HOW A CABINET MINISTER WAS RUINED.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XLII, Issue 11450, 1 February 1918, Page 7

HOW A CABINET MINISTER WAS RUINED.

THE ECLIPSE OP A BRILLIANT CAREER. Thirty-two years have gone since a wave of consternation passed over England with the news that a grave charge had been made against one of her greatest and most popular statesmen, a man of irreproachable reputation. The news was paralyzing, incredible, impossible; and yet it was true. “Sir Charles Dilko’s tall, ” Mr Justin McCarthy wrote a few months later, “is like that of a tower. He stood high above any rising English statesmen; and but tor what lias happened he must have been Prime Minister after Gladstone.” MARKED FOR A GREAT CAREER.

There was, indeed, no more brilliant and promising statesman of bis day. From bis first entry into the House of Commons be had been marked for a great career. He was born a political leader; a speaker and debater of rare skill; and he had a knowledge of foreign affairs unapproached by any other man at Westminister He had risen rapidly, inevitably, to Cabinet rank; and by universal consent was singled out as Gladstone’s successor in the Premiership. All his life Fortune bad smiled her sweetst on this man of great gift. Ho had rank and opulence and an army of-devoted friends and admirers. He had achieved Europe in fame: and, to fill his cup of success and happnoss, ho was about to marry a woman of singular sweetness and charm, whom he loved, and who loved him with a rare tenderness : and passion—Mrs Mark Pnttison, j widow of the Rector of Lincoln ] College. And it was at this supreme hour of his triumph that tlm blow fell—a “thunderbolt” from a sky of unbroken blue—which burled him from his pedestal to the dust. A TERRIBLE ACCUSATION.

In the evening of July sSth, ISS3, Sir Charles had returned from a dinner given by the Reform Club, at which he was the guest of honour, to find awaiting him a letter from an old friend who asked him to c.ll ou the following morning on “grave business.” And it was at this interview that ho learnt that the wife of a Liberal member of Parliament had volunteered a confession to her husband that slip had been unfaithful to- him with Sir Charles Dilke immediately after her marriage. This 'was the terrible accusation that he was go suddenly called to

face —a charge which, if it could be proved, meant irretrievable ruin and disgrace, at the very zenith of his career and promise. Terrible, as was the position . in which Dilke found himself, he faced it with characteristic calm ness and courage. He was {to quote from his recently published “Life,” a Io 3k of absorbing interest) “in as groat misery as perhaps ever fell upon a man,.” To add to his trouble, the woman whom he was going to marry was lying dangerously ill in India; ami he was haunted by the fear that the news might reach her before lie'was able to communicate bis version to her. There was still a hope, however alight, that the scandal might he kept from public knowledge; but within a few days this hope was dashed to the ground when lie learned that legal proceedings wore to be taken. To Mrs Pattison, at whoso feet ho had so gladly and proudly laid as tribute his ' great position in the world, lie wrote in this dark hour, when his career was in such dire peril: “I feel this nny kill you—and it will kill me, either if it kills you or if you don’t believe me.” and' again: “ The only thing I can ' do in future is to devote myself entirely to you, helping in your work. To that the remainder of my life must be dedicated. ” This was indeed by far-the bitterest drop in his cup of suffering. His trust was not misplaced. Mrs. Pattison from her bed of sickness at once cabled a message of absolute truth in him and unquestioning faith in his complete innocence. And that the world might have no doubt of her loyalty, she also cabled to the Times an announcement of her engagement. Well might Lord Granville write to Dilke, “I wish you joy most, sincerely. The announcement says much for the woman whom you have chosen. ’ ’

HIS FRIENDS STAND BY HIM. And Mrs. Pattison was only one of many who hastened to assure Sir Charles of their unbroken faith in him. The Prince of Wales, Mr Gladstone, Mr Chamberlain, and “a host of loyal friends gave him their cordial sympathy and support; and the sentiments of all were voiced by Sir Edward Hamilton, who wrote:

“You may depend npon it that your fiends are all feeling for yon and will stand by you; and, if lam not mistaken, your constituents will equally befriend yon. ” This they did by declaring their unshakeiLconfidonce in him. DISMISSED WITH COSTS

It was a misfortune for Dilke that Mr Galdstone formed his new Ministry before the great case came on for hearing; and thus was unable to offer a place in it to a man who, however distinguished, was still under the shadow of so serious a charge. At the trial the charge against Sir Charles was dismissed with costs, the Judge saying expressly that there was no case for him to answer. Immediately there arose a virulent campaign against him by a section of the Press. A scathing and pitiless attack was made on him by Mr. Stead in the ‘Pall Mall’, in which allegations of a most serious nature were put forward. VICTIM OF A PRESS CAMPAIGN. Never a a more pitil.ss and unscrupulous campaign directed against any man. Not only in the Press were horrible charges of immorality more than suggested against him; the tongue of scandal gave them definite and circumstantial form—stories of the betrayal of innocence, of orgies almost rivalling those of tint ducal roue, Philippe Orleans: and this torrent of unspeakable scandal Sir Charles was powerless to stem. The Court had indeed dismissed him from the case “without a stain on his character but, on the advice of his counsel, advioo which was supported by theJudge,"he had not gone into the " r |* nogg - w *1 ~toigaiyifr

cross-examination : ami it was this suspicious shrinking from “the music” that opened the flood gates of scurrility.

To the clamour that he should retire from Parliament, he wrote in his Diary: “Renewed attempt to dismiss me out of public life. Bu? I won’t go now. In July I said to my wife and to Chamberlain, ‘Here is'the whole truth—and am an innocent man, ’ tie found himself avoided in Parliament; lie was a social outcast; bis splendid career of public service whs ignominiously ended. The “tower” had fallen in irretrievable ruin.

With what courage and patience he bor« this cruel blow, supported by tbe touching devotion of his wife and the loyalty of his friends, the world still remembers.- A few years later ho returned to Westminster, as member for the Forest or Dean. But be never regained anything like his old influence. The story of Diike’s downfall is one of the saddest tragedies in the history of English politics.