sticking or a bill in a window or a placard-plastered motor-car or

an argumentative group of people outside a public-house or a

sluggish movement towards the schoolroom or village hall, there was

scarcely a sign that a great empire was revising its destinies. Now

and then one saw a canvasser on a doorstep. For the most part

people went about their business with an entirely irresponsible

confidence in the stability of the universe. At times one felt a

little absurd with one's flutter of colours and one's air of saving

the country.

My opponent was a quite undistinguished Major-General who relied

upon his advocacy of Protection, and was particularly anxious we

should avoid "personalities" and fight the constituency in a

gentlemanly spirit. He was always writing me notes, apologising for

excesses on the part of his supporters, or pointing out the

undesirability of some course taken by mine.

My speeches had been planned upon broad lines, but they lost touch

with these as the polling approached. To begin with I made a real

attempt to put what was in my mind before the people I was to supply

with a political voice. I spoke of the greatness of our empire and

its destinies, of the splendid projects and possibilities of life

and order that lay before the world, of all that a resolute and

constructive effort might do at the present time. "We are building

a state," I said, "secure and splendid, we are in the dawn of the

great age of mankind." Sometimes that would get a solitary "'Ear!

'ear!" Then having created, as I imagined, a fine atmosphere, I

turned upon the history of the last Conservative administration and

brought it into contrast with the wide occasions of the age;

discussed its failure to control the grasping financiers in South

Africa, its failure to release public education from sectarian

squabbles, its misconduct of the Boer War, its waste of the world's

resources…

It soon became manifest that my opening and my general spaciousness

of method bored my audiences a good deal. The richer and wider my

phrases the thinner sounded my voice in these non-resonating

gatherings. Even the platform supporters grewrestive

unconsciously, and stirred and coughed. They did not recognise

themselves as mankind. Building an empire, preparing a fresh stage

in the history of humanity, had no appeal for them. They were

mostly everyday, toiling people, full of small personal solicitudes,

and they came to my meetings, I think, very largely as a relaxation.

This stuff was not relaxing. They did not think politics was a

great constructive process, they thought it was a kind of dog-fight.

They wanted fun, they wanted spice, they wanted hits, they wanted

also a chance to say "'Ear', 'ear!" in an intelligent and honourable

manner and clap their hands and drum with their feet. The great

constructive process in history gives so little scope for clapping

and drumming and saying "'Ear, 'ear!" One might as well think of

hounding on the solar system.

So after one or two attempts to lift my audiences to the level of

the issues involved, I began to adapt myself to them. I cut down my

review of our imperial outlook and destinies more and more, and

developed a series of hits and anecdotes and-what shall I call

them?-"crudifications" of the issue. My helper's congratulated me

on the rapid improvement of my platform style. I ceased to speak of

the late Prime Minister with the respect I bore him, and began to

fall in with the popular caricature of him as an artful rabbit-

witted person intent only on keeping his leadership, in spite of the

vigorous attempts of Mr. Joseph Chamberlain to oust him therefrom.

I ceased to qualify my statement that Protection would make food

dearer for the agricultural labourer. I began to speak of Mr.

Alfred Lyttelton as an influence at once insane and diabolical, as a

man inspired by a passionate desire to substitute manacled but still

criminal Chinese for honest British labourers throughout the world.

And when it came to the mention of our own kindly leader, of Mr.

John Burns or any one else of any prominence at all on our side I

fell more and more into the intonation of one who mentions the high

gods. And I had my reward in brighter meetings and readier and

readier applause.

One goes on from phase to phase in these things.

"After all," I told myself, "if one wants to get to Westminster one

must follow the road that leads there," but I found the road

nevertheless rather unexpectedly distasteful. "When one gets

there," I said, "then it is one begins."

But I would lie awake at nights with that sore throat and headache

and fatigue which come from speaking in ill-ventilated rooms, and

wondering how far it was possible to educate a whole people to great

political ideals. Why should political work always rot down to

personalities and personal appeals in this way? Life is, I suppose,

to begin with and end with a matter of personalities, from

personalities all our broader interests arise and to personalities

they return. All our social and political effort, all of it, is

like trying to make a crowd of people fall into formation. The

broader lines appear, but then come a rush and excitement and

irrelevancy, and forthwith the incipient order has vanished and the

marshals must begin the work over again!

My memory of all that time is essentially confusion. There was a

frightful lot of tiresome locomotion in it; for the Kinghamstead

Division is extensive, abounding in ill-graded and badly metalled