The Life of the Rt Hon Sir Charles W. Dilke, vol 1 | Page 2

chapters on "The British Army" and "Imperial
Defence." Sir George Askwith was good enough, amidst almost
overwhelming pressure of public duties, to read and revise the chapter

entitled "The Turning- Point." Sir George Barnes and Sir John Mellor
have also freely given expert advice and criticism. Mrs. H. J. Tennant,
Miss Constance Smith, Mr. E. S. Grew, Mr. H. K. Hudson and Mr.
John Randall have given much valuable assistance. The work of
reading proofs and verifying references was made easy by their help.
While thanking all those who have placed letters at her disposal, the
Editor would specially acknowledge the kindness with which Mr.
Austen Chamberlain has met applications for leave to publish much
correspondence.
Mr. John Murray's great experience has made his constant counsel of
the utmost value; and from the beginning to the close of the Editor's
task the literary judgment of the Rev. W. Tuck well has been placed
unsparingly at her service. Sir H. H. Lee and Mr. Bodley, who were Sir
Charles Dilke's official secretaries when he was a Minister, have given
her useful information as to political events and dates.
To the many other friends, too numerous to name, who have
contributed "recollections" and aid, grateful acknowledgments must be
made.
Finally, the Editor expresses her warmest thanks to Lord Fitzmaurice,
who has laid under contribution, for the benefit of Sir Charles Dilke's
Life, his great knowledge of contemporary history and of foreign
affairs, without which invaluable aid the work of editing could not have
been completed.

INTRODUCTION
The papers from which the following Memoir is written were left to my
exclusive care because for twenty-five years I was intimately associated
with Sir Charles Dilke's home and work and life. Before the year 1885 I
had met him only once or twice, but I recall how his kindness and
consideration dissipated a young girl's awe of the great political figure.
From the year 1885, when my aunt, Mrs. Mark Pattison, married Sir
Charles, I was constantly with them, acting from 1893 as secretary in
their trade- union work. Death came to her in 1904, and till January,
1911, he fought alone.
In the earlier days there was much young life about the house. Mrs. H. J.
Tennant, that most loyal of friends, stands out as one who, hardly less
than I, used to look on 76, Sloane Street, as a home. There is no need to

bear witness to the happiness of that home. The Book of the Spiritual
Life, in which are collected my aunt's last essays, contains also the
Memoir of her written by her husband, and the spirit which breathes
through those pages bears perfect testimony to an abiding love.
The atmosphere of the house was one of work, and the impression left
upon the mind was that no life was truly lived unless it was largely
dedicated to public service. To the labours of his wife, a "Benedictine,
working always and everywhere," Sir Charles bears testimony. But
what of his own labours? "Nothing will ever come before my work,"
were his initial words to me in the days when I first became their
secretary. Through the years realization of this fact became complete,
so that, towards the last, remonstrances at his ceaseless labour were
made with hopeless hearts; we knew he would not purchase length of
life by the abatement of one jot of his energy. He did not expect long
life, and death was ever without terror for him. For years he anticipated
a heart seizure, so that in the complete ordering of his days he lived
each one as if it were his last.
The house was a fine school, for in it no waste of force was permitted.
He had drilled himself to the suppression of emotion, and he would not
tolerate it in those who worked with him except as an inspiration to
action. "Keep your tears for your speeches, so that you make others act;
leave off crying and think what you can do," was the characteristic
rebuke bestowed upon one of us who had reported a case of acute
industrial suffering. He never indulged in rhetoric or talked of first
principles, and one divined from chance words of encouragement the
deep feeling and passion for justice which formed the inspiration of his
work.
He utilized every moment. The rapidity of his transition from one kind
of work to another, and his immediate concentration on a subject totally
different from that which he had previously handled, were only
equalled by the rapidity with which he turned from work to play.
With the same unerring quickness he would gather up the contents of a
book or appreciate the drift of a question. This latter characteristic, I
fear, often disconcerted disputants, who objected to leave their nicely
turned