PREFATORY NOTE THIS book is founded on a volume of 'Reminiscences,' which my dear and honoured friend, Sir Wilfrid Lawson, wrote in the closing years of his life. The scope of these Reminiscences may best be given in his own words. 'These pages are intended to be a record of certain Parliamentary and public incidents of which I have been a spectator, and in most of which I have been a participator, during a tolerably long Parliamentary career. It has been a matter of interest to me to read, and to make some comments upon, them. Whether anybody else will take an interest in reading them is quite another matter.' In preparing these Reminiscences for the Press I have had the advantage of consulting the exact and copious journal which Sir Wilfrid kept from his entry into Parliament in 1859 to the last year of his life. In this journal he analysed every debate which he heard, and recorded the reasons for each vote which he gave. I have illustrated the narrative, wherever it seemed expedient to do so, both from contemporary records, and from ample stores of private information kindly contributed by Sir Wilfrid's family and by his innumerable friends. The magnificent sentence inscribed on the title-page seems to embody, with absolute precision, the spirit which animated the life-long labours of Wilfrid Lawson. Michaelmas, 1909. G. W. E. R. |