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YALE
UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

WILLIAM EDWARD FORSTER.
1874.

(from a photograph bv MESSRS ELLIOT & FRYJ

LIFE

of

THE EIGHT HONODEABLE
WILLIAM EDWARD FORSTER

T. WEMYSS EEID.

IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOL. II.

FOURTH EDITION.

LONDON: CHAPMAN AND HALL, Limited.
1888.
[all bights KESERVED.J

A

CONTENTS OF VOL. IL

CHAPTEE I.
The Geneva Arbitration ... ... ... ... 1

I' AGE

CHAPTEE II.
Visit to the United States ... ... ... .39
CHAPTEE III.
The Leadership of the Liberal Party — The Eastern
Question ... .. ... ... ... 93
CHAPTEE IV.
Foreign Policy of the Tory Government ... ... 143
CHAPTEE Y.
The Caucus ... ... ... ... ... 205
CHAPTEE YI.
The Irish Secretaryship ... ... ... ... 233
CHAPTEE YII.
The Protection Act ... ... ... ... 27.5

PAGK

IV CONTENTS.
CHAPTEE YIII.
The Battle with the Land League ... ••• 334
CHAPTEE IX.
Closing Days in Ireland ... — ••• ••• 381
CHAPTEE X.
The Kilmainham Treaty — Eesignation ... ... 423
CHAPTEE XI.
Last Years ... ... ... ... ... 471
CHAPTEE XIL
Illness and Death ... ... ... ... 521
CHAPTER XXIL
Conclusion ... ... ... ... ... 563

ILLUSTEATIONS.
Portrait, 1874 ... ... ... ... Frontispiece
Library at Wharfeside ... ... ... To face 471

LIFE OF THE
EIGHT HON. W. E. FOKSTEK.
CHAPTEE I.
THE GENEVA ABBITEATION.
In order to compress as far as possible into one
section of this work the story of Forster's labours
in connection with the Education Act, I have to
some extent anticipated the chronological course
of events. It is now necessary to deal with some
other matters of importance that arose whilst he
was a member of the Government of 1868-74.
And first a word must be said as to the other
labours which he had to face in his office besides
those relating to education.
The Vice-President of the Council has as manj''
duties to discharge as a maid-of-all-work. Ques
tions so remote from ordinary educational topics
as vivisection, the contagious diseases of animals,
and a hundred other subjects of the most mis
cellaneous character, have to be dealt with in
that which is primarily the Education Office. It
t TOL. II. B

2 LIFE OP THE RIGHT HON. W. E. FORSTER.
was very soon after he entered upon his new post
that Forster began to understand how heavy was
the task laid upon him. To his Wife.
" Strawberry Hill,
" Sunday evening, January lOth, 1869.
"It is now just twelve, my dearest, but I
must write thee a line before I go to bed. This
place is amusing. . . . The night before last, Lord
Eussell was here, very old and very deaf, with a
velvet cap on his head and a hat in his hand ; but
in cheery spirits, the plucky old fellow that he is.
Last night, we had the Due de Chartres and the
Due d'Aumale ; the latter has stayed over to-day,
and is very conversable, but he looks aged. I have
just been having a long talk with him on the
Guises and the Valois. Kings. Osborne also is
here. He is at his best ; full of broad but good-
humoured fun, and at dinner yesterday it was a
play to see the contest between him andHaywarql.
" My day has answered, as I have got the talk
with Bruce I wanted; but really to master this
office wiU need an amount of work which is fear
ful. Brand writes me word I must bring in a
Cattle Plague Bill. Of course I can let matters
go, filling up gaps as they yawn ; but to fill my
place, that is, to do my duty, I must find out in a
day or two, with my time fully occupied by other
matters, what ought to be done, better than those

THE GENEVA ARBITRATION. 3
persons who have attended to the matter or been
practically interested for years. . . . Well, my
dearest, I long for thee to be with me, and the
dear children also. You will help me through the
next few years — they can only be few. If all this
had come earlier, when there would have been
more of them, I might have done more good.
But now to bed."
The most important piece of legislation which
he carried out, in addition to the Education Act,
was the Ballot Act. This Act may be said to
have been born in the Education Office, for the
original idea of the ballot, as it is now in use in
our parliamentary and municipal elections, is to be
found in the bye-laws framed in 1870 for the
election of the London School Board. When the
first election under the Education Act took place
in London, Mr. Forster, accompanied by Lord
Hartington and Mr. Cumin, went to the West
minster poHing station, and watched the voting
with eager interest. He was not merely seeking
to satisfy himself as to the way in which the
Education Act was likely to be supported in
London. He was learning aflesson in connection
with the ballot, for it had already been decided
that a Ballot Bill should shortly be introduced
into Parliament. The novelty of secret voting was
at that time so great that even men of exceptional
intelligence could hardly comprehend the new

4 LIFE OF THE RIGHT HON. W. E. FORSTER.
method of recording their opinions. At this
School Board election of 1870, for example, one
of Forster's most distinguished colleagues in the
Cabinet, having duly filled up his voting paper,
turned to the officer in charge of the ballot, and
asked him, with pathetic interest, on what part of
the paper he was to sign his name.
It was with ignorance of this kind — ignorance
begotten of the Englishman's natural predilection
for the time-honoured system of open voting — that
Forster had to deal when he brought in his Ballot
Bill. The fight was a prolonged one. As has
ah-eady been seen, the bill was thrown out by the
Lords when it was first brought forward in 1871.
On that occasion Mr. Forster got into some little
trouble with the Upper House, arising from some
cavalier remark which he made during the debate
in Committee as to the way in which the Peers
would probably deal with the measure. This re
mark was eagerly fastened upon by Mr. Disraeli,
and it seemed not unlikely that some charge would
be brought against him in the House of Lords.
The affair blew over, however; and the peers
satisfied themselves with rejecting the bill. Its
passage through the House of Commons, owing to
the novelty of the machinery provided for the pur
pose of preserving secrecy, had been prolonged and
difficult, twenty-seven nights being occupied in
the debates, actually more than the time taken
to pass the Education Act. A couple of evenings

THE GENEVA ARBITRATION. 5
sufficed to seal its fate in the House of Lords.
Eeintroduced at the very beginning of the session
of 1872, it again encountered considerable opposi
tion, and there seems at one time to have been
considerable risk of its loss, owing to the per
functory manner in which some of Forster's col
leagues, who had no real love for the measure,
discharged their duty in regard to it. However,
after twenty-three nights of debate, it was at last
sent to the House of Lords, and on July 18th it
received the royal assent. So completely does
the Education Bill echpse all the other Parlia
mentary achievements of Mr. Forster, that it
hardly seems worth while to mention the Ballot
Act in connection with his legislative work. Those
who watched him whilst he was passing this latter
measure through the House of Commons, how
ever, came to the conclusion that the management
of the business spoke even more highly for
Forster's capacity as a Parliamentary tactician
than did his success with the Education Act.
Of the numerous measures connected with the
outbreak of cattle plague with which he had to
deal whilst at the Council Office it is unnecessary
to speak, except to point out the extent to which
this department of the office encroached upon his
time and absorbed his strength. Whatever he had
to do in connection with it was done with the same
thoroughness and energy as he had displayed in
his educational work. The public health is, to a

6 LIFE OF THE RIGHT HON. W. E. FORSTER.
certain extent, under the Vice-President of the
Council, and a Vaccination Laws Amendment Bill
was among the measures which he brought forward
and piloted through Parliament. It had been
introduced at the time of one of the periodical
outbreaks of small-pox in the metropolis, and when
there was a loud outcry in favour of re- vaccination.
Forster resolved that he would undergo re-vacci
nation, and he took advantage of the occasion to
make a practical experiment as to the character of
the vaccination by public officers. Without telling
any one of his intention, he presented himself
at the rooms of one of these officials during the
hours prescribed for the attendance of the public,
patiently waited his turn, and was duly operated
upon by a medical man who was wholly ignorant of
his identity. From that time he was able to speak
more authoritatively than most members of Par
liament could pretend to do upon the question of
public vaccination and the manner in which the
poor were served by the officers appointed by the
law. There was another question associated with his
official duties which interested him greatly. This
was the part of his functions which related to
the treatment of animals. In connection with the
measures he had to introduce for preventing the
spread of contagious diseases among cattle, he was
able, to his intense delight, to do something to
mitigate the sufferings which sheep and oxen have

THE GENEVA ARBITRATION. 7
to undergo in their passage from tho fields to the
markets ; whilst, in connection with the practice of
vivisection, on which he felt very strongly, he had
the opportunity of taking some steps to protect
dumb creatures from anything like reckless action
on the part of men of science.
Extract from his Diary.
"March 21s^, 1872.— I finally settled with
Simon the rabbit case. I was intending a minute
to Lord Eipon, saying that I disapprove of any
experiments on living animals ; but, finding that
not only was there no vivisection a la Majendie,
but that the experiments were at the Brown
Institution, I withdrew my minute, getting an
assurance from Simon that there should be no
such vivisection without warning me, and that
when pain was given by inoculation chloroform
should be given. He said the experiments were of
the utmost importance, assisting towards remedies
for consumption. I do not like it, but have done
the best I can."
Writing to Sir Arthur Helps (January 12th,
1873) he expresses very strongly his horror of
anything like reckless cruelty to animals in the
name of science, and adds, "My mind is made
up on these three points : (1) Vivisection may in
some most rare cases be useful for the prolongation
of life and removal of suffering of man and beast ;

S LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FORSTER.
(2) it is therefore allowable when very rarely
practised by real discoverers. (3) But it is not
allowable even for them except with every possible
alleviation of pain, and ought to be absolutely
forbidden by learners and general practitioners."
The well-known liae which teaches us that "the
mark of rank in nature is capacity for pain " was re
jected by Forster. He believed that the sufferings
of a rabbit under vivisection were not less than
his own would be under the same process, and he
could not bear the thought that such pain should
be infiicted save where something like an absolute
necessity was proved.
The years 1869 to 1872 were made very anxious
years to English statesmen, owing to the condition
of the relations of this country with the United
States. The strong feeling of resentment which
had been engendered on the other side of the
Atlantic, not, perhaps, so much by the depreda
tions of the Alabama as by the tone of undis
guised hostility to the North which had been
adopted during the war by nearly every politician
of eminence in this country save Mr. Bright, Mr.
Cobden, and Mr. Forster, was bearing its natural
fruit. We now had on our hands one of those
"unfinished questions " which "have no pity for
the repose of nations." The successful North did
not forget the time when it had looked in vain, in
the crisis of its fate, to the English Cabinet for

THE GENEVA ARBITRATION. g
some expression of sympathy and goodwill. Its
people did not press for the immediate settlement
of the claims they had put forth on account of
the depredations of the Alabama and the other
privateers built by Englishmen. But they made
known those claims to the whole world, and they
further made it known that, until they had been
settled, no real goodwill could exist betwen the
two branches of the English race. When or how
they would press for a settlement they refused
to say. It was enough for them that the open
question remained an open and ever-growing
sore. It was impossible for English statesmen to
remain easy in mind whilst this was the state
of feehng in America. Every Englishman would
have deprecated a war between the two countries
as an outrage upon civilization. But, even though
no thought of war might exist in connection with
the question, it was clear that for the sake of both
peoples some effort ought to be made to put an
end to the sense of grievance on the part of
the Americans. It was manifestly incumbent upon
England to take the first step in such a matter,
for it was the action of England which had injured
America. It was a fortunate thing for both
countries that the Gladstone Ministry of 1868 con
tained two such tried friends of the United States
as Mr. Bright and Mr. Forster. In what esteem
the latter was held by leading Americans the

IO LIFE OP THE RIGHT HON. AV. E. FORSTER.
following letter from Mr. Adams, the American
Minister to this country, will show : —
To Me. Foestee.
" 54, Portland Place, March 14tli, 1868.
" My deae Me. Foestee,
"I brought with me from the United
States several copies of a work to which I devoted
the greater part of eight of the best years of my
life.* They have been for the jnost part placed in
the public libraries of the kingdom. I find one
copy which I had reserved for the person whom
I most esteem, as well for his staunch and unvary
ing support of a policy of goodwill to America as
for his personal qualities, as I have observed them
in private intercourse. Will you do me the great
favour to accept of it ?
" Very truly yours,
" Chaeles Feancis Adams."
In 1869 the Government were able to negotiate
a treaty with Mr. Eeverdy Johnson, the genial
Minister of the United States, who had come over
to this country full of a desire to re-estabhsh
friendly relations with us. By this treaty the
questions in dispute were to be submitted to four
commissioners, two English and two American,
and to an arbitrator, chosen by the commissioners.
* The hook was a collected edition of the works of Mr.
Adams's father.

THE GENEVA ARBITRATION. ii
The treaty was hailed with great satisfaction in
England ; but when it was submitted to the
American Senate for ratification it was violently
attacked, more especially by Mr. Sumner. The
Senate rejected the proposal, and the President
recalled Mr. Eeverdy Johnson, replacing him by
Mr. J. L. Motley, the well-known historian.
Mr. Sumner's speech aroused strong feeling
both in America and in England, and for a time
it seemed that the hopes of a pacific settlement of
the question in dispute were at an end. Forster
was the first man of importance on this side of
the Atlantic to make some reply to Mr. Sumner.
Addressing his constituents at Bradford (May 20th,
1869), he deplored the fact that so distinguished
an American as Mr. Sumner should, after English
men had swallowed their pride and agreed to
submit their differences with the United States
to arbitration, have deliberately sought to prevent
this arbitration, and to insist upon something like
an unconditional surrender and apology on our
part. It happened that Forster could speak of
Mr. Sumner as a personal friend. The great
American had been his guest at Wharfeside in
1857, and they had corresponded at intervals since
then. But the high tribute which he paid to
Mr. Sumner's personal virtues did not soften the
strength of the case which he made out in reply
to that gentleman's bitter and unreasonable attack
upon England. The speech dealt fuUy with the

12 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FORSTER.
points made by Sumner, and, above all, with his
contention that the proclamation of neutrality was
a hostile act on our part. This proclamation had
been made, Forster showed, in accordance with
the earnest wishes of himself and of other friends
of the North.
His powerful argument made a great impression
in England, where it was generally accepted as
the authoritative reply to Mr. Sumner's somewhat
splenetic outburst of wounded patriotism. In
America, too, it was received, by all those who
were more anxious to see concord restored than
to keep alive a painful feeling of resentment, with
unbounded satisfaction, and many correspondents
from the other side of the Atlantic made haste to
assure Mr. Forster that he had expressed their
views as well as his own in his answer to Mr.
Sumner. Of the letters of that period, only those
of Mr. Adams and Mr. Sumner himself need be
quoted here. From Me. Adams.
" Quincy, Massachusetts, " June 4th, 1869.
" My dear Me. Foestee,
" It is now more; than a year since I left
my post in London, and I' have scarcely written a
single letter to any of the friends I left there.
This must be ascribed, not to my forgetfulness of
them, but to the absorbing nature of the private

THE GENEVA ARBITRATION. 13
occupation which has monopolized my attention
all this time. Ten years of absence, and the
changes made by the war have imposed upon me
a necessity of corresponding exertion, which is yet
pressing upon me, and which will, I fear, continue
to do so for several years to come. So far as my
private interests are concerned, I did not return a
moment too soon.
" I very much fear that I cannot say the same
of the public interests. Without claiming any
extravagant share upon the influence of events, I
think I may say that had I remained until March,
the embarrassments occasioned by the mistakes of
my successor would not have been interposed.
Without personal knowledge of him, I had yet
cherished an idea, gathered from his prudent
pubhc action during the war, that he would be,
at any rate, a safe and cautious representative. I
very much fear that the course pubhc opinion has
taken in this country must be attributed, in a
great measure, to his errors and to his miscon
ception of his own actual position as an exponent
of om* national feelings. He was led to this
mistake by the accidental circumstance of his
unanimous confirmation by the Senate, to which
he attached a significance that did not belong to
it. Had I remained, the only difference would
have been that nothing at all would have been
done until the new administration had come in.
Thus all the events which now embarrass it would

14 LIFE OF THE RIGHT EON. W. E. FORSTER.
have been saved. On this account I take some
blame to myself for my retreat, though upon
every other I am sure that I was justified. And
even upon this, how could any one foresee what
happened ?
"I have been led to this train of thought by
reading a report of your speech at Bradford, which
is so moderate and sensible that I shall try to get
it inserted in some of the papers here. Not that
I think anything can undo the mischief that has
been done. Far from it. The great objection to
Mr. Sumner's speech, in my mind, is not anything
intrinsic, but the circumstance that it embittered
the vague sense of injury entertained by nine-
tenths of our people, and stimulated the demand
for 'reparation,' as it is called, far beyond even
the extreme point at which he seemed to place it.
The consequence is, that anything likely to be'
conceded will fall so far below the expectation that
it will only increase the dissatisfaction. Apart
from this, there is some danger in the tendency of
the extreme men of the stronger party to resort
to the subject as a means of maintaining their
waning influence. I am not in the confidence
of the Administration, and therefore cannot ex
press any opinion of their policy, that has founda
tion in authority. But I believe there is no
purpose of making difficulty. The only danger in
that quarter lies in the idea of delay, for the sake
of seizing the first opportunity that may occur for

THE GENEVA ARBITRATION. 15
what is called 'retaliation.' This is not a very
elevated policy, and it may be laid aside, after
longer experience in public affairs, in favour of a
better ; and I hope it will.
" Our friend Motley is, I think, very well dis
posed. I had some conversation with him just
before he left, which convinced me that the desire
to succeed in his mission will ensure a disposition
to avoid offence and to be patient. I trust that
on your side you will entertain the same, so that
the two countries may avoid a collision, which
could by no possibility benefit either, and would
injure both.
" Mrs. Adams desires me to express her kindest
regards to Mrs. Forster, in which I fully join.
" Very truly yours, "C. F. Adams."
From Me. Sumnee.
[Private.] " Washington, June 8th, 1869.
" Deae Me. Foestee,
" I had already read your speech before
I received the copy which you kindly sent me.
Si sic omnia ! If other English utterances were in
the same tone, the differences between the two
countries would be much nearer a settlement than
I fear they are.
" The last few weeks have witnessed a con
sentaneous effort in England to widen the breach,

i6 LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FORSTER.
(1) by suppressing the statement of our grievances,
(2) by daily misrepresentations of that statement,
and (3) by abuse and vilification. Of course all
this postpones the day of settlement, for there can
be no settlement until a plain statement of our
case is read and understood in England. This is
now refused. I am sorry, because I desire a
settlement, wherein I differ from many who would
keep the question open.
" Your speech is printed in our newspapers, and
the articles denouncing America, the Senate, and
myself. This is right. Many ask why the same
fairness does not show itself in England. Not a
press in England which has not attributed to me
sentiments and allegations which could not have
been attributed had the speech been candidly laid
before their readers.
" Even you, in your speech, complain of me
for addressing these ' fashionable men, who, after
aU, did not guide the destinies of England.' Oh
no ! There is nothing of this in my speech. /
spoTie only of the Government and its tastes, which
found an echo in Parliamentary cheers. It would
have been entirely unworthy of the occasion, as it
seems to me, had I stepped aside to accuse the
'fashionable,' or to praise the 'working men.' To
the latter I have offered my homage at other times.
"Pardon me if I call attention to another
statement. You say, ' if there be danger at all,
it is from America.' How so ? Not a word of

THE GENEVA ARBITRATION. 17
it in the speech which English newspapers mis
represented without printing. At the time of its
dehvery the speech was hailed as ' pacific,' and
I challenge any person to read it through and find
a single note of war.
" The secretary of our Peace Society writes
that he proposes to print it as a ' peace tract,'
C-Gstainly, in this spirit I tried to speak.
" I have always had a deep sense of our wrongs
from England — to my mind the most terrible ever
offered by one friendly Power to another. These
I expressed fully in my speech of September 10th,
1863, on which Lord Eussell commented at Blair
gowrie. Such was my love of peace — especially
with England — that when our troubles were over
I said nothing, hoping for a settlement. Never in
the Senate or elsewhere did I utter a word. At
last the late treaty was negotiated. As I think of
it now, there was madness in that negotiation. It
was made (1) after a new President had been
elected, known to feel intensely on the Alabama
question; and (2) after the country had been
aroused by Mr. E. Johnson's maudlin career to a
frame of mind which demanded its full dues. It
was no sooner signed than the people condemned
it, before the committee or Senate had acted.
Had it been signed earlier by six months I think
it might have been adopted. When it was
determined to reject the treaty it became my
duty to assign the reasons.
VOL. II. c
7^^

1 8 LIFE OF THE RIGHT HON. W. E. FORSTER.
" I hope you will talk freely with Motley, who
was in Washington at the time, and who wiU tell
you to what extent my speech represented the
views of all here, from the President down to the
doorkeeper, and he wUl teU you also my own
desires and hopes.
" Of course, it will be for England to open the
negotiations again. If those who control her
affairs prefer that the question should remain un
settled, there are many here, besides the numerous
Irish, who wiU be pleased ; but I am not in this
number. " I should be glad to know if England now
shares the opinions of the law lords ; to the effect
that, by the concession of belligerency, the builders
of war vessels were relieved from the crime of
piracy. If this be the law, as I cannot doubt,
then did that false concession open the dockyards
and arsenals of England to a pro-slavery rebeUion ?
So it seems. I cannot see it otherwise, and there
fore I regard the concession as the first stage of
the great offence.
" I hope you will see General Schenck, who is
the leader of oar House of Eepresentatives. He
will talk frankly and wisely. Pardon my frankness,
and beUeve me, dear Forster,
" Sincerely yours,
" Chaeles Sumnee."

THE GENEVA ARBITRATION. 19
To Me. Sumnee.
" 80, Eocleston Square, London,
" June 20th, 1869.
" Deae Me. Sumnee,
" I hasten to thank you for your letter of
the Sth inst., just received.
" It is very pleasant to me to find that you do not
dislike the tone of the speech I sent you, though
you do not, of course, agree with its argument.
" I hardly think we shaU gain by dwelUng on
our disagreements as to past facts.
" What we do agree in is in an earnest desire
that both our countries should do that which is
right one to the other, and in a determination to
do that which in us lies towards this result.
" It was a real pain to me to feel it my duty to
publicly reply to your speech, but I must repeat
how glad I am to find that nothing which I said
has given you personal annoyance.
"Yours very sincerely,
" W. E. Foestee.
" I shall be most glad to make General
Schenck's acquaintance." From Me. Sumnee.
"Boston, June 28th, 1869.
"Dear Me. Foestee,
" I enclose to you a copy of Mr. E.
Johnson's despatch on his negotiation which has
never yet seen the light.
" It was received on the morning of the 4th of

20 LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
March, and the last pubhc act of Seward and of
A  J  was to send it confidentially to the
Senate. "You wiU see that on belUgerency he takes
the very ground now occupied by the administra
tion of the present Government and by myself.
This is the American ground. To my mind, this
question is one of the most important in the Law
of Nations ever presented for practical considera
tion, and absolutely without any authoritative
precedent. " My hope is that, however definitely decided,
it will be so as most to advance civiUzation and
the repose of nations. " FaithfuUy yours,
" Chaeles Sumnee.
To Me. Sumnee.
" July 17th, 1869.
" Deae Me. Sumnee,
" Many thanks for your vote of the 20th
inst., and for the copy of Mr. E. Johnson's despatch,
which I am glad to have the opportunity of
seeing, but which, of course, I consider strictly
confidential. As regards the Proclamation of
Neutrality, I confess I am stiU strongly of opinion
that such proclamation "was in accordance with
, international law and a mere acknowledgment of
existing facts, but it may weU be that in my
interpretation of international law I may be mis-

THE GENEVA AEBITRATiON. 21
taken. I think, however, I hardly can be mistaken
in my conviction that this proclamation was not
made with unfriendly animus to your Government,
because that is a matter of which I can speak from
personal recollection and knowledge.
" You aUude to the recognition of independence
as analogous to a recognition of belligerent rights,
but at the time of the proclamation I myself, and
aU the well-wishers of the North, drew a marked
line between the [two kinds] of recognition. We
acknowledged belUgerent rights because there
were belUgerent facts, but we struggled hard and
successfuUy against the emissaries of the South
and Louis Napoleon in our determination not to
recognize independence, because that was not a
fact, because we trusted it never would be a fact,
and were determined to do nothing which would
in the sUghtest degree help to make it a fact.
" However, you and I agree in so many things,
that I suppose we must agree to differ in this
matter. " Yours very truly,
"W. E. Foestee."
For more than twelve months the dispute was
allowed to linger on, without any vigorous attempt
being made to close it. In 1871, however, a fresh
effort was made to heal the sore. Lord Eipon and
Sir Stafford Northcote were despatched to Wash
ington for the purpose of concluding a fresh treaty

22 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
for the submission of the questions at issue to
arbitration. They remained in America from
February until May, and they had the satisfaction
before they left of concluding a solemn treaty with
the Government of the United States, under which
the American claims to compensation for our action
during the civU war were to be submitted to a
High Court of International Arbitrators, who were
to meet at Geneva to hear the cases of both
countries in the spring of 1872. This treaty was
duly ratified by the Senate, in spite of another fierce
outburst of indignation on the part of Mr. Sumner,
whose feeling regarding the . conduct of England
did not appear to have been softened either by time
or by the manifest desire of Englishmen to put an
end to the long-standing dispute.
But when everything thus seemed to be settled,
and there was at last good hope of the final
removal of the long-standing obstacle to the
friendship of the two peoples, a new difficulty
made its appearance in a very unexpected quarter.
This was the claim for indirect damages which
was set forth in the " Case " of America as it was
^presented to the Court of Arbitration at Geneva.
Great was the indignation in England when, at
the close of January, 1872, it first became known
that the American Government was prepared to
prefer this demand. The Cabinet was at once
summoned to consider the question, and some of
the members were for forthwith withdrawing from

THE GENEVA ARBITEATION. 23
the arbitration. Mr. Forster was strongly in
favour of a more moderate and prudent course,
but at the same time he felt strongly as to the
unfairness of the demand made by America.
" Clearly," he writes in his diary {January dOth,
1872), " this claim is sharp practice by the
Americans, as the protocols prove that they had
waived the indirect claims. Our press is very
indignant and exigeant, the Daily News leading.
A cool head and a cool temper wanted. I asked
Tenterden to dinner to talk the matter over with
him. He is strong against diplomatic negotiation,
and recommends a protest and refusal to submit
the indirect claims to the arbitration, to be de
Uvered through our agent to the tribunal to the
United States agent, both being appointed by
Article 2 of the Treaty. Thereby diplomatic
wrangling would be avoided, and the Yankees
would not be forced to immediate reply while the
Presidential caucus is at its height. I never felt
any matter so serious. {January 'dist) Drew up a
memorandum urging communication through the
agents, rather than by despatch, on the Alabama
hitch. Took it to Granville ; then sent it to
Gladstone, asking him whether he would object to
its cu'culation. . . . Found a note from G  ¦
assenting to circulation, so sent F  off with
the box. {February 2nd) My box returned. All
the ministers minutes against me, except Glad
stone, Granville, Eipon, and ChanceUor."

24 LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
The question was discussed in the Cabinet, but
the opinion was not favourable to Mr. Forster's
proposal, who had to give way. He did what he
could, however, to make the passage in the
Queen's speech on the subject as friendly and open
as possible. " Eipon was miserable, and no
wonder," he notes in his diary. " He will be
blamed for the possibility of this sharp practice,
but in fact the Cabinet are responsible, as we
discussed every word. . . . Sheriff's dinner at
Eipon's. Sat between Cardwell and Gladstone.
Interesting talk with him. He gave me his cal
culation for estimating the war prolongation claim
at 1600 milUons sterling. {February 4th) In the
evening a circulation box with a telegram from
Thornton that it was Fish's private opinion that
the discretionary arbitration was at an end, and
that the Americans would withdraw their arbi
trator and counsel. Matters look as serious as I
expected. {Februa.ry 5th) Called on Granville to
talk over American matters with him. While
there, Gladstone came. I said our case as regarded
the interpretation of the Treaty was much the
best, but the Americans might persuade them
selves they had a case. Ours was a circumstantial
argument, and ' needed as good a speaker as you
(Gladstone) to make it clear.' At which he was
indignant. He was glad to find me, wanting to
ask me whether I would assent to changing
' understood ' to ' held ' in the speech. If so.

THE GENEVA ARBITRATION. 25
as he thought the rest of the Cabinet would,
he would telegraph to Eipon, who was gone to
Osborne, to tell the Queen of the alteration, sup
posing he himself consented. ... I did not assent.
Met Eipon at his house on his return from
Osborne. He said I did right about the clause.
{February Qth) Called upon Adams at Maurigny's
Hotel 'a Uttle after ten. Leaving to-day for the
States, and glad to see me. After civil talk about
his wife's health, which called him back, etc., he
expressed his surprise at our feelings. I explained
it as very natural. We never intended this arbi
tration, etc., etc. Well, if we took this ground the
arbitration was at an end, and America would
never make another treaty with us. I think he
said if we insisted on the indirect claims being
excluded they must withdraw. This was not
encouraging ; but just then Evarts came in, and I
rehearsed the conversation, which went on for
some time, but ended in Evarts's asking whyp
having made in our despatch and the Queen's
speech our declaration that we did not consider
the indirect claims within the reference, we should
not go on with the arbitration. ' How can we,'
said I, ' when we are determined not to pay any
award on them ? ' ' But you might let this be
clearly understood.' This was what I wanted
from him, as it was very much what Eipon and
I wished. So I said, ' I do not understand Mr.
Adams to have said this.' Upon which Adams

26 LIFE OP THE RIGHT HON. W. E. FORSTER.

immediately and most fully assented,| and Evarts
and the latter kept on asking his^uestion, to
which I gave no answer, which would, I suppose,
show them I did not dissent. I took care to say
I subscribed every word of the despatch and
speech, but I thought Gladstone had in his speech
gone too far. We parted very friendly, though
with a mutual sense of the seriousness of the
crisis." A few days later General Schenck unofficially
proposed four possible plans by way of settling the
difficulty. (1) A lump sum paid by England ; (2)
a maximum sum paid to cover all claims, direct
or indirect, supposing the arbitrators found against
us ; (3) Proceeding with the arbitration under our
protest that we did not consider the indirect
claims within the treaty, and could not abide by
any decision against us as respected them, or pay
in respect of them any gross sum or portion
thereof; (4) An exchange of Vancouver's Island
for the indirect claims, upon the principle that
both treaties were open to two interpretations.
The wrangle between the two Governments
went on from day to day, amid the most profound
anxiety on the part of the friends of peace in both
countries. The public on this side of the Atlantic
felt strongly regarding what was considered as the
sharp practice of Mr. Bancroft Davis, the American
counsel, and unpleasant recriminations began to
pass from side to side. As Forster had said when

THE GENEVA ARBITRATION. 27
the difficulty first arose, a cool head and a cool
temper were both needed by any one who should
attempt to keep the treaty alive. His own anxiety
on the subject was excessive, and he lost no oppor
tunity of strengthening the pacific section in the
Cabinet, whilst he used all his private influence
with Mr. Adams, General Schenck, and other
leading Americans in England to induce them to
back the efforts of those who were seeking to carry
the arbitration through. It is no secret now that
the Cabinet was the scene of more than one heated
discussion during these anxious weeks, and that
the tension was so severe at times as almost to
threaten the existence of the Ministry. Indeed,
whUst the dispute was stUl at its height, Forster
and Lord Eipon came to the determination to
resign if ministers accepted a resolution of which
Lord EusseU had given notice, pledging us to
withdraw from the reference if the indirect claims
were not abandoned before the Court of Arbitration
met at Geneva. _
His diary casts valuable side-Ughts upon the
state of feeling in Loudon, and especially in the
inner political circles, during this momentous time.
" April 2A.th. — Afternoon party at Buckingham
Palace. Told Schenck at the palace that he must
find a peg for Eipon and me within the next few
days, or we could not keep the treaty alive. Gran
ville told me that Schenck had told him that he
had telegraphed to Fish, as part of his conver-

28 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FORSTER.
sation with him, that he, Granville, had said that
if the claims were not withdrawn we could not go
on. He said he had not said that, but he thought
it might stop. I said I did not mind his pressing
and frightening the Americans, but that we must
not be committed to this. He assented, saying
that he would ^et it right in a letter."
A proposal came from the United States
Government that a supplemental treaty should
be signed, under which America should drop the
indirect claims in consideration of a mutual agree
ment that the contentions thereanent should be
the guide of the conduct of the two nations
hereafter. Ministers, however, were much incUned to
prefer another plan, proposed by General Schenck,
which was that, after an interchange of notes,
Mr. Adams should undertake officially to propose
the withdrawal of the claims at Geneva.
"Diary, May 10th.- — Adams, Mrs. and Miss
Adams came to breakfast. Satisfactory and very
confidential conversation with him after breakfast,
he teUing me that Fish and the President had the
Senate well in hand ; that he had made his pro
position about withdrawal not without under
standing with Fish, who had sent to him before
he left. As we were walking away, I asked him
what would happen if, after aU, we could not
agree, and he told me very confidentially that his
instructions were to go to Geneva and to ask the

THE GENEVA ARBITRATION. 29
arbitrators for the decision whether we went or '
not. He admitted it was doubtful whether the
arbitration would go on, but Grant had always
been in favour of that course."
Eventually ministers agreed to faU in with the
American suggestion of a supplemental treaty, or
rather of a supplemental article to the existing
treaty. Yet even then a sharp crisis had to be
faced. When this supplemental article was sub
mitted to the Senate it was altered in such a
manner that the English Government felt that
they could not accept it. The arbitration had
been adjourned whUst negotiations were in pro
gress, and Lord EusseU's resolution, directly
hostUe to the American contention, had also
been hung up pending the course of events.
Now, however, it seemed as if the last chance
of a pacific settlement had failed. In the opinion
of most Enghshmen the action of the Senate
looked as though there was a deliberate intention
on the part of the leading politicians of America
to prevent the arbitration from coming to any
thing. In these circumstances Lord Eussell
resolved to proceed with his resolution. Within
the Cabinet the state of tension still existed. On
June 3rd, Lord Eussell moved his resolution in
jthe House of Lords against going into arbitration
untu the indirect claims had actually been with
drawn. Onjthe sixth^ when the adjourned debate
on the resolution was resumed, and when it seemed

30 LIFE OP THE RIGHT HON. W. E. FORSTBE.
likely that the fateful division would be taken, a
dramatic incident, which was not however to be
without its parallel hereafter, occurred. Just in
the nick of time a letter was received from General

Schenck, stating that he had private advices from
Mr. Fish as to the American secretary's interpre
tation of the supplemental article. This interpre
tation was of such a character as to satisfy English"
demands. When the news became known in the
House of Lords, Lord Eussell withdrew his reso^
lution, and the debate came to an end without
producing the results anticipated from it.
On June 15th the Court of Arbitration met at
Geneva. It had been brought together in spite
of difficulties which might well have been deemed
insuperable. For the first time in the history of
the civilized world one of the great powers of
Europe had allowed her policy and conduct to be
submitted to the decision of an International Court.
Great indeed had been the sacrifice of old tradi
tions and of hereditary pride which this resolution
on the part of England had imposed upon her; and
when that great sacrifice had been made, the diffi
culties in the way of those who were anxious to
submit a great international dispute to a more
just and beneficent arbitrament than that of the
sword had only begun. This is not the place in
which to weigh the merits of the diplomatic dis
putes between the Cabinets of Washington aud
London. The reader has seen something, how-

THE GENEVA AEBITRATION. 31
ever, of the gravity of those disputes. As a
matter of fact, when the Court met at Geneva no
one knew exactly what would happen. We had
nothing more than a vague understanding with
the American Government as to the withdrawal
of the indirect claims, and the greatest uncertainty
prevailed in London as to whether the arbitration
would or would not proceed. The meeting of the
Cabinet which was held that day was almost
unique in its character, and as no State secret is
now involved in its proceedings, I may quote
Forster's description of it from his diary.
^^ June 15th. — Cabinet at 12. Arbitration
meeting at Geneva to-day, and we waited for
news. From 12 to 2 on Parliamentary business ;
then adjourned to 3, some of us lunching meantime
with Granville at Foreign Office. No telegram
with real news ; a telegram taking nearly four
hours sent off by Tenterden at half-past eleven
before the meeting. Again an adjournment to
6.30. StiU no telegram. We had exbausted
subjects of talk, and were Ustleasly looking at one
another. " ' The Opposition would snigger if they saw
us,' said Granville ; and, soon after, he said to me,
' I wonder whether West has a chess-board ? '
disappeared, and brought it to me wrapped up in
a handkerchief; and we took three chairs on to
the terrace outside the Cabinet room, one for
each of us and one for the chess-board. We had

32 LIFE OF THE RIGHT HON. W. E. FORSTER.
three games, and, alas ! he won two of them. Still
no telegram, and we went off to dinner, with
agreement that we should be summoned to
Halifax's when it came. . . . Called at Halifax's ;
still no news ; went on to Lady Eipon's ; no
news there ; Schenck had an early telegram
with nothing in. On our return we called at
the Foreign Office with Glyn, but they knew
nothing. " June 16th, Sunday. — A cab soon after breakfast
with telegram from Tenterden, saying little except
that arbitration had adjourned tiU Monday. I
thought, however, from its tone that probably
Adams would try to move out the indirect claims,
and, after Church and early dinner, I went off to
GranvUle to say this and urge help to Adams.
His footman told me he was gone some time ago
to a Cabinet at Gladstone's. I went on, and found
they had been at it for nearly two hours. Some
how or other the messenger had missed me. My
expectation was fully justified — a confidential
telegram from Tenterden saying that Adams was
then moving. We sent a short helpful telegram,
only  really opposing. I was in time somewhat
to alter it. Granville drove me off in high glee,
calling at the Foreign Office to see Harcourt.
After all, this treaty, which has as many lives as
as a cat, will live."
On June 19th the arbitrators rejected altogether
the indirect claims, and there was thus an end to

THE GENEVA ARBITRATION. 33
that which might have been the cause of the most
serious feuds between the two countries.
To his Wife.
" House of Commons, 6.30 p.m., Thursday.
" Hip, hip, hip, hooray ! My dearest, the final
settlement of the indirect claims came during
questions to-day, and Gladstone announced it
amid great cheers on our side and the disgust of
the Tories. This is a good year now, whatever
happens. " Thine in haste,
" W. E. Foestee."
Forster's position in the House of Commons
had of course steadily increased in importance
during his tenure of office as Vice-President of
the CouncU. In 1868, when he took his seat
beside Mr. Gladstone on the Treasury Bench, he
was comparatively untried as a minister, and great
as were the expectations of those who knew him
weU, and who had watched his career in Yorkshire,
there were not a few persons who believed that
his reputation far surpassed his merits, and that
he was, as one of them had bluntly expressed it,
"a greatly overrated man." At the end of 1873
it is certain that, whatever might be the views
men held with regard to his educational policy,
no one would have echoed the opinion I have
just quoted as to his personal abilities. The.
VOL. n. d

34 LIFE OP THE RIGHT HON. W. E. FORSTER.
Ministry of 1868 was described at the time as a
Ministry of aU the talents, and it was undoubtedly
remarkable for the number of men distinguished
in poUtical life who took part in it. Unquestion
ably, however, next to Mr. Gladstone, the man
who made the greatest advances in the estimation
of the House of Commons during those years was
Mr. Forster.
The disadvantages under which he laboured,
owing to his lack of a university training and
the comparatively late time of life at which he
entered Parliament, were successfully overcome
by his energy and his enthusiasm. Out of doors
his name had become a shibboleth, and party
rancour was freely discharged upon his head ; but
even those who assailed him most virulently
were constrained to admit that he was at least a
formidable antagonist, whilst within the House
of Commons there was a growing opinion that but
for his unfortunate feud with the Eadicals of
Birmingham his claim to the post of lieutenant to
Mr. Gladstone would have been indisputable. Mr.
Gladstone himseU, during 1873, more than once
entrusted him with the duty of representing him
during his own absence from the House of
Commons, and the man who in 1870 was still
without a seat in the Cabinet was three years
later universally recognized as one of the few
men in the front rank in EngUsh political life.
I have had occasion to mention already the

THE GENEVA ARBITRATION. 35
feehng of his colleagues and subordinates in the
Privy Council Office towards him. It would be a
great mistake, however, to suppose that it was only
on the part of those who were brought into almost
daily contact with him that this feehng was
entertained. The Vice-President of the Council
touches many different departments of the public
service, and has to do with an almost innumerable
army of officials. There is, for example, the South
Kensington Department, around which many
disputes have gathered, and upon which many
jealousies, professional and personal, are centred.
I beUeve that I speak with accuracy the sentiments
of the officers of that department when I say that,
without any disparagement to the distinguished
men who have succeeded Mr. Forster in the office
of Vice-President of the CouncU, there is no
one whose name is cherished so warmly as his,
nor one who has left behind him a tradition of
such unfaUing loyalty towards all with whom,
in his official capacity, he was brought in contact.
But there was another and still larger body
of men than those associated with him in the
pubUc service with whom Mr. Forster had to deal.
These were the school teachers of England. The
author of the school system of our country, he
was in a certain degree responsible for bringing
into existence that great army of elementary
teachers in whose hands the training of the
children of the nation is now placed. When

36 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
the Education Act was first put into operation,
the confusion that necessarily existed in the educa
tional districts almost amounted to chaos. It was
no easy thing for the head of the Education Depart
ment to place himself in anything like satisfactory
relations with the vast body of teachers who had
to be suddenly enrolled in order to meet the new
wants of the nation. Forster, however, made it
his business to put himself into the closest possible
connection with these men and women. Just as
in his early days in Yorkshire he had delighted
in the hours which he spent in his own schools at
Burley or in those of Canon Jackson at Leeds, and
had there acquired by personal observation a
sympathetic knowledge of the teacher's difficulties
and disappointments, so now, as Minister of Educa
tion, he lost no opportunity which offered itseU of
personally associating with those to whom the
practical work of teaching had been entrusted.
It mattered Uttle that the teacher with whom he
came in contact was a man of no influence, and
perhaps of only moderate abiUty. His work formed
the tie which united him with Forster ; and he
was certain to obtain the kindliest and most
sympathetic consideration for his trials and
grievances if he laid them before him. Blunt
indeed might be the manner in which Forster
expressed himself, but beneath the blunt exterior
his interlocutor speedily discovered the kindest
of hearts and the most loyal of spirits ; and thus
it came to pass that, even at the time when

THE GENEVA ARBITRATION. 37
Mr. Forster's name was being held up to execra
tion by the leaders of the League, he had no more
enthusiastic body of admirers in the country than
the teachers of our common schools.
A word must be said here as to his per
sonal position whilst he was a member of the 1868
Administration. The business of the country
was at that time wonderfully prosperous, and he
shared in its prosperity. At the end of 1871 he
found himseK free from any kind of anxiety in
pecuniary matters, and from that time forward
he may be said to have been a rich man. Among
other personal incidents of interest which marked
the period was his election as a member of the
distinguished little club known as GrUlion's. He
had long been a regular visitor at the CosmopoUtan,
many members of which well remember as one of
the features of the meetings his racy and vigorous
talk upon aU manner of subjects, great and small.
He now became almost as regular in attendance at
the famous dinners and breakfasts of GrUlion's — at
which none but the most distinguished Englishmen
of their day are to be found, and at which the
representatives of parties the most directly an
tagonistic are able to meet in friendly social inter
course. Forster's love of society was undoubtedly
great. He delighted in frank and unrestrained
conversation, especiaUy with those from whom he
differed, and was never happier than when in
argument he met a foeman worthy of himself.
Under the tremendous pressure of his pubUc work

38 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FORSTER.
during these busy and eventful years, and amid
all the perplexities and anxieties of his position
as educational minister, he found a constant source
of relaxation and recreation in those social en
gagements which his advancement in public
estimation had opened to him.
How he impressed others who encountered him
in social life may be learned from the following
extracts from the memoir of the late Dr. Norman
Macleod, whom he met at Balmoral whUst he
was there in attendance upon the Queen : — " We
have here," says Dr. Macleod, writing from Bal
moral, "Helps, and Mr. Forster, M.P., and we
have had tremendous theological talks till 2 a.m.
I keep my own not amiss. I have the greatest
possible respect for Forster's abilities and truthful
ness. . . . The Queen has asked me to remain
till to-morrow. I hope to have another set-to
with the M.P. He seems to expect the same, as
he said ' Hurrah ! ' when he heard I was to remain."
A year later (1872) Dr. Macleod says in his diary :
" I preached at Balmoral. . . . When last at Bal
moral I met Forster, the Cabinet minister, there.
He and Helps and I had great arguments on all
theological subjects tiU very late. I never was
more impressed by any man as deep, independent,
thoroughly honest, and sincere. I conceived a
great love for him. I never met a statesman
whom for high-minded honesty and justice I
would sooner follow. He wiU be Premier some
day."

( 39 )

CHAPTEE II.
VISIT TO THE UNITED STATES.
The opening weeks of 1874 found Mr. Forster stiU
standing face to face with a powerful poUtical party
which regarded him not so much with distrust as
with positive hatred, and which was resolved, if
possible, to secure his expulsion from the ranks of
the Liberal party, if not from political life. His
sins in connection with the passing of the Educa
tion Act, the chief of which was the fact that as
minister of education he had thought more about
education than about the disestablishment of the
Church of England, were still bitterly remembered
against him ; and even in his own borough of
Bradford there were many who had vowed that, if
possible, they would punish him for his offences by
depriving him of his seat in ParUament. Some
idea of the maUgnant unfairness with which he
was at that time being attacked by those who
insisted that he alone was responsible for every
portion of the Education Act with which they
themselves did not happen to agree, and who were
careful to distinguish between him and his col-

40 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
leagues, especially Mr. Gladstone, may be formed
by a perusal of the language of one of the most
powerful of their number, Mr. Chamberlain, then
Mayor of Birmingham.
Speaking at a poUtical supper in December,
1873, shortly after Mr. Forster had made his speech
in vindication of the Education Act at Liverpool,
Mr. Chamberlain said, " He observed in the news
papers that the Eight Hon. Mr. Forster had been
making what had been called a great speech at
Liverpool. No doubt he had been somewhat dis
satisfied with the results of recent elections, for, as
they were aware, Bradford, Nottingham, Middles
brough, and a score other places which he could
mention, had foUowed the example of Birmingham,
and returned candidates pledged to oppose Mr.
Forster's favourite policy. In Bradford, at all
events, the victory of the Liberals was significant,
because it was probable that the same party that
had secured the majority upon the school board
would also have a majority in the Parliamentary
election, in which case the Eight Hon. WiUiam
Forster would no longer sit for Bradford, or, K he
sat at all, would sit only as returned by Conserva
tive votes. . . . He hoped they were prepared to
make all necessary allowances for the fond affection
of the parent. They all knew that a father looked
with pride upon his first-born, and was apt to be
rather charitable towards its defects, but at the
same time he (Mr. Chamberlain) was bound to say

VISIT TO THE UNITED STATES. 41
that he thought Mr. Forster's infatuation about
his little bill was really beyond all reasonable
measure — (laughter and applause). There were
two good features in the bill, the first being a
provision made for the establishment of school
boards, by which the ratepayers had obtained
some control over the institutions to which they
had contributed ; and the second being the per
missive enforcement of compulsory attendance at
school. These principles, however, only existed
in the bill in consequence of the agitation and
discussion which was raised by the Education
League. When they had considered those two
principles they had considered almost all that they
could accept as praiseworthy in the bill. Its
effect in other respects had been to delay the great
system of national education which Mr. Forster
declared to be necessary and desirable at the time
wheu he first undertook to bring forward his
measure. His Act had thrown obstacles in the
way of such a system. ... It had thrown the
education of the children of this country into
the hands of two great ecclesiastical organizations,
which had unfortunately been foremost in obstruct
ing the prosperity and advancement of the nation.
. . . The object of the Liberal party in England,
throughout the continent of Europe and in America,
had been to wrest the education of the young out
of the hands of the priests, to whatever denomina
tion they might belong. It would be the crowning

42 LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
triumph of what was called Mr. Forster's states
manship that he had delayed this admirable
consummation for perhaps another generation."
It is unnecessary to comment either upon the
good taste of the speaker or upon the accuracy of
his contention that it was only owing to the action
of the League that the two main provisions in
the biU — provisions which were contained in the
original memorandum on the subject submitted to
the Cabinet by Mr. Forster in 1869 — had been
included in the measure. But Mr. Chamberlain's
language and temper deserve to be noted, inas
much as they fairly represented the language and
temper of most of the supporters of the League in
those days, when a large section of the English
public still laboured under the belief that the
25th clause was a provision artfully devised by
Mr. Forster for the purpose of adding to the en
dowments of the Church of England. How high
feeling ran in Bradford was shown a few weeks
after Mr. Chamberlain made his speech. Mr.
Forster went down to visit his constituents, one
of his objects being to meet those who differed
from him, in order that he might discuss with
them in a frank manner the contested points in
his Education Bill. One of the leading Eadicals
invited the principal supporters of the League to
meet Mr. Forster at dinner at his house. The
dinner duly took place, and the education question
was fully discussed. "Hammer and tongs after

VISIT TO THE UNITED STATES. 43
dinner," says Forster in his diary ; " but I held my
own, not committing myself, and not, I think,
irritating them.  talked to me till half-past
twelve, trying all he could to frighten me into
concession. Bradford prospects look very bad."
So bad, indeed, did his prospects at Bradford look
at this time that one of his truest and kindest
friends there, Mr. WUUam Byles, the proprietor
of the Bradford Observer, had already advised him
to look out for a new constituency, as he did not
see any hope of his being again returned by the
old one.
Forster, however, was not a man who was easily
frightened, and the difficulties and dangers which
would have daunted some only nerved him to more
resolute and vigorous action. Barely a week after
the dinner at Bradford, when his prospects seemed
so gloomy, the dramatically sudden and unexpected
dissolution of the Parliament of 1868 took place.
On Friday evening, January 23rd, 1874, the rumour
that ParUament was to be dissolved began to cir
culate in well-informed quarters in London. The
next morning the news feU like a thunderclap upon
the country. The secret had been weU kept, and
for the best of aU reasons, namely, that it had
only existed for a few hours. Ministers were in
the same position as private members. Not one
of them had been able to take any preliminary
steps towards preparing their constituents for the
great and unexpected event by which a struggle

44 LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
which was destined to be of supreme importance
in the history of the country was precipitated.
Instantly after the issue of Mr. Gladstone's address
to the electors of Greenwich, the members of the
Cabinet dispersed in order to fight their own indi
vidual battles in the constituencies.
No one had a harder task before him than Mr.
Forster. The Birmingham Eadicals, who were at
that time aspiring to supremacy in the counsels of
their party, had chosen to make him the scape
goat upon whose back was to be laid the sins of
the whole Ministry ; and in Bradford, at all events,
they had succeeded in gaining a large number of
supporters. Among these were the men who had
really formed the election committee of 1868, when
Mr. Forster stood with Mr. Miall. When Forster
reached Bradford by an early train from London
on that Saturday on which all England was ringing
with the news of the dissolution, he found that the
committee of 1868 could no longer be relied upon,
and that even his old election agent had turned
agajnst him. It was a heavy blow, but he set to
work at once with his own thoroughness and energy
to organize victory for himself. His diary shows
what was the work which he got through on that
first day of the contest.
'' January 24th. — . . . Went down to Bradford
with Stansfeld, he going to Halifax, I to Bradford.
. . . Went first to Victoria Hotel, dear Eds [Mr.
E. P. Arnold-Forster] meeting me at the station;

VISIT TO THE UNITED STATES. 45
then on to Wade's office, where I found Simon.
Wade told me that he could not act as agent —
had told KUlick ; so I went on to Killick. Sent
for dear old B}'les. Wrote my address. Gave
it B}les for placards, and sent it to Telegraph
people, who soon got it into later edition — so I
first in the field. Engaged circus for Monday
night, not being able to get hall. Nothing hardly
could look more dreary. An agent to appoint ; no
committee, no chairman, no rooms, no organiza
tion — everybody trying to frighten me except
KiUick ; but I believe I shaU win. Some comfort
from M — ¦ — , the nine-hours man, as I was leaving ;
and from W  , the manufacturer, who went with
me by train and was very loyal. Eeturned to
Burley and my dearest by 5.55 train. Left Eds,
who was most useful, to hear result of Liberal
Eegistration Caucus, which was simply to ask
MiaU whether he would stand, and meet again on
Tuesday." It may seem strange to some that Forster
should have been thus crueUy deserted by the men
who but a few years before had shed tears of joy
when they learned that he had passed safely
through the ordeal of an election petition ; and it
may be that here and there harsh judgments will
be passed upon the character of the Bradford
Liberals because of their action at this time.
But so far as the overwhelming majority of the
Liberals of Bradford were concerned, though they

46 LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
turned from him and fought him, they never lost
their old respect for him, and were no worse
friends with him in private because they believed
that they were bound to become his enemies in
pubUc. It was not merely the education question
upon which a difference had arisen between him
and his party. The larger question of party
organization was also at issue. Bradford was
one of the first towns in England to adopt the
Birmingham method of organization, commonly
known as the Caucus. Some of the leading
party men in the borough sought, even so early
as 1874, to raise the question of the independence
of representatives. They held that it was the
duty of a member to submit himself unreservedly
to the judgment of the local committee or caucus,
and that, no matter how long he might have sat
for a particular constituency, and no matter how
great might be his pubUc services or his repu
tation, he was bound to acknowledge, not the
constituency as a whole, but the caucus as the
master of his fate, and to leave it to that body
to determine whether he should or should not be
allowed to continue to represent the electors in
Parliament. This contention was set forth with
great plainness later on, when Mr. Forster had to
wage vigorous battle against a principle so de
grading to the position of a member of ParUament ;
but even so early as 1874 it had begun to make
itseK apparent, and it added to the bitterness of

VISIT TO THE UNITED STATES. 47
the relations between himself and the official
organization of the Liberal party in Bradford.
To one of his old friends, Mr. L. Tylor, who
worked vigorously on his behalf in this 1874
election, I am indebted for some reminiscences of
Forster's relations with his constituents which may
be fitly introduced here : "I think my most note
worthy impression of your dear husband," writes
Mr. Tylor to Mrs. Forster, " was the extraordinary
relation that existed between him and his con
stituents. It was very strange, but Forster was
more a Yorkshireman than the Yorkshiremen
themselves — not in the popular idea of Yorkshire-
men as being rugged and bluff and outspoken and
strong, although in these points he was typical of
his adopted county — -but especially in his reticence.
Any one who knows Craven wUl see the curious
inheritance of character which the men take from
their country. Eugged and bare, uninviting, often
forbidding, there seems so little tenderness in the
scarred and lonely moor, that a stranger might
pass by without guessing at the wealth of life
hidden in its numberless recesses, its nestling
woods, its secret pastures. You know it, and can
bear witness that, once having found the treasures
it conceals from inquisitive eyes, you would not
exchange it for aU the flaunting luxuriance and
sweet softness of the South. It is so with the
seemingly hard men of the North. They hide
then- feehngs, and would sooner be misjudged than

48 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
judged by any but their own kith and kin. And
they do not mind hard judgment, and hard blows,
given openly and fairly by their own people. They
will not yield, and they wiU not ask their enemy to
yield. They are fighting folk, and they expect
the weaker man to go to the wall without favour.
They found a man after their own heart in Forster.
It seems all so strange and extraordinary to any
one who knew the incessant heart-burnings and
divisions among the Bradford Liberals, and the
determined set their leaders made against the man
who was the truest representative of all their best
quahties that England could have furnished, to be
able to say that the Bradford men liked Forster
better than any one else, even when they voted
against him. But I have been told this scores of
times, and the text ran pretty much the same: 'We
are men, and stick to our party; but there never
was any one like Forster.' I recollect in 1874, when
there was a great meeting at St. George's HaU,
talking with one of the leaders. He said, ' We
can fill the hall in five minutes with our own men
if we choose ; ' and I said, ' We shall be delighted,
for they will leave the hall Forster's men.' 'Never
fear, lad,' he replied; 'but we'll do fair.' That
night there were some four thousand people
there, and half of these were in well-distinguished
patches, sitting perfectly quiet, never applauding
and never hissing, save just enough to show what
they could have done had they wished. Forster

VISIT TO THE UNITED STATES. 49
pointed them out to 'me, and said, ' They will all
vote dead against me, but they do not Uke it.'
And so they did vote, and so they did not like
voting, but they acted with what they thought
their party."
This vivid and truthful sketch wiU give the
reader some idea of the pecuUar relations between
Forster and his Eadical constituents ; though no
words can enable any one who has not lived in
Yorkshire, and enjoyed a knowledge both of the
strength and of the weakness of the Yorkshire
character based upon personal experience, fully to
comprehend the nature of those relations. That
election of 1874 was, in Forster's case, a kind of
Homeric fight between himself on the one hand,
and his old friends the Eadicals and the caucus-
men of Bradford on the other. Thanks to the
energy with which he had acted at the outset, he
had got the start. Before the local leaders could
determine upon candidates to represent them, he
was already in the field. On the Monday evening
foUowing the Saturday on which he reached Brad
ford, he addressed his first meeting in the Alhambra,
which was crowded in every part. " I saw that
meeting was against me," he notes in his diary,
"but well heard, think I somewhat turned them."
His speech was a defence of the Education Act,
and of the freedom of choice which the poor
parent was allowed to have as to the school to
which his children should be sent. One personal
VOL. II. E

so LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
appeal he made to the electors : " The enormous
majority of my electors," he said, "are working-
men, and I do not stand here to flatter or fawn
upon them. I never do so. But I may ask you to
remember two or three facts, and bear them in
mind when you fix your cross upon the baUot Ust
and vote either for or against me ; and these are,
that, in the first place, I was an old ten-hours
man ; in the second place, I have a claim to have
done something to give you the vote ; in the third
place, what I have done in getting you the vote, I
shaU try to do for your feUow-labourers, the agri
cultural labourers. I have a right to be beUeved
about that because of what I have done. Fourthly,
I have had something to do with giving you
freedom in voting. I do not think many people
have had more to do with it. I ask you to
remember these facts when you may be asked to
vote against me because of this 25th clause."
At the close of his speech Mr. Forster had to
submit to that which is always a favourite per
formance among the ardent politicians of the West
Eiding during an election — the " heckling " of the
candidate. This consists in pouring in upon hirp.
from every quarter of the room, in the most rapid
succession, questions upon every conceivable
subject, some of which have been framed with
remarkable ingenuity, for the special purpose of
embarrassing the unfortunate person to whom
they are addressed. Forster was one of the few

VISIT TO THE UNITED STATES. 51
men, perhaps, who really enjoyed this process.
There was something to him positively exhilarating
in this brisk give-and-take in argument and asser
tion before a crowded audience. His speeches
often moved men deeply ; but it was in his replies
to a cross-examination more or less hostile, that
he afforded the greatest delight to his auditors.
Of course, upon this occasion, he had to submit
to a fire of fierce interrogatories on the subject of
the Education Act, and he stuck boldly to his
guns. One person asked why he had not waited
untu he was asked by the Liberal Association before
presenting himself as a candidate. " I am blamed,"
rephed Mr. Forster, " because being your member
I have asked for re-election. Now, it has been the
ruUng practice in your borough, as elsewhere, for
sitting members to seek re-election, and is a man
who has served you for thirteen years not to come
forward and ask you whether you will say you are
wiUing to return him again ? And has a man a
right to be a member of the Cabinet, and a member
of the Government of the country which has
advised the Queen to dissolve Parliament, and
must he himseK wait for any meeting, however
important, before he takes his part in carrying out
that advice ? I deny I have broken away from the
leaders of the party (in Bradford). I can show my
friend that there is no opinion thatl have deserted,
and K there has been a change of opinions on this
Education Act it is not on my part, and that I

52 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
hold the opinions I formerly held. My friends ask
me whether I take comfort in deserting the leaders
of the party. What I do take comfort in is in not
deserting my own convictions."
The picture of the struggle thus commenced
given in his own diary, though bare and uncoloured,
is full of suggestion : —
" January 21th. — Matters still looking up. A
good nucleus of a committee at our rooms at
Sunbridge. Agree to send a circular to every
voter, asking him to return it if willing to support
me, and ordered 25,000 copies of corrected Tele
graph report of my speech also to send. Tories
held a meeting, and, with John Tayler in the chair,
agreed not to bring out a candidate but to support
me. Changed afterwards into supporting me and
Eipley. John Tayler told me at hotel. I said I
was obliged, but there must be no misunderstand
ing ; I should remain a Liberal as before. He
behaved like a thorough gentleman, saying that
was the clear understanding.
^^ January 2Qth. — ^Went by 9.18 train to Bradford.
At meeting at Alhambra last evening, called of the
Liberal clubs by ticket (I having given up to them
the room), Godwin brought out in place of Miall
[who had retired on plea of ill-health], and Harda-
ker [working-man] adopted; that is, two candi
dates started in opposition to me. A meeting of
friends and supporters called at our large com
mittee-room, which went off fairly well. Sam

VISIT TO THE UNITED STATES. 53
Lister came, and spoke most vigorously and heartily
for me; also Joe Oddy, Simeon Townend, etc.
I spoke to very large meeting in PuUan's Music
Hall, and carried meeting with me. IlUngworth
had given me excellent opening the night before,
by saying Bradford ought to show itself so dis
satisfied with the author of the Educational Act
as not to be content to have him as its representa
tive. Thompson moved vote to me, seconded by
Wade, and carried by immense majority. Lane
still in the chair. Dear Eds again with me. We
aU took up our abode at the Victoria. Two
ominous Home Eulers saw me at my large com
mittee-room, but I answered Home Eule question
frankly at meeting, and I think that answered.
" January 29th. — Steam getting up ; friends
flocking in ; KiUick working well ; but perplexities
great. Began my ward meetings. Meetings on
the whole good, especially the last, where Walter
Eobertshaw asked me many questions, and moved
vote against me on account of 25th clause, but I
beat him by large majority, and carried my vote
at all the meetings."
•And so the fight went on, the "steam getting
up" more and more on both sides. Indeed,
Forster, who never sought to deceive himself
when he was engaged in work of this kind, notes
in his diary the " very enthusiastic meeting for
Godwin and Hardaker" held one day, and his
own defeat by his opponents at another, remark-

54 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
ing, "I fought them fiercely, knowing pluck my
only chance."
'^February 2nd. — Went in early; saw deputa
tion of butchers ; explained my action as regards
cattle, and satisfied them. In afternoon an hour
or so on my speech. Matters picking up ; Ward
committees well at work. ... To my meeting at
St. George's HaU at 7.30. Immense number of
platform friends. Eoom crowded to the fuU — the
finest meeting I ever attended, and I think my best
speech. Enormous majority for me — not many
questions, but meeting convulsed with laughter
by Dicky Delaney's friendly question. Over
whelming majority for me."
^^ February 3rd. — Steam up nearly to bursting
all day. Went round to aU the committee-rooms
in the evening, to stir them up to work. A healthy
look everywhere. After return from tour round
committee-rooms, put my cross (X) against the
calculation of polling which I thought most
likely, and put myself down for 12,000 votes.
Very strong articles in Times and Daily News
against a letter, from Sir Titus Salt (Godwin and
Hardaker's chairman), disowning me as a Liberal.
We printed many thousand handbills, containing
the Times article, and best part of Daily News,
and I took round late editions of the Telegraph
containing them.
" February 4th. — The polling day. Soon after
9 went with Law and Edward, in Law's open

VISIT TO THE UNITED STATES. 55
carriage, round the committee-rooms and polling-
places. Our friends cheerful everywhere ; but at
Little Horton I feared the poUing was slack.
However, as afternoon came on, our friends were
more cheerful, and declared that they were nearly
polled out. I voted at the East Ward about 3,
for seK and Eipley. The enemy had covered the
walls with 'Plump for Eipley,' but we had posted
over it ; and we also covered the walls with,
' SpUt for Forster.' Killick, Eds, and I dined
together at the Victoria about 5, and went to
the counting at 6. The first paper I caught sight
of had the two middle crosses (Godwin and Hard
aker) ; but I soon became comfortable, as at every
table I saw my crosses turned up. The actual
counting began about 9, and ended about 11. I
went back to the hotel, where Jane with Flo had
arrived, to tell them I believed myseK safe, and
then went back for the final declaration, which
was made by the town clerk before midnight —
Forster, 11,945; Eipley, 10,223; Godwin, 8398;
Hardaker, 8115. I proposed thanks to mayor,
town clerk, etc., Godwin seconded, Hardaker sup
ported. About 20,050 voters polled, only 32 bad
papers. '^February 5th. — A congratulatory day. We
all went back by 4.50 train. All the dear vUlagers
out to receive me. I made them a short speech,
and then went to dinner. Dear Mr. Jackson
came to rejoice with us."

56 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
It is hardly necessary to add to this picture of
a hard fight, such as Mr. Forster delighted in
when it was forced upon him, deeply as he un
doubtedly felt the defection of his old friends.
The reader will, however, be able to form some
idea of the spirit and energy with which he threw
himseK into a difficult task from these extracts
from his diary. The result of the election was
certainly an immense personal triumph for Mr.
Forster. Although he had to fight the whole
Eadical party in the borough, and its official
organization, he succeeded in polling a majority
of all the electors on the register. " I am glad
to believe," he said, in his address of thanks,
" that the contest has left no unkind feehng be
tween me and the minority, who, chiefly upon
one particular question, have thought it right to
oppose me. While I regret this disagreement,
I respect their opinions."
But although a notable victory thus fell to the
lot of Mr. Forster himself, the Liberal party as a
whole was defeated throughout the country. That
the defeat was due in part to the course which the
Government had taken on the question of educa
tion is not to be disputed. There were other
questions, however, which had contributed at least
as largely to bring about that defeat, whilst there
was also an undoubted popular reaction towards
Conservatism, to a certain extent due to the
extreme character of the opinions held and the.

VISIT TO THE UNITED STATES. 57
proposals put forth by the left wing of the Liberal
party. In the middle of February the Cabinet
met, and it was resolved not to wait for the meet
ing of the new House of Commons, but, in accord
ance with the precedent set in 1868, to resign
forthwith. To his Wife.
" Education Department, Whitehall,
"February 17th, 1874.
" Well, I am getting through my work quite
as weU as I could expect, and have to-day made
my minutes about the poor beasties, both for
Huxley and Simon. . . . We had a very interest
ing evening — decided practically to resign, though
the papers to-day anticipate our final decision, as
matters have to be arranged with the Queen."
" February 18th, 1874.
" We are now really resigned, and most
assuredly I am resigned to the resignation. It
is very pleasant and touching to me to have
such hearty and regretful leave-takings from the
officials. . . . Who my successor will be I do not
know. I have very nearly right-sided my papers,
but am up to the ears in them."
From his Diary.
"February 20th, 1874. — Last day at office.
i^arewells, and, after writing to my dearest, my

58 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
last act at the office, cleared out. Low work;
everybody, almost, really sorry to lose me, and I
depressed by leaving the workmen, though glad
to leave the work. A headache, so after a sUght
dinner at the Athen^um with Hutton, off to bed,
finding a kind note from Smith, saying he was not
going to foUow me, but Sandon was."
During the session of 1874, he took a promi
nent part in the House, frequently leading it in
the absence of Mr. Gladstone, and he at the same
time busied himseK much with public affairs out
of ParUament, especially with questions affecting
the slave trade, regarding which the strength of his
feeUng certainly did not diminish as time passed.
The session did not pass over without another
attempt, on the part of the League party, to
introduce an alteration in the Education Act.
This came in the shape of a motion by Mr.
Eichard for the abolition of the 25th clause.
Forster stoutly opposed it on the old ground
of the injustice which would be done to the
indigent parent in compelling him to send his
child to a school of the character of which he
might not approve. To his surprise and regret,
Mr. Eichard was supported by some of his old
colleagues in Mr. Gladstone's Government who
had been heartily with him at the time when the
bill was passed. On a division, Mr. Eichard's pro
posal was defeated by 373 to 128 votes. " I could

VISIT TO THE UNITED STATES. 59
not help telling Goschen," remarks Forster, "that
they had not got much by throwing me over."
In June the question of appointing a Minister
of Education was raised by Sir Lyon Playfair, and
Forster gave his support to the proposal, his ex
perience having led him to feel that the Education
Department could never receive the attention it
deserved until it was placed under the charge of
a minister who should have full responsibility for
it, and who would be able to devote all his time to
educational matters. It happened, however, that
this view was not that held by Mr. Gladstone, who
looked at the question from the standpoint of an
ex- Prime Minister, and as the leader of a party.
Mr. Gladstone wrote to Lord Granville, begging
him to ask Forster not to support Sir Lyon Play-
fair's motion. The letter did not reach Mr.
Forster's hands until after the debate had taken
place. It gave him, however, the opportunity of
saying what he felt with regard to the changed
attitude of his coUeagues on the education
question. To LoED Geanville.
" 80, Eccleston Square,
"June 16th, 1874, 12.30 p.m.
" My DEAR Geanville,
" Your note enclosing Mr. Gladstone's
note has just reached me by post, and, as you see,
the debate was last evening.

6o LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
"I ought, however, to say that, while Playfair
was speaking, and when it was known by him and
others that I was intending to support him,
Goschen came and told me of Mr. Gladstone's
letter to you, and somewhat strenuously asked me
to be silent. I replied that I could not then alter
my course, and that I felt confident that, if I had
the opportunity of explaining to Mr. Gladstone my
position, both as regarded the pending debate,
and the present phases of the education question,
he would not press me to do so.
" You say that you thought I had been much
dissatisfied with the meeting held at your house
before the debate on the 25th clause, and that my
dissatisfaction appeared to extend to yourself.
" Pray do not think any such thing. I never
was dissatisfied with you, and never expect to be ;
and as to that particular meeting, I thought that,
like yourself, you showed real consideration for my
position. "As regards the meeting and the division and
debate last Wednesday, I do not feel that I ought
on personal grounds to object to my late colleagues
changing their votes ; but I thought, and still
think, that so sudden and marked a change, as
twelve members of the late Government voting
against a clause which that Government main
tained up to the end of last session, was not an
advantageous step for the party, and I think the
division list supports this view.

VISIT TO THE UNITED STATES. 6i

a

That, however, is \nj own opinion on a
matter in which others are as likely to be right
as myself; but I must add that I think what
happened on Wednesday prevents the public from
supposing my late colleagues to be responsible
for what I say or do in education matters, and
also makes the public expect that in these matters
I should not conceal my convictions.
" You see, I have had to bear the brunt of
this education battle. Without doubt Mr. Glad
stone and my colleagues were most considerate
to me during the fight, and it is quite true
that Mr. Gladstone made most generous conces
sions to Eipon and myself ; but then it must
not be forgotten that in aU probability the
Government would have been beaten, and badly
beaten, if the battle had been fought on different
grounds. " Mr. Gladstone always fully acknowledged
this as regarded his concessions to what was
the opinion of our Cabinet with regard to the
25th clause ; and both the dissolution and Wed
nesday's division have proved that the Cabinet was
right. " WeU, this fight brought me into collision
with many members of that section of the party
to which I was supposed to belong. Their oppo
sition has been constant and bitter, and has re
sulted in a most determined effort to drive me
out of ParUament. Now many of my late col-

62 LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
leagues have gone over to my opponents upon
that very question, which was the test question
of my late election.
" I do not complain of this — of course they
must do as they think right ; but if they speak
out on one part of the question, I think they must
not complain at my speaking out on other parts ;
especially as it so happens that, whilst I differ
from my old allies on the 25th clause and the
religious bearings of the question, I agree with
them on most of the purely educational questions,
such, for instance, as this ministry of education,
and the much more important matter of universal
compulsion. " Excuse my writing thus fully, but I wanted
to explain to you and Mr. Gladstone why I do not
think I am a ' dissolvent,' because I feel that
under all the circumstances it is due to myself,
and to the public, and to this education cause,
which I have much at heart, that I should not
feel myself prevented from speaking out on any
branch of the education question, though making
it clear, as I did last night, that I am speaking
only for myself. " Yours ever truly,
" W. E. Foestee.
" Having heard of Mr. Gladstone's note, I did
what I could to prevent a division.
" I have reason to believe that a large majority

VISIT TO THE UNITED STATES. 63
of our side would have voted with Playfair — a
much larger proportion than voted with Lowe
against me on Wednesday."
A little later in the session (July 1), Mr. Dixon
brought in a bill for making compulsory attend
ance general, and in favour of compulsory estab
Ushment of school boards. Forster spoke in
support of compulsory attendance, but the bill
was not allowed to proceed. The only other
incident of importance in connection with public
affairs during the spring and summer was his
appearance at Sheffield, on the occasion of the
laying of the foundation-stones of the new board
schools, when he received such a welcome as was
due to the author of the Education Act.
Naturally his attendance on his Parliamentary
duties, now that he was out of office, though
steady, was not so constant as it had been in
previous years. He was once more permitted to
indulge in some of those' pleasures in which, from
his youth upwards, he had delighted ; and he was
now the possessor of a property in the Lake
District, which enabled him to enjoy thoroughly
some of the most beautUul scenery in Europe.
Early in 1873 he had purchased the Uttle property
of Fox Ghyll, Ambleside, a picturesque cottage
which nestles at the foot of a richly wooded hill
between Grasmere and Windermere, and which
for Forster had the additional attraction of being

64 LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. W. 'E. FOESTEE.
close to Fox How, the residence of his mother-
in-law, Mrs. Arnold. From the time when he
became the owner of Fox Ghyll, it was almost the
greatest pleasure of his Ufe to spend a few days
or weeks there, in the fine air of the hills, and in
the midst of scenery which had a special attrac
tion for him. His release from the cares of office
enabled him to enjoy this pleasure largely in the
spring and summer of 1874. Fox Ghyll became
his holiday home, and many of the brightest and
happiest hours of his life were those which he
spent there, with his wife and children — himself
full of a childlike delight in all his surroundings,
and as eager in his pedestrianism and hUl-climb-
ing as he had ever been in his early days of
mountaineering in Switzerland.
This happy nook, between lake and hUl, became
his place of refuge and recreation whenever the
labours and anxieties of public IKe weighed too
heavily upon him. It was not solitude, however,
which he sought at Fox Ghyll. Throughout his
life he had delighted in the society of those dear
to him, and in his country home it was his chief
pleasure to share with his family the enjoyment of
the beautiful scenery which lay within easy reach
of his door. No other spot on earth could ever
replace Wharfeside, the home of his manhood
and married Ufe, and the scene of his first great
struggles and successes, in his affections ; yet,
from 1873 onwards, it was to Fox GhyU that

VISIT TO THE UNITED STATES. 65
he naturally turned for relief and sunshine, and
the mountains and lakes of Westmoreland became.
almost as dear to him as the familiar hills of
Yorkshire and the busy valleys around Bradford.
One important result of his release from the
chains of office was that, in the autumn of 1874, he
was enabled to carry out a long-cherished project
and to visit America, a land which had long
possessed the deepest interest for him, and which
had been made doubly dear tO' him by the fact
that it held his father's grave. That he had many
friends in the United States need hardly be said.
Not a few of the leading Americans of their time —
Emerson, Adams, Sumner, and others — were his
personal acquaintances, and had enjoyed his hos-
pitaUty in England. Bnt beyond these, he had
countless friends whom he had never seen in the
flesh, and the names of many of whom were abso
lutely unknown to him. These might be roughly
divided into two classes. There were, fia-st, the
American Quakers and abolitionists, who admired
him for his father's sake and for his own unceasing
efforts in the cause of the slave ; and,, next, the
poUticians of the North, who knew that in Forster
the Union had found one o£ its most staunch and
powerful supporters in its hour of trial..
The visit, which, as usual when, travelling,, he
described in a series of letters to.his wife, was a
great success. He had as, his companion his
cousin. Sir Thomas FoweU B.uxton,, grandson of
VOL. II F

66 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
the first baronet. They left Liverpool for Quebec
by the Circassian, September 10th. " The instant
I got on the wharf at Quebec," he writes, " while
waiting for my luggage, I had a letter given me
from the manager of the Cooper Institute at
New York, taking it for granted that I was in
tending a lecturing tour in the States, and would
begin with New York, and offeriug his services to
work the whole affair up if I would put myseK in
his hands, and also the net receipts, up to two
hundred dollars. ... A telegram also from Duf
ferin, asking me to go to Government House
when at Ottawa."
After receiving much hospitaUty and attention
at Quebec, the travellers went on to Montreal,
where another round of sight-seeing and kindly
festivity awaited them. Naturally he was much
interested in the schools. " At the schools I
visited to-day only the head and perhaps the
second teacher men ; the rest young women, most
of them good-looking. The schools large — one
650, another 400. Eeligious teaching everywhere,
but no catechism in the Protestant schools, and
no attempt to separate one Protestant sect from
another, either as regards children or teachers.
No conscience clause for the Catholic schools ;
so, in villages where the Protestants are not
numerous enough to get up a school for them
selves, the chUdren must. Dr. J  tells me,
have Eoman Catholic religious teaching, and the

VISIT TO THE UNITED STATES. i>1
parents are therefore the more inclined to go
westward, away from the priests. The schools
mainly supported by rates, but the Protestant and
Cathohc ratepayers can and do mark their rates,
so that they go respectively to Protestant and
Catholic schools — a vile practice which no one
defends, but declared to be a necessity." WhUst
at Montreal he was entertained at dinner, and was
troubled at meeting some influential men who
talked of separation from the mother-country, and
either independence or annexation to the United
States. " The dinner was long ; a health to the
Queen and Governor-General, and then my health.
My reply was difficult — in one respect more diffi
cult than K reporters had been present, because it
was hard to draw the line between after-dinner
talk and serious speech. But I managed, I think,
to convey to them my earnest desire to keep up a
union with them, and also my desire that they
should foster a national feeling as no cause of dis
union, but rather as the only possible condition of
union in the future relation of equality to which
I looked forward ; bringing it in by alluding to
the work the influential men before me had to do
— reconcilement of two races with different reli
gions, of Federal power with State rights, their
success in both tasks making me hope that they
would reconcUe their growth with continuance of
the English connection. It was well received, I
think not merely fi'om oompUment to their guest."

68 LIFE, OF THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
At Ottawa they were received with great kind
ness by Lord Dufferin, the Governor-General, and
under his guidance they "did" the lions of the
place. He had not a Uttle talk with Lord Duf
ferin on the future of Canada in its relation to
ihe empire, and was speciaUy pleased to find that
the "very strong words" which he had spoken
on that subject had been "a real help" to the
Governor^General, who had been somewhat dis
couraged by the tone of one or two prominent
public men in England, who seemed not only
wUUng but positively wishful to let Canada go.
In a pleasant, leisurely way, Forster and his com
panion passed through Canadian territory, enjoy
ing the sights which they witnessed, both those
which w^re novel and those which reminded them
of home, and everywhere being received with
inarks of a|tten,tion ari,d respect, On several occa
sions Bradford men in trouble found their way to
him, and he had to listen to their story, and give
thern the assistance for which they asked. He
heard much, too, of the inconsiderate dealings of
the Colonial Office with Canada in bygone days,
9,nd lost no opportunity of preaching iiicreasing
union between the mother-country and her children
on the Federal basis. At last, in the early part of
October, New York was reached, and here, as might
have been expected, Forster found himself among
friends. *' Tell it not to the profane," he writes,
"but I must confess to a frequent instinctive

VISIT TO THE UNITED STATES. 69
surprise that our kinsmen reply to us in English.
They are so strange-looking and yet so like as well
as unlike us. The exceeding quickness of thought
and the promptness of action contrast curiously
with the deliberate slowness of speech. I think
this contrast is the strongest first impression. At
the little station at Garrisons, to my great delight,
the station-master had his legs on the table, and
no questions from me could get them off. The
streets and houses in New York are grand enough.
Buxton and I went to the play, a drama by Mark
Twain, ' The GUded Age,' chiefly a skit on land
speculations and Congress life, sensational enough,
but the tone healthy and entirely un-French.
Cyrus Field very early found us out, and the day
was chiefly spent in calls, leaving letters, and the
hke. In the evening, the Tribune reporter inter'-
viewed me, but I courteously told him nothing.
I have been again asked to lecture, and my refusal
seems somewhat to astonish.
" Yesterday (Friday) was a clear, bright day,
with hot sun, ending in a beautiful but cool
evening. Mr. Neilson, the President of the
Board of Education Commission, called with
old Mr. Cooper, a very generous miUionaire,
eighty-four years old, active and shrewd, the
founder of the Cooper's Institute, who told me
his mother could remember a cheval de frise across
New York to keep off the Indians. I was taken
to two large schools — boys in 23rd Street and girls

70 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
in 20th street. The teaching is absolutely free,
and all classes attend. I was told many of the
parents were moneyed folk, and clearly some of
the children, by dress and look, were of the
poorest ; no coloured children. The plan was to
gather them all together and make me make
speeches. I was glad to see the mistresses dis
liked this, and wished me to see the classes
thoroughly, which I mean doing. I did, however,
try with a newspaper the chUdren of eleven in the
primary school (the age they generally leave), and
found they all, both boys and girls, could read.
They were dismissed in classes by music — the
girls with a dancing trip. Oh dear ! the gestures
and intonations ' with which a young minx of
eleven or twelve recited in the midst of the big
room was a sight to be remembered. The Bible
is read at the beginning of the first lesson, but
without note or comment. A compulsory law is
to come in force next January.
" Sunday evening, October 11th, IQl 4. . . .We
had a curious experience yesterday.
" If there be a poUtical party upon which I
have looked with abhorrence, it is the old Demo
cratic party of New York, that union of the rich
merchants with the rough Irish which was the
great support of the slave power. Well, there is
a caucus which ruled that party, and there was,
and is, a society or club which ruled the caucus —
the Tammany Society owning the Tammany

VISIT TO THE UNITED STATES. 71
Hall, the very temple of corruption in former
days, somewhat cleansed nowadays, but stUl the
centre from which the wires are pulled.
" WeU, Abraham Hewitt, a large iron-master
and a very good feUow, turns out to be a leading
Democrat, and he took us yesterday to the great
caucus New York meeting of the year, in Tam
many Hall, at which the Democrats nominated
their candidates for mayor, aldermen, etc. A
large room, with some six hundred weU-dressed
men, but many of them rough enough, and most
of them smoking ; a sprinkUng of gentlemen,
really using influence, but most careful not to
appear to do so. The chairman tried hard to get
us on the platform, but I resolutely refused ; and
everybody was most courteous to us, allowing us
to go down into the committee-room, where the
disputed elections of delegates were debated and
decided in secret conclave. A large proportion
of the delegates were Irish, and clearly enough
the materials were most combustible. But in the
full meeting there was only a sham difference of
opinion, the wire-pullers having well rehearsed the
performance. In fact, the party seemed almost
hopelessly enslaved to them by the very complete
ness of their organization. The speaking was
generaUy clear, but one or two men were furious,
especiaUy one, Captain E  , an old Tammany
' war-horse,' much flattered by being told that the
EngUshman had heard of him — it was not added

72 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
with what character. The convention began abou
four and lasted tUl past seven, when Hewitt took us.
off to the Manhattan Club, where the aristocratic
Democrats congregate ; a handsome, large, well-
furnished house, much better than the Union
Club. They gave us there a most amusing dinner,
good wine and cookery, and a very merry party.
... I put them upon all their most tender subjects,
and bore my testimony as to their past misdoings,
but I was quite prepared to admit that there is
much to be said for State rights against the central
power, now that slavery is aboUshed. As to the
state of the South, the two parties diametrically
contradicted each other, but I think that we shall
get at some truth between them."
Desiring to visit the West, and above aU to see
his father's grave at FriendsviUe before the severe
weather set in, Forster did not stay long in New
York. The statue of Lincoln was to be unveiled
by President Grant at Springfield, and thither he
made his way, via Chicago.
"Leland Hotel, Springfield, 6.30 a.m.,
" October 15th.
" Scene as follows : — good-sized room ; large
coal fire ; check table in the middle, I sitting on
it, a dozen legs by my side. Buxton curled up
in the corner with his head in his rug, taking out
his sleep ; some eighteen or twenty citizens doing
ditto on chairs or floor ; a large pointer before the

VISIT TO THE UNITED STATES. 73
fire, most comfortable of aU. The town full to
overflowing for the demonstrations. We had
engaged rooms ; but they consider they have kept
their word by promising to fix us up after break
fast, when I shaU make myself known to Vice-
President Wilson. Grant is here, and so is
Sherman. . . . Distance from Chicago, 185 miles.
After writing to thee yesterday (from Chicago) we
took a carriage and pair — ' livery ' they call it —
and drove to their ugly sandy park, and saw the
furthest limits of the fire, which swept away
detached houses in the wood, not kiUing the trees.
We eaUed, I am glad to say, on the Eev. Eobert
CoUyer, who, you know, came to see us ; he is one
of their best and most famous preachers, was son
of a Blubberhouse blacksmith, worked at Blubber-
house miU, full of Wharfedale reminiscences, and
delighted to see me. ' Your hair is grey,' I said.
' So is yours.' ' You look more worldly; you used
to have a saint-Uke look.' A man in the hotel
took pity on me as I was wandering about the
corridors, and in showing me the way said, ' What
are you doin' here? I suppose fixin' the clocks.'
. . . CoUyer's church, a detached suburban build
ing, had just been finished at a cost of K200,000 ;
half-burnt down, but rebuilt for another .^70,000.
His pay is K5,600, and New Yorkers offer him
.810,000; but he is 'clear grit,' and, if he leaves
Chicago at all, will not take an advance. He sent
his best remembrances to you, and was very

74 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
pleasant. He had an ex-Thickside Quakeress with
him, who knew all about my father. . . . Break
fast over ! and, hurrah ! we have rooms, so I am
dressed, and, barring my wide-awake, fit for the
best of them — frock-coat and white waistcoat.
I send an extract from the Springfield paper,
mentioning ' the Eight Hon. Forrester,' and
giving a grand poem, which was recited yesterday
by a general." "Eock Island, Harper's Hotel, October 17th.
" Our day at Springfield was very interesting,
but also very tiring. After posting my letter we
sallied off to try to find V. P. Wilson, who, you
know, is an old U.S. senator of Massachusetts,
and who once dined with us. We discovered
him at Mr. C  's. Wilson at once, in the
kindest manner, took charge of us, and took us
off in a carriage to the Executive Mansion, where
Governor Beveridge was entertaining the Presi
dent and party. Grant was at breakfast, but soon
came in for introduction. It appeared he did not
identify me till the afternoon, when I had given
him Schenck's letter, but he was civil and more
willing to talk than I had expected. . . . There
were divers women, governors, and senators, to
whom I was presented. All the men who had
had to do with their foreign politics, such as Judd,
an old friend and supporter of Lincoln's, and his
minister at Berlin, knew me, and were most kind ;

VISIT TO THE UNITED STATES. 75
but I was an utter puzzle to most — a thin, black-
eyed, much-haired, unclerical-looking individual,
who had been Grant's first chaplain, hoping I
was John Forster, Dickens's biographer, and pro
portionately disappointed. Buxton's ' Sir ' is a
grievous stumbling-block. I beUeve it is con
sidered a name. He is generally called Mr.
Buxton. General Sherman puzzled over his card,
and said, ' Sir ? What is it ? Eev. FoweU Bux
ton ? ' The papers have him ' Secretary T. Fowler
Buxton ; ' and after I had carefuUy spelt out our
names, the hotel clerk here wrote out a pass card
for the arsenal, ' Sir Forrester and T. Buxton.'
But to return to our demonstration. . . . The
crowd was large, very large for a town of twenty
thousand people, and it was interesting to see
the weU-to-do farmers flocking in from what is,
it is said, the richest farming country in the
States. The procession was a fearfully long affair,
and we went mUes round in order to pass Lincoln's
house, an unpretending wooden building, detached,
but in a street. At last we reached the cemetery,
a wood, in which was the obelisk, and in front of
it a veUed statue and a pedestal large enough for
a weU-fiUed platform. Here I was introduced to
several West Point generals, MacdoweU and Pope,
who commanded large armies in the war, and was
at once recognized by Sherman. There were ten
to fifteen thousand of crowd in front, and their
patience was marveUous. The 'exercises' lasted

76 LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
for hours. There was a laudable endeavour to
bring in all elements. The prayer was by the
Bishop of the Methodist African Episcopal Church
from Baltimore, a full-blooded negro ; a company
of negro volunteers in Zouave uniform in a place
of honour ; and I must say the negro prayer and
the negro clothes excelled in taste on the whole.
The statue was unveiled by the mother and a
sister of some convent which had sent nurses to
the war, and I think it gave pleasure to have two
Britishers assisting. . . . Grant's speech, though
read, was poor, incoherent, and unmeaning, but
I think his bad speaking is one of his good points,
and no wonder in this much-belectured country.
. . . Nevertheless the occasion was one of the
greatest interest, reaUzing, as it did, Lincoln's
wonderful career ; his rise from the lowest step
of the ladder, hardly able to read ; his rare in
tegrity and political honesty which made the
people believe in him ; his genial humorous sym
pathy, which made his neighbours love him, and
the width and depth of his judgment, which made
all the generals and politicians around me confess
that his murder took from the eountry its best
pilot. There was a weather-beaten countryman
on the platform, who had been his friend in early
life, a little his senior, with whom I shook hands,
who made me understand the circumstances of his
early life."
After the ceremony there was a reception, with

VISIT TO THE UNITED STATES. 77
tea, at which the President shook hands with all
who presented themselves, and then, at 10.30, a
banquet at which speeches were made until past
two in the morning, one of the toasts being Mr.
Forster's health. His experience on this occasion
led him to entertain a great respect both for the
patience and the powers of physical endurance of
the American people. One further extract from
his letter relating to the Springfield ceremony
must be given, as it casts a characteristic Ught
upon a virtue which he always held in the highest
admiration: " I took refuge in General Sherman's
room, where collected Generals Pope and Mac-
DoweU, and other officers. One or two of them
were picking holes in Lincoln — his coarse stories
and cunning appointments, — but all this did not
come to much, exphcable by his passion for
humour. Against them this story by Judd : When
he was in one of his hardest fights with Douglas,
who was a strong pro-slavery man, Judd looked
over the notes of one of his speeches, and said
this would not do for their audience, not anti-
slavery enough, in expression rather than sub
stance. Lincoln's reply was, ' This is all I feel,
and I would rather lose the election than mislead.
the people even by an adjective.' "
They went on from Springfield to Colorado, the
novel scenery and the life of the West interesting
Forster immensely. He took the opportunity of
seeing something of the miners and their ways.

78 LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
and seems on the whole to have been favourably
impressed by them. After spending some time
among the mountains, they tumed south to St.
Louis, being fortunate in having the society of
Professor Hayden, the head of the United States
Surveying Department, for a portion of the
journey. At St. Louis, a chief part of his business
was to inquire after the welfare of some young
men, the sons of villagers at Burley, who were
anxious for tidings of them. Forster made it his
first task to look up these wandering Yorkshire-
men, and sent messages of a reassuring kind to
their mothers in far-away Wharfedale. At St.
Louis they once more encountered General Sher
man, who gave them letters of introduction to
leading people in New Orleans, to which city they
next proceeded. "New Orleans, November 2nd, 1874.
" We are now in the heart of the South, and
we have had the luck to ' assist ' at a most
curious and critical election. Only think of my
seeing to-day two long queues of negro voters
crowding up to the poU to vote for coloured men,
to keep up the coloured Government over their
proud Creoles, with negro pohce officers guarding
the poll, and twenty companies of the United
States army in the city and State, and five ships
of war in the river, ready to aid them ; three
companies stationed in the Court House. On

VISIT TO THE UNITED STATES. 79
leaving St. Louis, General Sherman said, ' You
will want no letters ; you are as well known in
America as in England.' I must say I doubt this
in the North, except with men conversant with
affairs ; but I suspect my ' record ' has been well
remembered in the South, hate being stronger than
love. There was a tall, fine-looking woman in the
car — about thirty, I should think— going to New
Orleans to collect her rents, before going on to
San Francisco to join her father and mother. We
had much talk on social condition, effects of the
war, etc. She said she was coming to Europe
next year, so I told her I would get her into the
House, and gave her my card. ' Oh,' she said,
' I know your name ! Often have I wished you
bound. You did us great injmy during the war.'
However, we talked on, and she said she was
reminded of a young lady saying to her friend a
propos of some undesirable young men, ' After all,
they are human beings.' But I have a message
from her to Lord Sahsbury which is delightful.
I quoted his saying about the natural alhes, and
said, 'You know he was your friend.' ' Oh yes,'
she said, ' I know it, the dear old gentleman. I
wish I could give him a smack (kiss) right between
his eyes. TeU him so — that there is one American
lady at least who will do that for him if he comes
over. . . . Well, it is curious meeting you. How
I have cursed you ! ' We parted, however, the
best of friends."

So LIFE OE THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FORSTBE.
Having witnessed the election, and studied
with interest the local political conditions, the
traveUers made their way to that spot in Tennessee
where the elder Forster had died more than twenty
years before.
" Samuel Low's Ferry House, Holston Eiver, Tennessee,
" Saturday Evening, November 7th, 1874.
"Here I am, in the very house in which my
father died, untouched since his death, with the
host and hostess who attended him, ' remembering
everything as if it was yesterday,' and such
striking, pleasant people ! He, a taU, thin, up
right, dark-eyed, lantern-jawed man, but with a
kindly face, and a sweet voice and courteous,
dignified manners, and his wife like a sunburnt
saleswoman. But I must tell you how we came
here. We left Chattanooga at 5.30 this morning,
112 miles, slow train, to Knoxville, passing through
Athens, which Yardley Warner had told me' was
his head-quarters in his visits to his schools, and
to which I had telegraphed. I therefore looked
out, and true enough my man entered the car.
We quickly found one another out, and arranged
our places, and were off from KnoxviUe with a
carriage and pair a little after one, having in the
meantime got hold, to my great comfort, of thy
letters, and snatched a quiet dinner. ... At last
we reached General Low's (he is called General by
way of affectionate respect : I find before the war
ho did coihmand the militia volunteer gathering).

VISIT TO THE UNITED STATES. 8t
a lone cottage, or rather farm, on the brow of the
hiU, but so deep in forest that we cannot see the
river from the windows, though it is close, to us.
The autumn mist is over the hills and trees ; there
is no wind, no sound but the wood-crickets if we
listen for them ; sometimes the beUs of the cattle ;
perhaps a slow melodious chant — I suppose a
negro in the distance. The day has bqen hot,
but is now one of our warmest autumn evenings ;
but the air dry, as we never have it. , The leaves
are mostly gone ; but what are left are the richest
tints, especiaUy the red oaks. I never was in a
place so completely and beautKuUy quiet. There
is a religious gathering of the Cumberland Presby
terians at a school-house, two mUes or so off.
Two young women went off from the house on. one
good horse, just after we arrived ; and now our host
is gone, and I am writing in a low snug room, by
the hght of a tallow candle and the embers of a
large fire of hickory logs. When we drove up,
just before dusk, our host was standing in his
verandah. 'Mr. Low,' I said, 'my name is
Forster. My father died here twenty years ago.
Do you remember him ? ' 'I should think I did.
Oh yes.' And he received us as old friends.
' You are like him,' he said, 'but taller, a little.'
He remembers everything — said almost at once,
pointing to a chair, ' I had that made for your
father. He asked me to do so, but he never got
into it.' He said he was ailing ,the evening he
VOL. II. a

82 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE
came, but very anxious to get on to Lost Creek, a
small Friends' settlement about twenty-five miles
off, and started the next morning, but was taken
ill in a field close by, and had to be brought back."
" Riley Lee's House, FriendsviUe,
" Monday Morning, November 9th.
" To return to General Low. Our bed-room
was our sitting-room — one large bed ; but I think
we concealed the fact that one of us slept on a
couch. I wished to do so ; but FoweU would not
let me. This was the room in which were Uncle
Josiah and John Chandler. My father and William
Holmes were in the next room — ^W. p. in the
large bed, and my father in a truckle bed, which
our hostess drew from under the bed, and which
he preferred, having it put near the fire. There
was great snugness about the house, and homely
comfort in the ways of the host and hostess and
their sons. . . . The house was not an inn, though
traveUers were sometimes entertained. I asked
Warner to give Low .810 as payment for our
selves and horses, but his eyes glistened, and he
said, ' Oh no ; I could not think of taking anything
from William Forster's son.' . . . Clearly my father
had left the most true and vivid impression of his
loving nature and Christian conduct, and next to
that impression was the remembrance of William
Holmes's constant devoted waiting on him. His
eldest son, who weU remembered my father, had

VISIT TO THE UNITED STATES. 83
tears in his eyes when we parted from him. . . .
It was only eight miles to FriendsviUe by the right
road, but that was impossible to findi — no sign
posts, no marked features in the hills, many roads.
or rather trails, and the dead leaves hiding the
track in the forest more completely than snow.
After getting wrong twice, we captured a boy, and
arrived at the meeting-house about a quarter of an
hour after they had sat down. It was a curious
scene. How I wish Flo could have drawn the
white painted wooden buUding in the forest, with
the riding horses hitched to the trees, and the
handsome black and white pigs rooting about, and
the fenced-off graveyard just beyond, and the
small FriendsviUe cottages scattered about, all
white, and almost every one with its verandah..
There were about one hundred and fifty persons at
the meeting. . . . We dined at the William' Forster
Home for daughters of Friends to learn housekeep
ing and go to the Friends' school close by. At
eight o'clock there was a Bible-reading at the
school, which turned out to be a discussion on
war, the schoolmaster, William Eussell, arranging,
texts which were read by one person after another,
and upon which he commented and invited com.-
ment. War, of course,, got the worst of it, and there
was an entire omission of any reference to their
own war; so I tried to improve the occasion by
exhorting them all to good treatment of the negro,
as the way to avoid war for the future ; not that

84 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
these friends need exhortation, for they have done
their duty under most difficult circumstances.
You will imagine from what I have said that the
situation of the graveyard is very beautiful. . . .
"This morning, friends gathered about me: An
old man who remembered my father's first visit in
1823 or 1824, when he was a tall spare man, with
his hair cut short, who used to bathe every morning.
There was an old man, John Mackay, I went to
see, very ill in bed, with his old sick wKe by his
side ; ' Often I feel as though I could see the prints
of his knees in that chair : I was a young man, a
very ignorant man, but it seemed as though our
hearts were drawn together.' ... It is curious
how I have found almost every possible trace of
my father very much by reason of the want of go-
aheadness of the people. Low, for instance, had
been bom and raised in his house, his father,
Abraham Low, being one of the first settlers,
coming when it was an Indian country. Yesterday
afternoon Yardley Warner discovered for me the
negro who had been the waiting slave whilst he
was ill, the decent middle-aged mother of seven
children, four of whom now lived with her. Her
story was an insight into the old system. She and
her three children came with Mr. Low. She was
called Maria Low, as was usual, after her master ;
married to a slave by name Henderson, not in
church, but by the Squire. After emancipation,
slaves usually had to marry again, but her husband

VISIT TO THE UNITED STATES. 85
married another woman and left her. Her eldest
son was sold off, and disappeared just before the
Yankees came down. However, now I should
think she was doing fairly well, so I only gave her
five dollars, and have asked Yardley Warner to look
after her. Our meeting at the Normal Black
School was very interesting. A hundred and fifty
or so darkies — students, children, and parents. V/e
were made to speak. I made rather a nice httle
speech about their changed state, the duties of
patience, industry, and the Uke ; and FoweU made
a much nicer ; and two of them, one the editor of
the weekly paper, made pleasant replies. Almost
every one of them had been either born a slave or
since emancipation, and by far the largest number
were ex-slaves, and many of them very black."
A day or two later he met a Colonel Dicken
son, Member for Congress and Chairman of the
Congress Finance Committee. He was the first
statesman who had broached the Canada question
to him. " ' WeU, what do you think of the Canada
problem ? ' — in slow drawl, to which I with equal
slowness —
" ' I do not know that Canada is a problem.
Canada gives us no trouble ; her people are well
off and contented.'
" ' But what good does she do you ? '
" ' Well, I do not know of any special good to

86 LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FORSTER.
any individual ; but we do not look £tt it in that
light. We consider Canada part of our country.'
"*Ah, yes. You, like us, are a land-loving
people.' " ' No, we do not care about the land ; it is the
people. We consider the Canadians our fellow-
countrymen. While they stick to us we shall
stick to them; but if they wish to leave us we
shaU not restrain them,' etc., etc."
Forster concludes the notes of his visit to the
scene of his father's death, a visit which evidently
made a very deep impression upon him, as
follows : —
" I have now seen James Eodgers, the doctor
who was with my father at his death — a kindly
man. He said he thought ill of the case from the
first ; the illness pneumonia, mainly owing to the
changes of temperature. ' He never saw a man
die more triumphantly.' He passed away without
pain, conscious to the last. I am rather in a
conflict talking to these old Confederates. I
cannot help telling them what I think of slavery,
and yet I cannot bear to triumph over them. I
arrange my talk by telling them I must think their
cause a bad one, but I admire their heroism and
endurance, and we generally part the best of
friends." After spending a few days in Eichmond and
Baltimore, where he carefully inspected the
schools, he went straight through to Boston by

VISIT TO THE UNITED STATES. 87
way of New York. At Boston he was the guest
of Mr. Adams.
" Very kind and hospitable they are ; and
Adams takes me behind the scenes of American
politics more than any other man either can or
would ; but I am very glad we went West and
South before remaining in the Eastern States. We
have with difficulty staved off a reception here. I
am in for, I fear, one or two speeches at Phila
delphia ; and on Saturday evening I had a telegram
from Morton, one of the most influential merchants
in New York, saying, ' Would it be agreeable to
you to attend a reception, if given by the Union
League Club in recognition of your distinguished
service and friendship for the Government during
the war ? ' Of course I must make it agreeable ;
and I cannot say I regret the request, but it sits
heavy on me, as I long to be at Wharfeside,
Adams is slow and sedate as of old ; but he is as
fresh and clear and vigorous as ever. I hear
rumours of Massachusetts sending him as a senator,
and I do not lose hope of his being President, but
I fear his manner is too cold."
In Boston, as in other places, the schools were
the great attraction for Forster, and he took special
notice of the religious teaching given in them,
finding, however, that in America, as in England,
the teachers have at times to contend with un
reasoning bigotry.
At Philadelphia he met his old correspondent

88 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
and friend EUis Yarnall, and was introduced to
most of the celebrities of the place, as usual taking
the opportunity of visiting the schools. Then
came a number of visits to Washington, where
he visited the Senate, and heard the President's
message read, or rather fell asleep during the
reading, which was almost inaudible.
"Both chambers are of the same pattern, long
rooms, with semicircles of chairs in front of the
Speaker or Vice-President, and galleries aU round.
House, of course, much larger than Senate ; the
floor accessible to strangers behind the chairs ;
and in the House strangers may sit in the outside
chairs when the galleries are full. They must
have effect upon the speakers ; and, indeed, I have
heard this fact much commented on and lamented.
Fish gave us last evening a good dinner in hand
some house. I took in his wife. No other lady.
The party — Blaine, the Speaker ; Jewell, the Post
master-General ; Bristow, the Secretary of the
Treasury; BoutwfiU, his predecessor; Bierstadt, etc.
We had amusing talk on the different ministerial
systems, parliamentary forms, etc., Gladstone's
pamphlet, progress of the Papists, Government
of the South, and so on. Here are two facts.
There are more than fifty Confederate officers,
some of them generals, in the two Houses, and no
CathoUc senator ; and only one or two members
of the House. Proofs of real union of the sections
and of the no-popery feeling."

VISIT TO THE UNITED STATES. 89
He called on Mr. Stephens, the Vice-President
of the Confederates.
" x\ man of genius, as I expected ; worn to skin
and bone, weighing about eighty pounds, with
crutches, but a pale, clear-cut face, with flashing
eyes and pleasant expression. He tried to ex
plain away his corner-stone speech. Said he was
quoting from some of the chief justices ; that their
slavery was misundei-stood, was not slavery ; gave
fuU protection to life and liberty to' the slaves, and
other such nonsense. There was no- use contra
dicting the old man, so I only shrugged my
shoulders and interjected dissent. We turned him
on the oratory of Congress, and he gave us a vivid
and most striking description of Clay, Calhoun,
and Webster, and also Chouts, who he said was
a great orator, but not a statesman ; his defini
tion of that individual being ' a man who thinks
originaUy on politics.' "
At Mr. Bancroft's he again met President
Grant, with whom he fraternized delightfully.
" The Anglo-Saxon language, I had said, would
soon be the language of the world. ' We and
England, indeed, would be the world.' In fact,
I could not have talked more Anglo American
aUiance than he did. Canada turned up, and
there was enough hint of annexation for me to
say, ' If Canada chooses one day to leave us, and
the next day to join you, we shall not object ;
but she seems to like to stop with us ; in fact,

90 LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
the lesson you taught us a hundred years ago
has made us so treat our colonies that it will
be very difficult for them to leave us, and we
shall stick to them till they wish to do so,'
" ' I should think very iU of you if you did not,'
was his reply. There was a good-natured frank
ness about Grant, and an uncultured sense which I
liked, and it was curious watching his remarkable
lids and red eyes. We talked against slavery, and
he evidently thought it honest to say he had slaves
when the war broke out."
Before he left Washington he dined both with
the Vice-President and the President, then went
to New York in order to take ship for home. The
reception given in his honour at the Union League
Club was a striking event. There was a large
attendance, including a number of leading citizens,
and the president of the club, Mr. Joseph Choate,
made a speech warmly eulogizing Forster's attitude
towards the United States during the civil war, and
the great part he had played in the establishment
of a national system of education in England.
Mr. Forster replied at considerable length, the
burden of his speech being that upon which, alike
in dark days and in bright, he had never been
tired of dwelling — the unity in interests and in
sympathies of the two great branches of the
EngUsh people.
" This Union League Club," he said, in con
clusion, "was formed, I am told, in dark hours of

VISIT TO THE UNITED STATES. 91
danger, to join together loyal Americans in support
of your close union against the slave power. May
it be the type and forerunner of another union
league — of a close alliance between the United
States and England and all English-speaking
communities ; of a friendship between our Govern
ments, so that we together may influence the world
by proving how great are the blessings of popular
Government when individual self-control prevails
among the people ; for, depend upon it, neither
you nor we would be able to promote liberty or
protect the liberties of others, or even preserve our
own liberties, if either of us aUowed this individual
seK-control to fade from among us."
In his journal he says —
" I got through my meeting somehow on the
Monday. The attendance was large. Almost all
the New York notables ; the best representative
assembly that had been brought together for long.
.... I felt them to be a kind but also critical
audience. They received me well and were kind
throughout, but I was uncommon glad when I got
through having said about what I intended, though
not even at my best. But I never had a more
difficult job. I brought out what I wished about
the Colonies, which they took very well. After
the speech I was put into the middle of a room,
and I had to shake hands with some hundreds of
folk, every man being presented to me as though
I were a president or general. Then supper in a

92 LIFE ,0F THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
large room below, and a few short speeches, and at
last I got home ta bed."
One day only remained for him on the American
continent, and it was devoted almost entirely to the
inspection of New York female schools. " I brought
away one curious fact. Every girl has to learn
French or German. The principal told me that
before Sedan seven-eighths learned French, now
seven-eighths learn German."
Sailing in the Abyssinia, he landed at Liverpool
on December 26th, and, returning at once to
Burley, was delighted to find aU well at home.

( 93 )

CHAPTEE III.
THE LEADERSHIP OP THE LIBEEAL PARTY — THE
EASTEEN QUESTION.
Scarcely had Mr. Forster returned from America
than he was involved in a controversy which was
certainly not of his own provoking. In the middle
of January, 1875, Mr. Gladstone, to the surprise of
his friends, announced his determination to retire
from the leadership of his party. The efforts
privately made to induce him to reconsider his de
termination proved ineffectual, and it became clear
that it would be necessary to fill his place as leader
of the Opposition in the House of Commons and
titular head of the Liberal party. By common
consent Mr. Forster was named as cue of the men
best qualified to fill this great post, which at the
time was generally regarded as the stepping-stone
to the premiership. Various politicians of eminence
were named as rival claimants to the honour, but
before long the contest — not between the principals,
but among their supporters in the country — resolved
itself into one between the claims of Mr. Forster
on the one hand, and those of Lord Hartiugton on

9+ LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
the other. It would be an invidious task for a
biographer to discuss the merits of the two candi
dates for such a post. Nor is it necessary now to
do so. One thing, however, must be said. There
would have been no question as to Mr. Forster's
pre-eminent fitness for the leadership if it had
not been for the unhappy differences with the
Birmingham League on the education question.
Even those who supported the candidature of Lord
Hartington did so rather on the ground that his
was the name which would divide the party least
than on the plea that he had any positive claims
to thc position surpassing or equalling those of
Mr. Forster.
The friends of both men pressed their claims
stoutly, both in the press and in public, the weight
of opinion being at the outset unquestionably in
favour ot Mr. Forster. There is no doubt that he
was gratified and touched by the enthusiasm with
which he was supported in many different quarters.
His ambition seemed to be on the point of being
satisfied to the utmost ; and it was impossible
for a man of his warm temperament and vigorous
individuality not to feel that there was now opened
up to him a possibility of future usefulness and
distinction, the realization of which any man,
however able, might have coveted. Neither he
nor Lord Hartington took any personal part in the
controversy, both waiting with patience for the
decision of the Liberal members of the House of

THE LEADERSHIP OF THE LIBERAL PARTY. 95
Commons, with whom- the choice lay. But il
Forster's friends were enthusiastic in their support,
his enemies were even more ardent in their hatred.
The action of his old colleagues in the previous
year, when they "^ threw him over" on the
question of the 25th clause, had confirmed the
League party in the entirely erroneous belief that
Forster alone was responsible for the character of
the Education Act, so far as the religious question
was concerned. Ignoring the fact that upon all
purely educational questions he was in much
closer sympathy with them than almost any other
member of the Government, they determined to
take this opportunity of driving home the weapons
Mdth which they had assailed him in previous
years, and of completing, so far as lay within their
power, the ostracism to which they had doomed
him. It is not pleasant to have to dwell, however
briefly, upon the character of the attacks which,
during, the latter half of January, 1875, were made
upon Forster. Perhaps the action which he felt
most severely, and which was most generally con
demned by fair-minded persons throughout the
country, was that of the Eadical section in his
own constituency. The League party in Bradford
was stUl smarting under the heavy defeat they
had encountered in 1874, when they had combined
for the purpose of excluding Forster from Parlia
ment. They now summoned a meeting of their
own friends and sympathizers, and, in the name of

96 LIFE OF THE RIGHT. HON. W. E. FORSTER.
Bradford Liberalism, passed a resolution hostile to
Mr. Forster's claim to the leadership. It was his
reward for having carried the Education Act.
I have spoken of his natural ambition, and of
the not less natural pleasure with which he wit
nessed the recognition of his great qualities as
statesman and administrator, on the part of those
who were best qualified to form a judgment on the
point. But when he saw that, although success
might be within his reach, he could only attain it
at the cost of weakening the party to which he
belonged, by driving his irreconcilable opponents
into open antagonism to it, he did not hesitate as
to the course he would take. He saw his old
friend. Lord Granville, with whom his relations
were always specially cordial, and informed him of
his determination not to allow his name to remain
before the Liberal party in opposition to that of
Lord Hartington. "I came away," he says in his
diary, speaking of the interview, " with the leader
ship given up — not without a pang, but with full
beUef I had done the right thing." He sub
sequently wrote a letter to Mr. Adam, the Liberal
whip, formaUy withdrawing from the contest.
This step on his part must speak more eloquently
than any words in reply to those who, during his
lifetime, ventured to charge him with indifference
to anything but his own interests in political
affairs. It may be added that it was not merely
by withdrawing his name from the competition

THE LEADERSHIP OF THE LIBERAL PARTY. 97
that he showed his loyalty to his party and his
principles. Lord Hartington was duly elected, no
other name being proposed, as leader of the Oppo
sition in the House of Commons. He held that
post from February, 1875, until the end of the
session of 1879, and during that period there was
, no man who was more conspicuously loyal and
cordial in his support of his leadership than Mr.
Forster was. When leaving the House of Com
mons for his usual continental tour, at the close of
the session of 1875, he was thanked with special
cordiality by Lord Hartington for the support
which he had given the latter in his difficult
task. It happened that during the year colonial
questions were forced to the front. South African
affairs were beginning to cause anxiety, and those
who beUeved that one essential feature of the
Liberal programme ought to be the abandonment
of our colonial empire to its fate, were raising
their voices in various quarters. Forster's feeUng
with regard to our responsibility in respect of our
colonies was probably stronger than that of any
other public man of his time, and for this reason —
that it had a double foundation. It was based, in
the first place, upon that deep sympathy with the
subject races of the world, which he had inherited
from his father and his uncle, and which, as has
already been said, was really the master-feeling in
his heart aU through his life. "  has never
VOL. II. H

98 LIFE OF THE RIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
fully believed the negro to be a man and a
brother," he wrote once to a friend, giving the
statement as a sufficient reason for his not being
able at all times to agree with the distinguished
man of whom he spoke. Forster unquestionably
did beUeve in the manhood and brotherhood, not
merely of the negro, but of all the races that
people our earth, whatever might be their state
of dependence or degradation. Fully possessed
with this conviction, he never could feel that there
was anything to distinguish the oppression of a
yellow man or a black man from that of a white
man. He had learned in his early youth some
thing of the cruelties to which the native races are
too often subjected when they are brought in
contact with civilized settlers, and, so far as he
was concerned, he was determined that he would
never sanction in any way any act of oppression of
which a negro or a Chinaman might be the victim,
whatever might be the reasons of high policy
alleged in defence of such an act. It was this
feeling which gave him his keen interest in the
affairs of South Africa, and of those other British
colonies where the colonists have to deal with
more or less dependent races of natives. The
blacks had no votes. They had no caucus at
their command, and not even a powerful organ in
the press ; but whilst Forster lived there was one
voice at least which was certain to be raised in
their defence in Parliament, however formidable

THE LEADERSHIP OP THE LIBEEAL PARTY. 99
might be the enemies against whom they had to
contend. The other foundation of his interest in the
colonies was that feeling of imperialism^ — ^using
the word in its best sense — which was so strong
in him. He delighted in the thought of the great
ness and the vastness of the British empire, and
longed ardently for the moment when the widely
scattered portions of that empire should be welded
together in a bond so strong that no sudden or
accidental shock would suffice to break it. The
reader has seen how great an interest he took,
during his journey in the United States, in the
Canada question. He was constantly seeking to
learn the views both of Canadians and Americans
upon it, and was never tired of preaching the
doctrine of the unity of the empire — a unity based,
not upon military or naval force, nor even upon
the material bonds of commerce, but upon the
essential oneness of our race in whatever part of
the world it may be found. Nothing made him
more indignant than to listen to the light and
cynical remarks of those who held that, after all.
Great Britain and Ireland were quite enough of
themselves to tax the governing capacity of our
race, and that the sooner we "cut the painter"
and let the Greater Britain drift from us the
better it would be for Englishmen. Being invited,
in the autumn of this year (1875), to deliver an
address to the Philosophical Institution of Edin-

loo LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
burgh, he chose " Our Colonial Empire " as his
theme, and one or two passages from the lecture
may be quoted here.
"I beUeve that our union with our colonies
will not be severed, because I believe that we and
they wUl more and more prize this union, and
become convinced that it can only be preserved by
looking forward to association on equal terms. In
other words, I believe that our colonial empire will
last, because, no longer striving to rule our colonies
as dependencies when they become strong enough
to be independent, we shall welcome them as our
partners in a common and mighty empire. But,
if this be all I have to say, why, I may be asked,
come here at all ? Who talks now of casting off
the colonies ? What more popular cry at present
than the preservation of our colonial empire ?
Some twelve years ago, it is true, a voice from
Oxford declared this empire to be an illusion for
the future, a danger to the present ; but Professor
Goldwin Smith has gone to Canada, and his. elo
quent arguments for disruption have as little
convinced the Canadians as ourselves. A most
distinguished and successful Indian governor told
us at Glasgow last year, that ' he was not one of
those who believe in uniting the colonies to our
country in a perpetual bond ; ' and he added that,
so far as our great Canadian possessions were con
cerned, ' the sooner the connection was severed the
better.' But Sir George Campbell had only just

THE LEADERSHIP OF THE LIBERAL PARTY. loi
returned from India, and it is no disrespect to him
to suppose that he was at that time a better judge
of Indian than of British or colonial feeling. Some
logicians and philosophers, some energetic and
thoughtful politicians, have been supposed to
desire ultimate separation ; but, if they hold these
opinions, of late they have but little expressed
them ; and, indeed, the supposition is based rather
upon inferences which others chose to attribute to
them than upon actual expressions. Certainly,
the late Government was not seldom attacked as
an anti-colonial Administration, but this charge is
but another evidence of imperial feeUng. It was
known that no charge against a Government could
be more damaging ; and therefore, considering the
conditions of party warfare, it was not unnatural
for those who differed from us, both on matters of
general poUcy and on details of colonial policy,
to declare that we were wishing to get rid of the
colonies or to provoke them to leave us. If I had
come here to defend the Government of which I
happened to be a member, which, of course, is not
my object, I think I could show that our colonial
policy has done not a . little to improve and
strengthen our connection with the colonies ; but,
at any rate, I may be allowed to disown in the
strongest terms any intention or desire on our part
to break it up. . . .
" As to the practical question. Are there any
means by which it is possible that these future

102 LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
commonwealths, when no longer dependent, can
be united with us and with one another? I may
hasten at once to try to answer this question ; for
if it can be answered, that argument will be also
met which I have already mentioned — namely, that
separation would stimulate the colonies to a greater
progress, and would increase their self-reliance.
Surely it cannot be denied that, if it be possible to
replace dependence by association, each member
of the federation would find in the common nation
ality at least as much scope for its aspirations, as
much demand for the patriotism and the energy
and the self-reliance of its citizens, as it would if
trying to obtain a distinct nationality for itself.
But is this federation possible ? There are many,
even of those who desire it, who think that it is
not. . . .
"What kind of federation do you propose?
My reply is, I am ready with no proposition. I
believe any precise proposition would be prema
ture, and for this reason, that as yet no change in
relations is necessary. As Mr. Arthur Mills stated
in the passage I have already quoted, ' The present
principle of our colonial policy is to ripen these
communities to the earliest possible maturity,' and
when they have obtained this maturity it will be
for us and for them to consider what, under the
circumstances then existing, will be the best bond
of union. All that is required now is to imbue
them and ourselves with the desire that the union

THE LEADERSHIP OF THE LIBERAL PARTY. 103
should last, with the determination that the empire
shall not be broken up ; to replace the idea of
eventual independence, which means disunion, by
that of association on equal terms, which means
union. If this be done, we need not fear that at
the fitting time this last idea wUl realize itself."
Brief as the foregoing extracts are, they will
give some idea of the state of Forster's mind at
that time — -when as yet there was no organized
movement in favour of imperial federation, and
when he stood practically alone among statesmen
of the front rank in advocating it. Later on, as
we shall see by-and-by, his mind had grown and
his views were both more advanced and more
clearly defined than they appeared to be at
Edinburgh. But his speech to the Philosophical
Institution, on November 5, 1875, is specially
interesting, as it really may be said to mark the
beginning of a movement which has since attained
such great proportions and which bids fair to lead
to such substantial results. During his visit to
Edinburgh, in which he was accompanied by Mrs.
Forster, he received the freedom of the city, and
was invited to stand for the post of Lord Eector
of Aberdeen University, to which he was elected a
few days later by a large majority.
A question which was certain to interest him
greatly, occupied the public mind at the begiuning
of the year 1876. This was the issue of the so-
called slave circular by the Admiralty — a circular

104 LIFE OF THE RIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
which virtuaUy gave up, in certain cases, the right
of asylum for escaped slaves on board English
men-of-war. It turned out in the end that a
Liberal as weU as a Tory minister had been con
cerned in issuing regulations to this effect ; but
the pubhc, always readUy moved by appeals to the
traditional sympathies of Englishmen on questions
affecting slavery, were loud in their denunciations
of any step of a retrograde character which might
be taken by the Government. Forster himself
was full of indignation. It was resolved by the
leaders of the Opposition to move a resolution on
the subject as soon as possible after the meeting of
Parliament, and Forster proposed that it should
be one calling for the withdrawal of the obnoxious
circular. To his Wife.
" Eeform Club, February 4th, 1876.
" My dearest,
" To-day's story is this ; I contended
with my papers as well as I could up to one,
getting through long memoranda by Harcourt,
Selborne, and James, and having a call from
Adam. I then went to Hartington, and had talk
with him and Whitbread. Whitbread wUl move
the resolution, if he can agree with us on the
form. " Harcourt proposed a long resolution, too
legal, and to the effect that we would not go into

THE LEADERSHIP OF THE LIBERAL PARTY. 105
slave ports unless they would let us give refuge to
their slaves. This is open to the fatal objection
that there is nothing Zanzibar, Madagascar, and
other slave-trading powers would like better than
to keep us out of their ports. My resolution,
however, was open to the objection that to require
the withdrawal of the circular was to censure the
Government. I then suggested that Whitbread
should move for copies of their two cUculars and
our Admiralty order — thereby showing no party
feeling by hitting all round— and add a resolution
that no fugitive slaves should be restored to
slavery. H. and W. and Cardwell, who came
in, agreed to this.
" We then went on to Granville's ; all the old
Cabinet present but Bright, Argyll, Selborne, and
ChUders. Gladstone there and active. . . . After
much talk the agreement was a simple resolution
that fugitive slaves once received should not be
restored to slavery, leaving it to Granville and
Hartington to allude to our order and ask for all
papers, showing we are making no party attack.
"It turns out that Clarendon's second despatch
is in the Slave Trade Blue books of 1871 or 1872—
bad for Stansfeld and me, but worse for the Anti-
Slavery Society, who, being established to criticize
Blue books, never found this out. . . . Farewell,
my dearest. " Thine, " W. E. F."

io6 LIFE OF THE RIGHT HON. W. E. FORSTER.
" Athenseum Club, Saturday.
" James caUed on me this morning, finding
fault with our resolution, but giving some good
reasons, in which Harcourt agreed. So I went on
to Granville, who agreed to caU another meeting
on Monday with Selborne ; and then went on to
Hartington, where I found Harcourt and Adam.
We harked back to my original proposition,
improving the words, and putting the order along
side circular."
In the end the resolution was defeated by a
majority of forty-five. " Slashing speech from
Dizzy at the end — furious attack on me," notes
Forster in his diary. There was no doubt that
the Tory Prime Minister was very angry at the
detection of what was rather a piece of mal-
adroitness on the part of one of his colleagues
than any serious offence against English ideas on
the question of slavery.
The Imperial Titles Bill was another question
which aroused fierce excitement at the time — an
excitement which has scarcely been justified by
the consequences of the measure, now that it has
been passed. It would hardly be worth alluding
to Forster's part in the debates upon it, but for
one circumstance. Whilst he objected altogether
to a departure from the old style, under which the
English empire had been built up, he was par
ticularly anxious that, if such an alteration were

THE LEADERSHIP OF THE LIBERAL PARTY. 107
made to suit the ideas of men of the Disraelian
type, it should not affect India alone, but should
embrace aU the outlying portions of the empire ;
and he suggested to the representatives of the
colonies that they should claim their inclusion
in any new title which might be assumed by the
Crown with the sanction of Parliament.
Of the other political questions of 1876 in
which he took part there is little that need be
said, except with reference to that great problem
of European policy which was now reappearing
above the surface in the East. There were debates
in Parliament on the education question in which
he naturaUy took part. In one of these debates he
notes with satisfaction the handsome manner in
which Mr. Bright had spoken of the Act of 1870
and of himself. The Vivisection Bill, too, en
gaged a good deal of his time and attention, and
he congratulated himself in his diary upon having
got the House to " put the frogs back " under the
protection of the measure, the Home Secretary
having agreed to exclude them. There is one
extract which may be made from his diary, be
cause it refers to an incident in the life of the
House of Commons which at the time caused some
excitement. "June 30th, 1876.— Home Eule debate. Heard
a very plausible opening speech by Butt. Smyth
got up as a Eepealer to oppose, and I went away,
remembering him as dull. I heard, afterwards,

io8 LIFE OF THE RIGHT HON. W. E. FORSTER.
I had missed one of the best speeches ever made
in the House ; acknowledged to be such by Dizzy
and Bright ; very vexing. I should have liked to
have heard what this House considers a good
speech. Much was owing to the felicity of the
occasion — a Eepealer knocking over a Home Euler.
... I caUed on Gladstone at 11.30 to talk over
Eastern affairs, and especially the amount of our
obligation under the 1856 Treaties. . . . G. quoted
with approval what he said was a statement by
Lord P[almerston], that a guarantee did not give
the guaranteed a right to demand help ; only gave
the guarantors a casus belli if they chose to use it."
The latter portion of the foregoing extract
introduces us to the condition of affairs in foreign
polities which prevailed in 1876. In that same
month of June the English public had been
shocked by the publication, in the Daily News, of
some letters from the correspondent of that journal
at Constantinople, describing the atrocious cruelties
which had been inflicted upon the inhabitants of
certain villages in Bulgaria and EoumeUa by the
Turkish troops — chiefly irregulars recruited in Asia
Minor^on the pretext of putting down a sus
pected insurrectionary movement. Lady Strang-
ford, as soon as the Daily News account appeared,
wrote to Mr. Forster confirming the statement.
He went to see her, and found her "in much
quandary, between her love of the Bulgarians, of
whom she says she is the only friend, and her

THE EASTERN QUESTION. 109
love of the Turks. I told her she ought to send
the facts to Dizzy, and she said she would."
This was on June 25th. On the following day
English feeling on the subject first found voice in
the House of Commons in a question which Forster
addressed to Mr. Disraeli, regarding the truth of
the newspaper reports. The Prime Minister gave
him in reply " as near a denial as he dared." The
session closed, leaving the public in a state of great
uncertainty and excitement regarding the actual
state of things in the East. It had been known
for some time that great events were brewing
there, and that Eussia was about to make another
step forward in her advance towards Constanti
nople. The traditional feeling and policy of this
country were all on the side of Turkey, and against
the pretensions of our old antagonist of the Crimean
days. But even those who had the greatest dread
of Muscovite aggressions could not listen unmoved
to such a tale of horror as that which had reached
us from the Turkish provinces. Men who had,
up to that moment, been Philo-Turks all their
lives, now shrank in disgust from the idea that
we might be associated with a State under
the authority of which the nameless atrocities of
Batak and Tatar-Bazardjik could be perpetrated
with impunity. Mr. Disraeli — who at this
critical moment terminated his brilliant career
in the House of Commons by the acceptance of
an earldom — was anxious that the hideous stories

no LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
from Bulgaria should be disproved, and perhaps
allowed his feeling of the importance of maintain
ing our traditional policy in the East to influence
his mind in its acceptance or rejection of the
newspaper intelligence on the subject. Mr. Glad
stone took a different line. His retirement from
public affairs, which began in 1875, had been
tolerably complete during that year. In the
beginning of 1876, however, he again was found
taking an active part in settling the policy of the
Opposition on the question of the slave circulars.
When the news of the outrages committed by the
Bashi-Bazouks in Bulgaria reached England, he
cast off completely any affectation of retirement
from active Ufe, and, feeling that a great cause
demanded his assistance, threw himself into the
work of inflaming the pubhc indignation against
the authors of the murders and atrocities at Batak
and Tatar-Bazardjik, with an energy which was
almost phenomenal. During the latter part of
August and the whole of September, 1876, the
country was thrilled from one end to the other by
the passionate appeals which Mr. Gladstone made
to it against the conduct of those who seemed
bent upon maintaining an active aUiance between
England and the men who were responsible for
these abominable offences. By his famous pam
phlet, and his speeches fuU of a passionate elo
quence, he succeeded, in a few weeks, in reversing,
for the moment, at all events, the current of the

THE EASTEEN QUESTION. iir
national sympathy and policy. Mr. Forster had
no part in that briUiant and remarkable crusade
of September, 1876 — a month notable in the
history of our country. On August 15th he left
London on a journey to the east of Europe, his
object being to see something on the spot of the
conditions of the great problem which was now
demanding the attention of statesmen.
His companion on this occasion was his elder
daughter, now Mrs. E. V. O'Brien ; and, in writing
of the tour, she says, " Of aU my many journeys
with my father, I think that one in 1876 was the
most dehghtful and memorable ; and that is saying
a great deal, for going abroad with him, as I did
nearly every year from the time I was fourteen,
was always felicity to me, as well it might be. He
enjoyed everything in travelling, and took an
interest in everything — in seeing a new country,
in genuine hard walking and climbing when he
was amongst his beloved mountains, in reviving
his curiously varied and often out-of-the-way his
torical knowledge when he was wandering among
the old French chateaux on the Loire, or in the
ParUament House at Stockholm, or in Moscow,
among the memorials of the Eussian Czars, whose
strange picturesque histories had always a special
fascination for him. We never seemed able to go
to any remote corner of Europe that was quite a
terra incognita to him, or about which he did not
at any rate know enough to make him take a keen

112 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
interest in knowing and seeing more. For this
reason sight-seeing was with him no mere form or
drudgery. In fact, Oakeley and I, I am afraid,
used sometimes rather to quaU at the thoroughness
of his explorations, and to wish in our hearts, after
we had performed our first duty in a strange town,
namely, going to the top of the highest tower or
spire available, that the Sacristan of the Cathedral
might be out, so that we should be spared our
second duty — a thorough examination of all the old
tombs and monuments inside. My father had a
great love for old family records, and a wonderful
faculty for making out and remembering the most
complicated genealogies and pedigrees. For this
reason he dehghted in old monuments and family
portraits, whether in public or private coUections.
In fact, I used often to notice, not only on our
travels, but when staying with him at country
houses, that he seemed to be more famiUar with
the family pedigree, and to know more about the
originals of the old portraits, than our host himself.
" Another thing that made journeys with him
so interesting and delightful was his enjoyment of
the social side of our adventures. In addition to
the friends made through his regular introductions
(these often various enough) he used to make
acquaintances everywhere — in trains, on long
steamboat journeys, over a game of chess or whist
at inns sometimes, in the oddest and most un-
British circles. He seemed able, from his sym-

THE EASTEEN QUESTION. 113
pathetic and humorous appreciation of men and
things, to be quickly at home, and to get on to the
most friendly terms with people whose society
many Enghsh travellers would have avoided on the
simple ground of not being familiar with their
language, if on no other. I have vivid recollec
tions of one lively evening at a small inn on the
Polish side of the Carpathians, where we found
ourselves (as was often the case) the only English-
speaking people at the table dliote, but, so far from
being isolated, were so warmly adopted into the
general cUcle that, after we had at last retreated
from the sociable hubbub of the table d'hote room
to the quiet of our own rooms, a deputation of our
kind friends followed us upstairs to induce us to
continue the acquaintance. It was a never-ceasing
cause of regret to my father that he was not more
familiar with French and German, in the way of
a speaking knowledge, I mean, in addition to a
reading one. But in spite of this great difficulty,
it was astonishing how much valuable information
he used to gather from his miscellaneous travelling
acquaintances from sheer force of interest in their
national or local affairs, and from a perfectly clear
knowledge in his own mind of the particular facts
that he ' wanted to get at,' as he used to say. And
in addition to this power of collecting special items
of information or opinions from miscellaneous
individuals, his general knowledge of the political
situation in the different countries, and his masterly
VOL. II.' I

114 LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
power of discounting the prejudices and inclina
tions of his interlocutor, always enabled him to set
the right value on their information, and prevented
him from being imposed upon.
" With all his sympathy for the man he was
talking to at the moment, he never seemed to
forget that there might be another side to the
question, and so, often, when we were talking things
over afterwards, and I was impressed with nothing
but what I had last heard, he would say, ' But we
must remember  ' and then remind us of another
aspect and set of facts which I had quite left out
of account. To assist at his conversation with all
our various travelling acquaintances, whether pas
sively, or, as sometimes happened, as an amateur
interpreter, was quite an education. His questions
always seemed to take one straight into the heart
of ^the subject, and his zeal to get information
naturally produced a corresponding eagerness on
the part of our friends to give it. All sorts of
questions, poUtical, military, social, and financial,
used to come into our travelling talk ; it might be
with an enthusiastic Czech professor at Prague, or
with a cultivated Austrian merchant returning to
his home in the Bukowina, or a gentlemanly
whist-playing Pole at some German watering-place,
or with a party of Eussian volunteers going to help
the Servians, or a Hungarian Honved officer, or
a Government official in a Eoumanian railway
carriage, or a shrewd English man of business in

THE E.\STEEN QUESTION. ir?
the fair at Nijni Novgorod, or some high diplomatic
magnate at Constantinople or Vienna, or an active
politician and deputy at Berlin, Pesth, or Athens
— wherever or with whomsoever it might be, my
father seemed always to have the faculty of getting
straight on to some topic that thoroughly interested
both himself and the man he was talking to, if it
was only for a five minutes' conversation.
" There was only one of his social adventures
abroad of which he used to say laughingly after
wards that it had landed him in a false position.
This was on our first afternoon in Moscow, when,
thanks to a promptly honoured letter of introduc
tion, he found himseK at the private view at the
horse-show at the great National Exhibition then
being held, installed beside the General-Governor,
and a brilliant circle who had come to take part
in the judging and awarding of prizes before the
admission of the public. My father used to say
that he felt keenly how much intelligent criticism
and appreciation might have been expected from
him on this occasion, not only as an Englishman,
but a Yorkshireman, whereas his admiration of the
splendid black Orloff trotters, the wild-looking
Crimean horses, and the bull-necked Finland
ponies, who were paraded in solemn procession
before us, could be only of the most unenlightened
though cordial description."
I have given this description of Forster, not
merely as a tourist, but as a traveller, from the

II 6 LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTER.
pen of one who was so frequently his companion,
at this particular point in my narrative, not merely
because of its general interest as a contribution
towards the complete portrayal of his character,
but because it shows with what care and thorough
ness, even upon these holiday journeys of his, he
sought to inform his mind. The journey of 1876
was undertaken in a great degree for a political
purpose. He did not go merely to enjoy the fine
scenery of the Carpatbians and the Danube, but
in order that he might, as an English politician,
learn something by actual observation of the
state of things among those Eastern nationalities
in whose condition England has long taken so
deep an interest. The course of his journey
cannot be followed closely without unduly adding
to the length of this work, but some of the more
interesting passages from his letters demand tran
scription. At Brussels he was invited to dine
with the King : " I walked to the palace punc
tually at seven, and found a large party already
assembled. Making my way through crowds of
flunkeys, the Grand Chamberlain introduced me
to Lumley, our minister, upon whom I had called,
not, however, finding him in. He told me I was
to take in the king's daughter, the Princess of
Saxe, just come back to her old home with her
husband. Soon afterwards the royal party came
in — the Christians with them — the King leading
the Princess Christian, and Prince Christian the

THE EASTEEN QUESTION. ii;
Queen. The King shook me most cordially by
the hand, and introduced me to his daughter. I
gave her my arm in fear and trembling, but she
soon reassured me by an excellent English accent.
... In the salon I had much talk with the King
about the Congo. I pressed upon him three
resolutions for his conference — pressure upon
Spain and Portugal, pressure upon the Khedive
and other Eastern (slave) buyers, and watchful
ness against coolie and South Sea traffic. He
thinks of estabUshing stations on the east coast,
not as King, but as private philanthropist, and
said he hoped Belgium would be of use. He
would give the society a house at Brussels,
etc. I could not help teUing him about my
father, and how rejoiced he would have been.
He said he should write to me after the confer
ence, but hoped he might do so in French. We
had some other talk, a little about the war, and
I said I wished his country and Holland were
together, so as to be a better match for their great
neighbours." Travelling to Prague and Cracow, he went
across the mountains to the Hungarian town of
Schmocks. " Schmocks, Hungary, September 2nd, 1876.
" In my letter this morning I did not reply to
 's inquiries about meetings to protest against
the Bulgarian massacres. It is difficult to form

II 8 LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTER.
an opinion away from England, but I cannot but
think meetings will do good. There is no fear of
our being hurried into war against Turkey, and
every manifestation of feeling which prevents our
Government backing up Turkey, and which will
show other nations that we do not mean to back
her up, will, I think, do good. I trust, however,
that all meetings wUl end in practical aid to the
Bulgarians. Eemember that aid to the wounded
does not mean help to the Bulgarians, and now
that our Government is giving aid to the wounded,
I cannot but think that the Bulgarian claim is by
far the strongest, and I expect much incidental
good from British distribution."
The war between the Turks and Servians was
then being waged, and at Buda-Pesth, where
Forster made the acquaintance of many friends,
and where he had pleasant experience of the
popularity which is still enjoyed by the travelling
Englishman among the Hungarians, the air was
full of news from the battle-fields. He spent his
time as usual in acquiring all the information he
could regarding the political situation, and his
letters are full of interesting comments upon
Austro- Hungarian politics and of anecdotes, chiefly
gathered from Professor Pulszky, of the Emperor
and his concession of a constitution to the Hun
garians. After a brief stay at Pesth, he and his
daughter went down the Danube to Belgrade, and
from thence, by way of Giurgevo to Bucharest.

THE EASTERN QUESTION. 119
To his Wife.
" Grand Hotel, Brofft, Bucharest,
"September 12th, 1876.
" My DEAREST AYlFE,
"We have seen one church, driven through
the town, got our money at our bankers, and called
on our Consul, Colonel Mansfield, who has kindly
asked us to dinner at seven. I have had my
bain russe, and now I may settle in for two
hours' quiet writing, which from my last note at
Semlin (opposite Belgrade) till now has been im
possible. It has been almost the most interesting,
not to say exciting, journey I have ever had, and
in its immediate surroundings most pleasurable,
though painful, indeed, in what I have been forced
to hear. I have managed, however, to protect Flo
very much from the painful details of the war. . . .
But now for my doings. I finished my last note
just before arriving at SemUn on Friday morning.
We were welcomed there by a Hungarian official,
and by a message from a lieutenant in command
of one of the iron monitors, which were anchored
off Semlin to keep the Servians in order, to ask
us to pay them a visit. This we did, finding
everything very clean and ship -shape, and then
salUed out for Belgrade in a new boat, put at our
disposal by Pulszky's friends. 'We ' were Pulszky,
Gastrell the Consul, Heron (M.P.), and selves.
SemUn and Belgrade, to my surprise, are both on
the right bank of the Danube, but a wide creek of

I20 LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
the Danube and the Save between them. The row
was about three-quarters of an hour. Belgrade,
with its hilly promontory, crowned with its for
tress and fianked by its churches, with its wooded
hills in the background, and with the mighty
Danube around it, was a rememberable sight.
Going up the steps at Belgrade, we met White the
Consul, and Colonel Muir the M.P. It turned
out I knew White ; had seen him as Dantzic
Consul when I was in office on the cattle plague
—a tall, stout, most cordial, cheery Scotchman ;
and Colonel Muir welcomed me with the state
ment, ' I have written a letter, fourteen pages
long, which I was going to send to you, when in
comes White, and says, " Have you sent your
letter to Mr. F. by the English post? If not,
you had better wait, as he will be here in a
quarter of an hour." ' So now I was in the midst
of the war news and war questions. Muir had
been here two or three weeks, and had become
intensely Servian and anti-Turk. Lindsay, on the
contrary, who had returned from his journey to
the front, and whom we saw at White's in the
evening, was much more possessed with indigna
tion against the Servian ministers and war party
for driving the poor peasants into battle, and with
the Eussians for keeping up the war by their large
batches of volunteers, constantly arriving. ... At
seven we met for dinner at Muir's hotel ; very
slowly served by drunken waiters, demoralized by

THE EASTERN QUESTION. 121
the war, and no wonder ; and about nine went
to the consul's. . . . Sandwith was there. He
wanted me to go to the front with him, and I
was sadly tempted; but Flo and time prevented.
Prince Wrede was also anti-Turk, as was natural,
and gave me a clever diplomatic hit. ' The war
would quickly end, were it not for the Eussian
volunteers, and the support of European opinion.'
Eistich the minister said much the same thing to
me the next day ; but then this was also his cue.
However, I was very careful to take always the
line that the Servians had done enough, and could
gain nothing by continuing the war. About ten
we left for our return to Semlin, our boatmen
having waited for us. As White's servant guided
us to the boat there were gusts of wind and blind
ing dust, and sheet-lightning in the horizon ; but
no one seemed to question the safety of our return,
and as soon as we could get off, the boatmen
began to pull us across the Save. The fierce
current curled in short snapping waves ; the wind
somewhat luUed, but at any time a blast possible,
and it came in a hailstorm and with a vengeance,
but fortunately only a few steps from the island,
which is, in fact, the left bank of the Save. The
men ran us ashore as quickly as possible, and I
know not when I have been more glad than I was
to get out in the mud, though in that pelting rain.
We made for a block-housC' — three or four open
arches under a chamber to which there was no

122 LIFE OF THE RIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
ladder — where we strove to hide ourselves from
the storm for half an hour or more, stumbling over
some dark objects, which seemed to be logs of
wood, but turned out to be soldiers, who, however,
took our unintentional kicks with absolute apathy,
not even grunting or rising aU the time we were
there. At length the storm abated ; but the men
did not venture to row across the creek, towing
us all round it instead, so it was past midnight
before we reached our Semlin inn, the inmates of
which we had to wake up. . . . About ten I was
back again at Belgrade, the morning fine, and the
river looking innocent enough, and White on the
bank, much relieved to meet us, for his man had
told him of the storm. He took me and Heron at
once to call on Eistich, with the understanding
that I was to be left alone with the minister. He
seemed an able man, but with a mask-like face,
which did not remove distrust. He may, however,
have acquired his fixed expression in his previous
occupation, which was — what do you think ? — that
of a public orator at funerals. I was with him, I
should think, an hour. He got out a map and
showed me the exact position, past and present, of
the army ; seemed to me reaUy desirous of peace,
quite ready to admit that Servia could gain nothing
by the continuance of war, as, after her defeat, she
could not get her object, which is Bosnia. ' Nous
avons fait une grande illusion,' he said. They ex
pected a rising in Bulgaria, but the Turks have

THE EASTERN QUESTION. 123
stamped that out, and, indeed, their cruelties and
terrorism have answered their purpose, both there
and against the army ; for the fear of the Servian
peasant soldiers is not merely fear of battle, but
fear of the special Turkish horrors. He gave me
a copy of the circular which he had just sent to
the different consuls, respecting recent atrocities,
and which I see mentioned in the Times, but he
did not pretend to say that mere sympathy with
the Bosnians had made them fight, rather than
the fear of a revolution, the exceeding difficulty of
their situation, and the expectation that they
would get more help from the provinces, and that
Greece would attack Turkey, and, above all, that
Turkey itseK would not prove so strong. He had
a long talk with  , who saw him after me, and
to him expressed much distrust of Tchernaieff and
the Eussians, declaring that their original pro
gramme had been to attack on the side of Bosnia,
getting Nikita to meet them ; but that T. had
made them change their front and attack Bul
garia, where there was no response. To me he
declared, most positively, that though they ex
pected assistance from the provinces, they did
absolutely nothing to provoke insurrection, and he
tried to give me the impression that they were
very anxious to owe Eussia as little as possible. . . .
We aU coUected at one, at White's, to a capital
luncheon, after which I went with Lindsay to call
on Miss Johnston's five nurses, who are having a

124 LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FORSTEE.
special hospital, an old school, fitted up for them.
They were learning Servian in a quiet hotel. . . .
Two of them, without doubt, ladies. A very
doubtful adventure, I think, surrounded by the
pick of the adventurers, not to say cutthroats, of
Europe. Their dress seems to me most foolish —
that of a maid-servant ; not a dress that demands
respect — not to be compared with the religious habit
of the Catholic sister. That morning we had come
upon a notable specimen of the modern Dugald
Dalgetty, a Spanish Carlist captain ; a handsome
fellow, but looking capable of any atrocity, dis
gusted with the Servian outlook (Tchernaieff
evidently wishes for no volunteers but Eussians),
and intending to make off to Widdin to offer him
self to the Turks, though declaring that two thou
sand resolute European soldiers, well led, could
march where they pleased, spite of both armies.
We returned by steamer about five, after walking
round the old fortress and seeing the glorious
view, and then waited at SemUn till past eleven,
supping, Flo writing, and we four playing whist.
The steamer was crowded with Eussians, but many
of them really Eed Cross men, an ambulance from
Kazan. I reposed tUl Basiasch, where, to my in
expressible comfort, I received thy note of Monday
the 4th, also the Leeds Mercury. Okel had sent
it from Vienna to the Poste Eestante, and White
had telegraphed to the postmaster to bring it on
board. At Semendria, the head of the Morava

THE EASTEEN QUESTION. 125
Valley, two or three English surgeons had joined
us, intending to go with Lindsay, who, as well as
Muir, was in our boat, to Widdin for help to the
Turkish wounded, having set the Servian help
going. The head of the party was MacCormack,
a tall, handsome, most prepossessing man, from
St. Thomas's, who had ridden hard from Deligrad,
Tchernaieff's head-quarters. He had been in the
Franco-Prussian war, but said he had no ex
perience of horrors to be compared to this. It
is, in fact, a new idea, I expect, to both sides, to
have to look after their wounded ; though what
hospitals the Turks have are, I hear, clean and
well managed."
On his way to Bucharest, and whilst staying
in the Eoumanian capital, Forster met with
several men concerned in the Bulgarian movement
against Turkish rule, as well as with Mr. Christich,
a Servian ex-minister and brother-in-law of Mr.
Eistich. Some of the Bulgarian refugees had
heard of him in connection with the question
he had asked in the House on the subject of the
Turkish atrocities, and they were eager to tell him
their own special tales of suffering and outrage.
He took careful notes of each individual case, for
the purpose of giving the information to Sir Henry
Elliot when he saw him at Constantinople. On
September 15th they reached Constantinople, and
he took up his quarters at Misseri's Hotel.

126 LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
To Us mfe.
" Constantinople, September 17th, 1876.
" I must leave Flo to describe the sights of this
city, which is beautiful as ever, very squalid and
savage, though somewhat less so, I think, than
when I was here before.
" I was much vexed to see that paragraph in
the Daily News, and, of course, it has not made my
visit easier; but I cannot say my conscience
rebukes me for coming here. I get information
on the question of the day, most concerning the
present duty of England, such as no reading could
possibly give me.
" My day's work has been equal to the worst
of the House, and, though tired enough, I must
make sure of some of the things I have heard.
Leaving Eobert College yesterday afternoon, a
man in Turkish uniform got into our tram carriage ;
he made known his nationality by the special
English expletive, and then, turning to Mure,
said it was for a Turk, not him. He turned out
to be a Dr. T  , lately appointed private
physician to the Sultan, and his report of him was
very much in accordance with Gallenga's (the
Times correspondent) account of him to me to-day
— that he had much intelligence, great want of
knowledge, some force of character, and much
determination to really govern. At present he is
anxious to be told the truth ; by help of a dic
tionary spells out French leaders against himself.

THE EASTERN QUESTION. 127
and has the English newspapers translated. T — — .

said he had sent him in the last Punch with the
picture of the Turk with the bloody hands. He
sends him generally translations of the Daily News
and Spectator as well as the Times.
" Soon after our return to the hotel, arrived
a young Bulgarian from the college with a letter
from Long, showing that the Exarch would be
glad to see us, but at his private house and not
at the Exarchate. So Mure and I descended the
steep steps and took one of the wretched, small
carriages to Ortakeui, three-quarters of an hour off,
on the Bosphorus — stifling work for three men
in a small, shut-up brougham. His Beatitude
lives in a small wooden house, most simply
furnished, — a man about sixty, with large pleasing
eyes, a pleasant, but not powerful, countenance,
with a long black gown and high black cap. He
was appointed, about three years ago, the first
Exarch of the Bulgarian Church — now it is freed
from Greek control^and was evidently a moderate,
safe man, not a little desiring to keep himself safe.
Every now and then he almost broke down with
sobs ; he confirmed the terrible stories, but we did
not enter into details. I asked him as regards the
future whether a Turkish Government would not
be safe, with commissioners of the Powers to
prevent injustice. Clearly he did not believe in
this. * There are,' he said, ' the consuls now.'
The chief point he dwelt upon, and indeed

128 LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
reiterated, was that if Bulgaria was left as it was
its future condition would be worse than before
these events, bad as was that.
" At the table d'hdte there was a man reminding
me much of C  , only taller and better-looking.
He introduced himself to me, and turned out to
be Guercino, the Levantine father-in-law of Baring.
His chief object was to defend himself against
the newspaper attacks ; to say how he had opposed
the Turks when consul in Asia, and to explain
that he had not wished, but was pressed, to go on
the Commission. He inveighed against exaggera
tion, but admitted that, though some of the Daily
News stories were untrue or overstated, there were
others quite as bad, so that the general result was
not an exaggeration.
"By-the-by, the Exarch told us that he had
not seen Sir H. Elliot, but he had feared to see
him or any of the other ambassadors, and he was
comforted by our assurance that we would tell
nobody in Constantinople that we had seen him,
and would not pubUcly state it in England. Our
young Bulgarian interpreter told us the story of
the recent emancipation of the Bulgarian Church,
and described the former Greek bishops as worse
oppressors than the Turks.
" Now, then, for to-day's history. We were off
by the 8.45 boat for Buyukdere', above Therapia.
Upon the boat was Guercino. He wanted me to
see the Grand Vizier, but I did not jump at this.

THE EASTERN QUESTION. 129
There can be no doubt that the Turks are now
seriously alarmed about the effect of the atrocities.
He told me that the Sultan himself took it much
to heart. A fresh commission of four Mussulmans
and four Christians starts to-morrow to examine
and try. But it is thought that a trial in the
provinces will be a sham, to get off the worst
criminals, who are well connected here. One of
the worst is a relative of Abdul Kerim, the com
mander-in-chief, who comes himself from a Bul
garian village. Guercino, however, did introduce
us to one man well worth seeing, Aziz Pacha,
who happened to be on board the steamer, and
was the Governor of Philoppolis at the beginning
of the insurrection, and was refused by Mahmoud
Pacha (Abdul Aziz's Grand Vizier) the few regular
troops with which he said he could have put it
down. Panateroff had given me a good account
of him when he was in London, and he certainly
talked as fair as man could. He said the worst
atrocities were committed by the armed Turks of
the Bulgarian villages, not by the Circassians
(which, indeed, every one says — the Circassians
only rob), and he says that what he did in 1867
ought to have been done now — an armed police
ought to have been raised of Mussulmans and
Christians. He, however, is himself a Slav, in
fact a Bosnian Bey, and was Governor of Belgrade
during the Crimean war. He went so far as to
suggest autonomy for Bosnia and Herzegovina,
VOL. II. K

I30 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
and also for Bulgaria, divided into three or four
parts, so as to include the Bulgarian population
of Thrace and Macedonia. He seemed to con
sider the Mussulmans about one-third of the popu
lation. This suggestion he made at his second
interview. Upon the steamer he was surprisingly
frank; put himself, as he said, "in the hands of
the EngUsh gentleman; " and, poor man, said he
intended to come to England to thank the British
Parliament for having spoken well of him.
"At Buyukdere we found Schuyler, and had
full talk with him, after and during our dejeuner ;
a shrewd, clear-headed Yankee, giving a very
connected account of his doings. The chief thing
of importance I got from him was the extent to
which the regular troops were impUcated, and the
market the officials had made by getting money
from prisoners. I said, ' There are two questions :
What ought to be done ? and what can be done ? '
As regards the immediate future he is clear, and
so is Long, that the Mussulmans must be disarmed.
Eemember, the Bashi-Bazouks in Bulgaria are
merely the Mussulmans in the villages ; some of
the worst of them, the Pomaks, a clan of rene
gade Bulgarians. Without this. Long much fears
fresh massacres this coming Eamasan, which
begins this week.
" We then returned to Therapia. I had just
introduced myself to GaUenga at the hotel, when
Mure took me off to our Pasha, who wished to

THE EASTEEN QUESTION. 131
see US again. Meantime he had called at the
Embassy, and, I suppose, had heard who I was,
and now dubbed me Eccellenza. The only private
room we could find for our confab was a small,
secluded bedroom ; in fact, we are bursting with
' deadly 's,' for everybody wishes nobody to know
that he has been seen.
"I then went down for a chat with GaUenga.
He said he believed there was a practical armis
tice, the Servians being unable to fight, and the
Turks being told not to push forward, Eussia
holding off from the other powers ; but he does
not give credit to the fiendish MachiavelUan
poUcy ascribed to Ignatieff. He said that Eng
land and Eussia ought to come to terms, that then
the Turk would be powerless, and that at any rate
we ought to risk the much-talked-of Turkish mas
sacre, in which, however, he did not believe. . . .
After GaUenga, I called upon Whitaker of the
Levant Herald, a clever fellow, a friend of Lady
Strangford^, but now backing up the Turks
through thick and thin. It would not have done
not to have seen him, but I civiUy gave him my
mind. This had brought us to past two, and,
after a short talk with Baring, we took steamer
for the station under the college. Mr. Long was
intending to have taken us to the Bishop of Phi-
lippopoUs, but when we got near his house, above
Ortakeui, a Bulgarian was lying in wait for us
with much mystery, who turned out to be the

132 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
bishop's brother, put there to warn us off, on
account of the new commissioners being in the
house." In the remaining portion of this letter Forster
discussed with his usual frankness and vigour the
charges which had been made against Sir Henry
Elliot in connection with the massacres in
Bulgaria— charges of indifference and neglect, —
and explained how it had come to pass that the
first news of the outrages had appeared in the
Daily Neios and not in the Times, to which the in
telligence had originally been sent. It is only
necessary to say, regarding this part of his investi
gations whilst in Constantinople, that he vforked
as though he had been on a Parhamentary com
mittee at home, seeking out persons capable of
giving him information in every quarter, and
subjecting them to an examination of uncom
promising severity. Before he left Constantinople
he had an interview with Said Pasha, then high in
the favour of the Sultan. To his Wife.
" Constantinople, September 19, 1876.
"A carriage and cavass came for us . at 9.30,
to take us to the Sultan's Bosphorus palace,
where, indeed, he is Uving, and where our Pasha,
who is Deputy-Chamberlain, had rooms. ... We
were ushered into a room where we found Said
Pasha, a tall fat Turk, curled up on a sofa, and two

THE EASTERN QUESTION. 133
Englishmen unknown to me, one of whom turned
out to be a Scudamore. The Pasha spoke English
weU — brought up at Woolwich and Edinburgh.
He was a thorough gentlemen, and got well over
a Uttle contre-temps. Our introducers, Sir George
Thomas and Mr. Smyth of the Ottoman Bank, had
not turned up, and I do not think he at first knew
who we were. ... I said how glad I was to hear
of a suspension of hostiUties (in Servia). ' It might
only be a patch-up,' he said. ' Eussia was always
intriguing to cause insurrections.' ' May I venture
to tell your ExceUency how we, in England, think
you nnght defeat any intrigue by Eussia ? and that
is, by giving the provinces such a Government as
would take away the desire for insurrection.' My
first shot, which brought us well into action,
and our two EngUshmen soon turned up. He
complained much of Gladstone's pamphlet, and
the manner in which he had spoken of the Turks.
I could reply I had not read his pamphlet — only
his speech, which did not contain such invective.
He gave me his story of the Bulgarian business.
He then drew a black picture of the Govern
ment system. The head of each department was
a Sultan himself — absolute and uncontrolled.
They were now aiming at responsible ministers.
' Without doubt,' I said, ' this must be necessary
for good government ; without it the country must
be hopeless and the Sultan helpless.' I then took
up my parable. ' Your Excellency is doubtless

134 LIFE OF THE RIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
aware that I have no official position. Colonel
Mure and myself belong to what we caU the
Opposition, though I trust this matter will not be
made a party question. But would you like to
have my opinion for whatever it is worth, of the
grounds for the feeling now expressed by my
countrymen ? ' Of course he wished me to be
frank, in a very gentlemanly and apparently
sincere manner. ' There was real reluctance in
the British people to think Ul of their old ally;
but though I wanted not to enter into the details
of the Bulgarian business, the admitted general
result had excited very strong feeling. There
were, however, three things which, if done by the
Turkish Government, would, I think, convince our
people that they were doing what they could to
meet the immediate necessities. First, real com
pensation to the sufferers : to those who had lost
their husbands and fathers and mothers and
daughters ; to the thousand who, I was told, were
left out of the four thousand at Batak' (at this he
showed neither anger nor surprise), ' and to those
whose property had been unjustly taken from
them. Next, the punishment which I was glad
to hear from his ExceUency would be inflicted
upon the chief instigators of the excesses, however
high their station, and so that the public would
know that they were punished ; and, lastly, the
disarmament of the Bashi-Bazouks.' ' This was
difficult,' he said; 'because they were now under

THE EASTEEN QUESTION. 135
command ' — meaning, I suppose, enrolled. This
disarmament is the great difficulty of the Govern
ment. For it they have not strength ; but without
it outrages are certain. Soon after, he fired back
at me. ' We must make allowance for the feeling
of the friends of those who were murdered. We
had had our Indian mutiny. He was in England
at the time, and had seen ladies grind their teeth
in talking of revenge.' 'Your Excellency,' I said,
' is so good an Englishman that you will know our
proverb. I wUl not enter into comparisons of
blackness; but two blacks do not make a white.'
We all laughed, and were very amicable. . . . He
then talked about reforms — the earnestness of the
Sultan to effect them. He had even said he
would give up his rights if it were for the good of
his country. ' You must help lis,' he said. ' We
want to get some constitutional government,
though we are not yet fit for yours.' I expressed
sympathy, which I am sure I felt, with their
difficulties, and for the Sultan, and this enabled
me to touch a little on the most difficult question
of autonomy. ' Good government of the Turks,'
(which he had said was very much wanted), ' and
a constitution for them, would be merely the
Athenian surrounded by Helots, unless given also
to the Christians. We feared in England there
must be autonomy, unless the Christians were
admitted to perfect social equaUty and to the
army.' He was quite ready for that. . . . We

136 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
parted quite affectionately. He is one of the
multitude who are to come and see us in London.
The interview had some little possible importance,
as at present Said is in the Sultan's good graces,
and may repeat the talk to him. . . .
" Wednesday, 10 p.m. — Just arrived from
Count Zichy's, the Austrian ambassador's. Poor
Flo must put down something before we go to
bed. The Austrian is the only ambassador at
Pera during the summer, and he Uves at the
foot of a ladder of stairs, so Flo went in a sedan
chair, and was carried into a haU, where crowds
of soldier flunkeys helped her out. To my surprise,
no fnadame ; eight or nine men, mainly attaches,
but Count Corti, the Italian minister. To my
horror Count Zichy addressed me in French.
' Je parle Fran9ais tres mal,' said I. ' C'est la
faute de mon education que je ne parle pas
r Anglais,' said the Hungarian magnate. But on
the other side of me there was a young Austrian
baron, who spoke English and remembered meet
ing you at Lady Waldegrave's. Our talk was very
interesting. The count apologized for not calling
to-day. He had had ' occupations tres graves.'
Hostilities were only suspended till next Tuesday,
but ' there is nothing to fear ; there will be many
suspensions for ten days.' Both the ambassadors
were very anti-Turk. I expected this from the
Italian, but not from the Austrian. The. last told
us that the Governor of Adrianople had been dis-

THE EASTEEN QUESTION. 137
missed—' parce qu'il n'avait p^s enterrt; les cada-
vres, et ddtruit les evidences.' And Count Corti
told me a tremendous fact — that the present
Grand Vizier, at the very beginning of the
Bulgarian business, had told him how he would
put down the insurrection, and had described ' la£-
systeme par terreur ' — precisely what I said in my
speech. Both of them laughed at the supposed
machinations of Ignatieff. He was not respon
sible for the non-employment of the regulars
when Aziz Pasha demanded them ; he had merely
said, ' Do not make too much of the insurrection
in Bulgaria.' . . . Nevertheless they neither of
them seemed to suppose Bulgaria fit for autonomy,
though the ItaUan was more prepared for it than
the Austrian. Count 2iichy said, ' Votre discours
avait en un grand effet ici '¦ — probably a diplomatic
compliment ; but Corti said that he thought the
present agitation had saved England from a great
mistake, though he also thought it was now going
too far ; but he said that, if England and Eussia
agi'eed, the Turk was helpless. I said to the two
ambassadors that the Turks seemed to me to have
only one resource, the power of massacring. ' Was
that a real danger ? ' They thought it was a
danger, but exaggerated. . . We had a beautiful
dinner, and the count told me he had tapped a
bottle of the very best Tokay from his estate in
my honour, and he conducted Flo down to the
hall when we came away."

138 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
Before leaving Constantinople, Forster, strongly
against the advice of some of his friends, accepted
an invitation to a dinner-party given by a notorious
Philo-Turk. He was determined, however, to hear
both sides. At that time the war of intrigue in
Stamboul and Pera was at its height, and, as was
natural, a man of Forster's position in the House
of Commons, who had already held high office and
who was certain to hold it again, was the object of
almost as many intrigues as though he had been
the Sultan himself. It was not an easy thing for
any man, especially for one comparatively unversed
in Oriental craft, to steer safely through the con
flicting currents which were whirling around him.
But he had two means of protecting himself — his
native shrewdness, developed during years of
business in Yorkshire, and his inflexible rule always
to hear both sides of a question before making up
his mind regarding it. At this dinner he certainly
heard the other side, and he expresses his " amazed
astonishment " at some of the statistics which
were offered to him as evidence on behalf of the
Turks — statistics which, as it happens, were con
tradicted by every official document in existence.
But during the whole time of his stay in Constanti
nople, Mr. Forster had other means of acquiring
knowledge of the actual condition of affairs besides
those afforded by his frequent meetings with in
fluential Europeans and Turkish officials. The
American missionaries at the Eobert College were

THE EASTEEN QUESTION. 139
impartial witnesses, and they gave him much
valuable aid; whilst, day by day, during his whole
sojourn, his rooms at Misseri's were besieged by
Bulgarians and Armenians, who came to him — •
often by stealth — to tell him the story of hideous
wrongs suffered by themselves or by those near
and dear to them. He heard all these tales, which
would have been tedious in their endless reiteration
if it had not been for their terrible character, with
patience, and gave his interlocutors such advice
and assistance as he could. " As the steamer
moved off for Varna, I said, ' Heaven be thanked ! '
for if I had stopped much longer, Stamboul would
have become too hot for me."
Summing up, whilst on the way home, some of
" the final impressions which had survived the
confusion of conflicting statements and stories," he
wi'ote : " The driUed private Turk soldier has many
virtues — ^very brave, very handy, good-tempered,
sober, obedient. Some of the atrocities have
certainly been committed by the Eegulars, but any
army would have done the same if encouraged, not
checked, by their officers. The officers are worse
than their men, and the fat pasha generals the
worst of all. The Government is beyond descrip
tion bad, ignorant, inefficient, corrupt — places
bought or given to despicable favourites, merit
going absolutely for nothing. The Minister of
Marine, Achmet Kaiserley, cannot, for example,
read or write, and has no especial force of character.

I40 LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
. . . The new Sultan, if strong, can stiU do a great
deal ; but a constitutional Government, resting on
the balance of forces, seems to me impossible, for
there are no forces to balance. Eussia is the bug
bear of the Turks and of the old school of EngUsh ;
Ignatieff's opposition is the excuse for every
failure, and his advice for every mistake ; and every
insurrection is created by Eussian agents. I do
not believe it. Without doubt for many years the
Eussian aim has been to replace the Turks by
Christians, whereas our aim has been to keep the
Turk where he is. Therefore the Christians have
naturaUy looked to the Eussians, as the Turks have
to us. We might have done much with the Turk
if, to use the expression of some of the best of
them, ' we had done as they wanted — beaten them
with a stick tiU they did right ; ' but since the
Crimean war we have done nothing but encourage
their extravagance by lending them money, and
encourage them in misrule by teUing them that
we would save them from its natui;al consequence,
punishment by Eussia. The first thing now to do
is for us and Eussia, if possible, to agree, and then
ask the other powers to consent.V Austria, or
rather Hungary, would be unable to refuse. But
what to ask for ? Take Bulgaria. Promises of
better rule are waste-paper. An European com
mission by the side of the Turkish officials seems
impracticable, and would end either in military
occupation or in nothing. Absolute autonomy is

THE EASTEEN QUESTION. 141
a desperately strong measure. If given to the
Bulgarian people, the Greeks would demand either
autonomy for Thessaly and Epirus, or their addition
to the Greek kingdom, and, seeing that Bulgaria is
not at present in insurrection, I do not see how, if
autonomy be given to it, the Greeks could be refused.
This would reduce European Turkey almost to the
city of Constantinople. Would the Turks accept
this without a death-struggle ? Most persons say
no, and prophesy a massacre of Christians in Asia
Minor and an attempt at it in Europe. As regards
Europe, I do not believe it. . . . But this is an
extreme measure, especially when the immediate
effect of absolute autonomy is, to say the least,
doubtful. . . . Upon the whole, were I entrusted
to make terms with Turkey for Bulgaria, I would
ask for absolute autonomy and ask strongly, proving
to the Turk that he had brought the demand upon
himseK; but I would hear his counter-proposals.
There is no such bargain-maker as the Turk, either
in politics or in the bazaar, and the ultimate result
might be local self-government. Christian governors
in Christian villages. Christians admitted in fair
proportions to the civil offices, to the pohce, and
also to the army. But this would require not only
a promise to the European powers, but a pledge,
the fulfllinent of which these powers should have
the authority to enforce."
Such were Forster's views at that epoch in the
history of the Eastern question. Eeturning by

142 LIFE OP THE RIGHT HON. W. E. FORSTEE.
way of Vienna, he had some talk with our ambas
sador, Sir Andrew Buchanan, whom he found, hke
most of our representatives abroad, disturbed by
the unprecedented uprising of feeling in England
which had followed Mr. Gladstone's pamphlet and
speeches, though inclined to take a more practical
view of the new situation which had thus been
created than were some of his coUeagues. England
was reached early in October, and Forster's first
act was to arrange for a meeting with his con
stituents, in order that he might address them on
the absorbing question of the hour.

( 143 )

CHAPTEE IV.
FOEEIGN POLICY OF THE TOEY GOVEENMENT.
Me. Foester's speech to his constituents after the
termination of his visit to the East excited an
altogether unusual amount of public interest. His
position in the Liberal party would, of course,
have made the speech an important one under any
circumstances ; but that autumn of 1876 had
witnessed a complete revolution in the political
sentiments of this country, so far as regarded our
foreign policy, and the first utterances of a states
man after that revolution had been effected had
therefore a special interest for the country at
large. There was, however, a third reason for
the interest which attached to Mr. Forster's
speech, that far outweighed either of the others.
Whilst other statesmen had been discussing the
question of the future of Turkey upon the
evidence furnished by Blue-books and newspapers,
Mr. Forster had gone to the fountain-head. He
had been upon the spot ; he had actually talked
with those " unspeakable Turks " who were being
held up to the condemnation of the whole civilized

144 LIFE OP THE RIGHT HON. W. E. FORSTBE.
world ; he had listened to the stories of outrage
and cruelty as they fell from the lips of men who
had themselves been the victims of the abominable
misgovernment of Bulgaria, and he had heard all
that could be urged in palliation of that mis
government by the rulers who were directly
responsible for it.
Mr. Gladstone's tremendous indictment of
Turkish misrule, though it had carried the over
whelming majority of the nation with it, had
excited the deepest wrath among those poli
ticians who clung to the old ideas and who
did not sufficiently recognize the influence of
moral feeling in the domain of politics. Many of
these men beUeved that the stories which had
shocked the nation when they were first made
known in the summer were mere " coffee-house
babble," the inventions or exaggerations of news
paper correspondents. Such persons looked with
hope to Mr. Forster, fondly believing, that he ¦
would justify their incredulity and prove to the
world that, after all, the Turkish Administratio,n
was not so bad as it seemed. On the other hand
it cannot be doubted that those who had followed
Mr. Gladstone in his first righteous cry of indigna
tion against the authors of the massacres of Batak
and Tatar-Bazardik were now even more Glad
stonian than Mr. Gladstone himself, and they
expected from Mr. Forster, not merely an emphatic
confirmation of every statement contained in the

FOEEIGN POLICY OF THE TORY GOVERNMENT. 145
pamphlet on the Bulgarian horrors, but a strenuous
support of the bag and baggage policy, not as it
had been formulated by Mr. Gladstone himself,
but as it was popularly understood by those who
wished to outdo the ex-Premier in his detestation
of the Turk.
Mr. Forster disappointed both of these im
portant sections of the public by his speech
to his constituents. He disregarded, on the one
hand, the strong temptation which was offered
to him of regaining aU his lost popularity with
the Eadicals by the simple process of saying
ditto to Mr. Gladstone. On the other hand he
resolutely refused to echo the argument of the
old official class. The reahty of the outrages, as
they had been described in the pages of the Daily
News, was fuUy admitted by him, and the un
speakable iniquity of the system under which
such outrages had been possible was duly exposed.
Further than this, he declared that England, even
if her own selfish interests might be affected by
her repudiation of the old alliance with Turkey,
had no right to put those interests for a single
moment in the scale against her duty to the
victims of the Pashas, who depended so largely
for the maintenance of their authority upon
English support. In aU this, of course, he gratified
to the fuUest extent the adherents of the bag and
baggage policy. It was when he came to discuss
the remedy for existing evils that he caused these
VOL. II. • L

146 LIFE OF THE RIGHT HON. W. B. FORSTER.
persons bitter disappointment. The autonomy of
the Christian provinces of Turkey, he pointed out,
could not be obtained without a war — a statement
which subsequent events most fully justified, and
which it is difficult to understand that even the
most heated partisan could have resented at the
time when it was made. It was clear to his mind
that, until Turkey had suffered defeat on the field
of battle, she would never consent to give up her
dominion over the most important provinces in
her empire. The next point to be considered was
what was the utmost that could be wrung from
her without a resort to the sword? Forster's
proposal was that, by the concerted action of the
great powers of Europe, the Sultan should be
compelled to give a constitution to the Christian
provinces of the Balkan Peninsula similar to that
enjoyed by Crete, a constitution which should be
under the guarantee of the Great Powers and
subject to their supervision and control.
It is not easy to understand why this proposal
should have excited the bitter anger of an im
portant portion of the Liberal party, except for the
fact that virtually the suggestion had already been
adopted by Lord Derby, then Foreign Secretary,
and that consequently political capital could not
be made out of his speech by the opponents of the
Government. Still the fact remains that he was
bitterly assailed for his failure to endorse the
policy of bag and baggage to the uttermost, and

FOEEIGN POLICY OP THE TOEY GOVERNMENT. 147
that one at least of his critics thought it right to
insinuate that he had simply made this proposal
because it seemed to him a safe thing to take the
middle course on any important public question on
which opinion was seriously divided. The reader
who has foUowed Mr. Forster's statement of his
views as recorded in the preceding chapter will
know how utterly false was this particular inter
pretation of his motives, and wUl understand that
the opinions which he expressed at Bradford, after
Lord Derby had written his despatch proposing
a joint appeal to Turkey for the concession of
a constitution to the Christians, were precisely
identical with those which he had formed when on
the spot at Constantinople after a close investiga
tion of aU the circumstances of the case. Among
those critics who were most severe upon him was
the Spectator, and to one of the editors of that
journal he wrote as foUows, in reply to some
criticisms upon his speech : —
To E. H. Hutton, Esq.
" Wharfeside, Burley-in- Wharfedale, Leeds,
"October 11th, 1876.
" My deae Hutton,
"Your letter grieves me not a little. I
am very sorry you so dislike my speech, though
I wonder that, after our conversation, you did not
expect it. I hate differing from you, especiaUy
on this matter, and it is not pleasant to think you

148 LIFE OF THE BIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTER.
also think me a "trimmer," though, as you do
think so, it is the act of a friend to say so. Please
bear in mind two or three things. (1) AU my
approval of Lord Derby's proposal is based upon
the supposition that it does really demand from
Turkey the concession to the powers of a treaty
right to secure the fulfilment of her promise. (2)
This supposition is not an unreasonable one, inas
much as Eussia assented to the proposal. The
letter of the Czar to the Austrian Emperor was
not an alternative proposal, but a suggestion as
to what Austria and Eussia should do together
if Turkey refused. (3) The immediate question
when I spoke .was whether it was wise to press
upon Turkey the acceptance of this proposal, and
the fear which I had was that Turkey would be
encouraged by the Standard, Telegraph, and Pall
Mall to try to put off the powers by a mere
promise of better government. What, therefore,
I had in my mind was not the substitution of
local for absolute autonomy; but pressure upon
Turkey to accept the actual and, in fact, only
proposal which had been made by the six powers.
At the same time I abide by my incidental state
ment that it was wise at first to make the proposal
which I suppose to have been made. I believe,
and I am glad to believe, that the beginning of
the end is come, and that the rule of the P?urk in
Europe, and perhaps also in Asia, is doomed. The
question is, how best to arrive at the end ; how to

FOEEIGN POLICY OP THE TORY GOVEENMENT. 149
let this desirable doom be accomplished with the
least accompaniment of evil, and how to replace
the bad present by the best future ; which best
future, I agree with you, would be the establish
ment of free Christian communities. So much
for aim and object ; but as to means, you would
ask nothing short of independence for the three
provinces, preserving the suzerainty of the Turk,
but depriving him, as in Servia, of all internal
control. I would be willing, before demanding
this independence, to put upon the Turk the re
sponsibUity of refusing the demand by Europe
that local self-government and equal treatment
of Moslem and Slav should be secured by a Euro
pean guarantee. Now, as regards your plan, I
fear Turkey would not accept it without war,
inasmuch as Thessaly and Epirus, also Albania,
must follow suit, and European Turkey would,
in fact, be restricted to Constantinople. This
war, though certain to end in Turkish defeat,
would be desperate and bloody, and especially
dangerous to the Armenians and other Christians
in Asia, whom we ought not to forget. (4) Abso
lute autonomy cannot be established without
foreign occupation — that is, a foreign army to
oblige Moslems to submit. It is desirable, if
possible, to avoid the European jealousies that
may arise from foreign occupation.
" Now, with regard to this plan,, it is stated,
(1) That it could not work. (2) That it would

150 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEEj
not be effective, (3) That it would impose upon
the powers, especially England, intolerable re-
sponsibUities. I admit that it would be difficult
to work, that really good government might not
be the immediate result, and that the responsi
bilities might be onerous ; but, after all, we must
remember that we have only a choice of difficulties
and evils and dangers. I do not feel myself com
petent to declare that plans proposed by such
experts as Lord Stratford de EedcUffe and my
Constantinople correspondent, whose letter you
wiU, I hope, see in Friday's Times, are altogether
impracticable ; and, as regards efficiency, remember
that by a moral repudiation of physical pressure
Europe would have obUged the Porte to enact
reforms, would have a voice in the choice of the
first administrators, and would be known to have
a force at hand ready to compel submission to the
new regime. Can any one deny that Bulgaria, for
instance, would be therefore put upon the road to
free self-government ? Then, as regards our re
sponsibilities, what I have to compare them with
are the responsibilities involved in the war which
would probably result from the other course.
There are those who would say that we ought
to hold off altogether and fold our hands, and let
the Eastern question solve itself. This would be
our best course if we had no duties to fulfil and
no interests to protect. The question seems to
me to lie between the immediate dismemberment

FOEEIGN POLICY OF THE TORY GOVERNMENT. 151
of the European dominions of the Porte, and a
participation by Europe in its government of its
Christian subjects. The advantages of the latter
plan would be that, if accepted by the Porte, war
would be avoided, and the joint action of the six
powers would be maintained.
" So much in explanation of my speech, and
in reply to your charge of a love of compromise
for compromise' sake ; but events both march and
change quickly. An armistice, I am glad to say,
seems probable, and time wiU thus be given to
the six powers for concerted action. It seems to
me, then, that men who like you and me have a
common ultimate object of replacing the Moslem
rule by free Christian commonwealths, but who,
I suppose, also agree in preferring to attain this
object K possible without a desperate war, ought
(1) to cling to concerted action among the powers,
and (2) to support the Government in any measure
tending toward our object, while at the same time
keeping up the pressure for its reaUzation.
" What a long scrawl you have made me write.
Show this to T  , and ask him to look at Friday's
Times for the letters I sent up, and for one which
I have sent with it which contains much of this! "
" Yours ever,
"W. E. Foestee."
Whatever might be the criticisms upon his
action of those who regarded him as a "trimmer,"

152 LIFE OF THE RIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
Forster still clung steadily to his own line of
opinion with regard to the question which ex
cited so deep an interest throughout Europe, and
which was the cause of such serious difference
of opinion in England.
To Monsieur Pulszky, Buda-Pesth.
" Wharfeside, Leeds, October 24th, 1876.
" My deae Me. Pulszky,
"'Great excitement at Pesth,' says my
paper. ' Great anti-Eussian demonstration ex
pected. Torchlight processions suggested to the
Turkish Consul, etc., etc' Exaggerations, I do
not doubt ; but I can well understand that the
crisis just now must intensely interest you all,
and I can imagine the debates in the Casino and
the Liberal Club. We think of Uttle else in
England, but to us it is a dilettante matter com
pared to you. I hope with all my heart you will
keep your tempers and your heads, and not make
a rash scare. Surely it is getting plainer and
plainer every day that Turkish rule in Europe
wiU weigh down you or any one who tries to keep
it up. Our philo-Turks are doing their best to
scare us about Eussia ; but they will not succeed
in bringing us into war. As to the chances of war
between Eussia and Turkey — that is, open war —
it is no use wrangling about them, they alter so
from day to day. One tendency of importance I
have been altogether unable to foUow — the inten-

FOEEIGN POLICY OF THE TOEY GOVEENMENT. 153
tion of Eoumania. Eussia must have got at her
since I was at Bucharest. I suppose your Parlia
ment is now sitting. I do not think our session will
begin before its usual time— that is, February.
. . . Since our return I have been kept very quiet
by a vile cold, caught between Vienna and Dover ;
but it is better now. I often look back to our
pleasant Danube trip, and feel that, thanks to
you, I understand your relations to the great
question of the day far better than I did before.
" Yours very truly,
" W. E. Foestee.
" If Eber is with you, teU him I now always
look first in the Times for his letters."
It was in the midst of this strong pohtical
excitement that Forster visited Aberdeen for the
purpose of deUvering his address as Lord Eector.
The address dealt with the question of the help
which university Ufe could offer a man in training
himself to be a capable politician. " You could
hardly," said Forster, addressing the students,
" have found a rector less versed in scholastic
knowledge or more ignorant of college IKe than
myself. However, here I am, and my present
business is to talk to you for an hour or so. . . .
One thing is quite clear ; you are a new force just
come into the field; you, or most of you, have the
battle -of manhood still to fight, though some of
you, I suspect, have already rehearsed it only too

154 LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
faithfully in childhood. Your drill is not yet over;
your posts are not yet fixed ; you are, as it were,
in training at the depot. Above all, you will have
to fight hard, and you know it. If Oxford or
Cambridge were blessed with a rector, he would in
delivering his address have before him many young
men who would suppose that life had no struggles
for them, was to be to them a journey of pleasure.
Poor fellows ! they would soon discover their mis
take ; but you will not make that mistake. You
know that you, almost all of you, have to make
your own way, and to earn the pay you will get.
So far I am one of you. I, also, had to make my
own way ; but when I come to the path in life on
which I set out, but few of you, I imagine, intend
to tread it. Not many of you, I suppose, are look
ing forward to a commercial career, but the large
majority of you to professions, either legal or
medical or clerical or scholastic. Well, then,
how can you and I find a common ground ? Is
there nothing on which you might expect me to
give you any counsel ? I think there is one matter,
and that of no slight interest. I am a pohtician.
• For some years politics have been my chief occupa
tion. You all of you are, or will be, or ought to
be, more or less, politicians. Let us consider,
during the short time that we are together to-day,
what help your university life can offer you in
training yourselves to be capable politicians. . . .
Who are the real governors of the nation? Not

FOEEIGN POLICY OF THE TORY GOVERNMENT. 155
the ministers, who are the servants of the Sove
reign. Not the Sovereign, who chooses these
ministers in order that they may carry out the
wUl of the people. Not even the voters, who are,
as it were, the machines by which its wiU is dis
covered, expressed, and registered; but the men
who influence this will, and persuade the voters,
who regulate and modify public opinion by writing,
by talk, by books, or pamphlets or newspaper
articles, or sermons or speeches, by conversation
with acquaintances or friends, and, above aU, by
the example of their lives. Now, surely our uni
versities ought to turn out men able in one or
other of these ways to influence pubUc opinion."
Speaking, later on, of the character of the work
which falls upon the politician in this country, he
said, " Not since Eome in the height of its power
has any Government had such duties to perform,
such problems to solve, so many human beings
dependent upon its action, as that free and public
Government in which all of us here present have,
or will have, our share. It is no matter for boast
or for national pride ; it is rather a matter for most
serious and anxious thought : for, be assured of this,
no nation can afford to leave its duties unfulfilled,
its problems unsolved. With nations the unprofit
able servant is assuredly cast into outer darkness.
Nations can only be saved by works ; for them no
death-bed repentance wUl avaU; their balance
must, on the whole, be on the right side. Let us

156 LIFE OP THE RIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTER.
try for a moment to weigh the burden which our
country has taken on itself —
" ' That weary Titan
Staggering on to her goal,
Bearing on shoulders massive,
Atlantean, the load,
Well-nigh not to be borne,
Of the too vast orb of her fate 1 '
"We often talk of our Indian empire. What
does it really mean ? Government in India is a
terrible reality. It means not merely law and
order, safety to life and property, but protection
to more than two hundred million of men from the
forces of nature — more destructive, alas ! there
than elsewhere, — from pestilence and from hunger ;
and such an arrangement of taxation as shall not
dry up the springs of industry : such a foreign rule
from without as, while controlling the native forces
within, shall not starve or stifle, but rather nourish
and strengthen them. Turn from Asia to Africa.
Take only one among many African illustrations.
The present and future well-being of those myriads
who dwell between the Cape Colony and the
fropics rests now upon the wisdom of our colonial
Government more than any other human agency.
Leave Africa, and go to the other side of the world,
and we find the very existence of the islanders of
the Pacific endangered also by bold lawlessness,
and only to be saved by EngUsh laws and EngUsh
administration. There is, I fear, sometimes a
recklessness and cynicism in the manner in which

FOREIGN POLICY OF THE TORY GOVERNMENT. 157
we forget our responsibilities iu dealing with other
countries, and, as it were, play with their ex
istence in the exuberance of our power. Take,
for instance, the hundreds of millions in the vast
empire of China. Many of you will have read
pamphlets or speeches or leading articles, coolly
discussing whether some step or another, taken to
promote our special interests, to push our trade,
to save our dignity, or, as it is termed, assert our
position, may not break this country and expose
its inhabitants to all the terrible evils of anarchy.
These cynical writers may overrate our power, but
no doubt for destruction it is immense and terrible.
Nor is this power to be despised for protection and
for beneficent reform. All poUticians must some
times feel that they are but fiies upon the wheel
of destiny ; but a British politician will also occa
sionally find that his word or his act, apparently
unimportant, has, as it were by accident, a great
result, owing to the immense force of the machine
with which he has to do. . . . Nor is Great Britain
only an Asiatic and African and Australian or an
American power. Our European neighbours, who
wish us to do their work for them, to fight their
battles, or to pull their chestnuts out of the fire,
are never tired of taunting us with our insular
indifference and our shopkeeping apathy. Never
theless, money-lovers and money-worshippers as
we are, it is a foreign question which for many
weeks has possessed the public mind. In our

158 LIFE OP THE RIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
intense sensitiveness regarding our national re
sponsibilities, sometimes we seem to forget that
England alone cannot solve the Eastern problem.
But there is no doubt that the safety and weU-
being, the protection from dire oppression and
foul outrage, of millions of men and women in
European and Asiatic Turkey, do in great measure
depend on the part our ministers take in the
present international deliberations. Surely it ought
to be a cause of rejoicing to men of all poUtical
parties that the people, the real governors whom
aU ministers must serve, have shown unmistakably
that in this matter they desire the just and right
thing done, and not merely that which might
seem to serve some special British interest."
After glancing at the many problems of do
mestic policy with which the pohtician has to
deal, and at the dangersJ|to society which lie in
the spread of materialism, he touched upon the
question of faith in an overruhng Power as part of
the equipment of the statesman.
" It is but the old problem of fate and free wiU
in a new form, which history will prove to you has
never been solved. The stories of other men's
Uves, as well as the experience of your own, force
you to admit that the unsolvabUity of this problem
is a condition of existence, but history will also
tell you this, in which you may take comfort,
that, as with individuals so with nations, just in
proportion as there has been a sense of the over-

FOREIGN POLICY OF THE TORY GOVEENMENT. 159
ruhng Power, call it fate, or God's will, or the
law of humanity — and if there be a law, must
there not be a Lawgiver ? — just in proportion as
this conviction has possessed men and nations
with its awful truth, have those men and those
nations shown the power of their individual wills.
The disciples and St. Paul obeyed the call ;
Mahomet believed in his mission ; William III.
was a Calvinist ; Napoleon had faith in his star.
. . . It is when men have had faith in the unseen
that they have had power for themselves, and
therefore power for others, and then it has been
that the world has made its steps forward ; and if
at any time there has been a nation more than
others possessed by this faith, hearing the call
from above, seeing the work which has to be done,
the task to be fulfiUed, that nation has then led
the van in the world's march. And as it has been,
so it wiU be ; and there are some who are not
without the hope that in our, or rather in your,
time, and in our country, there may again be faith
as there was of old ; who feel that EngUshmen
and Scotchmen long to have the religious fervour
without the fierceness of the Puritans or the fol
lowers of John Knox, and that this longing will
not be always in vain. We have been warned
that there is a reUgious rock ahead far more dan
gerous than the political or the economic rock —
the divorce, as it has been termed, of this country
from its religion. If there be reaUy this divorce

i6o LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
no one can exaggerate the danger ; but amid all
the religious confusion, all the Church quarrels,
which beset us, there seem to me some signs that
the intellect of our country will not only not be
divorced from religion, but will again find its full
reUgious expression."
Finally he said, in summing up the qualifica
tions of the true politician, —
" There remain these two absolute necessities —
the knowledge, the quick perception, of right and
wrong ; and the desire to do right. It is not for
me to turn this address into a sermop. or to attempt
to preach the lessons which many a man here has
learned in his Highland home from the Bible read
by the father or mother ; but remember this, that
the politician you have so kindly heard to-day,
declares that of aU possible occupations politics
is the most unprofitable, the least worth following,
if for any personal or still more tempting party
object its true aim be forgotten; and that true aim
is this — the fulfilment by our country of her duty,
by which fulfilment, and by which alone, can be
secured her power and her superiority and the
well-being of her sons."
Such was Forster's confession of faith as given
to the young students of Aberdeen ; nor could his
real sense, both of the dignity and the duties of
the pohtician in this country, be more faithfully
expressed than in the words I have quoted.
His visit to Aberdeen was a memorable triumph,

FOREIGN POLICY OF THE TOEY GOVERNMENT. i6i
and was all the more gratifying to him because
of the stormy waters through which he had been
passing ever since the Education Act had been
placed upon the statute-book. He and Mrs.
Forster were the guests of Dr. and Mrs. Webster.

From his Diary.
" November 24th. — Went to music-hall a little
before twelve. In committee-room Dr. Pirie — the
principal, being ill — presented me with the degree
in the name of the senatus. I made a short reply,
and was clothed in gown, hood, and cap. Pro
fessor  came in, in high excitement. The
proceedings must be stopped; the students more
uproarious than ever ; ' they have torn up the
benches.' However, when I got in, they behaved
very weU, cheering furiously, and occasionally
whistling, but on the whole attentive. Art students
in red, medicals in plain dress. My address took
hour and a quarter."
On the 27th the freedom of the city was pre
sented to him before a great assemblage of the
citizens at the music-hall, and in his reply he
spoke chiefly of the Eastern question. That
evening he was entertained at supper by the
students, in the large hall at the Marischal College,
and there soon established himself on the best of
terms with his friends. The visit to Aberdeen was
VOL. II. M

i62 LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
a pleasant and cheering end to a year of not a
little excitement and anxiety.
The year 1877 was a momentous one in
European politics. The conference at Constanti
nople, at which England was represented by Lord
Sahsbury as special envoy, broke up without result,
and Eussia, after the usual period of diplomatic
equivocations and military preparations, entered
upon the long-dreaded war for the subjugation of
the Turk. Public opinion in this country was
seriously divided. The effects of Mr. Gladstone's
anti-Turkish campaign in the previous autumn
were still felt, and very few men of importance in
the political world would have ventured to advo
cate active interference on our side for the purpose
of maintaining the Porte in full possession of her
power in the Balkan Peninsula. On the other
hand, with the actual outbreak of war between
the forces of the Czar and those of the Sultan,
all our old suspicions of Eussian good faith were
reawakened, and the party known at the time as
"Jingoes" came into existence. In this party
were to be found many Liberals, who disapproved
of the severity with which Mr. Gladstone had
exposed the atrocities of Mussulman rule, and who
believed that, after all, the first duty of an English
man under tho existing circumstances was to pre
vent any extension of Eussian influence in Europe.
On the other hand, there were divisions in the minis
terial camp. Lord Salisbury had been not a little

FOREIGN POLICY OP THE TORY GOVERNMENT. 163
disgusted by what he had seen at Constantinople ;
and, if popular report at this time was to be be
lieved, he came back far more favourably inclined
towards the Christians of the East, and especially
the Greeks, than towards the Turks. There were
other influential men among Lord Beaconsfield's
supporters who did not approve of his policy in
foreign affairs, and who dreaded lest what seemed
to be his reckless determination to oppose Eussia
in every stage of her advance towards Constanti
nople might end by landing this country in a war.
It was in the high places of Liberalism, how
ever, that the greatest difficulty was felt at that
time. Mr. Gladstone's complete withdrawal from
poUtical life, as we have seen, had been of very
short duration, and he was now as energetic an
opponent of the ministerial policy as he had ever
been during the course of his life. But he stUl
refused to take the responsible leadership of his
party. That post continued to be filled by Lord
Hartington, and it is needless to say that the diffi
culties the latter had to encounter as leader of a
minority in the House of Commons were enor
mously increased by the fact that he had to deal,
not merely with his followers, but with his brilliant
predecessor in the leadership, who could at any
moment by his own individual action lead the
Liberal party throughout the country into any
course to which he might choose to direct them,
whether it was one which commended itself to the

1 64 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W. B. FORSTER.
judgment of Lord Hartington or not. Without
entering into any discussion as to the merits of
the situation which was thus created, it is at least
obvious that it was one of the greatest dehcacy
and difficulty for Lord Hartington. He had, how
ever, in Mr. Forster a most loyal friend and
supporter during the whole of this trying time.
Forster, indeed, could not forget that he had
himself been nominated for the post of leader, and
that undoubtedly a large section of the party would
have preferred his appointment to that of Lord
Hartington. He felt bound, in justice to those
who looked to him as the foremost representative
of their opinions, to make his influence felt in the
counsels of the party, and, as a matter of course,
he took a very prominent part in the deliberations
among the leaders, which were so frequent during
the year. But, throughout, his personal loyalty
to his official leader was beyond dispute, and he
unquestionably did much to smooth Lord Har-
tington's path during this anxious period. His
diary for the year is full of interesting accounts
of the political anxieties and disquietness of the
time and of the discussions — often very perplexing
and unsatisfactory — which took place among the
Liberal leaders. There are comparatively few
of his memoranda on these subjects which it
would be fair to those who survive him to repro^
duce here. A few extracts from the diary will,
however, suffice to indicate both the atmosphere

FOEEIGN POLICY OP THE TORY GOVERNMENT. 165
in which he was living at the time aud the part
which he himself was playing in connection with
public affairs.
"February 5th. — Called on Hartington about
one. Good friendly talk with him. Found we very
much agl'eed in not wishing war with Turkey
against Eussia. Called afterwards on Granville,
and found him agreeing to this, but inclined to
suggest a European demand for the cancelling of
the neutralizing half of the 8th article of 1856
treaty. Dined at GranviUe's. Gladstone and
Mrs. G., Lord and Lady Cardwell, Hartington
and seK. My dearest not able to go. A very
long talk, but G. very reticent, rather provok-
ingly so. He and Lord Cardwell said how repen
tant Lord Aberdeen had been for the Crimean
war. After a long time Granville pointed to his
proposal ; but Gladstone did not catch at it ; was
strongly of opinion the Turks could not fulfil their
promises, even if they wished to do so.
"February 1th. — I had to go to meeting at
Granville's of ex-Cabinet, with Harcourt and James.
Harcourt, ArgyU, and Gladstone very hot, but
final result general agreement that Granville and
Hartington should press for further general action
of the powers, a European demand from Turkey,
with a threat of coercion, K not complied with
threat to be carried out. England to assent to
and even to initiate such action, but not to be
committed to separate action with Eussia. I

:66 . LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON- W. E. FOESTEE.
agreed, but said we must guard against the danger
of finding ourselves involved in separate action
with Eussia, by reason of no other power respond
ing to our initiative.
"February lOi^/i. — Breakfast at GrUlion's.
Large attendance. Sat between Paget and Acland .
Salisbury there just before breakfast. After break
fast I had some talk with him, after the others had
left. ' Were you surprised by Midhat's fall ? ' No ;
he had prevented the Sultan giving in, and he
thought they would not get on together — thought
Said and Mahommed Daoud had much to do
with his faU; that Midhat was entete ; adminis
trative faculty, energy, and pluck, but not much
else. Sultan doubtful ; a man who had displaced
two Sultans, Ahmed Vefvik, the most power of
any men he saw, but obstinate, though at the
council he had declared in favour of concession.
Ignatieff, clever and pleasant, but too active, and
had early let the Turks find out that he wished for
peace. He, Salisbury, had been glad to get away ;
for some time had thought that conference could
do no further good.
" March 19th. — A note from Lady Sahsbury,
asking Jane and me down" on Tuesday to meet the
Ignatieffs. We could not go, because engaged ;
but I volunteered to turn up at breakfast, Wednes
day morning."
The visit to Hatfield was duly paid in the
manner proposed by Forster, and the result was a

POEEIGN POLICY OF THE TORY GOVERNMENT. 167
talk between him and General Ignatieff, the import
ance of which has not even yet quite passed away,
and the report of which, as drawn up in Forster's
memorandum, is altogether too fully characteristic
of his frank and unconventional methods in diplo
macy to be omitted here : —
" On Monday, Lady Salisbury asked my wife
and myself to go down to Hatfield last evening,
to meet the Ignatieffs. We were engaged, to
my great vexation, but I volunteered to turn up at
breakfast this morning. And accordingly went
down by midnight train, slept at Salisbury Arms,
and appeared just as they were coming out of
chapel to early breakfast.
" The General, of course, was diplomatic
enough to be sorry he had missed me at Constan
tinople — had read and approved my speeches, etc.,
etc. He himself rattled away incessantly, with
the utmost apparent abandon — generally in
English, breaking sometimes into French, — his
busy eyes shifting as fast as his talk. Nothing
could seem more frank, but I was always reminded
of Congreve's distich —
" ' No mask like open talk to cover lies,
As to go naked is the best disguise.'
"What is the use of lying, when truth, well
distributed, serves the same purpose ?
"Breakfast was at small tables. The General,
Lord and Lady S., White, and self together.
" Immediately after breakfast, Salisbury had

1 68 LIFE OF THE RIGHT HON. W. E. FORSTEE.
to go to a Cabinet, and Lady S. withdrew, and left
us to converse together.
"This first talk was about EUiot— how bad
his return would be ; how the Turks had played
him against Salisbury; how they would still reckon
on English help against Eussia, if, after all, he
went back, etc. ; how he had talked to the Turks,
in contradiction to S. ; which I said I could
not believe, but I dare say E.'s honesty let the
Turks see he took one line and S. another.
" I thought it was my turn to be frank. ' You
know. General, the absurd story they told us at
Constantinople. I heard constantly, not from
Elliot, but from many persons ' (I believe I did
from E., but I would not tell him that), ' that you
were the real cause of the Bulgarian business,
advising the Grand Vizier that there was no insur
rection, and that no regular troops were wanted.'
" He was, I think, somewhat taken aback, but
said, ' What I did say was, that there was no
insurrection worth mentioning ; and there were
four thousand regular troops in the districts, which
could have easily quelled it. Your Bulgarian in
formant,' he added, 'was one of the Bucharest
young men, who, like all conspirators, overesti
mated their strength. They had not ten thousand,
but four thousand, and they knew nothing about
fighting. Tchernaieff was a fool to expect Bul
garian aid ; he ought to have tried to cut off
Bosnia by a junction with Montenegro.'

FOEEIGN POLICY OF THE TOEY GOVERNMENT. 169
"At breakfast I had asked him as to Tcher
naieff's statement that there were never three
thousand Eussians in the Servian army. He said
four thousand was the highest possible number.
"I said, 'WeU, General, I went down with
Eussian Eed Crosses in the Austrian steamer,
whom I saw in the Servian uniform at Belgrade
the next morning.'
"He laughed, 'Ah! Eed Crosses really, but
their enthusiasm carried them away when they
got to Belgrade.'
" With regard to the conference, he said he
was against it at first, thinking that talk without
coercion could do no good, but now he thought it
had done good, laying the foundation for European
action. "It might have succeeded, however, ' if I and
Lord Salisbury had gone together to Midhat, and
told him that if he did not give in, the two Grand
Dukes would be across the frontier, and the
English fleet in the Bosphorus; he would have
.given in at once.'
" ' Yes,' I said, ' but most of us thought, some
months ago, that the Turk would give in, if con
vinced that he would be left alone with Eussia.'
" ' Yes,' he said, ' but EUiot prevented his
thinking this, — the Constantinople Turkophiles
told him, " No matter what Lord S. says, three
or four months after the war begins, England
must help you." '

I70 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
"We left Hatfield by the 11.20 train, and
he, Edmond Fitzmaurice, and I were alone in a
compartment. What he said then, had some
importance. It was clear the protocol was as
good as settled ; the sole hitch was the demobiliza
tion. " ' We are asked to make a public declaration
that we demobiUze. We cannot do this without
three conditions : (1) Turkey must make peace
with Montenegro ; (2) Turkey must begin to
reform; (3) Turkey must also demobUize, and
begin to withdraw her troops in good order.
Unless we get these three conditions, we tell the
Christians and the Turks and our own people, that
we leave the Christians to the tender mercies of
the Turks, who will massacre them to a certainty.'
" I said, as to 1, ' Montenegro will make peace,
if you wish it.'
" ' True,' he said, ' but we cannot ask the
Prince to concede more. He has already given up
his harbour, and is now only asking for what the
conference asked for him.'
"As to 2 and 3, I said, ' You do not expect the
Turks to give way.' And, to try him, I added,
' Now you are so peaceful, why do you not begin
to demobilize ? It must take time ; and if Turkey
flares up, as you seem to expect, there will still be
time for you to interfere before your army gets
away.' " ' True,' he said, ' but we cannot pubUsh this

FOREIGN POLICY OF THE TOEY GOVERNMENT. 171
to the world.' He added, ' Your Government
will be in an awkward position — your refusal to
sign the Berlin memorandum brought on the
Servian war; and now, when we are wiUing to
make great concessions to save the peace of
Europe, your Government would make them
useless by obliging us to leave the Christians to
be massacred.' " I said, ' Very clever of you to have brought
it to this.' At which he grinned complacently.
" His letters from Constantinople were, he
said, Uke mine — pointing to anarchy — the Turkish
districts in Asia Minor would have a terrible famine
if the redifs were not soon sent back to cultivate.
" One other remark worth recording. 'It is the
interest of you English,' he said, ' to separate
the temporal from the Mussulman spiritual power,
to have a Mussulman grand pope at Mecca, instead
of a Sultan pope at Stamboul.'
" Upon thinking over this conversation, I
thought I ought to tell Salisbury what the Eussian
said would be his case against the Government, so
I called and told him. He said he thought it
would do good for him to repeat it to Lord Derby.
I also told Northcote, whom I came across."
From his Diary.
" March 23rd.— M.ei CardweU at Hartington's
at eleven, to talk over Fawcett's notice on Eastern
affairs, which after all comes on on Friday.

172 LIFE OP THE RIGHT HON. W. E. FORSTEE.
Thought it very inconvenient. Negotiations on
Protocol stiU proceeding, but likely to faU because
our Government wants Eussia to promise to de
mobUize, which she will not do without obtaining
conditions from Turkey. House. Fawcett did
come on. We agreed Hartington should follow,
saying why we do not vote for him, which he
did very cleverly. After him, Plunkett, and then
Gladstone. Had to leave during his speech to
dine with Lady Ely ; met Sir Henry EUiot, who,
Uke a thorough gentleman, was quite willing to
see me, but very philo-Turk.
" April 26th. — House ; dined at home. Glad
stone showed me resolutions he was bent on
proposing on Eastern question. Breakfasted at
Goschen's, to meet Nubar Pasha, the late Ar
menian Minister of the Khedive. Very clever;
spoke English well. Hating th6 Khedive; de
scribing, in most vivid and bitter language, the
oppression of the fellahs, and the cruel, selfish
weakness of the Pasha ; but giving the idea that
his aim was English intervention, and so every
word he said was an appeal both to our interests
and our sympathy."
On the following Monday the terms of Mr.
Gladstone's resolutions were stated by himself in
the House of Commons. They were as follows : —
"First. That this House finds just cause of
dissatisfaction and complaint in the conduct of the

FOEEIGN POLICY OF THE TORY GOVERNMENT. 173
Ottoman Porte with regard to the despatch written
by the Earl of Derby on September 21st, 1876,
and relating to the massacres in Bulgaria.
" Second. That until such conduct. shall have
been essentially changed, and guarantees ou behalf
of the subject populations other than the promises
or ostensible measures of the Porte shall have
been provided, that Government will be deemed
by this House to have lost all claim to receive
either the material or the moral support of the
British Crown.
"Third. That iu the" midst of the compUca-
tions which exist, and the war which has actuaUy
begun, this House earnestly desires the influence
of the British Crown in the councils of Europe to
be employed with a view to the early and effectual
development of local hberty and practical self-
government in the disturbed provinces of Turkey,
by putting an end to the oppression which they
now suffer, without the imposition upon them of
any other foreign dominion.
" Fourth. That, bearing in mind the wise and
honourable policy of this country in the Protocol
of AprU, 1826, and the Treaty of July,. 1827, with
respect to peace, this House furthermore earnestly
desires that the influence of the British Crown
may be addressed to promoting the concert of the
European Powers, in exacting from the Ottoman
Porte, by their united authority, such changes in
the Government of Turkey as they may deem to

174 LIFE OP THE RIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
be necessary for the purposes of humanity and
justice, for effectual defence against intrigue, and
for the peace of the world.
"Fifth. That a humble address, setting forth
the prayer of this House, according to the tenour
of the foregoing resolutions, be prepared and
presented to her Majesty."
The result of Mr. Gladstone's action was some
thing like a split of a serious character among the
Liberal leaders. To propose resolutions of this
kind at the moment when Eussia was about to
draw the sword against Turkey, was likely, it was
believed, to weaken the peace party within the
Cabinet. Forster sympathized to a great extent
with Mr. Gladstone ; his fear being that this
country might be dragged into war on behalf of
Turkey. His friends among the Liberal leaders
besought him, however, not to vote with Mr.
Gladstone, but to support Lord Hartington, who
was strongly opposed to the resolutions. Even
tually, after an anxious and critical week of discus
sion, the difficulty was overcome by the acceptance
by all parties among the Liberal leaders of a sug
gestion made by Forster. " About the best day's
work I ever did," he remarks in his diary.
This suggestion was that the second resolution
should be modified, and the third, fourth, and fifth
dropped. All the ex-ministers except Mr. Glad
stone were, in the first instance, opposed to this
solution of the difficulty ; but after some days of

FOEEIGN POLICY OP THE TOEY GOVEENMENT. 175
painful suspense they agreed to it, and the crisis
in the fortunes of the Liberal party was overcome.
From his Diary.
" 3Iay 1th. — The news got out in the morning.
CaUed on H  about twelve. When I got to the
House found great excitement. Chamberlain show
ing about a letter from Gladstone throwing doubt
on the agreement. Trevelyan asked his question,
and there was a noisy violent wrangle for nearly
two hours, which was much lengthened by Glad
stone's inability to give a clear answer. However,
he did at last say what was agreed, and about seven
this wonderful man got up and spoke for two hours
and a half — one of his best speeches, ending with
an appeal of very great eloquence, looking, indeed,
like an inspired man. Cross finished the debate
with a very good and moderate speech. I did not
dine anywhere. Settled I should not speak to
morrow. "May 10th. — Very busy over speech. Had
intended to speak third before dinner, Goschen
speaking later ; but we found it would not do, the
supporters of Gladstone saying they ought to speak.
So I was very late, getting up about eleven, after
Peel, who had got together a large House to hear
one of his eloquent unconnected personal chaffs.
It was not easy to bring the tired House back to
argument, but after a time I managed it, and spoke
for about an hour and a quarter.

176 LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
" May 14th. — House. Close of Eastern debate.
Good speech by Hartington, followed by a poor
speech from Northcote, and an eloquent but war-
Uke speech from Gladstone. Division about two :
full House; large majority (for Government), 131.
Later on in the session the House had its first
great experience of Irish obstructions.
" July 31st. — House. South African BiU in
committee. Parnell, Biggar, and Co., seven Irish
obstructives, began obstruction at one. I felt I
must help Government to carry bill. Government
thought of dropping all clauses after clause 3. I
did not much Uke this, but told Lowther I would
support the Government. However, Government
found their men did not like the concession, sO'
when Goldney proposed this plan and Newdegate
opposed it, I foUowed, saying I would support
Government if they took on themselves responsi
bility, but, if not, I would sit indefinitely, and
recommend this course, which House cheered, and
Northcote assented. After this, obstructionists
behaved better until two, when they tried progress.
I backed the Government in fighting bill through,
and we fought on through the night. Childers
first, then Smith, then Selwin-Ibbetson replacing
Eaikes. The House mustered well, more than one
hundred in every division. Eelays, acting on
previous plan and my public advice, came down in
morning. About nine, I went with Northcote to
Speaker. We all agreed that we must win, and

FOEEIGN POLICY OP THE TORY GOVERNMENT. 177
suspend the seven, if we could not exhaust them ;
but Speaker very anxious to avoid svispension.
Finally agreed we should not try it till about two.
Northcote and I agreed to go away, and meet
again in House at half-past one. I went home.
Went to bed about ten, to be called at 12.45,
but Kensington sent for me at twelve. On
coming down I found the seven staggered by
fatigue and a threat by Northcote of suspension,
but Harcourt very hot for censure or suspension
after victory, which would have been very foohsh.
At length they succumbed, and, about two, the
bill got through committee. The House sat tUl
past six, doing other business ; the longest session
on record. I dined at home, and then went to
bed." During the autumn of 1877, he and Mrs.
Forster and their family visited Germany and
Bohemia. When at Carlsbad, he met Lord Odo
Eussell, with whom he had an interesting conver
sation, which he recorded in' his diary : —
" September 11th. — A very interesting talk
for some time. He (Lord Odo EusseU) was very
frank. Bismarck had wished for a long peace — that
is, a real settlement, — and had thought it possible
with an alhance, which meant dictation. During
the conference he got frightened by possibihty of
Franco-Eussian alhance, and then aimed at war.
He was now anti-Turk. The Turks had shocked
his moral sense by their mode of carrying on war.
VOL. II. N

178 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
The Emperor was strongly for the Eussians ; only
prevented from joining them by his ministers.
Bismarck was reaUy anxious for an English alhance,
and very civil, particularly about aU second-rate
matters — South Africa, etc. Bismarck constantly
instigated us to take Egypt on the ground that,
untu we were at ease about India, we were a
constant cause of unsettlement — a ' spoil sport '
for Europe. He could not understand why we
should not do this now, when two years hence
France would be too strong. Odo Eussell ac
knowledged that behind this instigation was the
deske to make an aUiance between France and us
impossible. He admitted that Bismarck lost his
head when thinking of France ; but they persuaded
themselves to believe in danger from France, in
order to keep up the army at its fuU strength."
He returned by way of BerUn.
" September 21st. — A messenger in the morning
from the Crown Princess's chamberlain, to find
out whether I was staying and could come to
dinner at 7.45. . . . Went down to Wildpark and
dined at the palace. The Crown Princess, her
eldest daughter, young Prince Meiningen, her
betrothed, and the Crown Princess's second son,
a boy in naval uniform, sat by the Crown Princess,
who was very pleasant — ^not philo-Turk, but anti-
Eussian." The only event of importance which happened
during the autumn was his visit to Bristol, where

FOEEIGN POLICY OP THE TORY GOVERNMENT. 179
he made an important speech as the chief guest at
the annual celebration of the Colston Festival by
the local Liberals. Incidentally he performed one
not unimportant piece of work in connection with
education in the north of England ; for at a
meeting held at Leeds, between the representatives
of Owen's CoUege, Manchester, and the Yorkshire
CoUege, to discuss the name which should be
given to the new university with which both
these institutions were to be federated, he sug
gested, as a compromise between the claims of the
two counties, that it should be called the Victoria
University. The suggestion was accepted, and
the Victoria University has since that period
actually come into existence. The political
situation as winter advanced became exceedingly
critical, chiefly in consequence of the national
excitement at the advance of the Eussian army
towards Constantinople. This excitement was
intensified by the summons of Parliament for an
unusually early date in January, 1878. It was
rumoured that Lord Beaconsfield and the majority
of his Cabinet were prepared for armed inter
vention in favour of Turkey, and that Lord Derby
and Lord Carnarvon were at issue with their col
leagues upon this point.
It was in the first week of January, and in the
midst of these alarms and anxieties, that Mr.
Forster delivered his annual address to his con
stituents at Bradford. The address was one that

i8o LIFE OF THE RIGHT HON. W. E. FORSTER.
cost him an unusual amount of labour, and every
word in it seemed to have been deeply weighed by
the speaker before it was uttered. So far as the
foreign question was concerned, his course was
clear and consistent. He was resolutely opposed
to any action on the part of this country, either
diplomatic or otherwise, which might lead Turkey
to the conclusion that we would interfere on her
behalf provided she kept up her resistance for a
sufficient length of time ; but now, as in the earlier
stages of the struggle, he felt the imperative duty
which is laid upon aU English statesmen of assist
ing, so far as may be possible, without violence to
their principles, the Government of the day in
deahng with the foreign question. He had his
own doubts and fears as to the course which
ministers were pursuing, but he resolutely refused,
in addressing his constituents, to say anything
which might add to the popular apprehensions of
the hour, and he sought to calm the national
susceptibilities by pointing to the fact, so fully
verified by the subsequent course of events, that,
whatever might happen in Turkey, when the
moment came for the settlement of the Eastern
question it would be the great powers of Europe,
and not merely Eussia and Turkey, which would
determine the nature of that settlement. In
short, at this critical moment there was a real
desire on the part of Mr. Forster to stand by the
Government, so far as he honestly could do so ;

FOREIGN POLICY OF THE TORY GOVERNMENT. i8i
but, at the same time, he recorded the most
vigorous protest against any possible action on
their part which might have the effect of in
volving us in a war on the side of Turkey and
against Eussia.
It was not, however, the foreign question
which occupied the most important place in this
speech to his constituents. The reader is already
aware of the strained nature of Mr. Forster's
relations with many of the Nonconformists in his
constituency. Although from the first he had
refused to join any movement for the disestabhsh
ment of the Church, there had long been a belief
prevalent in the minds of many of the Eadicals of
the borough, that in due season he would be
found giving his support to the disestablishment
party. It has aheady been shown that in no
smaU degree the bitterness with which he was
assaUed by the opponents of the education policy
had its root in the disappointment felt by those
who had entertained this expectation. Mr. Forster
was determined now that he would make clear to
aU, without regard to the consequences, what his
position was on the subject of disestablishment,
and thus prevent any future disappointment like
that which some had felt in consequence of his
action on the question of education.
"If I were one of those," he said, "who hold
the belief that any connection of the State or the
nation with reUgion must do harm to the cause

i82 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
of rehgion, that a State Church is in itself an evil,
and that therefore any attempt to uphold it is an
attempt to maintain a national evUif not a national
sin, then my course would be very clear. I should
say, ' Care nothing for either difficulties or conse
quences ; try your best to abolish this evil, and let
consequences care for themselves.' But I am not
one of those who hold this behef. I was brought
up amongst those who do hold it, and who have
developed the conviction upon which it is founded
to an extent which goes much further than the
abohtion of a State Church ; but I do not myself
hold it, although I do think that I can understand
and, in a measure, sympathize with the feehngs
of those who do hold it, and at any rate appreciate
their earnestness. But I am obUged to take this
question of a State Church as it stands, and to
ask myseK whether this abohtion, or the attempt
to aboUsh it, would do more harm than good, or
more good than harm."
After pointing out some of the practical diffi
culties in the way of disestabhshment, he con
tinued: "If I were sure about the consequences
of disestabUshment I would ask you to help me
to meet the difficulties, and would say. Try your
best to overcome them. In one short evening
I cannot attempt to describe or even to mention
all these consequences ; they are so many and so
various that old England would become new Eng
land. Some of them, I doubt not, would be

FOEEIGN POLICY OP THE TOEY GOVEENMENT. 183
for good; others, in my opinion, for evil. The
chief of these changes," he continued, "would be
the destruction of the parochial system. Now,
what do I mean by the parochial system ? Simply
this — that at this moment there is not a place in
England, no country parish however remote, no
back slum in any city however squalid, in which
there is not a minister of religion, a State servant,
whose business it is to care for the highest good
of every man, woman, and child, in those places.
I am not prepared to ask the State to dismiss
these servants. And not only is it the business
of these ministers of rehgion thus to care for these
parishioners, but these parishioners know that it
is their business. There is not a man or a woman
amongst them, however poor or degraded, who,
when sick or suffering, or beset with the trials of
this Ufe, has not a right to go to this parish
clergyman and ask him, 'What can you teU me
about this better Ufe to come ? ' I am not pre
pared to take from these men and women this
right; and I am aU the less prepared to do so
because I know that vast numbers of these
dweUers in hovels or cellars go neither to the
parish church nor to any church or chapel. I
wish them to know, and I wish them to continue
to know, that they have a right to ask these
ministers of religion, these State servants, for
this help, not because they belong to this or that
congregation, but because they are Enghshmen."

1 84 . LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
¦ In conclusion he referred to the fact that he
had been told that upon what he might say on
the relations of Church and State depended the
decision of the Bradford Eadicals, as to whether
they would or would not attempt to prevent his
return at the next election. He would only ask
of them to consider fairly what he had said ; but
at the same time he warned them that neither
upon this disestablishment question, nor upon any
political question, was he one of those who waited
to see which side would be strongest.
" If I agreed with the assailants of the Church
I would not wait to join them when they are
strong ; I would join them when they are weak.
In every cause with which I have been connected
^abolition of slavery, parliamentary reform, edu
cation, justice to Ireland, good government of
India, our union with our colonies, our friendly
relations With America, our duties in Europe —
I did not wait for public opinion to be formed ; I
tried to do my part in forming it. I have been
told, and not unkindly told, that there are two
sets of politicians — politicians who administrate
and politicians who think and oblige these adminis
trators to carry out their thoughts ; and that the
first-mentioned class are the practical politicians,
and that I belong to this class, and that, there
fore, I need not be so careful about my thoughts
nor So careful about my opinion. Well, I do
aspire to be a practical politician, but my defini-

FOEEIGN POLICY OF THE TOEY GOVEENMENT. 185
tion of a practical politician is not that of a man
who servilely does what other men think ought
to be done, but who considers what ought to be
done, and, having made up his mind, tries to do
it, and who, K he knows a thing ought not to be
done, refuses to do it."
His outspoken speech produced a good effect.
It had been, as he described it in his diary, " The
heaviest bit of talking work he ever had; " but it
was received with favour by almost all who heard
it, and even those who differed from him showed
that they respected his candour.
" Wharfeside, Burley-in- Wharfedale, Leeds,
" January Sth, 1878.
" My deae Pulszky,
"I found your note on my return home,
on Saturday evening, from my meeting with my
constituents. Had I received it a few hours
earlier I should have been tempted — conceaUng,
of course, not Only your name but your country —
to quote the first paragraph of wondering inquiry
as to what England could mean, as proof of the
manner in which our Government has succeeded
in mystifying Europe.
"Lord Carnarvon's speech, a day or two after
you wrote your letter, would rather tend to clear
up matters; but I fear the poor Turks have not
been altogether undeceived. The explanation I
beUeve to be that there really has been a great

i86 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
contest as to policy in the Cabinet between Lord
Beaconsfield and two or three not very important
supporters, and Lord Salisbury with two or three
other of his strongest colleagues; Lord Derby,
who, though very sensible, is not a strong man,
lately siding with Sahsbury and Co.
"All this is very provoking and misleading for
you, and somewhat humiUating for us, but, after
ail, vastly better in our opinion than a united
Cabinet in support of Lord Beaconsfield's rech-
lessness.
" When I say I believe in this contest of opinion,
I do not know it. I only guess it from all the
public evidence I can collect. But the important
matter for you and for us is what the Government
wUl really do. Well, I believe peace and Lord
SaUsbury will prevail. I think there was real
danger a week or so ago that Beaconsfield might
venture to be reckless; but the overpowering
feeling of the country in favour of neutrality is
now clearly showing itself. At any rate I think
your war party wiU only rely on a broken reed
if they hope for real aid from our war party.
"I expect our Government will meet Parlia
ment with an apparently united Cabinet, declaring
that they always have been united, meaning only
to secure Constantinople from becoming Eussian,
etc., and making a great merit of protecting British
interests, which have never really been threatened.
In this I may be wrong ; but K Beaconsfield gets

FOREIGN POLICY OP THE TOEY GOVERNMENT. 187
the upper hand and reaUy tries to involve us in
war, I think the Cabinet will split, that the country
wiU rise up against him, and that he would quickly
be displaced. When I spoke I thought the real
practical danger was that our Government would
oppose direct negotiations between the Porte and
Eussia; but my fear on that account is much
less after what I see in the papers to-day and
yesterday. " The London papers have given good reports
of my speech, especially the Daily News, but I
send a local report, in order that you may compare
my constituency with your own. The room was
crammed to fainting — about 4600 persons — almost
aU men agreeing with me enthusiasticaUy and
unanimously about the war, though more than
half of them differing in opinion from me about
the Church. So much for our affairs. I can well
understand the difficulties of Count Andrassy and
of your Government, and I am grieved to think
that the uncertain mysterious action of our
Government should aggravate their difficulties.
" Yours very truly,
"W. E. Foestee."
Parliament met on January 17th, public opinion
being then at its highest state of tension, owing to
the advance of the Eussian forces towards their
coveted goal on the Bosphorus.

1 88 LIFE OF THE EIGHT EON. W. E. FOESTEE.
To his Wife.
"80, Eccleston Square, January 17th, 1878.
" Thou wilt have seen the speech before this
reaches thee. It bears evident marks of compro
mise, and the important paragraph beginning,
'Hitherto,'* is ambiguous; but I think on the
whole the peace party have prevailed. If it
had not been for the persistent resistance of the
three peers, SaUsbury; Derby, and Carnarvon,
backed by the quick Eussian successes, I think
Beaconsfield would have landed us in war. I made
a long call on Hartington yesterday morning, to
talk over his speech with him, and found we
agreed. We had a full dinner at Devonshire
House. Gladstone in fuU force and spirits."
"Athenseum Club, January 23rd, 1878.
" Much excitement and tension here about
Cabinet suddenly summoned, and, it is supposed,
to consider the Eussian terms. I wish with all
my heart it may be so, for there is an angry
suspicion taking hold of people that Eussia is
playing with us. Of course the soldiers wUl get
as far they can untU the armistice is signed."
* " Hitherto, so far as the war has proceeded, neither of the
belligerents has infringed the conditions on which my neutrality
is founded. . . . But I cannot conceal from myself that should
hostilities be unfortunately prolonged, some unexpected occur
rence may render it incumbent on me to adopt measures of
precaution."

FOEEIGN POLICY OP THE TOEY GOVEENMENT. 189
The change of feeling which is perceptible iu
the extract last given affected Forster as well as
the majority of his fellow-countrymen. Pie had
been one of those who were disposed to go to
great lengths in trusting Eussia, as long as there
was no manifest breach of faith on her part ; but
when appearances seemed to indicate that her
promise not to occupy Constantinople was being
broken, and when the Eussian advance continued
after the Turks had sued for peace, that angry
feeling of suspicion of which he speaks took pos
session of every breast, and led eventually to one
of the most dramatic episodes in the political
history of the time.
On the very day on which this letter to his
wife was written, the Cabinet had finally decided
to send the fieet through the Dardanelles, and, in
consequence. Lord Derby and Lord Carnarvon had
tendered their resignation to the Queen. Lord
Derby's resignation was not made known, as he
was induced to withdraw it. Turkey had sued for
peace, and it was hoped that the Eussian advance
would be stayed. It was known, however, that
the Czar was treating directly with the Sultan for
the conditions of peace, and the excitement and
agitation in this country were intense.
Ministers came forward with a demand for a
large supplemental vote, in order that they might
strengthen the army and navy in such a manner as
to enable them, if necessary, to resist by force the

I90 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
conditions imposed by Eussia upon her vanquished
adversary. Mr. Forster, with the concurrence of
most of the Liberal leaders (Lord Hartington
being, however, opposed to any action), was put
forward to move an amendment to the resolution
of the ChanceUor of the Exchequer authorizing
the supplemental estimate. His action, first in
moving this resolution, and subsequently in with
drawing it under very dramatic circumstances, was
at the time severely censured by certain members
of the Liberal party, and it is therefore necessary
that the story of those days of turmoU and agita
tion at the end of January and the beginning of
February, when all Europe believed that the fate
of Constantinople was hanging in the balance,
should be told with some degree of fulness, as it is
recited in his own diary.
"January 30th, Wednesday. — Was very hard at
work with my speech. Terribly difficult job.
" January 31st. — Dictated speech to Florence.
Sent for Childers, to whom I read it. A crammed
House, and very anxious speech. Up before five.
Spoke an hour and twenty-one minutes, saying
what I wanted. House flat ; our side not forgiving
Hartington's absence, but on the whole a success
— in one respect a great success — Hartington say
ing, when I sat down, that he agreed with every
word, warmly thanking me. General approval on
our bench; very difficult, owing to not knowing
whether armistice had been declared."

FOEEIGN POLICY OP THE TOEY GOVEENMENT. 191
The amendment was in the following words : —
" That this House, having been informed in her
Majesty's gracious speech that the condition on
which her Majesty's neutrality is founded has not
been infringed by either of the belligerents engaged
in the war in the east of Europe, and having since
received no information sufficient to justify a
departure from the policy of neutrality and peace,
sees no reason for adding to the burden of the
people by voting unnecessary supplies."
Diary.
" February Ist. — Debate continued. News at
beginning that armistice was to have been signed
yesterday. Peel replied to Trevelyan, pitching,
of course, into me.
"February 3rd. — CaUed on Hartington with
note as to line I should take on the probable
cessation of hostilities ; found we very much
agreed. "February 4th. — Debate continued. Dined at
GrUlion's. Sat opposite to Cross. Very well to
break the ice after his speech. Lord Fortescue
there, who had resigned chairmanship of North
Devon Liberal Association by reason of my speech.
" February 6th. — Went to Mrs. Brand's. Found
great excitement, the Government having heard
from Layard that the Eussians were marching on
Constantinople. Doubts whether hostilely or in
coUusion with the Turks ; but in either case great

192 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
anger excited here '; the anti-Eussian feeUng very
strong. " February 7i5A.— Called on Hartington. Gran
ville came, and Frederick Cavendish, who had seen
Gladstone in bed. We decided amendment must
be withdrawn, but the question. How ? Whether
after pressure or by me at once ? We agreed best
for me at once, if Gladstone assented ; but I made
his consent a condition of my initiative. GranviUe
and Frederick Cavendish went up to him, and we
¦ summoned caucus at Granville"s at three. Glad
stone and Bright came. We aU agreed I should
withdraw after Northcote's answer to Hartington,
and fixed the exact words of withdrawal, implying
no further opposition to Speaker leaving the chair.
This I did, the Tories jeering less than might have
been expected. Debate whether I should be
aUowed to withdraw, and while Bright speaking
news that Derby had read a Eussian contradiction
in the Lords, which Northcote soon read in the
Commons. Very dramatic. However, I declined
to accept Fawcett's suggestion that I should put
my amendment back, and before dinner it was
withdrawn by assent."
The statement to which this opportune con
tradiction had been furnished by the Eussian
ambassador. Count Schouvaloff, was to the effect
that the Eussian army was already inside Con
stantinople. It was this rumour, and the state
ment made on behalf of the Cabinet that they

FOEEIGN POLICY OF THE TOEY GOVERNMENT. 193
were unable to reconcile their reports from Con
stantinople with the declaration of the Grand
Duke Nicholas that hostilities had ceased, which
caused the Liberal leaders to withdraw the amend
ment moved by Mv. Forster. No doubt, if they
could have foreseen the opportune contradiction
given by the Eussian Government to the current
rumours they would not have come to this
decision, but would have persisted in pressing
their amendment. They were compelled, however,
to determine their course of action in view of the
facts which were actually in their possession, and
it cannot be doubted that their decision was a wise
and patriotic one. But that large class in society
which rejoices in being wise after the event was
bitter in denouncing the withdrawal of the amend
ment when the nation had been reassured by the
Eussian contradiction, and it was upon Mr. Forster
that the whole of the responsibihty for that incident
was laid. Again and again .in subsequent years,
when men were endeavouring to bolster up their
charges against him of disloyalty to his party, this
transaction was alluded to, and it was declared
that he alone was responsible for the sudden and
dramatic change of front on the part of the
Opposition at the moment when the country was
excited by the rumoured occupation of Constanti
nople. I have given the truth as it was told in
Forster's own diary on the very day on which the
event occurred, and it will be seen that in taking
VOL. II. 0

194 LIFE OF THE RIGHT HON. W. B. FOESTEE.
this course he acted not merely with the con
currence of the' official leader of the party. Lord
Hartington, but of Mr. Gladstone and Mr. Bright.
Never, it is clear, was a more unfounded charge
brought against any man than that which was so
repeatedly urged against him in connection with
this exciting incident in the poUtical history of the
time. The following letter, which he addressed to
Mr. Byles, of the Bradford Observer, dealt with the
criticisms upon his action to which Mr. Forster was
at that time subjected among unfriendly Liberals
in the constituency he represented : —
"80, Eccleston Square, S.W., February 12th, 1878.
"Dear Me. Byles,
" Excuse my dictating a note to you.
I fear I must allow misconception to continue to
exist in regard to my course in concert with Lord
Hartington and others last week, as matters are
too critical to allow of any further public personal
explanation beyond my speech on Friday ; but I
should like, if possible, to satisfy you.
" I never had a more disagreeable, though at
the sajpe time a plainer, duty than withdrawing
my amendment. It was so clear that persevering
with it would endanger peace by stimulating the
war cry in the House and in the country, by
identifying some members of the Government with
the war party, and thus weakening Lord Derby,
that this withdrawal was the unanimous decision

FOREIGN POLICY OF THE TORY GOVERNMENT. 195
of a large meeting of members of the late Govern
ment, including Mr. Gladstone and Mr. Bright.
The words which I used in withdrawing the
amendment were carefuUy drawn up at this
meeting, and purposely included the withdrawal
of further opposition to the Speaker leaving the
chair, and therefore bound all present at that
meeting not to vote in the division on Thursday.
Mr. Gladstone and Mr. Bright concurred in these
words. Then came Gortschakoff's contradiction
to Layard, and before the evening closed it was
evident that this contradiction was more apparent
than real ; and, in fact, the deep irritation in the
country and in the House arises from the fact that
the Eussians have, as it were, stolen a march and
forced the Turkish plenipotentiary to assent to an
armistice which left Constantinople defenceless,
and, indeed, implied its military occupation. Com
pare this fact with Mr. Gladstone's assurance in
his speech on Monday week, rash as I thought it
at the time, that the Eussians would not think of
occupying Constantinople, and you may judge of
the effect and the surprise. So much for Thursday.
Now as to Friday. Hartington and myself, with
others of our late colleagues, thought that, what
ever argument applied to the withdrawal of the
amendment applied to abstaining from active
opposition to the vote, unless the Government
were, in the debate in Committee, to give us fresh
grounds for opposition. On the contrary, North-

196 LIFE OP THE RIGHT HON. W. E. FORSTER.
cote took from me my chief ground of opposition
by disavowing all intention to make use of any
influence gained by the vote to minimize at the
conference the terms for the Christians. I felt,
therefore, that there was less ground for my voting
on Friday than there was on Thursday. There
remained, however, all the financial objections.
Mr. Gladstone thought that they obliged him not
merely to protest, but to vote. We, on the
contrary, thought that we ought to be content
with our protest, and not to weaken the Govern
ment in Europe by a fuU party division, or weaken
the Liberal party in the country by enabling the
Government to charge them with personal oppo
sition at a crisis of danger.
"I beUeved we were right on Friday. I am
stUl more sure of it now. If we were still in the
field, the Government would try to throw upon us
the difficulties of their position; as it is, they must
face these difficulties, and it is well, both for the
cause of peace and for the interests of England^
that they should do so. Affairs are very critical,
and it is only by assuring the Government, and
especially Lord Derby, of support, that we can
enable them to keep calm and prevent them being
carried away by the fire-eaters of their own party.
" Of course you cannot publish this letter ;
but you can, if you like, show it to your son, and
confidentially to any one else you think proper.
"Yours very truly,
. " W. E. Forster.

FOEEIGN POLICY OP THE TORY GOVEENMENT. 197
"P.S. — It must not be forgotten that Lord
Beaconsfield would seize upon an opportunity of
dissolution ; and I suspect would, south of the
Trent, at any rate in the present excitement,
greatly gain. The AYestminster registration agent,
coming this morning for the subscription to his
association, says that he does not think there
would be a Liberal returned in London. This fire
wUl soon burn out ; but it is not for us to add fuel
to the flames."
On the night following the withdrawal of the
amendment, Mr. Fawcett made a bitter attack upon
Mr. Forster, to which the latter rephed, though
the critical circumstances of the moment com
peUed him to use very guarded language. The
rank and file of the Opposition maintained their
active hostihty to the vote ; but Lord Hartington
and Mr. Forster felt themselves bound by the
declaration which the latter had made ii; with
drawing the amendment to refuse to go into the
division lobby against the Government.
To Me. Pulszky.
" 80, Eccleston Square, London, S.W.,
"March 11th, 1878.
" My deae Pulszky,
" How much has happened since my
last letter to you in reply to yours of the last day
of 1877 ! ¦
" I have often wished to talk to you, but events

198 LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTER.
have changed so quickly from day to day that
writing seemed useless. Now, however, there is a
comparative lull untU either the Congress meets
or is indefinitely postponed. For ourselves we
had a real war scare for a time, the war party
greatly aided by the Eussian reticence, to use a
mild term. You see, we were given to understand
that Constantinople would not be occupied except
for strategical grounds, and these grounds dis
appeared when Turkey declared her willingness to
accept the Eussian terms, so no wonder at the
effect of the discovery that the armistice involved
the potential occupation of Constantinople, by the
withdrawal of the Turks from the lines they were
well able to defend. One immediate effect was
that I and many others withdrew our opposition to
the vote of credit, partly because we thought under
the circumstances the Government, qua Govern
ment, required support, and partly because any
further opposition would have endangered peace
by more and more identifying the Government
with the war party. We thought it better to
throw the whole responsibility on the Government,
and events have justified our action. Lord Derby
and common sense having recovered, apparently,
the ascendency in the Cabinet. Now that there
is no fighting to help Turkey, the present danger
of war is passed ; but we are all of us face to face
with a hard job, that of replacing the Porte in
Europe.

FOEEIGN POLICY OF THE TOEY GOVERNMENT. igg
" To my mind the Turk iu Europe is worse than
dead. He merely lives as Eussia's vassal and
agent ; but upon that point I should like your
opinion. There are still those in England who
think that Turkey, with Constantinople defended
by the Straits and the lines to its west, and fed by
Asia Minor, will again be a real power ; but surely
this is a mistake ? The disease of corruption and
misgovernment and effete incapacity will only be
more virulent from being the more concentrated.
I take it now for granted that you will accept
Bosnia and Herzegovina ; but I suppose you are
waiting to be asked not only by the beys and the
Cathohcs, but by the Congress.
" I suppose the annexation to Greece of Thes
saly and Epirus is only a question of time ; but I
confess I am puzzled by the unwillingness of your
Government to let Eussia get to the Danube.
Upon the whole I am hopeful of the result of the
war, ghastly and destructive as it has been. I
write in haste. " Yours very truly,
"W. E. Foestee."
To Us Wife.
" 80, Eccleston Square,
" Sunday evening, March 24th.
" Thy telegram, my dearest, arrived just as we
were going to dinner, and delighted we were to
get it. I was quite anxious, the day was so drearily

200 LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
cold. . . . This morning Flo and I went to Vere
Street to hear Dr. Coghlan. I was much struck
and pleased. I expected, I know not why, a
flowery address ; on the contrary, very able, very
good, but no tickling, and quite a small congrega
tion. We walked back in the bitter wind, and this
afternoon I made no end of calls. . . . An unusual
gathering at Lady Waldegrave's, Schouvaloff and
Lyons, etc. After Schouvaloff left, I said I sup
posed the real hitch about the Congress was not
the mere question how the articles should be con
sidered, but a larger question : Whether the
European settlement of 1856 was to be replaced
by another European Settlement, or by a treaty
between Eussia and Turkey permitted by Europe ?
Almost everybody dissented, but Lord Lyons said
nothing. I went away with him, and in the street
he said, ' The real point is the one you put.' As
yet Eussia is said to stand stiff, but she is ex
pected to. yield. Gladstone's speech wUl not make
her more likely to yield."
On March 28th Lord Derby finally resigned his
post as Foreign Secretary, in consequence of the
warlike poUcy of Lord Beaconsfield and the rest
of the Cabinet, evinced by their determination to
call out the reserves, and to take other steps of a
menacing character. Public feeling again rose to
a fever height of excitement.

FOEEIGN POLICY OP THE TOEY GOVERNMENT. 201
To Us Wife.
" Athenaeum Club, March 30th.
"... I am just come from a long talk with
Hartington. I have told him, with entire truth,
that never was I so bothered with any pubhc
affair since I have been a politician — what with
the conviction that we ought to protest against a
wicked pm'poseless war on the one hand, and on
the other hand with the fear of fanning the war
fever by appearing to weaken the Government
when the country is in danger, and ' country
before party ' won the Worcester election.
Nevertheless, twenty years hence, if we do go to
war, these disputes about the congress will be lost
sight of, as now are the disputes about the holy
places before the Crimean war. The verdict of
history wUl be against the reckless, foolish people
who went to war for nothing. We must take care
they do not add a fruitless, half-hearted wavering
Opposition in their condemnation. The Tory
papers and partizans are doing their best to mini
mize the action of the Government, and to declare
it means peace. Of course, being a game of brag,
it may succeed ; but the fear is that the Eussians
are nearly as hot-headed as ourselves, and what
may not be feared when we have the Prime
Minister justifying warhke measures by talking
about the balance of power in the Mediterranean
and the freedom of Europe ? "

202 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FORSTEE.
" House of Commons, Tuesday, April 2nd.
"Again, my dearest, my note must be very
short. . . . There was an Irish row last night, and
I was dragged into it on the Sunday Closing Bill,
and I went on dividing against obstructionist
publicans till five, Gladstone staying half an hour
after me. We are stiU in doubt what actual
course to take with the great vote, which begins
on Monday — whether to move an amendment or
not. If we could get a real debate without an
amendment, it would be the best. Salisbury's
despatch is very able, and it points to the real
question. Since we cannot modify the treaty by
diplomacy, shall we do so by war ? I do not wish
to be forced to answer this question, but if forced
I say — No. I do not, however, wish to answer the
question, because ' No ' may encourage Eussia to
refuse the concessions she ought to make."
" House of Commons, Wednesday, April 3rd'.
" I write, my dearest, from the table of the
House, and can only say a few words. The Vac
cination Debate has now been coming on for some
time. I have had to speak and dine, and must
now watch the debate with the possibility of
having to speak again, and I must be at Exeter
Hall at my Wesleyan meeting at six, and ought
to be there a few minutes earlier. It brings up
very early associations going to Exeter Hall,
where I used as a child to attend anti-slavery
meetings with my aunts."

FOEEIGN POLICY OF TIIE TOEY GOVERNMENT. 203
" Athenseum Club, April Sth, 1878.
" . . . As for plans, I should much wish to
come down, but I fear I cannot, as I might have
to speak on Thursday, and, at any rate, must
Avatch my opportunity.
" My position is one of great difficulty, but if
not complex, rather of simple difficulty — between
fear of letting the country get committed to a war
policy without a protest, and fear of encouraging
Eussia not to concede.
"If, therefore, this debate be not the closing
debate, K the Government deprecate discussion on
the ground of negotiations, I may be quiet, but I
hardly think I can. . . .
"I am now come from a long and very satis
factory chat with Hartington. He read me a
rough sketch of his probable speech, and, to my
surprise, I found we practically agreed. He will
oppose any attempt by England alone to modify
the treaty by war in case of negotiations failing,
or, indeed, any but European action, and therefore
he wUl oppose action by only Austria and Eng
land." It is unnecessary to pursue the history of this
exciting time, for it is rather the story of Euro
pean politics than that of Mr. Forster's IKe which
would need to be told if I were to do so. Enough
has been said, however, to show what was the
policy which Forster favoured, and what were the

204 LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
means by which he sought to carry it into effect.
He was resolute in his opposition to any plans
which seemed likely to increase the danger of our
being involved in what he regarded as a wicked
and useless war; but he saw, more clearly than
some of his contemporaries did, that direct oppo
sition to the Government at every stage was not
the method by which that danger could best be
avoided. He refused, accordingly, to comply with
the wishes of those who were more anxious to
maintain an unceasing warfare against ministers
than to enable England, which was for the moment
in the hands of Lord Beaconsfield, to pass suc
cessfully through this storiny crisis in her fate.
Whether he was right or wrong in maintaining
this attitude it is for the country at large to judge.

C -05 )

CHAPTEE V.
THE CAUCUS.
During the Easter recess of 1878 Mr. and Mrs.
Forster paid a short visit to Pau. Whilst there
Forster met with a somewhat serious accident.
He was thrown from a carriage and broke his leg.
He had to remain some time at Pau, and then,
having had the injured limb encased in plaster of
Paris, he was brought home, reaching London on
May 13th. It is characteristic of his indomitable
energy that, very soon after his return, and when
stUl completely crippled, he went to the AtheuEeum
in order to vote at an election in which he was
interested. "I cUmbed up the stairs on my back," he
records in his diary, " and voted, and then had a
rubber." On the 23rd he reappeared in the House after
his accident. "Was cheered as I hobbled in, and
Northcote and many others kindly asked after me.
I spoke a little after ten. Well received. I spoke
thirty-five minutes with lame leg on a knee-rest

2o6 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
crutch. Quite at ease, and my voice quite as
good as ever."
In the summer the storm of anger against him
among the Bradford Eadicals broke out afresh, and
in a new and virulent form. The bitterness of the
election of 1874 had never been forgotten, and it
had been stirred into new life by the censures
which had been passed upon him in connection
with the withdrawal of his amendment to the sup
plemental estimate by those who were ignorant of
the fact that he had acted upon that occasion as
the instrument and the mouthpiece of the whole
of the leaders of the party.
The battle which he was now called upon to
wage, and in which he was destined to win a
complete victory, though it was not obtained
without much exertion and many sacrifices, was
one directed against a determined attempt on
the part of the Liberal caucus of Bradford to
compel the distinguished representative of the
town to place himself absolutely at its mercy.
The Bradford Liberal Association had been re
constructed, after the general election of 1874,
upon the Birmingham plan. Its members were
elected at public meetings held in the different
wards of the town, and it was assumed that they
faithfully represented all sections of the Liberal
party in the constituency. Theoretically, there
can be no doijbt that Liberal organization upon
this basis approaches to something like perfection,

TIIE CAUCUS. 207
SO far as its representative character is concerned ;
but, as a matter of fact, experience shows that
the result of the elections of associations of this
description is to place power almost entirely iu the
hands of a small body of active men, for the most
part holding extreme views on political questions.
Mr. Forster, at all events, believed this to be the
case, and it cannot be said that he looked with any
particular degree of favour upon the substitution
of the caucus for the somewhat elastic form of
organization which had hitherto prevailed in Brad
ford as well as in most other English constituencies.
He himself, as the reader knows, had fought the
election of 1874 chiefly by the strength of his own
hand. The Liberal organization of that year, such
as it was, had done its utmost to secure his defeat,
and had conducted its opposition to him with as
much bitterness as though he had been a pro
nounced Tory instead of being, as he was, an
advanced Liberal. It was not in human nature
for any man to forget this fact when he was
approached by those who claimed to be the suc
cessors of the old organization, and was asked to
recognize them as the spokesmen of the whole
Liberal party in Bradford. Mr. Forster had then
represented the borough for a period of nearly
eighteen years, and his relations with the majority
of his constituents were of a peculiarly warm and
friendly character. The Bradford Liberal Asso
ciation had adopted a rule by which it required

2o8 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FORSTER.
every candidate in the Liberal interest for the
representation of the borough to submit himself,
not to the constituency as a whole, but to the
caucus, and to abide by the verdict of that body
upon his claim to represent the town. Much
might be urged in favour of such a rule when
applied to unknown candidates seeking election
for the first time, but it is difficult to find a single
argument in its favour when the intention was to
apply it, not to a new candidate, but to one who
was actually the sitting member for the borough,
and who had represented it in the House of
Commons for not far short of twenty years. Yet
this was what the members of the Bradford caucus
sought to do when Mr. Forster was asked to give
them an assurance, in view of the next general
election, that he would submit his name to the
association in the first place, and allow that body
to decide whether he should or should not again
become the candidate for the representation of
Bradford. He absolutely declined to comply with this
request. Mr. Alfred IlUngworth, subsequently one
of the representatives of Bradford in the House
of Commons, and at that time a very influential
member of the Liberal party in the town, communi
cated the wish of the association to Mr. Forster,
and stated at the same time that, if Mr. Forster
accepted the rule binding him to place himself in
the hands of the association, he would be happy to

THE CAUCUS. 209
propose him as one of the Liberal candidates at
the next election. In his reply Mr. Forster said,
"I am much obliged to you for your kind pro
posal to submit my name to the committee of the
Liberal Association, but in doing so you refer me
to its fifteenth rule, which requires the proposer
of any candidate to give such candidate's assurance
that he wiU abide by the decision of the associa
tion. I am sorry to say that I cannot give this
assurance, and I think my reason for decUning to
do so can hardly be misunderstood. I am perfectly
aware that my name, proposed by you, and sup
ported not only by those who' have always voted
for me, but also by those who act with you, would,
as you say, in all probability be accepted by the
committee ; but I cannot bind myself to a rule
which even theoretically enables any association
to stand between me and the constituency I have
so long represented. Do not suppose that I forget
the necessity of organization or underrate the
importance of the Liberal Association, or that
I question its right to exercise that influence over
the representation of the borough which is due to
the member as well as to the individual earnestness
and sincerity of its members. Nor need I say that
I should give any resolution to which the com
mittee might come my most respectful considera
tion. But I cannot forget that I am member for
the borough, and I cannot think it right to make
myself the nominee or delegate of any association
VOL. IL p

2IO LIFE OF THE RIGHT HON. W. E. FORSTER.
within the constituency, however important that
organization, or however I may agree with it in
political opinion. It is not for me to question the
rule which the members of the association have
thought it right to frame, but I may mention that
I have not been able to find any such rule in other
similar organizations. I have by me the Birming
ham rules, where it certainly does not exist. I
cannot but hope that my being unable, for the
reason above stated, to comply with the condition
of this rule may not prevent that union of the
party which must, after all, be the object of the
association, and which would, I feel sure, restore
to Bradford its old position as a Liberal borough."
Mr. IlUngworth, on behalf of the association,
continued to press him to yield the point in dispute
by agreeing to submit himseK absolutely to that
body. Mr. Forster replied to Mr. IlUngworth's
second letter, pointing out the difference between
a new candidate and a sitting member. The
latter, he contended, had a right to consider him
self, and his constituents had a right to consider
him, a candidate for re-election ; but the rule of
the association demanded that he should bind
himself beforehand to withdraw at the bidding of
a majority, however narrow, of a committee.
"It is possible," he said, "that the member
might be able to persuade not merely the majority
of the constituency, but the majority of his party,
that he is right ; and yet the condition to which

TIIE CAUCUS. 211
this rule would have bound him would prevent
him from appealing to his constituents or to his
party, or even to the second thoughts of the com
mittee. I say nothing of my own personal position,
and pass over any claim I may have for long
service ; but I cannot but think that compliance
with such a condition would be intolerable to the
self-respect of any politician who rightly regards
pohtical duty, and that if such a rule became general
it would greatly injure the political life of the
country. Imagine a wave of prejudice overwhelm
ing the constituency, as, for instance, at the time
of the Crimean war, would it be desirable that the
Cobdens and Brights and Milner Gibsons of the
future should be bound not to offer themselves for
re-election, and should be forced to hold their
tongues and submit to ostracism in silence, because
they had undertaken not to stand if the majority
of a committee disagreed with them ? "
The correspondence was published, and excited
not a Uttle indignation among those Liberals who
thought more of the services rendered by Mr.
Forster to his country, and of the independence of
Members of Parhament, than of the success of the
caucus system of organization. Even those, how
ever, who were most strongly in favour of this
particular system were not prepared to support the
action of the members of the Bradford Association.
It need hardly be said that amongst the leaders of
the Liberal party there was a unanimous feeling in

212 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W. B. FOESTEE.
favour of Mr. Forster, so far as his dispute with
the association was concerned. Mr. Gladstone,
who had spoken strongly in favour of the new
method of organizing the party, held just as
strongly that the special rule of which Mr. Forster
complained in the Bradford constitution was wrong,
and he proffered his services for the purpose of
putting an end to the dispute.
To Me. Gladstone.
" Fox Ghyll, Ambleside, September 2nd, 1878.
" My dear Me. Gladstone,
" Thank you very much for your note. I
wish with all my heart I could suggest some way
by which you could deliver yourself on the organi
zation question, as I think the advocates of some
such rule as the Bradford one have a lurking hope
that you are on their side. The Birmingham
people disavow this rule ; but I am not quite sure
that I have as much faith as you have even in the
Birmingham system, mainly for this reason : that
I doubt any permanent committee, or any com
mittee annually elected in quiet times, thoroughly
representing the party when an election is im
minent". Birmingham itself may be an exception,
political interest, not to say excitement, there
being both strong and abiding ; but generally I
suspect that the men who elect the committees
are themselves but a small part of the party. And
is not this likely to happen — Either that, being
thus small, they would degenerate into wire-pullers,

THE CAUCUS. 213
as in the States ; or, as in Bradford, represent the
agitation for disestablishment, or some such special
question ? In either case there is a chance of the
committee being disavowed by the party when
the election really comes. The committee s'ay,
' What a shame ! We are the real workers, and so
ought to be allowed to choose.' ' Who asked you
to work ? We do not trouble about the election
every year or every day in the year, but that does
not mean that we do not consider that we have as
much to do with our member as you have.' I,
therefore, rather prefer the old system in our
towns ; namely, a permanent committee to look
after the registration, but a choice of candidates
by the whole party just before the election. It
seems to me that one of the best safeguards
against the wire-pullers — that is, against the real
danger besetting large constituencies — is so to
frame the machinery as to keep members as much
as possible in communication and contact with the
whole constituency, and candidates as much as
possible with the whole party. Just one word
about myseK. Illingworth, in one of his letters,
says that until the last election I had acknow
ledged the right of the Electoral Association, then
the Eegistration Committee, to decide whether or
no I should be a candidate. This is an entire
mistake. I did not even know that such a right
was claimed. " Yours very sincerely,
" W- E. Foestee."

214 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
The members of the Bradford Liberal Associa
tion were themselves hardly prepared for the storm
of disapproval which was caused by their attempt
to bring their old member into subjection to them.
Especially were they unprepared for the fact that
much of this disapproval came from those upon
whose support they had most confidently reckoned.
Mr. Forster, on the other hand, received from men
of all parties the warmest thanks for the action he
had taken in thus asserting the right of sitting
members to deal directly with their constituents,
and not to sacrifice their personal independence as
the representatives of their fellow-countrymen by
becoming the mere tools of any association or
committee. No decision was come to, as neither
party to the conflict would give way ; but as to the
fact of Mr. Foster's triumph there was nowhere
any question. To Mes. Chaeles Fox.
"Fox Ghyll, Ambleside, September 15th, 1878.
" Thy loving note, my dearest Aunt Charles,
has been in my pocket almost ever since I received
it — a constant pleasure to me. I hardly like,
however, troubling thee with a letter ; but do not
think it needful to reply. I know writing is
wearisome to thee, and I also know I am not
forgotten. "I went up Colwith Brow yesterday, not by
those old lodgings of yours, but very near them.

THE CAUCUS, 215
What a crowd of memories rush in ! — mournful
many of them, and yet some of them very pleasant,
and the bright, pure figure of thy dear husband
standing out clearly, pointing upward then — now
beckoning to us.
" My wife and the girls and I have been
snugly ensconced here for more than a fortnight,
and I do so love this country. I wish we could
stay on ; but on Tuesday I must be off to Aberdeen,
taking Jane and Florence with me, to say good
bye to my Lord Eectorship duties ; and then after
a visit or two in Scotland, we return to Yorkshire
by Ireland, spending a few days with Lord Emly
near Limerick, and I intend to revisit the places
in Connemara I saw with my father during the
famine. . . . Thou asked me about my leg. It is
weU — proof thereof, I walked up Fawfield yester
day week ; but I am getting sadly fat and stiff and
prosy, as this letter shows. . . .
" Thy very affectionate
"W. E. Foestee."
To Me. Thomas Coopee.
" Stranraer, N.B., September 29th, 1878.
" . . . I, like you, am very melancholy about
pubhc affairs; but I cannot think the present
regime will last. If I thought so I should be as
hopeless as you ; but I think I see some symptoms
of common sense, and feelings of duty regaining
their ascendency. I am sure my disgust and

2i6 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
indignation at Beaconsfield is not a party feeling.
I disapprove and often disagree with the Tories,
but my feeling towards him is altogether different.
" Your ever affectionate
" W. E. Foestee."
The autumn brought many perplexities and
anxieties in connection with pubhc affairs.
Although the Berlin treaty had been concluded,
there were still troubles in the south-east of
Europe, whilst Afghanistan, with the Ameer of
which we were now at war, had become the
burning question in Eastern politics. Writing to
the Duchess of Manchester regarding events in
Turkey, and the announcement of Lord Beacons
field at the GuildhaU banquet, that England
would maintain the treaty in spirit and in letter,
he said (November 12th) — ¦
" Upon one matter I do not fully see my way.
Disraeli's high-handed action is sure to make a
strong popular demand for depriving the executive
— nominally the Crown, really the Premier — of
the war-declaring and treaty-making power, and
we shall all of us have to consider how we can
meet this demand. Without doubt, to grant it
might at times be inconvenient. On the other
hand, to strain prerogative, as has been done, is
very dangerous, and would as a rule be undesirable.
This is one of the cases in which his reckless
conduct is ensuring a great reaction, which, if it

THE CAUCUS. 217
does not come in my time or the Queen's, may,
I fear, come in the Prince's time. Another re
action I expect very soon. You know I have
always thought Gladstone and Lowe too docile
scholars of the old Manchester school. I always
contended against their disparagement of the
colonies and of India as wrong in itself and sure
to become unpopular. But now Disraeli is, as
regards India, going much too far in the other
direction. Nothing will be more unpopular than
the notion that we are an Eastern rather than a
AVestern power ; that the centre of gravity is to be
shifted from London to Delhi, and that we are to
let the British bark be towed behind an Indian ship.
I expect to have to contend against a strong desire
to cut the cable and get rid of the dependency."
The outbreak of the war between this country
and the Ameer of Afghanistan was one of the
events which occupied much of the attention of
the public during the autumn and winter of 1878.
Forster strongly condemned the steps which
brought about our interference in the affairs of
Afghanistan. In January, 1879, he made his
customary speech to his constituents at Bradford,
and no passages in that speech were more emphatic
than those in which he condemned the policy of
the Government and of Lord Lytton, then Viceroy
of India. Yet it is to be observed that, even when
condemning most severely the steps taken by the
Government, he did not follow the lines of many

2i8 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
members of the Liberal party who advocated the
immediate withdrawal by us from the country
which had, owing to our action, been plunged into
anarchy. However reprehensible might be the
policy which had caused Afghanistan to be reduced
to this state, and however anxious the majority of
the English public might be to dissociate them
selves from all connection with that policy,
Forster recognized the fact that the nation, by
the action of its ministers, had incurred responsi
bilities from which it could not free itself. It
might be that we had sinned greatly in meddling
with Afghanistan at all ; but, having meddled with
it, we were bound to see that order was restored
before we again ceased to interfere in the affairs
of the country. This was not the line which at
the moment found favour with the most strenuous
opponents of the Government, and Forster was
called to task for having thus indirectly given what
appeared to be some measure of countenance to the
proceeding of Lord Beaconsfield.
His relations with the Bradford Association
had not improved at the time when he appeared
before his constituents, and the meeting at which
he delivered his annual address was a somewhat
disorderly one ; though, as usual, after the first
ebullition of feeling on the part of those who
were displeased with his action regarding the
caucus, he had a fair hearing from all, being in
this respect much more fortunate than his chair-

THE CAUCUS. 219
man, who was not listened to at all. The Brad
ford Liberals, however, were sincerely anxious,
if they could, to come to a settlement of their
dispute with their representative. A gentle
man empowered to act on behalf of the local
association asked Mr. Forster whether, if a
special exception were made in his case, and the
rule requiring candidates to submit themselves
absolutely to the decision of the caucus was sus
pended so far as he was concerned, he would be
wiUing to join the association.
If, as some persons aUeged at the time, he
had been thinking of nothing but a personal
triumph for himself, this solution of the difficulty
would certainly have met his views, for it would
have enabled him to achieve a distinct personal
triumph of no ordinary kind. But Forster looked
upon himseK as being in the matter merely the
representative of a large body of his fellow-country
men. It was not for personal freedom from the
rule of the wire-puUers that he was contending,
but for the general independence of members of
Parliament who had already secured the confi
dence of their constituents, and whose freedom of
action would be greatly fettered if the obnoxious
rule of the Bradford Association were to be gene
raUy enforced. He replied, therefore, to the over
tures made to him on behalf of the association,
that so long as their rule was in existence it
was impossible for him to join their body. In

220 LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
November, 1879, the dispute was satisfactorily
ended by a unanimous vote of the association
agreeing to make the rule permissive in its cha
racter, by changing the word "shall" into "may."
When the members of the association had thus
surrendered the point at issue, Mr. Forster at
once joined the association, and worked amicably
with it in preparing for the general election,
which was then approaching. On May 29th he
received a deputation from the association, who
invited him to become a candidate, on behalf of
the Liberal party for the borough, Mr. Illing
worth being his colleague. " I gave them a
grateful, civil answer, but not detracting from my
rights ; so ends that controversy."
The spring of 1879 had added another to the
many burdens which the English Government at
that time had to bear. This was the outbreak of
war in South Africa, occasioned by our attack
upon the Zulu king, Cetewayo. The earliest inci
dents of that war, the terrible disaster of Isandh-
Iwana, and the splendid defence of Eorke's Drift,
made a great impression in this country, and for
the moment turned all our thoughts from other
questions. Forster was in thorough agreement
with his colleagues in opposing both the policy
which had brought about this most unhappy war
and the weakness shown by ministers in dealing
with it, and both in the House and in the country
he was one of the most powerful assailants of the

THE CAUCUS. 221
Government. His views upon the South African
question, however, were not altogether those of
the majority of the Liberal party. He had no
sympathy, in the first place, with the cry of weari
ness which arose in certain quarters, and which
demanded that England should cut the Gordian
knot of her South African difficulties by with
drawing herself within the limits of Cape Colony,
and leaving the great field of enterprise, which she
had made her own, to younger and more vigorous
rivals. Such a cry could only excite something
like disgust in the breast of one who was full of
faith in the future of the empire, and who believed
that England had been called by Providence to
play a leading part in solving the great problem
associated with the advance of civilization through
out the world. But there was a still higher feehng
than this faith in the imperial destinies of his
country which influenced Mr. Forster in relation
to South African affairs, and that was his un
ceasing interest in the natives of the territories
which English traders and English troops were
fast bringing into contact with the outer world.
Once more he had an opportunity of proving that
his devotion to the interests of the weak and
oppressed was no fleeting sentiment, and the in
stincts which he had inherited at his birth led him
to espouse the cause of the blacks of South Africa
as warmly as he had ever done that of the blacks
of the United States.

222 LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
During the session the activity of the Eadical
section of the Liberal party in its attacks upon
ministers was unceasing. A dissolution was mani
festly approaching, and what may be called the
fighting contingent of the Opposition was eager
to lose no opportunity of discrediting the Govern
ment. It was a difficult and anxious time for
those who were the leaders of the Liberal party,
and Lord Hartington on more than one occasion,
but notably in the debates on the question of the
abolition of flogging in the army, was brought into
somewhat rude collision with influential Eadicals.
Foster stood loyally by his chief at this time, and
whilst publicly rendering him all the assistance
in his power, did his utmost in private to bring
together all sections of his party.
As the autumn advanced, the rumours of an im
pending dissolution became more frequent. Public
opinion was strongly divided as to the result
of an appeal to the country ; but the general
feeling in London, at all events, was that Lord
Beaconfield's star was still in the ascendant, and
that the new Parliament would be as strongly
Conservative as the old one. Mr. Forster did not
share these views. In spite of appearances, and
the fears of many of his own friends, he was con
vinced that a great reaction had actually set in.
On October 30th, he notes in his diary, " Went to
Eegistration Office, and went through list of seats
with Harcourt and Adam. Gave ourselves a

THE CAUCUS. 223
majority of three in England and Wales, and of
forty-two in Scotland" — a prediction of Liberal
success which time proved to have erred on the
side of moderation.
In the midst of the eager party strife which
characterized the recess, he did not lose his interest
in the grave problem associated with the state of
Turkey, but maintained his correspondence with
the various friends he had made both in Bulgaria
and at Constantinople. To De. Washbuen.
" Wharfeside, Burley-in- Wharfedale, Leeds,
" October 24th, 1879.
"Dear Dr. Washbuen,
"Your letter of October 8th is most
interesting, and your expectation — well grounded,
I fear — of trouble in Eastern Eoumalia very
disheartening, not to say alarming ; but I am very
helpless in the matter. I have lost all confidence
in Lord SaUsbury, and therefore cannot send him
your letter confidentially, as I should have done
before he replaced Lord Derby.
"If Parliament was sitting, questions might
be asked ; but during the recess all I could do
would be to publish your letter with your name,
which of course is out of the question. A day
or two ago my wife read to me your last paper
in the  , and we were both of us deeply
interested. How long can Turkey last ? It must

224 LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
be sad work living in a country rotten to the core.
I see no chance of cure. The old ruling principle
of the Government is gone ; and there is no new
principle to replace it. I suppose the old principle
was the Theorematic rule of the Sultan, and I
suppose, also, that to expect that since Mahmoud's
death is absurd.
"If Europe was to hold aloof, would not the
Turks right themselves and put in a new autocrat ?
But I suppose European interference just keeps
the Sultan alive long enough for Turkey to die
with him.
" I shall be very curious to see your next letter,
and to know how you read the new Austro-German
aUiance. Many of the supporters of our Govern
ment are now preparing to throw the Turk over,
and put Austria in Turkey's place as the barrier
against Eussia. I wonder what Layard thinks of
the position? Anyway, Lord Salisbury, in his
allusion to the alliance at Manchester, has shown
great want of dignity and reticence.
" I wish you would give me your present
answer to this question : Could England get the
reforms in Asia Minor, contemplated by the Anglo-
Turkish Convention, carried out by any amount of
pressure without force ? If you reply, ' No,' then
clearly we ought to take the first opportunity of
getting out of the Convention. We have no right
to risk the lives of our own people by using force,
and justice both to ourselves and to the Christians

THE CAUCUS. 2:5
in Asia Minor, obliges us to give up the guarantee
if we do not get the promised reform.
" As yet no one knows whether our Government
wiU face another session. I am incUned myself to
think not, and that there will be a dissolution in
January. But that is not, I believe, the general
opinion. " Circumstances may change the current of
opinion ; but if there was a general election now I
think the Government would lose their majority,
but that the opposition also would not be in a
majority if the Home Eulers joined the supporters
of the Government. Not a pleasant outlook.
"We went for a few weeks to Switzerland
and Italy, getting as far as Florence. Much
enjoyed ourselves, and gained health.
" Yours ever truly,
" W. E. Forster."
As both the great English parties girded them
selves for the struggle, which each was resolved to
fight out to the bitter end, the work thrown upon
Mr. Forster naturally increased. He had been
sneered at on more than one occasion as an
example of the " fighting Quaker," and it was
undeniably true of him that no man ever relished
more keenly the delights of a sharp encounter of
wit with wit, and argument with argument, such
as usually characterizes a political contest in this
country. So long as the fight was a fair one,
VOL. II.

226 LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTER.
waged for a worthy cause, he enjoyed it as much
as any man possibly could do.
The contest which had now begun, and which
was to reach its culminating point in April, 1880,
was one in which he believed most emphaticaUy
that his own cause was a righteous one. He was
eager, consequently, to assist his party by speech
and counsel wherever he could do so. In the
autumn of 1879 he went down to Westmoreland
to aid Sir Henry Tufton in his election there, and
dealt many a damaging blow at the reputation of
the Ministry. A httle later in the year he took
part in one of the most remarkable political
demonstrations of the time. It was intended to
impress the country with the determination of the
Liberals of the West Eiding to put an end to the
domination of Lord Beaconsfield, so far at all
events as the great county of York was concerned.
Those who were associated with him then know
with how keen an interest he took part, not merely
in the vast public meeting at which more than
twenty thousand persons were gathered together
under one roof, but in the organization of the
party that was necessary in order to make the
demonstration a success. For when Mr. Forster
had an object to gain he thought no pains too great
to be .bestowed upon his task, and many can bear
witness to the fact that in the preparations for
this Leeds demonstration of November, 1879, he
took an active share, not thinking it derogatory to

THE CAUCUS. 227
his position to perform even the simplest parts
of the work which fell to the lot of the members of
the committee. In the neighbourhood of his own
home, at Otley and at Bradford, as the hour for the
conflict approached, he frequently made his appear
ance as a public speaker, arraigning the Govern
ment for a policy which he believed to be thoroughly
immoral in its character and disastrous in its
results. It was on the Sth of March that Parliament
was dissolved. The secret had been well kept,
and it was only upon the evening of that day
that the members of both political parties were
apprised that the long-expected hour of battle had
arrived. "When I went to the House," writes Forster
in his diary, March 8th, 1880, " rather late for ques
tions, found note from Northcote, saying that as
Hartington was away he told me he had important
communication to make to House. I told Childers
and Lowe, and sent to Kensington. We guessed
it was probably dissolution. So it was — dissolu
tion for Easter. Much excitement ; more surprise
and cheering on our side than theirs. I said
a few words to express our satisfaction, and,
like other members, went off to telegraph — to
IlUngworth, offering to come down to-morrow."
He and Mr, IlUngworth had been accepted as the
Liberal candidates for Bradford, and side by side
they fought the battle of this election. But it

228 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
was not his own battle only which Forster had
to fight. Like the other Liberal leaders, there
were urgent calls for his help on all sides, and he
worked hard wherever he was wanted, among
the other speeches he made being one to intro
duce Mr. Herbert Gladstone as the Liberal candi
date at a meeting at the City Liberal Club, and
another on behalf of Sir Henry Tufton at Kendal.
The "flowing tide" was with the Liberals every
where during those few weeks of intense excite
ment. But consciousness of this fact did not cause
Forster to relax his efforts. Victory at Bradford
was certain, yet he worked as though his return
depended upon a single vote. On March 22nd
he began his campaign there: "Down to very
large open-air meeting called by the workmen on
vacant space up Leeds road. I spoke for some
forty minutes. Three to four thousand present.
Think I was well heard. Eeception excellent;
almost every hand in our favour. After that, two
more meetings at Great Horton ; then a cup of
tea at the club, a meeting near Undercliffe, and
one in the Drill Hall. A hard day. Six meetings.
Three longish speeches besides the open-air one.
In all these meetings the vote for us almost
unanimous. Twenty- two public meetings in these
five days. My throat weak at the beginning, but
no weaker at end."
As the end of the struggle approached, the
pace became more rapid still. The Bradford

THE CAUOUS. 229
nomination was on March 30th. Ou the following
day Forster went to London, voted in the City
election at the Guildhall, and for Westminster
in Ebury Square ; called to have a talk with the
whips at the Liberal offices ; played a game of
whist at the Eeform Club ; and returned to Brad
ford the same evening, hearing on the road down
of the Liberal triumphs at Stamford, Grantham,
Lincoln, and Peterborough. Of course, luncheon
and dinner had both to be eaten in the train.
The next day was that of the Bradford election.
" Majority immense," he says in his diary ; " more
than five thousand for me, almost four thousand
for lUingworth, and almost exactly corresponding
to our canvass promises. Home by 10.55 train.
Eeceived warmly by crowd at Burley." Yet
another day of hard work foUowed the close of
his own campaign. {April 3rd) "Went by 10
Great Northern train to London. Voted at
Guildhall for Herbert Gladstone. Eeturned by
3 train (to Leeds) ; sharp work. Went first to
Liberal committee-room ; then to Music Hall,
to an enormous enthusiastic meeting then going
on. Eamsden and Fairbairn's last meeting,
Barran speaking. I foUowed him with a rattling
speech of thirty-five minutes. After meeting to
club, and home by last train." It should be borne
in mind that the journey from Burley to London
is one of two hundred miles. Down to the very
end of the contest he continued to work wherever

230 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FORSTEE.
by vote or speech he could help the Liberal candi
dates, and at last, when the victory was won, he
simply says in his diary (April 9th), " Our victory
throughout the country astounding." The new
House of Commons, in fact, contained 349 Liberals,
243 Conservatives, and 60 Home Eulers, whereas
in the 1874 House the numbers had been — Conser
vatives, 351; Liberals, 250; and Home Eulers, 51.
The remarkable victory, which came as a
dramatic surprise to the London press and pubUc,
but which had been clearly foreseen by Mr. Forster
and other politicians who had taken the trouble
to study the movements of public opinion in the
provinces, was above everything else a triumph
for Mr. Gladstone. His was the name under
which the great mass of the Liberal electors
fought in the constituencies, and to himself per
sonaUy fell a signal honour in his double return
for Leeds (where he had the enormous majority
of thirteen thousand votes), and for Midlothian,
where, after a campaign memorable for the energy
which the Liberal leader displayed in speech-
making, he succeeded in wresting a seat from
Lord Dalkeith, the representative of the vast
territorial infiuence of the Duke of Buccleuch.
But Mr. Gladstone, though he had unquestionably
been the leading figure on the winning side in the
great battle, was not the nominal head of the
party. The official leaders were Lord Granville
and Lord Hartington. When the battle had been

THE CAUCUS. 231
fought and won, a brisk controversy arose on the
question of whether either of these statesmen or
Mr. Gladstone should be Prime Minister. The
Queen was abroad at the time when the result
of the elections became known, so that the ques
tion remained in suspense for some days. What
Mr. Forster thought with regard to it will be
gathered from the following letter.
To De. Washbuen.
" 80, Eccleston Square, London, April 21st, 1880.
" My DEAE Dr. Washbuen,
" I have two letters for which to thank
you. The first I had hoped to have answered
weeks ago; but the intense pressure of the election
delayed me, and now I have your kind note con
gratulating us on our success. I always expected
to succeed, and was considered too sanguine by
almost aU my friends. But our majority is far
beyond my expectation — a much greater English
and Scotch majority than at any time since the
first election after the Eeform Bill.
"Before receiving this you will have heard who
the new Premier is. Beaconsfield has in fact
resigned to-day. Nothing is yet known, but I
have little doubt that it must and ought to come
to Gladstone. " What I shall do myself I do not as yet
know ; but though I expect to have hard engross
ing work, it will not prevent my feeling a con-

232 LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTER.
tinned deep interest in Eastern affairs. . . . Our
difficulty is to do our duty in the question, and
especially in Asia Minor, without involving our
selves in dangerous and costly complications. I
suppose what we ought to aim at is the promotion
of concerted pressure on the Turk, whereas Bea
consfield and Layard have in reality made concert
more difficult."
On April 22nd the Queen sent for Lord
Hartington, and on the following day he and
Lord Granville had an audience of her Majesty,
which resulted in a commission being given to
Mr. Gladstone to form a Ministry.

( ^.r. )

CHAPTEE VI.
THE IRISH SECEETAEYSHIP.
The post which was, offered to Mr. Forster by Mr.
Gladstone in the new Administration was that of
Chief Secretary for Ireland, with Lord Cowper as
Viceroy. It cannot be said that he had coveted
this particular office. Full well he knew that,
under existing circumstances, it was the position
of greatest difficulty in the Government. But
public opinion had, by general consent, fixed
upon him as the man who was best qualified by
his sympathies and administrative capacity to
fill it, and when it was offered to him by Mr.
Gladstone he at once accepted it, despite the
fact that he might reasonably have aspired to a
higher place in the official hierarchy. The very
fact that, owing to the severe distress which ex
isted in the country as the result of successive
bad harvests, and to the agitation which, under
the auspices of Mr. Parnell and other Irish repre
sentatives, was stirring the tenants of Ireland,
the difficulties and risks of the position must
necessarily be great, constrained him to make

234 LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTER.
no demur when the Prime Minister pressed it
upon him for his acceptance. The popular idea
that he sought for this particular post is, however,
unfounded. He took it in the spirit of the soldier
who is sent to the front by his chief, and he was
not without the hope that he might be able to do
something towards solving that great problem of
the reconciliation of the Irish people to Enghsh
rule which had so long baffied the efforts of
statesmanship. Nor was there anything unreasonable or pre
sumptuous in this hope. The man who had suc
cessfully solved the education problem which had
defied the ingenuity of so many English statesmen,
was not without justification for the belief that
he could do something towards the settlement of
this still more difficult and complicated question.
He could not do violence, moreover, to the whole
bent of his political aspirations. From boyhood
certain great questions had always held a com
manding place in Forster's estimation. Of these
the most prominent was that question of slavery,
which had absorbed his attention in his opening
manhood, and which, in one or other of its many
shapes, continued to engage his sympathies and
occupy much of his time to his very latest day.
Another question that towered above others in his
mind was that of education ; whilst the third was
that of Ireland. He had been blessed, almost
beyond his hopes, in being permitted to bring

THE IRISH SECRETARYSHIP. 235
about the realization of his early dreams by the
establishment of a national system of education.
All that was purest and best in his nature now
urged him on to the attempt to do something to
brighten the fate of that unhappy country, which
he had visited in its hour of extremest need, and
towards which aU the sympathies of his heart
had long been drawn,
Poverty of the bitterest kind weighed upon a
great portion of the Irish people. There had
been no return, it was true, of the terrible ex
periences of 1847; but from that year onwards
want had been the common lot of a large pro
portion of the inhabitants of the country. And,
by the side of this chronic distress, there had
existed a not less chronic disaffection towards the
law of the land ; a disaffection which showed itself
now in agitation against the hardships of the pre
vailing land system, now in sporadic outbreaks of
agrarian crime of the most hideous character, and
ever and anon in great popular uprisings against
English rule. Distress and disaffection — these
were the symptoms of the Irish disease. What
were its causes, and how was it to be treated ?
These were questions which had long engaged the
earnest thought of Forster, and it was in the hope
of being able, if not to answer them, at all events
to contribute something towards their solution,
that he accepted the office of Chief Secretary for
Ireland in the Administration of 1880.

236 LIFE OP THE RIGHT HON. W. E. FORSTEE.
Writing, before his acceptance of office, to an
Irish gentleman who had urged him to take the
Chief Secretaryship, he said, "As regards the
condition of the country, I much fear you do not
overrate the danger. I think, however, you do
overrate my power of usefulness, and there are
strong reasons why, if possible, an Irishman should
be appointed. All I can say is, that I should feel
my father to be rebuking me from his grave,
if I did not do my utmost to prevent personal
considerations influencing me in the matter."
There had been specially severe distress in
Ireland in the previous year, owing to the bad
harvests, and exceptional efforts had been made
both by the .Government and the people of this
country to afford relief to the sufferers. A bene
volent fund had been raised, chiefly through the
exertions of the Duchess of Marlborough, wife of
the Lord-Lieutenant, and a Distress Belief Act
had been carried by Parliament. This Act em
powered the application of three-quarters of a
million of the Irish Church Surplus Fund in loans
to landlords. Some good had unquestionably
been done, both by the private and public efforts
thus made to relieve the distress ; but it was clear,
both from the result of the elections and from the
speeches of the popular Irish leaders, that it was
not to measures of this kind that the people looked
for permanent relief. The unusual distress of
1879 had intensified and aggravated the chronic

THE IRISH SECRETARYSHIP. 237
disaffection, and sixty members had been returned
to the new House of Commons who were pledged
to do their utmost to put an end to EngUsh ride
in Ireland by securing for that country some form
of self-government. This was the position of affairs when Mr.
Forster entered upon office. The distress among
the Irish tenantry was very real, and it was aggra
vated by the manner in which many landlords
exercised their rights, for even the Land Act of
1870 had left some abuses in the system of land
tenure. There can be no doubt that not only
Forster, but all the members of the new Govern
ment felt sincere sympathy with the Irish sufferers.
They believed that a portion of that suffering, at
all events,, was due to faulty laws, and to defects
in the manner in which the law was administered,
and they hoped that by amendments in the exist
ing statutes where they were necessary, and by
an administration of the law at once firm, gentle,
and sympathetic, they would be able to do much
to bring about a better state of things in Ireland.
With the demand of the Irish people for Home
Eule no member of the Administration showed any
sympathy. It was the conviction of all that to
grant any kind of local autonomy to Ireland would
be ruinous to the interests of the United Kingdom
as a whole. But there was a strong disposition to
believe that the Home Eule party would be pre
pared to co-operate with the Liberals upon most

238 LIFE OF THE RIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
questions of imperial policy, and that by making
to Irish demands such concessions as were in
themselves equitable and wise, the feeling of the
people in favour of Home Eule might be modified
if not altogether removed. Such were the hopes
entertained by Mr. Forster and his colleagues
when they entered upon office at the end of April,
1880. They believed that by showing a real sym
pathy with the Irish in their distress, by removing
any legitimate grievances of which they had to
complain, and, above all, by considering the
national susceptibilities of the people, they could
establish better relations between the two countries
and do much to diminish that hostility to the law
which had become so alarmingly conspicuous in
Ireland. That these hopes were destined to meet with
a bitter disappointment, and that Mr. Forster's
career as Irish Secretary, begun on his own part
with a feeling of such warm sympathy with the
Irish people, was destined to end in gloom, whilst
the goal aimed at still remained unreached, are
facts known to all. The task of the biographer is
not, of course, to write the history of Ireland during
those trying years, still less to discuss the great
problems of Irish policy, but to show how Mr.
Forster did his duty, and what were the conditions
with which he had to contend whilst he stood at
the helm from May, 1880, to May, 1882. The
full truth cannot yet, of course, be revealed ; but

THE IRISH SECEETAEYSHIP. 239
at least enough may be told now to convey to the
reader a true impression of the character, the
motives, and the achievements of the man who
during that period played so conspicuous a part in
the history of his country; whilst, as to that part
which must stUl remain untold, all who are
acquainted with the facts, all who know what
Mr. Forster was, what he suffered, and what he
did, wiU agree in declaring that —
" Whatever record leap to light.
He never shall be shamed."
Flushed with the brilliant success which they
had achieved in the elections, the Liberal party
entered upon office, confident that a career of use
fulness and prosperity lay before them. Few
amongst them seemed to entertain the slightest
apprehension as to that Irish question which was
destined to assume so grave a character within
the next few months. Lord Beaconsfield's defeat
had been brought about by the national repudia
tion of his foreign policy, and, in the first instance,
it was of foreign rather than domestic affairs that
the new House of Commons was thinking. Hardly
had it begun its deliberations, however, before events
occurred which showed that the Irish problem was,
after all, more urgent than any other. The exist
ing Coercion Act would expire a few weeks after
they took office. Their predecessors had not taken
the steps necessary to secure its renewal before it
lapsed; and one of the first decisions which the

240 LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
Cabinet arrived at was that, in these circumstances,
it would try the experiment of governing the
country under the ordinary law. This concession
to Irish feeling did not suffice to conciliate the
Irish members, and some of them attacked the
new Government because there was no allusion
to the Irish land question in the Queen's Speech.
It was, of course, unreasonable to suppose that
a Ministry which had only been a few days in
office could be prepared with a measure upon
so complex and delicate a subject as that of
the tenure of land in Ireland, and this fact
was pointed out by Mr. Gladstone in his reply
to his assailants. Thereupon the Irish members
shifted their ground. It was not a new Irish
Land Bill, of a comprehensive character, which
they now wanted, they declared, but a temporary
measure to stave off the evictions which were
threatened upon a large scale, and which had
their origin in the inability of the tenantry to pay
their rents in consequence of the recent bad
harvests. Forster, replying to Mr. T. P. O'Connor,
who put forward this proposal, pointed out that it
would be almost impossible to bring forward a
measure for the suspension of evictions without
raising every branch of the land question. Sub
sequently, in the course of the debate, he stated
that, without promising to support such a bill, he
would be prepared to give " a fair, full, and con
siderate hearing " to any proposal which might be

THE IRISH SECRETARYSHIP. 241
made on behalf of the distressed tenantry. The
Irish members were not slow to take advantage
of this promise. Mr. O'Connor Power forthwith
brought in a Bill for the Amendment of the Land
Act of 1870, by repealing those portions of the 9th
section of the Act which prevented compensation
being paid to tenants ejected for non-payment of
rent, unless it could be shown that their rents had
been exorbitant. In other words, he proposed that
the Courts should have power to grant the tenants
some compensation for eviction, now that a series
of bad years had so seriously diminished their
power of meeting their Uabilities to the landlords.
Mr. Forster, speaking on June 4th, on the second
reading of this bUl, intimated that " he was not
prepared to oppose its principle." He had already
become convinced that the condition of the
tenantry was serious. Evictions had increased
vastly in number and were still increasing, and he
saw that grave troubles lay ahead of the Govern
ment in Ireland, unless some measure of rehef
could be at once afforded to the victims of the bad
seasons. Two days before announcing that he could not
oppose the principle of Mr. O'Connor Power's bill,
he had written to Mr. Gladstone as foUows : —
" I think poorly of ^  's judgment, but there
is a foundation of truth in what he says. No
doubt the hold on the small tenantry by Parnell
and Co. is an ignorant hope that they wiU get rid
VOL. II. K

242 LIFE OP- THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FORSTEE.
of rent, and the priests are frightened, finding that
they are losing their influence. On the other
hand, the Home Eule members, especially the
Parnellites, are behaving better. O'Connor Power's
bill is out this morning, and merely provides that
ejection for non-payment of rent shaU be deemed
a" disturbance under the Land Act, without pre
judice to any rights which the landlord may have
under the said act or otherwise, to any deduction
from a set-off against the tenant's claim for com
pensation. This is so moderate that it will not be
easy to meet it with a direct negative. ... I think
we ought to lend money freely in Ireland when (1)
the security is good, and (2) the works are of
undoubted utility ; and I think for this purpose the
Board of Works in Ireland ought to be recognized
and strengthened. This purpose could be more
easily attained if we could obtain a real reform of
county local government. We ought to obtain
(1) a reform of the grand jury system — that is, such
county authorities as could initiate works and
combine with neighbouring counties ; (2) a re
organization of the Irish Board of Works, so as to
give it more strength and knowledge."
Four days later (June Gth, 1880) he wrote again
to Mr. Gladstone, pointing out the difficulties of
the situation in Ireland arising from the distress,
the pressure which was being put upon the
tenants by the landlords in order to secure either
their rents or possession of the holdings, and the

THE lEISH SECEETARYSIIIP. 243
increasing agitation among the tenants. Mr.
Burke, the permanent Under-Secretary, — a man
who was devoted to his duty, not merely as a loyal
servant of the Crown, but as a patriotic Irishman
anxious to promote the welfare of his fellow-
countrymen, — was doing all in his power to prevent
evictions; but the landlords were still pressing
theU claims, and it was evident that the difficulties
of those engaged in governing the country were
increasing. In these circumstances Forster pro
posed to Mr. Gladstone that a temporary bill
providing compensation for evicted tenants should
be brought in, and that at the same time a small
but strong commission should be appointed for
the purpose of inquiring into the working of the
Land Act of 1870. It was undoubtedly a grave
proposal to make, but the statistics with which he
had been provided by the officials in Dublin, and the
private reports he had received from Mr. Burke, had
convinced him that ministers must step in between
the landlords and the tenants if the social system
in Ireland was not to receive during the coming
winter a shock of almost unprecedented violence.
Mr. Gladstone gave his consent to the proposal,
and the result was the introduction of the measure
for compensating tenants evicted for non-payment
of rent. In the first instance the scheme had no
separate existence. It was embodied in a new
clause of the Eelief of Distress Bill, a measure
which had been brought in, in part, to indemnify

244 LIFE OF THE EIGHT pON. W. B. FOESTEE.
the authorities for having exceeded their powers
in advancing money under the Eelief Bill of the
previous session, and in part to enable money to
be granted for public works and outdoor relief, so
that tenants as well as landlords might benefit by
this employment of the surplus funds of the
Church. No sooner was the new clause added to
this bill than it became apparent that it must
excite the strongest opposition among the repre
sentatives of the landlord interest, and it was
eventually withdrawn from the EeUef Bill and
introduced as a separate measure.
On June 25th the Compensation for Disturb
ance Bill was proposed for second reading. The
argument in its favour was set forth by Mr.
Forster in a speech in which he replied to
Mr. Chaplin who had undertaken to lead the
attack upon the measure. The Irish question
was destined to advance so far and so quickly
during the next few months that it is hardly
necessary to trouble the reader with any detailed
recital of the history of this ill-fated measure.
The reason for its introduction was the undoubted
severity of the distress from which the tenants of
Ireland were suffering, and the fact that many
landlords were taking advantage of this distress in
order to evict their poorer tenants. More than a
thousand evictions had taken place in the first six
months of 1880. They had occasioned a profound
feeling of dissatisfaction throughout the country,

THE lEISH SECEETARYSIIIP. 245
and it was clear that if they were to be continued
the task of the Government in maintaining order,
already difficult, would become well-nigh impos
sible. This was, in brief, the plea put forward as
to the necessity for the introduction of a biU the
practical effect of which would have been to
suspend evictions for a hmited period. It should
be borne in mind that whilst the gravity of the
situation of the tenants was not seriously disputed
by any unbiased authorities, the rehef which was to
be given to them under the bill was most strictly
Umited. The measure was only to continue in
operation to the end of 1880, and no compensation
was to be given to the evicted tenant unless it
should appear, first, that he was unable to pay his
rent ; secondly, that his inability arose not from
thrKtlessness or idleness, but from the three suc
cessive bad harvests from which the country was
suffering ; thirdly, that he was wUling to continue
in his tenancy on just and reasonable terms
as to rent ; and, fourthly, that these terms had
been unreasonably refused by his landlord.
Nevertheless the measure was at once assailed
most bitterly by the representatives of the land
lord class, who saw in it an attack upon the rights
of property, and who refused to admit that under
any conceivable circumstances would it be justifi
able to throw hindrances in the way of the landlord's
right to evict. Mr. Plunket saw in the biU a pro
posal for the direct confiscation of the income of one

246 LIFE OF THE RIGHT HON. W. E. FORSTEE.
class in favour of another; Lord Eandolph Churchill
viewed it as " the first step in a social war, an
attempt to raise the masses against the propertied
classes ; " whilst Mr. Chaplin protested against the
whole theory under which a landlord was called
upon to compensate a tenant because he refused
to continue him in the enjoyment of a privilege
which in the first instance had emanated from the
landlord himself. On the other hand, the bill was
defended with equal spirit and boldness, not only
by its author, but by Mr. Gladstone and Lord
Hartington. The Prime Minister declared that in
face of the afflicting circumstances prevailing in
Ireland this was a bill which, so far from attacking
the rights of property, would enable the State with
a safe conscience to use the strength at its com
mand in order to maintain those rights. Lord
Hartington pointed out that exceptional circum
stances had arisen which put it in the power of
the landlord, if he was so disposed, to defeat the
main purpose of the Act of 1870, and the Compen
sation for Disturbance Bill had been framed simply
in order to prevent the act being thus overridden.
The second reading of the measure was carried by
a majority of seventy-eight ; but when it came
forward on the committee stage, Mr. Parnell him
self was added to the list of its opponents, the
ground upon which he assailed it being an amend
ment of which the Attorney- General had given
notice, to provide against compensation being

THE IRISH SECEETAEYSHIP. 247
given to a tenant when the landlord had granted
him permission to sell his interest in his holding.
From that time forward, although this amendment
was subsequently itself amended, the bill received
no support from the Home Eule party.
It was, however, duly carried through its
remaining stages in the House of Commons, and
was read a third time on July 26th. On the 2nd
of August, after two nights' debate, it was sum-
marUy rejected by the House of Lords by an
overwhelming majority.
The blow fell heavily upon Mr. Forster.
Better than any other member of the two Houses
he was able to estimate the effect which the
rejection of the measure was likely to have in
Ireland, where the Administration were even now
finding themselves placed between the cross-fires
of landlordism and Parnellism. With the aid of
such a measure as that which the Peers had
rejected so unceremoniously, he believed that it
would be possible for the Government to cope with
the rising influence of Mr. Parnell and with the
growing agitation among the Irish tenantry. But
what had now happened increased enormously the
difficulties of the situation, and he foresaw that
the action taken in the interests of the landlords
was likely in the end to injure those very interests
in the most serious manner. He took the first
opportunity of reheving his mind of the indigna
tion under which he laboured against those whom

248 LIFE OF THE RIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
he now regarded as having made themselves re
sponsible for that stormy winter which he saw
before him in Ireland. The Peers had rejected a
measure of small importance — a bUl intended to
assimilate the law of registration in Ireland to
that which was in force in England. Mr. Parnell
proposed that the measure should be sent up again
to them, tacked on to the Appropriation Bill.
Ministers, of course, were unable to fall in with
the suggestion ; but Mr. Forster had an oppor
tunity of speaking out about the conduct of the
House of Lords, and he did so with a freedom
which excited not a little remark at the time.
The Upper Chamber had refused to pass the Irish
Eegistration BiU, not because there was anything
objectionable in it, but because it had been sent
up to them at a time when it was inconvenient to
them to consider it. " This," said Forster, speak
ing in the House of Commons, " was one of the
matters in which especially noblesse oblige, and
the House of Lords ought not to allege personal
inconvenience to prevent bills sent up from that
House at any time of the session being thoroughly
considered. They could not forget — at any rate,
the country could not forget — these two facts :
first, the Commons were the hardesst worked law
makers in the world ; and, secondly, that, on the
other hand, probably there was no assembly of
law-makers with so much power and so little
persona/1 labour as the House of Lords. They

THE lEISH SECEETAEYSHIP. 249
must not forget the fact that they were the
representatives of the people, and that the power
which the Lords had was simply owing to an
accident of birth."
This sharp outburst of feehng against the
Upper Chamber excited not a little indignation
on the part of the Peers themselves ; but every
body outside the circle of the peerage felt the
justice of the rebuke administered to them.
There was, however, a strong and not unfounded
belief that Mr. Forster would hardly have employed
this vigorous language merely to resent the refusal
of the Peers to deal with the Eegistration of Voters
Bill. It was the rejection of the Compensation
for Disturbance Bill which had moved him most
deeply. He saw in it the beginning of the worst
time the English Government had ever had in
Ireland ; he believed firmly that the landlord
interest in rejecting this measure had infiicted an
irremediable wrong upon their own order, whilst
they had at the same time afforded the opponents
of English rule an excuse for a violent resistance
to the law. It was the gravity of the blunder thus
committed by the Peers that stirred him with a
sense of indignation ; and it ought to be said that
time did not diminish his feeling upon this point.
For the rest of his life he continued to speak with
mingled indignation and impatience of the conduct
of the House of Lords in throwing out this bill.
He was blamed, afterwards, when some people

250 LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
seemed anxious to convict him of wrong-doing in
every step which he took, because he did not
resign when the Disturbance Bill was thrown out.
It would have been strange indeed if he had done
so. Every member of the Government shared his
feelings regarding the action of the Peers, and if
he had withdrawn from his post merely because
that action had made his task more difficult, he
would reaUy have been deserting his colleagues,
and leaving the burden of labour and responsibUity
which he had shirked, to them. Such a line as
this he could never have taken. But when he
was viewing th© whole question under the sorest
feeling of discouragement, he found some comfort
in the knowledge that during the next session
of Parliament a bill dealing with the whole ques
tion of Land Tenure in Ireland would be intro
duced by Mr. Gladstone himself. In the mean time
he determined to struggle on, and to tide over the
dark winter which lay before him as best he might
in view of the coming legislation.
Very quickly did the first signs of the gravity
of the task before him make their appearance.
Parliament was prorogued on September 7th, and
the Irish orators at once took the field against
the Government. Despite the action taken by
ministers on the question of compensation for
disturbance, and the fact that it was known that
they were already preparing a new Land Bill in
favour of the tenants, they had not secured the

THE lEISH SECRETARYSHIP. 251
support of Mr. ParneU and his party ; and they
received no favour from the men for whose sake
they had incurred the serious defeat of August 3rd.
Unfortunately, too, the modified degree of friendli
ness which — in memory of his father's and his own
labours in Ireland during the famine year — had
been shown towards Mr. Forster by the Irish
representatives when he first took office, was
quickly changed into a directly hostile sentiment.
The Chief Secretary, it was soon seen, was trying
to draw towards the Government something of
that feehng of enthusiasm which had hitherto only
been shown by Irishmen towards the popular
national leaders. He did not hesitate to speak
out boldly concerning any words or acts on the
part of Mr. Parnell or his colleagues, of which he
disapproved, and he had even, from the Parnellite
point of view, the audacity to appeal from the
declarations of the Irish members to the senti
ments of the Irish people. It foUowed that, to a
portion at least of the Irish representatives, he
was even more obnoxious than his predecessor,
Mr. James Lowther, had been.
Soon after the rising of the House Mr. Parnell
made his famous speech at Ennis, casting doubts
upon the sincerity of the Government in their
professed wish to carry a Land Bill in the next
session, and advising farmers not to give evidence
before the commission which had been appointed
to inquire into the question of land tenure. There

252 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W. B. FOESTEE.
was something in this speech, however, of much
greater importance than any sneers at Mr. Glad
stone and his colleagues. This was the advice which
the speaker gave to his hearers, to shun any man
who had bid for a farm from which a tenant had
been evicted. " Shun him in the street, in the
shop, in the market-place, even in the place of
worship, as if he were a leper of old," was the
advice given by Mr. Parnell; and though he
probably had no idea of what he was doing at the
moment, he was really, when he spoke, placing in
the hands of the discontented party in Ireland the
most formidable weapon which they could possibly
have secured. From the time of that speech
dates the beginning of deliberate, merciless, and
scientific boycotting in Ireland. This important
declaration by the Irish leader concluded with
something like a veiled " no rent " proclamation.
Its whole tone was one of extreme defiance, not
only towards the English executive, but towards
the EngUsh law.
In other parts of Ireland speeches were made
by other prominent Parnellites in which the exist
ing law was criticized and condemned with the
utmost freedom, and in which the people were
incited to agitate in such a manner as to compel
the English Parliament to give them a really accept
able Land Bill. The agitation, however, was not
long confined to speeches, however defiant and
violent. On September 25th an immense sensation

THE lEISH SECEETAEYSHIP. 253
was caused throughout the United Kingdom by
the murder of Lord Mountmorres, who was found
near his own residence in County Galway with six
revolver buUets in his body. The whole of the cir
cumstances attending the crime seemed to aggra
vate its character, and something very like a panic
set in among those whose chief interest was the
maintenance of the rights of landlords in Ireland,
Mr. Forster was at once violently assaUed on the
one hand for not having taken some measures
which would have made a crime of this sort impos
sible, and on the other adjured to see in the assas
sination of an unfortunate landlord proof of the
failure of the existing system in Ireland, and of
the necessity for immediately resorting to remedial
measures, Eemedial measures were those of which he had
thought first when he took office in Ireland, and
about which he ever continued to think most
earnestly and constantly. But Parliament was not
now sitting. His attempt to introduce a remedial
measure had been foiled by the House of Lords,
and all that could now be done was that which
actually was being done — the preparation of the
ground for a renewed attempt at remedial legisla
tion in the session of 1881. In the mean time
one plain duty was laid upon him. That was
the protection of the social fabric in Ireland
against those forces which were now threatening
to submerge it. God willing, Ireland should have

254 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
the fullest measure of remedial legislation to
which she was entitled; but the party of dis
content in the country should not meanwhUe
be allowed to ride rough-shod over the law
or the rights of the orderly section of the com
munity. Very loud was the outcry raised in the press
and on public platforms for the introduction of a
measure strengthening the powers of the Execu
tive, so as to enable them to cope with the rising
tide of defiant lawlessness. There were, indeed,
some who believed that no extension of the powers
of the law was needed, and who maintained that
aU that was wanted was the announcement of the
determination of the Government at once to intro
duced remedial measures. Unfortunately this
announcement had aheady been made, and its
effect had been very different from that which was
confidently anticipated by those men who objected
to any renewal of coercion. Boycotting, which
had now received its recognized name owing to
the remarkable case of Captain Boycott, was daily
becoming more rife. The Land League had
established courts of its own for the trial of land
cases, and these courts, wielding the tremendous
weapon of boycotting, were able at their wiU to
inflict the severest penalties upon those who feU
under their ban. Outrages upon cattle, attempts
at assassination, "moonlighting," the sending of
threatening letters, and aU other forms of agrarian

THE IRISH SECEETARYSIIIP. 255
crime were on the increase, whilst the tone of the
Land League leaders became daily more openly
and aggressively defiant.
To have met this state of things, not by any
attempt to vindicate the authority of the law, but
by the simple concession of all that the league was
demanding on the part of the tenantry, would have
been justly regarded as tantamount to a surrender
on the part of the Government to the forces of dis
order. There was no thought of such a surrender
on the part of Mr. Forster. But there was one grave
question to be considered, and that was in what
manner the Executive should assert itself. Men
were already clamouring on all sides for an autumn
session, and for the hurried passing of a new
Coercion BiU. That it must come to that in the
end seemed only too probable to Forster ; but he
required to be satisfied on one point also. He
would not agree to any alteration of the existing
law untu that law had received a fair trial, and
its applicability to the existing system had been
tested by a prosecution of some of the leaders in
the agitation. Me. Foestee to Me, Gladstone.
"Dublin Castle, October Sth, 1880,
" ParneU and company have clever law-advisers
of their own. It is not easy even to find tech
nical proof of the connection of any one of them
with the Land League, and the Land League has

256 LIFE OP THE RIGHT HON. W. E. FORSTER.
hardly any written rules, and publishes no list of
officers. The speeches are, in fact, almost the
only evidence, and these are framed as carefully
to keep within the law as they are to tempt others
to break it. I trust, however, that I shall have
the opinion [of the law-officers of the Crown on
the question of prosecuting Mr. Parnell and others]
not later than Sunday next. . . . My expectation
is that the opinion will show us (1) that we have
the strongest moral grounds for a prosecution ;
(2) that we have doubtful legal ground ; (3) that
we cannot expect a conviction.
" If such turn out to be the opinion, I still
think we ought to prosecute ; but I must beg you
to turn the pros and cons over in your own mind.
" The ^ros are—
" (1) We should be doing almost the only
thing we can do without fresh legislation ; (2) we
should be trying to punish men who, without
doubt, are great criminals and mischievous crimi
nals ; (3) we should prove to every one that we do
not fear the agitators ; (4) we should make it clear
that we are not in league with them. So great is
the excitement, that there are many who say, and
even some persons, not ill-disposed, who think,
that we are not sorry for the outrages, as making
a strong Land Bill necessary. (5) We should also
raake it clear that we did not mean to let Parnell's
law be put in place of the law — every one, law
breakers included, would feel that having taken up

THE IRISH SECEETAEYSHIP. 257
the gauntlet he throws down, we should have to
ask for further powers, if present powers did not
suffice. " The cons are —
" (1) Great enthusiasm would be excited for
Parnell; subscriptions would flow in from America;
(2) the quarrel between the Land Leaguers and
the Nationalists would be healed; but I do not
think the quarrel helps us now ; (3) some of the
more moderate Home Eulers would be tempted or
driven to join him ; (4) he would probably obtain
the triumph of no conviction. I fear the best we
can expect, from even a Dublin jury, is disagree
ment instead of acquittal ; (5) I fear no trial is
possible before January, probably not till Easter.
Nevertheless, if the law-officers give us ground to
think that we have a case which would carry with
it reasonable public opinion, I am for prosecution.
I am, however, by no means sure that prosecution
wiU stop, or even materiaUy check the outrages.
No one can say. Parnell has incited to these out
rages ; but they may now be beyond his control.
If within his control, it is reasonable to hope he
would, for his own sake, do his best to stop them
pending his trial. The outrages continue and
spread from one county to another. I believe
that if we cannot, prosecute we shall be driven to
a special session for suspension of the Habeas
Corpus ; and even if we do prosecute we may also
have to do this ; but at any rate we should be
VOL. II. s

258 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FORSTEE.
able to teU Parliament that we had done what we
could with our present powers.
"Yesterday a very large deputation of land
lords came to Lord Cowper and myself — more
than sixty from all parts of Ireland, but chiefly
from the disturbed districts. They were in a state
of great but suppressed excitement, moderate in
their language, but with difficulty. They very
much confined themselves to giving their reasons
for alarm, and calling upon us to give them pro
tection. Administratively, I think we are doing
all we can — have proclaimed Mayo and Galway,
and asked military authorities to fill barracks in
these counties. I hope Spencer wUl come here
next Monday. He comes on education business,
but his counsel wUl be most useful, especially his
opinion of the present position as compared with
that which obliged the Westmeath Act."
Me. Gladstone to Me. Foestee.
"DowniDg street, October 9th, 1880.
"I do not see why legislation should mean,
necessarily, only suspension of the Habeas Corpus.
We are now, I believe, inquiring whether the law
allows, under certain circumstances, of combina*
tions to prevent the performance of certain duties,
and the enjoyment of certain rights. If it does
not, as I understand the matter, we prosecute.
If it does, why may not the law be brought up to
the proper point by an amending Act .? "

the IRISH SECEETAEYSHIP. 259
Me. Foestee to Me. Gladstone.
" Dublin Castle, October 10th, 1880.
" My remark in my last note about the sus
pension of the Habeas Corpus meant this : that,
as before, so now, we may find that nothing will
check the actual outrages but arrest and detention
of men on suspicion. When the whole population
sympathizes with the man who commits an out
rage, he knows that hardly any witness will give
evidence against him, and that a jury in his own
district will certainly acquit him. On the other
hand, this suspension is a most violent, I may
almost say, a brutal, remedy, and before trying it
we must be sure it is the only remedy."
The " concert of Europe " for the purpose of
completing the settlement of the Eastern question
was at that time, it may be noted, occupying the
chief place in Mr. Gladstone's thoughts, and for
the moment the question of an extension of th-e
powers of the law was aUowed to drop. It was
soon, however, revived. In the mean time (October
23rd) it was announced that it had been resolved
to prosecute fourteen of the Land League leaders,
among whom were Mr. ParneU, Mr. Dillon, Mr.
Biggar, Mr. T. D. SuUivan, Mr. Sexton, Mr. Pat
rick Egan, Mr. Thomas Brennan, Mr. P. J. Sheri
dan, and Mr. J. W- Walsh. The charge against
them was one of conspiracy to prevent the pay
ment of rent, and to defeat legal processes for the

26o LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTER.
enforcement of rent, to prevent the letting of
farms from which tenants had been evicted, and
to create ill-will between different classes of her
Majesty's subjects.
Me. Foestee to Me. Gladstone.
" Chief Secretary's Lodge, Phoenix Park, Dublin,
"October 25th, 1880.
" My deae Me. Gladstone,
" On the 1st inst. Burke sent to the
country inspectors of police queries to which we
are now receiving answers.
"I have the answers for Connaught and Mun
ster, and I think them so important that I send
them you, though in uncorrected proof. In
looking over them, please bear in mind that the
disorder which has existed for months in Con
naught is now taking hold of Kerry and Cork.
" The last two or three days, there has been
some diminution in outrages. This may, and I
hope is, in some measure owing to the announce
ments of the prosecutions, but I fear it is quite
as much owing to the Land League getting their
way, and therefore not needing outrages.
"The first week after the prosecutions have
actuaUy begun, that is the first week or ten days
in November, will test our position. Unless we
see a real improvement, then I am most reluc
tantly driven to the conviction that we cannot face
the winter — that is, January and February — with--

THE IRISH SECEETAEYSHIP. 261
out special legislation ; and if special legislation at
all, we cannot conceal from ourselves that it must
be special legislation in the most high-handed
fashion. I do not believe any bill would be of
real use short of suspension of the Habeas Corpus.
It would have to be a much stronger bill than the
Westmeath Act, because we could neither limit
it to a confined area, nor to suspected members
of any society. It must, in fact, give power to
the Irish Executive to shut up any person they
consider dangerous. It will require the strongest
possible case to justify such action, but unless
matters mend, I fear it wiU be our hard fate to
have to take it.
" When ParUament meets, should we accom
pany our coercive measure by any counter-bill
hke the Disturbance Bill ? I said, quite late in
the session, that if we brought in a Coercion Bill
in the autumn, and if we had reason to believe that
the landlords were behaving badly, we should
accompany it by a counter-bUl. This statement,
which was made during your illness, but with
Hartington's concurrence, and, indeed, at his
suggestion, was much cavilled at by the Tories,
and would be much used by the Parnellites, if
we bring in a Coercion Bill by itseK ; but as yet
my second condition has not been fulfilled. At
present, with few exceptions, the landlords are
behaving well. . . . My present position is not en
viable. Panic-struck landlords and landladies be-

262 LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTER.
setting one with letters and interviews ; and the
worst of it is that I cannot deny that in many
cases there is ground for panic. I do not know
that we can do more than we are doing.
"(1) Hurrying on the prosecutions as fast as
possible. " (2) Proceeding against actual outrages in the
provinces whenever we can.
" (3) Cramming the worst counties with police
and military.
"You will see that Kerry and Cork ask for
police. We are meeting this request ; but the
urgency has only now come on. I am, however,
getting to the end of my police. By proclaiming
counties we can increase the number beyond the
parliamentary strength ; but, it takes time to
make a policeman. They used to think six
months, but in the urgency we are sending re
cruits to peaceable districts in a shorter time,
and we are getting some fresh men.
" Only one word more. Our Land Bill, when
it comes, must be strong and comprehensive. We
had better do nothing than tinker, I do not wish
to be dogmatic, but that is what I think,"
A few days later Mr. Gladstone wrote to Mr.
Forster asking for information regarding the con
dition of the country, of which he might make use
at the 9th of November banquet to ministers at
the GuildhaU. Public excitement on the subject

THE lEISH SECEETAEYSHIP. 263
was growing daily, and in many quarters it was
aggravated by rumours which were beginning to
spread of divisions among ministers on the ques
tion of coercion, and of the resolve of certain
members of the Government not upon any con
sideration to consent to any extension of the
powers of the law untU the effects of remedial
legislation had first been tried.
Me. Foestee to Me. Gladstone.
" Chief Secretary's Lodge, Phoenix Park,
"November Sth, 1880.
" My deae Me. Gladstone,
"I have your letters of the Sth and 7th
inst. First as to statistics — as to outrages. I
shall have ready for Cabinet the fuUest details
since 1844.
" October is, as I have said, very bad — 266
outrages against 167 September ; 110 October,
1879 ; 20 October, 1878. More than the outrages
throughout the whole of the six years before 1878.
I said in one of my last letters that I hoped the
outrages were diminishing in atrocity. I do not
think it would be safe to say this. I am not sure
of the fact — and whUe we have eighty men under
personal protection, we are only preventing murder
by the police surveillance.
"Evictions. — When I get to the Castle to-day,
I hope to send you some figures, but I do not
think it will be safe to say much about evictions.

264 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
There are very few now — only in Ulster. The
landlords fear to evict. Parnell is quite right
(in Freeman's Journal which I send) in saying that
the League has stopped evictions, though he
ought to have said, ' the League and its attendant
outrages.' " As regards the immediate question, viz. the
suspension of the H. C. Act, it is impossible for
any one to dislike it more than I do. On pubhc
grounds, I both fear and hate it, probably as much
as you, and privately I hardly need say that no
man could have a more disagreeable task — one
more certain to involve him in discredit — than
would be my fate if I have to bring it forward.
But I doubt if in any other way we can keep peace
and protect life and prevent anarchy. All my
questions I have asked myself, and I think I shall
be prepared with answers more or less clear. I do
not think the Westmeath danger can be compared
to the present, though it was easier to deal with.
I cannot look with hope to the alternative course
of special legislation against the Land League
combination. The Parliamentary opposition would,
I think, be even stronger. The Irish obstructives
would oppose both equally, and the English
Eadicals would consider their rights threatened.
"But I do not think it would do the job.
Besides, it would hardly be possible to bring in
such a bill before we knew the result of the prose
cutions, and we may not be able to wait for that

THE lEISH SECEETAEYSHIP. 265
result. The present outrages, or rather that con
dition of the country which produces the outrages,
is owing to the action of the Land League, but
I believe that now these outrages are very much
beyond its control.
" The actual perpetrators and planners are old
Fenians or old Eibbon-men or mauvais sujets.
They would shrink into their holes if a few were
arrested. Only we want men. What I meant about
making a strong Land Bill depend on cessation of
outrage was this : — Any biU which will be worth
bringing in must give the tenant class much of
what they ask : if it be given while the outrages
prevaU, it wUl be generally said and thought that
it has been exacted by the outrages. The upshot
wiU, I fear, be that its opponents would, on that
account, be able to prevent its passing, and even
if passed it will be a temptation to fresh outrage.
I think we must first get temporary quiet.
" P.S. . . . To-day we have had a most difficult
and dangerous matter to deal with. We obtained
information that large bodies of armed men were
going from the north to Captain Boycott's farm,
one hundred in one body, and two hundred more
from Belfast. This would be civil war. We knew
the whole country-side would be up against them.
We send down to Boycott's district to-night five
hundred infantry, and three squadrons of cavalry,
and we tell Boycott that we wUl do what we have
always promised to do, and, in fact, urged him to

266 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
enable us to do, viz. protect to his farm, and away
from his farm, and at his farm, as many men as are
necessary for the bona fide work on his farm. But
we have warned the organizers of the movement
that any force of armed men above such number will
be an illegal gathering, and must be treated as such.
I hope by this means we shall stave off a fight, but if
we do not stop outrages we must expect lynch law."
Mr. Gladstone, in his speech at the GuildhaU,
naturally did not take so gloomy a view of the
situation as that which was taken by Mr. Forster
when writing in the confidence of official life to
his chief; but he made it clear that ministers
were resolved, to the best of their ability, to fulfil
the obligation under which they lay for the main
tenance of the law. This speech for the moment
silenced the rumours of dissensions within the
Cabinet. But they broke out with. renewed vio
lence when the Cabinet meetings began to be
held in the week following the banquet. Nor
were they at all vague in their character. On the
contrary, they were precise and circumstantial.
It was said that Mr. Forster, having come back
from Ireland convinced of the necessity for the
adoption of strong powers, if the authority of the
Government was to be maintained, had been
opposed in the most vehement manner by some of
his colleagues, and it was virtually intimated that
when the final decision was made either Mr.

THE lEISH SECEETAEYSHIP. 267
Forster or his opponents would have to leave the
Government. Everybody knows now that the
difficulty was solved without any need for break
ing up the Cabinet. From this fact it might be
inferred that there was no foundation for the
rumours so generally current at the time ; but
such an inference would be wholly erroneous. Mr.
Forster, armed with the official knowledge he had
acquired in his position as Chief Secretary, felt
strongly that additional powers must be conferred
upon the Executive to enable it successfuUy to
cope with the alarming and ever-increasing disorder
in Ireland. He was opposed by other members
of the Ministry, and a long and bitter struggle
took place. It was not until November 27th that
the question was settled, and then it was only
settled by a concession on the part of Mr. Forster.
It was announced that Parliament would be sum
moned, not -on December 2nd, as Forster had
desired, but on January 6th, and nothing was said
about any intention to introduce a Coercion BUl
when the Houses met. Whilst the solution of the
ministerial difficulty was stiU unattained, however,
a very interesting series of letters passed between
Mr. Forster and Mr. Gladstone.
Me. Gladstone io Me. Foestee.
" Downing Street, November 16th, 1880.
" What you said to me last evening, before
leaving the Cabinet room, much impressed my

268 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
mind. . . . You said most judiciously, on a former
day, that if we are to ask for a suspension of the
Habeas Corpus it ought to be on a case of great
strength and clearness. But do these figures,
after all the allowance to be made for 'protection,'
indicate such a case ? As far as I can judge, there
is a tendency in Ireland, upon a series of years, to
a decline in the total number of homicides. The
immense increase in property offences (agrarian)
for 1880 seems to me to mark the true character
of the crisis and the true source of the mischief,
viz. the Land League. But I incline to assume
that any suspension of H. C. must be founded on
danger to hfe."
Mr. Forster, acknowledging the letter, pointed
out that, whilst it was true that the crimes against
life were not so serious as they had been at some
former times, it was necessary to bear in mind the
existence of a system of general terrorism exer
cised by means of personal outrage.
In his speech at the Guildhall, Mr. Gladstone
had intimated that the time had not yet come
when ministers were satisfied of the necessity for
a reinforcement of the law. On November 18th
he wrote to Mr. Forster, calling his attention to
this speech, and asking what new facts had arisen
to establish the case in favour of coercion, which
he had then said had not been made out.

THE lEISH SECEETAEYSHIP. 269
Me. Foester to Me. Gladstone.
" 80, Eccleston Square, London,
" November 18th, 1880.
" My deae Mr. Gladstone,
" I think the fair interpretation of your
Guildhall speech is that, upon demonstration of
inefficiency of present power to protect life and
property, you would ask for increase of power.
The fair inference is that you had not at that
moment the demonstration ; but I think another
fair inference would be that, spoken at the time
that speech was, you awaited the facts which the
Irish Government would bring before you when
the Cabinets began. Undoubtedly, if these facts
do not afford to your mind the demonstration, you
are not hampered by your speech. In one respect
your speech is very strong, — obligation incumbent
on us to protect every citizen in the enjoyment of
his Ufe and property. I have this morning the
eviction returns for the last six weeks. I send
the summary herewith. The total is 82, against
671 for the previous three months ; and for the
disturbed provinces — viz., Munster 2, Connaught
21, against 335, This confirms more than I ex
pected my belief —
" 1st. That the outrages are not caused at
present by the evictions.
" 2nd. That ParneU can claim the credit of
stopping evictions.
" The Land League teaching realized, i.e. out-

270 LIFE OP THE RIGHT HON. W. E. FORSTEE.
rages and the fear of outrages, have done that
much." The struggle within the Cabinet had been
maintained up to this point with unflinching
determination on both sides, and there seemed a
strong possibihty that the Ministry would be
wrecked owing to the refusal of ministers who had
no official connection with Ireland to allow the
man reponsible for the peace of the country the
means which he and his advisers deemed necessary
to enable him to maintain that peace. The fol
lowing letter explains how the difficulty was at
last solved — temporarily, at all events.
Mr. Foestee to Me. Gladstone.
" Chief Secretary's Lodge, Phoenix Park, Dublin,
"November 23rd, 1880."
"Deae Me. Gladstone,
"I find little change in the situation.
Every week extends the area of the agitation, and.
makes the inability of the Government to give
protection more clear. My own opinion is un
changed — that it is our duty to summon Parliament
without delay, and to ask them for further powers.
I do not think that those of my colleagues who are
opposed to this step have realized to themselves
the demorahzation consequent upon the Executive
allowing itself to be successfully defied. This
would be bad enough in any country, but it is

THE IRISH SECRETARYSHIP. 271
hard to estimate its danger with such a people aa
the Irish.
" I beUeve that by waiting till January we shall
not only increase our administrative difficulties,
but diminish our power of dealing successfully with
the land question. It is, however, needless for me
to reiterate my arguments in this direction. I
suppose I must consider that  and  have
made up their minds, and I have therefore to deter
mine what, under the circumstances, is my duty.
" If I insist further on ParUament meeting on
December 2nd for despatch of business, I suppose
one of two results must happen — either  and
 wUl leave the Cabinet, or I shall have to do
so myseK, with or without those who agree with
me. Independently of other considerations, which,
of course, I do not forget, and looking at the
question, as it is my business to do, as regards
the government of Ireland, I am well aware that
Irish difficulties must be greatly increased by
either of these results.
" To put the matter briefly and plainly, it is in
the power of  and  to compel me either
to increase Irish difficulties by a break-up of the
Cabinet, or to continue my work here — hard enough
under any circumstances — in a way which I dis
approve. "I have come to the conclusion that I must
take the last alternative, throwing the responsi
bihty upon my colleagues, especiaUy upon those

272 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
of them who, as it were, force me to do so ; and
I therefore am willing to try to get on with present
powers till early in January, but I cannot under
take to do so longer.
" No one will rejoice so much as myself if it
turns out that my conviction that matters will
become worse this month is a mistake ; but I find
that my fears are shared by every responsible
person here, especially by Law, though he, like
myself, has been driven with the utmost reluct
ance to take the side of coercion."
There can be no doubt that the course
which Mr. Forster thus declared his wUlingness
to take, in the interests of the Government of
Ireland, was one which was personally distasteful
to him. But he felt compelled to do his utmost
to avoid the breaking-up of the Administration.
He did so, knowing only too well that a very
short interval of time would justify his opinion as
to the state of Ireland, and would compel those
who had opposed him in this matter to acknow
ledge that he was in the right, whilst they were
in the wrong. In acknowledging the receipt of
his letter of November 23rd, Mr. Gladstone,
writing on the following day, said, " As I said
on Saturday that no candid man could ascribe
your previous conduct to obstinacy, so I am sure
all will admit that in most difficult circumstances
you have now, as you did then, acted in the best

THE lEISH SECRETARYSHIP. 273
light of your judgment and conscience." A con
sciousness that this was indeed the case helped to
sustain Forster under the trying circumstances of
the moment ; but both he and his colleagues were
soon called upon to feel that grievous injury had
been wrought in Ireland by the refusal to allow
him to demand additional powers for the Irish
Government at the date which he originally fixed.
Meanwhile he was left to struggle on without any
powers save those conferred by the ordinary law,
and this in spite of the terrible increase of outrages
and the almost unchallenged supremacy of the
Land League as the real governing body through
out a large part of the country. What he could
do without extraordinary means he did. He ob
tained a considerable reinforcement of the troops
in Ireland, and he issued a circular to the magis
trates drawing their attention to the powers which
they aheady possessed under the law, and im
pressing upon them the necessity for firmness and
vigilance in the application of these powers.
It must not be supposed that during all this
period of anxiety and uncertainty Forster's
thoughts were wholly occupied with the question
of restoring the supremacy of the law. He did
believe most emphatically that it would be a
mistake to introduce a sweeping Land BiU until
the authority of the Government had been vindi
cated ; but all the time he was keenly alive to any
cases of exceptional distress, and to any methods
VOL. II. T

^74 LIFE OF THE RIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
for reheving that distress which did not involve
an apparent surrender on the part of the law to
the lawless. During the summer and autumn of
1880 he was in constant correspondence with his
old friend, Mr. James Tuke, and gave all the aid
in his power to the beneficent labours of that
gentleman in the congested and poverty-stricken
districts of Ireland, whether they took the shape
of gifts of seed and potatoes for planting or of aid
in emigration. To Mr. Tuke.
" September 2nd, 1880.
" My DEAE Tuke,
" Sir John Macdonald, the Prime Minis
ter of Canada, and Sir A. Gait, the Canadian
representative in this country, are coming to dine
with me to-morrow, to talk confidentiaUy over the
possibilities of Irish emigration. Can you meet
them ? Dinner at 7.30. You would help us in our
discussion, and become known to them, which
might be well, as they return to Canada at once.
I shall be glad to give you a letter to Thornton,
our minister at Washington. " Yours ever,
"W. E. Foestee."
The result of the meeting between Mr. Tuke
and the two Canadian statesmen, which was thus
arranged by Mr. Forster, was the starting of the
Manitoba emigration scheme.

( 275 )

CHAPTEE VII.
the PEOTECTION ACT.
The month of December found Mr. Forster con
tending against difficulties in Ireland which were
weU-nigh overwhelming, and at the same time
labouring under the necessity of submitting in
England to reproaches which were wholly un
merited. The Tory party, under the leadership
of Lord Salisbury, united in denouncing his
management of Irish affairs, because of the feeble
ness and cowardice which seemed to them to
characterize it. Every trouble in which the
authorities at Dublin Castle had become involved
had its origin, according to Lord Salisbury, in the
cowardly action of the Government in evading
the elementary duty of preserving order. These
were the charges to which Mr. Forster had to
submit from his opponents, whilst, on the other
hand, he found some of his own colleagues in the
Cabinet strenuously opposing his application for
increased powers, and consequently weakening his
position both in the Government and in the
opinion of the country.
But mere taunts and misrepresentations were

276 LIFE OP THE RIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
matters of small moment compared with the state
of things which was now prevailing in Ireland.
Boycotting had grown with the suddenness of
Jonah's gourd, and was now a weapon of the most
formidable kind — all the more formidable because
it could not be touched under the ordinary law.
The use of this method of political warfare was
cruel in the extreme. The boycotted man or
woman became, as Mr. Parnell had expressed it,
as a leper. He or she was shunned everywhere.
The butcher and the baker had to refuse the custom
of the victim, on pain of suffering ruin themselves.
His farm was deserted by the labourers who had
grown old in his service, and his crops left to rot
in the fields ; the very servants of his household
turned and fled from his abode as from a city of
destruction ; and all domestic duties had to be
discharged by his wife or his daughters. If he
went to the neighbouring market in the hope of
selling his stock, he was shunned by everybody,
and had to return home conscious of the failure
of his errand. If he and his family ventured to go
to church on Sunday, seeking in the ministra
tions of religion some assuagement of the bitterness
of their lot, the whole congregation, on seeing
them enter, would rise as with one accord, and
leave them alone in the building. Verily as lepers
they were treated, so far as all social or business
or religious intercourse with their fellow-creatures
was concerned.

THE PEOTECTION ACT. 277
It must be borne in mind that it was not
the well-to-do, or those who were somewhat raised
in the social scale, who alone suffered from this
social ostracism. The poorest and most helpless
of labourers who had sinned against the un
written law, smaU shopkeepers, servants, both
men and women — all who fell under the ban of
the League had to pay the penalty. Nor did
their hardships end with their exclusion from all
the pleasures of social hfe. By day and by night
they were pursued by an enemy — invisible, but
none the less formidable on that account — who
added to their other sufferings the ever-present
dread of a sudden and violent death. In the dead
of night, unseen hands would dig a grave in the
very garden-walk in front of the boycotted man's
door ; in broad daylight, masked viUains would
show themselves behind the hedges which lined
the road by which he or his wife or children
travelled ; and morning by morning the postman
brought the threatening letters, ornamented with
rude sketches of coffins, skeletons, and daggers,
which served to keep the victim's nerves ever upon
the rack. His cattle, too, would be found dead
from hideous injuries inflicted by men who must
have had the hearts of fiends, in the fields or the
stalls, and his stacks would be destroyed by fire.
Worst of all was the fact that he had to suffer this
unrelenting, cruel, and almost demoniacal form of
persecution without daring to hope for sympathy.

278 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTER.
much less for assistance, from any of his neighbours
or friends. Nay, if at last the assassin's bullet
struck home, and the hapless wretch was found
pouring forth his life's blood by the roadside, no
neighbour, even though connected with him by
ties of blood, would consent to go to his. assistance.
He was absolutely under the ban of those who
then held the ruling power in Ireland, and his one
chance of assistance was that which was afforded
to him by the brave and faithful men forming that
remarkable body, the Eoyal Irish Constabulary.
This was the state of things which weighed
most heavily upon Mr. Forster during the terrible
autumn and winter months of 1880. He was
denied the use of any weapons save those of the
common law, for the purpose of combating the
terrible and remorseless system of persecution of
which so many persons were now the victims. AU
that he could do was to spare no pains in order to
afford some measure of help and protection, and to
encourage them to the utmost of his power, by the
strong sympathy which he showed with them in
their sufferings, and by the moral strength with
which he sought to brace them to their struggle
with the forces of the League. It was heart
breaking work, however, and it did far more than
any differences with his coUeagues, any attacks on
the part of political associates whom he had once
trusted, to torture his heart and add " the years
that are not Time's " to his age. Every day's post

THE PROTECTION ACT. 279
brought its burden of pain to be borne. The very
sensitiveness of his nature, his strong love of
animals, his hatred of brutality and violence,
increased his sufferings. The outrages which were
of such constant occurrence did not come to him
in the form of cut and dried returns — mere recitals
of the number of cases of cattle-maiming, moon
lighting, or threats to murder. Each individual
sufferer seemed anxious to pour his own story with
all its ghastly details into the Chief Secretary's ear,
and much of Forster's time and attention was
taken up by the recital of the hideous crimes
against which, without some enlargement of the
powers of the law, he knew that it was impossible
for any one in his position to contend successfully.
The details of these crimes mean little now, and it
is needless to weave the harrowing story into the
naiTative of Mr. Forster's life ; yet one or two
letters, taken at random from those which accumu
lated upon him at this season, may be read with
profit. The first is from a magistrate dealing with
the state of the country. \_Private.'] "November 13th, 1880.
"Dear Sie,
"As a magistrate for Limerick, Tipperary,
and the Queen's Counties, perhaps as popular as
an agent and landlord as any man in Ireland,
mixing daily with the people, I deem it my pain-

28o LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FORSTEE.
ful duty to inform you that I have never known
the country to be in such a state. The idea
amongst the tenant-farmers is that, as Mr. Glad
stone disestablished the Irish Church, so he will
the landlords, if they persist by violence in fighting
him into it. Being in Limerick for the last ten
days, I was present at the meeting held there and
in Newcastle, and never have I heard such lan
guage ; and when the Eev. Mr.  prayed that
'England might be blotted out of the list of
nations,' the cheers were loud. Indeed, at every
meeting the hatred seems to be intensified.
" Many tenants told me that if they paid their
full rents they would be murdered. Some asked
for false receipts, and some paid and got none at
all. I was told the names of several local gentle
men whose warrants were signed, and riding out
in the evening near E  , a well-dressed man
asked me for the love of God not to be out in the
dark, and, going down on one knee, said, ' You see,
sir, I honour you next God, and go back.' The
police are no longer in the confidence of the people.
They know very little, but I think they all know
that something secret is going on. From the hints
I am led to believe it is help from America. Not
being in the least an alarmist, and, having the
welfare of the people at heart, sympathizing with
the Government in making those great changes
that may be required in accordance with law and
order, I am led to beUeve that unless the Govern-

THE PEOTECTION ACT. 281
ment suspend the Habeas Corpus Act, and get the
Irish mUitia out of the country before March 17th,
you will have a general out-rise and many lives
lost. I would rather you took no notice of this by
letter, as if it was known that I gave any informa
tion my hfe would be attempted."
Among the gentlemen upon whose hves at
tempts were made was a clergyman, from whose
wife Mr. Forster received the following letter : —
" December 27th, 1880.
" Sir, " Before this reaches you, you will in all
probability have received an account of the at
tempted assassination of my husband, a clergyman
of the Church of Ireland, and a loyal man to his
God and his Queen. Mr. Forster, you are a Chris
tian man and a gentleman, and I ask you how you
and your coUeagues can reconcile it to your eon-
science that, owing to the weak Government of
Ireland, a clergyman who reads God's Word, and
sees there ' Go preach the gospel to every creature,'
and who tries humbly and faithfully to obey his
Lord's commandments, is to be made the mark for
the assassin's bullet, and that only through the
good Providence of that God he tries to serve, I
am not this day a mourning widow and his nine
children orphans ? The cartridge paper of the
Enfield rifle, sold by a paternal Government to

282 LIFE OF THE RIGHT HON. W. E. FORSTER.
rebels, has been picked up on the spot, and the
marks are plain where three assassins lay in wait.
England spent millions of money and thousands of
lives to rescue one missionary from the Abyssinian
king, but that was a great and grand proceeding,
and the world rang with the praises of England's
courage and generosity. Here at home, men of
the same blood, of the same faith, living within
sixty miles of that same brave England, cannot
drive to the Church consecrated to the service of
the same God England professes to serve, without
risking their Uves. For weeks past I have waited
every Sunday evening for the news which came
last night, that an unarmed man was fired at within
six yards' distance, and within a quarter of a mile
of his own door on the pubhc high-road. You may
hold yourself guiltless of the blood that is steeping
our unhappy land, but we do not hold you guilt
less ; neither does He who rules over us all. The
criminal weakness which armed a superstitious and
excitable people, and then turned them loose on
innocent men, will surely draw down Heaven's
vengeance on that England which Protestant
Ireland once loved. When will you feel for those
living in constant dread and exposed to perpetual
attack ? Nine months ago, in my husband's
absence, when I was alone with only my helpless
children in the house, our stackyard was fired,
and nothing but our Lord's protecting hand then
saved our house and Uves. The ' message of

THE PROTECTION ACT. 283
peace ' Mr. Gladstone has sent us is the murderer's
bullet and the midnight torch."
Exaggerated in its vehemence and unfair in
its accusations as this letter undoubtedly is, it is
nevertheless worthy of being printed here for two
reasons ; first, because of the light which it throws
upon the state of feeling in the disturbed districts
at that period, and, secondly, because it is merely
a sample of many such letters which were poured
in upon Mr. Forster by those who considered him
responsible for aU that was then happening in
Ireland, and who laid upon his head the offences
of the Ministry as a whole. Other letters, how
ever, more pleasant in their character occasionally
reached him. Thus, at Christmas, 1880, he was
addressed by an Irish lady who was an entire
stranger to him as follows : — "December 22nd, 1880.
" My deae Me. Forster,
" At this Christmas-time, when you have
so much trouble and anxiety caused you by my
poor country, and when you have so many hard
and undeserved words to bear from those whom
you are trying to save, I feel impelled as an Irish
woman to tell you that, deep down in many, many
of our hearts, we feel intense gratitude to you, and
great admiration for the manly bravery you display
and the patience with which you bear our way-

284 LIFE OF THE RIGHT HON. W. E. FORSTEE.
wardness. You and Mr. Gladstone — God bless
you both ! — feel for the suffering of our people, and
while you deplore and blame their wrong-doings,
you are like our great Master, pitiful to the sinners,
knowing that they err through ignorance and
know not what they do. ... I earnestly pray that
you may see the fruit of your labours ; but, even if
not, I earnestly, warmly, and truly thank you in my
own name and that of thousands, for all you have
done and are trying to do for us. I write this not
for an answer, which I do not want ; but because
you hear so many hard words both in England and
Ireland, I want you to know there are many faith
ful hearts beating for you, and who feel the great
honour of having a man so truly honest, earnest,
and unselfish working for them and their country's
good." Forster was engaged during the Christmas
holidays in preparing the Protection Bill which he
had wished to introduce at the beginning of De
cember, and the necessity for which was now
generaUy acknowledged.
Me. Foestee to Me, Gladstone,
" Chief Secretary's Lodge, Phoenix Park, Dublin,
" December 26th, 1880.
" My deae Me. Gladstone,
" On Thursday I shaU bring before the
Cabinet my draft Coercion, or, as it may be called.

THE PROTECTION ACT. 285
Protection Bill. I am obliged to have it drawn
up here, but upon the agreement of the Cabinet
as to principles, both I and our draughtsmen
wiU be most glad to get Thring's help as to words
and arrangements. I am very anxious not to
insist upon more than is absolutely necessary,
but I am unable to see that we can get on
without the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act,
FaiUng in evidence is the chief and, to my mind,
the sufficing cause of our failure to protect, and
nothing will enable us to give protection but the
temporary power to imprison without evidence, . . .
I think we must have the arms clauses of the
last act. They are very long and too numerous,
and I should be very glad if we could have a
mere clause of renewal, but in May the Cabinet
did not think this possible. . . . Christmas is over
— certainly not a merry one, but not altogether an
unhappy one, because, after all, we are doing what
we can. I am very grateful to you for your help
to me this past year, I only wish I may be able to
help you in next year, but I feel it is my hard lot
to bring you nothing but anxieties."
Me. Foestee to Me. Gladstone.
" Chief Secretary's Lodge, Phoenix Park,
" December 28th, 1880.
" My deae Me. Gladstone,
"I enclose outrage statistics for November.
At bottom I give them for the first thirteen days,

286 LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
and also for October. I am sorry to say they
show a large and progressive increase, especially
in maiming cattle and firing into dwellings —the
worst forms of intimidation. There is not, I
think, much in  's getting his full rent —
in Mayo, by-the-bye, not Connemara. The question
is not whether some landlords do not by luck or
merit or management get their rents, but whether
a large number do not. . . .
" I really believe I am doing everything that
can be done by our present powers. . . .
" Leaving the outrages and turning to the Land
BUl, the current stUl sets in favour of the three F's.
" I send you a memorial brought me yesterday,
and signed by all the unofficial Liberal Ulster
M.P.'s — that is, all but Law, — and they tell me that
nothing short of this will keep their constituents
from joining the Land League. . • .
" You mention a fresh Government valuation.
The arguments for it are evident. Against it are
— the delay : could it be made under three years ?
The unpopularity : it would mean in many cases a
rise of rent and its responsibUity. A Government
valuation at this moment would be looked upon as
a Government attempt to fix the rent of every
farm in the neighbourhood. I think it would fix
it as against the landlord, though not against the
tenant. " Is there not much to be said for (1) taking
present rents for the basis as much as possible ;

THE PEOTECTION ACT. 287
(2) giving time and temptation to landlord and
tenant to make their own bargain ? I think they
would generaUy do this if they knew that an
arbitration court was in reserve.
" — — writes to me that there is much to be
said for giving the tenant practical security rather
than theoretical fixity. True for the Cabinet, but
for Ireland we must not forget that we have to
deal with the imaginations and hopes of an excited
people. "Excuse this long scrawl.
"Yours very truly,
"W. E. Foestee."
Within a fortnight of the date of the above
letter (January 7th, 1881) the session began, and
it was announced in the Queen's Speech that the
" additional powers necessary not only for the
vindication of law and pubhc order, but for the pro
tection of hfe, property, and personal liberty of
action " would immediately be asked for. The
Irish legislation of the session went beyond this
proposed renewal of coercion, however. A measure
developing the principles of the Irish Land Act of
1870, and another establishing a system of county
government in Ireland, founded upon representa
tive principles, were also promised.
On the day on which Parliament met, Mr.
Forster took the earUest opportunity which pre
sented itself of giving notice that he would on the

288 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W. B. FOESTEE.
following evening move for leave to bring in a bill
for the better protection of persons and property
in Ireland, and another to amend the law relating
to the carrying and possession of arms. Feeling
both in Parhament and the country was strongly
excited, and when Mr. ParneU, amid loud expres
sions of dissent, had given notice of his intention
to oppose both of these bUls, a statement from
Mr. Gladstone that he would move that they
should have precedence of all other business was
received with ringing cheers. It was quite evident
that, for the moment at aU events, public feeUng
regarding Irish lawlessness was not in a state in
which it could be trifled with. A hot debate on
the proceedings in Ireland during the recess at
once began. In the course of his speech Mr.
Forster mentioned the fact that five counties had
been proclaimed during the autumn, and that the
number of outrages up to the end of December had
been 2573, of which 1327 were cases of threaten
ing letters, whilst 153 persons were at that time
under special pohce protection.
The beginning of the long running fight between
Forster and Mr. ParneU as the chief representative
of the Land League may be dated from this night's
debate. Mr. Parnell had spoken defending the
action of the League, and Mr. Forster retorted
that the meetings of that body had constantly
been foUowed by outrages, and that the object of
the League leaders was not to bring about an

THE PROTECTION ACT. 289
alteration in the land law by constitutional means,
but to prevent any payment of rout save such as
might be made in accordance with the " unwritten
law " of Mr. Parnell. He did not charge Mr. Par
neU with having himself incited to the outrages
which had followed the meetings at which he had
appeared, but he held that he must have known
very well what would be the result of his speeches
and his action. It was clearly the desire of Mr.
Forster to fasten upon the Parliamentary leader
of the Irish party a personal responsibility for the
action of that party as a whole. He had convinced
himself not only of the close connection between
the League meetings and the outrages which
almost invariably foUowed them, but of the tacit
acquiescence of the League leaders in the acts of
the outrage-mongers. Hitherto all the most pro
minent Parnellites had carefully abstained from
denouncing outrage, and had rarely if ever said
a word in deprecation of those violent threats
against the landlords which were constantly being
uttered at public meetings in their hearing. It
was Forster's object, if possible, to drive Mr.
Parnell and his colleagues out of this position of
stolid reserve, and to compel them to declare
themselves frankly and honestly on either one
side or the other — either as the open enemies of
violence and crime, or as the active accomplices
of the outrage-mongers. He believed that what
ever choice Mr. Parnell and his party might make,
VOL. II. U

290 LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
decided action on their part must benefit enor
mously tho party of law and order in Ireland.
Mr. Parnell, it need hardly be said, did not
see matters in the same light as Forster, and he
was clearly greatly irritated by the attempts of the
Chief Secretary to make him take his stand either
for outrages or against them. Forster had never,
since he took the office he now held, been able
to count upon any kind of support, or even of fair
consideration, from Mr. Parnell, who opposed him
alike when he was pressing forward the Compensa
tion for Disturbance Bill in the interests of the
tenants, and when he was attacking the outrage-
mongers in the interests of the public at large.
It was not, however, until Mr. Parnell was thus
directly challenged that he became Forster's bitter
and unrelenting foe. From that time forward all
the forces commanded by the Irish party in the
House of Commons were directed against Mr.
Forster, and every species of personal attack
which malignity could devise and ingenuity exe
cute was made upon the Irish Secretary.
It is unnecessary here to repeat the history of
the session of 1881, though I shall have occasion
to refer to not a few incidents in that session as
I proceed. The reader must understand, however,
that from the day on which the Houses met, until
that on which they separated, Forster had to
submit to nightly attacks, insults, and calumnies
of every conceivable and inconceivable description,

THE PEOTECTION ACT. 291
whilst the Irish members laboured unceasingly to
create among their English colleagues a belief
that no matter who might be chosen to replace
Mr. Forster he could not possibly be a person so
completely unacceptable to the representatives of
Ireland as Forster was. The manceuvre is a stale
one now ; and men look with comparative indiffer
ence upon that personal abuse of Irish Secretaries
by the Irish representatives which is apparently part
of the reward which the former must expect for the
faithful performance of their duty. But it was
new to the House of Commons when Mr. Forster
was first made the victim of it. It is to be feared
that there were many members who did not very
clearly realize the true motives of Mr. Parnell and
his friends, in waging such bitter personal war
against Mr. Forster, and who believed that, after
all, it must be due to some personal defects of his
own, rather than to the pecuharity of the position
which he held as the representative of English
rule in a country profoundly disaffected, but en
joying parhamentary representation, that he owed
the uncompromising hostihty of the Irish members.
At aU events it is certain that such hostility was
infinitely more formidable in the days when it was
first directed against Mr. Forster than it has ever
been since.
Whilst the Irish question was being fiercely
debated on the address in the House of Commons,
and Mr. Forster was being assailed on the one

292 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
side by Lord Eandolph ChurchiU for having
aUowed Mr. Parnell and his co-defenders in the
State prosecutions to be sent before an unpacked
jury, as well as for the anxiety he showed to re
strain the police from any violent action, and on
the other hand by Mr. Parnell on precisely op
posite grounds, Forster himself was busied with
the details of the new land measure. The bUl
itself had been undertaken by Mr. Gladstone, but
it was, of course, inevitable that Forster should
be consulted in every stage of its preparation..
Necessity compelled him to assume the ungracious
part in connection with the Irish legislation of the
year, and to appear chiefly as the author and
administrator of a new Coercion Act, whilst to
Mr. Gladstone fell the happier lot of being asso
ciated with a great remedial measure. But as
a matter of fact, Forster's interest in the new Land
Bill was as keen as that of Mr. Gladstone himself,.
and it was to the result of the passing of that
measure, rather than to any addition to the powers.
of the Executive, that he chiefly looked for an im
provement in the condition of Ireland.
From Me. Foestee to Me. Gladstone.
" Irish Oface, Great Queen Street, S.W.,
"January 10th, 1881.
"My deae Me. Gladstone,
" I cannot help telling you that I beUeve
the feeling for the three F's in Ireland prevails

THE PROTECTION ACT. 293
¦even more than I had supposed. If there was
now an election, I believe there would not be ten
Irish members returned who would not go for that
or something stronger. . . . We must oppose the
Irish members in the protection bills, because we
cannot otherwise do our duty as au administration ;
but it is another matter opposing the overwhelm
ing Irish feeling on the most important subject
of legislation." A few days later we find him writing to Mr.
¦Gladstone to suggest means by which the land
lords might be prevented from taking advantage of
the Protection Act in order to carry out evictions
before the passing of the Land Act. At the very
time when he was anxiously discussing this point
with the Prime Minister, some of the Irish
members were charging him with having brought
forward the Protection Bill for the real purpose of
helping the landlords to recover their arrears of
unjust rents. Immediately after the close of the
¦debate on the address, during which eleven nights
were occupied, chiefly in the discussion of Irish
questions, the Protection Bills were brought for
ward by Mr. Forster. The shape which they
finally assumed was somewhat different from that
simple suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act
which had first commended itself to him.
In prefacing his description of the provisions
of the first of the two measures he had to propose,

294 LIFE OF THE RIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
Mr. Forster gave some facts regarding the condition
of Ireland. During the previous year the number
of agrarian crimes had, he said, exceeded by six
hundred the total of any single year since 1844,
despite the fact that in the interval the population
had decreased from eight to five millions. Even
setting aside the sending of threatening letters,
there had been in 1880, 1253 outrages, two-thirds
of which had been committed in the last three
months of the year. Abandoning mere statistics,
Forster drew from materials which had accumu
lated upon him only too rapidly during the winter
a picture of the condition of the country which
was terrible in its character. Incendiary fires,
moonlighting, cardings, torture of cattle, attempts
at assassination — ¦these, as he showed, were the
penalties inflicted upon all who were known to
have disobeyed the unwritten law of the Land
League, whose rule was now supreme throughout
the greater part of Ireland. "In Ireland," he
said, " the Land League law is supreme, and there
is a real reign of terror over the whole country.
No man dares take a farm from which another
man has been ejected, nor work for a man who
pays his rent, or who refuses to join the Land
League. . . . The fact is that those who defy the
existing law are safe, while those who keep it — the
honest men, in short — are in danger. After all, all
law rests on the power to punish its infraction.
There being no such power in Ireland at the

THE PEOTECTION ACT.

=';5

present time, I am forced to acknowledge that to
a great extent the ordinary law is powerless ; but
the unwritten law is powerful because punishment
is sure to follow its infraction. Take away this
power to punish for infraction of the unwritten
law, and it will become an empty form. The men
who have planned and perpetrated the outrages to
which I have referred are the men without whose
help the speeches of the honourable members for
the city of Cork, Tipperary, and Cavan would be
merely harmless exhortations and vapouring. It is
these men who have struck terror into the heart of
the districts in which their operations have been
carried on, and we must strike terror into them
in order that outrage may be stopped, person
and property may be protected, and liberty may
be secured. We must arrest these criminals. We
cannot do it now because they have made them
selves safe by the enormity of their crimes and
the power which those crimes have enabled them
to acquire. They know that they would be per
fectly foolish to fear the law when no man dares
to appear and give evidence against them. Do
the police know the names of these village tyrants ?
Of course the police know them, and they them
selves are perfectly aware of the fact. These men
may, I think, be divided into three categories.
There are, first, those who remain of the old
Eibbon and other secret societies of former days ;
in the second place, there are a large number of

296 LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
Fenians, who have taken advantage of the present
state of affairs, not so much caring about the land
as in order to promote their own particular views
in regard to the political situation in Ireland;
and, in the third, there are a large number of men
who are the mauvais sujets of their neighbourhood.
So it not unfrequently happens that the most
powerful man in a particular district is a con
temptible, dissolute ruffian and blackguard, who,
his character being known by all his neighbours,
is shunned by them all, but who nevertheless acts
as the powerful and active policeman for the
execution of the unwritten law. To what, then,
are we driven ? Simply to this — to take power to
arrest these men and keep them in prison in order
they may be prevented from tyrannizing over their
neighbours." When Forster drew that picture of the con
dition of Ireland, which made so profound an
impression upon all who heard it, he had in his
mind, not those masses of figures which were all
that he could lay before the House, but the details
of numberless cases of individual suffering, and of
the malignant cruelty of those who were seeking
to make themselves the agents and ministers of
the unwritten law, which had been brought before
his attention whilst in Dublin. He knew, too,
that many of the victims of that " reign of terror "
of which he spoke, ignorant of the course he had
taken in the Cabinet, laid upon him the responsi-

THE PEOTECTION ACT. 297
bility for their sufferings, and increased the weight
upon his mind by the reproaches with which they
assailed him, in the mistaken belief that he had
turned a deaf ear to then- cry for help. Only those
who knew him best could appreciate the extent to
which he felt the miseries and cruelties infiicted
upon people whose one offence was that they had
dared to remain true to the law of the land, or
could understand his own bitter sense of impotence
when he was left to contend with the adversary
with no weapons save those of the common law.
Yet those who wish to get a picture of Forster's
mind on the day when he stood up in the House
of Commons to confess that there was a real reign
of terror over the whole of the country, and that
the law was powerless to reach the offenders, must
endeavour to realize these things.
The provisions of the Protection Bill were
simple enough in themselves. They empowered
the Lord Lieutenant to issue a warrant for the
arrest of any person whom he might reasonably
suspect of treasonable practices or agrarian
offences, and to detain such person as an uncon
victed prisoner for a period not to extend beyond
September 30th, 1882.
It was in the closing passage of the speech in
which Forster explained the provisions of the bill,
that he said, with a depth of emphasis that struck
home to every heart, " This has been to me a
most painful duty. I never expected that I should

298 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
have to discharge it. If I had thought that this
duty would devolve upon the Irish Secretary, I
would never have held the office. If I could have
foreseen that this would be the result of twenty
years of Parliamentary life, I would have left
Parliament rather than have undertaken it. But
I never was more clear than I am now that it is
my duty ; I never was more clear that the man
responsible, as I am, for the administration of the
government of Ireland, ought no longer to have
any part or share in any government which does
not fulfil its first duty- — the protection of person
and property and the security of liberty."
Historically important as were many of the
incidents of the debate upon the bUl which had
thus been laid before Parhament, the limits of this
narrative can only permit of a brief allusion to
them. Mr. Parnell was absent from London,
attending his trial at Dublin, when the bill was first
brought in. There were many of his colleagues,
however, who were able and willing to fill his
place in leading the opposition to thc bill. The
most strenuous efforts were made on the part of
Irish members for the purpose of obstructing the
measure as much as possible. They began by
resisting the motion for its introduction, and they
appealed to English members to give them their
support. The appeal was practically without result^
for the Eadical members of the House agreed with
the Whigs and the Conservatives in admitting the

THE PEOTECTION ACT. 299
strength of the case which had been made out on
behalf of an amendment of the law, and were
inclined upon the whole to regard the proposed
measure with favour. The Irish members were
thus left to themselves in opposing it.
There can be no doubt of the tenacity and
courage with which they did their work. Twice
during the debates upon the motion for leave to
bring in the bill were the sittings of the House
extended to an abnormal length. On the first
occasion a memorable incident was the return of
Mr. Parnell in the midst of an all-night sitting
from his trial at Dublin, where the disagreement
of the jury had brought the proceedings — as Mr.
Forster from the first had anticipated would be the
case — to an abortive end. On the second occasion
the House sat for forty-one and a haK hours — from
Monday afternoon until Wednesday morning, and
the sitting was only terminated in the end by the
courageous action of the Speaker in putting the
question on his own responsibility — a step which
led eventually to a great change in Parliamentary
procedure, and to the adoption of the closure. In
the first instance, the one change made was the
adoption, on Mr. Gladstone's motion, of a rule for
expediting the progress of public business which
had been declared "urgent." Before this pro
posed rule could be discussed, an extraordinary
scene, due to the extreme excitement and passion
of the Irish members, occurred in the House. It

300 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
began in an explosion of anger, on the part of
Mr. Dillon, at the announcement that Mr. Michael
Davitt, once a Fenian convict, and now an active
agitator on behalf of the Land League, had been
arrested and sent back to prison under his ticket-
of-leave. Mr. Dillon, declining to submit to the
ruling of the chair, was suspended. Mr. Parnell,
attempting to prevent Mr. Gladstone from speak
ing on the subject of his proposed new rule, after
repeated warnings met with the same fate as
Mr. Dillon, and eventually thirty-six other Irish
members in all, who had refused to obey the chair,
were in turn named to the House and suspended.
It was only after this scene of excitement that
Mr. Gladstone was enabled to propose the new
rules for expediting urgent business.
The chief object of these regulations was, of
course, to enable the majority of the House to
cope with Irish obstruction, especially with the
obstruction which was directed against such a
measure as the Protection. Bill. On February
4th, the second reading of the bill was moved
by Mr. Forster, the first stage of the measure
having occupied five days. On the fourth day
of the debate on the second reading, the re
solution was carried, and eventually, after the
promulgation by the Speaker of stringent rules
for expediting the business, the measure passed
through its last stages in the House of Commons
on February 24th, twenty-two nights, in all,

THE PEOTECTION ACT. 301
having been spent in discussing it. On March
2nd it received the Eoyal assent, and at once
became law.
The Protection Act was followed by the Arms
Bill, which, after full discussion in the House of
Commons, also became law on March 21st.
It was inevitable that, during the heated de
bates upon the measure, Mr. Forster should come
in for no small share of abuse from the Irish
representatives and then- English allies. They
charged him with being more anxious to crush the
national hberties under the heel of a tyrant than
to afford any rehef to the victims of bad laws and
an oppressive land system. The Irish newspapers
dehghted to apply to him, as a name of opprobrium,
the epithet "Buckshot" — founded upon the mis
taken idea that he had ordered the use of buck
shot by the police when they had occasion to fire
upon a crowd ; and one English member went so
far as to speak of him in the House of Commons
as " the Enghsh Eobespierre," and to declare
that he was no more fitted than the French revo
lutionist to be entrusted with the liberties of a
people. At the time when he was thus being
held up to the hatred of the Irish race he was
constantly taking counsel with Mr. Tuke and
other active friends of the suffering tenantry, as
to the means of relieving the distress where it was
specially severe, and was going far beyond the
duties of his high office in his personal efforts to

302 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
afford help to the starving cottiers of the west.
" If I saw my way to a special fund " (for seed
potatoes) " of £5000," he writes to Mr. Tuke in
February, 1881, " I would gladly give £100 ; and
I do not doubt that England would give." And
on the day on which the Eoyal assent was given
to the Protection Act, he wrote to his wife, not
making any mention of the measure over the
triumph of which he was supposed to be gloating,
but telling her that he had just seen a certain
firm about " the BelmuUet people," and had
arranged for their seed. " The £1100 will do the
job, and I believe it will save the whole district."
"I never felt so happy about any gift of money,"
he writes to Mr. Tuke (March 8th, 1881). "I
believe we shall simply save these poor Erris
men, who have behaved very well, and refrained
from outrage."
It was during this time also, when party passions
were beginning to run high, and Forster found
himself engaged in a struggle as severe as that in
which any minister of our century has been in
volved, that he found time to write to an old
family servant as follows.
To Mary Eowland.
" 80, Eccleston Square, London,
" January 2nd, 1881.
" How very kind of you to give me and work
for me that beautiful handkerchief! I hope and

THE PEOTECTION ACT. 303
trust you are really better, for I fear you have had
much suffering, and it has been a real sorrow to
me as well as to my wife to hear of it. Well, you
have one comfort, and a great comfort too; you
have tried through life, and on the whole very
successfully, to do your duty, and to make better
those with whom you have had to do. I wish you
could make my Irish friends and foes do likewise.
The New Year comes upon me with a great pros
pect of work. You kindly wish me less hard work
than last year. I do not expect this, but I have
a hopeful trust it will not be such grievously un
pleasant work. " Yours very affectionately, "W. E. Foestee."
The Irish Land BUl v,'as the chief legislative
work of the session of 1881. Forster's share in it
was not a smaU one, but it must be noticed here
very briefly. He had looked forward to this biU
with the utmost hope from the moment when he
took office. In his memorandum addressed to
the Cabinet in May, 1880, on the question of the
renewal of the Crimes Act, he spoke of the
necessity for "a strong Land Bill" as being that
which was paramount in connection with Irish
affairs ; and all through the autumn of that year,
as well as in the spring of 1881, when he was
pushing forward the Protection Bill and the Arms
Bill, much of his time and thought were given to

304 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
that remedial legislation in the efficacy of which
he had so large a faith. It will have been seen
from some of his letters to Mr. Gladstone that he
was convinced that no measure which did not
embody the three F's had a chance of succeeding,
and in his various official memoranda on the subject,
whilst the bill was under preparation, he dwelt
strongly upon the importance of its being made
" strong " in the sense of being, as far as possible,
comprehensive and complete. He did not agree
with the original draft of the Land Bill as sketched
by Mr. Gladstone, and he was strongly in favour,.
not only of fixity of tenure at a fair rent with
freedom of sale, but of effectual measures to
prevent the overcroAvding of certain districts in
Donegal, Kerry, Cork, and Connaught.
Whilst the Land Bill was slowly and amid
many difficulties making its way through the
House of Commons, Mr. Forster was facing the
situation in Ireland. The work thrown upon him
at this time was of almost incredible severity, and
would undoubtedly have broken down the strength
of most men. But Forster's wonderful power of
bearing fatigue, and his capacity of keeping his
faculties on the full stretch for a long period at a
time, stood him in good stead now. He went
backwards and forwards between Dublin and
London, almost living in railway carriages. He
felt that his chief place must of necessity be in
Dublin, where he was charged with the employ-

THE PEOTECTION ACT. 305
ment of special powers for the administration of
which he had made himself personally responsible.
So every week he went over to Ireland to spend
a day or two in consultation with Mr, Burke and
the Castle authorities. But the Cabinet, when the
Land BiU was passing through the crucible, and
the House of Commons, whose members on all
sides — Conservatives, Liberals, and ParnelUtes —
were impatient for information or eager to attack
the acts of the Irish Executive, also demanded his
attention. It was well for him that in his business
Ufe, in his electioneering episodes, and in other
phases of his experience he had learned to keep
his head cool under strongly exciting circum
stances. He was enabled now to retain his calm
ness and self-possession in the midst of a racket
which would have overthrown the equanimity of
most men. It may be doubted if any, either of his
predecessors or his successors in the office of Chief
Secretary, had to pass through such an experience
of work and excitement as that which he had to
encounter from the beginning of 1881 down to
May, 1882. It must be borne in mind that,
during practicaUy the whole of his tenure of office
as Secretary for Ireland, he was the only person
connected with the Irish Administration who had
a seat in the Cabinet. Nominally the subordinate,
he was in reahty the superior of the Lord-Lieu
tenant, whilst he had not the advantage of having
a Cabinet colleague in the Chancellor. But there
VOL. II. X

3o6 LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
were graver reasons than the mere pressure of his
work, both in the House of Commons and at
Dublin, which now caused him serious anxiety.
The passing of the Protection Act had been
succeeded by a lull in the progress of the outrages
in Ireland. Mr. Michael Davitt had been arrested
in February, before the Act was passed, and there
had been an outburst of indignation on the part of
the Irish people at the arrest of one whose sincerity
of purpose was generally acknowledged ; nor was
the feeling lessened by the fact that Davitt, being
a Fenian convict on ticket-of-leave, had been sent
back by the Home Secretary without trial to the
rigours of penal servitude. Even the announce
ment that he was being treated with great leniency
in prison hardly served to mitigate the bitterness
of the national party in Ireland at his arrest.
This incident apart, however, nothing of serious
consequence happened in Ireland until a few weeks
after the passing of the Protection Act. Mr.
Parnell and his coUeagues in the House of Com
mons, indeed, affected to defy it and treat it with
contempt. But among the Irish people it was
evident that there was a feehng of apprehension,
and they waited in silence to see in what manner
it was to be applied.
The general belief, both in Ireland and in
England, was that the framing of the measure
would be followed by wholesale arrests throughout
the country, and morning after morning people

THE PEOTECTION ACT. 307
turned to their newspapers expecting to read of a
coup-d'etat which had led to the annihilation of
the party of outrage in Ireland. Forster, however,
had given his pledge in Parliament that he would
personally supervise the execution of the Act
which had practically invested him with despotic
powers over the liberties of the Irish, and, strange
to say of one who had been compared by a fellow-
member in the House of Commons to Eobespierre,
he took a strict and conscientious view of this
pledge. It would be ridiculous — even in presence
of the slanders so freely hurled against him by the
leaders of the Irish party — to defend him against
the charge of having a dehght in the use of the
powers with which he was now invested. Nothing
so utterly abhorrent to him had ever occurred in
the course of his political career, as the need for
obtaining these powers from Parliament. In his
inmost heart he was not without a hope that, now
that he had been formally invested with them, .he
would be relieved from the necessity of making
use of them. But in any case he was determined
to carry out, both in the letter and in the spirit,
the pledge which he had given to Parliament as
to the manner in which he would administer
the Act.
Wholesale arrests might — probably would —
have struck terror into the hearts of many of the
enemies of the law, and from the strategical point
of view those who complained regarding the faUure

3o8 LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
to employ the Act in this way were not without
grounds for doing so. But how could arrests be
effected wholesale when Mr. Forster had under
taken to inquire personally into every case, and to
see that the Act was administered with the utmost
possible regard for the common rights of the Irish
people ? So the opportunity, such as it was, of
" striking a blow " — the favourite resort, be it said,
of men whose only resource is brute force — was
deliberately aUowed to pass, in order that the
extraordinary powers created by the Protection
Act might be employed with the strictest regard
for the rights of individuals, and for the pledges
given when the Act was being discussed in Par
liament, that was consistent with the circumstances.
And here a word must be said regarding a
charge which during the heated years of Mr.
Forster's Chief Secretaryship was not infrequently
brought against him, and more than once by men
who, it might weU have been expected, would have
refused to soil their hands by making use of such
an accusation as a means of attacking an opponent.
That is the charge that he used his authority under
the Protection Act in order to arrest his political
opponents, not because there was reason to suspect
them of having committed any of the offences
against which the Act was named, but merely
because they were his political opponents. It
seems strange to one who knew Mr. Forster in
private as well as in public, and who knows that.

THE PEOTECTION ACT, 309
whatever might be his bluntness of manner, such
a feeling as personal malice never found a place in
his breast, to have to defend him from an accusa
tion so malignant as this. Forster had many
enemies in public life. No man could have won
the great place which he had secured before his
death without incurring animosities and resent
ments, no matter how honourable and straight
forward his own conduct might have been. And,
alas ! in this world no man can dare to flatter
himself that he is not the object of the jealous
hatred of rivals, who either see that he has already
outstripped them, or imagine that he stands in the
way of their own advancement. Forster shared
.the common lot. But never during the present
writer's intercourse with him, did he hear one word
of bitterness or animosity fall from his lips with
regard to those who had shown something more
active than mere political enmity in their dealings
with him. He was invariably, in private conversa
tion, generous and gentle in his allusions to his
rivals and his foes. No word was ever uttered by
him which showed that the evil passion of jealousy
had possession of his breast. It is strange, I repeat,
that I should have to defend such a man from the
charge of having violated the law — for if the
charge had been true, such would have been his
offence — in order that he might avenge himself
upon his political opponents in Ireland. To those
who knew him the accusation must have seemed

3IO LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FORSTER.
utterly absurd. When it was put forward in his
lifetime he denied it with warmth and emphasis,
and defled his assailants to adduce even the shadow
of proof of their assertions. The charge has been
repeated since his death, but from first to last
those who have made it have failed to bring
forward evidence in support of a statement which
can only be branded as a malicious and mendacious
calumny. But to return to the course of events in Ireland.
Very quickly the Irish people discovered that Mr.
Forster had not promised that which he was not
prepared to perform, when he undertook himself
to superintend the administration of the Protec
tion Act. The Executive, after having secured
these powers, proceeded very much as they had
done before. No sudden swoop upon the centres
of lawlessness was made by the authorities ; but
here and there, where a strong case of suspicion
was proved to exist against some notorious agitator
or outrage- monger, he was quietly arrested upon
a Castle warrant and conveyed to Kilmainham
Prison. The outrage-mongers and their friends
recovered speedily from the fright occasioned by
the passing of the Act. If this was the manner
in which it was to be employed, they felt that
there was nothing very formidable in it. So
outrages again began to mount up, there were
constant collisions between the bailiffs or process-
servers and the public, whilst the leading members

THE PROTECTION ACT. 311
of the Land League went up and down Ireland,
proclaiming their contempt for the Act and their
defiance of the Government. One painful feature
of the situation was the fact that the League
meetings, whenever they were held, seemed to
be foUowed by a track of crime.
The first distinct aggravation of the situation,
after the passing of the Protection Act, occurred
at the end of March. At a place called Clogher,
a fatal conflict took place between the police, who
were protecting a process-server, and the mob. A
policeman was killed by the crowd, and the
constables, firing in self- defence, killed two peasants.
Mr. DiUon, reading the telegram announcing this
affray in the House of Commons, declared that
the blood which had been shed was upon the
heads of Mr. Gladstone and Mr. Forster, and
that the curses of the children of the slain men
would follow them. It was not imputed to them
even by Mr, Dillon that they were in any special
degree responsible for the collision between the
pohce and the people. Their offence, from the Land
League point of view, was to be found in the fact
that they had not insisted upon passing a bill for
suspending evictions until the new Land BiU had
been carried. Another fatal conflict between the
police and the public followed the affair at Clogher.
Forster hastened over to Dublin in order that he
might be upon the spot, leaving to his colleagues
the management of Irish affairs in Parliament.

312 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W. B. FOESTEE.
The effect produced by the Protection Act when
it was first passed was manifestly fading away.
The shape which the Land Act would finally take
was stiU unknown ; there were differences on the
subject between himself and his colleagues.
Meanwhile the Irish leaders and people showed
no disposition to be grateful, or even patient, in
view of the prospective advantages of the measure.
More than ever he deplored the conduct of the
House of Lords in rejecting the Compensation for
Disturbance Bill of the previous session, and thus
paving the way to the existing situation. He
could not abandon his post whilst the battle was
in full progress, but to those nearest to him he
made it clear that this task of governing a people
by means of a Coercion Act was intensely distasteful,
and he entertained some hope of being able, after
the passing of the Land Act, to retire from the
Chief Secretaryship.
One of the results of the fatal collisions between
the police and the public was a series of speeches
from prominent members of the Land League of
such a character that it was impossible for the
Executive to ignore them without aUowing the
Queen's authority to be brought into open con
tempt. A strong measure was resolved upon — the
arrest of Mr. Dillon.
One great cause of disappointment to Forster
at this time was the apparent inability of the
police to discover and arrest persons who might be

THE PEOTECTION ACT. 313
" reasonably suspected " of being concerned in
outrages. When he brought in the Protection
Bill he had stated that the police assured him that
they knew the outrage-mongers, and that, provided
they were allowed to arrest them on suspicion, they
would soon be able to clear the country. These
were practically the representations which had
been made to him. But, to his disappointment,
serious outrages took place without being followed
by any arrests. The police, in fact, found them
selves at fault, and to Forster's chagrin were un
able to make that full use of the powers conferred
upon them by the act which had been anticipated.
He did what he could in the shape of urging in
creased care and vigilance upon the constabulary,
and especiaUy impressing upon them the im
portance of acting promptly after an outrage had
been committed. The effect of an arrest following
immediately upon a riot or an outrage was, he felt,
immeasurably greater than its effect would be if
it were deferred until people had almost forgotten
the occasion of it. The fact that Forster dis
covered thus early that the Protection Act did
not, after all, give him the full power he had
hoped to obtain from it, is too important to be
passed over at this point in the narrative. He
hoped, however, that matters would improve and
that such measures as the arrest of Mr. Dillon
would satisfy the people of Ireland that ministers
were thoroughly in earnest.

314 LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
Mr. Dillon was arrested in the beginning of
May, and a great sensation was produced by the
incident throughout the country ; for John DUlon
was unquestionably not only one of the ablest and
most earnest, but one of the most popular of the
Irish leaders. It was a strange fate which com
pelled Mr. Forster, the man who in 1848 had
offered to find a shelter for John Dillon the elder,
then a fugitive from justice, to issue a warrant for
the arrest of John Dillon the younger. But his
duty was an imperative one, and he discharged it
without flinching. Not that he failed to do justice
to the good qualities of Mr. Dillon. Standing
behirtd the Speaker's chair one day in the early
part of this session of 1881, whilst Mr. Dillon was
launching out in the most violent manner against
the Irish Government, Forster turned to a friend
beside him and said, " That poor fellow isthe most
honest of them all ; but I am afraid he will be the
first of them I shall have to lock up." The
punishment, however, which was involved in im
prisonment under the Protection Act was alto
gether different in its character from that which
is ordinarily suffered by prisoners. Forster was
anxious, above everything else, to abstain from
dealing with his " suspects " as though they were
convicted criminals. It was necessary that they
should be held in detention — some because they
were reasonably suspected of having been engaged
in the commission of outrages and in other

THE PEOTECTION ACT. 315
criminal acts, others because their speeches had
the effect of inciting those who heard them to
resistance to the law. But no criminal taint was
allowed to attach to the man who was held in
detention under the powers of the Protection Act.
He was treated far better than a first-class mis
demeanant in an ordinary gaol. He was not
degraded by having menial tasks imposed, upon
him. He wore his own clothes ; he could, if he
pleased, provide his own food ; he read books and
newspapers ; he received his friends in prison ; he
associated with his feUow- captives. This was the
manner in which Forster dealt with the prisoners
whom he made under the Protection Act.
The penalty imposed upon them was the lightest
consistent with their actual detention in gaol. And
even the prison doors were opened to them when
good reason could be shown for temporarily libe
rating them. Some were aUowed to go home on
parole, to see a sick wife or child, others to attend
the funeral of father or mother. At the moment
when the shrillest cries of passion and hatred were
being raised against the Chief Secretary, who held
in his hands the keys of Kilmainham, Forster was
devoting hours daily to the task of making sure
that the imprisonment of the suspects was not
merely humane, but even gentle, and entirely free
from any trace of cruelty or vindictiveness. Before
me lie the grateful letters of a father whose son
had been released from gaol in order that he might

3i6 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
attend his mother's funeral; of a mother on a
sick-bed who thanked Mr. Forster for allowing her
to see her son ; and of others who, amid all the
slander and calumny that was current throughout
the country, had their own personal reasons for
Knowing that the heart of Mr. Forster was a
tender one, and that his ear was never closed
against an appeal to his sense of justice or his
pity. Such was the system of imprisonment
carried out under his regime in Ireland. Great
differences of opinion, I know, exist as to the best
method of dealing with a people who have to be
governed against their own consent. I cannot
discuss the question here. Mr. Forster's method
must stand or fall upon its own merits. It was
the method of combining firmness with gentleness.
In giving some account of the dark and stormy
months of his sojourn at the Chief Secretary's
Lodge in Phoenix Park, I am chiefly indebted to a
diary kept with great care and accuracy by his
daughter, Mrs. Vere O'Brien. On May Sth, she
notes, " Father read to us Mr. Eobinson's report
of the reception of the seed potatoes in County
Mayo. This has been an altogether delightful
incident, and it was a pleasure to hear the Chief
Secretary reading anything so different from an
outrage report. ' I wonder whether they would
call me Buckshot Forster, if I went down there ? '
pondered father."
For some time before this the police had been

THE PEOTECTION ACT. 317
entertaining grave apprehensions as to Forster's
personal safety. From various quarters they had
received hints of the existence of a secret society
which was not agrarian, but political in its cha
racter, and the object of which was to "remove "
by assassination those statesmen and political
leaders w^ho were supposed to be obstacles to the
attainment of the desires of the Irish people. The
first man to be thus dealt with was known to be
Forster, and there was naturally great anxiety on
the part of the authorities as to Ms safety. Forster
himseK was altogether free from this anxiety. To
the courage of a brave Englishman was apparently
united a certain degree of fatalism. He had his
duty to perform, and whatever came to him in
that plain path must be right. The religious
sentiment, too, which was always so real and
strong in his heart, whatever might be his intel
lectual attitude towards Churches and creeds, sus
tained him with a sense of the divine presence
and protection. Thus upheld, he had no liking
for the precautions for his safety which were con
stantly being taken by the police. In Ireland
the matter was very much in his own hands, and
he was thus enabled to get rid of the escort which
the authorities at Dublin Castle were so anxious
to force upon him. The case was different in Eng
land, where the supreme authority in the matter
was the Home Secretary. It happened that in
the month of May Forster went down to Yorkshire

3i8 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
to address a meeting at Bradford. To his annoy
ance he found, on reaching his peaceful home at
Burley, that a large body of pohce had been
quartered in the village, and that both his house
and his person were "under protection" to such
an extent that his own partner, Mr. Fison, was
stopped in the grounds at Wharfeside when on the
way to call upon him after dinner. This was
more than he was prepared to submit to, and he
sent a message to the chief constable of the
riding, bluntly telling him that there was to be
no repetition of these precautions when he came
down again to Yorkshire, as upon the whole he
would prefer to be shot.
Things continued to go badly during this month
of May in Ireland. Outrages were frequent, and
each fell upon Forster like a personal blow. The
coarse insults to which he had to submit whenever
he showed himself in the House of Commons, and
some of which were almost incredibly gross and
brutal in their character, were mere trifles com
pared with the constant occurrence of cases in
which farmers who had dared to pay their rents,
or labourers who had ventured to continue to serve
boycotted persons, were subjected to the most
cruel outrages by criminals whose identity could
not be discovered. It was disheartening in the
extreme to continue the arrests of suspected
persons, and to find that all the arrests had no
substantial effect upon the returns of outrages.

THE PEOTECTION ACT. 319
Then, towards the end of May, there was fresh
trouble, owing to the surreptitious publication in
the Nationalist newspapers in Ireland of a con
fidential circular to the police. It necessitated
his return to Dublin from the House of Commons,
where he had been meeting the Irish members
face to face, and watching the progress of the
Land Bill. A grave question was to be dealt
with, and it could only be effectuaUy dealt with
at the Castle. It was how to warn the people
that henceforward any assembly for the purpose
of obstructing the officers of the law in the execu
tion of their duty would be dispersed, if necessary,
by force. The " assembUes " which were thus to be dealt
with were not meetings, but were the riotous
mobs which appeared upon the scene whenever
the process-servers were going about their hateful
work under the protection of the police. Hitherto
the police had shown the most admirable self-com
mand under grievous provocation. But Forster,
though he did everything possible to encourage
.them in this display of patience and forbearance,
felt that there were hmits beyond which the en
durance of flesh and blood must fail, and, knowing
that in the last resort force must be used, he was
anxious to give fair and full warning to the people,
before that point had been reached.

320 LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. VV. E. FORSTER.
To Mr. Gladstone.
"Dublin Castle, May 27th, 1881.
" My dear Mr. Gladstone,
" I find myself unable to return to Lon
don, to-night, and I am not sure that I shall be
able to do so on Monday, in which case it will
not be worth while to return before Whitsuntide.
As you have got into committee on the bill, I am
very anxious to get back ; but, on the other hand,
administration here requires constant attendance,
and it is very difficult to direct on details from
London, " The struggle to repress lawlessness is very
severe, but I have more hope of success than
when I first came over. There are districts — ¦
especially parts of Limerick — which are in the
most dangerous excitement. I still hope to make
the writs run without bloodshed ; but it is very
difficult, and the magistrates have to possess a
rare combination of firmness and forbearance.
The insults to the police are almost past bearings
for instance, many hundreds of men and women
yelling like savages, throwing dirt, spitting in
their faces, for hours. This, of course, they bear ;
but when stones are thrown, actually endangering
life, it is hard to keep them quiet. On the other
hand, firing probably means many men and some
women killed, and an almost certain verdict of
wilful murder against the men, if they fire with
out orders, though in defence of their lives, and

THE PROTECTION ACT. 321
against the resident magistrate if he gives the
order to fire.
" On the other hand, thanks to our arrests,
the outrages throughout the country are certainly
diminishing, and more rents are being paid. As
regards the evictions at present, the large majority
of them are perfectly just, but though the increase
already is great, I expect a very much larger in
crease of decrees next month, unless we can devise
some arbitration or mediatory clause.
" Yours very truly,
"W. E. Forster."
To Me. Gladstone.
" The Castle, Dublin, May 29th, 1881.
"Deae Me. Gladstone,
" I am much obUged to you for your note.
I am sorry to say I think I must stay here over
Whitsuntide. I am clear I am more wanted here
for the next fortnight than in London. There
is one especial matter which I hardly dare to
leave uncontroUed, or to attempt to control by
telegrams from London.
"It is clear that we cannot allow a repetition
of what took place last Saturday week in Co.
Limerick. Not merely must the sheriff and his
officers be protected, but an obstructing, stone-
throwing mob must be dispersed. Further legal
processes must be carried out within a few days,
and, if let alone, the mob will be much larger and
VOL. II. T

322 LIFE OP THE RIGHT HON. W, E. FOESTEE.
more dangerous than before. I am taking steps
to send an overpowering force of soldiers and
police, and I intend at the same time to have a
proclamation posted throughout the district, warn
ing people that an assembly to obstruct the law is
unlawful, will be dispersed, and that they will
attend it at their peril. I hope by this means to
assert the law without bloodshed, but it is a
ticklish business, needing constant watching.
"As regards McCarthy's motion, I cannot
speak again. If it gets again into a real debate,
... a few words from you, or, in your absence, from
Hartington, will be useful, as of course there is
a great effort here to separate me from the
Government." This allusion to Mr. McCarthy's motion, and
the attempts which were being made to separate
Forster from his colleagues, had reference to a
resolution directly censuring the Irish Executive
of which Mr. McCarthy had given notice, and
for which eventually only twenty-two members
voted, and to the growing practice of Mr. Parnell
and his followers of alleging the existence of a
party within the Cabinet which was opposed to
Coercion and to Mr. Forster's method of governing
in Ireland. The proclamation warning persons who as
sembled for the purpose of obstructing the exe
cution of the law that they would be dispersed

THE PEOTECTION ACT. 323
by force was duly issued, and Forster awaited the
result. So far as he himself was concerned, he
beheved that it would lead to a verdict of wilful
murder being returned against himself, whenever
any one was shot by the police.
" I am doing three things," he writes to one of
his colleagues (June 4th). "Arresting all those
central and local leaders of the Land League who
can be reasonably suspected of incitements to
violence, and I think these arrests are telling ;
(2) letting the sub-sheriffs and landlords know
that they must tell us what protection they want,
and when and where, thereby preventing them
from being masters of the situation ; (3) giving
the people to understand that, if they drive us to it,
we must fire on them. I think by striking blow
after blow every day I may make the law prevail ;
but it is a hard job, and if there be a relaxation of
action when I am back, not much good will follow."
He was feeling the weight of the struggle now,
and it was teUing upon his spirits. This employ
ment of soldiers and police for the purpose of
securing the rights of individuals and the supre
macy of the law, necessary though he felt it to be,
was certainly not to his taste. Not to do such
work as this was it that he had accepted the
Irish Secretaryship, and his sensitive nature was
deeply wounded at the thought that this should
be the end of all his labours for Ireland. His
mind reverted frequently to the idea of resignation.

324 LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
" Again this evening (June 12th) father reverted
to the possibility of his resignation," writes his
daughter in her diary. " ' It is seriously to be
thought of whether, after the Land BiU is passed,
I should not get out of it all. The Cabinet would
make arrangements for me. I can never do now
what I might have done in Ireland.' " I have under
lined one passage in this sentence, because it
furnishes the key to that wish of his to retire
from his post which I have_ mentioned. It was
because the hope of benefiting Ireland in the way
which seemed best to him had vanished, and not
because of the difficulties and annoyances of the
office he held, that he was anxious to be released.
He saw clearly enough that Fate had driven him
into a line of action which effectuaUy barred
the door to the realization of his own personal
hopes and aspirations as regarded Ireland. To
other men might come the happiness of being able
to sow the seeds of peace and goodwiU between
Irishmen and' Englishmen. To his lot it had
faUen to have to maintain the cause of law and
order in days of the most critical danger and
anxiety ; and in doing his duty as the minister of
the Crown, he knew that he was at the same time
putting an end to all possibility of the accomplish
ment of the work which he had long hoped that
he might achieve in Ireland. This knowledge was
very bitter to him. It did not, however, interfere
in any degree with his devotion to the duty which

THE PROTECTION ACT. 325
had been laid upon him. If he had to govern by
sword and rifle, if by no other means could the
supremacy of the law be maintained and social
ruin averted in Ireland, then he would do his duty,
and do it thoroughly. This was the resolve which
he faithfully carried out during the terrible autumn
and winter of 1881 ; but rightly to appreciate all
that was involved in this stern devotion to his
task, it is necessary to bear in mind the fact that
in the spring of that year he already clearly
reahzed the truth that the performance of it must
for ever ahenate Irish sympathies from him, and
must shut him out from a field of action towards
which throughout his hfe he had been strongly
attracted. One can imagine the case of a minister who
could revel in the exercise of the vast powers with
which Forster was now entrusted, and who, in
spired by a sense of the importance of the duty
entrusted to him, could even feel a sense of ex
hilaration in wielding aU the forces of tho law in
a contest with the chronic disorder and disaffection
of the Irish people. Forster had the combative
instinct strongly developed, and it cannot be
aUeged that he had any qualms of conscience
when caUed upon to deal severely with open
enemies of the law. In fair fight he was prepared
to strike hard. But he had looked to other means
of pacifying Ireland than the rifles of the police
or the bayonets of the soldiers, and he felt keenly

326 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FORSTER.
the failure of the concihatory policy which he had
hoped to carry out. There was, too, a painful sense
of the failure of the Protection Act to answer its
purpose which added to the bitterness of the
situation. At the close of June, the return of
agrarian crimes for the quarter had reached the
total of 961, against 755 in the preceding quarter,
and 245 in the corresponding quarter of the
previous year. It was thus made evident that
the fall in the outrage returns which had followed
the passing of the Protection Act had been
temporary merely. Six murders, it should be
noted, had taken place during the quarter, against
two in the preceding quarter.
Mention has already been made of the threats
which were frequently used against Mr. Forster,
apparently with the idea of influencing his pohcy.
It was during this month of June, 1881, that pubhc
attention began to be prominently caUed to the
outrageous language of a Fenian ex-convict named
O'Donovan Eossa, who had taken up his abode
in New York, where he had placed himself at the
head of an organization the object of which was
to further the ends of the revolutionary party in
Ireland by means of outrage and assassination. Mr.
Gladstone and Mr. Forster were both denounced
by this miscreant, and it was understood that both
were in danger of meeting with a violent death at
the hands of his tools and accomphces. It was,
however, against Mr. Forster that both in Ireland

THE PEOTECTION ACT. 327
and in America the members of the party of
violence raged most furiously. I am indebted to
Mr. Jephson, who acted as private secretary to
Mr. Forster whilst he was in Ireland, for au
interesting communication throwing light upon
this feature of his Irish work.
" Mr. Forster used to receive large numbers of
threatening letters, many of them evidently mere
threats, others of them of more genuine importance.
They used to amuse him rather than otherwise,
and if by chance a few days passed without his
getting one, he would remark upon their absence.
On one occasion an explosive letter was sent to
him, but, as he had left Ireland the day before it
arrived, it was brought to the Under-Secretary,
who, rendered suspicious by its appearance, handed
it over to the police, with instructions to get it
chemicaUy examined, when its true nature was at
once made apparent.
"More serious, however, than eitherthreatening
letters or this clumsy device, was the information
which used from time to time to reach the Govern
ment of plots against Mr. Forster's life. Pre
cautionary measures were adopted — at first un
known to Mr. Forster, as he dishked the gene of
police protection, but later reluctantly submitted
to by him. One morning in the early part of 1882,
on my arrival at the Castle I received a written
report giving detailed information of an intended
attack on Mr. Forster. The source from which

328 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W. B. FOESTER,
the information came was such that there could be
no doubt as to its accuracy, or as to the imminence
of the danger. On Mr, Forster coming to his
office I brought the report to him to read, and urged
on him in the very strongest terms the absolute
necessity of his taking extra precautions for his per
sonal safety. Hei listened rather impatiently to me,
and then pushed the report away from him, saying
to me, ' You may do as you like about it, but I have
a presentiment I am not going to die that way.' "
Among the many threatening letters which he
received during the summer of 1881, there was one
of which he used often to speak afterwards. It
professed to come from a man who, having deter
mined to assassinate him, had followed him into the
Phcenix Park one morning when he was walking
there accompanied by his daughter, Mrs. O'Brien.
The murderer had dogged him for some time, but
finally, according to his own statement, had deter
mined to spare him for the sake of "the lovely
girl" by whom he was accompanied. Forster
would tell the story with unfeigned delight at the
thought that he had thus been indebted for his
safety to his daughter. But I shall have to return
to this question of his personal safety, and the
plots against his life, at a later period of my
narrative.

THE PROTECTION ACT. 329
To Lord Eipon.
"80, Eccleston Square, London, July 17th, 1881.
" My DEAE ElPON,
" I have had your most delightful
letter, I fear, for a month, and have not replied
to it ; and yet I am not, after all, an ungrateful
wretch. I have been watching for time to send
something really like a reply, and that is not easy ;
but I was glad to get your letter, for its sympathy
with myseK, and its hopefulness about your own
health and work, which work I honestly beUeve
to be most fruitful for good. . . .
"By the time this reaches you the Land Bill
will be law ; and I fully believe much as brought
in, though somewhat simplified, and therefore im
proved. I do not expect the Lords to try any
important changes : they know we cannot accept
them. The Irish Tory M.P.'s are almost to a
man for the bUl, and would be damaged if it was
not passed, and Cairns knows their feeling and
has infiuence in Irish matters. As to Ireland
itself, its condition is bad, but better than it was.
I have two evils to contend with — open resistance
to legal process, evictions and the like, and secret
outrages. When I went to Ireland at Whitsun
tide, I made arrangements by which I got the
better of the open resistance, and have in fact put
it down, and that without a coUision. I hardly
dare say this, for fear the police and soldiers may,
after all, be forced to shoot in earnest and really

330 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
kiU ; but as yet, by employing sufficient force, and
warning the people by special proclamation of the
danger of resistance, I have avoided this calamity,
and thereby disappointed the expectation, and I
fear the wishes, of both extreme parties, which,
alas! absorb almost all Ireland, or at least all
Ireland which makes itself felt. The greatest of
all Irish evils is the cowardice, or at best the
non-action of the moderate men; and, indeed,
this is the best, if not the sole argument for
Home Eule. Sensible, moderate Irishmen let'
things alone and let them get from bad to worse,
because they know that at a certain point wq
English must step in and prevent utter anarchy.
As to secret outrages, the first effect of the
Protection Act was very good ; but the fear was
soon discounted, and I have had to put the Act
into much more active operation, and, indeed, to
arrest right and left ; and at last I am stopping
the outrages. I believe this month they wiU be
at least only two-thirds of last month, or, indeed,
of either May or June. For this I am, of course,
much hated, and indeed I have had, and have still,
a hard time of it. It seems almost like an irony
of fate that, with my Irish antecedents, day after
day has been occupied by despotic arrests on
suspicion, and by arranging when and where to
send detachments of troops. . . Just read what
Gladstone said, after a more than usually virulent
attack on me last Monday — so virulent that it was
not possible for him to treat it with the contempt

THE PEOTECTION ACT. 331
of absolute silence. What he did say was very
generous and loyal. In fact, one great compensa
tion for the troubles and vexations of the last year
has been the fact that I have got to know Glad
stone, and really to love and honour him. No one
could have been more faithful, or considerate, or
generous to a colleague than he has been to me.
.He is wonderfuUy weU and vigorous, and his own
hold on the country is stronger now than ever it
was. As to myseK, public opinion in England and
Scotland is very kind to me ; but I sometimes
doubt whether it is possible for ' Buckshot '
Forster to do more for Ireland than restore order
and help to pass a good Land Bill. Good Irish
men, such as L  and S  -, tell me the hatred
to me is hoUow and not preventive of usefulness ;
but I sometimes doubt this, and I am not sure
that I shaU not take the first opportunity of getting
out of my position without running away. . . To
return to Ireland for a moment, I am very anxious
about my arrears clause. I enclose it. It is an
effort to avoid the great administrative difficulty
of the immediate future. Unless I can tempt and,
in fact, bribe landlord and tenant to agree together,
we shaU have a bad autumn with certain and, to
a great extent, justifiable evictions. It is no use
crying over spUt mUk ; but I still believe that the
passage of my Compensation for Disturbance Bill,
last year, would have stayed the strike against
rent."

332 LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
The settlement of the arrears question in the
Land Bill, which is alluded to in the foregoing
letter, was embodied in a proposal that the
Government should advance fifty per cent, of the
arrears due for the bad years 1878 and 1879, in
cases where the tenants and landlords had settled
for the rents of 1880. The money required for this
measure was to be drawn from the surplus of the
Irish Church funds. This proposal was accepted
by the House of Commons by a large majority.
"Father's letters this morning," writes his
daughter (July 25th), "included three typical
specimens. A severely worded letter from an
Irishwoman living in London, appealing to his
conscience, and requesting him peremptorily to
release those innocent persons the ' subjects ; ' a
friendly letter from a Newcastle man, assuring
the Irish Secretary of the loyalty, support, and
approbation of the majority of his townsmen; a
threatening letter, adorned with the usual coffin
and cross-bones, from an Irishman purporting to
be a sub-constable in Ulster."
The passing of the Land Act, after a stormy
crisis occasioned by the action of the Peers, and
a fierce attack by the Parnelhte members upon
Mr. Forster's administration of the Protection Act,
were the closing features of the session of 1881.
So far as the Ls-nd Act is concerned, it is bare
justice to Forster to say that all through the
Parliamentary work of the year, and even at the

THE PROTECTION ACT. 333
time when his own duties in Ireland were most
pressing, he had been more deeply interested iu
the fate of that measure than in any other ques
tion. Allusion has already been made to the
part which he had in shaping it. He shares with
Mr. Gladstone the responsibility for the measure.
Attempts were made at the time by Irish members,
and some English members also, to convey to the
public the impression that, whilst the Protection
Act was the work alone of Mr. Forster, the Land
Act was the sole work of Mr. Gladstone. The
statement was absolutely untrue, and Forster's
name may with just as much reason be associated
with the one measure as with the other. The
passing of the Land Act greatly revived his spirits
and his hopes for the success of the ministerial
policy in Ireland ; and when, in the closing days
of the session, he had to defend himself from an
organized attack upon his Irish administration, he
did so in a manner which won the approbation of
the overwhelming majority of the House. With
the Land Act in force, and Irish tenants showing
themselves eager to make use of it, things un
doubtedly looked better in August than they had
done for several months previously.

334 LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.

CHAPTEE VIII.
THE BATTLE WITH THE LAND LEAGUE.
The returns for the month of July showed so con
siderable a falling-off of agrarian outrages that
Forster and his colleagues were entitled to con
gratulate themselves upon a distinct improvement
in the condition of the country. So hopeful, in
deed, did everything now look, that, when he had
visited Dublin in order to settle the appointments
necessitated by the establishment of the Land
Court, Forster was able to leave England, on
August 27th, for a short holiday in Switzerland.
He was, however, quickly called back to his duties.
A vacancy had occurred for Tyrone, and a contest
had resulted in the return of a supporter of the
Government. This election, following immediately
upon the close of the session and the passing of
the Land Act, seemed to Mr. Gladstone to indicate
that such an improvement had taken place in
public feehng, that the time had come when there
might be some relaxation of the system of coercion.
He was particularly anxious that one at least of
the imprisoned suspects, Father Sheehy, who had

THE BATTLE WITH THE LAND LEAGUE. 335
been in gaol for some months, should be released,
believing that such a step would do much to
conciliate those tenant-farmers who were now
hesitating as to whether they should trust to the
Land Act or continue to give their allegiance to
the Land League. On September 8th he wrote
to Mr. Forster, who was then at Annecy, urging
these views upon him ; and Forster felt that he
must at once return to England.
To Mr. Gladstone.
"Annecy, September 11th, 1881.
"My deae Me. Gladstone,
" Your letter of the 8th inst. reached me
this morning, forwarded from Chamounix. I felt
at once that matters were too critical for me to
be longer away, and therefore I get to London as
quickly as I can, and I hope you wiU receive to-day
my telegram, saying that I hope to arrive there
to-morrow evening. I agree with you that this
unlooked-for good fortune in Tyrone is a strong
temptation to turn the flank of the ParneUites by
an act of clemency ; but there are considerations
which must not be ignored. Ulster is not Con
naught or Munster. We have had few or no
outrages in Tyrone. We have no proof as yet
that Parnell has lost his influence in the south
or west ; or that the intimidating orders of the
league will be disobeyed in Connaught or Munster,
or that outrages there wiU diminish.

336 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTER.
" I have great hopes that the league is losing
its power, and that the Tyrone defeat will have
a great effect throughout Ireland ; but up to now
Limerick, West Cork, Kerry, and the Loughrea
district of Galway have been as bad as ever.
"A few days, however, will give us the neces
sary information, and as regards Monaghan, there
must be some days before the election.
" You will observe that in accordance with the
decision come to when I was in Dublin, they are
releasing daily those men respecting whom they
are day by day receiving reports that detention is
no longer necessary. Any way, I think events
confirm this pohcy ; but we must, I think, be
pretty sure of the worst districts before a general
amnesty. It would be very awkward to have such
general amnesty followed by an outbreak of out
rage. " On the other hand, if we do more than
we are now doing — viz. release, (1) on grounds
of Ul health, leniently considered; (2) where
local authorities consider detention unnecessary, — .
I do not see where we can stop short of a
general amnesty, or, at any rate, of release of all
not suspected of murder : nor do I think anything
short of this, including Davitt, would have much
influence on the Irish imagination, or indeed, be
very easy to justify. . . .
" On the whole, what I incline to is this, —
" (1) Get all possible information this week as

THE BATTLE WITH THE LAND LEAGUE. 337
to actual outrages, intimidation, and real power of
the Land League. The convention meeting and
the American remittances will both tell us much.
" (2) If we still find the Land League losing
power and the outrages diminishing, then act
boldly, and run the risk of a release of all the
suspects except the suspected murderers.
"It certainly would be better that no impor
tant step should be taken in my absence, as we
cannot afford to have my power weakened. But I
can now, if necessary, get to Dublin on Wednesday,
and shall certainly be there on Friday. I hope
you wUl get this on Tuesday morning, and that
therefore I may get a reply in London on Wednes-
nesday morning, or, if necessary, a telegram on
Tuesday. " As Spencer is at Aix, I have telegraphed him
to meet me, if possible, at the station, as both you
and I will be glad to get his opinion,
" Yours very truly,
" W, E, Forster."
On September 15th, Forster reached Hawarden,
and with his family spent the night there ; pro
ceeding to Dublin on the following morning. It
was clear, both to him and to Mr. Gladstone, that
a critical moment was approaching in the struggle
between the Government and the Land League.
Ministers had been anxious to see how the Land
Act would be received in Ireland, and the Tyrone
VOL. II. 7

338 LIFE OF THE RIGHT HON. W. E. FORSTER.
election had convinced them that, in some parts of
the country at least, there was a disposition to
recognize the importance of the boon which had
been conferred upon the tenantry. Forster, how
ever, as the letter just given shows, was not so
sanguine as Mr. Gladstone seemed to be regarding
the general feeling of Irishmen outside of Ulster,
and he viewed with dread the possible results of
anything which might be construed into a sur
render to Mr. Parnell and the league. Nor did
the events which immediately followed in Ireland
tend to reassure him upon this subject.
Of these, one of the most noticeable was the
Land League Convention, which sat for three days,
at the Eotunda in Dublin, to discuss the Land Act.
The members of this convention did not denounce
the Act, but they gave Mr. Parnell the credit
of having compeUed ministers and ParUament to
carry it. At the same time Mr. Parnell himself
made it clear that he was prepared to watch the
operation of the Act jealously; and he announced
that the duty of the Land League would be to
provide test cases by means of which the precise
value of the measure might be ascertained before
any general use was made of it by the tenantry.
Another important event, showing that as yet the
Government had certainly not " touched bottom "
in their attempts to sound the depths of Irish dis
content, was the great reception accorded to Mr.
Parnell in Dublin, This demonstration, which took

THE BATTLE WITH THE LAND LEAGUE. 339
place on his return to the capital after attending
some Land League meetings in the provinces, was
said to be the most remarkable incident of the
kind which had occurred in Ireland since the days
of O'ConneU. It was quite clear that the rivalry
between " the uncrowned king " and the lawful
Government of Ireland was still maintained, and
that the supremacy of the law had yet to be secured.
In spite of this fact, the release of Father Sheehy
took place, and — as Mr. Forster had feared — it
was regarded as a triumph for the popular cause.
Father Sheehy accompanied Mr. Parnell on some
of his speaking tours, and both the priest and the
Parliamentary leader indulged, not merely in the
most vehement attacks upon the Government in
general and upon Mr, Forster in particular, but in
a systematic attempt to prejudice the minds of the
people against the Land Act, and to prevent any
use being made of the benefits which were conferred
by it. On September 26th, Forster wrote to Mr, Glad
stone suggesting that Mr, Parnell himself should
be arrested. The great demonstration in Dublin
in honour of the member for Cork had been most
disloyal in its character, and it was known that
similar demonstrations were being organized in
other parts of the country. "In your letter you
ask whether Parnell has ever condemned the
explosive dynamite policy. I do not remember
any such condemnation, but I do remember that

340 LIFE OP THE RIGHT HON. W. E. FORSTEE.
he called the Salford Barracks explosion, which
killed one or two persons, a practical joke. I will
send you the extract. I think you will do great
good by denouncing Parnell's action and policy at
Leeds, but I do not think he is worse than the
others. On the contrary, I think he is moved
by his tail, and has been driven to make this
speech," Mr, Gladstone assented to the arrest of Mr.
Parnell, if, in the opinion of the law officers of the
Crown, he had by his speeches been guilty of trea
sonable practices. An appeal was forthwith made
to the law officers for an opinion on this point, and
the nature of their decision was not long left in
doubt. Nothing, however, will more clearly display
the character of the situation at this most critical
moment in the history of Ireland than Mr. Forster's
letters to the Prime Minister, and the facts will
be far better conveyed to the reader in his words
than in any narrative by another person, however
carefully it may be compiled.
To Me. Gladstone.
" Chief Secretary's Lodge, Phoenix Park, Dublin,
"October 2nd, 1881.
" My dear Mr. Gladstone,
" Frederick Cavendish will have told you
how anxious and unsatisfactory matters are here.
Last evening I received from Law a detailed
answer to my questions as to our powers, but.

THE BATTLE WITH THE LAND LEAGUE. 341
unless you wish it, I do not know that it is worth
while troubling you with it.
" It contains nothing new, with one exception.
J  discovered two days ago a section in the
1861 Act (cap. 100, s. 39) enabling magistrates to
give three months in case of violence, or threats
of violence, to any person with intent to hinder
him from buying or selling wheat or other grain,
flour, meal, malt, or potatoes in any market or
other place. This is useful for some boycotting ;
and, while glad to find any new weapon, I feel
somewhat aggrieved that it has not been before
discovered. It will be very difficult, however, to
obtain evidence of the threat of violence, which
I suppose must be physical force. With this
exception we have only one fresh card to play —
a more stringent use of the Protection Act. In
structed by experience, and taking into account
the failure of witnesses and the uselessness of
juries, I believe the police inspectors and the resi
dent magistrates are making the best of the
ordinary law, and specially lose no chance of
arresting for assaults whenever possible to obtain
evidence. But unless we can strike down the
boycotting weapon, Parnell wiU beat us ; for men,
rather than let themselves be ruined, will obey
him and disobey the law. I send you a most
true description of this weapon by a priest, spoken
last Monday at Maryborough, in Parnell's presence.
I read it to the three Eoman Catholic bishops

342 LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTER.
who called on me to talk On education; but, not
withstanding their recent resolutions, I have no
expectation that the bishops will sUence such
priests. How, then, can we strike down this
weapon ? Solely by the Protection Act, and by
giving it a wide interpretation, not justified at
first, but now, to my mind, abundantly justified.
"I think, where we have reasonable suspicion
(1) that a man has been intimidated in order to pre
vent him carrying on his lawful employment, or to
oblige him to refuse to pay his just debts, or to join
the Land League ; (2) that this intimidation is such
as to give alarm to any man with average nerve ;
(3) that this intimidation has been ordered by the
the Land League, either in Dublin or in a country
district ; (4) that any man is a ringleader in giving
such orders ; — then I think we are justified in
arresting such man.
" The only legal doubt is whether such intimi
dation can be held to include ruin to property,
and not confined to threats of personal violence.
... It would be useless and weak merely to
arrest local Land Leaguers and to let off the
Dublin leaders, especially Sexton and ParneU.
If we strike a blow at all it must be a sufficiently
hard blow to paralyze the action of the league,
and for this purpose I think we must make a
simultaneous arrest of the central leaders and of
those local leaders who conduct the boycotting.
There is no doubt that, though poor men do not

THE BATTLE WITH THE LAND LEAGUE. 343
much fear being locked up with plenty to eat and
their families cared for, well-to-do men very much
fear being treated as suspects.
" I think the leaders would cease to boycott if
they found out it meant imprisonment. There is
no doubt such simultaneous arrest would be a
very strong measure ; but I think English opinion
would support it. I see no alternative unless we
allow the Land League to govern Ireland: to
determine what rent shall be paid ; what decisions
by the Commission shall be obeyed ; what farms
shaU be taken ; what grass-lands shall be allowed ;
what shops shall be kept open ; what laws shall be
obeyed, etc., etc., etc.
" This other course may be suggested. Call
ParUament together to pass a law to suppress the
Land League, and declare any association illegal
with the object to prevent the payment of any
lawful debt.
" The objections to this course are : (1) The
delay. (2) The difficulty of passing the Act.
(The Eadicals and working-men would resist any
general Act.) (3) But worse stUl, to my mind,
its uselessness. No Irish jury would convict
under such Act. (4) The Land League would
change its name, or meet under no name. Meet
ings to address thqir constituents would suffice.
(5) The Act would have to give power to prevent
all political meetings, and even then the orders to
boycott woidd be given and obeyed without meet-

344 LIFE OP THE RIGHT HON. W. B, FOESTEE.
ings, and with little risk of punishment if evidence
before magistrates, still less verdicts before juries,
be required. (6) After all, we should be driven to
rely on arrests on suspicion, unless we resorted to
martial law, in which I beUeve any attempt at
fresh coercion would end.
" Meantime, w6 have to deal with men, not
names. There remains the question. Will the
Land Act beat the Land League, and save us from
more stringent coercion ? I have little, almost no
hope, that it wiU ; but, as we have waited so long,
it may be weU to try to wait a fortnight longer,
when the Land Courts wiU be at work, and we
shall find whether men's minds are absorbed by
the courts, instead of by the efforts to intimidate
or to resist intimidation.
" I do not think, however, we can wait beyond
a fortnight, if we are to act at aU. The end of
this month and the beginning of next, the land
lords must make a desperate effort to get their
rents, and if we are to paralyze the Land League
at all, we must do it before then.
" Yours very truly,
"W. E. Foestee."
From Me. Gladstone.
" Hawarden, October 3rd, 1881.
"Your sad and saddening letter supplies
material for the most serious reflection ; but I
need not reply at great length, mainly because in

the BATTLE WITH THE LAND LEAGUE. 345
the points most urgently practical I very much
agree with you. I almost take for granted, and
I shall assume until you correct me, that your
meaning about ' ruin to property ' is as follows : —
you do not mean the ruin to property which may
directly result from exclusive deahng, but you
mean ruin to property by violence, e.g. burning of
a man's haystack, because he had let his cars on
hire to the constabulary. On this assumption I
feel quite prepared politically to concur with you
in acting upon legal advice to this effect.
" Nor do I dissent, under the circumstances,
from the series of propositions by which you seek
to connect Parnell and Co. with the prevalent
intimidation. " But I hardly think that so novel an applica
tion of the Protection Act should be undertaken
without the Cabinet. I anticipate their concur
rence, and their preference of this mode of pro
ceeding to an autumn session, for the purpose of
putting down the league (my old fancy). But the
Cabinet, besides being strong in itself, has four
members who have Irish experience, three of them
in the House of Lords. Here is a force the use of
which, I am disposed to think, the occasion calls for.
"As for the time, I do not know whether you
see advantage in waiting for the Commission to
act. I presume its action would not be felt and
understood so as to operate upon the case before us
untu after days, perhaps weeks, from its meeting.

346 LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTER.
" If you agree in this, what would you say to
Wednesday in next week ? Eeply by telegraph or
post, as may be convenient. You might wish an
earlier day. . . .
"I hope that you will find adequate support
under your labours and anxieties. I am sure you
will continue with unabated manfulness to look
them in the face."
To Me. Gladstone.
" Dublin, October 4th, 1881.
" My deae Me. Gladstone,
" Thank you very much for your letter.
My definition of ruin to property is not precisely
yours. " I do not think we can confine the definition
to such ruin as is caused by physical violence, as,
for instance, threat of burning a haystack ; but it
must be a ' crime punishable by law, being an
incitement to intimidation,' I believe the lawyers
now think that the ruin, far greater than burning
a haystack, which follows from a stoppage of sales
and purchases is such intimidation, but I will put
your point precisely to them. . . .
" I suppose it will be necessary to have a
Cabinet, and if so, Wednesday in next week will
be, I think, the last day. At any rate, it will show
that the action of the Executive is not merely my
action, but that of the Government.
" Both sides here, landlords and Land Leaguers,

THE BATTLE WITH THE LAND LEAGUE. 347
are anxious to give the impression that I have not
the support of the Government or even of yourself.
Very likely your speech at Leeds wUl remove such
impression. " When I spoke of waiting for the Land Act, I
did not mean waiting for the actual decisions of
the courts, but waiting for a test of the feeling of
the tenants by the number of apphcations and
their effect on general feeling.
"I have just received private information that
the Laud League has received a large remittance
from America, and is therefore much increasing its
activity. This will enable landlords and leaguers
to reiterate their declaration that Parnell really
governs the country — a statement not easy to bear,
because I feel just now it is too true !
"I think you may do good by your Leeds
speech, by saying — if I may venture a suggestion- —
in unmistakable words, that K the Land Act con
tinues to be met by disorder, there must be a new
departure in administrative as well as legislative
policy. Now that we have made the law just, we are
caUed upon to put down lawlessness with a strong
hand ; nor do I see how we can call Parliament
together to give us fresh coercion until we have
tried the full extent of our present powers. . . .
" P.S. — I have just received the following tele
gram from Mill Street, Co. Cork : ' Patrick Eary
shot at Doonasheeh last night at 11.30, by a party
of armed men, who went round to some of the

348 LIFE OF THE RIGHT HON. W. E FORSTER.
farmers and asked them if they had paid their
rent — the man shot is now apparently dying.' I
have a further telegram that he is dead."
" Is it wholly impossible," wrote Mr. Gladstone,
in his letter, acknowledging the foregoing (October
5th), " to enlist the action of loyal men as special
constables or otherwise, in support of law and
order, e.g. for day work in relief of the consta
bulary, in some parts of Ireland, at any rate, if
not in all, so as to relieve our overworked force,
and increase the total of our available means ? I
feel anxious, but I cannot bring myself to despair
about this. At Leeds I shall do my best."
The meeting at Leeds, to which frequent
reference was made in the correspondence of Mr.
Forster and Mr. Gladstone at this time, was one of
the notable political events of the year. Mr. Glad
stone had been elected at the head of the poU at
Leeds, in the general election of 1880. He had
not, however, accepted the seat, choosing that for
Midlothian. His visit to Leeds was to thank the
electors for the honour conferred upon him in
the previous year, and it was regarded with the
utmost enthusiasm by the Liberals of Yorkshire.
It was natural that Forster should think yearn
ingly of his old friends in the West Eiding at this
moment, and should regret the fact that he was
compelled to be absent from so interesting a
gathering. All the preparations were now, how-

THE BATTLE WITH THE LAND LEAGUE. 349
ever, being made for the great blow, which was
meditated against Mr. Parnell and the Land League.
In the letter from Mr. Gladstone, of which I have
quoted a small portion, Forster was earnestly ad
jured to have everything in readiness for the arrest
of the leaders of the league in case the consent of
the Cabinet to that measure should be obtained at
the meeting which had been summoned for the
foUowing week. He had accordingly to remain at
his post in Dublin, making preparations for the
anticipated coup. His presence there was all the
more necessary, because Mr. Burke, the devoted
Under-Secretary, was absent.* Forster would have
been glad to have had him with him at that
crisis ; but it was absolutely necessary that secrecy
should be preserved regarding the intentions of
the Government ; and if Mr. Burke, who was
taking a short hohday on the Continent, had been
recalled to Ireland, the suspicions of the Land
Leaguers would undoubtedly have been aroused.
It devolved, therefore, upon the Chief Secretary
alone to make all the preparations for the blow
which he hoped soon to be able to strike at the
enemies of the law in Ireland. His sole confidant
was the commander of the forces. Sir Thomas
Steele. * Lord Cowper had for some weeks been absent on leave.
He met Mr. Forster by appointment in London on Wednesday,
October 12th, and was informed of the intended arrest as soon
as the Cabinet broke up, but did not return to Ireland till after
the arrest had been made, in order to avoid exciting suspicion.

350 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W. E, FOESTER,
To Mr, Gladstone.
[Confidential.']
" Chief Secretary's Lodge, Dublin, October 6th, 1881.
" My deae Me. Gladstone,
" I have both your letters of the 4th and 6th.
" I will write to the Lord Chancellor to-day if
possible, K not to-morrow.
" I entirely agree with you that K we strike we
must do so instantly after the Cabinet, especially
as regards the principal arrest.
" Naturally, you wonder the police do not
catch the armed parties. All I can say is, I do
my best to stimulate them, and they have been
more successful in some places, but it is hard for
either you or me to estimate their difficulties. As
regards special constables, one of the first questions
I asked months ago was. Why could we not have
them ? I was soon convinced that in Ireland they
are impossible. In the south and west we cannot
get them, and in the north, Orangemen would offer
themselves, and we should probably have to put a
policeman by the side of every special to keep him
in order. . . . This will catch you just before you
start for Leeds. I think such a speech as you
propose must do good. I wish I could be there to
hear it, and to hear the cheers.
" I suppose I shall hear very soon when the
Cabinet is fixed ; but I hope the fact of the
summons will not get out till after Sunday. There

the BATTLE WITH THE LAND LEAGUE. 351
are several Land League meetings on Sunday, and
I want to give Parnell and Co. full swing.
" Yours very truly,
" W. E. Foestee."
Mr. Gladstone went to Leeds, and had a recep
tion there which exceeded all expectations ; it may
be doubted, indeed, whether any political leader of
the century ever received so remarkable a greeting
from the people of a great community. One
speech of the many which he made stood out in
special prominence and attracted universal atten
tion. It was that which he delivered at a great
banquet, held in a noble hall specially erected for
the purpose, on the evening of October 6th. In
this speech he devoted himself to the Irish ques
tion. The hall had been decorated with the
names of prominent Liberal statesmen, and directly
opposite to where Mr. Gladstone stood was in
scribed the name of Mr. Forster. Amid enthu
siastic cheers from the vast audience the Prime
Minister pointed to Forster's name, and spoke in
generous terms of the painful and arduous task in
which he was then engaged ; and then he went on
in clear and forcible language to denounce the
conduct of Mr. Parnell and of the other Land
League leaders, in striving to stand between the
people of Ireland and the Land Act in order that
the beneficial effects of that measure might not be
aUowed to reach those on whose behalf it had

352 LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON, W. E. FOESTEE,
been passed. Such conduct, however, Mr. Glad
stone declared, would not be tolerated. " The
resources of civilization" were not exhausted, as
Mr. Parnell would yet discover if he continued to
maintain his attitude of uncompromising hostility
to the law. The speech made an immense im
pression at the time — an impression which the
events of the next few days greatly deepened.
Even Mr. Gladstone's colleagues in the Cabinet
did not know at the moment when he spoke that
he and Mr. Forster had at that time practically
decided on the arrest of the Land League leader ;
but everybody felt that such a speech indicated
the resolve of the Government not to be beaten in
their conflict with the forces of the league, and
portended a grave development of the ministerial
policy. "The reception of your name," wrote Mr.
Gladstone to Forster (October 8th), " in both the
Cloth Hall meetings was everything that could be
desired. There is no time for details ; but in one
word it is a wonderful community. I expected
much, and found much more."
To Me. Gladstone.
"^Dublin, October 9th, 188].
" My deae Me, Gladstone,
"Let me thank you with all my heart
for your speech, both on public and private
grounds. Your most kind allusion to myself

THE battle WITH THE LAND LEAGUE. 353
really helps me, and, though too kind, I am very
grateful. AU that ^oords can do will be done by
your warning. It wiU have effect in Ireland, but
we must not be sanguine. The effect will, I fear,
soon die out, if deeds do not follow words.
" I think the general interpretation of your
speech is that we wUl act if your warning be
disregarded. It therefore may be difficult to arrest
P. and Co. on Wednesday or Thursday for conduct
before your speech.
" On the other hand, boycotting orders may
be renewed to-day or before Wednesday ; if so, I
should advise the Cabinet to immediate arrest.
"It is possible, though not, I think, probable,
that ParneU's reply to you at the Wexford meeting
to-day may be a treasonable outburst. If the
lawyers clearly advise me to that effect, I do not
think I can postpone immediate arrest, on sus
picion of treasonable practices. I understand
your letter of the 27th ult. to approve of this.
I have drawn up a minute for the Cabinet to be
circulated on Tuesday evening and on Wednesday,
and send to-night a man in whom I have the
fullest confidence to have it printed, and circulated
most confidentially.
" I arrive in London Wednesday morning, and
will call on you before the Cabinet.
" Yours very truly,
"W. E. Foester."
VOL. II. 2 A

354 LIFE OP THE RIGHT HON. W. E. FORSTER.
The Cabinet was summoned suddenly for a
meeting on Wednesday, October 12th. Nobody
either in Ireland or England knew exactly what
was about to happen ; but an uneasy sense of some
impending event of signal importance was felt both
in the Land League and the Government circles in
Dublin. On October 10th things looked very bad.
" They are worse now than they have yet been,"
was the remark which Forster made in his family
circle that morning. More than two hundred
suspects were in prison, but the total of outrages
still grew. In September, 416 agrarian crimes had
been reported, being a higher number than in any
previous month of the year save January.
Still more serious than the outrages was, how
ever, the hold which Mr. Parnell now seemed to
have obtained over the tenantry, for whose benefit
the Land Act had been passed. It was evident
that the Act was at the national leader's mercy,
and that unless some means could be found of
crippling his power for mischief, no good effects
would be allowed to accrue from it.
On Tuesday evening, Forster, who had been in
secret consultation with Sir Thomas Steele during
the day, crossed over to London; and on the
Wednesday, after an interview with Mr. Glad
stone, he met the Cabinet, and obtained the
necessary assent to the arrest of Mr. ParneU.
From the Cabinet he walked to the nearest tele
graph office, and himself despatched a message

THE BATTLE WITH THE LAND LEAGUE. 355
to Sir Thomas Steele. It contained the one word
"Proceed;" and the Irish commander-in-chief,
who alone was in possession of the great secret,
at once took the necessary measures for securing
the person of the Land League leader so soon as
the warrant for his arrest had been signed. In
the evening, Forster left London, and on Thursday
morning he was once more in Dublin, The public,
and even the officials at the Castle, with the one
exception I have named, knew nothing of what
had been his business in London on the previous
day, or what had been decided upon by the
Cabinet. It was absolutely essential for the
success of the great blow which was about to be
struck at the league that the strictest secrecy
should be observed, and Forster certainly deserves
the credit of having secured that secrecy. He
drove to the Castle, and there signed the warrant
already prepared for Mr. ParneU's arrest. Then
he went to the Secretary's Lodge, and sat down to
breakfast with his family. Before the meal was
finished, a note announcing that Mr. Parnell had
been arrested and was at that moment in Kil
mainham was placed in the hands of the Chief
Secretary. .
Within twelve hours the news had spread
throughout the civilized world, and everywhere it
created a profound sensation. Mr. Gladstone,
speaking at a great meeting in the Guildhall on
the same day, first announced the fact of Mr.

356 LIFE OF THE RIGHT HON. W. E, FORSTER.
ParneU's arrest to the people of England, and
the statement was received with an outburst of
enthusiasm that startled even the speaker him
self. It was hailed almost as though it had
been the news of a signal victory gained by Eng
land over a hated and formidable enemy. The
truth is that Mr. Parnell had up to that moment
impressed the English imagination in a very
singular manner. He seemed to have entrenched
himself behind fortifications which were impreg
nable. His followers might bring themselves
within reach of the law. He, however, whUst
carrying on an open war against the Irish Govern
ment had seemed able to set the Executive at
defiance. His astuteness had been equal to his
courage, and even when dealing the heaviest
blows at the authority of the Crown in Ireland,
he had appeared to keep himseK within the letter
of the law. There was an angry sense of impo
tence on the part of the English people as they
watched his course, and a feeling of wonder
as to how long the impunity he had hitherto
enjoyed was to last. The announcement of his
arrest seemed to break the speU of his immunity,
and to bring him down to the level of the other
members of his party. Throughout England the
belief was general that his imprisonment in
Kilmainham must mean the downfaU of his
authority and the extinction of the great organiza
tion of which he was the head.

THE BATTLE WITH THE LAND LEAGUE. 357
The exultant joy which the news of the action
of the Government occasioned in all English
circles, had its striking counterpart in the dismay
which was felt by the Land Leaguers. For the
moment it seemed to them, as weU as to their
opponents, that all had been lost. Their most
trusted leaders, Mr, ParneU, Mr, DUlon, and Mr.
Sexton, were in prison; their treasurer, Mr. Egan,
had only saved himself and the funds of the league
by flight. They were temporarily stunned by the
blow. But with surprising quickness they re
covered themselves, and deUvered their counter
attack upon the Government in the shape of an
address to the tenants of Ireland, calhng upon
them to cease all payment of rent whUst their
natural leaders were in prison. Forster was pre
pared for this step, however, and he met it by
another measure, not less important in its character
than the arrest of the Land League leaders. This
was a proclamation which he instantly issued on
his own responsibihty, declaring the Land League
to be an Ulegal association, and announcing that
its meetings would be suppressed by force.
By a somewhat dramatic coincidence the pro
clamation against the Land League was issued on
the day on which the Land Court was opened,
October 20th. At the opening of the court, some
amusement was created by a slip of the tongue on
the part of the clerk, who, in making the royal
proclamation, described the new tribunal as " the

358 LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. W. B. FOESTEE.
Court of the Land League." A httle later in the
day the Chief Secretary's thunderbolt against the
league was suddenly launched without warning,
and the country learned that the fight between
" the two living powers in Ireland" was one which
both sides were determined to wage to the bitter
end. Forster never took a stronger step than
when he thus, as it were by a stroke of the pen,
suppressed the Land League. There was no time
for consultation with his colleagues: The reply to
the " No Eent " proclamation of the Leaguers, if it
were to be of any use, needed to be given at once,
and it was consequently solely upon his own
responsibility, and without leave from the Cabinet,
that he issued the proclamation declaring the
league to be an illegal association. Convinced,
however, that such action was necessary, he did
not hesitate to take it, and to trust to his
colleagues for a justification of his conduct.
To Mr. Gladstone.
" Dublin Castle, October 20th, 1881.
" My deae Me. Gladstone,
" I trust you are not really poorly.
" We have taken a very important step to-day.
I hope and believe you will approve.
" The 'No Eent' manifesto of the league could
not be passed by, and gave us an excellent excuse.
Accordingly, the law officers have drawn up the

THE BATTLE WITH THE LAND LEAGUE. 359
proclamation I enclose. Sullivan assisted in the
wording, and O'Hagan approves of the purport.
"You will have observed that a priest. Cant-
well, presided at Tuesday's meeting, and made
a violent speech. The question was whether to
arrest him. I never had a more difficult question.
He is the administrator of Croke's parish, and his
arrest might have driven Croke to some outburst,
which would also have obliged his arrest.
" I decided not to arrest him yesterday, sending
underground messages to the bishops of his danger.
I am glad I waited, as Croke comes out this morn
ing with a long letter denouncing the manifesto.
I hope the good bishops will follow. What with
the bishops deserting the league — our arrests and
proclamation and the Land Court opened to-day,
I am now really sanguine of success.
" Herbert wiU tell you of our conversation last
evening with  and  . On the whole it
was hopeful, but I believe aU the outside help we
shaU get will be (1) moral force demonstrations ;
(2) defence by men of themselves and their
property. "As yet I can find no one who does not think
that volunteer policemen will do more harm than
good. I had yesterday a curious illustration. We
have stopped the rowdy mob riots in Dubhn, but
they are precisely the riots which would have been
put down in an Enghsh city by specials. I sug
gested specials, but every one was against me, by

36o LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
reason of the partisan, and probably the religious
animosity that would be provoked, and the bitter
rancour that would be left.
" Yours very truly,
" W. E, Foestee,"
The latter part of this letter had reference to
renewed attempts, which Forster was making at
the suggestion of Mr, Gladstone, to secure from
the law-abiding portion of the community some
active assistance in the maintenance of law and
order. He himself had little hope of the success
of such attempts ; and, as a matter of fact, the
well-meant project failed when it was sought to
carry it into effect.
Writing to one of his colleagues, Forster de
fended and explained the course he had taken with
regard to the league and the suppression of public
meetings.
" November 1st, 1881.
" My deae  ,
"Your inquiry is twofold. (1) As to
the legality of our late action. (2) As to its
poUcy, or rather timeliness, — why not earlier ? . . .
The effective part of our proclamation is not the
mere declaration that the Land League is illegal
— this declaration we might have made at any
time since our prosecution of Parnell and Co.
but the declaration that we would disperse the

THE BATTLE WITH THE LAND LEAGUE. 361
pubhc meetings, and the warning that we would
arrest prominent leaders, without doubt is a new
departure, become possible by the development
of the Land League policy into an undoubted
organization of robbery by terrorism.
"At the end of my mem. you wiU see a letter
from Johnson, stating that he had now arrived at
the conviction that we could disperse the public
meetings as liable to break the peace ; and we
made up our minds to arrest the leaders under the
Protection Act.
" No jury can attack these arrests, and I am
quite prepared to justify them as necessary arrests
to prevent flagrant intimidation. With regard to
the public meetings, I have, between ourselves,
had hard steering. I was much pressed to instruct
the police to force an entrance into committee-
rooms and forcibly break up the committees. This
would have resulted in an action which must have
come to a jury, and probably to a hostile verdict.
" I have, therefore, given instructions to warn
persons attending private meetings that they are
liable to arrest, and to take down their names.
Hitherto this has sufficed, but we may have to
make many arrests under the Protection Act. Of
course an action may be brought against us for
force used in dispersing a public meeting, but I do
not think this likely if we continue to take care
that our force is overpowering ; and, anyhow, of
this we must run the risk.

362 LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
" (2) Now as to time. When could we have
taken the step earlier ? Eemember this — the pro
clamation would have been a mistake unless we
had first arrested Parnell and the Dublin leaders.
We could not have arrested them or suppressed
the Land League while the Land BiU was passing.
Public opinion would not have supported us ; and
so high-handed a proceeding requires an over
powering concurrence of pubhc opinion.
" Until the Land Act was passed we had to
find out and prove to the public that it would
not of itself beat the Land League. I really-
do not know how the blow could have been struck
earlier ; but I am quite sure that it would have
been fatal to wait longer ; and nothing but the
consideration that the ' No Eent ' manifesto must
be immediately answered by a suppressing procla
mation induced me to issue it without consulting
my coUeagues. The law officers fully approved it,
and I felt sure Gladstone would approve, but I
did not venture even to consult him. He might
have thought it necessary to consult the Cabinet,
and hesitation would have been destruction. As
to our present position, it is much better than it
was, but we have still a hard fight of it.
" Yours very truly,
" W. E. Foestee."
"The Leaguers," Forster wrote to Mr. Glad
stone (October 22nd), " are showing no open fight.

THE BATTLE WITII THE LAND LEAGUE. 363
and every report we get shows that our last blow
has struck home, and it is felt to be well-timed.
. . . You say you are still unconvinced about aid
from the community. If you mean physical aid,
I think a week at the Castle would convince you.
Every one tells me, and my owu experience con
vinces me, that if I asked for physical aid I should
not get it where wanted, and when I did get it
would have to exhaust time and energy in pre
venting civil war. On the other hand, I gladly
stimulate all efforts for moral aid, though these
require careful watching. For instance, I had to
teU  , one of our very best landlords, courageous
and moderate, that one of the resolutions of his
exceUent association broke the law, and would
have to be rescinded, ... I ought to add that
my fear now is an increase of secret outrages."
The last words of this letter indicated the
direction in which the thoughts of those who were
at the head of affairs in Ireland now ran, and too
fully were their apprehensions to be reahzed during
the winter which was now setting in. So far as
the open agitation and resistance to the law were
concerned, the victory lay with the Executive.
The Land League had been suppressed on the
ground that it sought to obtain an unlawful object,
— -the prevention of the payment of rent by cri
minal means — intimidation and conspiracy. The
chief leaders of the popular movement were either
in prison or were carefuUy keeping out of Ireland.

364 LIFE OF THE RIGHT HON. W. E, FORSTER.
The Land Courts had been opened, and were over
crowded with applicants for justice. The Land
League meetings had been to a large extent
abandoned, and, though there had been one rough
struggle in the streets of Dublin between the police
and the mob, the authorities felt that they could
answer for the maintenance of public order. All
this was to the good ; and if this had been all,
Forster would have been able to congratulate him
self upon the brilliant success of the course which
the Executive was pursuing.
But that other force which has always played
so important a part in Irish agrarian agitations,
and which is never so potent as during the long,
dark nights of winter, now seemed to awake to
a renewed term of active life. Whilst the Irish
leaders were in retirement in Kilmainham — for it
is difficult to speak of their detention there, under
circumstances of personal ease and comfort, in the
terms which are applicable to an ordinary im
prisonment, — and whilst the meetings of the Land
League had of necessity come to an end, gangs of
desperate men, who believed themselves to be
carrying out the policy and furthering the work of
Mr. Parnell and his colleagues, were engaged in
establishing a system of organized terrorism over
a great portion of the country. Bands of " moon
lighters," men masked and armed, roamed over
the poverty-stricken hillsides and the lonely high
ways of Connaught and Munster, carrying out the

THE BATTLE WITH THE LAND LEAGUE, 365
decrees of secret courts formed in every hamlet for
the purpose of enforcing the "unwritten law" of
the suppressed league. The victims of these
bodies of secret assassins were not the landlords or
the wealthy. They were men of the same rank in
life as their murderers — cottiers and small farmers,
people whose lives bad been one long struggle
against starvation, and whose abject poverty and
misery might well — it might have been thought —
have exempted them from the cruel persecutions
of their neighbours. But nothing could protect
any man who had incurred the vengeance of these
secret emissaries of the suppressed league.
The outrages which had marked the previous
winter were renewed upon a larger scale. During
the month of October, 1881 , three murders were com
mitted in the province of Munster, the particulars
of which may be mentioned, as they are typical
of the crimes of the outrage-mongers, Michael
Moloney, a farmer in County Clare, when sitting
in his bedroom at seven o'clock in the evening,
was shot dead by some one who thrust the muzzle
of his gun through the window and deliberately
took aim at his victim. Moloney's crime was that
he had paid his rent. In the same county, two
days later, Thomas McMahon, a farmer, was found
in the cowhouse of a neighbour, lying dead with a
buUet in his brain. From the information which
they gathered, the police arrived at the conclusion
that McMahon had been put to death at a secret

366 LIFE OF THE RIGHT HON. W, E, FORSTER.
meeting of moonlighters, because he had refused
to join in an outrage on the estate on which he.
lived. In County Cork, a farmer's son, named
Patrick Leary, was shot dead by a party of men
who were going round among the tenants on a
certain estate, cautioning them against paying
their rents. Leary was in the house of one of
these tenants when the moonlighters arrived.
They believed that he was a detective, and in
stantly shot him. These are typical instances of
the murders which were reported to Forster from
different parts of the country. But in addition to
actual murders there were many cases of firing at
individuals or into dwelling-houses which did not
result in death ; there were daily instances of
incendiary fires and the mutilation of cattle ;
whilst threatening letters were scattered broadcast
throughout the disturbed districts.
To Me. Gladstone.
" Chief Secretary's Lodge, Phoenix Park, Dublin,
" November 20th, 1881.
" My dear Me. Gladstone,
" In your letter of the 17th inst. you
ask for particulars of a case of bodily outrage
inflicted for payment of rent, supposing it to be
the first case. I am sorry to say this is no novelty.
I send you the confidential return of aggravated
outrages for October, in which you will find one

THE BATTLE WITH THE LAND LEAGUE. 367
murder and four firings into dwellings, believed to
have been perpetrated as punishment for paying
rents. I am sorry to say there is a turn decidedly
for the worse, and we are going to have a most
anxious winter. It is now but too clear that, in
in many counties, we shall have to compel the
tenants to submit to the law. Our first duty will
be to send so large a force with the sheriff's officer
as will secure either payment of rent or eviction.
This, though requiring careful organization, will
be our least difficulty. The party of robbers rely,
and rightly rely, much more on the terror caused
by outrage than on open resistance.
" The disease with which we have to contend
is so deep-seated, that it changes its form from
day to day, according to our treatment. Boycot
ting, so far as it is exclusive dealing, is an open
outrage, and our late action has much checked it.
And now we have more secret outrages and
attempts to murder. We must meet this as best
we can by (1) more soldiers and billeting of them ;
(2) economizing our police force ; (3) multiplying
arrests under Protection Act.
"We must aim at locking up all murder
planners, and such patroUing as will make night
outrages impossible ; but these ideals are not
easUy realized. However, I hope to realize them
so far that the tenant wiU generally think the
Land Court the best alternative. But then we
must have the courts throughout Ireland, at any

368 LIFE OF THE RIGHT HON, W, E, FOESTER.
rate in every disturbed county ; and I write to-day
to Frederick Cavendish to that effect.
"You will again ask, Is it not possible to get
outside aid to the soldiers or police ? I can assure
you that it is not possible for any one to have
thought- or said more about this than I have
done the last few days. I lose no opportunity of
pressing for it, but as yet without success.
" There is one thing I think we may do,
somewhat in this direction. A large number of
police are employed in personal protection. This
does not require training, only honest fidelity and
courage, and we think of getting extra men for
this duty, giving the preference to constabulary
and army pensioners. . . .
" One word about myself. If we could get
the country quiet, I should be anxious to leave
Ireland. While we are fighting for law and
order, I cannot desert my post ; but this battle
over, and the Land Act weU at work, I am quite
sure that the best course for Ireland, as well as
for myself, would be my replacement by some one
not tarred by the coercion brush. But alas ! it is
but too probable that the battle will not be won
when Parliament meets, and that, instead of re
leasing the suspects, we shall have to consider
whether we renew the Protection Act, or replace
it by some other form of repression.
" Yours very truly,
" W. E. Forster."

THE BATTLE WITH THE LAND LEAGUE, 369
It was undoubtedly the discouragement he felt
at the spread of the outrages which led Forster
thus openly to suggest to Mr, Gladstone his retire
ment from his post. To have been compelled to
give up his plans for concihating Irish opinion, and
to resort to repression and coercion in order to
maintain order, and then to find that even with
coercion he could not put down outrage of a cruel
and cowardly kind, was indeed bitter to him. Mr.
Gladstone wrote, by return of post, to acknowledge
his "very grave letter," which he thought, ought
to be laid before the Cabinet. "With regard to
your leaving Ireland," the Prime Minister con
tinued, "there is an analogy between your posi
tion and mine. VirtuaUy abandoning the hope of
vital change for the better during the winter, I
come on my own behalf to an anticipation pro
jected a httle further into the future — that after
the winter things may mend, and that my own
retUement may give facilities for the fulfilment of
your very natural desire."
It was a day or two after this that, in another
letter, Mr. Gladstone congratulated Forster upon
the manner in which he had accomplished a
difficult and delicate piece of work in connection
with the Irish Executive. "It is not every
man,'' he wrote, "who in difficult circumstances
can keep a cool head with a warm heart; and
this is what you are doing." Words like these
must have encouraged him ; for in Ireland the
VOL. II. 2 B

370 LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
prospect was very dark, and in England his
opponents — some of whom professed to be his own
friends — were very active. The outrages were
increasing in number, although the powers of the
Protection x\ct were now being used with an
unsparing hand, and large additions were being
made to the prisoners in Kilmainham and else
where. But it was not merely the league and
its emissaries, social and open, with whom he had
to contend. He had done his best to give effect
to Mr. Gladstone's wish, and to raUy the loyal part
of the population in support of the law, and he had
found that party feeling ran far too high to make
any such movement possible. The landowners
were bitter against the Government, and the Tory
aristocracy of Ireland heaped reproaches upon the
Chief Secretary because he was not resolute
enough and severe enough in his action against
the followers of the league. In England he was
being assailed for having suspended constitutional
government, and already a faction of the Liberal
party were demanding his removal from his post,
on the ground that he was neither more nor less
than a despot. Nobody knew better than he did
that he was governing rather as an absolute than
as a Constitutional ruler ; and nobody deplored the
fact more strongly. ¦ He was not unprepared for
the unfriendly criticisms of those who, being either
unable or unwilling to take the difficulties of his
position and the necessities of the Irish problem

THE BATTLE WITH THE LAND LEAGUE. 371
into account, called him sharply to task for his
violation of the fundamental commonplaces of the
Liberal creed. But it was, perhaps, still harder
for him to have to submit to the ignorant and,
in some cases, insolent censures of those men
Avho, while regarding themselves as the bul
warks of law and order in Ireland, refused to
hft a finger in order to aid the Government in
the work' of maintaining that law and order,
and contented themselves with criticizing every
step taken by the Executive.
Here, for example, is a letter addressed by a
peer of wealth and great influence to Mr. Forster
during the month of November, 1881 : "We, who
are anxious to support the Lord-Lieutenant and
his advisers in maintaining law and order in this
country, cannot understand the action of the
Government in remitting the sentence passed upon
the brutal murderer of a peace-officer on duty. At
a moment when perverse magistrates and perverse
juries are straining the law against the constabulary,
this mistaken clemency is a direct encouragement
to the disorderly and disaffected masses to continue
their career of violence. Every release of a sus
pect, every remission of a sentence in such a case,
is a triumph to the lawless at the expense of
the law-abiding." This crude attempt to incite
Forster and the Executive to a course of relent
less severity, without regard to the merits of each
particular case, affords a fair sample of the cha-

372 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
racter of the support which the Castle had during
that winter from many of those who posed as the
special champions and representatives of law and
order. In his reply to this letter, Forster, after
referring the writer to the Lord-Lieutenant on the
question of the remission of a capital sentence,.
continued, "For the arrests and release of sus
pects I am responsible, and to the best of my
belief I have had good reasons for my action in
every case" and I cannot consider that it would be
either wise or just to lay down the rule which you.
suggest that every release of a suspect is a triumph
to the lawless. There could, in my opinion, be no'
greater triumph to the lawless than the departure
of the Government from the impartial consideration
of each case on its merits."
The "impartial consideration" of the cases of
the suspects was indeed one of the heaviest pieces
of work imposed upon him at this time. He was.
in constant consultation with his law advisers
upon each individual case. The fact that these
men were imprisoned at his pleasure, and that
his alone was the voice that could order their
release, laid upon him a responsibility the extent
of which he never sought to underestimate ; and
in spite of taunts and sneers on the one side, and
threats, abuse, and entreaties on the other, he-
strove resolutely, with a dogged tenacity and
perseverance, to do justice towards each of the
hundreds of men who now lay in gaol under his

THE BATTLE WITH THE LAND LEAGUE, 373
warrant. Their detention, moreover, imposed upon
him a heavy amount of detail work. Unconvicted
and untried, they could not be treated as guilty
men, and he was most anxious in his dealings
with them to show all the consideration and
forbearance consistent with the faithful discharge
of his duty to the State, Daily there came to him
apphcations for some relaxation of the prison
rules, for permission to receive particular visitors,
or even to quit the prison on parole ; and each of
these was carefully considered, and dealt with on
its merits. The health, too, of the suspects was
constantly noted, and whenever it could be shown
that confinement was seriously injuring the suspect,
his release was ordered. In this manner Mr. Sexton
was released from Kilmainham, after his imprison-
inent had lasted but a few weeks.
But pressing and urgent as were the duties
which were thus accumulated upon Forster's head
at this time, he might have discharged them all
with comparative ease K it had not been for the
pain inflicted upon him by the social demoraliza
tion of the country. Day after day he had to
listen to stories of outrage, intimidations, ingrati
tude, and ruin. The personal appeals he received
from the victims of the terror sank deep into his
heart. These poor creatures looked to him to
save them, as they had done twelve months
before. He spared himself in their service neither
by day nor by night. At every hour of the day he

374 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
was engaged in stimulating the magistrates and the
other executive officers to a more vigorous discharge
of their duties ; he was constantly conferring with
the military authorities on the subject of reinforce
ments to lighten the work of the overtasked
constabulary, and he was keeping up regular
communication, not merely with his principal
advisers and agents at the Castle, but with the
representatives of the Crown in all parts of the
country. Only those who were with him then can
know how heavy the burden laid upon him was —
the double burden of work and responsibility.
" They talk of the Czar of Eussia," he said one
day after his retirement from office, " but the Czar
is not more of a personal and absolute ruler than
I was during that last winter in Ireland. My
colleagues left me to do as I pleased, and the
whole thing was on my hands." It seemed to
those who were watching him at this time, whilst
dangers, difficulties, and embarrassments accumu
lated around him, that he was trying to do the
work not of one man but of ten.
At last the strain began to tell, even upon
his great strength and power of work. During
December the entries in his daughter's diary
regarding him refer frequently to his worn and
weary appearance. He found himself, for the first
time in his IKe, lapsing into an occasional short
doze, even when persons were engaged with him
on business. The burden was very heavy, and the
gloom was deepening.

THE BATTLE WITH THE LAND LEAGUE. 375
A graphic outside sketch of Mr. Forster's
opinions at this critical period is to be found in a
letter written by one of his relatives, who was his
guest for a few days. " December 14th, 1881.
"Dear  ,
" We left London in greasy fog, and passed
through sharp frost in the shires to half a gale of
wind at Holyhead. We got here to breakfast at
twelve. I walked to the Park gates (about two
mUes) with W. E. F. He seemed in good form,
resolute and clear, and talked very freely. First
he showed me the Under-Secretary's house, marvel
ling that I did not know about him. His name is
Burke, and he virtually is what people talk about
as ' The Castle.' I then asked him whether there
would not be a difficulty in keeping M.P.s locked
up during the session. He said it would be
awkward, no doubt ; but it had already been done
in DiUon's case, and that, whatever might be said,
he had to secure the peace of the country; and
that was of immeasurably greater importance than
avoiding a taunt ; that he had no power to deport
them to England, and if he had, and they returned
by the next boat, he could not arrest them again
unless they did some overt act. He is hatching a
plan (which is not yet out, and must not be spoken.
of in public) to put one good man (I suppose a
high constabulary officer, or stipendiary magistrate)

376 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
over pairs of counties, giving him great powers,
and making him responsible for the peace there.
He has nearly carried this through, with a terrible
slaughter of red tape in the proeess.
" Then as to boycotting ; it was very doubtful
if it came within the Act, but the lawyers have
held that it does, and wherever the inspectors
reported it prevalent, and due to League organiza
tion, he has arrested the ringleaders (fifty or sixty
altogether), and it has had an exceUent effect. Of
crime there is less than this time last year.
"... He agreed that Mr. , Gladstone might
have mentioned the Property Defence Association
at Leeds, but it had then done very little. What
had been to the front was the Emergency Com
mittee, and that was a purely Orange emanation,
which made it very difficult for him to pat it on
the back. He approved of the Lord Mayor's Fund,
and had encouraged the bigwigs to support it ;
but agreed that the detestable tone of the Tory
papers, making out that it was to do what Govern
ment ought to do, made it very difficult for a
Liberal to support it. He said that, throughout,
the Tory papers had ignored Ireland altogether,
except so far as they could use it as a weapon for
party warfare. Also that the landlords were very
remiss in taking their own part. The Government
wish them to serve notices and proceed to evictions
in the worst cases only, asking them to do it on a
systematic plan, so that they may always be ready

THE BATTLE WITH THE LAND LEAGUE, 377
to back them with overwhelming force ; but they
won't in many cases. He is increasing the pro
portion of military to police in these expeditions,
to the disgust of the Horse Guards, but to the
setting free of the constabulary for night patrol
duty. ... As to compensation to landlords, I
asked him whether the real answer to the claim
was not that on the whole they are greatly benefited
by the Act, as they would not get any rents at all
without it ? He said certainly. No Government
in the world, be it Noah, Daniel, or Job (to say
nothing of Bismarck or Jim Lowther), could collect
all the rents in perpetuity. Troops may carry out
evictions but they cannot stay there to prevent
reoccupation. A modus vivendi with the tenants
is essential to the landlords, and that could not be
acquired at a less cost than the Act."
To Me. Gladstone.
" Chief Secretary's Lodge, Phoenix Park, Dublin,
"December 11th, 1881.
" My dear Me. Gladstone,
" To-day all I can do is to return Lord
 's letter. To some extent his letter is an

exaggeration. Many of the nightly attacks are
shams, got up as an excuse for non-payment of
rent ; but there are others of great atrocity. I
believe I am doing all that can be done to secure
more efficient patrolling. ... I have also been

378 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTER.
doing my best to get processes served by post
instead of by escort, and enclose circular also on
that matter. I also enclose an advertisement for
temporary police.
" I am planning also another step, which I hope
to carry out this week, which is to divide the
district counties into, say, six districts, and to
appoint in each district a temporary commissioner
who shall be responsible to me for the peace of his
district and for the aid of all the powers which the
Executive possess.
" This means breaking through many etiquettes
and many yards of red tape, but I think it now
a necessity. " There will be a slight pull upon the Treasury,
but not much. I have been talking to Spencer
about it, and he fully agrees.
" Yours very truly,
"W- E. Foestee."
This appointment of " special magistrates " he
justly regarded as one of the most important of all
the measures which, he took for the maintenance
of law and order whUst in Ireland. It enabled
him to give the ablest men in the service — such
men as Mr. Clifford Lloyd and Mr. Blake — free
scope for their energies; and unquestionably its
good effect — not fuUy felt until after his own
retirement from office — began to make itself ap
parent very soon after the step was taken.

THE BATTLE WITH THE LAND LEAGUE, 379
Amid all that engaged his attention at this
time he did not forget his old friends.

To Mes. C. Fox.
" Chief Secretary's Lodge, Dublin,
" December 22nd, 1881.
"My deae Feiend,
"From day to day I have put off thanking
thee for thy precious note of the 11th inst., and for
the accompanying gift of Caroline's ' Journal,' in
the hope of being able to say how I value this gift,
both in itself and from thee. But I have no time
to do anything except my work, and not time for
that. "Little did these dear friends of my youth —
she and Barclay and Anna Maria — think what
would fall on theU companion in after-life, in
responsibUities, abuse, and difficulty.
"I have to struggle very hard for law and
justice against every kind of injustice and selfish
ness and unreason; but I am more and more
hopeful that, in the end, truth and order will pre
vaU. Meantime, it is pleasant to be so vividly
reminded of that bright, clear inteUect, with its
quick perceptions and graceful wit, and of that
warm, unselfish heart ; and it is touching to have
her brother, whose friendship is one of my bright
memories, again brought before me ; and I love
to have thee and thine, my dearest friend, in my
thoughts when I can think of anything but Land

38o LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
Leaguers and outrages and evicted' tefnants. But
I do often think of thee in thy bed of sore sickness
and pain, and feel for thee and grieve for thee, and
also am thankful for thee that thou art preserved
in patience to endure, and to be yet, as of old, a
help to those around thee.
" But I must hasten into the Castle, and so can
only end with dear love and sincere thanks.
" Thy very affectionate friend,
"W. E. Foestee."
"A quiet Christmas," wrote Mr. Gladstone
on December 23rd, "I dare not wish you; but
I do hope and think this Christmas wiU eome to
you not without consolations and the apparent
dawn of favourable expectations." "Mine is a
more modest Wish," said Forster when, on the
morning of January 1st, 1882, some one wished
him a " happy new year : " " it is that it may be a
less bad year than the last,"

( 38X )

CHAPTEE IX.
CLOSING DAYS IN IRELAND.
In the early part of January, 1882, Mr. Forster
crossed to London in order to meet his coUeagues
and discuss the Irish question and its difficulties
with them. The opportunity furnished by his
presence in England was seized by the Queen to
invite him to Osborne, and he was thus enabled to
explain personaUy to her Majesty many circum
stances connected with the administration of Irish
affairs on which it was hardly possible for those at
a distance to form an accurate judgment. His
visit cheered and strengthened him, and he
returned to Ireland, on January 11th, in good
spirits. Yet the most trying and anxious days of
his official career were now approaching. The
meeting of ParUament was at hand, and already it
had become evident that the session would be a
stormy one. In all quarters attacks upon the Chief
Secretary seemed to be in course of preparation.
The Protection Act had not put an end to the
outrages, despite the fact that hundreds of

382 LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. W. B. FOESTEE.
prisoners, including Mt- Parnell and other members
of Parliament, were now under lock and key. The
appointment of special magistrates, which was the
most important step Mr. Forster had taken for
the purpose of strengthening the hands of the
authorities, had just been made, and its full effects
could not yet be perceived. Above all, the Pro
tection Act would expire during the year, and
consequently ministers must either decide to allow
it to lapse, or must ask ParUament to spend weeks
or possibly months in renewing it. There is no
need to feel surprise at the fact that people began
openly to talk about the "failure" of coercion as
administered by Mr. Forster. A large section of
the Eadicals had consented with great reluctance
to the policy of the Protection Act. They now
pointed eagerly to its failure to put an end to
outrages as a proof that Ireland could not be dealt
with successfully in this manner. There were
others who, without denouncing every species of
coercion, were eager to charge upon the head of
Mr. Forster himself the full responsibility for the
unsatisfactory state of things in Ireland. These
were to be found among the men who had on
many previous occasions differed from him, and
who seemed eager now to seize the opportunity of
striking at him. It is certain that small allowance
was made in some quarters for the overwhelming
difficulties of the situation, and that an ignorant
impatience prevailed among men who seemed to

CLOSING DAYS IN lEELAND. 383
beheve that the Irish question was one which any
capable administrator might solve in the course of
a single winter if he only gave his mind to it.
Up to this point, though Forster had been
bitterly and indeed brutally attacked by the
Nationalist party in Ireland, his chief opponents
in England had been the landlords, and those who
accused him of being too gentle in his methods of
dealing with Irish lawlessness. Now, however, he
had to submit to the attacks of those who professed
to be his own political friends and supporters.
From the very earhest days of his Chief Secretary
ship it had been the manifest desire of Mr. Parnell
and his party to separate him from his coUeagues.
The English public was asked to beheve that the
Irish policy of the Government was not the policy
of Mr. Gladstone, or Mr. Bright, or Mr. Chamber
lain, but the policy of Mr. Forster alone, and every
effort was made to alienate from the Chief Secretary
the sympathies of his own party. Hitherto, these
attempts had met with a very partial and limited
success ; but as the long, dark winter of 1881 crept
slowly onwards, and as day by day brought fresh
tales of horror from the centres of agitation in
Ireland, the policy of Forster's enemies began
steadUy to advance, and some of the most bitter
and uncompromising of his critics showed them
selves among writers and speakers attached to the
Liberal party in England. One word must be said
here upon the proposition set forth with so much

384 LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
zeal in certain quarters in this country, that the>
Irish policy of the Ministry down to this winter of
1881-82, had been the pohcy of Mr. Forster alone..
The statement is absolutely false. Upon Forster's
shoulders were laid the labour and the respon-j
sibility — one may add the odium also — of carrying
that policy into effect; but it was a policy de
liberately adopted by the Cabinet as a whole.
Nay, in some respects it was more fuUy the policy
of his colleagues than of himself. In the one
great struggle which had taken place within the
Cabinet, that of the autumn of 1880, it was Forster
who had been compelled to yield. The fact will
be made clear in the subsequent course of this
narrative by the letters which I am permitted to
pubUsh, but it is well that at this point, when I
am deahng with the attacks which were made upon
Mr. Forster by powerful Liberals in England, I
should state the truth. During January and
February, 1882, when day by day Forster found
himself assailed with almost as much bitterness in
the press of London as in the Nationalist press of
. Dublin, and when every effort was being made to
induce the English people to beUeve that he alone
was responsible for the failure to restore peace and
contentment in Ireland, he was manfully striving
to carry out the policy of the Cabinet as a whole.
When Parliament met, on February 7th, there
was a gleam of brightness visible amid the deep-
gloom that brooded over Ireland. The number^

CLOSING DAYS IN IRELAND. 385
of outrages was diminishing. In December, 229
outrages, exclusive of threatening letters, had been
reported, as compared with 257 in the month of
November, and 385 in December, 1880. January
showed a further reduction to 189 ; and it was
made clear that the appointment of the special
magistrates was beginning to have some effect.
In the Queen's Speech it was stated that " the
condition of Ireland showed signs of improvement,
and encouraged the hope that perseverance in the
course hitherto pursued would be rewarded with
the happy results which were so much to be
desired." The administration of justice, the
Speech declared, had been more efficient, and
organized intimidation was diminishing.
But though there was thus evidence of some
improvement in the general condition of the
country, it cannot be said that in his personal
experiences Forster had at this time much reason
to congratulate himself. Not only was it evident
that a party existed in England which was deter
mined to discredit him and drive him from office,
but it also became clear that the anger of the
extreme members of the revolutionary party in
Ireland had reached a dangerous pitch, and that
at any moment they might seek to avenge them
selves upon the man who was the representative
of Enghsh rule in Dublin, It was at this time
that the attempt to injure Forster by means of
an explosive letter, of which an account by his
VOL. II. 2 c

386 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
private secretary, Mr. Jephson, is given on a
previous page, was made ; and the police knew
that desperate men were banded together for the
purpose of procuring his assassination. In London,
as well as in Dublin, the authorities had grave
reason to fear for his safety, and they insisted
upon taking precautions to guard him against
outrage. Unfortunately they could not guard
him against trials which were infinitely harder to
be borne than any risk of murder. AU through
his tenure of office he had been compeUed again
and again to complain of the mistakes of subordi
nates in Ireland. It sometimes seemed, indeed,
as though equally in smaU things and in great
a perverse fate pursued the Executive. Imme
diately after coming to town for the meeting of
Parliament an annoying incident occurred, which
attracted not a httle notice at the time. This
was the publication, under the authority of the
Land Commission, of a pamphlet entitled, " How
to become Owner of your Farm," in which the
suppressed Land League was extolled. There is
no need to go into the particulars of the affair,
which led to the resignation of the solicitor to the
Land Commission, Mr. Fotterel, but it was one
which at the time added greatly to Forster's
anxiety. Attacks upon his administration began with
the debate upon the address. Three Irish members,
Mr. ParneU, Mr. DiUon, and Mr. O'Kelly, were in

CLOSING DAYS IN lEELAND. 387
prison, and this fact alone seemed to the Parnellite
members to justify the most direct and uncom
promising attacks upon the Irish policy of the
Government. Forster spoke during the second
night of the debate on the address in his own
defence. In the course of his speech he made it
clear that in his eyes the worst offence of Mr.
Parnell was not the advice which he had given
to the Irish people, but the means by which that
advice was being enforced by his followers, namely,
intimidation, boycotting, and outrages. It was
because he believed that Mr. ParneU had incited
to intimidation that he had felt it necessary to
advise his arrest. It was for the same reason that
he had been compelled to suppress the Land
League. In concluding his speech, Forster took
occasion to refer to the sub-commissioners who
were engaged in carrying out the work of the
Land Court. The appointment of these officials
had been one of the most serious pieces of work
laid upon him in the previous autumn, and he had
been freely criticized alike by the landlord party
and the tenants for the choice he had made.
Some of the sub-commissioners might have given
reason by their proceedings for these criticisms ;
but in the main they had done their work admir
ably, and Forster gave the House a warm justifi
cation of their character and conduct.
It was not in the House of Commons alone,
however, that the Irish pohcy of ministers was

388 LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTER.
attacked. In the House of Lords a motion was
brought forward by Lord Donoughmore for the
appointment of a select committee to inquire into
the working of the Land Act — which had been
barely four months in operation ! In spite of
the strenuous protests of the representatives of
the Government in the Upper House, the reso
lution was carried by 96 votes to 53. Here was
a direct attack upon the Act of the most formid
able kind, an attack different indeed in character,
but equal in gravity to that which had been made
upon the same measure by Mr. Parnell. The
House of Lords had the right to appoint such
a committee if it pleased; but ministers, also
exercising their right, refused to take any part
in its work, or to be. represented upon it. The
committee had power to summon any persons it
pleased as witnesses, and it was evident that it
also lay within its power to stop the working of
the Land Act at the most critical moment. A
question immediately arose as to whether, if Mr.
Forster were summoned to give evidence before
the committee, he should obey the summons.
To Me. Gladstone.
" 80, Eccleston Square, S.W., February 26th, 1882,
" My deae Me. Gladstone,
" I was sorry to learn from Hamilton, this
afternoon, that Northcote appears determined to
resist all compromise. I confess, I begin to think

CLOSING DAYS IN IRELAND. 389
that Harcourt is right, and that a minister ought
not to be put in the position of defending himself
before a committee.
" Of course, if the House of Commons appointed
such committee after resistance by the Ministry,
the whole Ministry w^ould resign, and, if the
Ministry did not resist such motion, the attacked
minister would resign.
" The question is. Am I to attend before the
Lords' Committee and there defend myself? For
instance, am I to answer such questions as these ?
' For what reasons did you appoint the sub-
commissioners ? What pains did you take to
ascertain their fitness ? '
" I doubt whether a minister ought to aUow
himself to be tried by a committee of the House of
Lords. If not, there are two modes of meeting
this matter : (1) I could cease to be a minister —
but I fear that course is not possible — would it
were ; or (2) the Government might oppose the
motion for leave for me as member of the House
to attend before the committee.
" Upon that motion I could challenge attack
in the Commons, and declare my anxiety to defend
myself in my own House. It is by no means
certain that the Lords' Committee will summon
me to attend ; and K they do, I do not know that
my refusal to attend is precluded by the words
GranviUe used on Friday.
" I am sure you will feel that I do not raise the

390 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
question from any personal feeling, but simply
from the wish that the position of a minister
should not be unduly assaUed.
" Yours very truly,
"W. E. Forster."
The Cabinet decided that it would be better on
the whole for Mr. Forster to refuse to attend
before the committee. The challenge of the Lords
was taken up by the Government in the House of
Commons, and a resolution moved by Mr. Glad
stone, declaring that any inquiry at that time into
the working of the Land Act would defeat its
operation, and must be injurious to the interests
of good government in Ireland, was carried by a
majority of 303 to 235.
Whilst this controversy was being carried on
between the Government and the House of Lords,
Mr. Forster was engaged in very different work at a
distance from London. The state of things in the
county of Clare was exceptionally bad. The south
west, indeed, was the centre of outrage and resist
ance to the law. Forster determined that he would
himseK go down into Clare, Limerick, and Galway,
in order that he might see the state of the country
with his own eyes. When he first expressed his
intention of making the journey, not a little oppo
sition was offered by his coUeagues, who were
naturally anxious lest he should suffer violence
whUst visiting places so notorious in the annals

CLOSING DAYS IN IRELAND. 391
of political and agrarian crime. Their anxiety
Avas increased by the fact that he was determined,
as far as possible, to do without police protection.
Nevertheless he persisted in his purpose, and his
journey to Clare, so far from ending in the dreaded
disaster, formed one of the brightest incidents in
his career as Chief Secretary. There is no need to
dwell upon the personal courage which was shown
in facing dangers the reality of which was brought
home, in only too terrible a manner, to the mind
of the country a few weeks later. Nor is it neces
sary to add more than a few words to the picture
of his journey as it is given in his own letters.
He had made up his mind to see the worst that
could be shown in Ireland with his own eyes ; he
was anxious, too, to come into close contact with
the people of a district where the terror of the
Land League seemed supreme. So he set forth
on his journey with great confidence in an over
ruling Providence ; his chief anxiety being lest, in
spite of his orders to the contrary, a police escort
might be provided for him.
To Me. Gladstone.
" Limerick, March 1st, 1882.
" My deae Me. Gladstone,
" My private secretary will send you a
copy of my letter to Cairns, written as you suggest.
Lloyd has met me here, and I think I do right to
go on to Clare.

392 LIFE OF THE BIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
"It is very difficult to realize the real position
without a personal visit, and no doubt this district
in East Clare is just now the worst in Ireland —
being possessed by a secret society, partly treason
able, partly murderous.
"I heard good news as I came down. I met
at Limerick Junction one of the largest agents in
the south, a man whom I know to be a very
reasonable one, who told me he had just got in
rents on a large estate near Tipperary on the
agreement of three-fourths down and twenty-five
per cent, to depend on the Land Court. This is
important, as when I was in Ireland last week
Tipperary town and neighbourhood was the worst
district in the counties of Tipperary, Waterford,
and East Clare.
" If we can get Clare quiet I 'shall be hopeful.
" Yours very truly,
" W. E. Foestee.
" My private secretary at Irish Office wiU know
my address." To his Wife. " Tulla, March 2nd, 1882.
"I niiUst send one line, my dearest, though
only one hne. We drove over last evening, a wild
drive of twenty miles in a storm of rain — three
cars of pohce pursuing us. I did all I could to
diminish the number., . . .
" Here we have a smaU public-house, kept by

CLOSING DAYS IN lEELAND. 393
the only loyal man in the place — an Orange-Pro
testant from Derry, now vehemently boycotted.
" To-day I have been seeing head constables
from the neighbourhood ; the poor man in the
workhouse hospital who was nearly shot to pieces
last Saturday, and who must, I fear, die ; the
policeman who was hit when Lieutenant Lloyd
was fired at ; the Dispensary doctor, etc.
" We drove out to call on Colonel O'Callaghan
— finding him barricaded as Becher described, but
now guarded by Scots Greys instead of police. . . .
I have now made a long call on the priest and his
curate, who tell me the other side. There is
another side ; but I have given them my mind,
as I did in a short speech to a number of men I
found under a shed ; . . . I am very weU, liking
the picnic; my bed a mattress on seven chairs, but
comfortable. " Thine, "W. E. Foester."
The short speech which Forster made under
the shed at TuUa has been described with graphic
force by Captain Eoss, of Bladensburg, who was
one of his attendants during the journey. Quite
unaccompanied, Forster, when returning from his
caU on the priest, walked to a shed where he saw
a number of men sheltering from the rain, told
them his name, and then in pithy and forcible
terms remonstrated with them on their silent

394 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
acquiescence in the reign of terror organized by
the agitators. The men, who received him with
looks of surprise, heard him in silence, and un
covered their heads respectfuUy when, having
spoken his mind, he left them.
To his Wife.
"Athenry, March 3rd, 1882.
" Just now this is the worst bit of Galway,
but it is fair day, and I have been in among the
crowd by myself, chatting with a ring of men
around me. . . .
" We had a cypher telegram at Tulla yesterday
which greatly perplexed our wits ; but the result
was that I telegraphed to Cairns that, having heard
from my colleagues, I cannot consent to attend the
committee. We had no pohce escort yesterday
from Tulla to Ennis. It cleared up, and I had a
pleasant drive in Lloyd's dog-cart for ten miles."
From H. 0. Arnold Foestee, written at
the same time.
" Our first point in our drive was to the
workhouse, where father visited the poor feUow
who was so brutally attacked the other day. I am
afraid he was dying. It was a painful and dreadful
sight, and made doubly so by the poor man's
pathetic story of the outrage — of his wife's appeal
to the murderers to spare him, and by his sorrow
on behalf of his six little children. Father gave

CLOSING DAYS IN lEELAND. 395
him iElO for his wife, and said a few words to him
which I am sure must have comforted him not a
little, and which indeed touched everybody. . . ,
To-day we are on our way to Athenry, Father is
very well, and glad to have come here. People, of
course, eye him very curiously, but everybody has
been civU enough." To his Wife.
"Limerick Junction, March 4th, 1882.
" One very short line to say we are quite
weU, and I am more cheery about the country
than I have been since I came down. Eents are
being paid in the worst districts, and the worst
ruffians are bolting.
" The five special magistrates have just met me
here, and all bring good accounts.
" I am very glad to say I have just got a
telegram from Jephson, with a message from
Gladstone that I need not come back for Monday's
debate. " With dearest love to you all,
" Thine,
" W. E. Foestee."
" Portarlington, March 5th, 1882.
"My dearest Wipe,
" We are spending here a quiet, restful
day. Mrs. Blake is really a delightful hostess.
" To-morrow morning I go to TuUamore, the

396 LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON, W. B. FOESTEE.
centre of the worst part of King's County, where
I hope to make a speech. Blake entirely agrees
with me that I must be unpoliced, and trust to
the people."
The journey caused immense excitement in
Ireland, and aroused a corresponding degree of
interest in England. The spectacle presented by
the Chief Secretary, the hated "Buckshot " of the
Parnellites, walking about unarmed and without
police escorts in such places as Tulla and Athenry
and talking to the groups of farmers and labourers
whom he encountered in the streets and market
places, was indeed calculated to excite amazement
in the breasts both of Irishmen and Englishmen.
Hitherto the belief had been that Mr. Forster's
life was not safe even within the walls of Dublin
Castle ; whilst, if the Nationalist newspapers were
to be credited, the feehng entertained towards him
by the overwhelming mass of the Irish people
was such that it would have been impossible for
him to appear in pubhc without being insulted.
Yet here he was, in the worst part of Ireland,
meeting with civility, and absolutely unharmed.
It is not strange that at the moment people
supposed that the dangers of his journey must
have been exaggerated, and that after all there
was no reason to fear the presence of the political
assassin on Irish soil. The Nationalist news
papers, it need hardly be said, pursued him with

CLOSING DAYS IN IRELAND. 397
venomous abuse whilst he was on this brief but
adventurous journey. They misrepresented his
motives, and, though unable to deny his courage,
they found vent for their rage in declaring him to
be a person notorious for ferocious brutality.
It was at TuUamore that the most interesting
event connected with the journey took place.
Before me, as I write, lies a sheet printed at
Limerick, and bearing the foUowing title, " This
speech was made by the Eight Honourable W. E.
Forster, M.P., Chief Secretary for Ireland, at an
open-air meeting in TuUamore, in the King's
County, on the 6th March, 1882." Before making
his speech, Forster walked alone ' through the
streets, the people eyeing him with unconcealed
curiosity, but not offering to molest him in any
way. As in the other towns he had visited, he
had interviews here with the parish priest and his
curates, and with other persons of influence.
Then he went to the Convent Schools, and spent
some time in examining the girls who were being
taught there. By this time his presence in the
town was generally known, and a crowd followed
him on his way back to the hotel. TuUamore was
the centre of one of the "outrage districts," The
people seemed too much surprised, however, to do
more than stare at him vigorously. Pressing upon
his heels, they accompanied him to the hotel, and
waited outside in gathering numbers whilst he
lunched. After luncheon, he addressed them from

398 LIFE OF THE RIGHT HON. W. E. FORSTER.
the window of the house. It was a speech in its
way unique ; and it is impossible for any one
acquainted with Forster's history not to be carried
back when reading it to those early days in Brad
ford when he was engaged in combating the
"physical force" party among the Chartists, and
trying to win by reason and persuasion those
whom most were disposed simply to abuse.
After a few prefatory words to the TuUamore
crowd, he said, " Seeing you here, I should like to
say a word or two as to why I have come down
from Dublin into the country." [A Voice : " And
we admire your pluck ! ""] " I have been down in
Limerick, and in Clare, and in Galway, and the
reason why I came down was this, that I wanted
to see whether, coming down for myself, and
seeing what the state of things was, would enable
me to do my work better. My work at this pre
sent moment is to prevent men having outrages
committed upon them ; to prevent their being
threatened and iU-treated when going through
their daily work ; to enable a man to earn his
living if he chooses, to earn it without being
frightened by anybody else from doing that ; and,
above all, to prevent, and if possible put a stop to,
what has been happening in many parts of Ireland
— I hope not here, but I am afraid there ha.ve
been one or two cases not far from here, — to put
a stop to what has taken place in other parts of
Ireland, especially where I have been within the

CLOSING DAYS IN IRELAND. 399
last day or two, viz, those violent outrages, maim
ing and killing people because they have been
doing what they had a perfect right to do, and in
some cases because they had been doing what it
was their duty to do— paying their lawful debts—
or even because they were suspected of it."
He had come to the conclusion, he went on, that
this intimidation might be put down if the people
themselves would unite to resist it. " The people
of this district have it in their own power to stop
these outrages, which are a disgrace to the name
of Ireland, and which, allow me to say — for I
would not have come here to talk to you at all, if
I would not say before your faces precisely and
exactly what I would say behind your backs in the
Imperial House of Parliament — I have come here
to say to you exactly what I would say to you
there — namely this, that such things would not
happen either in England or in Scotland, and I
do not believe they would happen in any country
on the continent. There are no more courageous
men in the world in battle, under discipline, than
are the Irish." [A voice : " Soft solder. Eelease
the prisoners ! "] "Perhaps you will wait until I
come to an end. I do not know why you should
be angry, if you are, at my saying you are
courageous men ; but perhaps if you are angry at
that you wiU be pleased with what I am going
to say now — that though there are no more
courageous men in battle than the Irish, there is

4O0 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W, B. FOESTEE.
one want among the Irish people, and that is the
want of moral courage — a want of that determina
tion to stand against a majority round them, or
even a noisy or violent minority round them,"
Why did they aUow themselves to be terror
ized ? why did they not unite to stop it ? he asked.
"A great many of you, I know, must feel that it is
doing great harm — -that it is interfering with your
employment, and that no good can come of it. If
that is the case, I say help the Government to
prevent these outrages. But whether you do or
not, it is our duty to stop them. That is the duty
of the Government, and it is specially my duty.
And stop them we will." Assuming that there
might be some one in the crowd who looked with
approval upon these outrages, he would like to teU
him what were the forces arrayed against the
authors of the crimes. " They have got the Irish
Government — though perhaps they think they can
defy that ; they have got the Imperial Parliament ;
they have got the people of Great Britain, who
are determined that these outrages shall cease ;
and they have got a stronger force against them
than the Irish Government, or Parliament, or the
British people — they have got against them the
force of God's laws."
Mr. Forster then spoke of himself, of the evil
which had been spoken of him since he came to
Ireland as Chief Secretary, and of his visit to the
country at the time of the famine. " I was de-

CLOSING DAYS IN IRELAND, 401
termined to do what I could, after seeing the
misery in the west, to get an alteration in the
laws. We have got an alteration in the laws,
and all of you will acknowledge that we have
now got two boons, as I may say, — I will not call
them boons, but two acts of justice, which three
or four years ago you did not expect to get. One
is that we have men going through the country
everywhere who are saying what a fair rent is to
be, and in very many cases largely lowering the
rent ; and the other is that the want of security
which the farmers felt in past years no longer
exists." He was glad to think that such a change
in the laws had been accomplished. But he must
speak of another Irish experience of his. " I have
just come back from Clare, and I will tell you
what I saw there — it will stick in my memory for
the rest of my Ufe, as an eviction which I saw
thirty years ago will stick in my memory for the
rest of my life. I have done all I can to make it
unUkely, to make it difficult, that there should be
evictions in the future, and I wUl do what I can
to make it difficult that that shall happen again
which happened in Clare, which I almost saw
happen within the last three or four days. I went,
when I was at Tulla, to the workhouse, and there
I saw a poor feUow lying in bed, the doctors round
him, with a blue light over his face that made me
feel that the doctors were not right when they
told me that he might get over it. I felt sure
VOL. II. 2 D

402 LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. W. E, FOESTEE.
that he must die, and I see this morning that he
has died. But why did that man die ? He was a
poor lone farmer. I believe he had paid his rent
' — I believe he had committed that crime. He
thought it his duty to pay. Fifteen or sixteen
men broke into his house in the middle of the
night, pulled him out of his bed, and told him they
would punish him. He himself, lying in his death
agony as it were, told me the story. He said,
' My wife went down on her knees, and said,
' Here are five helpless children, will you kill their
father ? ' They took him out ; they discharged a
gun filled with shot into his leg, so closely that it
shattered his leg. . . . Well, I wUl state that that
is a state of things that, so coming on what I have
heard, will dwell with me all the rest of my life,
and if I can do anything to prevent these things
happening, whatever hard opinion you may think
of me or say of me, the time will come when the
Irish people will be thankful that they were
stopped." The concluding passage of the speech was as
follows : — " I will just end with these words — God
save Ireland. . . . God save Ireland from enemies
outside her border and from those within. God
save Ireland from cruel men, of whatever class
they be — and I trust there are very few^-grasp-
ing landlords, or dishonest tenants, or midnight
marauders. God save Ireland from the pestilence
that walkethat noon, and the terror that stealeth

CLOSING DAYS IN lEELAND. 403
at night. And I beheve that God will save Ire
land ; for with all her faults there is that amount
of virtue among the Irish people — there is that
love of their country, that love and devotion of
men to their families — that wilhngness to sacrifice
for them, which are abiding and homely virtues
that do much to save a country and to enable
God's laws to be respected. And with the earnest
desire that God may save Ireland, I thank you for
having heard me."
There was some applause at the conclusion of
the speech, and then some one in the crowd
raised a cry, "Let out the suspects!" Forster
promptly answered him : "As soon as we can
fairly say that outrages have ceased in Ireland,
and that men are not ruined, are not maimed, and
are not murdered for doing their duty, or doing
what they have a legal right to do, the suspects
wiU be released."
Such was the speech at TuUamore, delivered
from an open window by the Irish Secretary to a
crowd of farmers and labourers. It made a pro
found impression upon all parties — an impression
the depth of which was proved by the extreme
virulence with which both the speaker and the
speech were abused in the Nationalist press. In
England the episode of the tour in the west, and
the uncompromising courage and frankness of
Forster's language, for a time checked the course
of those who were now striving to discredit him.

404 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE,
The press was almost unanimous in praise of his
action, and when he reappeared in the House of
Commons after his visit to Clare, he was received
with enthusiastic cheering from the Liberal
benches ; though he had, at the same time, to
submit to a fresh outpouring of abuse from the
Parnellites, "It is neally touching," wrote his daughter,
Mrs, O'Brien, in her diary (March Sth, 1882), "to
see the delight of our Irish friends over the Chief
Secretary's journey and his speech. They feel
that such an appeal marks a new departure in the
relations of an English minister and the Irish
people. There is in father's manner of thinking
and speaking about Irish matters and to Irish
people an utter absence of British superciliousness
and patronizing goodwill, which is felt and appre
ciated by Irishmen. . . . We had a pleasant
family dinner, and heard some interesting details
about the journey in the west. The meeting
which had turned out so successful an experiment
had been on the , verge of going quite the other
way. The priest of TuUamore had repented of his
promise to give his flock notice of the proposed
meeting, so that when father arrived on Monday
morning he found that nothing had been done in
the way of advertisement. Consequently he had
to advertise it himself."
Some substantial results followed the visit to
Clare. Thus a large land-agent, writing to a

CLOSING DAYS IN lEELAND. 405
member of the Cabinet, shortly after Mr. Forster's
return to London, said, " I have had many oppor
tunities of learning the views on Mr. Forster's tour
and address from both sides of pohticians and all
classes. He has done very great benefit by his
visit. I find in four different counties within the
past four days, rents have been remitted to me
without my applying for them, in instances where,
on my asking for them at the usual time — early in
January — I was requested, in consequence of in
timidation, not then to press for the rents. I be
lieve that Mr. Forster's presence and addresses have
much lessened the effect of the dreadful intimida
tion which is so prevalent in the south and west."
For the moment Forster's courage and energy
had checked the movements of his enemies, and
caused a revulsion of feeling in his favour among
many who had been joining in the attacks which
were now so persistently made upon him in certain
quarters in England. The battle was still, how
ever, a terrible one in Ireland. The special magis
trates were doing their best, but the progress
which they were making in their struggle with the
party of disorder was barely perceptible. The
suspects in prison now numbered 872, and it
seemed as though that number must be indefinitely
increased before any real impression could be
made upon the lawless elements in Ireland. But
it was not merely the present that weighed heavily
upon the Chief Secretary. In the future there

4o6 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W, E. FOESTEE,
loomed a difficulty of the most formidable kind
— the necessity of renewing the Protection Act,
The House was at this time engaged in considering
the Eules of Procedure proposed by Mr. Glad
stone, and the Irish members had been quick to
see in these rules a weapon to be used against
them when the time came. They had coalesced
with the Tory opposition, and were now fighting
vigorously to prevent any restriction of the rights
of individual members. The opponents of Mr.
Forster took advantage of this state of things, in
order to insist upon the fact that the Liberal
Government must either abandon the Chief Sec
retary or submit to certain defeat in the not
distant future. On March 24th, Mr. .Gladstone
wrote to Forster, who was then in Dublin, re
porting to him the growing opposition to the
ministerial proposals for instituting the closure,
and the prevalent behef among the Irish sym
pathizers in the House that by stopping the
closure they might prevent the renewal of the
Protection Act. The Prime Minister added his
opinion that "with the Land Act working briskly,
resistance to process disappearing, and rents in
creasingly and even generally though not uniformly
paid, a renewal of so odious a power as that which
we now hold is impossible, and that whatever may
be needed by way of supplement to the ordinary
law must be found in other forms."

CLOSING DAYS IN lEELAND. 407
To Mr, Gladstone,
"Dublin Castle, March 25th, 1882.
" Mr DEAE Mr, Gladstone,
" The reason why I did not mention your
proposal to  ¦ is this. He could not make the
speech you suggest without our assent, either tacit
or expressed. In fact, the speech without our
assent would not carry a vote ; but such assent
would not only pledge us to non-renewal of the
Protection Act, but would oblige us to release at'
once. It would be very difficult, if not impossible,
to keep the suspects in prison, if we let it be
supposed that we shaU not ask for renewal.
" Nor do I think we can as yet pledge ourselves
to non-renewal. It is true that the Land Act is
working, that there is no open resistance to pro
cesses, and that rents are increasingly paid ; but
outrages continue, and the Protection Act is our
best weapon against secret societies and also
against boycotting.
" Undoubtedly the Protection Act has checked,
though it has not prevented, outrages. For in
stance, it is only by actual arrest in Loughrea that
we have checked actual murder.
"Then, again, there is the question of time.
Ireland wUl certainly be ungovernable if we give
up the Protection Act, without replacing it by
other strong measures. If, therefore, we let it be
known that it wiU be given up, and therefore de
prive it of power, we must be prepared, simultane-

4o8 LIFE OP THE RIGHT EON. W. E. FOESTEE.
ously with our statement, to bring in our replacing
biU. "Are we prepared to give the Parliamentary
time for- this ?
"It is too early to form a definite opinion, but
my impression is (1) that late in the session we shall
bring in a biU supplementing the ordinary law, and
renewing the Protection Act for a year, if possible
for a less time ; but (2) that we should pledge our
selves to release all the suspects on the passing of
such bill, stating at the same time that we could
not face the recess without the power of rearrest
if absolutely necessary. I am well aware of the
great importance and urgency of the approaching
division, but I trust we shall not buy votes by any
concession to the Parnelhtes. I see signs every
where of the approaching defeat of the conspiracy,
but we are in the crisis of the conflict, and any
such concession just now would be fatal."
This letter speaks for itself as to the situation
and the nature of the new difficulties which Forster
had to meet. The exigencies of a party had to be
considered as well as the needs of a country. The
opponents of coercion saw their opportunity, and
eagerly made use of it. On the one hand, they
sought to bring pressure to bear upon ministers by
threatening them with defeat on the question of
the closure K they did not distinctly repudiate any
intention to renew the Protection Act ; and, on

CLOSING DAYS IN lEELAND. 409
the other hand, they filled the air with declara
tions of the failure of Mr. Forster's policy in
Ireland, and with rumours of his impending super
session, the minister generally designated as his
successor being Mr. Chamberlain. To add to the
difficulties of the situation in Parliament, a section
of the Tories had shown a disposition to coquet
with the ParneUites, and an ex-minister. Sir John
Hay, had placed a motion against the continuance
of coercion on the notice-paper. The Chief Secre
tary's difficulties in Ireland, it need hardly be
said, were not lightened by these cross-currents
of political strKe in London.
On March 28th, whilst the question of the
carrying of the closure was still in suspense, Mr.
Sexton brought forward a demand for the release
on parole of the three imprisoned Irish members,
in order that they might vote in the coming
division. Mr. Forster, in declining to comply
with this request, pointed to the criminal outrages
which were still being committed in Ireland, and,
whUst admitting that the Land League was not
ostensibly guUty of these acts, regretted that it
had made no persistent effort to discourage them,
and intimated that K they continued the Govern-
meiit would be forced to resort to more stringent
measures to uphold the law and to restore confi
dence. The question of a renewal of the Protec
tion Act, or of any further amendment of the law
in the direction of coercion, had not, at this time,

4IO LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
been considered by the Cabinet, and some of his
colleagues were dissatisfied by his use of language
which seemed to imply that a decision of this kind
had already been arrived at. Mr. Gladstone wrote
(March 29th), requesting him to correct the im
pression which had been conveyed by his speech.
To Me. Gladstone,
" 80, Eccleston Square, London,
"March 29th, 1882. '
" My deae Mr. Gladstone,
"I think the best reply to your letter is
to send the best report I can find of my speech — ¦
that in the Standard. It must be read in relation
to Brand's speech, to which I was replying.
"What I meant to convey, and what I believe
I did convey, was simply this — that the Govern
ment would not be beaten in the contest for law
and order, and I really think it was necessary to
say that much.
" I could not but suppose this was the unani
mous feeling of the Cabinet. . . .
"Yours very truly,
" W. E. FoRSTEE."
Ministers were not beaten when the critical
division on the closure took place (March 30th).
On the contrary, they had a majority of 39.
The Easter holidays followed immediately upon
the close of the debate, and the House separated

CLOSING DAYS IN IRELAND. 41 r
Avith an uneasy consciousness of the fact that Irish
affairs were becoming increasingly complicated.
Forster's assaUants seized the opportunity afforded
b}^ the recess to redouble their attacks upon him,
and to demand more boldly than ever his removal
from office, and the immediate release of the
suspects, whose imprisonment had not, it was
evident, prevented the continuance of the out
rages. To make matters worse, the American
Government became urgent in their demands for
the release of those prisoners who could prove
that they were citizens of the United States ;
whUst in addition to the political perplexities thus
occasioned, the atrocious murder of an Irish lady,
Mrs. H. J. Smythe, as she was driving home from
church in Westmeath, sent a thrill of horror
through the whole country.
To Me. Gladstone.
" Chief Secretary's Lodge, Dublin,
"April 4th, 1882,
" My DEAE Mr, Gladstone,
" You may have seen an article in yester
day's Pall Mall Gazette urging my dismissal or
resignation. " I send you comments by Irish papers.
Neither article nor comments matter much, ex
cept in so far that any weakening of my authority
in Ireland does some harm at this special moment ;
but this must be met like other difficulties. I seize,

412 LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTER.
however, this opportunity of saying to you what
has been on my mind for some time ; that if
now, or at any future time, you think that from
any cause it would be to the advantage of the
public service or for the good of Ireland that I
should resign, I most unreservedly place my-
resignation in your hands. You might come to
this opinion, and come to it on good grounds,
without any disapproval of, or indeed disagreement
with, my official action; and I earnestly beg of
you not to allow yourseK to be influenced, for a
moment, by any personal consideration for me of
any kind whatever.
"For instance, I must request you to pay no
regard to the fact that I should probably appear
discredited — to have failed, etc., etc.
"In making you this request, I know I am
asking much from a chief who has so kindly and
generously stood by a colleague as you have by
me, but the Pall Mall Gazette is right in one
thing — this is no time for personal considera
tions. " Believe me to remain,
" Yours very truly,
" W. E. Forster."
From Mr. Gladstone.
" Ha-w-arden Castle, April 5th, 1882.
" Yesterday morning I was unwell, and did not
see the papers, so that I have only just become

CLOSING DAYS IN IRELAND, 413
aware of the obliging suggestion that you should
retire. I suspect it is partly due to a few (not,
I think, many) Tory eulogies. There is one con
sideration which grievously tempts me towards the
acceptance of the offer conveyed in your most
handsome letter. It is that if you go, and go on
Irish grounds, surely I must go too. At the
winter end of 1880 we might have parted for
cause ; I do not see how we can now.
" Using the same frankness as you do, I can
convey to you the assurance that so far as my
knowledge goes, the notion of your retirement as
a thing desirable has never crossed the mind of one
of your coUeagues, or of any noteworthy person,
unless it be  .
" We must continue to face our difficulties
with an unbroken front, and with a stout heart. I
do not admit your failure, and I think you have
admitted it rather too much— at any rate, by
omission ; by not putting forward enough the fact
that in the main point, namely, the deadly fight
with the social revolution, you have not failed, but
are succeeding. Your failure, were it true, is our
faUure ; and outrage, though a grave fact, is not
the main one. Were there a change in the features
of the case I would not hesitate to recognize it,
with whatever pain, as unreservedly as I now record
their actual condition.
"I do not suppose we ought to think of legis
lation on the Irish case until after Whitsuntide."

414 LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. W, E, POESTEE,
On the very day on which this frank and
generous letter was written by Mr, Gladstone,
Forster received another letter from a Kerry
gentleman, charging upon him the responsibUity
for the murder of a Mr, Herbert, by whose dead
body this gentleman wrote, Forster wrote a kind
letter to his ignorant accuser, whose anger against
him provoked no corresponding feeling in his own
breast. But these outrages affected his spirits
more seriously than anything else. The picture
of the dying Michael Moroney as he had seen
him in the hospital at Tulla was ever before his
eyes, and his inabihty to save other victims from
the atrocious cruelties of the organized assassins
struck something like a feeling of despair into his
heart. He aged visibly under these trials, which
were infinitely greater to him than the abuse
heaped upon him by the Parnellites, or the in
trigues which were being directed against him in
London. Writing in her diary on April 5th, Mrs. O'Brien
mentions how depressed and weary her father had
been, and says that Mr. West had told her that
night, on returning to the Lodge with him, " that
when they got out of the carriage this evening
to walk, as father insisted on doing, from the park
gates, he seemed much annoyed at finding that
two mounted police had been following the car^-
riage. ' What are those confounded fellows here
for ? I shall have this stopped.' Mr. West hopes

CLOSING DAYS IN IRELAND. 415
the police escort wdll not be discontinued. Dublin,
he says, is full of Fenians, and only this evening, as
they were driving out of Dublin, he caught sight
of two men in a side street leaning forward and
peering into the carriage, as if to make sure who
was inside." As a matter of fact, at this time,
as was subsequently proved, the secret band of
assassins who had dubbed themselves "the In
vincible s " were shadowing Mr. Forster by day
and night for the purpose of murdering him.
To Me. Gladstone.
" Chief Secretary's Lodge, April 7th, 1882. '
" My dear Mr. Gladstone,
" To the best of my belief, I find the
situation in Ireland to be this : —
" 1. The November rent — that is, the rent now
due — ^has, generally speaking, been paid, with or
without abatement ; very often with abatement,
and very often upon compulsion or threat of com
pulsion. "2. To this payment, however, there are im
portant exceptions — isolated cases of fierce con
tests, not yet fought out, between landlord and
tenants, backed by the Land League ; exceptions
more frequent and much more important, mainly
in Connaught, but in poor districts elsewhere,
when the arrears are hopeless.
" 3. There is no open resistance to the law.
4. The Land League has been defeated in its

a

41 6 LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
attempt : first, to dictate what rents shall be paid ;
second, to prevent any rent being paid.
" 5. There is now much less boycotting, mainly
owing to the arrest of the respectable boycotters
last autumn as suspects.
" 6. Agrarian outrages continue bad. Exclusive
of threatening letters, in
Fourth quarter of 1880 they are 717

First

1881

369

Second

1881

622

Third

1881

625

Fourth

1881
732
First
1882
555
But if we take the three worst agrarian outrages,
viz. murder, manslaughter, and firing at the
person, the statistics are — Man- Firing at the
Murder, elaugliter. person. Total.
Fourth quarter
1880 ..
. 2
0
13
15
First
)»
1881 ..
, 1
2
4
7
Second
JJ
1881 ..
. 7
2
16
25
Third
JJ
1881 ..
. 1
1
12
14
Fourth
JJ
1881 „
, 8
0
34
42
First
JJ
1882 „
, 6
0
27
33
I attribute this increase of the most serious
agrarian crimes to two causes : {a) the fierce
passions evoked by the "No Eent" struggle, for
which the Land League leaders are mainly re^
sponsible ; {b) the immunity from punishment.
" The first cause will diminish in power, unless,
indeed, we have to struggle for the May rent as
well as for the November rent, as some persons
CLOSING DAYS IN IRELAND, 417
fear; but the other cause gains strength by con
tinuance. One of the worst features of recent
murders is the slightness of the apparent motive.
The intending murderer has little or no fear of
punishment. Why? Because witnesses wiU not
give evidence and juries will not convict ; and
Lord Lansdown is right in saying that a good
reason why witnesses hold back is that they will
not risk their lives for nothing, "What," they
say, "is the use of my giving evidence which no
jury wUl heed? "
" Now, this being, in my opinion, the situation,
what measures would I propose ?
" (1) A vigorous and determined effort to secure
convictions of men notoriously guilty. For this
purpose I do not think amendment of the jury
laws wiU suffice. We cannot return to the old
system of packing juries and tinkering ; such a
bitter system of challenging, etc, may be an
improvement, but no cure for the present evil,
" I think we cannot stop short of taking tem
porary powers to try agrarian offences, without
jury, by special legal commissioners. It is a
question whether this should be done in districts
notorious for jury failure, as Limerick, Longford,
Kerry, or in cases in which the judge reports after
trial that the verdict is against evidence.
" On the whole, I am in favour of the first
alternative. " (2) My next proposal would be in the hope
VOL. II. ' 2 E

41 8 LIFE OF THE RIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTER.
of getting some local support to the Government,
if not for law, at least against crime. There are
two directions in which we may aim at this
end: —
"Appeal to the localities for material help ;
appeal to men to protect themselves and their
neighbours. I have tried, and am trying, very
hard for this ; hitherto without success, but I have
not yet given up hope.
" Or we may appeal to their self-interest; that
is, fine men for conniving at outrages.
" I am not so sanguine as some of the effect
of this' provision, but I think it wiU do real good
in creating a public opinion against outrages.
" I would therefore (a) make smaU districts
pay for special police protection; and (6) give
compensation for injury to person, as now given
for destruction of property, (c) I would re-enact
section twenty-three of the Peace Preservation
Act of 1870, enabling arrest of persons out all
night under suspicious circumstances. Such re-
enactment will make it easier to deal with the
Protection Act.
" Can we let this Act expire ? I dare not face
the autumn and coming winter without it. As
yet it is our only weapon against demagogues
who try to enforce their unwritten law; the boy-
cotters ; the murderous members of the secret
societies — this may seem a contradiction to the
early part of this letter. The Protection Act

CLOSING DAYS IN IRI-LAND. 419
does not deter murderers for fear of punishment,
but it enables us to lock them up.
" Suspension of trial by jury may, probably
will, enable us to deal both with boycotters and
murderers, but we must be sure of this before
we give up the Act.
"As regards the Land Leaguers, your proposal
would enable us to deal with them, and, indeed,
an enlargement of the last suggestion in your
letter of yesterday would cover my jury proposal.
I would renew the Act for a year, and promise to
let out the suspects immediately on the passing
of our new biU. Let us try K we can do without
the Act, but let us keep it in reserve.
"Now as to time. I am well aware of the
immense Parliamentary inconvenience of imme
diate legislation. It is impossible to estimate it ;
but, unless outrages diminish, we shall be driven
to it. Ireland will be forced on our attention by
questions, motions, etc. ; we shall be forced to
show our cards, and, indeed, the Protection Act
will become useless unless we say what we are
going to do, and if we sketch out or hint at our
legislation, men wUl be very impatient to deal
with it."
From this important letter Forster's view as
to the legislative wants of Ireland at that time
will be gathered. He virtually believed that not
only must the Protection Act be maintained even

420 LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. W. B. FOESTEE.
though it were to be held in reserve, but that
additional powers must be given to the Irish
Government, in order to enable it to bring un
doubted criminals to justice. Of these powers the
most important was the suspension of trial by
jury. He was anxious, however, that any change
in the jury law should be applicable to the whole
of the United Kingdom, and the suggestion which
found favour both with himself and Mr. Gladstone,
was that, in districts which might be proclaimed
in the interests of the public peace, cases might
be tried either by magistrates or judges according
to the gravity of the offence charged. Forster
proceeded to draft a bill for extending the powers
of the Executive, and, at the same time, in ac
cordance with a suggestion from Mr. Gladstone
and Mr. Childers, he instructed the draftsman to
prepare a measure providing for the establishment
of provincial councils in Ireland.
The members of the Cabinet were clearly un
decided as to the form which the legislation of
the year should take. Whilst outrages of the
most serious kind were continuing, they could
not openly announce their intention to abandon
coercion, even if such an intention had been
formed ; but there was a strong desire on the part
of some to have in readiness a large measure of
concession to the Irish demand for local seK-rule,
and it was in response to this desire that steps
were taken to frame a Provincial Councils Bill.

CLOSING DAYS IN lEELAND. 421
At this juncture, however, an event happened
which, though comparatively trifling in itself, was
destined to lead to important results. This was
the release of Mr. Parnell on parole.
To Me. Gladstone.
" Chief Secretary's Lodge, Dublin,
" April 10th, 1882.
" My dear Me. Gladstone,
"Thank you for your letter. I have
asked the six special magistrates to come to me
to-morrow. After seeing them I will write further
about repressive legislation.
" Meantime I am getting my draftsman to
make rough drafts of bills.
" I send herewith draft of bill to carry out your
and Childers's suggestion of Provincial CouncUs.
It is, of course, merely rough material on which
to work. I am sorry to say that I am stiU of the
opinion that it would add fuel to the fire if it were
brought forward this year.
" This morning we released Parnell — not for
good, but on parole, to attend the funeral of his
sister's only chUd at Paris. I received a telegram
from him yesterday afternoon expressing his wish
to attend the funeral, and undertaking to take no
part in any political matter during his absence.
I do not see how we could refuse. The young
man was just of age, and, I imagine, his only
nephew. . . .

422 LIFE OF THE RIGHT HON. W. E. FORSTEE.
"There is a great pressure for emigration in
the west. Tuke, who has gone to Galway to
administer the funds raised at the Duke of Bed
ford's meeting, writes me this morning that he
is almost overwhelmed with applications ; and I
have had a visit from the Eoman Catholic Arch
bishop of Toronto, which gives one hope of work
ing the clauses in the act. Emigration is the only
hope for the western men."

( 423 )

CHAPTEE X.
THE EILMAINHAM TREATY — EESIGNATION.
" My six special magistrates," writes Forster to
Mr. Gladstone (AprU 12th), " all bring me very
bad reports. These are confirmed by constabulary
reports. The impunity from punishment is spread
ing hke a plague. I fear it will be impossible to
prevent very strong and immediate legislation."
The question of reinforcing the Irish Executive
by appointing a Cabinet minister, who had previous
experience of Irish affairs, as Viceroy was raised
by Lord Cowper's expression of a wish to retire
from his post, and it was decided in favour of Mr.
Forster's suggestion that Lord Spencer should
take the place. At the time when the announce
ment of the change was made, there was much
exultation among Forster's opponents over an
event which they regarded as his "supersession."
They were ignorant of many things regarding the
story of his Irish administration — just as they
were strikingly ignorant regarding the personal
character of the man whom they so strangely mis
understood. They were not aware that Forster's
earnest desire was to have Lord Spencer as his

424 LIFE OF THE RIGHT HON. W, E. FORSTEE.
colleague, in the event of Lord Cowper's retire
ment. The reader wUl understand that towards Lord
Cowper, Mr, Forster's feeling was one of warm
friendship. Indeed, Forster's biographer would
fail in his duty if he did not acknowledge the un
ceasing harmony of the relations which prevailed
between the two men, and the steadfast loyalty
and self-sacrifice with which Lord Cowper, who
had to fill a most deUcate and difficult position,
invariably acted towards his distinguished col
league, who, though nominally his subordinate,
was really the responsible ruler of Ireland. StUl,
when the opportunity of making a change occurred,
no one felt more strongly than Forster himself the
necessity of having some one in Ireland with suffi
cient authority as a member of the Cabinet, to act
on his own independent judgment at times when
the Chief Secretary was compeUed to be in London
in the performance of his Parliamentary duties.
But before this change could be carried out, a
new train of events, which had far-reaching con
sequences, had been put in motion. On April 15th,
Mr. Gladstone wrote to Mr. Forster enclosing
a letter from Captain O'Shea, an Irish Liberal
member of the House of Commons. This letter
dealt with the question of evictions for arrears,
and was written in a friendly spirit very un
common at that time in communications made
by Parnellite members to the Government. The

THE KILMAINHAM TREATY — EESIGNATION. 425
fact which gave importance to the overtures made
by Captain O'Shea was that he was known to have
intimate personal relations with Mr. ParneU, who
was now at liberty on parole.
To Mr. Gladstone.
" [Secret.] "April 18th, 1882.
" My deae Me, Gladstone,
" I return O'Shea's letter, ... I do not
beheve he has the infiuence either with ParneU or
the priests which he claims.
" I return to-morrow night, and shall therefore
be at the Cabinet on Thursday.
" I sent last night to the printer a full mem.
on the condition of the country and on repressive
measures, which I trust wiU be circulated before
Saturday. " Meantime, may I send you my views about
the pressing questions : (1) The arrears. (2) The
treatment of Parnell and the other leading suspects.
" The Arrears. — The dangers and difficulties of
dealing with the question are great. . . . Neverthe
less, I think, with all these dangers and difficulties,
we must interfere. The evictions in Mayo and else
where are becoming very serious ; and many of the
poor cottier tenants and many of those who are
most rack-rented, feel it useless to resort to the
Land Court. The helpless miserable position of
these poor men is the foundation of the agitation.

426 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W, E. FOESTEE,
I think it useless to re-enact the old clauses. If
the time had been extended it would have in many
cases been used, but there is one fact which makes
it unworkable on an efficient scale — the reluctance
of the landlord to make himself liable for a sum
which he has to receive from the tenant.
" WUl you kindly consider the following plan,
which is really in its main features the only one
which seems to me, after much thought, to be
workable ?
" (1) Define Arrears, for the purpose of the
clauses, to be rent owing for the year before the
year's rent now due.
" It is a question whether we should interpret
the year's rent now due to be year ending last
autumn or this spring. Suppose we say last
autumn, then our definition of arrears would be
so much of the rent accruing from November,
1879, to November, 1880, as is unpaid.
" (2) Upon joint request of landlord and tenant,
give from Exchequer, either with or without the
Church Surplus Security, such arrears to the land
lord on behalf of the tenant.
" (3) On condition that the tenant binds him
seK to repay the sum with interest in a certain
fixed time.
" (4) Make the loan on hberal terms, as regards
interest and time of repayment, and make it
receivable as part of county cess.
" (5) Give this money to the landlord only on

THE KILMAINHAM TEE AT Y— RESIGNATION. 427
condition of his quittance of all arrears accruing
before November, 1880.
" (6) Limit the cases to tenancies at or under
 valuation.
" There would be some risk to the Exchequer
iu this arrangement, but, I believe, no great risk.
There would be no compulsion on either landlord
or tenant ; but there would be great temptation.
The landlord would get money he sorely needs, and
the tenant would be able to start fair. I believe,
generally speaking, he would arrange with the
landlord for the last year's rent, and I think
evictions of the cottier tenants would stop.
" Treatment of Parnell and other leading
suspects. — I expect no slight pressure for their
immediate unconditional release, and if Parnell
returns after behaving well, his so acting will be
the opportunity for pressure, in which men of
different sides may join.
" My own view on this question is clear. I
adhere to our statement that we detain these
suspects, and all suspects, solely for prevention, not
punishment. We will release them as soon as we
think it safe to do so.
" There are three events which, in my opinion
would imply safety : — (1) the country so quiet that
Parnell and Co. can do little harm ; (2) the acqui
sition of fresh powers by a fresh Act which might
warrant the attempt to govern Ireland with the
suspects released ; (3) an assurance upon which

428 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
we could depend, that Parnell and his friends, if
released, would not attempt in any manner to in
timidate men into obedience to their unwritten law.
" Without the fulfilment of one or other of
these conditions, I beheve their release would make
matters much worse than they are. At any rate
I am sure I could not, without this fulfilment,
administer affairs as Irish Secretary with advan
tage ; but I do not say that it would be impossible
for some other man to make this new departure.
I thought I had better send you these views before
we meet. They are probably badly expressed, as
I have had to write against time, but they are
the result of long and anxious thought.
"Yours very truly,
" W. E. Forster."
On the following day, April 19th, Mr. Forster's
confidential memorandum on the state of Ireland
was issued to the Cabinet. It embodied and ampli
fied the facts contained in his letter to Mr. Glad
stone. It was not until the 22nd that the Cabinet
took up the Irish question, Mr. Forster having by
this time returned to London. The most tragical
crisis through which English rule in Ireland had
ever passed was now close at hand : but no one
save the conspirators who were plotting murder
in Dublin knew how nearly the tragedy was
anticipated on the day on which Forster — as it
turned out for the last time — left Dublin Castle

the KILALVINHAM TREATY— RESIGNATION, 429
in order that he might confer with his colleagues
in London, The fuU truth was not made known
until months afterwards, when the country listened
horror-struck to the revelations of Carey the
informer. Mr. Forster had arranged to leave
Dublin by the mail train from Westland Eow
for Kingstown on the night of April 19th, and his
intention to do so had been publicly announced,
" While he was eating a sandwich for luncheon,"
says Mr, Jephson, " I asked him if he would not
come down to Kingstown by an earlier train, and
dine at the Eoyal St, George Yacht Club, of
which he was an honorary member, as it would
be much pleasanter there than in Dublin. The
club being scarcely a couple of hundred yards
from the pier whence the mail steamer started, we
could dine quietly there and walk to the steamer,
thus avoiding the racket and worry of cabs,
stations, and trains in Dublin. He hesitated, but
said, ' We'll see how work goes, and whether we
can get away in time,' At about four o'clock I
went to him with the last batch of papers to be
dealt with. When he had finished his instructions
on them, I said, ' Now, sir, that's the last, and we
can go to Kingstown if you like,' ' Capital,' he-
rephed, ' let us go ; ' and accordingly we left West-
land Eow Station by the quarter to six o'clock
train for Kingstown, dined at the club there, and
walked on board the steamer, where we met Mrs.
Forster and her daughter, who had come by the

43° LIFE OF THE RIGHT HON. W. B. FORSTER,
quarter to seven mail train, httle knowing at the
time how dreadful a tragedy had been avoided.
At a quarter to seven o'clock, on the platform at
Westland Eow, there was waiting the gang of
desperate men known later as the Invincibles,
determined at all hazards to assassinate him ; and
K he had left Dublin by that train instead of the
earlier one, no earthly power could have saved him,"
In the evidence given at the trial of the murderers
of Lord Frederick Cavendish and Mr. Burke, it was
stated that the wretches carefully examined every
carriage more than once in their search for the
man they had marked out as their victim, but who
was destined to be so marvellously preserved from
their hands.
Knowing nothing of this wonderful escape,
but inspired by the conviction that the state of
Ireland was exceptionaUy dangerous, owing to
the encouragement which outrage-mongers and
assassins had derived from the impunity they
enjoyed, Forster came over to London, to find
the Cabinet willing to allow Mr. Chamberlain to
negotiate with Captain O'Shea, not merely with
regard to the arrears question, but on the subject of
Mr. Parnell's possible release. Ministers, however,
were agreed that neither he nor the other leaders
could be released unless they gave a public assurance
of their resolve, so far as lay in their power, to put
an end to intimidation, including boycotting.
The popular excitement on the subject of the

THE KILMAINHAM TREATY — RESIGNATION. 431
Irish policy of the Government had now become
very great. Eumours of a " new departure " in
the treatment of the country were widespread ;
and they received countenance, not only from the
report that Lord Spencer was about to become
Viceroy, but from the apparent change of tactics
in the House of Commons. A bill on the subject of
arrears was brought in by Mr. Healy and Mr. Eed-
mond, and on April 26th it was discussed in a very
favourable manner by Mr. Gladstone, who saw in
the fact that Irish members were seeking by
constitutional methods to amend the Land Act,
evidence that they were beginning to abandon their
attitude of uncompromising hostility to it. The
fact that the bUl was reaUy inspired by Mr. Parnell,
which was well known, evidently strengthened this
feehng in Mr. Gladstone's mind. The Irishmen in
the House showed a desire to keep their demands
upon the arrears question within the bounds of
moderation, and it seemed as though new relations
were about to be established between the Ministry
and the representatives of Ireland.
The formal announcement, on April 28th, of
Lord Spencer's appointment as Viceroy was re
garded as confirming these rumours ; and those
journals which had been attacking Mr. Forster's
administration now united in speaking of him as
discredited and defeated, and confidently antici
pated the immediate release of the suspects. At
this time, it must be borne in mind, the Tory

432 LIFE OP THE RIGHT HON. W. E. FORSTER.
party showed strong signs of a desire to con
ciliate the Irish representatives. The Quarterly
Review had been sneering at " the arrest of sus
pects by the cart-load ; " Sir John Hay had given
notice of a motion condemning the Protection
Act and the suspension of trial by jury, and Mr.
J. K. Cross, on the part of the English Eadicals,
if not with the direct approval of some of Forster's
own colleagues, had notified his intention to move,
as an amendment to Sir John Hay's motion, a
resolution in favour of the immediate release of
Mr. Parnell and his fellow-members. The situa
tion, it must be admitted, was extremely com
plicated and difficult. Ministers, who had been
abused with such vehemence a few weeks before,
because they were supposed to be deahng with the
Nationalist party in Ireland with criminal leniency,
now found that the Tory party was prepared to
attack them on the opposite ground ; they saw
that a powerful section of their own party was
bent upon procuring an entire change of policy
towards Ireland, involving the abandonment of
the Protection Act and the " clearing-out of
Dublin Castle " — that is to say, of the permanent
members of the Irish Executive ; and they believed
that they had reason to look for a change of atti
tude on the part of the Irish leaders, from one of
irreconcilable antagonism to the English Govern
ment to one of conciliatory co-operation. It is
not surprising that the Cabinet was divided, and

THE KILMAINHAM TREATY — RESIGNATION. 433
that it wavered in its opinion, Mr, Forster, how
ever, stood firm. The ground he took was that,
so long as criminal outrages were committed
Avith the tacit approval of the Irish leaders, it
would be fatal to make any surrender to them.
If Captain O'Shea could obtain a distinct promise
from Mr. ParneU, who had now returned to Kil
mainham, that he would do what he could to
prevent outrage and intimidation in future, then
he was prepared cheerfully to acquiesce in his
release. But if no such promise was forthcoming,
then the suspects could only be released on one
condition — the passing of an Act strengthening
the hands of the Irish Executive in the manner
he had proposed in his letter of April 7th. In a
private memorandum on the subject of the answer
which he Avished to give to Sir John Hay and
Mr. J. K. Cross, when they moved their resolution
and amendment, he wrote, " What I think I ought
to be empowered to say is, that the state of the
country is such that we must pass a fresh Act to
preserve peace and prevent outrage. We will
bring in this bUl at once. Upon its becoming an
Act we wiU release all the suspects. We hope
we shaU not have to rearrest them, but we have
power to do so until the Protection Act expires."
These few lines express Forster's opinion with
regard to the course which ministers ought to
pursue in the circumstances in which they were
placed, In the mean time, however, feeling was-
VOL, II. 2 F

434 LIFE OF THE RIGHT HON, W. B, FORSTBE,
running strongly in many quarters in favour of the
release of Mr, Parnell and the principal suspects,
provided any kind of pretext for taking this step
could be discovered, Mr, Chamberlain's negotia
tions with Captain O'Shea were being continued,
and Forster saw clearly that — unless the current
changed — he must in the end be beaten. He had,
at the request of one of his coUeagues, given
Captain O'Shea permission to see Mr. ParneU in
prison, and the result of the interAiiew was eagerly
awaited by ministers. Meanwhile he wrote to Mr.
Gladstone as foUows : —
To Me. Gladstone.
" Irish Office, April 29th, 1882,
" My deae Me. Gladstone,
" I fear I must trouble you with my views
with regard to the release of Parnell and the other
M.P.s, and, indeed, I think I ought to do so
before our Cabinet on Monday, especially as it
wUl be foUowed so soon by the debate on Tuesday.
It is possible that O'Shea may bring back from
Dublin a declaration by Parnell, which may be
published, that he wUl not in future aid or abet
intimidation, and so expressed as to appear to
include boycotting. I do not myself expect this,
and if we do not get such public declaration I am
very sorry to be obUged to say that I cannot make
myself a party to his release, or to that of other
suspects, M.P.s, or not, arrested on like grounds.

the kilmainham treaty — RESIGNATION. 435
"I think, unless we get such declaration, or
get the country much more quiet, and therefore
much more relieved from intimidation than it is
at present, or get an Act with fresh powers, we
cannot release these men without weakening
Government in Ireland to an extent which I do
not believe to be safe or right.
"I wUl not trouble you uoav with my reasons
for this conviction, which I have often expressed
to you privately in the Cabinet, especially in last
Saturday's Cabinet ; and I may be wrong in tbis
conAdction, but I hold it so strongly that I shall
be compeUed to act upon it. I need not say I
have come to this conclusion after anxious thought,
and much weighing of adverse considerations, of
which perhaps the strongest in my mind is reluct
ance in any way to add to your troubles or em
barrassments, but this is one of those matters in
which a man must do what he thinks is his duty.
" Yours very truly,
"W. E. Foestee."
This letter had been written in answer to a
note from Mr. Gladstone offering Forster two
successive days — Monday or Tuesday, May 1st or
2nd, for a meeting of the Cabinet "to discuss the
prospective policy in heu of coercion," On re
ceiving Forster's intimation of his resolve, Mr,
Gladstone Avrote, saying, " I take due note of the
grave contents of the letter you have just sent me.

436 LIFE OP THE RIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
Were I to make a decision now, it would not be
yours, but why decide now at all ? "
On the following day, Sunday, April 30th,.
Captain O'Shea arrived from Dublin, and at once
caUed upon Mr. Forster, at his residence in
Eccleston Square. There is no need now to go
into the details of the communications which
passed between the Chief Secretary and the
" ambassador from Mr. Parnell ; " but two docu
ments must be given in order to complete the
narrative of this singular episode. The first is
the account which Forster dictated to his Avife
immediately after the interAdew had taken place.
"After teUing me that he had been from
eleven to five with Parnell yesterday, O'Shea
gave me his letter to him, saying that he hoped
it would be a satisfactory expression of union Avith
the Liberal party. After carefuUy reading it, I
said to him, ' Is that all, do you think, that
Parnell would be inclined to say ? ' He said, ' What
more do you want ? Doubtless I could supplement
it.' I said, ' It comes to this, that upon our doing
certain things he will help us to prevent outrages,'
— or words to that effect. He again said, ' How
can I supplement it ? ' referring, I imagine, to
different measures. I did not feel justified in
giving him my own opinion, which might be
interpreted to be that of the Cabinet, so I said I
had better show the letter to Mr. Gladstone, and
to one or two others. He said, ' Well, there may

THE KILMAINHAM TEEATY — EESIGNATION. 437
be fault in expression, but the thing is done. If
these words will not do I must get others ; but
what is obtained is ' — and here he used most
remarkable words — ' that the conspiracy which
has been used to get up boycotting and outrages,
wUl now be used to put them down, and that there
wUl be a union with the Liberal party ; ' and
as an Ulustration of how the first of these results
was to be obtained, he said that Parnell hoped to
make use of Sheridan, and get him back from
abroad, as he would be able to help him to put
down the conspiracy (or ' agitation,' I am not sure
which word was used), as he knew aU its details in
the west. (This last statement is quite true.
Sheridan is a released suspect, against whom we
have for some time had a fresh warrant, and who
under disguises has hitherto eluded the police,
coming backwards and forwards from Egan to the
outrage-mongers in the west.)
" I did not feel myself sufficiently master of
the situation to let him know what I thought of
this confidence ; but I again told him that I could
not do more at present than tell others what he
had told me. I may say that, in the early part of
the conversation, he stated that he (O'Shea) hoped
and advised — and in this case he was doubtless
speaking for ParneU — that we should not to-morrow
— I suppose meaning Tuesday — ' pledge ourselves
to any time for bringing on fresh repressive
measures.' He also said that he had persuaded

438 . LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
Parnell to help to support a large emigration from
the west, and that Parnell had told him that he
had had a good deal of conversation with DUlon,
and had brought him round to be in full agreement
with himself upon the general questions."
Mr. ParneU's letter to Captain O'Shea, of
which that gentleman gave Mr. Forster a copy,
was chiefly taken up with a statement of his
views upon the arrears question. The passages
relating to the all-vital " pledge " upon the
necessity of which Forster had insisted were as
follows : — " If the arrears question be settled upon
the lines indicated by us, I have every confidence
— a confidence shared by my coUeagues — that the
exertions which we should be able to make
strenuously and unremittingly would be effective
in stopping outrages and intimidation of aU kinds.
. . . The accomphshment of the programme I
have sketched out to you would, in my judgment,
be regarded by the country as a practical settle
ment of the land question, and would, I feel,
soon enable us to co-operate cordiaUy for the
future with the Liberal party in forwarding Liberal
principles and measures of general reform, and
that the Government at the end of this session
would, from the state of the country, feel them
selves thoroughly justified in dispensing with
further coercive measures."
Such were the chief points of the document
which was afterwards described as the Treaty of

THE KILMAINHAM TEEATY — RESIGNATION. 439
Kilmainham. Forster had not disguised his re
luctance to countenance the negotiations between
Captain O'Shea and a member of the Cabinet.
His strong conviction was that the secret bands
of outrage-mongers, by whom Ireland was held
under the spell of a cruel and demoralizing terror,
could not be dealt with by means of any negotia
tions whatever with the Land League leaders.
But if such negotiations were to be carried on
with the sanction of the Government, and if Mr.
ParneU and his colleagues were to be released, he
was at least anxious that the pledge which they
gave should be so clear and emphatic as to con
vince the most ignorant of the Irish cottiers that
they were resolutely opposed, not merely to
assassination and the more flagrant kinds of
A^olence, but to boycotting and to every species
of moral as well as material intimidation. The
promises from Mr. Parnell which were conveyed
to him by Captain O'Shea failed entirely to meet
his conditions ; whUst the mention of Sheridan as
one of the instruments through Avhom Mr. Parnell
proposed to exercise his influence in preventing
outrages, implied, in his opinion, some kind of
previous connection between the Irish leader and
that notorious person. He immediately forwarded
Mr. ParneU's letter and his own account of the
interview with Captain O'Shea to Mr. Gladstone,
telling him that he had expected little from the
negotiations, and found that the result was less

440 LIFE OF THE RIGHT HON. W. E. FORSTEE.
even than he had expected. Mr. Gladstone took
a different view. Writing to Forster the same
day, he expressed the gratification with which he
had read the sentence in Mr. ParneU's letter
beginning, " If the arrears question be settled."
With regard to the expression in the letter of
wUlingness on the part of the writer to co-operate
in future with the Liberal party, Mr. Gladstone
wrote : " This is a hors d'oeuvre which we had no
right to expect, and I rather think have no right
at present to accept. I may be far wide of the
mark, but I can scarcely wonder at O'Shea's say
ing 'the thing is done.' . . . On the whole,
ParneU's letter is, I think, the most extraordinary
I ever read. I cannot help feeling indebted to
O'Shea." Mr. Gladstone's satisfaction with the letter of
Mr. Parnell virtually settled, not only the question
of the release of the suspects, but that of Forster's
continuance in office. On the foUowing day,
Monday, May 1st, the Cabinet met, and it was
found that the difference between the Chief
Secretary and certain of his colleagues was
irreconcUable. He was still willing to aUow the
release of Mr. ParneU on condition that the new
Crimes BiU, which had already been drafted,
should be at once introduced; but in the end
the Cabinet refused to give way to him on this
point. The meeting broke up stUl leaving the
matter in suspense, some of his colleagues yet

THE KILMAINHAM TEEATY— EESIGNATION. 441
hoping that a modus vivendi might be discovered.
To one of these he wrote as follows : —

" Irish Office, Great Queen Street, S.W.,
" May 2nd, 1882.
" My dear  ,
"I have been very anxiously thinking
over the suggestion in your kind note, with which
I find both  and  concur. You three are
especially good judges of the situation, and I wish
I could agree with you — but I cannot.
"I imderstand the proposal to be — the release
of Parnell and the two other M.P.s, and, at the
same time, the announcement that fresh repressive
measures wiU be brought in without delay.
" Now, this does not meet my objection. Either
the release is unconditional, or it is not. If uncon
ditional, I think it is, at the present moment, a
surrender to the law-breakers. If conditional, I
think it is a disgraceful compromise.
" The statement that we wiU bring in a fresh
repressive bill, will not, in my opinion, enable me
to say that release, under either of these interpre
tations, AvUl be either right or safe.
" The release will be haUed in Ireland as the
acknowledgment of ParneU's supremacy. The ' No
Eent ' manifesto will be withdrawn, because it has
served his object.
" There wiU be an agitation against the New

442 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
Coercion BiU, emboldened and strengthened by the
defeat of the old bill.
" Moreover, I doubt whether Mr. Gladstone
will consent to the immediate introduction of the
new biU. I think he Avill require both Budget and
procedure to be first dealt with. And, in fact, I
think the course you propose, while it does not
meet my difficulties, will increase the difficulties
resulting from immediate release.
" However much we may try to hide the fact,
release is a new departure, and, if so, let it be
made with the probability of success. It is, in
fact, a concession to ParneU.
" Do not, therefore, accompany it Avith an
attack upon the party he leads and represents,
If there be faith in him, let it be shown, and give
him credit for so assisting us to govern the country
as to make the repressive measures we contemplate
no longer necessary. " Yours sincerely,
" W. E. Forster."
It was after writing this letter that Forster
made his final determination known to Mr, Glad
stone, who immediately acknowledged it.
Me. Gladstone to Mr. Foestee. " May 2nd, 1882.
" I have received your letter with much grief,
but on this it would be selfish to expatiate. I have

THE kilmainham TREATY — RESIGNATION. 443
no choice ; followed or not followed, I must go on.
There are portions of the subject Avhich touch you
personally, and which seem to me to deserve much
attention. But I have such an interest in the
main issue, that I could not be deemed impartial,
so that I had better not enter on them.
" One thing, however, I wish to say. You
Avish to minimize in any public statement the
cause of your retreat. In my opinion — and I
speah from experience — viewing the nature of the
cause, you will find this hardly possible. For
a justification I fear you wiU have to found upon
the doctrine of ' a new departure,' or must protest
against it, and deny it Avith heart and soul."
Thus came to an end Forster's term of office as
Irish Secretary, and his connection with the second
administration of Mr. Gladstone. From most of
his coUeagues he parted with open grief, suffered
equaUy on their side and on his. From Mr. Glad
stone especiaUy he parted with profound sorrow.
There had from time to time been differences be
tween them during their official connection, but
up to the last moment they had been differences on
questions of detail, not of principle ; whilst during
those terrible months in which Forster had been
waging war against the outrage-mongers in Ireland,
under a flank fire from English Conservatives and
English Eadicals, he had received a constant and
a loyal and generous support from his chief. It

444 LIFE OP THE RIGHT HON. W. E. FORSTER.
was only when they reached "the parting of the
ways," and when Mr. Gladstone had convinced
himself of the necessity for a new departure in
the policy of the Government towards Ireland,
that the two men fell asunder. Speaking of that
parting, Forster told the present writer that he
had learned not merely to esteem Mr. Gladstone,
but to love him during their intercourse as col
leagues, and he bore testimony to the fact that
he had never ceased to be supported by him until
the moment came when the Prime Minister found
reason to change his pohcy. Then, however, the
change of policy was swiftly followed by a change
of attitude, so far as politics were concerned, de.-
plored by both men, but under the circumstances
inevitable. At the morning sitting of the House of Com
mons (May 2nd) Mr. Gladstone briefly announced
the new departure upon which ministers had re
solved, viz. the release of the imprisoned members
and of all suspects not associated with the com
mission of crime ; and stated that this act had
entailed upon the Government "a lamentable
consequence" — the loss of the services of the
Chief Secretary. The news, even though it had
been known for some time that the Cabinet was
divided in opinion on the Irish question, caused
a great sensation throughout the country. For
two years Mr. Forster had been in the forefront
of the battle on behalf of English law and English

THE KILMAINHAM TREATY — RESIGNATION. 44;
rule in Ireland. Many men had differed from
him ; not a few had criticized him harshly, some
had abused him without stint. On the other
hand, thousands of his fellow-countrymen, as they
Avatched him pursuing his difficult and dangerous
Avay regardless of abuse and slander, showing all
the dogged tenacity of pm-pose, the patient endur
ance, and the high personal courage which are
characteristic of our Enghsh nature, had learned
to look upon him as the representative of that
which was best and highest in the nation. These
mourned over his resignation as openly and
sincerely as the Irish members and their aUies
rejoiced; whUst aU waited Avith eager impatience
for an explanation of the event. Probably there
were few who knew what his term of office as Irish
Secretary had been to Mr. Forster. None save
those who stood nearest to him knew at what an
expenditure of brain and nerve, of heart and spirit
he had carried on his terrible work. He had gone
to Ireland fuU of hope — full, too, of confidence in
his own determination to do his best to Win the
Irish people to him and to the nation which he
represented. Then had come the terrible check
to his pohcy of wise reform and concihation
which was caused by the rejection of the Compen
sation for Disturbance Bill in the House of Lords,
and straightway had followed that season of
criminal agitation, of cruel outrage, and still more
cruel intimidation, in which it had become abso-

446 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W. E. POESTEE.
lutely necessary, if law and social order were
not to be entirely submerged, to abandon the
ordinary constitutional safeguards, and to govern
Ireland by exceptional laws. From the moment
when, sorely against his wiU, but in the perform
ance of an imperative duty, he had found himself
committed to that hateful task, he had realized
the fact that so far as his personal share in them
was concerned, all his life-long aspirations regard
ing Ireland had been frustrated. The man who
had to administer the Protection Act, the man
who was caricatured in every Nationalist news
paper as a monster of tyranny and brutahty, the
man whose name the very children of Ireland had
learned to lisp with loathing, could never hope to
accomplish his heart's desire by removing from
the breasts of the Irish people the last memory
of injustice suffered under EngUsh rule.
If he had thought only of himseK, Forster
would have resigned before ever events had made
a Protection Act necessary. It was only because
he was loyal to his colleagues and to the duty
which they had imposed upon him that he re
mained at his post during eighteen months of
such labour, anxiety, and grief as few ministers
of the Crown have ever had to encounter. During
that period he strove with all his might to put
an end to the reign of terror which prevailed
throughout so large a portion of the country.
That was his first work, and to it he devoted

THE KILMAINHAM TEEATY — RESIGNATION. 447
the greater part of his time and thoughts. But
he seized every opportunity of helping on, so far
as he could, those remedial measures in the
efficacy of which he believed so strongly. The
Land Act owed much to him, not only in its in
ception, but in the manner in which, it was after
wards brought into operation. At the time when
the struggle with the Land Leaguers was fiercest,
he found time to devote several days continuously
to the careful study of the qualifications of the
many candidates for the post of sub-commissioner,
and it was owing to the care which he thus exer
cised that he prevented the Land Committee from
being wrecked at the very outset of its career.
AU through his secretaryship he maintained his
correspondence Avith his old friend, Mr, James
Tuke, and he was never so happy as when he was
able to assist that gentleman in his efforts to
reheve the misery of the congested districts of
Ireland. The picture of his term of office at
Dublin is necessarily one of which the chief
feature is his hand-to-hand fight with the Land
League and the outrage-mongers. But all through
that time, despite the trials and vexations of spirit
and temper to which he was constantly exposed,
Forster was true to his early career and his life
long sympathies. Nothing diverted him from the
task of doing what he could to mitigate the
material lot of the Irish poor, without regard to
the political opinions which they professed.

448 LIFE OF THE RIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE,
Of the manner in which he worked during those
two years of office as Irish Secretary, there is little
need to speak. He showed even more than the
energy he had displayed when he was passing his
Education Bill. Hardly any man in public life
ever had greater power of work than he had, and
certainly none ever spared himself less. " Mr.
Forster was a tremendous worker," writes Mr.
Jephson. " How his constitution stood it was
wonderful. From early morning until late at
night he was always at work — not perfunctorily
working, but with the whole of his powerful mind
given to his task — given to it with an earnestness,
a thoroughness, which was one of his most remark
able characteristics. He was always anxious to
get every possible information on any subject he
had to deal with, and often after a heavy day's
work he would have two or three men to
dinner, who were best qualified to inform him on
the subject in which he was interested, for the
sake of getting from them what new light he could
about it. His one desire was to master his subject,
whatever it might be. His judgment of men was
both rapid and true. It took him but a very short
time to form his idea of a man's calibre. Of
intriguers or humbugs he never concealed his
contempt. For the two years he was Chief Secre--
tary, his hfe was one of most tremendous pressure :
no rest, no relaxation, except a holiday so short as
scarcely to deserve the name, when Parliament

THE KILMAINHAM TEEATY— EESIGNATION. 449
rose, or a very occasional game of whist at his
club. The whole burden of the government fell
upon his shoulders. Wearing himself out with
work which, from its nature, involved great anxiety,
never getting rid of one task except to find another
and a heavier one in its place, interminable debates
in Parliament, endless subjects of heated discus
sion, the innumerable daily questions of Irish
government — all these had to be faced. Yet he
never showed the least sign of flinching from the
labours, or responsibilities, or dangers of his post.
Everything — ease, comfort, health — ^was sacrificed
that he might perform his duty."
To this tribute, from one who shared as well as
witnessed his labours and his dangers, it is un
necessary to add anything. The reader will, how
ever, understand that, keenly as Forster felt the
manner in which he quitted his post, and strongly
as he disapproved of the action of his colleagues
in the new departure upon which they had now
entered, he had no reason to regret the removal
from his shoulders of a burden which had long
been distasteful and oppressive to him, and which
latterly had become well-nigh unbearable.
The diary of his daughter for the day (May
2nd) shows something of the spirit in which he
accepted his fate. "A little before eight, father
himself appeared, and gave us a most cheery account
of all that had taken place. He had fully expected
that nothing would be said that afternoon, and was
VOL. II. 2 a

450 LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. W. E. POESTEE.
surprised when Mr. B  said to him : ' So I hear
Gladstone is going to make his statement this
afternoon.' 'Is he?' said father, with astonish
ment. 'Well, you ought to know,' was the not
unnatural answer. Not wishing to be in the House
when Mr. Gladstone spoke, and yet wishing to hear
what was said, father took refuge in Lady Brand's
gallery. Having heard the statement, he betook
himself to the Athenajum, where he was greeted
with acclamation at the whist-table in the light of
an old player restored to his friends. Much cheer
ful talk at dinner, but a curious feeling of excite
ment, and as though the tears were not very far
off one's eyes. ' Well,' said father, ' I think you
might all drink the health of the right honourable
gentleman the member for Bradford, as Gladstone
called me to-night. I am very glad of one thing,
and that is that I was able to get that done (extra
pay) for the constabulary before I went out of
office ! ' "
To Me. Bueke.
" [Confidential.] " Irish Office, May 3rd, 1882.
" My deae Burke.
" You will understand why I could not
tell you what would happen. No one can exactly
tell what another man would do in his place ; but
I strongly suspect that had you been in my place
you would have acted as I have done.

THE KILMAINHAM TREATY — RESIGNATION. 451
" Well, I must say this, that my difficulties
have been greatly lessened by your help. I do not
think I ever acted with any man on whom I felt I
could rely with such perfect confidence.
" I suppose I am still Chief Secretary, until re
placed; but of course I cannot take any step requir
ing discretion. " Yours very truly,
"W. E. Foestee."
On Thursday, May 4th, Mr. Forster, having
received the usual gracious permission from the
Queen, made his statement of the reasons of his
resignation. Just before he did so, it was made
known that his successor was to be Lord Frederick
Cavendish, and not, as most persons had expected,
Mr. Chamberlain, Never, probably, in the history
of the Enghsh Parhament had a more dramatic
scene been witnessed than that upon which the
spectators in the gallery looked down as Mr.
Forster rose, no longer from his accustomed place
upon the Treasury bench, but from a corner seat
behind it, to give his explanation of the circum
stances under which he had retired from the
Ministry. For months past the eyes of his fellow-
countrymen had been fixed upon him. Some had
approved, and some had blamed, but all had been
conscious of the absorbing interest of the struggle
which he had been waging, almost single-handed,
against the revolutionary forces in Ireland. The

452 LIFE OF : THE 'EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE,
popular interest had been stimulated by the fact
that aU men knew that, whilst dangerous con
spiracies against the life of the Chief Secretary
had been woven in Dublin, intrigues hardly less
deadly against his official career and his character
as a statesman had been carried on in London;
He had escaped with his life from the desperate
men who had sought to slay him in Ireland ; but
he had fallen in England before those who sought
not his life, but his career and his reputation. His
retirement from office was universally accepted as
implying the reversal of the policy which he repre
sented, and the opening up of a new era in the
history of the two countries. The mind of the
nation was strongly diAdded as to the wisdom and
safety of the new policy, and according as men
thought of that policy so did they regard Mr.
Forster. To those who were the advocates of the
new departure, his fall from office was an occasion
of triumph. To the rest of the world he stood
forth as a hero and a victim, sacrificed upon the
altar of political expediency. Thus the crowded
House, where every seat on the floor and in the
gaUeries had its occupant, met under the influence
of the strongest emotions to hear his statement;
The Prince of Wales and many of the leaders
among the peers sat with the ambassadors in the
diplomatic gallery, deeply interested spectators of
the scene. But it was not upon the heir-apparent
or the distinguished men around him that the
attention of the House was first fixed. Among

THE KILMAINHAM TEEATY — EESIGNATION. 453
the Irish members below the gangway two men
were to be seen Avho had long been absent from
their Parhamentary duties. They Avere two of
the newly released suspects — Mr. Dillon and Mr.
O'Kelly ; and their presence in the midst of their
friends seemed to proclaim their triumph over the
minister to whose last official statement the House
was about to listen. From the Irish benches, the
eye of the spectator turned naturally to the Trea
sury bench, where, in the pale set faces of the
ministers, who had just arrived after long debate
at a resolution which implied the loss of a col
league and the reversal of a policy, one could
easUy read signs of that repressed excitement
which had possession of aU. There were two
vacant places on the bench that evening. One
was the place so lately occupied by Mr. Forster
himself. The other was that which belonged to
Lord Frederick Cavendish, whose refined and
gentle face could be seen beneath the gallery,
where — for the moment shut out from the House
of Commons by his acceptance of office — he sat
to hsten to the speech of his predecessor. No
mark of doom was on his brow ; but there were
many afterwards who recalled the air of almost
pathetic interest — the grave and slightly abstracted
expression in his eyes — which distinguished him
whilst the debate proceeded. As one who was
near him said later on, it seemed as though he
were in a waking dream.

454 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
It was upon Forster, however, that men's eyes
finally rested when the preliminaries of the sitting
had been gone through, and the moment for his
rising drew near. No one could see him without
feeling conscious that he bore outward traces of
the conflict, dark and terrible, from which he had
but now emerged. His fellow- members had liter
ally seen his hair grow grey during those two
years of service in Ireland, and in the strongly
marked lines of his powerful face, in his very
attitude as he sat upon the bench, no longer half-
lounging, as was his wont in ordinary times, but
with bent form and downcast eye, marks of the
conflict and crisis through which he had passed
could be discerned only too plainly. When he
rose in response to the Speaker's caU, a great
cheer rolled through the House. It was not
merely the generous cheer with which most men
are willing to greet one who, having done his duty
to the best of his ability, has met with disaster
in his course. That sentiment, indeed, pervaded
most parts of the House when Forster rose. But
mingled with it, in many quarters, was distinct
and pronounced sympathy with the policy which
he represented, and dislike — one might almost
say disgust — towards the policy by which he had
been supplanted. It was, perhaps, but natural that
the Irish members, who regarded the occasion as
one of personal triumph for themselves, should
have replied to this cheer of greeting with which

THE KILMAINHAM TEEATY — EESIGNATION. 455
Forster was received, by one of defiant exultation.
A moment later the Irish cheer swelled into a
fierce shout of joy, as the man who, more than
any other, personated the national foe with whom
Forster had been engaged in deadly struggle, the
leader of the Land League, the "uncrowned king,"
whose will had been stronger than the law of the
land in three of the provinces of Ireland, took his
seat in his old place below the gangway, and
turned to face the man by whose will he had for
months past been a prisoner in Kilmainham.
The atmosphere was charged with the intense
excitement universally felt, and which centred as
it were upon Mr. Forster. Yet so well had he
nerved himself for the occasion, that when he
began to speak he alone in the crowded House
seemed to be fully master of his emotions. His
voice was low, but deep and clear ; his language
simple and precise.
The explanation which he had to give of the
circumstances under which he had resigned was
perfectly clear and straightforward. It is unneces
sary to repeat it here, for the facts have already
been made plain in the course of the narrative.
Forster was happily able to point to the fact that
the state of Ireland had improved and was im
proving, but it was not yet possible, without risk
of the gravest danger, to relax the hold of the
Executive ; nor was there such an improvement
as to make it, in his opinion, safe to release the

456 LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. W. B. FOESTEE.
suspects unconditionally. Much party feeling was
aroused in the House by the speeches which fol
lowed the explanatory statement. Suspicions had
got abroad as to the existence of some kind of
arrangement between Mr. Parnell and the Govern
ment — a bargain under which the Irish leader had
purchased his release. Nothing on this subject
was said either by Forster or Mr. Gladstone on
May 4th, though the expression of a hope by the
former that ministers would not submit to any
black-maU arrangement was eagerly caught up by
those who shared the apprehensions so largely
entertained by the general public. The announce
ment that ministers meant to bring in a bill pn
the question of arrears was regarded by the
House as proof that the " new departure " which
had led to the resignation of the Chief Secretary
was to be one in the direction of an amicable
understanding with Mr. Parnell and his colleagues.
Subsequently the correspondence between Cap
tain 0' Shea and Mr. Parnell became public property.
Forster was blamed at the time, by some of those
critics whose loyalty to the Government which
they supported apparently interfered with their
sense of justice towards others, for having refused
to allow a garbled version of Mr. ParneU's letter —
omitting all reference to his suggestion that he
would be able to support the Liberal party upon
certain conditions — to be read in the House of
Commons. There is no need now to defend him

THE KILMAINHAM TEEATY — EESIGNATION. 457
against that charge, the absurdity of which was
obvious at the time when it was first brought
forward. He was bound, in defence of his own
honour and in justification of the course which he
had been compelled to take in resigning his office,
not to allow a mutilated document to be placed
before the House of Commons in professed expla
nation of his conduct. The heated controversy
which was waged over the so-called Kilmainham
Treaty, and the bitter partisan condemnations which
were pronounced upon Forster himself, because he
had dared to pursue his own course on a question
on which he had learned much by a practical ex
perience of the most terrible kind, and on which
he felt so deeply that no personal consideration
could affect his judgment, need not engage atten
tion here. They belong to a dead past, and no
vindication of Forster's action in connection with
them is necessary.
But before the full details of the circumstances
under which he had left office became known,
indeed before the excitement which that event
had caused in the public mind had subsided, there
occurred the terrible tragedy of the Phoenix Park.
The story of the crime lies outside the scope of
this narrative, but it had so close a connection
with Mr. Forster's career in Ireland, it was so
intimately associated Avith his own personality,
that it cannot be passed over in silence.
Forster's resignation, at the moment when Lord

458 LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
Spencer was about to go to Dublin as the suc
cessor of Lord CoAA'per, made it necessary that not
a day should be lost in the nomination of his suc
cessor, and, as I have already said, the appoint
ment of Lord Frederick Cavendish was officially
notified on May 4th. On the following evening
Lord Frederick started, in company with Lord
Spencer, for Dublin. The "new departure" had
excited the wildest hopes among the Nationalists ;
the release of Mr. Parnell being regarded by them
as a crowning triumph for their cause. They
were prepared accordingly to receive the new
representatives of the English Government, if not
with enthusiasm, at all events with a not un
friendly welcome ; and the streets of Dublin were
thronged with a great crowd of Irishmen on the
morning of the 6th of May, when the Viceroy and
the Chief Secretary made their entry into the city.
A few hours later the whole empire was convulsed
with horror by the news that Lord Frederick
Cavendish, and Mr. Burke, the Irish Under-Secre
tary, had been foully murdered, whilst crossing the
Phcenix Park, by a band of assassins, whose plans,
it was eA'ident, had been laid long beforehand with
the utmost deliberation.
It was late at night when the news of the
terrible crime was received in London. The murder
itself had been committed about seven o'clock in
the evening, and had actually been witnessed by
passers-by, who believed that the assassins and

THE KILMAINHAM TEEATY — EESIGNATION. 459
their victims were merely indulging in rude horse
play. The first news of the tragedy did not, how
ever, reach London until some hours later, when
a telegram from Lord Spencer was placed in the
hands of the Home Secretary, Sir William Har
court, at a dinner-party given by a member of the
Government. The tidings fell like the proverbial
"bolt from the blue" upon those who were re
joicing in the belief that all the difficulties in the
way of a reconciliation between the two nations had
been removed by the resignation of Mr. Forster and
the release of the suspects. It was at a reception
at the Admiralty that the tidings first leaked out ;
and it was there that Forster heard of an event
which affected him more closely than any other
person not a member of the families of the murdered
men. His daughter writes in her diary : " I went
this evening, after our own dinner-party, with father
to the Admiralty — an evening party to meet the
Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh. After leaving
my cloak, father and I were preparing to enter the
drawing-room, filled with people, and a buzz of
talking and lights, but were met by Sir William
Harcourt and Mr. Howard Vincent, Sir William
took father aside to speak to him, as I supposed,
about some question of Parliamentary tactics, and
I was left to talk to Mr. Vincent. By the look of
father's face as he came towards me, I could see
that something was the matter ; but he frightened
me when he said to me, ' Put your things on ; we

46o LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. W. B. FOESTEE.'
must go.' As soon as we were outside I entreated
him to tell me what had happened, seeing that he
had called a hansom, and was, I thought, going to
drive off and leave me in this fearful suspense.
But he said nothing, only signed to me to get
into the hansom, and left word with the servants
that the carriage was to go home. Then he "said
to me, ' They've shot Burke and dangerously
wounded Lord Frederick. They've kiUed Burke,'
he added. After some minutes, he said, ' It is
awful.' ' I don't understand it,' I said. ' They
find the pressure taken off,' he answered; adding,
after another silence, ' I shaU go to-morrow, and
ask if they'll let me go back.' "
Those who remember how that dreadful night
and the following day with its long hours of
anxiety, horror, and excitement passed, will not
wonder at the emotion which was shown by
Forster when he heard that his own successor
in the post he had held but a few days before,
and the brave and devoted Irishman who had
been his faithful friend and fellow-labourer during
his two years of work in Dublin, had fallen side by
side under the knives of wretches whose guilt was
only made more hideous by the flagrant hypocrisy
of the pretence that it was from lofty motives of
patriotism that they had been led to bathe their
hands in innocent blood. Forster "could not
trust his voice," as he tried to express himself
regarding the blow which had been struck on that

THE KILMAINHAM TEEATY — EESIGNATION. 461
bright spring evening in Phoenix Park. Like all
who knew Lord Frederick Cavendish, he was in
expressibly shocked at the thought that a life so full
of promise, a life already indeed so rich in per
formance, should have been cut short in such a
manner ; and there were, of course, special personal
causes which made the sentiment doubly keen in
his case. But it was for Mr; Burke that he felt
most. He knew even then that his own was the
life which had really been aimed at, and there was
in his mind that undercurrent of noble distress
which affects the soldier who learns that his com
rade has fallen at the post of duty and of danger,
whilst he himself has been absent.
No one who saw Forster on the Sunday morn
ing which followed the receipt of the news will
forget their meeting with him. He went to the
Eeform Club early in the morning. One of his
objects in going there was to see the present
writer Avith regard to a proposed • dinner in his
honour, for which arrangements had already been
made, and which he now asked might be aban
doned. The great crowd of members which
thronged the hall — generaUy empty at that hour
on Sunday morning — pressed round Forster, gazing
at him with wondering eyes, as though they saw
in him one who had been saved by a miracle from
the fate which had fallen upon others. He him
self was stUl under the influence of the deep dis
tress which had overwhelmed him when he first

462 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FORSTEE.
heard the news. But he discussed the event
calmly. In his own mind there was even then
not the smallest doubt that the crime had been
dehberately planned, and that it was nothing more
than the natural development of that heUish
system of personal violence and outrage against
which he had been waging for months past so
strenuous a warfare. It must have been a revela
tion to some of those who knew nothing of the real
character of the man, and who had accepted that
ridiculous perversion of the truth — widely current
in certain circles — which represented Forster as
one whose feelings were blunt and hard, to note
the tenderness of the faltering accents in which he
spoke of the two dead men, and, above all, of Mr.
Burke. No one could be with him without feeling
that this tragical denouement to the exciting events
of the previous week, and to that "new departure"
over which the journalists were raising their
paeans of joy, affected him to an extraordinary
degree. But, in whatever other way he was
affected by the event, it did not touch the iron
nerve which had been proof against the perils
and trials of the past two years ; and, believing far
more fully than most people did then that the
crime of the Phoenix Park was no " accident,"
but a part of a cunningly devised scheme of
political assassination, which included his own
murder — or " removal," as it was euphemisticaUy
termed by the assassins — in its scope, he went

THE KILMAINHAM TEEATY — EESIGNATION. 463
straight from the Eeform Club to Mr. Gladstone,
and offered to return to Dublin that evening,
temporarily to fill the vacancy which had been
caused by the loss of Mr. Burke, the man who,
next to himself, was most intimately acquainted
with the existing condition of things in Ireland.
Eemembering all the circumstances, the offer
was one which Forster's friends may well recall
Avith pride. Devotion to duty, of the strongest
kind, could alone have led him to make it at such
a moment. The Ministry did not avaU themselves
of his proffered service. Forster's official connec
tion with Ireland had closed for ever.
It is not wonderful that, in the lurid light of the
great crime of May 6th, men should have viewed the
policy and actions of Mr. Forster very differently
from the way in which they regarded them before
that event. Numberless Englishmen who had been
inchned to scoff at his warnings when he was in
office, and when he was explaining his differences
Avith his coUeagues, now regarded him as being the
one man who had reaUy known the truth regarding
Ireland and told it plainly. There were many
others who, without going so far, were now for the
first time enabled to realize the gravity of the
task in which he had been engaged, and to under
stand that, in the existing conditions, success in
such a task, with the means to which he was con
fined, was impossible. As for the "new depar
ture," it came to an end when the cowards' blows

464 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
were struck in the Phoenix Park on the 6th of
May. On the following Monday the House met ordy
to adjourn immediately, after fitting tribute had
been paid to the virtues of the murdered men.
How different now was the scene from that which
had been witnessed on the previous Thursday !
Those who had then been loudest in their exulta
tion over Forster's fall, now sat mute and sorrowful,
overwhelmed by the blow which had shattered their
hopes. Mr. Forster seized the opportunity of pay
ing his own tribute of sorrow to the victims, but it
was specially of Mr. Burke that he wished to speak.
" There is no member, I believe," he said, " cer
tainly no member present, who knew Mr. Burke
so weU as I did, and I feel it to be my duty to say
a word or two about him. I had the most intimate
relations with him under difficult circumstances
for two years. It was a very short time before I
found out what manner of man he was, and I can
truly say I believe the Queen and country never
had a more faithful, a more upright, and a more
truly honourable and unselfish servant. His in
dustry, his devotion to his duty, was something
more than we are accustomed to. During the last
two years he never had a fortnight's holiday. Day
after day, from morning to night, he plodded on
with work which was most distasteful, uncom
plainingly, quietly, with a silent, dignified reticence
that belonged to him, without much acknowledg-

THE KILMAINHAM TEEATY — EESIGNATION. 465
ment, without much praise. He never expected
it. I think I never met with a man so completely
without prejudice, so completely and absolutely
fair, and so determined to do justice to all classes,
and that in a country where it is sometimes
difficult." He concluded by speaking of Mr.
Burke's special anxiety to protect the tenantry
wherever they were the victims of injustice.
On the next day, Tuesday, Sir William
Harcourt introduced a new Coercion Bill, which,
although it was laid upon the lines indicated by
Forster before he retired from office, was in many
respects more severe and stringent in its cha
racter than anything which he had proposed.
The assassinations had at least convinced his old
coUeagues that he was right in his declaration that
Ireland could not at that moment be governed,
nor a policy of concUiation adopted towards the
popular party, unless stronger powers were placed
in the hands of the authorities than those granted
them by the common law.
The terrible and momentous events which
followed so closely upon his resignation of office
prevented any conclusive test being applied to the
new policy which ministers had adopted as com
pared with that which he advocated. Everything
was changed by the murder of Lord Frederick
Cavendish and Mr. Burke. The policy of the
Cabinet itself was so largely modified that it was
virtually another pohcy altogether from that which
VOL. II. 2 H

466 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W. B. FOESTEE.
had been the occasion of his resignation. Ministers,
indeed, were compelled to adopt one of the con
ditions which he had set forth as essential to his
own continuance in office. Thus there was never
any possibility of comparing the new policy with
the old. This fact may not justify Forster's friends
in claiming a triumph for his Irish Secretaryship.
No such triumph was possible under the existing
conditions ; but it is at least a sufficient reason for
dismissing with contempt the declarations of those
partisan judges who loudly denounced his adminis
tration in Ireland as a failure, and who professed to
discover the reason for that faUure in the idiosyn
crasy of the man himself.
It is only necessary, in order to complete the
account of his Chief Secretaryship, to record briefly
the facts which were brought to hght in February,
1883, when James Carey, one of the leaders in the
plot for the assassination of Mr. Burke, turned
Queen's evidence, and revealed the whole ghastly
truth with regard to the Phoenix Park murder.
This Carey, it should be said, was one of the
suspects imprisoned by Mr. Forster. He had
passed as a respectable member of society, and, at
the time of his arrest on the charge of being con
cerned in the murders of May 6th, he was a
member of the Dubhn Town Council. His story,
as told in the witness-box, after he had turned
informer to save his own neck, was that in Novem
ber, 1881, a secret society had been established in

THE KILMAINHAM TREATY— RESIGNATION. 467
Dubhn called the Irish Invincibles. The object of
this society was " to make history " by " removing "
all tyrants. The first person against whose life
the conspiracy was directed was Mr. Forster.
Next to him in the fatal list came Lord Cowper ;
whilst the name of Mr. Burke only seems to have
been added as an afterthought. It was really Mr.
Forster who was the object of the vengeance of
these men ; and marvellous indeed was the story
told of his repeated escapes from their attempts
upon his life. On Friday, March 3rd, the con
spirators, who were kept informed by confederates
in London, met at the railway station for the
purpose of kiUing him on his return from his
memorable journey to Clare. They were armed
with revolvers, and meant, so Carey said, to shoot
everybody in the carriage with Mr. Forster.
Happily he was then in the midst of his visits to
the disturbed districts, and the assassins were
altogether misinformed as to his intention to return
to Dubhn. A few days later another plot was
devised. He was to be shot whilst driving from
the Chief Secretary's Lodge to Dublin. The
precise spot fixed upon for the commission of the
outrage was between Victoria Bridge and King's
Bridge ; and here Brady, Kelly, and the other men
who subsequently murdered Lord Frederick Caven
dish, were lying in wait for him. A hne of
conspirators had been formed along the route for
the purpose of signalling his approach. In due

468 LIFE OP THE RIGHT HON, W. E. FORSTEE.
time he came along the road in his carriage,
Carey, the leader of the party, was on the spot, and
as soon as the carriage had passed he jumped on a
tram-car, hoping to reach the scene fixed upon for
the murder in time to witness it. But again the
scheme failed. One of the conspirators — a man
named Eowles — tardUy repented of his part in the
crime. He was one of the scouts whose duty it
was to signal Forster's approach. He saw the
Chief Secretary's carriage pass, and ,he made no
sign. Thus and thus only, by the providence of
God, was Forster's life saved on this occasion,
Eowles, who is now dead, acknowledged before his
death that his heart had failed him at the last
moment, and that he had intentionaUy allowed the
destined victim to escape.
Their repeated failures exasperated the con
spirators, and they redoubled their efforts to attain
their end. For four successive nights — Sunday,
Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday — in the week
on which Mr, Forster finally left Ireland, the whole
gang, fifteen in number, waited in Westland Eow
Station purposing to kill him as he was entering
the train for Kingstown. On the last day of their
waiting Carey told how they recognized Mrs.
Forster and her daughter in one of the carriages ;
but Forster himself was not there, and again he
had escaped them. This was the occasion, already
mentioned, on which he had accepted the sugges
tion of Mr. Jephson, and had dined at Kingstown

THE KILMAINHAM TEEATY — EESIGNATION. 469
instead of in Dublin. "If he had been there,"
said Carey, in giving his evidence, " he would not
have been alive to-day." It was only when it
was know'u that Mr. Forster was not to return to
Ireland that the conspirators turned their attention
to Mr. Burke. The evidence of the informers
clearly showed that the intention was simply to
kiU the Under-Secretary. Lord Frederick Caven
dish was unknown to the men who slew him. He
OAved" his fate to the fact of his having walked
across the park with Mr. Burke, and to his courage
in defending that gentleman when he was attacked.
When Carey's hideous story was told, popular
feehng rose nearly as high as at the time of the
assassinations. The fact that some men who had
been closely connected with the Land League
were proved to have been at the bottom of the
vile plot, and that money was freely expended in
carrying it out, intensified the horror and indig
nation of the public. As for Mr. Forster, people
now saw how puerile had been the spiteful sugges
tion of some of his poUtical assaUants that the
plots against him, of which only rumours had
hitherto been heard, were merely imaginary affairs,
dexterously invented for the purpose of enlisting
pubhc sympathy on his behaK ! It is not pleasant
even to have to refer to such a fabrication as this.
But it was current at one time among those who
considered that Forster had sinned unpardonably
when he refused to yield his own judgment to that

470 LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
of his colleagues, and it is, therefore, necessary to
speak of it. The infamous creature who had taken
a leading part in planning the murder of Forster,
who subsequently directed the ruffians who slew
Lord Frederick Cavendish and Mr. Burke, and
who, after betraying all who had confided in him,
himself died by the hand of an assassin, was able
at least to refute this particular aspersion upon the
character of the man against whose life he had
plotted so desperately and persistently.

THE LIBRARY AT WHARFESIDE

( 471 )

CHAPTEE XI.
LAST YEARS.
TowAEDS the close of May, Mr. Forster went to
Normandy for a brief rest after the excitements
and fatigues of his Irish secretaryship. He was
the more Avilhng to take this step inasmuch as his
presence in the House of Commons, after the
Phoenix Park murders, appeared to have a strangely
exasperating effect upon the foUowers of Mr. Par
nell, who lost no opportunity of insulting him.
Forster's opinions regarding the Parnellite party
had undergone no change, whilst the terrible
events which foUowed his resignation had only
strengthened his conviction that the resolution
adopted by ministers on May 2nd was wholly wrong.
But he had no wish whatever to increase the em
barrassments of his old colleagues ; and though
determined to stick to his post and live down the
memory of the past and the passions of the moment,
he was not sorry to avaU himself of a journey
abroad, as a reason for a brief absence from the
centre of political life. There was another motive
which made him anxious to go. This was the

472 LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
personal question which had been raised in con
nection with his own resignation by the revelation
of the truth regarding Mr, ParneU's release from
Kilmainham. Ministers had suffered seriously
from the revelation of that truth, and, as usual,
partisans were found who sought to lay upon
Mr. Forster the whole responsibility for the
odium which the Government had incurred by
taking measures against which he had protested.
Though resolute in asserting his undoubted right
to defend himself, and to make the whole truth
known so far as it was essential to the formation
of a sound judgment upon the affair, Forster was
greatly grieved by the course which events took
and by the antagonism which seemed to be created
between himself and his old colleagues. To his
friend, Mr. Thomas Cooper, he wrote, saying,
" Your letters have been a great and real comfort
to me. This wretched personal affair into which
I have been dragged has been more worry to me
than any public event in the course of my life, but
I do not see how I could in substance have acted
other Avise." He was only absent a few days from
England, but, brief as his rest was, it did him
good. Writing from Bayeux, March 30th, Mrs.
Forster says, "I think our little excursion is
answering. William is looking well, studies his
' Murray ' and his map with as much interest as
if he had never governed Ireland."
The summer ¦ passed uneventfully for him.

LAST YEABS. 473
He was now enjoying to the full his release from
the cares and labours of office, and was hardly
to be drawn into controversial politics even by the
exciting events which were happening in Egypt,
and which had led to the retirement of Mr. Bright
from the Government. He returned to his old
haunts and his old habits, was happy in indulging
his love of reading and his passion for old books,
and found in the whist-tables at the Eeform and
the Athengeum the relaxation which had for years
been practically denied to him. And here I may
introduce a reference to him as a whist-player, for
which I am indebted to Mr. James Payn.
"It is curious, and proves the need that almost
every nature — and those the most perfect certainly
not the least — feels for some sort of relaxation, that
a man so earnest and little inclined for frivolity
as W. E. Forster was a most enthusiastic whist-
player. He never, indeed, wasted his time at it,
or gave up a single hour to it, so far as I know,
that was owed to more serious matters ; but when
he was playing I think he enjoyed the game more
than any other man I ever knew. If there were
only two other men, he would play dummy ; if
only one, double dummy. And yet he was very
much the reverse of a good player. Perhaps he
began it too late in life, which is fatal to exceUence,
even with the most intelligent ; but the fact is, he
hardly ever got through a rubber quite to his own
satisfaction, and still less to that of his partner.

474 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON, W, E, FOESTEE.
On the other hand, in sweetness of temper and
immobility to the worst that Fortune could do for
him in the way of ill-luck, he had, in my experience,
no equal. He liked the excitement of the game,
and was willing, and even eager, to have a bet on
it in addition to the ordinary stakes, but of the
greed of the gambler he had absolutely nothing.
He did not seem to care one halfpenny except for
the mere passing triumph of winning, and, con
sidering his play, he was on the whole lucky,
whether he won or lost. The vulgar phrase about
paying and looking pleasant — a difficult feat, as it
would seem, for the great majority of whist-players
— might have been invented to suit him, so exactly
did it describe his behaviour in adversity. Whist
was to him a far greater amusement than to most
men, but it went no further; it was never that
serious business of hfe that it is so often made.
He was always full of fun over it, did not the least
mind having his own play animadverted upon
(though he was not spared by any means, for the
Board of Green Cloth is no respecter of persons),
and was never irritated by any mistake of his
partner. One afternoon he had won a good many
rubbers of me, and it is quite possible that I may
have looked resentful at him for the partiality vrith
which Fortune was treating him. ' If it would be
any satisfaction to you, my dear fellow,' he said,
with his humorous smile, ' and a relief to your
feelings to caU me Buckshot, do it.' "

LAST YEARS. 475
In September and October he paid a long-
anticipated visit to Eussia. He had always de
lighted in foreign travel, and it was a real joy to
him once more to be permitted to indulge his
passion for it. The reader has seen in a previous
chapter how he used the opportunities afforded by
visits to new scenes and intercourse with strangers
to inform his mind, and the present seems a fitting
opportunity to give some account of the manner
in which he enjoyed those journeys which were
taken rather for purposes of recreation than with
any serious object. It is from the pen of his wKe.
"The journey of 1854 was the first of those
brief and almost annual tours which for so many
years formed the chief recreation and enjoyment
of his life, and which, therefore, require some
shght mention. They rather changed their cha
racter as time went on and our chUdren began
to accompany us ; but for many years we usually
started for Switzerland or the Italian valleys of
the Alps as soon as the session ended, to spend
a few weeks among the mountains — he walking
and I riding — and as much away from the beaten
tracks as possible. We both shared an ardent
love of mountain scenery, and they were weeks
of great dehght to him, in which he threw aside
every care of politics or business, and gave himself
up to 'play.' Not that public interests could
always be put aside ; for I remember that, in 1857,
the news of the disasters in the Indian mutiny,

476 LIFE OP THE RIGHT HON. W. E. FORSTER.
as we read them in the Italian papers, made him
so miserable, that we cut short our tour and
returned home.
" He was a delightful traveller — for nothing
ever came amiss to him, unless it were a speU of
bad weather which interfered with a glacier expe
dition ; and to the little desagrements which often
make such a serious drawback to the pleasures
of a tour, he was singularly indifferent, while
interests of varied kinds were never wanting.
Wherever we were travelling, the social and
material condition of the country people, their
way of living, their elections, their military service,
were an unfailing subject of interest to him, about
which, in spite of his hmited command of languages,
he contrived tp extract a surprising amount of in
formation in friendly and sociable talk with people
as he went along. He was keenly alive also to
historical associations, but especially to all that
were connected with the Middle Ages, and an old
castle with a history had attractions for him which
he could seldom resist, however inconvenient the
delay might be.
" StiU, the mountains, as I have said, were his
chief object. He had always been a vigorous
walker, and was elected a member of the Alpine
Club in 1859, but in our earlier journeys he was
content with the walking in which my pony could
accompany him — excursions, of a few days at a
time, among the remoter valleys and low passes,

LAST YEARS. 477
when we would start in the early morning and
go on for ten or twelve hours with but short halts,
taking an easy day at some mountain inn before
we started again ; and many were the brief but
pleasant holidays we spent in this way — in the
Pyrenees, the Tyrol, the Italian valleys of the
Alps, the Dolomites, and our well-loved Switzer
land. But gradually the love of snow and glacier
chmbing grew upon him ; and although, of course,
beginning Alpine climbing as he did after middle
hfe (and also out of consideration for my fears)
he never attempted the greater Alpine feats, yet
his spirit and endurance carried him through
undertakings to which his training and his some
what heavy frame seemed httle suited, and he
enjoyed a high ascent or an arduous expedition
among the snowfields with all the zest and keen
ness of a boy. ' Thou must remember,' he wrote,
in answer to some remonstrance about risk, ' that
there is an awful grandeur among these snowy
heights to be met with nowhere below ; and,
besides, even if such ascents be no better than
sport, climbing mountains is at any rate no more
foolish than hunting foxes.' His enjoyment of
it lasted to the end, and, indeed, outlasted his
strength. In 1884, we went for a fortnight to
Grind elw aid, and after an interval of several years
he was delighted to get upon a glacier again, and
was out for many hours. But the stress and toil
of the last few years had told upon him, and the

478 LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
exertion brought on an attack of shivering and
illness which showed that it must not be repeated ;
so that was his last day upon a glacier.
"In passing from the subject of his holiday
mountaineering, I will quote the brief recollections
of him as an Alpine chmber which were contri
buted to the Alpine Journal after his death, by his
dear and old friend, Mr. John BaU, F.E.S. The
recollections refer to a walking-tour they made
together in Carinthia in 1865, which always stood
high among my husband's pleasantest memories.
" ' Nature had scarcely designed W. E. Forster
for an Alpine climber. He had great bodily
strength and endurance, but was not \erj active,
and he had had no early training to develop the
flexibility of the muscles. But he had intense
enjoyment in the grandeur and beauty of moun
tain scenery, and for the rest the same indomitable
pluck that he displayed in other fields of action
carried him through all difficulties. He had been
used to ramble over the hills and fells of the north
of England, but had never, to the best of my
belief, ascended a high mountain until he first
went to Switzerland (I think in 1859), when he
was already past forty. His first ascent was that
of Mont Blanc. In the same year he was elected
a member of our club. In the course of an ex
cursion in the Eastern Alps in 1865, I made two
ascents with him, in each of which the qualities
of his nature were well shown.

LAST YEAES. 479
" ' The Terglou, in Carniola, is one of those rock
pinnacles which look much more formidable than
they really are. The main peak (extremely steep
on aU sides) is connected with a minor peak, easy
of access by a rock arete so narrow that the usual
course is to pass it astride, one leg hanging on
each side. Facing you, the main peak looks as
steep as the corner of an old French roof. Forster
was suffering from a severe headache, the result
of bad food and a bad night at the Belpole Alp,
and when we had reached the summit of the Little
Terglou and saw what was before us, I suggested
to him to rest under a rock and await my return.
If the ascent had appeared easy he would doubt
less have taken my advice, but the idea of fiinching
from a difficulty was intolerable to him. He in
sisted on going forward, and made the ascent,
finding (as usual with him) some difficulty in
accompUshing the descent.
" ' Our second joint ascent was that of the
Cima Tosa, the highest of the Dolomites between
Val Eendena and Molveno, then believed to be an
untouched peak. We started from Molveno with
a man (Nicolosi) who was supposed to know the
mountain. He led us by a long detour to a point
from which the ascent was plainly impossible. I
then took the lead, and after another detour we
reached the httle glacier from which I beheve all
subsequent ascents from this side have been made.
Above some steep but apparently practicable rocks

48o LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
the highest peak seemed to promise no difficulty,
but probably some delay in step-cutting, as the
snow was hard. By this time the day was far
spent. I knew that my friend could not go fast,
and that the descent through the Val delle Seghe
would lie in great part over loose blocks, very
awkward at night. I accordingly put the case
to him, telling him that it was quite possible that
if we persisted we should not reach Molveno that
night. His answer was decided. We should
complete the ascent if it were practicable and take
our chance for the rest. We did so, reached the
summit, consumed much time in the descent, and
were benighted amid a mass of angular blocks in
unstable equilibrium ! The day had been cloudy,
but after waiting half an hour the moon came
out, and we finally reached Molveno about 11 p.m.
" ' I have been fortunate many times in travel
ling companions, but have known none to compare
with Forster, Along with the deep interest of his
conversation there were none of the drawbacks
which naturally attend on the society of men of
strong character. Entirely unselfish, he was
tolerant and patient in a unique degree. Occa
sional annoyances and inconveniences merely fur
nished matter for grim but kindly humour that
made them* positively pleasant to his companion,
A nature so pure and lofty never appeared so
completely at home as amid the grand solitudes
of the mountains,' — Alpine Journal.

LAST YEAES. 481
" I pass on to the journeys of later years, when
our children were our companions, and the walking
and riding of younger days was exchanged for the
large carriage and voiturier. He still lost no
opportunity of a long walk or mountain climb,
and never returned from either without bringing
back some rare or favourite flower which he knew
would be prized.
"In these later tours I recall especially our
early start in the lovely summer or autumn
mornings, from some -sleeping-place among the
mountains ; the fresh sunlight falling on the dewy
grass, the morning mists softly uprolUng from
the mountain sides, — and the delightful sense
that we were setting forth on a long day's journey
into a world of beauty. It took some time to get
us all settled with our maps and guide-books at
hand ; then, as soon as we were settled, he or I
would often read a Psalm of praise. I can hear
now the tone of his voice, so deep and reverent ;
but indeed his reading of the Bible, and especially
of the Psalms, was always beautiful, and those who
had chanced on any occasion to hear him would
often teU me how much it had struck them.
*'But I must bring to an end these slight and
wandering notes' of the holidays of many years,
leaving untouched his journey to the Carpathian
Mountains and Hungary, and visit to the Balkan
provinces and Constantinople in 1876, during the
height of the Eastern question ; our journey to
VOL. II. 2 I

482 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
Eussia and the Northern capitals in 1882 ; and his
cruise in the Mediterranean and Adsit to Bulgaria
in 1883. The daughter who was his sole and
happy companion in the journey to Constantinople,
and who was Avith us in all our tours afterwards,
has given a few of her own recollections of them,*
without which mine would be most one-sided and
incomplete." He returned from Eussia towards the close of
October, restored to something like his old physical
and mental Adgour and freshness. Parhament had
been summoned for an autumn session when he
got back to London, the special work to be done
being the passing of a series of rules affecting the
procedure of the House. He appeared in his place.
in the House, but did not take any conspicuous
part in the debate, save when the question which
had so long been uppermost in his mind — that
of slavery — was touched upon in connection with
Egyptian affairs. To Us Wife. " Novemher 12th, 1882.
" My DEAREST Wife,
" My journey into the City is hke return
ing to the occupation and interests of my youth.
I am going to the old Anti- Slavery Office in New
Broad Street to get up information for my short
speech on Wednesday. The demand for boys for
* Vide Chapter IIL, voL 2.

LAST YEAES. 4S3
eunuchs and domestic slaves is really as destructive
as for girls. The weight of the meeting falls on
me, as I have to move the important resolution.
I have seen Dillon, who evidently wishes us to
press the Government to urge on the Khedive the
abohtion of slavery, as the real means of stopping
the slave trade.
"I hope to-morrow I shall hear that matters
are settled at Glasgow — I do not wish to be
cheated out of my opportunity there.
" I have material for two poUtical speeches :
the Liberalism of the future for the club, which
is mainly composed of young men, — an attempt to
gauge the new forces of pohtical life, — and Home
Eule for the pubhc meeting. Just now I am more
able to say exactly what I think than at any
previous time. I have also promised to open a
higher board school. ..."
The visit to Glasgow, to which allusion was
made in the foregoing letter, was for him one of
the brightest spots in the political history of the
year. He had been elected President of the
Gladstone Club in that city, and had accepted an
invitation to preside at the annual dinner. His
visit in the middle of December was made the
occasion of a great demonstration, not merely of
the political principles of the Liberals of Glasgow,
but of their personal admiration for Forster himself.
The dinner of the Gladstone Club, usually a simple

484 LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
social gathering, became in his honour a banquet
of an imposing character, at which not merely
great numbers of the younger Liberals of the west
of Scotland, but many leading men were present.
Forster spote at length after dinner, on the
question of Ireland, urging that the Land Act
should be left to bring forth its legitimate fruits,
and that Parliament should give clear expression
to its opinion upon the question of Home Eule.
On the following day, December 15th, he addressed
a great meeting of Liberals in St. Andrew's HaU.
His reception was an enthusiastic one, and the
resolution of welcome, which was carried without
a dissentient voice, concluded with an expression
of the hope that he would soon again be enabled
to take part in the work of the Government. His
speech on this occasion dealt with the political
questions of the time — Egypt, the right of the
agricultural labourer to the suffrage, the Transvaal
and the duties of England towards the native races
in South Africa and other portions of the Empire.
On December 16th he opened a board school at
Govan, making a speeph upon education; and
finally, on December 18th, the incidents of a visit
which was very much in the nature of a personal
triumph, reached their culminating point in the
presentation to him of the freedom of the city.
The whole visit was most pleasing and satisfactory
to Mr. Forster; and none who knew him could
doubt that the warmth of the sympathy shown

LAST YEAES. ' 485
towards him by the Scotch Liberals was intensely
grateful. " The fact that he was obliged to
separate from his coUeagues," said, the Glasgoio
Herald in reference to his visit, "has not in the
least degree diminished the respect which a consti
tuency devoted to Mr. Gladstone entertains to
wards him." All the more gratifying was the
evidence which Glasgow afforded of this fact,
inasmuch as in some other places he was looked
upon with coldness and suspicion, not because he
had failed to do his best when in Ireland, but
because he had ventured to hold his own views in
opposition to those of the other members of the
Government of Mr. Gladstone.
The position which he now held in the political
world was a peculiar one. In some respects it
might be described as a position of isolation. In
retiring from office he had secured his own inde
pendence. But at that epoch in, the history of
English Liberalism it was more than the mere loss
of office which a man had to fear when he ventured
to assert his independence of opinion in face of a
powerful and united party. Forster was destined
for the remainder of his public career to find him
self always " under suspicion," so far as certain
pohticians were concerned. Any word that he
uttered, any step that he took in connection with
public affairs, however innocent, was liable to be
misinterpreted by those who seemed to think it
impossible that any motives higher than merely

486 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
personal ones could influence a statesman. Not
even the sneers of the press, or the censures of the
caucus could induce Forster, however, to resign
that freedom of judgment and of action which was
the compensation he had received for his loss of
office. Moreover, though he was in these years in
a chronic state of war with one wing of the Liberal
party, his position in the House of Commons and
among his fellow-countrymen was higher than it
had ever been before. In ParUament, his speeches
were marked by an oratorical power such as even
his OAvn friends had hardly suspected him of
commanding, whilst throughout the country his
opinions upon the great questions of the time
exercised an influence upon the pubhc judgment
more potent than that of any other public man
save Mr. Gladstone. Freedom from official re
straints enabled his strong individuality to assert
itself fully, and though he was at the head of no
organization, controlled no caucus, and did not
even command the support of a single metropolitan
newspaper, his personality became one of the
most conspicuous and powerful factors in the
politics of the day.
The pubhc history of the years which followed
his retirement from office must be told briefly.
And yet it may be doubted whether, during any
corresponding period in his life, Forster ever played
so important a part in directing the thoughts of
his feUow-countrymen. Early in January, 1883^

LAST YEAES. 487
he presided at the annual dinner of the Leeds
Liberal Club. He had many devoted friends in
Leeds, and his appearance among them, whether
at meetings of the club or at other political gather
ings, was always hailed with enthusiasm. His
speech at this particular dinner was memorable
because of its relation to Irish affairs. He dis
cussed, as the chief topic of domestic politics, the
question of the extension of household suffrage to
the counties — a measure of which he had long
been a most ardent supporter. But on this occa
sion he not merely advocated the early passing of
such a biU, but insisted that, if passed, it must
apply to Ireland as well as England. The only
way of meeting the demand for Home Eule and
the dissolution of the Union, he declared, was by
saying, " We will treat them as we treat ourselves."
Acting on this principle, he recommended that K a
measure for the reform of the local government of
England was introduced its provisions should be
extended to Ireland. These declarations produced
a great impression at the time ; for up to the
moment when they were made, no man of Forster's
rank in poUtical life had advocated the lowering of
franchise in Ireland in connection with the passing
of the Household Suffrage Bill in England. The
fact that he was the first to make such a proposal
proved that nothing which had happened in con
nection with Irish affairs had lessened his desire
to deal justly to Irishmen or had affected his judg
ment upon Irish questions.

488 LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. W. B, POESTEE.
But at the time when he was thus in advance
of many members of the Government in advocating
a reduction of the franchise in Ireland, his
opinion upon one grave question remained as
strong as ever. This was his conviction that a
terrible moral responsibility rested upon Mr.
Parnell and the Land League leaders for their
faUure adequately to denounce the crimes and
outrages which were perpetrated in Ireland by
those who believed that they were serving the
purposes and carrying out the real wishes of the
principal members of the league. His speech
during the debate on the address at the opening
of the session of 1883 set forth this uncompro
mising belief of his with a force which made a
profound impression at the time upon English
public opinion. Forster was being openly attacked,
not merely by the Parnellites, but by English Eadi
cals, as though, forsooth, the lamentable condition
of Ireland, and the crimes and conspiracies which
were at that time being dragged to light, were in
some mysterious fashion the fruits of his two years'
secretaryship. It was in the midst of a debate in
which this idea seemed to pervade the minds of
not a few, that he interposed, and brought against
Mr. Parnell the most tremendous indictment ever
laid against a responsible politician in the English
Parliament by a fellow-member. No one who was
a witness of that exciting scene when Mr. Forster,
speaking amid the furious cries of Mr. ParneU's

LAST YEAES, 489
followers, and the wild cheers of the English
members, laid statement after statement before the
House in support of his opinion as to the moral
responsibility of Mr, Parnell, will ever forget it.
Nor was the impression which he made upon the
mind of England lessened by the fact that Mr,
Parnell, instead of attempting to reply to the
indictment brought against him, took refuge in
personal abuse of his accuser. This was the last
important episode in connection with Ireland of
Mr. Forster's career in the House of Commons.
For the future he was able to feel that he had at
least hberated his mind upon that subject which
had always been uppermost in his thoughts — the
outrages, — and that nothing further was needed
from him to enlighten the opinion of the public.
In the early part of the session of 1883 the
question of our obligations in South Africa, and
our duty towards native chiefs who had trusted in
our promises, arose in connection with affairs in
Bechuanaland. Forster, it is hardly necessary
to say, strenuously supported the rights of the
natives. No other Une would have been possible
to him at any period in his life — unless he had been
prepared to deny his own most dearly cherished
convictions and to reverse the whole current of
his sympathies. Yet, seeing that his warm support
of the claims of native chiefs who had jeopardized
their own interests because of their belief in the
honour of England brought him into collision with

49° LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W, B. POESTEE.
the Government, there were some who professed
to think that it was rather for the purpose of
attacking ministers than of serving the people of
South Africa that he had taken action. It is
needless to discuss this charge here. All his com
munications with the Colonial Secretary, Lord
Derby, as well as Avith Mr. Mackenzie and the
other enlightened EngUshmen who strove to pro
cure justice for the weak races of South Africa,
might be cited in refutation of the accusation. It
was one which affected Forster himself . far too
Ik
slightly, however, to be worthy of special notice.
He was only conscious of the fact that he was
treading in the footsteps of his father and his
uncle. The traditional contempt for "the nigger"
was something the nature of which he was not
even able to conceive, and he was every bit as
anxious to see the people of Bechuanaland treated
with justice by the English Government as he
would have been if they had been inhabitants of
his own Wharfedale.
For the remainder of his life, South African
affairs occupied much of Mr. Forster's time, and
he threw himself into the cause of the natives with
all his old enthusiasm. With characteristic energy
and thoroughness he made a careful study of the
South African Blue books, at that period abnor
mally numerous and voluminous, unearthed the
telegraphic despatch of the English general, upon
which the Bechuanas relied in their appeal for

LAST YEAES. 49«
help, and completely refuted the plea of the
Government that these people were not our allies,
and that we were in no way responsible for what
happened to them. This point gained, he did not
relax his efforts, but continued, both in the House
of Commons and outside, to urge their claims,
until he had secured the establishment of a pro
tectorate over the country of Bechuanaland.
The question next arose of a disputed boun
dary between the Transvaal and Bechuanaland,
and, after a long wrangle between the High Com
missioner and the Boer leaders, both the High
Commissioner and a Boer deputation came to Eng
land. The proposal of the Transvaal was to so ex
tend its borders in the direction of Bechuanaland
as to include not only the most fertile " gardens "
or farms of the natives, but also to take in the
main road from Cape Colony north-west to Central
Africa. This road, being bounded on the west side
• by the waterless Kalahari desert, was the only
possible route outside the Transvaal by which our
traders could reach the rapidly opening native
markets in the centre of the continent.
Mr. Forster's study of the country on behalf of
the Bechuanas at once enabled him to see that
this proposal, K agreed to, would completely shut
out British trade from the markets of the future,
and he exerted himself in every way to prevent so
disastrous a result. After an anxious struggle, he
was successful in this. The Boers were given a

492 LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. W. E, FOESTEE,
considerable portion of native territory, and were
forgiven a large part of their acknowledged
debt to England ; but though their boundary was
brought to within a few miles of the road, they
were not allowed to include it. Thus the trade
route to .the interior of Africa was preserved to
British commerce, and a service rendered to the
empire, the value of which, in but a few years, will
be reckoned in sums of mUlions annually.
On the return of the Boer delegates, a new
attempt was made to spoil Mr. Forster's work.
A deputy-commissioner, Mr. John Mackenzie, who
had resided for twenty-five years in the locality,
had been selected by the High Commissioner when
in England, and appointed to administer the new
territory. Intrigues were now set on foot in this
district, emanating from the Transvaal, to upset
the Government of her Majesty in Bechuanaland.
These were supported by similar intrigues carried
on at Cape Town by friends and sympathizers with
the Boers. They resulted in the resignation of
the Deputy-Commissioner, and the appointment
of another, who endeavoured, by various forms of
surrender and concUiation, to appease the Trans
vaal agitators, who, however, soon reduced the
commencement of government which had been
estabhshed to chaos. The natives were attacked,
murdered, and robbed, and her Majesty's repre
sentative was personally threatened.
Again Mr. Forster urged upon the Government

LAST YEARS. 493
the necessity of fulfilling their obligations and en
forcing respect to the Queen and Government,
With the assistance, this time, of Mr, Chamberlain,
who had before opposed any interference, he was
successful in obtaining the despatch of Sir Charles
Warren's expedition, before which the marauders
of the Transvaal retreated across the border with
out firing a shot. A settled government was at
length established, and the Bechuanas placed in
the enjoyment of a certain measure of peace.
It wiU be noticed that throughout this affair,
which extended over nearly three years, the keynote
of his action and his argument was the fulfilment
of obhgations. These, once undertaken, he held to
be sacred. He frequently urged the folly of trying
to shhk them, a course which he proved from
history invariably led to shame, inconvenience,
and increased expenditure. To his Wife.
" Athenseum Club, November 12th, 1884.
" Mt dearest Wipe,
" Our South African lecture went off well
last evening. A good attendance. There was a
dinner before the lecture, at which I presided,
sitting between Merriman and Sir John Macdonald,
the Canadian Premier, who was capital company.
The room was very crowded and hot, and I went
home with one of my bad colds, which, however,
is better this morning, thanks to a longer night.

494 LIFE OF THE RIGHT HON. W. B. FORSTEE.
" I hurried down to receive Sir Charles Warren,
who came to pay his parting call. He leaves to
morrow, having at last got his way with the War
Office. " His large force of volunteers is quite a new
departure in mUitary affairs, and immensely in
terested Oakeley ; but the estimate is out this
morning, and it is a staggering one — about
^£650,000 for the army, and ^50,000 for the navy.
This is penny-wise pound-foolish pohcy with a
vengeance, and I expect the Eadicals will be
furious." In the autumn of 1883 he paid another visit to
the East. His object, on this occasion, was to see
for himself the changes which had been wrought
in Bulgaria as the result of the Eusso-Turkish
war. He was delighted with what he saw in the
new principality. The growth of civilization, the
capacity for self-government shown throughout
the Balkan provinces, and the manifest love of
education cherished by those who had so recently
escaped from a cruel bondage, all satisfied him
that the fruits of the events of 1877 and 1878 had
been wholly good. The journey, the first part of
which was spent on board the hospitable yacht
of Mr. (now Sir John) Pender, did him good.
Writing to his wife on the homeward journey, he
spoke of its beneficial effects, and added that he
was returning home " keen for work." An account

LAST YEAES. 495
of the impressions which he derived whilst in
the East, appeared in the Pall Mall Gazette of
October 31st.
The year 1884 was one in which Forster dis
played special activity in political life. He had
recovered completely from the effects of the worry
and anxiety of his Irish secretaryship ; he felt
himself absolved by past events from the necessity
of devoting any large portion of his time to those
Irish questions which occupied so much of the
attention of Parliament, and he was able to devote
aU his strength of mind and body to matters in
which he took the deepest personal interest. Of
these the proceedings in South Africa have already
been mentioned. In domestic politics the ques
tion of the hour was that of the Household Suf
frage BiU, which was brought forward early in
the session, only to be rejected by the House of
Lords. He gave his warmest support to this
measure, and, after its rejection, he was prominent
among those who took part in the agitation in the
country on its behalf, and against the House of
Lords. The greatest of these popular demonstra
tions was that held at Leeds on October 4th.
The scene of the gathering was Woodhouse Moor,
on which, nearly twenty years before, Forster had
appeared as an advocate of Parliamentary reform,
at a time when the artisans of the towns were stUl
waiting for enfranchisement. True to his faith in
popular Government, he once more presented him-

496 LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. AV. B. FOESTER.
self before a West Eiding audience, on a spot of
historic interest. Many scores of thousands of
persons had met to demonstrates their resolve that
the Eeform Bill should be carried, despite the
House of Lords, and Forster received from them
a welcome of special warmth. It was the last
great public gathering of the kind he was destined
to attend. But a question far surpassing, in the intensity
of the interest which it aroused, that of the House
hold Suffrage BiU, engaged attention during the
year. It was that of the Soudan, and of the fate
of General Gordon. For the Egyptian policy of
the English Government Forster had no respon
sibility. He had left the Ministry before the
intervention of this country at Cairo had been
resolved upon, and though keenly interested in
the course of events, he had not taken a prominent
part in the debates on Egyptian questions. His
chief interest in these questions seemed, indeed,
to be based upon his life-long abhorrence of
slavery. But from the time when the resolve of
the English Government to abandon the Soudan
was taken, and when General Gordon was de
spatched to Khartoum for the purpose of superin
tending the operation, Forster began to take an
active and prominent part in the Parliamentary
debates upon the question. Added to his personal
interest in the slavery question, was his strong
admiration for the character of General Gordon.

LAST YEARS, 497
From the moment at which his figure became the
central one in connection with the affairs of Egypt,
Forster's interest in these affairs became deep and
absorbing. The policy of the Government met with his
strong disapproval. Hesitation, and a timid shrink
ing from responsibUities, not because they had not
been incurred, but because they were too arduous
and costly in their character to be easily fulfilled,
were faiUngs which he had always strongly con
demned, and he condemned them now with special
emphasis when they affected not only the honour
of England but the very life of such a man as
Gordon, At the outset of the session of 1884,
Forster had criticized unsparingly the blunder
committed by ministers in their dealings with
Egypt, His speech naturally excited the anger
of the partisan press. He was taunted as " the
candid friend," and once again he had to submit to
that wholesale imputation of motives to which by
this time he had become so well accustomed. But
he was in earnest now, if ever he had been in
earnest in his hfe, and though he felt keenly his
position of isolation, and regretted now, as he had
ever done, the anger of his constituents and his
old political friends, he refused to be moved by
these things so much as a hair's-breadth. His
whole heart was filled with the idea of Gordon's
danger at Khartoum — and that he was in real
danger there Forster had been one of the very first
VOL. II, 2 K

498 LIFE OF THE RIGHT HON, W. E. FORSTEE.
to perceive — and of the dishonour which must
attach to England if he were left to perish. To
ministers, alas ! it was not given to see Gordon's
danger so clearly, and they resisted any acknow
ledgment of it, and put off any attempt to succour
their agent, Forster, on his part, insisted, with
what he himself felt to be wearisome iteration,
upon endeavouring to impress the truth on the
minds of his former colleagues.
It is not to be denied that his speeches and
questions on the subject of Khartoum and Gordon,
during the session of 1884, were very damaging
to the Ministry, and one cannot be surprised at
the bitterness with which they were resented by
partisan newspapers and organizations. The
question now, however, is not whether they did or
did not injure a Liberal Ministry, but whether they
were founded upon sound or unsound views of
events in the Soudan. To that question only one
answer can be returned. It unhappily proved that
Forster was right when he strove, with an earnest
ness which was remarkable even for him, to awaken
the minds of ministers to the reality of Gordon's
danger, and when he besought them not to delay
until it was too late the attempt to carry to him
the succour which he was certain to require. That
being the case, the question of party discipline, and
of the extent to which he was guilty of injuring
his own political associates, is not one that any
man possessed of ordinary self-respect will care to

LAST YEAES. 499
discuss. But it is impossible for one who, like the
present writer, was in almost constant intercourse
with Mr. Forster during that terrible time of
national suspense, to refrain from speaking of the
extraordinary depth of feeling which he showed
Avith regard to the question of Gordon's safety. If
it had been a question of saving the life of one who
stood nearest to him in blood, he could not have
felt it more intensely. His voice would quiver
under the emotion which stUred him, and his eye
grow dim as he discussed Gordon's character and
history, at that time when, alone in the Soudan, he
was standing between a surging mass of barbarism
and the helpless creatures whom it threatened to
submerge. To any one who knew Forster, the
notion that he would allow the interests of any
political party, and still less his own personal
interests as a politician, to interfere with the
performance of a duty so sacred as that which he
felt he owed to the honour of his country and to
General Gordon, must have seemed utterly absurd.
If his whole political future had depended upon his
action on the question of the Soudan he would
not have wavered in the course which he took.
Whether under the censure or the applause of his
feUow-countrymen, he felt bound to go straight
forward, in the hope that he might effect his end,
and induce the Ministry to fulfil effectually the
responsibilities which they had incurred at Khar
toum. It can hardly, I think, be doubted that the

500 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON, W. B, FOESTEE,
resolve of ministers to send an expedition to the
relief of Gordon and the beleaguered garrison was
largely due to the persistency with which Forster
pressed them on the question. That the expedition
arrived too late to effect its purpose was no fault
of his. It was in the course of one of his most urgent
appeals to ministers not to delay the sending out
of an expedition that Forster used words regarding
Mr. Gladstone which were strangely misinterpreted
at the time, and which were used by a section of
his political opponents from that time forward as
a means of assailing him. Speaking of the danger
of Gordon's position, he said, " I believe every one
but the Prime Minister is already convinced of
that danger,. . . . and I attribute his not being
convinced to his wonderful power of persuasion.
He can persuade most people of most things, and,
above aU, he can persuade himself of almost any
thing." It is difficult now to realize the fact that
these words were resented by Lord Hartington as
" a bitter and personal and evidently highly pre
pared and long-refiected-over attack upon the
sincerity of Mr. Gladstone." They were nothing
of the kind, and Forster immediately repudiated
the notion that he had ever dreamed of imputing
personal insincerity to one to whom the charge, he
declared, was peculiarly inapplicable. Nevertheless,
in the heat of partisan anger, his declaration re
garding Mr. Gladstone was treated as a mortal sin.

LAST YEAES. 50 r
The Bradford Liberal Association was summoned
together to censure him, and he was subjected to
insults and annoyances which might well have led
him to retire in weariness and disgust from au
arena in which apparently respect for independence
of opinion and honesty of conviction was altogether
subordinated to party considerations.
The storm of party anger which was raised
against him raged with a fierceness which would
have intimidated most men, but Mr, Forster
neither quailed before it nor indulged in any
demonstrations of defiance. He simply bore him
seK Avith manly calmness amid the tempest, main
taining the even tenor of his way, and continuing
his determined efforts to induce ministers to send
their expedition to the Soudan at the earliest
possible moment, as though no such thing as a
caucus or a vote of censure at Bradford was known
to him. The only remark he ever made regarding
the speech of Lord Hartington, which had been
the signal for this outburst of political intolerance,
was that which he made to Lord Hartington
himself in the lobby on the evening on which the
incident occurred, " You were very unfair to me
to-night ; but you had such a bad case, that I
suppose you could not help yourself." It was
immediately after this episode that he spent many
days in seeking out all the authorities on the
question — soldiers, travellers, and men of science
— ^in order to ascertain the earliest moment at

502 LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
which the Nile would rise to a sufficient height to
permit of an expedition being sent up the river to
Khartoum. At last the Government were convinced, and
the expedition started. Its progress was followed
with breathless interest by the nation. This is
not the place in which to tell the tragical story
of its end and of the fate of Gordon. So far as
Forster was concerned, the news, when it came,
fell with all the weight of a great personal afflic
tion. "I can think of nothing but Gordon and
the Soudan," he notes in his diary the day after
he first heard the fatal tidings. No one who saw
much of him at that period of his life can forget
the unceasing interest which he showed in every
phase of the expedition under Lord Wolseley, the
eagerness with which he welcomed aU who could
tell anything new regarding the position of General
Gordon, and the care with which he strove to make
himself master of aU the facts which bore upon his
fate. There was something singularly touching in
the depth of the feeling which Forster showed all
through this painful episode in our national history.
It was a feeling which seemed rather to befit a
young enthusiast than the busy man of affairs, who
had passed through so much that was calculated
to try his temper and chill his sympathies. How
young his heart had remained through all his
varied and bitter experiences, and how warm and
true were his affections, was proved to those around

LAST YEAES. 503
him by the grief with which he mourned the fate
of General Gordon.
There was one other great question which, after
the death of General Gordon, occupied the first
place in Forster's mind. This was the question of
the relationship of England to her colonies. To
write the history of his connection Avith the ques
tion would be to tell the story of the Imperial
Federation League. All through his public life
Mr. Forster had been anxious to see the bonds
made stronger which united England to the other
portions of the empire. His address upon the
colonies at Edinburgh in 1875, had given him an
opportunity of expressing his profound sense of
the imperial dignity and grandeur of our country.
It was no new thing, this deep-seated idea of the
glorious character of our heritage of empire. He
had been conscious of it almost from boyhood, and
in no small degree it had modified the influences
of his birth and early training, putting him to a
certain extent out of harmony with some, at least,
of the traditions of the Society of Friends. But
along with the sense of the grandeur of our imperial
position there had always been present a sense, not
less strong, of the responsibility which it imposed
upon us. He felt the fuU force of the parable of
the talents, in this as in so many other matters
that engaged his thoughts in public life. To have
much was to owe much. All through his life he
had believed this, and had striven to act up to the

504 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W, E, FOESTEE,
belief; and now, when his day's work was drawing
to its appointed end, he sought to carry out this
cardinal doctrine of his moral creed in the largest
field of action which was open to him.
He had consistently preached our duties to
wards the weak and dependent subject races of
the empire. He now found himself leading a
movement, the object of which was to enable
each portion of the empire to do its duty by the
whole. On July 29th, 1884, he mentions in his
diary, " A noteworthy event to-day. I took the
chair at the conference on Colonial Federation at
Westminster Palace Hotel. — a real success." The
object of the conference, which was attended by
many influential representatives of the colonies, as
well as by leading members of both political parties,
was the formation of a society for the special pur
pose of enlightening public opinion throughout the
empire, "as to the advantages of permanent unity,
and as to the nature of the different forms of
federal government, so that the people of the
empire, both in these isles and beyond the seas,
may be the better able to decide as to the exact
form of that government which they may prefer
whenever they shall feel that the time has arrived
for its adoption." The conference not only resulted
in the formation of a provisional committee, but in
a demonstration of no ordinary character against
the policy of those who are prepared to view with
favour rather than with distaste the withdrawal of

LAST YEAES. 505
our colonies from all direct connection with the
mother-country. Forster's speech in favour of
federation was an emphatic one, and at the request
of the conference he accepted the presidency of
the newly founded committee. An adjourned
meeting of the conference was held on November
18th to report progress, and again Mr. Forster
occupied the chair. A detailed scheme for the
formation of the Imperial Federation League was
laid before those present on behalf of the pro
visional committee, and once more Mr. Forster
urged the necessity of union upon the represen
tatives of all portions of the empire. He was
strongly in favour of creating a sentiment in
favour of federation, and from that time forward
he laboured assiduously, both by speech and pen,
in order to effect this object. The details of a
scheme of federation, he felt, would come in good
time ; the first thing was to create in the minds of
the English people throughout the empire the con
viction that federation was to be desired. The
good work to which he thus devoted much of his
time in the latest months of his public life is still
in its infancy. Forster himself had glowing visions
of its future growth. It was not given to him to
live to see them realized ; but if the day should
ever come which sees the British empire united in
the bonds of an equitable federation, to Forster will
belong the honour of having been foremost among
those who planted the seeds of this mighty and

So6 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
most beneficent revolution. How deep his interest
was for the remainder of his hfe in the cause of
the Imperial Federation League was shown, not
only by his devotion to the business of the com
mittee, but by the eagerness with which he wel
comed every new convert to the cause of federation.
Writing to his wife immediately before the meeting
of the conference in November, he said —
" AtheuKum Club, November 14th, 1884.
" The more I look at it, the more I find that
Tuesday's meeting is critical, and its success, I
fear, depends on my opening speech. I must not
only carefully consider what to say, but I must
have Sunday and Monday for conference with
Oakeley and one or two others, and also I must
be myself in the arrangements for the conduct
of the meeting, speakers, etc. 1 have two agents-
general still to see ; but I hope to see them
to-morrow. . . .
" There is more hopeful news about Gordon —
see papers' account of answer to question — but
as yet Government does not know the date of the
letter or its contents.
" I fear my dearest wife will think me faithless
in not coming down; but, after aU, this colonial
business remains my great work.
" The Cape debate yesterday was a poor affair.
I thought it best to reserve myself for Thursday,
if necessary to speak at all; but Chamberlain

LAST YEAES. 507
spoke weU. I told him and ChUders that, as at
last they were behaving well, I would glorify them
if they wished it; but Chamberlain said 'that
would finish them ! ' " Thine, " W. E. Foestee."
Again writing to Mrs. Forster, in June, 1885,
he encloses a Eeuter's telegram from Melbourne,
announcing that the Victorian Branch Imperial
Federation League had been formed at a crowded
and enthusiastic meeting, and says, " My dearest
wife, — I was woke this morning by the enclosed
telegram. Is it not pleasant? We may set it
against many unpleasant things. Good of Eeuter
to send it."
During the winter of 1884-5 he suffered severely
in consequence of an injury which necessitated
the removal of the great-toe nail. For some time
in the early part of 1885, after undergoing this
operation, his appearance was such as to cause
anxiety to his friends ; but as the spring advanced
he recovered, and again began to work with his
accustomed energy. The session was an eventful
one, inasmuch as it witnessed the fall of Mr.
Gladstone's Government and the installation of
Lord SaUsbury in office.
At that time, the Irish Question was still much
in men's minds, and there were rumours abroad of
an intention on the part of some members of the

So8 LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE,
Liberal Government to attempt to meet the
demands of Mr, Parnell and his party for local
home rule. The following letter, addressed to his
son-in-law, deals with this subject —
To Me, E. Vere O'Brien.
" 80, Eccleston Square, June 6th, 1885.
" F  's report of my talk last night is very
correct ; but I write a line to say — First, that you
wUl, I know, consider it strictly confidential ; and,
secondly, that I am anxious to get from you as
soon as maybe your opinion as to this Dublin board.
" In itself, it is good. Education and draining
ought to be locally managed. No doubt the board
would mismanage at first, but there would be no
harm in this. Experience would be gained, and
home quarrels would to some extent replace hostility
to the Imperial Government. But the real ques
tion is — Can such board be prevented from being a
lever for separation — or, rather, for Grattan's Par
liament, which means separation first, and then
reconquest ?
" I gather from to-day's papers that the split in
the Cabinet is not yet mended, and I expect Dilke
and Chamberlain are holding out for a public
promise of this board, without which they will not
assent to the Crimes Bill. This accounts for
C  's earnest desire that I should point to some
such measure in the debate on the Crimes Act. He
wants to make use of me in Cabinet discussion. I

LAST YEARS. 509
ask myseK whether it Avould be safe, aud might not
do good, for me to point to strong local govern
ment, and express a wish for it, if we could have
reason to believe that it would not be used for
separation. " It will be a pity, however, if the Land Purchase
Bill gets ignored, and I wish you would send your
letter to the Pall Mall ; — if you Uke to send it to
me, I will forward it. . . .
" Yours ever affectionately, "W. E. Forster."
Forster's chief Parliamentary work during the
year was not, however, connected with any of the
great political questions. He had been appointed
chairman of the committee to consider the Man
chester Ship Canal Bill. In two previous sessions
it had been impossible to get the bill through
both Houses of Parliament, because of the immense
magnitude of the cases which were presented on
behalf of the promoters and opponents of the
measure respectively. It seemed certain that the
biU would fail again for the same reason ; and it
undoubtedly would have failed if it had fallen into
the hands of any man whose energy and power
of work were less than Forster's. As it was, by
dint of sheer indomitable industry, such as that
which in past times had enabled him to manage
the business of the Education Office and to see
the Education BUl through committee, and more

5IO LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. W. B. POESTEE.
recently had aided him in the performance of his
great work in Ireland, he was able to carry the
inquiry regarding the canal through committee,
and to secure for the people of Manchester the
opportunity which they so eagerly coveted. But
the cost to himself was very great. It was all the
greater because, along with the heavy labour which
was thus imposed upon him, he had to contend
with not a few personal "worries." His relations
with the Eadical section of the Bradford Liberals
were again seriously strained. They could not
apparently forget the independent line he had
taken with regard both to South African pohtics
and to the relief of General Gordon. Abundantly
as events had justified the course which he took,
he was not forgiven by many persons in his own
constituency, because in taking that course he had
come into collision with the Ministry.
The Eedistribution Act — of which it may be
remarked parenthetically he had been from the
first a very warm supporter — had led to the sub
division of Bradford into different constituencies.
It was impossible for him ever again to sit as the
representative of " the borough of Bradford " in
the House of Commons. His long connection
with the whole constituency must end, through
no fault on either side. Forster determined, how
ever, that it should not end untU he had publicly
and formaUy "given an account of his steward
ship " to those who for twenty-five years had

LAST YEAES. 511
enabled him to speak in their name in Parliament.
He asked the Liberal Association as usual to make
arrangements for the meeting at which he was to
speak. They declined to do so, and it was left
to him individually to summon his constituents
to hear his review of nearly a quarter of a century
of public work.
So high did the feeling of the official Liberals
run, that active attempts were made to induce his
constituents to stay away from his meeting, which
he had fixed for August 1st. It was with the
knowledge that there was this bitter feeling against
him in certain quarters in Bradford, and that he
was left, after aU these years of loyal and devoted
service, practically alone by the recognized chiefs
of the Liberal party, that he prepared to meet those
of his constituents who were willing to hear his
farewell address. Few, probably, of those who — ¦
doubtless from conscientious motives — ^adopted this
attitude of hostility towards him, knew the pain
which they occasioned. Nothing but a sense of
the value of that principle of political indepen
dence for which he was struggling, and a conscious
ness of his own single-mindedness, sustained him.
Before I speak of the great meeting, in which
for the last time he discussed those questions in
which throughout his life he had been so deeply
interested, I must quote the account given by his
secretary, Mr. Loring, of the work he went through
at that time. This was practically his farewell to

512 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON, W. B. POESTEE.
public life in England, and the reader will be in
terested in knowing how these closing days of a
great career were occupied.
" On Friday, July 1st," writes Mr. Loring,
"I came to Eccleston Square early (9.30) at Mr.
Forster's request, as there was much business to
be got through, and little time available for it.
He was to speak at Bradford the next day, and we
were to go down to Wharfeside that evening. The
Manchester Ship Canal Committee, of which he
was chairman, had beenreduced to three members,
and was working at great pressure. A large sum
of money had been spent upon the bill before it
reached Mr. Forster's committee, without its fate
having been decided, and he felt it imperative that
a division should be arrived at upon it by his
committee, in order to avoid the continuance of
this waste of money. By his personal influence
he had induced both sides to forego the repetition
of large portions of the evidence given at former
committees, and he strained every nerve in order
to ensure the fullest attention and the utmost
available time being given by the committee to the
evidence which remained. At this time the session
was drawing to a close, and the evidence which ' it
was proposed to take was still far from being com
pleted. The only hope was for the committee to
come to a decision without hearing evidence upon
a portion of the bill. If this was to be done, the
decision must be announced that day. We worked

LAST YEARS, 513
at high pressure all the morning, but did not
make much impression on the mass of correspon
dence which seemed to be in a chronic state of
accumulation during those ship canal days, Mr,
Forster told me what papers, etc, he should
require for the preparation of his speech, which
he had not as yet touched, and adding, ' Put these
papers in the bag, and we'U do some of them at
Wharfeside,' he at 11.50 got into a hansom, and
drove to his committee. I had occasion to bring
him a letter that day between one and two, and
found the committee-room closed, and the decision
being arrived at. I got to King's Cross about
5,30. Mr. Forster arrived some three or four
minutes before the train started. We dined in
the train. He told me that he had not had any
luncheon, and he certainly looked as if he needed
food. He had been from a nine o'clock breakfast
untu 8.30 without breaking his fast. We reached
Bradford at 10.30, and after Mr. Forster had
paid a visit to the club, started again for Wharfe
side, where we arrived about midnight. We
soon went to bed, Mr. Forster remarking that
our hands would be full the next day. We began
upon the speech immediately after breakfast the
next morning. After luncheon, we started in the
guard's van of a goods train for Otley, where we
were to catch a passenger train to Bradford. All
the warehouses were closed at Bradford, and I
remember wondering as we walked to the hotel
VOL. II. 2 L

514 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE,
where the meeting was to come from. We as
sembled in a small room off the hall, and though
some anxiety was at first shown (not by Mr.
Forster) as to the tone of the meeting, when we
heard the people taking up ' Auld Lang Syne '
and ' For He's a Jolly Good Fellow,' from the
organ, we knew that all was well."
I have quoted this account because of the
proof which it affords that even then Mr. Forster's
power of work was far above that of most men.
The speech, which was prepared in a few hours
under the circumstances described by Mr. Loring,
was undoubtedly one of the best which he ever
made. It was a fuU and clear review of the
political history of England during the twenty-four
years and a half of his Parliamentary life, com
bined with a most powerful exposition of the
principles by which his actions had been guided.
No one who heard it as it fell from his lips in
graphic, teUing phrases, each one of which seemed
to arouse an echo in the hearts of the audience,
could have credited the fact that its preparation
had only been begun that morning, and after such
a day of labour as Forster had passed through on
the Friday. For more than an hour he engaged
the close attention of the great multitude packed
within the walls of the hall, as he spoke of the
American Civil War and the part he had taken
in putting an end to the rankling disputes between
England and the United States which it left

LAST YEAES. 515
behind ; of the Eeform question, its many vicissi
tudes and ultimate triumph ; of Ireland and the
work which had fallen to his hands there ; and
of the Education Act and its fruits. It is notice
able that in his speech he may be almost said
to have slurred over the passing of the Education
Act. It was evident that he had no wish merely
to dweU upon his own achievements. But he was
strongly bent upon defending himself from the
attacks of those who railed against him for the
part he had taken with regard to the expedition
to Khartoum. Now, as at all times, he was bent
upon having justice for himself, whilst readily
granting it to everybody else. One or two passages
in the speech have a special interest in view of
the fact that this was the last occasion upon which
he ever addressed a public audience.
" There is no doubt what the great principles
of Liberalism are : equality before the law, pro
gress, the abolition of class restrictions, freedom
of the press, ay, and a determination that neither
king, nor peer, nor mob shall take away the
liberty of any Englishman or Irishman. ... If
there is one thing more than another that I hope
to hve for and take part in politically, it is the
hope that before I die I may see the British realm
— a realm extending all the world over, her chil
dren, whom she has sent out, themselves self-
governing communities — united with her in a
bond of peace that shaU be an example to the

5i6 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W. E, FOESTEE,
world. Again, I must thank you for your past
confidence and support. And let me say one
word. You know that I am in the habit of speak
ing out. If I have ever hurt any man's feehngs
in Bradford I am very sorry. I would beg his
pardon, if I knew the particular case, and that I
was wrong. . . . Again, I thank you. I thank
you for this more than for anything else — that for
the long time I have been your member, the time
that I have taken part in the government of the
nation or in the deliberations of Parliament, I
have been, not your mere delegate, not your mere
mouthpiece, but your representative, doing what
I thought to be right ; and upon no other con
dition wiU I serve you in the future."
Such were the last words spoken by Mr. Forster
to a Bradford audience. They were so character
istic of the man, and described so correctly the
position which he had held in Parliament, that
it was easy to understand the mighty shout of
approbation, almost passionate in its character,
which went up when he uttered them. Whatever
might be the judgment of class or caucus, it was
evident that the people of Bradford were on his
side in his resolute maintenance of the right of
a member of the English Parhament to follow the
dictates of his own conscience rather than the
wishes of a political organization.
After the meeting he went back to Burley in
the highest spirits. That which gave him the

LAST YEAES. 517
greatest pleasure was not the largeness or the
enthusiasm of his audience ; but the fact that
here and there he had noticed in the densely
packed seats the faces of old friends, who were
alhed to what might be called the official section
of the Liberal party in the borough, but who had
been true to their representative, and had turned
up to support him at that critical moment. With
what bright confidence he spoke of the future to
one who accompanied him in the train on his
return to Burley ! He told of his coming visit to
Germany, for the sake of his wife's health, and of
his consequent abandonment of a projected journey
to Canada. "I must be back in October for the
election," he said; "there will be plenty for me
to do then." Little did those who heard him
imagine that he was never again to appear upon
the platform where he had so long been a familiar
figure, and which he had that afternoon occupied
with such conspicuous power and success. On
the following day (Sunday), he returned to town,
in order that he might be in time to resume his
work on the clauses of the Manchester Canal Bill
on Monday morning.
But little has been said in these volumes of his
merits as a speaker. They were, however, not
only noticeable, but peculiar to himself. He
never attempted to rival the oratory of Mr. Bright
— of which he was a warm, almost a passionate,
admirer — or the wonderful flexibility of style and

Si8 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTER.
unsurpassed command of language which have
given Mr. Gladstone his great place among Parlia
mentary speakers. Forster's gifts were entirely
different from those possessed by Mr. Bright and
Mr. Gladstone. Yet, in his own way, he was one
of the most effective Parliamentary speakers of his
time. If his sentences were somewhat rough and
unpolished, and if they lacked the wealth of illus
tration and the brilliancy of style which distin
guish such men as those I have named, they had
a force and freshness which made them always tell
upon those whom he addressed. Especially was
this the case when he was speaking upon some ques
tion on which he felt deeply. At such times, the
warmth of his feelings was reflected in the mani
fest emotion with which he spoke, and no one was
allowed to remain in doubt as to what he really
meant and felt. He was a severe critic of his own
speeches. But, even when he was most dissatis
fied with their imperfections, and when he felt
that his defects of style and manner must always
prevent him from attaining any position as an
orator, he had one unfailing source of consolation.
He might have been too heavy, or too long, but
he "got out what he wanted to say;" and this,
after all, seemed to him to be that which was best
worth striving after. To him at least speech had
not been given for the purpose of conceahng his
thoughts, and though he might not tickle the ears
of his hearers with poetic metaphors or polished

LAST YEAES. 519
phrases, he never failed to impress those who
heard him with a sense of his absolute sincerity,
whilst often his roughly-hewn sentences, so mani
festly springing from his heart, and not from his
lips, moved his audience more deejjly than any
flight of mere eloquence could have done. The
reader has seen with what ease, or rather with
what speed, his last speech was composed. But
that rapidity of preparation was only attained after
long and painful practice. In his early days, the
labour of preparing a speech was very great to
him. Often many days would be devoted to the
task, and when it had been performed he would
feel profoundly dissatisfied with the manner in
Avhich it had been executed. Throughout his life
he never grudged any time or labour that might
be needed to enable him to do any work he had
undertaken well; and even to the last he never
tried to put off those to whom he spoke with a
carelessly-prepared speech. Practice had enabled
him to put his thoughts together more easily, and
to express them more fluently and forcibly than in
his early days ; but this increased facility in speak
ing did not absolve him from the duty of carefully
ascertaining and sifting his facts, and making sure
beforehand that what he had to say to Parliament
or his constituents was unassailable so far as its
accuracy was concerned. This patient preparation
of his case before he ventured to put it before the
world was perhaps the feature of his pubhc speak-

520 LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
ing which gave its highest value to what he said
in the eyes of his fellow-countrymen. They knew
that when he opened his lips he would, so far as
in him lay, tell them that which was true and to
the point regarding the question he was discussing ;
and so, even when they differed from him in judg
ment, they learned to trust him in statement.

( 531 )

CHAPTEE XII.
ILLNESS AND DEATH.
The account of Mr. Forster's illness and last days,
which I am allowed to print here, is from the pen
of his wife.
" No one who had seen my husband at the end
of his last session would have guessed that his
work was done, and that all that remained of a
life which had been so full of wide and fruitful
actiAdty, of confiict, and of storms, was now to be
contracted within the walls of a sick-room during
weary months of weakness and pain. The closing
weeks of his Parhamentary work had been filled
with plans for fresh work during the vacation.
Urgent invitations came to him from the Cape,
to visit that colony and hold meetings there. He
was also pressingly urged to go to Canada, and
advocate the cause of Imperial Federation ; and
this he would have enjoyed, and it was, in fact,
decided on and the places were taken, when he
gave it up at the last moment,' because my health
was not strong and he could not make up his
mind to leave me.

522 LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
" He had seldom had a greater pressure of work
upon him than during the last eight weeks of the
session, when he was Chairman of the Committee
on the Manchester Canal Bill. During all that
time he may be said to have worked, almost at
a stretch, from ten in the morning till he came
home long after midnight from the House of
Commons, Immediately after breakfast he wrote
letters with his secretary, and saw the numerous
visitors who came to him by appointment, to take
counsel with him on the next step in the Federa
tion movement, of which he was the animating
and directing spirit, — or upon the complications of
South Africa, and the best means of at once form
ing pubhc opinion and keeping the needful pressure
upon the Government, — or else to ask the advice
and help in some personal matter which were
never refused. His library, as has been said, was
like the office of a Minister, a constant stream of
persons succeeding one another until it was time
for him to go to the committee.
" The committee lasted from twelve to four, and
during that time he was unable to relax his atten
tion for a moment, until the brain grew so wearied
with the continued strain, that during the last
quarter of an hour he could often hardly keep
himself from dropping asleep from sheer exhaustion.
The strain on his attention was probably the
greater because the inquiry turned so much on
scientific and engineering points which were not

ILLNESS AND DEATH. 523
famUiar to him, but which, as one of the leading
counsel told me, ' he insisted on thoroughly under
standing ; ' and, on the other hand, Mr. Loring
says, ' To illustrate the closeness of the attention
Avhieh the committee required of him, I would
mention that on the frequent occasions on which
I had to see him at the committee room, even if
it were only to hand him a note, or say a dozen
Avords to him, counsel would invariably stop in
their address or stop the witness in his evidence —
until they considered that the chairman could give
his full attention to their words.'
" When the committee ended at four o'clock, his
refreshment was usuaUy a game of whist at the
club, and then came the evening at the House,
and the late sitting.
" But he seemed at the time to bear the strain
without suffering, and finished with a long day of
vigorous work over the arrears of his correspond
ence. ' We started by the evening boat on
August 9th, on our journey to Baden,' writes his
daughter. ' He and Mr. Loring -were working
tremendously hard all day, sorting papers and
writing letters. When I went in about five o'clock,
to take them some tea, the fioor was so strewn
with letters that I stopped to count them, and
father told me triumphantly that he had not one
unanswered letter left.' He only finished his
work about half an hour before we went to the
station, and I remember how vigorous and buoyant

524 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
he seemed as we set off. But this did not last
long : it was as if he began to flag directly the
tension of work was relaxed, and before we got to
Baden he had become very languid and tired. I
was not, however, uneasy at first ; thinking it was
only the reaction of fatigue which almost always
followed the end of a session, and that a few days'
rest was all he needed.
" Just after our arrival at Baden, he was shocked
and saddened by the news of the sudden death of
his old friend. Lord Houghton. ' Your brother,'
he wrote to Lady Galway, ' was one of my oldest
friends, and there are few men on whose friendship
I more absolutely relied. He was very kind to me
before I was known or cared about. I had the
highest reliance on his insight and knowledge of
men, and therefore on his political forecasts, as
well as the greatest pleasure in his wit and genius.
... I believe you were with him at the last ; if
so, that must, dear Lady Galway, be a great comfort
to yourself. " ' Yours most truly,
" ' W. E. FORSTEE.'
" During the first week of our stay at Baden, he
took several walks, and we made excursions to the
various sights in the neighbourhood ; but he con
tinued languid and depressed, and about a week
after our arrival he was attacked by a bad shivering
fit, and we had to call in a doctor. His first view

ILLNESS AND DEATH. 525
of the case was that he was suffering from over
work and exhaustion of nervous energy, and he
told my husband that he must have a long and
complete rest, and that he would not be fit to stand
the toil of the autumn elections. I think we con
sidered this at the time a needlessly alarming view,
little knoAving what was before us. But the strange
languor and depression continued, with frequent
shiverings, and the remedies tried seemed to do no
good ; ' In the morning doctor tested my tempera
ture — all right, in fact all my organs right, — I am
a puzzle to him and myself,' is the entry in his
diary on one of these days.
"In spite of the languor which made him feel
unequal to any exertion, he dictated a letter to his
election agent in Bradford about arrangements for
the coming election, and wrote a letter to Sir
George Bowen on Imperial Federation —
" To Sir Geoege Bowen.
" ' Hotel Holland, Baden-Baden, Germany.
" ' My deae Sie Geoege Bowen,
" ' I must again thank you for your letters,
and especially for the copies of the reprint of your
most interesting letter of May 15, valuable as it is
both for its suggestions, and for the weight of your
unmatched experience. I had been intending to
go to Canada this autumn, in response to an invita
tion from the Canadian Branch of our Federation
League, but Mrs. Forster is so far from well —

526 LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTER.
knocked up by London and rheumatism — that I
have had to bring her here for the waters.
" ' Our Federation movement is gaining great
strength — the idea possesses men's minds ; but we
might throw it back greatly by any premature plan,
and I am very anxious to find out the real views
and wishes of leading colonists. My own im
pression is that, at first, at any rate, we had better
aim at concert among the Governments rather than
at an Imperial Parliament. Thanks to steam and
telegraph, time and space no longer make such
concert very difficult ; but distance does prevent
a member from being fully in touch with his
constituents. " ' We must remember that in order to realize
Federation, we only want (1) an organization for
common defence and (2) a common foreign policy.
Practically great steps have been recently made,
not merely as regards defence — thanks to Australian
aid — but, as regards foreign affairs. I do not believe
that any Colonial Secretary will in the future
venture to disregard any large self-governing
colony in negotiating with any foreign Govern
ment in matters affecting such colony ; and the
interests and defence of our settlements, such as
Hong Kong and Singapore, will I believe be much
more considered in future.
" ' Believe me to remain
" ' Yours very sincerely,
'"W. E. Forster.'

ILLNESS AND DEATH. 527
" One day we drove up to the Fremersberg, and
he enjoyed one of those wide panoramic views of
which he was so fond— ascending, I remember,
though with slow and languid steps, to the highest
point of the tower, and all his old interest and
pleasure returning as he pointed out the distant
objects. ' We drove up to the Fremersberg Thurm
— a grand view — Strasburg Cathedral quite clear,'
he notes in his diary for August 19th.
"But the sense of illness increased, and as he
seemed to be gaining nothing at Baden he decided
to return home. ' The last thing I remember
particularly about him at Baden,' writes his
daughter, ' is his going to the Glarus workshop,
and choosing out with great care a collar for me,
and aprons for Flo and Edith and Mary, — the end
of his many presents to us all.'
" By August 31st we were all settled at home
again, and it was a comfort to find ourselves there ;
but the shadows of illness still deepened, though
it was not till a few days after our return to
Eccleston Square that he was quite confined to
bed. Dr. Wilson Fox was then called in, and he
insisted on our having a trained night-nurse. The
doctors were perplexed to account for his great
weakness, and for the continuance of fever, which
never ran high, but could not be subdued ; and
they were disposed to believe that he had con
tracted a malarial fever at Baden. He seemed
to have no inquisitiveness himself about the causes

528 LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTER,
of his illness ; indeed, from the beginning to the
end, it was strange to observe how little it occupied
his thoughts, and how little he cared to talk about
it, beyond just answering the doctor's questions.
At this period he had not the least doubt that he
should get well, and his only anxiety was that it
should be in time for the elections. On this
point his anxiety was incessant, and he continually
questioned the doctors as to their opinion on it.
But no words can describe the unvarying patience
and sweetness of mood with which he met aU the
trials of illness, and the sense of utter weakness —
most trying to him of all. No one ever heard one
word of impatience or complaint fall from his lips,
or saw one failure in his constant gentleness and
consideration to aU around him. The ' EecoUec-
tions ' which our daughter Frances wrote for me
afterwards, and from which I have already quoted,
give an outline of this period.
" ' On Saturday, September 3rd, I was to go
down to Cobham for a night. He said something
laughingly about my readiness to go and desert
you. On my return he gave me some playful lines
he had afterwards written, altogether withdrawing
the charge. . . .
" ' On Monday, September 7th, Dr. Wilson Fox
was called in, and he next day insisted on our
having a trained night-nurse. This week seemed
to mark a fresh stage in the illness. At this time
his days were constantly occupied ; he read the

ILLNESS AND DEATH. 529
papers a great deal, but spoke little about public
affairs. He read endlessly to himself, goiug
through all the Waverley Novels and other old
friends, — Scott's Poems, and stores of favourite
ballad poetry. About eleven or twelve o'clock his
secretary came to his bedside, and, when he was
at all equal to it, they went through the morning's
letters together, and he dictated or directed the
answers. I don't think that in this month (Sep
tember) he had actually put into words that he
would not be able to fight his election himself;
but I think, as day after day passed, he began to
feel it less likely. He used sometimes to say,
" The doctors are always saying I am better, but
I never get well;" but he never expressed any
regret at not being able to take part in things ; he
seemed to have settled with himseK not to speak
of it. Once or twice I heard him say that he
believed he could make a single speech if neces
sary, but that he could not follow it up.'
" He was not able to see many of his friends, but
he was touched and pleased by the warm sympathy
which his illness called forth, and deeply felt the
kindness and interest manifested by the Queen,
who sent constant inquiries. Lady Ely wrote,
asking for a report for her Majesty, — ' The Queen
has telegraphed to me, she is so anxious to hear
about Mr. Forster, and would like Dr. Wilson
Fox to write to her about him, — she has such a
regard for him, and also feels so much for your
VOL. II, 2 m

530 LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON, W. E. POESTEE.
anxiety. Can you ask Dr. Fox to do so when you
see him to-morrow ? ' . . . After this time, by the
Queen's desire. Dr. Fox sent her full daily bulletins
of his patient until there seemed to be a change
for the better in his condition.
" It would indeed be difficult to exaggerate the
interest and anxiety with which the alternations
of his long illness were watched by people of all
classes, or the striking evidence afforded, in the
numberless letters received from both friends and
strangers, of the feelings of affection and trust
which his public life had inspired. One corre
spondent writes, ' Your portrait looks down upon
me from my study wall as I write, and it has the
place of highest honour. It would comfort you
in your affliction if you could know how much you
are thought of by thousands of whom you know as
little personally as you know of me.' Another
writes to me, ' He is one of the few men whose
active services are of the highest consequence to
his country. Whatever Providence may ordain,
the past contains a noble record of public work.'
' I do trust that he is now mending,' writes one
who loved him with the loyalty of those who had
worked under him, ' and that the daily report will
every day become more favourable. Everywhere
that I have been there has been great anxiety
felt for him, for the people who do not know him
have such a respect for him, and those who do
cannot but love him.' ' I have been wai^c)iing,'

ILLNESS AND DEATH. 531
says a comparative stranger, ' as tens of thousands
of your countrymen have been watching, with
great interest and thankfulness, such accounts
as have appeared of your gradual progress towards
recover}'-, — the country was never in greater need
of you and of men like you.'
" ' The country was never in greater need of you
and of men hke you ; ' — that was the keynote in
all the expressions of regret and hope.
" My husband's own thoughts at this time often
turned to Lord Shaftesbury, who was nearing the
close of his hfe at Folkestone, and he was very
anxious thatl should Avrite to express his sympathy
with him in his illness, and his wish that, if well
enough to receive a message. Lord Shaftesbury
might be told how much he felt himself to have
owed to his example in his public life. He
dictated the message to me, and it was a pleasure
to him to hear that it had been read to Lord
Shaftesbury. " Towards the end of September there was some
improvement in my husband's health ; he was
allowed to be carried downstairs daily for a few
hours, and on the 6th of October we went to
Norwood, in the hope that the fresher air might
invigorate him. But the weather was cold and
bad, and although at first we tried to hope that
the change was answering, he really gained
nothing, and at the end of a fortnight we returned
to London.

532 LIFE OF THE. RIGHT HON. W. E. FORSTER.
" In a letter which I wrote from Norwood about
my husband's health, I said, ' In spite of occa^
sional disappointing drawbacks, he hopes to be
well enough to take part in public matters next
month.' On looking back, it is difficult to see
how we could have been so sanguine, but the
doctors had not yet pronounced it impossible that
he could take an active part in the election at
Bradford, and he was still hoping against hope to
do so. Writing to Mr. Killick from Norwood,
he says, 'It is a relief to me to find I need not
have St. George's Hall, and I suppose, if neither
of the other candidates do so, I may fairly content
myself with the Mechanics' Institute. It may
make all the difference, as speech in the Hall
means a constant strain. ... As regards myself,
I have not made much progress yet, but I do not
despair. I think I shall return to Loudon to
morrow, for I am hardly able to take advantage!
of this place yet.' '¦.
" In notes which I wrote from time to time,
I find the following about this date : —
" ' September 23rd. — I said to him how much I;
had admired the way in, which he had been able
to put aside pohtical matters, and had not let them
Avorry him. He assented that he had not been
worried by them ; " but," he said, " I think things
over." His nights throughout his illness were
very bad, but he often said that he had got accus
tomed to lying awake, and did not now mind it,.

ILLNESS AND DEATH. 533
and that in the long wakeful hours " he thought
things over," especially the Irish problems, which
never seemed far from his thoughts — reviewing
them, and trying to look at them afresh,
" ' Now and then he would talk with his wonted
animation. He said one day that he foresaw
another crusade to make all schools secular; "but,"
— with the greatest energy, — " I shall drive them
out of that in the House," {September 30th) He
told me, when I went in this morning, that he had
had a bad night. " But how little suffering I have
had in this illness ! it has been nothing at all, com
pared with many," Then, speaking of a member
of our family who was ill, " Give Mary my dear
love, and tell her how deeply I feel for them both ;
give her the message from me." {October 3rd)
We had been reading in the Philippians together,
and after referring back to the account of Philippi
in the Acts, he recurred to his voyage in the
Mediterranean. " There was one morning he
should never forget, the morning at Salonica ; he
had tried to describe it a little at Bradford ; — the
town lying along the slope of the hUl above the
sea ; — our magnificent fieet at anchor ; — and far
away the great summit of Olympus rising." He
was full of the impressions, both of that scene and
of all the varied associations ; — the old mythology
past away, the mingled races, Mahometanism ;
and then the modern world,— ^the Western powers
and England ; — following out to himself the train of

534 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
thought and the perplexities suggested by the long
course of change and decay, flux and reflux, in
religion and in human progress.
" ' Norwood. Of late our morning time to
gether has been more uncertain, as he has slept
much better, so that often it has been near eight
o'clock when he has sent for me. Till lately, if
I went in soon after seven I used to find him
already reading the Bible to himself. He said to
me one morning, when we were speaking of his
iUness, " We have had some very blessed times
together," and once he said most earnestly, "I
would not have been without this Ulness for the
world.'" " He talked very seldom about his iUness, and
his allusions to the sense of weakness, which tried
him most of aU, were often expressed in a half-
playful way, more touching than complaint to
those who heard him. After our return from Nor
wood, on October 17th, Sir William Jenner was
called in. I think it was for the special purpose
of deciding, with Dr. Wilson Fox, whether he must
finally renounce the hope of taking any personal
part in the election at the end of November. I
suppose the doctors cannot have had much doubt
in their own minds from the first ; but he so
earnestly desired to go down to Bradford that they
had refrained from pronouncing a verdict tiU the
last moment possible. Sir William Jenner and
Dr. Fox now pronounced that it was impossible he

ILLNESS AND DEATH. 535
could be fit to undertake such an exertion within
six weeks, so he finally gave up the hope, which
had evidently been becoming faint even in his own
mind. " The party organization at Bradford had made
many difficulties about accepting his long-declared
candidature for the Central Division, and he was in
constant correspondence about it with his friend
and election agent, Mr. Killick. But his state was
so uncertain — (for on one day he was so ill that we
had to keep back his letters, as the doctors dreaded
the least excitement or effort for him, and on the
next day there might be a revival, and he would
dictate for an hour or two to his secretary) — that
it was CAddently impossible for him to carry on the
discussion himseK, and he recognized the necessity
of leaving it in the hands of his friends. He had
therefore written to Mr, Killick on October 18th.
" ' Dear Me. Killiok,
" ' As I am still an invalid and unable
to come to Bradford, I think it best to say
that with regard to any communication on my
behalf with the Liberal Association, I desire to
leave my interests in the hands of yourself and
any of my friends you may wish to consult, to
adopt any course which they may consider right
and honourable. ProAdded, that in any case I go
to the poll if there be a contest ; and that nothing
is said or done to affect my own freedom of action,

536 LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
or to interfere with what I conceive to be my
relation to the constituency as defined in my final
address to the entire borough,
" ' Yours very truly,
" ' W. E. Foestee.'
" On October 24th, the executive committee of
the Bradford Liberal Association adopted Mr.
Forster as their candidate, and on the following
Tuesday their decision was unanimously confirmed
at a general meeting of the Two Hundred. Having
once made the decision, the feeling shown at these
meetings by all sections of the party was thoroughly
kind and generous. They saw that Mr. Forster
was unable as heretofore to fight his own battles,
and they did honour to themselves and to him by
resolving for the time to sink all their former
differences, and to see in him only the respected
statesman and the old and distinguished member
whose representation of Bradford had lasted through
storm and calm for nearly a quarter of a century.
It was a decision prompted by the generous sym
pathy, and carried out with the cordiality and
fidelity, which are never wanting in Yorkshiremen ;
and it brought great relief and satisfaction to him
in his sick-room ; — it was a comfort to him to feel
that the breach with the Two Hundred was healed.
" He now occupied himself in writing his
address ; and I remember how much I was troubled
by the effort it cost him, and how sadly I felt that,

ILLNESS AND DEATH. 537
though firm aud distinct as ever in the statement
of his opinions, there was a languor in its tone
very different from the ring of spirit and energy
in his former addresses.
" Nearly a month had passed since our return
from Norwood, aud in spite of the slight improve
ment we had seen at first, there seemed no progress
to build upon. The weather, too, was so bad in
London that he could go out less and less, so the
doctors advised his going to Torquay for the winter
months. They would have preferred his going to
the south of France, but it was quite evident that
he was in no state to undertake the journey.
Accordingly, on November 20th, we went down
to Torquay. He bore the journey better than we
had ventured to hope. 'Altogether, that arrival
at the Osborne Hotel,' says his daughter in her
'¦BecoUections,' 'comes back to my mind rather
as a bright spot, and I began to have a rush of
hope that we were entering on a new and much
happier stage. And, indeed, at first he was able
to do much more than in London, and it did seem
for a time as if he were making real progress. He
drove out, and even walked a little.'
" From various points in these drives we could
faintly see the yellow line of the Dorsetshire cliffs,
and he would stop the carriage and strain his eyes
to look across for his beloved ' Golden Cap,' and
the other well-known cliffs between Bridport and
Lyme, which he had climbed about in his boyhood,

538 LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. W. B. FOESTEE.
and which he was never tired of pointing out
to me. " The Elections were now going on, and he was
watching them with the keenest interest, keeping
a list day by day of the result of each election.
The prospects of his own election, of course,
occupied him much. Everything was going on
well at Bradford: his friends, Mr. Mundella, Sir
Lyon Playfair, Mr. Cropper, and Mr. Stansfeld
had gone down to speak for him, his sons were
working for him, the party was united, and he
received encouraging accounts of the canvass. He
wrote or dictated notes almost daily to his election
agent ; and, as I look them over now and see the
faint and trembling signatures, they attest touch
ingly both the feeble physical powers and the clear
and active mind, watchful over aU the details as
of old. They show, too, the self-control — so
unfailing throughout his illness — with which he
resigned himself to be passive. ' Now that my
address is out,' he wrote at the beginning of the
election campaign, ' I feel I must leave the
management of the contest in the hands of my
friends. It is not that I wish to save myself
trouble while they are all working so hard ; but
no one not on the spot can form a judgment as to
matters of detail and management.' And he had
faithfully acted on this, abstaining not only from
interference, but from allowing even to himself
any anxiety over the details of management. Yet

ILLNESS AND DEATH. 539
it cost him much to feel that others were working
for him and he was doing nothing. ' It is dread
fully trying for him,' I wrote at this time, ' to
think that others are working so hard iu his cause
and he is able to take no part.'
" He writes to Mr. Killick, ' The party will, as
a rule, vote for me ; but if there be two or three
irreconcilables, I suspect we must make up our
minds to do without them. What I am really
anxious about is the rank and file, and their inten
tions the first two or three days' canvass ought to
teU us.' . . .
" ' November 24th, 1885. — William Hargreaves *
sends me the canvass returns made up by Wards,
so do not trouble to send them, I know how
unrehable canvass returns generally are ; but I
suppose the present canvassers are much the same
men as IlUngworth's and mine when we coalesced
against Eipley in 1880, and I cannot forget how
remarkably correct they then proved. However,
they are quite uncertain enough to make any
relaxation of effort most unwise ; and, besides,
for future elections it would be a great gain to get
a large majority.' . . .
" The election took place on the 29th of
* Mr. Hargreaves, the late cashier at Greenholme Mills,
who had closely identified himself with the interests of his
employers for more than forty years, had offered his valuable
services to Mr. Forster as a volunteer clerk during the election,
and worked night and day for the old friend and master to
whom he was loyally devoted.

540 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FORSTER.
November, and he was returned by a majority of
1543 votes. It was a long day of anxious expecta
tion for our little party at Torquay — so strangely
different in its quietness and monotony from all
former election days ; but I do not think he
felt much doubt himself about the result. The
two hours of suspense, from ten o'clock until
midnight, were the most trying time, and he
was getting very much exhausted. ' I shall
never forget,' writes his daughter, 'the sound
of the footstep on the Crescent pavement, or my
rushing out to meet the telegrams on the stair
case. I brought in the three telegrams, and we
opened them together. Then how happy we were,
and how anxious he was that the messenger should
be properly paid ! Before we were up next
morning telegrams of congratulation came pouring
in. With the telegrams about the election we
received one telling us of the birth of Florence's
baby ; and he was so happy about Flo. ' It is not
often,' he said to me, 'that a man gets two such
telegrams in twelve hours ; but the last was the
best.' Sunday, November 29th, was a very full
day. There were many letters to be written, and
it was near post-time before the address of thanks
was finished. In looking back, this Sunday seems
to me to have been our last happy, hopeful day.'
" In these days of hope he resumed his diary
for a brief time.
" ' Monday, November 30th.— . . . Went to the

ILLNESS AND DEATH. 541
club to see the returns. Maclver, the Liberal,
returned. The tide seems setting for the Liberals.
Letters of congratulation pouring in. . . .
" ' Wednesday, December 2nd. — James Cropper
defeated, I am more sorry for this than for any
election, " ' Thursday, December 3rd. — -Very hard day,
writing letters of thanks, many of them to ward
chairmen, " ' Saturday, December Sth. — , . , A good deal
of chill all the afternoon, , , ,
" ' Sunday, December 6th.— Yer j good night ;
the best I have had. Nevertheless, depressed and
worse. . . . Liberals have been gaining largely
through the week — a question whether small
majority will be for Liberals, or Tories and Par
neUites together. I hope the last.' This is the
last entry in his diary,
"Although he had gained considerably in strength
since he came to Torquay, and had been able to be
so much in the open air, some of the most serious
features of his illness had remained substantially
unchanged, and soon after these brighter days all
was overclouded again. We could not tell whether
he had overtasked himself in writing letters of
thanks to those who had worked for him in Brad
ford — which he insisted on doing with his own
hand^ — or whether he had taken a chUl in the
bitterly cold winds, but he evidently lost ground,
and in a short time was attacked by acute inflam-

542 LIFE OP THE RIGHT HON, W, E. FORSTER.
mation of the liver. This was the beginning of
the end, though the end was still far off, and still
unforeseen by us. After this he never was able to
walk out again, but when he was able to leave his
bedroom could only be wheeled into the sitting-
room for a few hours. Another change was that
he began to suffer, for the first time in his illness,
severe pain ; and he was rarely afterwards free
from pain in some form, borne throughout with a
courage and a sweetness which those who saw
him can never forget. Three times during the
following months, he had sudden attacks of such a
serious kind that he was hardly expected to live
through the night. They were marked by a
sudden and alarming rise of temperature, with
oppressed breathing and stupor, but each time
they passed away rapidly, and his vigorous con
stitution in measure raUied from them, so that
they seemed to leave him in much the same state
as before. He knew well the danger he had been
in on these occasions, and knew well also the
uncertainty of the future ; but the hope and
expectation of recovery were always strong within
him, and he was as little absorbed as ever with his
illness. " He occupied himself, when he could, Avith
reading ; and when he was not able to do so,
listened untiringly to reading aloud. He dictated
many letters, often in the midst of most severe
pain ; and followed public affairs closely, and with

ILLNESS AND DEATH. 543
the living interest of one who was looking forward
to take part in them again, but was controlling
himself to patience and submission until the time
should come.
" But in this brief outline I have anticipated the
progress of his illness, and must now return to the
early part of December.
"Our daughter had left us immediately after
the election, to spend a few days with her sister in
London, and when she returned on December 10th,
she found her father in a very different state from
when she went away.
" On the 14th, Mr. Loring, who throughout
his illness had been like a son to him in his
devoted and thoughtful helpfulness, came down
for a week, and they worked together every day.,
" On December 17th, the Pall Mall produced
the outline of Mr. Gladstone's supposed Home Eule
Scheme, and the Central News immediately tele
graphed to him to ask him to telegraph back his
views at length on the subject. He would not do
this ; replying, that while obliged for the oppor
tunity offered of expressing his views on the Irish
Question, he was not at present inclined to avail
himself of it. This reply was interpreted in some
quarters to mean that he was hesitating in his
opinion ; a few days later, therefore, he wrote a
letter to the Daily Neios, saying explicitly that
he believed a Parliament in Dublin would be
fraught with danger to both England and Ireland.

544 'LIFE OP THE RIGHT HON. W. E- FORSTER.
It was a relief to him to feel that he had spoken
out and made his position clearly understood.
"Notes. — ' Wednesday , December 23rd. His letter
appeared in the Daily , News and Standard. The
North letters were very late; among them was one
from Mr. Gladstone congratulating him on Bradford
and improved health, and mentioning having seen
with pleasure a notice of a letter from him " which
had seemed very wise." I took him the letters at
a favourable time in the afternoon ; he read them,
and returned quietly to his book ; but later on,
though in severe pain, he dictated to me without
a trace of effort or excitement a letter of sympathy
to Mr. S  of Bradford, who had met with an
accident, and his reply to Mr. Gladstone.'
" ' My dear Mr. Gladstone,
" 'Excuse my dictating to my wife my
thanks for your most kind letter, but I am kept in
bed to-day. The fact is I am much stronger than
I was, but my liver gives me a great deal of
trouble, and just now I have rather a sharp attack
of pain, which, however, I hope the doctor will get
the better of in a day or two.
" ' I fear your kind letter must have been written
on the perusal of an incorrect letter of mine to the
Central News Association, which I felt that I
ought to set right in a letter to the Daily Neivs.
" ' This Irish matter is indeed most full of
difficulties, and I wish to say that I have looked

ILLNESS AND DEATH. 545
at Home Eule with a most earnest endeavour to
form an impartial judgment. I have employed
hours, I may say days, in overhauling my previous
views, but I cannot come to any other conclusion
than the one I gave in the letter I have men
tioned. "'Believe me, my dear Mr. Gladstone, to
remain " ' Yours most sincerely,
" ' W. E. Forster.'
"Notes. — 'He was awake most of the night.
When I went in about a quarter past three, I
heard him half repeating poetry, half sighing, and
almost groaning with the pain. . . . He was
looking feverish and oppressed, but very patient.
When I went in about eight o'clock I found he
had slept little ; however, all seemed less oppres
sive Avith morning light. As he could not see the
sunrise from where he lay, we moved the pier-
glass so that he saw it in that, which he enjoyed.
He said he thought the pain was "rather less" —
as he always will say, if he can. ... I spoke of it
being a sad Christmas for us. . . . He would not
let me caU it a sad Christmas: "It is a better
Christmas than any we have had," he said; "I
would not have it different for anything." '
" ' It was quite early on Tuesday morning,
December 29th,' Avrites his daughter in her 'Be
coUections,' ' that he was taken so very ill, and that
we were caUed to him. He Avas very feverish, and
VOL. II, 2 H

546 LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
his breathing laboured, and he seemed strangely far
away from us ; and, as we knelt there, we thought
was he going from us then. ... As it began to be
light the breathing became more natural, and he
sank into a quiet sleep. I went into the sitting-
room. The sun was just rising over Torbay. The
sea itself was grey and stormy, but over Berry
Head was a line of golden light, and I thought of
the river with the Celestial City shining beyond it.
" ' When the doctors came in the morning for
the second time he was much better, and in the
afternoon he was quite like himself, knowing nothing
of what had passed in the night. He was exceed
ingly anxious to get his election returns signed,
and Mr. Speir came in and witnessed them. We
could not keep the papers from him with their
paragraphs about his danger, and, besides, we had
sent for Edward, and Eobin and Flo were coming,
so gradually he learnt how ill he had been in the
night. He was very much interested, and ques
tioned the nurse and us very closely, only as
calmly as if it had been about some one else's
illness. " ' On December 31st we were made anxious by
his extreme wakefulness aU the morning, and we
wanted him very much to be still and try and get
a little sleep. At last Edward read him to sleep,
and I went in and took Edward's place. By-and-
by he woke, and asked what day it was. I told
him New Year's Eve. After a time he began to

ILLNESS AND DEATH. 547
pray out loud. There Avas something about his not
being moved either " by the sharpness of pain or by
the fear of death," but even directly afterwards I
could not recall the exact words, nothing but the
solemn general impression. After a pause, he said,
"I have tried to serve my country," Almost
directly afterwards we were interrupted, and he
sent for Edward again, and asked him what he
meant to do about his boys. He was pleased
about Del's being meant for a sailor, and said,
" If I do not get better, you must go to Lord
George HamUton, or, if our people are in, to Sir
Thomas Brassey, and tell him it was my dying
wish that Del should have a nomination." It
was at this time, too, that he told Edward of his
wish to be buried at Burley.'
"Notes. — ' I went into his room at five o'clock this
morning, and found him awake ; he had had a wake
ful night. I asked if I should repeat some hymns to
soothe him to sleep; he said he was going to ask me.
After I had repeated several, he asked me to kneel
down. I knelt close beside him, and he began to
pray in a trembling solemn voice, like one speaking
his real thoughts to One unseen. The whole burden
and heart of it was, " Lord, I believe, help thou
mine unbelief." I can only put down fragments. . . .
Towards the end he prayed, " Whether Thou art
pleased to raise me up and enable me to serve my
country again, or whether my work in Parliament
is to be closed, help me to try and serve my

548 LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
country, or help me to bear it." . . . All through
there was the same solemn trembling earnestness
of the tones, the grave simple language perfectly
free from excitement, or from being hurried by
emotion into a single unreal word — the strong
reason and the humble spirit both laid open before
the God to whom he spoke, and the burden stUl
was " Lead me, and give me light."
" ' He had an aU but sleepless night. I went in
several times, helping to arrange his pillows, etc.,
as he was very uneasy and could not be made
comfortable by any means. Soon after eight he
asked me to read " one of those grand hymns
about the glories of God in His works." I pro
posed the 104th Psalm, but he took the Bible, and
turned over the Psalms to the 147th and 148th,
which we read. Ever since his attack, letters
and telegrams of inquiry had come pouring in.
" I was with him about one o'clock, reading letters
full of affection and sorrow and anxiety for him.
He was touched and pleased, and, when I had done,
he said, ' I did not know people cared about me so
much.' "
" ' He had a good deal of quiet sleep in the night
without opiates. When I went into his room he
seemed much refreshed. I asked if I should
repeat one or two of the hymns I knew he Uked,
instead of reading a Psalm, and began to repeat
" God moves in a mysterious way." He said he
would try to say it, and he repeated it slowly iu

ILLNESS AND DEATH. 549
his beautiful deep voice. . . . Then he repeated,
" This world I deem," '¦• which he had been too iU
to do since his last attack; then murmured in
parts, " Ye are indeed our pillar fires." t
" ' Ja7iuary 5th.- — He was very low this morning.
I reminded him of his having said at Norwood
that Ave had had some very blessed times together.
"And so we have, — worth all the illness."
" ' On the evening of January 6th he sat up in
his chair again, for the first time since December
22nd.' "During this time of severe pain and entire
helplessness, his courage and patience were un-
faihng. My sister. Miss Arnold, who had been
with us during most of that time, wrote afterwards,
' Never shall I forget his uncomplaining sweetness
as he lay hour after hour at Torquay, unable to
move even from side to side because of the pain.
I am thankful he has had some better nights
since.' During this depth of illness he had been
obhged to give up reading to himself, but he liked
to be constantly read to. One of our books was
the last volume of Macaulay's History, which
always chained his interest.
* A hymn by Whytehead, which had always been a great
favourite of his.
t From a poem by Henry Vaughan, beginning " Joy of my
life, while left me here and still my Love ! " He was a great
admirer of Henry Vaughan, and would often read or repeat
his poems as his contribution to the " Sunday evening repeat-
ings " in old days at Fox How.

550 LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON, W. E. POESTEE.
" His daughter mentions that, on January .llth^
' Dr. Clay came over again from Plymouth in con
sultation with Dr. Huxley. The moment he was
gone, we heard father asking for some one to read
to him — he asked not a single question, made no
aUusion to the doctors' visit, but plunged straight
into Macaulay.'
"Notes, continued. — ' Friday, January Sth. My
beloved husband had a very sleepless night. In
the early morning he asked for me. . . . He soon
began to repeat in his slow deep tones the
Epiphany hymn of Northrepps Cottage, " Star of
the East, whose beacon light," going back on the
lines again and again if he was not sure he was
correct. Immediately afterwards, in a low but
steady voice, he began to pray for Ireland and for
this country with great earnestness and. fulness.
"' January 12th. — To-day he has been much
better, talking a good deal with his old humorous
turns. . . . He asked what literary resources we
had, and Frances enumerated our books. We
talked of Sir Henry Taylor's autobiography, and
he gave recollections of him at the Colonial Office,
and how they were opposed to each other about
Governor Eyre. Then about Governor Storks,
and his famous " Perfect tranquillity reigns," and
other anecdotes about him. Apropos of chivalrous
devotion to women, he quoted " The bloody vest,""
to Ulustrate the difference between true and false
chivalry. . . . He talked with interest of what the

ILLNESS AND DEATH. 551
position of Avomen really Avas in the Middle Ages,
. . . Altogether he seemed more at ease physi-r
cally, and more like himself in conversation than
he had been for a long time. Afterwards he had
the London papers, and read them to himself,
quite exclaiming with interest at one or two things
about Parliamentary changes,
" ' Just before his lunch he said he would have
the blind drawn up. He looked across at the
Brixham shore, and said : " That forbidden land !
When we came down here I thought I should soon
be well enough to walk from Brixham to Berry
Head." There was scarcely even sadness in his-
voice as he spoke of his often disappointed hopes.
" ' This morning I was reading in St. Luke. I
read part of the tenth chapter, and stopped at the
parable of the Good Samaritan. He asked me to
read it. To how very many, helpless and un
fortunate, and often of little desert, has my
dearest husband been a good Samaritan, — looking
to nothing but their need, perfectly unweariable
in helping them again and again, and yet again —
however hopeless the task.
" ' January 15th. — This afternoon I read him a
letter I had had from Mr. Tuke, in which he said
that he thought Mr. Forster would like to know
that in the Friends' Meeting for Sufferings his
recovery had been earnestly prayed for. My be
loved husband was greatly moved. " The Church
of my fathers has not forgotten me ! " he said,

552 LIFE OF TfiE EIGHT HON. W. E, FOESTEE.
bursting into tears. He did not recover his usual
calmness for some time,'
" On the 13th, our son was obliged to return
home, and Ms father consulted him whether he
ought to resign his seat. Edward satisfied him
that it would be only a matter of form if he did
offer his resignation, for that his constituents would
certainly not accept it. He agreed to do nothing,
at least till the Easter recess, and after this never
spoke of the matter again. His allusion to the
Easter recess in this conversation showed the in
domitable hopefulness about his final recovery,
which the doctors had all along considered one
of the best of his chances of struggling through.
His hope and vital energy seemed always to battle
against the pressure of disease, and in spite of
years of hard and exciting work, his constitution
was stiU so strong that those who watched him
could hardly help sharing his hopefulness.
" The month went on, amid frequent altera
tions in his state. Sometimes he was able to
be wheeled into the sitting-room for a few hours,
but often he was only able to sit up for an
hour in his bedroom. He did not often talk of
the politics of the hour, but even when suffering
most from pain and languor, he continued to follow
public events with close interest, especially the
many rumours about Mr, Gladstone's expected
declaration for Home Eule. In a letter dictated
to Mr. Goschen, on January 15th, he says : —

ILLNESS AND DEATH. 553
" ' I beheve it will be impossible for me to take
part in any debate, but I have followed the Irish
news with intense interest, and it is one of the
things one has to try to bear patiently to be forced
to be quiet during this crisis.' After speaking of
the rumours respecting Mr. Gladstone's pohcy, he
continues, ' Let me tell you, privately, what seems
to me, as an old Irish administrator, our weak
point; there will be some, though only a few,
cases of hard evictions. I had some such cases,
and then I comforted myself with the belief that
the Land Act would stop them : but we must
consider how they can be stopped under present
circumstances.' " A few weeks later on, February 11th, he
wrote again to Mr. Goschen : ' I am most glad to
get your letter, and should be still more glad if I
could get fuU talk with you. Had I been in the
House, I should have been inclined to speak after
Gladstone in the debate on the Address, strongly
protesting against reticence on his part, especially
in its unfairness to the police, who are left in
ignorance as to who their masters wiU be.
" ' The case, however, now is different. Arguing
against Home Eule without knoAving his plan is
like arguing for an abstract resolution, and will not
convince the Gladstonites. Our chance of getting
back any of them in Parliament or the country
depends on our being able to expose the plan
itself. My notion, then, would be a strong protest

554 LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTER.
against delay on the first debate, if he does not —
as I suppose he will not — disclose his Irish plan
on the first declaration of his general policy ; but
to postpone actual war, until we get the plan
itself.' "Among the letters which gave him pleasure at
this time were some telling him of the release of a
young man who had been imprisoned in Australia
for a crime of which there was reason to believe
he was innocent. Ever since his case was brought
to my husband's knowledge, several years ago, he
had been unwearied in his efforts to obtain his
release, and now rejoiced to hear that his inno-^
cence had been at last proved, and that he had
returned home. He wrote to the young man in
reply to a grateful letter from him : —
" ' Torquay, January 22nd.
'"Dear  ,
" ' I have been so iU that I have not felt
myself able earlier to answer your note. I am very
glad that you have been restored to your parents,
and I am stiU more glad, if possible, that your
innocence has been publicly proved.
" 'Your experience has been a very bitter one,
but it has not been altogether a loss. It must have
called out all the manliness in your character, and,,
by God's help, and under His guidance, you may
become an honour and comfort to your parents,

ILLNESS AND DEATH. 555
doing good to others, and striving with good hope
to be successful in working for yourself.
" ' May this be your future, is the earnest hope
of your sincere friend, '"W. E. Forster.'
" The mother wrote to me : ' I feel towards him
gratitude and love too deep for words. May God
grant him a return to health ; his life is a noble
one — doing good to all, and to mine.'
"Whenever he was Avell enough he enjoyed
seeing the friends who occasionally came to Tor
quay; and our kind neighbours, Mr. and Mrs.
Speir and Canon Scott Holland, used to let us
send word to them whenever we thought a visitor
would be cheering for him, so that they could
come in at the right moment. In a letter, written
after his death. Canon Scott Holland recalls the
impression made upon him in these visits. After
speaking of ' those few short interviews, which
had been their whole acquaintance,' he says :
' And now every reference to him, every record
of Mm, is changed from what it would have been,
from my clear memory of that sick-room at Tor
quay, and of those honest and pure grey-blue eyes,
and of that dignified, honourable kindliness which
no sickness could disfigure or discredit. It was a
sight full of tenderness and of worth, and I shall
always treasure it among my most valued and
sacred memories.'

556 LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
" The account of our stay at Torquay may be
concluded by a few extracts from the ' BecoUec
tions ' addressed to me, which have been already
frequently quoted.
"'On January 26th, Edith came to us for a
month with baby. Do you not remember how
little Trev used to lie kicking and smiling on the
bed, or sometimes sitting up close beside him with
his baby hands entwined round his grandfather's
long thin fingers ? . . . When people sent him
flowers now, he was so courteous in expressing
his pleasure and in his care to have them always
in his sight. Canon Bell sent him some snow
drops and violets, and he dictated such a pretty
note of thanks, saying how the sight of them had
recalled his rides in childhood through the Dorset
shire lanes in search of wild flowers.
'"On February 2nd, Sir William Jenner came
down for the night to see him, and to give us an
opinion as to the safety of his being moved to
London. He spoke much more hopefully than
the other doctors, and when he went away he left
me feeling more cheered than I had been for
months past ; but it was only for a few days.
" ' On February 9th, Mr. Maclver called, and
father was much interested in all he had to say
about Burmah. It had been a decidedly good day ;
but at night there was another of those attacks,
such as he had had in December. It was terribly
alarming, and yet I don't think that through it

ILLNESS AND DEATH. 557
all he ever gave me the impression of being so
hopelessly ill, or so far aAvay out of our reach.
Towards morning the fever subsided, and he fell
into a natural sleep. . . . All the next day he was
quite briUiant in his talk about all manner of
things. How he laughed over Edith's and my
troubles in the night with the baby and the alarum,
and how he entered into " Pepys's Diary." The
change was so sudden and unnatural that it half
Uightened us, and yet it was difficult not to feel
a thriU of hope. The next day, February 11th,
he had faUen back into his old languid state. . , .
You were very anxious now that we should get
back to London, as Sir WiUiam Jenner had sanc
tioned the journey. I don't think he wished it
strongly himself; but he quite acquiesced in the
move, and took an interest in all the preparations.
On February 25th, we left Torquay, and got back
safely to London. He bore the journey better
than we had dared to hope. He was pleased and
encouraged at this, and by the thoughtful way iii
which all had been planned, and by the kindness
and courtesy of aU the railway officials; and he
was most anxious that every one concerned should
get his due measure of thanks. Just when we got
back to London we heard of the subscription that
was being raised in the Eeform Club for a picture
of him. This pleased him very much. We fell
back into very much the same ways as before we
went to Torquay. . . . Mr. Loring came up to

558 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTER.
Ms room in the morning, and he got through some
work with him. In the afternoon he generally had
visitors. . . . Day after day, now, he seemed to
remain at much the same stage, sometimes seem
ing brighter, and sometimes more languid; but
not making any real progress.'
" There is very little more to be told, but a few
more passages from the notes may stiU be given.
' March 1st, 80, Eccleston Square. — To-day he
saw Mr. Tuke, who talked about emigration for the
unemployed, and the large scale on which he
thought this relief might be needed for the future.
W. talked more than usual. Evidently from his
grasp of the whole difficulty, he must have been
turning it over in his mind. He spoke of the
Meeting for Sufferings offering prayer for him, and
hoped they knew how deeply he had felt it,' . . .
" My sister, Mrs. Cropper, and her husband,
had come in on Sunday afternoon. ' He wanted
them to come up to his bedroom, and said, if they
did not mind it, he should like us to have the
service together. We read together the Psalms
and lessons, and some collects. At the verse " He
gave their land to be an heritage," etc., W. said,
" How many cruel and wicked robberies have been
justifled by that verse ! " '
"Ireland was stUl to have some of his last
thoughts. ' On March 13th,' writes his daughter,
' I remember seeing him talking to Lord Selborne.
He was sitting in his arm-chair in his bedroom.

ILLNESS AND DEATH. 559
The conversation was about Ireland, and when I
went in, he was talking with so much of his old
force and vigour that it startled me ; and I re
member thinking that no one Avho saw him at that
moment would guess how ill he was.'
" On the 17th, his daughter, Mrs. O'Brien, sent
him, as she had been used to do, a bunch of sham
rock for St. Patrick's Day. He was too ill in
the morning to notice it ; but when I took it to
him later, he was greatly pleased, and had it
placed by his bedside. His friend Mr. Tuke had
gone over to Ireland to distribute relief in the
shape of food and seed potatoes in the most dis
tressed districts. Such a work recalled to my
husband the similar work in which, as a young
man, he and Mr. Tuke had been engaged in the
same districts in the terrible famine years, and he
was anxious about some of the islands he had visited
then, and where he knew the poverty now to be
specially grievous. On March 24th, I wrote for
him to Mr. Tuke, sending a subscription, with a
request that it might, if possible, be apphed to the
relief of Boffin, one of the poorest and most inac
cessible of the islands. It was his last work for
Ireland, and I am not sure that he was ever able
to hear Mr. Tuke's letter in reply, telling him that
food had been already sent.
' ' Notes. — ' March 21th. Last Sunday afternoon,
rather late, when he seemed tired and low, I asked
him if he would read me some of Matt's poetry.

56o LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. W. B. FORSTEE.
He brightened up, said he should like it, and read
his favourite poem, " The Future," and then
" The Forsaken Merman." All through his illness
nothing seemed more often to cheer him if he
was low or weary than to read or repeat poetry,
and the quantity that he knew by heart used to
astonish me — the old stores of his youth coming
back to his memory. He beguiled many sleep
less hours of the night by repeating pages of
" Marmion " or the "Lay," fragments of old
baUads, etc. His fondness for some of Henry
Vaughan's poems has already been mentioned ;
these and a number of the old well-known hymns,
which had doubtless been favourites at Northrepps
and the Cottage, he used often to repeat. At
Torquay he used frequently to read poetry to us.
One day, I remember, when he was very unequal
to the exertion, he read through Wordsworth's
"Ode to Immortality," enjoying it so much that
he would not give it up.'
" The last week of March is marked in my notes
as ' a good week ' with him, but it was the last
gleam. ' On Tuesday, the 23rd, Sir WiUiam
Jenner came, and found the nervous vitality much
higher than he had seen it at all. On Wednesday,
he went out in a bath chair — the first time for
three months that he had breathed the air. He.
was eager for it and much enjoyed it, and was able
to see several people that afternoon, and was not
tired. It was altogether a good week with him ;

ILLNESS AND DEATH. 561
he talked more readily and brightly, so like him
seK — often in half-playful ways. Bevan Braith-
waite came by invitation about half-past five on
Sunday evening. He prayed with us.'
" F.'s BecoUections. — 'April 2nd. He seemed
really better. The coachman had just brought the
horses up from Wharfeside, and you and he went
for a drive, which he enjoyed. On coming in, he
stopped in the haU before he was carried upstairs,
and turned round to call out a message of thanks
to Morris for having got ready so quickly. After
lunch he Avrote some letters himself, and in the
afternoon talked for some time with interest to
Mrs. Jeune, not the least as if he were tired.
After he had gone to bed I read to him, and when
I went back to him after dinner he asked me to
read again, and we went on till bedtime.'
" Notes. — ¦' The last thing, I went to him to have
our prayer together. I said the collect for " pardon
and peace ; " . . . the last word I heard from him
tUl I was caUed to him in the morning was his
grave and earnest "Amen." He seemed quiet in
his room all night. I looked in before six, but did
not go in, as I was not quite sure from his breath
ing that he was asleep.'
"F.'s BecoUections. — 'April 2,rd. At half-past
eight, another attack like the Torquay ones came on.
All that day the fever lasted ; he Avas not exactly
unconscious, but he lay speaking little and taking
very little notice. On Sunday morning, AprU 4th,
VOL. II, 2 0

562 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTER.
we told him that Edward had come. He was
pleased, and was anxious for him to come upstairs
at once. . , . Oakeley came to him about one
o'clock, and said, taking his hand, " My beloved
father." He knew him.
" ' In the afternoon there was more pain, and he
wandered a good deal. Towards evening he was
very restless. . . . The fever continued all night.
Early on Monday morning (April 5th) you came
to me, and told me it was just the same. . , . We
went back to his room. We could not tell how
far he was conscious, but how emphatically he
assented when once you asked him if he knew
that it was his wife's arm that was supporting
him. The quick and painful breatMng continued
for several hours, until a few minutes before the
end. Then the breaths came slower and softer,
till the last was hardly a sigh, and slowly and
gently he passed away out of our reach.' "

( 563 )

CHAPTEE XIII.
CONCLUSION.
Me. Forster's death touched the public keenly.
That he should have died at such a time, when
a great crisis in our national history had been
reached, and when a mighty change was coming
over the minds of a large section of the English
people on the subject of our policy with regard to
Ireland, seemed to intensify the mourning for his
loss. It was indeed strange that he who had so long
insisted, almost alone among English politicians
of the first rank, upon the right of independent
judgment in political affairs, upon the duty of
subordinating even party loyalty to personal con
viction, should have been removed at the very
moment when those views suddenly became vridely
and generaUy popular. Yet he cannot be accounted
unhappy in the moment of his death. ' The public
sympathy had been deeply stirred by his long
illness, and by his inability to take any personal
part in the general election. Eesidents in Brad
ford and Leeds can bear witness to the fact that
whUst the contest was being fought out in the

564 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
Central Division of the former town, one question
which eclipsed all others in its interest was that of
Mr. Forster's probable fate at the ballot. On the
Saturday night, described in the previous chapter,
on which the election for Central Bradford was
decided, there was not a spot in Yorkshire where
politicians congregated, where men did not wait
with breathless anxiety for the news ; and when it
came, and it was found that Mr. Forster, absent
and ill, had triumphed over the combined forces of
Toryism and Parnellism, the shouts of exultation
which were raised and the emotion which was
displayed, showed how strong was the feeling of
affection which he had inspired in the hearts of his
neighbours, and how profound had been their
anxiety lest a dishonouring blow might be struck
at him whilst he lay helpless on a sick-bed.
The feeling which was shown to so marked a
degree in Yorkshire at the time of the Bradford
election, extended more or less throughout the
country. Generous Englishmen of every party,
including men to whom he had been opposed in
politics throughout his life, were moved by the
inability of one who had so long been ever in the
front of the fight, to take even the slightest part
in a contest which interested him so deeply. His
death, which put an end to hopes widely enter
tained by the outside world of his speedy return
to public life, came as a shock upon the nation.
From every quarter tributes of honour and respect

CONCLUSION. 565
were paid to his memory. The comments of the
press upon his career were marked by an ample
recognition of the strength and purity of his
character, of his commanding abilities, his inex
haustible energy and his deep-rooted patriotism.
It was not in England only that this testimony
was borne. The leading part which he had taken
in connection with the great question of the
federation of the empire had given him a new
title to honour and esteem in. the colonies, and
from every quarter of the world, wherever the
British flag flies, came expressions of sorrow at
his death, and acknowledgments of the greatness
of the loss which had fallen upon the empire.
The private utterances of sympathy and grief
which reached his Avife and family came literally
from every class in the nation, and were marked
by an unmistakable warmth and genuineness of
feehng. One only can be quoted here. The
Queen wrote to Mrs. Forster as follows : —
" "Windsor Castle, April 7th, 1886.
" Dear Mes. Foestee,
" I purposely delayed writing at once to
you, not wishing to intrude on your overwhelming
grief for the loss of such a husband, so good and
so devoted, fearing to add to the weight of your
affliction; but to-day I trust I may venture to
express not only the deep sympathy I feel for you,
but also the true and sincere concern I feel at the

566 LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. W. E. POESTEE.
loss of one for whom I had the greatest regard and
respect, and who served his Queen and country
bravely, truly, and loyally. We can ill afford to
lose so honest, so unselfish and courageous a
statesman as he was, in these days, and his public
loss is very great.
"But I ought not to speak of such feelings
when I think of you, from whom the light and
joy of your life has been taken. StiU I think that
the appreciation of those we have lost by others,
and by the sovereign he served so well, is soothing
to the bleeding heart.
"My daughter Beatrice feels deeply for you,
and shares my sorrow at dear Mr. Forster's loss.
Pray express my sympathy to your children ; and
praying that God may give you peace and strength
to bear up,
"Believe me, always,
" Yours very sincerely,
"ViCTOElA E. AND I."
A suggestion in the Times that a funeral service
should be held in Westminster Abbey was imme
diately adopted. The service was held, on Friday,
April 9th, and was attended by a vast throng of
his old poUtical associates, members of the public
services, representatives of the colonies, personal
friends, and the general public. The chiefs of
both political parties met in the abbey to mourn
the loss of one who had not merely written his

CONCLUSION. 567
name in the history of his country, but secured
a place in the hearts of his contemporaries.
Imposing as the abbey service was, however, it
could not vie Avith the scene which was witnessed
on the following day, Saturday, April 10th, when
Forster's body Avas laid to rest in the burial-ground
at Burley, hard by the home he had loved so
passionately, and the little community which had
learned to trust him as a friend long before the
Avorld had heard of him as a statesman. It was
a wUd winter's day, and the beautiful Wharfe valley
Avore an aspect of desolation that harmonized well
Arith the thoughts of the mourners. Thousands
of men and women from Bradford, Leeds, and
the neighbouring towns, where his name had so
long been as a household word, joined the people
of Burley and the other villages of Wharfedale in
foUowing him to the grave. No such demonstra-
tionof pubhc grief had ever before been witnessed
in the vaUey ; and those who mingled with that
throng of mourners quickly learned that it was
not the pohtician, but the man, who filled the
thoughts of all. Yesterday, with the stately
service at Westminster, had been for the states
man : to-day, with its simple Quaker funeral in
the hillside burial-ground, witnessed the last
farewell to the friend and neighbour, who had
risen high in the councils of the State, but whose
heart had remained unaffected by all the changes
of fortune ; who had never varied in his affection

568 LIFE OP THE EIGHT HON. W. E. FOESTEE.
for the friends of his youth, or in his bearing
towards the humblest of those among whom his
lot was cast ; whose temper had not been soured
by trials, nor his sympathies narrowed by the
growth of years ; whose spirit had remained young
whilst his head grew grey; and the horizon of
whose mental vision had seemed ever to grow
wider and brighter as he drew nearer to the end
of life. If heartfelt love and sorrow furnish the
highest tribute to the dead, then indeed may Mr.
Forster's friends feel that he was honoured above
most. Many marks of the public regard for his labours
have been given since his death. At Bradford and
in London, his memory is to be perpetuated by
statues erected in public places ; whilst in West
minster Abbey a medallion, placed close to the
monument of his uncte. Sir Thomas FoweU Bux
ton, with whom his first entrance upon public
work is associated, secures for his name a place in
our noblest national shrine. But if any. visible
and tangible memorial of the life of such a man
as Mr. Forster were needed to preserve his name
from oblivion, it would be found, not in carven
marble or moulded bronze, but in the school-houses
which, rising in every town and viUage in the land
he loved so well, bear witness to the success of the
Education Act, of which he was the author, and in
which it was his happy lot to see the realization
of the cherished aspirations of his youth.

CONCLUSION. 569
" Half the people in the village want to die
that they may be buried there," were the words
spoken by one of Forster's humble village friends
immediately after his death, in reference to the
hillside burial-ground where he is laid ; and
beside this outburst of genuine feeling on the part
of those who knew him best, and who judged him
for what he was and what he did, it would be
superfluous to say more of the place which he had
won in the hearts of those around him.
The following lines, touchingly suggestive of
the links by which Forster's labours and his
father's were bound together, appeared imme
diately after his death in The Friend : —

THE TWO FUNERALS.
WILLIAM FOESTER and W. E. FORSTER.
(OkY. 27 i., 1854.) {Obit. 5 iv., 1886.)
Iji Tennessee, across the wide Atlantic,
There rests the clay
Of one who bore the image of his Master —
Long passed away.
A lonely grave, with few to stand beside it
To shed a tear,
Although to the oppressed of many a nation
His name was dear.
Beneath that massive form a heart was bleeding
For all earth's woe.
Till the strained tension burst the clay-built dwelling
Aud laid it low.

570 LIFE OF THE EIGHT HON. W, E. FOESTEE.
But angels, hovering o'er on snow-white pinions,
Their loved to greet.
Bote the freed soul with joyful hallelujahs
To Christ's own feet.

In England's stately, world-renowned Walhalla,
A mournful train
Of great and noble meet, while — slowly — slowly —
A dirge-like strain — •
A funeral anthem in the grand old Abbey,
Far-off, yet near,
Floats on the air. Hush ! stand ye all uncovered, —
Eoom for the bier !
Silence — deep silence — for the dead is coming
In deathly state.
Ah ! what is life 1 Before that kingly sceptre
Earth's proudest wait.
Yet speak those floral wreaths of resurrection —
Not born to die ;
The mortal perishes, but the immortal
Mounts up on high.
The fixed heroic aim, the will unswerving,
True to the line,
Not earth-boi'n, but a glorious emanation
Of the divine.
These cannot pass away, and still thou livest
Among thy peers,
Thy name a banner-cry to all the noble
Through coming years.

%.

CONCLUSION. 571
" Dust unto dust." Mid nature's lonely wikhioss
A kindred band
Around a simple grave in his own Wharfedale
In silence stand.
Make way — make way, and let the long procession
Pass on — pass on ;
One of yourselves, ye toiling sons of England,
To rest has gone.
One of yourselves, your ever-honoured Master ;
Yet more — your Friend;
Yes, mourn je may, ye will not find his fellow-
Till time shall end.
But lift your thoughts above this narrow casket,
He is not there —
Of all Eternity's untold resources
The chosen heir !
And meet it is with tears that praise should mingle ;
On bended knee,
Hearts bowed with anguish raise their grateful tribute,
0 Lord, to Thee ;
Calling, from Time's brief span, thy servant higher,
To endless days,
Where, sire with son, in wider fields of service.
Blend work with piaise.
M. E. B.

INDEX

Abbott, Eichard, Forster's inathemati-
cal master, i. 61
Abdul Kerim, Turkish Commander-in-
Chief, ii. 129
Aberdeen, Lord, ii. 165
Aberdeen University, ii. 1.53-160
Achmet Kaiserley, Turkish Minister of
Marine, ii. 139
Adam, W, P., Liberal whip, ii, 96,
106, 223
Adams, Charles Prancis, American
Minister, i. 336, 342, 347, 368 ; ii.
10, 12, 25, 28, 65, 87
Adderley, 0. B., i. 388, 392
Afghanistan, ii. 216-218
Agrarian outrages, ii. 254, 263, 268,
289, 319, 326, 334, 354, 385, 400,
416, 438
Ahmed Vefvik, ii. 166
Aiken, Edward, at school with Forster,
i. 52
Aksa, a village in Turkey, i. 405
Alabama claims, the, i. 363, 529 ; ii.
8-33
Albania, ii. 149
Alexander, G. W., i. 131, 190
Allen, Commanders Bird and William,
i. 127
America, United States of, the elder
Forster visits, i. 31 ; " Uncle Tom's
Cabin," 289 ; civil war, 333, 337 ;
American freedom a sham, 355 ; the
Alabama claims, ii. 8-33 ; Forster's

visit, 65-92; Land League remit
tances from, 348
Anti-slavery Society, ii. 105, 482
Applegarth, Mr., of the Society of
Carpenters and Joiners, i. 454
Arbitration, the Geneva, ii. 22-33
Argyll, Duke of, ii. 105, 165
Arms Bill, the, ii. 301
Arnold, Dr., i. 161, 263 ; E. P., 372 ;
Edward, 372 ; Matthew, 317 ; Wil
liam Delafield, 267, 285, 314-316;
Jane, wife of W. E. Forster, 263
Arnold-Forster, E. P., i. 138 ; ii. 44,
53
Arthur, Mr., and the Birmingham
League, i. 541
Ashe, Dr., i. 80
Ask Lodge, i. 191
Ateliers, Club des, i. 239
Athenry, Forster at, ii. 394
Athens, i. 433
Aumale, Due d', ii. 2
Austria, ii. 140, 148
" Autocracy of the Czars," i. 293
Azani, the Temple of Jupiter at, i. 414
Aziz Pacha, Governor of Philoppolis, ii.
129, 137

B

Backhouse, Jonathan and Hannah, i.
91,95
Baines, Edward, i. 308,313, 331, 350,
365, 439, 502, 553
Ball, John, i. 371, 401, 405, 425, 478
Ballinasloe, i. 189

574

INDEX.

" Ballitore, the Annals of," i. 28
Ballot Act, the, i. 530, 533 ; ii. 3, 5
Balmoral, i. 511
Baltimore, ii. 86
Bandurra, famine at, i. 190
Barbes, i. 231, 236, 237, 242, 243
Baring, ii. 13l
Barrows Hill, i. 39
Bashi-Bazouks, the, ii. 110, 130, 134
Batak atrocities, ii. 1 09, 134, 144
Baxter, W. E., i. 349, 550
Bazardjik, i. 407
Beaconsfield, Lord, i. 356, 397 ; House
hold Suffrage Bill, 400 ; resigns, 449 ;
unable to form an administration,
551 ; attacks Forster, ii. 4, 106 ;
accepts an earldom, 109; his reck
lessness, 186, 188; speech at the
Guildhall banquet, 216; resigns,
231
Beecroft, Mr., member for Leeds, i. 313
Beehive, Forster bitterly attacked in
the, i. 524
Behrens, Sir Jacob, and the Education
Bill, i. 482
Belfield, George III. at, i. 20
Belgrade, Forster at, ii. 118-122
Belmullet, distress in, ii. 302
Bentbam, Jeremy, i. 162
Berlin treaty, the, ii. 216
Beveridge, Governor, ii. 74
Biggar, Mr. Joseph G., ii. 176, 259
Binney, Mr., and the Birmingham
League, i. 541
Binns's school at Tottenham, i. 55
Birkbeck, Henry, at school with Fors
ter, i. 61
Birkbeck, Jane, wife of Josiah Forster,
i. 6
Birmingham League, the, i. 465, 471-
572; ii. 40, 58, 94, 212
Bismarck, Prince, ii. 177
Black, Eev. W., i. 251, 351
Blake, Mr., ii. 380
Blanc, Louis, i, 226, 230, 244
Blanqui, M., i. 231-234, 240, 242
Bludgeon-flghting at an election, i. 93
Boffin, famine at, i. 194 ; ji. 559
Bolton, i. 142, 152, 204
Bosnia, ii. 122, 129, 168, 199
Boston, ii. 87
Bowen, Sir George, ii. 525

Bowring, Dr,, i. 109
Boycott, Captain, ii. 265
Boycotting, ii. 252, 254, 276, 342, 369,
376, 387, 416
Bradford, i. 137 ; Times, 139 ; Olserver,
146, 330; cholera, 251; Forster
elected for, ii. 330 ; caucus, 206,
210, 219 ; Liberal Association, 501,
536
Bradpole, i, 24, 25, 77
Brady, the murderer, ii, 467
Brand, Henry, Liberal whip, i. 349,
352, 376, 502 ; ii. 2,
Brennan, Thomas, ii, 259
Bridport, i. 24
Brigandage, i. 418
Bright, John, i. 337 ; military prepara
tions, 346 ; impracticable and un-
English, 362 ; reform demonstra
tions, 392 ; in the Cabinet, 449 ;
Privy Councillor, 450 ; Birmingham
League, 526, 557 ; Ballot Bill, 531 ;
on education, 554; Chancellor of
the Duchy, 656 ; attacks Forster,
557-573 ; his oratory, ii, 517
British and Foreign Soliool Society, i.
298
British Columbia, i. 391
British India Society, i. 279
" British Philanthropy and Jamaica
Distress," i. 293
Brous.sa to Smyrna, Forster's journey
from, i. 403
Brown, P., i. 279
Bruce, H. A., i. 442, 466, 474, 533, 549
Brussels, ii. 116
Buchanan, Sir Andrew, ii. 142
Bucharest, ii. 119
"Buckshot," ii, 301, 316, 331, 396,
474
Bulgarian atrocities, the, ii. 108-140
Burke, Mr., Permanent Under-Secre
tary, ii. 243, 260, 305, 350, 377, 458,
463
Butt, Mr., ii. 107
Buxton.Anna, i. 17-23 ; wife of William
Forster, 24 ; visits Ireland, 28 ;
Priscilla, 63 ; Charles, 167
Buxton, Sir Thomas Powell, i. 14-32,
47-59, 71, 92, 98, 103-115, 126,
169 ; second baronet, ii. 65
Buxtons of Colne, the, i. 18, 47

INDEX.

575

Buyukder^, ii. 130
Byles, William, proprietor of the
Bradford 'Observer, i. 146 ; il. 43,
45, 194

0

Cahirciveen, i. 172, 177
Cairns, Lord, ii. 329, 392, 395
Caithness, Forster's visit to, i. 143
Campbell, Sir George, ii. 100
Canada, ii. 67, 85, 89, 100
Cantwell, Eev. Mr., Irish priest, ii. 360
Capital, value and power of, i. i49
Cardwell, Lord, i. a81-390, 514, 569 ;
ii. 24, 105, 165, 171
Carey, James, the informer, ii. 431,
467-471
Carlsbad, ii. 177
Carlyle, Jane, i. 205-214, 227
Carlyle, Thomas, i. 145; "Sartor Eesar-
tus," 150 ; " Chartism," 155 ; visit from
Forster, 167, 227, 244; with Forster,
206 ; at a Methodist meeting, 207 ;
at a table d'hote, 208 ; visit to Eawdon,
209-214; with Duffy and Forster
in Ireland, 249; Lord George HiU,
250 ; his pamphlets, 268
Carnarvon, Lord, ii. 179, 185, 188, 1 89
Cassaba, i. 426
" Castle, the," ii. 377
Castlebar, i. 189, 249
Catechism to be excluded from schools,
the, i. 498, 502, 507, 570 ; ii. 66
Cattle plague, i. 458, 529 ; ii. 2, 5
Caucus, the. See Birmingham League.
Cavendish, Lord Frederick, i. 516 ; ii.
192, 340, 368, 451-459, 469
Cetewayo, ii. 220
Chamberlain, Mr. Joseph, ii. 40, 175,
385, 410, 434, 493, 506
Chaplin, Mr., and the Disturbance Bill,
ii, 244, 246
" Chartism the Peril of the Nation," i.
226
Chartists, the, i. 218-248
Chartres, Due de, ii. 2
Chatel, Abb^, i. 238
Chattanooga, ii. 80
Che.ster-Ie-Street, i. 6
Childers, Eight Hon, H. C. B., i. 340,
450; ii. 105, 176, 190, 227, 420

China, ii. 157
Choate, Joseph, President Union League
Club, ii. 90
Chouts, Mr., American orator, ii. 89
Christian, Prince, ii. 116
Christian Socialist, the, i. 280
Christiok, M., Servian Minister, ii. 125
Church, the Irish, i. 177 ; ii. 181-184
Churchill, Lord Eandolph, ii. 246, 294
Cima Tosa, the, ii. 479
Clare, Forster's visit to, ii. 390
Clayden, Mr., and the Birmingham
League, i. 541
Clifden, famine at, i. 193
Clogher, coUision with the police at,
ii. 311
Closure, the, ii. 299
Club des Ateliers, i. 239
Club des Femmes, i. 237, 239
Cobden, Mr., i. 115, 338, 341, 356, 358,
362, 365 ; ii. 8
Coercion, ii, 239, 292, 370, 382, 420,
464
Coghlan, Dr., preacher, ii. 200
Cold-water cure, the, i. 160
Coleridge, Hartley, i. 100, 211
Collins, Mr., Prince Leopold's tutor, i.
515
CoUyer, Eev. Robert, ii. 73
Colonies, the, ii. 90, 91, 97, 100, 503
Communism and Socialism, distinction
between, i. 237
Compensation for Disturbance Bill, ii.
244, 246, 249
Confederate cruisers, i. 358
Congo river, ii. 117
Connaught, ii. 260, 269, 304, 336, 364,
415
Connemara, ii, 286
Constabulary, Royal Irish, ii, 278, 321,
324, 350, 450, 553
Constantinople, Forster at, i, 401 ; the
Conference, ii. 162
Cook, Mr., the excursion agent, i. 351
Cooper Institute, New York, ii. 66,
69
Cooper, Thomas, the Chartist, i. 157,
167, 199, 245, 251, 525 ; ii, 215, 471
Cork, ii. 260, 262, 304, 337
Corn Laws, i. 156
Corti, Count, Italian Minister, ii. 136
Cosmopolitan Club, i. 346 ; ii. 37

576

INDEX.

" Cottage Ladies," the, i, 45-92, 125,
129
Cotton Ports, blockade of the, i. 354
Courtais, General, i. 241, 244
Cowen, Joseph, i, 307
Cowper, Lord, ii. 258, 351, 423, 467
Craven Moor, ii. 47
Cromer, i. 92, 145
Cropper, J., i. 477 ; ii. 538, 541
Cross, Mr. J. K., 432, 433
Cross, Sir Eichard, ii. 175, 191
Crowe's " History of Prance," i. 65
Cumin, Mr., i. 477, 508
Cumulative Vote, the, i. 516, 527, 528,
566
Cybele, Temple of, i. 426

D

Daily News on Bulgarian atrocities,
the, ii. 108, 126, 128, 132, 145
Dale, Mr., minister of the Independents,
i. 527, 539
Dalkeith, Lord, contests Midlothian,
ii. 230
Danube, Forster on the, i. 401
Davis, Bancrolt, and the Alabama
claims, ii. 26
Davis, Thomas, leader of the Young
Ireland raovement, i. 202
Davitt, Michael, ii. 300, 306, 337
De Grey, Lord. See Ripon.
Democratic party of New York, the
old, ii. 70
Derby, Lord, i. 356, 392 ; ii. 146, 171,
179, 186, 188, 194, 198, 200
Derkee, Dr., and the Bandurra famine,
i. 190
Derrynane, i, 177, 183
Dial, the, i. 147 "
Dickenson, Colonel, American senator,
on the Canada question, ii, 85
Dilke, Sir Charles, on the Education
Act, i, 542
Dillon, John, i. 202 ; intended prosecu
tion, ii. 259 ; suspended, 300 ; the
affair at Clogher, 3il ; arrested, 312-
315; Parnell arrested, 358; three
Irish members in prison, 387 ; Kil
mainham treaty, 438 ; released, 453
Disestablishment, ii, 181-184

Disraeli, Benjamin. See Beaconsfield.
Disturbance BiU, Compensation for, ii.
244-250, 332
Dixon, Mr,, i. 480, 488, 528, 533, 545 ;
ii. 63
Dogs of Constantinople, the, i. 429
Doherty, Irish socialist, i. 237
Donegal, ii. 304
Donoughmore, Lord, ii, 389
Doonasheen, Patrick Egan murdered
at, ii. 347
Dorsetshire, i. 24, 42
Dublin Board, the, ii. 508
Dubhn, Parnellite demonstration at, ii.
340
Duchy of Lancaster, Mr. Bright Chan
cellor of the, i. 556
Dudley, Elizabeth, Quakeress, i. 41
Dufferin, Lord, ii. 66, 68
Duffy, Mr., with Carlyle in Ireland, i.
249
Durham, Forster at, i. 96
Dynamite policy, the, ii. 340

B

Earlham, i. 74, 77
Eary, murder of Patrick, ii. 347
Edinburgh Eeview, Forster a con
tributor to the, i. 286, 293
Education Act, the, i. 450-520, 541,
551,556; ii. 5,49,58
Education, necessity for popular, i. 169,
259, 294, 301, 311, 348, 435
Education Union, the National, i. 465
Egan, Patrick, ii. 259, 437
Egypt, ii. 172, 178, 496-503.
EUiot, Sir Henry, ii. 125, 128, 132, 168-
172
EUis, James, i. 224
Ely, Lady, i. 513 ; n. 172, 529
Emerson, Ralph Waldo, i. 235, 237,
240, 242, 263 ; ii. 65
Emigration, i. 258 ; ii. 274, 422, 438,
558
Emis Effendi, i. 411
Emly, Lord, ii. 215
Endowed Schools BUl, i. 456
Ennis, ParneU's speech at, ii. 251
Epirus, ii. 141, 149, 199
Evarts and the Alabama claims, ii. 25

INDEX.

577

Evictions, ii. 244, 264, 321, 425,
553
Exarch of the Bulgarian Church, the,
ii. 127
Exeter Hall, ii. 202
Explosive letter, the, ii. 328, 385
Eyre, Governor of Jamaica, i. 382-
390, 399

Factory Acts, i. 446, 468
Famine in Ireland, i. 170-177, 189-
200
Fawcett, Mr. Henry, i. 480, 502 ; ii.
171, 192, 197
Femmes, Club des, i. 237
Fenians, ii. 296, 417
Feudalism, i. 367
Field, Mr. Cyrus, ii. 69
Fish, Mr., ii. 24, 30, 88
Fisherman's Friend, the, i. 49
Fishponds House, i. 50-54
Fison, Mr., i. 137, 138 ; ii. 318
Fitzgerald, Rev. — , and the distress at
Clifden, i. 194
Fitzmaurice, Edmund, i. 550 ; ii. 170
Fitzwilliam, Lord, i. 59
Flogging in the Army abolished, ii.
222
Forster, Right Hon. William Edward,
born, i. 29 ; at school at Fishponds
House, 50; Mr. Binns's school at
Tottenham, 55 ; attends an Anti-
slavery meeting, 59 ; his passion for
mathematics, 60; wishes to go to
the bar, 68 ; reads with private
tutor, 69 ; his school themes fore
shadow his after-work, 70; visit to
the House of Commons, 71 ; in
business, 76; teaches in a Sunday
school, 90 ; meetings of Friends, 91 ;
Norwich election, 93; leaves Rob-
berds, 94; Darlington, 95; Pease's
woollen mill, 97 ; leaves Darlington,
129; bachelor life, 133; moves to
Hampstead, 134 ; in business at
Bradford, 137; walking tour in
Scotland, 143 ; his physical energy,
144; business prosperity, 156; visits
Ireland during the famine, 171-184 ;
VOL. II.

again in Ireland, ISR; drprcssicm of
trade, 199 ; removes to Rawdon,
204 ; Thomas Oarlyle,.205-214, 227,
244, 249, 268 ; carriage accident,
214; Chartism, 218-227; Paris,
227-245; Ireland, 249; Paris again,
251 ; cholera at Bradford, 251 ;
marries Jane Arnold, 263 ; separates
from the Society of Friends, 265 :
removes to Burley, 270 ; hates all
field sports, 283 ; chairman of the
Board of Guardians, 285; death of
his father and mother, 296-300;
addresses the electors of Leeds, 310;
captain of volunteers, 320; musketry
course at Hythe, 323; elected for
Bradford, 330 ; house in Guilford
Street, 332 ; maiden speech, 332 ;
visits Lord Houghton at Pryston,
342 ; house in Montagu Street, 346 ;
the Great Exhibition, 351; iUness,
353 ; house m Eccleston Square,
362; defends Stansfeld, 364; the
Tyrol, 371 ; choleraic attack, 371 ;
speech at Bradford, 378; Under-
Secretary for the Colonies, 380-392 ;
reform, 393-400 ; visit to the Bast,
401-434; Minister of Education
and Privy Councillor, 450'; author
of the Education Act, 470; its
second reading, 490 ; in the Cabinet,
505 ; in attendance at Balmoral,
511; hostile constituents, 519; tbe
Beehive, 524 ; enemies, 536 ; friends,
544 ; at Osborne, 549 ; Bright's
criticisms, 558 ; resignation of Mr.
Gladstone, 574 ; in trouble with the
Upper House, ii. 4; the Geneva
arbitration, 8-33; club life, 37;
resignation of the Ministry, 57 ;
Playfair's motion, 61; Sheffield
board school, 63 ; visits America,
65: Quebec, 66; Montreal, 67;
Ottawa, 68; New York, 69;
Chicago and Springfield, 72; Colo
rado, 77; his father's grave, 81;
the Normal Black School, 85; the
American Senate, 88 ; Union League
Club, 90 ; returns to Eu gland, 92 ;
" Our Colonial Empire," 100 ; elected
Lord Eector of Aberdeen University,
103; visits theEa.st, 111; his passion
2 P

578

INDEX.

for sight-seeing, 111 ; and for gene
alogies and pedigrees, 112; travelling
acquaintances, 114 ; Moscow horse-
show, 115 ; dines with the King of
the Belgians, 116 ; Prague and Cra
cow, 117 ; Bucharest, 119 ; storm
on the Danube, 121 ; Constantinople,
126; Said Pacha, 133; returns to
England, 142 ; speech on the
Eastern Question, 145 ; address at
Aberdeen as Lord Eector, 153-160 ;
freedom of the city, 161 ; meets
Ignatieff at Hatfield, 166 ; Germany
and Bohemia, 177; Bristol, 178;
Eastern Question, 179-203 ; serious
carriage accident at Pau, 205 ; Brad-
lord Liberal Association, 210; the
" fighting Quaker," 225 ; hard work,
229 ; Chief Secretary for Ireland,
233 ; O'Connor Power's Bill, 242 ;
his outburst against the Upper
House, 248 ; murder of Lord Mount
morres, 253 ; Captain Boycott, 265 ;
reinforcement of troops in Ireland,
273 ; hideous crimes, 277 ; Parnell,
289; the Irish Party, 290; con
dition of Ireland, 294; " Buckshot,"
301; Protection Act j 308 ; imprison
ment of the suspects, 316; his friends
anxious about his personal safety,
317 ; wishes to resign, 324 ; de
nounced by O'Donovan Eossa, 327 ;
the explosive letter, 328, 385 ; Land
Act, 333; Tyrone election, 336;
arrest of Parnell, 357 ; declares the
Land League iUegal, 359; unfriendly
criticisms, 372 ; visits the Queen at
Osborne, 381 ; efforts to alienate him
from his own party, 383 ; committee
to inquire into the working of the
Land Act, 390; journey to Clare,
393 ; his speech at TuUamore, 397 ;
escapes assassination, 430 ; the KU-
mainham treaty, 436-440; resigns,
443 ; bis capacity for work, 448 ;
the Phoenix Park murders, 458 ;
offers to go back to Ireland, 462 ;
trip to Normandy, 471 ; whist, 472 ;
visits Eussia, 474 ; Alpine climbing,
476-480 ; President of the Gladstone
Club, Glasgow, 483 ; freedom of the
city of Glasgow, 484 ; at the Leeds

Liberal Club, 487 ; Parnell and the
outrages, 488; South Africa, 489-
494 ; visits the Balkan Provinces,
494 ; Household Suffrage BUl, 495 ;
the Soudan, 496 ; his declaration
regarding Mr Gladstone, 500;
Colonial Federation, 504; fall of
Mr. Gladstone's Government, 507 ;
Manchester Ship Canal BiU, 509,
512, 522; his speech at Bradford,
515 ; merits as a speaker, 517 ;
Baden, 524; illness, 527; Sir
William Jenner and Dr. Pox, 534 ;
the Bradford Liberal Association
adopt him as their candidate, 536 ;
elected for Central Bradford, 540;
picture in the Eeform Club, 557 ;
death, 562
Forster, William, father of the Eight
Hon. W. E. Forster, i. 8-15 ; mariies
Anne Buxton, 24 ; Bradpole, 24 ;
first visit to America, 33 ; removes
to Earlham Eoad, 77 ; his indecision,
86 ; second visit to America, 163 ;
Ireland, 171 ; his strong points, 254 ;
last visit to America, 295 ; death,
296
Porsters of Tottenham, the, i. 297-299
Fortescue, Chichester, i. 374
Fortescue, Lord, ii. 191
Fotterel, Mr., solicitor to the Land
Commission, ii. 386
Fox, Dr., i. 515 ; ii. 527, 534
Pox, Mrs. Charies, i. 78, 206-212,
497; ii. 214, 380
Fox, Ilobert Barclay, i. 78; letters
from Forster, 87, 147, 159, 205, 212,
296 ; extract from his diary, 152 ;
death, 300
Fox GhyU, ii. 63
Fox How, i. 344; ii. 64
France, threatened war with, i. 320
Fremont, Colonel, i. 304, 334
Friends, the Society of, i. 5-23, 58, 85,
91, 170, 182, 195, 265, 290, 301 ; u.
551
FriendsviUe, i. 296 ; ii. 72
Pry, Elizabeth, i. 14, 17, 23, 28, 41 ;
Gurney, 52
Pryston, i. 205, 342

INDEX.

579

G

GaUenga, Signor, the Times corre
spondent, ii. 126, 130
Gait, Sir A., and Manitoba emigration,
ii. 274
Galway, i. 182 ; ii. 258, 337, 390
Garrisons, U.S.A., the station-master
at, ii. 69
GastreU, Mr., consul at Bucharest, ii.
119
Gaunt, Mr., farmer at Bolton, i. 142
Geneva arbitration, the, ii. 20-23
Gladstone Club, Forster President of
the Glasgow, ii. 483
Gladstone, Herbert, ii. 228, 229
Gladstone, Eight Hon. W. E., Chan
cellor of the Exchequer, i. 365 ; his
speeches, 366 ; death of Cobden,
368; reform, 391-401; forms his
first Cabinet, 449 ; Education Bill,
499-505, 539-549; resigns, 550;
resumes office, Disraeli being un
willing to form a Ministry, 551 ;
letter from Forster, 568; resigns,
February, 1874, 574; the Alabama
claims, ii. 23-34 ; retires from public
affairs, 93 ; his indictment of Turkish
misrule, September, 1876, 110, 144 ;
the Eastern Question, 162-176, 195 ;
letter from Forster about the caucus,
212 ; his double return for Leeds
and Midlothian, 230; forms his
second Cabinet, Lord Beaconsfield
having resigned, 232 ; the Disturb
ance Bill, 246 ; correspondence
with Forster on Irish affairs, 260-
265, 267-272, 284-287, 320, 335,
344-352, 358-369, 377, 388-392,
406-428, 434, 544 ; Guildhall speech,
266 ; Irish obstruction, 300 ; de
nounced by O'Donovan Eossa, 326 ;
loyaUy supports Forster, 331 ; de
nounces Parnell and the Land
Leaguers at Leeds, 351 ; announces
the arrest of ParneU, 355 ; the " new
departure," 431, 444 ; Kilmainham
treaty, 436-440; resignation of
Forster, 443; Home Eule policy,
543, 553.
Glenelg, Lord, i. 109

Glyn, Mr., i. 473 ; ii. 32
Goderich, Lord, i. 309
Godwin, Mr., ii. 52
Goethe, i. 1(12
Golduey, Sir G., and tho South
African Bill, ii. ITO
Gordon, General, i. 357 ; ii. 496-503
Gortschakoff, Genernl, ii. 195
Goschen, Mr. G. J., ii. 59, 172, 175
Grant, President, n. 29, 72, 89
GranviUe, Lord, ii. 23, 31, 59, 96, 105,
165, 192, 230, 390
Greece, i. 159, 403, 433 ; ii. 141
Gregory, Mr., M.P. for Galway, pleads
the cause of the Confederacy, i. 334,
336,347
Grellet, Stephen, i. 14, 16, 23, 54
Grey, Sir George, i. 352, 502
GrUlion's Club, ii. 37, 166, 191
Grove House, Forster at school at, i.
55
Guercino, ii. 128
Guizot, parodies and caricatures of, i.
229
Gurney, Anna, i. 47, 85; John, 69,
74; Eussell, 383
Gurneys of Norwich, the, i. 16, 22, 28

Habeas Corpus Act, suspension of the,
discussed by Forster and Gladstone,
u. 257-261, 264, 268, 285; urged
by an Irish magistrate, 281 ; the
Protection Act, 295
HaUfax, Lord, i. 533, 548; ii. 32
Hall, Eev. Newman, i. 539, 541
Hall, Eobert, Conservative member for
Leeds, i. 309
Harcourt, Sir William G. G. V., ii.
32, 104, 106, 165, 177, 222, 458,
464
Hardaker, Mr,, working-man candidate
for Bradford, ii. 52
Hargreaves, WiUiam, ii. 539
Harrison, Mr., Deputy-Clerk of Council,
i. 515
Hartington, Lord, ii. 93-97, 104, 106,
163, 174, 176, 188, 190-201, 222,
230, 246, 261, 500

58o

INDEX,

Hartland, Alfred, schoolfellow of
Forster's, i. 52
Hay, Sir John, condemns coercion, ii.
409, 432
Hayden, Professor, Head of U.S. Survey
Department, ii. 78
Hayward, Mr., ii. 2
Heuly, Mr. T. M,, ii. 431
Heaton, Rev. W., of Leeds, i. 401
Helps, Sir Arthur, correspondence
between Forster and, i. 510, 542 ; ii.
7 ; at Balmoral, 38
Henning, Edmund, i. 19, 40
Herbert, murder of Mr., ii. 414
Heron, M.P., Mr., with Forster in the
East, ii. 119, 122
Herzegovina, ii. 129, 199
Hewitt, Abraham, New York Demo
crat, ii. 71
Hill, Lord George, i. 250
Hodgkins, Dr., i. 131
Hodgson, W. D. Arnold marries Miss
P. A., i. 316
Hole, Mr., of Leeds, i. 260
Home Rule, n. 53, 107, 242, 330, 487,
543, 553
Hook, Dr., vicar of Leeds, i. 294, 437,
495
Horsfall, John, of Bradford, i. 146, 152,
156
Houghton, Lord, i. 205, 233, 244, 332,
342, 523 ; ii. 524
Household Suffrage Bill, the, i. 400 ;
ii. 487, 495
"How to become Owner of your Farm,"
ii. 386
Huddersfield, i. 308
Hughes, Thomas, i. 282, 321
Huntington, Lord, ii. 3
Hutton, R. H., i. 344, 477; ii. 147
Hyde Park, mob in, i. 392
Hythe, Forster at the School of Mus
ketry, i. 323

Ignatieff, Genera!, ii. 131, 137, 140,
166
lUingworth, Alfred, i. 505; ii. 53, 208,
227

Imperial Federation, ii. 503, oOi, o-i-,
526
Imperial Titles Bill, ii. 106
Imperialism, ii. 99
India, i. 267, 279 ; u. 156, 217
Indian Muriny compared with Bulga
rian atrocities, ii. 135 ^
International Exhibition, Forster s
employes at the, i. 350
Intimidation, ii, 344, 400
Inverness, Forster at, i. 143
" Invincibles," the, ii. 416, 430, 466
Ireland, i. 169-177, 189-200, 259, 367,
370, 474-478 ; ii. 233, 235, 294
Irish Church, the. i. 177
Irish Constabulary, Royal, ii. 278, 321,
324, 350, 450, 553
Irish in New York, the, ii. 71
Irish Land BiU, i. 478, 493, 564 ; ii.
303
Irish landlords, ii. 237, 245, 258, 261,
280, 286, 293
Irish members, suspension of the, ii.
300
Irish Militia, ii. 281
Irish obstruction, ii. 176
Irish University Bill, i. 550
Isandhlwana, ii, 220

Jackson, Canon, i. 293, 436, 440
Jamaica, i. 382-390
James, Sir Henry, ii. 104, 106, 165
Jenkins, Mr., and the Education Act,
i. 472, 493, 548
Jenner, Sir William, ii. 534, 556
Jephson, Mr., Forster's private secre
tary, ii. 327, 395, 429, 448
Jerrold, Douglas, i. 199
Jewsbury, Miss, with Forster in Paris,
i. 227
Jingoism, ii. 162
John Bull's burdens, i. 150
Johnson, Reverdy, ii. 10, 17, 19
Johnstone, Andrew, i. 103, 109, 553
Johnstone's nurses. Miss, ii, 123
Jones, Lloyd, i. 280, 524
Judd, Mr., ii. 74, 77
Juries, ii. 417

INDEX.

58r

K

Kaffir war, Forster's article on tho, i.
287, 293
Kansas; qucstion, the, i. 305
Kay-Shuttloworth, Sir James, on edu
cation, i, 439, 494
" KeckUng " a candidate, ii. 5t)
Kelly, the nntrderer, ii. 4()7
Kennedy, Captain, i. 17G, 184
Kensyle, famine at, i. 193
Kerry, ii. 260, 262, 304, 337, 417
Kerry, the Knight of, i. 174
Kidd, Eov. Richard, Forster's private
tutor, i. 69
Killick, !Mr., Forster's election agent,
ii. 45, 53, 532, 535
Kilmainham Prison, ii. 310, 315, 356,
365, 369, 373
Kilmainham treaty, the, ii. 436-440,
457
Kingsley, Rev. Canon, i. 305; letter
from For.'iter to, 490
Kinnaird, ilr., and the Irish famine, i.
186
Knight of Kerry, the, i. 174
KnoxvUle, i. 296 ; n. 80
Kossuth, the Hungarian patriot, i.
319
Kula, Greek village, i. 422
Kuneh, Turkish vUlage, i. 416
Kutaya, i. 414

Labour, decreased demand for, i.
150
Lacordaire, Pere, i. 235
Lamartine, i. 236, 243
Lancashire operatives, distress of the,
i. 354
Land Act, the, ii. 243, 303, 330-339,
388, 390
Land Commission, ii. 387
Land Courts, the, ii. 358, 364, 387
Land League, the, ii. 254-273, 288-
294, 311, 323, 338-344, 352-362,
386, 415, 419

II,

Landlords, Irish, i. 183, 184, 192, 195,
370; ii. 2:!7, 215, 258, 201, ¦J.HO
286, 293
Lansdown, Lord, ii. 417
Lavington, Cobden buried at, i. 3Gs
Law, Mr., ii. 54, 272, 28G
Lawrence, Lord, chairman of the first
school board, i. 517
Layard, Austen Henry, i. 344, 369.
450 ; ii. 191, 195, 224, 232
Leader, the, i. 285
Lean, Joel, schoolmaster, i. 50
Leary, Patrick, murder of, ii. 360
Leeds, i. 308 : Gladstone at, ii. 349,
352
Lees, Rev. — , of Kensyle, i. 193
Lemaltre, Frederick, French actor, i.
236
Lenane, famine at, i. 191
Library at Wharfeside, Forster's, i.
270, 274
Limerick, i. 176; u. 280, 320, 337,
390, 417
Lincoln, President, i. 369 ; ii. 72-77
Lindsay, Mr., with Forster in the East,
ii. 120, 125
Lister, Samuel, at Bradford election, ii.
53
Lloyd, Clifford, ii. 380, 391
Lochnagar, i. 513, 515
Loffield, Dr., dispensary surgeon, i.
193
Long, Mr., in Constantinople, ii. 127.,
130, 131
Longford, ii. 417
Loring, Mr., Forster's private secretary,
ii. 511, 523, 543
Loughrea, ii. 337, 407
Low, Samuel, of Tenessee, ii. 80-84
Lowe, Robert, i. 349, 385, 396, 441,
465, 474, 533, 554 ; ii. 63, 217, 227
Lowestoft, i. 91
Lowther, James, ii. 176, 251
Ludlow, J. M., his sketch of Forster.,
i. 279 ; letter from Forster to, 309
Lumley, Sir J. Savile, Minister at
Brussels, ii. 116
Lyons, Lord, ii. 200
Lythall, Mr., of Bradford, i. 146
Lytton, Forster condemns Lord, ii.
217 2 P 3

582

INDEX.

M
Macaulay, Lord, his strictures on
William Penn, i. 285
McCarthy, Justin, ii. 322
McCormack, Sir W., surgeon, with the
wounded Tuiks, ii. 125
Macdonald, Sir John, Premier of
Canada, ii. 274, 493
MacdoweU, Forster meets General, ii.
75
Macgillicuddy, Mr., Irish landlord, i.
173, 174
Macgregor, Captain, of the London
Scottish, i. 325
Mackay, John, ii. 84
Mackenzie, John, Deputy-Commis
sioner in Bechuanaland, ii. 492
Macleod, Memoirs of Dr. Norman,
extract, ii. 38
MacMahon, murder of Thomas, ii. 366
Madagascar and the slave trade, ii.
105
Maguire, Mr., member for Cork, i. 370
Mahmoud Pacha, ii. 129, 224
Mahommed Daoud, ii. l66
Manchester, Forster's letter to the
Duchess of, ii. 216
Manchester Ship Canal BUl, ii. 509,
522
Manhattan Club, the, ii. 72
Manhood suffrage, i. 217
Manioli, brigand chief, i. 419
Manitoba, emigration to, ii, 274
Mansfield, Colonel, consul at Bucharest,
ii. 119
Maroney, murder of Michael, ii. 414
Marshall, James Garth, i. 437
Martial law, i. 388 ; ii. 344
Martin, Mr, Baron, hears the Bradford
election petition, i. 452
Martineau, Harriet, i. 344, 385
Maryborough, Irish priest at, ii. 342
Mathematics, Forster's study of, i. 56,
60, 100
Maule, Mr., member of the Jamaica
Commission of Inquiry, i. 383
Maurice, Forster's article on Professor,
i. 281, 287
Maurice, Rev. Frederick Denison, i.
166, 167, 347

Mayo, ii. 258, 286, 425
Mazzini, i. 364
Meiningen, Prince, ii. 178
Methody meeting, Carlyle at a, i. 207
MiaU, Edward, i. 329, 447, 451, 496,
505, 522, 539, 541, 554; ii. 45, 52
Midhat, ii, 166, 169
Midlothian campaign, the, ii. 230
Military in Ireland, ii. 378
Militia, the Irish, ii. 281
Mill Street, ii. 349
MiUs, Arthur, ii, 102
Mills, Remington, candidate for Leeds,
i, 310
Milner Fields, i. 152
Milnes, Monckton, jSee Lord Hough
ton,
Minehead, i. 267
"Miscellanies," Cariyle's, i. 150
Moloney, murder of Michael, ii. 367
Monaghan, n. 337
Montague, Lord R., opposes Education
Bill, i. 477
Montenegro, ii. 168, 170
Montreal, ii. 66
Moonlighting, u. 254, 365
Morton, Mr., of New York, ii. 87
Moscow, ii. Il5
Motley, J. L., i. 334; ii. 11, 15, 18
Mountmorres, murder of Lord, ii. 253
Muir, Colonel, ii.. 120, 125, 134
Mundella, A. J., i. 502, 538
Munster, ii. 260, 269, 336, 365

N

National Education Union, i. 465
Negro voters, ii. 78
Newcastle, i. 96, 307
Newgate, i. 14, 23, 28
New Orleans, ii. 78
New York, ii. 68, 92
Nicholas, Grand Duke, ii. 195
NichoU (Elizabeth Pease), Forster's
letter to Mrs., i. 153
Niger expedition, the, i. 126
Nikita, u. 123
Nile expedition, the, ii, 502
NobUity, the, i. 398
Noel, Baptist, i, 188

INDEX.

583

Northcote, Sir .Stafford, i. ;119, 505;
ii. 21, 171, 176, 192, 205, 227', 388 '
Northrepps HaU, i. 47, 74, 92, 98, 145
Nubar Pasha, ii. 172
Nurse, Mountford, i. 92, 93

0

" Oakfield," a novel, i. 318
O'Brien, Mrs. Robert Vore, i. 273; u.
Ill, 316, 328, 404, 414
O'Brien, Smith, i. 202, 230
Obstruction, Irish, ii. 176, 177, 300
O'Callaghan, Colonel, ii. 393
O'Connell, Charles, i. 178
O'ConneU, Daniel, i, 156, 174, 178,
190, 202
O'ConneU, Maurice, i, 179
O'Connor, T. P., ii. 240
Oddy, Joe, ii. 53
O'Hagan, Baron, ii. 359
O'Kelly, J, ii. 386, 452
Olympus, Mount, i. 404, 419
Opium traffic, i. 134
" Organisation de Travail," i. 226
Osborne, Forster's visits to, i. 549, 551 ;
ii. 381
Osborne, Mr. i. 551, ii. 2
O'Shea, Captain, ii. 424, 434, 436
O'SuUivan, Mr., land agent, i. 170
Ottawa, ii. 68
" Over Population," i. 226
Overstrand, i. 47, 129
Owen, R.N., Captain, i. 134
Owen, Robert, the socialist, i. 157

Pages, Gamier, i. 243
Pakington, Sir John, i. 441, 477
Palmer, evictions on the estate of Sir
Roger, i. 250
Palmerston, Lord, i. 113, 307, 332,
335, 368, 370 ; ii. 108
Panateroff, ii. 129
Papists in the American Senate, ii. 88
Paris, Forster in, i. 227-244, 251
Parnell, Charles Stewart, obsti-uotion,
ii. 176 ; agitation, 233 ; opposes the

Disturbance Bill, 210; his speech at
Ennis, 251 ; the Land League, 2ri."i ;
agrarian outrages, 257 ; I'rcr.inan's
Jonnial, 201; boycotting, 270 ; at-
taclicil by Forster, 288 ; a bitter fir
to Forster, 289-291 ; abortive trial
in Dublin, 299; suspended, 300;
Protection Act, 306 ; Land Act, 339 ;
demonstration in Dublin, ;Mi);
Gladstone's speech at Leeds, 353 ;
arrested, 355 ; imprisoned, 387 ;
Kilmainham treaty, 434; released,
454; terrible moral responsibility,
488
Pau, ii. 205
Paulet, Mr. and Mrs,, with Forster in
Paris, i. 227
"Pauperism and its proposed Reme
dies," i. 256
Payn, James, describes Forster at whist,
n. 473
Peace Preservation Act, the, ii. 419
Peafield, i. 81
Peases, the, i. 98
Peel, General, i. 396
Peel, Sir Robert, i. 72, 156, 397; ii.
175, 191
Pender, Sir John, ii. 494
Penn, William, i. 285
Pere Lacordaire, i. 235
Philadelphia, ii. 87
Philosophical Institution of Edinburgh,
ii. 100
Philpot, Rev. W., his reminiscence ot
Forster, i. 145
Phoenix Park murders, the, ii. 457
Pickwick, i. 90
Pirie, Dr., of Aberdeen University, ii,
161
Playfair, Sir Lyon, ii. 59, 538
Plunket, Mr., i. 191
Poaching Bill, i. 353
Poland, manifestation for, i. 240, 241
Poll, Samuel, foreman to Mr. Robberds,
i. 77
Pomaks, the, ii. 130
Pope, Forster meets General, ii. 75
Population, increase of, i. 149
Portarlington, ii. 396
Potato famine, i. 170-177, 189-200
Poverty and wealth, i. 149
Power, O'Connor, ii. 241

584

INDEX.

Priestman, John, i. 224, 329
Property, disproportion of, i. 149
Protection Act, the, ii. 297, 306, 326,
343, 382, 406, 418
Provincial Councils BUl, the, ii. 420
Pulszky, Professor, ii. 118, 153, 185,
197
Punch, cartoon in, ii. 127
Purchase, abolition of, i. 532, 569

Q

Quakerism, i. 211, 266, 286
Quebec, ii. 66
Queen, the, Forster's chivalrous de
votion to, i. 511 ; letter of sympathy
to Mrs. Forster from, ii. 565

R

Radnor, Lord, i. 199, 200
Ragged School Union and Lord Shaftes
bury, i. 491
Raleigh, Dr., and the Birmingham
League, i. 541
Rand, John, Bradford manufacturer,
i. 156
Rathkeale, i. 176 ; ii. 280
Rawdon, i. 204, 269
Redmond, Mr. W. A., ii, 431
Reform BiU, the, i. 379, 392
" Reign of Terror," ii. 296
Relief of Distress Bill, the, u. 243
Religious difficulties in the Education
BUls, i. 468, 488, 492, 496, 503
Rhind, Mr., cures Forster's choleraic
attack, i. 371
Richard, Henry, i. 502, 504, 539, 541 ;
ii. 58
" Right to Work," Forster's letters on
the, i. 285
Ripley, Henry William, ii. 52, 55
Ripley, Sir Henry, i. 447, 452
Ripon, Lord, i. 342-346, 381, 390, 450,
455, 472, 477, 497, 500, 515, 523,
529, 548, 552 ; ii. 7, 21-25, 329
Eistich, il. 121, 122
Eobberds, Mr., i. 76, 90, 93
Eobertshaw, Walter, ii, 53^

Robinson, Canon, of Bolton Abbey, i,
294
Robinson, Ensign, at Hythe with
Forster, i. 325
Rochejaquelin, de la, i. 236
Rodgers, Dr. James, ii. 86
Rorke's Drift, ii. 220
Ross of Bladensburg, Captain, ii. 393
Rossa, O'Donovan, ii. 326
Rothschild and the Irish famine, i.
186
Rowland, Mary, old family servant, ii.
302
Rowles, one of the " Invincibles,'' ii.
468
Royal Irish Constabulary, ii. 278, 321,
324, 351, 450
Russell, Lord Charles, i. 352
RusseU, Lord John, i. 186, 204, 332,
335, 338, 374-380, 390, 400, 455 ;
ii. 2, 17, 29
Russell, Lord Odo, ii, 177
Eussell, William, schoolmaster, ii. 83
Eussia, ii. 109-140, 162, 169, 189, 199
Eustohuk, i. 402

Said Pacha, u, 132, 166
St. Louis, Forster at, ii. 78
Salford Barracks explosion, ii. 341
Salikly, Forster at, i. 424
SaUsbury, Lord, ii. 79, 163, 166, 186,
188, 202, 223, 275, 507
Salt, Sir Titus, i. 224, 328 ; ii. 54
Sandford, Sir Francis, i. 477, 508, 542
Sandon, Lord, Vice-President of the
Council of Education, i. 574 ; ii. 58
" Sartor Resartus," i, 150
Savings bank at Burley, i. 278
Saxe, the Princess of, ii. 116
Schenck, General, ii. 18, 26, 28, 30,
32,74
Schmocks, in Hungary, ii. 117
School boards, election of, i. 507, 515
School statistics, i. 520
Schools Inquiry Commission, i. 365,
370, 443
Schouvaloff, Count, Russian Ambas
sador, ii. 192, 200

INDEX.

585

Scliiyler, ii. 1.%
Sfio, Forster at, i. 432
SL'i'tUuui.tlie elder Forster's visit tn, i.
16; Forster's walking tour in, 113
Scots Gioys iu Ireland, the, ii. .'!93
Scott, Geuoral, i. 344
Scott Holland, Canon, ii. 555
Secbohm, Beni.iniin, i. 152
Selim Bey, i. 423
Semendria, ii. 124
Servia, ii. 118
Seward, Mr., i. 344, 369 ; li. 20
Sexton, Mr., U. 259, 343, 358, 373,
409
Seymour, Governor of British Colum
bia, i. 391
Shaftesbury, Lord, i. 491 ; ii. 531
Sheehy, Father, ii. 334, 339
Sheridan, Land Leaguer, ii. 437, 439
Sheridan, Mr. P. J., ii. 259
Sherman, General, ii. 73, 75
Shorncliffe camp, i. 326
Shuttleworth, Sir James Kay, i. 294
Sidmouth, i. 128
Simon, Johu, and vivisection, ii. 7, 45,
57
Slave circular, the Admiralty, ii. 103
Slave trade Blue books, ii. 105
Slavery, i. 14, 21, 36, 58, 98, 103-115,
169, 288-295, 305, 338, 348,357;
ii. 58, 89, 482
Sligo, Lord, i. 191
Smith, Professor Goldwin, i. 36 1, 387;
ii. 100
Smith, W. H., ii. 58, 176
Smyrna, i. 428
Smyth, Mr., of the Ottoman Bank, ii.
133
Smyth, P. J., his speech on Home
Eule, ii. 107
Smythe, murder of Mrs. H. J., ii. 411
Soudan, the, ii. 496-503
South Africa, ii. 97, 176; war, 220;
Bechuanaland, 489
South Kensington Department, ii, 35
Special constables, i. 224, 247 ; not
practicable in Ireland, ii. 350, 360
Special magistrates in Ireland, ii. 380,
396, 405, 423
Spectator, the, ii. 147
Spencer, Lord, ii. 258, 338, 423, 431
" Spencer's Social Status," i. 287

Springncld, U.S.A., Forster at, ii. 71
Staiihl'cid, James, M.P. lur Halifa.x,
his motion in favour of economy, i.
349, 301, Wi-1 ; ii, 44, 105, 538
Steele, Sir I'honias, ii. .¦',24, 349, 354
Stephen Aga, Armenian merchant, i.
411
Stephen, Sir G., and the Anti-slavery
Society, i. 131
Stephens, Mr., Vice-President of tlie
Confederation, ii. 89
Steriing, John, i 158, 151, 166
Storks, Sir Henry, on the Jamaica
Committee of Inquiry, i. 383
Stowe, Mrs. Beecher, i. 288
Strangford, Lady, ii. 108, 131
Stratford de Eedcliffe, Lord, ii. 150
Strawberry Hill, Forster at, ii. 2
" Strikes and Locks-out," i. 293
Sturge, Thomas, i. 41, 110
Suffield, Lord, chairman at Anti-
slavery meeting i., 59
SuUivan, Right Hon. Edward, ii. 359
SuUivan, T. D., ii. 259
Sultan, the, i. 403; u. 126, 129
Sumner, i. 358, 360 ; ii. U-20, 22, 65
Sunday Closing BiU, ii. 202
Syra, i. 432

T

Tammany Society, the, ii. 70
Tarbert, Forster at, i. 178
Tatar-Bazardjik atrocities, the, ii. 109,
144
Taylor, John, u. 52
Taylor, Thomas, curate of Bradpole, i.
41, 50
Tchernaieff, ii. 123, 168
Temple, Cowper, i. 502
Temple, Dr., i. 372, 378
Tenterden, ii. 23, 31
Terglou in Cariola, Forster climbs the,
ii. 479
Theobald, Samuel, draper and Quaker,
i. 132
Therapia, ii. 130
Thessaly, ii. 141, 149, 199
Thetford, i. 137
Thomas, Sir George, ii. 133

586

INDEX.

Thornton, Mr.. Minister at Washing
ton, ii, 24, 274
Threatening letters, ii. 327, 367
Tintern Abbey, a schoolboy's walk to,
i. 54
Tipperary, ii. 393
Toole, Owen, of Innisturk, i, 190
Toronto, Eoman Catholic Archbishop
of, ii, 422
Tottenham, i. 6, 55-73, 297
Townsend, Meredith, i. 318, 344
Townend, Simeon, ii. 53
Trade Unionism, i. 282
Trotter, Captain, of the Niger expedi
tion, i, 127
Tufton, Sir Henry, ii. 226, 228
Tuke, James, i, 196 ; ii. 274, 301, 422,
447, 551, 558
TuUa, ii. 395, 401
TuUamore, Forster's speech at, ii. 397-
403
Turkey, i. 403 ; ii. 108-140, 162, 170,
189, 199, 223
Turkomans, the, i. 417
Turturhar, i. 409
Tylor, Mr. L., his recoUections of
Forster, ii. 47
Tyrone, ii, 335, 337

U

Ulster, ii, 264, 336
" Uncle Tom's Cabin " i. 288-291
Union League Club, New York, ii.
87,90
United States. See America,
Ushaw, Catholic CoUege of, i, 96

Vaccination Law Amendment Bill, u,
6,202
Valuation, Government, ii, 286
Vancouver's Island, i, 391 ; ii. 26
Varna, i, 402
Venning, John, i. 80
Victoria University, ii. 179

A'^ivisection, i. 84, 284; ii. 1, 7, 8, 107
Volunteer movement, the, i. 320

W.
Wade, ii. 45, 53
Wakefield, Edward, i. 189
Waldegrave, Lady, ii. 200
Walpole, Mr., i. 349
Walsh, J. W., ii. 259
Walsham, North, i. 92
Ward, of the Weekly Chronicle, i. 235,
242, 244
Warner, Yardley, u. 80, 84
Warren, Sir Charles, in Bechuanaland,
ii. 493
Washburn, Dr., ii. 223, 231
Waterford, ii. 394
Waterhouse, Mary, i. 163
WaterviUe, i. 177
Webster, Dr., ii. 161
Webster, Mr., ii. 89
WeUington, Duke of, i. 43, 45
Welsh, Father, i. 183
Welsh, Mr., of the Irish police, i. 190
West, Mr., ii. 31, 416
Westmeath, murder of Mrs. Smythe
in, ii. 411
Westminster Abbey, funeral service in,
ii. 566
Westminster Review, the, i, 281-293
Westport, i, 184, 189
Weyland, Dr,, Eoman Catholic Bishop
of Bombay, i. 179
Weymouth, i, 20, 40
Whalley, Mr., i. 477
Wharfedale, i. 39, 276
Wharfeside, i. 270
Whitaker, Mr., of the Levant Herald,
ii. 131
Whitbread, i. 502 ; u. 104
White, Consul, ii. 120
White, Lord S., u, 167
Wickham, Mr,, i, 331
Wickstead, Mr., i, 437
Wilson, Vice-President, ii. 73
Winterbotham, Mr.,.i. 528, 551
Wood, Mr. Bradford, American Min
ister at Copenhagen, i. 340
Workshops, Louis Blanc's, i, 230, 257

Wounded, aid to the, ii. 125
Wrede, Prince, ii. 121

INDEX,

587

Yarmouth, i. 92
Yarnall, Ellis, i. 301, 304, 333, 384 ;
ii. 88

Yarrow, Forster's cnlley, i, 275
Yorkshire, ii. 47, 19
Young Ireland, i. 202

Zanzibar and the slave trade, ii. 105
Zichy, Count, Austrian Ambassador,
u. 136

THE END.

PRINTED BV WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, LONDON AND BECCLES.

YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

3 9002 04067 6067

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