The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-03-25

into Parliament, the woodscrew monopoly
scheme that made him a millionaire. Now
for a scheme to place him in the ranks of
the statesmen. But perhaps 1t is not fair
to call the home rule spirit a scheme;
let's call it an opportunity.
When Mr.. Parnell delivered his famous
declaration of independence for Ireland,
and Mr.. Gladstone had allied himself to
the Irish party, the turning point In Mr..
Chamberlain's life came. He was a Radi-
cal; the chairman of his parliamentary d.
vision, MIR. E. j. Smith, now famous as
the inventor OF the trades combination
scheme, was Radical: and Mr.. Cham
berlain's workmen, numerous enough TO
be a strong political factor, were also
Radicals. II is due, perhaps, to MI
Chamberlain's astuteness that no one
knows exactly to this day whether these
radical constituents induced Mr., Cham
berlain to head the Famous split, or
whether Mr.. Chamberlain was so powerful
that he carried them with him, There
was a momentous dinner at his house a
few nights before he announced his pol
icy and the question of following Mr.
Gladstone or breaking with him was dis
cussed by the local political potentates
invited there by Mr.. Chamberlain, who
was apparently much in doubt as TO what
he had better do Finally, Chairman
Smith got up and carried the day by a
speech against nOtne IufS. MI NhthihDOi-
lain said not a word, but day or two
afterward he made the step that car
ried him into the Conservative party, at
the head of the Liberal Unionists and
brought him a place in the cabinet as u
reward And, by the way, this bit of in
ner history of the famous split has not
been told before.
Tide Turning for Chamberlain.
When Parliament opened a few weeks
ago. things looked bad for Mr.. Chamber
lain. Sir Alfred Lawson said in public
speech that Mr.. Chamberlain deserved to
be put in jail quite as much as DIR. Jane
son had for making a raid on the Trans
vaal on a smaller scale. The war Office
had bungled and the Colonial Secretary
was blamed for that, too, be-
cause if the colonial secretary
had NOT gone to war, the war Office would
not have had a chance to bungle, But two
weeks after Parliament had opened, Mr.
Chamberlain got up one night, put little
piece of paper i'm front of him with few
notes on it and, in his calm, clear voice,
sailed into his critics, 1t was strong,
adroit and audacious speech, in which he
defended the government and himself so
we'll that he saved the situation boom
for the premiership was started then, for
Lord Salisbury is so old and so tired of
political life, that he only awaits an OPP
pOrtun1tY Tor StepplUS uOWu anu Out' IL
he does 1t before England gets over the
need of a strong and daring man at the
helm, Mr. Chamberlain has a good chance
for the place-hated though he is in the
conservative party-because there is no
one else available who fills the bill
1t is safe to say that the Colonial Secre-
tary has a strong supporter In the Prince
of Wales, who, according to general gos-
sip, was responsible for calling off the in
iUa IF ha a .
Mr. Chamberlain has had 80 bear all the
criticism of that peculiar proceedings.
The Queen seems TO be rather fond of the
Birmingham politician, and she has shown
particular attention to Mrs. Chamberlain,
who, as you know, is the daughter of w.
c. Endicott, formerly Secretary of War in
the United States Cabinet Mrs. Chamber
lain 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 collection in the orchid house
there The Chamberlain town residence
at 40 Princes Gardens is supplied every
day with flowers from Highbury.
Mr.. Chamberlain has been three times
married, and his heir, Austin Chamber
lain. is his son by his sedond wife The
younger Chamberlain is now 81, wears
a monocle like his father is member
of Parliament and is civil lord of the ad-
miralty, thanks to his fathers political
pull
Finally, Mr.. Chamberlain Is the great
est admirer of the United States in the
present English government. He has per-
sistently doomed the idea Of an Anglo
American alliance, and got himself into
trouble not long ago by speaking OF II in
public as If it were an accomplished fact,
thereby calling forth a prompt denial from
the United States government, and conse-
quently getting himself much criticised
ehaI