gUPriiEMENT  TO  TTTE  “  JOURNAL  OP  HORTICTrRTTJRE,' 
THE  RIGHT  HON.  J,  CHAMBERLAIN— HIS  HOME  AND  GARDEN, 
FROM  time  to  time  in  the  history  of  our  world-wide  empire  circum¬ 
stances  have  arisen  which  have  forced  into  prominence  some 
personality.  He  has  not  sought  the  circumstances,  but,  on  the  contrary, 
could  he  have  foreseen  them,  would  have  strained  every  nerve  to  prevent 
their  occurrence.  They  have  simply  happened  with  startling  suddenness 
and  dangerous  possibilities,  and  had  to  be  grappled  with  by  someone, 
making  the  position  of  him  on  whom  the  duty  fell  either  one  to  be  pitied 
wand  of  a  wizard  into  a  spirit  of  unity,  when  “  none  is  for  a  party  but 
all  are  for  the  State.”  Our  Empire  has  been  seen  at  its  best  of  late,  and 
the  world  has  taken  due  note  of  the  fact.  Mr.  Chamberlain  has  of 
necessity  had  his  share  of  anxiety  and  responsibility  —  perhaps  the 
lion’s  share;  and  though  he  may  disclaim  having  done  anything  that 
others  of  his  friends  on  “either  side”  would  not  have  done  under 
similar  circumstances,  he  has  all  the  same,  and  not  the  less  worthily, 
Fig.  34. — HIGHBURY. 
in  case  of  failure,  or  honoured,  if  not  envied,  in  the  event  of  success. 
There  have  also  been  times  and  occurrences  when  it  has  been  possible 
in  non-political  journals  to  make  reference  to  the  acts  of  Her  Majesty’s 
Ministers  without  the  least  risk  of  encroaching  on  the  domain  of  party 
susceptibilities — when,  in  fact,  miserable  party  splutterings  have  been 
submerged  in  the  broad  deep  sea  of  patriotism. 
One  of  the  grandest  characteristics  of  our  race  is  beBt  pourtrayed,  or 
only  fully  pourtrayed,  in  moments  of  national  difficulty  or  prospective 
danger.  If  a  calamity  is  apprehended,  or  a  grave  danger  is  to  he  averted, 
as  if  by  national  instinct  the  spirit  of  party  is  changed  as  by  the 
upheld  the  traditions  of  his  country.  These  are  coolness  and  prompti¬ 
tude  at  a  critical  time — qualities  which  have  many  times  and  oft  exerted 
their  power,  in  the  latest  instance  in  averting  international  complexities, 
the  gravity  of  which,  and  their  far-reaching  character  for  evil,  no  one 
could  or  can  foresee.  And  now  having  caught  Mr.  Chamberlain  at  his 
best,  we  shall  embody  the  sentiments  of  our  readers  of  all  “  colours,”  in 
expressing  the  pleasure  that  they  must  naturally  feel  in  having  a  states¬ 
man  so  distinguished  on  the  roll  of  horticulturists,  while  they  cannot 
think  the  time  inopportune  for  making  some  reference  to  the  home  and 
garden  of  the  right  honourable  gentleman  in  the  Journal  of  Horticulture, 
