1909]

NAVY ESTIMATES

than I hoped. But the Labour men were by no means united, and as for our Liberals!

The usual reports were diligently set afloat by the Liberal Whips," that the Tories would vote with us and the Government be out,"-" that the Tories would abstain and it would be a narrow thing," &c., &c.

What I said seemed to give satisfaction and courage, but I was dreadfully dissatisfied with myself. It was in truth on a "note" that the House gets little or nothing of now-a-days, and by no means in even my best Parliamentary form.

But I am at the bottom well satisfied with having taken this action. No one, except one who has been in the House, can form any conception of what the effect is at the end of a Parliament, with a lot of men quaking in their shoes for fear of their seats.

To the Same.

London. July 28.

A night's rest on Monday and the greetings of men, with investigation of figures, &c., made things look brighter yesterday. The weak point as regards this occasion and the future is the Labour party, and a surprise to to us and to them. There voted for on Monday, eleven, against-nine, revealing an enormous cleavage. This is not the first occasion quite lately in which some one has been authorised to speak for them, and been opposed in the lobby by his supposed followers. The fact is, disintegration and demoralisation are just as rampant among them as in any other party. Tacking on the word "Labour" does not eliminate human nature any more than Quaker, Radical or what not!

On the other hand, the old "Labour" men, Burt and others, were better than earlier in the session, and the Liberals distinctly improved on the awful time in March.

27th. Remarkable lunch in the Harcourt Room downstairs. At the head table Col. Seely, the Speaker,

Sir H. de Villiers, Gen. Botha. The Speaker proposed the South African Union.

29th. H. of C. Committee of Privileges meeting first time since 1833. Asquith in chair.

Foreign Office. Talk with Sir E. Grey for about 45 mins. Told him of the visit to Germany. Referred to my action in House and urged matter upon him with fair persistency. He explained difficulties. Altogether a good impression.

On November 30 the Lords rejected the Budget"an unprecedented event, carrying grave consequences."

Ellis had not liked some of the proposals of the Budget when first introduced. His last remarks in the House upon it were :-" Certain elements of crudity have now been eliminated. I thank the Chancellor of the Exchequer for his readiness to listen to every complaint, with the result that the Bill is now one which can, in my opinion, be warmly supported without any hesitation whatever, and I welcome the new death duties warmly, as resting on a sound principle. The bill contains within it a promise of potency,—of some alleviation for the poor, and some elevation of our people in their social habits."

He went down to Netherfield and spoke to his constituents there. He said the issue was a very grave one. It was for each elector to ask himself, " Do I wish my country to continue to have as its dominant assembly a House of Commons elected by the people, or do I wish it to be governed by a handful of individuals sitting in a non-representative assembly through the accident of being the eldest sons of their fathers, whatever their character or whatever their mental capacity? We welcome the issue, it is quite time it There will be no compromise."

came.

At the end of the year Ellis and his family sought

rest at Cannes and his reflections on Christmas Day are given in a letter to his aunts at Belgrave.

Christmas Day, 1909.

One's thoughts always go back as this day comes round to the early associations with the old house at Belgrave and I send a few lines of affectionate greeting. I suppose that by this time the only one bearing our name in the sixth generation of what we have seen has been taken into the hall where her grandfather used to stand at the head of a line of children!

The quiet and freedom from the daily claims of home. life have been very grateful and helpful as thou may suppose. I have been bathing my thoughts in the times of 1640 and onwards, in Forster's Grand Remonstrance, &c. I have excellent accounts from Rushcliffe, where the people entirely appreciate the momentous and yet simple issue, which has been so rashly provoked.

CHAPTER XVI

THE END

AMIDST the cares and the turmoil of political affairs occurred an event which afforded him the greatest delight and went far to mitigate the ceaseless worries of his public life. For in the last year of his life the birth of the first child in the third generation was a constant source of joy to him. His first entry in his diary of 1910 refers to his grand-daughter meeting him at Leicester, "bringing all the joy of a little child with. her," and in March he visits his son-"a household which does one good. The little child a wonderful lesson if only one can read it aright." At a later period he records the date on which she first took a step alone.

The General Election which absorbed public interest when the year opened brought with it Ellis's seventh appeal to the electors. His new opponent was Mr. Coningsby Disraeli, nephew of the great statesman, who in his election address advocated Tariff Reform and a larger Navy. Before beginning in earnest the campaign in his own constituency Ellis addressed meetings at Malton, Scarborough, and Sunderland. At the latter place, for which his old friend James Stuart was standing, the Liberals were fighting an uphill fight owing to the illness of their candidate, and Ellis made more than one

1910]

SEVENTH ELECTION CONTEST

speech. His style of speaking and mental attitude were not attuned to electioneering methods, and it is not surprising to find him expressing distaste for this form of oratory :

Says his diary :-"Town meetings in the heat of an election are not very much to my taste when people are slightly too excited for my discourses, which have no jokes, no stories to enliven them."

At

Rushcliffe in a grave political struggle asked for neither jests nor quips. In proportion to the gravity of the issues involved the enthusiasm of the electors seemed to increase. In this, his last election, the ardour with which he was supported was amazing. Supplemental and overflow meetings were constant occurrences. Hucknall, where there was "one of the finest meetings. I ever held," addresses were given by his wife and daughter whilst awaiting the candidate's arrival. The one issue he placed before the electors was the stand taken by the Lords with reference to the Finance Bill in particular and legislation in general. He put the point thus in his address to the electors :

The position taken up by this non-elected assembly would if successfully maintained, effectually destroy the representative basis of cur constitution. It would enable the House of Lords, over which the tax-payer has no control, to paralyse the machinery of government at any moment they chose, by refusing the needful supplies. It would thus make the Ministry the creature of the Lords instead of the instrument of the Commons, acting as the elected and authorised representative of the nation. This meddling with the taxation of the people is but the climax of a long series of offences against the public weal. It is a body composed in permanent and overwhelming degree, of one political party which acts in a frankly avowed partisan manner.