concentration, not dispersion, in the Empire. In any case, I took the
plunge, one which might have been painful if my father had not been the
most just, the most fair-minded, and the most kind-hearted of men.
Although he was an intense, nay, a fierce Gladstonian, I never had the
slightest feeling of estrangement from him or he from me. It happened,
however, that the break-up of the Liberal Party affected me greatly at
_The Spectator_. When the election of 1886 took place, I was asked
by a friend and Somersetshire neighbour, Mr. Henry Hobhouse, who had
become, like me, a Liberal Unionist, to act as his election agent. This
I did, though, as a matter of fact, he was unopposed. The moment he was
declared elected I made out my return as election agent and went
straight back to my work in London. Almost at once I received a letter
which surprised me enormously. It was from Mr. Hutton, telling me that
Mr. Townsend had gone away for his usual summer holiday, and that he
wanted someone to come and help him by writing a couple of leaders a
week and some of the notes. I, of course, was delighted at the prospect,
for my mind was full of politics and I was longing to have my say. Here
again, though it did not consciously occur to me that I was in for
anything big, I seem to have had some sort of subconscious premonition.
At any rate, I accepted with delight and well remember my talk at the
office before taking up my duties. My editor explained to me that Mr.
Asquith, who had been up till the end of 1885 the writer of a weekly
leader in _The Spectator_ and also a holiday writer, had now
severed his connection with the paper, owing to his entry into active
politics. It did not occur to me, however, that I was likely to get the
post of regular leader-writer in his stead, though this was what
actually happened.

I left the office, I remember, greatly pleased with the two subjects
upon which I was to write. The first article was to be an exhortation to