In 1903 Mr. Chamberlain launched another 'unauthorized program," which aimed at the reversal of the traditional free trade fiscal pol icy of Great Britain and at the setting up of preferential tariffs within the Empire, and he resigned his place in the Cabinet the better to pursue this missionary enterprise. He found support from the of the Unionist party; but a powerful minority, including such distinguished men as Devonshire, Goschen and St. Aldwyn, stood for .the old policy; Mr. Bal four, on whom devolved the duty of keeping his party together, gave to 'tariff reform" but a dubious and hesitating support; the Unionist party was rent in twain; and at the general election of 1906— at which Mr. Chamberlain's policy was only one among other issues — the Unionist government suffered a disastrous de feat. Mr. Chamberlain from 1903 had been conducting a strenuous campaign on behalf of "tariff reform" that had severely taxed his strength, and his last years were spent as an invalid; but from time to time he continued to inspire his followers with messages in the press.
Mr. Chamberlain was the first purely busi ness man, untaught in any of the universities, to rise to a commanding place in British public life, and he profoundly affected the style of debating in the House of Commons. His
lithe spare figure, clean-cut, incisive features and single eyeglass were essential parts in the "make-up" of a singularly forceful and dom inating personality. In his talents as an ad ministrator, in his capacity for getting through business, he was almost unrivaled. As a de bater he was cool and resourceful, a hard but a clean hitter, and never so dangerous an an tagonist as when he seemed to be fighting in a disadvantageous position. His utterances had a simplicity, directness and force which made him powerful no less in the country than on the floor of the House; but these characteristics proved an embarrassment when translated into the field of foreign relationships. He had, as Lord Morley has said, a 'genius for friend ship," both private and public; and his trait in his character, and the response it evoked, were happily illustrated in his relations with those whom he was proud to call "his own people," the constituents of the city of Birmingham, who from first to last, for a period of nearly 40 years, through all his mutations of opinion, stood by him with an unshaken and almost unexampled fidelity. Consult biographies by Creswicke (4 vols., London 1900-05) ; Jeyes (ib. 1896); Mackintosh (ib. 1906); Morris (ib. 1909) ; and Viscount Morley's (2 vols., 1917).