1885 ELECTION PROSPECTS smaller. Harry Sturgis would beat C. Hambro in Dorset, but Wolverton said "No" to the last. Sir William Harcourt said to Horace that he thought they would get forty majority over Tories and Irish together. St. Cyres, who is generally very accurate, puts the Liberal majority at twenty-five. Sir Charles Tennant was gloomy about seats in Glasgow, but behold, we know not anything, and nobody knows anything! It was in this month that we had had a farewell tea with Mrs. Alfred Lyttelton, to say "good-bye" to Lady Ribblesdale, who was off to Gibraltar. Spencer Lyttelton came in fresh from Midlothian, describing Mr. Gladstone as full of vigor and confidence, and sure of a large majority. I spent the evening at Brooks's with Sandhurst, Henry Calcraft, and others, receiving news from the boroughs as to how the elections were going. Birmingham had returned a solid seven. Arthur Hayter was beaten, which I regretted, as Parliament was the air he breathed to him. Dilke got in by a small majority. My brother Henry in at the head of the poll for Ipswich. Childers and George Lefevre were both beaten. Mr. Gladstone was returned by 4000 majority, Edward Grey beating Lord Percy by 1200. On the 29th I dined with Mr. Armitstead, Mr. Gladstone's loyal follower and friend, whose devotion was only equalled by his hospitality. Herbert Gladstone, Mr. Cohen, and Frank Hill, of the Daily News, were there, and I heard some election stories, probably old: A man tried to sell some kittens with blue Tory ribbons on, and failed; the next day he tried to sell them. with yellow Liberal ribbons on. Why," said some one, "they were Tories yesterday!" "Yes," he said, "but 66 their eyes are opened since then, and they have become. Liberals." "Will you vote for me?" said a canvassing candidate. "No," said the voter, "I would sooner vote for the devil." "But in the event of your friend not going to the poll I hope you will vote for me." The returns coming in show a Liberal majority of forty-eight-English, Scotch, and Welsh votes. Our cousins triumphant everywhere-Edward Grey, Harry Howard, Frederick Mildmay, and Stafford Howard; though my poor friend, Charles Hambro, was beaten. I still think we shall see Home Rule in some shape or another before the year is out, as Carnarvon seems to think. On December 15th I dined with Lord Wolverton at Brooks's, and afterward joined Herbert Gladstone, Henry James, and E. W. Hamilton. I had a long talk with, or rather listened to, Henry James, who was great on the subject of Lord Randolph Churchill. He met him at Mr. Oppenheim's the other day, and asked him what they were going to do. He said: "Everything that will be most disagreeable to you." When he was crossing the Channel, Henry James went over with him, and he was nearly dead from sea-sickness, but at Amiens he recovered a little. He had recently made a most violent attack on Lord Granville, and while still sea-green from the effects of the crossing he observed: "How Granville would like to see me now!" Henry James gave a capital account of Lord Randolph Churchill's waiting at the Tory Club at Birmingham for the result of the poll, and as each Liberal success was announced he was silent, till his own failure was announced, and then he sprang up and gave them a rattling speech on the "Advantages of Adversity." Matthews, he said, was a good speaker. They had been associates on the Oxford Circuit. At one of his election meetings Matthews touched on Bright very 1885 VILLIERS'S REMINISCENCES cleverly: "I was in the Town Hall the other night to hear Mr. Bright," he said. "I was reminded of the old instrument which delighted our grandfathers and grandmothers, but which played one tune-the hurdy-gurdy— and on listening I thought of it, and-- Oh dear! oh dear! oh dear!" at the same time imitating the turning of the hurdy-gurdy. We next discussed the Irish difficulty and how impossible it was to find anybody in Ireland who could be responsible for life and property there. We also dealt with woman suffrage, and Henry James reminded me of our first meeting at Edward Levy's on May 8, 1871. After, in the smoking-room for an hour and a half's talk with Charles Villiers, who, as usual, was delightful with his recollections of the past; said George Lewis and Gladstone had differed at Eton, at Oxford, and in Parliament; and in the Cabinet, after one of Gladstone's fine speeches, George Lewis used only to say, "I disagree with everything that Gladstone has said." O'Connell was a greater man than Parnell. In discussing the question of the national debt, he said he would not be dragged into the party details of "fiddling finance." Lord Palmerston's prophecies of the effect of abolishing the Irish Church had come true, and he disbelieved in the Irish ever being satisfied with anything. Roebuck had said, in defending the Church Establishment, that the people loved it as the place where they had been christened, been married, and been buried !" 66 Brougham had said: "Don't abolish it; there is nothing but the Church between us and religion." He said the feeling against concession to the Irish and the Irish. themselves was growing fast. I had seen no proof of it. We talked of Beau Brummell, Hayward, Fleming, and Charles Greville, who, it was supposed, got money from his publisher for the promise of his Memoirs. They traded on the vulgarity and snobbishness of the society they lived in. Alvanley and Brummell were both swindlers, the only difference being that the first kept up the premiums of policies on life assurances on which he had raised money; the other did not. coarse, and Fleming was a social flaneur. Hayward was St. Cyres told me next day that his father, Lord Iddesleigh, did not think it possible that the government could continue. CHAPTER XXI JANUARY-JUNE, 1886 Mr. Gladstone's Mauvaise Dizaine de Jours - Defeat of the Government - Mr. Gladstone's Summons to Windsor - Miss Mary Gladstone's Wedding-Sir William Harcourt Chancellor of the Exchequer-Letter from Sir Michael Hicks-Beach-The New Cabinet Contretemps about Lord Granville-Riots of the Unemployed-Financial Conversation with Mr. Chamberlain-First Interview with Sir William Harcourt-Deaths of Lord Cardwell and Napier Sturt-Lady Georgiana Grey-The "Cottage Budget "-Cabinet Troubles-Mr. Gladstone's Home Rule Speech -Mr. Bright and Mr. Gladstone-Illness and Death of Mrs. Alfred Lyttelton-Letter from Sir Erskine May-Conversation with Sir Henry James on the Irish Question-Mr. Gladstone's Indomitable Spirit. AFTER a charming little holiday at Wanborough I came up alone, as there were still workmen in St. James's, and found a letter from St. Cyres, saying the government was not likely to last. . These changes are naturally very distasteful to permanent officials; for when a Chancellor of the Exchequer has once matured his plans, it is very annoying to have them all upset and everything begun de novo; besides that, all the old suggestions and ideas are continually being brought up, and have to be discussed anew. Furthermore, I had hoped that the Irish question might have been set at rest by Lord Salisbury's government, for Mr. Gladstone had offered to co-operate with him in any at |