Page:Dictionary of National Biography, Third Supplement.djvu/144

 of his official subordinates. Lord Milner described him as an incomparable chief. He always, if possible, consulted those who served under him. He gave the fullest consideration to all their representations. He went thoroughly into every aspect of the case, for he was a most industrious minister; and finally, he laid down firmly and deliberately the policy which he wished to be followed, leaving a large latitude to those who had to work it out. Sir Harry Wilson, who was principal private secretary to Chamberlain from 1895 to 1897, has also described his methods of dealing with business. His ‘minutes’ were almost invariably concise, and always strictly to the point. While he generally accepted the advice of his under-secretaries, often making illuminating additions to their drafts, he sometimes reversed their conclusions, though not without full discussion. The vigour of his methods is attested by the fact that, at the time of the Jameson Raid, he made a personal invasion, at one o’clock a.m., of the office of the Eastern Telegraph Company, to discover why an important telegram had not been delivered. Through his whole life he justified the words of his son: ‘He never rested. To his last day he seemed too young to leave things as they are.’ When party animosities are forgotten, men will probably recognize the truth of the Earl of Balfour’s testimony—‘He was a great statesman, a great friend, a great orator, a great man.’

Chamberlain’s speeches are contained in the following editions: C. W. Boyd, Mr. Chamberlain's Speeches, 2 vols. (1914); H. W. Lucy, Speeches, with sketch of Life (1885); Speeches on Home Rule and the Irish Question, 1881-1887 (1887); Foreign and Colonial Speeches (1897); Imperial Union and Tariff Reform 15 May-4 November 1903 (2nd edition, 1910). He was the author of Patriotism (1897) and of a preface to The Radical Programme (1885). He also wrote the following articles in the Fortnightly Review: The Liberal Party and its Leaders, and The Nest Page of the Liberals (1874); The Right Method with the Publicans, and Lapland and Swedish Licensing (1876); Free Schools, Municipal Public-Houses, and The New Political Organization (1877); The Caucus (1879); Labourers’ and Artisans’ Dwellings (1883). In the Nineteenth Century he wrote: Shall we Americanise our Institutions? (1890); The Labour Question (1892); A Bill for the Weakening of Great Britain (1893); and in the New Review, Municipal Reform (1894).

The chief portraits of Chamberlain are those by Frank Holl (1886), by J. S. Sargent (1896), by Sir H. von Herkomer (1903, Royal Academy Pictures, 1904), and by C. W. Furse (1904, unfinished owing to the artist’s death). A bust in Westminster Abbey was unveiled on 31 March 1916 by Lord Balfour, and another, executed by F. Derwent Wood in 1915, belongs to the Corporation of the City of London (Royal Academy Pictures, 1915).

118