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by the great mass of my fellow-countrymen. Let me quote one brief passage in the speech to which I refer which seems to me to compress the charges against Cobden and his school in the shortest number of words possible, while necessitating the least wear and tear of brain power on the part of the reader:

There may be some, there are some, who still share opinions of an older generation, who think that the United Kingdom can best stand alone, that the Colonies are mere encumbrances to be got rid of as soon as possible. Remember, and in this connection it is important to remember, that Mr. Cobden all throughout his career connected himself with this separatist doctrine, that he looked forward with hope to the separation of Canada, that he desired the loss of India, that he expected the independence of Australia. He had a cosmopolitan philanthropy, admirable in its way; but it has no place in my philosophy. I wish no ill to foreign nations, but I wish good to my own.

6

To employ a vulgar but expressive phrase, Them's my sentiments' is the comment which an overwhelming majority of Englishmen born and bred would make on reading these words, and the one English statesman who can clothe such simple ideas in such plain language is, and must be as long as his powers last, a dominant factor in English politics.

There is, I have every reason to believe, a small but not uninfluential coterie in this British land of ours which honestly regards as the greatest event, not only of the past month, but of the last twelve months, or even of His Majesty's reign, the fact that the Duke of Devonshire, the head of the great house of Cavendish, has finally severed his connection with the Liberal Unionist Association. I may possibly underrate the importance of this grave occurrence, but even if his Grace should be accompanied in his retirement by Lord James of Hereford, Mr. Arthur Elliot, the brothers Seely, and a few trusty retainers, I fancy the country will sustain the loss with unconcern. In saying this, I should be sorry to seem to dispute the fact that the late President of the Liberal Unionist Association has not only a real claim to the gratitude of his fellowcountrymen, but must continue so long as he lives to possess a name which will carry weight with the British public. His high rank, his great fortune, his position as the greatest probably of British landowners, his striking independence of character, his utter indifference to office, his love of sport, his plain good sense, and I may say his lack of imagination, his slowness of thought, his dulness of utterance, all appeal somehow to instincts of Englishmen, no matter to what party they may belong.

If at the crisis of England's fate he had hesitated in severing his connection with Mr. Gladstone, the greater number of the Liberal members who disapproved of Home Rule would probably have followed his example. Of this, the one great achievement of his life, he and his friends may be justly proud, but if one had to

take a less favourable estimate it would not be unfair to suggest a doubt whether his Grace ever realised that his secession from the Liberals was permanent or only temporary. Throughout the whole of the prolix speech with which he explained his reasons for quitting the Liberal Unionist Association, I could find no indication of any discovery on his part that it was not the Liberal Party who had left him, but he who had left the Liberal Party. He and his followers were still, in his opinion, all true Liberals, the only rightful representatives of sound Liberalism. The facts that they had voted for years with Conservatives, that they had in most instances been returned by Conservative votes, and that they had held office in a Conservative Ministry, were, as far as I could gather, obliterated in his mind by the reflection that he had never called himself a Conservative, but had stuck with stolid tenacity to the appellation of Liberal Unionist. The anomalous character of his position as a professed Liberal, when sitting in a Conservative Ministry and defending Conservative measures, never appears to have been realised by his Grace till Mr. Chamberlain raised the fiscal controversy. As it is, the Liberal Unionist Association and the Liberal Unionist League would appear, in as far as they had any living organisation at all, to have been directed, instructed, and financed by the President and his personal followings, and now that their President has left them I am somewhat at a loss to understand what is to be their reason of being. It is satisfactory to be assured that, if ever Home Rule should be brought forward again as a serious question, the Duke's services will be at the disposal of the Unionists. It is, however, less satisfactory to learn that his Grace regards the maintenance of free trade as a matter of equal importance with the maintenance of the Union. How he is going to decide between the merits of the two causes, to which he thus stands pledged, is a matter upon which his Grace has vouchsafed no information, probably because he has not yet been able to make up his own mind.

The last of the many attempts to defeat the Government by raising side issues on which it was hoped a sufficient number of malcontent Unionists might be detached from their party to place the Ministry in a minority has ended in a fiasco. Owing to the advance of the session and to the rules that regulate Parliamentary procedure, the Opposition will have little or no further opportunities of arranging sham fights which end in smoke. Mr. Black's resolution has been defeated by a majority of fifty-five, though thirty-nine Liberal Unionists stopped away unpaired and twenty-two had the courage to vote with the Liberals. Somehow it is difficult to treat this sort of debating-society politics seriously. Mr. Balfour succeeded easily in demonstrating the futility of the contention that he or his colleagues were bound to pledge themselves beforehand as to the views they may or may not hold on the subject of protection or free trade, at an un

known period, under conditions which as yet are incapable of being ascertained. From the date of his speech at Sheffield, the Prime Minister has never left any doubt in the minds of reasonable men as to the policy he intends to pursue. He has pledged himself to make no alteration in our fiscal system during the lifetime of the present Parliament. When the next general election takes place he proposes to go to the country with a proposal to authorise the imposition of retaliatory duties. Beyond this he is not prepared to go, and, what is more important, he does not believe the British public are prepared to go for the present. If the result of the approaching general election should show that the country is not indisposed to follow Mr. Chamberlain's advice, and consolidate the Empire by a preferential tariff involving the imposition of duties on corn imported from foreign markets, he might, as he makes no secret of acknowledging, support Mr. Chamberlain's idea. But he declares that under no circumstances will he go beyond the possible employment of retaliatory duties during the next Parliament. The constituencies, he pledges his word, shall be again consulted before any further advance of any kind may be made in the path of protection. This is the plain truth, and it did not require a lengthy and dreary Parliamentary debate to make evident the good faith of the Ministerial policy. The attempt to create a schism between Mr. Balfour and Mr. Chamberlain has only resulted in exposing the want of logic and lack of fair play in the ranks of the Opposition.

EDWARD DICEY.

The Editor of THE NINETEENTH CENTURY cannot undertake to return unaccepted MSS.

INDEX TO VOL. LV

The titles of articles are printed in italics

ACT

ACTON'S (Lord) Letters, 765–775

Actors, How they train, in Paris,

966-973

Eschylus and Shakespeare, 585-
594

Agricultural depression, town pauper-
ism, and fiscal reform, 255-266
Agricultural distress in Russia, 375–386
Agricultural production
and pre-

ferential tariffs, 1-11

Alien Restriction Acts of Australia,
146-154

America and England, friendly re-
lations between, 529-537

Anderson (Sir Robert), The Home

Office Scheme for Professional
Criminals,' 117-130; criticised by
an ex-prisoner, 278–287; a rejoinder,
811-821

Anglo-French agreement, The, 876-
878

Anglo-French rapprochement, 926-936
Anti-Clericalism in France and
England, 724-733

Apologetics, Religious, 318-322
Army reform, 178-182, 492-502, 517,

521

Army Remounts, English Horse-
breeding and, 974-986

Army, The, and the Esher Scheme,
840-847

Art schools of the Royal Academy,
302-309

Art, Whistler's influence on, as an ex-
ponent of modern life, 665-675
Arthur (Sir George), Anti-Clericalism

in France and England, 724-738
Assisi, St. Francis of, and Italian art,
421-428

Australasia, The Church in, 795-810
Australia, A White: What it means,
146-154

Australia, Primary Education in,
219-228

BAGOT (Richard), The Pope and

Church Music: a Roman Catho-
lic Protest, 881-888

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YARNEGIE (Andrew), Britain's
Appeal to the Gods, 538-542
Cassells (Walter R.), his article on
religious apologetics criticised, 318-
322
Chamberlain (Mr.) and Tariff Reform,

161-162, 167-171, 336-351, 509-513,
1036-1041, 1051–1054

China, Japan, Russia, and England,
368-874

China, Russia, and Japan; and the
'Yellow Peril,' 30-39

Chinese conservatism and Japanese
progressiveness, 910-925

Chinese Dreamland, In, 576-584
Chinese immigrants in Australia, 146–
154

Chinese jade stone, its uses and legends,
138-145

Chinese labour for South Africa, 719

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DECLA

ECLARATIONS of war preceded
by hostilities, 676-684

Dicey (Edward), Last Month, 165–172,
346-352, 520-528, 695–704, 873-880,
1045-1054

Disestablishment, Lessons from the
Antipodes concerning, 802-806
Dockyards, harbours, and naval
defence, 603-605

Drama of Eschylus and of Shake-
speare, 585-594

Drama, The Recognition of the, by
the State, 449-466

Dramatic art, need of a State-aided
school for, 966-973

Drew (Mrs.), her Letters of Lord
Acton reviewed, 765-775
Duff (Sir Mountstuart Elphinstone
Grant), Lord Acton's Letters, 765-
775

Duthie (Rev. D. Wallace), Sermons
and Samuel Pepys, 288-301

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FRE

Economic consolidation of the British
Empire as a remedy for foreign
trade competition, 12-29

Education Act, The, How Long will
it Last? 47-59

Education and religious controversy in
France and in England, 724–733
Education in Australasia, 799-802
Education, Primary, in Australia,
219-228

Educational Concordats, 40-46
Educational Concordat, The Pro-
posed a Nonconformist Reply,
387-401

Electricity, The New Discoveries in,
79-89

Eltzbacher (O.), Russia's Financial
Position, 375-386; Japan's Fi-
nancial Position, 543-554; The
Yellow Peril, 910-925

Empire, The Unity of the, 353–367
England and France, 926-936
English Horse-breeding and Army
Remounts, 974-986

Esher committee for Army reform,
The, 492-502

Esher Scheme, The Army and the,
840-847

Etheria and her 'Itinerary' in Pales-
tine in the fourth century, 651-664
Ethiopian Church' of South Africa,
The, 715-718

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Fire fatalities in theatres, 65-67
Fiscal question, The, as affecting India,
444-448

- Mr. Black's resolution, 1038–1040,
1053-1054

Fiscal theories and Britain's com-
mercial prosperity, 538-542
Fiscal Veil, Behind the, 255-266
Fish-destroying Birds and Seals, The
Increase of, 107–116

Foster (Sir Michael), The State and
Scientific Research, 741-751
France and England, Anti-clericalism
in, 724-733

France and England, cordial relations
between, 876-878, 926-936
France, Germany, and the Russo-
Japanese War, 555-563

Franciscan Legends, The, in Italian
Art, 421-428

Free Trade and British Shipping,
323-335

Free trade policy of Cobden, The,
898-909

Free-trade scramble, The, and the
principle of nationality, 12-29

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