The Life of the Rt. Hon. Sir Charles W. Dilke V1

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'It was a good speech so far as concerned the position of Russia, of
Turkey, and of the Opposition, and in its protest against Manchester
Doctrine and in favour of a broader view of foreign policy, but it
proposed the annexation of Egypt, a view from which I soon afterwards
drew back, and which I did not hold at the time at which it became
popular some years later on.'

Upon the main issue which in 1878 lay before the mind of Europe, he was
for a partition of the Turkish Empire, though upon condition of keeping
Constantinople secured to the Turk. But as to the question of England's
going to war, he asked:

"For what are we to fight? Against an extension of Russian boundaries
in Armenia which will be slight, and which, if it were great, would be
better met by an even greater extension of English territories in
Egypt? Against 'the passage of the Dardanelles'--which means in time
of war its passage if Russia can--a passage which Russia would equally
attempt if she could, but had not the right. Against this we are to
fight without allies. Again, let us pray for peace. I will not
describe what war must mean--your sons and daughters killed, or lying
crippled amid horrors worse than death; the proceeds of your toil
wrung from you by new taxes; the dearness of your children's bread. I
have seen too much of war. ... No tongue can depict its horrors. ...
It is said that the constituencies are warlike, and that party wire-
pullers think that war would be "a good card to play." I hope and
believe that English constituencies would be warlike if real honour
and real interests were at stake. If they are warlike now, it is that
they know not war. Are those for war who know its face? ... The day
may come when England will have to fight for her existence, but for
Heaven's sake let us not commit the folly of plunging into war at a
moment when all Europe would be hostile to our arms--not one Power
allied to the English cause."

It seemed as if that folly were to be committed. When Parliament opened in
January, a declaration of war was foreshadowed by the hint of a demand for
funds to make "adequate preparation against some unexpected occurrence."

Nor was there any steady rallying point offered by the Opposition:

'January 17th was the day of the meeting of the House, the Radical
Club Dinner having replaced our private Queen's Speech Dinner of 1877.
But the disorganization of the Liberal party at this moment was so
complete that no Front Bench party was given on the night before
Parliament met, and Liberal politicians, or such of them as were
asked, had had to do their best to talk at a Tory house--Lady
Stanhope's in Grosvenor Place--where I met Harcourt and some of the
others. The situation in the debate on the Address was one which ought
to have led to successful attack upon the Government. The Queen's
Speech was neither of war nor of peace, but of perplexity and
division, and gravely informed us that poor Turkey had not interfered
with British interests. The discourses of the Ministers were peaceful
in the Lower House, and warlike in the Upper. Money was to be asked
for in the event of an "unexpected occurrence" happening.'

'Nothing, however, was made of the situation by the Opposition, and I
felt more interest therefore for the moment in my proposed political
reforms, in which I was on the point of a partial success, [Footnote:
'I introduced my two Bills of the previous year--both destined this
year to pass, though one of them after amalgamation with a
Conservative Bill--my Hours of Polling Bill and my Registration Bill.
I moved for my return, intended to facilitate my action in the
direction of redistribution, and got my Select Committee promised
me.'] and sheered off from the Eastern Question, with regard to which
I felt that in Parliament at the moment I could do no good.'

The speech to his constituents had attracted much attention. Among the
personal congratulations which he received he valued most highly those of
a great diplomatist and friend, 'high praise from Sir William White.'
[Footnote: Sir William White (1821-1891): February 27th, 1875, British
Agent and Consul-General in Servia; March 3rd, 1879, Envoy Extraordinary
and Minister Plenipotentiary at Bucharest, Roumania; April 18th, 1885,
Envoy Extraordinary at Constantinople; October 11th, 1886, Special
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary at Constantinople.] On
January 17th he 'received a deputation of London merchants with regard to
the Black Sea blockade.'

'On Friday the 18th I dined at Lady Waldegrave's to meet the old
Strawberry Hill set--the Duke of Argyll, the Duchess of Manchester,
Lord and Lady Granville, Harcourt, James, Ayrton, Lord William Hay,
and Mr. and Mrs. Tom Hughes--and some people came in after dinner, of
whom Sir J. Rose and his daughter (Mrs. Stanley Clarke) warmly
congratulated me on my speech. There was a discussion between the
Liberals and the Duchess of Manchester, who was in both camps, and Sir
John Rose, who as a financier was the same, as to the reasons for Lord
Carnarvon's absence from Lord Beaconsfield's Queen's Speech Dinner,
but we could not get farther than to learn that "Dizzy had made it
unpleasant for him. ..." [Footnote: 'Another matter as to which I was
personally interested, though the others seemed hardly to have heard
of it, was a communication which had been made to France about Egypt
with regard to joint inquiry into the state of finances, a
communication all but volunteered by us, and not, I thought, in the
least necessary, but which was so strong in terms as to appear to shut
the door in the future against any possibility of action on our part
other than joint action with the French.']

'On Saturday the 19th Mr. Gladstone sent Lefevre to me, and asked me
not to raise the case of Greece at present, as he thought that a
combined movement with regard to Greece might soon be made in the
House of Commons with some chance of success.

'On the Sunday Drummond Wolff dined with me, very full of the
intrigues to get rid of Lord Derby and Lord Carnarvon from the
Conservative Front Bench, and very hopeful of success, for at this
moment the Conservatives were so angry with their two peaceful men
that they made no secret of their intention to force them out, and
used freely to discuss the situation with the Liberals.

'On January 22nd I started an attempt to get up a Greek Committee, an
attempt which was successful, for our little meeting of this day, of
Fitzmaurice and Lefevre and myself, with the adhesion by letter of
Lansdowne and of Rosebery, led to the private formation of a
Committee, afterwards made public, and much enlarged, of which I made
Lewis Sergeant secretary, and which was able to do much good in the
course of the three next years. ...That night I dined with Mrs. Inwood
Jones (Lady Morgan's niece), and met Mr. and Mrs. Stansfeld, Browning,
Charles Villiers, Lady Hamilton Gordon, and another man whom I will
not name, because I wish to mention that I received from him on that
occasion a document relating to Greek affairs, from which I was
afterwards able to show how badly our Government had treated Greece,
but the origin of which I ought not to reveal.

'On January 23rd Evelyn Ashley, Chamberlain, and I had a meeting with
regard to Greek matters, at which we drew up the public declaration to
be made on behalf of the friends of Greece.

'On the next day, January 24th, a good many startling events occurred.
A War Ministry was formed at Athens; the vote of money was announced
in the British Parliament. Lord Carnarvon resigned in the morning, and
Lord Derby at night; but Lord Derby's resignation was for a time
withdrawn.'

In 'the great debate' on Mr. Forster's motion against the vote of six
millions sterling for 'adequate preparation'--a debate which opened on
January 31st, and was prolonged to the second week in February--Sir
Charles took part on the fourth day. Great interest attaches to this
speech in view of all his later work:

'I pointed out that we spend normally on defence or war far more than
any other Power: at that time twenty-five millions sterling at home
and seventeen millions in India, or forty-two millions in all, swelled
in that year by the extraordinary vote to forty-eight millions, while
France and Germany spent much less. I was to return to this subject
after many years, and when I wrote upon it in 1890, while the Indian
expenditure stood at the same sum, the annual expenditure in England
had risen to over thirty-eight millions, making the whole fifty-five,
and with the rest of the Empire nearly fifty-seven millions sterling.'

A side-note adds: 'It is now (1905) vastly greater.'

As he was the first non-military politician to devote himself to the
question of defence and to call public attention to the subject, so this
question of wasteful expenditure always occupied his attention. He laid
stress on the inadequate return received for naval and military outlay,
not only on the popular ground that money was thus deflected from projects
of internal reform, but pre-eminently because the nation in time of peace
resents heavy defence expenditure, and he feared that the necessary money
might not be forthcoming for that naval equipment which he held to be
essential to our existence as a Great Power.

But the main burden of his complaint was that now when a Conference was
proposed, and when England ought to have gone into the Conference with all
the weight of a unanimous people, the bringing forward of a "sham war
vote," which was a contradiction of the alleged desire to negotiate, had
produced inevitable division of counsels. Before the debate closed came
the rumour of an occupation of Constantinople by the Russians, and under
the belief that the war vote might be needed in good earnest, Mr.
Forster's motion was withdrawn.

'On February 6th ... I dined with Lady Brett and went on to Mrs.
Brand's, and at the Speaker's House heard that the Russians had
occupied a fort in the Constantinople lines. This lie got out the next
day, and was universally believed; and after a panic in the City,
Hartington decided, also in a panic, to make W. E. Forster drop the
resolutions which he had brought forward at Hartington's request.
Hartington saw me, and told me this behind the Speaker's chair before
questions. Within an hour after the withdrawal of the resolutions had
been mentioned in the House the whole story had been blown into the
air by the Russian Ambassador.'

At this period Sir Charles Dilke had entered into relations with Lord
Randolph Churchill, who was virtually against the policy of the Government
and yet 'open-mouthed in his general dislike of Lord Derby and Lord
Carnarvon, though in complete agreement with their principles.' The Fourth
Party did not yet exist. Nor was it in this Parliament that Lord Randolph
achieved ascendancy.

'As late as the autumn of 1880 Lord Beaconsfield was to style Randolph
"only Dilke and water"; but had he lived for another twelvemonth
longer he would not have used this language, for Churchill had then
developed a very different "Moloch of Midlothian" style, and had made
himself through his party a greater power than I ever was.'

The attempt to concert action between independent Tory and independent
Radical began after the great scare of February 6th. [Footnote: This
correspondence was placed at Mr. Winston Churchill's disposal by Sir
Charles Dilke, and used by him in the _Life of Lord Randolph Churchill._
Sir Stafford Northcote was leader of the House of Commons and Chancellor
of the Exchequer.]

'On February 7th negotiations between Randolph Churchill and myself
began as to moving an address to the Crown praying that the objects
with which England should enter any Conference that might be held,
should be European and civilized rather than pro-Turkish. On this day
he wrote to me:

'"MY DEAR SIR CHARLES DILKE,

'"As I suppose this debate will come to a close with an enormous and
disproportionate majority for the Government, and as I think the
Opposition have made their stand on an unfortunate ground, and that
another fight might yet be fought with far greater chances of
commanding sympathy in the country, I want to know whether, if an
address to the Crown praying Her Majesty to use her influence at the
Conference in favour of the widest possible freedom to Bulgaria,
Bosnia, Herzegovina, Thessaly, and Epirus, and in favour of totally
and finally putting an end to all direct Turkish Government in these
provinces, was moved by me on the Tory side of the House, it would be
supported by the Liberal party. I think I could almost make sure of a
strong Home Rule vote on this. I think some Conservatives would
support it. If Northcote does not give some very clear intimation of
what is going to be the policy of the Government, I think a motion of
this sort should be made on the Report. The real cry for the country
is not sympathy with Russia, still less with Turkey, but complete
freedom for the Slav and Hellenic nationalities. I am off to Ireland
to-night. I don't care enough for the Government to vote for them. ...
I shall see Butt in Dublin, and shall sound him on what I have written
to you. My address is Phoenix Park, Dublin. Please excuse this lone
letter.

'"Yours truly,

'"RANDOLPH S. CHURCHILL."

'The reference to Butt is curious, and the address of "Phoenix Park,"
for Lord Randolph was at this time private secretary to his father,
who was Viceroy of Ireland, and was living in the Viceregal Lodge,
which, of course, is in the Phoenix Park. How far the Duke of
Marlborough was cognizant of the intrigues between his son and the
Irish I never knew, but at one time relations were very close."
[Footnote: Sir John Gorst read this chapter in 1913 and wrote:

"With Randolph's negotiations with the Irish at this time I had
nothing to do. I was not cognizant of them; I never acted with R.
before 1880.

"So far as I knew, the alliance between the Fourth Party and the Irish
leader arose in this way: In the 1880 Parliament Parnell had not
enough men to move an adjournment of the House--in those days the most
effective form of obstruction. Forty members must stand up. On one
occasion after 1880, P., wanting to move an adjournment, sought an
interview with us--Balfour may or may not have been present. He stated
his case, and we replied that the matter was a proper case for an
adjournment, and we and those we could influence would stand up in
support. He thanked us and was leaving the room, when R., twirling his
moustache, said: 'I suppose, Mr. Parnell, that in cases of this kind
there will be a little reciprocity.' After that, when we moved
adjournments, the Parnellite members always stood up for us.--J. E.
G."]

'On February 8th Lord Randolph wrote:

'"THE CASTLE, DUBLIN.

'"DEAR SIR CHARLES DILKE,

'"Many thanks for your two letters. As you say, things remain in such
an uncertain state nothing can be done. The Government have too great
an advantage, but I think if we are led into taking any decisive steps
hostile to Russia, a great effort should be made for an authoritative
declaration that the ultimate aim and object of any move on our part
is the complete freedom and independence of the Slav nationality, as
opposed to any reconstruction of the Turkish Empire. This I am sure
should be the line for the Liberal party, and not the peace-at-any-
price cry which it is evident the country won't have. In this I shall
be ready to co-operate heartily as far as my poor efforts can be any
good. It is just possible that if any movement of this kind be made it
would be better for it to originate from the Conservative side of the
House. I regret to see so much excitement getting up among the masses.
It is dangerous matter for Beaconsfield to work on. Would you think me
very foolish or visionary if I say that I look for a republican form
of Government for Bulgaria, Bosnia, and Herzegovina, as far more to be
preferred than some German, Russian, or other Prince set up as a
puppet under the name of constitutional monarchy? Perhaps if these
ideas seem at all to your liking, and if you think they would command
the support of the Liberal party, you would advise me what appeared to
you the most favourable moment for bringing them forward. I shall have
some conversation with Butt, and have great hope of securing a solid
Irish vote on any proposition which might seem to favour the self-
government of nationalities.

'"Yours truly,

'"_February 8th_.
'"RANDOLPH S. CHURCHILL.

'A few days later Lord Randolph telegraphed to me from Careysville,
Fermoy: "I shall be in London Monday morning. Am not ambitious of
taking any prominent part unless it might contribute to the advantage
of ideas which I think we have in common that a motion should be made
from my side of the House. I leave it absolutely to your judgment."

'On this telegram I wrote to Lord Granville, who replied, dating his
letter "September 13th" by mistake for February 13th:

'" 18, CARLTON HOUSE TERRACE.

'"MY DEAR DILKE,

'"Such a motion as Lord R. C. proposes, supported by a certain number
of Conservatives, might be well worth consideration. But I doubt his
getting any Conservative support, and a contingent of Home Rulers
would hardly justify us in making another attack upon Plevna just yet,
with the probable alternative of either a crushing defeat or a second
withdrawal in face of the enemy. I gather that you are doubtful. What
did Hartington think?

'"Yours sincerely,

'"GRANVILLE.

'"If R. Churchill could give you evidence on which you felt you _could
rely_ that he would have real Conservative support, the case would be
different."

'Hartington thought nothing, merely recommended acceptance of Lord
Granville's advice. Lord Granville's mistake in date was
characteristic, for, while a most able man who did not, in my opinion,
decline in intellectual vigour during the many years in which he took
a great part in public affairs, he always had the habit of
substitution of words, and I have known him carry on a long
conversation with me at the Foreign Office about the proceedings of
two Ambassadors who were engaged on the opposite sides in a great
negotiation, and call A "B," and B "A," through the whole of it, which
was, to say the least, confusing. He also sometimes entirely forgot
the principal name in connection with the subject, as, for example,
that of Mr. Gladstone when Prime Minister, and had to resort to the
most extraordinary forms of language in order to convey his meaning.

'Randolph wrote after his telegram from a fishing lodge on the Irish
Blackwater:

'"MY DEAR SIR CHARLES,

'"I have sent you a telegram which I think you will understand. I am
sure that my views, whatever they are worth, are in accordance with
your speech, and Harcourt's, and Gladstone's, on the question of the
future policy of this country. I am convinced that under the present
circumstances no motion should be unduly hastened on. There is lots of
time. If I was asked to move a resolution my speech would be an attack
on Chaplin, Wolff, and the rest of the Pro-Turkish party, confidence
in the Government and invitation to the Liberal party to act as a
whole. I feel I am awfully young to endeavour to initiate such a line;
but I am so convinced of the soundness of our views that I would risk
a smash willingly to have them properly brought forward. If only your
party would agree as a whole to support a resolution moved from my
side, the Government would only at the best have a majority of 80,
after 190, and that would be a check. I shall see Butt before arriving
in London, and endeavour to make him take up a position upon this
question. The Government are apparently doing their 'level best' to
keep the peace, and perhaps another debate might not be unwelcome to
them.

'"Yours very truly,

'"_February 15th._
'"RANDOLPH S. CHURCHILL.

'In reply, and in consequence of Lord Granville's suggestion, I
pressed him closely as to who would vote with him, and he wrote:

'"CASTLE BERNARD,
'"BANDON.

'"MY DEAR SIR CHARLES,

'"In reply to your letter I shall be over in London on the 26th inst.,
and I think it will be time enough then to make my motion. I should
not like to make it unless it would command the support of a large
number of members. Such support could only come from your side. I
think the Conservative party are gone mad. Their speeches are
calculated to provoke war. As it is so uncertain whether we shall go
to war or to a Conference, I think I had better wait a little, as,
though the motion should, I think, be made in any case, the terms of
it would vary very much according to either alternative.... I know of
no one except Forsyth whom I could ask to ballot for me. If the motion
commanded much support, I should certainly like to press it even to a
division. Cowen's speech (and the vociferous cheers of the C. party)
evidently shows that the idea of the integrity and independence of the
Turkish Empire is still predominant on our side, and against that I
would try to go a great way. I should, of course, be very glad if you
would second any motion of the nature of those sketched.... I send a
sketch of it.

'"Yours very truly,

'"RANDOLPH S. CHURCHILL."

'"_Draft of Motion._

'"That in view of the extreme sufferings so long undergone by the
Slav, Bulgarian, and Hellenic nationalities of Bosnia, Herzegovina,
Bulgaria, Thessaly, and Epirus, and considering that the Turkish rule
over these provinces has now been definitely put an end to, the
efforts of Her Majesty's Government, in the opinion of the House of
Commons, should be principally directed towards the establishment of
the complete freedom and independence of the populations of these
provinces."

'I have in my diary on Friday the 15th the note: "See Chamberlain as
to Churchill's plan, and say I won't go to a meeting." Evidently I had
seen that Churchill was unsafe.

'When Randolph Churchill came back to town I discovered, or rather he
discovered and told me, that old Walpole, the ex-Home Secretary, was
the only member upon his own side who would even pretend that he would
vote with him, and when it came to the point on one occasion, Walpole
himself said that he should go away.'

Preparations for war were pressed on till, on March 3rd, the signing of
the Treaty of San Stefano, which put an end to Turkish rule in Bulgaria,
seemed to close the crisis. But instantly the trouble broke out again. The
British Government claimed that this new treaty, since it altered the
European settlement ratified in 1856 by the Treaty of Paris, must be
submitted to and endorsed by a Congress of the Powers. Russia declined to
be thus bound, and a new crisis arose in which Lord Derby, who had
withdrawn his previous resignation, now finally gave up the Secretaryship
of Foreign Affairs, being succeeded by Lord Salisbury.

In 1881 Sir Charles, while Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs, became
aware that Lord Derby's retention of office after his first resignation
had been little more than nominal. He says in the Memoir for that year:

'In the course of my researches among the Tunis papers I discovered
the curious fact that in February and March, 1878, foreign affairs
were being conducted by a committee of the Cabinet, consisting of Lord
Beaconsfield, Lord Cairns, and Lord Salisbury, and that Lord Derby,
the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, was virtually shelved for
the whole period. At this moment Lord Beaconsfield proposed the
creation of a Mediterranean league for the maintenance of the _status
quo_ in the Mediterranean: England, France, Italy, and Greece to be
first consulted, and Austria to come in afterwards if she pleased.
Italy declining, the scheme collapsed. Foolish Italy!'

While in Parliament the Tory party was ridding itself of its 'peace men,'
party feeling out of doors ran to unusual heights. These were the days
when a music-hall song added a word to the political vocabulary, and the
"jingo" crowd signalized its patriotism by wrecking Mr. Gladstone's
windows at 73, Harley Street, where he went to live after his retirement
from the Liberal leadership.