THE BIG SCHEME 289 



It was soon to be a case of running from scent to view, 

 and at ten minutes to two on the Tuesday morning of 

 the second week in June the Government was defeated 

 on a beer question and resigned office at four o'clock that 

 afternoon. The joy of Lord Randolph when the division 

 result was announced was dealt with by Phil May. 



So then the Conservatives were in at last, and one of 

 the first results was to me disappointing, for I was about 

 to publish an interview with Mr Chaplin, which was a 

 really good one, when he wrote to cut out the best part 

 of it, as he had accepted office under Lord Salisbury and 

 did not wish his views on Free Trade and Protection to 

 be dealt with in the circumstances. 



However, I dashed into a very big scheme for Conserva- 

 tive newspapers of which St Stephen's Review was to be 

 merely the parent. The idea was to issue partly printed 

 sheets that is, on the four inside pages to provincial 

 papers, as is done by certain other firms, and that these 

 sheets should have Phil May sketches and attractive 

 matter, while administering the political dose sparingly,. 

 The local people, of course, print their stuff on the other 

 four pages and so make their paper complete. I got 

 together a General Council of 700 of the leading Con- 

 servatives in the country for this scheme, and the following 

 was the Executive Council : W. T. Marriott, Q.C., M.P. ; 

 Sir F. Milner, Bart, M.P. ; Hon. A. C. L. Cadogan ; 

 W. Grantham, Q.C., M.P. ; Colonel G. B. Malleson, C.S.I. ; 

 W. Allison. Then I asked Lord Randolph Churchill to 

 be President, and he consented. 



The Company was formed with a capital of 100,000 

 in 100,000 shares of i each, and the only weak spot in it 

 was that the shares were not at least 10 each. There 

 was no plunder for promoters, and 2000 was spent over 

 preliminaries and advertising. I called a meeting at 

 the Cannon Street Hotel with all the Executive and many 

 of the General Council there and a big attendance of the 

 public. Then the scheme was launched and, at first, 

 success seemed certain, for there were over 10,000 



