Encyclopedia Britannica 1963 [03].pdf

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T H E UNIVERSITY O F CHICAGO
The Encyclqadin Britnlznicn
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at The Uniziversity of Toronto
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Volume
3
BALFOUR
B
OTH
T
O
E N C Y C L O P E D I A BRITANNICA, I N C .
W I L L I A M BENTON, PUBLISHER
CHICAGO
LONDON
TORONTO
GENEVA
-
SYDNEY
PRINTED
IN
THE
U.
S.
A .
ENCYCLOPEDIA
BPSITANNICA
Volume
3
E
ARL
OF
(1848-1930), British statesman, was a bril-
liant aristocratic intellectual who held a key position
in the Conservative party
( 9 . v . )
after 1880 for nearly
50 years, and was prime minister from .I902 to 1905.
He ivas born at IVhittingehame, East Lothian, Scot., on July
2 5 ,
1845, the eldest son of James Maitland Balfour and of Lady
Blanche Gascoyne-Cecil, a sister of the 3rd marquess of Salisbury.
I t x a s the great year of European revolution, but Balfour was to
have little sympathy with the forces which that fateful year set in
motion.
If
82
years later militant democracy had still not suc-
ceeded in obliterating all the landmarks of the old English social
order, the fact \\-as due at least in part to the skilful, supple, yet
steely leadership given by Balfour during the long rear guard ac-
tion of the Conservative party. He was educated at Eton and
Trinity college, Cambridge. His family background was highly
intellectual and his mother, in particular, x a s a woman of much wit
and intelligence. Balfour's father died in 1856 and Arthur suc-
czeded to a large property and considerable wealth when he came of
age. Although toward the end of his life his fortune became much
impaired by surprisingly imprudent speculation, he was never per-
sonally worried about money matters.
When he first left Cambridge his serious interests were mainly
philosophical, although his uncle Lord Salisbury persuaded him
in 1874 to enter parliament as Conservative member for Hertford.
In 1879 he published his
Defence of Philosophic Doubt
in which
he endeavoured to show that scientific knowledge depends just as
much as theology upon an act of faith. He regarded this as an
argument in favour of theology. In the great Victorian struggle
between science and religion,
Balfour
was on the side of religion.
The majority of people, who failed to understand the book, or who
read only its title, wrongly assumed that he was a skeptic. H e
continued to take a keen interest in scientific and philosophical
problems throughout his life.
When he vcas 27, a romantic tragedy occurred vihich was to
cast a shadow over the rest of his life. He was a close friend of
Alfred Lyttelton, a nephew of Gladstone, and Iater a Conservative
colonial secretary. I n 1875 Balfour became unofficially engaged
to Alfred's sister, hiay.
-4
month later she died. Balfour never
again seriously considered marriage.
B
ALFOUR, ARTHUR JAMES BALFOUR,
IST
In
1878
he became ,private secretary to his uncle, Lord Salis-
bury, who had recently been appointed foreign secretary, and
whom he accompanied to the congress of Berlin. TKO years
!ater the general election resulted in a conclusive defeat for the
Conservatives. Balfour retained his seat and became for a while
a member of the so-called "Fourth party
n
-a group of four Con-
servative members of parliament, who: headed by Lord Randolph
Churchill. made it their business and their pleasure to harry the
official Conservative leadership with the cry of Tory Democracy.
Balfour could agree with Lord Randolph in seeking to drive out
Sir Stafford Northcote, the Conservative leader in the house of
commons, but he had no intention of becoming involved in an
attack on Lord Salisbury, ~ h led in the house of lords. Bal-
o
four, in fact. kept closely in touch with his uncle about the
activities of the rebels to whose ranks he ostensibly belonged.
Throughout this period he seemed to most people a languid
exquisite, rather than a man of action, an amusing and witty
social figure no doubt, but one of the last people for whom
political success could have been predicted. H e moved in a
circle of rich, clever and delightful men and women- '.The
Souls"-a brilliant society of which he was a central figure.
Few observers of this period were able to discern the tough-
ness which lay behind all this glitter, that streak of "cool
ruthlessness" which It'inston Churchill described (in
Great Con-
tcmpol-aries,
1937).
In June 1885 the Liberal government fell. Lord Salisbury
became prime minister and appointed his nephew president of
the local government board. In the general election later that
year Balfour won the seat of East bfanchester which he con-
tinued to represent until 1906. In the country as a whole, how-
ever, the Liberals were victorious, but Gladstone, by announcing
a policy of Home Rule for Ireland, split his party and in the
summer of 1886 was defeated first in the house of commons,
then in the country. On the formation of Lord Salisbury's
second administration (July 1886) Balfour held the post of
secretary for Scotland. In iifarch 1857 he was made chief secre-
tary for Ireland with a seat in the cabinet. To the outside world
the pron~otionof a dilettante man of fashion to the most difficult
administration post appeared incredible. In fact it was very suc-
cessful. Baliour
was
an inlplacable opponent of Home Rule and

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