I have naturally been led to deal more fully with his public career than with his private life. With the exception of the first two chapters and the last, this story lies in a period of only ten years--from 1880 to 1890, and not less than half of its compass is concerned with the succession of fierce political crises which disturbed the years 1885 and 1886. The epoch is brief; but so crowded is it with incident and accident, so full of insights and sidelights upon the workings of party and constitutional machinery in modern times, that it deserves the closest examination. And I hope it may be attributed to the author’s failings, and not to the actions and character of Lord Randolph Churchill, if the reader is not attracted by an authentic drama of the House of Commons. WINSTON SPENCER CHURCHILL. BLENHEIM PALACE, WOODSTOCK: _November 1, 1905_. CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME CHAPTER I 1849-1874 EARLY YEARS .....PAGE Blenheim--Woodstock--Birth and parentage--Childhood--Cheam--Eton--The family borough--Merton--The Blenheim harriers--Life at Oxford--Cowes 1873--Miss Jerome--The Woodstock election--Marriage.....1 CHAPTER II 1874-1880 MEMBER FOR WOODSTOCK The Parliament of 1874--A maiden speech--A social quarrel--Ireland--At the Little Lodge--FitzGibbon and Howth--The Historical Society--Irish politics--Butt and Parnell--The beginnings of obstruction--An unguarded speech--Irish education--The Eastern question--Correspondence with Sir Charles Dilke--The County Government Bill--The Irish Famine Fund--Ministerial embarrassments--Lord Beaconsfield’s letter to the Duke of Marlborough--The General Election of 1880--Mr. Gladstone’s triumph.....58 CHAPTER III 1880-1883 THE FOURTH PARTY Position of parties--Tory depression--Bradlaugh--The origin of the Fourth Party--The four friends--The Employers’ Liability Bill--Fourth Party tactics--Differences with leaders--Sir Stafford Northcote--Activities of the Fourth Party--The Fourth Party and Lord Beaconsfield--Lord Salisbury at Woodstock--Correspondence with Wolff--Joyous days.....119 CHAPTER IV 1881-1882 IRELAND UNDER STORM PAGE Outbreak of the storm--The Parnell movement--Irish speeches--The Compensation for Disturbance Bill--The winter of 1880--The Land League--The revolt of the Boers--Coercion--Mr. Forster’s misfortunes--The Kilmainham Treaty--The Closure--Lord Beaconsfield gone.....172 CHAPTER V 1883 ELIJAH’S MANTLE The war in Egypt--The Conservative leaders--Minor tactics in the House of Commons--Correspondence with Sir Stafford Northcote--The Beaconsfield statue--Lord Randolph’s letter to the Times--Party displeasure--Elijah’s mantle--The Affirmation Bill--The Primrose League--An Ishmaelite at bay--His father’s death--An interlude.....224 CHAPTER VI 1882-1885 TORY DEMOCRACY