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BRITISH POLITICAL LEADERS

       *       *       *       *       *

_BY THE SAME AUTHOR._

IN THE

"Story of the Nations" Series.

  Each volume large crown 8vo, cloth, fully Illustrated, 5s.

    MODERN ENGLAND BEFORE THE REFORM BILL.

    MODERN ENGLAND UNDER QUEEN VICTORIA.

  _IN PREPARATION._

    PORTRAITS OF THE SIXTIES.

  Demy 8vo, cloth, Illustrated, 16s.


LONDON: T. FISHER UNWIN.

       *       *       *       *       *


[Illustration: Photograph copyright by Elliott & Fry

ARTHUR JAMES BALFOUR]


BRITISH POLITICAL LEADERS

by

JUSTIN McCARTHY

With Portraits







[Illustration]

London
T. Fisher Unwin
Paternoster Square
1903

[All rights reserved.]




CONTENTS


    1. ARTHUR JAMES BALFOUR                  1

    2. LORD SALISBURY                       25

    3. LORD ROSEBERY                        49

    4. JOSEPH CHAMBERLAIN                   73

    5. HENRY LABOUCHERE                     99

    6. JOHN MORLEY                         125

    7. LORD ABERDEEN                       151

    8. JOHN BURNS                          177

    9. SIR MICHAEL HICKS-BEACH             203

    10. JOHN E. REDMOND                    229

    11. SIR WILLIAM HARCOURT               255

    12. JAMES BRYCE                        281

    13. SIR HENRY CAMPBELL-BANNERMAN       307




ARTHUR JAMES BALFOUR


My first acquaintance with Mr. Arthur J. Balfour, who recently became
Prime Minister of King Edward VII., was made in the earliest days of my
experience as a member of the House of Commons. The Fourth party, as it
was called, had just been formed under the inspiration of the late Lord
Randolph Churchill. The Fourth party was a new political enterprise. The
House of Commons up to that time contained three regular and recognized
political parties--the supporters of the Government, the supporters of
the Opposition, and the members of the Irish Nationalist party, of whom
I was one. Lord Randolph Churchill created a Fourth party, the business
of which was to act independently alike of the Government, the
Opposition, and the Irish Nationalists. At the time when I entered
Parliament the Conservatives were in power, and Conservative statesmen
occupied the Treasury Bench. The members of Lord Randolph's party were
all Conservatives so far as general political principles were concerned,
but Lord Randolph's idea was to lead a number of followers who should be
prepared and ready to speak and vote against any Government proposal
which they believed to be too conservative or not conservative enough;
to support the Liberal Opposition in the rare cases when they thought
the Opposition was in the right; and to support the Irish Nationalists
when they believed that these were unfairly dealt with, or when they
believed, which happened much more frequently, that to support the
Irishmen would be an annoyance to the party in power.

The Fourth party was made up of numbers exactly corresponding with the
title which had been given to it. Four men, including the leader,
constituted the whole strength of this little army. These men were Lord
Randolph Churchill, Arthur J. Balfour, John Gorst (now Sir John Gorst),
and Sir Henry Drummond Wolff, who has during more recent years withdrawn
altogether from parliamentary life and given himself up to diplomacy, in
which he has won much honorable distinction. Sir John Gorst has recently
held office in the Government, and is believed to have given and felt
little satisfaction in his official career. He is a man of great ability
and acquirements, but these have been somewhat thrown away in the
business of administration.

The Fourth Party certainly did much to make the House of Commons a
lively place. Its members were always in attendance--the whole four of
them--and no one ever knew where, metaphorically, to place them. They
professed and made manifest open scorn for the conventionalities of
party life, and the parliamentary whips never knew when they could be
regarded as supporters or opponents. They were all effective debaters,
all ready with sarcasm and invective, all sworn foes