The Life of the Rt. Hon. Sir Charles W. Dilke, Vol. 2

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'"The prospect is not an inviting one.

'"I have told Harcourt the facts as in the numbered paragraphs. Do
not say a word to anyone else. Harcourt is perplexed and hesitating.
I think he is impressed with the danger of Fenian outrages,
dynamite, and assassination.

'"For myself, I would sooner the Tories were in for the next ten
years than agree to what I think the ruin of the country."

'On New Year's Eve, the 31st, we went to Rugby, where I had to make
the speech alluded to in Chamberlain's letter. I had received an
invitation, dated December 29th, to a meeting at Devonshire House.
Hartington wrote:

'"My Dear Dilke,

'"You know, no doubt, that Harcourt has had a good deal of
communication with Chamberlain lately. I hear that Chamberlain will
be in town on Friday (New Year's Day), and it is proposed that he,
Harcourt, you, and I, should meet here on Friday at four to talk
over matters, especially Irish. I have asked Granville to come up if
he likes. I do not think there would be any advantage in having any
others, unless Rosebery?

'"Yours sincerely,

'"Hartington."

'I sent this letter to Chamberlain with an inquiry as to what he
knew about the meeting, and he replied on New Year's Eve:

'"The meeting to-morrow was arranged by telegraph.... I suspect Mr.
Gladstone is inclined to hedge. He refuses to satisfy the Irish by
any definite statements. I hope they may continue suspicious and
keep the Tories in for some time."'

'Yet it was Chamberlain who was to turn out the Tories. On New
Year's Eve, at Rugby, referring to the Irish Question, I praised the
speech made by Trevelyan on the previous night as being "a
declaration in favour of that scheme of National Councils which he
supports for Ireland at least, and which was recommended in an able
article in the _Fortnightly Review_ for Scotland, Ireland, and
Wales." I said: "I am one of those who have never limited my views
upon the subject to Ireland. Mr. Trevelyan last night spoke as
though it were only in Ireland that it was necessary to institute
some local body to deal with purely local questions--with those
questions which now come before nominated boards or branches of the
Executive Government." I went on to speak in the sense of Mr.
Gladstone's letter, in favour of the Conservatives being encouraged
to propose such Irish remedial legislation.

'On New Year's Day, 1886, an important meeting took place at
Devonshire House between Hartington, Harcourt, Chamberlain, and
myself. I did not see my way clearly, and did not say much; the
other three arguing strongly against Mr. Gladstone's conduct in
having sent Herbert Gladstone to a news agency to let out his views
for the benefit of the provincial Press, in such a way as to put
pressure on his colleagues. It seemed to me that the pressure,
though no doubt unfair and indefensible, had nevertheless been
pretty successful, as neither Harcourt nor Chamberlain saw their way
to opposing Mr. Gladstone, although both of them disliked his
scheme. Hartington only said that he "thought he could not join a
Government to promote any such scheme." But, then, he would not, I
pointed out, be asked to do so. He would be asked to join a
Government to consider something. The practical conclusion come to
was to write to Mr. Gladstone to urge him to come to London to
consult his colleagues. On January 4th I heard from Hartington that
Mr. Gladstone informed him that he had nothing to add to his
previous letter dated December 17th. Hartington wrote:

'"I have heard from Mr. Gladstone. He declines to hasten his arrival
in London, but will be available on the 11th after 4 p.m. for any
who may wish to see him. He will be at my sister-in-law's (Lady F.
Cavendish), 21, Carlton House Terrace.... He has done nothing and
will do nothing to convert his opinions into intentions, for he has
not the material before him. There is besides the question of
Parliamentary procedure (this refers to action on the Address). For
considering this, he thinks the time available in London will be
ample."

'In forwarding the correspondence to Chamberlain with a copy of the
letter of December 17th, 1885, as I was requested by Hartington to
do, I added that Mr. Gladstone could hardly be said not to have done
anything which had enabled the Nationalists to establish rival
biddings between the two sides (to use his phrase), because we knew
that he had asked Arthur Balfour to go to Lord Salisbury with a
message from him promising his support if the Government would bring
in a Home Rule scheme. This he had let out to the Irish.

'After this we were in consultation as to whether we ought to see
Mr. Gladstone separately; and Hartington wrote to me on January
10th, 1886, from Hardwick, that he did not see how we could decline
to see Mr. Gladstone separately, but that we might be as reticent as
we pleased, and could all combine in urging further collective
consultations; and it was arranged that Hartington himself should
see Mr. Gladstone on January 12th--the day of the election of the
Speaker. Mr. Gladstone then informed us all that he would see such
of us as chose on the afternoon of January 11th, and Chamberlain
then wrote:

'"As far as I know, only Harcourt is going on Monday, and I on
Tuesday morning. If for _any_ reason you think it well to go, there
is really not the least objection."

'I went on the 11th, but nothing of the least importance passed, and
the same was the case with Chamberlain's interview on the 12th.
Harcourt was present on the 11th, and evidently in full support of
Gladstone.

'On the 15th Labouchere gave a dinner to Chamberlain and Randolph
Churchill, but I do not think that anything very serious was
discussed. There was a sharp breach at this moment between
Chamberlain and Morley, Chamberlain telling Morley that his speeches
were "foolish and mischievous," and that he was talking "literary
nonsense--the worst of all."

'On January 21st we had a meeting of all the ex-Cabinet at Lord
Granville's. Chamberlain breakfasted with me before the meeting, and
he drew and I corrected the amendment which was afterwards accepted
at the meeting as that which should be supported by the party on the
Queen's Speech, and which was that moved by Jesse Collings by which
the Government were turned out on the 26th. The adoption of our
amendment was very sudden. The leaders had met apparently without
any policy, and the moment Chamberlain read our "three acres and a
cow" amendment, they at once adopted it without discussion as a way
out of all their difficulties and differences. [Footnote: This
amendment was carried by seventy-nine votes, and the Government thus
overthrown.] The Government resigned on the 28th, and on the 29th I
had an interview with Chamberlain as to what he should do about
taking office.

'On January 30th Mr. Gladstone offered Chamberlain the Admiralty,
after Hartington had refused to join the Government. Chamberlain
came and saw me, and was to go back to Mr. Gladstone at six. He
thought he had no alternative but to accept a place in the
Government, although he did not like the Admiralty. Mr. Gladstone
showed him a form of words as to Irish Home Rule. It was equivalent
to a passage in Sexton's [Footnote: Home Rule M.P. for S. Sligo,
1885-1886; Belfast W., 1886-1892.] speech on the 22nd, at which Mr.
Gladstone had been seen to nod in a manner which implied that he had
suggested the words. The proposal was, as we knew it would be, for
inquiry. Chamberlain did not object to the inquiry, but objected to
the Home Rule. Chamberlain, before returning to Mr. Gladstone, wrote
him a very stiff letter against Home Rule, which somewhat angered
him. On Sunday, January 31st, Chamberlain wrote that for personal
reasons he had sooner not accept the Admiralty. Mr. Gladstone saw
Chamberlain again later in the day, on the Sunday, and asked what it
was then that he wanted; to which Chamberlain replied, "The
Colonies," and Mr. Gladstone answered, "Oh! A Secretary of State."
Chamberlain was naturally angry at this slight, and being offered by
Mr. Gladstone the Board of Trade, then refused to return to it.
After leaving Mr. Gladstone he went to Harcourt, and told Harcourt
that he would take the Local Government Board, "but not very
willingly." On Monday, February 1st, I asked Chamberlain to
reconsider his decision about the Admiralty, and found that he would
have been willing to have done so, but that it was now too late. On
the 2nd Mr. Gladstone wrote me a very nice letter quoted above,
[Footnote: Chapter XLII., p.172.] about the circumstances relating
to the trial then coming on which made it impossible for him to
include me in the Ministry. Morley wrote: "Half my satisfaction and
confidence are extinguished by your absence. It may and will make
all the difference."'

Mr. Morley's apprehension was justified by events.

In 1880 the position of the Radical leaders, while only private members,
had been of such strength that Sir Charles had been able to secure, from
a reluctant Prime Minister, the terms agreed on between Mr. Chamberlain
and himself. He had obtained for both positions in the Government, and
procured Cabinet rank for Chamberlain. Now that the power of one of the
allies was demolished, and Mr. Chamberlain stood alone, Mr. Gladstone's
view of the changed situation was apparent. The 'slight' to Chamberlain
was followed by that course of action which resulted in his breach with
the Liberal party. Together the two men could, from a far stronger point
of vantage than in 1880, have made their terms; with Mr. Chamberlain
isolated Mr. Gladstone could impose his own. The alteration in the
course of English political history which the next few months were to
effect was made finally certain by Sir Charles Dilke's fall.

Lord Rosebery wrote on February 3rd to say that he had been appointed
Foreign Secretary, an office which in happier circumstances would, he
said to Sir Charles, 'have been yours by universal consent.' The letter
went on to state in very sympathetic words how 'constantly present to
his mind' was his own inferiority in knowledge and ability to the man
who had been set aside.

'I had written to Rosebery at the same moment, and our letters had
crossed. I replied to his:

'"My Dear Rosebery,

'"Our letters crossed, but mine was a wretched scrawl by the side of
yours. I do not know how, with those terrible telegrams beginning to
fly round you, you find time to write such letters. I could never
have taken the Foreign Office without the heaviest misgiving, and I
hope that whenever the Liberals are in, up to the close of my life,
you may hold it. My 'knowledge' of foreign affairs _is_, I admit to
you, great, and I can answer questions in the Commons, and I can
negotiate with foreigners. But these are _not_ the most important
points. As to the excess of 'ability' with which you kindly and
modestly credit me, I do not admit it for a moment. I should say
that you are far more competent to advise and carry through a
policy--far more competent to send the right replies to those
telegrams which are the Foreign Office curse. As to questions, these
are a mere second curse, but form a serious reason why the Secretary
of State should be in the Lords.

'"I have always said that, if kept for no other reason, the Lords
should remain as a place for the Secretary of State for the Foreign
Department, and _I_ think also for the Prime Minister. Between
ourselves, you will not have quite a fair chance in being Secretary
of State for the Foreign Department under Mr. Gladstone, because Mr.
Gladstone _will_ trust to his skill in the House of Commons, and
_will_ speak and reply when the prudent Under-Secretary would ask
for long notice or be silent. Lord Granville was always complaining,
and Mr. Gladstone always promising never to do it again, and always
doing it every day. [Footnote: See supra, p. 51 and note.] I am
going to put down a notice to-day to strengthen your hands against
France in _re_ Diego Suarez."

'From Bryce I heard that he had been appointed Under-Secretary of
State for the Foreign Department, and asking me whom he should take
as his private secretary; and I told him Austin Lee, and he took him
at once.'

'To the Prince of Wales I wrote to say that I should not attend the
Levee, and had from him a reply marked by that great personal
courtesy which he always shows.'

Thus came into being Mr. Gladstone's third Administration. In 1885 the
continuance of Mr. Gladstone's leadership had seemed necessary in order
to bridge the gap between Lord Hartington and the Radicals. Now in 1886
Lord Hartington was out, to mark his opposition, not to Chamberlain, but
to Gladstone; and Chamberlain was in, though heavily handicapped. Yet
none of these contradictions which had defied anticipation was so
unforeseen as the exclusion of Sir Charles Dilke.

APPENDIX

See p. 196. Letter of Mr. Gladstone to Lord Hartington, December 17th,
1885:

'The whole stream of public excitement is now turned upon me, and I
am pestered with incessant telegrams which I have no defence against
but either suicide or Parnell's method of self-concealment. The
truth is I have more or less of opinions and ideas, but no
intentions or negotiations. In these ideas and opinions there is, I
think, little that I have not more or less conveyed in public
declarations: in principle, nothing. I will try to lay them before
you. I consider that Ireland has now spoken, and that an effort
ought to be made by the _Government_ without delay to meet her
demand for the management, by an Irish legislative body, of Irish as
distinct from Imperial affairs. Only a Government can do it, and a
Tory Government can do it more easily and safely than any other.

'There is first a postulate--that the state of Ireland shall be such
as to warrant it.

'The conditions of an admissible plan, I think, are--

'(1) Union of the Empire and due supremacy of Parliament.

'(2) Protection for the minority. A difficult matter on which I have
talked much with Spencer, certain points, however, remaining to be
considered.

'(3) Fair allocation of Imperial charges.

'(4) A statutory basis seems to me to be better and safer than the
revival of Grattan's Parliament, but I wish to hear more upon this,
as the minds of men are still in so crude a state on the whole
subject.

'(5) Neither as opinions nor as intentions have I to anyone alive
promulgated these ideas as decided on by me.

'(6) As to intentions, I am determined to have none at present--to
leave space to the Government--I should wish to encourage them if I
properly could--above all, on no account to say or do anything which
would enable the Nationalists to establish rival biddings between
us.

'If this storm of rumours continues to rage, it may be necessary for
me to write some new letter to my constituents, but I am desirous to
do nothing, simply leaving the field open for the Government, until
time makes it necessary to decide. Of our late colleagues, I have
had most communication with Granville, Spencer, and Rosebery. Would
you kindly send this on to Granville? I think you will find it in
conformity with my public declarations, though some blanks are
filled up. I have in truth thought it my duty, without in the least
committing myself or anyone else, to think through the subject as
well as I could, being equally convinced of its urgency and its
bigness.'

The remainder of this letter is not quoted in the Memoir.

CHAPTER XLVI

THE FIRST HOME RULE BILL

FEBRUARY TO JULY, 1886

The acute political crisis now maturing within the Liberal party had a
special menace for Sir Charles Dilke. It threatened to affect a personal
tie cemented by his friend's stanchness through these months of trouble.

On January 31st, 1886, he wrote:

'My Dear Chamberlain,

'I feel that our friendship is going to be subjected to the heaviest
strain it has ever borne, and I wish to minimize any risks to it, in
which, however, I don't believe. I am determined that it shall not
dwindle into a form or pretence of friendship of which the substance
has departed. It will be a great change if I do not feel that I can
go to your house or to your room as freely as ever. At the same time
confidence from one in the inner circle of the Cabinet to one wholly
outside the Government is not easy, and reserve makes all
conversation untrue. I think the awkwardness will be less if I
abstain from taking part in home affairs (unless, indeed, in
supporting my Local Government Bill, should that come up). In
Foreign Affairs we shall not be brought into conflict, and to
Foreign and Colonial affairs I propose to return.

'I intend to sit behind (in Forster's seat), not below the gangway,
as long as you are in the Government.

'There is one great favour which I think you will be able to do me
without any trouble to yourself, and that is to let my wife come to
your room to see me _between_ her lunch and the meeting of the
House. The greatest nuisance about being out is that I shall have to
go down in the mornings to get my place, and to sit in the library
all day....

'Yours ever,

'Chs. W. D'

When the first trial of the divorce case was over (almost before Mr.
Gladstone's Government had fairly assumed office), in the period during
which Sir Charles designedly absented himself from the House of Commons,

'Chamberlain asked me to act on the Committee to revise my Local
Government Bill, and to put it into a form for introduction to the
House; and I attended at the Local Government Board throughout the
spring at meetings at which Chamberlain, if present, presided.... It
is a curious fact that I often presided over this Cabinet Committee,
though not a member of the Government.'

During the month of February, while the Press campaign against him
was ripening, Sir Charles had little freedom of mind for politics.
Yet this was the moment when Mr. Chamberlain's action, decisive for
the immediate fate of a great question, had to be determined. Sir
Charles had been a conducting medium between Mr. Gladstone and Mr.
Chamberlain. He was so no longer. "I wonder," wrote Chamberlain,
years after, on reading Dilke's Memoir, "what passed in that most
intricate and Jesuitical mind in the months between June and
December, 1885." Perhaps the breach that came was unavoidable. But
at all events the one man who might have prevented it was at the
critical moment hopelessly involved in the endeavour to combat the
scandal that assailed him. [Footnote: There is a letter of this date
to Mr. John Morley:

'76, Sloane Street, S.W.,

'_February 2nd_.

'My Dear Morley,

'As I must not yet congratulate you on becoming at a bound Privy
Councillor and member of the Cabinet, let me in the meantime
congratulate you on your election as a V.P. of the Chelsea Liberal
Association. But seriously, there can be no doubt that you now have
sealed the great position which you had already won. My _one_ hope
is that you will work;--my hope, not for your own sake, but for the
sake of Radical principles--as completely with Chamberlain as I did.
It is the only way to stand against the overwhelming numbers of the
Whig peers. I fear Mr. Gladstone will find his new lot of Whig peers
just as troublesome as the old.

'As long as I am out and _my friends_ are in, I shall sit, not in my
old place below the gangway, but behind, and do anything and
everything that I can do to help.

'Yours ever,

'Chs. W. D.

'I _hope_ it is true that Stansfeld is back?'

It was not till March 3rd, 1886, that

'I resumed my attendance at the House of Commons, and Joseph Cowen,
the member for Newcastle, did what he could to make it pleasant. I
wrote to him, and he replied: "It is a man's duty to stick to his
friends when they are 'run at' as you have been."'

'On March 4th a meeting of the Local Government Committee at
Chamberlain's was put off by the absence of Thring, who had been
sent for by Mr. Gladstone with instructions to draw a Home Rule
Bill. I went to Chamberlain's house, he being too cross to come to
the House of Commons, and held with him an important conversation as
to his future. I tried to point out to him that if he went out, as
he was thinking of doing, he would wreck the party, who would put up
with the Whigs going out against Mr. Gladstone on Home Rule, but who
would be rent in twain by a Radical secession. He would do this, I
told him, without much popular sympathy, and it was a terrible
position to face. He told me that he had said so much in the autumn
that he felt he _must_ do it. I said, "Certainly. But do not go out
and fight. Go out and lie low. If honesty forces you out, well and
good, but it does not force you to fight." He seemed to agree, at
all events at the moment.

'On March 13th there was a Cabinet, an account of which I had from
Chamberlain, who was consulting me daily as to his position. Mr.
Gladstone expounded his land proposals, which ran to 120 millions of
loan, and on which Chamberlain wrote: "As a result of yesterday's
Council, I think Trevelyan and I will be out on Tuesday. If you are
at the House, come to my room after questions." I went to
Chamberlain's room and met Bright with him. But real consultation in
presence of Bright was impossible, because Bright was merely
disagreeable. On Monday, the 15th, Chamberlain and Trevelyan wrote
their letters of resignation, and late at night Chamberlain showed
me the reply to his. On the same day James told me that the old and
close friendship between Harcourt and himself was at an end, they
having taken opposite sides with some warmth. On the 16th
Chamberlain wrote to Mr. Gladstone that he thought he had better
leave him, as he could only attend his Cabinets in order to gather
arguments against his schemes; and Mr. Gladstone replied that he had
better come all the same.

'On the 22nd I had an interesting talk with Sexton about the events
of the period between April and June, 1885. Sexton said that he had
agreed to the Chamberlain plan in conversation with Manning, but it
was as a Local Government plan, not to prevent, so far as he was
concerned, the subsequent adoption of a Parliament. It was on this
day that Chamberlain's resignation became final. On March 26th I,
having to attend a meeting on the Irish question under the auspices
of the Chelsea Liberal Association, showed Chamberlain a draft of
the resolution which I proposed for it. I had written: "That while
this meeting is firmly resolved on the maintenance of the Union
between Great Britain and Ireland, it is of opinion that the wishes
of the Irish people in favour of self-government, as expressed at
the last election, should receive satisfaction." Chamberlain wrote
back that the two things were inconsistent, and that the Irish
wishes as expressed by Parnell were for separation. But his only
suggestion was that I should insert "favourable consideration" in
place of "satisfaction," which did not seem much change. This,
however, was the form in which the resolution was carried by an open
Liberal public meeting, and it is an interesting example of the
fluidity of opinion in the Liberal party generally at the moment. A
rider to the effect that the meeting had complete confidence in Mr.
Gladstone was moved, but from want of adequate support was not put
to the meeting. I violently attacked the land purchase scheme in my
speech, suspended my judgment upon the Home Rule scheme until I saw
it, but declared that it was "one which, generally speaking, so far
as I know it, I fancy I should be able to support." On this same day
Cyril Flower told me that on the previous day the Irish members had
informed Mr. Gladstone that it was their wish that he should
entirely abandon that land purchase scheme which he had adopted for
the sake of conciliating Lord Spencer. On March 27th Chamberlain
wrote: "My resignation has been accepted by the Queen, and is now
therefore public property. We have a devil of a time before us."