SALISBURY 



109 



This he did with his accustomed vigour, prophesy- 

 ing that the disestablishment of the Irisn Church 

 would have no such effect in dispelling Fenianism 

 aa Mr Gladstone anticipated. In 1868, the first 

 year of Mr Gladstone's first administration, Lord 

 Salisbury proposed to abolish the rule whereby 

 bills are dropped when both Houses have not time 

 to pass them in the same session ; this proposal fell 

 through. He supported Earl Russell s Life Peer- 

 ages Bill ( 1868 ), which was rejected. Next year lie 

 was elected Chancellor of the University of Oxford. 

 Meanwhile disaffection and outrage in Ireland 

 went on, and when in 1870 the government framed 

 a strong Peace Preservation Bill, Lord Salisbury 

 (who was now recognised as the leading Con- 

 servative in the House of Lords) supported it 

 in a sub-sarcastic speech, the graver argument of 

 which was conveyed in the following sentence : 

 ' In this country you have long been content 

 only to guide ; in Ireland it is essential that 

 yon should govern." The Irish Land Act of 1870 

 was less to his taste, but it passed without violent 

 opposition. In the following year Mr Gladstone's 

 action in abolishing the army purchase-system by 

 royal warrant, when legislation for that purpose 

 appeared difficult and tedious, called Lord Salisbury 

 to the front. The bill for abolishing religious tests 

 in the universities gave him more arduous employ- 

 ment in criticism and amendment, chiefly addressed 

 to the maintenance of religious instruction. 



An important speech made at the time of the 

 Franco-German war, recalling the obligations of 

 Great Britain to maintain the independence of 

 (exactly) half-a-dozen states, enhanced Lord Salis- 

 bury's reputation as a student of foreign affairs. 

 As to home affairs this period of his career may be 

 epitomised in the remark that he took an active 

 part in expounding the errors of the government, 

 which were gradually preparing for the defeat 

 inflicted on it with the rejection of the Irish Uni- 

 versity Bill. Resignation ensued (March 1873); 

 the Conservatives declined office; in January 1874 

 parliament was dissolved, and the Conservatives 

 came in with a great majority. 



Whether Lord Salisbury would consent to serve 

 with Mr Disraeli, whether Mr Disraeli would invite 

 Lord Salisbury to join him, now became a question 

 of the day. There was no love l>etween them ; 

 but the one wished for a footing in the cabinet, 

 and the other felt that his omission would be 

 a danger ; and so Lord Salisbury Ijecame Secretary 

 for India a second time. It must suffice to say 

 that in this post he gave unfailing proof of great 

 administrative ability. Before the end of the year 

 Lord Salisbury had again come into collision with 

 his chief. He hotly opposed the Public Worship 

 Regulation Act (a government measure) ; and Mr 

 Disraeli replied to him very tartly in a speech 

 rememlierea by the words, 'He is not a man 

 who measures his phrases; he is a great master 

 of gibes, ami flouts, and jeers.' But the rupture 

 which neither man could afford was avoided. 

 Lord Salisbury now took a very active interest 

 in university reform, but he was soon called 

 to more hustling employments. The Eastern 

 Question was reopened ; Turkey was at war with 

 Servia and Montenegro ; the Bulgarian atrocities 

 were made known ; and to stay the mischief a con- 

 ference of the European Powers was held at Con- 

 stantinople. Lord Salisbury was chosen as envoy 

 from Great Britain, and the choice was presently 

 repented of in Downing Street. His conduct at 

 Constantinople surprised not only the uninformed 

 public, but his colleagues. Indeed he did not 

 scruple to act against the whole spirit of his in- 

 structions, nor did he heed the remonstrances sent 

 out to him from the Foreign Office. Thus did 

 he come into direct collision with Lord Derby 



(then Foreign Secretary). But once placed in the 

 position of envoy Lord Salisbury was practically 

 beyond control : to recall him was of course im- 

 possible. Later, when the Turks were beaten down, 

 and the treaty of San Stefano became known, there 

 was so much disagreement in Lord Beaconsfield's 

 cabinet that his own policies (wise or unwise) 

 were paralysed. When Lord Derby's secession 

 followed Lord Carnarvon's, Lord Salisbury became 

 Foreign Secretary. Without the loss of a day he 

 signalised the change by publishing a circular 

 despatch so powerfully assertive of the British 

 objections to the San Stefano Treaty that it elec- 

 trified the public mind ; but its glory was sadly 

 dimmed when a famous secret agreement with 

 Russia crept into the newspapers a little while 

 afterwards. Russia being compelled (mainly by 

 the resistance of the British government) to sub- 

 mit her peace treaty with Turkey to a congress 

 of European Powers ( held at Berlin ), Lord Beacons- 

 field resolved to act for Great Britain himself, 

 Lord Salisbury accompanying him to the German 

 capital. This arrangement is not improbably 

 explained by Lord Salisbury's too wilful con- 

 duct as envoy at Constantinople. The govern- 

 ment had a troublous time in Afghanistan and 

 South Africa after these events, Lord Salisbury 

 taking an energetic part in repelling the opposi- 

 tion attacks that arose therefrom. 



The 'Midlothian campaign,' in the winter of 

 1879, was followed by a dissolution of parliament 

 in March of the following year, and that by a heavy 

 defeat for the Conservatives. The worsening state 

 of Ireland and the action and inaction of the 

 Gladstone government in relation thereto, the 

 abandonment of Kandahar, and the peace after 

 Majuba Hill kept Lord Salisbury busy enough even 

 before he succeeded to the leadership of the Con- 

 servative party on the death of Lord Beaconsfield. 

 The Irish Land Act and its complete failure as a 

 pacifying measure, the troubles with the Boers, 

 the disturbances in Egypt, a new Reform Bill, 

 the Redistribution of Seats Bill, the Soudan, 

 Gordon's mission and his abandonment gave 

 Lord Salisbury a busy time as opposition leader 

 till the resignation of the government in June 

 1885. Lord Salisbury now became prime-minister 

 and Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. Mr 

 Gladstone soon returned to power, was wrecked in 

 1886 by his Home Rule Bill, and after a general 

 election in that year Lord Salisbury again took 

 office, the government being now known as Union- 

 ist. The ministry resigned soon after the (unfa- 

 vourable) general election of 1892; and the main 

 work of the Unionist party was successful opposi- 

 tion to the Home Rule Bill of 1893. Lord Salis- 

 bury's third administration, formed in 1895 on the 

 resignation of Lord Rosebery, included the Duke 

 of Devonshire and Mr Chamberlain. It has had to 

 deal with embarrassing situations in Armenia and 

 Crete, in South Africa, in Venezuela, and in China. 

 The conduct of British interests in China in the 

 face of Russian encroachments provoked much crit- 

 icism, some of it unreasonable. The reconquest 

 of the Soudan in 1898 was emphasised by the with- 

 drawal of the French expedition from Fashoda and 

 the Upper Nile, after a period of very strained re- 

 lations between France and Britain, and the display 

 of not a little 'firmness' by Lord Salisbury. The 

 fleet has been greatly strengthened ; an amicable 

 understanding with Germany has been arrived at ; 

 there has been an extraordinary growth of friendly 

 feeling between Britain and the United States ; and 

 Ireland, more contented and prosperous than here- 

 tofore, began in 1899 to work its new system of 

 local government. 



President of the British Association in 1894, Lord 

 Salisbury is by temperament a student ; a man 



