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23 chapters
BRITISH POLITICAL LEADERS
BRITISH POLITICAL LEADERS
BY THE SAME AUTHOR. IN THE "Story of the Nations" Series. Each volume large crown 8vo, cloth, fully Illustrated, 5s. MODERN ENGLAND BEFORE THE REFORM BILL. MODERN ENGLAND UNDER QUEEN VICTORIA. IN PREPARATION. PORTRAITS OF THE SIXTIES. Demy 8vo, cloth, Illustrated, 16s. LONDON: T. FISHER UNWIN. LONDON: T. FISHER UNWIN....
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ARTHUR JAMES BALFOUR
ARTHUR JAMES BALFOUR
My first acquaintance with Mr. Arthur J. Balfour, who recently became Prime Minister of King Edward VII., was made in the earliest days of my experience as a member of the House of Commons. The Fourth party, as it was called, had just been formed under the inspiration of the late Lord Randolph Churchill. The Fourth party was a new political enterprise. The House of Commons up to that time contained three regular and recognized political parties—the supporters of the Government, the supporters of
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LORD SALISBURY
LORD SALISBURY
The retirement of Lord Salisbury from the position of Prime Minister and the leadership of the Conservative Government withdraws into comparative obscurity the most interesting and even picturesque figure in the English Parliamentary life of the present day. Even the most uncompromising opponents of the Prime Minister and of his political party felt a sincere respect for the character, the intellect, and the bearing of the man himself. Every one gave Lord Salisbury full credit for absolute since
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LORD ROSEBERY
LORD ROSEBERY
Lord Rosebery was for a prolonged season the man in English political life upon whom the eyes of expectation were turned. He is a younger man than most of his political colleagues and rivals, but it is not because of his comparative youth that the eyes of expectation were and still are turned upon him. Not one of those who stand in the front ranks of Parliamentary life to-day could be called old, as we reckon age in our modern estimate. Palmerston, Gladstone, and Disraeli won their highest polit
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JOSEPH CHAMBERLAIN
JOSEPH CHAMBERLAIN
Mr. Chamberlain was once described by an unfriendly critic as the Rabagas of English political life. We all remember Rabagas, the hero of Sardou's masterpiece of dramatic satire, who begins his public career and wins fame among certain classes as a leveler and a demagogue of the most advanced views, an unsparing enemy of the aristocracy, a man who will make no terms with the privileged orders, and will bow to no sovereign but the sovereign people. Now, I have said that it was an unfriendly criti
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HENRY LABOUCHERE
HENRY LABOUCHERE
Henry Labouchere is the most amusing speaker in the House of Commons. Eclipse is first and there is no second—to adopt the words once used by Lord Macaulay—at least, if there be a second, I do not feel myself qualified for the task of designating him. It is hardly necessary to say that whenever Labouchere rises in the House of Commons—and he rises very often in the course of a session—he is sure of an immediate hearing. He seldom addresses himself to any subject with the outward appearance of se
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JOHN MORLEY
JOHN MORLEY
No English public man of the present day has had a more remarkable political career than that of John Morley. Almost everything that could be against success in political life was against John Morley when he arose from the student's desk to take his place on the political platform. I am not now making any allusion to the difficulties set in a man's way by those accidents which the first Lord Lytton described grandiloquently as the "twin gaolers of the human heart, low birth and iron fortune." I
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THE EARL OF ABERDEEN
THE EARL OF ABERDEEN
The Earl of Aberdeen will always be associated in my mind with a most hopeful season of our political life, a season none the less cherished in memory and none the less auspicious because its hopes were doomed to temporary disappointment. That bright season was the time when Mr. Gladstone was endeavoring to carry out his policy of Home Rule for Ireland. I need hardly tell my American readers that Gladstone's policy was condemned to failure, partly because of a secession of Liberals who went over
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JOHN BURNS
JOHN BURNS
John Burns stands out a distinct and peculiar figure in the House of Commons. He is the foremost representative of that working class which is becoming so great a power in the organization of English political and industrial life. "Be not like dumb driven cattle," says Longfellow in his often-quoted lines—"Be a hero in the strife." The British workingmen were until very lately little better than dumb driven cattle; in our days and under such leadership as that of John Burns they have proved them
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SIR MICHAEL HICKS-BEACH
SIR MICHAEL HICKS-BEACH
Sir Michael Hicks-Beach is now, as everybody knows, out of office. Il reviendra , no doubt, and in a happier sense, we may trust, than fate allowed to the once famous personage concerning whom the words I have quoted were said and sung throughout France. Il reviendra was the burden of the chant composed to the honor of the late General Boulanger and echoed through all the French music-halls at the time when Boulanger got into trouble with the existing government. But Sir Michael Hicks-Beach is a
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JOHN E. REDMOND
JOHN E. REDMOND
John Edward Redmond is one of the leading men in the House of Commons just now. He is one of the very few really eloquent speakers of whom the House can boast at the present time. His eloquence is, indeed, of a kind but rarely heard in either House of Parliament during recent years. The ordinary style of debate in the House of Commons is becoming more and more of the merely conversational order, and even when the speaker is very much in earnest, even when he is carried away by the fervor of deba
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SIR WILLIAM HARCOURT
SIR WILLIAM HARCOURT
Every friend and admirer of Sir William Harcourt must have been glad when it was made known that the late leader of the Liberal party in the House of Commons had declined to accept the King's offer of a peerage and was determined to remain in that representative chamber where he had made his political name and won his place of command. Sir William Harcourt would have been thrown away in the House of Lords. He could not have done anything to arouse that apathetic chamber to living importance in t
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JAMES BRYCE
JAMES BRYCE
James Bryce is universally recognized as one of the intellectual forces in the British House of Commons. When he rises to make a speech, every one listens with the deepest interest, feeling sure that some ideas and some instruction are sure to come which no political party in the House can well afford to lose. Some men in the House of Commons have been orators and nothing else; some have been orators and instructors as well; some have been Parliamentary debaters more or less capable; and a good
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HENRY CAMPBELL-BANNERMAN
HENRY CAMPBELL-BANNERMAN
Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman has but lately come to hold that position in the House of Commons and in the political world which those who knew him well always believed him destined to attain. He is now not merely the nominal leader of the Liberal Opposition in the House of Commons, but he is universally regarded as one of the very small number of men who could possibly be chosen for the place. Sir William Harcourt and Mr. John Morley are the only Liberal members of the House who could compare wi
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F. C. GOULD'S FROISSART.
F. C. GOULD'S FROISSART.
"The second volume of Mr. F. C. Gould's 'Froissart's Modern Chronicles' is fully equal to the first. The rich vein of pure gold, which the artist-author has struck, is far from exhausted. F. C. G. ranks easily first among English political caricaturists; we doubt, indeed, if he is surpassed by any living exponent of his very special craft." "Mr. Gould, I think, may well be 'orgulous' in having written a delightful work of light satire, in which, as in all he does, there is never a foul stroke. N
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Recent Volumes in the STORY OF THE NATIONS A SERIES OF POPULAR HISTORIES.
Recent Volumes in the STORY OF THE NATIONS A SERIES OF POPULAR HISTORIES.
Each Volume complete with Maps, many Illustrations, and an Index. Large crown 8vo, fancy cloth, gold lettered, or Library Edition, dark cloth, burnished red top, 5s. each. Or may be had in half Persian, cloth sides, gilt tops: Price on Application. 49. Austria. By Sidney Whitman 50. Modern England before the Reform Bill. By Justin McCarthy . 51. China. With a New Chapter on Recent Events. By Prof. R. K. Douglas . 52. Modern England under Queen Victoria. By Justin McCarthy . 53. Modern Spain, 187
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A FIRST FLEET FAMILY:
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY:
"As convincingly real and vivid as a narrative can be."— Sketch. "No maker of plots could work out a better story of its kind, nor balance it more neatly."— Daily Chronicle. "A book which describes a set of characters varied and so attractive as the more prominent figures in this romance, and a book so full of life, vicissitude, and peril, should be welcomed by every discreet novel reader."— Yorkshire Post. "A very interesting tale, written in clear and vigorous English."— Globe. "The novel is a
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THE TALES OF JOHN OLIVER HOBBES
THE TALES OF JOHN OLIVER HOBBES
Second Edition. Crown 8vo., cloth , 6s. "The cleverness of them all is extraordinary."— Guardian. "The volume proves how little and how great a thing it is to write a 'Pseudonym.' Four whole 'Pseudonyms' ... are easily contained within its not extravagant limits, and these four little books have given John Oliver Hobbes a recognized position as a master of epigram and narrative comedy."— St. James's Gazette. "As her star has been sudden in its rise so may it stay long with us! Some day she may g
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THE HERB MOON
THE HERB MOON
"The jaded reader who needs sauce for his literary appetite cannot do better than buy 'The Herb Moon.'"— Literary World. "A book to hail with more than common pleasure. The epigrammatic quality, the power of rapid analysis and brilliant presentation are there, and added to these a less definable quality, only to be described as charm.... 'The Herb Moon' is as clever as most of its predecessors, and far less artificial."— Athenæum....
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THE STICKIT MINISTER AND SOME COMMON MEN
THE STICKIT MINISTER AND SOME COMMON MEN
"Here is one of the books which are at present coming singly and at long intervals, like early swallows, to herald, it is to be hoped, a larger flight. When the larger flight appears, the winter of our discontent will have passed, and we shall be able to boast that the short story can make a home east as well as west of the Atlantic. There is plenty of human nature—of the Scottish variety, which is a very good variety—in 'The Stickit Minister' and its companion stories; plenty of humour, too, of
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THE LILAC SUN-BONNET
THE LILAC SUN-BONNET
"Mr. Crockett's 'Lilac Sun-Bonnet' 'needs no bush.' Here is a pretty love tale, and the landscape and rural descriptions carry the exile back into the Kingdom of Galloway. Here, indeed, is the scent of bog-myrtle and peat. After inquiries among the fair, I learn that of all romances, they best love, not 'sociology,' not 'theology,' still less, open manslaughter, for a motive, but just love's young dream, chapter after chapter. From Mr. Crockett they get what they want, 'hot with,' as Thackeray a
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THE RAIDERS
THE RAIDERS
"A thoroughly enjoyable novel, full of fresh, original, and accurate pictures of life long gone by."— Daily News. "A strikingly realistic romance."— Morning Post. "A stirring story.... Mr. Crockett's style is charming. My Baronite never knew how musical and picturesque is Scottish-English till he read this book."— Punch. "The youngsters have their Stevenson, their Barrie, and now a third writer has entered the circle, S. R. Crockett, with a lively and jolly book of adventures, which the paterfam
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TROOPER PETER HALKET OF MASHONALAND
TROOPER PETER HALKET OF MASHONALAND
"We advise our readers to purchase and read Olive Schreiner's new book 'Trooper Peter Halket of Mashonaland.' Miss Schreiner is one of the few magicians of modern English literature, and she has used the great moral, as well as the great literary, force of her style to great effect."— Daily Chronicle. "The story is one that is certain to be widely read, and it is well that it should be so, especially at this moment; it grips the heart and haunts the imagination. To have written such a book is to
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