'At this moment Chamberlain and I were anxious to get Courtney into the Cabinet, and Mr. Gladstone having asked us, after Playfair's worst mess, if we thought Courtney would take the place of Chairman of Ways and Means, we told him that we thought he would only if it was understood that it was not to lessen his chances of obtaining Cabinet office. [Footnote: Sir Lyon Playfair, Chairman of Committees, had suspended eighteen Irish members on July 1st.]
'When the House met at nine o'clock [Footnote: This means after the dinner interval, for which at this time the House used to adjourn.] on Friday, July 7th, I sounded Trevelyan' (then Chief Secretary for Ireland) 'as to his course, and found him most anxious to stop in at all hazards. I then saw Childers, who had walked home with Hartington at seven. He said that he had urged Hartington not to form a weak Whig Administration, and had told him that if Chamberlain would stay he, Childers, would go on, but that he thought that to go on without Chamberlain would be fatal, and that it would be far better to let the Tories come in, and help them through with Egypt, and then make them go to their constituents. At ten o'clock Grosvenor came and told me that he thought that Mr. Gladstone would stay on. Chamberlain, who still thought that Mr. Gladstone would resign, told Hartington that in the event of the formation of a new Liberal Ministry he should insist that Goschen should not be put in, and that the vacancies should be filled up by myself, Courtney, and Trevelyan. At midnight the storm had blown over.'
A Bill to prevent eviction for arrears of excessive rents had been demanded by the Nationalist party as a necessary amendment to the Land Act of 1881, and it had been introduced by the Government, and was carried through pari passu with the new measure of coercion. It was furiously opposed by the high Tories, and a new crisis seemed imminent.
'On Monday, July 10th, it again seemed probable that Mr. Gladstone would resign. The intention of the Lords to throw out the Arrears Bill, at Lord Salisbury's dictation, was loudly proclaimed, and it was said by Mr. Gladstone's friends that Mr. Gladstone would at once resign, and that if Lord Salisbury refused to form a Government, Mr. Gladstone would retire from public life. Chamberlain was determined then to insist with either Lord Granville or Lord Hartington for myself, Courtney, and Trevelyan, on the ground that a Liberal Government with a Whig Prime Minister must be Radical.'
It was the apprehension of such an increase of power to the Radicals that made the threat of Mr. Gladstone's resignation formidable both to Whigs and Tories.
Mr. Gladstone, however, did not resign, though Mr. Bright did, after the bombardment of Alexandria had taken place. On the contrary, by July 12th,
'so belligerent was the Prime Minister that he had now decided, in face of the prospect of Lord Salisbury throwing out the Arrears Bill, unless Lord Waterford on behalf of the Irish landlords begged him not to do so, to prorogue, have another Session a week after, and pass the Bill again.'
This quarrel between the Houses remained open till August 8th, when Lord Salisbury, under pressure from the Irish landlords, was forced to content himself with acquiescence under angry protest. But in the meanwhile the Government were in other difficulties. After the bombardment of Alexandria it was still necessary to deal with the rebellion against the Khedive, whose authority England was seeking to support; and the Tories, allied with a section of the peace party, offered strong resistance to any military expedition.
'On Wednesday, August 2nd, I had a conversation with Mr. Gladstone, who agreed in my view that if beaten we should force the county franchise, and dissolve only if the Lords would carry that. It began to look as if we should sit till Christmas.
'On Monday, August 7th, I had an interesting talk with Brett. Knowing his great influence with Hartington, I complained to him of his chief's folly in always acting as the leader of a Whig section instead of as deputy-leader of the whole party. Brett agreed that it was foolish in the particular case of franchise, "as he must give in at last." I replied: "But he has given in already, and gone back again." Brett answered: "He declares he never voted for it." This is a curious example of Hartington's complete detachment from politics and want of interest in them, for he had not only voted, but had made a long, strong, and elaborate speech, explaining his reasons for so doing, and then absolutely forgotten the whole thing, and thought that he was still committed to opposition. At the Cabinet of the 5th he had declared against a Franchise Bill.'