the Irish Nationalists, but waged successful warfare with the
entire Home Rule party. He combined an obstinacy of will with a mastery of
facts unsurpassed by any of his predecessors in the secretaryship. Events,
it is true, were in his favour. The disclosures before the Parnell
Commission, the O'Shea divorce proceedings, the downfall of Mr Parnell and
the disruption of the Irish party, assisted him in his task; but the fact
remains that by persistent courage and undeviating thoroughness he reduced
crime in Ireland to a vanishing point. His work was also constructive, for
he broadened the basis of material prosperity and social progress by
creating the Congested Districts Board in 1890. During this period, from
1886-1892, moreover, he developed gifts of oratory which made him one of
the most effective of public speakers. Impressive in matter rather than in
manner of delivery, and seldom rising to the level of eloquence in the
sense in which that quality was understood in a House which had listened to
Bright and Gladstone, his speeches were logical and convincing, and their
attractive literary form delighted a wider audience than that which listens
to the mere politician.

In 1888 Mr Balfour served on the Gold and Silver Commission, currency
problems from the standpoint of bimetallism being among the more academic
subjects which had engaged his attention. On the death of Mr W. H. Smith in
1891 he became first lord of the treasury and leader of the House of
Commons, and in that capacity introduced in 1892 a Local Government Bill
for Ireland. The Conservative government was then at the end of its tether,
and the project fell through. For the next three years Mr Balfour led the
opposition with great skill and address. On the return of the Unionists to
power in 1895 he resumed the leadership of the House, but not at first with
the success expected of him, his management of the abortive education
proposals of '96 being thought, even by his own supporters, to show a
disinclination for the continuous drudgery of parliamentary management
under modern conditions. But after the opening session matters proceeded
more smoothly, and Mr Balfour regained his old position in the estimation
of the House and the country. He had the satisfaction of seeing a bill pass
for providing Ireland with an improved system of local government, and took
an active share in the debates on the various foreign and domestic
questions that came before parliam