CHAPTER XI 



POLITICAL LIFE 



Entrance to Political Life My Opinions on Politics Contested 

 Elections '85, '86, '92, '95 Mr. Gladstone in the Free Trade Hall- 

 Home Rule Legislative Measures proposed Commission on 

 Ventilation and Drainage of the Palace of Westminster Irish 

 Members. 



MY introduction to political life began in a some- 

 what singular manner. In May, 1885, I was requested 

 to take the chair at a political meeting held in the new 

 division of South Manchester. The object was to 

 secure the candidature of a friend as the representative 

 of the division, and although I had never taken any 

 part in politics, I felt that I could scarcely refuse the 

 invitation. After the preliminaries had been discussed, 

 I remarked that we had now come to the real 

 business of the evening, and, as I had been requested 

 to do, I called upon a gentleman of position in the 

 neighbourhood to propose my friend's name. Much 

 to my astonishment, he declined to do this, and added 

 that his friend Mr. So-and-So would continue the 

 business of the evening, upon which the second 

 gentleman rose and there and then proposed my name 

 as their representative in Parliament. For this, I 

 need scarcely say, I was totally unprepared. I should 

 add that this proposition was seconded and car- 

 ried unanimously. I then stated that I had come 



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