ration
is a truth not so fully recognised as it might be if he were less modest
in putting forth a claim. If he had been a man of small mind and mean
instincts, what a thorn in the flesh of Lord Salisbury, Mr. Smith, and
Mr. Balfour he might have proved in the whole period following on his
resignation up to the dissolution of the last Parliament!

[Illustration: "BIRMINGHAM."]

There were many inviting turning points in his career where he had only
to lift hand and voice, and a belated Government, living upon the
sufferance of not too-affectionate allies, would have found themselves
in a strait place. It will suffice to recall one. It happened four years
ago last month. On one of the earliest days of April, 1889, the
Conservatives of Birmingham turned to Lord Randolph and invited him to
contest the seat vacated by the death of Mr. Bright. I have reason to
believe that at that time, and for some years earlier, it had been the
dearest object of his political life to represent Birmingham. As early
as 1885 he had, recklessly as it seemed, gone down and tried to storm
the citadel even when it was held by so redoubtable a champion as Mr.
Bright. He had not been very badly beaten then. Now, with the
Conservatives enthusiastically and unanimously clamouring for him, and
with the assistance of the Dissenting Liberals which, had he presented
himself, could not have been withheld under penalty of losing the seat,
he would have been triumphantly returned.

Happening at this particular time, in view of his strained relations
with Lord Salisbury, election by such a constituency would have placed
Lord Randolph in a position of personal influence not equalled by that
of any private member. The moment seemed ripe for the birth of an
organized party raising the standard of social Toryism, and under that
or any other flag there are always ready to rally round Lord Randolph a
number of Conservatives sufficient to make things uncomfortable at
Hatfield. He had only to go in and win, and had he been inclined to play
his own game he would have done so. But it was represented to him that
his candidature was distasteful to a powerful ally of the Government;
that if he insisted in accepting the invitation, the compact between
Dissenting Liberals and the Conservatives would be straightway broken
up; and that thereupon Mr. Gladstone would romp in with his Home Rule
Bill. It was a bitter pill. But Lord Randolph swallowed it. Unmoved by
the angry,