. \
 
 
 
 
 I
 
 THE RIGHT HON. 
 
 H. H. ASQUITH, M.P. 
 
 A Biography and Appreciation 
 
 LONDON 
 
 JAMES CLARKE & CO., 13 & 14 FLEET STREET 
 
 1909
 
 
 tto 
 ARTHUR MELLOR BRAMALL, ESQ. 
 
 2067812
 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 IN this brief sketch of Mr. Asquith, the author has 
 aimed at a portrayal of the man, of the politician, 
 and has sought to emphasise the persistency of the 
 qualities which, first appearing in the child and the 
 undergraduate, are seen to-day in the statesman. 
 The privacies of life have been respected, as, in a 
 biography of a living subject, they should be. 
 
 The sources of such information herein contained 
 as has been derived from published estimates of 
 Mr. Asquith have for the most part been acknowledged 
 in the text. While most of the personal information 
 has not appeared in print before, mention may be 
 made of help derived from Mr. Tollemache's book, 
 Sir Leslie Stephen's essay, etc., for references to 
 Jowett; from the estimates of Mr. Asquith's career 
 up to the time of his Home Secretaryship, which 
 appeared in The Review of Reviews, The New Review, 
 and The Saturday Review, from Mr. Lucy's indispen- 
 sable Diary, and Mr. T. P. O'Connor's excellent 
 little volume on Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman. 
 The writer has availed himself of Mr. Alderson's 
 previous volume on Mr. Asquith only to the extent 
 of a reference to two speeches. He has also consulted 
 Mr. Churchill's Life of his father.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 I. BOYHOOD 
 
 PAGE 
 
 9 
 
 II. OXFORD . . . . . . -36 
 
 III. THE BAR . . . , . . . . 55 
 
 IV. PARLIAMENT . , . * . . . . . 70 
 V. HOME SECRETARY ........ 78 
 
 VI. DISESTABLISHMENT ....... 99 
 
 VII. CHANGES IN THE PARTY HO 
 
 VIII. OPPOSITION ......... 123 
 
 IX. THE FISCAL QUESTION 151 
 
 X. THE GENERAL ELECTION, 1906 l6g 
 
 XI. CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER .... l88 
 
 XII. PRIME MINISTER ........ 203 
 
 XIII. CHARACTERISTICS . ...... 2ig
 
 THE RIGHT HON. 
 
 H. HL ASQUITH, M.R 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 BOYHOOD 
 
 HERBERT HENRY ASQUITH was born at Morley, 
 Yorkshire, on September I2th, 1852. 
 
 The town of Morley has a history which extends 
 back to the time of the Romans. In Saxon days it 
 was the seat of the wapentake. Mention of the village 
 is also to be found in the Doomsday Book : 
 
 " In Morley, Dunstan held six carracutes of land 
 subject to taxes ; and other six carracutes has he there 
 which Ilbert held, but it is waste. There was a church, 
 a native wood, one mile long and one broad, in the time 
 of King Edward valued at forty shillings." 
 
 During several centuries the name of Morley does 
 not often occur in the public records, though from this 
 obscurity the impartial tax-gatherer of the day never 
 failed to rescue the village when any new imposition 
 was to be made. In the list of contributors of the poll 
 tax and the hearth tax the names of Morley men are to
 
 io THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, M.P. 
 
 be found beside those of inhabitants of other and larger 
 towns in Yorkshire. 
 
 Five hundred years ago, according to the poll tax 
 returns, the population of the village did not exceed 
 ninety-five souls, but by the sixteenth century Morley 
 had become a place of some importance, and had begun, 
 in common with the surrounding towns, the cloth making 
 trade with which ever since it has been associated. 
 
 The most emphatic feature in the character of the 
 town, however, has been neither its consciousness of 
 the possession of ancient traditions, nor its business 
 acumen, but its pronounced religious and Noncon- 
 formist bias. It is, perhaps, the only town in the 
 country in which may be witnessed the spectacle of 
 a Nonconformist chapel which at one time was the 
 property of the Church of England. St. Mary's 
 Church, which had become Presbyterian during the 
 Commonwealth, at the Restoration was claimed by 
 'the Established Church, but the church house was 
 still retained by the Presbyterians to whom, or rather to 
 the Independents, at the end of the seventeenth century 
 the church again passed. 1 Later, a split occurred 
 which resulted in the establishment of Rehoboth Con- 
 gregational Church. This church has some interest for 
 readers of what here follows. 
 
 As the years had passed by the importance of the 
 Morley clothiers had grown. The Napoleonic wars, 
 however, seriously interrupted the trade of Morley 
 as of other places. Wheat was 126*. 6d. a quarter, 
 
 1 Recent distinguished ministers of the church have included 
 the Rev. Ambrose Shepherd and the Rev. W. E. Anderton, M.A., 
 the latter himself a marriage connection of the Asquith family.
 
 BOYHOOD ii 
 
 and flour was sold at 8s. 6d. a stone. The poor rate 
 was 13^. >d. in the pound, and most of the inhabitants 
 were reduced to a state verging on beggary. The 
 working classes particularly were in a condition not 
 only of poverty, but of disaffection. For this was a 
 period not only of high prices and small trade but of 
 an industrial revolution caused by the invention of 
 labour-saving machinery. Morley was seriously con- 
 cerned by the demeanour of some of its inhabitants, 
 and a town's meeting was convened to consider what 
 ought to be done. 
 
 The meeting brought together the most important 
 men of the place, and among those whose names 
 appear in the record is one Joseph Asquith. 
 
 This is not the first time the name of an Asquith 
 occurs in Morley annals. There have been Asquiths 
 in Morley for hundreds of years. Upon almost every 
 other page of the local registers is the name to be 
 found. And not only so, but from an early period 
 the Asquiths were connected with the local trade in 
 cloth. All the leading men of Morley were compelled 
 to take apprentices from the overseers, and in a list 
 of some of those signed on before 1767 occur the 
 entries Eliza Agnes and Ann Asquith, both to Benjamin 
 Asquith ; and Tobias Lonsdale, to John Asquith, 1720. 
 
 In a directory published in 1841 we have the names 
 of the manufacturers living in Morley, and at the head 
 of the list is the name of Joseph Asquith. 
 
 " The wool stapler was an important person in our 
 youthful eyes," writes Smith, 1 "for was he not in the 
 habit of periodically visiting the wool marts of the 
 
 1 " Morley Ancient and Modern."
 
 12 THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, M.P. 
 
 Continent in order to supply our manufacturers with 
 the superior kinds of wool then in use ? The wool 
 stapler has become extinct, and we hear no more in 
 the Morley trade of the Asquiths, the Dixons, the 
 Dodgshuns, and the Dickensons who, fifty years ago, 
 carried on this special and profitable branch of the 
 woollen trade," 
 
 The Asquith here alluded to, the Joseph Asquith of the 
 directory, was the father of Joseph Dixon Asquith, whose 
 second son, H. H. Asquith, is the subject of the present 
 book. At the time of his grandson's birth he had 
 retired from business. Dixon Asquith was a cloth 
 merchant, who had business associations not only with 
 Morley, but with Leeds and afterwards with H udders- 
 field. " He was," says one who knew him intimately, 
 " a very handsome man, very intellectual and charming 
 in manner, and a most devoted husband and father. 
 He took a very keen interest in the education of his 
 children, was a good platform speaker, and much 
 interested in any public movement, political or other- 
 wise." He was educated with his cousin, the late 
 Joshua Asquith afterwards a West Riding magistrate 
 and an eminent local public man at Bramham College, 
 then considered one of the best schools in Yorkshire. 
 " He was a very genial man, certainly not reserved, 
 and took a great interest in Morley, especially in the 
 young men, and had a large Bible class of them. He 
 was the founder of a mechanics' institute, when such 
 institutions were in their infancy in Yorkshire." 
 
 In 1845 Dixon Asquith married Emily Willans, 
 daughter of William Willans, of Huddersfield. 
 Willans, who sprang from an old Yorkshire Puritan
 
 BOYHOOD 13 
 
 stock, belonged to a well-known type of local public 
 man. He was a West Riding magistrate, a strong 
 Nonconformist, and a man who filled many honourable 
 positions in the local government of his town. On one 
 occasion he contested Huddersfield, but was not suc- 
 cessful. If he did not display any surpassingly brilliant 
 qualities he was very useful in his day and generation. 
 He had married a Miss Wrigley by whom he had several 
 children, the eldest son being John Wrigley Willans, 
 who was to have an important part in shaping the career 
 of the future Prime Minister. 
 
 " Mrs. Dixon Asquith," says the friend who has 
 already been quoted, "was a very clever and intellectual 
 woman, very witty and keenly interested in Liberalism, 
 and a brilliant conversationalist." 
 
 She had five children William Willans, whose early 
 career was bound up with his brother's, and who after- 
 wards became, what he still is, a master at Clifton Col- 
 lege; Herbert Henry, now the Prime Minister; Eva, 
 who married a master of the school at which her brothers 
 were educated, and two others, one of whom died when 
 five years old, and the other lived but a few months. 
 
 The Asquiths attended Rehoboth Congregational 
 Church. Both Dixon Asquith and his wife had strong 
 religious convictions, and brought up their children 
 accordingly. The strain of the Puritan, which has 
 never left the character of the Prime Minister, was 
 implanted in the first moments of consciousness. 
 
 The boys' nurse was a Mrs. Ellis, who had been in 
 the family for a great number of years. " She was an 
 excellent woman," says the same old friend. " In her 
 old age I used to take her any letters I had respecting
 
 14 THE RIGHT HON. H. H, ASQUITH, M,P. 
 
 the boys to read to her; and she was so keenly interested 
 in them. Whenever (afterwards) the boys came to stay 
 in Yorkshire they always went to see the old nurse, and she 
 always spoke of the Prime Minister as ' Master Bertie ' 
 with great affection." 
 
 The boys did not attend any local day school in 
 Morley, but seem to have had a governess. " I 
 remember the procession to which the Premier refers," 1 
 continues the writer of these reminiscences; "all the 
 Sunday schools in Morley had rejoicings at the con- 
 clusion of the Crimean War, and I remember the two 
 Asquith boys wishing to join and carry a banner. 
 They were then very tiny boys." 
 
 In those days Morley was a very clannish place. A 
 man who had been born in the town never forgot the 
 fact. It was something of which to be proud. There 
 was no town good enough to be compared with Morley, 
 though, owing to the fact that Rome had the happiness 
 to share with the Yorkshire town the distinction of being 
 built upon seven hills, a concession of recognition was 
 made to the Papal capital. In this local life the boys 
 began to grow up. Herbert, it appears, was by no 
 means a strong boy. The town was still not too big 
 for everyone to know everybody else, and so their 
 identity was familiar to those who met them. But their 
 Morley life was not to be a long one, and presently 
 the family moved to Mirfield. Here the boys attended 
 the Mirfield Moravian School as day pupils. 
 
 From their earliest days their education had engaged 
 the thoughts of their father. He took a great interest 
 
 1 Mr. Asquith once recalled this incident in the course of a 
 speech at Morley.
 
 MR. ASQUITH (ON THE LEFT) AS A CHILD, WITH HIS SISTER, EVA, 
 AND HIS ELDER BROTHER, WILLIAM WII.LANS.
 
 BOYHOOD 15 
 
 in their home work, and spent himself freely to improve 
 their information. But at Mirfield a terrible blow was 
 to fall upon the young family. Their father, though 
 only in the prime of life, was suddenly called away. 
 Deeply as she suffered, however, Mrs. Asquith turned 
 courageously towards the future. The dearest hope of 
 her husband and herself had been that their children 
 should be well educated. In furtherance of the hope she 
 sent the boys soon after their father's death to Fulneck 
 Moravian School, near Leeds. This was their first, and 
 in fact their only, boarding school. The institution was 
 conducted on rigorous lines and the Asquiths were not 
 excepted from the operations of its rules. Unhappily 
 their physique was not equal to the strain, yet the boys 
 never uttered a complaint. 
 
 Ultimately, however, Mrs. Asquith discovered how 
 matters stood and accordingly took the boys away with 
 her to Huddersfield, in order that they might attend the 
 College there as day pupils. 
 
 The training which Herbert Asquith was now receiving 
 was calculated to strengthen the Puritan foundation 
 laid in infancy by his parents. Opinions are not 
 usually formed between the ages of eight and ten. But 
 it is then that the methods which are later to be 
 employed in forming these opinions, the moulds in 
 which the flowing ideas are to be shaped, are made 
 and made to endure. The City of London school did 
 much for Asquith ; Jowett of Balliol did still more. 
 But higher up the river of his being was another stone 
 turning the stream of character and setting it to pour 
 through the deep channel of Puritanism. However 
 modified in character may be the stream to-day,
 
 16 THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, M.P. 
 
 however it may have changed the shape of the channel 
 through which it flows, the channel is still a Puritan one. 
 
 Mrs. Dixon Asquith, as has been indicated, was a 
 woman of lofty character and happy intuitions. When 
 her husband died she gave herself up entirely to her 
 children ; but as they grew older, the question of their 
 education became more pressing. The case of the 
 two boys particularly was a serious problem. At this 
 point their uncles John and William Willans came to 
 the aid of their sister. 1 
 
 John Willans's suggestion was that the boys should 
 be sent to him in London, should live in his home, 
 and together attend the City of London School. 
 
 Mr. John Wrigley Willans, who is happily still alive, 
 was, as has been said, the eldest son of William 
 Willans of Huddersfield. He lived in St. Mary's 
 Road, Canonbury, and near him dwelt his brother 
 William. Both men were married, and William had 
 a large family, but John Willans and his wife were 
 without children, and were therefore all the more 
 ready to welcome their two young nephews. 
 
 Mrs. John Willans was the daughter of Sir Edward 
 Baines, the well-known member for Leeds and owner 
 of The Leeds Mercury. Sir Edward was a man of 
 considerable personality in his day, and, through his 
 paper, exercised a great influence in his own town. 
 He held a position such as few modern provincial 
 
 1 A few years later the mother of another Liberal politician 
 was to be faced by the same question of a son's future, and she 
 also was to have her difficulty solved by an uncle of her young 
 son. The story has already been told of how Richard Lloyd, the 
 uncle of Mr. Lloyd George, took the boy to his home and had 
 him educated.
 
 BOYHOOD 17 
 
 editors can hope to occupy. He had become editor at 
 the extraordinarily early age of eighteen. He was a 
 well-known economist, and supported the repeal of the 
 Corn Laws. He published a history of cotton manu- 
 facture, was an educational expert, and sat for Leeds 
 from 1859 to 1874. 
 
 His daughter, Mrs. John Willans, inherited some of 
 her father's qualities, but had others of her own which 
 went to the making of a character of great strength and 
 beauty. She seems to have exercised an extraordinary 
 influence on all minds with which she came in contact. 
 She was a woman of great understanding, in the days 
 when an intellectual woman was looked upon with 
 some uneasy suspicion by many excellent people. Yet 
 she did not win admiration by mere charm of manner, 
 but by what can only be described as a quality of sheer 
 goodness which, wherever she went, seemed to radiate 
 from her. She was welcomed in every house she 
 visited, and her grace and nobility of mind gave her 
 friends of all ages. 
 
 To her nephews, when they arrived, she became a 
 second mother, and her influence upon Herbert Asquith 
 was of a lasting kind. After a while the Willanses went 
 to live at Bickley and were accompanied by the boys. 
 Later, however, John Willans was invited to go to 
 Leeds to help his father-in-law in the conduct of The 
 Leeds Mercury. The question then arose of the future 
 of the two nephews, now beginning to make their way 
 at the school in the City, to which they went daily. 
 Their mother, when they had first come to London, 
 had left Huddersfield for St. Leonards, where, during 
 
 their school and Oxford days, she continued to live. 
 
 > 
 
 B
 
 z8 THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, M.P. 
 
 The final decision with regard to the boys was that, 
 on John Willans's departure, they should go to lodge 
 with a Dr. Whittingham. Dr. Whittingham, while not 
 greatly illustrious in his profession, was not only a com- 
 petent practitioner but a man of literary taste. To a 
 boy as fond of reading as was Herbert Asquith such 
 a home was certain to be useful. Dr. Whittingham was 
 devoted to his two young lodgers. There were in his 
 opinion no two boys like them, and he never disguised 
 in conversation, not merely his hopes but his expecta- 
 tions of their future. From Dr. Whittingham the boys 
 removed to Pimlico to the house of a Mrs. Barrett. 1 
 It was while returning to their Pimlico home in the 
 evenings that they used to pass the House of Commons 
 and to pause and watch the members whom they saw 
 entering. The Asquiths' last home in London was 
 with a Mrs. Mundy, of Highbury, whose daughter well 
 remembers the keen interest shown in politics by Herbert. 
 Herbert Asquith, as he moved among his Highbury 
 friends, began to show just those qualities for which he 
 is best known to-day. The manner of the successful 
 barrister and the Prime Minister was also the manner 
 of the boy of Highbury. Even in those early years he 
 showed the possession of a curiously equable tempera- 
 ment. It would be less true to say that he was reserved 
 than that he was self-contained. He showed perfect 
 confidence in himself and a collected air usually 
 unexpected in a boy. He was never flustered or self- 
 
 1 Mrs. Barrett was the mother of the Rev. George Slatyer 
 Barrett, B.A., D.D., of Norwich, who for forty-two years has 
 been pastor of the leading Congregational Church in East Anglia, 
 and who, in 1894, was Chairman of the Congregational Union.
 
 BOYHOOD 19 
 
 conscious at the children's parties he attended, as so 
 many growing boys are. He exhibited little emotion, 
 and he set a guard, not only upon his manner, but 
 his habits. When, as he grew older and began to go 
 out more, the entertainment offered by his friends 
 extended beyond the hour of ten, he would frequently 
 excuse himself on the plea of work. This was not a 
 mere excuse ; for he worked far into the night. But it 
 was an indication of the strength of the purpose which 
 ruled him, even in those early days. 
 
 From the day on which he first arrived in London, 
 he seems definitely to have proposed to himself a scheme 
 of life, and to have determined to give himself wholly to 
 the scheme's accomplishment. He has never been 
 highly gregarious, but it was not aversion from his kind 
 that led him to avoid evening amusements. He felt he 
 had work to do, and he made that feeling rule his social 
 life. This firmness of conduct encouraged the hopes 
 of his friends. Moreover, his personality was already 
 beginning to impress itself upon those with whom he 
 came in contact. He not only took himself, but made 
 other people take him, seriously. This is an unusual 
 achievement for a schoolboy, and whoever accomplishes 
 it does so at some little risk to the friendship, genuine 
 but informed with a certain quality of patronage, which 
 the senior considers it proper to offer to the junior. But 
 if sometimes people were puzzled by young Asquith, he 
 impressed everyone as a boy with resources. It was 
 safe to forecast for him an uncommon career. Dr. 
 Whittingham was not the only man who believed that 
 the boy was destined for great things. All had the 
 feeling. And the boy had it himself. 
 
 B 2
 
 20 THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, M.P. 
 
 In spite of his devotion to his plan of life, however, 
 he was no recluse. He was always pleased to see his 
 friends if only they would do him the kindness of not 
 monopolising his time. He did not, however, avoid 
 recreation. He was a good walker, as he is still. 
 To-day he may often be seen wending his way steadily 
 through Richmond Park. 
 
 His reading was wide. But if he specialised he did 
 so in the very unusual department for a boy of 
 constitutional history. Of this subject, as he grew 
 older, he came to have not merely the superficial know- 
 ledge of the clever schoolboy, but a proper understanding. 
 He began soon to show that he apprehended something 
 of the principles of political science, and it is significant 
 that as he progressed through the school, history prizes 
 almost more than any other kind went his way. 
 
 Asquith attended Union Chapel, Islington, the minister 
 of which was the famous Dr. Allon. Allon was not 
 only a man of piety and learning, but a great influence 
 in the religious life of the country. The young man 
 was certainly attracted by the minister, and in after 
 years placed on record his warm appreciation of 
 Allon's qualities. In 1908, in opening a bazaar in aid 
 of the funds of Union Chapel, Mr. Asquith observed : 
 " The name and work of Union Chapel will always 
 be associated with the name and work of Dr. Allon. 
 In the first place, he was a man of authority the 
 authority which comes from will and from personality. 
 He had great gifts of speech and of writing ; but beyond 
 and beneath all that, giving to those gifts colour and 
 inspiration and strength, he had what is most needed 
 in a Christian minister, deep and broad human instincts
 
 BOYHOOD 21 
 
 and sympathies, a temperament, I have often thought, 
 not altogether unlike that of Martin Luther, who would 
 not allow the devil a monopoly of the best tunes, and 
 a mind always open, always accessible to new thoughts, 
 and always able to extend the range of its intellectual 
 and spiritual horizon. He was a great man, and this 
 work is his abiding monument." 
 
 Asquith was a worker in connection with the chapel, 
 among other things doing duty at a night school in 
 Lower Islington. His interest in the work continues, 
 for he still sends it an annual subscription. It will 
 be perceived that he had already begun to care for 
 the improvement of the lot of the struggling classes. 
 His real devotion to the cause has never been adequately 
 acknowledged. Yet no man has ever been more 
 temperately effectual in serving his poorer brothers 
 through a long course of years than has Mr. Asquith. 
 
 He was a member of the Highbury Young Men's 
 Society, and the pride of it. Upon a small scale, 
 indeed, his position with the young men was a forecast 
 of what was to be his place in the mind of Oxford. 
 The Society regarded him already as a man of con- 
 sequence, and were quite conscious that they had 
 among them one who would not remain in their 
 narrower circle, but find his work in the service of a 
 world without. When he came back to them, as he 
 sometimes did in the Oxford days, they received a strong 
 impression of his increased growth and originality. But 
 though his quiet assurance had grown, he never exhibited 
 any " side," and they none of them quarrelled with his 
 reserve, because they knew it of old. 
 
 When the two boys had come to London they had
 
 22 THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, M.P. 
 
 at once become, according to arrangement, day pupils 
 at the City of London School. The City of London 
 belongs to a type of academic institution which is 
 essentially middle class. The boys miss the benefit 
 of the communal system of living which obtains in the 
 ancient foundations of wider reputation, but escape 
 the demoralization by which that system is sometimes 
 accompanied. In character it corresponds with the 
 grammar schools of the large provincial towns. Founded 
 in 1442, the school is controlled by the Corporation of 
 London, and, on Mr. Asquith's attainment of the 
 Premiership, that thoroughly Tory institution gracefully 
 recognised the fact. 
 
 During the early part of the second half of the last 
 century there was a great educational awakening. This 
 renascence culminated, in the sphere of elementary 
 education, in the well-known Act of 1870. But the 
 institutions which to-day are recognised under the 
 name of secondary schools were also experiencing 
 a quickening. The country was calling for educational 
 efficiency, and one of the first schools to answer the 
 demand was the City of London. 
 
 Mr. Asquith entered the school in 1864. Its premises, 
 which are now upon the Victoria Embankment, were 
 then situate amidst the splendid vehicular confusions 
 of Cheapside. It was in Cheapside, two hundred and 
 fifty years before, that the greatest English witness to 
 civil and religious liberty had drawn his young impres- 
 sions of the pageant of life. Perhaps it would not be 
 difficult to find superficial parallels between the tem- 
 perament of Milton and that of the youth who so long 
 afterwards was to tread the same stones. It is easy to
 
 BOYHOOD 23 
 
 suggest that the same sights that coloured the poet's 
 mind coloured also, if in a lesser degree, the mind of 
 the future statesman. 
 
 Certainly the imagination of young Asquith was 
 touched by what he saw. His mind had the whole 
 panorama of London on which to feed. Ever over- 
 shadowing the street through which in eager boyish 
 fashion he and his companions passed rose St. Paul's 
 Cathedral, the acknowledged centre of London life ; 
 while in his ears rang day by day the pleasant chimes 
 of Bow Bells, offering the gift of citizenship to young 
 arrivals whose ears could catch the sound. Daily the 
 boys walked to school. 'Bus rides were threepence 
 and fourpence in those days. Their way was down 
 the gloomy Goswell Road and through many a scene 
 of squalor. The contrast between such surroundings 
 and the City, with its air of wealth, must often have 
 struck the thoughtful boys. Such experiences were 
 ideal ones for the future statesman. Some taste of life 
 he must have got even in those early years. There could 
 be no sudden awakening, no new wonder at perceiving 
 the shadow thrown across many lives, such as must have 
 been, in some time perhaps still recent, the ungrateful 
 experience of politicians of less vehement early 
 training. 
 
 At the time that the Asquiths entered the City of 
 London School the headmaster was Dr. Mortimer. 1 But 
 two years later the school passed into the control of a 
 young and vigorous man of very remarkable character 
 in the person of Dr. Abbott. What Abbott has been 
 
 1 Distinguished headmaster, scholar of the old school, Canon 
 of St. Paul's.
 
 24 THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, M.P. 
 
 to Asquith the latter has never wearied of telling. 
 Every school function in which he has a part is marked 
 by a new effort on his part to pay in words something 
 of the debt which he knows he will never be able to 
 discharge. " He was," said his pupil, when Home 
 Secretary, " a scholar of the finest type, who taught 
 his pupils, as well as any schoolmaster of the day, the 
 meaning and the use of life." 
 
 When Prime Minister, the pupil spoke again : 
 " There was," he said, " no old boy from the City of 
 London School who would not agree that the most 
 precious possession he took with him from that school 
 was a sense of that strong, self-sufficing, but at the 
 same time widespread, many-sided personality." 
 
 Dr. Abbott in those early days was, by universal 
 consent, a man of simply extraordinary power. Had 
 he thrown himself into politics it is possible that he 
 might have been Prime Minister before his pupil. 
 Certainly there seemed nothing which he could not 
 do better than other people. One of the advantages 
 with which he started was a marvellous memory. An 
 old school-fellow of Mr. Asquith's recalls how once 
 Abbott told him that he could walk down a street 
 and then remember every shop name upon the walls. 
 Like Macaulay, he could also repeat a piece of poetry 
 after reading it only once. He had taken a double 
 first at Oxford, and a great reputation had followed 
 him to the school when he assumed the headmastership. 
 Abbott was a man of intense personality who knew how 
 to get the best out of his boys. He not only wanted 
 them to excel, but he possessed the power of communi- 
 cating his ambition to them. He had no mercy on
 
 BOYHOOD 25 
 
 slackness, and was a great believer in efficiency. But 
 if he was a great disciplinarian he was also a great 
 teacher. He had a wonderful gift of so illuminating 
 a subject as to make its outlines interesting to the dull 
 intelligence. " I never knew a man who could get so 
 much out of boys," said an old pupil of his and 
 school-fellow of the Asquiths. 
 
 But if Dr. Abbott had all the qualities of a great 
 schoolmaster he had one fault, though a fault which 
 was the result really of his excellencies. Wonderful 
 as were his powers, he was unaware of them. He had 
 no idea that his gifts were greater than most men's. 
 Thus ignorant, he made demands upon his boys which 
 required their utmost exertions. He treated them as 
 though they could do anything of which he himself 
 was capable, and if they failed he regarded the failure 
 as the result mainly of slackness on their part. Every- 
 body had to work, and to work at the highest pressure. 
 
 Something of the strain put upon the boys may be 
 realised from the statement that while many boys' work 
 began at eight in the morning it did not end until ten 
 at night. From the moment of his coming Abbott 
 imposed his character upon the school. It was not 
 merely that he determined to raise the City of London 
 to the highest possible point of efficiency ; he meant 
 to give it a personality. He meant to put himself into 
 it, to make it a force, an entity. Owing to an inter- 
 regnum in the headmastership the control of the school, 
 before his coming, had grown slack. Temporary head- 
 masters, however able, cannot be expected to get a proper 
 grip upon a school world in face of the circumstances of 
 their employment. The boys of the City of London
 
 26 THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, M.P. 
 
 School, therefore, had felt the reins a little loose, and had 
 allowed themselves to go a good deal as they pleased. 
 
 Dr. Abbott, as soon as he set his foot in the school, 
 ruled absolutely. He was determined that he should. 
 The very first morning after his arrival he ordered the 
 whole school of 650 boys into the hall for prayers. It 
 occurred to some of the boys as they saw him standing at 
 the desk that he was a little man, and for the moment 
 they were flattered into the old security against discipline. 
 They were undeceived at once. Abbott was master as 
 well as headmaster of everyone from the first moment. 
 
 Besides having a strong idea of giving his school an 
 entity, Abbott had distinct ideas in regard to the teaching 
 to be given. He was a great classical scholar and a man 
 of wide reading. But what most distinguished the curri- 
 culum, as he made it, was the greatly increased attention 
 given to English. Abbott was probably the first school- 
 master to give English its proper place in the time- 
 table. He believed intensely in familiarising the boys 
 with the best literature in their own as well as in the 
 dead tongues. 
 
 The relation between Abbott and Asquith was not 
 at first a close one. The boy had to escape from the 
 junior classes before he could hope to come under the 
 notice of the headmaster. But when once Abbott came 
 to know his pupil he was wonderfully drawn to him. 
 " He was," as he afterwards told the old boys of the 
 school, " a pupil of great promise." From the begin- 
 ning of this more intimate acquaintance he began to 
 entertain hopes of what the boy would do, and never 
 since those early days has he tired of speaking in 
 Asquith's praise. To-day he never meets an old boy
 
 BOYHOOD 27 
 
 of the school without bringing in a reference to the 
 boy whom he trained to become Prime Minister. 
 
 But even before Asquith came under the immediate 
 notice of Dr. Abbott, he was proving his ability, as also 
 was his brother, William Willans. The latter, indeed, 
 in his first years at school appeared slightly the superior 
 of his brother, though afterwards his ill health placed 
 him a little behind. Both boys were great workers. 
 Even in the lunch-time they were always engrossed in 
 their books. Their cousin, the late Joshua Asquith, 
 used to recall that when he met them in town, the two 
 boys always brought books, over which they were poring 
 at every odd moment. 
 
 It was when Asquith got into the fifth form that 
 his headmaster began to suspect the existence in the 
 boy of unusual qualities and power. In those days 
 the fifth form used to learn writing and book-keeping. 
 Dr. Abbott was a humane man, and, like all kindly 
 persons, he had imagination. As he watched young 
 Asquith bowing over the desk in his effort to acquire 
 a neat, round hand, the headmaster fell to recalling 
 his own early experiences and sufferings in the acquire- 
 ment of the same art. Stung to sympathy, he used, 
 therefore, to invite young Asquith from these labours 
 at handwriting into the sixth form room, where he 
 gave the boy an occasional five or six minutes of extra 
 supervision in his classical work. " I am afraid," said 
 Dr. Abbott, 1 " that it is about the only good thing I 
 did for him, because as to the rest he did everything 
 for himself. There was nothing left but to place before 
 him the opportunities of self-education and self-improve- 
 1 To the old boys.
 
 28 THE RIGHT HON. H, H. ASQUITH, M.P. 
 
 ment simply to put the ladder before him, and up he 
 went." 
 
 Asquith as he progressed in the school always 
 supported the headmaster in his effort to keep up the 
 tone and the intellectual standard of the senior form. 
 He also took an important part in the school debates. 
 He had decided opinions on most subjects, as was to be 
 expected. Even at this early stage he knew a good 
 deal about the political movements of the period, and 
 his regular reading of The Times kept his mind alive 
 and his information fresh. He showed an aptitude, 
 as natural as it was remarkable, for politics, and his 
 deliverances were not those of a schoolboy. They were 
 the speeches rather of a thinker. Dr. Abbott testified 
 to several qualities of Mr. Asquith's early debating 
 powers, but what most impressed the master was the 
 clarity of the boy's expression. He was not, however, 
 merely clear in the utterance of his ideas. He showed 
 a skill, strange in one so young, in the formation of 
 his sentences. " He was one of the very few," said 
 Dr. Abbott, " who could plunge into an intricate and 
 involved sentence with such an artistic prescience of 
 what he had to say, that all the members of the period 
 fell, as it were, into harmonious co-operation, so that in 
 the end he brought his hearers to a full and satisfactory, 
 a logically and rhetorically complete and weighty con- 
 clusion without any sacrifice of point, force, and, above 
 all, of clearness." 
 
 Herbert Asquith had a calm assured manner, not a 
 little curious in a boy of his age. His school-fellows 
 respected rather than liked him. He did not draw 
 them to him by winning personal qualities. He put
 
 BOYHOOD 29 
 
 too much restraint upon himself ever to be expansive 
 in his friendships. He was in fact too wise for the 
 ordinary schoolboy irresponsibilities, and yet he was 
 no prig. No one has ever said that of him as a school- 
 boy. He was as a whole very quick, very accurate, 
 very thorough. He could do well in an hour what 
 other boys took two hours to do indifferently. His 
 taste for constitutional history was well known to his 
 school-fellows. His grasp of the intricacies of the 
 subject, a grasp most unusual in one of his age, 
 impressed everybody. And when another boy than he 
 would express to a companion the ambition of going in for 
 the history prize, the daring youth would be questioned : 
 " Going in for the history prize ? Is Asquith going in?" 
 " Yes." " Then what is the use of your doing so ? " 
 
 This gives some idea of the position the boy was 
 making for himself. He was in fact carrying every- 
 thing before him. He did not play games. In the 
 first place there was little opportunity. There was 
 no playground, and even when a team could be got 
 together to play some club on the outskirts of London, 
 it was found, as frequently as not, that the local eleven 
 contained many boys from the City of London School, 
 who preferred playing for the local club, for which they 
 played regularly, to reserving their services for the 
 school. But, apart from this discouragement of school 
 enthusiasm, Asquith had in him little of the sportsman. 
 Cricket was not then the fearsome thing of averages 
 and form it has since become, nor was Association 
 football the institution we now know. An ignorance 
 of games then counted for less than it counts to-day. 
 
 Asquith's recreation, apart from walking, was reading
 
 30 THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, M.P. 
 
 The Times. During the dinner hour a friendly book- 
 seller permitted the boy to study its pages at his shop. 
 It is to be feared that The Times has ill requited this 
 early devotion ! 
 
 Asquith read particularly the parliamentary reports. 
 It was a curious taste for a schoolboy. But Asquith, 
 though he was not without friendships, and later 
 showed himself sufficiently a part of the school life 
 to accept the captaincy, was, like many thoughtful 
 schoolboy natures before and since, always inclined 
 to live a little withdrawn from, and in advance of, his 
 fellows. Already he had learnt simplicity and reserve ; 
 already he had begun to exercise a rigid self-control. 
 Even now he was cherishing his energies. His story 
 from the beginning has been one of stern determination, 
 and it has shown a determination which has opposed 
 itself not only to objective difficulties but to the 
 personal forces that sometimes get out of control. 
 It is not enough to say the boy was ambitious ; many 
 boys are that. But Asquith realised in a greater degree 
 than many, and earlier than still more, exactly how 
 best to give himself to fulfilling his ambitions. Never 
 for one moment has he diffused his quality. And from 
 the first moment in which he began to spend his gifts 
 he spent them in the one way that was certain to yield 
 the maximum return. No man who has wrought any 
 deep effect has, when confronted by his success, a sen- 
 sation of complete surprise. He may know his power 
 and yet be free from vanity. For he must acknowledge 
 a Giver. It is impossible for the boy destined for 
 greatness not to know it. From any pettiness of self- 
 approbation no one was more free than Milton. Yet
 
 BOYHOOD 31 
 
 none knew better than he that with him there had 
 come a new force into literature. 
 
 The youth who was still a schoolboy of the City 
 of London knew that he was made for some consider- 
 able place, and his life was a purposeful one. He began 
 even in those early years to concentrate all his forces. 
 
 In that school in Cheapside the figure of the young 
 Asquith may be seen in imagination to-day. Eager for 
 knowledge, for news, for impressions, for every thought 
 which will bring him into contact with what seems out- 
 side, he goes daily to his form, mingles often with his 
 school-fellows. But before him there must be some vision, 
 some promise, some knowledge, not of a genius but of a 
 purpose, a power, a force, that must carry him some day 
 through every door but those that only genius can unlock. 
 Years afterwards, at a dinner given to celebrate his 
 appointment to the Home Secretaryship, Mr. Asquith 
 allowed his mind to go back to those early days. In 
 the course of his speech he said : 
 
 " Though an ancient foundation, the City of London 
 School, as a school, had only existed since the beginning 
 of the reign of the Queen. They had no ancient tradi- 
 tions to feed upon outside the academic world. They 
 had hardly any great man they could appropriate to 
 themselves. Their buildings now that they were 
 demolished, he might say without offence were con- 
 tracted, gloomy, and a trifle squalid. They had not that 
 which was regarded by most people not only as an 
 inseparable incident, but as the essence of an English 
 public school a playground. Instead of those spacious, 
 attractive, and romantic surroundings under which the 
 life of most of the great public schools was carried on,
 
 32 THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, M.P. 
 
 they spent their days, not only within the sound of 
 Bow Bells, but the noise of the traffic of Cheapside 
 itself. All this would be regarded by the outside critic 
 as drawbacks and disadvantages, but he was not at all 
 sure that there was not a good deal to be said on 
 the other side of the account, and that there were 
 not some influences that they enjoyed, and by which 
 they benefited, that were not within the reach of their 
 contemporaries at Eton, Winchester, and Harrow. 
 
 " He remembered, a good many years ago now, when 
 the Manchester Grammar School and the City of 
 London School were winning scholarships at Oxford 
 and Cambridge, and were rather throwing the old 
 foundations of the country into the shade, that an 
 article was written by an eminent schoolmaster of the 
 day, the present Dean of Westminster, in which he 
 endeavoured to account for this somewhat disquieting 
 phenomenon, and the explanation which he gave, and 
 which had in it more than one element of truth, was 
 this, that the town-bred and town-educated boys, 
 brought into contact, as they were every day of their 
 lives, with the sights and sounds and life of a great city, 
 brought into their reading an element which could not 
 be contributed from elsewhere, mixed their knowledge 
 with actuality and reality, and thereby, when they 
 came into open competition with those who had spent 
 their youth in the cloistered and sequestered seclusion 
 of the great public schools of the country, they were 
 better qualified for the fray, and could render a better 
 account of such education as they obtained. He 
 believed there was a great deal of truth in that view of 
 the matter. For his part, when he looked back on his
 
 BOYHOOD 33 
 
 own school life, he thought not only, and perhaps not 
 so much, of the hours which he spent in the classroom 
 or in preparing lessons at night, he thought rather of 
 the daily walk through the crowded, noisy, jostling 
 street ; he thought of the river with its barges, its 
 steamers and its manifold active life ; he thought of St. 
 Paul's Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, and the National 
 Gallery; he thought even sometimes of the House of 
 Parliament, where he remembered they used occasion- 
 ally to watch, with a sense of awestruck solemnity, 
 Members disappear into the inner recesses schoolboys 
 were not allowed to cross to discharge the high and 
 mysterious functions their constituents put upon them. 1 
 These might be the illusions of youth, but he was 
 certain there was not one among them who would not 
 agree with him that the presence and the contact of 
 this stimulating environment contributed a large and 
 useful influential element in their youths." 
 
 The record left by young Asquith at the City of 
 London School is one which testifies clearly to the 
 fact that his success was not a spasmodic one. He 
 gained prizes every year from the day in January, 
 1864, when he first entered the school and joined the 
 second class. By the end of the summer term he had 
 won the Divinity prize and the Latin prize. 
 
 In the year following he carried off the prize 
 given for general proficiency. In 1866 he was in 
 the fourth form and took the Classical Progress prize ; 
 while the year following he won the Second Sir 
 William Tite Scholarship, of the value of 20, to extend 
 
 1 Mr. Asquith was living in Pimlico at the time of this majestic 
 experience. 
 
 C
 
 34 THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, M.P. 
 
 to the time of leaving, and carried off the first Classical 
 prize. 
 
 In 1869 he entered the sixth form and became 
 captain of the school. In this capacity he declaimed 
 in Greek the praise of the school's founder, Sir John 
 Carpenter, at the annual celebration. His prizes in 
 this year included those for history, Latin and English, 
 among the books he received being Mommsen's 
 " History of Rome " and Wordsworth. 
 
 But his last year was the year of his most splendid 
 triumphs. He was again the school captain ; he again 
 had the honour of declaiming the praise of the founder 
 this time in English and he carried off Dr. Con- 
 quest's gold medal for general proficiency and good 
 conduct, Sir James Shaw's Classical medal, and the 
 Mowlem prize for English. His greatest achievement, 
 however, was of another kind. His mind had always 
 been turning towards a wider exercise of his intellectual 
 forces than lay along the road likely to be travelled by 
 many of his schoolfellows. His ambition carried him 
 in anticipation to the life of a University. He set 
 himself to work for an Oxford scholarship, and in 
 1870 he entered. It probably surprised nobody, and 
 certainly not himself, when he was able to write to 
 his headmaster, Dr. Abbott, and inform him that he 
 had won. 
 
 The scholarship was of the value of 75 per annum 
 and was tenable at Balliol College. Probably, however, 
 he did not realise, as he looked forward to the new 
 life, what the circumstance was to mean to him that he 
 was to go to Balliol, and not to another college. 
 
 The seventy-five pounds were not of course enough
 
 BOYHOOD 35 
 
 to maintain him at the University. In addition, there- 
 fore, he obtained a Grocers' Company scholarship of 
 fifty pounds, and when, thirty-eight years afterwards, 
 he became Prime Minister, he took occasion to thank 
 that Company for what it had done for him. 
 
 The boy, though he left the school full of hopes and 
 ambitions, could not do so without some regrets. 
 Particularly did he feel leaving his old headmaster, 
 Dr. Abbott. It not uncommonly happens that as a 
 boy progresses in his school, and especially when he 
 draws near to becoming its head, he finds himself 
 surveying his master with a changing perspective. The 
 lines of severity, the frowns and shadows, seen upon 
 the face at a distance, have mysteriously disappeared, 
 leaving only the expression one finds upon the face of a 
 friend ; " the stern conductor " is seen to be a man. 
 
 It was in 1870 that he entered Balliol, the Balliol 
 that was to shape his career, that was to leave traces 
 never to be removed. Another chapter was beginning 
 in his record of struggle. Doubtless he would have 
 done much had his way lain in other directions. 
 But what he could have done, what any boy could have 
 done, in any but what were the actual circumstances of 
 his life, is a mere idle speculation. It remains that it 
 was the City of London School which set Mr. Asquith 
 upon his road and that bade him farewell, hopeful of 
 much in the forty years that then lay before him, but 
 over which now, as Prime Minister, he looks back 
 
 "Oh, the great days in the distance enchanted, 
 
 Days of fresh air in the rain and the sun, 
 How we rejoiced, as we struggled and panted, 
 Hardly believable forty years on." 
 
 C 2
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 OXFORD 
 
 THE shrewd observer, if asked to state what personal 
 influence he found most alive in politics to-day, would 
 doubtless pass over the names of the two great men 
 who for twenty years dominated the House of Commons, 
 and point, away from Hughenden and Hawarden, from 
 Whitehall and St. Stephen's, to Oxford and to the late 
 master of Balliol. 
 
 Until the person interested in the subject of this 
 book has apprehended something of Benjamin Jowett, 
 he cannot hope to realise in any important degree the 
 character of Mr. Asquith. For, as much as it is 
 possible for one man to make another, Jowett made 
 Asquith. It is as the finished product of the Jowett 
 factory that the Premier stands out to-day, and he is 
 not the only vital result of that system that we know 
 at the present time. Lord Milner is another example. 
 
 Whether or not the Jowett type of intellect is 
 the finest which exists, it is certainly an effective one. 
 It is characterised by wide intelligence, an intense 
 love for enquiry coupled with a disinclination to 
 act quickly, a certain hesitation to adopt permanent 
 positions, and a great and wonderful discretion. It was 
 this discretion which reproved the fresh impulses of 
 youth, which sequestered young, hot advocacies,
 
 OXFORD 37 
 
 ordered enthusiasm to the hall of examination, and 
 kept within the sphere of intellect. Its effect was 
 to make those who held it influential in a company of 
 thinkers and of less account before the people. It 
 made few orators, for oratory will sometimes fly from 
 sheer thought to the arms of pure emotion, and emotion 
 was at all costs to be avoided. The utterance of the 
 Jowett man is marked by complete lucidity, splendid 
 reasonableness, perfect phrasing ; but lacks warmth. 
 For any person who, like Lord Milner, was later to be, 
 first a journalist, and then a representative of the Crown, 
 such a training was perhaps a happy one, although 
 had there been in the character something more per- 
 missive of sympathy, the Bloemfontein Conference 
 might have had a happier issue. But the advantages 
 of the Jowett training were and are to be seen only 
 in one part of the life of Mr. Asquith. That training 
 gave him an oratorical style and manner which, for 
 certain qualities admired in the House of Commons, is 
 unsurpassed. It makes an appeal to intellect which 
 is answered by many who, if they have not had 
 a Balliol, have had an Oxford training. But it is 
 wasted on the platform. 
 
 It is fortunate for Mr. Asquith that, though the 
 country decides who shall represent it at Westminster, 
 it has little influence on political promotion. It is 
 upon a man's success in the House of Commons that 
 his parliamentary success depends. Outside reputations 
 then go for nothing. Whatever claim has been derived 
 from exterior triumphs must now be reviewed. The 
 Jowett man is truly in his sphere in a debating chamber 
 where reason sweeps emotion before it. And so the
 
 38 THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, M.P. 
 
 significance which has always been allowed to his 
 speeches in the House and the remoteness from full 
 popularity which to some extent he has suffered outside, 
 Mr. Asquith may attribute not to inherent deficiency, 
 but to the influence of the Oxford of his time. 
 
 Mark Pattison treated his men as the ambitious 
 gardener treats a rose tree, the product of which he 
 designs for the show. As the gardener cuts off every 
 bud but two or three of the best, that into these shall 
 flow the strength of the whole tree, so he sought to 
 compress the impulses and desires of his followers into 
 a single line of intellectual action. But Jowett, while 
 he set his men definitely to achieve something in the 
 world, did not believe in too much specialising in their 
 college work. He wanted men to grow ; he wished to 
 see their culture wide rather than deep and narrow ; 
 above all, he wanted them to have personality. Yet, as 
 he grew older, he emphasised more and more his desire 
 that they should do something definite. It had not 
 always been so. Jowett's earlier influence was scarcely 
 consistent with his later. At one time he had not only 
 been speculative, but had encouraged his men in 
 speculation. But afterwards he came to the con- 
 clusion that the way to practical success was not paved 
 with metaphysics. " It was," says one who knew him, 
 " in his later view, doubtful wisdom to encourage young 
 men to speculate." 
 
 Jowett, therefore, modified the method, if not the 
 spirit, of his teaching. No man ever realised better the 
 difference between definite and indefinite success, and 
 he began to depreciate metaphysics and turn a man's 
 thought to the career, whatever it was, which lay
 
 OXFORD 39 
 
 beyond the life of the University. The curious thing 
 about Jowett's impatience of speculation was that he 
 had as his colleagues more than one metaphysician who 
 owed his early metaphysical training to the Master 
 himself. Particularly was this true of T. H. Green 
 and Caird (afterwards Jowett's successor as Master). 
 But Jowett, though he had once speculated, had never 
 been a concentrated thinker. "The aim of metaphysics 
 is to get rid of metaphysics," was his position as 
 he expressed it. 
 
 He began to think more and more of effectiveness in 
 the world. He did not, it is true, desire mere vulgar 
 success. But he did very much want to see his men 
 grasping the reins of power. He wanted to feel that 
 Balliol ruled England. 
 
 Benjamin Jowett himself was a man of extra- 
 ordinarily intense personality. The force was com- 
 pressed, though it often overflowed in a way that in 
 his best pupils was impossible. Though broad, even 
 in his religious opinions, he had no tolerance either for 
 stupidity or affectation. 
 
 He was a phenomenally shrewd judge of character. 
 He measured the material as it came up to him and 
 selected his men. The dull, plodding man was pro- 
 bably better in another college. For certainly Jowett 
 concentrated upon ability. When Asquith came to 
 him he saw that here was a mind worthy of his 
 shaping. 
 
 Jowett's delight in the young man it is easy to 
 comprehend. They were, it is true, men of wholly 
 different up-bringing. But Asquith, who was not to 
 be won even by a person of consequence unless he saw
 
 40 THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, 
 
 in that person some quality he admired, was quickly 
 drawn by Jowett's intuitive kindness. Jowett, on the 
 other hand, discovered in Asquith the very qualities he 
 most liked. The obvious Puritan strain may have 
 appeared to him slightly novel, but born judge of 
 character that he was, he saw that it would the more 
 certainly lead its possessor along the path to eminence 
 and success. 
 
 The absorbing quality of Asquith's determination 
 and his quiet but unyielding consciousness of his own 
 merits set him before the Master of Balliol as a person 
 well worthy to be cultivated. 
 
 As a student Asquith was certainly admirable. 
 " Asquith," a friend, who knew him well, said of him, 
 " is the best examinee in Oxford." 1 
 
 This was the surest way to attract the Master of 
 Balliol. Jowett, unlike his contemporary at Lincoln 
 College, Mark Pattison, had a supreme belief in exami- 
 nations. In everything that concerned University life 
 he was all for individualism. When he had come to 
 Balliol as a reformer, he had quickly determined that 
 the way to raise Oxford was not through the University 
 but through the college. He believed that there was 
 no use in attempting to shape anew the policy of the 
 University as long as Convocation possessed a veto. 
 Graduates, though of every different quality of mind 
 and outlook, each possessed a vote, and the right to be 
 one unit in shaping the University of which they were 
 members. It would be impossible to reach all these 
 scattered units and to bring the sum of their influence to 
 carry improvements. It was because he felt this that 
 
 1 New Review, 1894.
 
 OXFORD 41 
 
 Jowett determined upon making the college of which 
 he had become Master the subject of his reforms and 
 allowing those reforms then to permeate the University. 
 In the same way he believed in individual treatment of 
 his men. He was a tutor rather than a professor, and 
 though he had a very strong idea of the relationship 
 which should exist between a don and an under- 
 graduate, and insisted upon the maintenance of that 
 relationship, he believed in cultivating the friendship of 
 every man who interested him. He encouraged con- 
 fidences, although he sometimes fell rather suddenly 
 upon anyone guilty of conversation irrelevant to the 
 subject under discussion. 
 
 One of Jowett's guiding motives was a desire for 
 power. But he wanted power rather for the college 
 than for himself. From all lower forms of ambition 
 he was perfectly free. His great hope and object 
 in life was to make Balliol the factory of public opinion, 
 classical scholarship, political influence. Though no 
 man was less a part of the Catholic revival which had 
 swept Oxford while he was a young man, Jowett had 
 the instincts of the Jesuit. Only in his case the end 
 which justified all the means was not Rome but Balliol. 
 Yet, though he won the power he wanted for his college, 
 he did not believe in attaining his objects by any 
 rough-shod methods. He had no rash manner of 
 achievement. Before all things he was discreet. 
 Mr. Tollemache l tells us that he preferred to go round 
 the mountain rather than scale its heights. " If he found 
 his way barred, or if to surmount the bar threatened 
 to be too toilsome a process, he turned aside to 
 1 " Benjamin Jowett," by Lionel Tollemache.
 
 42 THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, M.P. 
 
 seek a passage by some other way. He had such 
 a feeling for the traditions of moral influence that he 
 would not dissipate it by allowing it to break against 
 the obstacles that were for the moment irremovable." 
 
 Jowett was not without human weaknesses. It 
 was said that, judge of character though he was, 
 his geese were always swans. " He liked men," the 
 same friend tells us, " who coloured their essays with 
 his ideas." 
 
 He talked a great deal to his favourites upon political 
 subjects. Jowett was of course a Liberal. But he 
 extended to Liberalism the same spirit of philosophic 
 doubt as he gave to his religious opinions. He admired 
 but did not always trust Gladstone. He was a 
 Latitudinarian Whig. He believed in the ascendency 
 of the landed gentry. He liked the agricultural 
 labourer, of whom he had experience, and wanted to 
 preserve the type, just as he wanted to preserve the 
 House of Lords. He was opposed to Home Rule. 
 " Don't you think the Irish should have their way ? " 
 an undergraduate guest once asked. " Have you ever 
 been in Ireland ? " asked the Master. "No," was the 
 reply. " Then you have a very good reason for asking 
 such a question." 
 
 Socialistic tendencies repelled him. But, as was to 
 be supposed, his attitude towards awakening democracy 
 was always a tolerant one. To a young man of lineage 
 who was asserting the superiority of his own class Jowett 
 observed : " A man who lives as you do in the first 
 society in the country should remember that there is as 
 much vulgarity in thinking too much of social advan- 
 tages as in affecting to despise them."
 
 OXFORD 43 
 
 The truth was that Jowett saw that the government 
 of the country could not always continue in the hands 
 of a few families. He believed that the great develop- 
 ment of industrialism was not only changing the face 
 of the population, but changing the laws which governed 
 it. But he clung to the aristocracy, and even ran the 
 risk of being called a tuft-hunter, because he believed 
 that, in Mr. Tollemache's words, " as soon as that 
 hand falls from it, then, instead of ceasing to act, the 
 irresponsible lever will be manipulated by demagogues." 
 
 He cared little for mere learning except for the 
 distinction which it won for his men when they 
 possessed it. Upon matters which he felt deeply he 
 was shy of speaking. But he was a perfect confidant. 
 He was often surprising in his opinions, as when 
 he supported the Coup d'Etat. But his attitude 
 in other matters was wholly conservative. It is 
 interesting to note to-day, in view of his influence 
 upon Mr. Asquith, that he repeated with apparent 
 approval to Mr. Tollemache the remark made by a 
 friend of his that he would rather be governed by 
 the five most incompetent men in England than by 
 the five wisest women. 
 
 This, in brief, was the man who was to shape the 
 opinions of the young Balliol scholar. Many of the 
 traits already described as existing in Jowett, who, like 
 his pupil, was of Yorkshire stock, have appeared in 
 Mr. Asquith. Both men had dogged natures; neither 
 has been ready to waste his strength of purpose. Each 
 loved to feel the world yielding to his grip. And 
 each has had the discretion to go round when it was 
 impossible at the moment to climb over.
 
 44 THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, M.P. 
 
 Asquith went up to Oxford in the autumn of 1870. 
 He was accompanied by his brother, William Willans, 
 and the pair became known as " Asquith " and 
 "Little Asquith" respectively. William was " Little 
 Asquith" on account of his size; as a scholar he 
 has always been a man of marked individuality, though 
 of a somewhat retiring disposition. The manner of 
 Herbert Asquith was a continuation of the manner he 
 had displayed at school. He held himself a little 
 apart, had not much time for relaxation, and went on 
 with his work. He was always a worker. But even in 
 this respect he showed the moderation and discretion 
 which are part of the man. He was never guilty of late 
 work and wet towel follies. He worked hard in reason- 
 able limits, and then went to bed. He never lost sight 
 of one advantage while he was seeking another. He 
 did not forget that health must not be risked if other 
 things are to be hoped for with any assurance. "He 
 had an extraordinary power of consistent work," said 
 one who remembers him, in conversation with the 
 writer, " yet he was not a man who one would say 
 ever slaved. He was without the affectation of working 
 late. He never seemed driven. Milner, on the other 
 hand, often seemed so. Asquith had no metaphysical 
 leaning. He was not distinguished for anything but 
 classics. But he had a remarkable power of using 
 every gift he possessed to its full capacity. He was 
 essentially lucid in his speaking and writing. He had 
 no unfathomable depths. In his personal relations he 
 was never effusive. But he was no recluse. He never 
 estranged himself from his fellows. His manner was a 
 little dry, but he was quite an agreeable man to meet.
 
 OXFORD 45 
 
 He was not, however, one whom it would ever be 
 possible to call genial, though after he became a Fellow 
 he saw his friends a good deal. 
 
 " He was very alert. Perhaps it was his alertness that 
 most impressed one. His whole manner betokened 
 this quality. And in the street his gait was alert also. 
 In temperament he was very unemotional and equable. 
 The Union distracted him from his work somewhat, 
 but never in such a way as to show that he had lost his 
 sense of proportion. He always impressed one as a man 
 who had a plan of life well under control. In appearance 
 he was pale and delicate-looking. He must, however, 
 have really been very tough. For he never was ill. 
 When he became a Fellow (by competitive examination), 
 Jowett was very pleased. The other candidates were 
 very good men. But Jowett had a great opinion of 
 Asquith, and was glad to have him on his staff. 
 
 "Asquith was known to hold Liberal opinions, but he 
 never impressed one as being a democratic Liberal. 
 As a man, he did not strike one as a person of genius. 
 But he was thoroughly efficient." 
 
 The religious influences of Oxford at this time were 
 of a very mixed kind. Herbert Spencer and Huxley 
 were pouring shot and shell into the citadels of faith. 
 Many gates were left open and many surrenders 
 made. Some of the dons were professed agnostics who 
 were unwearied in their attacks upon religion. But 
 there were others of another kind. In Balliol T. H. 
 Green was a great force. He was a man of deep 
 spirituality. He had been brought up as an Evan- 
 gelical, and he was now a Churchman of the very 
 broadest type. But he never cut himself off from his
 
 46 THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, M.P. 
 
 early faith. To the attitude of the Master himself 
 reference has been made. But in spite of the vein of 
 worldliness which ran through his character and kept 
 alive his passion for earthly domination, he was a man 
 of deep religious feeling. Moreover and this needs to 
 be emphasised though he sometimes compromised his 
 own better impulses, and though he was a disturbing 
 force to many minds, he never interfered to try to affect 
 a man's religious convictions. Nonconformists who 
 knew him and worked with him cannot praise him 
 enough in this respect. " If there was one thing Jowett 
 disliked," said one of his young men, " it was a man 
 who was not true to his convictions." 
 
 He suffered all men to go their own way in pursuit 
 of truth. His tolerance of opinion from which he 
 dissented was certainly not at fault. 
 
 The Asquiths were Congregationalists, and as such 
 they sometimes attended George Street Chapel, the 
 minister of which was the Rev. David Martin, brother 
 of the Rev. Samuel Martin, of Westminster. 
 
 The achievements of Mr. Asquith were all in the 
 sphere of classical scholarship. It is true that he had 
 to take philosophy in " Greats," but he distinguished 
 himself because his mental capacity was so excellent 
 that it could accomplish anything rather than because 
 he had any philosophical bent. His mind was too 
 practical for metaphysics. And in this practicality 
 he had the approval of Jowett, who, at the time of 
 Asquith's arrival in Oxford, had come to take the 
 second of his two attitudes as a teacher. It was 
 Asquith's business to take a high place in the schools. 
 On the other hand, it was not his business to spend
 
 OXFORD 47 
 
 himself upon metaphysical futilities, as so many men 
 were doing in Oxford at this time. The only distrac- 
 tions he allowed himself were walking and the Union. 
 He was never an athlete. He did not aspire to be a 
 blue either in cricket or 'Varsity rowing. Yet that he 
 liked to see his 'Varsity triumph on the river is shown 
 by a story of the man as he was in later years when 
 success had come to him. 
 
 It was the day of the Boat-race. Oxford had sustained 
 a long succession of defeats. But at last, on this occasion, 
 the Dark Blues once more got the victory. Asquith was 
 looking on, his face beaming. " We've chawed 'em up 
 this time," he cried triumphantly. 
 
 Asquith walked a great deal, and never slackened in 
 his old fondness for the exercise. His other recreation, 
 as has been said, was the Union. But as the success 
 of the work he expected to do would to some extent 
 be in proportion to the use he was able to make of his 
 voice, the Union ought really to be regarded, not as a 
 distraction, but rather as one of his schools. 
 
 H. H. Asquith got a first class in " Mods." in Trinity 
 term, 1873, and in " Greats " in Trinity term, 1874. 
 No names familiar to-day are to be found in the list 
 in which his name appears, though later, in Trinity 
 term, 1875, when William Asquith also got a first class, 
 appear the names of " C. Gore " and " T. Raleigh." 
 
 In 1874 Asquith won the Craven scholarship. This 
 was the only one of the great University prizes which 
 he carried off. He competed for the Ireland, which 
 his son Raymond was afterwards to win, but he was 
 only proxime accessit. The Craven is awarded after an 
 examination in Greek and Latin scholarship. Its value
 
 48 THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, MP. 
 
 is 80 per annum for three years. Two scholars are 
 elected every year in Trinity term. The year Mr. 
 Asquith won it he was bracketed first with another 
 (Mr. H. H. Broadbent, of Exeter). The missing of 
 the Ireland was a disappointment, but it could not 
 have seriously discomfited such a temperament as his. 
 His mind was, all the time, fastening on essentials and 
 ignoring the decorative. He knew exactly what he 
 wanted, and when there was anything which he might 
 have had, but which he regarded as unnecessary to his 
 success, he let it go by. He made himself supremely 
 effective. But as long as he could feel power he was 
 indifferent to outward show. If he was efficient, if he 
 could feel that the world, or some part of it, was yielding 
 to his grasp, he did not greatly care whether he excited 
 comment. He was then, and he remained, impatient 
 of the superfluous. When he became a Fellow he was 
 the only don at Balliol who was content to rest a 
 " B.A." A " B.A." he remains to this day. 
 
 Asquith by the time in 1874 when he got his Fellow- 
 ship had obtained a great vogue. The Asquith year at 
 Oxford is still remembered. 
 
 He was made a Fellow at the same time as A. C. 
 Bradley, until recently Professor of English Literature 
 at Oxford. In the same month he read the lessons in 
 the College Chapel on the occasion of the appearance 
 in the pulpit there of Bishop Colenso. Asquith, 
 considering his vocal powers, was not an effective 
 reader. The list of the Balliol staff at this time is a 
 document of a good deal of interest. It reads thus : 
 
 " Benjamin Jowett, Master in 1870, Regius Professor 
 of Greek, Hertford Scholar ; Rev. E. E. Woollcombe,
 
 OXFORD 49 
 
 M.A., W. L. Newman, M.A., J. L. Strachan Davidson, 
 M.A. (Dean), John Purvis, M.A., Rev. T. K. Cheyne, 
 M.A., Richard Lewis Nettleship, M.A., T. H. Green, M. A., 
 Tatton R. Gray, M.A., Alfred Goodwin, M.A., W. H. 
 Forbes, M.A., Evelyn Abbott, M.A., A. C. Bradley, M.A., 
 H. H. Asquith, B.A., -F. de Paravinci, M.A." 
 
 Among the Honorary Fellows was Robert Browning. 
 Nettleship was the great classical scholar who was 
 frozen to death in the Alps in 1892. To T. H. Green 
 reference has been made. Goodwin was a man of 
 great learning and fine humility. Abbott also was a 
 fine spirit ; he was a cripple who, though he had to travel 
 in a bath chair, contrived to do most things for himself. 
 
 Asquith's contemporaries in the University included 
 Herbert Paul, of Corpus, the well-known M.P., and 
 Thomas afterwards Sir Thomas Raleigh. Raleigh 
 succeeded Asquith as President of the Union. But 
 Asquith himself was the chief figure of his time. As 
 his reputation grew he began to exercise an extra- 
 ordinary ascendency, and to excite, if not devotion, 
 at least an enthusiasm for his parts such as is seldom 
 the portion of the don. 
 
 The poles are not further asunder than the respective 
 temperaments of Tennyson and Asquith, and yet in 
 the vogue which was slowly created by the personality 
 of the latter there seems a resemblance to the enthusiasm 
 which forty years before had been generated in another 
 University by the character of the young but already 
 acknowledged poet. 
 
 In The Saturday Review, in the days when that 
 journal enlivened its pages by the publication of many 
 unguarded comments, appeared a tempered tribute to
 
 50 THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, 
 
 the man who at the time of writing was Home Secre- 
 tary. The article has its interest to-day for the 
 indication it gives of how Asquith's vogue at Oxford 
 impressed an opponent. The writer refers to Mr. 
 Asquith's contemporaries. 
 
 " Nearly all these men now occupy distinguished 
 positions at an unusually early age. Sir Alfred Milner 
 is Chairman of the Board of Inland Revenue, 1 Mr. J. H. 
 Warren is the President of Magdalen, Mr. Paul was 
 the member for South Edinburgh and is a successful 
 journalist; Mr. Raleigh is an eminent professor. Of 
 this set Mr. Asquith was the orator and the idol. 
 When he was incubating a speech for the Union, the 
 set went about saying : ' Asquith is going to speak on 
 Thursday ' ; when he had spoken the set went about 
 saying : ' Did you hear that splendid thing of Asquith's 
 about Dizzy's string of complacent dukes ' ? 
 
 " Even Jowett joined the conspiracy and told all his 
 powerful visitors at the Lodge what a clever fellow 
 Asquith was. At this period the young don had a 
 defiant and somewhat churlish manner; he was encased 
 in the buckram of the aspiring bourgeois whose know- 
 ledge of the world is not sufficient to prevent his garb 
 from creaking and rustling offensively, but who soon 
 learns that the helpless members of the upper class are 
 not his enemies but his best friends." 
 
 This picture is not unctuously complaisant. But 
 then it was not intended to be. And it has at least 
 this value for Mr. Asquith's warmest admirer, that it 
 acknowledges his ascendency at the University and the 
 greatness of his gifts. Beneath the alleged defiance 
 1 This was written in 1895.
 
 OXFORD 51 
 
 of his manner there must have been some attractive 
 quality ; or a sway, almost unequalled in recent times, 
 would scarcely have been wielded with such complete 
 success. It would have been wielded however in any 
 case, and simply for the reason that Asquith's was 
 the strongest nature in the circle. The personality 
 projected to us over that space of nearly forty years 
 is the personality of the man to-day. Determination 
 that was expressed in vigorous action on occasion but 
 that was more often concealed, as the force of the man 
 was husbanded against the time when it could be 
 extended to the full keen insight into every question 
 of the moment and guiding every other quality that 
 admirable discretion which grew with the terms such, 
 at twenty, was the man who is Prime Minister at fifty-six. 
 
 He was still in outlook the Nonconformist of York- 
 shire. There might be a veneer of something else, but 
 it was only a veneer. He still preserved the splendid 
 Puritan quality of going straight on, looking neither 
 to the right hand nor to the left. The performance 
 of what another man had called Duty was instinct 
 to him. He probably would never have been able to 
 conceive of any alternative action to his sticking to 
 his work, to his using opportunities, to his carrying 
 everything and everybody before him. 
 
 References have been made to his contemporary, Lord 
 Milner. Milner also had a vogue, and some expected 
 more of him than of Asquith. There were frequent 
 speculations as to which of them would go the further 
 in after life. Another name which comes up in con- 
 nection with this period of Oxford history is that of 
 one who was later to sit in the same Cabinet as 
 
 D 2
 
 52 THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, M.P. 
 
 Mr. Asquith. James Bryce at this time was the Public 
 Orator, and it fell to his lot to render Latin honours 
 on the occasion of the visit to the University of James 
 Russell Lowell. 
 
 Asquith's career in the schools was a brilliant one. 
 But it was not in the schools that he made his most 
 lasting impression or in which he gave the truest 
 indication of what he was to be. His most emphatic 
 success was gained in the debates at the Union. There 
 can be no question that during the time he was at 
 Oxford his figure overshadowed those of all others 
 who were members at that time. And those who 
 heard him there never doubted that a career, not 
 merely of brilliance, but of great and effective public 
 service, would be his in later life. He entered the 
 House as, and continued, a strong Liberal, though 
 his Liberalism then somewhat resembled Jowett's in 
 being Whiggish and lacking in democratic sympathies. 
 
 His policy of never diffusing his quality he applied 
 to work at the Union as he had applied it elsewhere. 
 He did not speak often. But so great was his sway 
 that the fact of the infrequency of his speaking made 
 his intervention, as he calculated it should be, a matter 
 of the greatest importance. He avoided the mistake 
 of allowing it to be said that he was always glad of 
 an opportunity of opening his mouth. On the contrary, 
 he made every one feel that when he did speak it was 
 an event. He allowed no one to place upon him a less 
 than just valuation. His own set were devoted to him, 
 as has already been shown, and even had he some- 
 times been careless of his reputation they would have 
 watched over it.
 
 OXFORD 53 
 
 Asquith's last speech at the Union was delivered in 
 1875, the subject being Disestablishment. The presi- 
 dent at the time was Thomas Raleigh. A Balliol man, 
 and a contemporary of Asquith, has in his diary the 
 following entry under date May 3ist, 1875 : " Debate 
 at the Union; H. H. Asquith made a splendid speech 
 in favour of Disestablishment." 
 
 The debate is fresh in the memory of the diarist, for 
 he also took part in it. One of the speakers, now 
 the Rev. Robert Hadden, 1 who has since become well 
 known, in opposing Disestablishment had challenged 
 Nonconformists to mention any real grievance against 
 the Established Church, and the diarist had mentioned 
 the burial question. Particularly had he referred to the 
 case of the funeral of the Rev. Henry Rees, which had 
 been attended by Welshmen from all parts of the Prin- 
 cipality, but at which no service had been permitted. 
 
 Mr. Asquith, rising afterwards, moved the adjourn- 
 ment of the debate, and when it was resumed later 
 asked the indulgence of the House in order to permit 
 him to exceed the usual time limit of twenty minutes. 
 It would, he said, be the last opportunity he would 
 have of addressing them. He spoke altogether for 
 three-quarters of an hour. The utterance made a 
 great impression on the minds of those who heard it. 
 The circumstances were, of course, special. The 
 acknowledged orator of the University was making 
 his last speech. But it impressed also for its own 
 qualities of conviction and vehemence. And it is not 
 
 1 Prebendary Russell Wakefield, in an interesting article on the 
 Prime Minister in the Woman at Home, alludes to Robert Hadden, 
 now the broad-minded vicar of St. Mark's, North Audley Street, 
 in which church the Prime Minister frequently worships.
 
 54 THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, M.P. 
 
 a little significant to-day that his last speech should 
 have been upon a reform in an attempt to achieve 
 which he was later to take so prominent a part. How- 
 ever much Oxford might have modified his views, he was 
 still a Nonconformist, and there can be no doubt that 
 for this question he has cared more than for others in 
 the programme later to be formulated at Newcastle. 
 
 There may have been lawyer touches in the speeches 
 he made when the Disestablishment Bill was before 
 Parliament. But such expressions as "we understand," 
 used in the Commons, betoken a want of information 
 as to details, rather than as to the general question. 
 Even at Oxford he knew something of what Noncon- 
 formist grievances were. And in this last speech at 
 the Union he met without hesitation the challenge 
 which had been thrown down. "An honourable 
 member," he said, " challenges us to mention a single 
 real grievance due to the existence of a State Church. 
 I will take it upon me to enlighten this inquirer." 
 Here he paused, as though to consider what grievances 
 he should enumerate. Then he looked round. "Why," 
 he exclaimed, "the difficulty is to know, not where 
 to begin but where to end." Then followed a speech 
 of great power. 
 
 With this fitting climax he brought his days at 
 Oxford to a close. His eyes were now turned to 
 London, and thither he now went to begin reading 
 for the Bar.
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 THE BAR 
 
 MR. ASQUITH was called to the Bar at Lincoln's Inn, 
 in June, 1876. The student of his character cannot do 
 better than to examine closely this part of his career. 
 Nothing is more illuminative, not merely of the policy 
 which inspired his progress at the Bar, but of his 
 attitude towards politics and life. At the City of 
 London and at Balliol he declined to diffuse his quality. 
 But at school and at Oxford lavish friendship is irrele- 
 vant to practical success. Indeed, its distractions may 
 even prove inimical to progress. And the boy or 
 undergraduate who holds himself a little aloof knows 
 that, however much he may be refusing possible graces, 
 he is at least not involving the practical success of 
 his career. A boy, of whom it is expected that he 
 will wind up his school life by taking an open scholar- 
 ship, is supposed to know his own business when he 
 locks himself up and gives himself to his work. At 
 Oxford a man whose manner is the reflection of a 
 natural and acknowledged superiority may do himself 
 no harm by declining to share in every gaiety of the 
 life around him. No one will seek, for no one could 
 hope to find, a method of punishing him. 
 
 Moreover, the schoolboy and undergraduate will not 
 suffer, but gain, when he concentrates not only upon
 
 56 THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, M.P. 
 
 his work, but on a particular study. Nobody will be 
 the less inclined to encourage him. He will be told, 
 if he is told anything, that he is right. Asquith had 
 avoided metaphysics at Balliol, and than speculative 
 adventures nothing is more diffusive of one's quality. 
 But he risked nothing, he displayed no courage by 
 following at school and at Oxford a definite line in 
 relation to friendship and work. When he decided to 
 continue it at the Bar, however, it was a different matter. 
 Courage was needed to come there without influential 
 friends, and without either the manner, or a desire for 
 the manner, which attracted immediate and effusive 
 friendships, and, almost before work was offered to him, 
 dictate what that work should be. But he had the 
 courage, and because he had the ability, without which 
 the courage would have been futile, he was able at last 
 to see the triumph of his policy. 
 
 He made up his mind when he was first called to the 
 Bar that he would only accept good business. For a 
 young barrister, with small acquaintance among solicitors, 
 to come to such a determination argued a strength of 
 purpose quite unusual. Some of his friends shook 
 their heads. They shook their heads more when they 
 saw him in the act of carrying out his policy. One day 
 he received a criminal brief. He promptly declined it. 
 He would not be a criminal lawyer. He has, it is 
 true, since accepted Old Bailey briefs ; for instance, he 
 appeared in the Euston case. But he knew that if at 
 the beginning of his career he hesitated, or his policy 
 showed any signs of want of definition, his name would 
 miss, and perhaps miss for ever, the particular signifi- 
 cance he wished it to have.
 
 THE BAR 57 
 
 In pursuance of his plan of life, he decided that he 
 would not do much circuit work. The circuit he had 
 joined was the North-Eastern, which in those days 
 included a number of men who were, or who afterwards 
 became, well known. Among them were L. W. Cave 
 (afterwards Mr. Justice Cave), Herschell (afterwards 
 the Lord Chancellor, and the only lawyer besides 
 Mr. Asquith himself who ever made a real success in 
 Parliament), Maule, Littler and Waddy. Others were 
 Messrs. Atherley Jones, Tindal Atkinson, T. Milsom 
 (now Judge- Advocate-General), Fenwick (a contem- 
 porary of Asquith at Balliol and afterwards a police 
 magistrate), and Frank, afterwards Sir Frank, Lockwood, 
 Solicitor-General when Mr. Asquith was at the Home 
 Office. 
 
 But at the Bar there is a feeling that the best men 
 stay in London. A barrister with a great provincial 
 reputation may also get good work in the law courts, 
 but he is not likely to get the very best. The circuit 
 men develop into general practitioners, the London men 
 are specialists. Mr. Asquith meant from the first to be 
 a specialist, and has only cared to go on circuit when 
 anything particularly remunerative has been offered 
 him. From the first, then, he was a London man. 
 
 At the time he was called he had a great reputation 
 derived from Oxford. But in Bar circles there is a kind 
 of freemasonry to which, by those who enjoy it, 
 admittance is made somewhat difficult. Asquith, it 
 was believed, was not unconscious of the stir he had 
 made at Oxford. He came to the Bar with the same 
 complete assurance of ultimate success as had accom- 
 panied him through school and University days. But
 
 58 THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, M.P. 
 
 those already practising were not certain that they liked 
 this assurance, and there was a tendency to say of him 
 that if he was so confident in himself, he might continue 
 to do without the help of others. 
 
 The year following his call to the Bar he married 
 Miss Melland, daughter of Dr. F. Melland, of Man- 
 chester. Dr. Melland, who is happily still alive, had a 
 large practice in Manchester, and is a man of wide 
 culture, especially learned in architecture and botany. 
 He comes to London every year, and possesses, in old 
 age, a splendidly robust mind. 
 
 The young couple went to live at Eton House, John 
 Street, Hampstead. This street, which the Liberal 
 pilgrim will find near the Hampstead Heath station of 
 the North London Railway, has literary as well as 
 political associations, Keats having at one time lived 
 there. In the process of eliminating superfluous " John 
 Streets," the London County Council are proposing to 
 rename the street Keats Grove. It is built upon a 
 much more gentle incline than many of the streets of 
 Hampstead. The houses are of the type popular in the 
 suburbs in Georgian times, and are built of stone slabs, 
 painted a yellow which quickly collects smoke and 
 grime. Several of the houses have a generous allow- 
 ance of garden, and in the summer John Street is a 
 pleasant leafy byway. Later in his career Mr. Asquith 
 found a new home in Maresfield Gardens in the same 
 suburb. 
 
 Mrs. Asquith was a woman of great sweetness of 
 character. She had a highly spiritual nature, and by her 
 love and sympathy was of incalculable assistance to 
 her brilliant young husband. She was of very gentle
 
 THE BAR 59 
 
 disposition, was devoted to her home and her children, 
 and had a great power of attraction. Mr. Asquith went 
 backwards and forwards to his chambers daily. He 
 lived quietly, did not go out a great deal, and gave 
 himself to his work. His manner, as it was known in 
 Hampstead, was very much the manner of the boy at 
 Highbury. He was cordial rather than effusive. He 
 was always ready to greet and help his friends but 
 had not much time for social relaxation. He did not 
 impress people immediately by his manner ; he avoided 
 display, and it took a very shrewd judge of character in 
 those days to guess what he would become. 
 
 The Asquiths at one time attended Lyndhurst Road 
 Congregational Church, the services in which had been 
 begun by Dr. Horton while yet an undergraduate at 
 Oxford. Mr. Asquith indeed had been one of those 
 who signed the requisition which called Dr. Horton to 
 take up the work at Hampstead, and though he does 
 not now attend the ministry of the Congregational 
 Church, his interest in Lyndhurst Road is still alive, 
 and has been proved to be so on more than one 
 occasion. In 1901, for instance, when it was intended 
 to celebrate the twenty-first anniversary of Dr. Horton's 
 pastorate, Mr. Asquith was asked if he would take part 
 in the proceedings. At the time the invitation was 
 conveyed to him he was the central figure of a great 
 and enthusiastic function at the National Liberal Club. 
 His mind was experiencing a great sense of party 
 approval. But when in the midst of this scene of 
 enthusiasm the request was made to him he was quick 
 to respond. " I shall be delighted to come," he said. 
 This has always been his way. It may be difficult to
 
 60 THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, M.P. 
 
 arouse his interest in new causes. But the old, the 
 things of his earlier manhood, whether they are friend- 
 ships or causes, he never forgets. This faithfulness has 
 been one of the strongest-marked of his characteristics. 
 It is a part of his nature, but it is also indicative of his 
 sense of proportion. At no moment, whether of elation 
 or depression, does he allow himself to forget whatever, 
 at more normal moments, he would consider to be due 
 to any person or any work. 
 
 Even when first he went to Hampstead Mr. Asquith 
 was known to take an interest in politics. But his 
 chief efforts in those early years were given to 
 improving his position at the Bar. The struggle, how- 
 ever, at first was a hard one. For some time he 
 continued in obscurity, and that this was so is shown 
 by a remark heard in an Oxford common-room, and 
 afterwards recorded by a writer in The New Review. 
 A don was expatiating upon fame. " The worst of our 
 system," he said, " is that nobody ever hears anything 
 of our crack men. Look at Asquith ! What a career 
 he had here, and now his name is never mentioned ! " 
 
 The remark partakes somewhat of common-room 
 irresponsibility. The speaker was in too much of a 
 hurry. Though Mr. Asquith had started out without 
 powerful friends, and though his manner did not 
 bring them flocking round him, his Oxford fame and 
 the reputation he began to acquire as a speaker, as 
 his opportunities for speaking increased, were not lost 
 upon some of the most prominent Liberal politicians 
 of the time. A good friend at this period was 
 Mr. Chamberlain. This may seem curious to-day to 
 those who suppose, and suppose wrongly, that the
 
 THE BAR 61 
 
 wide differences of political views, which in later life 
 separated the two men, also involved a breaking of 
 personal relations. Mr. Chamberlain had become 
 interested in the young Liberal barrister, and had 
 advised Mr. R. S. Wright, at this time his counsel, to 
 take Asquith into his chambers in Paper Buildings. 
 Mr. Wright afterwards well known as Mr. Justice 
 Wright had a large and important practice, par- 
 ticularly in the very lucrative department of railway 
 work, and the association was to Mr. Asquith most 
 valuable. It is interesting to note, a propos of Mr. 
 Asquith's chambers in Paper Buildings, that later, 
 when he succeeded to the seniority on Mr. Wright's 
 departure for the Bench, he took in Mr. Roskill (now 
 K.C.), who in his turn took into his chambers Mr. 
 Asquith's son Raymond, to whose extraordinarily 
 brilliant career at Oxford reference has already been 
 made. 
 
 Whilst in Mr. Wright's chambers Asquith took 
 pupils, and when time permitted he worked up Mr. 
 Wright's cases for him. These cases, as has been 
 said, were many of them railway ones. Gradually, 
 therefore, the junior began himself to acquire a reputa- 
 tion as a railway lawyer, and ultimately his railway 
 practice was a very important one. 
 
 A circumstance which indirectly was of the utmost 
 importance to Mr. Asquith's success at the Bar was the 
 passing of the Corrupt Practices Act, which had been 
 introduced by Sir Henry James in 1883. Sir Henry 
 had been one of the first to recognise Mr. Asquith's 
 ability, and to express that recognition in the way most 
 useful to a young barrister, namely, by giving him work.
 
 62 THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, M.P. 
 
 Of the Corrupt Practices Act Mr. Asquith was a com- 
 plete master. But when a new Act, full of intricacies, 
 takes effect, it creates, for a time at least, a good deal 
 of confusion in the minds of those who have been accus- 
 tomed to work upon the principle laid down by what- 
 ever, if any, Act applied before the passing of the new 
 one. The Corrupt Practices Act was one of great 
 importance, and Liberals particularly were anxious that 
 its provisions should be generally known and understood. 
 Accordingly the Liberal Central Association requested 
 Mr. Asquith to write a volume explanatory of the 
 measure. He had already shown himself an accom- 
 plished writer upon politics and economics by his con- 
 tributions to The Economist and The Spectator. But the 
 book which he now wrote was his first. It was published 
 by the National Press Agency under the title of " An 
 Election Guide : Rules for the Conduct and Manage- 
 ment of Elections in England and Wales under the 
 Corrupt Practices Act, 1883." The title page announced 
 that it was "prepared by H. H. Asquith, of Lincoln's 
 Inn, Barrister-at-Law." Looking at the little volume 
 to-day, it is seen to be marked by just those qualities of 
 lucidity and directness which have distinguished both 
 Mr. Asquith's forensic manner and his platform method. 
 The shortest words are used and the simplest. In a 
 note at the beginning it is stated that the book is 
 intended to be a guide for election agents " which will 
 show them what they may lawfully do, and what they 
 must avoid." 
 
 Compared with many legal tomes, the book appears 
 a mere pamphlet. But it is small merely because of 
 its author's extraordinary power of concentrating ideas
 
 THE BAR 63 
 
 into a few words. Those competent to express an 
 opinion pronounce the book to be one of the very best 
 of its kind. 
 
 The result of the publication of this volume was to 
 make its writer recognised as an authority upon the new 
 Act. He was soon inundated with junior briefs in the 
 first crop of cases arising through the passing of the 
 measure. He appeared in the Stepney election petition 
 in February, 1886, with Mr., afterwards Mr. Speaker, 
 Gully ; he was with Mr. Pope and Mr. Bigham in the 
 Aylesbury case ; he was with Mr. Waddy in the Ipswich 
 actions, and in the Lambeth case with Mr. Pope. He 
 was now enjoying a large practice at the junior Bar, 
 and a considerable reputation both for brilliancy and 
 for the less glowing quality of accuracy. He showed a 
 complete mastery of facts and, when a point of law was 
 involved, great knowledge of law. 
 
 But his reputation was one restricted to legal and 
 political quarters. He only began to interest the general 
 public when he appeared without a leader to defend 
 Mr. Cunninghame Graham in the Trafalgar Square 
 case in 1887. Those in court at the time are unwearied 
 in their praise of the eloquence of his advocacy ; and, 
 though he did not get his man off, his own reputation 
 from that moment became something of a national one. 
 
 The next of his triumphs was his appearance before 
 the Parnell Commission. He was there as junior to 
 Sir Charles Russell. Sir Charles was from the first a 
 great believer in Asquith, as was Sir George Lewis. 
 Mr. Stead says that it was Sir George who first con- 
 vinced him that Mr. Asquith was going to take a very 
 high place in life. " He was the first man who tried
 
 64 THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, M.P. 
 
 to din it in my unbelieving ears that Mr. Asquith was 
 certain to make a great name in the world." 
 
 The Commission met in February, 1889. The first 
 witness was Mr. Soames, from whom Sir Charles Russell 
 got very little. The second witness was to be the manager 
 of The Times, who had conducted the negotiations for the 
 purchase of the letters said to involve the guilt of Parnell. 
 It is a well-known practice for the leader to cross- 
 examine alternatively with the junior barrister engaged 
 in the case. But the Times manager was one of the 
 most important, perhaps the second most important, 
 witness in the case, and it was assumed therefore by 
 everyone that Russell would himself cross-examine, 
 particularly as so far he had got nothing on which to 
 carry on his case. When Mr. Soames sat down the 
 Court had adjourned for lunch. Then it was that 
 Russell amazed his junior by telling him that he was to 
 cross-examine the next witness. 
 
 " But this is most absurd," said Mr. Asquith to his 
 leader ; " he is one of the most important witnesses in 
 the case, and of course you will cross-examine him your- 
 self." " No," said Russell ; " I'm tired, and you will do 
 it well enough." 1 
 
 " Well enough " would have been regarded as a 
 somewhat tame comment when the witness at last sat 
 down. The manager did his best, but The Times had 
 no case, and that such was fact Mr. Asquith discovered 
 almost at once by an extraordinary feat of intuition. 
 The remarkable feature of his success in this case was 
 not that he got it only after patient cross-examination 
 spread over a number of hours. He got it at once. 
 
 1 Review of Reviews, 1895.
 
 THE BAR 65 
 
 When the cross-examination was over his reputation 
 was made. 
 
 He only had one difference with Russell, and that 
 was when he came to him while they were both staying 
 at Tadworth, and gave him a number of legal points 
 which he said ought to be mentioned in Russell's final 
 speech. Russell, says Mr. Stead, who tells the story, 
 was intent upon a speech not merely of forensic but of 
 historic interest. He felt he was not only Parnell's 
 advocate in a court of law, but Ireland's defender in the 
 court of the world. For a moment therefore he was 
 impatient of the counsels of his junior. Mr. Asquith, 
 on the other hand, was not an Irishman, and he was too 
 good a lawyer not to feel that there were legal as well 
 as national and political questions to be considered. 
 
 After the Parnell Commission his practice became 
 such that he was able to apply for silk within a year ; 
 and in February, 1890, he became a Q.C. He now did 
 a very good class of business. But he was not satisfied. 
 He determined not to rest until he got the work which 
 was the best possible. Such work is usually to be 
 found in practice before the House of Lords and the 
 Privy Council. It was upon work of this kind that 
 Mr. Asquith had begun to concentrate, and with such 
 success that ultimately he and his friend and political 
 colleague, Mr. Haldane, were able to divide between 
 them all the best business before the Privy Council. 
 
 There can be no question that to appellate work Mr. 
 Asquith is by his gifts and limitations better adapted 
 than to work before a jury. He never much cared for 
 jury work, and although he appeared in nisi prius cases 
 (for instance, he was with Sir Charles Russell in the 
 
 E
 
 66 THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, M.P. 
 
 notorious baccarat case), he preferred briefs in appellate 
 actions. His style of speaking was clear and concise. 
 It avoided heroics and repetition. Nisi prius, however, 
 is a kind of work which requires a great deal of repeti- 
 tion as well as gesture. A jury have to have a fact 
 dinned into their ears before they can grasp it. They 
 have to be moved, and it may be necessary, if the case 
 is to be won, to appeal to emotion rather than reason. 
 Mr. Asquith, however, is impatient of rhetorical fustian. 
 So also are the appellate tribunals. For this reason he 
 was welcomed when he appeared before them, and his 
 quiet concise manner influenced them as voluble advo- 
 cacy could not have done. His language was never 
 forced. That was not necessary. He had a natural 
 feeling for beautiful English, and this showed itself as 
 to-day it shows itself in his political speeches. 
 
 His special experience of railway litigation brought 
 him also before the Railway Commissioners, and he was 
 quickly building up a practice of a highly lucrative kind 
 before this court as well as in the appellate tribunals 
 when, as is stated elsewhere, Mr. Gladstone surprised 
 the country, though not Mr. Asquith's friends, by 
 offering the Home Secretaryship to the young Q.C. 
 
 An interval of three years now followed. But in July, 
 1895, the Liberals again found themselves in opposition. 
 A good deal of curiosity was now felt as to the future of 
 Mr. Asquith. He was known to be neither qualified 
 for nor desirous of a political pension. On the one 
 hand, he had not held office for the necessary four 
 years ; on the other, he had much too great a natural 
 independence, and had been much too successful when 
 at the Bar, not to hesitate before determining never
 
 THE BAR 67 
 
 again to return there for his livelihood. During the 
 early autumn many eyes were upon him. Some critics 
 said that if he went back he would ignore a tradition. 
 Hitherto no barrister who, from practising before the 
 Privy Council, had afterwards been elevated to a seat 
 upon it and to high Ministerial position, had been 
 known on quitting office to return to practice. It was 
 suggested that not only was there no precedent for 
 doing this, but that the tradition ought to be preserved 
 in view of the possibility that at any moment the Privy 
 Councillor appearing before the tribunal might be 
 constituted a member of its Judicial Committee. 
 
 Mr. Asquith, however, has never been afraid to open 
 a door simply because there are cobwebs upon it. He 
 felt he had a right to earn his living in his own way, 
 and the feeling was entirely honourable, not only to his 
 character but to his common sense. Those who watched 
 were not kept long in suspense. In October it was known 
 that he had accepted a brief for the Union Bank in 
 the action brought against it by Mrs. Langtry for the 
 loss of her jewels. Not only so, but he resumed his old 
 practice before the Privy Council. He had taken the 
 step some had questioned he would have the courage 
 to take. He was the first Privy Councillor to appear 
 before the Privy Council. 
 
 In this action he showed some of his well-known 
 characteristics ; self-reliance, tenacity, directness, appear 
 as they appeared before, and though there may seem an 
 unwonted element of dash in his treatment of tradition, 
 what he did was neither hasty nor ill-considered. He 
 never doubted that he would succeed. The splendid 
 discretion which has always been shown in his actions 
 
 E 2
 
 68 RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, M.P. 
 
 did not" desert him at this time. He did not lightly 
 establish the precedent. It was probably long in con- 
 templation. What he did, he did because he could find 
 no reason to forbid him. His mind has always been 
 admirably direct. 
 
 And it is worthy of note that though he was the first 
 to take the step he then took, he has not been the last. 
 Since then Mr. Haldane has followed his example; 
 while more recently Sir Edward Carson, a member of 
 the last Tory Government and a Privy Councillor also, 
 as soon as he was released from office went straight 
 back to the Bar, there to enjoy as great a practice as 
 ever he had. 
 
 The action of Mr. Asquith was justified from the very 
 first. His practice was now a very lucrative 
 one. Yet it might have been much more extensive, 
 and as a consequence more lucrative, if it had not 
 suffered one distraction. The distraction was politics. 
 Others have proved their devotion to party by pro- 
 testations and by running risks of unpopularity. Mr. 
 Asquith proved his in hard cash. Many a heavy 
 country brief has he declined in the fear that he might 
 not be able to return to London in time for a political 
 engagement. Just before becoming Chancellor of the 
 Exchequer he was offered a fee of ten thousand guineas 
 to argue a case in Egypt. He declined it. 
 
 He has never hesitated between Liberalism and the 
 Bar. He has always been a Liberal first and a lawyer 
 afterwards. And though he was willing to let his legal 
 work in the country suffer for the sake of his political 
 work in London, he never let his legal work in London 
 interfere with his political work in the country. When
 
 THE BAR 69 
 
 in 1903 Mr. Chamberlain startled the country with his 
 invitation to abandon Free Trade, Mr. Asquith, as 
 another chapter tells, followed him everywhere exposing 
 the fallacy of the hopes which were based upon Tariff 
 Reform. Mr. Asquith almost dogged the footsteps of 
 his opponent. 
 
 That he continued to practise in London during the 
 campaign in the country is an indication of his physical 
 strength no less than of his strength of purpose. He 
 has never broken down. 
 
 Mr. Asquith has always been a very quick worker. 
 This does not make it necessary for him to rise at 
 curiously early hours in the morning. It was his 
 alertness which has most impressed one at least of his 
 contemporaries at Oxford, and this alertness had saved 
 him much weary study, during his years at the Bar 
 no less than during those at the University. 
 
 In his relations with the solicitors who briefed him, 
 he was always most considerate. He seldom altered a 
 document until he knew why the statement he wished 
 to correct had been made. In consultation he listened 
 intently, and was always open to conviction. What 
 particularly impressed those who witnessed his work 
 was the conscientiousness which he brought to bear 
 upon every detail. He was always true to himself. 
 Wise and firm and unemotional, he was, in the appellate 
 tribunals, an admirable advocate. No part of his career 
 is more honourable to him than that part which includes 
 his years at the Bar. " For thirty years," said Sir 
 Edward Clarke when the Bar celebrated the elevation 
 of one of its members to the Premiership, "he has 
 preserved an untarnished shield."
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 PARLIAMENT 
 
 A CONSIDERABLE crowd was gathered in a room to 
 listen to the address of a political candidate. The candi- 
 date bore an honoured name, the name of the greatest 
 figure in the party. Before him the crowd stood close. 
 They were there to hear the son of their leader, Herbert 
 Gladstone, then making his entry into politics. Stand- 
 ing in the throng listening but unobserved was a shortish 
 young man with a strong clean-shaven mouth and slight 
 side whiskers. A commonplace enough young man he 
 seemed. None regarded him. Their minds were upon 
 the brilliant young son of their old and trusted leader ; 
 and perhaps only one member of the crowd had any 
 intuition that the future would see the candidate 
 follow this strong man and acknowledge him as the 
 head of the party. For in those days Mr. Asquith 
 passed to and fro almost unobserved. 
 
 But his interest in politics was intense, as indeed 
 it had been from early Oxford days. His speaking 
 at the Union had not been the mere academic exercises 
 of a student of political history. He had spoken 
 because he had felt. It has been recalled that his 
 last speech at the Union was on Disestablishment. 
 The principles of Liberalism were, to him, vital. 
 When he had gone to the Bar he had continued his
 
 PARLIAMENT 71 
 
 interest, and when the Eighty Club was formed to 
 celebrate the great Liberal victory of 1880, he was 
 one of its first members. The quality of his speeches 
 as a member of the club was quickly recognised. As 
 has been said, Mr. Chamberlain, who had a keen eye 
 for ability, was much interested in the young man. 
 
 It was not long before he received the offer of a seat. 
 But, as usual, he was in no hurry. He was quite 
 conscious of his strength. He knew that he would 
 have other opportunities. He refused the offer, and 
 waited. Presently another offer came to him. Again 
 he declined it. He was still not ready. Then came 
 other offers, and at length one from the constituency 
 of East Fife. He considered this as he had considered 
 the others, and then calmly accepted it. Strong 
 pressure had long been brought to bear upon him to 
 stand ; but only now would he yield. East Fife was 
 the seventeenth offer he had had. 
 
 The circumstances under which the election was 
 fought were peculiar. His opponent, Mr. J. Boyd- 
 Kinnear, had, like himself, been, during the past five 
 years, a supporter of the Liberal programme, and had 
 been returned as a supporter of Mr. Gladstone in 
 the 1885 election. Mr. Boyd-Kinnear, however, had 
 found himself unable to swallow his leader's Home 
 Rule policy, and was now standing as a Unionist. At 
 this time Mr. Asquith's support of Home Rule and 
 of the Radical programme was of the most uncom- 
 promising description. So far as it was possible for 
 a non-parliamentary figure to be known in political 
 circles, he was already known. Scottish Liberals 
 accepted him readily, and the foundations of a
 
 72 THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, M.P. 
 
 popularity which has endured throughout the whole of 
 his career in the House of Commons were laid. When 
 the election took place he was returned at the head 
 of the poll, the figures being : 
 
 H. H. Asquith . . 2,863 
 J. Boyd-Kinnear . 2,489 
 
 Liberal majority 374 
 
 The circumstances under which he entered the House 
 of Commons were not perhaps calculated to inspire 
 Liberal leaders who had served the party for many 
 years and who now saw their opponents filling the 
 Government benches. But there is no doubt that 
 these are exactly the conditions most likely to con- 
 tribute to the rapid rise of the young and unknown 
 politician who possesses genuine ability. It was under 
 such circumstances that Lord Randolph Churchill came 
 to the front in the 'eighty Parliament and that Mr. 
 Lloyd George achieved his great reputation in the 
 Parliaments of 1895 and 1900. The weaker his side 
 the better for the new man if he is really able. To 
 make an impression in this way the qualities required 
 are resource, devotion, alertness above all, pertinacity. 
 The young man must always be on the look-out for 
 an opportunity of effective intervention. The good 
 use of frequent opportunities then begins to attract 
 attention from the occasion to the person, and leaders, 
 as well as public commentators, begin to observe the 
 brilliant ability of the new private member. However 
 able a politician be, he has less hope of impressing 
 upon his chiefs the usefulness of his services if these
 
 PARLIAMENT 73 
 
 are given only at intervals. None but the supreme 
 figures can afford to adopt a policy of reticence. We 
 only allow ourselves to be wooed by the new cocoa 
 when we have read the advertisement twenty-one times, 
 and we must read twenty-one times more before we 
 are won. 
 
 Yet, as perhaps was to be expected from his actions 
 at the Bar, it was this policy of reticence which, when 
 he entered Parliament, he continued to pursue. He 
 accepted the risk, as when he had rejected his first 
 criminal brief he had accepted the risk of having to do 
 without a practice. He had never diffused his quality, 
 and he was not going to do it now. At the Union he 
 had taken care that a speech from him was an event. 
 He was determined that the same should be said of 
 his speeches in the House. 1 It was during this, the 
 first year of his appearance at Westminster, that his 
 remarkable defence of Mr. Cunninghame Graham was 
 in the mind of all London, and interest in him was not 
 unnaturally excited in the minds of members of the 
 House of Commons. Indeed, throughout his first 
 Parliament his greatest celebrity was gained beyond 
 the doors of St. Stephen's ; during these first five years 
 members thought of him more as the advocate of 
 Radicalism in the courts than on the floor of the 
 House of Commons. The part he took in the Parnell 
 Commission, obviously a case of supreme interest to 
 his fellow members of whatever side in politics, gave 
 him greatly increased prominence, and made his rising 
 from the back bench on which he sat a matter of 
 
 1 " He took care that his speaking should be an event." 
 Saturday Review, 1895.
 
 74 THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, M.P. 
 
 considerable interest. The question before the country 
 was still that of Ireland. Ireland was now on her trial 
 in the courts. And one of her advocates was the 
 member for East Fife. 
 
 But while he was not unconscious of the interest he 
 excited, he was not in any hurry to acquire such a 
 reputation as is sought for by most young politicians. 
 He moved slowly ; he felt his way. He nursed his 
 reputation indeed so carefully that it became a cause 
 of complaint in the widening circle which appreciated 
 his oratory. Soon he had a vogue. He piqued 
 interest. Mr. Gladstone was supposed to have a 
 special interest in him. He had been run by a set 
 at Oxford; now the leaders of the party began to 
 take him up. 
 
 " His party determined from the first to run him, 
 and they ran him with a vengeance," says a critic, 
 recalling the time. 1 " It took Disraeli ten years to 
 gain the ear of the House," continues the same writer ; 
 " Mr. Asquith and Mr. Curzon got it from the moment 
 they entered." But the most singular part of the 
 business, as this critic goes on to point out, was that 
 the Tories who suffered most for his attacks began to 
 pay him the compliment of criticism. Moreover, with 
 the criticism there was often mixed a note of friend- 
 liness and appreciation of the abilities of the new 
 member which was remarkable alike for its warmth and 
 for the character of its bestowers. Lord Salisbury 
 and Mr. Balfour were strong in their praise, "while 
 Sir Henry James was only too glad to claim the 
 credit of having discovered the rising star. When one 
 1 Saturday Review, 1895.
 
 PARLIAMENT 75 
 
 of the cleverest and best known women in London 
 society accepted Mr. Asquith, who had now become a 
 widower, this favourite of fortune shot suddenly into 
 the very bull's-eye of fashion and power." 
 
 The marriage referred to did not take place until 
 after the Liberal party was in power. But it may be 
 convenient to refer here to the event. Miss Margot 
 Tennant was the daughter of the late Sir Charles 
 Tennant, and a lady not only of personality, but of 
 acknowledged charm. She had lived in a world quite 
 different from that inhabited by the middle-class young 
 man now making so great a reputation in Parliament. 
 She was supposed to love the gaieties of life. She was 
 high-spirited and perhaps a little difficult of com- 
 prehension. She had the unusual quality, in a woman, 
 of a sense of humour. Above all, she was quite distinct. 
 Mr. Asquith met her, and ultimately what has proved a 
 most happy marriage took place. Mr. Gladstone, who, 
 allowing for the difference between his age and hers, 
 was a close friend of the bride, attended the wedding, 
 and Miss Dorothy Drew had a part in the ceremony. 
 
 Before this event, before the Liberal victory, Mr. 
 Asquith was continuing to build up, with his con- 
 siderable Bar practice, a name in the Commons. His 
 appearances continued to be rare, though most useful 
 to his party and to his own reputation. His most 
 effective intervention was in a debate which arose out 
 of the great trial in which he had so long and so 
 successfully borne a part. Sir Richard Webster had 
 spoken upon the forged letters. Mr. Asquith in a very 
 emphatic way replied. " From this moment," says 
 Mr. Stead, " his Parliamentary reputation was made."
 
 76 THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, M.P. 
 
 Mr. Asquith, if asked, would probably, however, 
 decline to support this way of putting a fact. It was 
 rather his policy to build up his name slowly. But the 
 incident was no doubt the crowning stone in the 
 building of his reputation as a private member. 
 Recognition was now near. 
 
 What that recognition would be none cared to 
 hazard. Doubtless the common idea was that he 
 would get an under-secretaryship. But it was assumed 
 that his special gifts would be given scope. In June, 
 1892, the end came. And when the Liberal leader had 
 to select someone to move a vote of censure on the 
 defeated Government, it was considered significant that 
 the man he chose for this important work was the 
 member for East Fife. 
 
 The circumstances under which Mr. Asquith spoke 
 were made somewhat difficult for him by those who pre- 
 ceded and those who followed his rising. It is curious 
 that at the time he was associated in the public mind 
 with Ireland. His first two speeches in the House had 
 been on Irish subjects, his greatest success was gained 
 in an Irish debate, his reputation at the Bar and in the 
 country rested largely upon his work in an Irish came 
 celebre, and his speeches upon the platform were marked 
 by a particularly close examination of Irish affairs. In 
 some of his addresses, however, he had referred to future 
 party policy, and in January, 1890, he had rightly used 
 the freedom allowed to a private member to demand 
 from the Liberal leader an outline of what the proposed 
 Home Rule Bill was to be. 
 
 These demands were referred to by the mover and 
 seconder of the Address to the Throne on the occasion
 
 PARLIAMENT 77 
 
 of the prorogation of Parliament in August, 1892, and 
 he was twitted on the fact that no answer had yet been 
 given to his demand. When he got up to move his 
 amendment to the Address an amendment which was, 
 of course, intended to effect the inevitable change of 
 Government he made no pretence to explain away 
 his words. He does not explain. He admitted the 
 use of the words, and then turned to criticise the 
 retiring Administration. 
 
 It is significant that, incidentally, he paid those 
 compliments to the mover and seconder which are 
 usually paid by a Front Bench man. It is important, 
 too, to note that when he was succeeded by the retir- 
 ing Chancellor of the Exchequer, the latter assumed 
 towards him, not the kindly and slightly patronising air 
 which a member of a Government is apt to adopt 
 towards a young back-bench politician, but the manner 
 of one facing an opponent against whom it is necessary 
 to be on one's guard. The Chancellor claimed that as 
 Mr. Gladstone had not yet stated, in specific terms, 
 what his Home Rule measure was to be, Mr. Asquith 
 had no recourse but to vote against his own amendment. 
 It was an encounter between two leaders, and the fact 
 that one sat upon a back bench only emphasised the 
 more the position which, by a few speeches, he had in 
 the six years now brought to a close attained for himself.
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 HOME SECRETARY 
 
 ON June 28th, 1892, Lord Salisbury's Parliament 
 was dissolved, and from July ist to 26th the country 
 again suffered the turbulence of a general election. 
 Though the whole Newcastle programme was made 
 the subject of strenuous party argument, the shadow of 
 Home Rule was over all. From every Conservative 
 platform a serious warning was given against the folly 
 of yielding the Irish demand. " Separationist " a term 
 now become the ultimate in opprobrious epithet was 
 flung at whoever carried the Liberal colour or spoke by 
 the Liberal book. Appeals were thrown out wholesale, 
 and not only to party spirit, but to patriotism. Old 
 leaders and new old leaders in new places, and new 
 ones in old travelled the country and called for 
 justice on the one hand, and defence of the Union on 
 the other. 
 
 But overshadowing every other was the heroic figure 
 of the old leader fighting, as doubtless he already 
 guessed, his last political battle. The election meant 
 more to him than it could mean to any other. For 
 others opportunities might come again. This was his 
 last appeal to the people in the wisdom of whose final 
 decisions he had always trusted.
 
 MR. ASQUITH WHEN HOME SECRETARY.
 
 HOME SECRETARY 79 
 
 When the election was over the final result was seen 
 to be: 
 
 Gladstonians and Nationalists . 355 
 Unionists 315 
 
 Majority . . 40 
 
 " Mr. Gladstone," says Mr. Lucy, 1 " was staying at 
 Dalmeny when he received a telegram announcing the 
 issue of the last doubtful contest in the general elec- 
 tion. The little group gathered in the library was not 
 ungovernably enthusiastic at the aggregate results. 
 One, gallantly putting the best face on it, said, ' Well, 
 we shall have a majority of forty.' 
 
 " ' Too small, too small,' said Mr. Gladstone, slowly 
 shaking his head and speaking in those deep, tragic tones 
 he reserved for occasions of greatest storm and stress." 
 
 Too small it was. Yet it was perhaps the greatest 
 personal triumph that had ever come to one who had 
 tasted many such. For it was a triumph wrested from 
 a country still in its heart opposed to the measure for 
 which he had staked all. 
 
 Ancient Liberals, who had held out in 1886, now 
 yielded once again to the magic of their old leader and 
 came again to give him their allegiance. But some 
 still held back, and with such a majority the party 
 could be expected to be dogged rather than hopeful. 
 
 When the House reassembled, a vote of no confidence 
 
 in the Tory Administration was at once passed, and 
 
 Lord Salisbury resigned. Then the country turned to 
 
 the agreeable relaxation of Cabinet-making, while the 
 
 1 " Diary of the Home Rule Parliament."
 
 8o THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, M.P. 
 
 "Old Parliamentary Hand" set itself once more to a 
 now accustomed task. Certain appointments were 
 presumed. Sir William Harcourt, Lord Rosebery, 
 Lord Kimberley, and Sir George Trevelyan, members 
 of earlier Cabinets, seemed certain of inclusion. There 
 were other names also which were felt to be inevitable. 
 But when at last the list appeared, and the public read 
 that the new Home Secretary was to be Mr. Asquith, 
 hitherto known to it chiefly by his work in the courts, 
 it was not unnaturally surprised. 
 
 That the Prime Minister was determined upon the 
 introduction of new blood had been understood, but he 
 had not found that new blood in the anticipated 
 quarters. There was more than one notable omission, 
 and that of more than one statesman who had deserved 
 the honours of his party. But, as it was pointed out 
 on Mr. Gladstone's behalf, he could not include every- 
 body, and seventeen is too many. There were not 
 wanting informed persons who could account for the 
 absence of some names, and accordingly for some of 
 the consequent inclusions. But while many of the new 
 appointments were to be accounted for, the elevation of 
 Mr. Asquith puzzled everybody. It was not that there 
 was anything against him ; but it was felt that he had 
 not been tried. " That he is a smart man, almost a 
 dreffle smart man, is unquestioned," observed that 
 mentor of Liberal politicians, Mr. W. T. Stead ; " but 
 his promotion is very audacious." 
 
 In the House of Commons there was less surprise. 
 Mr. Asquith had already enjoyed two small debating 
 triumphs ; he had made a name at the Bar by his work 
 on the Parnell Commission ; and Mr. Gladstone was
 
 HOME SECRETARY 81 
 
 known to have had his eye upon him. But even the 
 Commons, though prepared to witness his elevation, 
 were surprised at the splendour of it when it came. 
 Young statesmen are usually permitted to shed their 
 youthful elegancies and indiscretions in the innocent 
 obscurity of under-secretaryship. Yet here was a man 
 of unproved capacity being pitchforked into one of the 
 highest positions in the State ! 
 
 Against this it was to be said that Mr. Asquith had 
 neither elegancies nor indiscretions to shed; that his 
 capacity had already been proved to those best qualified 
 to judge, and that a daring innovation of this kind is 
 often a good thing for the country. 
 
 Mr. Gladstone, nevertheless, had not originally con- 
 templated putting him into the Cabinet. It is not 
 generally known that the credit of the appointment is 
 really due to Mr. Morley. Mr. Gladstone's idea was that 
 Mr. Asquith, as a tribute to his work on the Parnell Com- 
 mission, should be made Solicitor-General. Moreover, 
 Mr. Asquith himself understood that such was to be his 
 appointment, and was making arrangements accordingly. 
 Mr. Morley intervened, however, and pointed out that 
 the young Liberal barrister was fitted for a far higher 
 office than the Solicitor-Generalship. Upon this Mr. 
 Gladstone at once put Mr. Asquith into the Cabinet. 
 
 That the country as a whole did not yet know the 
 new Home Secretary was not cause for wonder. But 
 its ignorance was not long to continue. Mr. Asquith 
 came to a Department which gave him great scope. 
 The Home Office had lately been in the hands of men 
 not intimately in touch with the democracy. The bond 
 of union which ought to exist between the people of the 
 
 F
 
 82 THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, M.P. 
 
 country and the Department specially deputed to serve 
 its interests was non-existent. 
 
 From the first Mr. Asquith was determined to be a 
 reformer. He spared neither himself nor any other. 
 He began to develop a will of iron. Indeed, there was 
 a story told by one who fourteen years ago summed up 
 the Home Secretary as he then was 1 to the effect 
 that he was supposed to cherish the ambition of being 
 a strong man, and that on one occasion a friend was 
 driven to remonstrate. " You are quite right to be firm," 
 the friend said, " but need you look so very firm ? " 
 
 Office at once created a change in Mr. Asquith's 
 Parliamentary manner, and the same critic who has 
 been quoted had occasion to remark upon the difference 
 between the earlier speeches, which had wanted fresh- 
 ness and had lacked signs of original thinking, and the 
 strength and freshness of his Front Bench address and 
 exposition of Parliamentary measures. "He got up 
 his Bills as a lawyer got up his case." 
 
 But while this may be taken for praise, it is the kind 
 of praise of which a politician needs to be suspicious. 
 Englishmen do not like the lawyer's attitude in their 
 statesmen. They look askance at a political intelli- 
 gence which is detached. It cannot, however, be 
 charged against Mr. Asquith that he showed any 
 important indications of such detachment as some 
 would be inclined to call it, political deficiency. But 
 though he was a Home Ruler and Radical who always 
 spoke with a quite obvious conviction, there are, never- 
 theless, some curiously lawyer-like touches scattered 
 about his speeches. 
 
 1 New Review, 1894.
 
 HOME SECRETARY 83 
 
 Mr. Asquith quickly got a grasp of the duties of his 
 office. " In six months," the same critic and admirer 
 said, " he had convinced the staff of the Department 
 that a vigorous mind and a character of singular 
 directness were at work upon it." 
 
 At last he had arrived in a position where he could 
 feel that the promise held before his eyes as a schoolboy 
 of the London streets was being realised, when all the 
 husbandry of resources which he had laid upon himself 
 in the past was yielding full fruit. Hitherto he had 
 been working that he might be allowed to show his 
 quality ; now to show his quality was not only his desire, 
 but his duty. He felt power tingling in his ringers ; he 
 saw a great field opened out around him only waiting 
 for his labour. He rolled up his sleeves. 
 
 It was unfortunate for him that almost within a year 
 of his assuming office an incident occurred which for a 
 time seriously prejudiced his popularity. For some 
 years afterwards the mention of " Featherstone " at a 
 meeting at which he was present was supposed to be a 
 taunt of the most unmerciful kind. 
 
 This Featherstone incident arose in the course of a 
 miners' strike in the neighbourhood of Doncaster, York- 
 shire. Featherstone is a village in the district. For 
 some time there had been ill-feeling between the miners 
 and the mine authorities. This reached a climax on 
 the 24th of September, 1893, when some men who had 
 been engaged in sinking a shaft objected to the manager 
 offering smudge for sale. The manager undertook to 
 refrain. But the crowd still appeared dissatisfied. 
 Presently, however, they went away, but returned the 
 following morning with a more threatening demeanour. 
 
 F 2
 
 84 THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, M.P. 
 
 This time they carried sticks. The manager, alarmed, 
 asked for police assistance. But the Doncaster police 
 were engaged in keeping order at the races. Finally 
 an appeal was made for the military. When the latter 
 arrived a riot took place, in which two men were 
 killed. 
 
 The affair at once aroused the greatest indignation 
 among the working classes throughout the country. It 
 was said that foreign methods were being introduced 
 into industrial disputes, and a loud and insistent demand 
 was made for an immediate explanation from the Home 
 Office. Unfortunately for all concerned, this way of 
 approaching him was the very best that could have been 
 followed for creating a breach between the working 
 classes on the one hand and a man of the Asquith type 
 on the other. He could not be influenced by popular 
 clamour ; he was even inclined to examine such a 
 demand with some suspicion of its justice. But he was 
 quite determined that its justice should be examined. 
 He appointed a commission to inquire into the question 
 of the firing, and in the meantime had no objection to 
 hear the matter mentioned at his meetings. " Say 
 something about Featherstone," someone called out at 
 Glasgow. " I am going to say something about Feather- 
 stone," he answered with a little snap. And without 
 more ado he asseverated his intention, so long as he 
 was responsible for maintaining law and order, of seeing 
 that law and order prevailed. His attitude, it must be 
 admitted, seemed to many an unsympathetic one. 
 But to denounce him as some of the supporters of 
 labour did was the worst way by which to try to excite 
 his sympathy. A strong nature, while it asks no
 
 HOME SECRETARY 85 
 
 sympathy for itself, will often give it but not in 
 exchange for threats. The Featherstone affair ought 
 really not to be recalled with any memory of Mr. 
 Asquith's relations with labour, but be regarded rather 
 as an incident in his police administration. For it may 
 be said and said not lightly, but with a full sense of 
 responsibility that there is no public man who has 
 ever filled office in the State who has thought more or 
 done more for labour. From the very first moment of 
 his entering the Home Office, he regarded the industrial 
 classes as his special care. 
 
 He came to his first official task with no pre-concep- 
 tions. He was determined to examine the resources of 
 the Home Department, and to set in motion whatever 
 machinery existed for improving the condition of the 
 working classes whose administrative guardian he 
 recognised himself to be. But he quickly discovered 
 that the machinery was inadequate. And thus came 
 about the elaborate reform of factory law which was to 
 mark his tenure at the Home Office. 
 
 His first action had been to appoint a number of 
 Departmental Commissions. The utility of these 
 inquiries was not long in doubt. One of the first cares 
 of the Home Secretary was the improvement of the 
 lot of the lead workers. It was a case that cried for 
 treatment, and he tolerated no cynical defence of any 
 existing system. Lead workers to-day have good cause 
 to remember the man who in 1892 was put into that 
 Home Office, which, as Mr. Stead tells us, he made 
 "the office of the Home." 
 
 Another trade which enjoyed the Home Secretary's 
 attention was that of the Belfast linen workers. Acting
 
 86 THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, M.P. 
 
 on the principle that everything should undergo personal 
 examination, Mr. Asquith had gone very carefully into 
 trade mortality figures. But when he had done so, he 
 had found himself making what were not only personal 
 discoveries, but discoveries for the Department. The 
 mortality from consumption in Irish linen factories was 
 greatly in excess of what, so far as could be seen, it 
 ought to have been. The interest of the Home Secre- 
 tary was at once aroused, and he despatched inspectors 
 to Belfast with instructions to leave no stone unturned 
 to discover the actual cause of the surprising death rate. 
 When their reports were made it became clear that the 
 terrible ravages of phthisis, which only mute statistics 
 had called to light, were due to the steam and damp 
 generated in the working rooms and breathed in by the 
 workers. The cause, now that it was found, seemed a 
 simple one, and the remedial method of better ventila- 
 tion which at once suggested itself was also one of 
 simplicity. But it is to Mr. Asquith that belongs the 
 whole credit upon the Government side for this great 
 and needed reform. Praise is due, however, to the 
 employers for the fact that immediately representations 
 were sent down of the desires of the Home Office, they, 
 without waiting for the compulsion of a new law, 
 made all the improvements demanded. The result 
 was not long in showing itself. When later the Home 
 Secretary again turned to the mortality figures of the 
 Belfast linen trade, he saw that already they had gone 
 down. 
 
 A third trade the conditions of which excited the 
 unfavourable interest of the Home Secretary was that 
 of the Sheffield grinders. Grindstones suspected of
 
 HOME SECRETARY 87 
 
 being dangerous often broke and injured workers 
 engaged in working at the time. Mr. Asquith found 
 out that there was much carelessness displayed in the 
 factories, and when he brought in his Bill he provided 
 for the regular inspection of the stones. Moreover, he 
 enacted that their further use was prohibited, either 
 until put into proper condition, or, if incapable of that, 
 for ever. Even a Home Secretary as vigilant as Mr. 
 Asquith, however, could not keep personally in touch 
 with the conditions obtaining in each individual factory 
 throughout the kingdom. The only way by which this 
 could be done was by deputy. At the time he had 
 entered upon his work, the staff of factory inspectors 
 was totally inadequate for the work they had to do. 
 With this fact he was at once impressed, and he quickly 
 ordered the addition of a large number of new men. 
 He greatly increased also the centres of inspection. In 
 fact, he sought to make the Home Office a living force 
 for good in the factory world a force in which every 
 inspector was a unit. It was to be an engine of reform, 
 a light in dark corners. It was to spare none who 
 deserved its censure, and to pass by none who deserved 
 its help. It was to be ever pulsating with life, but it 
 was to have an energy which never diffused itself. The 
 inspectors were to know, and soon in fact came to 
 know, that the Home Office had a great ideal, and that 
 the realization of part of that ideal was their potential 
 contribution. Mr. Asquith made the office a curiously 
 accurate reflection of his own mind. 
 
 In proper sanitation he recognised the greatest of all 
 blessings for workers, and his insistence upon a high 
 standard of sanitary excellence is not uncharacteristic
 
 88 THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, M.P. 
 
 of his general method of reform. The maintenance of 
 such a standard was highly necessary, but to insist upon 
 it was not to do anything sensational. To raise wages 
 or reduce hours of labour, on the other hand, would be 
 to attract immediate attention. He has always shown 
 an ambition to be an effective rather than a conspicuous 
 reformer, and it was therefore upon these necessary, but 
 not extraordinary, reformations that he first con- 
 centrated his efforts. 
 
 There has perhaps been an inclination to deny 
 Mr. Asquith the possession of ideals. His political 
 career has seemed to some who have not looked very 
 closely the career of one whose reforming zeal is 
 checked by a too complete sanity of outlook. This is 
 probably true. His caution indeed sometimes strains 
 the allegiance of his followers. But that caution is not 
 concerned first of all to protect himself. Discretion in 
 all things is the lesson he has carried through life since 
 the days he learnt it under Jowett. Discretion, how- 
 ever, may be an impersonal quality speaking for the 
 interests of the State, and forgetting the personal 
 interest, often even speaking against personal desire. 
 A man may hesitate to advance rashly in a misty hill 
 country, not because by falling he may endanger his 
 reputation as a climber, but because something more 
 important his life may be at stake. If " political " is 
 substituted for "climbing" reputation, and "life" for 
 "interests of the country," some understanding may be 
 arrived at of the mental position of a statesman of the 
 Asquith type. But it is absurd to deny him ideals. He 
 may not run towards them ; he may feel his way 
 thither. But he does not stand still.
 
 HOME SECRETARY 89 
 
 At the Home Office he certainly had a high ideal of 
 efficiency. That he kept ever before him. But, while 
 he held such an ideal, it was not that only which 
 inspired his reforms. As has been before observed, he 
 felt himself to be the official guardian of the labouring 
 classes. But he was inspired, too, by a nobler feeling 
 than this. Mr. Asquith is a man of firm exterior, and 
 because of his defence of the magistrate's action at 
 Featherstone, and of his refusal to liberate the Irish 
 political prisoners, he has never shaken off a reputation 
 for hardness. But his heart is really one of great 
 humanity. The sufferings endured by workers which 
 even his first few months at the Home Office revealed 
 to him were to him intolerable. If he was a hard man, 
 his hardness came out more often in his relentless 
 campaign against recalcitrant factory owners than in 
 indifference to the lot of their employees. 
 
 The humanity of his outlook, however, was exhibited 
 scarcely more perhaps in the sphere of factory-life 
 amelioration than in that of prison reform. There is 
 probably no Department of the State where intelligence 
 and sympathy is more called for than in that which 
 controls the national penitentiaries. A man's attitude 
 towards a prisoner is a pretty good test of the existence 
 in him or not of what are practically all the really 
 important qualities of heart and mind, and the old 
 Puritan's "There but for the grace of God go I," is a 
 more intelligent as well as a more charitable review of 
 the whole circumstances of crime than half the verdicts 
 of the courts. Mr. Asquith has never by his greatest 
 enemy been accused of cant, and he believed that in 
 prison administration there was a place for mercy.
 
 90 THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, M.P. 
 
 But the natural discretion of the man kept him from 
 sudden changes. He had no patience with the type of 
 mind which protests that things are very well as they 
 are. But he was determined to feel his way to reform. 
 Discretion is the better part of valour. It would be 
 perhaps a politician's motto that a commission is the 
 better part of change. Commissions, however, if their 
 deliberations can be accelerated either by public opinion 
 or Government pressure, may be useful. And so Mr. 
 Asquith believed. Much information he could only 
 hope to obtain by means of this somewhat cumbrous 
 machine. It would doubtless have been congenial 
 to the more direct and energetic side of his tempera- 
 ment to have been able to deal, as he had dealt with 
 the linen factories, at first hand. But wisdom required 
 knowledge before giving a consent to move, and, as has 
 been shown, Mr. Asquith has always been governed by 
 his wisest instincts. 
 
 The appointment of the Prison Commission, however, 
 had been one of the later conceptions of his term of 
 office, and before legislation could follow upon his con- 
 clusions he was in Opposition. Even without the aid 
 of new enactments he had still been able to do a great 
 deal to humanise the prison system already in existence. 
 He was a strong opponent of long sentences. He 
 believed they were degrading, and that they served no 
 useful purpose. He was also strongly in favour of the 
 classification of criminals, and of a special treatment 
 for first offenders. This last most needed reform has 
 since been made law by Mr. Balfour's Government. 
 
 But though Mr. Asquith was a believer in clemency, 
 on two occasions he was in danger of prejudicing his
 
 HOME SECRETARY 91 
 
 reputation for that virtue. It may be convenient to 
 deal with the incidents here. 
 
 The first of these had relation to the Irish political 
 prisoners who ten years previously had been sentenced to 
 penal servitude for life for the crime of treason-felony. 
 
 The case of these prisoners, commonly called the 
 Dynamiters, was briefly this. One of them, named 
 Whitehead, had a nitro-glycerine factory in Birming- 
 ham. Another of the gang, Gallagher, financed him. 
 Gallagher went up and down between Birmingham 
 and London and ultimately, through other men, con- 
 veyed quantities of nitro-glycerine to London in trunks. 
 Some of the explosive he concealed in fishing stockings. 
 When arrested he was found carrying 1,000 and an 
 order for admission to the House of Commons. A 
 second couple were the men Featherstone and Dalton, 
 who made explosives in Glasgow and Cork. Two other 
 men, Burton and Cunningham, left infernal machines 
 in railway cloak-rooms. But the man around whose 
 name the amnesty agitation raged was Daly. Daly 
 came over from America in October, 1883. He was 
 without occupation. He lived with another of the 
 gang named Egan. Although Daly did nothing to 
 earn a livelihood, yet he always seemed to have money 
 and made journeys between Birmingham and Liver- 
 pool. On his last journey before arrest he eluded the 
 police by walking from Birmingham to Wolverhampton 
 and there taking the train to Liverpool. He was 
 lost sight of for three days, but was then arrested 
 at Birkenhead railway station, when three infernal 
 machines were found upon him. At the trial the men 
 were convicted of treason-felony and sentenced to
 
 92 THE RIGHT HON. H. H, ASQUITH, M.P. 
 
 penal servitude for life. The Irish party, however, 
 claimed that they should have been prosecuted under 
 the Explosives Act, a new Act under which the greatest 
 penalty was fourteen years. They said it was under 
 this Act that the men who had been arrested at 
 Walsall for harbouring explosives had been con- 
 victed. They charged the Government with once 
 more differentiating between Englishmen and Irish- 
 men. They went on demanding an amnesty, and on 
 February gth, 1893, Mr. Redmond moved an amend- 
 ment to the Address to call attention to the matter. 
 
 Mr. Asquith's reply lacked nothing of conviction. 
 He began by saying very emphatically that any 
 suggestion that a bargain upon the subject had been 
 struck between the Irish and the Liberal party just 
 before the Liberals came into office was not founded 
 on fact. Mr. Gladstone had specifically stated that 
 their cases would be treated like all other cases. " I 
 have to say in the most express and emphatic terms 
 that so far as this question of amnesty of prisoners 
 is concerned there is no understanding, there is no 
 undertaking, there is no agreement." 
 
 As to the sentences if he had any doubt of the 
 justice he would have acted on it. But he had none. 
 Then he turned to the cases of -the men and asked why 
 so much was heard of Daly and so little of the others. 
 He went over the facts and divided the prisoners into 
 groups. First, there was the Birmingham group. Then 
 there was the Cork and Glasgow group. Thirdly, there 
 was the cloak-room group. Were these innocent or 
 guilty ? How was it that nothing was said about their 
 cases ? He recalled the facts about Daly. He explained
 
 HOME SECRETARY 93 
 
 why he had released two prisoners, Egan and another, 
 and protested against the suggestion that the men 
 remaining in prison were to be treated as political 
 refugees. Then he gave his decision, which he said 
 was final : 
 
 " For my part, this is the last word I will say in the 
 House on the subject. I say it both with reference to 
 the past and, if need be, with reference to the future. 
 Persons who resort to this mode of warfare against 
 society, who use terror as their instrument, who pro- 
 ceed in their methods with reckless disregard of the 
 life and safety of the weak, the innocent and helpless, 
 are persons who deserve and will receive no consideration 
 or indulgence from any British Government." 
 
 The second incident in his prison administration 
 which excited criticism was his refusal to release 
 Mrs. Maybrick. The latter, it may be remembered, 
 had been convicted at Liverpool after an historic 
 trial. When sentence had been pronounced a question 
 had arisen as to the correctness of the verdict, and the 
 prisoner was respited and sent to penal servitude for 
 life. It was admitted that someone, either the Judge 
 or the Home Secretary of the day, had blundered, that 
 this sentence to penal servitude was wholly unjustifi- 
 able, that if guilty the prisoner had no excuse and 
 should receive the full penalty, or that if on the other 
 hand there existed a doubt of guilt, she ought to have 
 got the benefit of it. It was possible that the Home 
 Secretary who had been Mr. Asquith's predecessor, and 
 who had been responsible for the error, had enough of 
 the common weakness of humanity to believe that what 
 he had once decided could not be wrong. But it was
 
 94 THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, M.P. 
 
 hoped that the new Secretary, a man who had almost 
 immediately established a reputation for directness, and 
 who had shown his independence of officialism, would 
 bring to the matter an unprejudiced mind. 
 
 This, of course, Mr. Asquith did. But he brought 
 also his discretion. The occasion, however, was one 
 where discretion might have submitted itself completely 
 to mercy. Mr. Asquith saw otherwise, examined the 
 case, and refused the prisoner's release. 
 
 These incidents are the only ones in Mr. Asquith's 
 regime as prison administrator which have ever aroused 
 criticism. They are not insignificant incidents ; but 
 even in these he showed himself as a man determined 
 to be independent of everyone but himself. He was 
 still the cold, wise, determined man who went on 
 steadily towards the same goal. 
 
 As a relief to Mr. Asquith's treatment of one woman 
 charged with murder is to be set his general attitude 
 towards a very different type that of the woman who 
 seeks to crush the life out of the evidence of her shame. 
 It is to Mr. Asquith's credit, as has been pointed 
 out, 1 that he has always advocated a treatment for these 
 women different from all others who kill. To that last 
 fatuity of English criminal court practice, the horrible 
 farce of inflicting publicly a sentence which the whole 
 court knows will never be carried out as also to the 
 gross cruelty and injustice of long terms of imprison- 
 ment in such cases he has always been opposed. 
 Three years was the limit he usually permitted, but 
 when it could be arranged that the prisoner should go 
 to friends he often ordered an immediate release. 
 1 Review of Reviews, 1895.
 
 HOME SECRETARY 95 
 
 Having dealt with Mr. Asquith's work as an adminis- 
 trator of factories and prisons, it is necessary to review 
 the work of the Home Secretary as such in the sphere 
 of legislation. The mostjimportant of all his legislative 
 efforts was of course the Disestablishment Bill which 
 he introduced in 1894, and again in the following year. 
 But the chief measures which came from him in his 
 capacity of Home Secretary were the Employers' 
 Liability and Workshop and Factory Bills. 
 
 The Employers' Liability Bill was one of the leading 
 proposals of the 1893 session, and was only over- 
 shadowed by Home Rule. Its second reading was 
 moved by Mr. Asquith on February 23rd. By it 
 a master became liable for every accident to his men 
 if caused by carelessness either on his own part or 
 on that of any official or fellow-servant, due allowance 
 being made if the injured person could be convicted 
 of negligence. 
 
 Mr. Chamberlain, at this time in the transition stage 
 of his conversion from Radicalism to Conservatism, 
 proposed a drastic amendment in favour of com- 
 pensation for all accidents, but this, as Mr. Asquith 
 pointed out, would mean compensation by means of 
 industrial insurance. Slowly the Bill proceeded through 
 its courses. For two sessions it dangled on, till at last 
 it was approved of and sent to the Lords, who fastened 
 on the contracting-out clause, and a part of the Bill 
 already much discussed was threshed out anew. 
 Finally the Lords decided upon an amendment by 
 which masters and men who entered into a contracting- 
 out agreement at the time of hiring might be free from 
 the rigour of the Bill. Naturally this would have meant
 
 96 THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, M.P. 
 
 that masters would not employ men who would not 
 agree to these terms. Masters would thus have been 
 as before. 
 
 The Bill returned to the Commons with the aggres- 
 sive amendment included. Mr. Asquith met it 
 promptly. The Bill was nugatory. " Are we " he 
 cried vehemently "are we in this House going to 
 accept at the dictation of another place a proposal 
 which even a Tory candidate appealing to an industrial 
 constituency in Lancashire does not venture to support ? 
 We are not. We regard this amendment as fatal to 
 the Bill, and we ask the House to disagree with the 
 Lords' amendment." 
 
 The Government having placed on record this refusal 
 to withdraw the contracting-out form, had now no 
 resource but to drop the Bill. 
 
 The man chiefly affected took the rebuff with dignity. 
 He could scarcely have been surprised. Moderate 
 though he was supposed to be, the peers were not likely 
 to make any particular effort to meet him. Had he 
 not already said that he would end them ? Had he not 
 found the only thing to regret in the Home Rule Bill 
 of 1886 that it recognised the principle of a second 
 chamber ? No Liberal could expect to pass any measure 
 at this time. But Mr. Asquith did not waste himself. 
 If he had failed to pass his Bill, he had added enormously 
 to his reputation. He had been taught to go round if he 
 could not get over. He could not help the workman 
 with a Liability Act. He turned to factory legislation. 
 
 Mr. Asquith's second important legislative effort on 
 behalf of the workers was the Factory Bill which 
 he introduced on March 1st, 1895, only a few months
 
 HOME SECRETARY 97 
 
 before he was to turn from the not always fruitful 
 fields of Government enactment to the certainly arid 
 plains of Opposition. One of those who brought in 
 the Bill, it is worthy of note, was his Liberal successor 
 in the Department, Mr. Herbert Gladstone. 
 
 The new Bill extended the jurisdiction of the Home 
 Office over factories and workshops, and included for the 
 first time laundries, bakehouses, docks, wharves, quays, 
 etc., building operations and machinery in tenement 
 factories. A minimum of air space was rigidly fixed 
 and the protection of workmen against accident made 
 compulsory. Exits in case of fire were insisted on ; 
 dangerous machinery was to be more frequently 
 inspected ; employers were made responsible for out- 
 work done under insanitary conditions ; overtime for 
 persons under eighteen was forbidden ; and the cleaning 
 of machinery by children prohibited. Besides all this, 
 every factory was to be registered. 
 
 Mr. Asquith was keenly desirous to pass the Bill, and 
 for that reason he sought to make it non-contentious. 
 Accordingly he avoided a drastic attempt to raise 
 the age for child labour. In every way his proposals 
 were moderate, and as such they met with acclamation. 
 " The Bill," says Mr. Lucy, " was received with almost 
 alarming unanimity of approval. Such high authorities 
 as Sir John Gorst, Sir Henry James, Mr. Matthews, 
 Mr. Mundella, regarding the proposals from different 
 points of view, agreed in generally commending them." 1 
 The second and third readings passed triumphantly, 
 and after being referred to the Standing Committee 
 on Trade, the measure finally became law. 
 
 1 " Diary of the Home Rule Parliament." 
 
 G
 
 98 THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, M.P. 
 
 This is the only important Bill which Mr. Asquith 
 carried, but it is also almost the only important Act 
 passed in three years by the Government of which he 
 was a member. It was a victory for discretion. It was 
 a victory for one of the great principles of his politics. 
 Perhaps it was a victory for Jowett. 
 
 It did not please everybody. It was considered, as 
 it indeed was, too mild. The age limit was not low 
 enough. People with more experience of the actual 
 conditions of child labour could have said more than 
 did the Home Secretary. But it was a Bill which was 
 the outcome of a genuine sympathy. To carry such 
 a Bill at all it had to be non-contentious. It repre- 
 sented an advance, if only to one new milestone along 
 the road of progress. In the present age of political 
 motor cars this pedestrian movement would quite fail 
 to satisfy the urgent Socialist chauffeur who would want 
 to pass many milestones between sunrise and sunset. 
 But whether or not, now or then, the pace was quick 
 enough to please everybody, the Home Secretary 
 nevertheless by what he did earned the undying thanks 
 of thousands of helpless women and unprotected children, 
 and showed himself at once the friend of humanity and 
 the enemy of squalor and disease.
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 DISESTABLISHMENT 
 
 IT is possible that to the intelligent inquirer of 
 posterity the present age will be remarkable as much 
 as in any other way for the practice of apparent incon- 
 sistencies. And perhaps none of these will appeal more 
 to his sense of wonder than the circumstance that the 
 various branches of a religion which claimed for its 
 Head One who called Himself the Prince of Peace 
 should have spent much of the time available for other 
 purposes in loading one another with bitter reproach. 
 
 For many years such a feeling of bitterness had 
 existed between the supporters of the English Church 
 in Wales on the one hand and the members of the 
 various Nonconformist Churches on the other. The 
 former represented a small minority of religious wor- 
 shippers, the latter a great majority. The proportion 
 has indeed been stated by Mr. Lloyd George to be as 
 follows : " The Nonconformists are represented by 
 three-fourths of the population, the Church of England 
 by one-eighth, and the rest are bond fide travellers." 
 
 In spite of this disproportion, however, this Church 
 of a minority was in Wales still designated the National 
 Church and still retained the various endowments which 
 it had held before it had been divided. In this way 
 the greater part of the people were unbenefited by the 
 
 G 2
 
 ioo THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, M.P. 
 
 income set aside years before for the spiritual welfare 
 of the nation. This is the crux of Welsh Nonconformist 
 grievances which culminated in the agitation for the 
 disestablishment and disendowment of the Church of 
 England in Wales, and in the appearance upon the 
 Newcastle programme of a measure to carry out the 
 Welsh demand. The agitation had not developed 
 without much acerbity of speech upon both sides. 
 This was, in the nature of things, to be expected. Upon 
 the one hand were a number of men faced, not merely 
 with the loss of temporal privileges, but with what they 
 conceived to be the spectacle of the destruction of a 
 great and living work. Fully aware that they were in 
 a minority, they hoped and believed they would witness 
 their Church re-establish itself in the people's affections. 
 Many of these supporters of the Established Church 
 were nevertheless keen Nationalists, with as intense a 
 love for their country as that which abides in the heart 
 of the Nonconformist patriot ; and to the best type of 
 Nationalist belonged the leader of the Welsh Church 
 party, the Bishop of St. Asaph. 
 
 But upon the other hand there was the Welsh 
 dissenter. For many years he had been made to feel 
 that his religion was an alien one. He expected not 
 friendship, he received not tolerance. He contrasted 
 the lives of the ministers of this would-be dominant 
 Church, and he found that they were no better, and 
 often worse, than those of the ministers of his own 
 denomination. The local vicar assumed an ascen- 
 dency, social and religious, which to his Nonconformist 
 parishioner was not a little galling. But he did more. 
 He refused in many cases to acknowledge that the
 
 DISESTABLISHMENT 101 
 
 ministrations of his dissenting brother had any validity 
 or gave assurance of salvation. And to emphasise 
 his attitude he refused Christian burial to persons of 
 another communion than his own. It was the burial 
 question which was at the bottom of half the agitations 
 in Wales, and that was the means of sending Mr. 
 Lloyd George to Parliament. 
 
 For years Wales had been demanding disestablish- 
 ment, and declined to be put off. At the general 
 election of 1892 thirty-one out of thirty-four members 
 were returned definitely pledged to a Disestablishment 
 Bill. It is, moreover, the curious fact that in three 
 important constituencies the Tory candidate had 
 promised to support such a measure. Nothing 
 was of importance in Wales at this time but the 
 Church question. Those who doubted this was so 
 had only to read an article in a monthly review by 
 the retiring Premier, Lord Salisbury, in which 
 occurred the blunt statement that " it was obvious 
 that the Welsh voted for Radical candidates, not from 
 love of Home Rule, but from their aversion towards 
 the Welsh Church." The nation was united. It 
 asked for disestablishment, and without further delay. 
 One of its representatives, it is true, accepted office 
 in the Ministry, but there were still thirty members 
 who would without compunction assist the defeat of 
 the Liberals if they failed to bring in a Bill, and to 
 bring it in soon. In the condition in which the Liberal 
 party came back to power every threat was dangerous. 
 The Irish could turn it out within ten minutes. But 
 for practical purposes the Welsh group was just as 
 threatening.
 
 RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, MP. 
 
 Mr. Gladstone intended a disestablishment measure 
 to have a prominent place. With a majority of 
 two hundred he would still have put forward a Bill 
 in due course. But under the present circumstances, 
 and in view of the demand of the Principality, it was 
 deemed necessary to do something in the first session. 
 
 But before doing anything a minister had to be 
 chosen to introduce the Government's proposal, and 
 the minister appointed to the task was Mr. Asquith. 
 For the work he had many qualifications. Disestablish- 
 ment was a reform which had always interested him. 
 It had been the subject of his last speech at Oxford. 
 Since then he had appeared upon the platform with 
 Nonconformist liberators and had urged the justice of 
 giving Wales the one great boon for which she pleaded. 
 In 1890, he and the Rev. Griffith Ellis, the well-known 
 Calvinistic Methodist leader, who had been with the 
 Asquiths at Balliol, appeared together at Leicester. 
 With the need for the reform he had long been 
 acquainted by means of information communicated to 
 him by the Welsh Nonconformists themselves. He 
 knew also the strength of the demand. He knew, and 
 the whole Cabinet knew, that they would have to move 
 at once. There was one difficulty. Home Rule filled 
 the horizon of 1893 ; yet Wales must not be kept waiting. 
 It was decided, therefore, to have recourse to the method 
 employed in 1868, when the Irish Church was dis- 
 established. A Suspensory Bill had been introduced, 
 which laid it down that, pending the introduction of 
 a disestablishment measure, all emoluments were to be 
 held subject to the pleasure of Parliament. 
 
 Mr. Asquith in February 28th, 1893, brought in a
 
 DISESTABLISHMENT 103 
 
 Suspensory Bill for Wales. The most interesting 
 feature of the debate was the appearance in it of 
 Lord Randolph Churchill, who seized the occasion 
 to break a long silence. 
 
 The Suspensory Bill was of course merely by way 
 of being a guarantee of good faith to Wales. Its 
 passage was not a matter of vital importance. What 
 was important was the Bill to be put forward in the 
 session of 1894. Upon that Bill Mr. Asquith had con- 
 centrated his mind. Particularly did he want to get 
 at the root facts of the foundation of the Church in 
 Wales. His speech, when he did come to make it, 
 was rich in historical reference, and only failed some- 
 what in the respect that he omitted to use the available 
 proofs of the minority condition of the Welsh Church. 
 
 On the 26th of April, 1894, Mr. Asquith rose in a 
 House the benches of which were packed with members, 
 and the galleries with bishops and other interested 
 auditors, and announced a " Bill for the Disestablish- 
 ment and Disendowment of the Church of England 
 in Wales and Monmouthshire." 
 
 He began by pointing out that this Bill was the result 
 of the almost unanimous demand of the Welsh people. 
 The Church of England, he continued, represented 
 what was only a minority. Bishops looked mild expostu- 
 lation, Welshmen cheered. Imperturbably the hard 
 strong speaker continued, with just here and there a 
 faint sparkle to suggest the wit that was in him. Mr. 
 Asquith's humour has always been of the dry kind. 
 
 " Perhaps I shall be over-sanguine if I assume that 
 this Bill will pass into law during the present session." 
 
 This pleased the Tories, who laughed heartily. And
 
 io 4 THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, M.P. 
 
 then the Home Secretary began to set forth what, in 
 fact, this Bill was. 
 
 The Church of England would in future cease to 
 be regarded as the Church of Wales. 
 
 Her patronage would be forfeited, and no Welsh 
 bishop would in future be summoned to sit in the 
 House of Lords. 
 
 Referring to the present ecclesiastical law in Wales, 
 Mr. Asquith said they proposed that as law it should 
 cease to exist. Ecclesiastical Courts would forfeit 
 their powers and have no right of appeal to the Privy 
 Council. 
 
 Then he turned to disendowment. 
 
 " I need hardly remind the House that the Church 
 of England as a Church is not in point of law the 
 owner of any property whatever." 
 
 "All ecclesiastical property in this country, whether 
 in England or Wales, is an endowment of some par- 
 ticular benefice or office, though it is sometimes disguised 
 from popular apprehension " here a dry humour 
 again manifests itself "particularly, I think, by the 
 Ecclesiastical Commissioners." He then outlined the 
 Government plan. The value of Church property 
 in Wales amounted to 279,000 per annum. In 
 future this was to be applied to the benefit of the 
 Principality as a whole. 
 
 To administer the funds three special Welsh com- 
 missioners would be appointed who would have the 
 necessary borrowing powers, who would be subject to 
 Parliament, and who would control the cathedrals. The 
 representative body of the Church of England would 
 be allowed to continue control of the churches. Burial
 
 DISESTABLISHMENT 105 
 
 grounds and glebes would be vested in the local parish, 
 borough or district council, and the tithe rent charge, 
 the most important source of income, would be vested 
 in the county council in which was situated the land 
 on which the charge was made. Present incumbents 
 would have a life interest in their livings. Finally, the 
 funds placed at the disposal of the Welsh people would 
 be spent on cottage hospitals, dispensaries, convalescent 
 homes, the provision of trained nurses for the sick poor, 
 public halls and institutes, labourers' dwellings, the 
 promotion of education, and the advancement of any 
 public purpose the cost of which was not covered by 
 the rates. To many of these objects the early Church 
 had itself devoted its best efforts. 
 
 " In conclusion," [said Mr. Asquith,' " we set free 
 for purposes of great and lasting public benefit a 
 property to which the Welsh people, and the Welsh 
 people alone, have in our opinion a legitimate 
 title." 
 
 Mr. Asquith sat down amidst a burst of Liberal 
 cheers and the general approval of the Welsh party. 
 The Church of England champion, in the person of 
 Sir Michael Hicks-Beach, at once sprang to his feet. 
 He did not pick his words. It was never his way. 
 Paragraphists have called him " Black Michael," and 
 his form of attack has always carried a something 
 of the ominous. Disendowment in his opinion was 
 equivalent to plunder and sacrilege. The State had 
 no right to take away what it had never given. 
 
 Intense feeling was excited throughout the country 
 by the Bill. The Times criticised Mr. Asquith by 
 charging him with making no effort to be conciliatory,
 
 xb6 THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, M.P. 
 
 and the defenders of the Church upon the platforms 
 denounced disestablishment with admirable fervour. 
 
 But though the Bill was much talked about in the 
 country, it lay dormant as far as the House of Commons 
 was concerned throughout the session. It appeared 
 again in the Queen's Speech read in the House in 
 February, 1895. On February 28th it was brought in 
 again by Mr. Asquith, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, 
 Mr. James Bryce, and the Solicitor-General. From that 
 date until the day of the second reading, Mr. Asquith 
 found himself questioned almost daily upon points con- 
 nected with the measure. His replies, in keeping with 
 his whole conduct of the Bill, were urbane and informing. 
 On March 2ist he moved the second reading. 
 
 Mr. Asquith's speech, in moving the first reading of 
 his 1894 Bill, had been admirably lucid as to his inten- 
 tions. There could be no question that he meant to 
 establish religious equality in Wales. But one thing he 
 had not done. He had not brought out with sufficient 
 emphasis the actual state of minority in which the 
 Church of England stood in the Principality. 
 
 He had also omitted to emphasise, as he might have 
 done, the national individuality of Wales. 
 
 These omissions he made right in his speech on the 
 second reading. 
 
 He said he realised that the question was one of 
 delicacy and gravity. " For my part," he affirmed, " I 
 desire to avoid, as far as we can, the importation into 
 this discussion of unnecessary heat." 
 
 After this gentle preface, he turned to argument. " I 
 assert that the Welsh people are a nation," he said. He 
 dwelt on the growth of Welsh Nonconformity. There
 
 DISESTABLISHMENT 107 
 
 were a hundred dissenting congregations in Wales at 
 the beginning of the eighteenth century and a thousand 
 at the beginning of the nineteenth. As for the con- 
 temporary position, it was illustrated by the figures 
 taken in the diocese of St. Asaph 145,000 people had 
 voted for disestablishment and 86,000 against. More- 
 over, in Wales at the moment dissenting communicants 
 numbered 381,000, and Church communicants 118,000. 
 The corresponding figures for Sunday schools were : 
 dissenting bodies, 515,000; Church, 145,000. Of the 
 4,000 chapels in the Principality, there was not one 
 without its weekly service. In twenty-seven parishes 
 in Anglesey, on the other hand, there was no clergyman. 
 After dealing with the objections which had been 
 raised to the proposals since the preceding session, he 
 went on, referring to the statement that each parish 
 required a standing witness to religion : " But is it 
 necessary that this standing witness should be an 
 officer of the State as well as a minister of the Church ? 
 What as is too often the case in Wales what if his 
 message is unheeded, if his church is empty, if his 
 mission is futile ? Not, be it observed, because of the 
 apathy of indifference, not because the parishioners are 
 torpid or perverse, but because they find satisfaction 
 and stimulus for their religious wants in unconsecrated 
 buildings and in the services of an unauthorised 
 ministry. The people of Wales have shown in days 
 gone by that they can and will provide for their own 
 spiritual needs, and it is in the sincere belief that this 
 measure will minister as well to the religious as to the 
 social welfare of the Principality that I ask the House 
 to affirm it to be both politic and just."
 
 io8 THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, MP. 
 
 Sir Michael Hicks-Beach warmly denounced the Bill, 
 as he had done before, while Mr. Herbert Roberts 
 voiced the support of Wales, and when the division 
 took place the figures were : 
 
 Ayes . . . 304 
 Noes . . . 260 
 
 Majority . 44 
 
 The Bill was considered in Committee on May 2ist 
 and June 20th, but before anything further was done 
 Mr. Asquith had quitted the Home Department, the 
 Liberals had gone out of office, and Wales had begun 
 another long season of waiting for the reform for which 
 she has so long called. 
 
 It is now possible to review Mr. Asquith's work 
 for disestablishment, and it may be said at once that 
 the sincerity of his efforts is without question. He 
 undoubtedly exhibited a sense of the difference between 
 religious intensity on the one hand and vague latitudina- 
 rianism on the other, which suggested the existence in 
 him of a depth of feeling much greater than might 
 have been expected in one whose training, first in 
 metaphysics and then in law, might have induced a 
 hesitation to measure religious forces other than by the 
 scales and measures of the lecture room or the Bar. 
 
 Often he spoke with intense feeling. He never lost 
 patience, but he never for a moment forgot that he was 
 trying to correct an injustice. He was still in essence 
 a Nonconformist and a Puritan. He showed a great 
 desire to be just, and showed, too, that he realised the 
 delicacy of handling statistics, supposed to register
 
 DISESTABLISHMENT 109 
 
 spiritual fervour and efficiency, in the ordinary manner 
 of the statesman trying to make his point. 
 
 He added greatly to his reputation by his management 
 of the Bill. He showed a real grasp of the question, into 
 which he had entered with much labour, and he gave 
 Wales no reason for complaint that any part of her 
 case had not been presented in its proper light. His 
 association with Welsh Nonconformity, begun at 
 Oxford, was drawn closer. But he will make it closer 
 yet.
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 CHANGES IN THE PARTY 
 
 IT is now time to return to the political history of 
 Mr. Asquith. His administration, during the two 
 years which followed, brought to the party as much 
 honour as any work done by the Government, and if 
 the Featherstone incident injured Liberalism for a time 
 in the minds of the working classes, his strong hopeful 
 utterances, his intellectual calm, and his rigid adhesion 
 to current Liberal ideas attracted many among the 
 thinking sections of the population. In the House of 
 Commons, moreover, he rapidly acquired a great 
 ascendency. He had the exact qualities for pleasing a 
 type of audience which was as fond of a certain cold 
 eloquence as it detested heroics. His personal charac- 
 teristics too appealed to those with whom he was 
 brought into contact. He was not effusive, but he was 
 not on the other hand distant. He was admirably 
 direct in all his attitudes. " His character is simple, 
 full of integrity, unselfish. No man is less of a poseur. 
 A strong, healthy, simple-minded, reserved, upright 
 man." That is one verdict pronounced upon him 
 while yet he held office. 
 
 " He has mastered the technique of elocution," says 
 another contemporary critic, who goes on to compare 
 his literary quality with that of Macaulay. The
 
 CHANGES IN THE PARTY xxi 
 
 comparison here instituted might have been extended to 
 the politics of the men concerned. Macaulay, too, was 
 impatient of popular passion. He would have no 
 man's vote unless it was given in the conviction that it 
 was being applied to the best advantage. 1 
 
 " He manages Bills," went on Mr. Asquith's critic, 
 " better than anyone but Mr. Gladstone." 
 
 A third commentator observes that " Mr. Asquith is 
 a superb rhetorician, though his speeches do not read 
 as well as they sound. His voice is not a grand or 
 melodious organ like Bright's or Gladstone's, but it is 
 good enough. He has a slight provincial accent, and 
 his action is awkward, for he stands with one hand in 
 his pocket and sways his body slightly as his mechanical 
 sentences rise and fall. His style of composition is 
 Corinthian : it is cold, it glitters, it makes its points, it 
 damages its adversaries, and it has no soul. But it is 
 suited to the House of Commons." 2 
 
 The conclusion of this comment is interesting to-day. 
 " Whether Mr. Asquith will be the next Radical Prime 
 Minister it is impossible to say." But the writer finishes 
 upon a note less of interrogation than of expectation. 
 
 The history of Mr. Asquith impresses the observer as 
 being that of a man who never takes risks. He is 
 always absolutely safe, as entirely conscious as a human 
 being can be of all the possibilities of the future as 
 they are arranged in aid of or in opposition to the 
 particular action upon which he has determined. 
 
 His position in the party was soon a strong one. 
 He took his place as a recognised leader. To his 
 
 1 His letter in regard to his candidature for Leeds. 
 
 2 Saturday Review*
 
 ii2 THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, MP. 
 
 hands had been committed the second most important 
 legislative measure of the Government, the Dis- 
 establishment Bill. His department was acknowledged 
 to be one of the best conducted in the State. In so 
 far as it is possible in the fluctuating circumstances of 
 politics to call any politician's position assured, his 
 could so be called. 
 
 During the autumn of 1893 he developed into the 
 mouthpiece of the Government. He spoke so often in 
 the country that The Times ultimately felt constrained 
 to warn him that he might become a bore. This 
 tribute to the usefulness of his apology for Liberal 
 action and policy was in return for a very complete 
 review of the work of the session. 
 
 His autumn platform work may be said to have 
 begun at Althorp Park, the seat of Lord Spencer. At 
 an open air fete held there on August 3ist, he was the 
 central figure. Yet he had only held office for a year. 
 He was received with a warmth that perhaps surprised 
 one who was more accustomed to the quieter approval 
 of the intellectual classes. But his Radicalism, warmed 
 at the fire of Mr. Gladstone's blazing passion for Irish 
 Reform, was full of heat. His special knowledge of 
 Ireland, due to his association with Sir Charles Russell, 
 added weight to his utterances and enabled him to 
 express Irish needs. He was more Gladstonian than 
 Gladstone himself. For he would have nothing to 
 do with the second chamber principle incorporated 
 in the Home Rule Bill of 1886. His Imperialism 
 would to-day be called parochial. " What is the 
 Empire ? " he asked at Leeds. " Like every political 
 fabric which the genius of man has raised, it is a
 
 CHANGES IN THE PARTY 113 
 
 structure which must stand or fall, not by its size or 
 splendour, but according as it provides for the social 
 and the spiritual needs and for the common human life 
 of the men and women whom it shelters." 
 
 No better Liberal existed than he. His series of 
 speeches, studied together, leave no doubt of that. He 
 defended everything his party had done with the 
 greatest spirit. At Althorp he would not hear any- 
 thing about the use of the gag during the Home Rule 
 Bill discussion. There was nothing in "all the talk 
 about lack of opportunity." The House of Lords was 
 going to do in three days what the House of Commons 
 had worked six months upon. As for the Lords com- 
 pelling them to go to the country, there was no 
 precedent to make them do it. 
 
 His next appearance was at St. Andrew's Hall, 
 Glasgow, on October i/th. Here he got a warm 
 reception. There can be no doubt that at this time 
 the people liked the tone of his speeches. He was a 
 Radical ; he showed it in all he said. He was a 
 Gladstonian of the Gladstonians. He enjoyed Mr. 
 Gladstone's peculiar confidence, as The Times was 
 quick to point out. The man with an intense belief 
 in a cause not only makes other people believe intensely 
 in the cause, he makes them believe intensely in 
 himself. Mr. Asquith's oratory might still lack exube- 
 rance ; but it was not for lack of conviction. His 
 speeches rang with conviction. At Glasgow he pro- 
 tested that the tribute was not to himself. " Yes, yes," 
 yelled the people. He set upon the House of Lords, 
 which had now rejected the Bill. " If they had not 
 done so," he said with mock solemnity, "they would 
 
 H
 
 ii4 THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, M.P. 
 
 have violated a tradition." Then he turned to answer 
 his opponents' arguments. Nobody is better at this 
 work than he. "There is no greater fallacy than to 
 suppose the House of Lords a safeguard against rash 
 legislation." It only criticised Liberal Bills. If they let 
 the House of Lords go on overriding their wishes they 
 had only themselves to blame. Then he began to 
 discuss Home Rule. It is a curious feature of the 
 Home Rule controversy that, however much the 
 English section of Great Britain protested against the 
 Bill, the Liberal politicians who had to carry it 
 through Parliament continued to believe that the 
 measure was growing in English favour. They hugged 
 this delusion with remarkable warmth and ostentatious 
 fervour. It was only the unheroic common sense of 
 Lord Rosebery which discovered that England would 
 not have Home Rule at any price. 
 
 Some idea of the place to which Mr. Asquith had 
 attained is indicated by the fact that The Times, com- 
 menting on the circumstance that Lord Salisbury was 
 the same night speaking at Preston, said, " Both 
 speeches gained in interest from the mere fact that 
 they were delivered contemporaneously." Moreover, 
 it then went on to observe, " Mr. Asquith is apparently 
 deep in the confidence of Mr. Gladstone." It dealt 
 much more fully with Mr. Asquith's speech than with 
 that of Lord Salisbury. Yet Lord Salisbury was the 
 lately-resigned Prime Minister, a famous statesman, 
 and the head of the party supported by The Times, 
 while Mr. Asquith had only been one year and two 
 months away from the private benches. 
 
 The association of the two names was a great tribute
 
 CHANGES IN THE PARTY 115 
 
 to the younger man. But it was deserved. He was 
 proving himself a true leader. Moreover, it is difficult to 
 read these early speeches without being struck by their 
 convinced Liberalism. "We believe that in the history 
 of our race, of our country, there is an increasing 
 purpose of which the larger abundance and the fairer 
 apportionment of happiness is the end, and the asso- 
 ciated energies of human beings in Society and the 
 State are the means." A better statement of Liberal 
 truth than that is not wanted in the world of political 
 endeavour. 
 
 Three days later he arrived in his own constituency. 
 Here the enthusiasm of Glasgow was put completely 
 in the shade. His journey from the station at Leven 
 became a kind of triumphal progress. He was met 
 by the provost with a band and a thousand people, 
 who bore him oif to the National Bank, where further 
 ovations awaited him. Then later in the Town Hall, 
 crowded to its doors, he set out to deal completely 
 with the question which was filling the thought of the 
 country Home Rule. He was working his autumn 
 oratory on a system. Not contenting himself with 
 vague generalities on the work of the session, he was 
 dividing the chief subjects of debate among his several 
 speeches. To Leven he gave his Home Rule message. 
 The long controversy between England and Ireland 
 was scandalous to the first country and dishonouring 
 to the second. 
 
 " We assert that the old policy of endeavouring to 
 govern Ireland by British voices against the will of the 
 mass of the Irish people has been proved by experience 
 to be a failure." That was pretty emphatic, but a 
 
 H 2
 
 ii6 THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, M.P. 
 
 weary Unionist, sighing over his fruitless efforts to con- 
 ciliate the turbulent sister kingdom, might almost say 
 as much. " Home Rule is the only way to solve the 
 question." The Unionist could not say this. Here 
 was a convinced Home Ruler, whom indeed The Times 
 chaffed because his belief in the Bill was greater even 
 than that of its great originator. He ended by predicting 
 Home Rule all round. 
 
 The night following he spoke again, this time at 
 Ladybank, another part of his constituency. After 
 this his next appearance was at Leeds. On the plat- 
 form with him was the son of his leader, and his 
 Liberal successor to the office he then held. He came 
 there, he told them, because of Mr. Herbert Gladstone. 
 He said little about Home Rule. Working through 
 the complete Radical programme, he came to educa- 
 tion. He claimed that the Liberals had, through 
 Mr. Acland, made the Free Education Act a reality. 
 He spoke of the voluntary schools. Mr. Acland had 
 punished them because they were inefficient. Ten 
 years later it was the inefficiency of the Welsh schools 
 which gave Mr. Lloyd George his opportunity for 
 smashing the power of Mr. Balfour's Education Act 
 in Wales. 
 
 Then he turned to discuss municipal ideals. It is 
 supposed to be a suitable subject for discussion in great 
 provincial cities. He spoke with a moral fervour that 
 almost amounted to passion. He wanted housing 
 reform, he wanted to see cleared away all "slums and 
 rookeries," and he demanded more baths, libraries, 
 reading-rooms and open spaces. He approved of 
 municipal politics being upon the same party footing
 
 CHANGES IN THE PARTY 117 
 
 as national politics, because the Empire was only what 
 they made it in their individual towns and villages. 
 Patriotism, like charity, begins at home. 
 
 The Leeds speeches were the last of the course. 
 The whole series was a splendid achievement. They 
 left no doubt either of the strength or the wideness 
 of his Liberalism. They brought him close to the 
 people. 
 
 His relations with Mr. Gladstone had always been 
 those of generous confidence. The overtopping great- 
 ness of the Premier protected him from the machinations 
 of party intrigue. His friendships were on a larger and 
 wider scale than most chiefs. But in Mr. Asquith he 
 had always found a particular attraction. The Home 
 Secretary was, therefore, at the beginning of the session 
 of 1894, a personage of acknowledged importance. But 
 he probably realised that, though his career was now 
 shaping itself as he had hoped, it must soon go forward 
 in new and perhaps less happy circumstances. The 
 party was being kept together by the heroic energy of 
 one old man. But Mr. Gladstone had long contem- 
 plated resignation, and the defeat of his Home Rule 
 Bill, the fact that he was now much troubled by his 
 defective eyesight, and, most important of all, his 
 failure to prevent the Cabinet's agreement to an 
 increase in the navy programme demanded by the 
 Admiralty, all combined to turn his thoughts to a 
 more immediate release than perhaps he had once 
 contemplated. 
 
 The blow fell in April. The first intimation came to 
 the country by means of The Pall Mall Gazette, and was 
 at once and most cheerfully denied by most of the other
 
 n8 THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, M.P. 
 
 papers. But it was still true. The most splendid figure 
 in modern politics was to be withdrawn. Mr. Gladstone 
 was to go. There was now a good deal of guesswork 
 as to the Prime Minister's successor. The leader most 
 generally favoured by the ingenious speculator was 
 Sir William Harcourt, who had lately added to his 
 great reputation by his Death Duties budgets. Mr. Glad- 
 stone had the intention of nominating Lord Spencer. 
 But he was never asked to nominate anyone. The 
 Queen informed him of her intention to send for Lord 
 Rosebery. 
 
 It is fourteen years since that baffling personality 
 reached the height of his significance in the mind of 
 the country. Only once since, on the occasion of the 
 Chesterfield speech in 1902, has he for a moment 
 recaptured the imaginations in which, in 1894, he seemed 
 to live. And it is scarcely possible even at this short 
 distance of time to appreciate his importance to his 
 party and its general delight in him, when it was known 
 that he was to be the new leader. There was gloom at 
 the loss of the old champion, but there was faith and a 
 piqued interest in the new. The normal mind, dis- 
 turbed as it may be by the unexpected, is not always 
 certain to dislike these disturbances. It was a surprise 
 that a leader more conventional in the political sense 
 than Lord Rosebery was not called upon by the 
 Queen. But, except amongst the Radicals who dis- 
 trusted him and those also who possessed a better 
 realisation than most people of what threatened as 
 a consequence of the appointment there was an 
 inclination to receive the new chief with enthusiasm. 
 Lord Rosebery, except for one mistake, which is now
 
 CHANGES IN THE PARTY 119 
 
 supposed to have been intentional, began well. He 
 succeeded in inducing all Mr. Gladstone's ministers 
 to remain with him, and set about carrying on the 
 policy which the Government had hitherto borne. His 
 most important change was the promotion of Lord 
 Kimberley to the Foreign Office. There was to be no 
 alteration in policy, and had the majority been a 
 stronger one, there might have seemed a happy career 
 before the new administration. 
 
 Mr. Asquith, in common with his colleagues, had 
 consented to remain with the new Prime Minister. 
 But he probably did so with less reluctance than did 
 one or two other members of the Cabinet of longer 
 standing. Between Lord Rosebery and himself there 
 was a good deal of sympathy. They found themselves 
 regarding questions from the same standpoint. There 
 was also a personal factor in the mutual attraction ; as 
 political friendships go, it was a close attachment, 
 which was to strengthen during the next few years. 
 
 It has been said that Lord Rosebery, except for one 
 mistake, began well. But this single error was in 
 danger of retarding, to a great extent, his influence 
 in his party. 
 
 He had succeeded a leader pledged to Home Rule, 
 to the leadership of a party pledged to support the 
 measure. The House of Lords, it is true, had sought 
 to crush, and for the time had crushed, the Irish policy 
 of the Government. 
 
 But when Lord Rosebery was called upon to give a 
 lead to his party, he did so by making the speech in 
 which occurred his famous phrase the precursor of 
 many such about the " predominant partner." That
 
 120 THE RIGHT HON. H, H. ASQUITH, M.P. 
 
 partner was, of course, England. Until England is 
 ready to give Home Rule, we can, said Lord Rosebery, 
 do nothing. Let us suspend our Irish policy and get 
 on with more useful work. Some day, perhaps, the 
 country will come round to desire Home Rule. But 
 in the meantime let us wait. 
 
 It was not an absolutely daring policy that Lord 
 Rosebery advocated. But at the time it seemed a 
 reasonable one, and one perhaps inevitable in all the 
 circumstances. The majority was small. It was 
 dwindling. So was the enthusiasm. The policy had 
 all the appearance of being the best one possible. 
 Whether it was really so is another matter. Hot zeal 
 is the only thing which can keep a party alive. It is 
 the paradox of politics, as it is the paradox of life, that 
 the lost cause is the cause which carries in its train all 
 the rewards. Six years later two English politicians 
 were to sacrifice their reputations for what seemed a 
 whim. In another six years one was Prime Minister, 
 and the other was an important member of the Cabinet 
 with a yet greater office almost within his grasp. 
 
 Lord Rosebery, in an interview with Mr. Lucy upon 
 his " predominant partner " speech, asseverated his 
 faithfulness to Home Rule, and no one questioned 
 that he remained true. He wanted Home Rule. But 
 he only wanted Home Rule when England did. 
 He proposed to let England demand Home Rule. 
 But he did not propose to constitute himself the spirit 
 prompting her to the demand. His want of enthusiasm 
 for Home Rule soon began to affect the allegiance of 
 the Nationalists. The Parnellites particularly inclined 
 to break off relations, and the Irish exhibited the
 
 CHANGES IN THE PARTY 121 
 
 Liberal weakness by compelling Sir William Harcourt 
 to withdraw a proposal to erect a statue to Oliver 
 Cromwell within the precincts of Westminster. 
 
 Dissensions, it was soon known, were not absent from 
 the Cabinet. A great Parliamentary figure, who had 
 expected to succeed the old chief, was not inclined now 
 to follow the lead of a younger man and to support 
 a policy which, as he saw it, was divergent from that 
 previously given by the head of the party. 
 
 Great sympathy was due both to him and to Lord 
 Rosebery in the circumstances which arose. That the 
 latter carried on the Government for a year with the 
 insignificant majority at his disposal, while at the same 
 time troubled with dissensions in the party and with 
 personal ill-health, is the extraordinary fact. During 
 this time the Liberals were exceedingly active in legis- 
 lative proposals. Mr. Asquith was the chief figure in 
 the last session in the Commons, introducing and 
 passing the Factories Act, and introducing for the 
 second time his Disestablishment Bill. It was his 
 intention, as it was that of all the leaders, to exhibit the 
 impotence of the popular electorate to get their will 
 expressed in Parliament, owing to the action of the 
 House of Lords. When this idea had been impressed 
 upon the people's mind it was proposed to go to the 
 country. 
 
 But long before the summer of 1895 Liberals were 
 ready to throw up the sponge. The strain of ceaseless 
 divisions, the strict control of the Whips the stringency 
 being made necessary by the fact of the small majorities 
 recorded the indifference of the House of Lords to 
 remonstrances, above all the utter hopelessness of the
 
 122 THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, MJP. 
 
 struggle, made them quite ready for the rest and quiet 
 of Opposition. 
 
 But perhaps when Mr. Brodrick achieved his memor- 
 able defeat of the Government, there was one member 
 of the Cabinet who could not withhold some feeling of 
 regret. Mr. Asquith was able to look back upon three 
 years of genuine achievement, to feel that he was now 
 a recognised force in his party, and to believe that he 
 was only at the beginning of his career ; and now he 
 saw coming what might be what indeed was to be 
 an interruption covering many years. But the regret, if 
 felt, could only be a personal one. No one who cared 
 anything for the Liberal party could doubt that when 
 the Prime Minister resigned he did not do so a day 
 too soon. 
 
 Mr. Asquith thus, after but three years of official 
 experience, found himself once more in Opposition. 
 It would be in accordance with tradition, perhaps, to 
 question whether at this point he could have guessed 
 in what position of influence he would return to the 
 Treasury Bench. The conventional answer would 
 probably be that he never could have guessed. Yet 
 doubtless he did.
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 OPPOSITION 
 
 LIBERALS found themselves in Opposition with very 
 little regret. The stress of the last session had been 
 intense. The Whips never for a moment dared to 
 relax pressure upon the forces in order to maintain 
 what was nevertheless a dwindling majority. No 
 excuse was good enough to allow of a Liberal member's 
 absence. Attendance became a burden. The pleasant 
 industries of office, or at least of membership of the 
 Government party, to which victorious Liberal candi- 
 dates had looked forward after the election of 1892, 
 were found to be the forced labours of a bondsman. 
 While supporters of the Opposition walked about with 
 smiling face and springy step, Radicals hung round the 
 lobbies which they dared not leave, with jaded limbs 
 and faces grey and drawn. But though membership of 
 the House of Commons, with its vague social ascen- 
 dencies, is not easily forsaken by men who have had to 
 do much to obtain what they hold, there comes a time 
 when even the privilege of heading a hundred subscrip- 
 tion lists and of saluting a score of obscure babies may 
 be paid for too dearly, and so when at last the expected 
 defeat had come, Liberals heaved a sigh of relief and 
 went back to their constituencies, each with the cheer- 
 ful consciousness that if and when he returned to
 
 i2 4 THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, M.P. 
 
 Westminster, he would do so as a member of the 
 Opposition, a condition of existence the reduced 
 importance of which is mitigated by the fact that the 
 Whips' vigilance relaxes. 
 
 Lord Salisbury's appointments were in the hands of 
 the public in the first week of July. The most notable 
 fact in regard to them was the dominance in the new 
 Cabinet of Mr. Chamberlain. The question of his 
 adherence had once been seriously debated, but the 
 alliance of the Liberal Unionists with the Conservatives 
 had become so close as to make the complete fusion 
 which now took place only a small development from 
 the position which had existed just previously. 
 
 Mr. Chamberlain, perhaps with an instinct for future 
 events, elected to fill the not greatly esteemed office ol 
 Colonial Secretary. The Duke of Devonshire became 
 Lord President of the Council. 
 
 The Conservative programme was like most Con- 
 servative programmes, a negative one. It was the 
 business of the intelligent electors to think of the 
 danger to the Union rather than to call for measures of 
 social reform. The " mess and muddle " cry, flung at 
 each retiring party in turn, was now projected at the 
 late Government. The most perhaps the only 
 interesting feature in Unionist election addresses was 
 the half-promise, conveyed in some of those published 
 in the Birmingham zone, of old age pensions. 
 
 The election campaign now began in earnest, and 
 one of the first speakers was Mr. Asquith. But the 
 Liberals had no definite programme to put before the 
 country. The speeches of several of the leaders were 
 characterized by a curious independence of official
 
 OPPOSITION 125 
 
 views, and it was said of Mr. Asquith that, while Lord 
 Rosebery only asked for the mending of the House of 
 Lords, Mr. Asquith called for its abolition. He also 
 continued to take a strong line in favour of the Radical 
 measures of Home Rule, Local Veto, and Dis- 
 establishment. Personal reasons explain the emphasis 
 put upon the last of these items from the Newcastle 
 programme. But with regard to the first it must 
 be remembered that Lord Rosebery's enthusiasm 
 for Home Rule was rapidly cooling. Mr. Asquith's 
 also has cooled since then, but at this time it had 
 not done so. Local Veto had the support of the 
 whole party; yet in pressing its importance upon 
 the attention of his hearers, Mr. Asquith was pressing 
 a measure with which was associated, not the leader 
 of the section with which he had most to do, but the 
 leader of another section, in the person of Sir William 
 Harcourt. 
 
 The Conservative victory at the polls was the 
 greatest Tory triumph of the century. Everywhere 
 Liberals were defeated. The spectacle can scarcely be 
 paralleled except by reference to the Reform Bill 
 majority or to the great turnover of 1906. The whole- 
 sale defeat of ministers particularly finds a parallel in 
 the last election. Mr. Morley was thrown out at New- 
 castle ; Sir George Trevelyan at Tynemouth ; Mr. 
 Bryce in the Tower Hamlets ; Mr. Shaw Lefevre, Sir 
 John Hibbert, Mr. Arnold Morley, each lost his seat, 
 while as the crowning misfortune Sir William Harcourt 
 was refused by Derby. The blow to the cause of 
 Temperance by this last defeat was a great one. But 
 in the midst of all these reverses Mr. Asquith still
 
 126 THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, M.P. 
 
 conquered, and with an increased majority, the figures 
 being : 
 
 Asquith (L.) .... 4,332 
 Gilmour .... 3,616 
 
 Liberal majority . 716 
 
 Defeated as were the Liberal leaders, and divergent 
 as their opinions were supposed to be, they continued 
 loyal to one another. Whatever disunion might be in 
 the Cabinet, and however much the programme of one 
 minister differed from that of another, they remained, 
 by a firm tradition of British politics, each one to the 
 others, faithful in all personal references. In one of his 
 election speeches, indeed, Mr. Chamberlain criticised 
 late ministers in words which really amounted to a 
 compliment to their loyalty to one another : 
 
 " You have heard Mr. Asquith singing the praises of 
 Mr. Acland, and Mr. Acland has been ready with the 
 praises of Sir H. Campbell-Bannerman. Sir H. 
 Campbell-Bannerman has been saying what a splendid 
 fellow Lord Spencer is, and Lord Spencer has been 
 saying what a noble leader Mr. Morley is. They have 
 all been praising one another." 
 
 The Liberals at first tried to imagine that the decay 
 of their interest would not extend beyond the boroughs. 
 But when London and the counties began to poll, all 
 hope disappeared. Lancashire went wholly Tory, and 
 of sixty-two seats in London only eight were Liberal. 
 The party indeed only held its ground in the south, a 
 circumstance which was paralleled in 1906, when, in the
 
 OPPOSITION 127 
 
 midst of unprecedented Radical triumphs, a newly- 
 appointed Liberal minister was defeated at Hastings. 
 When it was all over the figures were found to be : 
 Conservatives .^ . 340 \ 
 Liberal Unionists . . 71 J ' 
 Liberals . .... 177 
 
 Nationalists ... 82 
 
 } 259 
 
 Unionist majority . 152 
 
 Mr. Asquith was accompanied back to the House of 
 Commons by thirty-three Scotch Unionists and thirty- 
 eight Scottish Radicals against the twenty-two and 
 forty-nine respectively who had been his companions 
 in 1892. 
 
 In his speeches after his election he turned, as every 
 politician must turn, to explanations. He said the 
 English were hysterical, and got a lecture from The 
 Saturday Review in consequence " It surely takes the 
 self-confidence inseparable from high ability to make 
 an error of that magnitude." 
 
 The new House assembled in August to wind up the 
 business of the year. An autumn session followed. 
 But as this progressed Liberals began to discover that, 
 while the Unionist leaders were always present to 
 encourage their own party, the Front Opposition Bench 
 was being neglected by those who had a right to sit 
 there. Instead of a small compact, alert minority, 
 ready for any emergency, prepared with proper criticism 
 for the first indication of the new Government's policy, 
 there was a party without cohesion, almost without 
 leadership, weak, acquiescent. Several of the leaders
 
 i28 THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, M.P. 
 
 were still without the seats that should give them back 
 to the House of Commons. But some in the House 
 were abstaining. One of these was Mr. Asquith. 
 
 But he had a reason for this. Unlike many of those 
 who have private stores wherewith to sustain them- 
 selves while in the desert of Opposition, Mr. Asquith 
 had to consider his future. He was not a rich man. 
 He had commanded, however, a large income at the 
 Bar. An old precedent seemed to forbid the return to 
 advocacy of one who had once held Cabinet office. 
 A question of dignity was supposed to be involved. 
 Indeed, so important was it supposed to be that the 
 person of the retiring minister should not again be 
 soiled by contact with briefs, that a benevolent rule 
 permitted the payment of a pension to any such office- 
 holder whose performance of his duties had extended 
 to four years, and who at the time of retirement would 
 be unable without the pension to maintain the dignity 
 of his position. 
 
 Apart from the fact, however, that it might very 
 well occur to him to ask whether a return to the Bar 
 and to fee-earning accorded less with dignity than 
 did the acceptance of a State allowance, Mr. Asquith, 
 as has been shown elsewhere, was disqualified from 
 receiving that assistance by the fact that he had not 
 been a minister for four years. He determined there- 
 fore to go back to the Bar, and in October resumed 
 practice. 
 
 One curious feature of his return was that while 
 hitherto in the House of Commons he had been the 
 leader of Sir Robert Reid, at the Bar he was Sir 
 Robert's junior.
 
 OPPOSITION 129 
 
 His return to his profession withdrew him for the 
 time from the House. For some months indeed he 
 ceased to be the Parliamentary figure he had been. 
 But this, even had he been assiduous in his attendance, 
 would have been inevitable. Public interest always 
 remains on that side of the House which is to the 
 right of the Speaker, let it be any party which sits 
 there. But this is particularly the case when a new 
 Ministry has assembled, and is still full of energy, 
 absorbed by ideas. Prominence on the part of the 
 Opposition is even resented by the public at this 
 time. It thinks the new men should have an oppor- 
 tunity. It refuses to be interested in attacks upon them. 
 
 That Mr. Asquith never for any length of time 
 allowed the Bar to withdraw him from politics has 
 been suggested in another chapter. The sacrifices he 
 made to carry on platform propaganda in the country 
 when the need for it was urgent are not in doubt. But 
 in this, the first session of the new Parliament, he was 
 not much seen in Westminster. 
 
 The Liberal party was now drifting on aimlessly. 
 Nobody seemed to be very careful of its preservation. 
 The blow it had suffered by the storm of the general 
 election left it a broken wreck, on which the pilots 
 were in danger of outnumbering the unhappy crew. 
 And the wreck, as it drove on rudderless, only left 
 the storm of the election behind it to draw nearer and 
 nearer to the rocks of disaffection and disunion. 
 
 The party was separating itself into groups. Its 
 enemies never tired of commenting upon what was held 
 to be the strange state of Liberal affairs, though the 
 truth is that there is nothing remarkable in the 
 
 I
 
 130 THE RIGHT HON. H, H. ASQUITH, M.P. 
 
 spectacle of a party, defeated at the poll, dividing 
 itself into sections and through the medium of the 
 several sections treating itself to a good deal of useful 
 criticism. The rank and file of the party which is 
 in office are compelled to be loyal. But the com- 
 pulsion is sometimes straining, and a little reaction 
 in the first days of Opposition is not a matter for 
 wonder. The criticism projected at the leaders, such 
 as it was, came from back-bench Liberals. But while 
 the Liberal leaders abstained from petulant attacks 
 upon one another, it was not difficult for them to do 
 so. For, in spite of what their enemies in the Press 
 thought and believed, the bitter feelings which were 
 said to set one against the other did not exist except 
 perhaps in the minds of two men. Doubtless there 
 was disappointment in the heart of one statesman 
 who had done much for his party, that he had not 
 been called to the leadership on Mr. Gladstone's 
 departure. Doubtless, too, there was disappointment 
 in the heart of the man who actually was called to 
 the succession that he had not been able to obtain 
 the general support which was necessary to success. 
 The first was resentful because the other had, he felt, 
 supplanted him. The second felt bitterness because 
 in the other leader he saw the chief instrument in 
 the withholding from him of the party support. 
 
 But neither Lord Rosebery nor Sir William 
 Harcourt, tried as they both were, ever forgot his 
 dignity, or what was due to the Liberal party. They 
 remained strictly silent, and, though a report continued 
 to circulate of differences, these did not find expression 
 in the speeches of the two leaders.
 
 OPPOSITION 131 
 
 One of the two men has retired ; the other is in his 
 grave. Except in so far as the various policies they 
 advocated are vital to the politics of to-day, no 
 good object will be served by recalling the incidents 
 which led to the final split. Both Lord Rosebery 
 and Sir William Harcourt performed great services 
 to the party to which they attached themselves, and 
 Liberals may well subscribe their gratitude and with- 
 hold what can now be only futile criticism. 
 
 So much for the two leaders and their relations up 
 to the point when Lord Rosebery took the step that 
 finally severed him from the Liberal councils. The 
 chief members of the party, apart from these two, 
 continued in friendly association. Naturally they had 
 each his individual sympathies, but each was not found, 
 as a casual reader of the Tory Press might suppose him 
 to have been, denouncing his companions with complete 
 abandon and offering himself, with an ingratiating and 
 complacent smile, as the guide, philosopher, and friend 
 of the distracted party. 
 
 Mr. Asquith, in common with the other subordinate 
 members of the late Ministry, maintained, so far as 
 the Radical unrest was concerned, a wise silence. 
 He announced himself loyal to his leader and to the 
 Liberal party. He defended the work which the party 
 had done when in power and the efforts they had made 
 during the past session. He criticised the Government, 
 as it was his duty as a member of the Opposition to do, 
 and for the rest waited, as most good Liberals waited, 
 in the hope that both the external and the internal 
 wounds which the party had suffered would be healed 
 by time. 
 
 I 3
 
 132 THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, M.P. 
 
 The hope was vain. However much personal feelings 
 might have been surrendered by one of the leaders in 
 order to co-operate with the other, there would still be 
 one difficulty which would remain insurmountable. As 
 Mr. Asquith said later, the future of the Liberal party 
 would be found to be less a question of persons than 
 of purposes. It was the question of purposes which 
 was to bring about the great disruption. 
 
 In 1895 Europe was shocked by reports of massacres 
 in Armenia. Christian nations witnessed the persecu- 
 tion of a race which, weak and helpless though it was, 
 still clung to the faith of Christ and braved the vengeance 
 of the Mohammedan. 
 
 An agitation immediately and rightly arose in this 
 country for strong intervention by the Foreign Office, 
 acting, if necessary, independent of the Continental 
 Powers. Such intervention, however, Lord Rosebery, 
 and later, Lord Salisbury, could not see their way to 
 make. They continued rather to make British repre- 
 sentations at Constantinople harmonize with those of 
 the Great Powers. The Sultan, who is generally 
 credited, if with nothing else, with a grim sense of 
 humour, continued to receive the messages with ideal 
 Eastern courtesy and to ignore the contents with 
 complete Eastern indifference. 
 
 But while the heads of Governments continued the 
 policy of concerted but ineffectual protest, the people 
 of this country, impatient of diplomatic hesitations, 
 found themselves unable to endure the strain of waiting. 
 
 In their impatient demand they were not without a 
 leader. The spectacle created by the Armenian per- 
 secutions could not fail to remind Mr. Gladstone of
 
 OPPOSITION 133 
 
 other scenes of bloodshed, to prevent the continuance 
 of which he had, twenty years earlier, hurried from a 
 retirement which at the time he had believed final. 
 It was the cry of Armenia that called him once more 
 to the platform, and at a great meeting at Henglers' 
 Circus, Liverpool, he thundered forth, as only he 
 could, a terrible denunciation of Turkey's crimes and 
 of England's inaction. He demanded intervention. 
 He called upon Lord Salisbury to withdraw the 
 English Ambassador from Constantinople, and he 
 impugned the policy of dependence upon the co- 
 operation of the other Powers. 
 
 But when he impugned Lord Salisbury he impugned 
 Lord Rosebery also. Although not now holding office, 
 the latter had only lately quitted it. The massacres 
 were not coincident only with the period of Lord 
 Salisbury's occupancy of the Foreign Office. They 
 had begun while yet Lord Rosebery was there. Since 
 the Conservatives had come into power, moreover, Lord 
 Rosebery, though critical of their domestic, had sup- 
 ported their Eastern, policy. He felt that Mr. Gladstone's 
 censure, whatever may have been the intention of its 
 projector, descended upon himself. 
 
 The words of the old leader naturally had still 
 tremendous weight with the party. The enthusiasm 
 which had greeted his momentary return to the plat- 
 form left no doubt of that. An idea that the views 
 of other leaders more accurately reflected the feelings 
 of Mr. Gladstone than did those of Lord Rosebery 
 only increased the party's distrust of its nominal chief. 
 Lord Rosebery realised this. His position had become 
 a thankless one. He determined to escape from it;
 
 134 THE RIGHT HON. H, H. ASQUITH, M.P. 
 
 and on the 8th of October he addressed a letter to 
 Mr. Thomas Ellis, Chief Liberal Whip : 
 
 " MY DEAR ELLIS, The recent course of events 
 makes it necessary to clear the air. I find myself in 
 apparent difference with a considerable mass of the 
 Liberal party on the Eastern Question, and in some 
 conflict of opinion with Mr. Gladstone, who must 
 necessarily always exercise a matchless authority on 
 the party, while scarcely from any quarter do I receive 
 explicit support." 
 
 The letter wound up with a declaration of resignation 
 from the leadership of the party. 
 
 Consternation was the feeling of his friends in 
 the interval following. But among the leaders, and 
 especially those leaders who were in closest communion 
 with him, little surprise was felt. Mr. Asquith par- 
 ticularly had been aware that the step was meditated 
 long before it was taken, and had done all in his power 
 to persuade his leader to remain. Yet, under the circum- 
 stances, Lord Rosebery did the only thing possible. 
 
 His next step was to appear at a great meeting in 
 Edinburgh, and upon his platform was Mr. Asquith. 
 
 In the foregoing narrative the latter 's name has 
 scarcely appeared. Yet while such a narrative is part 
 of his history, the absence of his name from it really 
 indicates better than anything else the part he took in 
 all that preceded Lord Rosebery's resignation. He was 
 in the midst of these events, but he regretted them. He 
 hoped for peace. He was personally devoted to Lord 
 Rosebery, but he was loyal to his party, and realised 
 that least mischief follows fewest words. Until the 
 resignation took effect he was silent. From the
 
 OPPOSITION 135 
 
 shadow of Lord Rosebery he only emerged at the 
 Edinburgh meeting. But even then he was thrust 
 rather than thrust himself forward. 
 
 In drawing his still remembered speech to a con- 
 clusion Lord Rosebery, while he refrained from any 
 reflections upon those who were supposed to differ from 
 him, eulogised the members of the late Cabinet who 
 had come to support him that night, and the first name 
 he mentioned was that of Mr. Asquith. The name was 
 greeted with " loud and prolonged cheers." This was 
 very significant. " Loud and prolonged cheers " in 
 the technical language of the reporter means something 
 very different from " cheers " or even " loud cheers." 
 It means that for the moment the audience forgets the 
 speaker and carries its mind away to the person or 
 subject whose name has just fallen from the speaker's 
 lips. Lord Rosebery, having enumerated the ex-Ministers 
 who sat with him on the platform that evening, paused, 
 and then in terms that were scarcely less than those of 
 affection, referred again to Mr. Asquith : " If I venture 
 to single out Mr. Asquith from these," he said, " it is 
 because we have been in habits of close and intimate 
 political communion and because I see, and see with 
 pain, that he has been singled out as not having been 
 in hearty association with me. Nothing is more remote 
 from the truth. Those who say this must know Mr. 
 Asquith very little, because consummate and consider- 
 able as are his powers of brain, in my opinion his brain 
 is not equal to his heart, and it is that rare combination 
 of head and heart which in my humble judgment, if my 
 prophecy is worth anything, will conduct him to the 
 highest office of the State."
 
 136 THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, MP. 
 
 These words, though they attracted much attention, 
 are really much less remarkable than the applause which 
 earlier had greeted Mr. Asquith's name. Their import- 
 ance depends upon the construction put upon them. 
 
 Mr. Asquith, when he heard them, knew that at such 
 a juncture they could be construed merely as containing 
 vague hopes for his future. 
 
 When, on the morning following, the papers set 
 themselves to dot Lord Rosebery's i's and cross his t's, 
 they implied that he had not merely resigned but had 
 nominated his successor. There was a good deal of 
 curiosity to see how Mr. Asquith would answer what 
 was supposed to be an invitation. 
 
 Three days later he spoke at Auchtertochty, and then 
 took occasion to repudiate, very emphatically, the idea 
 that an invitation had been issued. 
 
 " I have observed with some surprise," he said quietly, 
 "that some people, by what I cannot but think a 
 strange misconstruction of language which was 
 evidently intended by the speaker, and which was 
 universally understood by the audience, to have been 
 used for a totally different purpose, have attributed to 
 Lord Rosebery an expression, or at any rate an 
 intimation, of some preference of his own in the 
 choice of his successor." He then denied that any- 
 thing of the kind had been done. The passage shows 
 that while the Edinburgh audience better understood 
 the general sense of Lord Rosebery's mind than did 
 Mr. Asquith, the latter realised better than they the care 
 with which the retiring leader set himself to avoid any 
 possibility of its being said afterwards that he had 
 named his successor. It would have been contrary
 
 OPPOSITION 137 
 
 to Lord Rosebery's fine instinct for the best traditions 
 of politics to have done anything of the kind. But he 
 could not avoid feeling the preference. What really 
 happened was that the audience read in his mind an 
 idea which he neither intimated nor expressed. It did 
 not need a word from him to express what it felt itself, 
 and what it believed and knew he felt. Mr. Asquith 
 could scarcely have been ignorant of the hope of Lord 
 Rosebery respecting him. But he was certain that no 
 politician of Lord Rosebery's sagacity would have been 
 guilty of the folly of suggesting a successor, unless 
 when doing so he felt he was expressing the unanimous 
 desire of the party. 
 
 Mr. Asquith at this time showed a modesty which 
 those who do not know him would probably deny was 
 one of his attributes. He refused to be exalted to the 
 leadership. He effaced his own interests. He denied 
 that it was time for either Lord Rosebery or anyone 
 else to decide the question of the succession. 
 
 There were many Liberals who would have followed 
 him, had he set up his standard. He had been one of 
 the successes of the last Administration ; he had great 
 firmness and strength of purpose. He was completely 
 trusted. But he refused to allow his name to be singled 
 out from those of the other leaders. By his refusal he 
 showed his possession of some of the higher qualities 
 of statesmanship. He exhibited not merely unselfish- 
 ness, but astuteness. The leadership of the party could 
 not have been indifferent to one of his ambitious 
 character. But he was completely free from the 
 littleness of the man who would rather be leader of 
 a section, lord of a suburb of the city of party, than
 
 138 THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, M.P. 
 
 chief and king of the whole. Mr. Asquith would have 
 been ready to succeed to the leadership if the whole 
 party had called him. Otherwise he was much more 
 desirous of serving under another leader. He was 
 unselfishly devoted to the party. He wanted to see it 
 at peace once more. Until that condition was reached, 
 he told it, it had no need to talk of leaders. 
 
 His conduct through this time of stress a time 
 when his political destiny was being shaped was 
 completely satisfying alike to those who trusted his 
 devotion and those who wanted, not only to see him 
 true to his best instincts, but to see him leader. He 
 was trying to make the party mark time. It was not 
 an heroic policy, but at this juncture commonsense and 
 a quiet mind were worth all the heroics in the world. 
 The very fact that he held himself aloof from popular 
 passion at this time helped and did not hinder him. 
 
 His action is marked by the qualities which those 
 who have followed his career have learnt to expect. 
 He showed admirable discretion in his refusal to move 
 because a few hands beckoned. He exhibited his 
 tenacity of purpose by the way in which he went on 
 through the recess, performing the duties of an 
 Opposition statesman, criticising the Government and 
 refraining from criticism of his colleagues. He wanted 
 to have a united side, and was ready to make sacrifices 
 if Liberals could be drawn together. His feeling for 
 efficiency made him desire, not a party of which he was 
 a head, but a party which was united. If the Liberals 
 had said that they could only have come together under 
 his lead, they would have pleased him most of all. But 
 he knew they could not say this of him. When the party,
 
 OPPOSITION 139 
 
 in 1899, finally chose Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, 
 Mr. Asquith at once gave his most cordial support. 
 
 Throughout the time of dissension he maintained a 
 completely successful attitude of detachment from party 
 feeling. He was much too shrewd to compromise his 
 position by taking sides and much too impatient of the 
 futilities of platform heroics to engage in them. He 
 grasped, as scarcely anyone grasped at the time, the 
 truth that the best course for the man who would help 
 the party or for the man who hoped that the party 
 would ask him to lead it, was silence. He put aside 
 his immediate interests. He realised that greater than 
 a man's interests is the man himself. But a man may 
 stand back behind the throng and, if he is bigger than 
 the throng, he will still be seen. 
 
 In the meantime his relations with Lord Rosebery 
 were of the happiest, while in public he testified 
 more than once his continued devotion. He had been 
 acquainted with the intention of his leader long before 
 the intention took effect. He had done his best to 
 prevent the resignation. And futile as he knew the effort 
 to be, he had tried, even before he had left the platform 
 on the evening of the speech in Edinburgh, to persuade 
 the leader to come back. " I venture to say in your 
 presence to Lord Rosebery that leadership is a thing 
 which involves reciprocal claims and reciprocal obliga- 
 tions. It is not in the power of either party to the 
 contract to make an end to it at his own will. And 
 the voice of the other party has not been heard." In 
 the same speech he had also referred to Lord Rosebery's 
 " unrivalled claims to the leadership of the Liberal 
 party." At Galashiels, ten days later, he alluded to
 
 HO THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, M.P. 
 
 the gravity of the blow the party had sustained, and 
 went on : " We have all of us an absolute assurance 
 that his retirement from the leadership does not involve 
 his loss to the party, with which he remains in complete 
 sympathy upon every one of the vital issues, whether 
 of our foreign or of our domestic policy." 
 
 This public attitude towards his old leader reflected 
 a sincere friendship rather than a great dependence. 
 The quality of dependence, found sometimes allied to 
 the nature of statesmen, not only of smaller, but of 
 greater and more magnetic power than Mr. Asquith, is 
 not found in him. There was nothing of the hysteria of 
 expostulation in his attitude to his old chief. He said 
 what he could to bring him back, but he knew too 
 much of Lord Rosebery personally, and of the reasons 
 which had led to the retirement, to suppose that his 
 words would have effect. Having said his say, his 
 eminently practical intelligence turned to the work of 
 the coming session. He has always sought to make 
 efficient even his devotion to the party. He was not 
 going to spend himself needlessly upon service to any 
 individual political interest. Do your duty, but avoid 
 waste, whether of time, energy, sectional bias, or 
 policy, represented his political ethics. He saw that 
 there was work to be done, work not of a special 
 kind, but the work common to an Opposition. So, 
 ignoring the frantic partisanships which found ex- 
 pression at this time in many papers and on many 
 platforms, he proceeded with a normal criticism of 
 Government shortcomings. 
 
 The question with which he had most frequently to 
 deal was that of Armenia. His audiences expected his
 
 OPPOSITION 141 
 
 views upon that matter, whatever else he said or left 
 unsaid. His relation with Lord Rosebery on the one 
 hand, who disapproved of action independent of the 
 Powers, and with the Liberal party on the other, 
 most of whom wanted a definite lead in support of 
 Mr. Gladstone's policy, placed him in a position of 
 some delicacy. He got out of the difficulty as one 
 of his nature was bound to do, simply by ignoring the 
 fact that it was a difficulty. He treated the matter 
 from the point of view of the moderate Liberal. Every- 
 one was agreed that something ought to be done. But 
 what actually was being done? Lord Salisbury refused 
 to say anything ; very well ; he did not complain of any 
 reserve that was rendered necessary by the exigencies 
 of the case, but he did think " they were entitled in the 
 strongest and clearest terms to assert that they would 
 not be satisfied unless, when the time came for a full 
 disclosure of what had taken place, it was found that 
 England had been in the forefront as an impelling force 
 . . . and that therefore, so far as national responsibility 
 was concerned, we were clear of any blame or reproach. 
 They ought to be no longer content with paper protests." 
 
 This exemplifies not merely his attitude to a par- 
 ticular question, but his general attitude of mind. 
 He was unwilling that England, just as he was 
 unwilling that he himself, should spend all upon a 
 single cause. But the country must be able to satisfy 
 its conscience that it had at least done its duty. 
 
 During the next year or two he was distinguished 
 perhaps more for his work at the Bar than in the 
 sphere of politics. In the meantime the Liberal ship 
 plunged onwards through the darkness and soon
 
 142 THE RIGHT HON. H. H, ASQUITH, M.P. 
 
 received another blow. In December, 1898, two 
 years after Lord Rosebery's retirement, Sir William 
 Harcourt, worn out and weary, who had been leader, 
 not of the party as a whole, but of the party in the 
 House of Commons, resigned his position. He had 
 seen himself disappointed of a great but quite honest 
 ambition, and was in no particular mind for the shells of 
 leadership, now that the kernels had been abstracted by 
 other hands. There was little likelihood of a return to 
 power until years, perhaps many years, had passed. 
 He therefore announced that he, too, did not intend in 
 future to be officially associated with the party. In 
 his expression of such an intention he was joined by 
 Mr. Morley. The Liberals, accordingly, had to look 
 out for a new chief. 
 
 Two names suggested themselves. The first was 
 that of Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman. " C.-B." was 
 generally popular ; he was not an extremist. He 
 maintained friendly relations with all the leaders. He 
 was not likely easily to be perturbed. He had many 
 supporters. The other name in the public mind was 
 that of Mr. Asquith. But he was never nominated. 
 There was never but one candidate. Putting the 
 characters of the two men side by side there was no 
 question that between them was to be seen nearly every 
 difference which it was possible to find in human 
 character. Each, however, had it in him to be a 
 satisfactory leader, and for the reason that, much more 
 than Lord Rosebery or Sir William Harcourt, each had 
 in his nature something permissive of compromise. It 
 is true that the permission sprang from quite different 
 causes. And the difference may be mentioned here
 
 OPPOSITION 143 
 
 because it marks the fundamental difference in the 
 characters of the two men. " C.-B." was ready to 
 compromise because he naturally preferred in all things 
 the via media. He liked his own way, but his own way 
 was usually the middle one. Mr. Asquith was more 
 of an extremist. But Jowett had taught him to go 
 round if he could not get over. He had endless deter- 
 mination, but he had endless discretion. He would 
 compromise because by compromise he was sure some 
 day to get his will. 
 
 He had, however, against him one influence which it 
 was useless for him to try to shake off the suspicion 
 of the Harcourt Liberals. He was a Roseberyite. He 
 was known to be favoured by the late Premier. It was 
 feared that what had happened before might happen 
 again. His manner also was not of the kind which 
 excites popularity. He appeared a little cold. His 
 character was felt to be aloof, austere. Moreover, he 
 had not succeeded in touching the imagination of the 
 man in the street. It may be said that neither had 
 " C.-B." That is true ; but in the House of Commons 
 " C.-B." had always been the most popular Liberal 
 minister of the time. His shrewd and smiling face was 
 always welcome. As to the possibilities of his leader- 
 ship, there was this argument in their favour, that 
 nothing was known of them. 
 
 A story is told that once, at the very club in which 
 the new Liberal leader was chosen, an election was 
 proceeding for new members. Presently the results 
 were announced, and it was noticed that two persons 
 prominent in the world of politics had been black- 
 balled. "But why is this?" asked a member-
 
 144 THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, M.P. 
 
 "everybody knows them, while here is Blank elected 
 without opposition. Yet nobody knows anything 
 about him ! " 
 
 " That is why he is elected," was the shrewd answer. 
 
 For the same reason Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman 
 found himself at the head of the party. From the 
 meeting at which he was elected Mr. Asquith was kept 
 by illness. But his support of the elected chief was 
 cordial and immediate. 
 
 The Liberal party, now that it was provided with a 
 new leader, supported by the chief persons on the 
 Front Opposition Bench, might well have hoped for a 
 little peace and quietness. If such a hope was ever 
 held it was not long of disappointment, though whether 
 it was really ever cherished by the shrewder observers is 
 open to question. The frail flower of Liberalism, crushed 
 beneath the storm of the Armenia dissension, was just 
 beginning to raise its head again, when it was struck 
 by the cyclone of Imperialism. Political meteorologists 
 had probably seen already, in the Eastern storm, signs 
 of what was coming, while even the ordinary observer 
 was able to perceive that the sky was never completely 
 clear of clouds. 
 
 But for first signs of the trouble which threatened it 
 is necessary to look back before the autumn of 1896 to 
 a period twenty years earlier. Until the war of 1899, 
 the period, 1874 1880, showed the high water mark 
 of British self-consciousness. In 1876 Disraeli had 
 invested his Sovereign with the pompous title of 
 Empress of India. In 1878 the circumstances which 
 led up to the signing of the Berlin treaty were the 
 cause of an extraordinary exhibition of national
 
 OPPOSITION 145 
 
 egotism, which in its turn found expression in an 
 unrestrained, and what was then a rare and curious, 
 outburst of public sentimentality. 
 
 Presently came the inevitable reaction, the Liberals 
 succeeded to power and the "jingo" spirit, as it had 
 come to be called, slept. But in 1885 Mr. Gladstone 
 announced his plan for Irish Home Rule. At once the 
 "jingo" became active. "Lord Salisbury," says Mr. 
 Winston Churchill in his life of his father, " in the 
 closing years of his life once said that Mr. Gladstone in 
 struggling for Home Rule awakened the slumbering 
 genius of Imperialism." 
 
 The genius of Imperialism rested rather than slept 
 during the year of Liberal victory in 1892. But when, 
 two years later, Lord Rosebery succeeded to the leader- 
 ship, the genius began to discover that she need not 
 necessarily hide her head while a Liberal Government 
 was in power. 
 
 At this time, however, she had only vague hopes 
 upon which to go. The party difference was a good 
 deal a personal one between two leaders whose natures 
 were not made for easy assimilation. But the Fashoda 
 incident showed in what direction Lord Rosebery's 
 mind was tending, and the war which broke out in 
 1899, two years after this affair, emphasised the cleavage 
 in Liberal sentiment. 
 
 Although Lord Rosebery was not officially associated 
 with his old party, he yet commanded great influence 
 with one section, and his few utterances were listened 
 to with eagerness. 
 
 Mr. Asquith's attitude towards the question which 
 was dividing the party was characterised by the qualities 
 
 K
 
 146 THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, M.P. 
 
 of the man. His sympathies lay in the same direction 
 as those of Lord Rosebery. But Lord Rosebery was 
 free from the restraints of official leadership. Mr. 
 Asquith, on the other hand, was not. He saw that 
 there would be quite enough difficulty to maintain the 
 work of Opposition without emphasising the divergence 
 between the various sections of the party. He declined 
 therefore to emphasise these differences. Not that he 
 refrained from speaking upon the war. No public man 
 who essayed to address a meeting was expected to 
 talk of anything else. But he spoke very rarely. 
 While, during each autumn of several previous years, 
 he had delivered eight or ten speeches, in 1899 
 he spoke only twice upon political themes. The 
 first of the two speeches was almost the first to 
 be made by any member of the Opposition after 
 the war broke out. He said frankly that the views 
 he would express were merely his own, and that he 
 had not had time to consult his colleagues. Then 
 having criticised the Government for blundering into 
 war, he said that now that the conflict had begun 
 it must be brought to a finish. Many even of 
 his admirers could not support him in this attitude. 
 But Mr. Asquith took the view that the only pos- 
 sible peace was a peace which followed on British 
 victory. 
 
 This was the opinion he held and expressed on 
 the few occasions on which he spoke. For the rest, 
 he kept himself out of the public eye. He did 
 what he conceived to be his duty to his country. 
 But he did not find that to do that involved him 
 in the necessity to injure his party.
 
 OPPOSITION 147 
 
 The Radicals who differed from him now found new 
 ground for complaint in his attitude towards them at 
 this time. But he never fell into excess. From the im- 
 pulses of vague jingoism his character would always keep 
 him healthily free. From the spirit which provoked 
 the excesses of Mafeking night he was completely 
 remote. He locked himself in and refused all invita- 
 tions to come forth and denounce "Pro-Boers" and 
 " Little Englanders." 
 
 It is true that politically he and two of his colleagues 
 found themselves out of touch with their lately-elected 
 leader. Mr. T. P. O'Connor has drawn a picture of 
 the Front Opposition Bench of this period, and of the 
 spectacle witnessed there, when Sir Henry Campbell- 
 Bannerman sat in the centre, Mr. Asquith, Sir Edward 
 Grey, and Sir Henry Fowler in one corner, and Sir 
 William Harcourt and Mr. Morley in the other corner. 
 
 In the meantime he (Mr. Asquith) went on with his 
 work in the courts, watching events and offering only a 
 sparing comment. He believed that we had entered 
 upon the war because we had been driven into it. There 
 was, he held, no truth in the allegation that the struggle 
 would not be considered satisfactory in its result if a 
 consequence was not the annexation of the Transvaal. 
 
 " I dissociate myself, however, entirely from those, if 
 such there be, who hail the war, this lamentable war, 
 as a means to an ulterior end, the subordination of the 
 Boers and the annexation of the Dutch Republic. Such 
 an intention has been emphatically and repeatedly 
 repudiated by Her Majesty's Government. To adopt 
 that, to coquet with it, to connive at it, would be 
 to justify a hundredfold the charges of pharisaism and 
 
 K 2
 
 148 THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, M.P. 
 
 hypocrisy which are being freely levelled against us 
 ... by the writers of the Continental Press." 
 
 The war took even more money and much more time 
 than it was expected to take, and when it was over the 
 well-known instinct of the human race to patronise its 
 earlier opinions asserted itself. Moreover, there was a 
 feeling that the possibility of a repetition of such a 
 struggle must be removed by annexation. 
 
 But there were a number of powerful persons in 
 South Africa who had built all their hopes on just such 
 an ultimate result, and who would not have been satis- 
 fied with less. Mr. Asquith showed less than his usual 
 perspicacity in not realising that, disinterested as was 
 his own support of Lord Salisbury, many who egged on 
 the Government had their minds not upon national 
 honour but upon dividends. 
 
 But whatever may have been his view of the struggle, 
 there can be no question of his thankfulness when it 
 ceased. British support of the war must have had 
 many features lowering to his pride in his country as 
 well as personally distasteful to one of his naturally 
 critical intellect. But apart from this he has always 
 been a hater of wars. It may be claimed that everyone 
 is. But this could not have been said in the autumn of 
 1899. 
 
 To suppose Mr. Asquith a ranting jingo prancing, 
 " tickler " in hand, in the face of a sullen Dutchman 
 is a mere caricature. His detestation of war has 
 always been undisguised. Even the Boer war, inevit- 
 able as he felt it to be, filled him with horror. "I 
 am one of those who hoped against hope, who expected 
 almost against expectation, that the catastrophe would
 
 OPPOSITION 149 
 
 be averted." This is not the language of the political 
 jingo of the period. Yet it might seem part of the 
 idle rhetoric of regret were there not a marked 
 absence from the rest of the speech of incitement to 
 national passion. Of war in general he has not 
 hesitated to use strong terms. " We have not got rid," 
 he had said in 1893, " but we are getting rid, in our 
 international relations, of the barbarous arbitrament of 
 war ; and we are substituting for it procedure which is 
 at once more rational and more humane." He went on 
 to refer to " those barbarous and antiquated methods in 
 the settlement of disputes between nations." War 
 must always have revolted a mind so free from passion. 
 An institution which dethroned reason and set up some- 
 thing in its place could only be hateful to one who loved 
 to approach everything in a judicial way. 
 
 It was in September, 1900, that Lord Salisbury's 
 Government, taking advantage of an excellent oppor- 
 tunity, resigned. The country was hot with patriotism. 
 It was intent upon one thing only the war. The Tories 
 asked for a mandate to finish the conflict, and refused 
 to allow any other issue to be put before the electorate. 
 
 The Liberal leaders agreed to treat the question as 
 one which had gone beyond their control. They tried 
 to concentrate upon criticism of the confused methods 
 by which the war was being conducted, rather than to 
 demand, the one section a relentless prosecution of the 
 fight, and the other, its immediate cessation. A few 
 of the unofficial Radicals, assisted by Unionists such 
 as Mr. Courtney, had the courage to stand up in face 
 of abuse unparalleled in modern political history, 
 and denounce the war's continuance. But the official
 
 150 THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, M.P. 
 
 leaders tried to keep together, while only in one con- 
 stituency, Caithness, did the difference of opinion 
 between the sections of the party find expression in 
 a contest between a Liberal Imperialist on the one 
 side and a pro-Boer on the other. 
 
 Mr. Asquith, when he appeared in Fifeshire, found that 
 he had not lost ground, and when the election took place 
 he was returned at the head of the poll by a majority 
 three votes more than double his majority in 1895. 
 
 The scars left upon the Liberal party by the war did 
 not heal immediately. Some months before peace was 
 signed there had been the famous interlude of Chester- 
 field. Mr. Asquith had been on Lord Rosebery's 
 platform ready, with him, to clean the slate and begin 
 again. But the party as a whole still clung to the 
 old programme. It did not want a clean slate. For a 
 time, then, there was a pause. The sections were still 
 sections, but they waited with a disposition for peace. 
 
 Curiously enough, the peacemakers were to come from 
 the other side, and the first effort to unite the sections 
 was made it must be admitted, unconsciously by 
 Mr. Balfour, when he introduced the Education Bill of 
 1902. Mr. Asquith at once took a leading part in 
 opposition. It is quite certain that whoever had wanted 
 to make mischief in the party, he himself had desired, 
 had even ardently desired, to have an opportunity of 
 joining hands with others of the leaders. He went 
 through the country with a relentless criticism of the 
 Bill. He spoke early and late against it in the House 
 of Commons, and in November he appeared at a 
 great meeting at the Alexandra Palace upon the same 
 platform as Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman.
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 THE FISCAL QUESTION 
 
 SOME of the best services which have been rendered 
 to a party have been rendered by members of the oppos- 
 ing side. An acknowledgment of such a service will 
 naturally be surveyed with some suspicion, even by 
 a politician of the most detached convictions. But 
 such acknowledgments have several times been earned. 
 Mr. Gladstone, on Lord Salisbury's confession, relit 
 the fires of Imperialism with the torch of Home Rule. 
 Mr. Chamberlain abolished disunion from the ranks of 
 Liberals, and made the party a new and vital political 
 force, by inviting the country to return to Protection. 
 
 The Liberal leaders were not sorry to find a reason 
 for drawing together, and their anxiety for union is, 
 perhaps, the best answer to the suggestion that each 
 was manoeuvring for the supremacy, or that each was 
 deliberately withholding himself from any but a section 
 of the party. 
 
 Nothing could be better than Mr. Asquith's attitude 
 at this time. He wanted to see a united party, and he 
 rejoiced to say, as later in the year he was able to do, 
 that: 
 
 " The Liberal party was never more absolutely united 
 on every living issue in the field of politics. Every 
 Liberal must have read with a sense of welcome and
 
 152 THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, M.P. 
 
 relief the language recently used by Lord Rosebery and 
 by Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman. This language is 
 so clear in expression, so fine in temper, so generous in 
 feeling as to do honour to both of the distinguished 
 men who are concerned ! " l 
 
 In the defence of the institution of Free Trade 
 Mr. Asquith at once took a leading place. That he did 
 so, Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman never hesitated to 
 acknowledge. He was welcomed by the party with ready 
 unanimity, and set to work at once upon the great task 
 to the performance of which he felt himself called. 
 
 For the work he was admirably qualified, not only 
 by his particular gifts, but by temperament. He had 
 a logical sense developed to the utmost, a quick recog- 
 nition of the inexact, a complete readiness in disputation, 
 and splendid tenacity. For such a controversy as that 
 upon which he was now entering, these qualities were 
 the very best with which he could have been endowed. 
 He knew from the beginning that the task was one 
 for which he was suited, and he took it up without 
 hesitation. But, as has been said, the work was also 
 peculiarly suited to his temperament. His Radicalism 
 had undergone a change. It was not now, as it had been 
 in the days of the '93 speeches, exuberant and over- 
 flowing. He was at heart as sound a Liberal as ever. 
 He was a Liberal Imperialist, rather than an Imperial- 
 istic Liberal. His Liberalism qualified his Imperialism 
 rather than his Imperialism his Liberalism. But he 
 had ceased to be the Radical he had been. He was 
 disinclined to violent changes. 
 
 The defence of Free Trade therefore exactly suited 
 1 St. Neots, Nov., 1903.
 
 THE FISCAL QUESTION 153 
 
 his frame of mind. The very word "defence" indicates 
 an attitude to him characteristically congenial. He had 
 not to go forward or invite the country to rush blindly 
 into the unknown. Mr. Chamberlain was doing that ; the 
 Conservatives were now the Radicals. What he had to 
 do was to hold his ground, to prove to the country the 
 supreme folly of change. Such a brief was completely 
 satisfying to his qualities of discretion and tenacity. 
 
 Once more had Mr. Chamberlain been kind to him. 
 He found himself again in the complete confidence 
 of his party. He was welcomed everywhere as the 
 official spokesman of Free Trade. Whatever, and 
 however serious, may have been the differences in the 
 party ranks, there was no sign of them now that the 
 Protection danger appeared. Mr. Asquith's appear- 
 ances were hailed by the Radical and the Liberal 
 Imperialist alike as incidents in a campaign, in a hope 
 for the success of which each recognised the other to 
 have a common share. 
 
 Mr. Chamberlain first announced his new policy 
 on May 15th, 1 on the occasion of his first appearance 
 at Birmingham after his return from South Africa. 
 
 It was understood, however, that the platform cam- 
 paign proper could only begin in the autumn. Summer 
 political gatherings are unusual occurrences. But 
 Liberals recognised that a great danger threatened 
 and that immediate preparation must be made to 
 repel it. What was described as a "special emer- 
 gency meeting " of the general committee of the 
 National Liberal Federation was called for July ist. 
 It is indicative of the party's confidence in Mr. Asquith 
 
 1 1903-
 
 154 THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, RLP. 
 
 that he was asked to be the chief speaker at this 
 function. The importance of the meeting was con- 
 siderable, not only because of the circumstances in 
 which it was held, but because of the fact that at it 
 would be formulated a definite criticism of the scheme 
 thrust upon the country by the New Protectionist. 
 
 When Mr. Asquith appeared he was greeted with 
 a warmth which left no doubt of the sincerity of his 
 hold upon the party. The meeting was composite 
 enough to satisfy the most convinced believer in Liberal 
 sectionalism. Dr. Spence Watson and Mr. R. D. Holt, 
 the latter a distinguished north country Liberal who 
 had had the courage to oppose the war, were upon the 
 platform to greet this leader of the Liberal Imperialists. 
 
 His attitude, when he began his speech, was the 
 one most characteristic of his mind, and the one best 
 suited to the case. He avoided appeals either to 
 emotions or to party prejudice. The matter was one 
 for reason. He was a lawyer accustomed to summon 
 to his aid the compelling force of argument. The best 
 way to protect Free Trade from interfering hands 
 was to compare its services with those of the system 
 to which it was proposed to revert, to examine the 
 exact character of the proposals now made, and par- 
 ticularly to apply the principle which underlay these 
 proposals not only to certain specified trades and 
 colonies, but to the whole field of industry and the 
 entire Empire. This was what Mr. Asquith did. He 
 went carefully through Mr. Chamberlain's proposals, 
 and he found that they rested upon vague idealism, 
 and had not been thought out. Mr. Chamberlain had 
 rather suggested that a new tariff system should be
 
 THE FISCAL QUESTION 155 
 
 founded, than worked out the exact details of what 
 such a system should be. Mr. Asquith appeared in 
 the capacity of one prepared to develop the proposals 
 so that they could be looked at in the developed form. 
 He has always had a feeling for contingent fact. In 
 this he was able to show himself superior to Mr. 
 Chamberlain. Particularly did he fasten upon the 
 question of Colonial Preference. Mr. Chamberlain 
 had proclaimed, with what seemed unmistakable 
 emphasis, that his proposals would not require any 
 tax on raw materials. But if a Colonial Preference 
 was to be guided by equity, a tax on raw materials 
 was unavoidable. If a duty was put on American 
 corn to please Canada, and on Argentine mutton to 
 please Australia, South Africa would want one put 
 on Russian wool. This was only one instance. But 
 it served very well, and when he spoke at the Liberal 
 Federation meeting he pressed it home. Throughout 
 the autumn campaigns he reiterated, with what to 
 the Tariff Reformers must have been painful monotony, 
 his forecasts of the results of a fair application of 
 the Preference principle to the States of the Empire. 
 Particularly did he quote the instance of the South 
 African demand for a wool preference, when he spoke 
 to the Bradford wool spinners in December. 
 
 This localisation in the character of the successive 
 speeches was a feature both of his and of Mr. 
 Chamberlain's campaigns. The Fiscal question, as 
 Mr. Asquith told his hearers at St. James's Hall, "is 
 not a matter of sentiment but of business." Both 
 speakers bore this in mind and both tried, in each 
 town he visited, to show the good or ill effects
 
 156 THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, M.P. 
 
 as he happened to conceive them to be which would 
 be brought upon the local industries by the country's 
 rejection or acceptance of the new proposals. " Agri- 
 culturists will have to pay more for their tools," he 
 told an agricultural audience at St. Neots, 1 "the only 
 people who will benefit by Protection are not the 
 labourers or farmers, but the landlords." " How will 
 Cornwall benefit by these proposals?" he asked at 
 Penzance. 2 " Cornish trade is in tin. Most of our 
 tin comes from the Straits Settlements. There will 
 be no tax on that." 
 
 The question of Preference, though he made it the 
 crux of nearly all his arguments, was not the only point 
 upon which he laid great emphasis. He controverted 
 indeed nearly every claim which Mr. Chamberlain put 
 forward for the need of fiscal change. The latter had 
 made his well-known suggestion for a 2s. duty on corn 
 an impost which he denied could be felt by anyone. 
 But what possibility, asked his opponent, was there 
 that the tax would remain at that figure? "I warn 
 you of this," he said solemnly, 3 " your 5 per cent, will 
 become 7 per cent., and your 10 per cent. 20 per 
 cent. There is no halting place until you get to the 
 bottom." " Protection," he told his hearers over and 
 over again, "is like an inclined plane." 
 
 Another suggestion he hotly contested was that, 
 encouraged by Preference, Canada would soon supply 
 nearly all the wheat required by this country. " It is 
 ridiculous to suppose that a 2s. duty on corn is going to 
 turn the whole wheat supply into Canada." 3 
 
 Some people appeared to think that the tax had only 
 
 1 Nov. igth. 3 Nov. 26th. 8 Cinderford, Oct. 8th.
 
 THE FISCAL QUESTION 157 
 
 to be imposed when, " as by a wave of a magic wand, 
 Canada would at once blossom into cornfields ripe for 
 the sickle and supply this country with all that it had 
 obtained from other countries. We had taken from the 
 United States 60,000,000 cwts. of wheat and wheat 
 flour, and from Canada 8,000,000. It does not require 
 much imagination or knowledge to compute, at any 
 rate conjecturally, the number of years before the 
 one source of supply could be made good by the substi- 
 tution of the other." " Canada," he said at Bradford, 
 "would have to increase her yield fourfold to meet our 
 demands." 
 
 These appeals were to abstract reason. But he made 
 another directly to the business instinct of the com- 
 mercial men who came to his meetings. There were two 
 questions, he said : What are we going to give ? and 
 What are we going to get? 1 The country would 
 naturally want something in return. Matters standing 
 as they did, we should want preferential treatment 
 in the Colonies for our manufactures. The point 
 was one that deserved careful study. The whole of 
 the British possessions outside the United Kingdom 
 imported at that moment commodities of the value of 
 230,000,000. Of that amount no less than 62 per 
 cent, came from the British Empire itself. In other 
 words, foreign countries did with our Colonies only 
 38 per cent, of the latter's total import trade, and the 
 38 per cent, consisted very greatly of commodities we 
 could not supply oil, for example. Would anyone say 
 that the Colonial statesmen were prepared to reduce 
 their tariffs to such an extent as to allow British 
 1 St. James's Hall, July ist.
 
 158 THE RIGHT HON. H, H. ASQUITH, M.P. 
 
 manufacturers to go and compete in the Colonial 
 markets with native manufacturers ? Mr. Chamberlain 
 suggested that an " offer " the famous offer had been 
 made by the Colonies. His opponent's curiosity was 
 at once aroused. At St. Neots, on November igth, he 
 referred to the offer and asked for details. The question 
 was taken up everywhere. It became the centre of a 
 separate controversy. To-day no one supposes that 
 Mr. Chamberlain got no offer, but its vagueness 
 removed from it all interest. 
 
 Mr. Asquith denied that the condition of our Colonial 
 relations demanded the granting of a preference. It was 
 a calumny on the Colonies. Their attitude had never 
 been more friendly. But Preference would lead to 
 jealousies ; raw materials would be taxed to avert these, 
 and then we should be in trouble with the great trading 
 nations. " The Empire must not be sustained by 
 enmity with the world." l 
 
 Mr. Chamberlain's proposals had two objects in view 
 to bind the Colonies to us by a golden bond of 
 Preference and to retaliate upon foreign countries 
 whose tariff walls were stopping the progress of our 
 export business. Preference was called for by the 
 attitude taken up towards us by the Colonies, and 
 retaliation by the stagnation of British trade. 
 
 So far counsel for the prosecution of Free Trade. 
 The defence dealt with the question of Preference in 
 the manner already shown. In answer to the charge 
 that trade was stagnant, the defence gave a complete 
 denial. Mr. Chamberlain, said Mr. Asquith, persisted 
 in confining his figures to export trade. But the 
 1 Cinderford, Oct. 8th.
 
 THE FISCAL QUESTION 159 
 
 way to measure the volume of a country's commerce 
 was to include not only exports but imports also. The 
 latter were often in the form of raw materials which 
 would be handled by British industry before finding its 
 way to the retail market : for instance, there was steel 
 and iron. Moreover, not only were these imports 
 carried for the most part on British ships, but to a very 
 large extent they represented the income and dividends 
 on the investment of British capital in foreign countries. 
 It is not possible to judge the condition of this country 
 by looking only at its foreign trade. A reduction in 
 export trade means often that the home trade is so 
 great that manufacturers have no time to attend to 
 orders from abroad. It was true that a certain number 
 of manufactured goods came to the country, but they 
 were commodities which the foreigner made better and 
 cheaper than we did. 
 
 Trade, however, was not stagnant. " During thirty 
 years the amount on which income tax is charged has 
 doubled, interest on our foreign investments has more 
 than doubled, deposits in savings banks had multiplied 
 two- or three-fold. Bankers' cheques cleared have risen 
 from 530,000,000 to over 800,000,000, and wages 
 have risen, not only in money, but in the proper way of 
 looking at value, in what the wages can buy. One 
 hundred shillings buys as much as one hundred and 
 forty shillings twenty-five years ago." l 
 
 But suppose that we did retaliate, what would we 
 
 retaliate on ? Suppose we did so on Russia, our trade 
 
 with whom was 25,000,000, or with the United States, 
 
 our trade with whom amounted to 127,000,000? As 
 
 1 Cinderford, Oct. 8th.
 
 i6o THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, M.P. 
 
 23,000,000, or eleven -twelfths of the whole of our 
 import trade with Russia, and 108,000,000, or seven- 
 eighths of our import trade with the United States, was 
 in food and raw materials, "we cannot retaliate on these 
 two countries without injuring our working classes or 
 our manufacturers, or both." 
 
 The Tariff Reformers said that at the moment the 
 country was not free to negotiate with foreigners. 
 " Who," asked Mr. Asquith, " has taken away our 
 freedom ? " We could always deal with cases as they 
 arose, as witness the Sugar Bill. It was also said that 
 tariffs were more severe than formerly. They were 
 not. "They had increased in stringency during the 
 past thirty years, but they were mildness itself compared 
 with those which existed before Free Trade." 
 
 As this remark indicates, he would not let it be 
 disguised from the people that if they lent a willing ear 
 to the Birmingham Charmer they would go straight back 
 to Protection. "There was no middle ground between 
 Free Trade and Protection," he told his hearers at 
 Barnstaple (November 24th). He did not claim that 
 Free Trade was a system perfect in every detail, but 
 it was completely and immeasurably exalted above 
 every other that offered. " Retaliation " he called the 
 " provisional programme " of the Tariff Reformers, but 
 he told his audiences plainly what would follow. Indeed, 
 when he spoke at Barnstaple, he believed that he was 
 already able to convict his rival of having taken the 
 final step in his policy. " Mr. Chamberlain," he said, 
 " after ten platform speeches was, from being a Free 
 Trader, a Protectionist." 
 
 The Tariff Reform argument was founded to a large
 
 THE FISCAL QUESTION 161 
 
 extent on the industrial position of Germany. Mr. 
 Asquith accordingly from the first set himself to 
 examine very carefully the conditions of German trade. 
 Germany, he admitted, had made great strides. But 
 did anyone suppose that England would maintain the 
 monopoly of the world ? Yet what were the facts 
 about Germany ? At that moment in that country the 
 value of exports per head of population was seventy- 
 eight shillings. In Great Britain it was one hundred 
 and forty-two shillings. Again, between 1880 and 1900 
 the increase in the trade in British exports to Germany 
 was greater than that in the trade in German exports 
 to England. Moreover, the British manufacturers 
 importing from Germany were mostly importing raw 
 material on which British capital was later going to be 
 exercised to complete it, or when they were manufactures 
 in their finished state they were manufactures which 
 the Germans could produce more cheaply and better 
 than we ourselves could. " Upon which of these two 
 claims," asked the relentless examiner, " was the country 
 to retaliate." Germany, he went on, had two advan- 
 tages : cheap labour, which we do not want, and a 
 better system of secondary technical education, which 
 we do want. " There lies the true road of retaliation ! " 
 In Germany a workman worked longer hours for 
 lower wages, paid more for his food, and received 
 inferior protection from danger to life. In the United 
 States a workman got higher wages, but had to pay 
 more for his food. " I would like anyone to name any 
 country in the civilised world where at the moment 
 the general average condition of the labouring classes 
 is as good as in England." 
 
 L
 
 x62 THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, M.P. 
 
 As for foreign tariffs being directed against this 
 country, they were just as much directed against our 
 Protectionist rivals. In Germany, for instance, by the 
 most-favoured-nation clause, we had as good a footing 
 as any of our rivals. Take the case of France and the 
 United States, two protected markets, and compare 
 imports into these markets from the United Kingdom 
 with those from Germany. Into the market of France 
 the United Kingdom sent 24,000,000, as against the 
 15,000,000 of Germany ; while into the United States 
 the United Kingdom sent 27,000,000, against the 
 16,000,000 which Germany sent. 
 
 He went over the figures of his opponent very care- 
 fully, and put his ringer at once upon any use of statistics 
 which he did not consider warranted. He criticised 
 Mr. Chamberlain, for instance, because he took 1872 
 a year of exceptionally bad trade as his year for com- 
 parison, and also because for the purposes of another 
 comparison he had chosen the years 1847 8. Free 
 Trade did not come into operation until 1849. 
 
 "This is a proposal," he said, surveying the whole 
 scheme, " to tax British industries, to tax the food of 
 the people, and thereby diminish their wages; to tax 
 the raw material out of which our wealth is made. It 
 is a scheme which is based on unfounded assumptions 
 and unproved inferences." 
 
 He reminded the people of what Protection had meant 
 to them when they had had it. Mr. Chamberlain said 
 wages would rise. Why should they? In the old 
 days of Protection agricultural labourers got six to 
 eight shillings a week. Mr. Chamberlain said that 
 Protection enabled foreign countries to undersell us
 
 THE FISCAL QUESTION 163 
 
 here with the produce of cheap and sweated labour, 
 and in the same breath he pointed to the improved 
 condition of the foreign workman as an argument in 
 favour of Protection. 
 
 A word which was on many lips and in many leading 
 articles was "dumping." It was understood to be a 
 term of the most appallingly sinister import. Mr. 
 Asquith, however, did not hesitate to meet the charge 
 that Free Trade encouraged " dumping." He defied 
 the Tariff Reformers to mention a single trade which 
 had been killed by " dumping." The Americans, though 
 they had tried, had quite failed to capture the cycle 
 trade. " From the headquarters of ' dumping,' the 
 United States, 600,000 men were discharged in the 
 early part of November. There was also a reduction 
 in wages of 25 per cent. This did not look as if the 
 ' dumping ' did much good to those engaged in it ! " l 
 
 While he criticised the Tariff Reformers he always 
 added a note of warning to the people who, without 
 personal experience of the days of Protection, inclined 
 to fiscal adventures. " Anything which tends to check 
 the inflow of commerce, raises an artificial barrier 
 against it, or tends to diminish the area of the people's 
 employment, impoverishes both capital and labour. 
 Peel and Gladstone gave the country cheap bread, the 
 free market, an open door. We must see that we do 
 not throw away the splendid results of their work." 
 
 The campaign ended in a great personal triumph 
 
 for himself. Any suspicion which had been felt of 
 
 his Liberalism vanished as one meeting succeeded 
 
 another and he still pursued his brilliant cross- 
 
 1 At Penzance. 
 
 L 2
 
 164 THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, M.P. 
 
 examination of Tariff Reform. Indeed, at this time 
 he had every reason for satisfaction. Liberal differences 
 had disappeared, and he was able to serve the Liberal 
 cause, not only in the way he preferred, but in the way 
 the party itself most desired he should serve it. It 
 cannot be said that he overshadowed Mr. Chamberlain 
 in the eyes of the country at large ; no one has been 
 able to do that since Mr. Gladstone died. Mr. 
 Chamberlain always filled the public mind and touched 
 its imagination. At this time, moreover, from the day 
 in October when he set out from Birmingham to begin 
 his series of speeches at Glasgow, he enjoyed some- 
 thing of a royal progress. But Mr. Asquith knew in 
 the end it was he and not his more picturesque opponent 
 who had secured the verdict. 
 
 The Times dealt fairly with him. It gave to his 
 St. James's Hall and Cinderford speeches almost as 
 much space as it rendered the rival speaker. The year 
 ended upon a great triumph for the Free Trade 
 champion. 
 
 The controversy was remarkable in that it was a 
 two-men affair. Mr. Gladstone in the Home Rule 
 days had been like one lion among many wolves. But 
 in the Fiscal campaign there seemed to be room only 
 for two figures. Other politicians, it is true, contributed 
 to the discussion, but the debate belonged to Mr. 
 Chamberlain and Mr. Asquith. The Prime Minister's 
 appearance in the controversy Mr. Asquith ridiculed 
 good-humouredly. Of " Mr. Balfour's Notes on Free 
 Trade," he said that " It contained, it is true, a few 
 perfunctory and not altogether accurate statements 
 as to the condition of British trade, but for the most
 
 THE FISCAL QUESTION 165 
 
 part it is concerned with the operation of an imaginary 
 code of an imaginary Cobden upon an imaginary island 
 in an imaginary world." From both sides there came 
 periodical interventions. But the debate still went on 
 between the same two men. They concerned them- 
 selves chiefly with the subject before them and with 
 one another. Their respective platform methods were 
 quite different. Mr. Chamberlain appealed often to 
 sentiment; Mr. Asquith never. The first offered 
 dreams; the second hard facts. The Tariff Reformer 
 contrasted the present with the unknown future ; the 
 Free Trader the present with the known past. 
 
 At this time Mr. Asquith travelled much. Worcester 
 and Fifeshire, London and Penzance, St. Neots and 
 Bradford and Barnstaple were only some of the 
 districts in which he appeared. He kept on dogging 
 his opponent as the latter continued his progress to 
 Protection, and never relaxed his pursuit until vthe 
 political destruction of the other was clear to all. 
 
 The campaign thrust upon its conductor an enormous 
 strain. But, as has been said elsewhere, he was tough 
 enough not only for his platform work but for his daily 
 labours in the courts. The full results of his work he 
 could not yet see. But they went on developing to 
 reach a grand and satisfying climax in January, 1906. 
 
 The year which followed was marked chiefly by a con- 
 tinuation of discussion on various aspects of the Fiscal 
 question. Mr. Balfour declined to commit himself to 
 an attitude of support either for the Chamberlainites 
 or for the small but intellectual section of Unionists 
 who dissented from the Birmingham heresy. A feeling 
 began to come over the country that the Protection
 
 x66 THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, M.P. 
 
 campaign had failed. Mr. Balfour was suspected of 
 having no particular enthusiasm for what was called 
 Tariff Reform, and to be waiting for the general 
 election to free him from his embarrassments. But 
 he showed no disposition to resign immediately, though 
 urged to do so by Mr. Chamberlain upon the one hand 
 and the Liberal Opposition on the other. The passing 
 of every moment lessened the hope of a Protectionist 
 victory. Had an election taken place the day after 
 the Glasgow speech, the country, fascinated by the 
 figure of its most popular politician, might have 
 thrown him its vote. But Mr. Asquith had compelled 
 it to reflection. With him, it examined the Glasgow 
 programme. With him it saw that there was no 
 avoidance of an ultimate tax on food and raw 
 materials. Its coldness towards the new proposals 
 now steadily increased. 
 
 In 1904 Mr. Chamberlain proposed the summoning 
 of a Colonial Conference to discuss Preference. Mr. 
 Balfour first refused the suggestion and then agreed 
 to it, but said that it must be summoned not by the 
 existing but by a new Parliament. A year passed, 
 however, without a dissolution. Then Sir Henry 
 Campbell- Bannerman made a speech in which he 
 encouraged Irish hopes of Home Rule. Lord Rose- 
 bery, whose political activity had been somewhat 
 suspended, now appeared in the West of England, 
 and in a series of speeches repudiated, for himself at 
 least, all proposals to return to the old Irish policy 
 of the Liberal party. 
 
 Mr. Balfour had no particular wish to see a general 
 election fought on Tariff Reform, though he knew
 
 THE FISCAL QUESTION 167 
 
 that the Free Traders would try to make that the 
 issue. In this sudden reopening of the Home Rule 
 controversy he saw an opportunity for embarrassing 
 his opponents. He decided to resign and to warn 
 the country that the strongest section of the Liberal 
 party was still committed as much as ever to Home 
 Rule. 
 
 For some time before he took this step a dissolution 
 had been in the air. But neither of the two wings 
 of the Liberal party were going to allow the country 
 to be frightened into returning a third Tory majority. 
 The Fiscal issue had brought them into co-operation ; 
 they were not to be separated by Mr. Balfour. 
 
 Mr. Asquith went into Fifeshire for his usual autumn 
 meetings, and when, on October nth, he appeared at 
 Earlsferry he was heckled about the question which 
 had suddenly been recalled from the obscurity of the 
 early nineties. His answer was explicit, it was 
 calculated, and he made it quite clear that he spoke 
 only for himself. 
 
 " If by Home Rule is meant, as I suppose it is, the 
 introduction of a Bill for the establishment of a legis- 
 lature in Dublin, as I have said before and will say 
 again, I am of opinion, speaking for myself, that it will 
 not and cannot be a part of the policy of the next 
 Liberal Government." 
 
 He said, however, that he must add that he had not, 
 in spirit or in letter, gone back on Mr. Gladstone's 
 policy. The first of these statements was obviously an 
 intimation to the leader of the party in the House of 
 Commons, that if the latter should be called upon to 
 form a Government he must either refuse to put Home
 
 168 THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, MJP. 
 
 Rule into the programme or do without the assistance 
 of the member for East Fife. The second statement 
 was presumably intended to reassure the leader, should 
 the first remark lead him to doubt the enduring quality 
 of Mr. Asquith's Liberal convictions. 
 
 In all his speeches at this time he vehemently asserted 
 the fact that the issues were Free Trade v. Protection, 
 and the repeal of Tory class-legislation. 
 
 In December Mr. Balfour resigned.
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 THE GENERAL ELECTION, 1906 
 
 MR. BALFOUR'S departure set in motion the acrobatics 
 
 of nomination. The partisan was now rampant. Every 
 
 man who bought a morning paper appeared to purchase 
 
 also the right to form the new Administration. It is 
 
 probable, indeed, that a summons to Buckingham 
 
 Palace would have not greatly surprised those who 
 
 most loudly proclaimed the right to office of some 
 
 favourite, but not necessarily eminent, politician. The 
 
 newspapers fanned lustily the fires of speculation. The 
 
 ubiquitous Press photographer that last flower of the 
 
 soil of public curiosity contributed daily some new 
 
 bud from an unfailing supply. The personal paragraph 
 
 became an unquenchable tongue uttering forecasts, 
 
 sometimes almost imposing upon the Prime Minister a 
 
 particular conclusion. One enterprising journal of the 
 
 Liberal colour offered a hundred pounds for the best 
 
 anticipation of the new appointments. The early 
 
 morning railway trains became so many courts of 
 
 adjudication, the claims of candidates being looked 
 
 into with much nicety and with every consideration of 
 
 the known antecedent. Everybody had his own idea 
 
 of what portfolio best fitted a particular individual, 
 
 and while the round peg as often went into the square 
 
 hole as the round hole secured the square peg, the
 
 170 THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, M.P. 
 
 manipulator got huge satisfaction in his work. Cabinet- 
 making became a general practice. The art was found 
 being practised in drawing-rooms as well as clubs, in 
 omnibuses as well as coal mines. Everybody had his 
 own idea for a suitable Home Secretary, and there was 
 no one but was ready then and there to present the 
 Exchequer seals to some happy politician who had 
 touched his imagination. 
 
 But though everyone had ideas, though the whole 
 country arrived at conclusions, a good deal of the 
 speculation was decidedly vague. It was fourteen 
 years since a Liberal Ministry had been called together, 
 and many of the supreme personalities of that earlier 
 day had died or so frail is Parliamentary reputation 
 faded from the public mind. Moreover, there were a 
 number of able men whose names opposition to the 
 Chamberlain fiscal campaign, opposition to the Edu- 
 cation Act, and opposition to the last performances 
 of the Balfourian Government, had forced to the front. 
 That some of these men would be found in the new 
 Cabinet and the new Administration nobody questioned. 
 That there would have to be made certain sacrifices 
 not only amongst these, but amongst those who had 
 served well their party and their generation, could also 
 not be doubted. 
 
 But three or four figures stood out as those of 
 certain inclusions. Among the men certain of place 
 who had never before held office were Mr. Lloyd 
 George and Mr. Churchill. Among former office- 
 holders was Mr. Asquith. Without his support it 
 would be almost impossible for the Government to 
 maintain existence. If he declined to come in, the
 
 THE GENERAL ELECTION, 1906 171 
 
 Liberal party could only be a thing divided, the appeal 
 to the country would be weakened, and an actual 
 danger of defeat would be precipitated. 
 
 It was now twelve years since Mr. Asquith had 
 handed over the seals of office to a Conservative 
 successor. Since then his influence in the country had 
 been a growing one. True, the Radical section of 
 the party believed that he had sometimes tarried a 
 little in the shadow of Lord Rosebery. But those 
 who knew him trusted him wholly. And in 1903 Mr. 
 Chamberlain had appeared with his fiscal panacea for 
 all our commercial distresses. To expose the Birming- 
 ham fallacies had at once been Mr. Asquith's work. 
 He had fallen to the task with, from the first, a splendid 
 determination. By so doing he had more than regained 
 his old sway in the party, and the December of 1906 
 found him with a following amongst Liberals only 
 second to that of the Prime Minister. 
 
 It was believed that his adherence to the new Govern- 
 ment had been secured. " C. B.'s " greatest difficulty 
 was known to centre in Sir Edward Grey. But Mr. 
 Asquith's adherence being taken for granted, there 
 still remained the question for which of the great offices 
 of State would he elect. It was not to be supposed 
 that in his position he would be offered a particular 
 portfolio. No one doubted but that he would be 
 invited to make his choice from every office in the 
 Cabinet. 
 
 There was not much disposition to think that he 
 would choose to be Lord Chancellor. For the 
 Woolsack though it carries with it an excellent 
 financial recompense and an illimitable popularity
 
 172 THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, M*P. 
 
 born of the fact that it dispenses a lavish patronage 
 has never in recent Cabinets been anything but a 
 subordinate position. The holder lives in an atmo- 
 sphere of blameless and non-political activities, a 
 splendid figure, splendidly isolated from the move- 
 ments and the passions, the ambitions and the hopes, 
 of the country upon which, from his great height, 
 he looks down. The Woolsack was not likely, then, 
 to be the choice of a man who had lived his political 
 life in close touch with crowds, and who had tasted 
 something at least of the sweetness of popular applause. 
 That Mr. Asquith would consent or be desired by the 
 Prime Minister to take the office he had held in the 
 last Liberal Administration was unlikely. While it 
 is true, of course, that every office depends for its 
 importance to some extent upon the personality of 
 the man who holds it, Mr. Asquith could not be spared 
 to the Home Department. 
 
 His knowledge of men and affairs, his strength of 
 character and his force of will, above all his perfect 
 self-control, well fitted him to be the successor to Lord 
 Lansdowne. He had enjoyed for many years the close 
 personal friendship of one who made his only genuine 
 success in the sphere of foreign politics. But if Mr. 
 Asquith were to go to the Foreign Office he would 
 be keeping out one still better qualified for that 
 great situation. Sir Edward Grey, in any other posi- 
 tion, was not to be considered. Where, then, would 
 Mr. Asquith go ? 
 
 Thus speculation continued. But the most general 
 assumption was that he would choose the Chancellorship 
 of the Exchequer. This post is generally considered
 
 THE GENERAL ELECTION, 1906 173 
 
 to rank next to that of the Premiership, for when the 
 latter happens to be held by a peer, the Chancellor 
 usually couples with his office the leadership of the 
 House of Commons. Against this may be put the fact 
 that Mr. Balfour, in the years before he succeeded Lord 
 Salisbury, led the Commons without being Chancellor. 
 
 It is now history that the expectation that Mr. Asquith 
 would go to the Exchequer was verified. The appoint- 
 ment gave universal satisfaction and was applauded by 
 both parties. The Liberals saw in his accession to 
 office the final blow to party faction, while the Con- 
 servatives were pleased because they recognized in 
 the new Chancellor a moderating influence which 
 would check the unwise and violent legislation which 
 they feared might be promoted by some of the new 
 political forces. 
 
 The Department of the Exchequer is one of the 
 greatest offices in the State. And as such it was 
 certain to excite the honourable desire of any ambitious 
 statesman worthy of the name. 
 
 But the Chancellorship, while it must always attract 
 the hopes of statesmen of both sides of the House 
 of Commons, exercises in Liberal minds a feeling 
 at once of attraction and awe. For no Liberal can 
 approach its chair without seeing in it for a moment 
 a ghostly figure whose massive head bends over 
 ghostly figures of distant bygone Budgets, and who 
 seems as though into them even now he must press 
 some vitality. It is a great destiny to sit where 
 Gladstone sat. 
 
 If Mr. Asquith hesitated, he hesitated only in his 
 heart. He showed no feeling. It was not his way.
 
 174 THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, M.P. 
 
 He went to his new great office and set at once to 
 master his work. 
 
 The Cabinet appointments were made in December. 
 In January the new Government sought the country's 
 approval. To recall that terrible destruction of Tory 
 hopes is to recall what is still fresh in the public mind. 
 But never before in the whole history of politics had 
 there been witnessed such a complete revolution in 
 public sentiment as was seen in those first weeks of 
 a new year. Nobody seemed safe if he wore Con- 
 servative colours. The introduction of Chinese labour 
 in South African mines touched the easily active 
 imagination of the working man, and turned him 
 from a Tory to a Liberal. The picture of the " Tory 
 British workman " being a sketch of a pig-tailed 
 son of the Celestial Empire appeared upon many 
 hoardings and helped to impress the minds of the 
 doubters. But what wrought most with the thought- 
 ful voter that happy conjunction of adjective and 
 noun was the danger that threatened the great 
 commercial institution bequeathed to the country by 
 Cobden and Peel. Memories were not as good as 
 they had been, but there were still men who could 
 remember the old days when bread was almost a 
 luxury, and when a Protective tariff could laugh 
 hideously at the skeletons of the men whom it had 
 killed. Lifelong Conservatives announced themselves 
 to be Free Traders, and went to the poll with the 
 single object of crushing the insidious re-growth of the 
 weed Protection. 
 
 The first constituency to be polled was a midland 
 one, and the overwhelming Free Trade victory there
 
 THE GENERAL ELECTION, 1906 175 
 
 recorded struck the note which was to dominate the 
 whole piece. This was on Thursday. Then came 
 Saturday and Manchester. What Lancashire thinks 
 to-day England will think to-morrow, is a political 
 epigram which has been enunciated to the point of 
 weariness. Yet it was upon many tongues and in 
 many minds that night. The surging throngs which 
 gathered round the lantern slides in Fleet Street as 
 the night closed in waited expectant of something 
 vague and strange. Hearts of stout Tories trembled 
 for something they scarce realised. Then the first 
 results began to come through. And at last strain- 
 ing eyes read the downfall of Conservatism in the 
 rejection of Mr. Balfour in East Manchester. 
 
 Here was something for which to cheer. Even the 
 Conservative thousands who helped to fill the streets must 
 have found something admirable in the very magnitude 
 of their defeat. London went home that night with no 
 further doubt of how the struggle was to go. Lancashire 
 had spoken. To-morrow but for the intervention of 
 Sunday the literal to-morrow saw England repeating 
 Lancashire in a manner wholly satisfactory to the 
 saying. 
 
 In the meantime ministers were flinging themselves 
 into the struggle with a courage born not only of 
 Liberal success, but of their suddenly acquired domi- 
 nance in their own party. A man is never so confident 
 as when the victory is within his grasp but not yet 
 actually in his hand. Afterwards, when the first 
 moment of supremacy is passed, there may come 
 doubts of the permanence of the triumph. But this 
 first moment is as sweet as anything known to the man
 
 i?6 THE RIGHT HON. H, H. ASQUITH, M.P. 
 
 who lives his days in the turmoil of party. This was 
 the happy experience of many Liberals at this time. 
 A few, of course, had that other special felicity, which 
 fourteen years before Mr. Asquith had himself enjoyed, 
 of finding themselves no longer private members, docile 
 creatures of a governing Whip, but Front Bench men. 
 But though that particular sweet Mr. Asquith had 
 already tasted, it is to be remembered that not only had 
 twelve years passed since he had sat at the table of the 
 Cabinet, but that his whole official experience had not 
 exceeded three years. 
 
 It was he who began to prepare the country for the 
 election. He was one of the first of the new ministers to 
 appear on the platform. He spoke at the Queen's Hall on 
 December 20th. and told his audience that the election 
 was to be fought on Free Trade. He had already given 
 the nation the arguments at length : he now summarised 
 them and asked for a verdict. The speech was signi- 
 ficant, however, not so much for its references to the 
 Fiscal question, as for two other features. The first 
 of these was a remark about Ireland ; the second was, 
 not a remark, but the omission of one. The reference 
 to Ireland was designed to emphasise the fact that the 
 election was not being fought on Home Rule as 
 Mr. Balfour tried to suggest. But this utterance was 
 not projected by the speaker only or chiefly at Mr. 
 Balfour. It was aimed at those on his own side who 
 might later claim the right to bring in a Home Rule 
 Bill. 
 
 The omission was that of any denunciation of Chinese 
 labour. In this part of Liberal propaganda he was 
 disinclined to engage. The refusal will easily be seen to
 
 THE GENERAL ELECTION, 1906 177 
 
 have been characteristic. The question was undoubtedly 
 one of the most urgent before the country on moral 
 as well as economic grounds. But it was the kind of 
 question which, in the hands of the clever party 
 manager, could be worked in other than reasonable 
 ways. The more obvious of its economic aspects 
 nothing was to be got out of the moral, of which most 
 people were ignorant could easily be used to move 
 popular passion. The Chinaman was driving the 
 Englishman out of the South African labour market. 
 It was easy to call him the " Tory British workman." 
 
 Mr. Asquith, however, was impatient of such methods. 
 Appeals, he felt, ought to be to reason. His career has 
 never been other than consistent with his temperament ; 
 the secret of all his political actions is to be found 
 in his personal characteristics. There has, perhaps, 
 been no statesman who has occasioned more rarely a 
 shock of surprise to those who know his instinctive 
 attitude towards life and politics. But no part of 
 his history more closely consists with his peculiar 
 qualities than the position he took up in excluding 
 from his speeches the subject of indentured labour. 
 
 He refused to be carried in upon a sea of popular 
 passion. This independence may seem rash until 
 examined. But he was moved by something more than 
 a mere dislike of popular verdicts gained by an appeal 
 to prejudice. And his chief reason for wishing to put the 
 indentured question in the background was to give com- 
 plete prominence to the Fiscal question. He believed 
 the election should be fought for Free Trade in order 
 that the verdict, one way or another, should be decisive 
 on this one issue. He would not diffuse his own quality. 
 
 M
 
 178 THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, M.P. 
 
 But neither would he diffuse the value of an electoral 
 decision. 
 
 But he had another object in ignoring Chinese labour. 
 He believed that not only ought Free Trade to be the 
 dominating issue, but that it quite sufficed so great 
 was the country's belief in its existing fiscal system 
 to win the election. 
 
 The third reason was that he realised, as not everyone 
 did, that the more vulgar side of the agitation would 
 recoil upon its promoters' heads. Another of his 
 motives was his doubt of the practicability, now 
 that indentured labour was in force, of ending it at 
 any rate immediately. One of the best features of his 
 career has been his refusal to give promises unless he 
 saw their fulfilment in sight. Like Macaulay, he has 
 never been fond of pledges. 
 
 He may also have had a feeling that if he empha- 
 sised again and again his repudiation of a part 
 of the Conservative policy in South Africa of 
 which he did not approve, it might be construed 
 into a repudiation of that part of Tory policy to 
 which he had given his support. Indentured labour 
 was an excrescence of Imperialism, but since he had 
 voiced his approval of some recent acts of Imperial 
 policy he may have felt that, in too frequently con- 
 demning the excrescence, it might be said that he 
 was also condemning the acts by means of which it 
 had attained its being. 
 
 There never was any doubt of his hatred of indentured 
 labour. 1 But his exclusion of it from all his platform 
 
 1 " You are, by this ordinance, putting in jeopardy the whole 
 fqture of South Africa." Mr. Asquith, in House of Commons,
 
 THE GENERAL ELECTION, 1906 179 
 
 addresses, an exclusion which characterised practically 
 the whole of his election speeches, is, for the reasons 
 already stated, to be considered a part of the man. 
 
 He was one of the first to address a meeting after 
 the Christmas holidays, appearing at Sheffield on 
 January 5th. He said the issue was whether or 
 not the Government which had disappeared, should 
 be called back and given a Protectionist mandate. 
 He referred to the financial condition of the country 
 and his hopes of improving it. But he concentrated 
 on Free Trade. He spoke at Huddersfield four 
 days later, and welcomed the appearance of the 
 Labour candidates. He told the Labour party that 
 already the Government was trying to deal, in a Bill, 
 with the question of trades disputes. He expressed 
 hopes of improving the existing Workmen's Com- 
 pensation Act, and said that in education lay the 
 best cure of unemployment. " We should mix more 
 brains with our work." Finally, he laid the strongest 
 emphasis on the danger threatened to Free Trade. 
 
 The next day he went to Stockton to support the 
 candidature of Mr. S. F. Mendl, and spoke on labour 
 questions and the Trades Disputes Bill. " Speaking as 
 one who was lately a lawyer, I may say that it passes 
 the wit of man to devise a scheme by which a strike or 
 any other legitimate industrial combination can be 
 legally conducted." But once again the greater part 
 of his speech was a defence of Free Trade. 
 
 On the i6th he went to Oakham and proclaimed 
 Free Trade and plain dealing in public affairs as the 
 
 March zist, 1904. He had also supported the vote of censure 
 moved on February aznd of the same year. 
 
 M 2
 
 i8o THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, M.P. 
 
 issues of the election. He took occasion also to deplore 
 the death of Lord Ritchie, 1 " that manly, upright, 
 courteous statesman." 
 
 Three days later he appeared at Henley to support 
 Mr. Philip Morrell. He again welcomed the Labour 
 members, and said that the Government's first care 
 should be education, and once more he laid particular 
 emphasis on the danger threatening Free Trade. 
 
 The next day he went north, and after a long and 
 tiring journey addressed a meeting at St. Andrews. 
 His endurance is shown by the fact that, having 
 spoken at the meeting on the igth at Henley, he 
 spent the whole of the next day in the train, and went 
 straight from the railway carriage to the platform. The 
 students of the local University contrived to make their 
 presence felt. The speech followed the lines of the pre- 
 vious ones. He bantered the retiring Prime Minister 
 upon his failure to frighten the country about Home 
 Rule. " You know those air balloons we sometimes 
 see in the hands of children. They are very graceful 
 and pretty, and are buoyant so long as they are not 
 pricked, but the smallest pin-prick destroys them utterly. 
 And this is the case with the Home Rule balloon. The 
 late Prime Minister was, I see, at Inverness last night, 
 engaged in trying to pump a little new gas into it. It 
 is in vain ! " 
 
 He denied there was any agreement between the 
 Liberals and the Irish. He again welcomed the 
 Labour members, and said every opinion ought to 
 
 1 Lord Ritchie, it is interesting to note, was, like Mr. Asquith, 
 an old City of London schoolboy who became Chancellor of the 
 Exchequer.
 
 THE GENERAL ELECTION, 1906 181 
 
 be represented, denied that politics could long con- 
 tinue to be the affair of two parties only, and turned 
 to the Fiscal question. He did not want to see a 
 self-contained Empire. It was not his ideal that the 
 Empire should be surrounded by a wall of tariffs. But 
 though the constituencies echoed with the cries of 
 " Tory British workman " and " pig-tail," he avoided 
 the subject. 
 
 The St. Andrews meeting was really the opening of 
 his own campaign. The East Fife election was to take 
 place on the 26th. By this time of course he knew that 
 a great victory, an unprecedented triumph, was to be 
 his party's. 
 
 At Leven he spoke wholly on Free Trade. At Kings- 
 barn he asked the people to give the new Government 
 the strongest possible evidence of popular welcome and 
 approval. He warned them not to think, because of 
 the victory already assured for Free Trade, that Pro- 
 tection was done with. The wisdom of the warning 
 is becoming apparent to-day. Heckled he was 
 often heckled he said that he would support small 
 holdings. 
 
 The next day he went to Auchtermuchty and New- 
 burgh. At the former he poked fun at the Socialism 
 scare. Referring to a subject of which he had often 
 spoken before, he denied that he had calumniated Mr. 
 Chamberlain by saying the latter was going to tax raw 
 materials. He quoted again his well-known instance of 
 the imposition of a duty on South African wool, to 
 satisfy that Colony when it saw Canada benefiting 
 from a duty on wheat. In reply to heckling, he 
 said Parliament had no mandate for Home Rule,
 
 xBa THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, M.P. 
 
 and that if a Bill was introduced he would not 
 support it. 
 
 On the 25th at Galdry he told his audience to 
 remember that when, next day, they gave their votes, 
 they owed their enfranchisement to the Liberal party. 
 The speech dealt chiefly with Free Trade. " I am not 
 a Free Trader because Cobden was one. I would 
 have been a Free Trader, I hope, although Cobden had 
 never lived." He referred to the condition of the 
 country's finances, and said that, when they had reduced 
 the Debt, they would be able to relieve the enormous 
 burden pressing on the country. 
 
 A heckler at this point interrupted : " You speak of 
 the necessity of reducing taxation. Would you be in 
 favour of reducing a Cabinet Minister's pay? " 
 
 " Certainly not," was his emphatic answer. 
 
 " Do you consider any gentleman filling such a 
 position worth 5,000 ? " 
 
 " I do." 
 
 Up to this time he had still avoided all reference to 
 the question which occupied so much of the public 
 mind. At last, however, the inevitable heckler drew 
 him. He was asked if he would renew the indentures 
 of the Chinese. He answered readily enough that the 
 Transvaal would soon have a Government of its own 
 and could decide for itself. 
 
 "The right honourable gentleman knows that the 
 Chinese are necessary." 
 
 " I know nothing of the kind." 
 
 He had held to the course he had set himself with 
 his accustomed tenacity. He had believed and events 
 have since absolutely upheld him that the lesson of
 
 THE GENERAL ELECTION, 1906 183 
 
 the election, when afterwards it came to be drawn 
 as in favour of Free Trade, would be found to 
 have lost something of its value if another question 
 than that of Fiscal Reform was allowed to domi- 
 nate the issue before the country. He was still 
 appealing to the logic rather than to the passions of 
 the nation. 
 
 In his insistence that Free Trade was seriously 
 threatened, he showed a true understanding, and in 
 warning the country that the danger was not over with 
 the attainment of the victory, he showed true foresight. 
 The fact that in some constituencies the election to a 
 large extent was fought on the subject of Indentured 
 Labour has enabled the opponents of Free Trade to 
 suggest that a clear verdict on the Fiscal question has 
 not yet been given. The value of the last general 
 election to Free Trade has been largely lost, as Mr. 
 Asquith saw it would be, by the confusion of the issues 
 involved. To say this is not to deny that in many 
 respects the Chinese question was of a character more 
 important than Free Trade itself. 
 
 When the last constituency had been polled it was 
 seen that, of the few Conservative members who still had 
 the right to sit, not one represented Wales and very 
 few Scotland. Great Liberal minorities in England 
 had been turned into greater majorities, and a Tory 
 seat in Essex was won by a Radical by a margin of 
 eight thousand votes. Scarcely a Conservative gain 
 came to break the ceaseless monotony of Liberal 
 victories. Defeat became a habit. It seemed as though 
 scarcely a Tory possession was safe. And when it was 
 all over and gains and losses had been reckoned up,
 
 i8 4 THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, M.P. 
 
 it was found that the final result worked out as 
 follows : 
 
 Liberals and Labour , . 429 
 Conservatives and Unionists . 158 
 Nationalists .... 83 
 
 Majority of parties for Reform 354 
 
 To gain the victory Mr. Asquith had done his part. 
 But his duties were not now only those of the platform. 
 The Department which he was to control demanded 
 his attention, and before many days had passed he had 
 returned to Whitehall; at the Exchequer he had set 
 himself at once to master every detail of his new work. 
 To do that in a great State Department is to answer a 
 severe test. Unlike the late Lord Ritchie, unlike Lord 
 Goschen, he was not a financier. With large financial 
 operations, whether at the Home Department or else- 
 where, he had never been called upon officially to deal. 
 But he had a bright and recent example in Sir William 
 Harcourt, whose early training had been a legal one, 
 and who, when he first joined the Cabinet, did so by 
 taking the chair of a Department so essentially legal in 
 atmosphere as the Home Office. 
 
 Yet while the Exchequer called for an instinct for 
 figures, and for a knowledge of that strange world 01 
 mingling and opposing interests which we call the 
 City, which only a few men could be expected to 
 possess, it called for something more. The Chancellor 
 of the Exchequer must be not merely a man acquainted 
 with business forms and familiar with the terms and 
 transactions of commerce, must not only comprehend
 
 THE GENERAL ELECTION, 1906 185 
 
 the science of investment and the difference between a 
 debenture and a preference, but first of all and this 
 must never be forgotten he must be a statesman. 
 There were hundreds of contemporaries of Mr. 
 Gladstone probably with a closer familiarity with City 
 movements than was possessed even by that abnor- 
 mally endowed and widely intelligent intellect. Yet, 
 which of them could have handled figures as he 
 handled them or clothed them with romance as he 
 clothed them ? The first essential of a Chancellor is 
 not business knowledge. It is statesmanship. Let 
 this be recollected by those who call too loudly 
 for " business methods " in the conduct of the 
 country. 
 
 When a certain well-known statesman was appointed 
 Colonial Secretary, he is said to have called aside an 
 official, and with a naive invitation to confidence, 
 observed : "By the way, where are the Colonies?" 
 This story has often been told, but always to emphasise 
 the same moral that knowledge is the first essential. 
 But the ignoramus referred to was a greater minister 
 than the men who, because of their superior information, 
 might have been appointed to the place he filled. For 
 he was using the word in its proper and narrow sense 
 a statesman. A knowledge of details the permanent 
 official is able to provide ; instruction may proceed from 
 the same quarter. But true statecraft cannot be acquired 
 in a few easy lessons. An instinct for it must be inherent. 
 The instinct may have to wait until opportunity provides 
 a day of awakening, but it must be there. 
 
 Lord Randolph Churchill was generally admitted to 
 have performed the duties of Secretary for India, not only
 
 186 THE RIGHT HON. R H. ASQUITH, M.P, 
 
 adequately, but admirably. Yet on one occasion when 
 Bimetallism was to come under discussion in the 
 India Council, he observed : " I have asked Arthur 
 Balfour to come here to-day. He understands these 
 things, whereas I know no more about them than a 
 goat." A statesman does not so much need to carry in 
 his head a large number of details, as to know how to 
 deal with such details when they are placed before 
 him. 
 
 Mr. Asquith had long before proved himself a states- 
 man of the highest capacity. Moreover, he had, so 
 far as it was possible for one to have, who while in 
 close touch for many years with Chancellors and ex- 
 Chancellors, had yet never been connected officially 
 with the Treasury a sound knowledge of British 
 finance. Added to this, his recent labours in apology 
 for Free Trade had familiarised him still more closely 
 with the fiscal problem, and with the best methods for 
 its exposition. A happier appointment could scarcely 
 have been made. 
 
 That the new Chancellor was determined to learn 
 his work, the permanent officials soon discovered. 
 
 The permanent official, it is sometimes forgotten, is 
 often not merely a drudge, not only a man, but a 
 personality. Some of these splendidly trained intellects 
 who overlook and sometimes, it must be confessed, 
 rectify the mistakes of Cabinet ministers, are better 
 qualified for political distinction than the man who 
 has been thrown into the chair from which they are 
 compelled to take their orders. They are often men 
 with intuitions. They measure their new chiefs by no 
 special standards, and they know whether they are
 
 THE GENERAL ELECTION, 1906 187 
 
 going to work with a man who will depend upon them 
 at every turn, or one who will expect them to teach him 
 quickly to be independent. 
 
 Mr. Asquith came to the officials of the Exchequer 
 with a reputation. But they soon discovered that they 
 were to witness that reputation strengthen and improve. 
 
 The Chancellor, on the other hand, was finding his 
 work full of splendid possibilities, and looked forward 
 to a six years' tenure of his new and great office.
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER 
 
 THE work done by Mr. Asquith at the Exchequer 
 has been sound rather than brilliant. This has been 
 so, however, because he has preferred soundness to 
 brilliancy, and has made no effort to touch the imagina- 
 tion by his handling of figures and adjustment of the 
 country's finances. This preference is the result partly 
 of the existence in his character of certain traits well 
 known and inherent. His policy, however, is not only 
 the natural consequence of his type of mind, but has 
 been deliberately adapted to what he saw were the needs 
 of the moment. It is natural for him to move cautiously 
 even when there are no clouds over the path of national 
 finance ; but just now there were many clouds. It is 
 not difficult for him to refrain from " showing off" as a 
 manipulator of public moneys; he has no impulse 
 urging him to do so. It is easy for him to deal with 
 figures as he deals with human factors in an unhurried, 
 assured, unemotional way. But now he saw that 
 the truer he remained to his inborn instinct, the more 
 he suppressed emotion, the colder and calmer and less 
 responsive he continued, the better would be his service 
 to the country. The most ostentatiously - inclined 
 Chancellor in the history of the Exchequer could 
 scarcely have failed to see that this was no time for
 
 CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER 189 
 
 popular display. "C.-B." made some good appointments; 
 but though Mr. Asquith's to the Chancellorship was 
 inevitable on other grounds than suitability, the late 
 Prime Minister could not have found anyone, the 
 particular character of whose capacity was better 
 adapted to the needs of the moment. Another poli- 
 tician might have been more suited to another time, 
 but at this juncture there was no one in the country 
 who could be expected to discharge the unpleasant 
 duty which would devolve upon the Chancellor as well 
 as Mr. Asquith. 
 
 The condition of the national finances must be 
 remembered before the importance of the appointment 
 can be understood. For the past ten years the country 
 had been acquiring liabilities at such a rate as to lower, 
 to an appallingly serious extent, British credit. The 
 funded and unfunded Debt from being 641,000,000 in 
 March, 1897, would at the end of the financial year 
 be 744,000,000. Moreover, while the debt on other 
 capital liabilities in the Diamond Jubilee year was only 
 4,000,000, in the spring of 1906 it would be 47,000,000. 
 The chief responsibility for this abnormal increase rests 
 with the war. But the war makers had not had the 
 courage to clap on enough direct taxation to reduce 
 the need of borrowing. The public which prances, 
 eyes flashing, into the whirl of conflict does not like 
 afterwards to be called upon to pay promptly and 
 directly for its amusement. The Conservative Govern- 
 ment, therefore, who had provided the diversion, had 
 felt itself forced, in view of the unwillingness of its 
 clients to pay its just dues, to resort to other and less 
 financially excellent methods of meeting the difficulties
 
 xgo THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, MJP. 
 
 which faced it. Its attitude towards the critics was a 
 mixture of happy irresponsibility and splendid resigna- 
 tion under an inevitable financial burden. 
 
 The appointment of Mr. Asquith resembled the 
 putting in of an auditor to examine the affairs of a 
 business which had been allowed a loose hand for a 
 number of years. Like that ever unwelcome inquisitor, 
 he had to examine the accounts and say what he found. 
 He had to tell the truth. That, when he came to tell 
 it, it would be unpalatable truth he knew. But he 
 regarded the task with no hesitancy, and discharged it 
 without waste of time. In communicating the un- 
 pleasant facts, he showed no particular diffidence. He 
 drove the truth home on every possible occasion, both 
 before and after the election. He told the country that 
 it had been a spendthrift, that it was suffering for its 
 folly, and that before it had finished it must suffer a 
 little more. It was all very well to talk of reducing 
 taxation. To reduce taxation was an excellent thing. 
 " There is no dream more dear to a Chancellor of the 
 Exchequer than the vision of reducing taxation, and if 
 ever there was a time when that dream might be 
 supposed to burn with exceptional ardour it is now." l 
 But it was not time to talk of reducing taxation until 
 the debt had been reduced. If he pointed out the 
 faults and follies of his predecessors with a little com- 
 placency, it is not very wonderful. Some feeling of the 
 kind he probably could not avoid. Had he been called 
 upon to follow some phenomenal example of efficiency, 
 his comparative success might have been in doubt. 
 But he had the assurance that even if he failed to 
 1 Sheffield, January 5th.
 
 CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER 191 
 
 improve the condition of the country's finances, it was 
 not possible for him, unless by some diligence in folly, 
 to make them much worse. For Mr. A. Chamberlain, 
 his predecessor, it has to be said that the blame rested 
 not upon an individual, but had to be shared between 
 each of those who had shaped Tory policy and methods 
 during the preceding ten years. 
 
 If Mr. Asquith had on the one hand a reason for 
 complacency in the thought that his reputation as a 
 financier had not much to fear in any comparison 
 which the country might institute between himself and 
 his immediate predecessors, he could not, on the other 
 hand, forget the undoubted fact that the nation is never 
 very careful in its allocation of blame, and often forgets, 
 in its annoyance with the statesman who asks it to pay 
 a bill, that it was another person who led it into con- 
 tracting the debt. He knew that it was hoping for an 
 immediate reduction in income tax, as well as for the 
 abolition of the tea, sugar, and coal imposts. He was 
 aware that the ordinary tax-payer, when a call is made 
 upon his immediate resources, is not greatly perturbed 
 about British credit, and that to this person the 
 National Debt is a term, as vague as it is convenient, 
 which covers certain financial liabilities completely 
 remote from his own personal concerns. He knew 
 that the country looked to him to remove these taxes 
 at an early date, and that it would not readily accept 
 the excuse that the condition in which the previous 
 Government had left the public credit made it 
 impossible for any prudent Chancellor to yield to the 
 tax-payers' wishes. 
 
 So much for his attitude as a politician towards his
 
 i92 THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, M.P. 
 
 new responsibilities. He had another feeling which 
 was quite unrelated either to public opinion or national 
 prejudice. He had a strong impression of the principles 
 which he believed should form the basis of national 
 financial policy. But he found little sign of these 
 principles in the policy which had been left him by his 
 predecessors. His concern at what he saw was quite 
 genuine. It was naturally not wholly free from party 
 bias ; to express it, as he did frequently to the country 
 before and after the election, was useful to the Liberal 
 cause. But his instinct for sound finance made him 
 genuinely ill at ease. He was a financier as well as a 
 Liberal leader. And in his first Budget speech he spoke, 
 not of his disgust at Conservative incompetence, but of 
 his " disquiet " at the condition of the national credit. 
 
 His instinctive honesty as well as his indifference 
 to the prejudices of the commoner type of political 
 intelligence, showed itself in his undisguised refusal, 
 before the election, to consider for a moment the 
 question of reducing taxation. He made no bid for 
 popularity by talk about the end of the reign of extor- 
 tion, or about the coming of the emancipators with 
 hammers to break the chains of taxation which hung 
 upon the country's wrists. You must, he told them 
 with hearty frankness, go on paying. He did not say 
 this once only, as he might have done if his object 
 had been merely to cover himself against any allegation 
 which might be made later, that he had promised to 
 reduce the burden. From almost every platform on 
 which he appeared he reiterated his refusal of reduction. 
 He gave a hope that he would drop the coal duty, 
 which he said was vicious in principle, but that was all.
 
 CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER 193 
 
 It might be possible to praise him for his courage 
 were it not that it was of the kind which is indifferent 
 to danger. There was nothing calculated to excite 
 enthusiasm in the statement, to a mass meeting in 
 Sheffield, that " there can be no reduction of taxation 
 except on two conditions. First, the reduction of the 
 normal expenditure of the country ; but there can be 
 no prospect of that this year, because of the estimates I 
 have inherited. The second condition is that a due 
 regard be had to strengthening and enlarging the pro- 
 vision for the redemption of the capital liabilities of the 
 State." The men who listened may have approved the 
 soundness of the observations. They could hardly be 
 what Mr. Lucy would call " ungovernably enthusiastic." 
 Mr. Asquith was, as a matter of fact, going about dis- 
 tributing wholesome but not very palatable medicine. 
 For the work no one was better qualified than he. His 
 appearance at Sheffield was his first in the New Year 
 and, more important, his first after ascertaining some- 
 thing of what his immediate duties as a national 
 financier would be. A week later he was in Perth. 
 " Have you realised," he asked his hearers, " that 
 during the past ten years the annual normal expenditure 
 has increased between forty and fifty millions ? Do you 
 know you are paying 24,500,000 of taxation every year 
 into the Exchequer more than you were doing some 
 years ago ? " Then came the homely truth : " I tell you 
 perfectly frankly that it is impossible to hope for any 
 remission of taxation of any sort or kind, until you 
 have reduced the level of expenditure at present pre- 
 vailing in the country, and until you have made, as it 
 is my intention and hope that I shall make, a better 
 
 N
 
 194 THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, M.P. 
 
 and a more adequate provision for the redemption of 
 the National Debt." 
 
 In his own constituency, where he appeared later 
 in the month, he told the people, with a reiteration 
 almost as monotonous as the record of Liberal 
 victories, to hope for no reduction in their taxes. 
 " I can make no reduction until the national expendi- 
 ture has been reduced to its proper level." " The first 
 duty of any prudent statesman at the present time," 
 he said at Newport the day before his election, " is 
 to strengthen the national credit." 
 
 This crusade against debt brings into prominence 
 the strongest characteristic of Mr. Asquith's financial 
 policy. That characteristic is thrift. If it is said that 
 he endangered his reputation for this admirable quality 
 by giving Old Age Pensions before he knew where the 
 money was to come from, he would probably reply that 
 the money can be found. He has never shown any 
 objection to raising revenue, 1 and while he does not 
 greatly fear the unpopularity which might come to 
 him by certain direct taxes, he knows that there are 
 many new channels of taxation which have not been 
 tried. He has always held strong views in favour of 
 the taxation of site values, and he is perfectly ready 
 to mulct the unearned income for the benefit of the 
 impoverished. What he will not have at any price, 
 what he set his face against from the first moment 
 of his entering the Exchequer, is a loan. His 
 objection to the policy of borrowing shows itself at 
 
 1 " There cannot be a greater mistake than to suppose that a 
 Free Trade minister has come or even approached towards the 
 end of his resources in the matter of taxes." Mr. Asquith's 
 Budget Statement, 1908.
 
 CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER 195 
 
 all times, and not only in matters directly related to 
 the Exchequer. His first Budget, which he brought in 
 in May, 1906, might, if printed in pamphlet form, be 
 accepted as a treatise on national thrift. 
 
 He gave the House a sketch of how the country's 
 credit was involved. " These figures," he went on, 
 " speak with an eloquence which needs no rhetorical 
 embroidery, and, in my opinion, to make a return to 
 more thrifty and economical methods of administration 
 s the first and paramount duty of the Government." 
 
 He would have no more borrowing for naval and 
 military works. Borrowings under the still unexhausted 
 powers of the existing Acts were, as a rule, to be con- 
 fined for the future to the continuation and completion 
 of works already in hand. " Apart from the Suez 
 Canal shares and our balances in the bank, there are 
 no countervailing assets, with the exception a not 
 altogether negligible exception of the British Empire, 
 which, as we always realise on Budget nights, has been, 
 to a very large degree, built upon borrowed money." 
 The pleasantry did not hide the note of complete dis- 
 satisfaction with the fact that he was forced to admit 
 these borrowings. 
 
 " The Unfunded Debt," he went on, " was to him 
 a source of the most serious disquietude." This dis- 
 quiet was natural. The Unfunded Debt had grown in 
 nine years to eleven times the amount at which it stood at 
 the beginning of this period. The terminable annuities 
 account would be reduced that year by 1,846,280. He 
 would not set up fresh ones, but would apply the money 
 set free to the reduction of debt as he saw fit. 
 
 The surplus of 3,466,000 went as the Act directed, 
 
 N 2
 
 ig6 THE RIGHT HON, H. H. ASQUITH, M.P. 
 
 to Debt reduction. He proposed for his estimated 
 surplus to devote another half million to the same 
 purpose. As was expected, he took off the coal tax. 
 He also took a penny off tea. 
 
 His first Budget, when its details became known, 
 excited no enthusiasm. It was not intended to do so 
 Mr. Chamberlain called it humdrum, but admitted 
 that, applied to a Liberal statement, the term was one 
 of praise. It was as a Budget less rigid than might 
 have been expected from its author's January speeches. 
 But the City was satisfied. It recognised that the Chan- 
 cellor's hands were tied, and that he could not yet 
 carry out all his intentions for improving national credit. 
 
 The second Budget was a more ambitious affair. 
 He had promised to deal with the income tax. And in 
 this, his second year as Chancellor, he allowed a rebate 
 of threepence off earned incomes of 2,000 and under. 
 That was the great popular feature of his statement. 
 It cost him two millions. This sum, however, was all 
 he would allow for popular financial luxuries. And 
 even this he did not consider as wholly devoted to the 
 purchase of a luxury. A high income tax weakens 
 the country's reserve strength. To reduce the income 
 tax was, therefore, part of his original policy for 
 putting the nation's finances on a safe basis. His 
 other large outlay was what was to be expected. One 
 million and a half was to go to reduce the Debt. But 
 he significantly added that next year this sum would 
 be employed for Old Age Pensions. 
 
 He had been examining the workings ot the system, 
 over which he had been called to preside, with a 
 good deal of impatience. He was determined, not
 
 CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER 197 
 
 only to improve the country's financial position, but 
 its methods of collecting its cash. Accordingly 
 he forecasted a new arrangement regarding money 
 intercepted for the Exchequer and handed over to 
 the local authorities. He would have liked to tax 
 as it had been suggested he should do motor cars. 
 He referred to the matter in terms which give a good 
 idea of his direct style of address. 
 
 " I think a tax on motor cars is almost an ideal 
 tax, because it is a tax on a luxury which is apt to 
 degenerate into a nuisance. But it is no good, so long 
 as this [then existing] system prevails, for me or for 
 anybody else to put an additional duty on motor cars, 
 for where does the duty go to ? It goes to the local 
 authority by whom these duties are collected that is 
 to say, as a rule, the local authority within whose area 
 the person resides to whom the motor car belongs. 
 Suppose I pay under a new addition to the motor duty, 
 as I should pay here in London, an extra duty on my 
 motor car, the benefit of it goes entirely to the London 
 County Council. But it is not the streets and roads of 
 London that my motor car does injure, it is the rural 
 districts of England and Scotland. Nothing can be more 
 illogical or unjust than that distribution of the matter." 
 
 He went on to complain, upon the same ground, of 
 the system in vogue in regard to licensing duties. At 
 the time he used it, the phrase " licence duty " carried 
 with it a less sinister suggestiveness than it bears for 
 some people to-day. 
 
 "Take," said the Chancellor, "the duty on the 
 licences of public-houses. I wish to have my hands 
 set free in this matter also. At present the proceeds
 
 ig8 THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, M.P. 
 
 of those duties go to the Local Taxation account, and 
 there, again, they go to the local authorities in propor- 
 tion to the number of licences which are taken out in 
 their respective areas. You could not possibly have 
 a system better calculated to put a premium on a 
 lethargic and non-public-spirited licensing authority." 
 It will be seen that he was trying to relate national 
 finance to national social problems. Chancellors are 
 not always ready or able to do this. 
 
 The third Budget was anticipated with a great deal 
 of interest. Old age pensions had been promised. So 
 had a reduction of the sugar duty. A Free Trade 
 Government which had been in power for three years 
 and had yet allowed the persistence of such a tax on 
 raw material was in danger of being accused of incon- 
 sistency. He made his statement on May 7th, speaking 
 for two and a half hours in a manner described as lucid. 
 He began, as well he might do, in a very optimistic 
 vein. Trade returns were highly satisfactory, and were 
 likely to continue so. He then alluded to that reform 
 in Exchequer arrangements for the collection of moneys, 
 which he had forecasted in his previous speech. The 
 Budget of 1907 was based on a system under which a 
 portion of the revenue raised by Imperial offices was 
 not paid into the Exchequer, but handed over direct 
 to the Local Taxation account. " But," he said, 
 proudly, "the Exchequer accounts for 1907-8 contain a 
 complete record of the transactions both on the receipt 
 and on the issue side." He expressed satisfaction with 
 the working of the income tax collection as newly 
 constituted, and turned to the subject of debt. That 
 year they had reduced the Funded Debt by 6,319,000,
 
 CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER 199 
 
 terminable annuities had been reduced by 1,457,000, 
 and the Unfunded Debt (including the War Loan) by 
 10,254,000. "So that the capital of the National 
 Debt at the end of the financial year, as compared 
 with the beginning, showed a reduction of 18,000,000 
 a reduction wholly without precedent." The com- 
 placency was not unnatural. But the ground for it 
 had not yet all been shown. " By the sist March, 
 1909, we shall have paid off nearly 47,000,000 of 
 National Debt. We shall have reduced the aggregate 
 capital liabilities of the nation by 41,000,000 ; we shall 
 have saved in annual interest nearly 1,250,000, and we 
 shall have brought back the capital of the National 
 Debt, notwithstanding the South African war and all 
 the other various sources of liability which have arisen, 
 to almost exactly the same figure at which it stood in 
 1889 twenty years ago." 
 
 That was a record of which any Chancellor might 
 be proud. Then came the plans devised for granting 
 old age pensions of five shillings weekly to persons over 
 seventy with incomes under ten shillings a week, and the 
 reduction by one farthing per pound of the sugar duty. 
 
 His last was certainly Mr. Asquith's most remarkable 
 Budget, and while it has many of his characteristics, 
 it has features, beside the obvious one of the arrange- 
 ment for old age pensions, which indicate some inde- 
 pendence of his earlier dogmatic thrift. The suggestion 
 in his speech most startling to preconceived notions of 
 his psychology was his hint that the time had come when 
 it might be possible to slacken the reduction of debt and 
 to lower the Sinking Fund, in order to meet part of the 
 old age pensions charge. He was entitled to suggest this
 
 200 THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, M.P. 
 
 by the fact that he had, since coming to the Exchequer, 
 paid off debt with unprecedented rapidity. But it 
 prompts the taking of a new impression of his character. 
 
 Surveying the work done by Mr. Asquith as Chan- 
 cellor, the reader will doubtless re-echo the view put 
 forward, that it is before everything sound. It is free 
 from jugglery ; it shows that the mind at work is full 
 of just those qualities of tenacity and discretion which 
 have informed it in all its efforts, whether at school 
 and the University, or in life and politics. Mr. Asquith 
 went to the Exchequer to perform a task greatly needed 
 to be done, and a task which was bound to tax the powers 
 of the man called to perform it. He showed himself 
 from the first not only thoroughly well qualified for the 
 duties which devolved upon the Chancellor, but for 
 those which fell upon the Chancellor appointed at this 
 particular juncture in the financial history of the nation. 
 He brought to his work a business mind which no more 
 disguised impatience of slovenly financial methods than 
 it had done when brought in contact with ill-wrought 
 methods at the Home Office. This anxious business 
 intelligence is shown, not only in the reform of the old 
 system whereby Exchequer accounts were confused 
 with local taxation, but in the transfer of the Excise 
 Department from the Inland Revenue to the Customs. 
 Whenever he saw an opportunity of tightening the 
 system on which the country's business is done he 
 took it. He was determined to be efficient, to make 
 the Treasury efficient. 
 
 Efficiency demanded as his first and paramount duty 
 not merely reductions, but enormous reductions of debt. 
 And while it is true that he founded the old age pension
 
 CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER 201 
 
 system in this country, perhaps his greatest claim to 
 reputation for his work at the Exchequer rests on the 
 lesson he taught of national thrift. 
 
 He told the country that while other nations met 
 their difficulties by borrowing, and borrowing on terms 
 not always advantageous, Englishmen did not need 
 to resort to such means, and that therefore he would 
 not let them. But he did not forget to praise them 
 warmly for the admirable meekness with which they 
 submitted to their many burdens. 
 
 His attitude towards the Debt is the best test of the 
 financial virtue of a Chancellor. If he inclines imme- 
 diately to lay interfering hands upon the Sinking Fund 
 he may be regarded with suspicion. He is trying to buy 
 popularity at the price of the national credit. But if, when 
 Debt has been reduced with unprecedented rapidity, 
 he says it is time to consider whether there may not 
 now be a slackening of reduction in favour of allowing 
 a little more ease to the burdened country, he has 
 legitimate grounds for his action. It is true that at 
 the same moment that Mr. Asquith suggested it was 
 time to lighten the burden he was also proposing to 
 increase it. But the increase was one for which the 
 country would certainly not blame him. The granting 
 of old age pensions was felt on all hands to be right 
 and reasonable. In proposing that Debt reduction 
 should proceed at a slower pace, in order to liberate 
 more money for pensions, Mr. Asquith will certainly 
 not be criticised in the country. But the proposal 
 cannot by him be regarded as wholly satisfactory 
 finance. When Sir Stafford Northcote inaugurated 
 his Sinking Fund, making it an annual charge of
 
 202 THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, M.P. 
 
 twenty-eight millions, he calculated that by 1930, 
 barring wars and other causes, the Debt would be paid 
 off. It is true that there never was any hope that the 
 calculation could be more than a paper one. But it 
 is the kind of finance after the heart of Mr. Asquith. 
 And it is the best proof of his humanity and of his 
 sympathy for the workers a sympathy upon the 
 existence of which emphasis has been laid in other pages 
 that he allowed himself to contemplate a slackening of 
 the Debt reduction. Old age pensions are not the out- 
 come only of Mr. Asquith's wishes ; it cannot be doubted 
 that Campbell-Bannerman, too, longed to see the system 
 made operative. But the circumstances under which, 
 as Chancellor of the Exchequer and then as Prime 
 Minister, Mr. Asquith gave this enormous boon to the 
 working classes entitled him to the major part of the 
 credit and the enduring renown earned by his party 
 for its action. To say either that the Liberals were 
 forced to concede it by their pledges, or that it was 
 an electioneering device to get votes in the Dundee 
 election, is on the face of it a statement which is 
 absurd. The Liberals gave no pledge at the general 
 election to produce any old age pension scheme what- 
 ever. 1 As for the allegation that an electioneering device 
 was practised, to disprove this it has only to be pointed 
 out that in the Budget statement of 1907 Mr. Asquith 
 definitely stated that the million and a half which that year 
 he was devoting to Debt reduction was in the year follow- 
 ing to form the nucleus of a fund for old age pensions. 
 
 1 " His Majesty's Government came into power and went 
 through the last general election entirely unpledged in regard to 
 this matter." Mr. Asquith's Budget Statement, 1908.
 
 THE OLD COUNCIL CHAMBER 
 AT THE PRIME MINISTER'S OFFICIAL RKSIDEXCE, 10 DOWNING STREET.
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 PRIME MINISTER 
 
 THE health of Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman had 
 for some time been unsatisfactory; the work of the 
 session, above all the death of his wife, had loaded him 
 with cares and sorrows, and drawn him quickly nearer 
 to the grave. He made another journey in search of 
 health in the autumn of 1907, and when he got back to 
 England many of his friends were pleased at the change 
 which they noticed in him. But, unhappily, a cold 
 caught while attending the Colston celebration at 
 Bristol brought on the old trouble, and from that day 
 Sir Henry became an invalid. With his usual courage 
 he would not at first hear of surrendering the task of 
 leadership. But as the days went by, and he got no 
 nearer to convalescence, it was slowly borne in upon 
 him that the party, which he had led so well and to so 
 -splendid a victory, must now find another chief. He 
 began, therefore, to consider the question of his 
 immediate resignation. 
 
 It is a useful comment upon the position which Mr. 
 Asquith's loyalty had earned for him, that when at 
 length the vacancy occurred, there was no question of 
 his right to the succession. It had not always been so. 
 Earlier in the session and before, when there were 
 rumours of Sir Henry's resignation, an attempt was
 
 204 THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, M.P. 
 
 made to put forward the name of Sir Edward Grey. A 
 well known Unionist and Protectionist journal, celebrated 
 for its industry, pushed forward the unobtrusive figure 
 of the Foreign Secretary, and almost offered to 
 make him leader. But now that the actual resigna- 
 tion had taken place, there was only one name in 
 the public mind. Whatever room there was for 
 speculation was in the department of office redistribu- 
 tion. There was here a legitimate field, and the 
 guessing competitions which two years before had 
 amused the man in the train, were now put before 
 him once more. But while it was suggested that 
 Mr. Asquith would resign the Chancellorship of the 
 Exchequer, it was universally felt that he was the 
 only possible Prime Minister. 
 
 His later association with Sir Henry Campbell- 
 Bannerman had naturally been of a more intimate 
 character than when they had sat together on the Front 
 Bench in the days of Opposition, and the cordiality of 
 the relation thus formed by office had grown as the 
 months passed. Two men cannot be thrown together, 
 day after day, in moments often full of anxiety, without 
 discovering in one another whatever is best in the 
 character and most attractive in the mind. The tribute 
 which Mr. Asquith paid to Sir Henry, both when he 
 himself accepted the succession, and when later in the 
 spring he had to refer to the old leader's departure not 
 only from office, but from all earthly scenes, wanted 
 nothing of deep feeling or sincerity. His testimony to 
 Sir Henry's value, as a leader and a man, was creditable 
 alike to the old leader and the man who eulogised him, 
 and the break in the voice which once arrested the
 
 PRIME MINISTER 205 
 
 utterance of the new Prime Minister, assured the 
 doubter that the tribute paid was not merely a con- 
 ventional one. Mr. Asquith may be suspected of many 
 things, but his greatest enemy would never suggest that 
 he had anything in him of the actor. 
 
 The types respectively represented by Campbell- 
 Bannerman and Mr. Asquith are so different as to 
 make a contrast almost startling. Bannerman was 
 eminently genial, expansive, a little inclined to mild 
 jocularity, forceful in an undisguised way. He had 
 never troubled himself to suspect his natural impulses. 
 He had a remarkable power of tact, of managing the 
 unmanageable. He was not a genius, yet for a certain 
 type of political instinct he was unsurpassed. There 
 can be no question that the last general election was a 
 great personal triumph for himself. But it was not a 
 triumph that belonged only to him. It was founded 
 largely upon Free Trade, and, as he had acknowledged, 
 the man who had done most to defend Free Trade had 
 been Mr. Asquith. The victory was one to share 
 between them. And, one having got his reward, it was 
 the plain duty as well as the desire of the party to give 
 the other his. 
 
 Yet while they gave him their allegiance, some 
 Liberals were not quite sure of the new leader. They 
 thought he wanted warmth not only in manner, but in 
 Radical conviction. They were impatient of moderation 
 in counsels. They reviewed his history, and they 
 wondered if the choice was the best. 
 
 Mr. Redmond spoke at Dublin almost as soon as the 
 appointment was known, and made it plain that Ireland, 
 at least, did not welcome the change. But moderate
 
 2o6 THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, MP. 
 
 men of all parties, the men in whom repose the balance 
 of opinion, welcomed the new Premier, and congratu- 
 lated themselves upon the fact that the country was to 
 be in charge of one who could be trusted to control not 
 it only but himself. 
 
 Usually when a Prime Minister resigns, his successor 
 kisses hands immediately. In the position which now 
 arose, there had to be delay. Following his habit at 
 this time of the year, the King had gone to the South 
 of France. He was getting benefit from his stay at 
 Biarritz, and was not inclined to come north at once. 
 When the expected summons came to Mr. Asquith 
 therefore, he had to face the necessity of leaving the 
 country over which he was to act as chief minister, and, 
 at a time of crisis, be absent for several days. The 
 King was taken to task by a number of Radical mentors. 
 Some of these criticisms were remarkably free and gave 
 piquancy to the incidents which now crowded upon one 
 another. 
 
 On Monday Mr. Asquith moved the adjournment 
 of the House, and on Tuesday morning he left Charing 
 Cross. He was pursued by the eyes of an anxiously 
 observant Press. The weather conditions which ruled 
 his voyage across the Straits, the literature he selected 
 to while away the long journey south, his dress, the 
 changing expressions of his face, the friends met in 
 Paris, all were noted, and the facts offered to an 
 insatiable public whose appetite for such things had 
 long been encouraged. He remained for a short time 
 in the French capital before going on again. On 
 Wednesday afternoon he arrived at Biarritz. In the 
 evening he dined alone. The next morning the inter-
 
 PRIME MINISTER 207 
 
 view, in which he was advanced to the highest position 
 in the State, duly took place, and he found himself 
 Prime Minister of England. On Thursday he had two 
 short interviews with the King, and at noon left by the 
 Sud express on his return to London. 
 
 The reporters were again active ; they filled his train, 
 they crowded the stations through which he passed, they 
 pursued him during his pause in Paris, they saw him 
 safely off French territory, and welcomed him to 
 English ; and of course they were in great force upon 
 the platform at Charing Cross. Mrs. Asquith went to 
 the station to meet him. He descended, however, from 
 an unexpected quarter of the train, and his wife had to 
 dart up the platform in order to greet the newly arrived 
 Prime Minister. His first action in London was to 
 drive at once to Downing Street, to inquire as to the 
 progress of his old chief. Now that he was Prime 
 Minister, public curiosity was alive to discover what 
 changes he would make. In the meantime there were 
 rumours of hitches. Particularly was there a report of 
 competition for the office which he himself had vacated. 
 The success which Mr. Lloyd George had enjoyed at 
 the Board of Trade made him a popular nomination, 
 but there were Whigs in the Cabinet who had worked 
 in the past side by side with Mr. Asquith, who were now 
 said to be demanding the promotion. 
 
 In the course of a few days, however, the new 
 appointments became known. The changes had three 
 features of great interest. The first was the expected 
 promotion of Mr. Lloyd George, the second was the 
 elevation to the Cabinet of Mr. Winston Churchill. 
 The third was the evidence the changes offered of the
 
 o8 THE RIGHT HON. H, H. ASQUITH, M.P. 
 
 trend of mind of the Prime Minister. It became clear 
 that Mr. Asquith was determined, from the moment of 
 taking office, to be the leader, not of a section, but of 
 the whole party, and that he was resolved to ignore 
 every fact in a man's history but the fact of his fitness or 
 unfitness for the particular office, appointment to which 
 was being considered. The Liberal Imperialist, the 
 Liberal Leaguer, now that he was Prime Minister, gave 
 to a Pro-Boer the great office which was acknowledged 
 to carry with it the second place in the Ministry, and 
 continued another Pro-Boer in the highest paid situation 
 in the Cabinet. 
 
 Perhaps the most significant feature of the negotia- 
 tions which had taken place during these February 
 days of 1908 was the fact that not only had the country 
 accepted Mr. Asquith without question, but it had dis- 
 covered in him considerable human interest. The 
 nation has always suffered dictation of the view it must 
 hold of any particular personality among its men of 
 State. So long has it suffered thus, and so uniform in 
 character are the succeeding lessons in the various 
 courses of instruction, that people find it difficult to 
 break away from what, after all, becomes in time 
 merely a conventionalised opinion. His Majesty's tact, 
 Lord Rosebery's perfectability in phrase-making, Mr. 
 Balfour's charm, are taken on trust. So, too, is a 
 certain quality understood to exist in Mr. Asquith a 
 quality which is supposed to repel the human instinct 
 of the common intelligence when it seeks to relate itself 
 to the mind of the Liberal leader. A very able man, 
 a most discreet man, and a determined man but a 
 man who repels the enthusiast and who surveys the
 
 PRIME MINISTER 209 
 
 race from the lofty altitudes of Balliol scholarship 
 that was how the common man had been taught to 
 esteem Mr. Asquith. Even with qualifications, it can 
 hardly be pronounced a correct portrait, and that this 
 was so, the public was beginning to discover. For 
 at this time, it is worthy of note, Mr. Asquith began 
 to attract not merely interest but enthusiasm. Such 
 enthusiasm, it is true, is largely the result of the 
 interest which is stimulated in a man when he has 
 suddenly attained the highest rank. But the whole 
 explanation of the phenomena now seen is not to be 
 found in mere interest in a public character. What 
 the incidents of his elevation did for him was not merely 
 to set in relief the qualities that were acknowledged in 
 his reputation, but to suggest the existence of new ones 
 which could bring him nearer to the world of men who 
 had been told he was not one of themselves. 
 
 As was expected, the office which Mr. Asquith took 
 himself was that of First Lord of the Treasury. But 
 while he handed over the Exchequer to Mr. Lloyd 
 George, in view of the fact that he had prepared it he 
 still determined to present the Budget statement. Mr. 
 Lloyd George could have got no honour by presenting 
 it. It was not his Budget, and his successes have all 
 been individual ones. It was arranged therefore that 
 the Prime Minister should introduce the Budget and 
 then hand over its defence and further explanation to 
 his successor. 
 
 The new Premier was happy in the circumstance 
 that he was able to mark with this Budget the inaugura- 
 tion of his term of office. For it was to be an historic 
 statement it was to provide a reform demanded by the 
 
 o
 
 2io THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, M.P. 
 
 country for many years, and promised by Liberals and 
 Conservatives alike for almost as long a time. It was 
 to institute State-paid old age pensions. 
 
 It will be for posterity to decide the respective 
 greatest achievements of the country's various minis- 
 ters. Its voice, and not ours, must decide whether his 
 disestablishment of the Irish Church is Mr. Gladstone's 
 best title to renown, his Berlin treaty Disraeli's, his 
 death duties Budget Sir William Harcourt's. To 
 place Mr. Asquith's various legislative efforts in their 
 true relation is still a futile task. He may do much 
 more. But nothing that he has put upon the statute 
 book is as considerable in its effects as his Finance Act 
 of 1908. Yet never was a measure of its importance 
 signalised by less political feeling. Perhaps only the 
 Reform Bill could compare with it in importance. 
 Yet, apart from the incident of the faint-hearted oppo- 
 sition of the House of Lords, the Bill went through 
 without a dissentient voice. Mr. Asquith, as the first 
 minister to embody in legislation an acknowledgment 
 of the right of every man and woman in this country to 
 live in comfort when too infirm to earn a living, will 
 appear a larger figure when it is possible to survey him 
 over a wider perspective. The circumstances of the 
 passing of the measure were too little controversial to 
 make the chief instrument in its founding immediately 
 significant to the ordinary mind. 
 
 The second great legislative effort of his first year of 
 Premiership, however, wanted nothing of public attention. 
 The Licensing Bill was one to the drafting of which he 
 had devoted much of his time during the months before 
 Sir Henry's resignation. When the old leader lay in
 
 PRIME MINISTER 211 
 
 his bed, broken physically but still strong in spirit, he 
 sent for Mr. Asquith and spoke to him of the Bill. He 
 had just before, Mr. T. P. O'Connor tells us, received 
 in interview the Archbishop of Canterbury, " who had 
 observed that it must be a great pleasure to Sir Henry 
 to think that his name was linked to such a measure of 
 social hope and reform as the Licensing Bill. ' But,' said 
 'C.-B.,' 'Asquith, it is your Bill, not mine,' a saying of 
 characteristic modesty and generosity." l 
 
 That Sir H. Campbell-Bannerman helped to draft 
 the Bill, and that when it was presented it was partly 
 his, is doubtless true ; but with his withdrawal it became 
 wholly Mr. Asquith's measure. As the weeks went by, 
 however, public interest in his old age pensions scheme 
 was suspended, and attention concentrated upon his 
 attempt at licensing reform. It is safe to say that no 
 more appalling bitterness was ever excited in political 
 controversy than was aroused during the passing 
 through the House of Commons of this Bill. No 
 argument was too illogical to urge against it. It was 
 to rob the brewer and at the same time was not going 
 to stop drinking. It was " cruel," and blessed word in 
 time of need " confiscatory." The malignant power 
 of the " Trade " had not been long in showing itself. 
 The election at Peckham made the name of that suburb 
 a byword in political history. A fourteen years time 
 limit was the sheerest robbery, though a few years 
 before, the leader of the party of reaction, the late Lord 
 Salisbury, had said that a limit of five years would be a 
 most generous allowance. 
 
 As was to be expected, the most lavish share of the 
 1 " Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman," by T. P. O'Connor, M.P. 
 
 O 2
 
 212 THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, M.P. 
 
 abuse excited by the Bill was reserved for Mr. Asquith. 
 Nothing could have been better for him. From the 
 moment he introduced the Bill he went on strengthening 
 his hold upon the party. His conduct, in face of the 
 manifest unpopularity of the Bill with the easily swayed 
 masses of the country, was what those who knew him 
 best expected of him. 
 
 But he was still not widely understood. The savage, 
 attack now made upon him, however, gave him just the 
 opportunity he needed for convincing the party of his 
 qualities as a man and as a leader. Throughout the 
 long and weary sittings of the House of Commons the 
 Prime Minister held his ground, listened with indomi- 
 table patience to the shrieking protests of the " Trade," 
 and in a speech of great force during the recess announced 
 his absolute determination to carry the Bill through 
 every one of its stages in the House of Commons. 
 When the debates were resumed in the House he went 
 on slowly forcing the measure through. But in his 
 methods some of his most marked characteristics 
 appeared. He was cold and firm and logical. He 
 was conciliatory when a point arose which did not 
 involve a principle, but immovable when a principle 
 was in danger. His discretion and tenacity joined to 
 impress all his movements. But another attribute was 
 seen in his determination to make clear what would, so 
 far as he could control them, be the future course o* 
 events. It is the amiable pretence of some politicians 
 to believe that until the country and Parliament has 
 carefully discussed a proposed measure o reform, all 
 judgment is suspended. Mr. Asquith ignored that 
 tradition. He knew he could not be ignorant that
 
 PRIME MINISTER 213 
 
 the Bill was threatened. By whom it was threatened he 
 also knew. And so, when he wound up the debate on 
 the second reading, he allowed to creep into his speech 
 a passage the meaning of which was lost upon no one. 
 
 "The Bill gives a fourteen years' notice, and it is 
 denounced as an act of injustice. I will suggest 
 another way in which the matter can be dealt with. 
 It is going to be my duty for the last time to introduce 
 a Budget. Suppose I come down to the House and 
 say it is about time we revised our scale of licence 
 duties. If I were to suggest, instead of the present 
 trumpery and illusory scale, a real and adequate and 
 swingeing duty, would that be confiscation ? I will let 
 the House so far into my secrets as to say I am not 
 going to propose it ; but suppose the present Chancellor 
 proposed it this year or next ? Suppose the Bill does 
 not pass into law ? Suppose being a more moderate 
 man than I the right honourable gentleman were to 
 say that they would do this, step by step, and that for 
 the next ten years there shall be an ascending scale 
 of licence duties for these public-houses will that be 
 confiscation ? " 
 
 The passage is worth quoting as an illustration of the 
 Prime Minister's independence of an ancient pretence. 
 It has other features slightly unexpected. It has a 
 quality of dry humour both in its reference to the 
 Radical colleague and successor at the Exchequer 
 as " a more moderate man than I," and in its gentle 
 note of inquiry for new meanings for the term 
 confiscation. 
 
 The history of the Parliamentary session of 1908 
 must have reminded Mr. Asquith of another notable
 
 214 THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, M.P. 
 
 autumn session in the work of which he took an 
 important part. Between 1908 and 1893 there are 
 many parallels. Then, as now, members were called 
 upon to forsake their spas and yachts to put through 
 the House two highly contentious measures of reform 
 and the two sessions had each the distinction of 
 witnessing the passage through the Commons of one 
 of the two best-abused pieces of legislation during the 
 past fifty years the Home Rule Bill and the Licensing 
 Bill. 
 
 The parallel in regard to these two measures extends, 
 however, beyond the House of Commons. In 1893 the 
 House of Lords destroyed the work of the session by 
 throwing out Home Rule and by making impossible 
 the passage of the Employers' Liability Bill. In 1908 
 it rejected the Licensing Bill and left no doubt in the 
 mind of Liberals of the treatment it would give the 
 Education Bill if that measure were ever to have 
 the questionable felicity of coming before it. 
 
 But though the greatest part, of the work of a 
 strenuous session was destroyed, and though the 
 Prime Minister might well feel also, as he reviewed the 
 fifteen years, that the march of Liberalism had been, 
 not onwards, but in a circle, there can be no question 
 that in the autumn session of 1908 he immeasurably 
 increased his personal prestige in the party. 
 
 Some of his supporters had been inclined to accept the 
 popular view of his qualities, to think him supremely 
 able but lacking in fire and enthusiasm. But during a 
 very trying period trying to the party's courage, to its 
 patience, to its hope he led, not merely bravely and 
 strongly, but with a certain personal touch which did
 
 PRIME MINISTER 215 
 
 not fail to awaken response in those who sat behind 
 him. He showed himself, not merely a tactician, but 
 a man genuinely anxious for the triumph of militant 
 Liberalism. Informed by such a spirit, his practical 
 mind was certain to carry him into actions of which 
 the less moderate would not approve. Had he been 
 less wishful for some measure of reform, it would have 
 been simpler to have uttered vague hopes for the 
 passage of unparalleled national improvements while 
 refusing to acknowledge the possibility of a bridge 
 of conciliation over which lesser reforms might pass. 
 When his type of mind is remembered, it is the highest 
 tribute to his earnestness to say that he was ready to 
 yield whenever yielding did not involve a principle. 
 
 But with one section his methods were not popular. 
 The extreme left wing of the Radical party has no 
 sympathy with the statesman who is governed by 
 discretion. When he talked of compromise it scorned 
 the very word. In the disagreements, such as they 
 were, between the leader and some of his supporters, 
 may be seen merely a conflict of two psychological 
 types. On the one hand is the man who flings himself 
 upon the high rock, finding or losing foothold as he 
 may, set only on immediately getting to the top. On 
 the other hand is the man who remembers that some 
 miles away is a simpler ascent by path, and that, at a 
 particular point, this path joins another leading 
 to the summit before his eyes ; and who sets out to 
 seek that path. Mr. Asquith will never uselessly hurt 
 the party cause upon the rock. He will plod on until 
 he reaches the path. 
 
 He was ready to grant an extension of time limit
 
 ai6 THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, MP. 
 
 beyond the fourteen years. Reluctantly the Temper- 
 ance party consented. But had the House of Lords 
 allowed the measure a hearing, and had they stood out 
 for a twenty-eight years' limit, promising then to pass 
 the Act, it might still have been Mr. Asquith's inclina- 
 tion to accept the offer. For by so doing he would have 
 been able to recover for the nation the principle that 
 it, and not the " Trade," should control the monopoly. 
 By so yielding he would have got something done. 
 
 But the Education Bill negotiations provide the best 
 illustration of Mr. Asquith's quality. No man ever gave 
 himself more earnestly to an attempt to solve a problem 
 than did he when he took up the unhappy question of 
 the schools. Day after day he and Mr. Runciman 
 consulted with the Archbishop of Canterbury and the 
 leaders of Nonconformity, in an effort to end the 
 controversy once and for all. But at last there came 
 a demand for an increased grant for the Church schools 
 proposed to be contracted out a demand which the 
 Prime Minister felt he could not accept. On December 
 7th, therefore, he announced the withdrawal of the 
 Bill. But it was a great disappointment to him. And 
 it was not merely that he was disappointed of the 
 prestige for the Government which the ending of a 
 long and bitter controversy would have earned. His 
 intensely practical mind wanted a settlement in order 
 that he might get on to the next task before him. 
 His leadership has shown itself nothing if not 
 practical. 
 
 With the possibilities of the future, and its influence 
 upon his mind and methods, an attempt has been made 
 to deal elsewhere. But some forecast may be made
 
 PRIME MINISTER 217 
 
 here of the work he may be expected to do as a 
 legislator. Chief among the tasks of the future which 
 must devolve upon him must be the subjugation of the 
 power of the House of Lords. No one has seen better 
 than he himself of what that irresponsible chamber is 
 capable. It has destroyed, and it will destroy again. 
 No man living has suffered through its actions more, 
 either as a legislator or as a member of a Cabinet and a 
 party, than he. 
 
 He was a single-chamber man when Mr. Gladstone 
 was not, and when he was advanced to office and saw 
 his Employers' Liability Bill thrown out, he got his 
 lesson in the methods of the Upper House. " Are we 
 going to accept its dictation ? " he asked when the 
 Lords inserted in his Bill its mutilating contracting-out 
 claim. " We are not." 
 
 He put the question in a foremost place in his 
 speeches during the General Election of 1895, and he 
 has shown an unwavering opposition to the continuance 
 of the Lords' veto ever since. He must, however, take 
 his share of the blame which belongs to the party as a 
 whole for not foreseeing what would happen. It is an 
 obvious commonplace of politics that the balance of 
 power passes from one side to the other as general 
 election succeeds general election. The mistake the 
 Liberal party has always made in its policy towards the 
 House of Lords has been to make the question of 
 abolition of the veto the issue, not for the election it is 
 its turn to win, but the election in which it is its turn to 
 lose. It made this mistake in 1895 and in 1906. 
 
 Henceforth, however, the House of Lords question 
 must be the supreme one. It cannot be said that Mr.
 
 3x8 THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, M.P. 
 
 Asquith has failed to recognise this : " It is," he said 
 lately, " the dominating issue." For every reason he 
 can be trusted to make it so. His own work as a 
 legislator has suffered as much as that of any politician 
 by the action of the Peers. His practical mind sees 
 that, wish as he may to get on, he cannot do so until 
 the barrier is removed. The force of the Liberal 
 party will be spent, not only for a few years, but 
 for ever, unless this question is settled. 
 
 But in addition to these negative reasons for his 
 concentrating upon the question, there is the attraction 
 of the opportunity which would be presented by his 
 doing so to get for himself a permanent place among 
 the statesmen of the century. He it was who gave old 
 age pensions. It may very well be his lot to free the 
 democratic institutions of the country from the last 
 strain of feudalism.
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 CHARACTERISTICS 
 
 As has been suggested; throughout the preceding 
 pages, the two qualities which stand out most strongly 
 in the Asquith character are discretion and tenacity. 
 Contrasted with those of his two most distinguished 
 political contemporaries, his personality emerges as 
 one less complex than Mr. Balfour's, more difficult 
 of immediate comprehension than Mr. Chamberlain's. 
 Mr. Balfour's character must remain as long as he 
 lives an insoluble mystery. Every year it grows more 
 difficult of pursuit, and those who have been resolved 
 to follow, in the hope of solving the riddle, have found 
 themselves in a shadowland, where all is vague, and 
 where the only sound that comes to them is one of 
 mocking laughter. Mr. Chamberlain, on the other 
 hand, has always been admirably direct. He has 
 exchanged thrusts for diplomacy, he has never picked 
 his words when he has had anything to say. He has 
 shown himself virile, determined, devoted. But he 
 has made big blunders. He may almost be said to 
 have blurted out his mind. Mr. Asquith's character 
 is less psychologically cosmopolitan than Mr. Balfour's. 
 In him are not to be found the same number of 
 qualities, each foreign to the others, and each asserting 
 itself in turn. But while he has Mr. Chamberlain's
 
 220 THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, MP. 
 
 tenacity, he has the additional quality of discretion. 
 This practical wisdom, this feeling for consequences, 
 has prevented him from making some of the bold bids 
 for popular applause which distinguished the platform 
 performances of the Birmingham statesman, and 
 incidentally from perpetrating those occasional wild 
 plunges into the air of Imperialism which sometimes 
 ended in the abrupt descent to earth of the soarer. 
 
 The consequences of practising such wisdom are 
 not, however, always to be welcomed by the politician ; 
 for if he leaves nothing behind which may be recalled 
 against him, he may also find some day that he has 
 left little more which can be remembered to his credit. 
 Unwise and vehement talk will obtain a vogue for 
 which silent wisdom cannot hope. 
 
 "The multitude," says Mr. Wilfrid Ward in his 
 recently published study of Mr. Balfour, "loves to be 
 addressed in tones loud and positive. Well-balanced 
 thought even seems to it a shadow. Strong statements 
 mean strength, guarded statements weakness." 
 
 It may be that Mr. Asquith desires a wide reputation 
 less than some of his contemporaries. But while there 
 are men with so single an eye as to desire to remain in 
 the country's service merely because nobody else can 
 be found to do the work, the motive of most politicians, 
 even of the higher type, is a mixture of patriotism and 
 personal ambition. Not every one is capable of the 
 belief that he, and he alone, can save his country ; and 
 most serious politicians that is, the men who are not 
 content that their votes and views should be the mere 
 coinage of the division lobby desire, and live in the 
 hope of creating, a popular reputation. If the time
 
 CHARACTERISTICS 
 
 231 
 
 comes when they are indifferent to one they will usually 
 be found retiring from politics altogether and saying 
 with the present Duke of Norfolk, " Why should I be 
 in the Cabinet when I do not want to be there, and 
 there are many who do ? " 
 
 Mr. Asquith's motive is not so perfectly obvious as 
 that of some of the able men who surround or who 
 oppose him. Like many of these, he is ambitious, he is 
 patriotic. The difference between himself and the 
 others will probably be found in the character of his 
 ambition. Before associating his name with ambition 
 it is necessary to endow the idea of ambition with a 
 quality other than the common one of a desire to 
 stand and hold men's admiration. Mr. Asquith's 
 ambition is for something else than that, and if he 
 desires popularity, if he wants to be known among the 
 people, it is because he knows that it is only from 
 the people that power comes. 
 
 If asked whether he would prefer to be popular as 
 Mr. Lloyd George is, to be feared as Mr. Chamberlain 
 was, or to have the power of fascination as Mr. Balfour 
 has it, Mr. Asquith would probably reply by asking 
 for none of these things. He would ask to be efficient. 
 Efficiency is what he requires in his ministers and 
 what, with even greater insistence, he asks for in 
 himself. He wants to be effective. But in spite of 
 the suggestion of an earlier time that he desired to 
 appear a strong man, it may be claimed that he wants 
 to be effective rather than to be considered so. 
 
 A moment's thought will probably lead the casual 
 observer of politics to the truth that to one of the two 
 classes the men who want to be useful and the men
 
 222 THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, M.P. 
 
 who want to be esteemed useful belong all politicians 
 and even all statesmen. A man of the first type is 
 ready to forego appreciation if, by so doing, his work 
 may be of greater value. A politician of the second class, 
 on the other hand, while he is quite ready to be useful, 
 is not inclined to suppress himself to increase the 
 success of his labour. But while it would be invidious 
 to attempt to associate with the latter class the name 
 of any living personage, it can be acknowledged that 
 Mr. Asquith and for that matter Sir Edward Grey 
 belong to the former. He is a little impatient of shop 
 windows ; so long as the stock is all right he will not 
 mind greatly whether the latest illuminant is employed 
 to light the show-case. It is not that he hates light 
 and public approval. He is no recluse living away 
 from the haunts of men and asking only to be undis- 
 turbed. It is merely that he ignores popular applause 
 as being one of the less important facts in political 
 life. But any satisfaction that comes of being the 
 victor springs from the fact of his own knowledge 
 that he triumphs rather than from the fact of other 
 people's recognition. 
 
 This brings us to the point that a salient charac- 
 teristic of Mr. Asquith is his intense political self- 
 respect. To respect oneself is not to regard one- 
 self with approval ; it implies merely a refusal to 
 take advantage of the permission eternally offered 
 to human nature by an average standard of conduct. 
 But personal self-respect does not necessarily imply 
 political. A man who practises it in private life will 
 often be found upon the platform declaiming the 
 vulgarest of truisms, the easiest of incitements to win
 
 CHARACTERISTICS 223 
 
 unthinking approval. With difficulty he suppresses a 
 sardonic smile at the screaming crowd, and enjoys its 
 dull applause because he finds folly, as something in 
 human nature, mildly amusing. But he enjoys it also 
 because he wants popularity, and is ready to accept it 
 at any cost. 
 
 Mr. Asquith has done several things of which many of 
 his countrymen have been unable to approve. He has 
 taken the wrong side, as some conceive it, in more than 
 one controversy. But whatever may be urged against 
 him, no one is able to accuse him of losing hold upon 
 himself, or forgetting his dignity, of truckling, whether 
 on the platform or in the House of Commons, to that 
 section of the people who keep the treasury of unre- 
 strained and unreasoning applause. From such he asks 
 no payment. 
 
 There is a type of mind which finds a pleasure in the 
 thought that the actions it dictates are more likely to 
 be disliked by the vulgar than applauded. But though 
 Mr. Asquith is free from such eccentricity, he is one 
 who would examine very closely any inclination in 
 himself, if such should arise, towards too facile agree- 
 ment with the popular wishes of the moment. He has 
 really a very honest desire that his action shall be an 
 answer to the voice of truth, and he is neither eccentric 
 in his distrust of the people, nor easily swayed by the 
 threats of the mass meeting. He is no lover of the via 
 media when that way is chosen because it is a pleasant 
 escape from harder paths. But insomuch as it is 
 often the shortest road to reform, he, as a practical 
 statesman, will as often be found upon it. 
 
 There are two kinds of moderation. The first is that
 
 224 THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, MJP. 
 
 of the man who will not hurry lest he and those who 
 follow should lose their way. The second belongs to 
 the man who will not hurry because the weather is hot 
 or the road dusty. Mr. Asquith's moderation is of the 
 first kind. 
 
 If Mr. Asquith declines to be hurried by urgent 
 voices, he also declines sometimes to move at all. He 
 is never to be driven from his position by clamour. In 
 his attitude towards the dynamiters, and still more in 
 his utterances upon the subject of Featherstone, he 
 simply ignored the vituperation of which he was the 
 object, and held his ground. But for an example of 
 his quality of firmness we do not need to go further 
 back in political history than the period of the recent 
 Licensing Bill. He went forward with the measure 
 with inflexible determination, indifferent to, rather than 
 angered by, opposition ; listening neither to the hoarse 
 threats of the " Trade," nor the shriller shrieks of the 
 brewer's supporters in the Press. It is when attacked in 
 this way that Mr. Asquith's character appears at its best. 
 Upon a platform he may show to less advantage than 
 some of his colleagues. But when his back is against 
 the wall he at once shows his quality. He is a break- 
 water against the seas of abuse. And he can survive a 
 yet better test of strength : he can remain unmoved by 
 the ocean of misrepresentation. He is sometimes 
 ready to meet a challenge by reassertion of an opinion, 
 although he does not repeat in order that, mingled with 
 the repetition, an apology shall appear. But he often 
 prefers merely to point to a past statement. When he 
 declined the amnesty to the dynamiters, he not only 
 did so in unmistakable terms, but made it none the
 
 CHARACTERISTICS 225 
 
 less clear that he would never allow himself to say 
 a word upon the matter again. This cultivation in his 
 public manner of a note of finality may have led him 
 sometimes into difficulties. For new facts transpire 
 and new views suggest themselves. But, like an 
 opponent from whom in his failure to cultivate the public 
 he completely differs, he is fond of the uncompromising 
 negative. When Mr. Chamberlain was at the Colonial 
 Office and was interrogated in the House of Commons, 
 he would sometimes rise quickly, and observe, " I 
 answered the question yesterday " ; then with a 
 peculiar snap of the jaws, " I have nothing to add ! " 
 Mr. Asquith has nothing to add. He does not resent, 
 but he is able to ignore, questions when he does not 
 feel called upon to answer. 
 
 In his conduct of public affairs, Mr. Asquith impresses 
 the beholder chiefly by his grasp of facts. If he is 
 unable to cast the glamour of political genius over the 
 work he touches, he exhibits an understanding of it 
 which is remarkable. The success of this compre- 
 hension, even when it opposes itself to the most intricate 
 of details, is never in doubt. And he has moreover 
 the singular happiness of being able to communi- 
 cate information to others in the condition of clarity 
 in which, in his own mind, he has been able to 
 render it. 
 
 This wide comprehension is characteristic, and is not 
 to be ascribed to the habit of mind which practice of 
 the law has fostered. A lawyer may be very quick and 
 ready in picking up the threads of a case, but his know- 
 ledge of it must often be superficial. It is true that a 
 gift of rapid assimilation of facts is often accompanied by
 
 226 THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, M.P. 
 
 a wide and deep knowledge of them. But it does not 
 imply such an accompaniment. 
 
 Some men will acquire ideas when it is possible 
 to do so quickly, but they have not the patience 
 necessary to get understanding of such things as may 
 only be truly comprehended after elaborate thinking. 
 To his other qualities, however, Mr. Asquith adds that 
 of industry. He is ready to study and to toil if by so 
 doing he may widen his comprehension of the matter 
 before him. If genius really consists in an infinite 
 capacity for taking pains, and if that definition permits 
 of no qualification, then it is certain that only men of 
 genius can ever succeed in the House of Commons. 
 For though a man may charm by a few speeches full 
 of epigrams and wit, if he will not take infinite pains, 
 if he will not set himself seriously day after day to 
 know the subject of which he would speak, if he comes 
 into form with the lesson of the day unlearnt, he will 
 certainly be found out, and as certainly punished. The 
 House will not long tolerate a man who is not painstaking. 
 A member who reads, who gets up his subject, who pre- 
 pares his speeches in a word, who respects the House, 
 will find the House respecting him. A man, on the 
 other hand, who offers merely a pyrotechnic display, 
 can look only for a brief period of general interest. 
 Even children tire of fireworks after a little while. 
 Reasoning men weary the sooner. The men who have 
 won the ear of the House of Commons have been the 
 men who have given their whole minds to the national 
 work. Mr. Asquith needed other qualities than that 
 of industry to become what he is. But had he wanted 
 that, had he not shown the " infinite capacity," he could
 
 CHARACTERISTICS 227 
 
 never have conquered the House. He is supreme because 
 he has been a supreme worker. At the Exchequer, in 
 the matter of licensing, in the preparation of Bills at the 
 Home Office, in the complicated details of Disendow- 
 ment, he has set himself, not merely to learn, but to 
 grasp the meaning of facts. True, he may sometimes 
 remind us that he is a lawyer. But we need not, because 
 of such a reminiscence, draw analogies between him and 
 the K.C. with a swollen practice and a superficial know- 
 ledge of half-a-dozen cases proceeding in as many courts 
 of the Division to which this pervasive practitioner is 
 attached. Mr. Asquith's intimate acquaintance with 
 factories and with the conditions obtaining in them 
 did not come to him merely through deputations or 
 sensational articles in the Press. In one case it did 
 not even come to him from the ordinary reports of his 
 representatives outside. He discovered the fact of the 
 high mortality in the Belfast linen factories from his 
 own study of statistics. And, though it may be true 
 that he had to get up the Disestablishment case in 
 some of its details, it can certainly be said that 
 not only did he have a general comprehension of 
 the question and a very lively sense of Welsh 
 grievances, but that he acquired his facts with 
 complete understanding, not only of them as they 
 stood as a lawyer would do but of their bearing on 
 all other contingent facts as could be done only by a 
 statesman. 
 
 Mr. Asquith's understanding of circumstances extends 
 to eventualities. It is this which increases his value to 
 the State and perhaps checks his popularity. What a 
 lawyer needs, what a popular platform orator requires, 
 
 P 2
 
 228 THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, M.P. 
 
 is an immediate success. What the statesman and as 
 a statesman what Mr. Asquith regards, and regards 
 so much as to exclude all thoughts not of it from his 
 mind, is a permanent success. He gauges "the long 
 result of time." He looks beyond the populace, beyond 
 the jury box, for the applause and verdict of that pos- 
 terity which reserves its instabilities of opinion for its 
 contemporary problem and views the past with justice 
 and humour. 
 
 But indeed even in his understanding of immediate 
 details Mr. Asquith is much less of a lawyer than many 
 non-professional politicians who have held office. Some 
 of these have had to depend for their case largely upon 
 the staff of the Department, and their attitude in relation 
 to the officials approximates more closely to that of the 
 barrister in his relation to the solicitor than does the 
 actual barrister Mr. Asquith. It is because he has tried 
 to see, not only the immediate, but the contingent facts 
 that Mr. Asquith has sometimes gone slowly. Thus 
 his success, though less of a popular one, is perfectly 
 stable. And it is a curious comment upon the public 
 mind that men trust him most because he distrusts 
 most their rash enthusiasms. He has a great 
 reputation. But it is not a reputation for any of the 
 more decorative qualities of the statesman, such as 
 imagination or a feeling for crowds. Mr. Asquith's 
 success with common men rather rests upon the latters' 
 feeling that he looks at a question as they would them- 
 selves look at it if it was their private business and not 
 merely one of their abstract interests; if it had to be 
 attended to, not in a screaming political meeting, 
 but in their office or shop. Before the facts of Mr.
 
 CHARACTERISTICS 229 
 
 Asquith's politics can be supposed to get applause, 
 there must be time for the contingent facts to come 
 into prominence. 
 
 Of his reputation Mr. Asquith has always been very 
 careful. But this remark is liable to be misunderstood 
 unless it is added that he is careful of his reputation 
 simply for the reason that he is careful of the work he 
 does. In other words, his care of his work is not the result 
 of the care of his reputation, but the cause. When a man 
 merely sets out to acquire notoriety and then looks 
 round to find some foundation on which the notoriety 
 may be built, his building will be a vanity. Instructed 
 simply by his desire for public approval, he will choose 
 the first and easiest foundation which offers. He may 
 never be enough of a hypocrite to be indifferent to the 
 quality of his actions so long as the public refrains from 
 examining them, but he will always be in danger of dis- 
 covering suddenly that he would prefer a reputation for 
 something else than for the particular quality on which 
 his own reputation rests. He may tire of being thought 
 thorough when he sees his rival praised for his careless 
 brilliance. He may weary of being called splendid 
 when he beholds his colleague applauded for his self- 
 effacement. He may delight no more in being styled 
 the " People's Tribune " when he finds his fellow- 
 minister described as "a more serious statesman " 
 than himself. 
 
 The good workman, however, and Mr. Asquith is a 
 good workman, though he works for good wages, and 
 expects them, and remembers his reputation would still, 
 if on a desert island, do his work as well as he could. 
 A man may have no objection to applause, and yet
 
 230 THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, M.P. 
 
 possess such qualities as would make him, even if 
 no applause could reach him, live up to the highest 
 limit of his capacity. Mr. Asquith is very ambitious. 
 But he is ambitious for his work rather than for 
 himself. 
 
 Just as he is very careful, so is he reliable. He 
 keeps his pledges. And he keeps them for the reason 
 that he will not make them until he sees that to keep 
 them will be more than a mere possibility. Deputa- 
 tions have left him sometimes with little enough 
 enthusiasm. They have found him cold, and believed 
 him apathetic. They had hoped for a promise, and 
 they got only vague generalities, or a flat refusal. But 
 their disappointment was often due to nothing else 
 than the honesty of the minister. More enthusiastic 
 politicians, who turn their faces towards the future with 
 short-sighted eyes, could express glibly enough inten- 
 tions they might hope to accomplish, only in some 
 period far beyond their immediate perspective. He 
 will make no promises unless he can keep them, 
 and keep them soon. To expect him to be other- 
 wise is to expect him untrue to his ordinary instinct. 
 He gave old age pensions though he did not 
 promise them. He reduced taxes in his first Budget, 
 though before the election, when a promise of reduc- 
 tion would have been highly popular, he said he 
 could see no prospect of being able to remove the 
 unpopular imposts. 
 
 His methods of attaining his ends are curiously 
 consistent with the qualities which, from an early age, 
 have most strongly marked his character. He wants 
 his own way. But discretion teaches him that he
 
 CHARACTERISTICS 
 
 231 
 
 cannot always have it immediately, and his tenacity 
 keeps him working until he wins. Discretion tells him 
 that the long road round the mountain is safer for his 
 purpose than the abrupt track over, and his tenacity 
 makes it impossible for him to abandon the road 
 through weariness. He is less bold than determined. 
 He advances slowly ; his legislative reforms have always 
 been on the side of moderation. But he never goes 
 back. There are those behind him who would hasten 
 his footsteps. But just as he will not be compelled to 
 yield a yard he has covered, so will he not be pushed 
 forward. 
 
 He has a perfect mastery of the political game. He 
 knows every method which is at his disposal for attain- 
 ing his ends, and he goes through them one by one, 
 slowly and steadily, but always with his eye upon the 
 object he wishes to accomplish. He feels it to be 
 useless to hope to reach the land of temperance 
 reform merely by surmounting the barrier quickly 
 raised by the willing hands of the brewers. He knows 
 that beyond that barrier is the impassable wall called 
 the House of Lords. In his march to educational 
 peace he will not waste his strength upon the hill of 
 misunderstanding, because he knows that beyond it 
 there is the mountain of clerical bias. Impulsive 
 methods are not for him. He seeks a way round. 
 He believes that beside the mountain winds a road 
 of compromise, and he is quite ready to tread it. 
 For what he wants is to get beyond the mountain. 
 Whether he goes over or round does not so much 
 matter. 
 
 His willingness to go round is not the willingness of
 
 232 THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, M.P. 
 
 the weak. He goes round the mountain not because 
 he fears to climb, but because he would rather be 
 practical than heroic. He wants to get past and on. 
 He may take his own time to do what he 
 intends. But he will certainly do it. His whole 
 political life has proved him to be a statesman by 
 results. 
 
 It has been said that Mr. Asquith enjoys in a remark- 
 able degree the trust of his fellow-men. If he has not 
 always and immediately excited their enthusiasm it is 
 because they do not fully comprehend him. Greatly 
 gifted though he is as a speaker, he is essentially a man 
 not of words but deeds. For it is only those who know 
 nothing of him who question the intensity of his spirit. 
 Beneath the seemingly cold exterior is a burning passion 
 for reform an intense humanity. But the man has so 
 mastered the art of reserve that he will not show him- 
 self. If only his critics could be endowed for a moment 
 with some strong intuition we should hear less of his 
 coldness. In all the true relationships of life he is 
 warm and natural. He is a perfect friend; he is devoted 
 to his children. But to a man of his training any public 
 exhibition of feeling is abhorrent, and rather than com- 
 promise this rule of his life he will be content to be 
 called a hard and cold man. He will do many things, 
 he will spend himself for the cause he loves, for his 
 friends; he will brave every kind of opposition. But 
 he would rather go back to the private benches than keep 
 the party allegiance by exhibitions of feeling. It is 
 scarcely surprising, therefore, that Mr. Asquith is 
 but a comparative success upon the platform. He 
 is not, however, a platform failure. His gifts are
 
 CHARACTERISTICS 233 
 
 too wide for him not to attract men by the sheer 
 fact of his intellect, for him to fail to please them 
 merely as they are pleased at a spectacle, by the 
 quickness of his mind. 
 
 Fourteen years ago a critic in The Saturday Review 
 pointed out that it was this very quality of intellect by 
 which he tried, and tried in vain, to reach the populace, 
 that he tried with success to reach the House of Com- 
 mons. If this was true then, it is even more true to-day. 
 Of Mr. Asquith's supreme success as a House of Com- 
 mons man there can be no question. It has its favourites, 
 and he is one. His qualities are exactly those which 
 go to the making of Parliamentary success. To his 
 industry allusion has already been made. But he 
 succeeds there for other reasons. He has great natural 
 gifts of intellect. He has a splendid reasoning faculty ; 
 and just as a man at a political meeting likes to have 
 his emotional appetite fed, so the member of the House 
 of Commons likes to have his intellectual appetite waited 
 upon by the orators of the Front Bench. His style, too, 
 is full of strong cold colour. His oratory moves on 
 like a splendid glassy river. It is distinguished, it is 
 rounded, it is never at fault. In outlook, Mr. Asquith 
 is still something of the Yorkshire Nonconformist. In 
 style he is of Oxford. He never falls into those unhappy 
 lapses upon which the less wary politician in the vague 
 enthusiasm of the moment sometimes ungracefully 
 descends. He is never seen floundering in and out 
 of "blazing indiscretions." It will be found that 
 when some unhappy phrase has dropped inadvertently 
 from the lips of a minister who, for the moment, 
 is happily unconscious of what future opportunities
 
 234 THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, M.P. 
 
 he is offering open-handed to his opponents, the 
 minister is not Mr. Asquith. One reason for this is 
 that he is too careful. Another is that whatever may 
 have been said about his years at Oxford, he does not 
 try to be clever. He is a phrase-maker, but he does 
 not make phrases that can be quite admirably adapted 
 in skilful hands to himself and to his policy. We do 
 not hear from him of " terminological inexactitudes " or 
 of "hen-roosts." 
 
 But while his wisdom is wholly admirable, it is per- 
 missible, both for his own sake and for the party's, to 
 wish that it did not act so tightly upon his political 
 enthusiasm. That he is completely Liberal in his 
 sympathies, no careful student of his speeches can 
 doubt. The war may seem to some to have obscured, 
 temporarily, the fire of his Liberalism ; but the history 
 of his career, viewed as a whole, can leave no doubt 
 that, whether in office or Opposition, in the light of the 
 platform or the obscurity of the Department, he is a 
 man of quiet but intense Liberal conviction. But it is 
 one of the fundamentals of Liberalism that there shall 
 sometimes be a great throwing to the winds of discre- 
 tion, of wisdom, of the whole world. For such mad 
 heroics, some enquire, is Mr. Asquith fitted ? It is 
 significant that those who know him best are most 
 ready with an affirmative. 
 
 And the impatient Radical who questions his leader 
 because he will not spend all upon a single cause, 
 because he clings to the counsels of moderation, may 
 very well set a guard upon his tongue. It is possible, 
 it almost begins to be probable, that before long he 
 will have to take a new view of his chief, and will
 
 CHARACTERISTICS 235 
 
 have to rebuke himself for the dulness of his intuitions. 
 For latterly Mr. Asquith has been showing depths in 
 his character hitherto unsuspected. There has been 
 heard in his voice a passion that belongs more com- 
 monly to the Radical. The suspicion hitherto held 
 only by those who know him, that he is suppressing his 
 enthusiasm for popular issues rather than trying to 
 beat it up that suspicion, so long a private one, is 
 becoming more general. Every man has something in 
 him of the unknowable. It is this quiet hidden passion 
 which has formed the unknowable in Mr. Asquith. 
 Echoes of it were heard in some of his earlier speeches, 
 particularly in his Leeds speech, and in some of the 
 other addresses of the autumn campaign of 1893. Will 
 he ever break free from the restraint he puts upon 
 himself? There are already signs that he is doing 
 so. That he will ever completely emancipate himself 
 is doubtful. Restraint with him is not a con- 
 scious act; it is a habit. And at fifty-six a man 
 does not easily shed the manners and methods of a 
 lifetime. 
 
 But as the years pass he will certainly enjoy the 
 increased trust of Liberals with enough insight to 
 realise the character of his self-suppression. To the 
 unthinking, who can only understand a direct appeal 
 to the more elementary instincts of laughter and tears, 
 he may still appear a little cold. But it will not be 
 long before thoughtful Liberals begin to realize, 
 what those who know him best realize now, that 
 he is a man of warm heart and of immovable Liberal 
 convictions. 
 
 The character here outlined will make easier of
 
 236 THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, M.P. 
 
 understanding a good deal that at first appears difficult 
 of comprehension in his policy. If, at the beginning of 
 a study of his political history, he were called an 
 opportunist, we should want to know what was meant 
 by the term. If what was implied was the type of 
 politician who takes up a question when it is likely to 
 be popular and drops it as soon as the smile of the 
 crowd dies out, then Mr. Asquith is not an opportunist. 
 In the first place, he does not very much mind whether 
 the crowd smiles or frowns. But apart from this his 
 life disproves the charge as soon as it is brought 
 against him. It is not necessary to go further back 
 in the record of his career than the year just closed. 
 The story of the Licensing Bill is a very obvious 
 illustration of his indifference to the cheaper kinds 
 of popularity. It is true that, with a charming 
 want of logic, his opponents, at the same time that 
 they assured him of the unpopularity of his Bill, 
 told him that he had introduced it to catch votes. 
 But that he lost popularity in the country to carry 
 out an old intention is undoubted. This delineation 
 of his character has been very unsuccessful if it has 
 not made clear his complete indifference to popular 
 clamour. 
 
 He is much too independent to modify his opinions 
 at the bidding of another. True, he stood with Lord 
 Rosebery when the latter held back from the Liberal 
 march. But if at this time of crisis he was not bold, 
 he was at least consistent. 
 
 Minds were confused. There was a good deal of 
 bitterness. Several different pairs of lips uttered as 
 many different words of counsel. Discretion commanded
 
 CHARACTERISTICS 
 
 237 
 
 a halt. It was to the impersonal force of discretion 
 rather than to the personal force of Lord Rosebery 
 that Mr. Asquith yielded. Let it be remembered 
 that neither he nor Lord Rosebery at this time 
 abandoned, as some have supposed, their ancient belief. 
 The latter afterwards found himself, it is true, unable to 
 accommodate himself to, or to follow the banner 
 of, the new and vital Liberalism of Sir Henry 
 Campbell-Bannerman. But at this time he was 
 what he had always been a Home Ruler, a 
 Disestablisher, a Newcastle programme man. For 
 Home Rule he had no great enthusiasm. But he did 
 not abandon it. Mr. Asquith's position was different. 
 He followed Lord Rosebery, but, unlike the latter, he 
 did not later find himself out of touch with the party 
 but nearer to it. 
 
 What he did at this time was to wait patiently for 
 the clouds to blow over. He kept out of the way, 
 and went on with the work of advocacy in the 
 courts. 
 
 His position was one of great delicacy. Personally 
 attached to the leader of what was only one section of 
 the party, he was yet completely devoted to the party as 
 a whole. He was determined neither to be untrue to 
 what he conceived to be the claims of friendship on the 
 one hand, nor to those of Liberalism on the other. 
 He, therefore, as the best solution of his difficulty, 
 effaced himself. He believed the party was out of hand, 
 that it would do rash things, that it was dangerous to 
 itself and to the country. The only course open to him, 
 he felt, was to let it exhaust its mad and contradictory
 
 238 THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, M.P. 
 
 spirits. For the rest he was content to remain in 
 the shadow of the leader who was no longer a leader, 
 in the meantime proceeding quietly with his work at 
 the Bar. 
 
 Those who had begun to doubt him, however, did so 
 unjustly. When the opportunity came to him to help 
 in the reconstruction of the party, he showed himself 
 quite unselfish and straightforward. Sir William 
 Harcourt resigned, and Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman 
 took his place. In some quarters it was felt that Mr. 
 Asquith had a better claim. He effaced himself, how- 
 ever, as he had done before, and loyally supported the 
 new leader. In a few months a strain was put upon 
 this loyalty by the Boer war, and by the differences 
 which, through the war, undoubtedly arose in the 
 relations of Liberal politicians. The strain was a very 
 severe one. But the loyalty of Sir Edward Grey, Mr. 
 Asquith, and their friends survived. Sir Henry may 
 not have represented their view. Indeed, he did not. 
 But he was the leader of the party. To say that 
 they repudiated him was a statement characterised 
 by one of them at most times undemonstrative 
 in his platform utterances in a way that left no 
 doubt of the intensity of his feelings towards the 
 calumny. " It is," said Sir Edward Grey, " a foul and 
 filthy lie." 
 
 To the leader whose views he could not endorse Mr. 
 Asquith remained perfectly true. And perfectly true 
 he has remained ever since. This loyalty to Sir Henry 
 Campbell-Bannerman, strained though it often was, 
 never broke down. And the fact that it never did 
 revealed to some another unexpected trait in Mr.
 
 CHARACTERISTICS 239 
 
 Asquith's character. If any doubted his devotion, they 
 must have wondered that never once was he betrayed 
 into revolt. It is true that a revolt would not have 
 succeeded. For no statesman excited greater sympathy 
 and affection than did Sir Henry in the later years of 
 his life. But Mr. Asquith's character was one not 
 easily moulded. It could never readily have poured 
 itself into some crucible of policy fashioned by Sir 
 Henry. A less calculating man, a critic may suggest, 
 might have revolted. It would be truer to say a less 
 loyal man. Mr. Asquith could have accepted office 
 and then have asserted himself slowly. The calculating 
 man would certainly have waited until he had obtained 
 elevation to office. But it is not so certain that the 
 calculating man, having obtained his desire, would 
 have remained loyal. It would have been so easy for 
 him to have played the part of the splendidly inde- 
 pendent statesman, the man of individuality. He 
 might not, indeed, have been Prime Minister, but he 
 might have piqued public interest until he became in 
 fact, if not in name, the leader of the party. He 
 suppressed himself, however, completely, and was as 
 little assertive of his independence as one of the junior 
 members of the Cabinet. Indeed, it is a question 
 whether he stood out from the others as did one or 
 two of the Radical ministers who now held office for 
 the first time. It must be remembered that when Sir 
 Henry became Premier there seemed no prospect of his 
 requiring a successor during the existing Parliament at 
 least. As the ages of Prime Ministers go, Sir Henry 
 might very well have lived not merely to see the present 
 Administration go out of office, but to form another.
 
 2 4 o THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, M.P. 
 
 His mind was splendidly fresh and vigorous ; he was 
 strong with the strength that comes to a politician 
 when he knows a great party is behind him ; he was 
 ready for years of strenuous party effort. Had the 
 party been permitted to possess his services until again 
 in Opposition many things might have happened. Two 
 colleagues of Mr. Asquith had in a few short years 
 seen swept from them what once seemed an assured 
 supremacy. It was possible that when next the party 
 was in power a younger man would step into the 
 succession. Mr. Asquith, however, ignored all such 
 possibilities. Whatever he may have felt, he remained 
 faithful. His reward came sooner than he expected in 
 the unanimous feeling of the party, when Sir Henry 
 Campbell-Bannerman died, that there was only one 
 possible successor. 
 
 As a Prime Minister, Mr. Asquith has been very much 
 what might have been expected of him. He has shown 
 himself alert in leadership, quietly courageous, very 
 efficient. Upon becoming head of the party, he corrected 
 what he believed were the weak spots in the ministry 
 by changes of various kinds. But the most important 
 change made was in Cabinet procedure. Under Sir 
 Henry Campbell-Bannerman, the Cabinet had resolved 
 itself into a number of independent public committees. 
 Mr. Asquith was dissatisfied with the system. It did 
 not make for co-ordination of public interests; it did 
 not encourage unity in policy. It had at first been 
 possible under Sir Henry, because Sir Henry had come 
 into power with so extraordinary a public confidence, 
 and had for that reason exercised so dominating an 
 influence, that these various committees could be per-
 
 CHARACTERISTICS 241 
 
 suaded to work in some kind of unison. But as the 
 party settled down, as the first exhilaration of success 
 subsided and the work began to lose the glamour which 
 had been seen upon it by longing eyes of men in 
 Opposition, the system became a difficult one to work 
 smoothly. While it continued in force it was not 
 easy for a Prime Minister to be much more than a 
 unit of the Cabinet or of a committee. For him to 
 assert his will over all was not possible. 
 
 The system was unsatisfactory, and when Mr. Asquith 
 became Premier, he ended it. He set himself to make 
 the Cabinet a unity, and an instrument of his will. 
 He has not always succeeded without a good deal of 
 trouble ; one of his ministers, indeed, on one occasion, 
 outlined a policy which he intended should be pursued 
 by his party, a policy which was the direct opposite of 
 that put forward a day or two before by the Prime 
 Minister. Mr. Asquith is always loyal to his colleagues. 
 But on this occasion he showed himself indifferent to 
 anything which might later be said about Cabinet dis- 
 agreements, and at once rose and reiterated his original 
 policy. The subordinate had now to give way or resign. 
 He gave way. 
 
 Mr. Asquith rules his Cabinet. He believes that to 
 be Prime Minister means to be controlling minister, 
 and he rules as no Prime Minister has done since 
 Mr. Gladstone. For though Mr. Balfour is to-day the 
 complete master of his forces, he was not so while in 
 office. Mr. Chamberlain, too, is generally supposed 
 to have asserted his claim in the Cabinet of Lord 
 Salisbury. But if it is necessary to go to Mr. Glad- 
 stone for a parallel for Mr. Asquith's control of his 
 
 Q
 
 242 THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, M,P. 
 
 Cabinet, care must be exercised in the employment 
 of the parallel. Mr. Asquith's method is not Mr. Glad- 
 stone's. He does not dominate the Cabinet and abolish 
 opposition by the flash of a terrible eye. His old 
 qualities, which have carried him so far, carry him 
 still. He accomplishes his end by discretion. He 
 goes round the mountain without wasting time by 
 frowning upon it, and he lacks none of his old 
 tenacity. 
 
 In his relations with the rank and file Mr. Asquith 
 has generally been happy. Though he does not fascinate 
 as Mr. Gladstone did, though he does not hail them 
 with the cheery laugh and word as did the late Prime 
 Minister, he holds their trust. They believe in him as 
 the average elector believes in him ; they believe that 
 he is supremely level-headed, that while he may still 
 "hasten slowly" he will never compromise himself or 
 the party ; they regard him as their safest man as well 
 as their most assured. And they trust him to get 
 his own way, which means that they trust him to give 
 the party its own way. They do not fear to see him 
 indulge in empty threats. They expect him to find a 
 way out of the difficulty before them. They trust and 
 they expect it for one reason, because they know his 
 method. They have absolute faith in his discretion ; 
 they never doubt his tenacity. He will not give them 
 away, and he will not give in. As for his personal 
 quality, they realise that he is a man of charming 
 manner, whose upper crust of ice is quickly melted. 
 His more personal relations with his own ministers 
 sometimes partake almost of affection. 
 
 During his fine tribute to Mr. Runciman for his part
 
 CHARACTERISTICS 243 
 
 in the attempted Education compromise, Mr. Asquith's 
 voice shook with emotion. The interest of his hearers 
 was aroused in what was a quite obviously sincere 
 expression of friendship. But they were interested for 
 another reason. They saw their chief for a moment in 
 a new light. They who had held him the wise, slow- 
 moving, certain man, resolved upon getting his own 
 way, saw him not scornful, not stern, not bitter, but 
 oppressed by a great disappointment of a great hope of 
 a final religious peace. It was a reticent display of 
 feeling, as from such a source it would be, but it lifted 
 men to a new level of emotion and to new thoughts of 
 their leader. Those who heard, and later, those who 
 read, thought they discerned a new note in the voice. 
 Hitherto his political faith has seemed to some to want 
 spirituality, to lack vision. But into Mr. Asquith's 
 voice there is coming to-day a new note which seems 
 to bear the burden of a fresh spiritual emotion. It is a 
 note which those who have studied his early speeches 
 believe they have heard before. It is a revival, rather 
 than a new thing. But its coming is full of hope 
 for a great future. 
 
 Whether that future be great or commonplace, some 
 things seem certain. The first of them is that he will 
 continue to lead. It is idle to talk of the possibilities of 
 the succession of any other minister to the Premiership. 
 As politicians go Mr. Asquith is still young. He should 
 have many years of office in front. Had he not 
 succeeded during the life of the present Parliament 
 it is not certain that he ever would have succeeded. 
 Had Sir Henry survived into the days of Opposition, 
 he might have seen the sceptre, when at last it fell,
 
 244 THE RIGHT HON. H. H. ASQUITH, M.P. 
 
 grasped by some dashing Radical of the new school. 
 When Mr. Asquith submitted to enter Sir Henry's 
 Cabinet it was not at all certain that he would succeed 
 his chief. But now that he is leader it is quite certain 
 that leader he will remain. 
 
 And the prophecy seems warranted that as he goes on 
 before the Liberal forces there will come into his move- 
 ments a new quickening, into his eyes a new glow, into 
 his faith a new warmth. He will still be the man he 
 was, guided by discretion, full of tenacity. But it will 
 be the larger discretion, the tenacity of inspiration. 
 The passion for reform that is in him, suppressed though 
 it may be still, will find even now is finding more 
 frequent opportunities for relief. The old wisdom will 
 forbid it. But that wisdom will not always be obeyed. 
 He will give himself more and more to the work of 
 Progressive Liberalism ; he will find his following ; some- 
 thing of the spirit of the old leaders will burn in him, 
 and put into his mouth words that are not new upon 
 his lips. 
 
 "To what purpose do our pioneers go out into the 
 uttermost parts of the earth, win for us every year a few 
 more acres of the waste places of the world, so long as 
 close at our open doors there lies an unweeded garden 
 full of things rank and gross ? It is the business of 
 Englishmen to make England worth living in as well 
 as worth dying for. It is both a higher and a harder 
 task, you may be sure, than to take a city."
 
 INDEX 
 
 Abbott, Dr., 23, 24, 25, 26 
 
 Evelyn, 49 
 
 Acland, A., 126 
 
 Allon, Dr., 20 
 
 Anderton, Rev. W. E., 10 
 
 Armenia, 132, 133 
 
 Asquith, Joseph Dixon, 12, 13, 
 
 14, 15 
 Mrs. Joseph Dixon, 12, 
 
 I3 I5> 16 
 
 Eva, 13 
 
 Herbert Henry, Rt. Hon. : 
 
 birth, 9 ; parentage and early 
 training, 13 ; death of father, 
 15 ; leaves Yorkshire, 16 ; 
 joins John Willans in Lon- 
 don, 16; relations with Dr. 
 Allon, 20; at the City of 
 London School, 25 ; relations 
 with Dr. Abbott, 2628, 34 ; 
 speech to old boys, 31 ; gets 
 Balliol scholarship, 34 ; enters 
 Balliol, 35 ; relations with 
 Jowett, 39 45 ; interest in 
 the Union, 47 ; first class in 
 " Mods." and in " Greats," 
 47 ; wins Craven scholarship, 
 47 ; fails to win the Ireland, 
 47; only B.A. Fellow of 
 Balliol, 48 ; reads lessons 
 when Bishop Colenso 
 preaches, 48 ; influence at 
 the University, 50, 51 ; 
 greatest success at Union, 
 50, 52 ; last speech there, on 
 disestablishment, 53 ; called 
 to the Bar, 55 ; marries, 58 ; 
 relations with Dr. Horton, 
 59, 60 ; joins R. S. Wright, 
 61 ; writes volume on Corrupt 
 Practices Act,6i, 62 ; appears 
 
 in election petitions, 63 ; and 
 for Cunninghame Graham, 63 ; 
 in Parnell Commission, 63 ; 
 relations with Sir Charles 
 Russell, 64 ; takes silk, 65 ; 
 Privy Council work, 65 ; 
 Baccarat case, 65 ; before 
 Railway Commissioners, 66 ; 
 returns to Bar after holding 
 office, 66, 67 ; often gives up 
 legal for political engage- 
 ments, 68 ; sacrifices brief of 
 ten thousand guineas, 68 ; 
 early interest in politics, 70 ; 
 joins Eighty Club, 71 ; Mr. 
 Chamberlain's friendship, 71 ; 
 offered seventeen seats, 71 ; 
 goes down to East Fife, 71 ; 
 moves vote of censure, 76 ; 
 Home Secretary, 80; Glad- 
 stone's idea not to put him in 
 the Cabinet, 81 ; work at the 
 Home Office, 82, 83; Feather- 
 stone riots, 83 ; appoints 
 Prisons Commission, 90 ; 
 Dynamiters, 91 ; Mrs. May- 
 brick, 93; Employers' Liability 
 Bill, 95 ; Factory Bill, 96, 97 ; 
 work for disestablishment, 99; 
 introduces Suspensory Bill, 
 103 ; introduces Disestablish- 
 ment Bill, 103 ; re-introduces 
 it, 106; services to Wales, 
 108, 109 ; his position in the 
 House, no; speaks at Al- 
 thorp, 112 ; at Glasgow, 113 ; 
 his name coupled with Lord 
 Salisbury's, 1 1 4 ; at Leven, 115; 
 at Ladybank, 116 ; at Leeds, 
 116; on municipal ideals, 116 ; 
 relations with Gladstone, 117;
 
 246 
 
 INDEX 
 
 with Lord Rosebery, 119; 
 Factories Act, 121 ; sees his 
 career interrupted, 122 ; one 
 of the first to speak on the 
 campaign, 124 ; in Fife, 126, 
 150, 167; retains his seat, 126; 
 relation to Sir Robert Reid, 
 128 ; duties at the Bar, 129 ; 
 relations with Lord Rosebery, 
 131, 136 138, 146 ; at Edin- 
 burgh, 134; attitude towards 
 Lord Rosebery's resignation, 
 134 ; praised by Lord Rose- 
 bery at Edinburgh, 135 ; 
 speaks at Auchtertochty, 
 136; at Galashiels, 139; on 
 Armenia, 140 ; relations with 
 Sir H. Campbell-Bannerman, 
 144; on the war, 146; hatred 
 of war, 148 ; opposition to 
 Education Act, 1 50 ; appears 
 with "C.-B." at Alexandra 
 Palace, 1 50 ; attitude to party, 
 150; suited to Free Trade 
 defence, 152; appears before 
 National Liberal Federation, 
 153 ; on fiscal fallacies, 154 ; 
 on Preference, 155; on alleged 
 stagnation of trade, 159; on 
 certainty that Protection 
 threatens, 160 ; on condition 
 of labourers in England, 161 ; 
 on Germany, 161 ; on foreign 
 markets, 162 ; enjoys a great 
 personal triumph, 163 ; serves 
 his party in way most con- 
 genial to himself, 164 ; attitude 
 to Mr. Chamberlain, 164 ; 
 travels much for campaign, 
 165 ; on Home Rule, 167 ; 
 adherence to Mr. Gladstone's 
 policy, 167 ; at Queen's 
 Hall, 176 ; emphasises fact 
 that Free Trade is the 
 issue, 176; Chinese labour, 
 176, 178, and note, 182, 
 183; at Huddersfield, 179; 
 at Sheffield, 179; at Stock- 
 ton, 179; at Oakham, 179; 
 at St. Andrews, 180, 181 ; 
 
 allusion to Mr. Balfour, 
 1 80 ; at Henley, 180; at 
 Leven, 181 ; at Gauldry, 
 182 ; Chancellor of the 
 Exchequer, 184 202 ; at 
 Sheffield, 190 ; on necessity 
 to reduce debt before taxes, 
 190 ; his concern at the debt, 
 192 ; his instinctive honesty, 
 192 ; his lessons of national 
 thrift, 194 ; his first budget, 
 195 ; his second, 196; on taxa- 
 tion of motors, 197; licences, 
 197, 198 ; his third Budget, 
 198 ; reduction of debt, 199; 
 old age pensions, 199, 210; 
 his loyalty to Bannerman, 
 203 ; relations with latter, 
 204; contrasted with him, 205; 
 Irish attitude to him, 205 ; 
 Prime Minister, 207 ; Budget, 
 209; Licensing Bill, 210; 
 strengthens his hold on the 
 party, 212 ; the House of 
 Lords, 214; Education Bill, 
 216 ; contrasted with Mr. 
 Chamberlain and Mr. Bal- 
 four, 219; his wisdom, 220; 
 his desire for efficiency, 221 ; 
 his political self-respect, 222 ; 
 his firmness, 224 ; his industry, 
 226 ; his reliability, 230 ; his 
 knowledge of politics, 231 ; 
 his success in the House, 
 233 ; rules his Cabinet, 241 ; 
 contrasted with Gladstone, 
 241, 242 ; the future, 244 
 
 Asquith, Joseph, 12 
 
 Joshua, ii, 12 
 
 Raymond, 48, 61 
 
 William Willans, 13,44,47 
 
 Baines, Sir Edward, 16 
 Balfour, A. J., 166, 167, 168, 
 
 l ^9i 1 7S) I %> 2I 8, 241 
 
 Balliol College, 34 
 
 Bannerman, Sir H. Campbell, 
 126, 139, 142, 143, 152, 166, 
 203, 204, 211, 235, 237, 243 
 
 Barrett, G. S., 18
 
 INDEX 
 
 247 
 
 Belfast linen workers, 85 
 Berlin Treaty, 144 
 Bigham, Mr. Justice, 63 
 Boyd-Kinnear, J., 71 
 Bradley, H. C, 48, 49 
 Bramham College, 12 
 Broadbent, H. H., 48 
 Bryce, J., 52, 125 
 
 Caird, .,39 
 Carpenter, John, 33, 34 
 Cave, L. W., 57 
 Chamberlain, J., 95, 124, 153, 
 
 164, 165, 166, 196, 219, 225, 
 
 241 
 
 Chesterfield, meeting at, 118 
 Cheyne, Rev. T. K., 49 
 Churchill, Lord Randolph, 72, 
 103, 185 
 
 Winston, 170, 207 
 
 City of London School, 2 1,22, 23 
 Clarke, Sir Edward, 69 
 Colenso, Bishop, 48 
 Conquest, Dr., 33 
 Corrupt Practices Act, 61 
 Courtney, Leonard, 149 
 Cromwell statue, 121 
 
 Dalton, the dynamiter, 91 
 Daly, John, 91 
 Davidson, J. Strachan, 49 
 Departmental commissions, 85 
 Devonshire, Duke of, 124 
 Disendowment, 104 
 Disestablishment, 99, 103, 106 
 Disraeli, B., 144 
 Drew, Dorothy, 75 
 Dynamiters, 91 
 
 Eastern question, 134 
 
 East Fife, 71 
 
 Education Bill, 226 
 
 Egan,9i 
 
 Ellis, Griffith, 102 
 
 Mrs., 13 
 
 Thomas, 134 
 
 Factory Act, 97 
 
 Featherstone, the village of, 83 
 companion of Dalton, 91 
 
 Fenwick, E. N., 57 
 Forbes, H., 49 
 Foreign Office, 132 
 
 Gallagher, 91 
 
 General election, 1895, 12 5 
 
 1900, 149 
 
 1906, 184 
 
 George, D. Lloyd, 72, 99, 101, 
 
 170, 207 
 Gilman, J., 126 
 Gladstone, Herbert, 97, 116 
 W. E., 75, 78, 79, 81, 102, 
 
 113, 117, 130, 132, 133, 145, 
 
 151, 164, 210, 217, 241, 242 
 Goodwin, A., 49 
 Gore, C., 43 
 Gorst, Sir J., 97 
 Graham, Cunninghame, 63, 73 
 Gray, T. H., 49 
 Green, T. H., 39, 46, 49 
 Grey, Sir Edward, 171, 222 
 
 238 
 Grocers' scholarship, 83 
 
 Hadden, Rev. C. H., 53 
 Haldane, R. B., 6568 
 Harcourt, Sir William, 80, 118, 
 
 121, 125, 130, 142, 147, 238, 
 240 
 
 Herschell, Lord, 57 
 Hibbert, Sir J., 125 
 Hicks-Beach, Sir M., 105, 108 
 Highbury Young Men's Society, 
 
 21 
 
 Holt, R. D., 154 
 Home Rule, 102, 119, 166, 214 
 Horton, Rev. R. F., 59, 60 
 House of Lords, 217, 218 
 
 Irish Church, 102 
 Islington, Lower, Night School, 
 21 
 
 Jones, Sir Henry, 61, 97 
 
 Atherley, 57 
 
 Jowett, B., 36 43, 46, 49, 
 50. M3 
 
 Kimberley, Lord, 80, 119
 
 248 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Langtry, Mrs., 67 
 Lead-workers, 85 
 Leeds Mercury, 16, 17 
 Lefevre, Shaw, 125 
 Lewis, Sir George, 63 
 Licensing Bill, 210 
 
 duties, 213 
 
 Lockwood, Sir Frank, 57 
 Lowell, J. R., 52 
 Lucy, H. W., 69, 97, 120, 193 
 Lyndhurst Road Congregational 
 Church, 59 
 
 Macaulay, Lord, 178 
 Martin, Rev. David, 46 
 
 Rev. Samuel, 46 
 
 Matthews, Henry, 97 
 
 Maybrick, Mrs., 93 
 
 Melland, Dr., 58 
 
 Milner, Lord, 36, 37, 50, 51 
 
 Milsom, T., 57 
 
 Morley, John, 81, 125, 126, 142, 
 
 147 
 town of, 9, 10 
 
 National Debt, 189 
 Nettleship, R. L., 49 
 Newman, W. L., 49 
 Norfolk, Duke of, 221 
 Northcote, Sir Stafford, 201 
 
 O'Connor, T. P., 147, 211 
 Old age pensions, 198, 202 
 
 Pall Mall Gazette, 117 
 Paravinci, F. de, 49 
 Parnellites, 120 
 Pattison, Mark, 40 
 Paul, Herbert, 49, 50 
 Pope, Mr., 63 
 Powers, the Great, 132 
 Purvis, J., 49 
 
 Raleigh, Sir Thomas, 30, 47, 49 
 Redmond, John, 205 
 Rehoboth Congregational 
 
 Church, 10 
 Reid, Sir Robert, 128 
 Ritchie, Lord, 180 
 Rosebery, Lord, 80, 118 120, 
 
 121, 125, 130, 133, 145, 146, 
 
 171, 236, 237 
 Runciman, W., 216, 242 
 Russell, Sir Charles, 63, 112 
 
 St. Asaph, Bishop of, 100 
 diocese of, 107 
 
 Salisbury, Lord, 101, 114, 124, 
 
 132, 133. I45> H9> iSi. I73> 
 241 
 
 Saturday Review, in, 127 
 Shaw, Sir John, 33 
 Sheffield grinders, 86 
 Sinking Fund, 201 
 Smith, W., ii 
 Soames, 64 
 
 Spencer, Lord, 112, 118, 126 
 Sultan of Turkey, 132 
 
 Tennant, M argot, 75 
 Times, The, 29, 105, 113 
 Tite, Sir William, 33 
 Trafalgar Square, 63 
 Trevelyan, Sir George, 80, 125 
 
 Unfunded debt, 195 
 Union Bank, 67 
 Union Chapel, 20 
 
 Watson, Spence, 154 
 Willans, Emily, 12 
 
 John Wrigley, 13, 16, 17 
 
 Mrs. John Wrigley, 16, 17 
 
 William, 12 
 
 (son of above), 16 
 
 Wrigley, Miss, 13 
 
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 CATALOGUE OF BOOKS 15 
 
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 Abbey Mill, The . . . 17 
 Adrift on the Black Wild Tide 16 
 America in the East . . 4 
 Ancient Musical Instruments . 21 
 Angels of God, The . 20 
 
 Animal Fun . .23 
 
 Animal Gambols . .22 
 
 Animal Playtime . . 22 
 
 Apocalyptical Writers The 
 
 Messages of the . 11 
 
 Apostles, The Messages of the 11 
 Art of Living Alone, The . 20 
 Atonement and Progress . 16 
 Atonement in Modern Thought, 
 
 The . . .7 
 
 Aunt Asatha Ann . . 28 
 
 Authority & the Light Within 16 
 Awe of the New Century, The . 25 
 
 Baptist Handbook, The . 14 
 Barrow, Henry, Separatist . 2 
 Beads of Tasmar, The . . 10 
 Between Two Loves . . 10 
 Bible Definition of Religion, 
 
 The . . . .25 
 Bible Story, The : Retold for 
 
 Young People . .15 
 Bishop and the Caterpillar, The 25 
 Black Familiars, The . 4, 17 
 Border Shepherdess, A . .10 
 Bow of Orange Ribbon, The 
 
 10, 17, 27 
 
 Britain's Hope . . .19 
 Brudenells of Brude, The . 17 
 Burning Questions . 9, 19 
 
 Canonbury Holt . . .17 
 Cartoons of St. Mark . . 5 
 Challenge, The . . .13 
 Changing Creeds and Social 
 
 Struggles ... 9 
 Character through Inspiration 20 
 Chats with Women on Every- 
 day Subjects . . .18 
 Children's Pace, The . . 21 
 Christ of the Children, The . 13 
 Christ of the Heart, The . 6 
 Christ that is To Be, The . 9 
 Chrit, The Private Relation- 
 
 ships of. . . .5 
 Christ Within. The . . 20 
 Christ's Pathway to the Cross 18 
 Christian Baptism . .19 
 Christian Life, The . 20, 26 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Christian World Pulpit, The . 6 
 Christianity and Social Prob- 
 lems . . . .6 
 Christianity in Common Speech 26 
 Chrystabel . . .10, 17 
 
 Church and Modern Life . 7 
 Church and the Kingdom, The 21 
 Church, Ministry and Sacra- 
 ments in the New Testa- 
 ment .... 5 
 Cinderella . . 3, 17 
 
 Comforts of God, The . .21 
 Common Life, The . . 8 
 Common-sense Christianity . 18 
 Conquered World, The . 20, 28 
 Conquering Prayer . .12 
 Courage of the Coward, The . 8 
 Crucible of Experience, The . IS 
 
 Daughter of Fife, A . 10, 17, 27 
 
 Debt of the Damerals, The . 17 
 
 Divine Satisfaction, The . 25 
 
 Do We Need a New Theology T 22 
 
 Dutch hi the Medway, The . 10 
 
 Early Pupils of the Spirit . 18 
 Earlier Prophets, The Messages 
 
 of the . . . . 11 
 
 Earliest Christian Hymn, The 15 
 Emilia's Inheritance . .17 
 
 England's Danger . . 26 
 Episcopacy . . . .11 
 
 Epistle to the Galatians, The . 15 
 
 Esther Wynne . . 10, 17 
 
 Eternal Religion, The . . g 
 Evolution of Old Testament 
 
 Religion, The . . 1 
 
 Ezekiel, The Book of . i 
 
 Faith and Verification . . 6 
 
 Faith and Form . . . 1 
 Faith the Beginning, Self-Sur- 
 render the Fulfilment, of 
 
 the Spiritual Life . 20, 26 
 Family Prayers for Morning 
 
 Use .... 9 
 Father Fabian . . .17 
 Feet of Clay . . . .10 
 
 Fireside Fairy Tales . . 22 
 
 First Christians, The . . 8 
 
 Flower-o'-the-Com . 3, 17 
 
 Forgotten Sheaf, The . . 19 
 Fortune's Favourite . .17 
 Fortunes of Cyril Deuham, Tho 
 
 17, 27
 
 CATALOGUE OF BOOKS 
 
 29 
 
 Fragments of Thought 
 Friars' Lantern . 
 Friend Olivia 
 
 PAGE 
 
 . 9 
 
 8 
 
 4 
 
 Gain or Loss T . .22 
 
 Gamble with Life, A .9 
 
 Garcia. G. H. R. . . . 9 
 Garrisoned Soul, Tho . . 22 
 Gloria Patri : or, Our Talks 
 
 about the Trinity . . 9 
 Glonous Company of the 
 
 Apostles, The . .16 
 
 God's Greater Britain . . 9 
 Golden Truths for Young Folk 23 
 Good New Times, The . .15 
 Gospel of Grace, The . . 7 
 Grey and Gold . . 10, 17 
 Grey House at Endlestone . 17 
 Growing Revelation, The . 6 
 
 Haromi : A New Zealand Story 4 
 Harvest Gleanings . .14 
 
 Health and Home Nursing . 23 
 
 Health in the Home Life . 12 
 
 Heart of Jessie Laurie, The . 4 
 
 Heartsease in the Family . 12 
 
 Heirs of Errington, The . . 17 
 Helen Bury . . . .12 
 
 Helps to Health and Beauty . 24 
 
 Higher on the Hill . 6 
 
 His Next of Kin . . 10, 17 
 
 His Rustic Wife ... 9 
 
 History of the United States, A 2 
 
 Holy Christian Empire . . 27 
 
 Holy Spirit, The . . 18 
 
 Household of McNeil, The . 10 
 House of Bondage, Tho . .17 
 
 How to Become Like Christ . 20 
 
 How to Read the Bible . . 23 
 
 Husbands and Wives . . 17 
 
 Ideals for Girls . . .16 
 Immanence of Christ in Modem 
 
 Life, The ... 12 
 Incarnation of the Lord, The 6 
 Industrial Explorings in and 
 
 around London 
 
 Infinite Affection, The . .12 
 Infoldinga and Unfold ings of 
 
 the Divine Genius . .20 
 Inspiration in Common Life . 
 Invisible Companion . .18 
 Inward Light, The . . 8 
 Israel's Law Givers, The 
 
 Messages of . . .11 
 
 Jan Vedder's Wife . 17, 27 
 Jealousy of God, The . . 20 
 Jwua and His Teaching . . 7 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Jesus : Seven Questions . 7 
 Jesus, The Messages ol, Accord- 
 
 ing to the Synoptists . 11 
 
 Joan Carisbroke . . 10, 17 
 
 Job and His Comforters . . 14 
 
 Joshua, The Book of . .3 
 
 Judges, The Book of .3 
 
 Kid McGhie .... 3 
 Kingdom of the Lord Jesus, 
 
 The ... 20, 28 
 
 Kit Kennedy : Country Boy 3, 17 
 
 Lady Clarissa . . .17 
 Last of the MacAllisters, The . 10 
 Later Prophets, The Messages 
 
 of the . . . . 11 
 Leaves for Quiet Hours . . 13 
 Let us Pray . . . .19 
 Letters of Christ. The . .18 
 Liberty and Religion . . 13 
 Life and Letters of Alexander 
 
 Mackennal, The . . 6 
 Lifted Veil, A . ... 4 
 Louis Wain's Animal Show . 23 
 Loves of Miss Anne, The 3, 17 
 Lynch, Rev. T. T. : A Memoir 4 
 Lyrics of the Soul . .12 
 Making of an Apostle, The . 20 
 Making of Personality, The . 5 
 Manual for Free Church Minis- 
 ters, A . . . .22 
 Margaret Torrington . . 17 
 Martineau's Study of Religion 
 
 20, 20 
 
 Maud Bolingbroke . . 12 
 Max Hereford's Dream . . 26 
 Messages of Hope ... 7 
 Messages of the Bible, The . 11 
 Millicent Kendrick . 10, 17 
 Miss Devereux, Spinster . 17 
 Model Prayer, The . .16 
 More Tasty Dishes . . 24 
 Morning and Evening Cries . 14 
 Morning Mist, A . . .17 
 Morning, Noon, and Night . 24 
 Mornington Lecture, The . 5 
 Mr. Montmorency's Money 10, 17 
 My Baptism . . .16 
 
 My Belief .... 7 
 My Neighbour and God . . 13 
 
 New Evangel, The . .12 
 New Mrs. Lascelles, The . 17 
 
 New Points to Old Texts . 10 
 New Testament in Modern 
 
 Speech, The . .14 
 
 Nineteen Hundred T . ,10
 
 30 
 
 JAMES CLARKE AND CO.*S 
 
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 Nobly Born . . .10, 17 
 Nonconformist Church Build- 
 ings . . .15 
 Old Pictures in Modern Frames 20 
 Oliver Cromwell . . . .24 
 Oliver Weatwood . . .17 
 On Seeing Angels . . .16 
 Ordeal of Faith, The . .15 
 Our City of God . .6 
 Our Girls' Cookery . . 25 
 Ourselves and the Universe 8, 27 
 Outline Text Lessons for 
 
 Junior Classes . . 23 
 Overdale . . 10. 17 
 
 Passion for Souls, The . .18 
 Paul and Christina . . 10 
 Paul, The Messages of . .11 
 Paxton Hood : Poet and 
 
 Preacher ... 9 
 Pearl Divers of Roncador 
 
 Reef, The ... 9 
 Personality of Jesus, The . 11 
 Pilot. The . . . .13 
 Poems. By Mme. Guyon . 11 
 Polychrome Bible. The . 2, 3 
 Popular Argument for the 
 
 Unity of Isaiah, A . .15 
 Popular History of the Freo 
 
 Churches, A . . 4, 14 
 Practical Lay Preaching and 
 
 Speaking to Men . .13 
 Practical Points in Popular 
 
 Proverbs . . .15 
 Prayer . . . .18 
 
 Preaching to the Times . . 9 
 Price of Priestcraft, The . 22 
 Pride of the Family, The . 17 
 Problems of Living . . 8 
 Prophetical and Priestly His- 
 torians, The Messages of . 11 
 Psalmists The Messages of the 11 
 Purpose of the Cross, The . 16 
 
 Quickening of Caliban, The . 10 
 Quiet Hints to Growing 
 
 Preachers in My Study . 1 1 
 
 Race and Religion . . 21 
 Reasonable View of Life, A . 18 
 Reasons Why for Congrega- 
 
 tionalists . . .18 
 Reasons Why for Free Church- 
 men . . . .22 
 Reconsiderations and Rein- 
 forcements . . .20 
 Reform in Sunday School 
 
 Teaching . . , 19 
 
 PACK 
 
 Religion and Experience . 
 Religion of Jesus, The . .16 
 
 Religion that will Wear, A . 23 
 Resultant Greek Testament, 
 
 The . . . .14 
 
 Rights of Man, The . . 4 
 
 Rise of Philip Barrett, The 4, 15 
 
 Robert Wreford's Daughter . 10 
 
 Rogers, J. Guinness . . 2 
 
 Rome from the Inside . . 24 
 
 Rosebud Annual, The . 6, 12 
 
 Rose of a Hundred Leaves, A . 4 
 
 Ruling Ideas of the Present Age 6 
 
 School Hymns . . 12, 27 
 School of Life, The . .12 
 Sceptre Without a Sword, The 25 
 Scourge of God, The . .17 
 Seven Puzzling Bible Books 5, 19 
 She Loved a Sailor . . 10 
 Ship of the Soul, The . 20, 26 
 Ship's Engines, The . .26 
 Short Devotional Services . 21 
 Sidelights on Religion . . 7 
 Simple Cookery . . .16 
 Simple Things of the Christian 
 
 Life . . . .18 
 Singlehurst Manor . 10, 17 
 
 Sissie . . . . 10, 17 
 Sister to Esau, A . . 10, 17 
 Small Books on Great Subjects 
 
 19, 20 
 
 Social Salvation . . . 
 Social Worship an Everlasting 
 
 Necessity . . 20, 26 
 Squire of Sandal Side, The 10, 17 
 St. Beetha's . 10, 17, 27 
 
 Storehouse for Preachers and 
 
 Teachers . . .21 
 Stories of Old . . .13 
 Story of Congregationalism in 
 
 Surrey, The ... 7 
 Story of the English Baptists, 
 
 The . . . .8 
 Story of Penelope, The . .17 
 Studies of the Soul . . g 
 Sunday Afternoon Song Book 
 
 26, 27 
 Sunday Morning Talks with 
 
 Boys and Girls . .14 
 Sunny Memories of Australasia 1 9 
 Supreme Argument for Chris- 
 tianity, The . . .20 
 
 Tale of a Telephone, A . .25 
 Talks to Little Folks . . 24 
 Taste of Death and the Life of 
 
 Grace, The . .20, 2f
 
 CATALOGUE OF BOOKS 
 
 31 
 
 PAGJI . PAGE 
 
 Tasty Dishes 
 
 24 
 
 Vida; or, The Iron King's 
 
 
 Ten Commandments, The 
 
 15 
 
 Daughter . . 
 
 3 
 
 Theology and Truth 
 
 5 
 
 Violet Vaughan . 10, 17, 
 
 27 
 
 Theophilus Trinal, Memorials of 
 
 5 
 
 Voice from China, A 
 
 8 
 
 Things Most Surely Believed . 
 
 12 
 
 
 
 Thoruycroft Hall . .17, 
 
 27 
 
 Warleigh's Trust . . 
 
 17 
 
 Thoughts for Life's Journey . 
 
 7 
 
 Way of Life, The . 
 
 20 
 
 Through Science to Faith 
 Tools and the Man 
 Town Romance, A ; or, On 
 
 4 
 6 
 
 Wayside Angels . 
 Web of Circumstance, The 
 What Shall this Child Be t 
 
 24 
 4 
 15 
 
 London Stones 
 
 17 
 
 Who Wrote the Bible T . 
 
 18 
 
 Trial and Triumph . . 
 Types of Christian Life . . 
 
 19 
 20 
 
 Why We Believe . 
 Wideness of God's Mercy, The 
 
 14 
 18 
 
 Undertones of the Nineteenth 
 Century 
 UngUdedGold . . 13, 
 Unique Class Chart and 
 Register 
 Unknown to Herself . 
 
 14 
 19 
 
 27 
 17 
 
 William Jeffery . 
 Woman's Patience, A . 
 Women and their Saviour 
 Women and their Work 
 Words by the Wayside . 
 Working Woman's Life, A 
 Woven of Love and Glory 
 
 19 
 17 
 22 
 19 
 21 
 7 
 10 
 
 Value of the Apocrypha, The . 
 
 18 
 
 
 
 Value of the Old Testament . 
 
 16 Young Man's Religion, A . 
 
 14 
 
 Index 
 
 of Authors 
 
 
 Abbott, Lyman . . 4, 
 
 6 Carman, Bliss . 
 
 6 
 
 Adeney, W. F. . 
 
 23 
 
 Cleal, E. E 
 
 1 
 
 Aitchison, George . . 
 
 21 
 
 Clifford, Dr. . . . 20, 
 
 26 
 
 Aked, C. F. . . 8, 
 
 9 
 
 Collins, B. G. 
 
 It 
 
 Allin, T. 
 
 21 
 
 Coulton, G. G. . 
 
 8 
 
 Andom, R. . . . 
 
 9 
 
 Crockett, S. R. . . 3, 
 
 17 
 
 Andrews, C. C. 
 
 17 
 
 Cubitt, James 
 
 15 
 
 Antram, C. E. P. . 
 
 22 
 
 Cuff, W 
 
 19 
 
 Armstrong, Richard A. . 20, 
 
 26 
 
 Darlow, F. H. 
 
 19 
 
 Barr, Amelia E. . 4, 10. 17, 
 
 27 
 
 Davidson, Gladys . . . 
 
 23 
 
 Barrett, G. S. 
 
 15 
 
 Dods, Marcus . . . 
 
 20 
 
 Barrows, C. H. 
 
 11 
 
 
 
 Becke, Louis . . . 
 
 9 
 
 Ellis, J. . . .21, 
 
 23 
 
 Bennett, Kev. W. H. . 
 
 3 
 
 Evans, H. . . . . 
 
 22 
 
 Benvie, Andrew . 
 Betts, C. H 
 
 I'l.iL-o T Af 
 
 6 
 9 
 
 Farningham, Marianne 
 7, 10, 12, 19, 
 
 22 
 
 J->ic&JC7, J . 11L. 
 
 Bloundelle-Burton, J. . 
 
 17 
 
 Finlayson, T. Campbell . 
 
 26 
 
 Bradford, Amory H. . 6, 8, 
 Brierley, H. E. . 
 Brieiiey, J. . . 5. 7, 8. 
 
 20 
 
 22 
 27 
 
 Fiske, J. 
 Forsyth, P. T. . 20, 26, 
 Fraser, J. . . 
 
 2 
 27 
 11 
 
 Briggs, C. A. i 
 
 6 
 
 Furneas, H. H. . . 
 
 2 
 
 Brock, W 
 Brooke, Stopford A. . 20, 
 
 15 
 26 
 
 Gibbon, J. Morgan . . 
 Giberne, Agnes . . . 
 
 15 
 17 
 
 Brown, C. . . . 18, 
 Burford. W. K. . 
 
 19 
 24 
 
 Gladden, Washington 
 6, 6, 7, 18, 19, 
 
 21 
 
 Burgin, J. . . 
 
 4 
 
 Glover, R- . 
 
 21 
 
 Campbell, R. J. . 
 Carlile, J. C. . - 8, 
 
 20 
 24 
 
 Greenhough, J. G. . 14, 
 Griffith-Jones, E. . 6, 18, 
 
 20
 
 82 
 
 JAMES CLARKE AND CO.'S CATALOGUE 
 
 PAGE 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Griffig, William Elliot . 
 
 
 4 
 
 Metealfe. R. D. . 
 
 
 26 
 
 Grubb, E. 
 
 . 
 
 16 
 
 Meyer, F. B. 
 
 
 18 
 
 Gunn, E. H. Mayo 
 
 12, 
 
 27 
 
 Michael, C. D. 
 
 . 
 
 13 
 
 Guyon, Madame . 
 
 
 11 
 
 Moore, G. F. 
 
 
 3 
 
 Haupt, P. . 
 
 
 2 
 
 Morgan, G. Campbell 
 Morten, Honnor . 
 
 15, 
 
 18 
 12 
 
 Haweis, H. R. 
 
 , 
 
 16 
 
 Mountain, J. . . 
 
 
 16 
 
 Hayeraft, Mrs. 
 Heddle, E. F. 
 Henderson, J. G. . 
 
 * 
 
 9 
 17 
 9 
 
 Monger, T. T. 
 Notewell, Nicholas 
 
 
 20 
 16 
 
 Henson, Canon Hensley. 
 
 . 
 
 9 
 
 Orchard, W. E. . 
 
 
 7 
 
 Hocking, S. K. 
 
 . 
 
 9 
 
 Peake. A. S. 
 
 t 
 
 19 
 
 Border, W. Garrett 
 
 . 
 
 20 
 
 Pharmaceutical Chemist, A 
 
 k 
 
 24 
 
 Home, C. Silvester 
 
 
 
 Picton, J. Allanson 
 
 
 16 
 
 4, 14, 15, 
 
 18, 
 
 19 
 
 Powicke, F. J. 
 
 t 
 
 2 
 
 Horton, Dr. R. F. 
 
 
 
 Pulsford. John . . 
 
 t 
 
 20 
 
 5, 7, 18, 24, 
 
 25, 
 
 26 
 
 
 
 
 Hunter, John 
 
 
 20 
 
 Rees. F. A. . 
 Rickett, J. Compton 9, 
 
 ! :.', 
 
 15 
 26 
 
 "J. B." of The Christian 
 
 Ridette, J. H. 
 
 . 
 
 27 
 
 World . 
 
 . 
 
 24 
 
 Robarts, F. H. 
 
 
 14 
 
 Jefferson, C. E. . 
 
 . 
 
 11 
 
 Roberts,. J. E. 
 
 . 
 
 19 
 
 Jeffs, H. 
 
 13 
 
 15 
 
 Rogers. Dr. Guinness . 
 
 
 2 
 
 J. M. G. 
 
 
 9 
 
 Rudge, C. . 
 
 
 19 
 
 John, Griffith 
 
 
 8 
 
 Russell, F. A. 
 
 . 
 
 18 
 
 Jones, J. D. 7, 12, 16, 
 Jowett, J. H. . . 
 
 18, 
 
 22 
 18 
 
 Sanders Frank Knight . 
 Sch^enk, Erich von 
 
 
 
 11 
 
 7 
 
 Kane, James J. 
 
 
 16 
 
 Scottish Presbyterian, A 
 
 . 
 
 23 
 
 Kaye, Bannerman '. 
 
 
 4 
 
 Sinclair, Archdeacon 
 
 20, 
 
 26 
 
 Kennedy, H. A. . . 
 
 20, 
 
 27 
 
 Smyth, Dr. Newman . 
 
 
 4 
 
 Kennedy, John . . 
 
 
 15 
 
 Snell, Bernard J. . 
 
 IS', 
 
 22 
 
 Kent. C. F. . . 
 
 . 
 
 11 
 
 Stevenson, J. G. . 
 
 4, 
 
 13 
 
 Kenyon, E. C. 
 
 . 
 
 18 
 
 Sutter, Julie . 
 
 
 19 
 
 Lansfeldt, L. . 
 Leo W. T. . . , 
 
 
 
 17 
 it 
 
 Swan. F. R. . 
 Swetenham, L. . 
 
 ; 
 
 12 
 12 
 
 Lewis, E. W. 
 
 
 18 
 
 Thomas, H. Arnold 
 
 
 20 
 
 Llewellyn, D. J. . 
 
 
 19 
 
 Toy, Rev. C. H. . 
 
 . 
 
 2 
 
 Lyall, David 
 Lyall, Edna . 
 
 4, 
 
 15 
 26 
 
 Trotter, Mrs. E. . 
 Tymms, T. V. 
 
 : 
 
 14 
 
 6 
 
 Lynch, T. T. 
 
 
 5 
 
 Tytler. S. . 
 
 . 
 
 17 
 
 Lynd, William 
 
 . 
 
 21 
 
 Varley, H. . 
 
 . 
 
 18 
 
 Macfadyen, D. 
 Macfarland, C. S. . 
 
 
 
 6 
 12 
 
 Veitch, R. . 
 Vcn Schrenk, E. H. 
 
 . 
 
 8 
 
 7 
 
 Maclarlane, Charles 
 
 
 10 
 
 Wain, Louis . 22, 
 
 23, 
 
 26 
 
 Mackennal, Alexander . 
 
 20^ 
 
 20 
 
 Walford, L. B. 
 
 4. 
 
 17 
 
 Manners, Mary E. . 
 
 
 25 
 
 Warschauer, J. . . 
 
 7, 
 
 12 
 
 Marchant, B. . 
 
 . 
 
 17 
 
 Waters, N. McG. . 
 
 
 14 
 
 Marshall, J. T. . 
 
 
 14 
 
 Watkinson, W. L. 
 
 . 
 
 18 
 
 Marshall, N. H. . 
 
 G, 
 
 16 
 
 Watson, W. . 
 
 . 
 
 18 
 
 Martinenn. James . 
 
 20, 
 
 26 
 
 Weymouth, R. F. . 
 
 . 
 
 14 
 
 Mason, E. A. . 
 
 . 
 
 26 
 
 White, William . 
 
 . 
 
 4 
 
 Mather, Lessels . 
 
 
 /3 
 
 Whitley, W. T. . 
 
 . 
 
 6 
 
 Mather, Z. . 
 
 
 6 
 
 Whiton, J. M. 9, 10, 16, 
 
 20, 
 
 25 
 
 Matheson, George 7, 13, 
 
 2l', 
 
 25 
 
 Williams, T. R. . 
 
 . 
 
 20 
 
 Maver, J. S. . 
 
 
 21 
 
 Wilson, Philip Whitwell 
 
 . 
 
 ir? 
 
 Meade. L. T. 
 
 
 17 Worboire, Emma J. 10, 12, 
 
 17, 
 
 27 
 
 W. SytnigM t Son*, I'ritit+ri, Fftttr La/M, London, S.C,