CHAPTER XXIX
THE RISE AND FALL OF THE CAUCUS
The Liberals
The Conference at Birmingham in May, 1877.
Not content with creating local associations of Liberals on a democratic basis, the Radicals at Birmingham conceived the idea of uniting them together in a great national federation which should represent the whole party throughout the kingdom. The Tories had formed, some years earlier, the National Union of Conservative Associations, and their great victory of 1874, attributed largely to better organisation, had made the time ripe for a more vigorous combination on the Liberal side. Moreover, the new associations framed on the Birmingham pattern had already shown the possibility of concerted action on national questions; for they had held simultaneously a large number of indignation meetings to denounce the Bulgarian atrocities. In May, 1877, therefore, they were invited to send delegates to a conference at Birmingham to form a national party organisation. The call for the meeting contained a clear statement of its purpose. "The essential feature of the proposed Federation," it declared, "is the principle which must henceforth govern the action of Liberals as a political party—namely, the direct participation of all members of the party in the direction, and in the selection of those particular measures of reform and of progress to which priority shall be given. This object can be secured only by the organisation of the party upon a representative basis."[501:1]
Proceedings Thereat.
The conference was attended by delegates from ninety-five local associations, and Mr. Chamberlain, who had entered Parliament the year before, was called to the chair. In his opening speech he propounded with even greater distinctness the object of the plan. "We hope," he said, "that the time is not distant when we may see a meeting of what will be a really Liberal Parliament, outside the Imperial Legislature, and, unlike it, elected by universal suffrage, and with some regard for a fair distribution of political power." After speaking of the need of trusting to the popular initiative in framing the immediate policy of the party, he continued: "Our association will be founded on the belief that the Liberals in the country are more united than their leaders, and that they have attained a pretty clear conception of what are the changes in our Constitution which they believe will be beneficial to the country; that we may obtain their adoption by a little gentle pressure which concerted action may enable us to bring to bear, and that in this way we may exert a great influence on the future policy of the Liberal party." In the ensuing debates the same point of view was emphasised by Mr. William Harris, the founder of the Liberal "Four Hundred" in Birmingham, who declared that "The enfranchisement of the great mass of the people in towns had given the power of controlling representation into the hands of the people, but the direction of the policy of the party, the inauguration of measures to be submitted to Parliament, and the determination of questions on which the people should be asked to agitate, had been confined to the people who had managed the Liberal party; and it was, no doubt, the dissatisfaction of the Liberals with this state of things which led to the inaction of the Liberal party at the last election. . . . To find a remedy for this state of things was the object they invited the representatives present to consider that morning. . . . Why should they not at once and for all form a federation which, by collecting together the opinions of the majority of the people in all the great centres of political activity, should be able to speak on whatever questions arose with the full authority of the national voice."
The chief business of the conference was the adoption—without amendment—of the constitution which had been prepared beforehand. Mr. Chamberlain was then elected president of the Federation with great enthusiasm. A number of vice-presidents were taken from other towns; but the treasurer and honorary secretary were also citizens of Birmingham, while Mr. Schnadhorst, the great organiser, whose hand had been at work throughout the movement, became at once the active secretary. In short, all the offices of any real importance were retained in the town that had given birth to the Federation and was to control its movements for some years to come.
Mr. Gladstone's Benediction.
Aim of the Federation.
The makers of the Federation had taken pains to secure for their plan the sanction of Mr. Gladstone, whose name, in spite of his resignation of the Liberal leadership, carried more weight than that of any one else in the party. He was present in Birmingham on the day of the conference, and in the evening addressed a public meeting. After stating that, in point of organisation, the Conservatives had for years been ahead, and would remain ahead so long as the Liberals adhered like them to a method of arbitrary selection of the representatives of party, founded mainly upon the power of the purse, he declared that it was, in his opinion, to the honour of Birmingham that she had "held up the banner of a wider and of a holier principle"; and he rejoiced that the large attendance of representatives of constituencies showed a disposition to adopt this admirable principle. Thus he gave the new organisation his blessing and bade it God-speed.[503:1] The public meeting ended with a resolution moved by Mr. Chamberlain, and adopted unanimously, which put into formal terms the aim of the movement, already so clearly set forth in debate. It said that, as the opinion of the people should have a full and direct expression in framing and supporting the policy of the Liberal party, this meeting heartily approves of the proposal of a Federation of Liberal Associations. In short, it was made perfectly evident at every step in the genesis of the Federation, in the call for a conference, in the speeches made thereat, and in the final resolution which closed the proceedings, that the new organisation was intended to take an important, and perhaps the leading, hand in directing the policy of the party. It was expected to be, as Mr. Chamberlain expressed it, a Liberal parliament outside the imperial legislature; not, indeed, doing the work of that body, but arranging what work it should do, or rather what work the Liberal members should bring before it, and what attitude they should assume. By this process the initiative on all the greater issues, so far as the Liberal party was concerned, would be largely transferred from the Treasury Bench to the Federation. This was, indeed, expressly stated by some of the speakers as their principal desire, and with such an avowed object it is not surprising that the new machine for the manufacture of Liberal policy should have been popularly called the Caucus.
Its Constitution.
The Council.
The constitution adopted at the conference provided for a great representative assembly of the Federation, called the Council, composed entirely of delegates from the local associations, roughly in proportion to the population of their towns or districts. If the population was under fifty thousand the association was entitled to five representatives; if between fifty and one hundred thousand to ten; and if larger still to twenty representatives. The Council was to hold an annual meeting at which the president, vice-president, treasurer, and honorary secretary, were to be elected. Special meetings could also be called by the officers. Each annual meeting was to decide upon the place at which the next should be held, and in order to awake enthusiasm for the party all over the country it has been the habit, from that day to this, to hold the annual meeting at one after another of the chief provincial towns.
The General Committee.
The constitution set up one other body, partly but not wholly representative in character. It was called the General Committee, and consisted of the officers of the Federation; of delegates from the associations, two in number if the town or district had less than fifty thousand people, three if it had between fifty and one hundred, five if it had over one hundred thousand; and finally of not more than twenty-five additional members chosen by the Committee itself. The principal functions of the Committee were: to aid in the formation of local associations based on popular representation (no others being admitted to membership in the Federation); and to submit to the associations political questions upon which united action might be considered desirable. Unlike the Council, which was to visit different places, the General Committee was to meet in Birmingham until it decided otherwise. It was empowered to elect its own chairman, and it chose Mr. William Harris of that town, the father of the first representative association established there in 1868.
The Federation Begins Actively.
The Federation does not seem at first to have been universally attractive, even to the local associations formed after the Birmingham pattern, for it was joined at the outset by only about half as many of them as had sent delegates to the conference. But by January, 1879, when the first meeting of the Council was held at Leeds, the number had risen to one hundred and one. In its report at that meeting the General Committee showed that it had been very active. It had held no less than five sessions, and on the subject of the Eastern question it had stirred up many public meetings, and had organised a great deputation of local delegates to the Liberal leaders in the two Houses of Parliament. The Committee believed that its labours had not been fruitless, for the report said: "In regulating the action of the Liberal party, both in and out of Parliament, in bringing about closer union between leaders and followers . . . the efforts of the Federation resulted in a great and important measure of success. . . . But for the Liberal action, largely stimulated and guided by the Federated Liberal Associations, we should unquestionably have been at war with Russia." Mr. Chamberlain in his presidential address at the meeting of the Council at Leeds, speaking of any possible attempt to avoid a programme of domestic policy, when the Liberals again came to power, remarked: "I think we shall be justified in saying to Lord Hartington[506:1] that concession is a virtue that gains by being reciprocal." At this time the Radicals and the Whigs, or Liberals of the older type, still formed mutually distrustful wings of the party, and the Federation was the organ of the former.
In its regular session the Council passed no vote on public policy; but, at the public meeting in the evening, resolutions were adopted against the foreign policy of the Conservative government, and in favour of peace, retrenchment, and reform. At the meeting at Darlington in the following year a similar course was followed. Clearly the Federation was taking very seriously its mission as a spur to the Liberal steed; but equally clearly it was not as yet seeking to act as a parliament outside of the imperial legislature, and the centre of gravity was at this time not in the Council, but in the General Committee.
Mr. Chamberlain Enters the Cabinet.
Before the third meeting of the Council took place in January, 1881, an event had occurred that changed essentially the attitude of the Federation. The general election of 1880 had placed the Liberals in office with Mr. Gladstone at their head, and Mr. Chamberlain had been given a seat in the cabinet. It is commonly stated that his connection with the Federation was not the cause of his selection, and this is no doubt perfectly true in the sense that it was not the direct reason for offering him the seat. It is, indeed, well known that the choice lay between him and Sir Charles Dilke.[507:1] But as Mr. Chamberlain had sat less than four years in Parliament, and had never been in the ministry, it can hardly be denied that his position at the head of the new Liberal organisation, which had attracted so much attention throughout the country, was one of the factors in the political prominence that brought him within reach of the cabinet. His new office necessarily brought a change in his relation to the Federation. It was obviously unfitting for him to remain the chief officer of a body that might be used to bring pressure to bear upon Parliament and even upon his colleagues. He therefore resigned the post of president, and was succeeded by his friend and fellow-citizen Mr. Jesse Collings;[507:2] but he continued until the Liberal split in 1886 to make the principal speech at the evening public meeting held in connection with the annual session of the Council.
The Federation Begins to Act as an Outside Parliament.
The Federation lost none of its momentum from the change of ministry. On the contrary its activity increased, and in fact it began at this time to try its hand at framing a programme for the party in a rudimentary way. At its meeting in Birmingham in January, 1881, the Council passed, among other resolutions, one that urged upon the government the need of dealing at the earliest possible moment with various reforms, such as the amendment of the land laws, the extension of the franchise in rural districts, the redistribution of seats, and the creation of representative institutions in the counties. Similar resolutions were passed at the next annual meeting, which took place at Liverpool in October of the same year.
It Puts Pressure upon Members of Parliament.
Meanwhile the activity of the General Committee about current political questions continued; especially in the form of inciting local associations to constrain their representatives to vote with the cabinet. The annual report to the meeting of the Council at Liverpool said that some Liberals had been disposed to propose or support amendments which struck at the vital principle of the Irish Land Bill, while others abstained from voting. The Committee had thereupon decided that its "duty could be most properly and efficiently discharged by inviting the Liberal constituencies to bring legitimate pressure to bear upon those of their representatives, who, in a great national crisis, had failed to support the government." A circular was, therefore, issued to the federated associations which excited much complaint amongst the members of Parliament, but produced the desired effect.[508:1] When the bill was threatened with amendments of the House of Lords a meeting of delegates was called to attack the peers. This, in the opinion of the Committee, also had an effect, and helped to pass the bill.[508:2]
The systematic obstruction by Mr. Parnell and his followers in the Commons, and Mr. Gladstone's plan in 1882 for a new procedure which would enable the House to cut off debate, gave a fresh occasion for bringing the pressure of the federated associations to bear. A circular was sent out, and at once a large majority of them passed resolutions in support of the government's plan.[508:3] The General Committee held meetings also in connection with the Irish Coercion Act of that year, and sustained the cabinet heartily, while at the same time suggesting amendments. Some of these were adopted, and as the Committee complacently remarked, "The Federation may thus claim the credit of having on the one hand strengthened and guided public opinion in support of measures deemed necessary for the maintenance of order; and on the other of having sought to mitigate the severity of the proposed enactments."[509:1]
It calls a General Conference of the Party.
In 1883 the Federation took up energetically the extension of the franchise in the counties. It called a great conference of delegates at Leeds; acting on this occasion in coöperation with the National Reform Union of Manchester and the London and Counties Liberal Union, two rival organisations, which were, however, more local and less aggressive, and waned slowly before the greater vigour of the Federation.[509:2] The delegates met two thousand strong, representing more than five hundred associations, and adopted resolutions declaring that it was the duty of the government at the next session of Parliament to introduce bills to extend the county franchise and redistribute seats. Another conference in Scotland passed similar votes. "Taken together," the General Committee say in their annual report, "they represent the great bulk of the Liberal party throughout Great Britain . . . and . . . it is not too much to expect that such an expression of opinion will exercise decisive weight with the Members of the Government in the arrangement of their measures."
Its Claims at This Time.
These examples show the attitude and the activity of the Federation during the first Liberal ministry that held office after its formation. It claimed to represent, or perhaps one ought to say it claimed that it would when fully developed represent and that it could immediately evoke, the opinion of the whole Liberal party in the country. It was, therefore, convinced that it ought to exert a great influence upon the cabinet in the framing of measures; and it believed that it did so. There is no need of reviewing further the history of the Federation during this period, for its position remained unchanged until Mr. Gladstone brought in his Home Rule Bill in 1886. But on two points the action of the Council is noteworthy in connection with its subsequent career. The resolutions passed at the annual meetings began to cover a wider field. This was especially true after the downfall of the Liberal government, in 1885, when they assumed the proportions of a full programme of internal reforms.[510:1] Then again amendments to the resolutions offered were moved from the floor. In 1883, for example, an amendment in favour of woman suffrage was carried; and in 1885 another demanding local option in regulating the sale of liquor.
The Struggle over Home Rule.
Mr. Gladstone's ministry having resigned in consequence of a defeat on the budget, the Conservatives came to power in June, 1885, and the general election at the end of the year, with the political upheavals to which it gave rise, proved a turning-point in the history of the Caucus. The election left both parties without a working majority; for the Conservatives and Home Rulers together almost exactly balanced the Liberals. In January the Conservatives were beaten on the address with the help of Irish votes, and Mr. Gladstone, returning to office, prepared a bill for a separate Parliament in Ireland. Some members of the moderate wing of the party had already left him during the debate on the address; and in March, while the Home Rule Bill and its complement, the Irish Land Bill, were under discussion in the cabinet, several of the ministers, including Mr. Chamberlain, resigned, one of their chief stumbling blocks being the exclusion of Irish representatives from the House of Commons. A struggle began at once for the control of the National Liberal Federation. On one side stood Mr. Gladstone with his cabinet, the official leaders of the party; on the other Mr. Chamberlain, hitherto the hero and idol of the Caucus, which he had nurtured and made great, which had treated him as its special representative in the cabinet, and had passed each year a vote to welcome him when he came to make his speech. He had declared in Parliament not long before that he was not the Caucus,[511:1] but it certainly expressed his views, and he fought its battles. During the late election he had made the country ring with appeals for the reforms advocated in its programme, especially the demand for labourers' allotments, embodied in the cry for "three acres and a cow." The Caucus was the weapon of the Radical wing of the party, while he was the greatest Radical champion, and although Kitson, the president of the Federation, was against him, the majority of the officers were on his side, among them William Harris, the founder of popular party organisation in Birmingham and still the chairman of the General Committee.
Mr. Chamberlain is Defeated in the Council;
On April 6, two days before Mr. Gladstone brought in the Home Rule Bill, the officers sent a circular to the federated associations asking them to consider the proposals of the government, as soon as they were made known, with a view to an expression of opinion by the Liberal party. A special meeting of the Council was then summoned to meet in London on May 15. There Mr. Harris moved a resolution drawn up by the officers, and expressing Mr. Chamberlain's ideas. It approved of giving the people of Ireland a large control over their own affairs by means of a legislative assembly; but, while declaring the confidence of the Council in Mr. Gladstone, requested him to amend his bill by retaining the Irish representatives at Westminster. The resolution was met by an amendment moved by the followers of the Prime Minister, commending the Home Rule Bill, thanking him for it, and assuring him of support in the present crisis. After a long and eager discussion the amendment was carried by an overwhelming majority.
and Withdraws from the Federation.
The result, so far as the Federation was concerned, was decisive. Six members of the General Committee, including Mr. Harris,[511:2] thereupon resigned; and several influential public men, among them Mr. Chamberlain, withdrew from the organisation. But the mass of the people think on broad lines, delight in strong contrasts easily understood, and have little sympathy with a half-way group that stands between the two opposing parties in the state. Hence like the Peelites in 1846, and the Free Trade Conservatives in 1905, the Liberal Unionists in 1886 were a body in which the members of Parliament were many and their following in the country comparatively few. The personal secessions from the Federation were not numerous, and not a single local association left the fold.[512:1] But the break soon became incurable. The opponents of the Home Rule Bill ceased to be regarded by their former companions in arms as members of the party, and were constrained to leave the Liberal associations;[512:2] while Mr. Chamberlain in conjunction not only with his Radical friends, but with all the Liberals who could not follow Mr. Gladstone's Irish policy, including even Lord Hartington and the Whigs, founded a new organisation upon the old model, called the Liberal Unionist Association.
New Position of the Federation.
The National Liberal Federation did not save Mr. Gladstone and his adherents from defeat at the general election of 1886; but they had obtained control of the organisation, and must find out what to do with it. If a power, it had also been a source of anxiety, and under the wrong management it might again be used to put pressure on the members of Parliament, and even on the leaders themselves. It was useful and must be cajoled; but it was also dangerous and must be kept in check. Like a colt, it must be treated kindly, but must be broken to harness, and above all the reins must not be allowed to get into strange hands lest it learn bad tricks.
Removal to London.
Obviously the offices of the Federation could remain no longer at Birmingham, because in spite of the loss of his organisation Mr. Chamberlain still controlled the city so completely that his candidates carried every seat there at the election of 1886. The offices were, therefore, moved to London, where they were established in the same building with the Liberal Central Association—the body that acts in conjunction with the party whips—and what is more, M. Schnadhorst, the paid secretary of the Federation, who had taken Mr. Gladstone's side at the time of the split, was also appointed honorary secretary of the Association. This arrangement, which lasted until he retired in 1894, and has continued ever since under his successor Mr. Hudson, was not mentioned at the time in the printed reports of the General Committee, but its effects in bringing the leaders of the party into close touch with the management of the Federation can readily be imagined. Another link of the same kind was soon made. The General Committee had always been in the habit of distributing political literature, and in 1887 a publication department was created under the direction of a joint committee consisting of two representatives of the Central Association, and two of the Federation.[513:1] All these changes brought the Federation nearer to the party chiefs, and gave it also a more national stamp.
The Federation Broadened.
At the same time the constitution was slightly modified. The principal changes adopted in 1887 were: making the representation on the Council more nearly proportional to population; giving to each association for a whole constituency three votes in the General Committee, and to all others one vote apiece without regard to size; and lastly providing for district federations, especially for Wales, the Home Counties and London, which should be represented as separate organisations upon the governing bodies. The object of these changes appears to have been to make the Federation attractive to all Liberals throughout the country, for it had hitherto been regarded as preëminently an instrument of the Radical wing of the party, and many local associations had held aloof. The managers now tried to induce them to join in order to make the Federation as fully representative of the whole party as possible. In this they were successful in a high degree, as may be seen from the fact that the federated associations, which numbered in 1886, before the split over Home Rule, only two hundred and fifty-five, rose in two years to seven hundred and sixteen.[514:1] In carrying out this object there was no need of opening the door to local associations not framed upon a popular and representative basis, because societies of that kind had already been entirely superseded.[514:2]
Relation to the Party Leaders.
When the Federation, breaking away from Mr. Chamberlain, chose the side of Mr. Gladstone, the leaders of the party took it at once under their patronage, and began to show a keen interest in its proceedings. Not only did Mr. Gladstone address almost every year a great public meeting held in the evening during the session of the Council, as Mr. Chamberlain had been in the habit of doing before 1886; but other leaders of the party attended the meetings of the Council itself, and former cabinet ministers made speeches there in moving, seconding or supporting the resolutions. This practice magnified the apparent importance of the Federation, and lasted until the Liberals came into office again in 1892.
Resolution of the Council
The Nottingham Programme.
Meanwhile the Council, meeting as before in one after another of the great provincial towns, continued to adopt a series of resolutions setting forth the policy of the Liberal party. The embarrassment that might come from this in the future was not fully perceived at the time, and there was at first no attempt to discourage it. In fact a statement of the objects of the Federation published with the new rules in 1887 repeated the words originally written ten years earlier: "the essential feature of the Federation is the participation of all members of the party in the formation and direction of its policy, and in the selection of those particular measures of reform and progress to which priority shall be given."[514:3] The resolutions became, in fact, more and more comprehensive, because the Council was naturally in the habit each year of reaffirming its previous votes about internal reforms, and adding new ones, the older expressions of opinion being after a while condensed into what was known as the "omnibus resolution." At the meeting held at Nottingham in 1887 a series of resolutions were adopted condemning coercion, urging Home Rule, the principle of one man one vote, registration reform, disestablishment of the Church in Wales, and the need of reform in the land laws, in labourers' allotments, county government, local option, London municipal government, and free education. The resolutions were talked about as a programme for the party, and the managers began to see that a danger was involved, but apparently as yet only the danger of splitting the party. The General Committee, therefore, in its next annual report, after speaking of the influence exerted by the Federation, remarked: "A force so great and so overwhelming requires to be directed with the utmost care and judgment, and your Committee asks for the support of the Federated Associations in applying it only to questions of a practical character, with regard to which there is a general consensus of opinion in the party. . . . Much has been said and written of the Nottingham programme. Neither the resolutions submitted at Nottingham, nor the resolutions which are submitted at the present meetings of the Council, are intended to constitute a political programme. The resolutions which were submitted last year, and those which will be submitted this year, refer to subjects upon which there is a general consensus of opinion in the Liberal ranks. Every question added which is not thus approved tends to divide and to weaken the party."[515:1]
Amendments Ruled Out of Order.
The principle that resolutions on which there was not a general consensus of opinion ought not to be adopted by the Council was given a very definite application at that meeting. A motion stood upon the agenda in favour of one man one vote, and the payment out of the public rates of returning officers' expenses. The president, Sir James Kitson, stated that a delegate wished to add the question of the payment of members, but he must rule that it should be sent up by one of the federated associations with a request for inclusion in next year's programme. As the agenda was prepared by the General Committee, the action of the president was in effect a ruling that a question not placed by that committee upon the paper could not be proposed from the floor. A little later in the meeting he took the same position when a member wanted to bring forward the grievances of the Scotch crofters.[516:1]
The ruling was a complete innovation, for amendments of a similar character had not only been adopted by the Council in former years, in 1883 and 1885, for example; but in the great struggle for the control of the Federation in 1886, the defeat of Mr. Chamberlain had been brought about by an amendment in favour of the Home Rule Bill, which was carried in the Council by a large majority. The conditions, however, had changed. A freedom of making motions that was harmless when the Federation contained only one extreme wing of the Liberals, became a very different thing when it comprised all the elements in their ranks, and the ruling was now essential if motions were not to be made that might divide or weaken the party. It was repeated the next year when a delegate sought to add to the omnibus resolution a rider on the question of the eight-hour day;[516:2] and it was confirmed by the new president, Dr. Spence Watson, in 1891.[516:3] In fact, Dr. Watson in his opening address at the meeting explained that in his opinion the exclusion of any alteration or amendment of the resolutions submitted to the Council arose from the very nature of the case;[516:4] and thereafter the rule was firmly established in the proceedings of the body.
Three matters, however, deserve a brief notice in this connection. First, the rule has never been applied to the General Committee. At its meetings amendments may be freely moved and carried; but then the General Committee has power merely to discuss public questions, not to express definitely the opinion of the party.[517:1] Second, the rule in the Council would seem to apply only to amendments that may provoke a difference of opinion. At the meeting of 1889, for example, immediately after the eight-hour day amendment had been ruled out of order, another declaring "that Welsh disestablishment and disendowment should be dealt with as soon as Irish Home Rule is attained," was adopted, without objection from the president, with the unanimous approval of the meeting.[517:2] Third, the rule in the Council applies only to resolutions affecting the Liberal programme. It has not been applied to such a matter as a revision of the rules of the Federation, and in 1896 and 1897 several motions to amend proposals relating to the rules were made, and one of them, which occasioned a count of votes, was carried by a narrow majority.[517:3]
Resolutions and Speakers Cut and Dried.
With no questions submitted, save those on which there was believed to be a general consensus of opinion in the Liberal ranks, and no amendments allowed, serious dissent about the adoption of the resolutions never occurred. Nor was there much real discussion. In accordance with a common English custom an agenda paper was distributed before the meeting, which contained not only a list of the resolutions to be brought forward, but also the names of the proposer, the seconder, and sometimes a third or fourth man who would support each of them. Now these persons were expected to make speeches long enough to fill together nearly the whole of the sitting; and hence the other delegates, although at liberty to take part, did not often feel inclined to make, upon an unopposed resolution, remarks that in the presence of one or two thousand people must be in the nature of an harangue. As a rule, therefore, the proceedings followed closely the agenda; a resolution was proposed, seconded, and supported as had been arranged, and was then carried unanimously.
Under such conditions the duty of preparing the resolutions for the Council, by drawing up the agenda, was of prime importance. If the Federation was no longer used, as in the days when it was guided from Birmingham, to press forward a policy upon which all Liberals were not agreed, it might now be supposed to speak with a more authoritative voice on behalf of the whole party; and while its votes were passed by common consent, the right to select the questions which should be presented for general acceptance conferred no small power. Nominally this function was intrusted to the General Committee, but that body, which was far too large for such a task, had been in the habit of delegating the preliminary work to a few of its own members under the title of the General Purposes Committee,[518:1] and in 1890 amendments to the rules of the Federation were proposed chiefly in order to confer the power definitely upon the smaller body. They provided that the General Purposes Committee should consist of the officers of the Federation, and of not more than twenty other members elected by the General Committee; that it should prepare the business for meetings of the Council, and generally carry on the affairs of the Federation. Although the change involved a concentration of power it was adopted at the time without opposition,[518:2] but was the cause of heart-burning at a later date.
The Process of Preparing Resolutions.
In his opening speech the next year the President explained the functions of the Council. "From the earliest time," he said, "it has been the practice and the rule of these meetings to make certain declarations. Some of us think those declarations are a little too numerous already. Some of us are afraid that the declarations partake somewhat of the character of a programme. Some of us look back to the good old time when we took up one burning question and fought it, and fought it until we carried it into law. In the first place this is a business meeting for the purpose of receiving the report. In the second place it has come to be a meeting for making certain declarations. It is not—and I wish to be particularly clear upon this point—for the discussion of subjects. But you will say 'The National Liberal Federation not to discuss subjects!' Certainly it can, and certainly it does. It does not discuss them at the annual meeting. It does discuss them at the General Committee meetings, and at the conferences held from time to time.[519:1] Great dissatisfaction is found with the fact that there are rules affecting the Federation. No federation, no society of any kind, could ever exist without rules. There must be absolute rules of procedure, and one of the rules of the proceedings of these meetings has been that beforehand the General Purposes Committee sends out to every association which is federated—between 800 and 900—to ascertain what the wishes of that association may be. From the replies it receives, from prior resolutions, from the business which has been transacted at the General Committee meetings of the Federation and at the conferences, the General Purposes Committee prepares the resolutions which are submitted, and those resolutions are either accepted or rejected. They are not altered or amended. That arises from the very nature of the case. . . . It is absolutely impossible to discuss questions in which great numbers of men take a great interest and hold different views in a gathering of this character. The first discussion must take place in the individual associations. The individual associations must send up their delegates to our General Committee meetings and conferences, and the matter must be threshed out there, and there must be clear evidence as to the question having received general acceptance before it comes to a meeting of this kind." Then, after referring to the question of an eight-hour day, about which the associations showed a wide difference of opinion, he added: "Do you think we wish to stifle discussion? Why, discussion is the very life-blood of Liberalism. We long for discussion of all questions. We wish to have further discussion of this question, a discussion searching out to the very bottom of the matter. We don't want a hap-hazard discussion in a great meeting where it is absolutely impossible that men can give their real opinions, can argue the question out, and go down to the roots of the matter."[520:1]
Contrast with the Original Plan.
It would be difficult to express more forcibly the change that had come over the Federation, in the functions, and still more in the aims, of the Council meetings. According to the original plan the Federation was to be a true Liberal parliament outside the imperial legislature; and it was a far cry from that conception to a body voting, without amendment or real debate, ratifications of measures prearranged by a small committee, and found by previous inquiry to express the universal sentiment of the party. If the Federation, with its General Purposes Committee, its General Committee and its Council, still remained a shadow of a Liberal parliament, it was one somewhat after the model of Napoleon's legislature with its Council of State, its Tribunate, and its Legislative Assembly, where one body prepared the laws, another debated, and a third voted them.[520:2]
The Newcastle Programme.
As the General Purposes Committee placed upon the agenda for the Council only resolutions on which the party was believed to be united, it is not strange that they were invariably carried, and almost always with substantial unanimity. The surprising thing is the number of questions on which the whole body of Liberals appeared to agree; but it must be remembered that the party was in Opposition, so that neither the leaders, nor any one else, could make any effort at present to put into effect the resolutions that had been voted. They expressed merely aspirations, and the impulse of every one was to assent to any proposal for a reform to which he had no fixed objection. This was the more true because all assemblies of that kind are attended most largely by the ardent or advanced members of the organisation, the more moderate elements caring far less to be present. The resolutions, therefore, increased until they reached high-water mark at the very meeting of 1891,[521:1] where Dr. Spence Watson in his opening address said he thought them too numerous already. From the town where the Council met that year the resolutions became known as the "Newcastle Programme." At the evening meeting Mr. Gladstone took up, one after another, most of the subjects included therein, and dwelt upon the importance of each of them; but before doing so he remarked that when the Liberals came to power they would want the additional virtue of patience, because with the surfeit of work to be done it would be difficult to choose proper subjects of immediate attention.[521:2]
The virtue of patience was needed very soon. The Council had met at Newcastle in October, 1891. Owing to a change in the date of meeting, it was not called together again until January, 1893; and in the meanwhile a Liberal ministry had come into office. The Council took up no new questions, and passed a single modest resolution relating to the party policy, saying "That this Council confirms the series of Resolutions known as 'the Newcastle Programme,' and confidently expects that Mr. Gladstone's government will promptly introduce into the House of Commons Bills embodying Reforms which have been declared again and again by this Council to be essential to the welfare of the people of the United Kingdom."[522:1] As the reforms contained in the Newcastle Programme could hardly have been embodied in statutes in less than ten years by a cabinet with a large and homogeneous majority, the demand that bills upon all those subjects should be promptly introduced by a ministry with a very narrow majority, and depending for its life upon the support of Irish votes, showed the need of patience rather than its presence. In fact most of the speakers at the meeting emphasised the reforms in which they were especially interested, and the rest urged the importance of the whole array.
Its Effects.
The wealth of the programme speedily caused embarrassment to the leaders of the party. Home Rule, as every one admitted, was entitled to the first place; but after that had been put on the shelf by the House of Lords difficulties arose, for the Liberals in the House of Commons were not all of one mind. Some of them were more interested in one reform, some in another, and each had an equal right to feel that his subject had been accepted as an essential part of the Liberal policy deserving immediate attention. People said that the traditional division into parties was passing away, that the parties were falling apart into groups, like those in continental legislatures. The assertion was frequently repeated, although it was disproved by the constancy with which the ministers were supported by their followers in a House of Commons where the defection of a dozen members at any moment would have turned the scale. Month after month the whips came regularly to the table with their slight margin of Liberal votes. In fact the government defeats on minor matters were less frequent than in Mr. Gladstone's previous administration; and no defeat on a question of political importance occurred until June, 1895, when it was accomplished by the trick of bringing Conservatives secretly into the House through the terrace. After that defeat the ministers resigned, not because their followers had ceased to vote with them, but because they were weary of a hopeless struggle. Nevertheless the Newcastle Programme with its magnificent promises had been a source of weakness to them. It restrained their freedom of action, and forced their hands. In short, it hampered their initiative in party policy, and it caused disappointment among their followers.
Lord Rosebery's Criticism.
Lord Rosebery, who had succeeded Mr. Gladstone as Prime Minister in 1894, felt the bad effects of the Newcastle Programme. At the public meeting, held when the Council met in January, 1895, he spoke of the function of the Federation in threshing out the issues lying before the party, and that of the cabinet in winnowing them, selecting from a vast field the bills to be brought forward in the session. "Now, this programme," he went on, "as it stands now, without any addition, would require many energetic years in which a strong Government, supported by a united and powerful Liberal Party, would have to do their best to carry into effect (sic). But what is sometimes forgotten is this—that we cannot pass all the measures of this programme simultaneously. . . . Whilst this process of winnowing is going on, all Cabinet Ministers are subject to a bombardment of correspondence . . . by appeals, some of them menacing, some of them coaxing and cajoling, but all of them extremely earnest, and praying that the particular hobby of the writer shall be made the first Government Bill. . . . Any delay in pushing forward each measure that has been recorded in what is called the Newcastle programme implies, we are told, the alienation of all the earnest and thoughtful members of the Liberal Party—in fact, the backbone of the Liberal Party. And I have come to the conclusion that the Liberal Party is extremely rich in backbones."[523:1]
At the public meeting in the following year, after the fall of his government, he spoke even more plainly. He said there had been complaint that officialdom had crept into the National Liberal Federation. His own experience was that it played a very subordinate part there, and if he had a secret hope on the subject, it was that officialdom might have a little more to do with the organisation. "I remember two occasions on which the National Liberal Federation took the bit between its teeth and, certainly uninspired by officialdom, took very remarkable action. The first occasion was when it made at Newcastle a programme, a very celebrated expression of faith which, I confess, was in my opinion too long for practical purposes."[524:1] Later in alluding to the fall of his ministry he asked: "Why did it fall? It fell because, with a chivalrous sense of honour too rare in politics, and with inadequate means, it determined to fulfil all the pledges that it had given in Opposition. It had, I think, given too many pledges—partly owing to you, Dr. Spence Watson. It had, I think, assumed too many responsibilities, it had taken a burden too heavy for its back, or the back of any Government or any Parliament, to bear."[524:2]
The Programme Cut Down after 1894.
The lesson of the Newcastle Programme had not been in vain. Already in 1895 the "omnibus resolution," which, by way of comprehensive reform, threatened the interests of the landlord, the manufacturer, the mine owner, the Church, and the House of Lords, had been omitted, although most of the matters covered by it were made the subject of special votes. The next year the programme was left out altogether. Apart from resolutions criticising the Conservative government for its foreign policy in Armenia and Egypt, and stating on what terms an education bill ought to be based, the only vote dealing with the policy of the Liberal party declared simply, "That this Council reaffirms its adherence to the principles for which the Federation has always contended," a confession of faith not likely to cause acute discomfort to a future cabinet. As the years went by the pressure for specific reforms was too strong to be resisted, and resolutions dealing with them were adopted; but they have never again reached anything resembling the range, the well-nigh revolutionary proportions, or the suicidal capacity, of the Newcastle Programme.
Complaints that the Whips Control the Federation.
A political, like a military, defeat is apt to cause mutual recriminations. If Lord Rosebery lamented that the leaders in Parliament had been overburdened by the programme of the Federation, there were Radicals aggrieved by the control which, in their opinion, the leaders, acting through the whips and the Liberal Central Association, had acquired over the Federation. The complaints were so loud, and so much discussed in the press, that Dr. Spence Watson felt constrained to deal with them in his presidential address. The charge was that by having the same quarters, and the same secretary (Mr. Hudson) the Federation had been fused with and merged into the Central Association. This, he insisted, was absolutely incorrect, the two organisations having duties which lay quite apart one from the other; and he defended the existing connection between them as a good business arrangement, which had resulted in much better work.[525:1] The charge in another form was that the General Purposes Committee, in preparing the resolutions for the Council, was swayed by the whips by means of Mr. Hudson. Of this he said: "We are told that the resolutions are not genuine; that they are forced upon us by the Whips through the secretary, Mr. Hudson. No man admires the work of Mr. Hudson more than I do, because no man sees more of his work. I think Mr. Hudson, if he were so disposed, which I imagine is very far from his disposition, would find it very difficult to impose the will of the Whips upon us. We are not exactly the men to be dealt with in that way. Now, gentlemen, I wish to put this quite plainly. There is not a grain of truth in it. I have written down these words because I wish to be precise. I assert that not a single resolution has ever, at all events since 1886, been suggested, hinted at, drawn, altered, or manipulated by any Whip or leader whatsoever."[525:2]
Power Concentrated in an Executive Committee in 1896.
Although the statement was no doubt true, and would perhaps continue to be true, the efficiency of the party might well depend upon having the resolutions of the Council prepared by a small body of men of proved discretion, who would insert nothing embarrassing to the leaders. In view of the experience with the Newcastle Programme it might be wise to take even greater care in the selection of men who could understand the situation of the front bench, and to increase their powers. At a meeting of the General Committee, at Leeds, in December, 1895, a vote was passed instructing the General Purposes Committee "to consider whether the machinery of the Federation can be made more representative and democratic." Democracy is a principle in whose name strange things are done; and in accordance with this vote a plan was reported for a revision of the rules, in which the principal changes proposed would strengthen the hands of the General Purposes Committee, renamed the Executive Committee. That body was directed to invite expressions of opinion from the federated associations about the subjects to be brought before the Council; was confirmed in its power to frame the resolutions to be submitted;[526:1] and was given authority to decide any questions of procedure that might arise during the sessions of the Council.[526:2] In order, as the General Committee said in their report, to "afford an opportunity for the ventilation of views upon subjects not dealt with in the resolutions," it was provided that upon the motion to adopt the annual report "the Council shall be open for the free discussion of any matter affecting the policy and principles of the Liberal party." A mere chance to talk supplies a useful safety valve, without doing harm; and in this case the talk could not be followed by an expression of opinion on the part of the Council, for no vote would be in order save to accept, or reject, or refer back, the annual report.[526:3] The discussion would be like that in the House of Commons on the motion to adjourn over Easter.
Hitherto the action of the General Committee had been entirely free, but the revised rules intrusted the Executive Committee with the duty of preparing the business for that body as well as for the Council; not, indeed, in the same absolute way, for any federated association could propose an amendment or further resolution, provided they gave notice thereof to the secretary five days, at least, before the meeting. Moreover the Executive Committee was given power to nominate its own members. Every association had also a right to make nominations, but these were not, like those of the Executive Committee, circulated among the local associations before the meeting.[527:1]
Members of Parliament Excluded Therefrom.
Finally, members of Parliament were declared ineligible to the Executive Committee. To a question why they were excluded, the chairman of the General Committee "replied that it had always been considered desirable that when a man became a Member of Parliament he should retire from the Executive, and that they should be free from all thought of outside influence."[527:2] The answer does not make it perfectly clear whether the object of the provision was to free the members of Parliament from the influence of the Committee, or the Committee from the influence of the members. Both results were in fact attained. The members of the House were left to the sole tutelage of the whips, so far as the Federation was concerned, for since 1886 it had ceased altogether from the practice of stirring up local associations to bring pressure to bear upon their representatives;[528:1] and, on the other hand, the new rule removed any opportunity for a member of Parliament to use, or appear to use, the Committee for his own political advancement.[528:2] Lord Randolph Churchill's doings in the National Union of Conservative Associations—to be related in the next chapter—was still fresh in men's minds. It is, indeed, a striking fact that from the time when the Liberals came to power in 1892 the leaders ceased for some years to attend even the sittings of the Council, which were left wholly to the lesser lights.[528:3] One of the chiefs spoke at a public evening meeting; but they all stayed away from the Council itself where business was transacted, thus depriving it of the weight that came from having its words sanctioned by the presence of the real leaders of the party.
Opposition to the Changes.
During the debate on the new rules in the Council,[528:4] a number of amendments were moved, which aimed at preventing the concentration of power in the hands of the General and Executive Committees. Of this nature were motions that the Executive Committee should be chosen by the Council; that amendments to the agenda and further resolutions might be proposed at Council meetings; that the agenda should be prepared by the General, instead of the Executive, Committee; and that the Executive Committee should not have power to nominate its own members. As these amendments struck at the very root of the revision, none of them were carried, and in fact the new rules were adopted without substantial alteration.
Renewed Discussion in 1897 and 1898.
At the meeting in the following year, 1897, the same questions were raised again. Changes in the rules were proposed, similar in character to the amendments rejected in 1896, and brought forward with the same object. They were urged on the ground that the control ought to be taken from the hands of the few and placed in the hands of the many, that at present "the whole thing was wire-pulled from the top," that the Liberal party had got out of touch with the Labour party, and that the associations had not so much opportunity as they ought to have to bring matters before the Council. In the end the proposals were shelved by being referred to the Executive Committee.[529:1] The next report of the General Committee treated the matter with great frankness: "The Annual Council Meeting," we read, "must either be (a) an open conference for the debate of multitudinous questions about which the party has come to no agreement, or (b) an Assembly of a declaratory character to emphasise matters upon which the party are agreed. The former function is impossible, if merely because the Council may consist of more than a thousand persons sitting for less than a dozen hours. . . . It is inevitable (and there is no reason why it should not be frankly recognised) that the business of the Council Meeting should be more or less 'cut and dried' beforehand. . . . These resolutions are intended to inform the party leaders of the subjects in dealing with which they may rely upon the support of the party as a whole. The Federation does not interfere with the time or order in which questions should be taken up. That is the province of the leaders of the party."[529:2]
The report went on to discuss the occult question: Who was responsible for the Newcastle Programme? "The Federation," it said, "had steadily refused to formulate a political programme. . . . How then did the Newcastle Programme come into existence? No Newcastle Programme was ever framed by the Federation or by any one connected with it." The Council merely passed a number of resolutions urging reforms, all of which had been demanded at previous meetings. "But the resolutions of this particular meeting received a special significance from the fact that . . . to the surprise of every one, our great leader, Mr. Gladstone . . . took up seriatim the resolutions which had been passed at the Council Meetings and gave them the weight of his direct approval. The newspapers at once spoke of the Newcastle Programme."[530:1] Poor Mr. Gladstone! It seems that by taking the action of the Federation too seriously, he became quite unconsciously[530:2] the unfortunate author of the Newcastle Programme.
A few members protested vehemently in favour of the changes they had proposed in the rules, but the report of the General Committee was adopted with only two dissentients; and thus the opposition to the concentration of power in the hands of a small executive body was laid to rest. But it must be observed that if the direction of the Federation is in the hands of a few men, their power is exerted, not to incite, but to restrain the Council, not to use it to carry through a policy of their own, but to prevent it from doing something indiscreet.
Discussion in the Press.
The ill-starred Newcastle Programme, and the concentration of authority within the Liberal organisation to which it gave rise, provoked discussion in the press as well as in the Federation itself, with the contending views painted in higher colours. One can find articles written to prove that the political machine had taken the place of public opinion;[530:3] or that the Federation acted at the instigation of the whips, was as much subject to the Liberal Government as the Board of Trade, and was used by the leaders to register opinions upon questions on which the party itself was divided;[531:1] or finally that the Federation had become an anti-democratic juggernaut, which elevated the aristocratic elements in the party and killed enthusiasm.[531:2] Opinions of this kind are exaggerated, springing from dread of the organisation, or disappointment at the results achieved.
Another writer tells us more calmly that the evolution of Liberal policy goes through three stages: first, a free discussion in the General Committee, which shows the trend if not the balance of opinion, but which does not add articles to the party programme, because the Federation does not act by majorities, and all the associations may not have sent delegates to the committee; second, the adoption by the Council, without amendment or real debate, of resolutions which have been found to command the assent of practically the whole party; and third, the unfettered selection by the Liberal cabinet from among those resolutions, of the measures they think it best to bring before Parliament.[531:3] The writer states correctly the theory of the matter; and sees clearly that although the General Committee is allowed to discuss very freely and to act by majority, its decisions are not considered authoritative, while the Council which speaks in the name of the party is not permitted to deal at all with questions that might arouse a serious difference of opinion.
The General Committee and Council at Work.
Example in the Boer War.
The actual working of the National Liberal Federation is well illustrated by its action in regard to the Boer War, a matter on which the Liberals were divided. At a meeting of the General Committee in December, 1899, a resolution was proposed, saying that there was much to deplore in the conduct of negotiations with President Kruger, and that in making peace due regard must be paid to the wishes of all sections of the South African population; but avoiding carefully any statement whether the war was inevitable or not. A second clause simply praised the soldiers and expressed sympathy with the sufferers. A motion was made to add somewhat incongruously in the clause a recital that "a wise statesmanship could and should have avoided" the war, and it was carried by 114 votes to 94.[532:1] But this was treated merely as the opinion of the persons present, not as binding the party; and when the agenda was prepared for the meeting of the Council in the following March, the Executive Committee, wishing to avoid points of difference, omitted the words that had been inserted. The principal resolution relating to the war was introduced in the Council by a speech in which the mover virtually threw the blame for the war upon the Boers. This raised a storm of dissent, and speakers took the other side with no mild language. But an amendment could not be moved, and after the most contradictory opinions had been uttered the resolution was adopted unanimously.[532:2] The members of the General Committee, therefore, expressed their views individually and collectively, but ineffectually, while in the larger assembly the members could personally declare their opinions, but the Council as a whole could not. It could only pass a resolution carefully drawn so as to conceal the differences of opinion that existed.
Selection of the Party Leader.
At one time the Federation was tempted to lay its hand on a matter even more delicate than the formulation of party policy, and that is the selection of the party leader. On Dec. 13, 1898, Sir William Harcourt's resignation of the Liberal leadership in the House of Commons was made public, and it so happened that the General Committee met three days later. There a motion was made requesting him to reconsider his position, and another "That, in the opinion of this meeting, the question of the leadership of the Liberal party should be taken into immediate consideration, and calls upon the leaders to close up their ranks." In deference, however, to a strong feeling that the motions did not come within the functions of the Federation they were withdrawn;[533:1] and before the Council met the Liberals in the House of Commons had chosen Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman as their leader. The decision in the Committee was wise, for the success of parliamentary government depends upon the fact that the leaders in the Commons possess the influence required to command the support of their followers, and this can be secured only by having them selected, formally or informally, by the members of the party in Parliament. A man chosen by a popular body outside might well be quite unable to lead the House.
The Federation is Muzzled.
The National Liberal Federation has now had a history of thirty years, and it has proved very different from what it was originally intended to be. As an organisation it is highly useful to the party in many ways. It does valuable work in promoting local organisation, in distributing party literature, in collecting information, and in keeping the Liberal workers throughout the country alert. Even the Council does good service in arousing enthusiasm, and preserving an appearance of participation by the rank and file in the management of party affairs. But as a Liberal parliament outside of the imperial legislature, which directs the policy of the party, the Federation is a sham. The General Committee can debate and act freely, but the lack of a sufficiently representative character, and the almost invariable absence of all the leading Liberals,[533:2] deprives its deliberations of any real might; while the Council is effectively muzzled. Its resolutions are carefully prepared so as to express no opinions on which every one does not agree, and hence they declare nothing that every one did not know already. Nevertheless it involves some dangers. Popular excitement on some question might force the Executive Committee to bring in unwise resolutions; the Council itself might become roused, and by a change in the rules tear off the muzzle; and it is not inconceivable that a man with popular talents and a demagogic temperament might capture the organisation, and use it to combat the leaders and thrust himself into power.
To a person unfamiliar with the hopes and fears inspired by the Caucus a generation ago, a discussion of this length about a body that wields very little real power may seem like a long chapter on the snakes in Iceland; but there are a couple of good reasons for treating the subject thoroughly. The very fact that the Caucus was regarded as the coming form of democracy, destined to undermine the older political institutions of the nation, makes its subsequent history important, for it shows that among a highly practical people democratic theories about direct expression of the popular will yield to the exigencies of actual public life. The story of the Caucus illustrates also the central conception of this book, that in the English parliamentary system leadership must be in the hands of the parliamentary leaders. We have seen this principle at work in the House of Commons, and a popular organisation, in attempting to direct party policy, strove against it in vain. That the result is not an accident may be seen from the experience of the Conservative party, where a similar movement, not less dramatic at times, has travelled through different paths to the same end.
FOOTNOTES:
[501:1] These and the following statements are taken from the official "Proceedings attending the formation of the National Federation of Liberal Associations with Report of Conference held in Birmingham on Thursday, May 31, 1877." Since this chapter was written, "The National Liberal Federation, from its Commencement to the General Election of 1906," has been published by Dr. Robert Spence Watson, for many years its president. But although a valuable history of the organisation, and a vigorous statement of the opinions held by its leaders, the book adds little to the information that may be gathered from other sources, for the author does not take us behind the scenes.
[503:1] M. Ostrogorski points out very clearly how important it was for the standing of the Federation to have the real Liberal leader for its sponsor, and how this was possible, because he was not the nominal leader. I., 181.
[506:1] Then the Liberal leader in the House of Commons. The statements of what took place at these meetings are taken from the annual reports published by the Federation.
[507:1] Morley, "Life of Gladstone," II., 630. Jeyes, "Mr. Chamberlain," 85-86.
[507:2] Mr. Collings remained president only one year, and his successors were from other towns.
[508:1] Rep. of 1881, cf. Ostrogorski, I., 209-11.
[508:2] Political education had always been one of the functions of the Federation, and it was in the habit of distributing party literature. In 1881 it sent out copies of two speeches by Mr. Chamberlain. These were, in fact, the only speeches it circulated that year.
[508:3] Rep. of meeting of General Committee, March 6, 1882; Ann. Rep. to Council, December, 1882, cf. Ostrogorski, I., 213-15.
[509:1] Ann. Rep. to Council, December, 1882.
[509:2] Cf. Ostrogorski, I., 218-25.
[510:1] The resolutions adopted by the Council in October, 1885, related to primogeniture and entail, tenure and compensation of tenants, registration of land titles, enfranchisement of leaseholders, compulsory purchase of land for labourers, public elementary schools, election of rural governing bodies, and disestablishment of the Church.
[511:1] Hans. 3 Ser. CCXCIII., 573 (Oct. 30, 1884).
[511:2] Mr. Harris came back a few years later and served on the executive body.
[512:1] Rep. of the Gen. Com. in 1886.
[512:2] Cf. Ostrogorski, I., 293, 307-9.
[513:1] Rep. of 1887, pp. 28, 29, 40.
[514:1] Rep. of 1888, p. 14.
[514:2] Ibid., p. 12.
[514:3] Ibid., 1887, p. 39.
[515:1] Rep. of 1888, pp. 13, 14.
[516:1] Rep. of 1888, pp. 109, 112.
[516:2] Ibid., 1889, pp. 128-29.
[516:3] Ibid., 1891, pp. 87, 96.
[516:4] Ibid., p. 42. On other occasions he repeated the statement, adding that the practice saved the Council the risk from which the Union of Conservative Associations had suffered, of having alterations made suddenly under the magic strains of eloquence. Rep. of 1895, p. 58; 1896, p. 57.
[517:1] As late as 1894 the General Committee declared that the Registration Bill of the Liberal government was not satisfactory and urged its amendment. Rep. of 1894.
[517:2] Rep. of 1889, p. 129.
[517:3] Ibid., 1896, pp. 73-78; Rep. of 1897, pp. 77-80.
[518:1] Rep. of 1890, p. 29.
[518:2] Ibid., pp. 6-8, 58.
[519:1] These were special conferences of delegates from the associations of the whole, or of some part, of the country. They were not infrequently held.
[520:1] Rep. for 1891, pp. 42-44.
[520:2] "Now whilst the Council of the Federation declares what the party as a whole desires, the General Committee attempts by preliminary discussion to arrive at what the desires are. As the General Committee examines but does not declare, the freest and fullest discussion takes place at its meetings." Rep. of 1898, p. 42.
[521:1] Rep. of 1891, pp. 6-8.
[521:2] Ibid., p. 101.
[522:1] Rep. of 1892, p. 6.
[523:1] Rep. of 1895, pp. 111-13.
[524:1] The other occasion was when it held a conference on the subject of the House of Lords.
[524:2] Rep. of 1896, pp. 109, 119
[525:1] Rep. of 1896, pp. 58-60.
[525:2] Ibid., p. 58.
[526:1] The agenda was to be sent to the associations in advance of the meeting.
[526:2] In 1902 the Committee itself proposed at the Council meeting, and carried a substitute for its own resolution. Rep. of 1902, p. 70.
[526:3] It was so ruled. Rep. of 1898, p. 60.
[527:1] The text of this provision was: "One month, at least, prior to the meeting of the General Committee at which the Executive Committee is to be elected, a list of those Members of the existing Executive Committee who offer themselves for reëlection, together with the names of any others nominated by the Executive Committee, shall be sent to each of the Federated Associations. Federated Associations desiring to nominate other Candidates for the Executive Committee shall send in formal nominations to the Secretary of the Federation at least fourteen days before the meeting. In the event of nominations exceeding the number to be elected, a ballot will be taken at the meeting of the General Committee."
[527:2] Rep. of 1896, p. 77.
[528:1] This appears from the annual reports of the General Committee, which did, however, continue for some years to send circulars to local associations urging them to pass resolutions of a general character.
[528:2] At the same time all the Liberal members of Parliament were made ex officio members of the Council, where their presence was expected to exert a restraining influence upon the extreme and impracticable elements in the party.
[528:3] After the party had been out of power many years this rule was not rigidly observed. In 1903, for example, Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman spoke in support of one of the resolutions. Rep. of 1903, p. 75.
[528:4] Rep. of 1896, pp. 71-78.
[529:1] Rep. of 1897, pp. 75-80. One of the arguments in favour of the election of the Executive Committee by the General Committee was that the latter was more fairly representative than the Council, because the delegates to the Council from the part of the country where the meeting was held attended in greater numbers than from more distant places.
[529:2] Ibid., 1898, pp. 39, 41.
[530:1] Rep. of 1898, pp. 40-41.
[530:2] Ibid., pp. 54-55.
[530:3] "The Ministry of the Masses," Edinburgh Review, July, 1894.
[531:1] "The Reorganisation of Liberalism," James Annand, New Review, November, 1895.
[531:2] "The Future of Liberalism," Fortnightly Review, January, 1898.
[531:3] "The National Liberal Federation," Contemporary Review, February, 1898.
[532:1] Rep. of 1900, p. 15.
[532:2] Ibid., pp. 63-70.
[533:1] Rep. of 1899, pp. 21, 24.
[533:2] The exceptions are rare. In 1903, however, Mr. Bryce moved a resolution on education. Rep. of 1903, p. 20.
