'On May 6th I received from Sir John Lambert, the retired Permanent Secretary of the Local Government Board, a most grateful letter about the Privy Councillorship, which had been announced to him by Mr. Gladstone, and which no man ever more greatly deserved as an honour, or by his character more greatly honoured.' [Footnote: John Lambert's letter to Sir Charles contained these words: 'I have had the opportunity of assisting you in a work which has placed you in the very foremost rank of statesmen, and I have formed a friendship which is one of the most gratifying incidents of my declining years.'] 'On the morning of May 9th I received a letter from Northcote, congratulating me on the manner in which I had conducted the Redistribution Bill "through its difficult stages.... Let me thank you once more for the great consideration, as well as the perfect loyalty, with which you have dealt with the numerous questions, and congratulate you on having brought your ship so well into port."' [Footnote: Upon a table in the larger drawing-room at 76, Sloane Street there stood always a bronze 'Victory' sent by Sir George Trevelyan to Sir Charles to celebrate the passing of the Redistribution Bill, with these words: 'Dear Dilke,--The bronze is a Victory on a globe. The Victory is obvious. The globe below signifies the manner in which your conduct of the Redistribution Bill got the Tory Press under your feet. I am pleased to think that, as a work of art, it may pass muster even before such an artist as the future Lady Dilke.... It is a copy of a Herculaneum bronze.... I cannot help hoping that you will think it not unworthy of the event which it is meant to commemorate.'] But 'port' was not finally reached till after the fall of the Ministry in June. Work on the Housing Commission was also practically completed. Throughout the year the Report had been under discussion. On February 16th 'I told Chamberlain that the Labourers' Ireland Committee had "advised taking of land under compulsory powers in order to attach it to cottages"--a proposal which was afterwards carried; to which Chamberlain replied: "And your Commission?" and I answered: "We _shall_, I hope, but Lord Salisbury is jibbing since your speeches" (on the unauthorized programme). 'On March 11th, at the meeting of my Housing Commission, Lord Salisbury proposed what Goschen at once described as "Revolution," and Broadhurst "Socialism." He wanted to give public money out of taxes to London. It may have been silly, but it was not either revolutionary or socialistic.' When it came to the point of acting on the Report, the Tory leader was very far from revolutionary; on June 4th,