The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1899-10-28
THE MAN THROUGH WHOM TIN
4 BOERs WE'RE DRIVEN TO WAR.
of the British Secretary Of State
for the Colonies Described by
One WhoaKnovs Him Well-Rec-
ognised Twenty Years ago as a
Future Premier by the Prince of
Wales-Always an Imperialist-
Happy Home Life.

Happy Home Life. e.
Nearly tWenty-three years ago, during
the course OF a call at Marlborough house
happened to mention that had made
a few days previously the acquaintance
of Joseph Chamberlain, who at that
time was generally regarded as a poll
with republican aspirations, and who
as denounced not only alone by the To-
ries but also by the vast majority Of the
Liberals as dangerous demagogue and
as species Of nineteenth century Jack
Cade Some what to my establishment I
was piled with questions concerning him,
and as ! betrayed my surprise at the
sympathetic interest displayed In man
whom so many regarded in the light Of
a peril to the throne it was intimated to
me that he was looked upon by his
future king as destined In the course Of
time to become prime minister Of the
British empire.
The prince of Wales, unlike his pre-
decessors, abstains from manifesting his
preference for any one Of the political
parties in English parliamentary life.
So discreet and guarded Is he in this re-
sspect, says "Ex-Attache'' in the New
York Tribune, that to this day not even
those who are his most constant assoc
ciates have the slightest idea as to wheth-
er he leans toward the Liberal Unionists,
to the Conservatives or to the Liberals.
Far from being Indifferent to politics,
however, the prince is profoundly inter-
ested therein. quite as much so as any
other cultured Englishman Of the higher
classes. Moreover, he makes 1t his duty
to become acquainted with all the prOmi-
nent politicians Of the day and to remain
in touch with them, and occupying an
eminence, so to speak, superior to party
prejudices and considerations, Is perhaps
more advantageously situated to pass
Judgment, and to observe their merits
and their faults.
The Importance, therefore, which the
prince attached to Mr.. Chamberlain, and
the prediction which he made that the
member for Birmingham was destined in
course of time to become as prime minis
ter the virtual master Of the great
British empire, with it's three hundred
million people, created a deep impression
upon my mind.
It was some time later, when seated
in the smoking room Of Mr.. Chamber
SlaiR s. town house, in Princes Gardens at
the close Of a mems dinner, that John
Bright, who was one Of the principal
guests present, made a remark half jok-
ingly, half seriously, to the effect that
our host was the only lingo, that is to
say, trnperialist. in the Gladstone cabinet.
It was received in the light of a bit of
humor by most present For while still
mayor of Birmingham, and even during
the first two or three years that he sat
in parliament, Mr.. Chamberlain had his
devotion to municipal questions and other
political problems of an essentially do
nestle character given rise to the popular
impression that he was a Little Eng
lander, and that he had no views or
ideas that extended beyond the British
channel. 1t was even assumed, and is
widely asserted to this very day, that he
was largely responsible for the delay In
the expedition dispatched in 1884 to res
cue Gordon, and that if the advance
guard under Lord Charles Beresford only
reached Khartum several days after it
had fallen the fault lay quite as much
on the shoulders of Mr.. Chamberlain as
on those Of the Grand Old Man.
Yet there were several, myself included,
who can bear witness that quite the con-
trary. was the case Far from support
ing Mr.. Gladstone in his procrastinatin
Of placing any obstacles in the way of the
lain, on the contrary; fought many a bat
tie against the premier on this very sub
ject, urging, not without good cause,
that delay meant shame and disaster, as
we'll as the certain failure of the object
for which the expedition would be under
taken. It is violating no confidence, after
all these years, to say that Mr.. Chamber
lain was In the spring Of 1884 on several
occasions on the point of resigning his
seat In the cabinet precisely because Mr..
Gladstone would not listen to reason on
the subject, and I always remember see-
ing Mr.. Chamberlain one day after a cab
s :net meeting and his remarking to me
that it was impossible to discuss the
Egyptian question with the premier,
since the very mention Of Egypt, Of Cor
don or Of the necessity Of dispatching
the relief expedition at once acted upon
Mr. Gladstone as the waving Of a red
rag in the face OF a bull
II Joseph Chamberlain had had his way
In the cabinet at that time the expedition
would have left in the early summer, or
even spring Of 1884, instead Of so late in
the autumn that it was not before the
end Of January that Lord Charles Beres-
ford came within sight Of Khartum.
In fact, IL Chamberlain had had his way
Gordon would have been saved, Khar-
tum relieved in time, and there would
have been no need for the bloodshed at
Atbara and at Omdurman, nor for the
costly campaigns to which they consti-
tuted the eliminating victories.
s am all the more glad to avail myself
OF this opportunity to make this explana-
ton, as 1t is only recently that I have
seen articles in English newspapers (cop-
led In this country which, with the object
Of pointing out the difference between the
Chamberlain Of twenty years ago and the
Chamberlain Of to-day, insisted that It
was he whose objections to the dispatch
OF the Gordon relief expedition were re-
sponsible for the delay of its departure
and consequently for the death Of the
solitary hero of Khartum. Among
those who will be able to indorse my ex-
PLANTATION as to the attitude in the matter
of the present secretary Of state for the
colonies is Lord Wolseley, the command
er-in-chief Of the British army, who had
charge OF the relief expedition in ques-
ton. i
It is unjust, therefore, to charge Mr.
Chamberlain with Inconsistency and with
being political turncoat, and it is alto
gether untrue to assert, as do so many
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