Editing H. H. Asquith (section)

===Queen's Counsel===
In June 1886, with the Liberal party split on the question of [[Irish Home Rule]], Gladstone called [[1886 United Kingdom general election|a general election]].{{sfn|Douglas|p=71}} There was a last-minute vacancy at [[East Fife (UK Parliament constituency)|East Fife]], where the sitting Liberal member, [[John Boyd Kinnear]], had been deselected by his local Liberal Association for voting against Irish Home Rule. [[Richard Haldane]], a close friend of Asquith's and also a struggling young barrister, had been Liberal MP for the nearby [[Haddingtonshire (UK Parliament constituency)|Haddingtonshire]] constituency since [[1885 United Kingdom general election|December 1885]]. He put Asquith's name forward as a replacement for Kinnear, and only ten days before polling Asquith was formally nominated in a vote of the local Liberals.{{sfn|Jenkins|pp=38–40}} The Conservatives did not contest the seat, putting their support behind Kinnear, who stood against Asquith as a [[Liberal Unionist]]. Asquith was elected with 2,863 votes to Kinnear's 2,489.<ref>"The General Election", ''The Times'', 9 July 1886, p. 10; and "The Election", ''The Manchester Guardian'', 9 July 1886, p. 8.</ref>

The Liberals lost the 1886 election, and Asquith joined the House of Commons as an opposition backbencher. He waited until March 1887 to make his maiden speech, which opposed the Conservative administration's proposal to give special priority to an Irish Crimes Bill.{{sfn|Spender & Asquith|p=52}}{{sfn|Alderson|pp=37–38}} From the start of his parliamentary career Asquith impressed other MPs with his air of authority as well as his lucidity of expression.{{sfn|Jenkins|pp=42–43}} For the remainder of this Parliament, which lasted until 1892, Asquith spoke occasionally but effectively, mostly on Irish matters.{{sfn|Alderson|p=44}}{{sfn|Jenkins|p=44}}

Asquith's legal practice was flourishing, and took up much of his time. In the late 1880s [[Anthony Hope]], who later gave up the bar to become a novelist, was his pupil. Asquith disliked arguing in front of a jury because of the repetitiveness and "platitudes" required, but excelled at arguing fine points of civil law before a judge or in front of courts of appeal.{{sfn|Spender & Asquith|p=48}} These cases, in which his clients were generally large businesses, were unspectacular but financially rewarding.{{sfn|Jenkins|p=47}}

[[File:Herbert Henry Asquith Vanity Fair 1 August 1891-cropped.jpg|thumb|upright|Asquith, caricatured by [[Leslie Ward|Spy]], in ''[[Vanity Fair (British magazine)|Vanity Fair]]'', 1891]]

From time to time Asquith appeared in high-profile criminal cases. In 1887 and 1888, he defended the radical Liberal MP, [[Cunninghame Graham]], who was charged with assaulting police officers when they attempted to break up [[Bloody Sunday (1887)|a demonstration]] in [[Trafalgar Square]].<ref>"The Riots in London", ''The Manchester Guardian'', 15 November 1887, p. 8.</ref> Graham was later convicted of the lesser charge of [[unlawful assembly]].<ref>"Central Criminal Court",   ''The Times'', 19 January 1888, p. 10.</ref> In what Jenkins calls "a less liberal cause", Asquith appeared for the prosecution in the trial of [[Henry Vizetelly]] for publishing "obscene libels"—the first English versions of [[Émile Zola|Zola]]'s novels ''[[Nana (novel)|Nana]]'', ''[[Pot-Bouille]]'' and ''[[La Terre]]'', which Asquith described in court as "the three most immoral books ever published".<ref>"Police", ''The Times'', 11 August 1888, p. 13; and "Central Criminal Court", ''The Times'', 1 November 1888, p. 13.</ref>

Asquith's law career received a great and unforeseen boost in 1889 when he was named junior counsel to [[Charles Russell, Baron Russell of Killowen|Sir Charles Russell]] at the [[Parnell Commission|Parnell Commission of Enquiry]]. The commission had been set up in the aftermath of damaging statements in ''The Times'', based on forged letters, that Irish MP [[Charles Stuart Parnell]] had expressed approval of Dublin's [[Phoenix Park killings]]. When the manager of ''The Times'', J. C. Macdonald, was called to give evidence Russell, feeling tired, surprised Asquith by asking him to conduct the cross-examination.{{sfn|Alderson|p=33}} Under Asquith's questioning, it became plain that in accepting the forgeries as genuine, without making any check, Macdonald had, in Jenkins's phrase, behaved "with a credulity which would have been childlike had it not been criminally negligent".{{sfn|Jenkins|p=49}} ''[[The Manchester Guardian]]'' reported that under Asquith's cross-examination, Macdonald "squirmed and wriggled through a dozen half-formed phrases in an attempt at explanation, and finished none".<ref>"Parnell Commission", ''The Manchester Guardian'', 20 February 1889, p. 5.</ref> The accusations against Parnell were shown to be false, ''The Times'' was obliged to make a full apology, and Asquith's reputation was assured.{{sfn|Popplewell|pp=24–25}}{{sfn|Alderson|pp=33–34}} Within a year he had gained advancement to the senior rank of the bar, [[Queen's Counsel]].{{sfn|Popplewell|p=25}}

Asquith appeared in two important cases in the early 1890s. He played an effective low-key role in the sensational [[Royal baccarat scandal|Tranby Croft libel]] trial (1891), helping to show that the plaintiff had not been libelled. He was on the losing side in ''[[Carlill v Carbolic Smoke Ball Co]]'' (1892), a landmark English contract law case that established that a company was obliged to meet its advertised pledges.{{sfn|Popplewell|pp=28–30}}<ref>"The Baccarat Case", ''The Times'', 2 June 1891, p. 11; and  "Queen's Bench Division", ''The Times'', 20 June 1892, p. 3.</ref>