of every Englishman and of every English party to accept a political defeat cordially and to lend their best endeavours to secure the success, or to neutralise the evil, of the principles to which they have been forced to succumb. England has committed many mistakes as a nation in the course of her history; but their mischief has often been more than corrected by the heartiness with which after each great struggle victors and vanquished have forgotten their former battles, and have combined together to lead the new policy to its best results’ (ib. Oct. 1867, p. 535). Here was the secret spring of his greatness, and it enabled him to hold back the forces he feared for a full decade. For, though his special talent lay in the sphere of foreign affairs, he ranks with the greatest of prime ministers. He thrice led his party to decisive victory at the polls, and held the first place in the state for a longer period than any prime minister of the nineteenth century save one, Lord Liverpool. He retired in the enjoyment of the unabated confidence of the country. For seven years he held a coalition together in office, though the combination had shown symptoms of splitting before his ministry was formed (Life of the Duke of Devonshire, ii. 267–9), and a split at once followed the withdrawal of his influence. In all his nearly fourteen years of office only one member of his cabinets resigned on principle, and this was a man constitutionally unfit for cabinet government. Curiously enough it is Lord Randolph Churchill's son who has drawn attention to Salisbury's exceptional capacity for managing that machine (Winston Churchill's Life of Lord Randolph Churchill, p. 602).
In his relations with the rank and file of his party Salisbury was perhaps less successful. Though he was a most considerate host, society bored him; the ready word, the genial interest in unknown men's endeavour were not his to give; and he was frequently charged with availing himself too exclusively of the ability that lay close at hand. For all that something akin to reverence was felt for his person and his opinion. Like Pitt, one of the two statesmen on whom he formed himself, he seemed towards the end to move in an atmosphere of splendid aloofness from common cares and aims. Yet it is rather to the character which he drew of Castlereagh that the student of his life and work will turn for a concluding sentence: ‘He was that rare phenomenon—a practical man of the highest order, who yet did not by that fact forfeit his title to be considered a man of genius.’
Among the honours bestowed on him he received, besides the Garter, the G.C.V.O. from King Edward VII on 22 July 1902. He was lord warden of the Cinque Ports and constable of Dover Castle from 1895 (installed 15 Aug. 1896); one of the Elder Brethren of Trinity House; high steward of Westminster and Great Yarmouth; and from 1868 to 1876 chairman of the Hertfordshire quarter sessions. Academic distinctions included a D.C.L. at Oxford (1869), a LL.D. at Cambridge (1888), and an hon. studentship of Christ Church (1894).
There are portraits of him (1) by G. Richmond (1872) at Hatfield, of which there is a replica at All Souls' College, Oxford; and (2) by the same artist (1887) at Windsor; (3) by Millais (1882) in the possession of the Hon. W. F. D. Smith; (4) by Watts (1884) at the National Portrait Gallery; (5) by Sir H. von Herkomer (1893) at the Carlton Club; and (6) by Anton von Werner as a study for the head in the picture of the Berlin Congress painted for the German Emperor. This portrait is in the possession of the present marquis of Salisbury. There is also in Lord Salisbury's possession a well-known crayon head by Richmond, which was done between 1865 and 1868. A statue of him by Sir G. Frampton stands just outside Hatfield Park gates, and another by Mr. H. Hampton at the foreign office. Both of these are posthumous. In the last year of his life he sat for the bust, by Sir G. Frampton, now in the debating hall of the Oxford Union Society. There is also a bust of him by W. Theed, jun. (1875), at Hatfield House. The monument near the west door of Westminster Abbey was designed by Mr. Goscombe John, who is now (1912) executing one for Hatfield church.
Of his sons, the present Lord Salisbury, who succeeded to the title, has been under-secretary of state for foreign affairs (1900–3), lord privy seal (1903–5), and president of the board of trade (1905); Lord William, the rector of Hatfield, is an hon. canon of St. Albans and chaplain to the King; Lord Robert, a K.C. and M.P. (1906–10 and 1911); Lord Edward, D.S.O., is under-secretary for finance in Egypt; Lord Hugh has been M.P. for Oxford University since 1910.
