stone's overwhelming superiority, which rendered negotiations very difficult, for they could not ask a man in his position to withdraw the Bill, and they were pledged to vote against the second reading; but if in some way or another the principle of autonomy could be put forward, the majority, possibly including Hartington, would vote for it, and on it a Bill could be introduced and considered in the autumn session.

I said that it was ridiculous that he, the cleverest lawyer in England, could not make a bridge if this was all that was wanted. He said it was very difficult to do so.

I spoke about this to Mr. Gladstone, who said the people in the House of Commons were not apt to be so modest about his superiority, but was very much impressed at what I told him; he did not consider the Bill doomed while many brains were actively engaged in endeavoring to find a modus vivendi, notably Mr. Whitbread. He was clearly, I think, ready to postpone to another session the details of the Bill, if by accepting this compromise the party could be kept together.

Afterwards I visited the Chancellor of the Exchequer's and the Cosmopolitan, where I saw Herbert Gladstone, who was, as usual, very sanguine.

On Saturday, the 15th, Mr. Gladstone came to Coombe, where my wife and I were. He was in one of his provoking, frivolous moods, making a Cabinet for Hartington, which on the 17th appeared, as he had written it, in the Pall Mall Gazette, and we could not imagine how it got there.

I put before him a resolution which St. Cyres and I had concocted: "That this House, having recognized the principle of Irish autonomy by reading for a first time the Bill for the Better Government of Ireland, trusts that the present government, in which it reposes entire confidence, will, in a session specially devoted to

1886

DIVERGENT VIEWS

the purpose, introduce measures for establishing a statutory Parliament with defined powers at Dublin, and for securing the just rights and liberties of all creeds and classes of Irishmen."

Mr. Gladstone said it was too late, he feared, for conciliation, and a government should not proceed by resolution, which could not pledge the House of Commons to a principle on the first reading of a Bill. His resolutions on the Irish Church were made when he was in opposition.

Sir William Harcourt came on Sunday, and of course talked all day and night on the Irish question.

Great authorities differed on the possibilities of arrangement, but the balance of opinion seemed to me to be against it.

After Easter there was a meeting of the Liberal party at the Foreign Office, which it was hoped might be successful.

One night we met Lord Northbrook at dinner, who told me that Bright said to him that he was old and that he hoped to be forgiven, but he could not get over the conduct of the Irishmen in past days to him; Lord Northbrook himself hoped that the Home Rule Bill would be even now withdrawn.

Edward Marjoribanks told me there were thirty-six men who had not yet bowed the knee to Baal and were unpledged, and still talked of a hope for carrying the second reading; if not there must be an immediate dissolution.

On June 4th Mr. and Mrs. Gladstone, Paulton, Edward Grey, and John Morley dined with us, Mr. Gladstone being in great form and spirits, notwithstanding all his anxieties and troubles. Nothing seems to weigh him. down.

CHAPTER XXII

JUNE-JULY, 1886

Mr. Gladstone's Sanguine Temper-Scene in the House-Speeches by Mr. Goschen, Mr. Parnell, Mr. Cowen, and Sir Michael Hicks-Beach-Mr. Gladstone's Reply-The Division: Delight of the Unionists-Mr. Gladstone at Coombe Wood: his Opinion of the Inland Revenue and Customs Board-Mr. Gladstone's Desire to Help Lord Salisbury-Resignation of Mr. Adam Young: Appointment of Lord St. Cyres as Deputy-Chairman -Letters from Lord Iddesleigh, Mr. Chamberlain, and Mr. Gladstone-Farewell Dinner at Downing Street-Quotation from Sidney Herbert-Lord Herschell's Visit to Wanborough: his Anecdotes-Lord Randolph Churchill Appointed Leader and Chancellor of the Exchequer.

IN those early days of June I never heard whether or not Mr. Gladstone anticipated defeat. Everything pointed to it, but I do not think that he admitted its possibility even to a great friend who visited him at Dollis Hill, on the Sunday week before the division, with prophetic warnings.

On the eventful Monday afternoon Arnold Morley, visiting him in Downing Street, found him absorbed in a French novel and somewhat put out by the interruption.

I heard that members had secured their seats since six in the morning, in anticipation of the division on the Home Rule Bill, and I was apprehensive that I might fail in getting under the gallery, more particularly as I was engaged on a committee at the Treasury, and only

1886

DEBATE ON HOME RULE

got away from it just in time to find myself in the struggling crowd of Peers and ticket holders in the lobby of the House of Commons. I succeeded in getting in time to hear a bitter speech of Goschen's, followed by Parnell's wonderfully clear and incisive speech when he made, for the first time, his allusion to the offer he had received from the Conservative party for the complete autonomous government of Ireland.

He was very touching when he taunted Chamberlain with throwing his sword into the scale against Ireland, and dashing from the Irish people the cup of cold water just as it was reaching their lips-"The first cup of cold water that has been offered to our nation since the recall of Lord Fitzwilliam."

I went away for dinner, still uncertain as to the division, and on my return found my place under the gallery taken, so I had to go upstairs in the Speaker's gallery, where I heard a rugged and eloquent speech from "Joe" Cowen, who spoke with a strong Northern accent. It was of him that Disraeli said he had heard he was a good speaker, but as he did not understand his language he was no judge.

On entering the House I saw Lord Wolverton, who was coming out of the chief Whip's room, and he told me there were yet hopes of the Bill being carried - which added to the evening's excitement. None really knew what the result would be, though those behind the scenes had become painfully aware of the probable defeat.

Then a long speech from Sir Michael Hicks-Beach (of which we were to hear more later on), who emphatically denied the overtures of Lord Carnarvon, and then Mr. Gladstone rose amidst torrents of cheers to wind up the debate.

I did not think at the commencement of his speech that he was at his best, but he soon warmed with his sub

ject and was magnificent in voice, in gesture, and delivery.

After his peroration-"Think, I beseech you, think well, think wisely, think not for the moment, but for the years that are to come, before you reject this bill "— the House cleared for a division, and we in the gallery, which was crowded to suffocation, were left in a state of profound suspense. I myself had been sitting next to a member who to the last minute was undecided, and told me as he passed to the division how he would vote.

The Bar became jammed, and Mr. Gladstone could hardly make his way through to the front Treasury bench, where, with a calm face, he commenced writing on his knee his letter to the Queen. I had despaired of the result, and yet I had a particle of hope from Lord Wolverton, and when I saw Edward Marjoribanks, as a splendid illustration of the mens æqua in arduis, sit down smiling, as he whispered the result to Mr. Gladstone, that hope, which was so soon to be disappointed, asserted itself more strongly.

Arnold Morley came in, and with Marjoribanks stood at the left of the table, and I knew the game was over -Ayes, 311; Noes, 341.

The Conservatives with their Unionist allies seemed to have gone mad with delirious delight. When they knew the victory was theirs, shouts, in which I am sorry to say the strangers in the gallery shared, went up for Mr. Gladstone and groans for Mr. Chamberlain, and the curtain of that momentous drama fell.

I walked home with Arnold Morley to Downing Street, through a surging, cheering crowd, heard that Mr. and Mrs. Gladstone were well, and went home feeling assured that a dissolution was not far off.

On June 12th I drove my daughter Constance to Lady Wolverton's, Coombe Wood. Mr. Gladstone, who