The Government of England (Vol. I)

by A. Lawrence Lowell

The temper of the leaders may be imagined, and may well excuse a step, which was, nevertheless, a mistake, because it offended members of the Council of local importance,[548:1] who had probably intended no disrespect to Lord Salisbury. Three days after the adoption of the report a curt letter came from Mr. Bartley, the principal agent of the party, giving the National Union notice to quit the offices occupied jointly with the Central Committee. Lord Randolph Churchill displayed no open resentment at this; but treating the objections of the leaders as if they applied only to the details of the report, he proposed to modify it in part, especially by a change which showed that the general questions of policy reserved for the Council were to relate not to public affairs, but merely to party organisation. He held also a conference with Lord Salisbury, which was again an occasion for misunderstanding; for on April 1 that nobleman wrote that as he and Sir Stafford Northcote had already expressed their disapproval of the report, they could not consider it further in the absence of explanation, but that some passages had been explained at the conference, and it had been made clear that the National Union did not intend to trench on the province of the Central Committee, or take any course on political questions not acceptable to the leaders of the party. It was very satisfactory, the letter said, to find the Council agreeing that matters hitherto disposed of by the leaders and the whips must remain in their hands, including the expenditure of the funds standing in the name of the Central Committee. Lord Salisbury then went on to describe the proper functions of the Council in language evidently intended to cover the same ground as his letter of Feb. 29.[549:1] He added that to insure complete unity of action it was desirable to have the whips sit ex officio on the Council, and be present at the meetings of all committees; and he ended by saying that under the circumstances a separation of establishments would not be necessary.

Lord Randolph's Caustic Reply.

Lord Randolph called at once a meeting of the committee on organisation, and although only three members besides himself were present, he sent to Lord Salisbury, in the name of the committee, a letter unique in English political annals. The document is long, but the following extracts may serve to show its meaning and portray its tone: "It is quite clear to us," it said, "that . . . we have hopelessly failed to convey to your mind anything like an appreciation, either of the significance of the movement which the National Union commenced at Birmingham in October last, or of the unfortunate effect which a neglect or a repression of that movement by the leaders of the party would have upon the Conservative cause. The resolution of the Conference at Birmingham . . . signified that the old methods of party organisation, namely, the control of parliamentary elections, by the leader, the whip, the paid agent drawing their resources from secret funds, which were suitable to the manipulation of the ten pound householder were utterly obsolete and would not secure the confidence of the masses of the people who were enfranchised by Mr. Disraeli's Reform Bill. . . . The delegates at the Conference were evidently of opinion that . . . the organisation of the party would have to become an imitation . . . of the Birmingham Caucus. The Caucus may be, perhaps, a name of evil sound and omen in the ears of aristocratic and privileged classes, but it is undeniably the only form of political organisation which can collect, guide, and control for common objects, large masses of electors. . . . It appeared at first, from a letter which we had the honour of receiving from you on the 29th February, that your Lordship and Sir Stafford Northcote entered fully and sympathetically into the wishes of the Council.[550:1] . . . The Council, however, committed the serious error of imagining that your Lordship and Sir Stafford Northcote were in earnest, in wishing them to become a real source of usefulness to the party. . . . The Council have been rudely undeceived . . . the precise language of your former letter of the 29th February is totally abandoned, and refuge taken in vague, foggy, and utterly intangible suggestions. Finally, in order that the Council of the National Union may be completely and for ever reduced to its ancient condition of dependence upon, and servility to certain irresponsible persons who find favour in your eyes, you demand that the whips of the party, . . . should sit ex officio on the Council. . . . It may be that the powerful and secret influences which have hitherto been unsuccessfully at work on the Council with the knowledge and consent of your Lordship and Sir Stafford Northcote, may at last be effectual in reducing the National Union to its former make-believe and impotent condition; in that case we shall know what steps to take to clear ourselves of all responsibility for the failure of an attempt to avert the misfortunes and reverses which will, we are certain, under the present effete system of wire-pulling and secret organisation, overtake and attend the Conservative party at a general election."

A copy of the letter was read to the Council the next day, when a motion was made regretting its disrespectful and improper tone, and declining to accept any responsibility for it. This was defeated by a vote of nineteen to thirteen, and then an executive committee was appointed to carry out the recommendations in the report.

Negotiations Reopened,

It might be supposed that after receiving a letter of that kind Lord Salisbury would have had no more to do with Lord Randolph Churchill forever, and would have refused to hold further communication with the Council; but politics makes strange bedfellows, especially in a parliamentary form of government. Lord Salisbury could not afford to alienate a body which represented a considerable fraction of the Conservatives in the country; while it would have been folly for Lord Randolph to burn the bridges behind him. Negotiations were, therefore, opened through a third person, very nearly on the lines of Lord Salisbury's letter of April 1, except that three thousand pounds a year were to be paid to the National Union; and an understanding was nearly reached, when an event took place which broke it off for a time.

and Interrupted.

Mr. J. M. Maclean, one of Lord Randolph's supporters in the Council, whose object had been simply to supplant Sir Stafford Northcote, became alarmed lest the movement might result in supplanting Lord Salisbury also, or might cause a real breach in the party. Not being aware of the pending negotiations, he moved at a meeting of the Council on May 2 the appointment of a committee to confer with the Central Committee in order to secure harmony and united action.[552:1] Although letters were read showing that steps already taken would probably lead to an understanding, and although Lord Randolph told Mr. Maclean that he should regard the motion as one of want of confidence, the latter persisted, and, as several of Lord Randolph's friends were absent, carried his proposal by a vote of seventeen to thirteen. Lord Randolph then resigned as chairman of the Council; but his popularity in the country was great, and there was a widespread feeling of regret at a quarrel among influential members of the party. A conference of chairmen of the Conservative associations in eight of the chief provincial towns acted as peacemaker. It drew up a memorandum regretting the lack of harmony, suggested an arrangement very similar to that almost reached in the negotiations recently broken off, and submitted that if these suggestions were accepted Lord Randolph should withdraw his resignation.

A Truce Effected.

The memorandum was laid before the Council at a meeting on May 16, and Lord Randolph was unanimously reëlected chairman. At the same meeting, the committee, composed mainly of Lord Randolph's opponents, which had been appointed to confer with the Central Committee, reported that they had effected an agreement. Again the terms were almost precisely the ones indicated by Lord Salisbury in his letter of April 1, save for the payment of three thousand pounds a year to the Union.[552:2] Coming from this source it is not surprising that they were unsatisfactory to Lord Randolph's friends, and they were referred back for further consideration to the committee reënforced by new members. A month elapsed, and at a meeting on June 13 the committee reported that they had suggested some changes, which the leaders would not accept.[553:1] The matter was again recommitted, but finally on June 27, the committee reported that they had made an agreement on the lines of the earlier plan, and this was adopted as it stood.