tion of 1886, when he stood as a Unionist and was defeated. He contested Dewsbury at a by-election in 1888 without success; and it was not till 1892 that he entered Parliament as Member for West Belfast.

It is interesting to see how he employed the ten years that intervened between the severance of his connection with Ireland as a Liberal and its renewal as a Unionist member for an Ulster constituency. He travelled in Russia and in the East of Europe with his father, in the years preceding his father's death; but his chief pursuit was literature. "Arnolds seem to write as naturally as they breathe or walk," said Sir M. Grant Duff; and ArnoldForster was no exception to the rule. His first contribution was to 'The Nineteenth Century' in 1881, and to that periodical he became a frequent contributor. We have already spoken of his pamphlet on the Land League, and now in 1883 we find many articles from his pen. Mrs Arnold-Forster publishes a list of his principal contributions, either in the form of books or of articles in reviews. He wrote on "Outcast London" and "The Dwellings of the Poor," after much time spent in investigating the conditions of the lives of the poor with Miss Octavia Hill. He advocated the crea

tion

of Sanitary Vigilance Committees, and himself served one together with Lady Burdett-Coutts, Lord Shaftes

on

The promotion of a closer union between the mother country and the colonies, and of a future federation of the Empire, was a desire of paramount importance to his father and to himself. He served as honorary secretary of the Imperial Federation Committee, of which Mr Forster was the first president; and he wrote on "The Liberal Idea and the Colonies," combating the doctrine at that time held by not a few Liberals-that any closer connection with the colonies. was not desirable. To his work as one of the pioneers of the idea of Imperial Federation many tributes have been paid. He wrote also on the Irish question and on naval and military questions, but these articles we shall refer later. He acted until 1886 as political editor of 'The Statist.'

to

In 1884 a great change came in his life. He was engaged to marry Mary Story-Maskelyne, whose father, for many years Liberal Member for the Cricklade Division of Wiltshire, was a great friend of William Forster and Matthew Arnold. To make the marriage more immediately possible, he now gave up his uncertain prospects at the Bar and accepted a post in the publishing firm of Cassell & Co. The marriage took place in the

succeeding year, and in the following spring occurred the death of Mr Forster. What that meant to him no words could tell; he lost not merely a loving father, but a wise and faithful adviser, and an everpresent example of noble life. But he was now over thirty years of age, he had a home of his own and a settled occupation.

With his customary vigour he threw himself into his work as a publisher; he learnt practically the trades of the compositor and printer. He took charge of the firm's education department, and by degrees raised it to a high rank. To the grandson of Dr Arnold and the son of the Director of Education in the Punjaub, this educational work strongly appealed. He saw the need of a book which should teach to the children in our schools some of their duties, responsibilities, and privileges as future citizens, and tell them something of how their country is governed. He wanted to make them patriotic citizens. And so he wrote 'The Citizen Reader,' a work commended with equal warmth by men so different as Ruskin, Cardinal Manning, George Meredith, and John Bright, the last of whom ordered some hundreds of copies for distribution, adding to his letter the characteristic remark that the book contained more enthusiasm about military and naval questions than he could agree with. The preface to it was almost the last work of William Forster.

This book was followed by VOL. CLXXXVIII.—NO. MCXLII.

'Laws of Every-Day Life,' a work which described with examples the laws governing our lives and country, the laws of supply and demand, of work and wages, of co-operation, trades unions, and prices.

Then came 'This World of Ours,' the work which his wife thinks was his own favourite. In it he linked together the various branches of geography, political and historical, military and physical, statistical and commercial, showing the influence of climatic conditions, explaining the use of instruments and the principles of map-making; vitalising, in fact, the study of geography, so that it might be at once a pleasure and a profit. He also arranged for the production of 'The Universal Atlas,' now so well known as 'The Times Atlas.'

The vast amount of study and research involved in the preparation of the above works alone would have absorbed the whole time and energy of any ordinary man, but ArnoldForster found time for much other literary work. He still continued his political studies, and wrote articles for the Reviews, 'The St James's Gazette,' and 'Murray's Magazine.' It was in this last that he published "In a Conning Tower," describing an action between two ironclads, and picturing the terrible strain on the nerve and judgment of the captain. This created a greater sensation than any work of the kind since Chesney's famous 'Battle of Dorking.' It brought home to ordinary minds the conditions of naval war: as Chesney 3 H

had the conditions of war on land. It was published as a pamphlet, ran through many editions, and was republished in five different languages. When it became known who the author was, he at once became some one to be reckoned with in naval affairs.

Among his lighter writings was an amusing skit in 'The St James's Gazette' on the methods of the South-Eastern Railway, called "The Flying Watkin," which Mrs ArnoldForster prints in full, no doubt realising that it is as applicable to-day as it was twenty-two years ago. Much work was also done for The Scots Obsever' and its successor 'The National Observer,' under the editorship of William Henley. Yet he did not give all his energies to the pen. He took an active part in forming the Employers Printing and Allied Trades Association, and in the settlement of the differences with the Printers' and Compositors' Union, which had led to a strike by the men.

Few men have entered Parliament with so valuable a training as Arnold-Forster received in all that makes for a successful public life.

In 1890 he was chosen to contest West Belfast as a Unionist against Mr Sexton, one of the leaders of the Nationalist party and of the Land League, who held the seat. No task could have been more welcome to him. His position as a Liberal had become strained at the time of Mr Forster's resignation on the Kilmainham Treaty. His severance from the Liberal

party had finally come about in 1884 on the Egyptian policy of the Government. From the time when, a few hours after William Forster's funeral service in Westminster Abbey, Gladstone introduced his Home Rule policy, Arnold - Forster threw himself ardently into the struggle against it. He spoke on the question on many platforms in England, in Scotland, and in Ireland. His sympathy with Ulstermen was intense. "The key of the whole situation," he wrote, "is really in the hands of the Ulster people. Ulster has only to say 'We won't,' and there is an end of all the schemes for her humiliation." In June 1892 a convention of representatives from every constituency in Ulster met at Belfast, and with a single voice declared "We will not have Home Rule." Ulstermen are equally determined now; and if we are to escape civil war in Ireland, all who wish to save our country from immeasurable calamities must throw themselves into the struggle which the failure of the Conference entails, as ardently as did Arnold-Forster.

In July came the General Election; the Unionist minority in West Belfast was converted into a substantial majority, and from that time forward Belfast was solid for Unionism. Mrs Arnold-Forster's description of the concentration of effort by both Nationalists and Unionists on the winning of this seat is a lesson in party organisation; and her stories of scenes and incidents of the contest are most amusing. For

His first letter after his election, and his first letter from the House of Commons, were to his "mother." His maiden speech was to move an amendment to the Address to the Throne at the opening of Parliament in the 1893 session, calling attention to the disclosures before the judicial inquiry on the Meath election. Mr Chamberlain's presence by his side throughout his speech gave him a sense of help and support. Sir Charles Russell, afterwards Lord Russell of Killowen, wrote to him on a slip of paper, "I shall have to get up and crush you presently; but you have done well. My warm congratulations."

One of his first questions in the House was to ask the Government whether the national flag should not be flown over the national Parliament. The first reply was that as Westminster was a Royal palace, only the Royal Standard could be flown there, and that only when the Sovereign was present. This answer was withdrawn later, when it was admitted there was no statutory objection to flying the Union Jack, but the expense, £24 ayear, was declared to be prohibitive. At intervals he continued to ask the question; at last Mr Herbert Gladstone, when at the head of the Office of Works, gave way; and from that time the national flag has floated over the Victoria Tower whenever Parliament is sitting. Mrs Arnold-Forster tells of a

soon after her husband's death, "You must like to think that he got that flag flown there; I always think of him when I see it." Few probably remember that sixteen years ago this flag was not flown; fewer still know to whom its being placed there is due; none, we think, who have read this story will fail, when they see it, to remember Arnold-Forster.

The first years of his life in Parliament were passed amid stormy and critical scenes, when the Home Rule question practically monopolised the time of the House. He spoke but seldom, and then on military and naval questions, to which we shall refer later, or on Imperial Federation.

His

At the General Election of 1895, which swept away the Liberal majority and restored Lord Salisbury to office, he was returned unopposed. own party was now in power; Home Rule was for the time being negligible; he had more time to devote to travel, more time that he could give to literary work. His wife tells us of these travels abroad, and of the way in which they were all turned to account. In 1896, in partnership with Mr Wyllie, R.A., he became joint-owner of a barge fitted as a yacht,-The Four Brothers, in which he visited Belgium and Holland, and which gave way later to a schooner, and that in turn to a small steam-yacht. His bicycle was a constant companion and source of pleasure. He amused himself and his boys constructing miniature