Page:Dictionary of National Biography, Second Supplement, volume 2.djvu/224

 (22 Jan. 1882), and at the Drill Hall, Derby (25 April 1882), his audiences numbered many thousands. At Derby he pronounced a glowing eulogy on Gladstone, and when the prime minister at the end of the year contemplated resignation owing to illness, Harcourt urged him to hold on. On 16 Nov. many influential liberals met at the Westminster Palace Hotel to promote the foundation of the National Liberal Club, and Harcourt proposed the creation of a political and historical library to be called 'The Gladstone Library.'

The general legislation for which Harcourt was responsible during the rest of his tenure of office was small. In March he made a serious attempt to improve the conditions of labour in coal mines, and did much to extend the use of the Fleuss apparatus where the presence of injurious gases made conditions unhealthy. But the local government board (Scotland) bill, which he introduced on 29 June and which provided a board for Scotland, with full and independent jurisdiction over local Scottish affairs, passed the Commons on 17 Aug. 1883, only to be rejected by the House of Lords.

On 8 April 1884 Harcourt introduced his London government bill, which had been long in contemplation. It sought to consolidate the various governing bodies of the whole of London into a single corporation with full control of a large and defined area. The debate continued, with intervals, till 9 July, but the complexities of the bill and the ceaseless opposition which it aroused forced Harcourt reluctantly to abandon the measure. Meanwhile he was active both in parliament and the country in the struggle with the House of Lords over the franchise bill of 1884, and was as effective as the circumstances admitted in defence of the Egyptian policy of the government. He had supported Lord Hartington, the secretary for war, in despatching General Gordon in 1884 to the relief of Khartoum, On the fall of KJiartoum and the death of Gordon (26 Jan. 1885) he resisted with rhetorical force the vote of censure on the government which was moved by Sir Stafford Northcote and brought the government majority down to fourteen. The government did not long survive. On 16 May 1886 Gladstone announced that a part of Harcourt's Crimes Act (Ireland) would be renewed, and on 8 June the Irish members and the tories combined on an amendment to the budget and the government was defeated by 264 to 262. Gladstone and his government at once resigned and Lord Salisbury became prime minister. Under the new government Harcourt succeeded in replacing a clause struck by the Lords out of the Registration Bill (July 23), which abolished the electoral disqualification of receipt of medical relief. During the month he censured the favourable reception by the government of Mr. Parnell's motion for an inquiry into the conduct of Lord Spencer's administration in regard to the Maamtrasna and other murder cases. At the same time he declared his unwillingness to support any future measure of coercion.

At the general election in November Harcourt's seat at Derby was contested, but he retained it without much difficulty. He devoted most of his time to an energetic campaign outside his constituency. While powerfully supporting his party, he dissociated himself at Blandford (24 Sept. 1885) from Mr. Chamberlain's extreme radicalism. The final result of the general election was that the conservatives and Pamellites exactly balanced the liberals, a difficult situation^ which caused Harcourt disquietude. On 6 Dec. 1885 he wrote to Hartington that he looked 'forward to the tory government keeping up the Pamellite alliance, and so discrediting themselves' (Life of Duke of Devonshire, ii. 26). Speaking at Lowestoft next day he deprecated an early return of the liberals to office, preferring for his part that 'the tories should stew in the Pamellite juice, until they stank in the nostrils of the country' (The Times, 8 Dec. 1885). On 17 Dec. 1885 he declared himself in the depths of despair at party prospects, and divided the blame for the crisis between Mr. Chamberlain and Gladstone. Meanwhile rumours spread abroad that Gladstone was about to admit home rule into the party programme, but no word of that intention was communicated by Gladstone to his colleagues. On 28 Dec. Harcourt met Hartington, Mr. Chamberlain, and Sir Charles Dilke in London, and wrote jointly to Gladstone entreating him to give a straight answer respecting his intentions about home rule, and to consult his colleagues before committing himself to a new policy.

Parliament met on 12 Jan. 1886, and the current rumour of Gladstone's conversion to home rule was confirmed. The conservative government was defeated by a combination of liberals and home rulers and Gladstone again became prime minister, 1 February. Lord Hartington, Sir Henry James, and Goschen at once declined to entertain a measure of home rule. Mr. Chamberlain and Sir George Trevelyan