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One has to recall how splintered the political world was in the 1880s to fully appreciate the mixed message sent by public criticism in the wake of the Whitechapel murders.
In 1880 the Liberals under Gladstone won their greatest victory of the 19th Century, smashing the Tories under Disraeli (now Earl of Beaconsfield) in the "Midlothian Election" (a reference to Gladstone's campaign handled by Lord Rosebery). Disraeli died in 1881, which (even if, like me, you like Disraeli) was probably good for the Tories: "Dizzy" and the Grand Old Man had one of the biggest political feuds in British history, and Disraeli would have probably insisted on returning to Downing Street whenever he could as long as he had breath in him - much as Gladstone did as Liberal chief. As a result, leadership of the Tories went to Lord Salisbury. For a few years Gladstone coasted pretty well on his victory, but in 1882 he started having serious problems in Egypt, first in the Arabi revolt (led by a Colonel Arabi, by the way), and shortly after the dangerous rise of the Mahdi in the Sudan, and that figure's victory over William Hicks forces in 1883. This led to the necessity to call in Charles "Chinese" Gordon to try to sit on the situation at Khartoum until Gordon could get the British and their allies safely out. Gordon disobeyed these instructions, and the result was the final storming of Khartoum and the martyrdom of Gordon in January 1885.
By this time domestic problems dealing with Ireland had also arisen starting with the "Phoenix Park" assassinations and the activities of Charles Stewart Parnell and the "Home Rule" group in Parliament. While the assassins of Lord Frederick Cavendish and Thomas Burke were caught, tried, and hanged, Gladstone decided to support Parnell on Home Rule so that he could have Parnell and his block support Gladstone's other reforms. Unfortunately Gladstone had in his cabinet Joseph Chamberlain. Chamberlain, with his theories of "Unionism" did not like the Home Rule idea. Neither did some old line Whigs like the Duke of Devonshire (brother of Lord Frederick Cavendish). In 1885, Chamberlain broke with the Liberal Party and took his Unionists over to the Tories. Combined with the death of Gordon this was the beginning of the end of Liberal control of Parliament for really a generation (despite two further brief periods under Gladstone).
The Tories were actually not doing much better due to the antics of a group led by Salisbury's nephew (and political heir) Arthur Balfour, and Lord Randolph Churchill. With two other men they would control a group called "The Fourth Party" that attacked Gladstone and his liberals, and Salisbury's old fogy Tory leadership - in particular the Tory leader in the House of Commons, Stafford Northcote. Salibury had as much of a problem with this group as Gladstone did with Parnell, and both men had to face the issue of Chamberlain (who may have joined the Tories in 1886, but found they really did not trust him, nor ever fully would). With five large groups of leaders you can see that the situation was not conducive to easy settling. In 1885-86 Salisbury would be Prime Minister. But the divisiveness continued, and (for a couple of months in 1886) Gladstone returned to Downing Street.
It was while he was in his third term as Prime Minister that Sir Charles Warren became Police Commissioner at Scotland Yard (makes sense, if you think about it - Warren being a Liberal). But just as Warren assumed control, the Liberals were out of office and the Tories back.
Salisbury had much political balancing to do in his cabinet. He decided to attract Catholic support by putting Henry Matthews, a leading barrister who was a Catholic in as Home Rule Secretary. In his previous government he made Lord Randolph Churchill his Colonial Secretary (and as a result the British Empire acquired Burma). Now Lord Randolph was made (despite Salisbury's feelings) Chancellor of Exchequer. Northcote was made Lord Iddlesleigh, and given the Foreign Office portfolio. This was to placate Churchill from further attacks on Northcote as leader in the Commons. But the leadership of the Commons fell to a man very like Northcote in being quiet and dignified: William H. Smith, the book publisher and bookstore owner, and Disraeli's former First Lord of the Admiralty (yes, he is the model for "Sir Joseph Porter, in "H.M.S. Pinafore"). Lord Randolph did not care for this, but there was no one else available. Still there were clashes in the cabinet between Iddlesleigh and Churchill. Then, in January 1887 Iddlesleigh was dismissed by Salisbury after an ultimatum from Churchill. A few days later, while in the waiting room at 10 Downing Street to see Salisbury, Iddlesleigh died suddenly. A few days later Churchill resigned from the cabinet. The government did not collapse but stayed in place. Churchill began that long, mysterious (?), physical decline that lasted until his death in 1894.
This then is the situation as of 1888:
Salisbury and his Tories are in a good position as opposed to the Liberals. The former group, "The Fourth Party" have been nullified (Churchill) or absorbed (Balfour, Drummond Woolf, etc.) in the Tories. They are still dependent on Chamberlain and his Unionists, but there is currently no reason to question this. But Chamberlain is aware that while he is in line for certain high posts, Salisbury will limit these (in later years Chamberlain will be Colonial and Foreign Secretary, but never Chancellor of Exchequer and definitely not heir apparent to Lord Salisbury as long as nephew Balfour is there; after all "Bob's his Uncle!"). The Liberals struggle along under Gladstone, as his heir apparent (Sir Charles Dilke) has been harmed politically by a sex scandal and divorce (not Dilke's) in 1885. Gladstone will not step aside for his former Home Secretary and Chancellor of Exchequer Sir William Harcourt. There is the up and coming former campaign manager of the "Midlothian Campaign", Archibald Primrose, Lord Rosebery, but he is currently busy as the first (and possibly greatest) Chairman of the London City Council (he will be in that post until 1889). Parnell is still allied most of the time with Gladstone in Parliament, but in 1887 a series of letters are purchased by the Times of London that supposedly were written by Parnell and supported acts of violence in Ireland, especially the Phoenix Park Assassinations. This leads to a committee of Parliament examining Parnell's rights to remain a member in light of the "Parnellism and Crime" issue raised in the Times.
In 1887 Matthews has already begun showing that his value as a Catholic in the cabinet is dubious given his general incompetence as a Home Secretary. In November 1887 he and Warren will be pilloried for the Trafalgar Square riots and their mishandling. That same year Matthews and Justice Sir James Fitzjames Stephen will be forced to second guess Stephen's handling of the trial of Israel Lipski for the poison murder of Muriel Angel in Whitechapel. The jury will hold Lipski guilty and Stephen will sentence him to death. But a vigorous newspaper campaign by William T. Stead of the "Pall Mall Gazette" about the fairness of the trial will lead to Matthews and Stephen seriously meeting one weekend to reconsider the entire trial record, and almost decide to reduce the sentence when word comes that Lipski (apparently pressured by a Rabbi) admits his guilt. In the most recent study of the case the late admission of guilt was seriously questioned.
That therefore is the situation politically in 1888.
Jeff
In 1880 the Liberals under Gladstone won their greatest victory of the 19th Century, smashing the Tories under Disraeli (now Earl of Beaconsfield) in the "Midlothian Election" (a reference to Gladstone's campaign handled by Lord Rosebery). Disraeli died in 1881, which (even if, like me, you like Disraeli) was probably good for the Tories: "Dizzy" and the Grand Old Man had one of the biggest political feuds in British history, and Disraeli would have probably insisted on returning to Downing Street whenever he could as long as he had breath in him - much as Gladstone did as Liberal chief. As a result, leadership of the Tories went to Lord Salisbury. For a few years Gladstone coasted pretty well on his victory, but in 1882 he started having serious problems in Egypt, first in the Arabi revolt (led by a Colonel Arabi, by the way), and shortly after the dangerous rise of the Mahdi in the Sudan, and that figure's victory over William Hicks forces in 1883. This led to the necessity to call in Charles "Chinese" Gordon to try to sit on the situation at Khartoum until Gordon could get the British and their allies safely out. Gordon disobeyed these instructions, and the result was the final storming of Khartoum and the martyrdom of Gordon in January 1885.
By this time domestic problems dealing with Ireland had also arisen starting with the "Phoenix Park" assassinations and the activities of Charles Stewart Parnell and the "Home Rule" group in Parliament. While the assassins of Lord Frederick Cavendish and Thomas Burke were caught, tried, and hanged, Gladstone decided to support Parnell on Home Rule so that he could have Parnell and his block support Gladstone's other reforms. Unfortunately Gladstone had in his cabinet Joseph Chamberlain. Chamberlain, with his theories of "Unionism" did not like the Home Rule idea. Neither did some old line Whigs like the Duke of Devonshire (brother of Lord Frederick Cavendish). In 1885, Chamberlain broke with the Liberal Party and took his Unionists over to the Tories. Combined with the death of Gordon this was the beginning of the end of Liberal control of Parliament for really a generation (despite two further brief periods under Gladstone).
The Tories were actually not doing much better due to the antics of a group led by Salisbury's nephew (and political heir) Arthur Balfour, and Lord Randolph Churchill. With two other men they would control a group called "The Fourth Party" that attacked Gladstone and his liberals, and Salisbury's old fogy Tory leadership - in particular the Tory leader in the House of Commons, Stafford Northcote. Salibury had as much of a problem with this group as Gladstone did with Parnell, and both men had to face the issue of Chamberlain (who may have joined the Tories in 1886, but found they really did not trust him, nor ever fully would). With five large groups of leaders you can see that the situation was not conducive to easy settling. In 1885-86 Salisbury would be Prime Minister. But the divisiveness continued, and (for a couple of months in 1886) Gladstone returned to Downing Street.
It was while he was in his third term as Prime Minister that Sir Charles Warren became Police Commissioner at Scotland Yard (makes sense, if you think about it - Warren being a Liberal). But just as Warren assumed control, the Liberals were out of office and the Tories back.
Salisbury had much political balancing to do in his cabinet. He decided to attract Catholic support by putting Henry Matthews, a leading barrister who was a Catholic in as Home Rule Secretary. In his previous government he made Lord Randolph Churchill his Colonial Secretary (and as a result the British Empire acquired Burma). Now Lord Randolph was made (despite Salisbury's feelings) Chancellor of Exchequer. Northcote was made Lord Iddlesleigh, and given the Foreign Office portfolio. This was to placate Churchill from further attacks on Northcote as leader in the Commons. But the leadership of the Commons fell to a man very like Northcote in being quiet and dignified: William H. Smith, the book publisher and bookstore owner, and Disraeli's former First Lord of the Admiralty (yes, he is the model for "Sir Joseph Porter, in "H.M.S. Pinafore"). Lord Randolph did not care for this, but there was no one else available. Still there were clashes in the cabinet between Iddlesleigh and Churchill. Then, in January 1887 Iddlesleigh was dismissed by Salisbury after an ultimatum from Churchill. A few days later, while in the waiting room at 10 Downing Street to see Salisbury, Iddlesleigh died suddenly. A few days later Churchill resigned from the cabinet. The government did not collapse but stayed in place. Churchill began that long, mysterious (?), physical decline that lasted until his death in 1894.
This then is the situation as of 1888:
Salisbury and his Tories are in a good position as opposed to the Liberals. The former group, "The Fourth Party" have been nullified (Churchill) or absorbed (Balfour, Drummond Woolf, etc.) in the Tories. They are still dependent on Chamberlain and his Unionists, but there is currently no reason to question this. But Chamberlain is aware that while he is in line for certain high posts, Salisbury will limit these (in later years Chamberlain will be Colonial and Foreign Secretary, but never Chancellor of Exchequer and definitely not heir apparent to Lord Salisbury as long as nephew Balfour is there; after all "Bob's his Uncle!"). The Liberals struggle along under Gladstone, as his heir apparent (Sir Charles Dilke) has been harmed politically by a sex scandal and divorce (not Dilke's) in 1885. Gladstone will not step aside for his former Home Secretary and Chancellor of Exchequer Sir William Harcourt. There is the up and coming former campaign manager of the "Midlothian Campaign", Archibald Primrose, Lord Rosebery, but he is currently busy as the first (and possibly greatest) Chairman of the London City Council (he will be in that post until 1889). Parnell is still allied most of the time with Gladstone in Parliament, but in 1887 a series of letters are purchased by the Times of London that supposedly were written by Parnell and supported acts of violence in Ireland, especially the Phoenix Park Assassinations. This leads to a committee of Parliament examining Parnell's rights to remain a member in light of the "Parnellism and Crime" issue raised in the Times.
In 1887 Matthews has already begun showing that his value as a Catholic in the cabinet is dubious given his general incompetence as a Home Secretary. In November 1887 he and Warren will be pilloried for the Trafalgar Square riots and their mishandling. That same year Matthews and Justice Sir James Fitzjames Stephen will be forced to second guess Stephen's handling of the trial of Israel Lipski for the poison murder of Muriel Angel in Whitechapel. The jury will hold Lipski guilty and Stephen will sentence him to death. But a vigorous newspaper campaign by William T. Stead of the "Pall Mall Gazette" about the fairness of the trial will lead to Matthews and Stephen seriously meeting one weekend to reconsider the entire trial record, and almost decide to reduce the sentence when word comes that Lipski (apparently pressured by a Rabbi) admits his guilt. In the most recent study of the case the late admission of guilt was seriously questioned.
That therefore is the situation politically in 1888.
Jeff
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