ENGLISH POLITICAL HISTORY 4 8 9 



succeeded him in the post, Mr. H. W. Forster (b. 1866), and Mr. H. Pike Pease (b. 

 1867); and as the result of a rearrangement of the machinery of the Conservative Central 

 Office in 191 r (carried still further by the fusion in 1912 of the Conservative and Liberal 

 Unionist organisations under Mr. John Boraston as " Chief Agent "),* Mr. A. H. Steel 

 Maitland, M.P. (b. 1876) was made " Chief Organizer" of the party, independently of 

 the work of parliamentary " whipping." 2 



In the House of Lords Lord Lansdowne 3 (b. 1845) was the recognised Unionist 

 leader, actively supported by such ex-Ministers as Lord Halsbury 4 (b. 1825), Lord 

 Londonderry 5 (b. 1852), Lord Curzon 6 (b. 1859), Lord Midleton 7 (b. 1856), Lord Sel- 

 borne 8 (b. 1859), Lord Cawdor (1847-1911; First Lord of the Admiralty 1905), Lord 

 Salisbury 9 (b. i86i) : , Lord St. Aldwyn 10 (b. 1837), Lord Balfour of Burleigh 11 (b. 1849), 

 Lord Ampthill 12 (b. 1869), Lord Derby 13 (b. 1865), Lord Onslow 14 (1854-1911), and the 

 Dukes of Norfolk 15 (b. 1847) and Marlborough 16 (b. 1871; formerly Colonial Under- 

 secretary). Lord Avebury 17 (b. 1834), Lord Cromer 18 (b. 1841), and Lord Milner 19 (b. 

 1854), were other important figures on the same side; and among Unionist peers of 

 marked political talent and influence were Lord Ridley (b. 1874; Chairman of the Tariff 

 Reform League), Lord Malmesbury 20 (b. 1872), Lord Willoughby de Broke 21 (b. 1869), 

 and Lord Newton (b. 1857). 



Among the members who were returned to the new House of Commons subsequently 

 to the general election, the most notable personalities on the Liberal side were Baron 

 de Forest (b. 1879) for North-West Ham (July 1911), Mr. W. G. C. Gladstone (b. 1885) 

 for Kilmarnock Burghs (Sept. 1911), Mr. S. O. Buckmaster (b. 1861) for the Keigh- 

 ley division of Yorks (Oct. 1911),' Mr. Hemmerde ^b. 1871) for North-West Nor- 

 folk (May 1912), and Mr. R. L. Outhwaite (b. 1869) for Hanley (July rgi2); in the 

 Ministry itself Mr. C. F. Masterman (b. 1873) was returned in July 1911 for South- 

 West Bethnel Green, after being unseated on petition for North-West Ham. On the 

 Unionist side, the ablest of the Tariff Reform leaders, Mr. Bonar Law, who had been 

 defeated for North-West Manchester at the general election, was returned for Bootle 

 in March 1911; and other important additions to the Parliamentary personnel were 

 represented by the return of Sir J. Larmor (b. 1837) for Cambridge University (Feb. 

 1911), Mr. W. Joynson-Hicks (b. 1865) for Brentford, Mr. L. S. Amery (b. 1873) for 

 South Birmingham, Mr. Ronald McNeill (b. 1861) for the St. Augustine's division of 

 Kent (July 1911), Lord Robert Cecil (b. 1864) for Hitchin (Nov. 1911), and Mr. W. A. 

 S. Hewins (b. 1865) for Hereford (March 8, 1912). Mr. T. M. Healy, defeated as an 

 Independent Irish Nationalist at the general election, was in July 1911 provided with 

 a seat for North-East Cork, by the retirement of Mr. Moreton Frewen. 



The Unionists were now united, after all the troubles over the Tariff Reform move- 

 ment which started in 1903, by the common bond of resistance to the Radical-Socialist 

 programme of their opponents. The Unionist Free Traders had been com- 

 iatpo"iiion t P e ^ e d by the course of events, especially as in their opinion the Liberal 

 Government had under Mr. Lloyd George's guidance pursued an economic 

 policy disastrous to the essentials of Free Trade, to accept the fact that Tariff Reform 

 and Colonial Preference now stood officially in the forefront of the constructive programme 

 of the party. In the House of Commons itself, when it met in February 1911, Lord 

 Hugh Cecil remained solitary as an Unionist Free Trader, in the peculiar conditions 

 attaching to his seat for Oxford University. The precise form which the Tariff Reform 

 policy would take if the party were returned to power, whether the " food taxes " 



1 Mr ; Percival Hughes, who had been " Chief Agent " on the Conservative side since 1907, 

 resigned in January 1912. Mr. Boraston had been Liberal Unionist "Chief Agent" for 

 some years. 



2 E. B. xxviii, 590 (art. "Whip"). 



3 Jbid., xvi, 184. 8 Ibid., xxiv, 599. 13 Ibid.-, viii, 69. 18 Ibid., vii, 484. 



4 Ibid., xii, 867. 9 Ibid., xxiv, 76. 14 Ibid., xx, 113. l9 Ibid., xviii, 476. 



.* Ibid., xvi, 969. 10 Ibid., iii, 252. 15 Ibid., xix, 744. 20 Ibid., xvii, 493. 



6 Ibid., vii, 665. u Ibid., xviii, 1013. 16 Ibid., xvii, 737. 21 Ibid., xxvii, 1031. 



7 Ibid., xviii, 419. . 12 Ibid., i, 894. 17 Ibid., iii, 51. 



