en he was entertained at
dinner by the Reform Club on his accession to the Premiership, he
happened to catch my eye while he was speaking, and he interjected
this remark: "I see George Russell there. He is by birth, descent,
and training a Whig; but he is a little more than a Whig." Thus
describing me he described himself. He was a Whig who had marched
with the times from Whiggery to Liberalism; who had never lagged
an inch behind his party, but who did not, as a rule, outstep it.
His place was, so to speak, in the front line of the main body,
and every forward movement found him ready and eager to take his
place in it. His chosen form of patriotism was a quiet adhesion to
the Liberal party, with a resolute and even contemptuous avoidance
of sects and schisms.

He was born in 1836, of a mercantile family which had long flourished
in Glasgow, and in 1872 he inherited additional wealth, which
transformed his name from Campbell to Campbell-Bannerman--the familiar
"C.-B." of more recent times. Having graduated from Trinity College,
Cambridge, he entered Parliament as Member for the Stirling Burghs
in 1868, and was returned by the same delightful constituency till
his death, generally without a contest. He began official life in
Gladstone's first Administration as Financial Secretary to the War
Office, and returned to the same post after the Liberal victory of
1880. One of the reasons for putting him there was that his tact, good
sense, and lightness in hand enabled him to work harmoniously with
the Duke of Cambridge--a fiery chief who was not fond of Liberals,
and abhorred prigs and pedants. In 1884, when Sir George Trevelyan
was promoted to the Cabinet, Campbell-Bannerman was made Chief
Secretary for Ireland, and in that most difficult office acquitted
himself with notable success. Those were not the days of "the Union
of Hearts," and it was not thought necessary for a Liberal Chief
Secretary to slobber over murderers and outrage-mongers. On the other
hand, the iron system of coercion, which Mr. Balfour administered so
unflinchingly, had not been invented; and the Chief Secretary had
to rely chiefly on his own resources of firmness, shrewdness, and
good-humour. With these Campbell-Bannerman was abundantly endowed,
and his demeanour in the House of Commons was singularly well adapted
to the situation. When the Irish members insulted him, he turned
a deaf ear. When they pelted him with controversial questions, he
replied w