SIR HENRY CAMPBELL-BANNERM.A.N.
SIR HENRY CAMPBELL-BANNERMAN, who we sincerely hope may yet regain enough strength, now that he is released from the burden of office, to prolong his life in comfort and happiness, leaves behind him in Parliament a very distinct and pleasant memory, from which we think the country may draw a profitable lesson. A Liberal Government, with its diverse and ardent elements, is necessarily more difficult to hold together than a Conservative Government, and Sir Henry Campbell- Bannerman admittedly succeeded in this difficult task to an extraordinary. degree. One hears it said on all, sides, "No one else could have done it." Of course it may be argued that as Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman had an enormous majority, he could do pretty well what he liked without fear of disaster. We canna agree. The stronger the Liberal Party is when in power, the more liberty will the con- flicting elements inside it take in the assertion of their particular opinions. A Parliamentary catastrophe seems so improbable that they tug hard, and without the least apprehension, to bring the more or less balancing views of the Cabinet further over to their side. There have been rumours during the leadership of Sir Henry Campbell- Bannerman that this or that section, exasperated at losing influence inside the party, or at having its dearest principles affronted, was going to put a pistol to the GOvernment's head, or retire into a cave, or do some one or other of those acts of revolt which are familiar and traditional. But the rumours have passed like April showers, and every time Sir Henry Campbell-Banner- man has appeared again in the sunshine of his party's favour, if indeed he can be said—and we think he cannot —to have ceased at any moment to enjoy it. There must be some definite cause for his short but unbroken triumph of management—remember that his notable ascendency over his party in Parliament has been main- tained simultaneously with a decline of Liberal feeling in the country—and it will be worth while to try to define briefly what it is.
Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman is a man of what we might call intelligent plainness of thought. Like most Scotsmen, he is a philosopher; but he is incapable of fine- spun or decorative subtleties. He has always displayed (and this was invaluable) a comfortable ability to "sit tight" without fussing. He has always been sympathetic, genial, and courteous. But these incidental qualities would not have been noticed and valued if there had not been a universal conviction that he was where he was because he had never expressly aimed at the position. He liked political life, and he held it his duty to live that life ; but every one must have felt that if Sir Henry Campbell- Bannerman had missed being Prime Minister, the loss would not have cost him one sleepless night. He was ready to rule if wanted, but if not wanted he would have been the last man in the world to try to direct circumstances. Rather he accepted them dutifully. He has always been quite without selfish ambition. It is difficult to estimate what a reassuring fact this absence of personal ambition must be to the followers of a great personage. They know that their claims will never be pettily subordinated to his ; they can predict the path he will tread with an astronomical certainty. During the South African War Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman was one of the most unpopular men in England, and it is inconceivable that a politician with more ambitions than principles would have uttered that well-remembered phrase about "methods of barbarism." Of course we cannot, and could not, agree with the sense of that phrase ; but it was in itself a token of honesty. We believe that Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman directed all his attacks at the military policy, which included the burning of farms, and not at the soldiers who were the mere agents of it. But at a time when the grossest slanders were being circulated abroad about British soldiers distinctions such as this needed to be made not only much more carefully but repeatedly. Sir Henry Campbell- Bannerman having said what he thought, however, left the phrase, without further explanation, to be used in Britain against himself, apparently with no thought of sheltering himself from abuse, the violence of which he could easily have abated. If the unpopularity, he suffered. then had not had in it the seeds of popularity, the quick change from his position at the end of the war to the general esteem and liking now felt for him would have been astonishing. But really it is not astonishing, for Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman is one of those men who are bound to be popular in the long run, simply because they do not hunt or advertise for public favour. And his singleness of mind never had in it any of that unpleasant suspiciousness of the motives of others which marked some of his fellow-martyrs. If " Pro-Boers " were despised, their discredit was only comparable with that which many of them imposed upon Imperialists who happened sincerely to differ from them. We do not exaggerate in saying that scarcely one moderate Liberal was given credit in his support of the South African policy for anything but infidelity or culpable timidity by those who swelled with the subtle gratification of martyrdom. But Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman was not like that ; he imputed no unworthy motives, and if he remembered, he at least forgave. The constitution of his Cabinet was a, proof of his generosity and good sense. We must not pretend to be surprised that Sir Henry Campbell-Baunerman's virtues led him to so great a success in the management of that complicated human machine, a, great party, because we find that fourteen years ago, when Mr. Campbell-Bannerman was very much lees thought of and spoken of, we said that they were likely to do so. We wrote then :—" To the man who does not worry about magazine-rifles and Army grievances, the figure of the Secretary of State for War is the merest shadow. No wonder, then, he rubs his eyes and asks : What sort of a man is this Mr. Campbell-Bannerman, and why when he speaks does he speak with authority, and not like the ordinary Ministerial nonentity The explanation is that though the public at large has not realised the fact, Mr. Campbell-Bannerman is one of the five most important men in the Gladstonian party, and that if the three most important had to be named, they would, in spite of all appearances, be Lord Rosebery, Mr. Morley, and Mr. Campbell-Bannerman,—not Lord Roseber,y, Mr. Morley, and. Mr. Asquith. So important, indeed, is the position occupied by Mr. Campbell...Bannerman that it has been freely said in the inner circle of Gladstoniana that if Mr. Gladstone retired, he would be the only person capable of stilling the fierce conflict of sects and factions, ambitious of ascendency." We noticed then the absence of fussiness which has always distinguished Sir Henry. He succeeded Sir George Trevelyan as Irish Secretary, and at once showed that he knew how to hold his tongue and keep his temper. He "sat doggedly on and treated the Dish Party like one of the mists of his native land,—a tiresome phenomenon, but not one to be overcome by indignation." He lay low and kept as " snug " as possible. At one time he made a political joke which happened to take the popular fancy, particularly in Scot- land. He spoke of his conversion to Home-rule as "finding salvation." If he had been an ill-balanced man, he would thereafter have set up for a, political wit. But he knew better, and still lay low. He has lain low assiduously ever since ; he may have appeared to drift, but when called upon he has somehow always showed that he was able to direct the tide ; he has made use of opportunities quietly without being in any derogatory sense an opportunist ; he has excited no rivalries and created no enemies.
In paying this sincere tribute to Sir Henry Campbell- Bannerman's instinct for management we take back nothing we have said recently about some of the Bills he has sanctioned. It is, alas ! only too possible for a high-minded and generous man to conceive measures which are creditable to his. heart, and even to his head, but which betray a fatal lack of human experience in some respects. Knowledge of the House of Commons, which Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman has to perfection, avails nothing against ignorance of the results that certain laws may produce in the character and the homes of poor people. That learning comes only by personal contact, and may be found abundantly in a district visitor or a hospital nurse, and yet be missed entirely in a Prime Minister. But the one clear lesson to be extracted from Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman's career is this : that a man may not be an orator (Sir Henry Campbell-Banner- man is not), and may produce no great measure (Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman has produced none), and may not be a resolute and untiring champion of a cause which he will never let alone till he has accomplished it (Sir Henry Campbell- Bannerman has delayed fatally in his opposition to the House of Lords), and yet by modest and honest qualities, spiced with sympathy for his fellow-man, he may reach the highest position in this land. More than that, he can hold that position not only without provoking jealousy, but while preserving the trust and affection of all his colleagues and supporters. He comes, like Mark Antony, not "to steal away their hearts," but as "a plain blunt man " ; yet he does steal away their hearts, while Brutus, the orator, does not.
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