LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.
A WHIG AND MR. CHAMBERLAIN.
(To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."'
should like, by your leave, to comment on the extra- ordinary and spiteful letter of Mr. H. R. Grenfell attacking Mr. Chamberlain, dated " Brooks's Club, November 10th." "He is reported," says Mr. Grenfell, "I know not how truly, to have made a large fortune in a monopoly secured by most question- able dodges." A malicious and wanton insinuation of this char- acter is a mean weapon to use in political warfare against any one, but when the insinuation is directed against a Cabinet Minister it is cowardly in an exceptional degree. Mr. Grenfell knows quite well that Mr. Chamberlain cannot condescend to reply to so pitiful and vague an accusation. But could not Mr. Grenfell, before he gave the slander whatever value a Brooks's Club imprimatur can confer, have taken the trouble to ascertain whether these whispered accusations against the President of the Board of Trade were true ? If it is worth his while and any part of his business to repeat Tory slanders, it is still more his business to ascer- tain upon what foundation they rest. When definite charges are made against Mr. Chamberlain's private com- mercial morality, it is comparatively easy for his friends, as I have more than once done, to crush them, and show their utter baselessness. A " society " rumour generally takes the shape of reference to an alleged circular with regard to monopoly in screws with which Mr. Chamberlain is said to be identified. This is a complete fabrication ; no such circular exists. Mr. Grenfell may not take my word for it, whether I sign in my own name or by a mere professional designa- tion; but I enclose you that which will, I doubt not, convey to you, Mr. Editor, an assurance that I write the straight- forward truth.
Mr. Chamberlain may console himself with the reflection that he is now being slandered as to his commercial life in almost precisely the same way that Mr. Bright was treated by the past or passing generation of Whigs and Tories. Brought up as a Whig rather than a Liberal, I was well conversant with the whispered enormities of Mr. Bright in the carpet-trade, both towards rival manufacturers and his own work-people, and it was not until later years brought about a visit or two to Roch- dale that I was wholly disabused of early impressions.
I marvel sometimes that the Tories, or Whigs of Mr. Gren- fell's calibre, should be so dense as to believe these Chamberlain calumnies ; for if there were truth in them, is it in the smallest degree probable that Mr. Chamberlain should have been so singularly honoured by his fellow-townsmen, both in Municipal and Parliamentary life ? He has lived in Birmingham for thirty years, and there all the circumstances of his private and commercial life are thoroughly well known, and can be readily tested.
Mr. George's vapourings on the Land Question were best of all crushed by one of your contemporaries reminding him that the English had, after all, a lingering weakness in favour of the Eighth Commandment. Mr. Grenfell needs reminding that the Lawgiver not only said "Thou shalt not steal," but also "Thou
shalt not slander."—I am, &c., A COUNTRY PARSON.
Previous page
