ABSTRACT
In a career stretching from 1853 to 1902 Salisbury dominated his party for twenty years, served as prime minister four times and played a major role in shaping British imperial and foreign policy. When Churchill extended his campaign by demanding more powers and funds for the National Union at the expense of the party leadership, it was Salisbury who eventually negotiated a compromise in 1884. Not until 1895 did Salisbury judge it to be safe to incorporate the leading Liberal Unionists in his cabinet, thereby beginning the process which led to their complete amalgamation with the Conservative party in the Edwardian period. Thus, when Salisbury finally retired in August 1902 he was leaving his government on the verge of a disastrous split between the advocates of protectionism and traditional Gladstonian finance. Salisbury undoubtedly regarded Germany’s goodwill in colonial questions as essential, especially in view of French hostility over Egypt and Russian expansionism in Asia.
