The Life of the Rt Hon Sir Charles W. Dilke, vol 1 | Page 5

DILKE
XIII. RENEWAL OF ACTIVITY
XIV. REVIVAL OF THE EASTERN QUESTION
XV. HOME POLITICS AND PERSONAL SURROUNDINGS
XVI. THE EASTERN QUESTION--TREATY OF SAN STEFANO
AND CONGRESS OF BERLIN
XVII. POLITICS AND PERSONS
XVIII. THE ZULU WAR AND THE GREEK COMMITTEE
XIX. SOCIAL AND POLITICAL INTERESTS
XX. THE FORMATION OF A MINISTRY
XXI. AT THE FOREIGN OFFICE
XXII. HOME POLITICS--COMMERCIAL TREATY--PERSONAL
MATTERS
XXIII. COERCION--CLOSURE--MAJUBA
XXIV. EUROPEAN POLITICS
XXV. COMMERCIAL RELATIONS WITH FRANCE
XXVI. GAMBETTA, DISRAELI, ROYAL PERSONAGES, MORIER
XXVII. DIFFICULTIES OF THE LIBERAL GOVERNMENT
XXVIII. THE PHOENIX PARK MURDERS
XXIX. EGYPT (JANUARY TO SEPTEMBER, 1882)
XXX. ENTRY INTO THE CABINET (SEPTEMBER TO
DECEMBER, 1882)
XXXI. AT THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOARD
XXXII. FOREIGN AND COLONIAL AFFAIRS (OCTOBER, 1882,
TO DECEMBER, 1883)
XXXIII. EGYPT AFTER TEL-EL-KEBIR (SEPTEMBER, 1882, TO
DECEMBER, 1883)

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS TO VOL. I
RT. HON. SIR CHARLES W. DILKE, M.P., IN THE YEAR 1873
Photographed by F. Hollyer from the painting by G. F. Watts, R.A., in
the National Portrait Gallery.
SIR CHARLES W. DILKE AS A CHILD From the miniature by
Fanny Corbaux.
MR. CHARLES WENTWORTH DILKE (SIR CHARLES W.
DILKE'S GRANDFATHER) Photographed by F. Hollyer from the

painting by Arthur Hughes.
SIR C. WENTWORTH DILKE (SIR CHARLES W. DILKE'S)
FATHER Photographed by F. Hollyer from the painting by Arthur
Hughes.
LADY DILKE (MISS KATHERINE SHEIL) From a photograph by
Hills and Saunders.
JOHN STUART MILL Photographed by F. Hollyer from the painting
by G. F. Watts, R.A., bequeathed by Sir Charles W. Dilke to the
Westminster Town Hall.
RT. HON, JOSEPH CHAMBERLAIN, M.P. Photographed by F.
Hollyer from the painting by Frank Holl, R.A., bequeathed by Sir
Charles W. Dilke to the National Portrait Gallery.
LÉON GAMBETTA Photographed by F. Hollyer from the painting by
Legros, bequeathed by Sir Charles W. Dilke to the Luxembourg and
Louvre Museums.

THE LIFE OF SIR CHARLES DILKE

CHAPTER I
EARLY LIFE
The man whose history is here recorded was for more than forty years a
commanding figure upon the theatre of English public life; a politician,
who in the councils of a powerful Ministry exercised an influence more
than proportioned to the offices he held; a statesman, who brought to
triumphant issue many wise projects, and whose authority, even when
he was a private member of Parliament, continued to be recognized not
only among all parties of his countrymen, but also throughout Europe:
yet, when he died, all thought and spoke not of what he had achieved,
but of what he had missed.
To write the biography of one so marked by a special malignity of fate
is a difficult task. That bare justice may be done, it is necessary not
only to follow out his openly recorded successes, things done in his
own name and of his own right, but also to disentangle, as far as may
be, the part which his authority, his knowledge, and his ceaseless

industry played in framing and securing measures whose enactment
redounded to the credit of other men. But above all, since a man's
personality signifies far more than his achievements, and this man
stands before the world overshadowed by a dishonouring accusation, it
is necessary to establish by facts and by testimony not so much what he
did as what he was.
Yet it must not be supposed that he himself counted his career among
life's failures. The record will tell of close and affectionate family ties;
of a wonderfully vivid and varied experience acquired in many lands
and through many phases of activity; and, even in his blackest hour, of
a noble love retained and richly repaid. No trace will be found of a
nature soured or warped by balked ambition, nor any resentful
withdrawal from the public stage.
In the story that has to be told, proof will emerge indisputably that,
without affected indifference to the prizes of a public career, his
passion was for work, not for its attendant honours; that he valued
office as an opportunity to advance, not himself, but the causes which
he had at heart; and that when further tenure of power was denied him,
he abated no jot of his lifelong labours. The main purpose of his life
was 'to revive true courage in the democracy of his country,' [Footnote:
Throughout these volumes single quotation marks without further
indication signify an excerpt from the Manuscript Memoir (compiled
by Sir Charles, as explained in the Preface, from original diaries and
letters), or (as here) from notes left with that document, but not
embodied in it. Double quotation marks signify Correspondence and
Memoranda found in the despatch-cases and letters sent by
correspondents, etc.] and his immediate object always and everywhere
to defend the weak. For the protection of toilers from their taskmasters
at home and abroad, in the slums of industrial England and in the