ht personally favour. As the campaign advanced, and the motives
with which it had been engineered became more evident, his lead
became clearer and more decisive. What we read about Concentration
Camps and burnt villages and Chinese labour provoked his emphatic
protest against "methods of barbarism," and those Liberals who
enjoyed the war and called themselves "Imperialists" openly revolted
against his leadership. He bore all attacks and slights and
impertinences with a tranquillity which nothing could disturb, but,
though he said very little, he saw very clearly. He knew exactly
the source and centre of the intrigues against his leadership,
and he knew also that those intrigues were directed to the end of
making Lord Rosebery again Prime Minister. The controversy about
Tariff Reform distracted general attention from these domestic
cabals, but they were in full operation when Mr. Balfour suddenly
resigned, and King Edward sent for Campbell-Bannerman. Then came
a critical moment.

If Mr. Balfour had dissolved, the Liberal leader would have come
back at the head of a great majority, and could have formed his
Administration as he chose; but, by resigning, Mr. Balfour compelled
his successor to form his Administration out of existing materials.
So the cabals took a new form. The Liberal Imperialists were eager
to have their share in the triumph, and had not the slightest scruple
about serving under a leader whom, when he was unpopular, they had
forsaken and traduced. Lord Rosebery put himself out of court by a
speech which even Campbell-Bannerman could not regard as friendly;
but Mr. Asquith, Mr. Haldane, and Sir Edward Grey were eager for
employment. The new Premier Was the most generous-hearted of men,
only too ready to forgive and forget. His motto was _Alors comme
alors_, and he dismissed from consideration all memories of past
intrigues. But, when some of the intriguers calmly told him that
they would not join his Government unless he consented to go to
the House of Lords and leave them to work their will in the House
of Commons, he acted with a prompt decision which completely turned
the tables.

The General Election of January, 1906, gave him an overwhelming
majority; but in one sense it came too late. His health was a good
deal impaired, and he was suffering from domestic anxieties which
doubled the burden of office. Lady Campbell-Bannerman died, after
a long illness, in August, 1906, but he struggled on bravely t