Page:The life and times of King Edward VII by Whates, Harry Richard 5.djvu/21

 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF KING EDWARD THE SEVENTH CHAPTER I. THE DISRUPTION OF THE UNIONISTS The Unionists in Power A Programme of Social Amelioration How it was Carried Out The Aftermath of the War The South African Mirage The Fiscal System in Great Britain Mr. Chamberlain and Preference "Tariff Reform" on the Horizon Mr. Balfour Defines his Posi- tion The Country Becomes Interested Two Historic Letters Mr. Chamberlain Resigns Some Cabinet Anomalies " The Apostle of Fiscal Reform " Stagnation at the Cape The Question of Chinese Labour Lively Debates in Parliament Rumours of Dissolution Mr. Balfour Resigns A General Election: and its Result. GOINCIDENTIvY with the change in the aspect and course of British foreign relations a change accom- plished by the personal influence of King Edward as an exponent of Ministerial policy there were fundamental changes in English domestic politics in which the Sovereign of necessity had no formative share. It was his lot to witness in the early years of his reign the disruption of the Unionist Party which, with one short break, had for many years been all-powerful in the country. He had watched the formation of that tremend- ous coalition after Mr. Gladstone had split his party in twain on the Home Rule question ; and both as a friend of Ireland and a detached observer of the shifts and rivalries and intrigues of poli- ticians the task must have stimulated reflection upon the difficulties the Party system could produce for an occupant of the Throne. He had lived through 3J the years of its achievements the incor- poration of the Boer Republics, the enlarge- ment of the area and the responsibilities of the British Empire elsewhere on the African continent, the reconquest of the lost provinces of Egypt, the preservation of inter-European peace notwithstanding the weltering troubles in the East, Near and Far ; and he had noted its failure to carry the comprehensive measures of social reform on the suggestion of which its leaders had obtained their great majorities. On one question of particular interest to him the better housing of the people nothing had been done worthy of note ; the problem of old age pensions had been relegated to the background ; and in regard to the great group of questions thrust to the front by the Royal Com- mission on Labour on which the King, as Prince of Wales, had desired a seat, and from which he was excluded on the ground that the work of that body might overlap