Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne - Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, KG, GCVO, PC (3 February 1830 – 22 August 1903), styled Lord Robert Cecil before 1865 and Viscount Cranborne from June 1865 until April 1868, was a British Conservative statesman and thrice Prime Minister, serving for a total of over 13 years. He was the first British Prime Minister of the 20th century and the last Prime Minister to head his full administration from the House of Lords.

Lord Robert Cecil was first elected to the House of Commons in 1854 and served as Secretary of State for India in Lord Derby's Conservative government from 1866 until his resignation in 1867 over its introduction of Benjamin Disraeli's Reform Bill that extended the suffrage to working class men. In 1868 upon the death of his father, Cecil was elevated to the House of Lords. In 1874 when Disraeli formed an administration Salisbury returned as Secretary of State for India and in 1878 was appointed Foreign Secretary and played a leading part in the Congress of Berlin, despite doubts over Disraeli's pro-Ottoman policy. After the Conservatives lost the 1880 election and Disraeli's death the year after, Salisbury emerged as Conservative leader in the House of Lords, with Sir Stafford Northcote leading the party in the Commons. He became Prime Minister in June 1885 when the Liberal leader William Ewart Gladstone resigned, and he held the office until January 1886. When Gladstone came out in favour of Home Rule for Ireland, Salisbury opposed him and formed an alliance with the breakaway Liberal Unionists and they won the subsequent general election. He remained Prime Minister until Gladstone's Liberals formed a government with the support of the Irish Nationalist Party, despite the Unionists gaining the largest number of votes and seats in the 1892 general election. However the Liberals lost the 1895 general election and Salisbury once again became Prime Minister, leading Britain to war against the Boers and the Unionists to another electoral victory in 1900 before relinquishing the premiership to his nephew Arthur Balfour. He died a year later in 1903.

Lord Robert Cecil was the second son of the 2nd Marquess of Salisbury. In 1840 he went to Eton College, where he did well in French, German, the classics and theology. However he left in 1845 due to intense bullying. In December 1847 he went to Christ Church, Oxford, although he received an honorary fourth class in mathematics conferred by nobleman's privilege due to ill health. Whilst at Oxford he associated himself with the Tractarian movement.

In April 1850 he joined Lincoln's Inn but subsequently did not enjoy law. His doctor advised him to travel for his health and so in July 1851 to May 1853 Cecil travelled through Cape Colony, Australia, Tasmania and New Zealand. He disliked the Boers and wrote that free institutions and self - government could not be granted to the Cape Colony because the Boers outnumbered the British three - to - one and "it will simply be delivering us over bound hand and foot into the power of the Dutch, who hate us as much as a conquered people can hate their conquerors". He found the Kaffirs "a fine set of men – whose language bears traces of a very high former civilisation", similar to Italian. They were "an intellectual race, with great firmness and fixedness of will" but "horribly immoral" as they lacked theism. In the Bendigo gold mine of Australia he claimed that "there is not half as much crime or insubordination as there would be in an English town of the same wealth and population". 10,000 miners were policed by four men armed with carbines and at Mount Alexander 30,000 people were protected by 200 policemen, with over 30,000 ounces of gold mined per week. He believed that there was "generally far more civility than I should be likely to find in the good town of Hatfield" and claimed this was due to "the government was that of the Queen, not of the mob; from above, not from below. Holding from a supposed right (whether real or not, no matter)" and from "the People the source of all legitimate power". Cecil said of the Maori of New Zealand: "The natives seem when they have converted to make much better Christians than the white man". A Maori chief offered Cecil five acres near Auckland, which he declined.

He entered the House of Commons as a Conservative in 1853, as MP for Stamford in Lincolnshire. He retained this seat until entering the peerage and it was not contested during his time as its representative. In his election address he opposed secular education and "ultramontane" interference with the Church of England which was "at variance with the fundamental principles of our constitution". He would oppose "any such tampering with our representative system as shall disturb the reciprocal powers on which the stability of our constitution rests". In 1867, after his brother Eustace complained of being addressed by constituents in a hotel, Cecil responded: "A hotel infested by influential constituents is worse than one infested by bugs. It's a pity you can't carry around a powder insecticide to get rid of vermin of that kind".

In December 1856 Cecil began publishing articles for the Saturday Review, which he contributed anonymously for the next nine years. From 1861 to 1864 he published 422 articles in it, in total the weekly published 608 of his articles. The Quarterly Review was the foremost intellectual journal of the age and of the twenty - six issues published between spring 1860 and summer 1866, Cecil had anonymous articles in all but three of them. He also wrote lead articles for the Tory daily newspaper the Standard. In 1859 Cecil was a founding co-editor of Bentley's Quarterly Review, with J.D. Cook and Rev. William Scott, but this closed after four issues.

Salisbury criticised the foreign policy of Lord John Russell, claiming he was "always being willing to sacrifice anything for peace... colleagues, principles, pledges... a portentous mixture of bounce and baseness... dauntless to the weak, timid and cringing to the strong". The lessons to be learnt from Russell's foreign policy, Salisbury believed, were that he should not listen to the Opposition of the press otherwise "we are to be governed… by a set of weathercocks, delicately poised, warranted to indicate with unnerving accuracy every variation in public feeling". Secondly: "No one dreams of conducting national affairs with the principles which are prescribed to individuals. The meek and poor - spirited among nations are not to be blessed, and the common sense of Christendom has always prescribed for national policy principles diametrically opposed to those that are laid down in the Sermon on the Mount". Thirdly: "The assemblies that meet in Westminster have no jurisdiction over the affairs of other nations. Neither they nor the Executive, except in plain defiance of international law, can interfere [in the internal affairs of other countries]... It is not a dignified position for a Great Power to occupy, to be pointed out as the busybody of Christendom". Finally, Britain should not threaten other countries unless prepared to back this up by force: "A willingness to fight is the point d'appui of diplomacy, just as much as a readiness to go to court is the starting point of a lawyer’s letter. It is merely courting dishonour, and inviting humiliation for the men of peace to use the habitual language of the men of war".

In 1866 Lord Robert, now Viscount Cranborne after the death of his older brother, Cranborne entered the third government of Lord Derby as Secretary of State for India.

When in 1867 John Stuart Mill proposed a type of proportional representation, Cranborne argued that: "It was not of our atmosphere — it was not in accordance with our habits; it did not belong to us. They all knew that it could not pass. Whether that was creditable to the House or not was a question into which he would not inquire; but every Member of the House the moment he saw the scheme upon the Paper saw that it belonged to the class of impracticable things".

On 2 August when the Commons debated the Orissa famine in India, Cranborne spoke out against experts, political economy, and the government of Bengal. Utilising the Blue Books, Cranborne criticised officials for "walking in a dream… in superb unconsciousness, believing that what had been must be, and that as long as they did nothing absolutely wrong, and they did not displease their immediate superiors, they had fulfilled all the duties of their station". These officials worshipped political economy "as a sort of "fetish"... [they] seemed to have forgotten utterly that human life was short, and that man did not subsist without food beyond a few days". Three quarters of a million people had died because officials had chosen "to run the risk of losing the lives than to run the risk of wasting the money". Cranborne's speech was received with "an enthusiastic, hearty cheer from both sides of the House" and Mill crossed the floor of the Commons to congratulate him on it. The famine left Cranborne with a lifelong suspicion of experts and in the photograph albums at his home covering the years 1866 – 67 there are two images of skeletal Indian children amongst the family pictures.

When parliamentary reform came to prominence again in the mid 1860s, Cranborne worked hard to master electoral statistics until he became an expert. When the Liberal Reform Bill was being debated in 1866, Cranborne studied the census returns to see how each clause in the Bill would affect the electoral prospects in each seat. Cranborne did not expect Disraeli's conversion to reform, however. When the Cabinet met on 16 February 1867, Disraeli voiced his support for some extension of the suffrage, providing statistics amassed by Robert Dudley Baxter, showing that 330,000 people would be given the vote and all except 60,000 would be granted extra votes. Cranborne studied Baxter's statistics and on 21 February he met Lord Carnarvon, who wrote in his diary: "He is firmly convinced now that Disraeli has played us false, that he is attempting to hustle us into his measure, that Lord Derby is in his hands and that the present form which the question has now assumed has been long planned by him". They agreed to "a sort of offensive and defensive alliance on this question in the Cabinet" to "prevent the Cabinet adopting any very fatal course". Disraeli had "separate and confidential conversations... carried on with each member of the Cabinet from whom he anticipated opposition [which] had divided them and lulled their suspicions". That same night Cranborne spent three hours studying Baxter's statistics and wrote to Carnarvon the day after that although Baxter was right overall in claiming that 30% of £10 ratepayers who qualified for the vote would not register, it would be untrue in relation to the smaller boroughs where the register is kept up to date. Cranborne also wrote to Derby arguing that he should adopt 10 shillings rather than Disraeli's 20 shillings for the qualification of the payers of direct taxation: "Now above 10 shillings you won't get in the large mass of the £20 householders. At 20 shillings I fear you won't get more than 150,000 double voters, instead of the 270,000 on which we counted. And I fear this will tell horribly on the small and middle - sized boroughs".

On 23 February Cranborne protested in Cabinet and the next day analysed Baxter's figures using census returns and other statistics to determine how Disraeli's planned extension of the franchise would affect subsequent elections. Cranborne found that Baxter had not taken into account the different types of boroughs in the totals of new voters. In small boroughs under 20,000 the "fancy franchises" for direct taxpayers and dual voters would be less than the new working - class voters in each seat. The same day he met Carnarvon and they both studied the figures, coming to the same result each time: "A complete revolution would be effected in the boroughs" due to the new majority of the working - class electorate. Cranborne wanted to send his resignation to Derby along with the statistics but Cranborne agreed to Carnarvon's suggestion that as a Cabinet member he had a right to call a Cabinet meeting. It was planned for the next day, 25 February. Cranborne wrote to Derby that he had discovered that Disraeli's plan would "throw the small boroughs almost, and many of them entirely, into the hands of the voter whose qualification is less than £10. I do not think that such a proceeding is for the interest of the country. I am sure that it is not in accordance with the hopes which those of us who took an active part in resisting Mr Gladstone's Bill last year in those whom we induced to vote for us". The Conservative boroughs with populations less than 25,000 (a majority of the boroughs in Parliament) would be very much worse off under Disraeli's scheme than the Liberal Reform Bill of the previous year: "But if I assented to this scheme, now that I know what its effect will be, I could not look in the face those whom last year I urged to resist Mr Gladstone. I am convinced that it will, if passed, be the ruin of the Conservative party".

When Cranborne entered the Cabinet meeting on 25 February "with reams of paper in his hands" he begun by reading statistics but was interrupted to be told of the proposal by Lord Stanley that they should agree to a £6 borough rating franchise instead of the full household suffrage, and a £20 county franchise rather than £50. The Cabinet agreed to Stanley's proposal. The meeting was so contentious that a minister who was late initially thought they were debating the suspension of habeas corpus. The next day another Cabinet meeting took place, with Cranborne saying little and the Cabinet adopting Disraeli's proposal to bring in a Bill in a week's time. On 28 February a meeting of the Carlton Club took place, with a majority of the 150 Conservative MPs present supporting Derby and Disraeli. At the Cabinet meeting on 2 March, Cranborne, Carnarvon and General Peel were pleaded with for two hours to not resign but when Cranborne "announced his intention of resigning... Peel and Carnarvon, with evident reluctance, followed his example". John Manners observed that Cranborne "remained unmoveable". Derby closed his red box with a sigh and stood up, saying "The Party is ruined!" Cranborne got up at the same time, with Peel remarking: "Lord Cranborne, do you hear what Lord Derby says?" Cranborne ignored this and the three resigning ministers left the room. Cranborne's resignation speech was met with loud cheers and Carnarvon observed that it was "moderate and in good taste – a sufficient justification for us who seceded and yet no disclosure of the frequent changes in policy in the Cabinet".

Disraeli introduced his Bill on 18 March and it would extend the suffrage to all rate - paying householders of two years' residence, dual voting for graduates or those of a learned profession, or those with £50 in governments funds or in the Bank of England or a savings bank. These "fancy franchises", as Cranborne had foreseen, did not survive the Bill's course through Parliament; dual voting was dropped in March, the compound householder vote in April; and the residential qualification was reduced in May. In the end the county franchise was granted to householders rated at £12 annually. On 15 July the third reading of the Bill took place and Cranborne spoke first, in a speech which his biographer Andrew Roberts has called "possibly the greatest oration of a career full of powerful parliamentary speeches". Cranborne observed how the Bill "bristled with precautions, guarantees and securities" had been stripped of these. He attacked Disraeli by pointing out how he had campaigned against the Liberal Bill in 1866 yet the next year introduced a Bill more extensive than the one rejected. In the peroration Cranborne said:

I desire to protest, in the most earnest language which I am capable of using, against the political morality on which the manoeuvres of this year have been based. If you borrow your political ethics from the ethics of the political adventurer, you may depend upon it the whole of your representative institutions will crumble beneath your feet. It is only because of that mutual trust in each other by which we ought to be animated, it is only because we believe that expressions and convictions expressed, and promises made, will be followed by deeds, that we are enabled to carry on this party Government which has led this country to so high a pitch of greatness. I entreat honourable Gentlemen opposite not to believe that my feelings on this subject are dictated simply by my hostility on this particular measure, though I object to its most strongly, as the House is aware. But, even if I took a contrary view – if I deemed it to be most advantageous, I still should deeply regret that the position of the Executive should have been so degraded as it has been in the present session: I should deeply regret to find that the House of Commons has applauded a policy of legerdemain; and I should, above all things, regret that this great gift to the people – if gift you think – should have been purchased at the cost of a political betrayal which has no parallel in our Parliamentary annals, which strikes at the root of all that mutual confidence which is the very soul of our party Government, and on which only the strength and freedom of our representative institutions can be sustained.

In his article for the October Quarterly Review, entitled ‘The Conservative Surrender’, Cranborne criticised Derby because he had "obtained the votes which placed him in office on the faith of opinions which, to keep office, he immediately repudiated... He made up his mind to desert these opinions at the very moment he was being raised to power as their champion". Also, the annals of modern parliamentary history could find no parallel for Disraeli's betrayal; historians would have to look "to the days when Sunderland directed the Council, and accepted the favours of James when he was negotiating the invasion of William". Disraeli responded in a speech that Cranborne was "a very clever man who has made a very great mistake".

In 1868, on the death of his father, he inherited the Marquessate of Salisbury, thereby becoming a member of the House of Lords. From 1868 and 1871, he was chairman of the Great Eastern Railway, which was then experiencing losses. During his tenure, the company was taken out of chancery, and paid out a small dividend on its ordinary shares.

He returned to government in 1874, serving once again as India Secretary in the government of Benjamin Disraeli, and Britain's Ambassador Plenipotentiary at the 1876 Constantinople Conference. Salisbury gradually developed a good relationship with Disraeli, whom he had previously disliked and mistrusted.

During a Cabinet meeting on 7 March 1878, a discussion arose over whether to occupy Mytilene. Lord Derby recorded in his diary that "Of all present Salisbury by far the most eager for action: he talked of our sliding into a position of contempt: of our being humiliated etc." At the Cabinet meeting the next day, Derby recorded that John Manners objected to occupying the city "on the ground of right. Salisbury treated scruples of this kind with marked contempt, saying, truly enough, that if our ancestors had cared for the rights of other people, the British empire would not have been made. He was more vehement than any one for going on. In the end the project was dropped..."

In 1878, Salisbury succeeded Lord Derby (son of the former Prime Minister) as Foreign Secretary in time to help lead Britain to "peace with honour" at the Congress of Berlin. For this he was rewarded with the Order of the Garter.

Following Disraeli's death in 1881, the Conservatives entered a period of turmoil. Salisbury became the leader of the Conservative members of the House of Lords, though the overall leadership of the party was not formally allocated. So he struggled with the Commons leader Sir Stafford Northcote, a struggle in which Salisbury eventually emerged as the leading figure.

In 1884 Gladstone introduced a Reform Bill which would extend the suffrage to two million rural workers. Salisbury and Northcote agreed that any Reform Bill would be supported only if a parallel redistributionary measure was introduced as well. In a speech in the Lords, Salisbury claimed: "Now that the people have in no real sense been consulted, when they had, at the last General Election, no notion of what was coming upon them, I feel that we are bound, as guardians of their interests, to call upon the government to appeal to the people, and by the result of that appeal we will abide". The Lords rejected the Bill and Parliament was prorogued for ten weeks. Writing to Canon Malcolm MacColl, Salisbury believed that Gladstone's proposals for reform without redistribution would mean "the absolute effacement of the Conservative Party. It would not have reappeared as a political force for thirty years. This conviction... greatly simplified for me the computation of risks". At a meeting of the Carlton Club on 15 July, Salisbury announced his plan for making the government introduce a Seats (or Redistribution) Bill in the Commons whilst at the same time delaying a Franchise Bill in the Lords. The unspoken implication being that Salisbury would relinquish the party leadership if his plan was not supported. Although there was some dissent, Salisbury carried the party with him.

Salisbury wrote to Lady John Manners on 14 June that he did not regard female suffrage as a question of high importance "but when I am told that my ploughmen are capable citizens, it seems to me ridiculous to say that educated women are not just as capable. A good deal of the political battle of the future will be a conflict between religion and unbelief: & the women will in that controversy be on the right side".

On 21 July a large meeting for reform was held at Hyde Park. Salisbury said in The Times that "the employment of mobs as an instrument of public policy is likely to prove a sinister precedent". On 23 July at Sheffield, Salisbury said that the government "imagine that thirty thousand Radicals going to amuse themselves in London on a given day expresses the public opinion of the day... they appeal to the streets, they attempt legislation by picnic". Salisbury further claimed that Gladstone adopted reform as a "cry" to deflect attention from his foreign and economic policies at the next election. He claimed that the House of Lords was protecting the British constitution: "I do not care whether it is an hereditary chamber or any other – to see that the representative chamber does not alter the tenure of its own power so as to give a perpetual lease of that power to the party in predominance at the moment". On 25 July at a reform meeting in Leicester consisting of 40,000 people, Salisbury was burnt in effigy and a banner quoted Shakespeare's Henry VI: "Old Salisbury – shame to thy silver hair, Thou mad misleader". On 9 August in Manchester over 100,000 came to hear Salisbury speak. On 30 September at Glasgow he said: "We wish that the franchise should pass but that before you make new voters you should determine the constitution in which they are to vote". Salisbury published an article in the National Review for October, titled ‘The Value of Redistribution: A Note on Electoral Statistics’. He claimed that the Conservatives "have no cause, for Party reasons, to dread enfranchisement coupled with a fair redistribution". Judging by the 1880 results, Salisbury asserted that the overall loss to the Conservatives of enfranchisement without redistribution would be 47 seats. Salisbury spoke throughout Scotland and claimed that the government had no mandate for reform when it had not appealed to the people.

Gladstone offered wavering Conservatives a compromise a little short of enfranchisement and redistribution, and after the Queen unsuccessfully attempted to persuade Salisbury to compromise, he wrote to Rev. James Baker on 30 October: "Politics stand alone among human pursuits in this characteristic, that no one is conscious of liking them – and no one is able to leave them. But whatever affection they may have had they are rapidly losing. The difference between now and thirty years ago when I entered the House of Commons is inconceivable". On 11 November the Franchise Bill received its third reading in the Commons and it was due to get a second reading in the Lords. The day after at a meeting of Conservative leaders, Salisbury was outnumbered in his opposition to compromise. On 13 February Salisbury rejected MacColl's idea that he should meet Gladstone, as he believed the meeting would be found out and that Gladstone had no genuine desire to negotiate. On 17 November it was reported in the newspapers that if the Conservatives gave "adequate assurance" that the Franchise Bill would pass the Lords before Christmas the government would ensure that a parallel Seats Bill would receive its second reading in the Commons as the Franchise Bill went into committee stage in the Lords. Salisbury responded by agreeing only if the Franchise Bill came second. The Carlton Club met to discuss the situation, with Salisbury's daughter writing:

The three arch - funkers Cairns, Richmond and Carnarvon cried out declaring that he would accept no compromise at all as it was absurd to imagine the Government conceding it. When the discussion was at its height (very high) enter Arthur [Balfour] with explicit declamation dictated by G.O.M. in Hartington's handwriting yielding the point entirely. Tableau and triumph along the line for the ‘stiff’ policy which had obtained terms which the funkers had not dared hope for. My father's prevailing sentiment is one of complete wonder... we have got all and more than we demanded.

Despite the controversy which had raged, the meetings of leading Liberals and Conservatives on reform at Downing Street were amicable. Salisbury and the Liberal Sir Charles Dilke dominated discussions as they had both closely studied in detail the effects of reform on the constituencies. After one of the last meetings on 26 November, Gladstone told his secretary that "Lord Salisbury, who seems to monopolize all the say on his side, has no respect for tradition. As compared with him, Mr Gladstone declares he is himself quite a Conservative. They got rid of the boundary question, minority representation, grouping and the Irish difficulty. The question was reduced to... for or against single member constituencies". The Reform Bill laid down that the majority of the 670 constituencies were to be roughly equal size and return one member; those between 50,000 and 165,000 kept the two - member representation and those over 165,000 and all the counties were split up into single - member constituencies. This franchise existed until 1918.

He became Prime Minister of a minority administration from 1885 to 1886. In the November 1883 issue of National Review Salisbury wrote an article titled "Labourers' and Artisans' Dwellings" in which he argued that the poor conditions of working class housing were injurious to morality and health. Salisbury said "Laissez - faire is an admirable doctrine but it must be applied on both sides", as Parliament had enacted new building projects (such as the Thames Embankment) which had displaced working class people and was responsible for "packing the people tighter": "...thousands of families have only a single room to dwell in, where they sleep and eat, multiply, and die… It is difficult to exaggerate the misery which such conditions of life must cause, or the impulse they must give to vice. The depression of body and mind which they create is an almost insuperable obstacle to the action of any elevating or refining agencies". The Pall Mall Gazette argued that Salisbury had sailed into "the turbid waters of State Socialism"; the Manchester Guardian said his article was "State socialism pure and simple" and The Times claimed Salisbury was "in favour of state socialism". In July 1885 the Housing of the Working Classes Bill was introduced by Cross in the Commons and Salisbury in the Lords. When Lord Wemyss criticized the Bill as "strangling the spirit of independence and the self - reliance of the people, and destroying the moral fibre of our race in the anaconda coils of state socialism", Salisbury responded: "Do not imagine that by merely affixing to it the reproach of Socialism you can seriously affect the progress of any great legislative movement, or destroy those high arguments which are derived from the noblest principles of philanthropy and religion".

Although unable to accomplish much due to his lack of a parliamentary majority, the split of the Liberals over Irish Home Rule in 1886 enabled him to return to power with a majority, and, excepting a Liberal minority government (1892 – 95), to serve as Prime Minister from 1886 to 1902.

In 1889 Salisbury set up the London County Council and then in 1890 allowed it to build houses. However he came to regret this, saying in November 1894 that the LCC, "is the place where collectivist and socialistic experiments are tried. It is the place where a new revolutionary spirit finds its instruments and collects its arms".

Salisbury caused controversy in 1888 after Gainsford Bruce had won the Holborn by-election for the Unionists, beating the Liberal Earl Compton. Bruce had won the seat with a smaller majority than Francis Duncan had for the Unionists in 1885. Salisbury explained this by saying in a speech in Edinburgh on 30 November: "But then Colonel Duncan was opposed to a black man, and, however great the progress of mankind has been, and however far we have advanced in overcoming prejudices, I doubt if we have yet got to the point where a British constituency will elect a black man to represent them... I am speaking roughly and using language in its colloquial sense, because I imagine the colour is not exactly black, but at all events, he was a man of another race". The "black man" was Dadabhai Naoroji, an Indian. Salisbury's comments were criticized by the Queen and by Liberals who believed that Salisbury had suggested that only white Britons could represent a British constituency. Three weeks later Salisbury delivered a speech at Scarborough, where he denied that "the word "black" necessarily implies any contemptuous denunciation. Such a doctrine seems to be a scathing insult to a very large proportion of the human race… The people whom we have been fighting at Suakim, and whom we have happily conquered, are among the finest tribes in the world, and many of them are as black as my hat". Furthermore "such candidatures are incongruous and unwise. The British House of Commons, with its traditions… is a machine too peculiar and too delicate to be managed by any but those who have been born within these isles". Naoroji was elected for Finsbury in 1892 and Salisbury invited him to become a Governor of the Imperial Institute, which he accepted.

Salisbury's government passed the Naval Defence Act 1889 which facilitated the spending of an extra £20 million on the Royal Navy over the following four years. This was the biggest ever expansion of the navy in peacetime: ten new battleships, thirty - eight new cruisers, eighteen new torpedo boats and four new fast gunboats. Traditionally (since the Battle of Trafalgar) Britain had possessed a navy one - third larger than their nearest naval rival but now the Royal Navy was set to the Two - Power Standard; that it would be maintained "to a standard of strength equivalent to that of the combined forces of the next two biggest navies in the world". This was aimed at France and Russia.

In the aftermath of the general election of 1892, Balfour and Chamberlain wished to pursue a programme of social reform, which Salisbury believed would alienate "a good many people who have always been with us" and that "these social questions are destined to break up our party". When the Liberals and Irish Nationalists (which were a majority in the new Parliament) successfully voted against the government, Salisbury resigned the premiership on 12 August. His private secretary at the Foreign Office wrote that Salisbury "shewed indecent joy at his release".

Salisbury — in an article in November for the National Review entitled ‘Constitutional revision’ — said that the new government, lacking a majority in England and Scotland, had no mandate for Home Rule and argued that because there was no referendum only the House of Lords could provide the necessary consultation with the nation on policies for organic change. The Lords defeated the second Home Rule Bill by 419 to 41 in September 1893 but Salisbury stopped them from opposing the Liberal Chancellor's death duties in 1894. The general election of 1895 returned a large Unionist majority.

Salisbury's expertise was in foreign affairs. For most of his time as Prime Minister he served not as First Lord of the Treasury, the traditional position held by the Prime Minister, but as Foreign Secretary. In that capacity, he managed Britain's foreign affairs, famously pursuing a policy of "Splendid Isolation". Among the important events of his premierships was the Partition of Africa, culminating in the Fashoda Crisis and the Second Boer War. At home he sought to "fight Home Rule with kindness" by launching a land reform programme which helped hundreds of thousands of Irish peasants gain land ownership.

On 11 July 1902, in failing health and broken hearted over the death of his wife, Salisbury resigned. He was succeeded by his nephew, Arthur James Balfour.

Salisbury was offered a dukedom by Queen Victoria in 1886 and 1892, but declined both offers, citing the prohibitive cost of the lifestyle dukes were expected to maintain.

When Salisbury died his estate was probated at 310,336 pounds sterling.

Salisbury is seen as an icon of traditional, aristocratic conservatism. The Conservative historian Robert Blake considered Salisbury "the most formidable intellectual figure that the Conservative party has ever produced". In 1977 the Salisbury Group was founded, chaired by Robert Gascoyne - Cecil, 6th Marquess of Salisbury and named after the 3rd Marquess. It published pamphlets advocating conservative policies. The academic quarterly Salisbury Review was named in his honour upon its founding in 1982. The Conservative historian Maurice Cowling claimed that "The giant of conservative doctrine is Salisbury". It was on Cowling's suggestion that Paul Smith edited a collection of Salisbury's articles from the Quarterly Review. Andrew Jones and Michael Bentley wrote in 1978 that "historical inattention" to Salisbury "involves wilful dismissal of a Conservative tradition which recognizes that threat to humanity when ruling authorities engage in democratic flattery and the threat to liberty in a competitive rush of legislation".

Not long before his death in 1967, Clement Attlee (Labour Party Prime Minister, 1945 – 51) was invited to Chequers by Harold Wilson and was asked who he thought was the best Prime Minister of his lifetime. Attlee immediately replied: "Salisbury".

The 6th Marquess of Salisbury commissioned Andrew Roberts to write Salisbury's authorized biography, which was published in 1999.

After the Bering Sea Arbitration, Canadian Prime Minister Sir John Sparrow David Thompson said of Lord Salisbury's acceptance of the Arbitration Treaty that it was "one of the worst acts of what I regard as a very stupid and worthless life."

The British phrase 'Bob's your uncle' is thought to have derived from Robert Cecil's appointment of his nephew, Arthur Balfour, as Minister for Ireland.

Fort Salisbury (now Harare) was named in honour of the British prime minister, when founded in September 1890. Subsequently simply known as Salisbury, the city was subsequently the capital of: Southern Rhodesia, from 1890; the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, from 1953 to 1963; Rhodesia, from 1963 to 1979; Zimbabwe Rhodesia, in 1979; and finally Zimbabwe, from 1980. The name was changed to Harare in April 1982, on the second anniversary of Zimbabwe's creation.

Lord Salisbury was the second son of the 2nd Marquess of Salisbury, a minor Conservative politician. In 1857, he defied his father and married Georgina Alderson. She was the daughter of Sir Edward Alderson, a moderately notable jurist and so of much lower social standing than the Cecils. The marriage proved a happy one. Robert and Georgina had eight children, all but one of whom survived infancy.
 

Joseph Chamberlain (8 July 1836 – 2 July 1914) was an influential British politician and statesman. Unlike most major politicians of the time, he was a self made businessman and had not attended Oxford or Cambridge University.

Born in London, Chamberlain made his career in Birmingham, first as a manufacturer of screws and then as a notable Mayor of the city. During his early adulthood he was a radical Liberal Party member and a campaigner for educational reform. He entered the House of Commons aged almost forty, relatively late in life for a front - rank politician. Rising to power through his influence with the Liberal grassroots organisation, he served as President of the Board of Trade in Gladstone's Second Government (1880 – 85). At the time, Chamberlain was notable for his attacks on the Conservative leader Lord Salisbury, and in the 1885 general election he proposed the "Unauthorised Programme" of benefits for newly enfranchised agricultural labourers. Chamberlain resigned from Gladstone's Third Government in 1886 in opposition to Irish Home Rule, and after the Liberal Party split he became a Liberal Unionist, a party which included a bloc of MPs based in and around Birmingham.

From the 1895 general election the Liberal Unionists were in coalition with the Conservative Party, under Chamberlain's former opponent Lord Salisbury. Chamberlain accepted the post of Secretary of State for the Colonies, declining other positions. In this job, he presided over the Second Boer War and was the dominant figure in the Unionist Government's re-election at the"Khaki Election" in 1900. In 1903, he resigned from the Cabinet to campaign for tariff reform. He obtained the support of most Unionist MPs for this stance, but the split contributed to the landslide Unionist defeat at the 1906 general election. Some months later, shortly after turning seventy, he was disabled by a stroke.

Despite never becoming Prime Minister, he is regarded as one of the most important British politicians of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, as well as a renowned orator and an interesting character who split both main parties. Winston Churchill later wrote of him that he was the man "who made the weather". Chamberlain was the father – by different marriages – of Sir Austen Chamberlain and Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain.

Chamberlain was born in Camberwell in London to a successful shoemaker and manufacturer, also named Joseph (1796 – 1874), and his wife Caroline Harben, daughter of Henry Harben. He was educated at University College School (then still in Euston) between 1850 and 1852, excelling academically and gaining prizes in French and mathematics.

The elder Chamberlain was not able to provide advanced education for all his children, and at the age of 16 years, Joseph was apprenticed to the Worshipful Company of Cordwainers and worked for the family business making quality leather shoes. At 18, he was sent to Birmingham to join his uncle's screwmaking business, Nettlefolds (later part of Guest, Keen and Nettlefolds), in which his father had invested. In partnership with Joseph Nettlefold, Chamberlain was to help the screwmaking firm, soon known as Nettlefold and Chamberlain, become a commercial success, and by the time of his retirement from the company, in 1874, it was exporting its products to the United States, Europe, India, Japan, Canada and Australia. During the business's most prosperous period, it produced approximately two - thirds of all metal screws made in England.

In 1860, Chamberlain met Harriet Kenrick, the daughter of Archibald Kenrick, member of a Unitarian family from Birmingham who originally occupied Wynn Hall in Ruabon, Wrexham, Wales. They were married in July 1861, and a daughter, Beatrice, was born to them in May 1862. In October 1863, Harriet, who had had a premonition that she would die in childbirth, gave birth to a son, Joseph Austen, the future Chancellor of the Exchequer and Foreign Secretary, but she became ill two days after the birth and died three days later. Chamberlain devoted himself to the growing fortunes of Nettlefold and Chamberlain, while raising Beatrice and Austen with the Kenrick parents - in - law.

In 1868, Chamberlain married for the second time, wedding Harriet's cousin, Florence Kenrick, daughter of Timothy Kenrick. The couple had four children: Arthur Neville in 1869, Ida in 1870, Hilda in 1871, and Ethel in 1873. On 13 February 1875, Florence gave birth to their fifth child, but she and the child died within a day.

Florence's sister, Louisa, married Joseph's brother, Arthur Chamberlain; their granddaughter was the author Elizabeth Longford and their great - granddaughter is the Labour politician Harriet Harman.

There were strong radical and liberal traditions among shoemakers in his adopted home city of Birmingham, while Chamberlain's Unitarian church had a long tradition of social action. Chamberlain duly became involved in Liberal politics, and the growth of Britain's urban population led to mounting national political pressure to redistribute parliamentary seats and to enfranchise a sizeable proportion of urban males. In 1866, Lord John Russell's Liberal administration submitted a Reform Bill to the House of Commons, designed to create 400,000 new voters. While conservative supporters of the government, known as 'Adullamites', opposed the Bill for its disruption of the social order, Radicals criticized it on the basis that it failed to concede the secret ballot or household suffrage. The Bill was defeated and Lord Derby formed a minority Conservative administration. On 27 August 1866, a large demonstration for reform was held in Birmingham, in which the Mayor marched alongside 250,000 people, one of whom was Chamberlain. John Bright addressed the huge middle and working class crowd, Chamberlain recalling that 'men poured into the hall, black as they were from the factories... the people were packed together like herrings.' The Conservative government passed a Reform Bill in 1867, nearly doubling the electorate from 1,430,000 to 2,470,000 and in the United Kingdom general election, 1868, the Liberal Party gained power. Chamberlain was active in the election campaign, praising Bright and George Dixon, a Birmingham Member of Parliament (MP).

In 1867 he helped found the Birmingham Education League with Jesse Collings. The Education League noted that of about four and a quarter million children of school age, two million children, mostly in urban areas, did not attend school, with a further million in uninspected schools. More contentious was the government's aid to Church of England schools, embodying an association between official religion and state that was bound to offend Nonconformist opinion. Chamberlain was enthusiastic about the requirement for the provision of free, secular, compulsory education, stating that 'it is as much the duty of the State to see that the children are educated as to see that they are fed.' He also pointed to the success owed by the United States and Prussia to public education. The Birmingham Education League evolved into the National Education League, which held its first Conference in Birmingham in 1869. The League proposed a school system funded by local rates and government grants, managed by local authorities subject to government inspection. By 1870, the League had more than one hundred branches, mostly in cities and peopled largely by men of trades unions and working men's organizations. Chamberlain was also influential in the local campaign in support of Gladstone's Irish Church Disestablishment Bill against the House of Lords's obstructionism. Chamberlain seconded the motion for disestablishment at a debate in Birmingham town hall, and he addressed the large, restless crowd protesting the hereditary powers of the House of Lords. The meeting ended amidst fighting, but Chamberlain had become influential among Birmingham Liberals, and he was elected to Birmingham Council for St. Paul's ward in November 1869.

The Liberal government proposed an Elementary Education Bill in January 1870. William Edward Forster, Vice - President of the Committee of Council on Education was responsible for the Bill and was criticized by Nonconformists because of the legislation's proposal to maintain church schools as part of the national educational system and to fund them by the rates. The absence of school commissions or the provision of free, compulsory education caused consternation among the National Education League, and Chamberlain arranged for a large delegation to visit the Prime Minister's residence at 10 Downing Street to persuade PM Gladstone to remove the role of the church in national education. On 9 March 1870, the Education League's delegation arrived to meet the Prime Minister, consisting of 400 branch members and 46 M.P.s. In this first meeting between Gladstone and Chamberlain, the latter impressed the Prime Minister with his lucid speech, and Gladstone agreed during the Elementary Education Bill's second reading to make amendments that removed church schools from rate - payer control and granted them funding from government funds. Liberal MPs, exasperated at the compromises in the legislation, voted against the government, and the Bill passed the House of Commons with support from the Conservatives. Chamberlain campaigned against the Act, and especially clause 25, which gave school boards of England and Wales the power to pay the fees of poor children at voluntary schools, which theoretically allowed them to fund church schools. The Education League even stood in several by-elections against Liberal candidates who refused to support the repeal of clause 25. In 1873 a Liberal majority was elected to the Birmingham School Board, with Chamberlain as chairman. Eventually, a compromise was reached with the church component of the School Board agreeing to make payments from rate - payer's money only to schools associated with industrial education.

Chamberlain broadened his campaigning to take up the cause of rural workers, promoting their enfranchisement and cheaper land prices. This was represented in his subsequent slogan, coined in an article written for the Fortnightly Review, the four 'Fs' – 'Free Church, Free Schools, Free Land and Free Labour'. In another article entitled 'The Liberal Party and its Leaders', Chamberlain criticized Gladstone's leadership and advocated a concerted Radical challenge to the direction of the party. By 1873, Chamberlain had made his reputation, especially in Birmingham, as a charismatic Radical politician, and sought to further his cause in municipal politics.

In November 1873 Chamberlain campaigned as a Liberal candidate for the mayoralty of Birmingham, with the Conservatives denouncing his political Radicalism and disparaging him as a 'monopoliser and a dictator.' The Liberal Party swept the municipal elections having campaigned with the slogan 'The People above the Priests', a criticism of the High Toryism of Chamberlain's opponents. As mayor, Chamberlain promoted many civic improvements, leaving the town (in words to Collings) 'parked, paved, assized, marketed, gas & watered and improved'. Prior to his tenure in office, the city's municipal administration was notably lax with regards to public works, and many urban dwellers lived in conditions of great poverty.

The city's water supply was considered a danger to public health – approximately half of the city's population was dependent on well water, much of which was polluted by sewage. Furthermore, piped water was only supplied three days per week, compelling the use of unhealthy well water and water carts for the rest of the week. Two rival gas companies — the Birmingham Gas Company and the Birmingham and Staffordshire Gas Company — were locked in constant competition, in which the city's streets were continually dug up to allow for the laying of mains. Chamberlain established a municipal gas supply by forcibly purchasing the two companies on behalf of the borough for £1,953,050, even offering to purchase the companies himself if the ratepayers refused. The move was a success, and in its first year of operations, the municipal gas scheme made a profit of £34,000.

Deploring the rising death rate from contagious diseases in the poorest sections of the city, in January 1876, Chamberlain forcibly purchased Birmingham's waterworks for a combined sum of £1,350,000, creating Birmingham Corporation Water Department, having declared to a House of Commons Committee that 'We have not the slightest intention of making profit... We shall get our profit indirectly in the comfort of the town and in the health of the inhabitants'. Despite this noticeable executive action, Chamberlain was mistrustful of central authority and burdensome bureaucracy, preferring to give local communities the responsibility to act on their own initiative.

With the city's gas and water supply controlled by the municipality, Chamberlain initiated other schemes with the intention of improving the quality of life in Birmingham. In July 1875 Chamberlain tabled an improvement plan that involved slum clearance in Birmingham's city centre. Chamberlain had been consulted by the Home Secretary, Richard Assheton Cross during the preparation of the Artisan's and Labourers' Dwellings Improvement Act 1875, a major feature of the Disraeli ministry's programme of social improvement. Chamberlain proposed to build a new road, (Corporation Street), through Birmingham's overcrowded slums, and bought 50 acres (200,000 m²) of property for the purpose. Overriding the protests of local landlords and the Commissioner of the Local Government Board's inquiry into the scheme, Chamberlain appealed directly to the President of the Local Government Board, George Sclater - Booth. Having gained the endorsement of national government and raised the funds for the programme, Chamberlain was able to implement the scheme, contributing £10,000 to the cost himself. However, the Improvement Committee concluded that it would be too expensive to transfer slum dwellers to municipally built accommodation and so the land was leased as a business proposition on a 75 year lease. Those who had occupied the slums were eventually rehoused in the suburbs, not in the area of their previous residence, and the scheme as a whole cost local government £300,000. The death rate in the newly christened Corporation Street decreased dramatically – from approximately 53 per 1,000 between 1873 and 1875 to 21 per 1,000 between 1879 and 1881.

Chamberlain's tenure in office was also notable for his promotion of cultural improvement. Public and private money was used for the construction of libraries, municipal swimming pools and schools. The Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery was enlarged and a number of new parks were opened. Construction of the Council House was begun while the Victoria Law Courts were built on Corporation Street.

The mayoralty helped give Chamberlain stature as a figure of both local and national renown, with contemporaries commenting upon his youthfulness and dress, including 'a black velvet coat, jaunty eyeglass in eye, red neck - tie drawn through a ring'. His contribution to the city's improvement earned Chamberlain the political allegiance of the so-called 'Birmingham caucus', a loyalty that would remain during his entire public career.

In the 1874 general election, Chamberlain made his first attempt to become an MP of the House of Commons. The Sheffield Reform Association, an offshoot of the Liberal Party in the city, invited Chamberlain to stand for election soon after the beginning of his tenure as Mayor of Birmingham. The campaign was a fierce one, and Chamberlain was accused of republicanism and atheism by opponents, with dead cats even being thrown at him on the speaking platform by angry spectators. Much to his displeasure, Chamberlain came in third place, a failure for someone considered as a leading spokesman for urban Radicalism. During his term as Mayor of Birmingham, Chamberlain continued to entertain the prospect of campaigning for Parliament, although he eventually rejected the possibility of campaigning in Sheffield. Predictably, Chamberlain maintained his focus on Birmingham and when George Dixon decided to retire from his parliamentary seat in May 1876, an opportunity was presented for Chamberlain to be elected to the House of Commons. On 17 June 1876, Chamberlain was returned unopposed for the Birmingham constituency, after a period of anxiety following his nomination in which he denounced the Prime Minister, Benjamin Disraeli, accusing him of being 'a man who never told the truth except by accident.' Chamberlain subsequently apologized publicly.

When elected, Chamberlain resigned the mayorship of Birmingham, and was introduced to the House of Commons by John Bright and Joseph Cowen, an M.P. for Newcastle - upon - Tyne. Almost immediately, Chamberlain began to organize the Radical component of the House of Commons in an attempt to prompt the Liberal leadership, with the intention of displacing Whig dominance and providing a Radical opposition to the Conservatives. On 4 August 1876, Chamberlain made his maiden speech in the House of Commons during a debate on elementary schools. The maintenance of clause 25 prompted Chamberlain to intervene, while Disraeli was present. Speaking for twenty minutes, Chamberlain utilized his experience on the Birmingham School Board to make an impressive speech. Hereafter, Chamberlain spoke on many subjects, but concentrated on the subject of free public education and female teachers. The issues of alcohol licensing and army discipline also occupied much of Chamberlain's time.

Early difficulties in creating a coherent group committed to Radicalism within the Liberal Party convinced Chamberlain of the need to establish a more effective organization for the party as a whole, especially in the localities. The controversy surrounding Disraeli's policy during the Russo - Turkish War proved to be a catalyst for activity, for Chamberlain viewed the agitation surrounding the Bulgarian atrocities as a means of utilizing public indignation for a Radical agenda. Chamberlain estimated that Radicalism could profit from Gladstone's increasing popularity, and he subsequently sought to close ranks with the returned Liberal leader. With the Liberal Party active in opposition to the Conservative government's foreign policy, it was a propitious moment to federate the country's Liberal Associations, and on 31 May 1877, Gladstone addressed approximately 30,000 people at Bingley Hall to found the National Liberal Federation. The body was undeniably a creation of Chamberlain's brand of Birmingham Radicalism, reflected in the dominance of Birmingham's politicians in the Federation's administration – Chamberlain himself served as President. The Federation was designed to tighten party discipline and provide the Liberal Party with the apparatus for fighting the Conservatives in elections. Furthermore, the Federation subsequently engaged in numerous campaigning activities, including the enlisting of new members, the organization of political meetings and the publishing of posters and pamphlets. Contemporary commentators made (often disparaging) comparisons between the techniques of the Federation and those employed in American politics. For Chamberlain, the Federation gave him much enhanced influence within the Liberal Party as well as a nationwide platform to promote Radicalism.

Chamberlain was largely critical of Disraeli's foreign policy, arguing that the Conservative government's forward policy diverted attention from the requirements of domestic reform. Unlike many Liberals, Chamberlain's attitude was not motivated by anti - imperialism, for although he berated the government for its Eastern policy, the Second Afghan War of 1878 and the Zulu War of 1879, he had previously supported Disraeli's purchase of Suez Canal Company shares in November 1875. At this stage of his career, Chamberlain was eager to see the protection of British overseas interests, but placed greater emphasis on a conception of justice in the pursuit of such interests. In the 1880 general election, Chamberlain joined the Liberal denunciations of the Conservative Party's foreign policy, and the National Liberal Federation played an important part in seeing the Liberal Party take power. With Gladstone having returned as Prime Minister with notable assistance from the National Liberal Federation, Chamberlain was hopeful of being rewarded with a cabinet position.

Despite the fact that Chamberlain had sat in Parliament for only four years, his claims to a position in the cabinet were strong – he spoke nationally for Radicals and Nonconformists, and had a credible power base in the form of the National Liberal Federation. Although Gladstone did not regard the Federation highly, he recognized the part it had played in taking the Liberal Party to power, and appreciated the wisdom of not antagonizing Chamberlain, who told Sir William Harcourt that he was prepared to lead a revolt and field Radical candidates in borough elections. Eager to reconcile Radicals to the Whig heavy cabinet and having taken the counsel of Bright, Gladstone invited Chamberlain on 27 April 1880 to fulfil the post of President of the Board of Trade.

Chamberlain's scope for manoeuvre was restricted between 1880 and 1883 by the Cabinet's occupancy with difficulties concerning Ireland, Transvaal Colony and Egypt. However, he was able to introduce the Grain Cargoes Bill, for the safer transportation of grain, an Electric Lighting Bill, which enabled municipal corporations to establish electricity supplies, and a Seaman's Wages Bill, which ensured a fairer system of payment for seamen. After 1883, Chamberlain's period at the Board of Trade was more productive. A Bankruptcy Bill established a Bankruptcy Department at the Board of Trade responsible for enquiring into failed business deals. Meanwhile, a Patents Bill made patenting subject to supervision by the Board of Trade. Chamberlain also sought to end the practice of ship owners overinsuring their vessels – 'coffin ships' – while under - manning them, thereby ensuring a healthy profit irrespective of whether the ship arrived safely or sank. Despite being endorsed by Tory Democrats Lord Randolph Churchill and John Eldon Gorst, the Liberal government was unwilling to grant Chamberlain its full support and the Bill was withdrawn in July 1884.

In Cabinet, Ireland was of special interest to Chamberlain. Representing Irish Catholic peasants, the Irish Land League promoted fair rents, fixity of tenure and free sale, in opposition to absentee Anglo - Irish landlords. Chamberlain endorsed proposals that a Land Bill would be effective in countering agitation in Ireland and Fenian outrages in the British Isles. Furthermore, he believed that a land settlement would quieten demands for Irish Home Rule, something that Chamberlain opposed with vigour, reasoning that Ireland's separation from the United Kingdom would lead to the eventual break up of the British Empire. He was opposed to the policy of coercion advocated by the Chief Secretary for Ireland, W.E. Forster, believing that coercive tactics before the settlement of the land issue would provoke Irish malcontents. In April 1881, Gladstone's government introduced the Irish Land Act, but in response, Charles Stewart Parnell, leading the Irish nationalists, encouraged tenants to withhold rents. As a result, Parnell and other leaders, including John Dillon, were imprisoned in Kilmainham Gaol on 13 October 1881. Keen that there should be no more concessions, Chamberlain supported their imprisonment, and used their incarceration to bargain with them in 1882 in an attempt to reconcile them to the government.

In the ensuing 'Kilmainham Treaty', the government agreed to release Parnell in return for his cooperation in making the Land Act work. Forster resigned and the new Chief Secretary, Lord Frederick Cavendish, was murdered by Irish terrorists on 6 May 1882, leaving the 'Kilmainham Treaty' almost useless. Many, including Parnell, believed that Chamberlain, having brokered the agreement, would be offered the Chief Secretaryship, but Gladstone appointed Sir George Trevelyan instead. Nevertheless, Chamberlain maintained an interest in Irish affairs, and proposed to the Cabinet an Irish Central Board that would have legislative powers for land, education and communications. This was rejected by the Whigs in Cabinet on 9 May 1885.

Chamberlain's inability to introduce more creative legislation at the Board of Trade was the cause of frustration for someone who had proven to be so effective in municipal politics. However, Chamberlain viewed the Board of Trade as little more than a stepping stone for the attainment of higher things, seeing the post as a platform for the promotion of Radicalism. Early into the Gladstone ministry, Chamberlain suggested without success that the franchise should be extended, with the Prime Minister arguing that the matter should be deferred until the end of the Parliament's lifespan. In 1884, the parliament passed a major measure of franchise reform, the Reform Act, which gave hundreds of thousands of rural labourers the vote. This was followed by a Redistribution Act in 1885, negotiated by Gladstone and the Conservative leader, Lord Salisbury. Chamberlain sought to capture the newly enfranchised voters, and threw himself into a campaign of Radicalism. This included public meetings, speeches and, notably, articles written in the Fortnightly Review by Chamberlain's associates, including Jesse Collings and John Morley. Chamberlain earned a reputation for provocative speeches during the period, especially during debate on the 1884 County Franchise Bill, which was opposed by the Whig Liberals Lord Hartington and George Goschen, as well as Lord Salisbury, who argued that the Bill gave the Liberals an unfair electoral advantage. The Conservative politician was prepared to use the powers of the House of Lords in order to block the Bill, much to Chamberlain's dismay. At Denbigh, on 20 October 1884, Chamberlain famously declared in a speech that Salisbury was "himself the spokesman of a class – a class to which he himself belongs, who toil not neither do they spin."

In response, Salisbury branded Chamberlain a 'Sicilian bandit' and Stafford Northcote called him 'Jack Cade'. When Chamberlain suggested that he would march on London with thousands of Birmingham constituents to protest the House of Lords' powers, Salisbury remarked that "Mr. Chamberlain will return from his adventure with a broken head if nothing worse." This verbal altercation was characteristic of the antagonism between Chamberlain and his Radical endorsers on the one hand, and the landed Conservatives and Whigs on the other. In July 1885, the Radical Programme, the first campaign handbook of British political history, was published, with a preface written by Chamberlain. It endorsed land reform, more direct taxation, free public education, the disestablishment of the Church of England, universal male suffrage, and more protection for trade unions. The proposals of the Radical Programme earned the scorn of Whig Liberals and Conservatives alike, and it was the former that Chamberlain had decided to oppose most actively, writing to Morley that with Radical solidarity 'we will utterly destroy the Whigs, and have a Radical government before many years are out.' Seeking a contest with the Whigs, Chamberlain and Sir Charles Dilke presented their resignations to Gladstone on 20 May 1885, when the Cabinet rejected Chamberlain's scheme for the creation of National Councils in England, Scotland and Wales and when a proposed Land Purchase Bill did not have any provision for the reform of Irish local government. The resignations were not made public, and the opportunity for Chamberlain to present his Radicalism to the country was only presented when the Irish Parliamentary Party endorsed a Conservative amendment to the budget on 9 June, which passed by 12 votes. Subsequently, the Gladstone ministry resigned, and Salisbury formed a minority administration.

In August 1885, the Salisbury ministry asked for a dissolution of Parliament. At Hull on 5 August, Chamberlain began his election campaign by addressing an enthusiastic crowd in front of large posters declaring Chamberlain to be 'Your coming Prime Minister'. Until the campaign's end in October, Chamberlain denounced those in opposition to the proposals of the Radical Programme. In particular, he endorsed the cause of rural labourers and offered to make small holdings available to workers by funds from local authorities, using the slogan Three Acres and a Cow. Chamberlain's campaign proved to be immensely popular, with large crowds gathering to listen to his espousal of the Radical Programme. In particular, the young James Ramsay MacDonald and David Lloyd George were enthralled by Chamberlain's espousal of Radical policies, and leading Liberals noted with some discomfort the threat posed by what Goschen called the 'Unauthorised Programme'. The Conservatives denounced Chamberlain as an anarchist, with some even comparing him to Dick Turpin. In October, Chamberlain and Gladstone sought to eliminate a number of differences between their respective electoral programmes by a meeting at Hawarden Castle. The meeting, although good natured, was largely unproductive, and Gladstone neglected to tell Chamberlain of his negotiations with Parnell over proposals to grant Home Rule to Ireland. Chamberlain discovered the existence of such negotiations from Henry Labouchere, but unsure of the precise nature of Gladstone's offer to Parnell, did not press the issue, although he had already stated his opposition to Home Rule, arguing that Ireland had no more right to autonomy than London, declaring that "I cannot admit that five millions of Irishmen have any greater right to govern themselves without regard to the rest of the United Kingdom than the five million inhabitants of the metropolis." The Liberals won the general election in November 1885, but fell just short of an overall majority against the Conservatives and the Irish Nationalists, the latter holding the balance between the two parties.

On 17 December, Herbert Gladstone, son of William, revealed that his father was prepared to take office in order to implement a programme of Irish Home Rule, thereby doing what the press termed "flying the Hawarden Kite". At first, Chamberlain was reluctant to act in accordance with the anti - Home Rule Whigs and Conservatives, for fear of losing his Radical followers, and preferred to await the development of events. While saying little about the topic publicly, Chamberlain privately damned Gladstone and the concept of Home Rule to colleagues, believing that maintaining the Conservatives in power for a further year would make the Irish question easier to settle. In January 1886, a Radical inspired amendment was moved by Collings in the House of Commons which was carried by 79 votes. The Liberals assumed power, although tellingly, Hartington, Goschen and 18 Liberals had voted with the Conservatives. Gladstone assembled his third administration and offered Chamberlain the office of First Lord of the Admiralty, a suggestion Chamberlain declined. Gladstone rejected Chamberlain's preference for the Colonial Office and eventually appointed him President of the Local Government Board, a suitable post considering Chamberlain's associations with municipal government. A dispute over the amount to be paid to Collings, Chamberlain's Parliamentary Secretary, worsened relations between Gladstone and Chamberlain, although the latter was still hopeful that his membership of the Cabinet could result in Gladstone's Home Rule proposal being altered or abandoned, so that his programme of Radicalism could be given more attention. Chamberlain's renewed scheme for National Councils was not discussed in Cabinet, and only on 13 March were Gladstone's proposals for Ireland revealed. A Land Purchase Bill would accompany a Home Rule Bill, and Chamberlain argued that the details of the latter should be made known in order for a fair judgment to be made on the former. When Gladstone stated his intention to give Ireland a separate Parliament with full powers to deal with Irish affairs, Chamberlain resolved to resign, writing to inform Gladstone of his decision two days later. In the meantime, Chamberlain consulted with Arthur Balfour, Salisbury's nephew, over the possibility of concerted action with the Conservatives, and contemplated similar cooperation with the Whigs. His resignation was made public on 27 March 1886.

Despite Chamberlain's liking for political combat, the prospects that he faced in the aftermath of his resignation were far from promising. His chances of attaining the leadership of the Liberal Party in the short term had declined dramatically and in early May, the National Liberal Federation declared its loyalty to Gladstone. On 9 April, Chamberlain spoke against the Irish Home Rule Bill in its first reading before attending a meeting of Liberal Unionists, summoned by Hartington, hitherto the subject of Chamberlain's anti - Whig declarations on 14 May. From this meeting arose the Liberal Unionist Association, originally an ad hoc alliance to demonstrate the unity of anti - Home Rulers. Meanwhile, to distinguish himself from the Whigs, Chamberlain founded the National Radical Union to rival the National Liberal Federation, which had since slipped from his grasp. During its second reading on 8 June, the Home Rule Bill was defeated by 30 votes, with 93 Liberals, including Chamberlain and Hartington, voting against the government

Parliament was dissolved, and in the ensuing general election, the Conservatives and Liberal Unionists agreed to a defensive alliance. Chamberlain's predicament was more awkward than Hartington's, for the former was intensely mistrusted by, and unable to influence, the Conservatives, while he was despised by the Gladstonians for voting against Home Rule. Gladstone himself observed that "There is a difference between Hartington and Chamberlain, that the first behaves like and is a thorough gentleman. Of the other it is better not to speak." With the general election dominated by Home Rule, Chamberlain's campaign was characterized by a combination of Radicalism and intense patriotism. This proved to be immensely popular, and both the Conservatives and Liberal Unionists were able to benefit, taking 393 seats in the House of Commons and a comfortable majority.

Unlike Hartington and the Whigs, Chamberlain did not enter the Unionist government, aware that the hostility to him in the Conservative ranks meant that an agreement with them could extend merely to Ireland. Not wishing to alienate his Radical support base, Chamberlain refrained from a broader settlement. The Liberal mainstream cast Chamberlain as a villain, shouting "Judas!" and "Traitor!" as he entered the House of Commons chamber. Unable to associate himself decisively with either party, Chamberlain sought concerted action with a kindred spirit from the Conservative Party, Lord Randolph Churchill. In November 1886, Churchill announced his own 'Unauthorised Programme' at Dartford, the content of which had much in common with Chamberlain's own recent manifesto, including small holdings for rural labourers and greater local government. Next month, Churchill resigned as Chancellor of the Exchequer over military spending, and when the Conservative mainstream rallied around Salisbury, Churchill's career was effectively ended, along with Chamberlain's hope of creating a powerful cross party union of Radicals. The appointment of Goschen to the Treasury symbolized the increasingly good relationship between non - Radical Liberal Unionists and the Conservatives, thereby isolating Chamberlain further.

After January 1887, a series of Round Table Conferences took place between Chamberlain, Trevelyan, Harcourt, Morley and Lord Herschell, in which the participants sought an agreement about the Liberal Party's Irish policy. Chamberlain hoped that an accord would enable him to claim the future leadership of the party and recognized the influence over the Conservatives that could result from the negotiations merely occurring. Although a preliminary agreement was made concerning land purchase, Gladstone was unwilling to compromise further, and negotiations ended by March. In August 1887, Lord Salisbury invited Chamberlain to lead the British delegation in a Joint Commission to resolve a fisheries dispute between the United States and Newfoundland. Chamberlain had become increasingly disillusioned with politics, but the visit to the United States renewed his enthusiasm, and enhanced his standing with respect to Gladstone. In November, Chamberlain met 23 year old Mary Endicott, the daughter of President Grover Cleveland's Secretary of War, William C. Endicott, at a reception in the British legation. Before he left the United States in March 1888, Chamberlain proposed to Mary, describing her as 'one of the brightest and most intelligent girls I have yet met'. In November 1888, Chamberlain married Mary in Washington, D.C., wearing white violets, rather than his trademark orchid. Mary became a faithful supporter of his political ambitions.

Meanwhile, the Salisbury ministry was in the process of implementing a number of reforms that satisfied Chamberlain, in that Radicalism was making progress, surprisingly under a Conservative banner. Between 1888 and 1889, democratic County Councils were established in Great Britain. By 1891, measures for the provision of smallholdings had been made, and to Chamberlain's delight, the extension of free, compulsory education to the entire country. Chamberlain wrote that 'I have in the last five years seen more progress made with the practical application of my political programme than in all my previous life. I owe this result entirely to my former opponents, and all the opposition has come from my former friends.' Chamberlain also endeavoured to secure his Birmingham power base, for the Liberal Association in the city could no longer be relied upon to provide loyal support. He created the Liberal Unionist Association in 1888, associated with the National Radical Union, having extracted his supporters from the old Liberal organization. Chamberlain's reformation of Birmingham's political structure was successful, and in the 1892 general election, the Liberal Unionists won most of the city, even winning elections in neighbouring towns in the Black Country. By now, Chamberlain's son, Austen, had also entered the House of Commons. having been returned unopposed for East Worcestershire in March 1892. With Gladstone returned to power and unwilling to see Chamberlain back with the Liberal Party, and the Liberal Unionists reduced to 47 seats nationwide, a closer relationship with the Conservatives was increasingly necessary. A beginning was made when Hartington took his seat in the House of Lords as the Duke of Devonshire, allowing Chamberlain to assume the leadership of the Liberal Unionists in the House of Commons, resulting in a productive relationship with Balfour, leader of the Conservatives in the lower house.

Obliged to compromise with the Irish Nationalists, Gladstone introduced the Second Home Rule Bill in February 1893, legislation that Chamberlain opposed with predictable vigour. During the committee stage when he chastised the Gladstonian Liberals, a fist fight broke out in which Chamberlain remained unmoved. Although the Bill passed the House of Commons, the Lords rejected Home Rule by a huge margin. With his party divided, Gladstone prepared to dissolve Parliament on the issue of the House of Lords' veto, but was compelled to resign in March 1894 by his colleagues, being replaced by Lord Rosebery. While Rosebery neglected the topic of Home Rule, Chamberlain continued to form alliances with the Conservatives, and spoke warily about socialism and the Independent Labour Party, which had one member in the House of Commons, Keir Hardie. Chamberlain warned of the dangers of socialism in his 1895 play The Game of Politics, characterizing its proponents as the instigators of class conflict. In response to the socialist challenge, he sought to divert the energy of collectivism and use it for the good of Unionism, and continued to propose reforms to the Conservatives. In his 'Memorandum of a Programme for Social Reform' sent to Salisbury in 1894, Chamberlain made a number of suggestions, including old age pensions, the provision of loans to the working class for the purchase of houses, an amendment to the Artisans' Dwellings Act to encourage street improvements, compensation for industrial accidents, cheaper train fares for workers, tighter border controls and shorter working hours. Salisbury was generally sympathetic to the proposals, although somewhat guarded, yet his constructive response demonstrated how far Chamberlain and the Conservative leadership had come in settling the differences that had separated them in the 1880s. On 21 June, the Liberal Government was defeated on a motion that criticized the Secretary of State for War, Henry Campbell - Bannerman, for shortages of cordite. Salisbury was invited to form a government, and prepared to include Chamberlain in his Cabinet.

Having agreed to a set of policies, the Conservatives and Liberal Unionists formed a government on 24 June 1895. Salisbury offered four Cabinet posts to Liberal Unionists, two of whom were Chamberlain and Devonshire. The latter became Lord President of the Council, and Salisbury and Balfour offered Chamberlain any Cabinet position with the exception of the Foreign Secretary or Leader of the House of Commons. To the surprise of Salisbury and Balfour, Chamberlain declined a post at the Treasury, unwilling to be constrained by conservative spending plans, and also refused the office of Home Secretary. Instead, Chamberlain asked to be given the Colonial Office, a department that traditionally held little attraction for politicians.

Amidst European competition for territory and popular sentiment about imperialism, Chamberlain realized the potential of using the Colonial Office to gain international recognition. Opportunities were present for the expansion of the British Empire and the reordering of imperial trade and resources. Furthermore, the Colonial Office would provide Chamberlain with the chance of fostering closer relations between Britain and the settler colonies, with the objective of reforming the empire as a federation of Anglo - Saxon nations. Chamberlain had always been a keen imperialist and an advocate of a stronger empire – in 1887 while in Toronto, he declared that "I should think our patriotism was warped and stunted indeed if it did not embrace the Greater Britain beyond the seas". Much had been proposed with regards to an imperial federation, a more coherent system of imperial defense and preferential tariffs, yet by 1895 when Chamberlain arrived at the Colonial Office, little had been achieved. Chamberlain believed that there was "work to be done" as Colonial Secretary, and could be assured of support from Conservative backbenchers, traditionally keen proponents of Empire.

Chamberlain took formal charge of the Colonial Office on 1 July 1895, shortly before his fifty - ninth birthday. With victory assured in the 1895 general election, Chamberlain began his work in earnest. His first act was to alter the character of the Colonial Office building itself, ordering the removal of old carpets, furniture and wallpaper, the purchasing of new maps and the installation of electric lighting to end the department's reliance on gaslight. Having transformed the building from a dingy backwater to a worthy office of the colonial empire, Chamberlain left for the Pyrenees to holiday for seven weeks, before returning in October. With the empire at its zenith, Chamberlain's responsibilities at the department were vast, governing over ten million square miles of territory and 450 million people of exceptional diversity. Believing that positive government action could bind the empire's peoples closer to the crown, Chamberlain stated confidently that "I believe that the British race is the greatest of the governing races that the world has ever seen... It is not enough to occupy great spaces of the world's surface unless you can make the best of them. It is the duty of a landlord to develop his estate." Accordingly, Chamberlain advocated investment in the tropics of Africa, the West Indies and other underdeveloped possessions, a policy which earned him the nickname 'Joseph Africanus' among the press.

He was instrumental in recognizing the need to treat the "new" tropical diseases being brought back by travellers and sailors from the colonies. It is with his help to Patrick Manson that the London School of Tropical Medicine, the world's first facility for the discipline, was established in 1899 at the Albert Dock Seamen's Hospital; which itself had opened in 1890 and would later be known as the Hospital for Tropical Diseases that continues to this day.

While in office, Chamberlain had interactions with Mohandas K. Gandhi at the beginning of his political career. Although Chamberlain appears to have agreed with Gandhi that the treatment of the Indians was inappropriate, he was unwilling to take direct action against discriminatory legislation.

In November 1895, a piece of territory of strategic importance, the Pitsani Strip, part of the Bechuanaland Protectorate and bordering the Transvaal, was ceded to the British South Africa Company by the Colonial Office, overtly for the protection of a railway through the territory. Cecil Rhodes, the Prime Minister of the Cape Colony and managing director of the Company, was eager to extend British dominion to all of South Africa, and encouraged the disenfranchised Uitlanders of the Boer republics to resist Afrikaner domination. Rhodes hoped that the intervention of the Company's private army could initiate an Uitlander rebellion, resulting the overthrow of the Transvaal government. Rhodes' forces were assembled in the Pitsani Strip for this purpose. Chamberlain informed Salisbury on Boxing Day that a rebellion was expected, and was aware that an invasion would be launched, but was not sure when. The subsequent Jameson Raid was a debacle, resulting in surrender of the invaders. Chamberlain, at Highbury, received a secret telegram from the Colonial Office on 31 December informing him of the beginning of the Raid. Sympathetic to the ultimate goals of the Raid, Chamberlain was uncomfortable with the timing of the invasion and remarked that "if this succeeds it will ruin me. I'm going up to London to crush it". He swiftly travelled by train to the Colonial Office, ordering Sir Hercules Robinson, Governor - General of the Cape Colony, to repudiate the actions of Leander Starr Jameson and warned Rhodes that the Company's Charter would be in danger if it was discovered that the Cape Prime Minister was involved in the Raid. The prisoners were returned to London for trial, and the Transvaal government received considerable compensation from the Company. During the trial of Jameson, Rhodes' solicitor, Bourchier Hawksley, refused to produce cablegrams that had passed between Rhodes and his agents in London in November and December 1895. According to Hawksley, these demonstrated that the Colonial Office 'influenced the actions of those in South Africa' who embarked on the Raid, and even that Chamberlain had transferred control of the Pitsani Strip to facilitate an invasion. Nine days before the Raid, Chamberlain had asked his Assistant Under - Secretary to encourage Rhodes to 'Hurry Up' because of the deteriorating Venezuelan situation.

In June 1896, Chamberlain offered his resignation to Salisbury, having shown the Prime Minister one or more of the cablegrams implicating him in the Raid's planning. Salisbury refused to accept the offer, possibly reluctant to lose the government's most popular figure. Salisbury reacted aggressively in support of Chamberlain, endorsing the Colonial Secretary's threat to withdraw the Company's charter if the cablegrams were revealed. Accordingly, Rhodes refused to reveal the cablegrams, and as no evidence was produced, the Select Committee appointed to investigate the Jameson Raid had no choice but to absolve Chamberlain of responsibility.

In July 1895, American Secretary of State Richard Olney demanded that Britain submit a boundary dispute with Venezuela to impartial arbitration, invoking the Monroe Doctrine. Chamberlain favoured a more belligerent stance, but Salisbury chose to tread tentatively, and even the Prime Minister's cautious reply to the American demand provoked President Grover Cleveland to imply in December 1895 that war might be the result of British non - compliance. For Chamberlain, the United States' bellicosity was an embarrassment considering his marriage to an American and his professed admiration of the United States' system of government. Despite privately calling Cleveland a "coarse - grained man" and a "bully", Chamberlain gradually favoured the pragmatic strategy of Salisbury. The Prime Minister calmed fears of war by agreeing to an arbitration treaty in February 1896, in which two American judges, two British judges, and a Russian would decide the issue. Furthermore, Chamberlain endeavoured to visit the United States in the autumn of 1896 in order to negotiate with Olney. The discussions were cordial, thereby improving Anglo - American relations and resulting in Britain's pro - U.S. neutrality during the Spanish - American War of 1898. In October 1899, the tribunal convened to settle the Venezuelan dispute agreed to an Award based loosely on the Schomburgk Line.

Chamberlain believed that West Africa had great economic potential, and shared Salisbury's suspicions of the French, who were manifestly Britain's principal rival in the region. Demonstrating his expansionist credentials, Chamberlain sanctioned the conquest of the Ashanti in 1895, with Colonel Sir Francis Scott successfully occupying Kumasi and annexing the territory to the Gold Coast. Using the emergency funds of the colonies of Lagos, Sierra Leone and the Gold Coast, he ordered the construction of a railway for the newly conquered area.

The Colonial Office's bold strategy brought it into conflict with the Royal Niger Company, chaired by Sir George Goldie, which possessed title rights to large stretches of the Niger. Interested in the area as an economic asset, Goldie had yet to assume governing responsibilities, leaving the territory open to incursion by the French, who sent small garrisons to the area with the intention of controlling it. Though Salisbury wished to subordinate the needs of West Africa to the requirement of establishing British supremacy on the Nile, Chamberlain believed that every territory was worth competing for. Chamberlain was dismayed to learn in 1897 that the French had expanded from Dahomey to Bussa, a town claimed by Goldie. Further French growth in the region would have isolated Lagos from territory in the hinterland, thereby limiting its economic growth. Chamberlain therefore argued that Britain should "even at the cost of war – to keep an adequate Hinterland for the Gold Coast, Lagos & the Niger Territories." Influenced by Chamberlain, Salisbury sanctioned Sir Edward Monson, managing the British delegation in Paris, to be more assertive in negotiations. The subsequent concessions made by the French encouraged Chamberlain, who arranged for a military force, commanded by Frederick Lugard, to occupy areas claimed by Britain, thereby undermining French claims in the region. In the risky 'chequerboard' strategy, Lugard's forces occupied territories claimed by the French to counterbalance the establishment of French garrisons in British territory. At times, French and British troops were stationed merely a few yards from each other, increasing the risk of war. Nevertheless, Chamberlain assumed correctly that French officers in the region were ordered to act without fighting the British, and in March 1898, the French proposed to settle the issue – Bussa was returned to Britain, and the French were limited to the town of Bona. Chamberlain had successfully imposed British control over the Niger and the inland territories of Sokoto, later joining them together as Nigeria. Furthermore, he had demonstrated his ability to influence and alter Salisbury's foreign policy, thereby enhancing his presence in international negotiations.

The seizure of Kiaochow by Germany in November 1897 and Russia's occupation of Port Arthur signalled deepening western involvement in China and portended a scramble for control that perceivably threatened British interests in the country. Britain dominated China's foreign trade and was responsible for the supervision of its tariffs. In the event of China's partition, the country's value as a market for British goods would decrease – both Salisbury and Chamberlain therefore recognized the value of maintaining China's integrity. Though Salisbury sought a local agreement with Russia to reduce its concern for France in the Mediterranean, Chamberlain sought an agreement with another power, using the dramatic term 'alliance'. His first suggestion was for an understanding with Japan in order to counterbalance the growing influence of Russia. Perceiving the issue in economic terms, Chamberlain saw the seizures by Germany and Russia not as part of military strategy, but as an attempt to encroach on Britain's Chinese market. When the issue was put before the cabinet early in 1898, Salisbury hoped to keep Port Arthur open to trade by cooperating with the Russians in granting a loan to the Chinese government. Arguing that British naval power could not stop Russia, Chamberlain favoured a coordinated policy with the United States and Japan, in which the three powers would demand that any concessions extracted from China by Russia should be shared among the other powers. The Cabinet agreed to the occupation of Weihaiwei as compensation, yet Chamberlain saw this as an empty gesture and regarding the fate of the Chinese Empire to be at stake, sought to strengthen Britain's position when Salisbury was weakened by illness in February 1898. Believing that Britain's difficulties in China were accentuated by its isolation, Chamberlain contemplated an agreement with Germany.

On 29 March 1898, Hermann von Eckardstein, who had described Chamberlain as "unquestionably the most energetic and enterprising personality of the Salisbury ministry", arranged a meeting between the Colonial Secretary and the German Ambassador in London, Paul von Hatzfeldt. The conversation between the two was strictly unofficial, being nominally about colonial matters and the subject of China. Chamberlain surprised Hatzfeldt by assuring him that Britain and Germany had common interests, that the rupture over the Jameson Raid and the Kruger Telegram was an abnormality and that a defensive alliance should be formulated between the two countries, with specific regards to China. This was difficult for Hatzfeldt, for the Reichstag was scrutinizing Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz's First Navy Bill; this bill necessitated the characterization of Britain as a threat to Germany. Moreover, the Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Bernhard von Bülow, did not believe that Britain would be a reliable ally because of the Cabinet's ability to reverse the diplomatic policy of its predecessors, and because of the traditional problems presented by Parliament and public opinion with regards to alliance commitments. Furthermore, von Bülow regarded the cooperation of Russia in China more desirable than that of Britain. Unwilling to reach an agreement with Britain, Hatzfeldt was instructed to make an agreement appear likely without ever conceding to Chamberlain. No commitments were made, and on 25 April Hatzfeldt asked for colonial concessions from Chamberlain as a precursor to a better relationship. Having won nothing, Chamberlain rejected the proposal, thereby terminating the first talks for an Anglo - German alliance. Though Salisbury was unsurprised by the German attitude, Chamberlain was disappointed, and spoke publicly of Britain's diplomatic predicament at Birmingham on 13 May, saying that "We have had no allies. I am afraid we have had no friends.... We stand alone." When the Republic of South Africa (Transvaal) formally rejected the notion of British suzerainty as allegedly described by the peace treaty of 1881, Chamberlain and Balfour prompted Salisbury to initiate discussions with Portugal regarding Delagoa Bay. In the event of war Britain wanted Portugal to halt arms shipments to the port bound for the Boer republics. Von Hatzfeldt intervened to insist on German participation in the negotiations, which resulted in the 30 August Anglo - German Convention, which agreed to the partition of the Portuguese Empire in event of its bankruptcy. This cordial settlement encouraged Chamberlain to keep hoping for a more general Anglo - German agreement.

An 1888 treaty established an Anglo - US - German tripartite protectorate of Samoa, and when King Malietoa Laupepa died in 1898, a contest over the succession ensued. The German candidate, Mataafa, was strongly opposed by the Americans and the British, and civil war began. Salisbury rejected a German suggestion that they ask the United States to withdraw from Samoa. Meanwhile, Chamberlain, smarting from the dismissal of his alliance proposal with Germany, refused the suggestion that Britain withdraw from Samoa in return for compensation elsewhere, remarking dismissively to Eckardstein "Last year we offered you everything. Now it is too late." Official and public German opinion was incensed by Britain's bullishness, and Chamberlain worked hard to improve Anglo - German relations by facilitating a visit to Britain by Kaiser Wilhelm II. Salisbury's decision to attend to his ill wife allowed Chamberlain to assume control of British policy in July 1899. In November, an agreement was made with the Germans about Samoa in which Britain agreed to withdraw in return for Tonga and the Solomon Islands, and the ending of German claims to British territory in West Africa.

On 21 November 1899, at a banquet in St. George's Hall, Windsor Castle, Chamberlain reiterated his desire for an agreement between Britain and Germany to Wilhelm II. The Kaiser retorted that he did not want to worsen relations with Russia, and indicated that Salisbury's traditional strategy of not keeping peacetime commitments made any Anglo - German agreement problematic. Despite his reservations, Wilhelm II spoke positively about relations with Britain. Because of the death of Salisbury's wife, Chamberlain was given the responsibility of visiting von Bülow at Windsor Castle instead of the Prime Minister. Chamberlain argued that Britain, Germany and the United States should combine to check France and Russia, yet von Bülow regarded the assistance of Britain to be of little use in the event of war with Russia. Von Bülow gave Chamberlain some consolation by suggesting that the Colonial Secretary should speak positively of Germany in public. Chamberlain inferred from von Bülow's statement that the German Secretary for Foreign Affairs would do the same in the Reichstag. The day after the departure of the Kaiser and von Bülow, on 30 November, Chamberlain grandiloquently spoke at Leicester of "a new Triple Alliance between the Teutonic race and the two great trans - Atlantic branches of the Anglo - Saxon race which would become a potent influence on the future of the world." Though the Kaiser was complimentary, Friedrich von Holstein described Chamberlain's speech as a 'blunder' and the Times attacked Chamberlain for using the term 'alliance' without inhibition. On 11 December, von Bülow rose in the Reichstag to speak in support of the Second Navy Bill, and made no reference to an agreement with Britain, which he described as a declining nation jealous of Germany. Chamberlain was startled and von Hatzfeldt assured him that von Bülow's motivation was to fend off opponents in the Reichstag. Chamberlain's second attempt to formulate an Anglo - German agreement had been rebuked publicly, and although he was irritated by von Bülow's behaviour, he still hoped for an agreement.

The growing wealth of the Transvaal was the cause of concern to the British government, and in particular, to Chamberlain. Having long wished for the federation of South Africa under the British crown, it appeared that the commercial attraction of the Transvaal would ensure that any future union of Southern African states would be as a Boer dominated republic outside the British Empire. Chamberlain sought to use the disenfranchised Uitlanders in the Transvaal and Orange Free State as a means by which to effect British domination of the Boer republics. By a policy of endorsing Uitlanders' civil rights, British influence in the governance of the Boer republics would markedly increase, thereby warding off the prospect of Afrikaner supremacy in South Africa. Twinned with the strategy of championing the Uitlanders was the steady exertion of military pressure. In April 1897, Chamberlain asked the Cabinet to increase the British garrison in South Africa by three to four thousand men – consequently, the quantity of British forces in the area grew during the next two years. The government appointed Sir Alfred Milner to the posts of High Commissioner and Governor - General of the Cape in August 1897 to pursue the issue more decisively. Within a year, Milner concluded that war with the Transvaal was inevitable, and he worked with Chamberlain to publicise the cause of the Uitlanders to the British people. A meeting between President Kruger and Milner at Bloemfontein in May 1899 failed to resolve the Uitlander problem – Kruger's concessions were considered inadequate by Milner, and the Boers left the conference convinced that the British were determined to settle the future of South Africa by force. By now, British public opinion was supportive of a war in support of the Uitlanders, allowing Chamberlain to ask successfully for further troop reinforcements. By the beginning of October 1899, nearly 20,000 British troops were based in the Cape and Natal, with thousands more en route. On 9 October, the Transvaal sent an ultimatum demanding that British troops be withdrawn from her frontiers, and that any forces destined for South Africa be turned back. When the British government rejected the ultimatum, the Transvaal and the Orange Free State declared war on 12 October.

The early months of the Second Boer War were disastrous for Britain. Boer commandos besieged the towns of Ladysmith, Mafeking and Kimberley, and ten thousand Cape Afrikaner rebels joined the Boers in fighting the British. In mid - December 1899, during 'Black Week', the British Army suffered reverses at Stormberg, Magersfontein and Colenso. Chamberlain was critical privately of the British Army's military performance and was often vexed by the attitude of the War Office. When the Boers bombarded Ladysmith with Creusot ninety - four pounder siege guns, Chamberlain asked for the dispatch of comparable artillery to the war, but was exasperated by the Secretary of State for War, Lord Lansdowne's argument that such weapons required platforms that needed a year of preparation, even though the Boers operated their "Long Tom" without elaborate mountings. Chamberlain also made a number of speeches to reassure the public. Furthermore, he worked to strengthen bonds between Britain and the self - governing colonies, gratefully receiving of imperial contingents from Canada, Australia and New Zealand. In particular, the contributions of mounted men from the settler colonies helped fill the British Army's shortfall of mounted infantry, vital in fighting the mobile Boers (who were an entirely mounted force of skilled marksmen). With sensitivity to the colonies, Chamberlain managed the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act through the House of Commons, hoping that the newly established federation would adopt a positive attitude towards imperial trade and fighting the war. Wishing to reconcile the British and Afrikaner populations of the Cape, Chamberlain was resistant to Milner's desire to suspend the constitution of the colony, an act that would have given Milner autocratic powers. Chamberlain, as the government's foremost defender of the war, was denounced by many prominent anti - war personalities, including David Lloyd George, a former admirer of the Colonial Secretary. When in January 1900 the government faced a vote of censure in the House of Commons concerning the management of the war, Chamberlain conducted the defence. On 5 February, Chamberlain spoke effectively in the Commons for over an hour while referring to very few notes. He defended the war, espoused the virtues of a South African federation and promoted the empire; speaking with a confidence which earned him a sympathetic hearing. The vote of censure was subsequently defeated by 213 votes. British fortunes changed after January 1900 with the appointment of Lord Roberts to command British forces in South Africa. Bloemfontein was occupied on 13 March, Johannesburg on 31 May and Pretoria on 5 June. When Roberts formally annexed the Transvaal on 3 September, the Salisbury ministry, emboldened by the apparent victory in South Africa, asked for the dissolution of Parliament, with an election set for October.

With Salisbury ill, Chamberlain dominated the Unionist election campaign. Salisbury did not speak at all, and Balfour made few public appearances, causing some to refer to the event as 'Joe's Election'. Fostering a cult of personality, Chamberlain began to refer to himself in the third person as 'the Colonial Secretary', and he ensured that the Boer War featured as the campaign's single issue, arguing that a Liberal victory would result in defeat in South Africa. Controversy ensued over the use of the phrase "Every seat lost to the government is a seat sold to the Boers" as the Unionists waged a personalised campaign against Liberal critics of the war – some posters even portrayed Liberal MPs praising President Kruger and helping him to haul down the Union Jack. Chamberlain was in the forefront of such tactics, declaring in a speech that "we have come practically to the end of the war... there is nothing going on now but a guerrilla business, which is encouraged by these men; I was going to say those traitors, but I will say instead these misguided individuals." Some Liberals also resorted to sharp campaigning practices, with Lloyd George in particular accusing the Chamberlain family of profiteering. References were made to Kynochs, a cordite manufacturing firm run by Chamberlain's brother, Arthur, as well as Hoskins & Co., of which the Civil Lord of the Admiralty, Austen, held some shares. Many Liberals rejected Lloyd George's claims, and Chamberlain dismissed them as unworthy of reply, although the charges troubled him more than he was prepared to make evident in public.

Twenty - six year old Winston Churchill, famous for his escape from a Boer prisoner of war camp and his journalism for the Morning Post, successfully stood as a Conservative candidate in Oldham, where Chamberlain spoke on his behalf. Churchill recalled that

' I watched my honoured guest with close attention. He loved the roar of the multitude, and with my father could always say "I have never feared the English democracy." The blood mantled in his cheek, and his eye as it caught mine twinkled with pure enjoyment. '

Churchill also commented on Chamberlain's status in British politics at the time of the election campaign, writing that 'Mr. Chamberlain was incomparably the most live, sparkling, insurgent, compulsive figure in British affairs... 'Joe' was the one who made the weather. He was the man the masses knew.' Chamberlain used his popularity and the cause of imperialism in the election to devastating effect, and with the Liberals split over the issue of the war, the Unionists won a huge majority in the House of Commons of 219. The mandate was not as comprehensive as Chamberlain had hoped, but satisfactory enough to allow him to pursue his vision for the empire and to strengthen his position in the Unionist alliance.

Under pressure from Balfour and Queen Victoria, the ailing Salisbury surrendered the seals of the Foreign Office on 23 October though remaining as Prime Minister. Lansdowne was appointed Foreign Secretary, and, with the further eclipse of Salisbury, Chamberlain's importance within the Unionist government grew further still. While Lansdowne became accustomed to his new post, Chamberlain took the opportunity to take the initiative in British foreign affairs and attempt, yet again, to formulate an agreement with Germany. At Chatsworth House on 16 January 1901, Chamberlain and Devonshire made it known to Eckardstein that they still planned to make Britain part of the Triple Alliance. In Berlin, this news was received with some satisfaction, although von Bülow continued to exercise caution, believing that Germany could afford to wait. Meanwhile, Victoria's physical condition worsened, Chamberlain being the last Cabinet minister to see Victoria on 10 January, informing her of the latest events in South Africa. On 20 January, Wilhelm II arrived in England to be close to his dying grandmother, a gesture that was to win the affection of his English relatives. On 22 January, Victoria died, with Chamberlain later remarking in the House of Commons that "she was the greatest of Englishwomen – I almost said of Englishmen – for she added the highest of manly qualities to the personal delicacy of a woman." Amidst the bereavement, the Wilhelm II's regard for Britain increased markedly, making an Anglo - German alliance appear likelier, especially when the Kaiser was informed of the Chatsworth proposal. Wilhelm II was inclined to accept Chamberlain's proposal and sent a telegram to Berlin urging a positive response, yet von Bülow wished to delay negotiations until Britain was more vulnerable, referring in particular to the ongoing war in South Africa. Urged by Paul Count Wolff Metternich zur Gracht, the senior diplomat serving in his entourage, the Kaiser neglected to see Chamberlain during his fortnight in England, but did speak about the prospect of a future Anglo - German alliance at Marlborough House on the eve of his departure.

On 18 March, Eckardstein asked Chamberlain to resume alliance negotiations, and although the Colonial Secretary reaffirmed his support, he was unwilling to commit himself, remembering von Bülow's disdainful rebuke in 1899. Consequently, Chamberlain had a lesser role in the ensuing exchanges, and it was to Lansdowne that Eckardstein gave a proposal by von Bülow. A five year Anglo - German defensive alliance was presented to Lansdowne, to be ratified by Parliament and the Reichstag. When Lansdowne prevaricated, von Hatzfeldt took firmer control of the negotiations, and presented a demanding invitation for Britain to join the Triple Alliance, in which Britain would be committed to the defence of Austria - Hungary. Unwilling to enter an alliance as a junior partner, Salisbury decided decisively against the proposal. If the Prime Minister's intervention had not signalled the end of the alliance conversations, then a public announcement by Chamberlain certainly did. On 25 October 1901, Chamberlain defended the British Army's tactics in South Africa against criticism by the European press, arguing that the conduct of British soldiers was much more respectable than the behaviour of troops in the Franco - Prussian War, a statement directed at Germany. The German press was outraged, and when von Bülow demanded an apology, Chamberlain was unrepentant. With this public dispute, Chamberlain's hopes of an Anglo - German alliance, diminished before Eckardstein's most recent offer in March, were finally ended. Denounced by von Bülow and German newspapers, Chamberlain's popularity in Britain soared, with the Times commenting that 'Mr. Chamberlain... is at this moment the most popular and trusted man in England.'

Chamberlain had begun negotiations with the French Ambassador, Paul Cambon, in March 1901, with the objective of settling colonial differences, although neither Lansdowne nor Cambon had moved as quickly as Chamberlain would have liked. In February 1902, at a banquet at Marlborough House held by King Edward VII, Chamberlain and Cambon resumed their negotiations, with Eckardstein reputedly listening to their conversation and only successfully managing to comprehend the words "Morocco" and "Egypt". With Chamberlain still seeking to end Britain's diplomatic isolation and the negotiations with Germany having been terminated, a settlement with France was increasingly attractive. Chamberlain had contributed to making possible the Anglo - French Entente Cordiale that would occur in 1904.

The occupation of the Transvaal and the Orange Free State in 1900 did not subdue the Boers, who waged a guerrilla campaign throughout 1901 until the end of the war in May 1902. Chamberlain was caught between the forceful demands of two groups, with Unionists demanding for a more effective military policy and many Liberals denouncing the war. Publicly, Chamberlain insisted upon the separation of civil and military authority, insisting that the conduct of the war be left to the generals. The revelation of concentration camps increased pressure on Chamberlain and the government to intervene more effectively – and humanely – in the management of the war. Chamberlain originally questioned the wisdom of establishing the camps, but tolerated them in deference to the military. During the autumn of 1901, Chamberlain took more interest in proceedings when the scandal intensified, strengthening civilian governance. Although he refused to criticise the military publicly, he outlined to Milner the importance of making the camps as habitable as possible, asking the Governor - General of the Cape whether he considered medical provisions to be adequate. Chamberlain also stipulated that unhealthy camps should be evacuated, overruling the army where necessary. By 1902, the death rate in the camps had halved, and was soon to decrease below the usual mortality rate in rural South Africa. Despite the concerns of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sir Michael Hicks Beach, at the increasing costs of the war, Chamberlain maintained his insistence that the Boers be made to surrender unconditionally, and was supported by Salisbury. Though Lord Kitchener, commanding British forces in South Africa, was eager to make peace with the Boers, Milner was content to wait until the Boers sought peace terms themselves. In April 1902, Chamberlain insisted upon the loss of independence of the Transvaal and the Orange Free State to Boer negotiators, a term that was accepted. However, the Boers insisted that Cape Afrikaner rebels be given amnesty and that Britain pay the Boer republics' war debts. Chamberlain overrode Milner's objections to accept the proposal, arguing that the financial costs of continuing the war justified the expenditure to relieve the debts of the Boer republics. Thus, the Treaty of Vereeniging was signed on 31 May 1902, thereby ending the Boer War. The conflict had not been as decisive as Chamberlain had hoped, for the British had put nearly 450,000 troops into the field and had spent nearly two million pounds. Nevertheless, the end of war and the inclusion of Boer territory as part of the British Empire presented what Chamberlain viewed as an opportunity to remodel Britain's imperial system.

The end of the Boer War allowed Salisbury, in declining health, to finally contemplate resignation. The Prime Minister was keen that Balfour, his nephew should succeed him, but realised that Chamberlain's followers felt that the Colonial Secretary had a legitimate claim to the premiership. Chamberlain was the most popular figure in the government, and Leo Maxse, editing the National Review, argued forcefully that Chamberlain should be appointed Prime Minister when Salisbury retired. Chamberlain himself was less concerned, assuring Balfour's Private Secretary in February 1902 that 'I have my own work to do and... I shall be quite willing to serve under Balfour.' On 3 July, Salisbury's Private Secretary, Schomberg McDonnell, wrote to Lord Curzon informing him that Salisbury was about to retire. A few days later, 7 July 1902, Chamberlain was travelling in a cab from the Colonial Office to the Athenaeum Club when at Trafalgar Square, the horse drawing the cab slipped, pulling the carriage forward violently. Chamberlain was thrown out of his seat, and a pane of glass crashed onto his head, causing a deep three - and - a - half inch gash. Dazed, and having lost a pint of blood, Chamberlain was taken to Charing Cross Hospital. Refusing an anaesthetic, Chamberlain had three stitches administered and left hospital the next day, with a black silk scarf characteristically concealing his bandages. Returning to his house, Chamberlain was told by doctors to cease work immediately and remain in bed for two weeks. On 11 July Salisbury went to Buckingham Palace, without notifying his Cabinet colleagues, and resigned, with the King inviting Balfour to form a new government later that day. Before accepting, Balfour visited Chamberlain's home at Prince's Gardens to consult the Colonial Secretary, who was informed of Salisbury's resignation. Chamberlain was satisfied to acquiesce in the King's choice, for although he had had ambitions to occupy Downing Street, he was content with the importance of his post at the Colonial Office, in which he was regarded informally as the 'First Minister of the Empire'. Furthermore, despite Chamberlain's organisational skills and his immense popularity, many Conservatives still mistrusted him for his Radicalism, and Chamberlain was aware of the difficulties that would be presented by being part of a Liberal Unionist minority leading a Conservative majority.

Chamberlain and the new Prime Minister, Balfour, were very different men. According to Chamberlain, "Arthur hates difficulties. I love 'em." However, Balfour and Chamberlain were both aware that the Unionist government's survival depended on their cooperation.

Chamberlain's support base was threatened by the introduction before Parliament of the Education Bill by Balfour. This legislation was framed with the intention of promoting National Efficiency, a cause which Chamberlain thought worthy. However, the Education Bill proposed to abolish Britain's 2,568 school boards that were established under W.E. Forster's 1870 Act, bodies that were popular with Nonconformists and Radicals. In their place, Balfour proposed to establish Local Education Authorities that would administer a state centred system of primary, secondary and technical schools. Furthermore, the Bill would entail ratepayer's money being granted to voluntary, Church of England schools. Chamberlain was anxious about the Bill's proposals, aware that they would estrange Nonconformists, Radicals and many Liberal Unionists from the government. However, Chamberlain was in no position to oppose the Bill, owing his position at the head of the empire's governance to the support provided by the Conservatives. Chamberlain warned Robert Morant about the probability of Nonconformist dissent, asking why voluntary schools could not receive funds from the state rather than the rates. In response, Morant argued that the Boer War had drained the Exchequer of finances.

The furore over the Education Bill imperilled the Liberal Unionist wing of the government, with the prospect of Nonconformist voters switching allegiance to the Liberal Party. Chamberlain sought to stem the feared exodus by securing a major concession – local authorities would be given the discretion over the issue of rate aid to voluntary schools, yet even this was renounced before the guillotining of the Bill and its passage through Parliament in December 1902. Thus, Chamberlain had to make the best of a hopeless situation, writing fatalistically that 'I consider the Unionist cause is hopeless at the next election, and we shall certainly lose the majority of the Liberal Unionists once and for all.' Chamberlain already regarded tariff reform as an issue that could revitalise support for Unionism.

Chamberlain visited South Africa between 26 December 1902 and 25 February 1903. He sought to promote Anglo - Afrikaner conciliation and the colonial contribution to the British Empire, and endeavoured to personally encounter people in the newly unified South Africa, including those who had so recently been his enemies during the Boer War. In Natal, Chamberlain was given a rapturous welcome. In the Transvaal, he met Boer leaders who were attempting unsuccessfully to alter the peace terms reached at Vereeniging. The reception given to Chamberlain in the Orange River Colony was surprisingly friendly, although he was engaged in a two hour argument with General Hertzog, who accused the British government of violating three terms of the Treaty of Vereeniging. During his visit, Chamberlain became convinced that the Boer territories required a period of government by the British crown before being granted self - governance within the empire. In the Cape, Chamberlain found that the Afrikaner Bond was more affable regarding his visit than many members of the English speaking Progressive Party, now under the leadership of Jameson, who called Chamberlain 'the callous devil from Birmingham.' Chamberlain successfully persuaded the Prime Minister, John Gordon Sprigg, to hold elections as soon as possible, a positive act considering the hostile nature of the Cape Parliament since 1899. During the tour, Chamberlain and his wife visited 29 towns, and he delivered 64 speeches and received 84 deputations. Chamberlain's visit contributed to the reconciliation of the British and the Boers, and demonstrated the importance he believed South Africa had to the British Empire.

When he first met Theodor Herzl on October 23, 1902, Chamberlain expressed his sympathy to the Zionist cause. He was willing to consider their plan for settlement near el Arish and in the Sinai Peninsula but conditioned his support on the gaining of approval with the authorities in Cairo. When it became evident that these efforts were coming to naught, Chamberlain, on April 24, 1903, offered Herzl a territory in East Africa. The proposal came to be known as the Uganda Plan (even though the territory in question was in Kenya). The Zionist Organization, after some deliberations, rejected the proposal, as did the British settlers in East Africa. However, the proposal that Chamberlain made was a major breakthrough for the Zionists — Great Britain engaged them diplomatically and recognized a need to find a territory appropriate for Jewish autonomy under British suzerainty.

Chamberlain made no secret of his desire to see an imperial federation formed on the model of Bismarckian Germany to allow Britain to maintain its global role amidst the growing economic challenge of the United States and Germany. He argued that with the empire consolidated as a single entity, Britain would automatically remain a great power, able to exert its influence in a world where the United States, Germany and Russia were expected to dominate. Essential for Chamberlain's objective was to have a system of preferential trade with the empire, necessitating tariffs on foreign imports coming into the empire. Tariff reform also had domestic objectives, for Chamberlain believed that finances could be generated from tariffs for a scheme of old age pensions and other social improvements. Such a programme would help Chamberlain secure the Unionists' hold on the West Midlands, and further enhance his power within the government. Chamberlain prepared to end the Free Trade consensus that had dominated British economics since the repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846, in order to endorse Imperial Preference as an alternative for the good of what he perceived as Britain's imperial destiny and the welfare of the working class.

In April 1902, Chamberlain dined with the Hughligans, a small parliamentary clique which included Lord Hugh Cecil and Churchill among its membership. Churchill recalled that

As [Chamberlain] rose to leave he paused at the door, and turning said with much deliberation, "You young gentlemen have entertained me royally, and in return I will give you a priceless secret. Tariffs! They are the politics of the future, and of the near future. Study them closely and make yourself masters of them, and you will not regret your hospitality to me."

In the same month, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Hicks Beach, levied a small duty on imported corn in order to raise revenue for the payment of the Boer War. Chamberlain was eager to use this as a start for the reform of Britain's trade, and he was encouraged by a report submitted in June by the President of the Board of Trade, Gerald Balfour, the Prime Minister's younger brother, which suggested that reciprocal agreements with the colonies might be beneficial. In July, the Colonial Conference was convened in London, and though it rejected Chamberlain's suggestion that an Imperial Council should be established, it passed a resolution endorsing Imperial Preference. Chamberlain was increasingly confident that his proposals were gathering popularity, and he brought the matter before the Cabinet before embarking on a tour of South Africa in December 1902. The new Chancellor of the Exchequer, Charles Thomson Ritchie, influenced by major economists such as Sir William Ashley, was vigorously opposed to any scheme of Imperial Preference but although he made his opinions known, the Cabinet was generally favourable towards Chamberlain's proposal when it was considered on 21 October. In November, the Cabinet agreed, at Chamberlain's prompting, to remit the corn tax in favour of the self - governing colonies in the upcoming budget. Having thought that he had gained the agreement of the Cabinet, Chamberlain went to South Africa, while Ritchie worked to reverse the Cabinet's earlier decision. In March 1903, before Chamberlain's return, Ritchie asked Balfour to schedule a meeting in order to propose the budget to the Cabinet. Balfour refused and warned Chamberlain, using Austen as an intermediary, of Ritchie's continuing opposition. Chamberlain arrived in Southampton on 14 March, prepared to struggle with Ritchie and determined that the corn tax should be maintained in the imminent budget.

Chamberlain was shocked to find on 17 March that the majority of the Cabinet was in agreement with Ritchie, and that the Chancellor of the Exchequer had reversed the decision made the previous November. Balfour chose not to take sides, but did not oppose Ritchie for fear of losing his Chancellor on the eve of the presentation of the budget. Chamberlain accepted that there was not enough time to debate the matter in Cabinet before the budget, and allowed Ritchie to have his way. Consequently, the Chancellor presented a Free Trade orientated budget to the House of Commons on 23 April, during which Chamberlain was completely silent. Though Chamberlain had been taken aback by the Cabinet's switch, he prepared to surprise his colleagues in return. On 15 May, in the midst of his power base, Bingley Hall, Chamberlain remarked before his speech to the event's chief organiser, "You can burn your leaflets. We are going to talk about something else." He proceeded to lament the demise of the corn tax to his audience and insisted that the greatness of the empire could be preserved by introducing a system of Imperial Preference, a matter he hoped would dominate the next general election. His impromptu speech stunned Balfour and the Cabinet, the Prime Minister having just insisted publicly that it was not yet time to implement a policy of Imperial Preference. Furthermore, on 28 May, Chamberlain reiterated his challenge to Free Trade orthodoxy in the House of Commons, amidst cheering from many Unionists. Balfour, caught between Free Traders favouring Ritchie and Tariff Reformers favouring Chamberlain, hoped to calm the situation by devoting the summer to the question and publicly professed support for neither policy, a prevarication which caused much criticism by the opposition Liberal Party.

Balfour was successful in preventing serious debate on the subject while the Board of Trade compiled statistics on the matter. A Cabinet meeting convened on 13 August failed to agree, and a final decision was postponed until 14 September. Balfour hoped that Chamberlain would moderate his espousal of tariff reform in order to satisfy the majority of the Cabinet, and particularly the other prominent Liberal Unionist, Devonshire. The Prime Minister was content with the prospect of losing die - hard Free Traders, and prepared a memorandum which contained a number of radical, reforming economic opinions. On 9 September, Chamberlain dramatically sent a letter of resignation to Balfour, explaining his wish to campaign publicly for Imperial Preference outside the Cabinet. An hour before the Cabinet meeting on 14 September, Chamberlain and Balfour agreed that Chamberlain would resign and attempt to rally public support for Imperial Preference if the Cabinet could not be persuaded to adopt the new policy. Balfour agreed to promote Austen to the post of Chancellor of the Exchequer, who would then speak for his father inside the Cabinet. If the campaign was successful, Balfour could endorse Imperial Preference at the next general election. When the Cabinet meeting failed to endorse his proposals, Chamberlain announced his resignation, but Balfour did not tell the meeting about Chamberlain's resignation letter, instead telling many members of his belief that Chamberlain was not serious about resigning. The Prime Minister then forced the resignations of Ritchie and Lord Balfour of Burleigh for having submitted memoranda advocating Free Trade. The next day, Lord George Hamilton resigned, and the following day, 16 September, Balfour announced the resignations of Ritchie, Hamilton and Chamberlain. The Free Trade ministers were appalled that Chamberlain's letter of resignation had been kept secret, and the Duke of Devonshire, who had also resigned, rescinded his decision. But when Balfour explained his fiscal policy on 1 October, Devonshire re-submitted his resignation – in a matter of days the Unionist government had lost its most popular public figure, its Chancellor, and a politician of Devonshire's respectable standing.

Chamberlain asserted his authority over the Liberal Unionists soon after Devonshire's departure. Furthermore, he increased his standing with the Conservative Party when the National Union of Conservative and Unionist Associations declared majority support for tariff reform. With firm support from provincial Unionism and most of the press, Chamberlain began a campaign for tariff reform with great enthusiasm, addressing vast crowds and extolling the virtues of Empire and Imperial Preference, campaigning with the slogan 'Tariff Reform Means Work for All'. On 6 October 1903, Chamberlain began the campaign with a speech at Glasgow. The newly formed Tariff Reform League received vast funding, allowing it to wage an advanced democratic campaign involving the printing and distribution of large numbers of leaflets and even the playing of Chamberlain's recorded messages to public meetings by gramophone. Chamberlain himself made addresses at Greenock, Newcastle, Liverpool and Leeds within a month of the outset. Chamberlain explained at Greenock how Free Trade threatened British industry, declaring that "sugar is gone; silk has gone; iron is threatened; wool is threatened; cotton will go! How long are you going to stand it? At the present moment these industries... are like sheep in a field." At Liverpool on 27 October, Chamberlain was escorted to the Conservative Working Men's Association by mounted police amidst wild cheering. Intending to enlist the support of the working class, Chamberlain assured his audience that tariff reform ensured low unemployment.

While the Liberal Party were able to heal their divisions and rally for Free Trade, the Unionist division became more apparent. Balfour was unwilling to endorse anything other than the cautious protectionism that he had endorsed soon after Chamberlain's resignation, and had no inclination to announce an early general election, for by-election results were comprehensively unfavourable for the Unionists. While Chamberlain toured the country, the Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, H.H. Asquith stalked him by preaching the virtues of Free Trade in the same venues in which Chamberlain had appeared a few evenings before. To Balfour's benefit, the campaign for tariff reform had a brief intermission as Chamberlain's health began to fail. Suffering from gout and neuralgia, Chamberlain took a two month holiday in February 1904.

In June, Chamberlain spoke at St. Helens against his doctor's orders, and vacationed again in August, travelling to Aix - les - Bains. By now, Chamberlain had accepted that the Unionists were likely to lose the general election, and criticised Balfour for delaying the inevitable. Indeed, Chamberlain now hoped that Balfour would fail in promoting his guarded fiscal doctrine, probably with a strategy of eventually leading the Unionists in opposition to the Liberals on a purely protectionist platform after the expected defeat in the general election. He wrote to his son Neville that 'The Free Traders are common enemies. We must clear them out of the party & let them disappear.' Chamberlain's attempt in this respect amounted to vigorous local action, and by the end of 1904, the Tariff Reform League's numerous branches were challenging the Conservative National Union. Chamberlain also attempted to secure the Tariff Reform League's representation inside Conservative Central Office. Balfour maintained his programme of retaliatory tariffs and attempted to minimise the obvious differences between Chamberlain and himself. Publicly, Chamberlain claimed that Balfour's stance was the precursor to a fuller policy of Imperial Preference. Meanwhile, Chamberlain continued to campaign for tariff reform with a zeal and energy remarkable for a man of nearly seventy years of age. Reconciliation appeared imminent when Balfour agreed to a general election after the 1906 Colonial Conference, in which tariff reform would be discussed. However, threatened by backbench opposition, Balfour rescinded the agreement and demanded party unity. Chamberlain ignored this and intensified his campaign in November 1905, resulting directly in Balfour's resignation on 4 December. The Liberal Party leader, Sir Henry Campbell - Bannerman, subsequently took office and dissolved Parliament.

With the Unionists divided and out of favour with many of their former supporters, the Liberal Party won the 1906 general election by a landslide, with the Unionists reduced to just 157 seats in the House of Commons. Although Balfour lost his seat in East Manchester, Chamberlain and his followers increased their majorities in the West Midlands. Chamberlain even became Leader of the Opposition in the absence of Balfour. With approximately 102 of the remaining Unionist M.P.s supportive of Chamberlain, it seemed that he was a favourite to assume leadership of the Unionists, or at least win a major concession in favour of tariff reform. Chamberlain asked for a Party meeting, and under immense pressure, the newly seated Balfour agreed on 14 February 1906 in the 'Valentine letters' to concede that

Fiscal Reform is, and must remain, the constructive work of the Unionist Party. That the objects of such reforms are to secure more equal terms of competition for British trade, and closer commercial union within the Colonies.

Although in opposition, it appeared that Chamberlain had successfully associated the Unionists with the cause of tariff reform, and that Balfour would be compelled to accede to Chamberlain's future demands.

On 8 July 1906, Chamberlain celebrated his seventieth birthday and Birmingham was enlivened for a number of days by official luncheons, public addresses, parades, bands and an influx of thousands of congratulatory telegrams. Tens of thousands of people crowded into the city when Chamberlain made a passionate speech on 10 July, promoting the virtues of Radicalism and imperialism. On 13 July, Chamberlain was dressing in the bathroom of his house at Prince's Gardens in preparation for dinner, when he collapsed. His wife, Mary, found the door locked and called out, receiving the weakened reply "I can't get out." While she fetched help, Chamberlain turned the handle from the inside, opening the door. Mary returned to find Chamberlain, exhausted on the floor, having suffered a seriously debilitating stroke that paralysed his right side. In one moment, Chamberlain's political career, then at its height, was effectively ended.

After a month, Chamberlain was able to walk a small number of steps and resolved to overcome his disabilities. Although unaffected mentally, Chamberlain's sight had deteriorated, compelling him to wear spectacles instead of his monocle. Furthermore, his ability to read had diminished, leaving Mary with the responsibility of reading him newspapers and letters. He lost the ability to write with his right hand, and his speech altered noticeably, with Chamberlain's colleague, William Hewins, noting that 'His voice has lost all its old ring... He speaks very slowly and articulates with evident difficulty.' Chamberlain regained his ability to walk, but did so with his right foot dragging behind, and only with the aid of a stick and the support of an arm. Chamberlain's family, particularly Mary, gave him constant support, and Austen in particular kept in close contact, with Chamberlain informing his son, now leading the tariff reform movement, of his opinions concerning contemporary affairs.

Chamberlain made his first visit to the House of Commons since his stroke on 16 February 1910, to be sworn in after the recent general election. When Chamberlain arrived, leaning on a stick and Austen's arm, the House was almost empty, and onlookers were shocked to see the decline in his condition as he slowly recited the oath. Austen signed on Chamberlain's behalf, and he touched the pen to confirm the signature. The Clerk then dutifully and emotionally announced "Mr. Chamberlain West Birmingham Sir". Having shaken hands with the Speaker, Chamberlain was paired with an absentee from the other side, before departing.

Though he had lost all hope of recovering his health and returning to active politics, Chamberlain maintained a keen interest in the subject, following Austen's career with interest and encouraging the tariff reform movement. He opposed Liberal proposals in the House of Commons to remove the House of Lords' ability to act as a check on the ruling government's legislative power, and gave his blessing to the Unionists to fight in order to oppose Home Rule for Ireland. In January 1914, Chamberlain decided to not seek re-election for Birmingham West, and the aged Jesse Collings, Chamberlain's long - serving lieutenant, also made public his desire to end his tenure. On 30 June Chamberlain suffered a mild heart attack and soon became bedridden. On 2 July, he appeared headed for a slight recovery, and Mary read to him the Times article detailing the assassination of Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo. Aware of the impending conflagration, Chamberlain stopped his wife from reading on. Later in the afternoon, he suffered a more serious heart attack and, surrounded by his family, he died in his wife's arms.

Telegrams of condolence arrived from across the world, with the Prime Minister H.H. Asquith, Chamberlain's adversary a decade before, leading the tributes in the House of Commons, declaring that

in that striking personality, vivid, masterful, resolute, tenacious, there were no blurred or nebulous outlines, there were no relaxed fibres, there were no moods of doubt and hesitation, there were no pauses of lethargy or fear.

The offer of an official burial at Westminster Abbey was refused, and a Unitarian funeral ceremony was planned in Birmingham. On 5 July, Chamberlain's body was taken to Paddington Station and sent to Birmingham by train. The next day, the coffin was carried through Birmingham's crowded streets to Key Hill Cemetery, where Chamberlain was laid to rest.

Winston Churchill called Chamberlain "a splendid piebald: first black, then white, or, in political terms, first fiery red, then true blue." This is the conventional view of Chamberlain's politics, that he became gradually more conservative, beginning to the left of the Liberal party and ending to the right of the Conservatives. An alternative view is that he was always a radical in home affairs and an imperialist in foreign affairs, and that these stances were not in great conflict with each other – with both he rejected "laissez - faire capitalism". For instance, after leaving the Liberals he remained a proponent of workmen's compensation and old - age pensions.

He was one of the main proponents of the founding of the University of Birmingham and was its first Chancellor. His papers can be found in the library there, and the University's clock tower is named the Joseph Chamberlain Memorial Clock Tower or more commonly 'Old Joe' or 'Big Joe'. He is also commemorated by a memorial in Chamberlain Square in central Birmingham. A large iron clock erected in his honour (1903, during his lifetime) stands in Birmingham's Jewellery Quarter. His Birmingham home, Highbury Hall, is now a civic conference venue and a venue for civil marriages, and is open occasionally to the public.

Chamberlain has the distinction of being the only individual to have divided both major British political parties in the course of one generation: his decision to found the Liberal Unionists in opposition to Irish Home Rule divided Gladstone's Liberals, ruining their chance of being returned with a workable majority after 1885 and allowing Salisbury's Conservatives to regain power. Less than twenty years later Chamberlain's campaign for tariff reform divided the governing Conservative Party and allowed the Liberals to unite over the issue of free trade.

The papers of Joseph Chamberlain, Austen Chamberlain, Neville Chamberlain and Mary Chamberlain are housed in the University of Birmingham Special Collections.

The Midland Metro has a tram named after him. There is also a pre - kindergarten to grade 12 public school named in his honour in Grassy Lake, Alberta, Canada. The name "Chamberlain School" was chosen by Mr. William Salvage, a British immigrant and prosperous farmer, who donated the land for the construction of the school in 1910.
   

Sir Alfred Milner remained at the Board of Inland Revenue until 1897. He was regarded as one of the clearest headed and most judicious officials in the British service, and his position as a man of moderate Liberal views, who had been so closely associated with Goschen at the Treasury, Cromer in Egypt and Hicks - Beach (Lord St Aldwyn) and Sir William Vernon Harcourt while at the Inland Revenue, marked him as one in whom all parties might have confidence. The moment for testing his capacity in the highest degree had now come.

In April, Lord Rosmead resigned his posts of High Commissioner for Southern Africa and Governor of Cape Colony. The situation resulting from the Jameson raid was one of the greatest delicacy and difficulty, and Joseph Chamberlain, now colonial secretary, selected Milner as Lord Rosmead's successor. The choice was cordially approved by the leaders of the Liberal party and warmly recognized at a 28 March 1897 farewell dinner presided over by the future prime minister Herbert Henry Asquith. The appointment was avowedly made in order that an acceptable British statesman, in whom public confidence was reposed, might go to South Africa to consider all the circumstances and to formulate a policy which should combine the upholding of British interests with the attempt to deal justly with the Transvaal and Orange Free State governments.

Sir Alfred Milner reached the Cape in May 1897 and after the difficulties with President Kruger over the Aliens' Law had been patched up, he was free by August to make himself personally acquainted with the country and peoples before deciding on the lines of policy to be adopted. Between August 1897 and May 1898 he travelled through Cape Colony, the Bechuanaland Protectorate, Rhodesia and Basutoland. The better to understand the point of view of the Cape Dutch and the burghers of the Transvaal and Orange Free State, Milner also during this period learned both Dutch and the South African "Taal". He came to the conclusion that there could be no hope of peace and progress in South Africa while there remained the "permanent subjection of British to Dutch in one of the Republics".

Milner was referring to the situation in the Transvaal where, in the aftermath of the discovery of gold, thousands of fortune seekers had flocked from all over Europe, but mostly Britain. This influx of foreigners, referred to as "Uitlanders", threatened their republic, and Transvaal's President Kruger refused to give the "Uitlanders" the right to vote. The Afrikaner farmers, known as Boers, had established the Transvaal as their promised land, after their Great Trek out of Cape Colony, a trek whose purpose was to remove themselves as far as possible from British rule. They had already successfully defended the Transvaal's annexation by the British Empire during the first Anglo - Boer War, a conflict that had emboldened them and resulted in a peace treaty which, lacking a highly convincing pretext, made it very difficult for Britain to justify diplomatically another annexation of the Transvaal.

Independent Transvaal thus stood in the way of Britain's ambition to control all of Africa from Cape to Cairo. Milner realised that, with the discovery of gold in the Transvaal, the balance of power in South Africa had shifted from Cape Town to Johannesburg. He feared that if the whole of South Africa was not quickly brought under British control, the newly wealthy Transvaal, controlled by Afrikaners, could unite with Cape Afrikaners and jeopardise the entire British position in South Africa. Milner also realised — as was shown by the triumphant re-election of Paul Kruger to the presidency of the Transvaal in February 1898 — that the Pretoria government would never on its own initiative redress the grievances of the "Uitlanders". This gave Milner the pretext to use the "Uitlander" question to his advantage.

In a 3 March 1898 speech delivered at Graaff Reinet, an Afrikaner Bond stronghold in the British controlled Cape, he outlined his determination to secure freedom and equality for British subjects in the Transvaal, and he urged the Dutch colonists to induce the Pretoria government to assimilate its institutions, and the temper and spirit of its administration, to those of the free communities of South Africa. The effect of this pronouncement was great and it alarmed the Afrikaners who, at this time, viewed with apprehension the virtual resumption by Cecil Rhodes of leadership of Cape's Progressive (British) Party.

Milner had an unfavorable view of Afrikaners and, as a matter of philosophy, saw the British as "a superior race". Thus, with limited interest in peaceful resolution of the conflict, he came to the view that British control of the region could only be achieved through war. A negotiated peace was problematic as the Afrikaners outnumbered the British in both the Transvaal, Free State and the Cape. Milner was not alone in his views as evidenced in an 11 March letter written by another Briton, John X. Merriman, to President Steyn of the Orange Free State, "The greatest danger lies in the attitude of President Kruger and his vain hope of building up a State on a foundation of a narrow unenlightened minority, and his obstinate rejection of all prospect of using the materials which lie ready to his hand to establish a true republic on a broad liberal basis. Such a state of affairs cannot last. It must break down from inherent rottenness."

In order to Anglicize the Transvaal area during the Anglo Boer war, Lord Milner set out to influence British Education in the area for the English speaking populations. He founded a series of schools known as the "Milner Schools" in South Africa. These schools consist of modern day Pretoria High School for Girls, Pretoria Boys High School, Potchefstroom High School for Boys, Hamilton Primary School, and St Marys DSG.

Although not all Afrikander Bond leaders liked Kruger, they were ready to support him whether or not he granted reforms and, by the same result, contrived to make Milner's position untenable. His difficulties were increased when, at the general election in Cape Colony, the Bond obtained a majority. In October 1898, acting strictly in a constitutional manner, Milner called upon William Philip Schreiner to form a ministry, though aware that such a ministry would be opposed to any direct intervention of Great Britain in the Transvaal. Convinced that the existing state of affairs, if continued, would end in the loss of South Africa by Britain, Milner came to England in November 1898. He returned to Cape Colony in February 1899, fully assured of Joseph Chamberlain's support, though the government still clung to the hope that the moderate section of the Cape and Orange Free State Dutch would induce Kruger to give the vote to the Uitlanders. He found the situation more critical than when he had left, ten weeks previously. Johannesburg was in a ferment, while William Francis Butler, who acted as high commissioner in Milner's absence, had allowed the inference that he did not support Uitlander grievances.

On 4 May Milner penned a memorable dispatch to the Colonial Office, in which he insisted that the remedy for the unrest in the Transvaal was to strike at the root of the evil — the political impotence of the injured. "It may seem a paradox," he wrote, "but it is true that the only way for protecting our subjects is to help them to cease to be our subjects." The policy of leaving things alone only led from bad to worse, and "the case for intervention is overwhelming." Milner felt that only the enfranchisement of the Uitlanders in the Transvaal would give stability to the South African situation. He had not based his case against the Transvaal on the letter of the Conventions, and regarded the employment of the word "suzerainty" merely as an "etymological question," but he realized keenly that the spectacle of thousands of British subjects in the Transvaal in the condition of "helots" (as he expressed it) was undermining the prestige of Great Britain throughout South Africa, and he called for "some striking proof" of the intention of the British government not to be ousted from its predominant position. This dispatch was telegraphed to London, and was intended for immediate publication; but it was kept private for a time by the home government.

Its tenor was known, however, to the leading politicians at the Cape, and at the insistence of Jan Hendik Hofmeyr a peace conference was held (31 May – 5 June) at Bloemfontein between the high commissioner and Transvaal President Kruger. Milner made three demands, which he knew could not be accepted by Kruger: The enactment by the Transvaal of a franchise law which would at once give the "Uitlanders" the vote; Use of English in the Transvaal parliament and; That all laws of the parliament should be vetted and approved by the British parliament. Realizing the untenability of his position, Kruger left the meeting in tears.

When the Second Boer War broke out in October 1899, Milner rendered the military authorities "unfailing support and wise counsels", being, in Lord Roberts's phrase "one whose courage never faltered". In February 1901, he was called upon to undertake the administration of the two Boer states, both now annexed to the British Empire, though the war was still in progress. He thereupon resigned the governorship of Cape Colony, while retaining the post of high commissioner. During this time at the helm a number of concentration camps were created where 27,000 Boer women and children and more than 14,000 black South Africans died. The work of reconstructing the civil administration in the Transvaal and Orange River Colony could only be carried on to a limited extent while operations continued in the field. Milner therefore returned to England to spend a "hard - begged holiday," which was, however, mainly occupied in work at the Colonial Office. He reached London on 24 May 1901, had an audience with King Edward VII on the same day, was made a GCB and privy councillor, and was raised to the peerage as Baron Milner, of St James's in the County of London and of Cape Town in the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope. Speaking next day at a luncheon given in his honor, answering critics who alleged that with more time and patience on the part of Great Britain, war might have been avoided, he asserted that what they were asked to "conciliate" was "panoplied hatred, insensate ambition, invincible ignorance."

Meanwhile the diplomacy of 1899 and the conduct of the war had caused a great change in the attitude of the Liberal party in England towards Lord Milner, whom a prominent Member of Parliament, Leonard Courtney, even characterized as "a lost mind". A violent agitation for his recall, joined by the Liberal Party leader, Henry Campbell - Bannerman, was organized, however unsuccessfully and, in August, Milner returned to South Africa, plunging into the herculean task of remodelling the administration. In the negotiations for peace he was associated with Lord Kitchener, and the terms of surrender, signed in Pretoria on 31 May 1902, were drafted by him. In recognition of his services he was, on 1 July, made Viscount Milner, of Saint James's in the County of London and of Cape Town in the Cape Colony. Around this time he became a member of the Coefficients dining club of social reformers set up in 1902 by the Fabian Society campaigners Sidney and Beatrice Webb.

On 21 June, immediately following the conclusion of signatory and ceremonial developments surrounding the end of hostilities, Milner published the Letters Patent establishing the system of crown colony government in the Transvaal and Orange River colonies, and changing his title of administrator to that of governor. The reconstructive work necessary after the ravages of the war was enormous. He provided a steady revenue by the levying of a 10% tax on the annual net produce of the gold mines, and devoted special attention to the repatriation of the Boers, land settlement by British colonists, education, justice, the constabulary, and the development of railways. At Milners suggestion the British government sent Henry Birchenough a businessman and old friend of Milners as special trade commissioner to South Africa with the task of preparing a Blue Book on trade prospects in the aftermath of the war.

While this work of reconstruction was in progress, domestic politics in England were convulsed by the tariff reform movement and Joseph Chamberlain's resignation. Milner, who was then spending a brief holiday in Europe, was urged by Arthur James Balfour to take the vacant post of secretary of state for the colonies. He declined the offer on 1 October 1903, considering it more important to complete his work in South Africa, where economic depression was becoming pronounced. As of December 1903, he was back in Johannesburg, and had to consider the crisis in the gold mining industry caused by the shortage of native labor. Reluctantly he agreed, with the assent of the home government, to the proposal of the mine owners to import Chinese coolies on a three year contract with the first batch of Chinese reaching the Rand in June 1904.

In the latter part of 1904 and the early months of 1905 Milner was engaged in the elaboration of a plan to provide the Transvaal with a system of representative government, a half - way house between crown colony administration and that of self - government. Letters patent providing for representative government were issued on 31 March 1905.

For some time he had been suffering health difficulties from the incessant strain of work, and determined a need to retire, leaving Pretoria on 2 April and sailing for Europe the following day. Speaking in Johannesburg on the eve of his departure, he recommended to all concerned the promotion of the material prosperity of the country and the treatment of Dutch and British on an absolute equality. Having referred to his share in the war, he added: "What I should prefer to be remembered by is a tremendous effort subsequent to the war not only to repair the ravages of that calamity but to re-start the colonies on a higher plane of civilization than they have ever previously attained."

He left South Africa while the economic crisis was still acute and at a time when the voice of the critic was audible everywhere but, in the words of the colonial secretary Alfred Lyttelton, he had in the eight eventful years of his administration laid deep and strong the foundation upon which a united South Africa would arise to become one of the great states of the empire. Upon returning home, his university bestowed upon him the honorary degree of DCL.

Experience in South Africa had shown him that underlying the difficulties of the situation there was the wider problem of imperial unity. In his farewell speech at Johannesburg he concluded with a reference to the subject. 'When we who call ourselves Imperialists talk of the British Empire, we think of a group of states bound, not in an alliance or alliances that can be made and unmade but in a permanent organic union. Of such a union the dominions of the sovereign as they exist to-day are only the raw material.' This thesis he further developed in a magazine article written in view of the colonial conference held in London in 1907. He advocated the creation of a permanent deliberative imperial council, and favored preferential trade relations between the United Kingdom and the other members of the empire; and in later years he took an active part in advocating the cause of tariff reform and Imperial Preference.

In 1910 he became a founder of The Round Table – A Quarterly Review of the Politics of the British Empire, which helped to promote the cause of imperial federation.

In March 1906, a motion censuring Lord Milner for an infraction of the Chinese labour ordinance, in not forbidding light corporal punishment of coolies for minor offences in lieu of imprisonment, was moved by a Radical member of the House of Commons. On behalf of the Liberal government an amendment was moved, stating that 'This House, while recording its condemnation of the flogging of Chinese coolies in breach of the law, desires, in the interests of peace and conciliation in South Africa, to refrain from passing censure upon individuals'. The amendment was carried by 355 votes to 135. As a result of this left - handed censure, a counter - demonstration was organized, led by Sir Bartle Frere, and a public address, signed by over 370,000 persons, was presented to Lord Milner expressing high appreciation of the services rendered by him in Africa to the crown and empire.

Upon his return from South Africa, Viscount Milner occupied himself mainly with business interests in London, becoming chairman of the Rio Tinto Zinc mining company, though he remained active in the campaign for imperial free trade. In 1906 he became a director of the Joint Stock Bank, a precursor of the Midland Bank. In the period 1909 to 1911 he was a strong opponent of the budget of David Lloyd George and the subsequent attempt of the Liberal government to curb the powers of the House of Lords.

Since Milner, who was a leading conservative, was the only Briton who had experience in civil direction of a war, Lloyd George turned to him in December 1916 when he formed his national government. He was made a member of the five person War Cabinet. Milner became Lloyd George's fire fighter in many crises and one of the most powerful voices in the conduct of the war. He also gradually became disenchanted with the military leaders whose offensives generated large casualties for little apparent result, but who still enjoyed support from many politicians. He backed Lloyd George, who was even more disenchanted with the military, in his successful move to remove Edward Carson from the Admiralty.

Lloyd George spent much of 1917 proposing plans to send British troops and guns to Italy to assist in an Italian offensive (this did not happen in the end until reinforcements had to be sent after the Italian disaster at Caporetto in November). The War Cabinet did not insist on a halt to the Third Battle of Ypres offensive in 1917 when the initial targets were not reached and indeed spent little time discussing the matter – around this time the CIGS General Robertson sent Haig (CinC of British forces in France) a biting description of the members of the War Cabinet, whom he said were all frightened of Lloyd George – he described Milner as "a tired and dyspeptic old man". By the end of the year Milner had become certain that a decisive victory on the Western Front was unlikely and had become a convinced "Easterner", wanting more effort on other fronts.

Milner was also a chief author of the Balfour Declaration of 1917, although it was issued in the name of Arthur Balfour. He was a highly outspoken critic of the Austro - Hungarian war in Serbia arguing that "there is more widespread desolation being caused there (than) we have been familiar with in the case of Belgium". He was an earnest advocate of inter - allied cooperation, attending an Allied conference in St. Petersburg in February 1917 and, as representative of the British War Cabinet, was on a March 1918 visit to France when the Germans launched their great offensive, and was instrumental in getting General Ferdinand Foch appointed as Allied Generalissimo on 26 March. On 19 April he was appointed Secretary of State for War in place of the Earl of Derby, who had been a staunch ally of Field - Marshal Haig, and presided over the army council for the remainder of the war. Following the khaki election of December 1918, he was appointed Colonial Secretary and, in that capacity, attended the 1919 Paris Peace Conference where, on behalf of United Kingdom, he became one of the signatories of the Treaty of Versailles.

After the War, Lord Milner assisted the Royal Agricultural Society in procuring Fordson tractors for the plowing and planting of grasslands, and communicated directly with Henry Ford by telegraph, per Henry Ford's book, 'My Life and Work', regarding Chapter 14. His last great public service was, after serious rioting broke out, a mission to Egypt from December 1919 to March 1920 to make recommendations on British - Egyptian relations, specifically how to reconcile the British protectorate established in 1915 with Sa'd Zaghlul's calls for self - government. The report of the Milner Commission formed the basis of a settlement which lasted for a number of years.

Right until the end of his life, Lord Milner would call himself a "British race patriot" with grand dreams of a global Imperial parliament, headquartered in London, seating delegates of British descent from Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. He retired in February 1921 and was appointed a Knight of the Garter (KG) in the same month. Later that year he married Lady Violet Georgina Gascoyne - Cecil, widow of Lord Edward Cecil and remained active in the work of the Rhodes Trust, while accepting, at the behest of Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin, the chairmanship of a committee to examine a new imperial preference tariff. His work, however, proved abortive when, following an election, Ramsay MacDonald assumed the office of Prime Minister in January 1924.

Seven weeks past his 71st birthday, Alfred Milner died at Sturry Court, near Canterbury of sleeping sickness, soon after returning from South Africa. His viscountcy, lacking heirs, died with him.

Found among Milner's papers was his Credo, which was soon published to great acclaim — "I am a Nationalist and not a cosmopolitan .... I am a British (indeed primarily an English) Nationalist. If I am also an Imperialist, it is because the destiny of the English race, owing to its insular position and long supremacy at sea, has been to strike roots in different parts of the world. I am an Imperialist and not a Little Englander because I am a British Race Patriot ... The British State must follow the race, must comprehend it, wherever it settles in appreciable numbers as an independent community. If the swarms constantly being thrown off by the parent hive are lost to the State, the State is irreparably weakened. We cannot afford to part with so much of our best blood. We have already parted with much of it, to form the millions of another separate but fortunately friendly State. We cannot suffer a repetition of the process."