The Life of the Rt. Hon. Sir Charles W. Dilke Volume I Part 56

Among those who wrote to him was Mr. Gladstone, condoling on a death "you will much feel." To one friend who wrote of Gambetta's "moral power," he replied: "It seems difficult to speak of 'moral' power about Gambetta. His kind of power was almost purely physical; it was a power of courage, energy, and oratory." During his visit to Paris in January, 1883, 'my first visit after Gambetta's death,' he and Lord Lyons 'talked chiefly about Gambetta.'

Later, turning--with the detachment of judgment which characterized his att.i.tude to public life--from his private friendship to his estimate of the needs of France, he left this estimate of Gambetta and the Republic:

'Much as I loved his society, I did not think him a loss to the Republic, for he was too dictatorial and too little inclined to let other men do important work to suit that form of government, except, indeed, in time of war. It is quite true that his was the only strong personality of which France could boast, and it was possible that, so long as he was there, the people would not be likely in a panic to hunt in other camps for a saviour: but great as was his power-- physical power, power of courage and of oratory--and terrible as was the hole in France made by his death, nevertheless the smaller men were perhaps more able to conduct the Republic to prosperity and to general acceptance by the people.'

II.

The governing fact of English politics at this moment was the general expectation of Mr. Gladstone's retirement. Since Lord Hartington would undoubtedly succeed him, the Radical wing, led by Dilke and Chamberlain, was doubly eager to commit the Government in advance to Radical measures.

Each of the two main subjects contemplated had two subdivisions. Reform of the electorate included extension of the franchise, to which the Radicals attached most importance, and to which Lord Hartington was sullenly opposed; it also included redistribution of seats. Reform of local government included, first, proposals for a new system of county government; [Footnote: These had taken some shape, and Dilke found a draft of them in his office when he succeeded to it; but Mr. Chamberlain agreed with him in thinking it "a poor thing which I should not like to father."]

secondly, the Bill for the Government of London, which Sir William Harcourt and Sir Charles Dilke had prepared with the help of Mr. Beal and Mr. Firth, and this was ready for circulation to the Cabinet.

While Dilke, with his son, was pa.s.sing Christmas-time at Toulon, Mr.

Gladstone had also come to the Mediterranean coast.

'I went to Cannes, where I dined with Mr. Gladstone twice, and went to church with him on Sunday, January 21st, 1883.

'While Mr. Gladstone was at Cannes he talked very freely to Ribot and other Frenchmen in the presence of Mrs. Emily Crawford, the _Daily News_ correspondent in Paris, about the London Government Bill.

Harcourt had insisted, against myself and Firth and Beal, and against most of the Commons members of the Cabinet, including the Prime Minister, on keeping the control of the police in the hands of the Government. Ribot asked Mr. Gladstone whether we could really trust London with its police, as few Frenchmen dared trust Paris, and Mr.

Gladstone said that we could and should, a statement which was at once sent to the _Daily News_, and printed, to Harcourt's horror.'

[Ill.u.s.tration: LEON GAMBETTA.

From the painting by Legros in the Luxembourg Museum at Paris.]

'On February 2nd we had a conference on London Government at the Home Office, in which the police question again came up. In consequence of our difference of opinion Harcourt shortly after circulated to the Cabinet a memorandum on the police authority in the new munic.i.p.ality of London....

'"No competent statesmen and no authoritative body of men have considered this matter without arriving at the same conclusion-- namely, that there ought to be one police force, and not two, in the Metropolis. I will therefore take it for granted that it is impossible to raise an argument against the union of the whole of the police force in the Metropolis under one control.... There is only one question worthy of debate--namely, whether the united force shall be placed under the control of the corporation or of the Government.... A practical consideration of the case will, I think, demonstrate the sheer impossibility of vesting in a popular council the discipline and administration of such a force as the Metropolitan Police.... Suppose, for example, that news arrived either from America or Ireland which required instant and secret action by the police throughout London against a Fenian outbreak. Is it to be contended that a meeting of the Watch Committee is to be summoned ... a debate to be raised and a vote taken?... When the Government determined to arrest Davitt, was the warrant to be canva.s.sed ... in the Watch Committee?..."

'On this I wrote in strong dissent: "Suppose the same news as regards Liverpool. A case in point was the attack on Chester Castle. Liverpool was the Fenian centre for this. Liverpool is by far the most Fenian town in England. Yet all the arrests were made in Liverpool, and all worked perfectly. If all this argument were really true, there would be Fenian Alsatias in existence now. We do not find any difference between town and town. We do not find that the Fenians avoid London, where Harcourt has all his force and all his powers."

'Harcourt's memorandum went on in extraordinarily violent and anti- popular language.... To this reasoning neither Mr. Gladstone nor Chamberlain nor I yielded.'

Extension of the franchise involved Ireland. It was certain enormously to increase Mr. Parnell's following, and Lord Hartington's opposition to the proposal was very largely due to this fact. The Whig leader's att.i.tude to Ireland was expressed in a speech at Bacup, in which he declared that it would be "madness to give Ireland more extended self-government" unless they could "receive from the Irish people some a.s.surance that this boon would not be used for the purposes of agitation."

'Chamberlain wrote to me January 20th:

'"Hartington's speech was very Conservative the other day. I cannot complain, as he has as much right to talk Whiggism as you and I to spout Radicalism. Only I don't see how we are to get on together when Mr. G. goes.... But the general impression left on my mind is that the country (_our_ country, that is--the great majority of Liberal opinion) is ripe for a new departure in constructive Radicalism, and only wants leaders. So if we are driven to fight, we shall easily recruit an army."'

Speaking at Swansea on February 1st, Mr. Chamberlain said:

"So long as Ireland is without any inst.i.tution of Local Government worthy of the name, so long the seeds of discontent and disloyalty will remain, and burst forth into luxuriant growth at the first favourable occasion."

Radicals were already uneasy about Lord Spencer's administration, and their uneasiness was finding expression in public. Sir Charles notes in January, 1883, before his brother Ashton's death:

'My brother had in January placed his application for the Chiltern Hundreds secretly in the hands of his Newcastle friends, to be used so soon as they had found a candidate, and I managed through Chamberlain the selection of John Morley. Lord Spencer and Trevelyan were at this time very hostile to Morley, who was writing against their policy in the _Pall Mall_, and was supposed to be instigated by Chamberlain. In sending me a letter of complaint from Trevelyan, Chamberlain wrote:

'"It seems to me devilishly like Forster over again. I think it may wait without further reply; but I fear there may be more trouble in store in Ireland yet, and we may have to put our feet down on further coercion."

'In a letter of February 2nd, Chamberlain wrote:

'"If Spencer and Trevelyan really believe that I have set Morley against them, they are very foolish. On the other hand, I have done all I can to keep him straight, but you know he is kittle cattle to drive. If I have not converted him, I must admit that he has rather shaken me, and I have not quite so much confidence in their discretion as I thought it politic to express last night" (at Swansea). "The more I think of the prosecutions of the Press and of Members of Parliament, the less I like them. But I have said nothing of this to Morley. You will see that I replied to Hartington by implication. I do not want to have a row, but if it must come I shall not shrink from it.'"

The Radicals were pressing forward a proposal to deal at once with the extension of franchise instead of with Local Government; but here they were overruled.

'On this last point of the order of our chief Bills, Chamberlain and I jointly consulted the Cabinet in writing, with the result that all p.r.o.nounced against our view except Mr. Gladstone, who was away and did not write.' (Mr. Gladstone did not return from Cannes till the beginning of March.) 'Hartington showed in his minute not only that he wanted County Government dealt with first, but that he wanted redistribution dealt with in the same Session with franchise. Lord Spencer and Lord Selborne strongly agreed with Hartington. Lord Granville was against binding ourselves to couple redistribution with equalization of franchise, but thought that to introduce Bills dealing with one or both of these subjects "would be prematurely hastening the end of a good Parliament, and would delay the pa.s.sing of useful measures, including Local Government. It seems to me important to test the utility of the new rules of procedure by several non-political Bills, together with such Bills as the Local Government Bill and the reform of the munic.i.p.ality of London." Lord Granville, of course, was anxious to stop in, and was merely finding reasons for not touching a subject which he thought dangerous.

'Lord Derby agreed with Lord Granville: "The objection on general grounds to bringing forward a County Franchise Bill in the present Session seems to me strong. You could not postpone redistribution of seats, and this latter measure would involve the necessity for dissolution, either in order to carry it or immediately after it was carried. Local Government would thus be delayed for several years."

Lord Kimberley wrote: "I agree with Lord Derby. From the time when we propose the extension of the county franchise until (by some Governments) the redistribution of seats is carried, there will be a political crisis, and all other measures will be postponed."

'In consequence of the position taken up by the Cabinet, I proceeded to draft a Local Government Bill.' [Footnote: The measure was a large one, but he notes in his Memoir that 'it was a less complete and comprehensive measure than that prepared by me for Chamberlain in 1886.']

Thus, immediately on his entry into the Cabinet Sir Charles found himself entrusted with the task of framing the chief measure for the succeeding Session. When the outlines had been sketched in, he wrote:

'Before I started for my Easter holiday I went through the draft of the Local Government Bill. Drawing great Bills is heart-breaking work, for one always feels that they will never be introduced or seen, so considerable are the chances against any given Bill going forward. All the great labour that we had given to the London Bill was wasted, and this forms a reason why the Foreign Office is pleasanter than other offices, as no work is wasted there.'

The decision to postpone extension of the franchise, though it eased the situation, did not solve all difficulties. Mr. Chamberlain urged a Tenant Rights Bill for England, which, he said to Sir Charles, "would be a great stroke of business. Without it" they would "lose the farmers for a certainty." Sir Charles concurred, and an Agricultural Holdings Bill was amongst the measures carried in that Session. It did not go far in the direction of tenant right, and therefore created no controversy with the Whigs. But with regard to Ireland, Mr. Chamberlain 'was strongly in favour of an Irish Local Government Bill' (which had been promised in a previous Queen's Speech). The Prime Minister was of Mr. Chamberlain's view. On February 3rd to 5th, when Dilke was staying with the Duke of Albany at Claremont (and 'admiring Clive's Durbar carpet, for which the house was built'), the Duke 'talked over Mr. Gladstone's strong desire for an Irish Local Government Bill.' That desire was, indeed, no secret, for Mr.

Gladstone, still in his expansive mood of Cannes, gave an interview to M.

Clemenceau, in which he expressed his hope to "make the humblest Irishman feel that he is a self governing agency, and that the Government is to be carried on by him and for him."

At the Cabinet of February 9th

'we looked forward to what the schoolboys call "a jolly blow up," when Mr. Gladstone should return. The letter from Mr. Gladstone, which was read, was so steady in its terms that I pa.s.sed a paper to Chamberlain, saying: "He is quite as obstinate as you are."

'On February 12th I ... found Harcourt perfectly furious at Mr.

Gladstone's conversations as reported in the _Daily News_. I wrote to Chamberlain to tell him, and he replied: u It is lovely. And his conversation with Clemenceau will send Hartington into hysterics re Irish Local Government.'

Sir Charles's first Cabinet Council was on Tuesday, February 6th, 1883.

'This was the Queen's Speech Cabinet, and my notes show that I wrote a good deal of the speech, especially the part which concerned the Bills. I was much surprised at the form of the circular calling the Cabinet: "A Meeting of Her Majesty's servants will be held," etc....

We were thirteen on this day, and spent a portion of our valuable time in wondering which of us would be gone before the year was out. Mr.

Gladstone still stated in his letters that he would retire at Easter, or at the latest in August, and it was generally thought that he meant August.'

A series of Cabinets followed in which the Prime Minister continued to make himself felt, though absent, and Sir Charles wrote in his Diary:

"Talk of two Kings of Brentford! This Cabinet has to serve two despotic monarchs--one a Tory one, at Osborne, and one a Radical one, at Cannes."

It shows the temper of the moment that Sir Charles should have described the second monarch as 'Radical.' But Ireland was then the central subject of contention, and concerning Ireland Mr. Gladstone was with the Radicals, Dilke and Chamberlain, and against those who wanted to revenge upon the whole Irish nation, the plots of the "Invincibles," then being exposed by the evidence of James Carey, the Phoenix Park a.s.sa.s.sin, who had been accepted as an informer.

'On Sunday, February 18th, I dined with the Prince and Princess of Wales at Marlborough House, where were present Prince Edward of Saxe- Weimar, Hartington, the d.u.c.h.ess of Manchester, Lord and Lady Hamilton (afterwards Duke and d.u.c.h.ess of Abercorn), Lord and Lady Granville, Lady Lonsdale (afterwards Lady de Grey), Lord Rowton, H. Bismarck, Leighton, Alfred de Rothschild, and Sir Joseph Crowe. Lord Granville and I sat in a corner and talked Danube Conference. Lord Granville told me, when we returned to other matters, that Harcourt was in a dangerous frame of mind, and might at any moment burst out publicly about the necessity of governing Ireland by the sword. He was also threatening resignation on account of Mr. Gladstone's views about the Metropolitan Police.'

'On February 19th there was an informal Cabinet in Mr. Gladstone's room, which was now temporarily mine.... Harcourt fought against Lord Granville, Kimberley, Northbrook, Carlingford, and Childers, in favour of his violent views about the Irish. At last Carlingford, although an Irish landlord, cried out: "Your language is that of the lowest Tory."

Harcourt then said: "In the course of this very debate I shall say that there must be no more Irish legislation, and no more conciliation, and that Ireland can only be governed by the sword." "If you say that," replied Carlingford, "it will not be as representing the Government, for none of your colleagues agree with you." It was only temper, and Harcourt said nothing of the kind, but made an excellent speech.' [Footnote: Sir Charles Dilke's view of the Irish movement is expressed in a letter of March 7th, 1883: "I don't think that the movement in Ireland is to be traced to the same causes as that on the Continent. The Irish movement is Nationalist. It is patriotic--not cosmopolitan, and is as detached from French Anarchism and German or American Socialism as is the Polish Nationalist movement."]

'On March 1st I heard that when the Irish Government, through the Home Office, had applied to the Foreign Office to ask the Americans for P.

J. Sheridan, the Home Office had said that they feared it was useless to apply to the United States except on a charge of murder. On this hint the Irish Government at once charged Sheridan with murder.

Harcourt told me that their prompt.i.tude reminded him of a story which he had heard from Kinglake, who was once applied to by a friend as to the circ.u.mstances which would be sufficient to legalize a "nuncupative [Footnote: "Nuncupative" is a legal term for an oral as distinguished from a written will.] death-bed will." Kinglake wrote a figurative account of an imaginary case in much detail, and by the next post received a solemn affidavit from the man setting out Kinglake's own exact series of incidents as having actually occurred.'

Prosecutions and sentences had no more effect than such things generally have in face of a suppressed revolution and on the night of March 15th, 1883, a dynamite explosion took place at the Local Government Board. Sir Charles, however, did not take a very serious view of it: