Review of Rtvttw*. iOjS/Ob. 



The Book of the Month. 



20" 



his language ! When 1 ;i bleed him if he would have 

 any more wine, he replied : ' My dear Randolph, I 

 have sipped your excellent champagne; I have tasted 



your delicious port ; I will have no more !' " " Well, - ' 

 said Lady Randolph, laughing, "he sat next to me, 

 and I particularly remarked that he drank nothing 

 but a little weak brandy-and-water." 



In 1876 Lord Randolph quarrelled with a great 

 personage over his brother's divorce. The Duke of 



Marlborough, then Lord Blandford, was very un- 

 happy in his married life, and his wife obtained a 

 divorce on the double ground of adultery and 

 cruelty. When Lord Randolph took his brothers 

 side, the fashionable world no longer smiled. Power- 

 ful enemies were anxious to humiliate him. London 

 became odious to him, and for eight years he was as 

 an Ishmaelite at war with Society. In that period a 

 nature originally genial and gay contracted a stem 

 and bitter quality — a harsh contempt for what is 

 called " Society," and an abiding antagonism to rank 

 and authority. But his son philosophises that, al- 

 though this misfortune hindered or injured his public 

 work, it acted as a spur. Without it he might have 

 wasted a dozen years in the frivolous and expensive 

 pursuits of the silly world of fashion ; without it he 

 would probably never have developed popular sym- 

 pathies or the courage to champion democratic 

 causes. From which it would appear that the marital 



infidelities of the Marquess of Blandford was the 

 causa causans of Tory democracy. 



This quarrel with Society increased the tendency 

 to keep out of London, and he spent his time in Ire- 

 land. He became a great friend of Mr. Butt. He 

 went all over the country, and acquired a first-hand 

 acquaintance with the Irish question. His first 

 pamphlet, dealing with the question of Irish inter- 

 mediate education, was published in 1870 in Dublin. 



It is now that Lord Randolph shows that his instincts 

 were Liberal rather than Tory. He deprecated the 

 Jingo nonsense of Lord Beaconsfield. His idea was 

 to go over to London and move an amendment in- 

 sisting that any intervention on our part with regard 

 to the Balkan Provinces should have as its objects 

 the complete freedom and independence of the Slav 

 nationality, as opposed to any reconstruction of the 

 Turkish Empire. The opportunity to move this 

 amendment did not arise. A very little, says Mr. 

 Winston, might have led Lord Randolph into open 

 quarrel with the Government, and the course of sub- 

 sequent history might have been considerably 

 changed. His old college friend, Lord Roseberv. 

 had gome over to Mr. Gladstone, and it would have 

 cost Lord Randolph very little to have followed 

 suit. He did not go, however, and Lord Randolph 

 still remained a member of the Tory party. 



Then came the great Midlothian campaign, which 

 culminated in the election of sixty-two Home Rulers, 

 353 Liberals, and 237 Conservatives. There were 

 four who were destined to make a mark in the his- 

 tory of Parliament out of the 237 Conservatives. 



The four members were Lord Randolph, Mr. Bal- 

 four, Sir John (then Mr.) Gorst, and Sir Henry 

 Drummond Wolff. They came together almost by 

 accident. Their terms of alliance were very simple 

 and elastic. No questions of policy or leadership 

 arose. Each was free to act in perfect indepen- 

 dence ; but it was agreed that whenever one of them 

 was attacked, the others should defend him. 



Mr. Balfour in 1880 (says Mr. Winston) was an affable 

 and rather idle young gentleman, who had delicately 

 toyed with philosophy and diplomacy, was earnest in the 

 cause of popular concerts, and brought to the House of 

 Commons something of Lord Melbourne's air of languid 

 and well-bred indifference. No one — certainly not his com- 

 rades — regarded him as a serious politician. Lord Ran- 

 dolph, who delighted in nicknames, used to call him " Postle- 

 thwaite," and made him the object of much harmless and 

 friendly chaff. In private life he already exercised that 

 charm and fascination which in later years were curiously 

 to deflect the course of great events. Bu.t he seemed so 

 lacking in energy, so entirely devoid of anything like 

 ambition, so slenderly and uncertainly attached to politics 

 at all, that his friends feared, he would withdraw alto- 

 gether, and no one recognised or. imagined in this amiable, 

 easy-going member for a family borough the calculating, 

 tenacious and unwearying Minister who was destined so 

 many years to control the House of Commons and shape 

 the policy of the State. 



Mr. Winston Churchill devotes a chapter to a 

 description of the Fourth Party, and gives them 

 great praise for their industry and efficiency, and 

 the unsparing war which they waged against the 

 Government. Lord Beaconsfield fraternised with 

 the Party, giving them advice, and encouraging them 

 not to be too scrupulous about obeying Sir Stafford 

 Northcote, their nominal leader. Lord Beaconsfield 

 told Sir Henry Wolff that he much regretted having 

 retired from the House of Commons, as he had 

 done so in the firm belief that Mr. Gladstone had 

 retired from public life. You must stick to North- 

 cote, he said, he represents the respectability of the 

 Party. I wholly sympathise with you all, because I 

 was never respectable myself. 



At the end of the Session of 1880 Mr. Gorst pro- 

 posed that the Fourth Party should take their places 

 in the main body by sitting immediately behind their 

 leader on the second bench above the gangway. By 

 this means they would avoid becoming a separate 

 party, and at the same time might energise their 

 senile and amiable leader. Mr. Balfour's argument 

 was single, substantial and conclusive. The length 

 of his legs made it indispensable to his comfort that 

 he should sit upon a front bench, and nothing 

 would induce him to change his quarters. So the 

 matter was settled accordingly; and once more the 

 course of histon was deflected by what appeared 

 the most trivial consideration. 



THE LARRIKINS OF POLITICS. 



Various extracts are given during this period from 

 Lord Randolph's correspondence. A ft » r describing 

 his meeting at Oldham, he said: "T had a most 

 enthusiastic welcome. Fair Trade and taxing the 

 foreigner went down like butter. How the latter 

 is to be done I don't know." This was character 

 istic of the gay recklessness of the rising politician. 

 This gay and joyous life of the Fourth Party seemed 

 more like a game of chess than a life and death 



