IX

_HENRY CAMPBELL-BANNERMAN_

"He put his country first, his party next, and himself last." This,
the noblest eulogy which can be pronounced upon a politician, was
strikingly applicable to my old and honoured friend whose name
stands at the head of this page. And yet, when applied to him,
it might require a certain modification, for, in his view, the
interests of his country and the interests of his party were almost
synonymous terms--so profoundly was he convinced that freedom is
the best security for national welfare. When he was entertained at
dinner by the Reform Club on his accession to the Premiership, he
happened to catch my eye while he was speaking, and he interjected
this remark: "I see George Russell there. He is by birth, descent,
and training a Whig; but he is a little more than a Whig." Thus
describing me he described himself. He was a Whig who had marched
with the times from Whiggery to Liberalism; who had never lagged
an inch behind his party, but who did not, as a rule, outstep it.
His place was, so to speak, in the front line of the main body,
and every forward movement found him ready and eager to take his
place in it. His chosen form of patriotism was a quiet adhesion to
the Liberal party, with a resolute and even contemptuous avoidance
of sects and schisms.

He was born in 1836, of a mercantile family which had long flourished
in Glasgow, and in 1872 he inherited additional wealth, which
transformed his name from Campbell to Campbell-Bannerman--the familiar
"C.-B." of more recent times. Having graduated from Trinity College,
Cambridge, he entered Parliament as Member for the Stirling Burghs