Evening star., 1914-07-24
Believed That Accident Divert
ed Joseph Chamberlain From
Original Life Purpose.
DESIRE WAS TO BE LEADER
OF SOCIAL REVOLUTION
First Attempt to Enter Parliament
Was as Radical Candidate
for Sheffield.

Foreign Correspondence of The Star.
LONDON, July 13-I think it is beyond
question that when Joseph Chamberlain
entered public life the part he intended
hoped to fill was that of a great
democrat-the leader. in fact. of a social
revolution. His career affords a very tell
ing illustration of the tremendous effect
of chance and circumstances not only on
The destinies of individuals, however able
and masterfUl, but also. through them,
on the scope and direction of general
human affairs. For it was only by acci-
dent that Chamberlain was diverted from
his original deep design of leading the
masses in a momentous struggle against
The classes.
He confessed himself that his chief
reason for parting with Gladstone on the
question of home rule in 1856 was that
Gladstone proposed to buy out the Irish
landlord before establishing parliament
in Dublin. II was a strange reason for
a man to turn back when more than
half way on the road which directly led
TO the realization of his grand ambition
10 be the first democratic prime minister
OF England.
1t has been said of many a radical
that he was a home ruler before Glad
stone. Chamberlain said it of himself
and no one had a better title to make
the claim. He made his first attempt to
enter parliament as radical candidate for
Sheffield in 1874. At that time the home
rule movement was ip being, under the
leadership of Isaac Butt. He declared
himself in favor of the government of
ireland by the Irish without any aualifi-
cation whatever. Two years later he
was elected member for Birmingham as
home ruler as well as a radical. During
the four years of the then Disraelian
sympathy with the Irish party and its
cause.
Always Dressed With Care.
But his chief role. of course, was that
of a democrat with republican tendencies.
His notoriety as demagogue in the mid
lands had led the house generally to ex-
pect to see a rough fellow, as i'll man
nered as he was badly dressed. Greatly
TO their surprise and disappointment, they
saw smart and prosperous-lookipg
young man. IN a well cut frock coat and
an excepuonable silk hat He always
dressed with obvious care. What was
worse. he wore a single eyeglass, which
was then supposed to be the exclusive
fashionable privilege of aristocratic army
officers
1t was that which most exasperated the
young bloods of the tories A confound-
ed republican, sporting an eyeglass, If
he had appeared in parliament wearing
blouse, or. as keir Hardie appeared wears
later, wearing a cap. they could have
laughed at him. But with an eyeglass!
1t moved the old tories to FRENZY. lust as
much as the young. to see the member
for Birmingham abusing and menacjnp
the arlStocracy with an eyeglaSs stuck
tight in his right eve.
And CAD sir. it fits the low fellow as
If he were born with it,
The year 1855, the year OF the ia
nous unauthorized program was the
great year of Chamberlain as leader
of the democracy. How he jibed at the
aristocracy as a class. who toll not
neither do they spin" The people jumped
condemnation of the idle rich not know
ing that the words were originally applied
to the lilies of the field the sweetest
and most fattering of comparisons. How
he insisted upon the common right of
the people TO the land,
His Two Main Objects.
Here is brief extract from one of his
speeches 1t was uttered in 1888. Does
1t not sound like the poignant Welsh ac-
cents of LLOYD George in 1912?
u have two main objects in view In
the first place ] want to see that the
burden of taxation is distributed accord
ing to the ability of the taxpayer In
the second place. l want to increase the
production OF the land, and I want to
multiply the small owners and
tenants hold that the sanctity of
public property is greater even than that
of private property; and that if it has
equivalent must be found for it and some
compensation may fairly be exacted
from the wrongdoers."
He was denounced up and down the
country as a communist Jack Cade"'
cried the Marquis of Salisbury, and this
revival of the historical memories asso-
ciated with the popular agitator of the
fifteenth century expressed the apprehen-
tocracy.
But. alas, for the anticipated social
revolution and its leader. As things hap
pened, the year 1Ss was the eve of the
home rule bill-a bill which was to make
a revolution. indeed. but the disruptio n
was TO he political and personal one in
stead ot social.
Creature of Impulse.
Tho workings of the human mind are
strange and unaccountable. Chamber
aims qualities % character had not hith-
erto been thoroughly plumbed. He proved
to be creature of impulse after all.
And il is with such natures that chance
and circumstances make the most ironic
and whimsical play
Thus did the British democracy lose a
leader Of the highest courage. sudacity
and resource. Us Il platform sneaker and
parliamentary debat"r Chamberlain was
unsurpassed. lie was most effective il,
his bitt@r"st moods. lie was greatest IN
attack-Sreatest. that is. when there was
some cause or person upon whom he was
moved to pour his acidulated and biting
sarcaSm.
But he struck one as being rather a cold
man, a man who could bear the sufferings
and calamities of the common people with
nnshaken fortitude. lie had little of that
ardent passion for social service which
animates Lloyd George-the man who has
succeeded him-after a blank of thirty
years as leader of the democracy. Lloyd
George. on the other hand, possesses
10 the full CRamberlain's instructive
love of hshting But he is a simpler
and more elemental force. and. on tina,
account. more steadfast, intense and
deNnuring.
Chamberlain was seldom seen abou,