
interest
in
what
SIR
own
office.
103
taking place outside his

is
There
a certain disinch'nation for anything Hke the

action which would imply frank, free,
common
and
each
general criticism
of each
his
is
Minister and
This,
Department
by
colleagues.
again, implies that there
a tendency that
Government, instead of being a

mentalised, which, again,
unit, is depart-
means
cliques, groups,
general fissiparousness.
The one thing which

in
can make such a body work

unity,
harmony,
in
and with adequate strength and

is
uni-
formity of purpose,
a strong
all
man who,
as
Prime Minister, stands above

and can control
all
Departments
Ministers.
Such a man
Disriaeli
;
was Gladstone
such
man was
nobody could
say
that
Campbell-Bannerman
quite reached that position.
He
was firm and
obstinate enough
when
he had made up his

it
mind, and he could fight when he thought
was necessary
to fight
but he did not think
every subject worth worrying
much
about, and
he much
preferred a deal to
a fight.
And
104 SIR
to pass that
thus
it
came
though
its
members
go
claimed that his Cabinet was
as Cabinets
one
the
of the most united and harmonious that

in
ever consulted
Downing
Street, there
was
subtle sense of divided purpose
and conand
its
flicting
elements
in
its
composition
proposals.
One
the
of the great duties

is
of the
Leader of
House
to
open or to wind up the great

better
party debates.
in
in
opening than
closing, partly because he
had a larger opportunity of preparing
himself.
He was
of
the
never a ready speaker
he
himself
"
gift
used to often remark that he had not the

gab."
that
He was
he
never
so
conscious
of
this
defect
spoke
without
notes.
short,
Whether the speech was

whether
official,
to be long or
social, or
partisan, he always
drew out from
his pocket,
when
his
time came,
a small bundle of sheets of notepaper.
These
were written on
writing.
in
a small, rather shak)' handin
Probably
few cases did he
write
SIR
full
;
105
out his sentences in
the diction, however,

out,
was very carefully thought

always
times
it
and
it
was
appropriate,
simple,
vigorous,
some-
reached even high literary merit.
He
was, as has been seen, a hard-working student
both
in
Glasgow and Cambridge,

his
his
memory
the
best
was
the
retentive,
result
love
of books great, with
that
he
was
one
of
authorities in the
literature
House of Commons on the

France.
letters
of
both England and
He
by a
often
surprised
even
men
of
couplet from
Dryden
or Pope, quoted
on the
spur of the moment, and appropriate to the

occasion
;
and
often
in
he
showed
that
even
obscure characters
of Balzac
for
"
the great portrait gallery
were quite familiar to him.

I
Once
instance,
spoke
to
him
casually of
Gaudissart."
'
"Oh," he replied
"
at once,
"you
the
mean
exact
L'illustre
Gaudissart,'
which
is
title
that
Balzac gives to his creation.
Now, Gaudissart was

traveller
simply
commercial
and
newspaper
proprietor
who
io6
SIR
figures in a short story of Balzac
not
one of
the characters like the Pere Goriot or Vautrin,

for instance,
who
stand
out from the gallery,
awful,
multitudinous,
and
bewildering
of
Balzac's
"Comedie Humaine."
familiar
to
But Gaudissart
was quite
Campbell-Bannerman.
All these characteristics bear out the thought
more
than
once
already
expressed
in
this
appreciation
of him,
that he
time.
was
Scotchto
man
little
out of his
He seemed
spring from that cynical, free-thinking, scornful

coterie
that
gathered
around
Hume
in
the
last century,
and that was French rather than

its
English
opinions.
in
sympathies, temperament, and

his
It
was part of
dead
likeness to the
that
men
of
that
epoch
Campbell-
Bannerman was
literature
;
a voracious
reader of French
instead,
however, like the
men
of
the elder generation, of selecting the books of
our
neighbours on
philosophy, he
tell
chose the
yellow-backed volumes that
the stories of
also very fond
modern French
love.
He was
SIR
of
French
caricature
to
;
107
indeed,
of
anything
constant
which
appealed
his
keen
and
sense of humour.
To
man
return to his oratory, Campbell-Banner-
kept this
little
bundle of sheets of notehis
paper close up
said,
to
eyes, for, as
has been
he was short-sighted, and even this way
of holding his notes tended
now and
then to
make
his
speech
less
effective.
in
A
the
spoken
essay never succeeds, especially

of
it
House
Commons.
is
It
does not succeed even when

note
spoken
without
by an
effort
of
late
memory,
as a certain small minority
the
do,
Joseph Cowen was one of them
can
who
have the curious power of committing every
word of a speech
essay
is is
to
memory. But the spoken

all,
the most unsuccessful of
when
it
read out from the shameless manuscript in
the hands of the orator.
However, the House

in
of
Commons becomes
figures
time very tolerant

to
it
;
of the
which are familiar

thus closely to
and
though
he
stuck
his
notes.
io8
SIR
too
old
mentary hand not
to utter his speech
least of the
Parlia-
to be able
now and then

at
with
some appearance
orator.
spontaneity of the
often
This
necessity for preparation
placed him in
some
difficulty.
In
the
week when he had

in
to propose
his
resolution
denunciation of
a
the
House of Lords he got
command
to
Windsor.
Even
to
so frequent and
welcome
a visitor as Campbell-Bannerman had become, a

visit
its
to
Windsor has
its
trials
of strength
attention
;
and
large
demands on time and

was
in
and
Campbell-Bannerman
in
despair.
The King, hearing

his
roundabout way
or,
of
Prime Minister's perplexity,

it
perhaps,
the
realising
difficulty
by generous
instinct, settled
by permitting Campbell-Bannerman
to remain in
Downing
of
his
Street
and
the
to give to
the
preparation
speech
time he
had been asked

King.
to
jot
to devote to the service of the

trfed
Sometimes Campbell-Bannerman
down
his
necessary notes as he was
SIR
his
109
putting on
public
clothes
It
hastily
for
great
function.
was astonishing
to
how he
bundle
did always of complete
manage
have his
little
notes prepared, however hard he
was driven.
All
this
would,
perhaps,
lead
to
the
;
idea
that he that
is
was never an
not true.
effective
speaker
but
He had
right
a very happy knack
of choosing the
word, the strong word,

for a great
and the inspiring word
occasion.
Oftentimes a very simple phrase of his sent

his
own party
into
wild
outbursts of enthu-
siasm, partly, of course, because of the electric
atmosphere which moments of great

create, partly because of the instinctive
conflict
know-
ledge that he meant what he said, and partly,

it
must be added, because frequently he ex-
pressed his thoughts in language as appropriate

to
the
occasion
as
almost
any man
could
command.
One
of the
successes
of those
early days
of Campbell-Bannerman's
Premiership should
no SIR HENRY CAMPBELL-BANNERiMAN

here be mentioned.
national
as
well
as
His Liberalism was

broad
;
inter-
and
he took a
profound
interest accordingly in all the Liberal
movements
of
the
Continent.
to
Among
the
movements which appealed

first
him was the

in Russia,
Parliament that had assembled

filled
all
and that
with the
friends of Russian
freedom
free
lonsr,
hope
that
Russia's
close
dawn of
all
institutions
and
of
the
of
her
black a
night
slavery were
at
hand.
at
happy coincidence
as
By
the
it
time
the
appeared
annual Conference of the members

Parliaments
of European
who
are
friends
of
International Peace and Arbitration had fixed
on
after
London
as
their
place
of
meeting just
Campbell-Bannerman had become Prime

This ensured
official
Minister.
not
only a friendly
but an
and a distinguished reception.

for
And
the
it
was announced
that
some time before

-
Conference
Campbell
it
Bannerman
in
would practically open

favour
of
International
by an address
Arbitration.
The
SIR
countenance of a Prime Minister
this
iii
direct
was recognition of
band of
by
here enthusiasts
as
well, of
mostly frowned upon

course, as
official
by military and reactionary Europe

this
which advanced
a
position
particular
Conference to
never
of
reached
by
In
any previous
to
all
meetings
this,
the
body.
addition
at
the
Peace
Conference
it
The Hague
felt
was approaching, and
was
that
effects
this
Conference might have momentous

the
greater
on
and
more
official
and
potent
body.
It
was proof of the importance and honour
which Campbell-Bannerman's Government was

resolved
sittings
to
give
the
Conference
place
in
that
its
were to take
splendid
halls in
one of the
many
pile
scattered
over the vast
of
buildings
the
Palace
of
West-
minster which
British Empire.
house
the
Parliament of the
Here, surrounded by
is
all
the opulence which

associated with
characteristic of everything
112
SIR
the
House of Lords
for the hall
belonged to
the portion of the
building
vast
set
apart for the
House of Lords
ing
with
those
canvases recordBritish
some great moments

the
walls,
in
history
on
delegates
from
nearly
every country of Europe sate,

of
many
them
of them
in
opinions which
so
far
separated
their
own country
classes as to
from
all
the governing
strange,
make such surroundings
unfamiliar, and perhaps even astounding.
To
one group
in
particular
these
surroundings
It
must have been

the
especially
curious.
was
group
its
which
attracted
most
attention
when
nationality
this
and
composition
were
known
was the body of delegates that

Russia
sate
had come from
and
the
from
the
new
Duma.
left
little
They
the
on
benches on the
even
there
of
platform,
looking
isolated, lonely
and
fateful.
With
resolve
their
beards,
their
curious
look
of
and
the
nervousness,
horrors
they
terrors
suggested
some
of
and
through
which they had
SIR
113
gone, through which
as
or
they knew
they had
was
yet to go.
Somehow
other, grave as
their
their purpose,
our,
and grave as was
demean-
they recalled to
me by
where
spirit
a sort of racial
resemblance some of those Russian faces you

see
still
at
Monte
Carlo,
the
wild
and
half Oriental
Slav
brings the
men
ready to stake their roubles by the thousand,
and
or
to
wind up with
either fabulous wealth
pistol-shot
through
in
the
brain
and an
unmarked grave
that weird city.
the
Suicides Cemetery in
The
attention
this
group
received
fact
its
was
augmented enormously by the

as the Conference
that just
was
to begin
sittings the
alarming news came that the

all its
first
Duma
it
and
hopes had come to an end
had been
if
dissolved
all
by the Czar
and
it
appeared as
the old tragedy of Russia was to begin

acrain,
all
over
with
civil
war carried on between
despots and revolutionaries
between
scaffolds
and bombs.
9
114
It
SIR
how
surcharged
can easily be imagined
with excitement this assembly was when the
Prime Minister of Great Britain came

to
it
to deliver
its
a message of democratic sentiment in
extreme form
message which might well be
the defiant answer of Democratic despotic Russia.
Europe
to
Those who loved Campbellwell
Bannerman might
he
played on
be proud of the part
that
memorable
day
in
that
memorable gathering.
He had
prepared his
speech in French, an admirable speech, modest
and reserved as the speech of a great had to

be,
official
and yet suffused with strong
feeling
and, of course, like every speech of Campbell-
Bannerman, phrased
in
beautiful
language
simple but distinguished, clear and

the
pointed
speech of a great
politician,
of a great
gentleman, as well as of a
man
of good heart
and of love
for his
fellow-man.
in
And
to the
at
one point
particular
in
it
gave vent
feeling that
was
every breast, and
with
clearness
and a boldness that swept
SIR
feet.
115
people off their

to the
After some compliments
good intentions of the Czar, Campbellburst out
Bannerman
with the
la
"
phrase,
"
La
Duma
to
est
morte vive
Duma
the
first
There was
the pause of a
moment so
like
startling
was
it
hear something
language of
Minister of
country.
revolutionary
from the
a
an
ancient
and
Conservative
And
some
then there came a hurricane of cheers, such a

burst
of
emotion
as
might
welcome
great
new epoch
of hope
and human eman-
cipation.
And
the audience looked especially
to
those dun-complexioned
sate
and dun-bearded
left
men who
on the benches to the

It
of
the Speaker.
was perhaps fancy, but one

there
might imagine that
came
from
sob.
them
Later
something between a paean and a
on one of them asked leave to address the

audience, tainous
and a
seen
man huge,
to
It
almost
the
mounand
was
leave
group
ascend the
tribune.
was Kovalesky
to-
day one
ol the great thinkers
of the party of
ii6
SIR
;
in
reform
the
near past associated
for
all
students of the
romance of the
last
century
with one of the most dramatic and tragic of
women's
he
lives
and women's
to
love-stories.
For
belongs
the
final
days
of
Sophy
Kovalesky, the greatest

of
her
time,
woman mathematician
many
vicissitudes
in a
who
after
became Professor of Mathematics

university,
Swedish
and
after
finally
her affections
many wanderings fixed on this man who now
stood forth as the representative of Russian
democracy,
quarrelled.
and
died
that
because
tragic
at
he
and
she
Of
past,
however,
people there
there
knew nothing was too much tragedy

the
that
moment
in the actual
hour
and on
grand scale of a
vast
in
struggle
between despotism and democracy

Empire.
a gigantic
Kovalesky said
few
words of acknow-
ledgment of the speech of the British Prime

Minister, and then
left
the tribune.
act
And
then
came
the
most
pathetic
of this
great.
SIR
moving morning.
the
117
strange,
rose exit
from
The Russian group assembly they made their

;
amid sympathetic shakings of
their
hands
and cheers and suppressed heart-aches.

on
their
faces,
For
of
with
their
combination
resolution
and of nervousness, one could read

black
destinies
first
already
the
to
which
they
were taking their

dark
cell
step the
the
scaffold, the
of
the
fortress,
hunger
and
cold of Siberia, the bullet or the knife of the

assassin
who does
for
despotism
its
worst
work.
On
that occasion
noticed that Campbellwell
Bannerman was very
dressed
in
black
frock-coat, low-cut waistcoat, white shirt-front,
and black
tie
in
pleasant contrast of black

typical British official,
and white he looked the
simple yet opulent, that

extorted
combination
which
from Talleyrand the observation at
the Congress of Vienna as he looked on the
unadorned breast of Castlereagh,

distingue."
I
"
C'est
bien
thought
Campbell-Bannerman
ii8
SIR
Which
certainly looked "very distinguished."
reminds
me
of a
playful
and
characteristic
observation
a
he
made some time

Mr.
afterward at
dinner given by
Whitelaw Reid, the
American Ambassador.
He
playfully thanked
;
me
for
some things
to
had written about him
but he went on
writer
his
say that there was one

far
who had been

to him,
more
agreeable
all
in
comments
said
and above
to his wife.
"For,"
Campbell-Bannerman
with
his
usual twinkle,
"he
calls
me handsome."
"
And
Hand-
then he repeated with great unction,
some,
that's the
I
man
for me."
often thought
afterwards, as
looked at his really beautiful
eyes, with their perfect transparency, their fine
colouring and
that
size,
and
their wells of laughter,
the epithet
might have been very well

certainly
as
applied to him,
that
he appeared at
memorable gathering and sent forth to startled, and I dare say shocked, official Europe
the war-cry of democratic England in
favour
of liberty in
Russia.
SIR
first
119
as
The
session of
Campbell-Bannerman
Prime Minister, then, added very largely to

his
in
reputation.
But by one of those

politicians
is
ironies
which the history of
so rich,
private
his public success
was
sicklied over
by
sorrow.
In the year i860 he married Charlotte,

late
daughter of the
K.C.B.
It
General Sir Charles Bruce,
was a marriage
which
was not
blessed by children, but which otherwise
was
among the happiest. Lady Campbell-Bannerman was a woman of very remarkable gifts. It
required
some intimacy with her

Very
stout,
to
discover
her real character.

nervous, she
very shy, very
presented a singular contrast of
great and even
weak
femininit}', with a
bulky
physique and had a somewhat uncertain and

nervous manner.
flagrant
There was, indeed, an almost

once pathetic and somewhat
and
at
grotesque contrast between the nervous, anxious
manner, the nervous and anxious eyes, and the

vast
body
and she was throughout her

the
life
pursued
by
same contrast between
an
120
SIR
She was, indeed,
appearance of great robustness and the reality

of poor health.
for
many
years almost a permanent invalid.
Her hus-
band gave
to her an almost pathetic devotion

;
and affection
anything
like
and no one
the
in
the world had
same
influence
over
him.
Whether she was
as intelligent as he thought,
;
may
be open to question
she was certainly a

like
very cultivated
excellent
woman
himself,
was an
French
scholar;
like
all
him,
was
a of
great
reader;
and she had
the gifts
a great housekeeper, a
beautiful
who was
able to create
house and an orderly household.

loyalty to friends were
Her good-nature and

also illimitable.
She was capable of getting

to
up out of a bed of sickness

or
go
to a party
theatre
in
order to please
or
help or
encourage
probably
friend.
The
chief
talent
she
had the
one that most
justified the
immense hold she exercised over her husband
was
instinct
feminine
instinct,
and
especially
to
that
which enables a
woman
scent
SIR
121
almost with the blind instinct of the animal
world
the
presence of her husband's friend or

is
enemy.
times,
Sometimes a woman
right,
someis
perhaps more frequently, a

in
woman
wrong,
contact
her judgment of those
who come
in
with
all
her
husband.
into
either
As Thackeray
of two
divided
classes
woman
women
great
tyrants
or slaves
so
it
may
be said
that most
are inclined to divide their
world into two great camps
her
like
husband on
the one side, and a world of enemies or rivals
on the other.
But
to a
man
all
Campbellshrewdness
all
Bannerman simple
amid
his
and overflowing with kindliness underneath

his
eighteenth century veneer of serene and
cynical
outlook on
to
life
it
was a great adthis
vantage
anxious,
have
by
his
side
woman's
over-
even
feverish,
and,
perhaps,
suspicious,
guardianship, to warn him

foes
is
against
smooth-tongued
and
fair-seeming plots.
At
all
events, that
what he always thought.

to
He
used
humorously
confess
that
the
122
SIR
in
opinions of his wife, which he would reject

his
masculine wisdom, turned out after some

justified,
time to be more than
and he would
with his characteristic smile add

the
how
stupid
man
looked then.
in-
This close confidence and affection were

creased
by constant and almost
inseparable
companionship.
also.
Wherever he
were very
was,
alike,
she
was
Their
tastes
and one
of their tastes
was a love
of an occasional
scamper on the Continent.
This pastime was
made
ledge
their
the easier and pleasanter
by
;
their
knowin
of
the
French
life
language
indeed,
intimate
they were
accustomed
to
speak French
to
each other.
One
of
their
passions was Marienbad.
There
is
no place where Campbell-Bannerwill
man and
his wife
be so
much missed
the
resort
first
as
to
Marienbad.
discover
that
They were among

delightful
healtii
in
the
to
mountains
their first
of
Bohemia, and
for
it
they
stuck
admiration
through upwards
SIR
123
of twenty years.
Their coming, indeed, was

;
one of the events of the place

pected
eagerly ex-
by the
chief
hotel
proprietors,
and
regarded as marking an epoch of the season.

It
was under the blue sky, and
in
the easy
and unconstrained atmosphere of Marienbad,

that
best.
Campbell-Bannerman
was
seen
at
his
his
His good-humour, his equableness,
freedom
cynical
favourite
from
wit
all all
prejudice,
his
quaint
and
a
these
things
made him
companion of everybody.
He
rarely
took the cure
but he walked every morning

charac-
with the other guests and with the

teristic
and universal
;
glass of the
Marienbad
invalid
but the glass, in his case, contained,
however, whey or some other non-medicinal

draught, and none of the severe waters which
the other cure-guests were taking.
There
is
little
doubt that when Campbellgreat and difficult

his
Bannerman was given the
duty of forming a Cabinet, the counsels of

wife were
most
useful to him,
and that prob-
124
SIR
he
gave
ably
them
the
greatest
attention.
And
they would both be more than
human
if,
after the long years of struggle
and misunderin
standing,
they
did
in
not
rejoice
the
tre-
mendous glory
which everything had ended.

in this
But good fortune
world
is
niggard
no
man can
ever hope to have his cup of joy
without some drop of bitterness.
And
there
came
very big drop of bitterness into the

in
cup of joy
people.
the case of these
two devoted
Always more
or less of an invalid, as
has been said, the health of
Lady Campbell-
Bannerman
after the
entirely broke down immediately

to the
appointment of her husband
Premiership.
suffered
And
the illness from which she
was
lingering, changeable,
now seem-
ing to be bringing immediate death, and then
a wonderful recovery, which seemed to promise

a chance of renewed
It
is
life.
impossible to exaggerate what mental

all
anguish
this
it
caused to Campbell-Bannerso unnerved
man
at
times
him that he was
SIR
not
able
to
125
speak to a friend
into
tears.
for
any time
the
without
closeness
bursting
And
very
and fervour of the
affection,
which
bound
the
this
couple together, rather aggravated
sadness and the torture of the situation.

to tender
Accustomed
and constant care from

life,
her husband throughout their married
and
perhaps counting with the greed of affection

the few
moments
that were left of their almost
life-long
companionship, the dying wife insisted
that he should be near her during
most of the
hours of the day and often during

of the
night.
many
hours
alive
Sometimes she was kept

it
by oxygen, and
husband
was by the hands of her
or at
had
least in his presence
that
and
the
this
oxygen
to
be
administered
in the
sometimes happened twice
same
night.
Rushed
to
death
during
the
day,
with
thousand and one demands on his time, his

work, his temper, the Prime Minister, in
10.
Downing
Street,
was
less
happy than the
cot-
tager that tramps
home
to his cabin, to healthy
126
wife
SIR
children.
and joyous
He was
visibly
perishing under the double strain, looked terribly

old,
and some days

;
almost seemed to
little
be dying himself
in the
if
and there was
doubt
that
mind of anybody who watched him
the double strain were prolonged, he would
either die or resign.
The
private sorrows of public or

sacrificed
men have
calls
to
be forgotten
far as that
is
to
it
public
is
so
possible, but
not altogether
did
his
possible.
Campbell-Bannerman
best
with his work, but the work of a Prime Minister
cannot be performed effectually by a

breaking heart, and
man
for
of broken sleep and
some months undoubtedly the

his
effectiveness of
administration
prejudiced
of
the
this
Premiership
terrible
was
largely
by
domestic
session
sorrow.
When
the
end of the
for
first
came,
it
was possible
him
to gratify the last to
wish of his dying wife.
Her attachment
Marienbad came back

the year when, for so
to her at the season of
many
years, she
had been
SIR
to
127
accustomed
exchange
its
bracing mountain
in
air for the stifling air of a
summer
asked
to
London,
taken.
and
to
Marienbad she
be
Curiously enough, she bore the journey well,
and
it
looked almost as
realised,
if if
her hope was going
to be
and as
life
Marienbad were
it
to
give her back
and
spirits again, as
had
done so often before.

cheated.
But these hopes were
Shortly after her arrival in the Bohespot,
mian mountain
she died.
There might
in
seem
this
to be
something sad and regrettable

far
death
away from her own home.

She was
all
As
a matter of
fact, it
was where she and how she

in the
would have
people
the
died.
midst of a
in
who
loved her for
they owed her,

for
rooms which she had occupied
more
than twenty-five years consecutively, and sur-
rounded by loving
outburst
of
care.
The town had an

All
in
genuine
its
grief.
the
world
to the
his his
stretched out
two hands
sympathy
bereaved widower, and
first
among them
King, who at the
time
was undergoing
128
SIR
in
annual cure
Marienbad.
Through a long
torrid
day and night of weather of
heat the
husband brought back the body, and she was

buried
close
to
her
that
own
stern
beautiful
home
in
Scotland,
with
simplicity
which
marks the funeral

If
in Scotland.
Campbell-Bannerman had been a younger

if
man, or
he had been
in
strong health,
it
is
possible that he might have recovered in time
from
wife
such a dreadful
so
blow as the
loss of a
profoundly loved.
But he never did
recover.
The
cessation of the nightly calls to
her bedside, of course, helped to restore something of his bodily vigour

did resume
to
its
;
but his mind never
habitual gaiety.
When spoken
feelings in
this
once by me,
:
he put
his
pathetic phrase
now
'
'
it is
which
"It used to be always 'we';

is
very different."
Joseph
after the
Parker
said, as he lay dying,
two years
death of the
woman
him
as beautiful in soul as in
body who had died before him,

death had
killed
:
that his wife's
"It took two years to
SIR
do
it,"
129
it."
he would say, "but
it
has done
Another pathetic example of how C.-B. was

haunted by
his
loss,
was given
to
me by
is
Mr.
well
Thomas Shaw,
known, one of
a countryman and, as
C.-B.'s
most intimate
friends.
Mr, Shaw, with Mr.

friends,
C.-B.,
Morley and a few other
had come to Belmont, the residence of

be present
at
to
the funeral of
Lady
in his
Campbell-Bannerman, and to sustain him

dread hour of bereavement.
preparing to return to his
Mr.
Shaw was
in
own home
"
Edinis
burgh when C.-B. said to him,

a night to leave
stayed.
C.-B.
Thomas,
this
me
alone?"
And
Mr, Shaw
That night
exercised
dining with his friends,

self-control.
wonderful
later,
But
coming a few weeks

had been allowed
to
when
bit,
the spring
relax a
still
Mr.
C.-B.
Shaw
said
found how the wound

that
bled.
when he had anything
special to
tell
or
interest his wife in reference to the
news
in
the
morning's papers, he used to rush
^ofT to
her
room.
And
even
still,
when he awoke
10
in the
130
SIR
in
morning, he found himself starting out
the
same way
to
go and speak
he
to
her
he had
again
not yet realised that
would never
his
have to take that

to hers
little
is
journey from
room
them
that
there
stretched between
the long and dark journey between one world
and another.
of his wife
have
little
doubt that the death
had much
to
do with the death of
Campbell-Bannerman,
too.
When, however, he had recovered somewhat

from
this
staggering
blow,
Campbell-Banner-
man went back

exciting.
to his work, to
and soon
it
became
difficult
He had
;
face
two very
problems
on the one side he was bound by
his pledge
and by the pressure of the

Bill
Irish
Party to bring forward a
dealing with the
Government of Ireland
and,
on
the
other
hand, the rejection of his

the
Education
Bill
by
House of Lords and the
practical certainty
that any measure
enlarging Irish self-govern-
ment
in
the direction of
Home
Rule would
in
be rejected by the same body, brought up
SIR
131
a menacing and urgent form
the question of
the relations between the two Houses of Legislature.
Furthermore, there was a demand from
his
supporters for measures dealing with the

All this
land.
promised to make
his
second
session as
Leader of the House more important

his
first.
and more trying than even
When
in
he
his
met Parliament, there was a change

Ministry of an important character.
Mr. Bryce
for Ireland
It
had been appointed Chief Secretary

in
the original
formation of the Cabinet.
was no
secret that
the relations between Mr.

Nationalist
Bryce and the
Irish
Party were
not quite cordial, and that he and they had

failed to
come
to even
an approach of agreeof the
ment with regard

Irish
Bill.
to
the details
new
At
the
moment when
the differ-
ences threatened to ripen into an open rupture,

the
resignation
of
Sir
the
Washington by
nately placed
at
Embassy in Mortimer Durand fortuBritish
the disposal
of
Sir
Henry
Mr.
a means of emerging from the difficulty.
132
SIR
America and
Bryce's intimate acquaintance with the history
and
politics of
his
many
friend-
ships there,
sentative
in
made him
that
a very suitable
repre-
country of his own, and to

sent.
Washington accordingly he was
His place
was taken by Mr,
Birrell.
The change
of person
produced an imme-
diate change in events
and of Parliamentary
conditions.
to
Mr. Birrell proved very acceptable

Nationalists,
the
Irish
sympathised
with
to
them
whole-heartedl)',
and
was
in
believed
advocate generally their views
the Cabinet.
But the Cabinet was divided, and Campbell-
Bannerman had no very easy

the two sections in
It
task in keeping
other.
harmony with each
was reported that on one occasion there was
something approaching to an open quarrel and

an exchange of hot words between two of the
leading
rences
members of
of
the Ministry.
The
diffestill
opinion
over
the
it
Boer
War
haunted some memories, and
did not require

to bring out
much
provocation
now and then
SIR
left
133
the latent dislikes which had been
behind
by
that bitter controversy.
However, the easy-
going and conciliatory
temper of Campbell-
Bannerman managed
he did not succeed
to
smooth things over
in getting
from the Cabinet

Mr.
Birrell,
as a whole the Bill
which
he,
and
the Irish
Members would
was produced.
desire to have had,
but a
it
Bill
As
a matter of fact
failure.
was a ghastly and almost immediate

Liberal Party in the
it
The
House of Commons
Irish
received
jected
it
coldly,
and
the
people
re-
decisively
and unanimously
at a con-
vention in Dublin.
This
failure,
however, did not for the
moment
seriously
interfere
with the prospects of the

defeat
Government.
the
Bill
left
The
the
and withdrawal of
an amount of
Government
which
Parliamentary
time
otherwise
would
have been occupied by a long and bitter controversy
over
the
Irish
measure
and
this
time Campbell-Bannerman proceeded to devote

to
two Land Bills one
for
England and one
134 SIR
Incidentally he had declared in
first
for Scotland.
the end of the
session of his Parliament
that he contemplated action against the
House
of Lords.
in
This purpose was also given a place
the
Speech
from
the
Throne.
However,
there was a good deal of delay, and the ses-
had advanced a considerable period before the Prime Minister could be got to say anysion
thing more than a brief word

forecast.
now and
then of
At
last,
however, the question had
to be faced,
and
to a
tremendous and excited

at-
audience Campbell-Bannerman began his

tack.
It
was the
speech he delivered then
which led to that kindly and considerate excuse
by the King from attendance
at
Windsor, to
which allusion has already been made.
On
came
the
great
to
day
the
Campbell-Bannerman
with
his
down
House
usual
bundle of notes.
as
His speech was just such
he made on
well
most occasions
very
with
very
clear,
in-
very
expressed,
suffused
simple,
that
not
spired,
not
glow which
SIR
135
could be given to such a theme by an orator
with the true sacred
fire.
But the solemnity of

vast importance of the
the circumstances, the
step, the sense that the history
of the country
was about
and
a
to
to enter
on a great new character

struggle,
all
great
new
these
things
came
Sir Henry's aid,

fully
and the
result
was
that the speech
satisfied
the necessities
great
enthusi-
of the occasion
and
inspired
asm
among
his
followers.
There were
de-
monstrations and counter-demonstrations, and,

in
short,
one of those scenes of passionate

start a bitter
excitement which
struggle.
and prolonged
Occasions of
into
this
kind gave certain glimpses

of
the
depths
re-
character,
sults.
and revealed some unexpected

occasions
of
On
such
excitement he
appeared outwardly the
stolid, typical, secular,

if
phlegmatic Scotchman, and yet

farther
this
one looked
and
not
more
closely,
one could see that

the character of the
was
altogether
136
SIR
dash
of that
is
man, and that the phlegm was mixed with a

certain
perfervidum
ingcniuin
Scotoriuii
which
as
its
as
much
a characteristic of
his
race
caution
and
its
sangfroid.
While the cheers and the counter-cheers were

hurtling around his head, and especially
when
floor
there was hurled at
him from across the

insult
some
used
interjection
to
of
his
or
defiance,
he
the
betray
emotion
by
using
bundle of notes as a sort of
fan.
Indeed, this
use his notes
was one of
as a fan.
his
mannerisms to
He
in
did so in hot weather to save

;
himself from some of the effects of the heat
he did so
hot
moments
in
the
House of
Commons by way
his feeling,
of relieving the tension of
and possibly also as a sort of sign of defiance to his excited and angry opponents.
He had
bonhomie
people of
his
feelings,
had
this
;
easy-going,
full
pleasant-faced,
smiling
natural
man
he was
of
and
sweetness,
but,
like
amiable
character,
he could
hate
and
he
could
not forgive.
His convictions,
SIR
too,
with
all
137
half-
their cold
and
sometimes
laughing, half-cynic expression, were very deep,
very
strong,
on
some points
almost
fierce.
There were men of
whom
man
he could not speak
without a certain bitter resentment

rather a surprise in a
which was
attacks,
ordinarily so good-
humoured.
which
dismiss
And
little
slights,
small
off
many
for
politicians throw
ever,
and then
It
remained and
that he
rankled.
was
said, for instance,
never forgave
the Cordite division which threw him and his

colleagues out of office in 1895, and that that
was one of the reasons why he did not

clude in his
Liberal.
in-
Cabinet a prominent and gifted

Liberal
This
was
suspected
by
Campbell-Bannerman
of
having taken some

This fanning of
part in the Cordite intrigue.

his face with his notes
was another indication
that beneath
all
the apparent calm there
was
of
intense
feeling.
There was
another
side
him revealed
it
in receiving
deputations.
There
was that you
realised
some of the
secret of
138
SIR
very
remarkable influence
he exercised
in
the
over
men, an influence greater
some
de-
gree than that of more

alities.
commanding
person-
His natural inclination to amiability
tempted
things to
him
all
on
such
occasions
in his
to
be
all
men, to be ready
promises.
sympathy
and large
to
in his
But often he had

held
his,
meet
to
deputations
his
which
not
of
views
to
so
hostile
at least
or
if
those
of his colleagues
fall
that
he could not
entirely
in
with their demands.
Then
it
was that
his
bonhomie and charm of manner
came
to his assistance.
He
said a few good-
humoured
things, smiled benignly, left every-
body under
the
impression
that
they
were
dealing with the kindliest of
men who would

them, waved his
do everything he could
hands
at
for
them
as
though he were pronouncing

sent
an incantation,
happy.
of
It
and
them
away
quite
was only when they got outside

Street,
Downing
and began
from
to
his
survey
in
retrospect,
and
remote
disturbing
SIR
139
presence,
what the Prime Minister had prothey realised
mised, that
how empty-handed
But they could not
they had come
away.
bear him resentment even then.
The
relations
between the two Houses of
the Legislature
became more embittered
after
Campbell-Bannerman's resolution against
the
House of Lords,
to
which he had invited the

that
House of Commons, and which

passed
on,
body had
by a huge majority.
feeling
As time went
the
grew even more pronounced.

Bills of the
The two Land

confronted with
sition
in
Government were
persistent
steady and
oppo-
the
Grand
Committees, to which, in
they had
the
first
instance,
been
referred.
When
itself,
they returned to the House of

this
Commons
Ulti-
opposition
Bills
was
renewed.
mately the
reached the House of Lords,
and there the Prime Minister found himself

confronted
by a
new and
more formidable
opponent.
Lord Rosebery had, on the whole,
maintained an attitude of reserve and even
140 SIR
neutrality to
of benevolent
the
new Governhimself.
ment from
which he had excluded

Bill
But the Scotch Land was able

to
was more than he

Bill
endure
and when the
was
the
brought to the House of Lords he

attack
all
led
upon
it
in
speech characterised by
at their best
:
his various
powers
sarcasm,
eloquence, close reasoning.

that
And
the end
was
the
House of Lords under Lord Rose-
bery's guidance,
Bills
made amendments
in
in
the two
Bill
but
especially
the
Scotch
which
placed
in
Campbell-Bannerman
a
difficult
and
his
colleagues
position.
However,
to
they resolved to
the English ing
it
reject
the
amendments
in
Bill,
and they succeeded

the
rush-
through, but
Bill
amendments
in
to
the
Scotch
rid of;
they did not succeed
getting
to their
the
House of Lords stuck
proposals,
Bill.
and the Government dropj)ed the
This
gave
new
fillip
to
the
agitation
battle
against the
House of Lords.
The
was
SIR
transferred from
141
now
to
the floor of Parliament
the
platforms
of the country.
Campbellin
Bannerman
retired to his
delightful house
Scotland, and there for a short time, wandered
among
his
gardens and his beautiful furniture

art.
and works of
Like most elderly
men who
take a prominent and active part in the work

of Parliament, he
was more dead than

his sessions his
in his
alive
when the second of

end.
If
came
to
an
he had had
way, he doubtless
gardens and with
would have remained

his
books
until the
opening of a new session

to
life
brought
him back
London.
of
for a
;
But
in
the
is
strenuous political
England
there
no such long respite

position of
man
and
it
in
the high
Prime Minister
was held to
be essential that the Prime Minister himself

should
take an active
part in
the agitation
against the
Lords
in
the
country.
Thus
it
was that within a few weeks of the

the session Campbell-Bannerman
his
close of
came out of
in his
seclusion
and addressed a meeting
142
SIR
own country upon the twin subjects of the Scotch Land Bill and the House of Lords.
It
was a curious
little
fact
life
in
connection
with the chequered political

that
of this man,
he became known to the masses of the

first
people for the
time
when he had long

life,
passed the meridian of

his
and long passed

a quarter of a
Parliamentary jubilee
of
century.
Never pushful, never gifted with the
strong voice and the resonant and picturesque
manner of the
typical platform orator, he
had
been content to be regarded as a mere sound,

conscientious,
and
in
industrious
official.
The
War
lends
Office,
which he had done most of

is
his official service,

itself
not a Department which

of
to
outbursts
Parliamentary
it
eloquence.
The
debates
upon
remain
always confined to a certain small number of

experts
Office
;
the
normal
is
audience
to
for
the
War
vote
twenty
thirty
members.
col-
There
were
innumerable
Parliamentary
leagues of Campbell-Bannerman
who probably
SIR
boast
that
143
might
voice,
they had
never heard his
even though they had

in
been
his
comfor
panions
years
of
of
Parh"amentary
life,
three-fourths
the
members of
the
House
debate
recent
times,
would not dream of remaining

on
the
for
a
in
Army
after
Estimates.
fashion
And
of
years
the
modern
when
in
each Minister seems to take an interest
his
own Department, and

the
in
none other,
of
for
and
when
has
private
modern
to
Commissioner
Works
their
given
Ministers
rooms
use Campbell-Ban nerman

his
had
spent most of
time
then
in
an underground
habitat
room, which
was
the
of
the
War
thus
Minister of the British

it
Empire.
And
was that he
was
entirely
unknown
on the platform, and comparatively unknown

even
in
the
House
of
Commons
till
the
great god
to
Chance
lifted
him from obscurity

first
the dazzling notoriety

party,
of
Leader of
a great
and then Prime Minister of a
great Empire.
144 SIR
came a change, not only
in
Then
duties
there
the
and
position
certain
and repute of the man,

change
in
but also a
self.
the
man himhis
To
him, even
when he had passed

thrills of
sixtieth year, the great

five
meetings of
or
ten
thousand
cheering
and frenzied
;
partisans,
it
were an entirely new sensation
and
had the delights of novelty.

followed
that
The
strange
result
he did not, as so
many
to the
old politicians do, reject the invitation
crowded
hall
sometimes he seemed even to
accept the invitation with a certain empresse-
ment.
great
greater
sphere,
Those
strain
huge
both
meetings
are
a
;
very
far
on
body and
in
mind
than
the
speeches
the
milder
of
the
atmo-
smaller compass,
House
of
Commons.
To
reach
such meetings
men
;
have to travel considerable railway journeys
and as Campbell-Bannerman's favourite home
was
in Scotland,
with him these journeys were
even longer and more fatiguing than with a
man
whose
residence
was
in
the
more
SIR
kingdom.
145
southern
travelled
On
to
one
occasion
;
he
by Perth down
Plymouth
to
do
so he had to start
at four or five o'clock in

all
the morning, to travel incessantly
day, and
to reach the hall tired, excited, after a hasty
dinner.
This
is
part
of
the
wearing
and
sometimes
endured
killing
servitude
favourites
which has to be
of fortune
by those
who
seem
can
to
be endowed
lavished
it
with
the
all
the gifts that

individual.
be
on
to
human
added
But again
has
be
that
for
these
meetings had
a great
attraction
Campof
bell-Bannerman.
these
The unusual
on
a
spectacle
thousands hanging
his
words and
that
looking
up
to
to
him
cult,
with
devotion
amounted
was
indeed
lived in
naturally
exciting to a
man who had

of a
thin
the cold
atmosphere
debating
House of Commons
or
in
in
an
Army Vote
of
his
the
under-
ground
of the
seclusion
room
the depths
before
the
Parliament
building,
or
choice but small audiences

II
whom
he addressed
146
SIR
group of boroughs he represented
in the little in
Parliament.
It
was
this
new
passion
and
first
this
new
occupation which brought the

his health
sign that
life
was broken, and that

close.
his
was
the
in
nearing
its
In
November,
1907,
agitation against the

full
House of Lords was

to
swing.
In
addition
the meetings on
the subject, Campbell-Bannerman had attended
other meetings
the world
and
especially his
own world
of
Scotland
in
was
anxious to do
him honour, and
both Glasgow and Edincity
burgh they conferred the freedom of the
upon him.
In
Edinburgh,
it
should
be said
by way of parenthesis, there was a pleasant

little
episode.
Lord
Rosebery
was
in in
the
the
audience which assembled to take part
demonstration of respect.
His name was not
on the
official
list
of speakers,
a
silent
and he had
accordingly remained
spectator until
the gathering began to disperse.
But an orator
of such powers
is
not easily allowed to escape,
SIR
out,
147
and when the audience was straying
Lord
all
Rosebery was summoned by shouts from

parts
of the hall to say a word.

;
He
readily
obeyed
paid
very nice
tribute to
Campin
bell-Bannerman,
occasional
and
declared
that
their
differences
their
of
opinion
of
they
had
always
retained
feelings
personal
friendship for
each other.
When November
month
came, the
hard work of
the Prime Minister recommenced.

in
That
is
the
which the Cabinet Councils begin

to
which are
of
the
decide the choice and the scope

to
in
measures
Ministers
be
the
introduced
by
the
different
coming
session
of
Parliament.
of
This alone involved a great deal
time
and
some
strain,
especially
it
to
the
Prime Minister, whose business

over
personal
to
is
to
smooth
In
and
political
difference.
addition
official
these
duties
there
are
various
banquets, notably the banquet given

at
by the new Lord Mayor,
which the presence
of the Prime Minister has
become an
essential
148
SIR
feature,
iirbi
w^ell
and of course a speech which, delivered

orbi,
et
and dealing with the foreign as
as the internal conditions of the country,
has to be carefully prepared.

In this particular
November
received
all
these heavy
and
ordinary duties
of
the
enormous
of
addition
one
of
those
gatherings
Royalties in England
feature
visits,
which are so marked a

of
of the
all
reign
Edward VII.
Such
with
to
their splendour, their
enormous
between
service
nations,
the
good
understanding
and
their high testimony to the great
place of the British
Empire
in the councils of
the world, have their trying side, especially for
high-placed
officials
and
above
all,
for
such
office
an
official
as the
his
Prime Minister.
absence
His
would make
great
from
any of the
festivities
which mark the presence of

in
these foreign Sovereigns

able,
our midst noticeprejudicial

to
and
perhaps
even
to
the
his
public
large
weal.
Even
monarch, with
his
retinue
of servants, and
habits
of
SIR
HENRY CAiMPBELL-BANNERMAN
149
readily getting from one uniform into another,
those days of festivities
are trying, but

to
they
must be much more so

State, to
a great officer of
whom
the festivities are but a small

duties
portion of the
of his day.
All
these
things have to be
remembered
to understand
the catastrophe which suddenly interrupted the

activities of
Campbell-Bannerman.
to
day came when he had
crowd together
a vast
number of
different
engagements.
He
had to be present at a
lunch to the
;
German
take a
public
Emperor
train
in
the
to
Guildhall
Bristol,
then
attend
to
down
to
dinner and
make
a speech there, and then to
address one of those vast audiences which are
such a strain even on a strong man.
There
was one
further
little
episode which must not
be omitted.
fragettes
The
at
shrieking sisterhood of sufthis
were
time
pursuing every
Cabinet Minister with their raucous and unfcminine interruptions, and they turned up
considerable
force
at
in
the
meeting
in
Bristol
150
SIR
Anybodywill
which Sir Henry was to address.

acquainted
with
pubHc
meetings
it
be
familiar with the fact that
does not require

a meeting
a very large minority to

difficult,
if
make such
The
in
not impossible.
is
chief speaker
of
the
meeting
placed
an especially
difficult position.
The
intruders
may
be turned
out, but that takes
time,
and
involves
many
interruptions interruptions
until the
of the speech, of
the speaker, of the attention of the meeting
time comes when the speaker, unless
he be
tired
very young
and very
robust,
is
too
and too dispirited to go on, and the

has
also
audience
become too disheartened

listeners.
and too disturbed to be good

is
There
little
in
the
printed address of Sir
Henry
Campbell-Bannerman on
to
this trying occasion
show that he had been

of
the
seriously affected
suffragettes,
for
by the interruptions
the
speech read
like a very
animated and a
his
very successful
intimates
address.
But
friends
and
always contended that
this assault
SIR
upon
him, with
his
151
tired
body and jaded

down,
fullest
mind, was the straw that broke him
and that the suffragettes deserve the

credit for having brought
on the attack which
followed.
He
left
the
meeting
apparently
his friends
in
good
health and spirits, though

that he
remarked
ill.
was looking very pale and rather

fell.
In the middle of the night the blow
He
found
himself
in
the grip of
one of those
attacks of acute indigestion which weigh
upon
the heart, compress

to stop
it.
it,
and
for a
time threaten
It
was quite by accident that he
did not perish in this strange
room
alone,
and
in
the darkness of the night, without a friend or
a witness.
The
accident was that a son of his

late,
host happened to have stopped up
to
be near enough to Campbell-Bannerman's bed-
chamber
extorted
to
hear the
groans which his pain
from him.
The house was
roused,
and then there was a hurry and scurry, and

doctors were hastily
summoned.
For a while
152
it
SIR
fight with
was a grim
death
but in the end
the restoratives took

left
effect,
and refreshing sleep

all
him a good
deal relieved, and

It
immediate
danger was
past.
was a grim contrast

in
the
scene of thousands hanging

affection
admiration and
on
this
man's
lips,
and then, a few

silent,
brief hours
afterwards, this
in
lonely ap-
proach of death
the night.
It
the solitude and darkness of
was the
Sir
first
time that the world realised
that
Henry Campbell-Bannerman was an

Gladstone
old and not a very strong man.

ripe,
fresh,
inexhaustible at eighty-four
life
had
Par-
set
up an
entirely false standard of
in
liamentary circles; seventy began to be considered as Parliamentary youth.
But
till
it
was not
so
and thus
it
was that not
after this
viejHcnto Diori did people begin
to realise that
Campbell-Bannerman
was
an
old
man
of
seventy-two, and that he could not be regarded

as
equal
to
the duties of his laborious office
unless he took the very greatest care of himself.
SIR
It
153
was resolved that he should go abroad and
take complete rest for a few months.
There
had always been, as has been

refreshing and
seen,
something
welcome
to
him
in a trip to the
Continent, and he chose Biarritz gladly as the
scene of his rest-cure.

or so
in
He dawdled
for a
day
the familiar scenes of Paris, and he

lies
then started South for the paradise that

the frontiers
on
of France
and Spain and wel-
comes
Biscay
if
into
in
its cliffs
the waters of the

It
Bay of
sunshine and in storm.

to
Biarritz
looked as
imre-
this trip
and the
rest thus
posed on Campbell-Bannerman would have

stored
him to
health.
Few
fallen
then realised that

so
the blow
at
Bristol
which
had
the
unexpectedly
of the
end.
realise
was
beginning
Campbell-Bannerman evidently did not

it
himself.
He
sent
wrote to a friendly gathering
that that
had
him
sympathetic
fool
message
he had been making a
of himself
by working too hard, but that he was going

to
be
more
careful
in
future.
But
his
col-
154
SIR
When
leagues had already remarked that after Bristol
he was no longer the same man.

returned, and began once
he
more
to preside over
Cabinet Councils, the change was no longer to be ignored.
One
of his
colleagues
told
me
how he began
and and
to
fairly
the Cabinet looking fairly well

;
brisk
but how, as time went on,

hour, his attention began
his
after
the
first
relax,
and there came gradually over

of
fatigue
face
look
and then
the
tired
that
gre\-
complexion which
worn-out frame.
shows
and
there
the
And, of
course,
was
aggravated then what had been the weakness

of his Administration from the start
willingness
difficult
the
and
una
to
face
till
one
any
the
it
issue,
especially
inevitable
last
moment came when

shirked.
could
no longer
be
When
retain
the
if
new
session
began
it
looked,
still
however, as
the
Campbell-Bannerman might
for
Premiership
some time
longer.
Irish
The
various
groups were friendly, the
SIR
The
155
especially.
rejection of the Councils Bill
had produced no estrangement between

Irish
the
Nationalists
and
Campbell-Bannerman.
the
return
Indeed,
the
immediately
after
in
from
Irish
fateful
Convention
Dublin, the
leaders
who had taken

to
part in the conferences
with
regard
the
Bill
of the
Government
were agreeably surprised by the cordiality with
which
there
Campbell-Bannerman
received
them
was no trace of bitterness or even of

partly,
disappointment,
doubtless,
because
Campbell-Bannerman and
been united
the
Irishmen
had
in pressing in vain
on the Cabinet
or
its
on a section of the Cabinet

in the
the
amend-
ments
measure which might have secured
acceptance.
And
before the opening of the
session there
had been an interview between

Birrell, the
Campbell-Bannerman and Mr.

Chief Secretary,
new
at
and two
Irish
members,
which
it
had been agreed that there should be

Bills
in
two
Irish
the
coming session
one
dealing with the question of Irish University
156
SIR
still
Reform and the other with the

and
still
unsolved
menacing question of the Congested

In
Districts.
some
respects
subject
even
more important had been

a
discussed namel)-,
Resolution in favour of
suggestion of the
Home
Rule,
The
first
Irish
leaders
was that
this resolution should
be proposed by the Prime
Minister himself; the obvious reason was that a

resolution proposed
by a man
in
his position
and with
for
it
it
his
tremendous influence would secure
a larger
amount
of support and give to

if it
a higher sanction than could be hoped

else.
was proposed by anybody
Rather more
well,
saying he was very tranquil than usual a cold was before the seizure except at Bristol Campbell-Bannerman said
for
this
little
during this interview,

interjecting
his
now and
then, however,
some observation with

humour.
a dash
in
of
quaint
As, for instance,
dis-
cussing such a resolution as was proposed to
him, Campbell-Bannerman asked
if
there would
not be applied to such a resolution
not
to
be
SIR
Parliament the
157
the
followed
present
by any
legislative
proposal
in
highly original
fulinen.
In the
and
end
recondite phrase,
it
Brutum
was
left
undecided
who was
is
to propose the
it
motion
ultimately, as
known,
was pro-
posed by Mr. Redmond.
When
in
the day approached

session,
for
the motion
fre-
the
new
communications were
quent between Mr.
Redmond and Campbellwas arranged

that
Bannerman,
and
it
the
Prime Minister should wind

speaking strongly, of course,
Resolution
to
;
up the debate,
in
favour of the
and the debate was looked forward

great
by the
;
Irish leader accordingly with
hope
it
was certain that a speech from the

in the
Prime Minister, couched

mistakable
strong and unutterances,
terms
rallied
of his
the
previous
entire
would have
Liberal
Party,
and have brought

decisive
to
Home
Rule a majority so
in
as to have
It
marked a great step
advance.
was a singular and pathetic
fact
in the life of
one of Ireland's truest and best
158
SIR
that
his
friends
closing
hours
as
an
active
politician should
have been closely associated

as,
it
with the cause of Ireland,
will
be seen,
they were.
On
to the
Thursday, February
3th,
he came down
House
to propose the Resolutions, send-
ing up the Scotch
Land
Bill
to the
House of
Lords, settling the amount of time to be given

to the second discussion of the
Bill,
Scotch Land
and renewing the

It
fight
with the House of

briefly
Lords.
was remarked that he spoke
and quietly indeed, without much outside his immediate nobody at

least
spirit.
But
entour-
agesaw that there was anything wrong. The Irish motion was fixed
he
the
specially
to
come
on the following Monday, February 17th, and

just
before
left
House on February
final
13th
Campbell-Bannerman had a
with
conit
versation
Mr.
Redmond
indeed,
is
probable that Mr.

to
Redmond was
left
the last
the
man
of
whom
he spoke before he
for the
House
Commons
night and
for the last time.
SIR
was
Irish
159
He was
official
absent the two next days, and the

that
explanation
he
was
too
fatigued.
But the
leader
and
one or
two of
his colleagues
were told the
real truth,
which was that Campbell-Bannerman had had

another seizure like that which he had suffered
at Bristol,
and no attempt was made
to conceal
either the gravity of the
attack or the panic
which
it
inspired, though, of course, the

in
news
was
told
confidence,
confidence which
was solemnly observed.
day or two
after-
wards Campbell-Bannerman had an attack of

influenza, then very prevalent, especially
among
but
Members
of Parliament, and this enabled the
officials to
announce
this
malady
serious
not
as necessarily mortal
omit
all
the cause of
Camp-
bell-Bannerman's absence from Parliament, and

to
mention of the
renewed
heart
attack.
Soon, however, the truth could
no longer
that
be
concealed,
and
it
was
known
the
Prime Minister was stricken to death.
But
i6o
SIR
HENRY CAMPBELL-BANNERiMAN
a
he
made
of
long and brave struggle, and for
most
the
time
spirit.
retained
his
wonderful
brightness of
He
spent a part of the

light
time
in
reading
choosing
;
books and
his
especially novels
and Mr. Vaughan Nash,
private secretary, applied to

for a
list
me
at his request
of books
I
would recommend.
to the
The
only
hints
got
like
as
to
books the dying

were
that
man
would
have
they
should be distinctly non-educative and should

not be too sad.
Many
stories leaked out as to the
demeanour
of the splendid old chieftain in his closing days.
There was a certain degree of surprise when it was known that one of the constant callers
on him was
his
friend
and countr)-man the
Archbishop of Canterbury.
there
Somehow
in
or other
affairs
was
an
idea
that
religious
Campbell-Bannerman
detached
loved
;
had
the
something of
the
spirit
I
of
French
authors
he
though
can recollect that there were
now and
then passages in his speeches which
SIR
HEXRY CAMPBELL-BANNERMAX
a
different
it
i6i
suggested
faith,
frame
of
mind.
His
very
whatever
was,
was
probably
It
broad and distinctly anti-sacerdotal.

these visits
was
of the Archbishop of Canterbury

to
which led
the
one of the
most
of
pathetic
of
many
pathetic
incidents
Campbell-
Bannerman's closing hours.
As everybody knows,
attracted the support of
the Licensing Bill had
most of the Bench of

to
Bishops
in
and they had
take this
course
opposition to
friends,
many
of their warmest
to
and
stoutest
and contrary
of the
the
wishes,
and perhaps
to
interests,
political
party
which most of them belong.

union on the Licensing
Bill
And, again,
had brought
this
about
something
like
an
approximation on
another, and
perhaps as thorny a question
namely, that of Education.
This
is
what lay
St.
behind the measure which the Bishop of
Asaph brought
in
Bill
demanding some-
thing from Liberals and Nonconformists, at the
same time giving them a good deal

12
in return.
62
SIR
House of Lords on the
Bill
There was a striking and noticeable incident

in the
debate
in the
of the Bishop of St. Asaph, and that was the
speech of the
prised
at
Archbishop.
Many
ended
were sur-
the
splendour and the breadth of

it
;
the peroration in which
it
was
far
above anything that had ever come from the

h'ps
of the Archbishop
its
and
it
amazed many
fine
by
and
intensity, its
feeling,
its
phrasing,
its
whole
spirit.
The
the
"
Earl of Rosebery
immediately
followed
Archbishop,
"
and
shows
spoke of the speech as
noble
which
it
how
been.
effective
and
is
impressive
must have
There
reason to believe that one of

inspired
the
things
which
such
fine
and
the Archgenerous utterance on the part of bishop were those interviews of his with C.-B.
The solemn and moving atmosphere

sick-room
spirit
of
the
of
this
brave,
its
cheerful,
generous
to
communicated
inspiration
the
the
Archbishop as
Archbishop
to others
and
this
is
why
spoke
with
such
glowing
and
SIR
feeling-
163
genuine
on a controversy which
has
so often provoked utterance of a very different

kind.
Then
view.
there
came another momentous
inter-
Mr. Asquith was called to the bedside

C.-B. repeated to
of the Prime Minister.
him
some of the things which the Archbishop had

been saying to him about the Licensing
Bill.
The Archbishop had
said
that
it
must be a
that his great satisfaction to C.-B.
name was
"
associated with such a measure of social hope
and reform as the Licensing

"
Bill. Bill,
But," said
all,
C.-B.,
Asquith,
"
it
is
your
after
not
mine
a saying
And
of characteristic
modesty and
told,
generosity.
then came,
wit.
"
have been
a flash of the old

the
incorrigible
All the same,"
said
C.-B.,
for
"one must take what

and then But
tears.
credit
one
can
these things";
he gave one of his well-known smiles.

it
was one of the smiles that provoke

it
And
was
at
that
interview
that C.-B. an-
nounced that he was going
to resign.
Was
it
164
SIR
not a noble, touching, and characteristic valedictorx',
with
its
generous self-abnegation,
feeling,
its
profound religious
and
its
careful con-
cealment of
joke?
It
all
this
underneath the habitual
was reported that the news of Campbell-
Bannerman's resignation came sooner than was

intended
talking
through the indiscretion

to
of
lady
at
sharp
young
diplomat
dinner-table in
or not,
it
Biarritz.
Whether
in
that be so
was announced
the late editions

5th that the
of the
Sunday papers on April
resignation of
Campbell-Bannerman had been

and had been accepted
it
:
offered to the King,
and
the
next day
was
to
known
the
that
Mr.
the
Asquith was
summoned
Biarritz
side
of
monarch
in
and that Campbell-Ban-
nerman's day was over.
The House when
it
met was
at once put in possession of the facts

in
by Mr. Asquith, who

words, and
with
to
a
that
few
well-chosen
voice
once or twice
tiiat
threatened
break,
announced
the
SIR
a
lost
165
Government was without

the
its
head,
its
and
that
Liberal
Party had
chief.
revered
and
were
beloved
Similar testimonies
paid by Mr. Balfour and
by Mr. Redmond
fidelity
of
the latter emphasising the special

the
late
chief,
Campbell-Bannerman,
Rule.
rally,
to
the
cause of
Home
There was a short

after
curiously enough,
office,
Campbell-Bannerman had given up

a
and there was even
hope
that
the
all
relief
official
which he now had obtained from

cares,
might give him a chance of
final
though
;
slow recovery.
this
But the hope was cheated

final
revival
was but the
flicker
of the
dying candle, and soon more alarming accounts
began again
of
this
to
be given
close
all
forth.
In
presence
tragic
voice
of controversy
was
closed,
and without distinction of party

sick-room of the dying
affection.
there was sent to the
man messages
first
of
sympathy and
The
act
of Mr. Asquith
on his return from

call
Biarritz
was
to
make
at
10,
Downing
i66
SIR
;
soon
after
Street
the
King
also
came
to
make
personal inquiries.
Patient, courageous,
and usually even
cheerful,
Campbell-Bannerclose he
man
awaited the end.
Towards the
began now and then

to
to lose consciousness
significant
and
wander.
It
was
and touching
that in these
moments, when
his consciousness
was suspended, he went back over the

that
past,
once
more
the
well-beloved
face
and
presence of his wife
came back
to
him, and
he spoke as
side,
if
she were there, and
by
his
and as though there flowed not between

the
them
wide
but
ever-narrowing
then
gulf
of
black death.
And
was
of
on Wednesday, the
22nd of
Such,
April, he died.
then,
Campbell-Bannerman a
remarkable
political
combination
gifts
many
with
few of the ordinary and besetting

political life
;
weaknesses of the
ordered
lasting
in
with no disvanity,
ambition,
hatreds
;
no
irritable
in
no
brave
plain,
adversity,
modest
triumph
the
honest,
kindly
man
SIR
lustre to
167
who added
even the mighty position
of Prime Minister by the simple virtues which
brighten and adorn millions of British homes,
and are the best and truest elements of the

nation's honour, strength,
and fame.
Ube (Srcebam
i^rcsd,
UNWIN BROTHERS, LIMITED,
WOKING AND LONDON.
'
f I'
M
565 CIS 03 I9O8
O'Connor, Thomas Power Sir Henr^ CampbellBairn ernian
PLEASE
DO NOT REMOVE
FROM
THIS
CARDS OR
SLIPS
POCKET
UNIVERSITY
OF TORONTO
LIBRARY

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Presetted to the

Depart incut of Eti^lish

HODDER AND STOUGHTON

Henry Campbell- Bannerman

one's thoughts in presence of such a tragedy as

the death of Sir

within a brief period of his reaching almost the highest

and most potent of earthly

old age a regret,"

The second epitaph

from one of the Jewish race and

a faithful echo of the original through the

two philosophers and the two epochs.

and then, when every

of fortune crowned the old age,

ting domestic sorrow

by the slow but

the late Prime Minister.

That dramatic irony

daring dramatists, almost obtrudes

at the very height of

power, seated in a chair, propped up by pillows,

and with the outwork of

and then the centre

core of a world-wide Empire.

of the house from which the

the haughty palaces

and pain and death

the futility in which

face of the approach of the

the record has

and unexpected prosis

and the wringing of hands.

and mighty success coming when

can no longer be enjoyed

but after the struggler has ceased to have the

anything that might appear as

national outburst of grief and

the softening presence of the pallid

intellectual gifts with

men who have been

cessors in his high office;

he stood, perhaps, above any of them

as well as friend loved him.

excitement, of course, he had to

endure the passionate resentment which must

by one party against another,

That constitutes the

him and many other men who have held the

who would have

any day to hear of the departure from

Mr. Gladstone at certain stormy moments

and though no man could inspire

such vast multitudes of

with such infecas

and stormy enthusiasm

also of his time,

could inspire such devastating and even cruel

the storm of the controversy

when Russia and

Turke}' were at war, will remember the terrible

Sunday when stones were thrown

Harley Street which Mr. Gladstone then

would have been assaulted

T P O'Connor: Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman

T P O'Connor: Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman