The Life of the Rt. Hon. Sir Charles W. Dilke Volume I Part 30

'On April 22nd I received from Auberon Herbert a letter: "Things look well. The gilding is much tarnished, and shows the bra.s.s underneath.

You have done right well. Many thanks for your letter. I went to Leeds--on the chance but I suspect I am best out of the House. I can do more to make people believe in themselves, and not in our Moslem idea of government--perhaps--outside the House than in it. You do agree in the fearfully paralyzing effect of belief in Government, don't you?" The last words reveal the growth in Auberon Herbert of anarchic views, which shortly afterwards turned him for all practical purposes from a Radical into a Tory, or, rather, turned him back to the point from which he had started, for as a Tory private secretary to a Tory Cabinet Minister he had begun political life at the time when he drew up the plan for the action of the troops against the mob on the day of the Hyde Park railings being torn down--a plan so drastic that the Home Secretary, Walpole, refused to move.

'On Wednesday, April 23rd, I dined with Waddy, M.P., Q.C., [Footnote: Afterwards County Court Judge.] a man who would have been a Judge but for his odd name and his odder manners, "to meet Lord Hartington and the President of the Wesleyan Conference," an odd mixture. Waddy is a Wesleyan, and wanted Hartington to make the acquaintance of the leading Wesleyans in England, and took this course to bring about the result.

'My Sundays at this time I had taken to spend at Pembroke Lodge, preferring it to Strawberry Hill as quieter, for we often had there (besides Lady Russell) only Lady Agatha and Rollo Russell, and little Lord Russell when he was home for the holidays from Winchester.

'On Monday, April 28th, I had an interview with the Duke of Argyll at his wish with regard to the Eastern Question generally, in which he took deep interest, and on which he made, perhaps, on the whole, the most conclusive speech delivered in Parliament against the policy of the Conservative Government. The Duke of Argyll was at this time the most finished and (for a stately occasion and a cultivated audience) about the most convincing speaker that could be found--to me, not so convincing as Gathorne Hardy, and, to all men, less gifted with charm and melody of voice than Mr. Bright; but fine in the extreme, with no serious drawbacks except a little too much satisfaction with himself; a very able man, as his monumental book upon the Eastern Question will suffice to show. In philosophy he dabbled, and for dabblers was a philosopher.

'On Friday, May 9th, I lunched with Lord and Lady Lansdowne, and found her one of the nicest women that I had ever met--a plain and simple lady. In the evening I dined with Lady Elizabeth Biddulph, and made the acquaintance of Herbert of the Colonial Office, whom I afterwards heard described by Grant Duff in a public speech as "the perfect permanent official." I had later, when Undersecretary of State for Foreign Affairs, to act twice for a short time during changes in the Colonial Office as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Colonial Office, in addition to my own duties, and I was able to discover for myself how true was what Grant Duff said. On one of these occasions Hicks Beach, who had been Colonial Secretary, gave notice to call attention to salaries of officers on the West Coast of Africa, and I at once sent over to the Colonial Office to tell Herbert that he had done so. Herbert immediately replied that the salaries were low, and the coast unhealthy, and that salaries could hardly be reduced; while, on the other hand, when Sir Michael had been Secretary of State, he had not proposed to raise them; but that so soon as we could learn which it was that he intended--_i.e._, to lower or to raise--he would send me, "in either event, a perfect case."

'On May 10th George Sheffield, the _alter ego_ of Lord Lyons, asked himself to breakfast, and I gathered that Lord Lyons had told him to come and pump me as to what Gambetta had indicated of his intentions in France, as George Sheffield kept telling me that Gambetta evidently intended to make himself Dictator in name, as he was in fact.

'On Sunday, May 11th, I dined with Edmund Yates and his wife, meeting Irving, Browning, Sala, Mrs. Lynn Linton (just back from three years in Florence), Mr. and Mrs. Douglas Murray, and some others. I was intensely amused at watching Mrs. Douglas Murray, agreeable but rather superfine, looking at the Bardolphian nose of "George Augustus," who took her in to dinner, and of whom she had evidently never heard, and wondering what manner of wild man he could be.

'On May 17th, after the Greek Committee, I dined with the Lyulph Stanleys.... Chamberlain took Lord Airlie, whom he had never previously met, for Sir George Campbell, and addressed him in a friendly but disrespectful manner, whereupon Lord Airlie promptly and publicly said: "It is all right. You take me for Sir George Campbell.

I am used to it; "for they were extraordinarily alike. [Footnote: Mr.

Gladstone once made exactly the same mistake at a great public meeting in Scotland in 1879.] In fact, Lord Airlie used to wear his ribbon oftener than other people chiefly because Campbell had not got one, so that it formed a distinction, but not a sufficient one, for members of the House sometimes said to me at parties, "What is that ribbon that Campbell is wearing?" It must have been a relief to Sir George Campbell when Lord Airlie died; but it would have been a greater relief to Lord Airlie had Campbell died first.

'The next day I spent at Lubbock's.... Fitzmaurice, Fawcett, and I went for a walk to the oak under which Wilberforce decided to abolish slavery, and, strolling on, came to a stile, where we were doubtful of our way. Fawcett sat down, and Fitzmaurice, looking for the road, cried out: "Here comes a clod. We will ask him." The slouching labourer was Lord Derby, as we recognized with a loud laugh, joined in with terrific shouting by Fawcett as we privately informed him of the cause, at which Lord Derby was no doubt astonished. However, he did as well as the yokel, for he led us towards home. My low opinion of Lord Derby as a politician does not prevent my thinking that in private he is a most agreeable man; but his appearance is against him. He took us round by Holmwood, where Pitt lived, and Hayes, where his father, Chatham, lived.

'Whitsuntide I spent partly upon the river in my canoe, [Footnote: Canoeing had at this time taken for him the place of rowing, and he spent his Sundays on the river.] partly at Lord Derby's, and partly at Dudbrook, Lady Waldegrave's place in Ess.e.x; but the first part of my holiday was spoiled by a summer flood, although the river was very beautiful, there being beds of the snowflake or summer snowdrop in bloom, with large white cups tipped with green. They are all gone now (1900). [Footnote: One at least grew in the willow thicket by his house at Dockett Eddy in May, 1911, after his death, close by a nesting swan--two sights which would have filled him with interest and joy.] The weather was so cold that Lord Derby called it "winter dressed in green." He and his wife seemed to me to have come over to our side with almost indecent violence and suddenness; but to be called "t.i.tus Oates" in the House of Lords by your relative and successor is too much. [Footnote: This speech of Lord Salisbury's was made on July 18th, 1878.] The close family connection between the Derbys and Lord Salisbury had a great deal to answer for in the sharpness of the quarrel.

'At the beginning of June I received at my house two distinguished Frenchmen whom I had not previously known: Edmond About and Coquelin the actor, the latter introduced to me by Gambetta.'

Coquelin was thus introduced:

'"CHAMBRE DES DePUTeS, '"PReSIDENCE, '"31 _Mai_, 1879.

'"CHER AMI,

'"J'introduis aupres de vous mon ami Coquelin dont vous pourrez apprecier le charmant esprit, et je vous le recommande sans autrement faire de phrases, sachant que vous savez a premier vu reconnaitre les vrais hommes.

'"C'est a l'ami que je confie l'ami,

'"a vous, LeON GAMBETTA."

'About dined with me at the House of Commons on the day on which the House of Commons met after the Whitsuntide recess; but I did not at the moment know his peculiarity of being unable to touch any article of food which contained onion in any form or had been cooked with it, so that I am afraid I starved him. On June 13th I had prepared accordingly, and he dined with me, and met all the people who spoke good French--Leighton, Mitford, Fitzmaurice, Borthwick, Barrington, Bourke (the Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs), Chamberlain--and Montebello and La Ferronnays of his own Emba.s.sy, and Gennadius the Greek. It was hard to say whether Mitford, Leighton, or Borthwick spoke the best French. But certainly neither Fitzmaurice, who was a quarter French, nor the three Frenchmen, could venture to contest matters with such talkers. I never heard any fault found with Leighton's French except that it is too good, though I have heard people declare that his Italian and his German were yet better; but I myself could see no fault in Mitford's. About naturally came to the conclusion, not entirely justified by fact, that all Englishmen could speak French.

'On June 22nd I gave a dinner for Gambetta's friends, Coquelin and Hecht, at which I had Lord Granville, Lord Lansdowne, Malet, Montgelas, Lord Reay, Lord Arthur Russell, and Gavard. Lord Granville was at his very best, s.h.i.+ning as he always did when he could talk French theatre anecdotes to a man playing up to him as could Coquelin.

'I think it was on Thursday night, June 19th (1879), that, about midnight, Pender brought me a telegram to the House of Commons telling me that Prince Louis Napoleon had been killed by the Zulus, in order that I might telegraph it to Gambetta. I did so; and in the morning received from Gambetta a telegram asking me to repeat my telegram if it really came from me, evidently thinking that he had been hoaxed in my name, for my news reached Paris long before the thing was known there. The Queen was not told till 10.30 a.m., and she then informed the Empress Eugenie, so that I knew it eleven hours before the poor mother.'

On Sunday, June 29th, Sir Charles had stayed at Strawberry Hill. Within the same week Lady Waldegrave died suddenly. He was among the friends who went down to see her buried at Chewton, near Chewton Priory, her place in Somersets.h.i.+re.

'Carlingford was present at the funeral, although his condition was very painful to his friends and he refused to leave the place, and remained there, with great fort.i.tude but little wisdom, for a long time, until his nerve was completely gone. He never was afterwards the same man, and, although Mr. Gladstone put him into his Cabinet in 1881, for friends.h.i.+p's sake, [Footnote: There was another reason: his intimate knowledge of the details of the Irish Land Question, then the subject of legislation. He became Lord Privy Seal on the resignation of the Duke of Argyll.] he had become a broken invalid, and was unable even to bear the smallest reference to past days or even the sudden sight of friends who had known him in happier times.'

On July 8th there is a note of dining with Lord and Lady Derby, where were 'Lord Odo Russell and a good many other interesting people; Odo Russell always easily the first wherever he goes. He told me, what I was glad to hear, that Bismarck was most favourable to Greece.'

'_July_.--Two Crown Princes were in London at this time, and to both of them I had to be introduced as the maker of speeches in the House which they had heard: the Crown Prince of Sweden and the Hereditary Duke (son of the Grand Duke) of Baden. Like all Kings and Princes, except the King of Greece, and in later days the Emperor William II., they seemed to me heavy men, bored by having to pretend to be thoughtful persons, and I found that difficulty in distinguis.h.i.+ng them the one from the other, which has always oppressed me in dealing with Royal personages.'

'At this time I had several interviews with Cardinal Manning, at his wish, about the Irish primary education question, in which I agreed with him, differing, however, wholly from him with regard to English education, which caused him always to reproach me with having what he playfully called a "geographical conscience."'

'In the many visits that I received from the Cardinal and paid to him at the end of July and beginning of August, 1879, I was amused by finding how much he cared for general gossip and even scandal. He insisted on talking to me about Sarah Bernhardt, and Gambetta, and the Prince of Wales, and all sorts and conditions of people. He told me that if he was not Cardinal Archbishop he would stand for Westminster in the Radical interest. But, Radical though he be in social questions, he is a ferocious Jingo.'

Manning, unlike almost all other Englishmen of his creed, had a sympathy for Irish Nationalism. Dilke shared the Cardinal-Archbishop's view as to the power of Rome in Irish politics, as may be seen from the concluding sentence of this pa.s.sage from a letter written by him in August, 1879, with regard to the Act establis.h.i.+ng what was called the Royal University:

"Shaw is a Protestant--a Congregationalist--who once was a preacher and now is a banker, but he is the leader of the Irish party, and speaks for the Bishops, as did b.u.t.t, who also was a Protestant.

Parnell, too, is a Protestant, curiously enough. Biggar was, but has turned. I don't think popular feeling is engaged; but you must either govern through and with the priests--or by force."

Mr. Shaw's day of influence was nearly ended. The revolutionary party--for they aimed at, and effected nothing less than, a revolution--led by Parnell in the House and by Davitt in the country, were sweeping away the staunch adherents of pure const.i.tutionalism, among whom Shaw and b.u.t.t were to be numbered. The Irish party was not the only one which contained conflicting elements:

'Manning attached more importance to an understanding with me and Chamberlain than to one with Hartington, and sided with us in the conflict which followed the scene between Hartington and Chamberlain on July 7th.'

Sir Charles describes the occurrence, though somewhat toning down a sufficiently stormy pa.s.sage:

'What occurred was this: James, who was Hartington's right-hand man, and absolutely in his confidence, had started a debate on flogging, and came to us and told us that he quite agreed in our view that much should be made of it, and that it offered a good opportunity for getting rid of flogging in the Army, and then went away to dinner. Our men kept up the debate with a good deal of violence of language; and then Hartington, strolling in after dinner, and hearing that there was this obstruction, made a violent attack upon poor Hopwood (the Queen's Counsel, afterwards Recorder of Liverpool, a member of the Radical Club) and on those acting with him, for obstruction. Chamberlain, much nettled by this attack upon our men below the gangway for doing only that which they had been told to do, got up and ironically referred to Hartington as "the late leader," and I was stung, by Fawcett clumsily siding with Hartington, into supporting Chamberlain and Hopwood.

'My talents of diplomacy were called into requisition after the Hartington-Chamberlain quarrel, and I was very proud of managing to get through nineteen clauses of the Irish University Bill on the next day, July 8th, stopping all divisions except one, in which Parnell and I told together, and got Hartington into our lobby, which was, I think, a triumph of conciliation.

'Later in the month the Whigs, or men above the gangway, showed great anger at the completeness of Hartington's surrender to us, which, indeed, meant more than the immediate conquest, for it involved the ultimate supersession of Hartington by Gladstone. Harcourt, James, and Adam [Footnote: The Right Hon. W. P. Adam, afterwards Governor of Madras.] (the Chief Whip), in giving Chamberlain the victory by insisting that Hartington should yield, were considering the const.i.tuencies, not the House. As regarded the House, the popularity of stamping upon us would have been great. There was strong Whig dislike of our activity, and strong Radical personal hatred among ourselves. If Chamberlain were to have fought Hartington on any question on which he had not the Liberal const.i.tuencies with him, he would have got the worst of it; but then he was too wise to stir on any question on which he could not at least carry all the active elements of the party in large towns. The anti-Chamberlain set went to work to get up a banquet to Hartington, and were very cross with me when I told them that I was certain that the Whips would not let Hartington accept the banquet unless they obtained Chamberlain's signature to the requisition. It, of course, turned out as I expected.

Some twenty men said that they would not sign unless Chamberlain did so, and he was then begged to sign, and, when he did, at once deprived the manifestation of all significance. It was all rather small and mean, but when one went to the root of the matter, one saw that the whole difficulty sprang from the fact that the Whigs had now no principles. Once upon a time they had had principles, but their principles had been adopted by the other side, and long before 1879 their distinctive opinions had been taken from them. A party cannot be dignified and consistent if its chiefs and the ma.s.s of its rank and file have no principles. My own opinion, which I preached on all occasions, was that the right course in these democratic days was for leaders to say, "Here are my opinions, but I know that on certain points they are not those of a majority;" and not to continue to pretend that all agreed when, as a fact, they differed.

'In a note in my diary upon the question of the leaders.h.i.+p I say: "Harcourt's good points and bad points are both on a large scale.

Childers is too much in city business and in companies to be one of the leading men in the party in the future. Hartington is too careless and too much bored to interest others. Gladstone and Bright are old; Bright 'past'; Gladstone still a great power, and, but for his Scotch deference to the aristocracy, which is a sad drawback, I could admire him with little check."

'On July 26th I received from Bradlaugh a letter about his candidature for Parliament, in which he wrote: "It appears that the so-called moderate Liberals mean to fight for one seat only at Northampton. I, therefore, can only fight for myself. This means Phipps's seat sure, and for the second either Merryweather or Ayrton, and I think the order expresses--subject to contingencies--the probability. There are one or two county const.i.tuencies and several boroughs where moderate Liberals will stand who cannot be elected without the votes of my friends. I am now consulted as to what my friends in such cases ought to do. Speaking moderately, I think I could surely prevent the return of five or six moderates, and render doubtful the return of ten or twelve more. Is it reasonable to expect me to aid actively those who do me the most possible mischief? I owe no debt of grat.i.tude to anyone in England ... except the people who love me. May it not be as well for me this coming election to pick, say, twenty seats and make a few burnt-offerings by way of example, to show the moderates that I am strong enough to be worth reckoning with? Pardon me if I am boring you with a matter in which you have no interest."'

At the close of the Session Sir Charles addressed his const.i.tuents--

'with an overwhelming case against the Government, in which I showed the folly of the pretences which had been put forward as to the Berlin settlement in Bulgaria and in Asia Minor, of the Anglo-Turkish Convention, of the occupation of Cyprus, and of the South African policy; and pointed out the fact that in the year we were spending fifty millions sterling upon our army and navy, and that if the navy was in excellent condition, no one would venture to make the same a.s.sertion with regard to our land forces.'

He crossed to France, saw Gambetta in Paris, and also Nubar Pasha, and went to drink waters at La Bourboule, and on to Le Puy, and thence started on one of the long tramps by which he came to know France as few Englishmen have done. He walked across to Vals, 'and so to the Rhone, and then to my solemn Provencal country--to my mind, a better Italy.'

At Toulon he busied himself with the German history of the nineteenth century for his projected book, and wrote much to his brother, who was now hoping to enter Parliament.

'Nubar, who had a quarrel with our Foreign Office, and who had been expelled from Egypt by the new Khedive, but, as Nubar thought, at the wish of the French Consul-General, was another correspondent of these days, destined afterwards to return to be made Prime Minister at the hands of this same Khedive.'

The Government's sixth year of office was running out, and a General Election was at hand.

'At the end of the year I had letters describing the state of things in England from Harcourt, Chamberlain, and Adam. Chamberlain wrote: "Things look bad for the Tories. We shall have a majority at the next election. I feel confident." Adam wrote: "As things are at present, we shall have a majority independent of Home Rulers." Harcourt wrote that he was unusually dull and stupid: "I feel as if the soul of Northcote had transmigrated into me, and, if only I had a flaxen beard, I am sure I should make one of his Midland speeches to admiration.... I really find nothing new to say. Of course, there is the old story of Afghanistan, but the latter is already discounted, and it is rather a ticklish question. I never felt it so difficult to mix a prescription good for the present feeling of the const.i.tuencies.... Depend upon it, if we are to win (as we shall), it will not be on some startling cry, but by the turning over to us of that floating ma.s.s of middle votes which went over to the Tories last time, and will come back from them in disgust at the next election. It is much easier to persuade the public that the Government are duffers than that we are conjurers.

I shall therefore ... be dull and safe, and not overabusive. That, at least, is my diagnosis of the treatment the patient requires just now.... Not having materials for one speech, I have got to make a second. I must trust to the newspaper abuse of the first to supply me with materials for the second."'

Sir William Harcourt was too diffident, as his brilliant speeches at Oxford and elsewhere, full of epigrams, had more effect on the electorate than any others--not even excepting Mr. Gladstone's speeches in his Midlothian campaign.

There is no suggestion in the correspondence of the ferment which was working in Midlothian. Mr. Gladstone was apart from both Whigs and Radicals in these days.

So closed the last years of Sir Charles's second Parliament. He had played in it a commanding part in debate upon matters of war and of foreign policy without abating his activity in domestic politics, such as the franchise, or flogging in the army, which he helped finally to abolish. No man could well seem to have fewer enemies or more friends.