Lord Randolph Churchill: What? Then they are committed!
Mr. Gladstone: Certainly.
Lord Randolph Churchill: The Prime Minister surprises me. I did not think it possible to be surprised by him. Does he contend, from a Parliamentary point of view, that members by voting for the Second Reading of the Bill can be committed to the Bill if that Bill dies or is withdrawn?
Mr. Gladstone: The principle of the Bill.
Lord Randolph Churchill: Never was such a view held in Parliament before. I venture to say never; and that is why the Prime Minister holds out to members the bribe that if they will only vote for the principle of the Bill, which they disapprove of, and which is going to be withdrawn and possibly never heard of again, he will consent to give them a little longer lease of political life. The manœuvres of the Government were such as might be expected from ‘an old Parliamentary hand’; they were not those which statesmen like Lord Russell, Lord Althorp or Sir Robert Peel would have contemplated; and, having drawn forth one final demonstration from the Ministerial benches by protesting in a concluding sentence against this attempt to ‘hocus’ the House of Commons, Lord Randolph sat down well satisfied.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer rose to reply. In his most impressive style he undertook to administer a solemn rebuke for the use of such words as ‘jockey’ and ‘hocus.’ ‘This, sir,’ he said portentously, ‘is the language of the Derby.’ ‘No,’ retorted Lord Randolph across the table, in one of those penetrating half-whispers with which he so often riveted his hearers, ‘it is the language of the Hoax.’ It was some time before Sir William Harcourt was able to regain the serious attention of the House.
The manœuvre had indeed been successful—but how successful could not yet be known. Mr. Chamberlain summoned a meeting of his followers for May 31, finally to determine whether to vote against the Bill or to abstain. ‘Everything,’ he wrote to Lord Randolph (May 29), ‘turns on Monday’s meeting’; and it is clear from his letter that he had not absolutely decided upon his course. He even states elaborately the reasons which made for abstention instead of a direct vote. Lord Randolph ventured upon a final appeal. He wrote:—
May 29, 1886.
I feel almost certain that if you remain as firm in the future as you have been in the past the Bill will be destroyed now; otherwise it will only be ‘scotched,’ and will wriggle about more venomous and mischievous than before. I think you must be satisfied with your decision to delay your meeting and your speech. I am sure that the greater bulk of your followers will stick to you, and stick to you with all the more admiration and fidelity, if you keep your foot down. Every day is showing more distinctly what madness it is to trust the G.O.M.... It seems to me that if you allow your party to give way, now that they know that the Bill in the autumn will not be a reconstructed Bill, but the same Bill, both you and your party will occupy a position of much humility, and you will have missed at the last moment the prize which was actually in your grasp. If you have any who are very weak about their seats let me know the names, and I will do my best to secure them from Tory opposition. But I do implore you to stick to your guns.... You won’t mind my troubling you with these lines.