Conservatives, if they took office, would not command a majority in the House of Commons, nor could they appeal to the country to give them one. If they were to come in, it must be on the understanding that the outgoing Ministry would assist them to obtain the necessary supplies and to carry on the routine business of State. Mr. Gladstone would give no pledge and the situation became tense. The crisis lasted from June 11th to June 23rd, and was terminated only by the good offices of the Queen. No less than six times in one day did her Private Secretary, Sir Henry Ponsonby, interview Mr. Gladstone.1 At last an understanding was arrived at, and on the strength of it Lord Salisbury took office.

The revolt of the younger Tories against the leadership of Sir Stafford Northcote was rewarded by the latter's reluctant removal to the House of Lords, where, as Earl of Iddesleigh, he served as First Lord of the Treasury. Lord Salisbury himself took the Foreign Office-an admirable arrangement, if there had been another Premier; Sir Michael Hicks Beach led the House of Commons as Chancellor of the Exchequer-until the leader of the Fourth Party was ready; Lord Randolph Churchill modestly contented himself, for the moment, with the India Office; Mr. W. H. Smith went to the War Office, Lord George Hamilton to the Admiralty, and Sir Richard Cross returned to the Home Office. Sir Hardinge Giffard became Lord Halsbury and Lord Chancellor; Mr. Gibson who in late years had done good service to the Party on the platform, became Lord Chancellor for Ireland with a peerage (Lord Ashbourne) and a seat in the Cabinet; but of all the appointments perhaps the most significant was that of Lord Carnarvon to be Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, with a seat in the Cabinet. Lord Carnarvon, a man of high integrity and great independence, made no secret of his leanings towards some form of extended local government for Ireland, and his appointment went far to secure the Irish vote for his party at the General Election. This took place, according to arrangement, in November.

1 The Queen pressed a peerage upon Gladstone in a letter which, as he wrote to Lord Granville, "moves and almost upsets me. It must have cost her much to write and is really a pearl of great price."-Morley, iii. 210.

1885]

GENERAL ELECTION OF 1885

511

General

The English boroughs in the main returned Conservatives, but The the new electors in the counties proved their gratitude to Mr. Election Gladstone by giving the Liberal Party a majority of eighty-six.1 of 1885 This figure exactly equalled the number of Mr. Parnell's followers. The strength of the Home Rule Party was the deciding factor in the situation. Before Parliament was opened the Conservatives shed their Lord Lieutenant, and in the first critical division on the Address (Jan. 26th, 1886) the Parnellites threw in their lot with the Opposition and left the Ministry in a minority of seventy-nine. Of the majority seventy-four were Parnellites. Lord Salisbury immediately resigned, and Mr. Gladstone was asked to form a Government. Lord Hartington declined to serve in it, and his example was followed by many of the most distinguished of his former colleagues. The old Liberal Party was rent in twain. A new issue of paramount importance was definitely raised-an issue destined to divide English Parties for at least a quarter of a century to come. That issue is not yet decided; the chapter of history opened by Mr. Gladstone in 1886 is not yet concluded; at this point, therefore, it is fitting that this detailed narrative should stop.

In more than one sense the year 1885-1886 marks the parting of the ways. The Reform movement, temporarily arrested by the French Revolution, but breaking forth after the Peace of 1815 with irresistible force, had now, for the time being, clearly reached its term. By successive stages the great mass of the manhood of the nation had been admitted to the responsibilities of citizenship. To the arbitrament of the new democracy a great issue was presented in 1886. They were invited to confer upon Ireland a separate Legislature with an Executive responsible thereto. The proposal seemed to them to be fraught with danger to the Commonwealth, and they installed, and for twenty years, with one short interval, maintained in power the Party which was pledged to preserve the integrity of the United Kingdom. Not, however, until the close of that period (1905) did the recently enfranchised voters realize the potency of the weapon placed in their hands. By that time the new ruling class had learnt more lessons than were dreamt of in the educational philosophy of Robert Lowe. Before the vast

1 Including four Independents the Liberals numbered 335; the Tories, 249; the Parnellites, 86.

issues, social and economic, which gradually emerged as the century faded, even that of Legislative Independence for Ireland seemed to pale into insignificance.

These problems belong to the future; the historian is concerned with the past; truthful narration may be required of him, but not speculation. If the dead must bury the dead, the unborn must struggle in the womb of time.

1885]

THE IRISH QUESTION

513

CHAPTER XXVI

EPILOGUE. DEMOCRACY AND EMPIRE. THE CLOSE OF THE
VICTORIAN ERA

HE formal argument of this work reaches its logical conclusion in the Parliamentary Reform Acts of 1884 and 1885. Nevertheless, in order to sketch the progress of events down to the close of the Victorian era, some words may be added by way of epilogue. To a period already regarded as "old-fashioned" the usage can hardly be deemed inappropriate.

For nearly ten years Ireland continued to occupy the first place The Irish in political interest. On coming into office in 1885, the Conserva- Question tives deliberately declined to renew the expiring Crimes Act. This decision was admittedly a grave one,' and it did not stand alone. Combined with a virulent attack by Lord Randolph Churchill upon Lord Spencer's administration, it gave substance to the prevalent rumours that the Tory Government meant to come to terms with Parnell. A promised re-enquiry into a notorious murder case 2 and the passing of an Act to facilitate land-purchase seemed to afford further confirmation. The Land Act of 1885, popularly known as the Ashbourne Act, was one of the least pretentious, but, as far as it went, one of the most effective agrarian measures ever enacted for Ireland. By a simple use of State credit it made a real beginning with the work of converting tenant-cultivators into proprietors of the soil. A tenant desiring to purchase his holding and agreeing with his landlord to do so could borrow from the State the whole sum required at 4 per cent. By this means not only was his rent immediately reduced, but at the end of a period of forty-nine years he became automatically the owner of his farm.

1 Cf. Churchill, Life of Lord R. Churchill, i. 409.

2 The Maamtrasna affair.

3 By about 20 per cent. as compared with the “ 'judicial rent of 1881.-S. H. Butcher, Irish Land Acts, p. 20.

and Home

Rule

The total sum to be advanced by the State was limited to £5,000,000,1 but this modest experiment formed the basis of all subsequent land-purchase legislation down to the great measure of 1903. Nothing could have been more consonant with the best Conservative tradition than the Ashbourne Act. Can the same be said of the communications which, in the autumn of 1885, took place between Mr. Parnell and Lord Carnarvon ?

That the new Lord Lieutenant favoured the principle of federalism was well known: he had already applied it to Canada and had attempted to apply it to South Africa. Would he venture to recommend to his colleagues its application to Ireland? The happenings of 1885, though in the highest degree momentous, are still wrapped in some obscurity. But this much is certain. Within a few weeks of taking office Lord Carnarvon met Parnell and listened sympathetically to the statement of his views. The fact of these meetings was communicated to the Prime Minister, but not to the Cabinet.3 In November the Irish vote in English constituencies was given, under orders from Parnell, to the Tory candidates. The result precisely fulfilled the astute anticipation of the Irish leader. In the new Parliament he held the balance between parties. Had the Tories won a dozen more seats he could have kept them in power; as it was he could reduce the Liberals to impotence.

Gladstone No sooner was the verdict of the electorate given than Mr. Gladstone sent up his famous "Kite ". It is now clear 5 that during the autumn of 1885, if not before, his own mind had been tending in the direction of Home Rule; but until the elections were over he gave no clear sign. To him Parnell's victory in Ireland appeared decisive; enfranchised Ireland had now spoken. But he would gladly have seen the question settled by the Conservatives, and he actually opened the matter to the Premier's nephew, Mr. Balfour. Lord Salisbury, however, was not prepared for the plunge. As soon as he was assured of this Mr. Gladstone turned him out. The new Parliament met on January 12th, 1886.

I Drawn from the Irish Church Surplus.

"The "Wyndham Act".

3 Cf. Disclaimer of Sir M. H. Beach in House of Commons; O'Brien's Parnell,

P. 359.

4 Liberals 335; Conservatives 249; Parnellites 86.

5 Cf. Morley, iii. 234 seq., and Holland, Devonshire, ii. 88 seq.