Page:Dictionary of National Biography, Second Supplement, volume 2.djvu/71

 events of his short tenure of the Indian secretaryship were the Chitral campaign in April 1895 and the revolt of the Lancashire members, led by Sir Henry James, against the reimposition of duties on cotton goods imported into India. In the debate on these duties Fowler made the speech of his life (5 Feb. 1895). He explained that the duties would not be protective because they would be accompanied by a countervailing excise, and he pleaded that parliament in adopting the duties would be acting for the people of India who could not act for themselves. The speech, which contained the memorable phrase 'Every member of this house is a member for India,' was one of those rare displays of argument and eloquence which affect votes. The cabinet was tottering when he rose to speak; when he sat down the situation was saved, and the government had a majority of 195. When asked subsequently whether he knew, while speaking, the effect he was producing, he replied 'The best part of that speech was never spoken; I saw that I had the house with me — and I sat down!' In June 1895 the government resigned after being defeated on the cordite vote, and Fowler received the G.C.S.I., in accordance, it is understood, with the wishes of Queen Victoria.

During the ten years of opposition which followed, Fowler was not a frequent speaker in the house. He devoted himself to his private affairs, and interested himself especially in the development of the telephone system. He was appointed director of the National Telephone Company in 1897, becoming president in 1901. Yet when Sir William Harcourt [q. v. Suppl. II] retired from the leadership of the liberal party in the House of Commons in Dec. 1898 Fowler's claims to the succession were seriously urged. The 'Spectator' (17 Dec. 1898) described him as 'a man thoroughly capable of directing the policy of his party, and, what is more, able, if need be, to govern the country with power and discretion.' In the distracted councils of the liberal party which followed. Sir Henry was a strong supporter of Lord Rosebery, and was one of the vice-presidents of the Liberal League. He refused to join in the strictures of Sir Henry Campbell Bannerman on the conduct of the Boer war, declaring that the war was ' just and inevitable.' While thus strengthening his position with, moderate men on both sides, he incurred the hostility of the extreme radicals. But it was argued by many of the party that had he been ten years younger and 'inoculated with a dash of audacity' he would have been chosen to supersede Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman (Lucy's Balfourian Parliament, 93). When Mr. Chamberlain startled the country with the tariff reform proposals in 1903, and thereby closed up the ranks of the liberal party, Fowler, as was natural in an old colleague of Villiers, joined heartily in the defence of free trade.

In the liberal ailministration which was formed in Dec. 1905, Sir Henry, feeling the burden of his seventy-five years, waived his claim to a secretaryship of state, and accepted the comparatively light office of chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster. His inclusion in the cabinet was welcomed by moderate men, who hoped that he would exercise a moderating influence on his younger and less cautious colleagues. But though, in Lord Rosebery's words, he probably gave the cabinet 'the soundest and most sagacious advice,' it is doubtful to what extent it was followed. He took little part in debate. The strain of constant attendance in the House of Commons told on him, but his business-like administration of the affairs of the duchy met with the warm approval of the sovereign. In March 1908, on Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman's resignation, Mr. Asquith formed a ministry in which Fowler retained his former post. But he took the opportunity of leaving the lower house. On 13 April 1908 he was raised to the peerage as Viscount Wolverhampton, taking his seat in the upper house on the same day as his old friend, John Morley. Later in the same year (14 Oct.) he became lord president of the council. This was the culminating point of his political career, and was a remarkable position to have been won by a man who, aided by no adventitious circumstances, did not enter parliament until he was fifty, and owed everything there to intellect, resolution, and character.

Beyond taking charge of the old age pensions bill during 1908, Lord Wolverhampton took little part in debate in the House of Lords. In Oct. 1909 he received the honorary degree of LL.D. from the University of Birmingham, together with Mr. Balfour and other distinguished men, on the first occasion when the university conferred these degrees. Early in 1910 there were signs that his health was failing; both mind and memory were affected. With much in the advanced policy of the cabinet he was out of sympathy. But he retained