The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1900-03-31

/ due, perhaps, to Mr.. Chamberlain as
| tuteneSs that no one knows exactly TO
| this day whether these radical con-
| stituents induced Mr.. Chamberlain to
! head the famous split, or whether M
! Chamberlain was so powerful that ne
carried them with him. There was q
n0mentous dinner at his house q lew
nights before he announced his policy,
and the question of following Mi Clad
stone or breaking with him was dis
cussed by the local political potentates
invited there by Mr.. Chamberlain. VINO
was apparently much in doubt as 70
what he had better do. Finally Chair
man Smith got up and carried the day
by speech against home rule. Mr..
Chamberlain said not a word. but day
or two afterward he made the step that
carried him into the conservative party,
at the head of the liberal uniOuiSts and
brought him place in the cabinet as
reward. And, by the way, this bit OF
inner history Of the famous split has
not been told before.
When parliament opened a few weeks
ago. things looked bad for Mr. Cham
/ berlain. Sir WilfTed Lawson said in
public speech that Mr.. Chamberlain de-
served to be put in Jail quite as much
as DR.. jameson had for making raid
on the Transvaal on a smaller scale.
The war Office had bungIed and the
y
too, because if the colonial secretary
had not gone to war, the war office
would not have had a chance to Dun
gle. But two weeks after parliament
had opened, Mr.. Chamberlain got up
one night, put a little piece Of paper IN
front of him with a few notes on it,
and in his calm, clear voice, sailed
into his critics. It was q strong, adrott
and audacious speech, in which ne de-
Tended the government and himself so
We'll that he saved the situation. A
boom for the premiership was started
then, for Lord Salisbury is so old and
SO tired of political life, that he only
awaits an opportunity for stepping
down and out. If he does it before
England gets over the need of a strong
and daring man at the helm, Mr.. Cham
berlain has q good chance for the
place-hated though he is in the conser-
vative party-because there is no one
else available who fills the bill.
1t is safe to say that the colonial sec
rotary has a strong supporter in the
Prince of Wales, who, according to
general gossip, was responsible for call
ing off the investigation of the jameson
raid, while Mr.. Chamberlain has had to
bear all of the criticism of that pc
culiar proceedings. The queen seems to
be T2ther fond of the Birmingham poll
ticiSsl, and she has shown particular at
USntlOn TO Mrs Chamberlain, VINO, as
you know, is the daughter of w. G.
Endicott, formerly secretary Of war in
the United States cabinet. Mrs. Cham
berlain does not care much for smart |
society, however though she looks well
after her husbands political interests |
by making his friends thrice welcome |
at their home in Birmingham. She is |
as fond of roses as her husband is fond |
of orchids, and the Highbury rosary is |
quite as famous as the marvellous col |
lection in the orchid house there. The |
town residence at 40 |
Princes Garden, is supplied every day /
with flowers from Highbury.
Mr.. Chamberlain has been three times
married, and his heir, Austen Chamber |
lain, is his son by his second wife. The |
younger Chamberlain is now 81, wears |
a monocle like his father, is d member |
of parliament and is civil lord of the |
thanks to his fathers po- |
litical pull
Finally, Mr.. Chamberlain is the |
greatest admirer of the United States
in the present English government. He I
has peTsstently doomed the idea of an
Anglo-American alliance. and got him
self into trouble not long ago by
speaking of it in public as if it were an
accomplished fact, thereby calling forth
a prompt denial from the United States
and consequently getting
himself much criticised.
MARSHALL LORD.