06 an overwhelming Liberal majority
was returned, irrespective of the Labour and Nationalist vote, and Sir
Henry himself was again elected for Stirling. The Liberals numbered 379,
the Labour members 51, the Nationalists 83, and the Unionists only 157.
His premiership was the reward of undoubted services rendered to his
party; it may be said, however, that, in contradistinction to the prime
ministers for some time previous, he represented the party, rather than
that the party represented him. It was not his ideas or his commanding
personality, nor any positive programme, that brought the Liberals back
to power, but the country's weariness of their predecessors and the
successful employment at the elections of a number of miscellaneous
issues. But as the man who had doggedly, yet unpretentiously, filled the
gap in the days of difficulty, and been somewhat contemptuously
criticized by the Unionist press for his pains, Sir Henry was clearly
marked out for the post of prime minister when his party got its chance;
and, as the head of a strongly composed cabinet, he satisfied the
demands of the situation and was accepted as leader by all sections.
Once prime minister, his personal popularity proved to be a powerful
unifying influence in a somewhat heterogeneous party; and though the
illness and death (August 30, 1906) of his wife (daughter of General Sir
Charles Bruce), whom he had married in 1860, made his constant
attendance in the House of Commons impossible, his domestic sorrow
excited widespread sympathy and appealed afresh to the affection of his
political followers. This became all the more apparent as his own health
failed during 1907; for, though he was obliged to leave much of the
leadership in the Commons to Mr Asquith, his possible resignation of the
premiership was strongly deprecated; and even after November, when it
became clear that his health was not equal to active work, four or five
months elapsed before the necessary change became a _fait accompli_.
Personal affection and political devotion had in these two years made
him appear indispensable to the party, although nobody ever regarded him
as in the front line of English statesmen so far as originality of ideas
or brilliance of debating power were concerned. It is not the fortune of
many more brilliant statesmen to earn this testimonial to character.
From the beginning of the session of 1908 it was evident, however, that
Mr Asquith, who was acting as deputy p